Hey, hey hey, it's FAT ALBERT!

[Bobby_Jim]

So I just caught an old episode of Fat Albert late-night on some Christian satellite station.

I used to like Fat Albert as a kid. Watching it as an adult is a totally different experience. It’s not really “animated” so much as it’s more like a slide show with maybe one thing moving per scene. I also liked the show-within-a-show, “The Brown Hornet”. The hero speaks ver-y… slow-ly… and… de-lib-er-ate-ly. I think the point was to extend the show without having to write more dialogue. Also it comes from an era when cartoons had laugh tracks, which means it just has to be hilarious!

Despite the obvious cheapness of the animation - it has a good message. The moral of this particular story was don’t be ashamed that your dad is an alcoholic. Talk to your priest or minister or rabbi or coach or teacher, and they will be able to refer you to a support group like Alanon where you can talk with other people your own age. I seem to recall that most episodes had some sort of moral. In a way, every episode was A Very Special Episode, so I dunno if that means technically it jumped the shark on day one. However I found it refreshing as a contrast to a lot of kids shows today that are just wacky for the sake of wackiness, e.g. SpongeBob.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I had a Fat Albert board game as a girl…I don’t remember how it was played.

But it was a great show, Bill Cosby explaining the moral of the episode was always nice.

 

[sapphirevelvet]

One of the strongest memories I have from my childhood is coming home from preschool with a green safety sucker (the kind that has the loopy stick that bends when you put pressure on it), sitting down to watch Fat Albert, and being irritated that the guys hired by my parents to put an addition on to our living were being so loud that I couldn’t hear what was going on. I was young enough that I don’t actually remember much of the show itself, but I remember that I watched and enjoyed it.

 

[bluerose]

“This is Bill Cosby comin’ at you with some music and fun and, if you’re not careful, you may learn something before it’s done!”

HEY! HEY! HEY! Always loved that cartoon!

 

[Bobby_Jim]

One of the strongest memories I have from my childhood is coming home from preschool with a green safety sucker (the kind that has the loopy stick that bends when you put pressure on it), sitting down to watch Fat Albert, and being irritated that the guys hired by my parents to put an addition on to our living were being so loud that I couldn’t hear what was going on. I was young enough that I don’t actually remember much of the show itself, but I remember that I watched and enjoyed it.

Wow, my parents were just talking about those suckers with the loopy end, they thought it would be perfect for my 2-year-old son. I said no, he doesn’t need a sucker at all.

 

[Bobby_Jim]

“This is Bill Cosby comin’ at you with some music and fun and, if you’re not careful, you may learn something before it’s done!”

HEY! HEY! HEY! Always loved that cartoon!

I barely noticed when I was younger that I was learning something.

When I saw it the other day I was amazed at how young Bill Cosby looked. Where was he supposed to be, a junkyard or something?

 

[bluerose]

I barely noticed when I was younger that I was learning something.

When I saw it the other day I was amazed at how young Bill Cosby looked. Where was he supposed to be, a junkyard or something?

Yeah, the “Cosby Kids” (the full name of the show was “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”) hung out in a junkyard. They were primarily ghetto kids (the exception being Rudy “the Rich”) and the played music in their junkyard band with instruments made of junk (again, the exception being Rudy, who had a real guitar.)

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Yeah, the “Cosby Kids” (the full name of the show was “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”) hung out in a junkyard. They were primarily ghetto kids (the exception being Rudy “the Rich”) and the played music in their junkyard band with instruments made of junk (again, the exception being Rudy, who had a real guitar.)

I remember Rudy being Russell older brother.

I wonder if those names have a special meaning to Bill Cosby? Rudy was the daughter on the Cosby Show, and Russell was the Grandpa.

 

[Bobby_Jim]

Yeah, the “Cosby Kids” (the full name of the show was “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”) hung out in a junkyard. They were primarily ghetto kids (the exception being Rudy “the Rich”) and the played music in their junkyard band with instruments made of junk (again, the exception being Rudy, who had a real guitar.)

What about the live action scenes with Cosby? That also looked like a junkyard. He was often fixing up an old toy or something, so I didn’t know if it was a junkyard or a workshop.

I remember feeling sorry for Rudy. He was the kid who was always trying to work some “angle” and usually learned a hard lesson in the process.

 

[Bobby_Jim]

I remember Rudy being Russell older brother.

