Bill Cosby
2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday
Civic Center Music Hall
201 N. Walker
www.okcciviccenter.org
297-2264
$25-$50
The legendary Bill Cosby has nearly every credit imaginable.
There's books, like the best-selling "Fatherhood" and 2007's "Come on People!: On the Path from Victims to Victors," an exploration and commentary on race and culture in America; dozens of albums, including comedy and music releases; and scores of awards: Emmys, Grammys, a Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and even a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
And there's television, which Cosby has helped define with roles on the hits "I Spy," "The Electric Company," "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" and "The Cosby Show."
He has been "? and still is "? everywhere, including the Internet, where he's an active Twitter, Facebook and MySpace entity, and on your phone through the Bill Cosby and OBKB iPhone apps, which connect fans with the comedian and his latest broadcasts, which include the Jell-O -sponsored "OBKB" show, wherein Cosby interviews young kids.
Despite being tailored to the small, small screen, Cosby said "OBKB," which also plays at www.ustream.tv, is shot professionally with three cameras, and doesn't have the stripped-down quality rampant among Web and mobile programming.
"It's called production," Cosby said. "You're gonna be able to plug this in and put it up on your TV set, and it looks like a TV show."
Like other well-known entertainers, Cosby "? who performs twice Sunday at Civic Center Music Hall "? said he enjoys the immediate interaction brought by the Web and social media, but that his wife, Camille, is more in tune with the business benefits.
"She said, 'I've been trying to tell you about this, but you won't listen to me,' which is her standard voice anyway," he said. "She knows I love to go out and perform, and she means to make those tickets sell. The way to do it is this way of going social."
But unlike other comics who have praised social media and the Internet as a tool for testing material before taking it onstage, Cosby keeps his routine under wraps until he's in front of his live audience.
"I don't need to know where it won't work and where it will work. That's not my idea of how to perform," he said.
Since Cosby has become all things new media, we decided to pose a few non-pudding-related questions to him from Oklahoma Gazette readers, who submitted them via Facebook.
Angela Calhoun: What do you think about comedians of this generation, and how do they compare to the ones you worked with back in the day?
Bill Cosby: When I last looked, there are very few physical comedians. If you're going to swear or use profanity or go to those areas that you can go to today, the better ones are the ones who have subject matter ... where the punch line is not always the swear word.
Jake Smith: Your sweaters. Do you still have them? Can I have them if you do?
Cosby: Forget about it. All those sweaters are gone. They're gone. They're gone. They're gone. And they were sweaters of a time. The only ones that I still feel special about are the ones made by Koos Van Den Akker. He is in New York City, and those are the ones where you see the patches of leather.
Mike Moon: Did you drop acid when you were writing "The Brown Hornet"?
Cosby: Dear Mike, I have never done any drugs to hallucinate, get high or feel sped-up or anything. No. Tell Mike that I say, "If you have patience, you will come up with some things that belong only in your mind." "?Joe Wertz
