Bill Cosby, Himself

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.


You will laugh so hard you will cry!!!   December 22, 2004
S. M. Anderson (Lithia Springs, GA)
46 out of 46 found this review helpful

I was so happy to find out this was coming out on DVD. I owned the video of this and watched it so much I ended up wearing the tape out. This to me is Bill Cosby at his stand up best. After all these years I still find myself laughing hard, with tears running down my face like it's the first time I've seen his performance. Bill Cosby is an awesome story teller. Hiss set is simple. The stage, and a chair. He tells a story and he really has something to talk about. Unlike some of the comedians to today that cuss to fill in the space where they ran out of things to say. Bill Cosby knew how to be funny without all the foul language.

I love it when he talks about his wife going into labor and grabbing his bottom lip and lifting it over his head screaming "I want morphine!!!!!" "Mom can't have drugs; the father can have all the drugs he wants." He talks about how his parents want to get into heaven and treats the grandchildren better then they treated him as a child. Brain damaged children, feeding chocolate cake to the children for breakfast. How fathers are more fun then Moms because fathers are allowed to have gas. The Baby poo poo. He talks about being high and laughing for no reason. Drugs and paranoia, Getting drunk, going to the Dentist. Brain Damaged children saying "I don't know" when you ask them a question.

You can appreciate the material because you can relate to it. Some of what Bill talks about you may have experience yourself, and now you can laugh about it if you did not laugh about it before. Granted the sound quality is not the best, but considering this was taped in 1982 you can't really be too upset. Just turn up the volume and enjoy!!! This is a wonderful, wonderful DVD you should own to round out your stand up comedy collection. You will watch this over and over, and laugh each time you view this DVD.



Proof that comedy today has lost something   October 14, 2001
S. Lawrenz (Milwaukee, WI)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

Being a guy who sometimes stays up late on Friday nights, I see a lot of comedians on those 2a.m. shows that run comedian after comedian. Almost every one them tells tasteless jokes, filled with comments about (bad) intimacy with the girlfriend or specific bodily functions. The tasteful comedian is a dying breed it seems. Humor has descended to its lowest common denominator.

Bill Cosby, Himself is great proof that you don't have to be tasteless and obscene to be funny. His comedy is clean, and has always been, which makes him a breed of performer I find to be very rare in today's market. It is this fact, and the fact that he somehow is able to capture life in its truthfulness and bring out the humor in it that makes him among the best comedians of the past 50 years.

For me, a guy who's had extensive dental work done, every time I see the dentistry bit, I can't stop laughing. He had it, right down to the sound of the pick on the teeth and the drill slipping. It wasn't funny when I was having it done, but Cosby somehow can bring it out. This is where his comic genius shines.

Cosby really is a genius. If you haven't seen this, it's definitely worth a look, as is just about any stand-up he's done.


Laugh till you cry with Cosby's timeless takes on life   December 17, 2000
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

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.


What a hilarious classic. Great Job, Mr. Cosby!   January 28, 2000
Renate Reichenbacher (Maine, USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

This video had me cracking up numerous times. This complete andunabridged version of his 1982 concert from Toronto, Canada is a truelaugh riot as opposed to the purely laughable CD album version, with only 7 cut and edited routines. I had it, and now I've sold it, I have chosen to keep this video for good. The first few times I viewed this hilarious classic, I couldn't believe "The Cos" would actually use "Carlin and Diceman"-style terminology like "Jesus Christ", "Dammit" (not really that bad by today's comedy standards), and even "A**hole". Whoah Mama! Anyway, his take at the beginning on people using drugs and alcohol freely are knee-slapping humorous, as well as the section on his own parents becoming grandparents to he and his wife's five children. And speaking of his wife, oh wow, I really hope that she's not the vicious harpy that Bill jokingly protrays her to be. This video is great, I treasure it's presence, I like to watch it every week or so. A true comedy legend has been showcased tremendously well, and I certainly hope Mr. Cosby eventually re-releases his catalog of rare and obscure comedy recordings from the late '60's, '70's, and mid '80's. I look forward to that, I hope it's done. See this video, you'll enjoy it immensely!