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Indigo_Cardinal
Guest
I think part of why it’s hard to separate Cosby from his characters is a lot of his best stand-up routines were about his family–c’mon, show of hands from those who remember his “Chocolate cake for breakfast” bit. It was hysterical, especially when he talked about his kids turning on him when his wife walked in the room.
In fact, most of Cosby’s stand-up routines were about his family, and they weren’t the sort of routines you couldn’t let kids listen to. My parents had almost all of his comedy albums. I think the worst he ever got was explaining his confusion over his and his brother’s names. And the only routine he had that I didn’t get was about party phone lines (since those had gone the way of the dodo by the time I was born, so I didn’t get the humor.) He was fun for the whole family–moms and dads thought he was funny, kids thought he was funny.
And “The Cosby Show” clearly paralleled his own family–college educated parents, two daughters, a son, then two more daughters (like Cosby’s real-life children), and Cosby acknowledged he took a lot from his family life and put it on the show, so that probably blurs the lines even more.
I think those are some of the big reasons why people have trouble separating him from the “Cliff Huxtable” character.
In fact, most of Cosby’s stand-up routines were about his family, and they weren’t the sort of routines you couldn’t let kids listen to. My parents had almost all of his comedy albums. I think the worst he ever got was explaining his confusion over his and his brother’s names. And the only routine he had that I didn’t get was about party phone lines (since those had gone the way of the dodo by the time I was born, so I didn’t get the humor.) He was fun for the whole family–moms and dads thought he was funny, kids thought he was funny.
And “The Cosby Show” clearly paralleled his own family–college educated parents, two daughters, a son, then two more daughters (like Cosby’s real-life children), and Cosby acknowledged he took a lot from his family life and put it on the show, so that probably blurs the lines even more.
I think those are some of the big reasons why people have trouble separating him from the “Cliff Huxtable” character.