Show Review - 'Bill Cosby, Master Storyteller'‏

The Comedy Festival came to a close in style, with
Bill Cosby, greyer and seated for most of the show.
Is he winding down? Probably, but he's still one of
the most gifted storytellers of all time. Cosby had
the audience, at Saturday night's show, at Place des
Arts, enthralled from the moment he casually stepped
on stage with no introduction. Like he needs one.
The man had a standing ovation before he even opened
his mouth, then proceeded to ramble for almost two hours,
with no intermission. Flanked by two huge video screens,
every roll of an eye, every raised eyebrow, every facial
contortion, gesture and grimace, were clearly seen by
the almost 3,000 people filling the seats of Salle Wilfrid
Pelletier, sending them into a thundering roar, at every
turn.
The show is probably scripted, but the Cos makes it
seem like he's an old uncle spinning yarns, getting sidetracked,
seemingly forgetting where he was in the narrative and
asking the audience to remind him. There's no way he was
lost. This is one sly and cunning comic who gives the
audience ruminations on his marriage, his grandchildren,
the ailments of old age and the never ending battle of
the sexes. The way Cos tells it, the winner is the wife.

'Wife and death are very similar, eventually they're gonna
get you in the end.'

Cosby has been married for 42 years. He and his wife,
Camille, had four daughters and a son. The boy, Ennis, was
killed in a drive-by shooting after his car broke down
on a California freeway. Crosby pays tribute to his son
in every show with a sweatshirt, draped over his chair,
which has the message 'Hello Friend', which was the way
he used to greet his son.
He had the audience screaming with his recollections of
his granddaughter's first birthday party and how all the
old people gathered compared medical ailments and the drugs
they took. Though Cosby is by no means a misogynist, and
by all accounts his wife is a wonderful woman, his hard
put-upon husband routine brought the house down, from both
men and women. This is my second time, watching him live,
in as many years, and had me and my companion, in tears
and stitches.


* Reviewed July 24, 2006