cos9 Originally uploaded by AccessWinnipeg
AccessWinnipeg.com reader vinnydisilvio sent us his Impressions of the Bill Cosby show that was in Winnipeg during Halloween. If you have any impressions of various shows/restaurants you see in Winnipeg and would like to do an article, please feel free to send them in and we’ll post them just like this!
Understand that I practically grew up watching The Cosby Show. My whole family was into it. I mean, I think I missed the pilot when it was originally on, but I’m pretty sure I saw all the other episodes. I also saw 2 of Bill Cosby’s stand-up concert videos. The dude is funny and he understands how families work.
So when I heard that Bill Cosby was coming to Winnipeg (incidentally, I heard about it first on AXS), it was everything I could do to stop myself from falling over. I bought the tickets almost immediately and waited anxiously for the day.
Well, Bill definitely didn’t disappoint. I’m not going to lie to you people, it wasn’t wall-to-wall, gutbusting hilarity. It’s not like that with the Cos. He does narrative comedy…it’s kind of like someone’s grandfather (he’s 71 now) sits down to tell you stories for a couple of hours and it’s really entertaining and funny.
Bill mostly did new stuff. When I say new…I really don’t know if it’s entirely new. I haven’t seen his stand-up act for a long time. But he did 95% stuff that I’ve never heard before. A large portion of the first half of his act was stuff about being a teenager. He talks about puberty openly like he experienced it yesterday. But he doesn’t just talk about what guys experience, he very openly talks about what his daughters went through. He mostly finds it funny that moms will often prepare their daughters for the “beauty” of womanhood, but then their daughter’s first experience with it doesn’t feel beautiful. I couldn’t believe he did it, because it’s actually a little risque to talk about, but it got huge laughs from the whole crowd.
He also talked a lot about marriage. He was very clear that it’s not that he discourages it, but he addressed all the young men in the audience when he said “you just need to have the full picture before you go for it!” He also talked about the story of creation from the Bible, but was very clear that he wasn’t talking about the Bible to “recruit” anyone, he just wanted to talk about his experience of reading it.
It’s impossible to re-tell any of Cosby’s “jokes” though. That’s actually one thing he jokes about. When someone’s act is that personal and that observational, you have to let it speak for itself. I will end with this though, it was pretty clear that everyone around me had a good time. I went to see Bill Cosby because I knew it would be funny but also because this may be my last chance to do so. If you get a chance to see him though, I say splurge. It’s worth every penny!
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