Tuesday, April 06, 2004
I SAW BILL COSBY LIVE!!!!
Ok, well I’ll preface this by saying that I am a huge Bill Cosby fan. When I was a kid, I watched the Cosby Show on television all the time and seeing his commercials always gave me a hankerin’ for Jello Pudding Pops. I couldn’t help it, he has just always had a big influence on me.
When I was about 17, me and my friend Adam discovered we had a mutual admiration for him. One day, while at his house, he showed me a bunch of Cosby’s comedy albums that his mom had on cassette. Well, we probably spent weeks upon weeks every single day holed up in his room listening and re-listening to old Cosby routines on cassette. We wore those tapes out. We’d devour his perfect comic timing on classics like “Driving in San Francisco,” imitate his delivery to each other, then rewind and listen to it again. Eventually, I had to have these albums for myself. Listening to them at Adam’s wasn’t enough. I wanted them for home listening pleasure as well. So, being a cheap ass, I just dubbed them off of Adam onto blank cassettes of my own that still lay in close proximity to my bedside stereo setup until this very day.
Since those days I’ve gotten to be a little bit less of a tightwad, so I’ve purchased a few of the albums on CD for easier listening. Cash flow permitted, I’ll end up buying more. But even with all the enjoyment I got out of his TV shows and many albums, I’ve always wanted to see him live. Well, this past Sunday, on April 4th, I finally got my chance.
I live in Toledo and, truth be told, Mr. Cosby breezes through town every couple of years. I’ve just never had the money to be able to buy tickets before. I’ve regretted it each and every time I’ve missed him, But I always hoped for another opportunity. Thanks to Ebay, I heard the proverbial knock and answered it loud and clear: “Two tickets for Bill Cosby, please.”
I was able to score that very pair of tickets for $50, which ended up being about half of what I would have paid through Ticketmaster. I got decent seats too. Not right up front, but close enough to be completely satisfied.
I ended up taking my dad to see the show with me. I found this kind of humorous because I could tell by the looks on the faces of my age group at the show that it was their parents who had drug them along to see this so called legend. Well, I made it a point to tell my dad that I was dragging him. With the diverse age range in attendance, I was proud to say it.
We took our seats and I stared in anticipation at the middle of the stage at the Stranahan theater. Alone in the dim spotlight was a single chair with a sweater draped across it that read “Hello Friend” in multicolored lettering. I know the phrase has a very special meaning to Mr. Cosby because it is the greeting his son, Ennis, would use with friends and strangers alike whenever he met them. After Ennis’s untimely death a few years back, I’ve seen Bill wear a sweater with those words many times.
Promptly at 4pm, the show began. Without warning, Bill Cosby himself walked on stage and took his seat. He was dressed in a Toledo Mud Hens ball cap and jersey to delight the hometown fans. The crowd roared with joy and a recognition fitting the show biz luminary.
He began by paying tribute to the troops overseas, the living and the dead, and their families waiting at home. Following that, however, was 2 straight hours of almost non stop sidesplitting laughter. As I stated earlier, I’ve heard Cosby’s classic routines over and over again to the point that they are burned into memory. But, even with all that time to fill, he only delved back into the catalogue once. And that was just to close the show!
Still, the prepared material he delivered was amazing. The improv he did with the audience was awesome. Even the old bit he did to close the show felt fresh even though I have heard it a hundred times or more by now. The show, in a word, was inspirational.
His comedy is timeless and I believe any age group can relate to it. He talks about lazy kids, crabby wives and mothers and complacent fathers and husbands. And the way he verbalizes it, coupled with his wonderful sense of timing makes it feel like you are hearing the nuggets of wisdom and truth straight from the mouth of your favorite granddad.
Yes, there is a reason Bill Cosby is held in such high esteem. It’s simply because he is just that good. Chris Rock himself said that after seeing him live a year or two ago that it was, without a doubt, the best comedy show he had ever seen in his life. As a long time comedian himself, Rock has seen plenty of them come and go. So, there must be something to seeing Cosby live then, huh? Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more.
