Bill Cosby Himself on DVD

Before he was famous as Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show, and infamous for speaking the truth about some of the problems in black society today, Bill Cosby was a comedian.

In the age of vinyl records and comedy albums from such contemporaries as Bob Newhart, Cosby came to fame for his take on such topics as Noah’s Ark, and his wry and often hilarious observations about life and family and growing up.

This is the Bill Cosby in Himself, a stand up show (mostly done sitting down) where he regales a Hamilton, Ontario, audience for nearly two hours with his take on life and family, boozers and druggies, and more. It’s very funny stuff and other than one cuss word near the beginning of the show (used appropriately, by the way) and a couple of others near the very end, it’s clean humor. And it’s safe to let the mild profanity slide by because of the context in which it’s used. This isn’t cussing for effect, or to be cool.

We watched Bill Cosby Himself from the perspective of parents, though we imagine kids would also enjoy large parts of it. But as parents we rolled on the floor over his descriptions of child birth and parenting, the husband and wife relationship, grandparents, and more – all delivered with Cosby’s trademarked sound effects, voice inflections and facial expressions.

It isn’t politically correct in this age in which we live under the influence of the thought and speech police, but that somehow makes it even better and more relevant today.

And it ties in nicely with his TV persona as patriarch of the Huxtable family, a gaggle seemingly drawn from the type of situations and the comedic mindset on display in this concert.

In short, Bill Cosby: Himself shows the comedian at his polished, insightful, and hilarious best.

We’d have loved to see some of his classic material, too, but perhaps that’s for another DVD down the road.

The DVD is presented in both anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, and Pan&Scan versions on opposite sides of the disc. We watched the widescreen side, though since it’s really just one man, a chair, and a microphone it’s probably safe to say that this is one of those rare instances where it probably doesn’t matter which one you choose.

The picture quality is okay. There’s plenty of grain, but the colors are good and it isn’t really as if this is the type of production that needs to leap out of the screen at you.

Audio is Dolby Digital mono and it’s fine.

There are no extras.

Bill Cosby Himself, from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
102 min, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1, 16x9 TV compatible)/ Pan&Scan (on the same disc), Dolby Digital mono

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