I wonder if those names have a special meaning to Bill Cosby? Rudy was the daughter on the Cosby Show, and Russell was the Grandpa.

I thought I read that Bill Cosby’s younger brother was named Russell?

 

[sapphirevelvet]

I thought I read that Bill Cosby’s younger brother was named Russell?

Yeah, I think that’s true. One of his comedy albums is called “To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With” and features a track of the same name all about how he and his brother shared a bed growing up and got in trouble for goofing off instead of going to sleep.

 

[bluerose]

I remember Rudy being Russell older brother.

I wonder if those names have a special meaning to Bill Cosby? Rudy was the daughter on the Cosby Show, and Russell was the Grandpa.

Nope… Russell was Bill’s younger brother (just like in real life, Bill Cosby’s younger brother was named Russell.

Here’s a list of cast members and who did their voices (from Wikipedia):

Characters

• Fat Albert Jackson — Voiced by Bill Cosby, based on his childhood friend Albert Robertson. The main character in the series, Fat Albert is the heart and soul — and often the conscience — of the Junkyard Gang; though he is depicted as being obese, he remains active through his love of sports, often taking part in different games along with the rest of the gang. Fat Albert works hard to maintain integrity in the gang and with others, and plays bagpipes/accordion (made from a radiator and an airbag) in the Junkyard Band.
• Mushmouth — Voiced by Bill Cosby. A chinless, linguistically-challenged simpleton who always spoke in virtual Ubbi Dubbi, tantamount to an overdose of novocaine in the mouth, which Cosby would later use in the “Dentist” monologue from his 1983 film, Himself. Mushmouth plays a homemade bass guitar in the Junkyard Band. As part of his clothing, he is seen to wear something on his head. This is very often mistook to be a shell, when in fact this is actually a beanie. The reason this is mistook is because of the shape of the cartoon’s heads. If you notice in pictures, all the heads are very basic shapes, such as an oval, circle and various squares. Mushmouth is seen to have a round/square looking shape, thus causing his BEANIE looking like a shell on the tip of his head.
• Dumb Donald — Voiced by Lou Scheimer. A lanky but dimwitted fellow; he always wears a green long-sleeved jersey three sizes too big, and a pink stocking cap covering his entire face except his eyes and mouth. In the Junkyard Band, Dumb Donald plays a trombone made out of plumbers’ pipe and a morning glory horn from an old Victrola.
• Bill Cosby — Voiced by himself. A character based on himself. Like the others, Bill is an all-around good athlete, but more often he spends his time trying, though not always successfully, to keep his little brother Russell out of trouble. Like Fat Albert, Bill is usually the voice of reason in the gang, although at times a little more stubborn. In the Junkyard Band Bill plays homemade drums made from a discarded foot-pedal trash can using spoons for sticks.
• Russell Cosby — Voiced by Jan Crawford. Bill’s little brother (named after Cosby’s real-life brother, whom he often talked about in his monologues) and the smallest and youngest of the Junkyard Gang. He always wears a heavy jacket, boots and a Ushanka winter hat regardless of the weather. Russell has a penchant for telling things like they are, much to his older brother’s consternation. Russell plays the xylophone in the Junkyard Band (made out of empty cans and a discarded coat rack).
• Weird Harold — Voiced by Gerald Edwards. A tall, skinny, beady-eyed kid who always wears a yellowish-brown dress blazer, a brown sock on one foot and a red sock on the other. Harold is usually clumsy. In the Junkyard Band, Weird Harold plays a harp made from bedsprings, and on occasion plays a “dressmaker dummy” in the percussion section. In the film adaptation, he is called Old Weird Harold, like he was in Cosby’s stand-up routines, rather than Weird Harold.
• Rudy Davis — Voiced by Eric Suter. A sharply-dressed smooth-talker and somewhat antagonistic huckster whose smart-alecky attitude is always getting him into trouble more often than out of it. But to his credit, Rudy has a good heart and often learns his lesson. In the Junkyard Band, Rudy plays a makeshift banjo, whose parts include a broomstick handle and sewing-thread spool to hold the strings. However, when shown playing apart from the others, Rudy plays a real musical instrument: an electric guitar.
• Bucky — Voiced by Jan Crawford. As his name indicates, Bucky has a large overbite. Bucky plays a stovepipe organ in the Junkyard Band.

 

[Luvz2travel]

I grew up watching that in the 70s.