Ok, well I’ll preface this by saying that I am a huge Bill Cosby fan. When I was a kid, I watched the Cosby Show on television all the time and seeing his commercials always gave me a hankerin’ for Jello Pudding Pops. I couldn’t help it, he has just always had a big influence on me.
When I was about 17, me and my friend Adam discovered we had a mutual admiration for him. One day, while at his house, he showed me a bunch of Cosby’s comedy albums that his mom had on cassette. Well, we probably spent weeks upon weeks every single day holed up in his room listening and re-listening to old Cosby routines on cassette. We wore those tapes out. We’d devour his perfect comic timing on classics like “Driving in San Francisco,” imitate his delivery to each other, then rewind and listen to it again. Eventually, I had to have these albums for myself. Listening to them at Adam’s wasn’t enough. I wanted them for home listening pleasure as well. So, being a cheap ass, I just dubbed them off of Adam onto blank cassettes of my own that still lay in close proximity to my bedside stereo setup until this very day.
Since those days I’ve gotten to be a little bit less of a tightwad, so I’ve purchased a few of the albums on CD for easier listening. Cash flow permitted, I’ll end up buying more. But even with all the enjoyment I got out of his TV shows and many albums, I’ve always wanted to see him live. Well, this past Sunday, on April 4th, I finally got my chance.
I live in Toledo and, truth be told, Mr. Cosby breezes through town every couple of years. I’ve just never had the money to be able to buy tickets before. I’ve regretted it each and every time I’ve missed him, But I always hoped for another opportunity. Thanks to Ebay, I heard the proverbial knock and answered it loud and clear: “Two tickets for Bill Cosby, please.”
I was able to score that very pair of tickets for $50, which ended up being about half of what I would have paid through Ticketmaster. I got decent seats too. Not right up front, but close enough to be completely satisfied.
I ended up taking my dad to see the show with me. I found this kind of humorous because I could tell by the looks on the faces of my age group at the show that it was their parents who had drug them along to see this so called legend. Well, I made it a point to tell my dad that I was dragging him. With the diverse age range in attendance, I was proud to say it.
We took our seats and I stared in anticipation at the middle of the stage at the Stranahan theater. Alone in the dim spotlight was a single chair with a sweater draped across it that read “Hello Friend” in multicolored lettering. I know the phrase has a very special meaning to Mr. Cosby because it is the greeting his son, Ennis, would use with friends and strangers alike whenever he met them. After Ennis’s untimely death a few years back, I’ve seen Bill wear a sweater with those words many times.
Promptly at 4pm, the show began. Without warning, Bill Cosby himself walked on stage and took his seat. He was dressed in a Toledo Mud Hens ball cap and jersey to delight the hometown fans. The crowd roared with joy and a recognition fitting the show biz luminary.
He began by paying tribute to the troops overseas, the living and the dead, and their families waiting at home. Following that, however, was 2 straight hours of almost non stop sidesplitting laughter. As I stated earlier, I’ve heard Cosby’s classic routines over and over again to the point that they are burned into memory. But, even with all that time to fill, he only delved back into the catalogue once. And that was just to close the show!
Still, the prepared material he delivered was amazing. The improv he did with the audience was awesome. Even the old bit he did to close the show felt fresh even though I have heard it a hundred times or more by now. The show, in a word, was inspirational.
His comedy is timeless and I believe any age group can relate to it. He talks about lazy kids, crabby wives and mothers and complacent fathers and husbands. And the way he verbalizes it, coupled with his wonderful sense of timing makes it feel like you are hearing the nuggets of wisdom and truth straight from the mouth of your favorite granddad.
Yes, there is a reason Bill Cosby is held in such high esteem. It’s simply because he is just that good. Chris Rock himself said that after seeing him live a year or two ago that it was, without a doubt, the best comedy show he had ever seen in his life. As a long time comedian himself, Rock has seen plenty of them come and go. So, there must be something to seeing Cosby live then, huh? Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more.
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