Customer Reviews

Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow Right!

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was Bill Cosby's very first album. It sold over a million copies, and the rest is history. Most of this material holds up well today, but the bits about athletes doing razor blade and hair tonic commercials are a bit dated. The absolute classic routines are the ones about Noah. This is a very funny album. Recommended to fans of classic comedy. Right!

Did you know that Bill Cosby's first 7 albums were all million sellers and that he had a top 10 novelty pop single in 1967 titled "Little Ole Man ( Uptight-Everything's Alright). This cd is one of those million sellers. Bill is also a cowboy/western movie aficionado and so am I. He produced a great western in the early 70's called "Man and Boy" which they show on the westerns channel periodically. Bill said his favorite cowboy was the late Joel McRae, I would've guessed Gary Cooper or Gene Autry or "The Bronze Buckaroo" Herb Jeffries, but Mr. McRae was a classic cowboy. This cd is a classic and a must own and thanks Bill for bringing attention to some important issues in the African American community-it's time for someone to speak up-Love ya brother!

This album is the beginning of Bill Cosby's show business career,recorded during the JFK era at the Bitter End in New York City. Some of the best bits are the Noah trilogy(tracks 4,5 and 6),TOSS OF THE COIN(track 2) and KARATE(track 12). SUPERMAN is quite humourous also. On HOOF AND MOUTH,Cosby tells about the Paul Newman movie "Hud" which was in theatres at the time of this recording. On KARATE,Cosby mentions Jell-O,which he would begin speaking for in 1974. At the time of recording,Cosby was dating Camille Hanks who would later become his wife. Great album!

I love the "Nut in every car!" "What I thought was a karate demonstation turned out to be two old ladies taking a seat from a whino!" Yes Bill you are a nut and the world is a better place because of it.

And by the way, "What is a cubit?" (Noah never does get an answer and this CD prompted me to go look it up.)

My parents owned this album, and multiple others. This one was one of the funnier ones with the Noah stories.

This early album from Bill Cosby was a warmup for the classics, like "Wonderfulness" and "Revenge" that would come later. Cosby was usually at his funniest as a standup comedian when talking about childhood, and there's not much of that this time around. Instead, most of the material is standard standup stuff, relationships, other drivers, etc., that have been well worn. The set piece to this recording, Cosby's three bits about Noah and the Ark, are mildly amusing, but don't have much of a payoff. Nevertheless, if you like Cosby's standup material, you will probably find this an enjoyable album.

Listening to any of Bill Cosby's comedies never cease to make me laugh no matter how many times I have submitted myself to his works. This album has always been a favorite of mine. My reasoning for this is quite simple although some may find its contents disrespectful due to his interpreting Moses' feelings, thoughts, and conversations with God in building the ark. But other than the religious ties that are mentioned, this album is still a thigh slapper in all aspects. Even if you don't beleive in religion, as ussual Cosby adds his own twist to life and everyday experiences to make them not only humorous but unique as well.

Okay, if you've heard this, you get the title. The very early Cos gives his then-unique style of monologue and comedy performances to various secens from everyday life and the movies. Even if you never saw "Hud," you cannot help but laugh at the bit with the cows conversing about hoof-and-mouth disease. The sound effects of Noah sawing during his talk with God is also a real knee-slapper, as well as the guy who tries to practice karate on a midget who threatens to "blow him in the kneecap" with his gun.

They key thing with this Cd is imagination. Before Cos settled into his current routines about family life, you'll see how varied his subject matter was in his early days. I would recommend this and "Wonderfulness" for Cosbyites.

Incidetally, another bonus point is that these routines are quicker and more concise than the overlong, rambling monologues that often marred the Cos' later work.

There's really nothing I can add to what has already been written about this album. I just love it. Cosby is in the same class as Monty Python and George Carlin; three very different but equally brilliant comedy acts. Here's all you really need to know about this cd: it's very, very funny.

Most comedians' first records sound dated or subdued. Not Bill Cosby, who took America by storm in the mid-Sixties as the more approacheable answer to Redd Foxx (and funnier, too). This is his first disc, and it's still brilliant: it hasn't dated in any real way, which is rare for comedy, and it has moments that are so explosively funny you can't even figure out why.

I mean, why should hair tonic or hoof-and-mouth disease be funny? Because Cosby knows how to look at it and find humor in it, and make it all make sense, that's why. Nichols and May were working in some of the same vein (and Cosby even credits them with a good deal of influence), but Cosby is more spontaneous, more flexible, and more interesting to listeners of all persuasions.

"...Funny Fellow" has some of Cosby's most timeless and penetrating material, especially the three-part "Noah" skit, which says at least as much about rebellion against God and social roles as it does anything else. The punchlines ("HOW LONG CAN YOU TREAD WATER?") have entered into the cultural consciousness.

"The Difference Between Men and Women" is also telling, because it allows him to make fun of sex roles without sliding into the marriage-is-one-great-big-pain p.o.v. that dominated and dragged down so much of his later material. "Karate" is a great showcase for his powers of mimicry and frantic delivery; "A Nut in Every Car" is still a valid piece of New York humor; and even a one-off like "Superman" is worth hearing.

Cosby excelled at delivering ordinary life in extraordinary ways (and not only that, but he did it in a G-rated way, which is saying something to this day). Anyone seriously interested in comedy or Cosby should or probably already has this record.