Bill Cosby
A Comedian For Everyone!

Bill Cosby is the most influential comedian to date. There’s no question about it. His presence is felt in every comedy club in the nation. And not just in the black rooms. Comedians the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and Richard Pryor site Dr. Cosby as their main influence. How could they not? He broke new ground socially and artistically. At a time when African American humor was reserved for the Chitlin’ Circuit, Bill Cosby was appearing on the Tonight Show and recording awarding winning, top ten selling albums. No comedian before achieved the commercial success and acceptance of Bill Cosby.

Bill Cosby was born on July 12, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Growing up in Germantown’s Richard Allen Projects he encountered the colorful characters - Fat Albert, Old Weird Harold, Dumb Donald and many others - who would one day become his comedy routines. Although he developed a deep appreciation for education as an adult, Cosby left high school and joined the U.S. Navy. Four years later, he entered Temple University on an athletic scholarship. It was while he was working as a bartender where he discovered his knack for humorous storytelling. It was so funny in fact that the owner of the bar he was working in put a chair on a table and had him perform every night for the customers. Fueled by such an enthusiastic response, in 1962 Bill showed up in New York City working rooms like The Village Underground and New York's Gaslight Cafe in Greenwich Village. The next year, he was invited to perform on "The Tonight Show." Since then Bill Cosby has become a permanent television fixture.

His breakout role came on "I Spy" with Robert Culp in 1965. Cosby won two of his five Emmys portraying an undercover CIA agent. He also became the first African-American actor to star in a weekly television dramatic series.

A string of hit comedy albums, television shows and books followed, including "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," which ran for 12 years. The animated series showed kids from a poor neighborhood who dealt with problems that all children face, from bullies to the arrival of a new sibling. Cosby appeared at the beginning and end of each show to reinforce the positive messages, encouraging children to talk about their problems with friends and family.

But it was the 1982 concert film "Himself' that later gave way to the 1984 classic sitcom, The Cosby Show, an NBC series inspired largely by his own family experiences. The show was an unparalleled success which breathed new life into the old sitcom format. The show quickly shot to the top of the Nielsen ratings, where it remained throughout the majority of its eight-season run. The Cosby Show donned him 3 Emmys and a place in history.

Flip Wilson
Funny Is An Attitude

It was almost like America was missing something. Any post war era usually is, and it's not always the soldiers we miss or the sanctity of a peaceful existence; but sometimes in the midst of squabbling politicians we forget to laugh. We forget to find the humor in our daily lives. The colorful, Flip Wilson shocked our nation's airwaves in just such a time. The Flip Wilson Show was the first successful network variety series with an African-American star. In its first two seasons, its Nielsen ratings placed it as America's second most-watched show. With clever, original characters, and brilliant humor the show's format dispensed much of the confusion of previous variety programs and focused totally on the star and his guests.

Born Clerow Wilson on December 8, 1933 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Wilson acted out at an early age and spent many years being raised in foster homes as a result. Being one of eighteen children got to be hard on young Flip and after running away repeatedly, Wilson was sent to reform school. But once again, Wilson ended up back in a foster home. Tired of bouncing around, 16 year old Wilson lied about his age, and enlisted in the Air Force. Wilson quickly bonded with his fellow Air Force servicemen, who encouraged his colorful wit and lively personality. Officers lapped up Wilson's jokes, stories and dead on impersonations, all of which would earn him his legendary name, "Flip," after someone told him he had a flipped out sense of humor. Wilson's routine was so well loved in the Service, he was asked to travel on a tour of other bases on a morale-boosting mission, which he proudly accepted. In 1959, after hearing his show, a Florida businessman agreed to sponsor Wilson. Wilson agreed to quit all other jobs and concentrate on perfecting his routine. He was paid $50 a week to work on his act, and play various California clubs. Within a few years, Wilson was a regular at Harlem's Apollo Theatre and his first comedy album was already in the making. Flip Wilson based his storytelling humor on his background in black clubs, and adapted easily to a television audience. He had been working small venues for over a decade when Redd Foxx saw his act in 1965 and raved about him to Johnny Carson. As a result, he made over 25 appearances on the Tonight Show, and in 1968, NBC signed him to a five-year development deal. Wilson made guest appearances on shows like Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and the first episode of Love, American Style. On September 22, 1969, he appeared with 20 other up and coming comics one of the legendary Bob Hope television specials.

The Flip Wilson Show joined the fall lineup on September 17, 1970. For his opening monologue in that special, Wilson told a story about a minister's wife who tried to justify her new extravagant purchase by explaining how "the Devil made me buy this dress!" The wife's voice was the one subsequently used for all his female characters, whether a girlfriend or Queen Isabella or the celebrated Geraldine Jones. Flip wrote Geraldine's material himself and tried not to use her to demean black women. Outspoken and unrefined, Wilson sometimes imparted social messages indirectly through his characters; the well-dressed and self-respecting Geraldine, for example, countered the female-degrading acts of other popular stand-up comics. But still cut up every week with renowned quips like "The devil made me do it" and "When you're hot, you're hot".

