Bill Cosby, Himself

Rating:
Summary: Cool Cos
Review: A classic. While I'm very conservative about buying VHS/DVD's, this one is worth it. If you like Bill Cosby, this is a performance you can watch again and again.

His humor regarding raising his children is especially entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Himself?!? Draw Your Own Conclusion!
Review: A manic dialogue, combined with an irregular dose of hilarity performed in Bill Cosby fashion, makes for an interesting stand-up performance in this 1981 "concert" taped in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Bill lets loose a tongue galloping marathon bonanza, as he pulls no punches in describing such subject matter as dysfunctional families, independent toddlers, hillbilly rednecks, dentists, and many more. Expectant mothers and fathers-to-be are sure to get a hoot out of natural child birthing, which is explained in a way only Mr. Cosby can, bringing hilarious results, no doubt. Also, for educational purposes, there's "Say No To Drugs The Cosby Way" - he'll show you how to say no, all right!!! Bill also receives some good tips from his own children about what to eat for breakfast (this you gotta hear!), and the results may surprise you! As a result, Mr. Cosby hasn't lost his comedic touch, which means that "Bill Cosby, Himself" may be Bill's best stand-up work since his "Bill Cosby Is A Very Funny Fellow - RIGHT!" album (which features the equally hilarious, classic "Noah" skits). "Bill Cosby, Himself" definitely belongs in everyone's comedy library. A 1,000,001 laughs will be had by all who view it!

Rating:
Summary: Bill Cosby Runs The Gamut On His Family
Review: Bill Cosby delivers perhaps his funniest standup routine ever in this 1981 concert film.

After a surprisingly tacky take on drugs - saved by his sensational satire of an addict who goes to a fastfood restaurant - Bill does dead-on takes on getting drunk and going to see the dentist. He then launches into the film's running gag - family life. From a natural childbirth sketch that outdoes every such episode of any comedy series, Bill goes to the art of actually rasing children, and details the innocently vicious antics involved - such as scolding the son when he shaves his hair, dealing with a bratty four-year-old on a transcontinental flight, and how every night the wife turns into Xena The Warrior Princess when the kids turn bathtime into war.

But perhaps the funniest part comes when Bill reveals the "real" names of himself and his brother Russell (best known from the Fat Albert cartoon show based on Cosby's sketches) when they were kids. There is also the surprising concern of mothers when their sons are in automobile accidents.

Chances are you'll be unable to stop laughing at this stellar concert tape.

Rating:
Summary: Priceless!
Review: Bill Cosby is wonderfully funny. His humor is timeless, and this show is a sparkling example of a brilliant stand-up comedian at work. I've watched this on tape MANY times over the years, and, like wine, it just gets better with age -- I've realized that the more life experiences I gain, the more I laugh when I see "Himself". I loved the performance when I was in my 20s,and 30s, and now my 40s. My husband I have commented that while all the routines have always been very funny, they take on an entirely new dimension for us now that we're parents (literally making us laugh until we cry in parts). Mr. Bill Cosby is a comic genius and a national treasure. Here's hoping the studio will put this out on DVD soon!! If you haven't seen this show, or haven't watched it in a while, by all means treat yourself and WATCH IT! Bill Cosby "Himself" will make your day.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: I finally broke down and purchsed this tape after a lull of 20 years since I heard it last. Bill Cosby is hilarious and CLEAN (99% of the time), somewhat of an oddity in today's stand-up world. The content of the tape will have you rolling for days, as Bill creates excellent archetypes to which we can all relate. His "I don't know!" portion is especially entertaining!

The only complaint I have is the tape quality. Perhaps someone at 20th Century Fox could step up to the plate and get this presentation cleaned up and digitized onto DVD to help out. My copy is brand new, but the sound and video still suffers somewhat (original recording in 1981 I think). Other than that, this is tape is a GREAT gift idea; highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The modern king of comedy at his funniest
Review: I still have vivid memories of being a kid and hearing Bill Cosby do his The Dentist sketch on a show called Solid Gold. It was easily the funniest thing I had ever heard in my life, and I went around telling everyone just how hilarious Bill Cosby was. At the time, I only knew Cosby from his Picture Pages segments on Captain Kangaroo and the Fat Albert cartoons, and I actually felt like some type of visionary when a little television vehicle called The Cosby Show debuted soon thereafter based to a large degree on the comedy you will find on both the album and video of Bill Cosby, Himself. A few of the skits in this performance were translated almost directly to the screen in the show's first few episodes.

The Bill Cosby, Himself video is hilarious; I still laugh every time I watch it, no matter how many times I've heard the routines. There was a time when I practically had The Dentist memorized, but I still love to hear it (and I felt privileged indeed to hear that story told again on the occasion I had to see Cosby perform live some years after this video came out). Cosby's humor resonates so well with audiences because he is describing and joking about things we all know and understand to some degree. He doesn't need to use foul language or tell dirty jokes in order to reach his audience. He comes in, sits in a plain old chair in front of the live audience at Toronto's Hamilton Place Performing Arts Center, and just starts talking about the humorous things in life. The audience feels as if Cosby is one of them, and the connection between audience and comic is immediate and powerful.

The comic material on Bill Cosby, Himself, deals primarily with family life - marriage, children, etc. He makes the birth of his first child a hilarious journey into the delivery room, explains that parents age and lose a lot of their intellect because of the brain damage that characterizes all of their children, explains how differently his parents treat his own children compared to the way they treated him, offers a wonderful illustration of the talent fathers have of getting out of doing things, and describes quite vividly some of the antics of his own five children over the years. He also describes the typical weekend activities of people who go out drinking and questions just how hangovers and nausea can be considered essential parts of "having a good time."

