Cos & effect
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By BRAD GILLMAN
Standard-Examiner staff
"I have Bill Cosby on hold," said the voice on the phone.
He's supposed to take my call in a few days, but here he is, calling me.
I wasn't mentally ready, but honestly, I'd never be ready for the living legend.
It's Bill Cosby. Think. What's the first thing that entered your mind when you read that name?
Dr. Huxtable. Jell-O. Fat Albert. Noah.
Cosby's career spans some 45 years, with accomplishments in everything from stand-up comedy to jazz music.
For him, it all happened just like his second comedy album, "I Started Out As a Child."
"My mother was a very, very funny woman," Cosby said in a phone interview in advance of two sold-out shows in West Wendover, Nev. "Also, my paternal granddad Cosby, who was very, very religious but humorous with the Bible.
"There was humor in the home of the grandparents."
And they were excellent storytellers, too -- another skill Cosby inherited.
Those family traits asserted themselves during his tenure at Temple University. Cosby worked at a local bar to make ends meet, and he was able to perform a little comedy there.
"Then I get this call -- a calling," Cosby said.
The call was from friends who had been telling a club owner in New York about this funny guy named Bill Cosby. The owner wanted to give this fresh face an interview.
Of course, he got the job, he was paid $60 a week, and the rest is history.
Educated focus
Cosby has dedicated his life to learning -- and his doctorate in education is the proof.
That emphasis was planted by his mother. "It started with my mother reading to me and then me trying to write words, and then my success in elementary school," Cosby said.
"Then my throwing it away because I wanted to play. I threw it away."
That's right -- Bill Cosby was a high-school dropout.
Without a diploma, he joined the Navy. At that point, he started to discover the error of his ways. "I had really and truly compromised my intelligence," Cosby said.
So he got an equivalency diploma and went to college while playing two sports.
"I wanted to become a schoolteacher," Cosby said. "And I wanted to dedicate myself to grabbing the Bill Cosbys and giving them the information and turning them around."
Even when the comedy door opened, he maintained that vision.
"I never had a down moment," Cosby said. "So whatever I did, even with 'I Spy,' my consciousness with education was always there."
And the emphasis has shown in his work -- whether educating his fictional children on "The Cosby Show" or creating "Little Bill," an animated children's program currently on television.
"Little Bill" was never meant to sell toys, Cosby said, unlike characters on "Dora the Explorer" or "Sesame Street." "Dora's sold everything except her ear wax," he said.
A panel of educators serves as consultants for the program. And the theme is how to deal with real problems in a real setting: going to a new school or welcoming a baby into the household.
"Those are moments that you capture that writers and producers ... they don't have that fe this will work. They're afraid," Cosby said. "But doing 'Little Bill,' we're not. We're not afraid of those moments because we're not afraid of the children."
Tough love
The last few years have seen Cosby's name in the news, but not for his comedy. One example was his speech at a celebration honoring the 50-year anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, which ended school segregation.
He spoke sternly on the problems occurring with poor black children, such as teenage pregnancies and violence, and the need for parents to step up.
Cosby was applauded and also criticized. But he never backed down, even publishing a book last year on the topics, "Come On People: The Path From Victims to Victors" (Thomas Nelson, 2007).
"A lot of psychologists and psychiatrists will say 'Well, you're talking at them,' and I say 'You're darn right,' " Cosby said.
"I would rather yell at them. Make them mad, make them think."
For parents, he said, it all comes down to leading children with love and education.
The mantra for parents is this: "I'm going to do whatever I can to guide you toward the best life so that you can move on."
That mantra, Cosby says, seems alive and well in the Beehive State.
"What I love about Utah is, seemingly, it's strong on if you make a child, you raise that child with love and an understanding that you want the child to have a life of education," Cosby said.
"Now generally, that will lead to a disease called family -- which is wonderful."
The horizon
Stories have always driven his comedy. They've been the catalyst for many laughs.
There are no one-liners, no punch lines, but instead a journey he takes the audience through.
In the midst of that journey, he said, the audience relates to him. All ages can see themselves in those stories.
Cosby treated me to that same storytelling:
"I'm in Massachusetts and the sun is aiming itself toward that mountain. It's going to hide. And then when I drive over to the mountain, and go up over -- it won't be there.
"I don't know where it goes. So my wife said, 'Why don't you drive before it goes over there?' -- but I'm afraid.
"Because I don't know what's going to happen when I go over there."
MILESTONES
A sampling of Bill Cosby's works:
Albums
"Bill Cosby is A Very Funny Fellow ... Right!" -- 1963
"I Started Out As a Child" -- 1964
"Why Is There Air?" -- 1965
"My Father Confused Me ... What Must I Do?" -- 1976
"Bill Cosby: Himself" -- 1982
Television
"I Spy" -- 1965-1968
"The Bill Cosby Show" -- 1969-1971
"Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids" -- 1984-1992
"The Cosby Show" -- 1984-1992
"Cosby" -- 1996-2000
Books
"Fatherhood" -- 1986
"Time Flies" -- 1987
"Childhood" -- 1991
"I Am What I Ate ... and I'm Frightened!!!" -- 2004
"Come on People: On The Path From Victims to Victors" -- 2007
PREVIEW
WHO: Bill Cosby
WHEN: 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Peppermill Concert Hall, 300 Wendover Blvd., West Wendover, Nev.
TICKETS: Both shows are sold out. (866) 645-5849
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