Customer Reviews

I Started Out As a Child

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This, Cosby's second album, deals with his childhood and the fun he had. Listen to him recall playing street football, owning a pet rhinocerous, going through his drunken father's pants for change...There are also more contemporary situations: He talks about being a medic in the Navy, playing football on TV, and he discusses on the sickness of witnessing dead people in open caskets. For pure sillyness, he does a clever spoof of "The Lone Ranger".

This album by Bill Cosby was released in 1964. It consists of 15 short routines (the album is only 30 minutes long). Cosby is always funny, but this album is a bit less funny than usual. Probably because the routines are so short, they don't have time to build. Some of that may be the fault of whoever edited the album, because there seem to be a lot of abrupt cuts during the performance. But Cos is still funny, especially when talking about his childhood. The "Street Football" routine is a classic. Fans of Cos will dig it.

With that out of the way, my favorite is the street football. I mean kids now-a-days are stuck inside watching TV. No one lets their kid catch the "J" street bus and have them open the doors at Nineteeth street for the fake. So in some ways life has gone on and left this era behind. But the stories are still great.

He really did capture the rain loving of Seattle. The feel of new sneakers. And yes some of the other CD's have longer stories but I loved them all this CD included.

Every track on this recording will make you laugh out loud -- guaranteed. I even caught what I hope was an affectionate echo of Cosby's "Oops!" routine in the movie "Independence Day" when it came out a couple of years ago. Just goes to show that classics live forever.

I haven't recieved the CD yet but I have this on the old record.
I found it absoultly the best in comedy.

I STARTED OUT AS A CHILD was released nearly a year after Bill Cosby's debut album BILL COSBY IS A VERY FUNNY FELLOW RIGHT! The back cover of the LP and the CD booklet says "Laugh with the funniest". These 15 routines were recorded in or around 1964 at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago. First Bill tells about SNEAKERS. He says his friend Rudy was the only guy he knew who then owned a pair of sneakers. Then there are Bill and his buddies playing STREET FOOTBALL. THE WATER BOTTLE is about a water bottle kept in the Cosby family's refrigerator. He says "When nobody's home,you never do that." He refers to drinking out of the bottle instead of out of a glass. CHRISTMAS TIME is about Bill and his brothers anxiously awaiting the annual arrival of Santa Claus. OOPS! is about hospital surgeons making mistakes. THE LONE RANGER is of course about the popular television show and/or movie. T.V. FOOTBALL is about Cosby's Temple University football team about to play on live television. He said every team member signs an affidavit indicating they will not touch certain areas of their bodies while on the field. Cosby tells a similar story later on the WHY IS THERE AIR? album. All the other routines are great. This album was originally released in late 1964 in both mono and stereo. Single speaker phonographs were still being manufactured back then.

On this album, Bill Cosby was just beginning to perfect his storytelling standup comedian style. The stories here are shorter than the ones he would tell later on and cover a wider variety of topics. There isn't as much material covering COsby's best topic, childhood, and you get the sense that he was still in the process of finding his comedic voice. Stories like "Street Football," and "Lone Ranger," for example, are childhood musings in which Cosby talks about childhood rather reliving it as he does with his best routines. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of Cosby's old comic recordings, you will most likely still find plenty to enjoy here.

In my opinion, Bill Cosby hits his full stride in "I STARTED OUT AS A CHILD," the album named for the hilarious opening line of the first track. While one could see his potential in his first album, BILL COSBY IS A VERY FUNNY FELLOW RIGHT?, it is in this album that Bill first begins to explore topics concerning his childhood. In fact, the first half of the album is dedicated to such exploration; the second half is largely observational humor in the same style as his first album. The album would eventually go on to win the Grammy award for Best Comedy Album in 1964. It was well deserved.

The opening two tracks are my favorite tracks on the entire album: "Sneakers," in which Bill recalls the wonderful excitement of getting a pair of sneakers, and "Street Football," in which Bill describes a hilarious street football game and recalls the ridiculous plays a quarterback would call in the city. It still makes me laugh whenever I hear the line: "Cosby...you go down to third street...catch the "J" bus. Have them open the doors at thirteenth street...I'll fake it to you." Now, I can write out the line, but in order to do it justice, you just have to hear the absolutely perfect delivery that Cosby has. It is wonderful to listen to Bill develop his conversational style further, often leading into his bits with nothing more than "I remember when...". Bill Cosby is, perhaps, the best comedic storyteller of his generation.

But beyond his storytelling, Bill's observational humor is particularly sharp and, as always, timeless. "Oops" is a hilarious sketch that tries to imagine what a doctor says when he makes a mistake like the rest of us. "The Lone Ranger," a hilarious montage about the old radio drama, makes me laugh even though I've never heard the original program! Bill manages to setup all of his jokes without my knowing anything about the show he is referring to! Another interesting thing to mention about this sketch is that it is his complete bit about the Lone Ranger. I had originally heard this sketch on a different collection, but this particular track contains two extra minutes of material. The rest of the bit is hilarious.

"Medic" is one of the few bits inspired by his time in the Navy and explores the precarious life of a wartime medic. "T.V. Football" is an early rendition of a piece that would later appear on several live albums and collections. The piece is about when he was on the football team and was instructed not to touch "certain areas of your body" because the game was televised. Hilarity ensues after Bill takes a hard shot to a particularly sensitive area of the body. While the piece is undeveloped here, it is interesting to listen to how Bill massages the bit over time, eventually arriving at a hilarious routine.

All in all, Bill's second attempt in "I STARTED OUT AS A CHILD" is much stronger than his first. The audience appeal is much wider, ensuring that there is something for everyone. One only wishes that the album were longer so that Bill could develop his work even further. His next two albums would increase in length, from the thirty short minutes of this album, to forty minutes on his next attempt, all the way up to forty seven minutes by his fourth album. As the album length grew, Bill's style really began to shine. No longer did a bit have to be squeezed into a one to two minute window. Still, it is interesting to see the doctor of comedy at work in this shortened format. I highly recommend "I STARTED OUT AS A CHILD" to any fan of Bill's work or to anyone that enjoys stand-up albums. If you like good storytelling, you can't get better than this.

Recently my 16-yr-old son has been performing stand-up at school & local functions. It brought back to mind those heady days of of late 60s and early 70s when, as a kid, I would entertain my friends with routines stolen from the best. Upon reflection I realized they were all from Cosby. I immediately ordered all the items I had as a kid (whatever happend to those albums anyway?) and was entertained all over again. Cos's stories lose no humor over the years, and his lack of obsenities are a refreshing break from most of today's comedians.
His childhood memories are classic and easily enjoyed by those younger. And eave it to Cos to find humor in the war in "Medic."

I am 42, and my sister and I played this record and all of our parents' Bill Cosby records in the early 1970s over and over til we wore them out. We can still recite every routine word for word. I bought this and several CDs for me and for my older daughter 11, now 12 last christmas. Every track from 5 albums is now on her ipod, and she and my 8 year old listen, and act out all the tracks. I love the digital age. I still laugh till I cry while listening, and now I'm laughin with my kids!!!