The Cosby Show kicked off the following year. I wouldn't be surprised if this production encouraged the network to put more effort into The Cosby Show.
As a stand-up routine, it doesn't lend itself to reviewing in a typical way. The direction is focused almost solely on him, and there's very little to distract. He has a chair to sit in. He's holding a microphone. No stand. There's a solid backdrop, which is lit with a solid color during different sequences. Most of the time, that lighting is cued to a change in subject or a particular line that changes the mood.
Cosby is a fascinating comic. He's been spoofed so much since he disappeared from the public eye that it's hard to remember what he's actually like. He's charismatic. It's hard to look away from him, especially in the moments between jokes. His movements come across so deliberate, that even when he moves in slow motion, he remains compelling the entire time.
His act is remarkable, and plays less like a routine, and more like an extended conversation. He moves between subjects effortlessly, and there never feels like an obvious end point for a "bit." Phrases that have been established earlier like "brain damage" or "I don't know" reappear later, in other stories, giving the whole work a very cohesive feel.
While I had heard the audio of this show during family trips, there are many sequences I don't remember at all. Time has changed the feeling of some of these segments. In particular, there's a segment toward the end, which he calls "Same Thing Happens Every Night." During this, he talks about the post-dinner ritual of getting the children set for bed. And how they invariably misbehave, necessitating "a beating." The tone of this isn't very…modern.
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