Wilson's career lost a little momentum when his show was canceled in 1974. But Flip was riding high with an Emmy Award for outstanding writing and a Grammy for best comedy record. He continued to make television specials, and TV guest appearances, debuting in Sydney Poitier's successful, "Uptown Saturday Night". His 1985 television comeback, Charlie and Company had a short lived run.

Flip Wilson was an artist and no other variety show has taken up where his left off.

"The cost of living is going up and the chance of living is going down."

"Never buy a drink for the road, because the road is already laid out."

"Well first I'd like to say that I come from a very poor family, very poor. My family had nothing. You gotta have damn little to have nothing. My mother and father were really so poor they couldn't afford to have any children, the lady next door had us."

"I remember when I was fourteen and I got that job on a garbage truck, it paid two dollars a week and all you can eat. But I blew that cause my family was always bringing people to dinner and a crowd hanging around the truck."

"I am still under a great deal of depression, I attended a funeral of a very very good friend by the name of George. George died. And last Sunday morning I didn't have anything to do and I figured that I would go by the funeral parlor where George was and see how they handled the final arrangements. And his wife was very excited, you know she's never had quite a large sum of money like this before. She ran in and ran up to the coffin and the undertaker had George laid out in a brown suit. She said to him how come you have George laid out in brown? The undertaker said well lady I went through my stock, brown suits were all I had left and I figured that George looked pretty nice in brown so I dressed him in brown. The woman said well George doesn't like brown. She said George likes blue. And George wants to be buried in a blue suit. The undertaker said now look lady today's Sunday, all the stores are closed. He said there's no place open to get a blue suit today. And the woman said that's your problem. For the money that I'm paying for this you're gonna do it like I want it done. Now I'm going down the street to get some flowers for George and I'll be gone five minutes and when I come back I want you to have George in a blue suit. Shoom! Gone. Five minutes later she ran back in, ran over to the coffin, looked down and George ahs a blue suit on. She turned to the fella and said I thought you said the stores were closed? And the fella said they are lady. She said well where did you get the blue suit from? Fella said well right after you left they brought in another Fella who'd split and he had a blue suit on so I figured that I'd dress him in George's brown and do George up in his blue. The lady said but I was just gone five minutes, how'd you change the suits so fast? Fella said I didn't change the suits lady I switched the heads."

"What I had in mind mentioning was an incident that took place recently when I was returning from Chicago by train. And I got on the train and I just fell out in the seat there. And I noticed that the woman across from me in the aisle had her baby with her. Ugly baby. Ugly baby. For the other end of the coach comes this guy and he was very drunk and he was staring at the baby. And the woman heard him when he said to her under his breath, "Damn." And she turned to him, she said, 'what the hell are you looking at?" And the guy said, "I'm looking at that ugly baby. That's a horrible looking baby lady. Where'd you get that baby from?" And the woman said, "I don't have to take that!" And she snatched the emergency cord and the train came to a screeching halt, and the conductor came running in, now this was his moment, at this moment he represented the Pennsylvania Railroad. And he said, "what's going on here?" And the woman said, "this man just insulted me. I don't have to spend my money and ride this railroad and be insulted. I'd rather walk." And the conductor said, "calm down! Calm down! Madame there's nothing, nothing that the Pennsylvania Railroad will not do to avoid having situations such as this. Perhaps it would be more to your convience if we were to rearrange your seating let you sit somewhere else in the coach. And as a small compensation from the railroad, if you will accompany me to the dining car we are going to give you a free meal, and may be we'll find a banana for your monkey."

Jokes from the Incomparable
REDD FOXX

1. Listen I'm gonna show you how you can make a story out of a sentence by leaving one word off each time. Here's the sentence:

Oh, George, let's not park here.
Oh, George, let's not park.
Oh, George, let's not.
Oh, George, let's!
Ooh, George!
Oooh!

2. I want to mention World War II, because a lot of you know that I was a hero. Wasn't easy though, backing up. I backed up so far in one battle, I bumped into a general. He said, "Why are you running?" I said, "I'm running because I can't fly!"

3. My great-great-grandfather Redd Foxx the 1st- don't laugh friends, I can trace my family back all the way back to Columbus-got a brother living in Cleveland. My great-great-grandfather was on of the first politicians in Mississippi. He ran for the border-and made it!

4. What's the difference between a goldfish and a mountain goat? A goldfish likes to muck around the fountain.

5. What's the difference between a peeping Tom and a pickpocket? A pickpocket snatches watches.

6. I was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Used to wake up buck naked and put my knife on. But that's a lie they all tell about black people. Say all black people carry knives. I'm gonna tell you the truth. It's a lie cause I've been carrying an ice pick for thirty-two years.

7. During depression time we had it rough back there. Christmas 1931 our landlady got put out. My grandmother was standing by the stove fixin' to cook in case anything came. My grandfather was in the backyard trying to catch a gopher with his crutch. And they called my grandmother and said, "Helen the garbage man is here!" She's yell, "Tell him to leave three cans!"

