Staff Reports
Niagara Gazette
NIAGARA FALLS —
Bill Cosby’s talking about what goes into one of his live performances.
In the middle of a thought, he pauses and says “hold the phone.”
A few seconds later, the veteran comedian, actor and writer is back on the line.
He apologizes for the interference and explains that his daughter called to ask how he was doing.
Apparently, Cosby explains, some “playful” people on the Internet posted something or other suggesting that, well, he was “dead.”
“Make sure that you put in the article that I’m doing just fine,” quipped the 73-year-old Cosby, who was very much alive during an interview Monday afternoon with the Niagara Gazette.
“It’s that Internet playfulness that people set up where they announce that so and so has such and such wrong with them, you know, that kind of stuff,” said Cosby, who was falsely reported “dead” by several online media outlets on Monday. “Then I’ve got to go in and find out where it’s coming from and then I’ve got to post something on my website and tell them that I’m doing just fine.”
Monday evening Cosby visited CNN’s “Larry King Live” to let the world know he’s OK. He told King’s audience that this marks the fourth time someone has tried to send him to an early grave.
On Friday, Cosby will appear “live” for two shows at the Seneca Niagara Events Center inside Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel.
Audience members can expect what they’ve come to love about Cosby’s brand of humor throughout the years — thoughts on what to say to teenage children when they ask for something, views on life as a grandfather and feelings about the unique relationship shared by husbands and wives.
“You laugh because it is happening to you,” Cosby said.
Cosby prides himself on changing up the performance for back-to-back shows, believing he can deliver a “face-hurting” hour and 15 minutes for people who come early at 7 p.m. and those who catch the later act at 10 p.m. He has a similar stance when it comes to performing from one city to the next.
“You will not see the same material,” he said. “I have things that I want to say that are new. I have them written. I have them memorized. But, there’s still a performance level that I keep myself open for any thought that may enter during the performance. I have the freedom to stop a piece, go someplace else, come back to it if I want to, move over, change something. It’s performance.”
Cosby has been performing comedy routines on stage since the early 1960s. Throughout the years, he’s crafted his unique brand of humor, focusing on the funny side of human behavior, family living and everyday life events. He said he started out simply, listening and writing and thinking about what it was his friends and family members were doing and why it was often so interesting and so funny.
“I was writing things that people could connect with,” said Cosby, talking about his early years as a writer and comedian. “I just found that there was the silent thought of individuals and it was the knowledge that was gained just by paying attention to conversations with people I knew, and people I didn’t know, whether it was at a party or football practice or in the classroom.”
Casual observations about life made Cosby one of the most recognizable stars in America. He released several hit comedy albums and made regular appearances on Ed Sullivan and the Tonight Show. He co-starred in the television series, “I-Spy,” became the popular host of the Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids cartoon and appeared in dozens of movies. In 1983, he released the classic comedy film, “Bill Cosby: Himself.” The routine spawned “The Cosby Show,” which debuted in 1984 and went on to become one of only three programs in American television history to hold the No. 1 spot in the Nielson ratings for at least five consecutive seasons.
He’s proud of what he’s accomplished, but not tied to the past.
Describing a comedy show he held earlier this month in Minnesota, Cosby said a fan shouted out “Noah,” referencing a routine that first appeared on the 1963 album, Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow ... Right!. Cosby said he told the man he didn’t remember the skit well enough to perform it and encouraged him to enjoy the rest of the show just the same, reminding him that, at the very least, he was watching the guy who wrote the bit all those years ago. Cosby has a similar attitude when it comes to other pieces of older material, even his most popular, including the Himself special which is a fan favorite.
Cosby said he prefers to keep his act fresh.
“It’s impossible to be performing something, I think, without going through changes,” Cosby said. “Yes, there are some performers who start out and they are still doing the same material and you can tell time by them.”
As a stage performer, Cosby admits he’s gone through changes, many of them for the better.
For instance, he’s not exactly what you’d call a “stand-up comic” anymore. He feels more comfortable sitting in a chair on stage, believing it puts the audience at greater ease.
He also said he’s learned a lot about approach since taking the stage for the first time in the 1960s.
“The whole idea for me was that when I leave I want people to know my name,” Cosby said of his early stage work. “I also wanted them to think of me as a friend, a friend who has come to talk to them. That part still exists. It is still the strong part.”
When he walks out in front of audience these days, Cosby said he considers himself more of a polished performer, one who knows how what to do and how to do it in order to get what he wants: roars of laughter from the crowd.
“You start out in the beginning not knowing it has to do with the behavior of yourself and how the audience reacts to you,” he said. “I think that now, at age 73, you would see a smooth operator so to speak. I’m a story teller. I have defined myself.”
So, what “defines” Bill Cosby.
Well, first off, he’s doing fine and isn’t dead.
As a performer, Cosby says “comedian” will do just fine.
“I’m going out the way I came in,” he said.
