While a high school student back in Louisville, KY, in the early ’60s, I used to watch The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson just about every night in the summer, when I could sleep late the next day. When Carson first took over The Tonight Show in late 1962, the show came on the air about 11:20 p.m. (Eastern Time), after the nightly local news, and didn’t end until 1 a.m.
I remember well some of those comics that Carson had on, like Buddy Hackett and Bob Newhart. But the one who made the biggest impression on me was Bill Cosby, who sprang onto the scene in 1963 with his routine about street football in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Cosby started the routine by describing “the greatest quarterback in the world,” the guy who had to control 23 players on a side and design plays around the various impediments in a busy downtown neighborhood.
Part of it went like this…
Here’s a guy with an ingenious mind. He’d call a football play like this….”Now, listen to this, now. Uh, Arnie, go down, uh, ten steps and cut left behind the black Chevy. Filbert, you run down to my house and wait in the living room. Cosby, you go down to 3rd Street, catch the J bus. Have him open the doors at 19th Street. I’ll fake it to you. They always have one fat kid they never throw it to, says, “What about me?” He says, “You go long.”
I thought that was about the funniest routine I ever heard, and I marveled at this African-American comic who played football at Temple University and then had gone into stand-up comedy.
That routine — and others — propelled Cosby to stardom, and he went on to have a sensational TV career, as well as continuing to do stand-up comedy and issue record albums.
Then, in recent years — in the twilight of his career — came the allegations that he sexually assaulted many women, mostly after inviting them over for a drink and mixing quaaludes into the drinks.
All of a sudden, Cosby went from being a funny guy and a legendary comic to a suspected sexual predator.
Bill Cosby, on Wednesday in Pennsylvania (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The nadir came today, when a heavy-jowled, sad-eyed Cosby was led into court in a Philadelphia suburb to be arraigned on a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault, dating to a 2004 incident. The complainant, a 42-year-old Canadian named Andrea Constand, alleges Cosby assaulted her at his home in a suburb north of Philadelphia.
The New York Times described Cosby’s arrival at the courthouse…
Carrying a cane and stumbling slightly along the way, he walked past the flashing bulbs and ignored shouted questions from reporters lined up behind barricades before entering the courthouse.
Judge Elizabeth McHugh ordered him to surrender his passport and to avoid contact with Ms. Constand, reporters inside the courtroom said.
Judge McHugh concluded the proceeding after about 15 minutes by saying “good luck to you, sir,” to which he replied “thank you,” a reporter in the courtroom said. He will remain free on bail of $1 million.
Constanc
Although the allegations started coming several years ago, a comic named Hannibal Buress deserves a lot of credit for paving the way for what happened today in Pennsylvania.
In October 2014, Buress — who, like Cosby, is black — called Cosby “a rapist” in a performance in Cosby’s hometown.
Burress said…
And it’s even worse because Bill Cosby has the fucking smuggest old black man public persona that I hate. ‘Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches. ‘I don’t curse on stage.’ Well, yeah, you’re a rapist, so, I’ll take you sayin’ lots of motherfuckers on Bill Cosby: Himself if you weren’t a rapist.”
Ripping Cosby publicly took a lot of guts, even though several women had already filed civil lawsuits against Cosby.
Hannibal Buress
Buress, though, has shown he doesn’t hold back on anybody. At a roasting of Justin Bieber earlier this year, Buress, standing several feet from a seated Bieber, said: “I don’t like you at all … I’m just here because it’s a really good opportunity for me. I hate your music. I hate your music more than Bill Cosby hates my comedy.”
He was smiling when he said that, but it was clear he was saying what he felt. Discombobulated, Bieber smiled awkwardly and self-consciously…A nice bit, indeed.
**
I noticed that when he arrived at the courthouse today, Cosby was wearing a handsome, black-white-and-gray-flecked hoodie, which appeared to be cashmere. Must have cost at least $500.
Even though Cosby lives a high-end lifestyle and can afford the finest and most expensive apparel, I find it comforting that a fancy hoodie doesn’t count for much when a rich guy with a big ego is charged with a felony that may land him in prison. He’ll look just right in black and white stripes, or orange, or whatever colors the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections puts him in.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
The entire situation makes me sad and very tired. And the guy that roasted Justin Bieber, who is barely an adult, what an asshole. He makes me sad and tired too.
I really don’t know anything about Buress; I am glad he called out Cosby, though.