Bill Cosby knows people, and he knows what will make them laugh; he is also one of the greatest storytellers in the world. He is at his funniest on this video, and I really can't imagine there is anyone out there who would not enjoy watching Bill Cosby, Himself. This is comedy at its very best.

Rating:
Summary: Laugh till you cry with Cosby's timeless takes on life
Review: If you have seen this one, you know how devestatingly hillarious it is. Bill Cosby takes the everyday occurrances of life and presents it in such a way that you cannot help but roar with laughter. There is something for everyone to relate to in his routine. It is as if he holds up a mirror which reflects both the light-hearted and the serious events in our lives, but with a filter that lets us see it in oh so humorous a way! From his animated depictions of "natural child birth" to the difficulties of a person who has overindulged at the bar, Cosby takes the events that are seemingly too intense to discuss publically and tells them in the full light of the stage. He unveils the truths in our lives by telling the tales of his life in quasi-fictional fashion. What makes this comedy routine stand out, is that it does not use profanity or vulgarity as a comedic tool, and yet it doubles you over with laughter.

Rating:
Summary: Avid Cosby Fan
Review: In this video, Bill has the innate ability to take everyday life occurances and routine things that we normally take for granted, and through his own personal experiences, bring them to light in the most hilarious way! I've seen this video 6 times, and it just gets funnier every time! Great entertainment for friends & family. My favorite parts are the 'Dentist Chair', 'Doing Drugs', and his 'Wife in labor'. This is a must-have classic for your library!!! Watch out though, the first time you watch it, you'll be laughing so hard you'll be crying and your ribs will ache the rest of the night!

Rating:
Summary: Cosby comes alive on stage and screen
Review: Silly Bill Cosby comes alive on stage in Ontario,Canada and on movie screens almost everywhere. The opening theme song is entitled IT WAS A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME. First,Cosby talks about drugs. Normally,he's no trashmouth but he does mention once and only once the vulgar slang word for "anus","rectum","idiot" and "jerk". Then he talks about dentistry,the subject that opens the soundtrack album which is entitled THE DENTIST. "Dentists tell you not to pick your teeth with any sharp metal object.",he tells his audience. Then,there's what's entitled on the album,NATURAL CHILDBIRTH. Cosby tells about pregnancy,the joyous aftermath and what his wife Camille went through when she was pregnant with the Cosbys' first child. "You just had a lizard!",Bill tells Camille after the birth. The audience breaks into uproarious laughter. Then there's Cosby's definition of BRAIN DAMAGE,which is disobedience and immediate forgetfulness. A child is told by an adult not to do something then when the adult turns his/her back and turns it around again,the child is caught violating. The adult asks the child,"If you were told not to do it,then why did you do it?" The child answers,"I don't know!" That subject is carried over into what's entitled KILL THE BOY. The boy is Cosby's now-deceased son Ennis. Bill comes home from a tennis game and Camille tells him,"I want you to go upstairs and kill that boy!". Bill tells Ennis,"Your mother sent me here to kill you!" What motivated this? Ennis gave himself a haircut. Bill asked Ennis,"What happened to your hair?". Ennis said "I don't know!". Then Bill asks,"Was your head with you all day today?". Ennis said "Ah-hah!". Then Bill asks,"Did you cut your hair off?". Ennis replies,"Ah-hah!". "Why didn't you tell me that then?". Ennis replied,"I don't know!". Another funny moment in the Cosby household was when Camille wanted Bill to cook breakfast for the couple's five children. Bill reluctantly complied with Camille's order after being threatened with a shotgun and a bucket of ice water. So he proceeds with a frying pan and,as he tells in an angry tone,the damn bacon,sausage and the("you have to be careful with")eggs. The Cosbys' youngest child,then-age 4,spotted chocolate cake. She asked her father if she could have some of the cake. The other four children decide to have the same thing after seeing the 4-year-old eating it. That relieved Bill from the duty of cooking. They were all happy eating the cake and listening to music until an angry Camille came along and shouted,"WHERE DID YOU GET CHOCOLATE CAKE FROM?". Bill replied,"THEY ASKED FOR IT!". One of the children then said,"We asked for eggs and milk and Dad made us eat this!". Bill then tells about the nightly routine in the Cosby household entitled SAME THING HAPPENS EVERY NIGHT. After dinner Camille tells the children,"Go upstairs,take off all your clothes,get into the shower,use the soap and shampoo,rinse yourselves off,dry yourselves off,get into your pajamas and go to sleep. Now if you do as I say,there will be no beatings!" However,there's a scuffle between Ennis and his two younger siblings. The youngest one feared she'd be blinded for life because shampoo has run from her hair into her eyes. This scenario has been re-enacted in the premiere episode of NBC's "The Cosby Show" in 1984. Angry Camille then grabs a yardstick and according to Bill,"holds it like a Samaurai warrior". Camille announces,"THE BEATINGS WILL NOW BEGIN!". Then Bill talks about grandparenthood,entitled THE GRANDPARENTS. Bill of course is referring to his mom and dad and Camille's mom and dad. Bill's mother was an authority on pigsties. All she had to do was find a shoe lying upside down in a room and to her that room was the filthiest she had ever seen,according to Bill. Bill's dad would fart and shift the blame to "invisible animals". The soundtrack album is on the Motown label. A must for all Bill Cosby fans.

Rating:
Summary: Unintentionally Funny
Review: While the main goal is making the viewer laugh, some parts are eerily funny and cryptic. The film starts out with an hilariously bad song called "It Was A Good Idea At The Time" then the comedy gets underway. At one point Bill jokes on his now-dead son, Ennis. Ennis was being naughty so Bill jokes that Camille wants Bill to "kill the boy...hehehe, kill the boy." Then Bill adds, "...so I go upstairs to kill my son." Morbid, given what would occur nearly 20 years later.