Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Cosby Kids
Comments on "Childhood" by Bill Cosby
I have discovered something. Bill Cosby is a performer, not a writer. I found his book "Childhood" at the library the other day, and figured it would be a fast, good, funny read.
Well, it was fast.
Most of the content of this book is reminiscences of Cosby's own childhood in inner-city Philadelphia. It was fun to see the kind of area I usually shy away from portrayed as a magical wonderland, and to meet the real-life inspirations for such characters as Weird Harold and Fat Albert. But most of the anecdotes seemed to be pointless, or else cut short. Bill gets into a fight and is more terrified that his mom will be mad if he tears his pants than he is of the bully. He tears his pants and mom yells at him. So what?
But worse than that, Cosby just doesn't have a way with words in the written format like he does in live performance. I guess most of his appeal is the faces, expressions, and voices in his act. Too often he tries too hard to exaggerate for comic effect, and ends up just sounding stupid.
Here's a typical example of an anecdote from the book:
End of anecdote. First off, only an idiot would call a frog "marine life." Secondly, so what? Tell us the rest of the story! Besides your witty banter, what happened to the frog? Did the banter continue? Did your dad really punish you? Did you learn your lesson? It just feels like Cosby leaves us stranded in the middle of the story and stream-of-consciously moves to a new one.
Go to a Bill Cosby performance. Watch re-runs of "The Cosby Show." But don't read this book. Even though it's short and fast, it's not worth your time.
I have discovered something. Bill Cosby is a performer, not a writer. I found his book "Childhood" at the library the other day, and figured it would be a fast, good, funny read.
Well, it was fast.
Most of the content of this book is reminiscences of Cosby's own childhood in inner-city Philadelphia. It was fun to see the kind of area I usually shy away from portrayed as a magical wonderland, and to meet the real-life inspirations for such characters as Weird Harold and Fat Albert. But most of the anecdotes seemed to be pointless, or else cut short. Bill gets into a fight and is more terrified that his mom will be mad if he tears his pants than he is of the bully. He tears his pants and mom yells at him. So what?
But worse than that, Cosby just doesn't have a way with words in the written format like he does in live performance. I guess most of his appeal is the faces, expressions, and voices in his act. Too often he tries too hard to exaggerate for comic effect, and ends up just sounding stupid.
Here's a typical example of an anecdote from the book:
For some reason, things that had been endearing when done by Huck Finn lost their charm when done by me. Mark Twain would have appreciated my putting a frog in my father's milk, but my father did not care for a breakfast of marine life.
"There's a frog in my milk," he noted one morning. "Bill, you know
how a frog got into my milk?"
"They can really get around," I replied.
"And I wonder how you'll be getting around," he said meaningfully.
End of anecdote. First off, only an idiot would call a frog "marine life." Secondly, so what? Tell us the rest of the story! Besides your witty banter, what happened to the frog? Did the banter continue? Did your dad really punish you? Did you learn your lesson? It just feels like Cosby leaves us stranded in the middle of the story and stream-of-consciously moves to a new one.
Go to a Bill Cosby performance. Watch re-runs of "The Cosby Show." But don't read this book. Even though it's short and fast, it's not worth your time.
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