I come from a time when people like Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby told stories that were devastatingly funny without being off-color.
Dad had a music store, and he'd often bring home comedy albums that I would listen to. I started listening to Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby, and developing taste. They really influenced my style of comedy.
With the stand-up comic on TV, whether it's Seinfeld or Cosby or Roseanne, more important than their knowledge of how to tell a joke is their knowledge of themselves, or the persona they've created as themselves. So that when you're in a room with writers, you can say, 'Guys, that's a funny line, but I wouldn't say it.'
Show me one guy or woman as funny as Rodney Dangerfield or as good as George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, or Joan Rivers. There are a lot of good comics out there, no doubt, but as far as the quality of the comics goes, I think what you have is a bunch of situational comics.
Bill Cosby was the first comedian I was exposed to, because he doesn't curse.
My bedtime was 8 P.M. But on 'Cosby' nights, I got to stay up until 8:30. Real big deal. This is when they could afford to do a completely different title sequence in TV every year. I always looked forward to that. It was like a mini musical at the top of the show. My favorite was the Top Hat fancy version.
When I was born, that was right smack in the middle of 'The Cosby Show.' But what I remember is my mother took me with her... She exposed me to the world in such a way where I was included. And I didn't feel like she chose her career over me.
I remember 'The Cosby Show,' but that was something completely different. Comedy. There was a lightness to it and a sort of unrealistic perfection.
You know what Bill Cosby did wrong? He started criticizing young black men.
When I was a kid I went and saw Bill Cosby with my dad, and I remember sitting there and laughing so hard.
