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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cosby's first is still brilliant., September 14, 2001
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.
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