Jim:
It doesn’t matter how rich and famous you are, does it? Life can catch up with you. I am certainly not forgiving Bill Cosby on assaulting 57 women, as reported, but why in the hell did the first one, Andrea Constand, an intelligent, educated woman, accept those pills Cosby offered her? Anyone knows better than to take pills from someone else, unless they are aspirin or Tylenol. She is guilty, too, and stupid. She should never have accepted his offer to meet at his home–anywhere else but. But strangely, that was 10 years ago. How Bill Cosby’s wife continues to stand by him and hold her head up, is mind boggling.
Happy New Year!
laura
Two excellent points there, Laura…
Andrea is 42 now, so she was about 30 at the time of the incident…That’s old enough to know your way around and understand the hazard of taking pills offered by anybody. I think he told her it was herbal, but, in any event, she should have refused, as you suggest.
And why in the world his wife Camille would stay with him is a total mystery. Maybe it was the lifestyle and the money. Silence bought and paid for…She had to know he was “cheating” on her. Any good spouse keeps track of the comings and goings of his or her spouse. Cosby couldn’t possibly have hidden his activities from his wife, especially when most of the seducing/assaulting was going on in their house.
…I also think Hillary should have dumped Bill, who is definitely a serial cheater. I’d think a lot more of her integrity if she would have slapped divorce papers on him and would vote for her, virtually without qualms. As it is, I’ll vote for her but not very enthusiastically.
Happy New Year to you, too, Laura…I was with an old Star reporter today — David Chartrand — and we got to checking on Tom Eblen’s Facebook page. I guess he celebrated a birthday anniversary recently. I’m glad he’s still with us, after all he’s been through.
Jim,
Karma, as they say, is a bitch. Remember John Demjanjuk, the alleged Nazi prison guard? How many decades passed before the bill came due?
As a former courts reporter in East St. Louis and Belleville, Ill.,I will withhold judgment until the facts are presented in a court of law. So far, all I have heard are allegations. Still, I acknowledge that it doesn’t look good for Mr. Cosby.
Cosby is hardly alone in his habits of exploiting his celebrity for sex. I can recall from my days in college on the convo committee and being regaled with the various outrageous demands celebrities made from the famous cartoonist who made it clear that an attractive escort should be available to a well known female journalist who made a similar request.
Then there was the sports legend who appeared at a corporate meeting. When the HR head (an attractive woman) was teased that the legend might need a zipper on both sides of his trousers she replied that there wasn’t a woman in the room, herself included, who didn’t have the legends handprint on their ass. And, who hasn’t heard of the many escapades that destroyed Arnold and Maria’s marriage, or Tiger’s, or the Kennedys’…
Between the starfuckers and those who are simply too intimidated (like Cosby’s many victims) to go public, there is little to fear from exposure, or accusations from an unknown when you have a virtually unlimited capability to get your side of the story out. Who is willing to sacrifice the power of the presidency simply to accommodate a few of Bill’s rape victims? If Cosby is to go down for his transgressions, shouldn’t Bill also? But as even you point out Fitz, those allegations may dampen your enthusiasm for the Clintons, but not enough to vote for their opponents.
Jim:
Tom Eblen is a real trouper. He just keeps going. But he couldn’t do it without his loyal, loving wife, Jeannie, by his side every second.
All best,
Laura
Your disdain for Cosby…understandable. Your vote for Hillary…unforgivable
John and John: I washed my hands of Hillary after the email scandal, but then along came the Republican clown car…
;-)
Better a clown than a miscreant. Besides, there’s a clown (and that’s the nicest thing I can say) in there now, so what’s the difference?
Speaking of the most eloquent, reflective president we’ve had since Kennedy,
I just read an NYT story that says two laws championed by Obama increased the tax rate on the income of America’s 400 wealthiest taxpayers from 16.7 percent in 2012 to 22.9 percent in 2013. (We all like that, don’t we, Gayle?)
Those two laws: The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and the Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed into law in 2012.
Check it out..http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/upshot/thanks-obama-highest-earners-tax-rates-rose-sharply-in-2013.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Im pretty sure our next president — the miscreant? — will maintain the pressure to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, even though the Republican- and special-interest-controlled Congress won’t let it happen.
What you miss is that Deathcare has also raised the costs for insurance on tons of lower and middle class Americans, yielding a percentage increase that is far greater than that for the wealthy.
In addition, King Hussein has devastated the black midddle class, fomented racial discord and left millions of discouraged workers without the hope of a job and all while raising the number of people on food stamps to the highest level ever.
Not to mention how he has weakened us in the international arena.
And, JFK was eloquent. Obama is just verbose.