Nipsey Russell
The Poet Laureate of Comedy

What were you doing at the age of six? While most young boys were outside getting their pants dirty, a young Nipsey Russell was onstage crafting his show business career. Acting as emcee for a children's troupe in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, Nipsey was singing, dancing, and acting before he knew how to do anything else. Except maybe, writing poetry. It was in college at the University of Cincinnati where he earned his B.A. in English and truly discovered his poetic brilliance. During the late 1940's and early 50's, Nipsey honed his famed one liners in the black comedy clubs in the Midwest and East Coast. Eventually he was booked at the Apollo Theater which began his rise to fame. But it was a 1959 appearance on Jack Paar's Tonight Show that later led to a supporting role on the 1961 sitcom Car 54, Where Are You?, and regular guest spots on TV talk and game shows, where his witty quips and impromptu limericks earned him national super stardom and the title "The Poet Laureate of Comedy".

Ain't Ghana Eat

An African delegate was driving
Along Highway One, between Baltimore
And Washington, D.C., and stopped at a restaurant to dine.
When he entered, they told him
They didn't serve blacks. The delegate,
Flustered with embarrassment, pulled up
All his dignity and said in a loud voice,
"I'm the African from Ghana."
The waitress looked him straight in the eye and said,
"Well you ain't Ghana eat here!"

Still A Nigger

A guy sitting in bus station notices a scale
That tells your weight and your fortune.
He goes up to the scale, steps on,
And drops a coin into the slot.
A little card comes out. It reads,
"You weigh 150 pounds, you are a Negro,
and you're on your way to Chicago."
The man is surprised that he's been identified
As a Negro, so he tries it again.
And again the card comes out and reads,
"You weigh 150 pounds, you are a Negro,
and you are on your way to Chicago."
The guy is amazed.
He sees an old Indian sitting all wrapped up in a blanket,
So he goes over, borrows the blanket and wraps it around himself
As disguise.
He sticks a feather in his hair,
Goes back to the scale and deposits another coin,
This time it reads, "You still weigh 150 pounds,
You're still a nigger, and by f**cking around, you've missed your bus to Chicago."

"Old man say to me: 'When I was a boy, I used to live in the country.' Damn, when you was a boy, everybody lived in the country!"

"There ain't nothing an old man can do for me except bring me a message from a young one."

"A woman is a woman until the day she dies, but a man's a man only as long as he can."

Born Loretta Mary Aiken on March 19, 1894 in Transylvania County, North Carolina, Moms Mabley began her show business career at the age of 14 when she appeared in a Henry Bowman and Tim Moore sketch entitled "The Sick Aunt From Utah." Young Loretta soon adopted a stage name, that of boyfriend, Jackie Mabley. Her quick wit rapidly led to her success as a solo stand-up comedienne in a time when such an act was unheard of. Jackie played most everywhere on the black theater circuit, and at the height of her career she earned as much as $10,000 a week at Harlem's Apollo Theatre.

After a while the "mainstream" caught on and Moms found acceptance by both black and white audiences and even playing Carnegie Hall. No one seems to know for sure how Jackie picked up the nickname "Moms," but it stuck early in her career. It may have been her tendency to mother the male members of vaudeville shows. In her later years, Moms performed at the Chicago Playboy Club in 1961 and went on to mainstream TV variety appearances on programs hosted by Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Flip Wilson, the Smothers Brothers, and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Loretta May Aiken - Moms Mabley died on May 23, 1975, in White Plains, New York at the age of 81.

"If you keep doing what you always did, you'll keep getting what you always got!"

In a career that spanned six decades, from Vaudeville, to records, to television, Pigmeat Markham was the King of Comedy before Steve, D.L., Bernie, or Cedric were a twinkle in their parents eye.

Born Dewey Markham on April 18, 1904 in Durham, North Carolina, Pigmeat Markham got his nickname from a song in his act called “Sweet Papa Pigmeat”. He started entertaining in 1917 at the age of thirteen when he danced on the southern “ra

ce” circuit with Bessie Smith and later appeared on burlesque bills with such comedy legends as Milton Berle, Red Buttons, and Eddie Cantor.

In the 50’s while playing such night clubs and theatres as the Regal in Chicago, The Howard in Washington, and of course the Apollo, Markham became one of Black America’s most popular entertainers. By 1968 he had signed with the famous Chicago blues record label Chess, and recorded what would later become a top 20 hit “Here Comes The Judge.”

Pigmeat Markham has made several appearances on television including a number of hilarious and memorable spots on The Ed Sullivan Show. Pigmeat Markham died December 13, 1981.

Markham starred in several films in the 1940’s
including “House-Rent Party” in 1946.

Hear ye, hear ye, the court of swing It's just about ready to do that thing I don't want no tears,

This Judge is hip, and that ain't all, He'll give you time if you're big or small

All in line for this court is neat Peace brother, here comes the Judge Here comes the Judge!

Because I am the judge and you can plainly see I wanna big 'round table when I get there.

I won't sit down to one that's square I wanna lay down the law to them that brought it!

“ I is your next door neighbor Order in this courtroom! Order in this courtroom!”