{"id":1226,"date":"2006-07-05T19:44:29","date_gmt":"2006-07-06T02:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2021-01-06T22:03:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T05:03:03","slug":"bill-cosby-himself-1983","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1226","title":{"rendered":"Bill Cosby: Himself (1983)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I really want to study this whole thing of drinking, getting drunk, and people saying that they&#8217;re having a good time.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Poster-207x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-62012\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Poster-207x300.png 207w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Poster-88x128.png 88w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Poster-186x270.png 186w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Poster.png 573w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nBill Cosby waxes comedic on anything and everything related to family life. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bill Cosby Films<\/li>\n<li>Family Problems<\/li>\n<li>Stand-Up Comedy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nPeary drops the ball in his review of this classic stand-up comedy film, written and directed by Cosby himself, and &#8220;us[ing] footage from four 1981 performances in Hamilton, Ontario&#8221;. He calls the film &#8220;painfully unfunny&#8221;, inexplicably labeling the material as &#8220;impersonal&#8221; and &#8220;conventional&#8221;, and arguing that &#8220;at no time does [Cosby] display the mischievous boyishness that [made] his television character so likable&#8221;. Given the opening comment of his review (&#8220;No doubt Cosby hoped to obtain the wild success Richard Pryor had with his concert films&#8221;), I believe Peary&#8217;s mistake may have been in comparing Cosby to Richard Pryor &#8212; two comedians with radically different styles and goals. Among the many amusing moments in this film include Cosby discussing his trip to the dentist (&#8220;Dentists tell you not to pick your teeth with any sharp, metal object. And then you sit in their chair, and the first thing they grab is an iron hook.&#8221;); Cosby describing his wife giving birth (&#8220;<em>You <\/em>did this to me!&#8221;); Cosby talking about serving chocolate cake to his kids for breakfast, and hearing a chorus of appreciation (&#8220;Dad is great &#8212; he gives us chocolate cake!&#8221;); and Cosby debating whether drunks really are &#8220;having a good time.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Many amusing moments<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-1024x561.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"351\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-62013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-1024x561.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-300x164.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-768x421.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-1536x841.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still-493x270.png 493w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/Bill-Cosby-Himself-Still.png 1667w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though it&#8217;s worth a look as a classic of stand-up comedy. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note (1\/6\/21):<\/strong> This is a rare instance in which I&#8217;ve changed my vote for a film based on recent events. It&#8217;s impossible these days to watch Bill Cosby on screen knowing the crimes he committed &#8212; and while I still have fond memories of watching and enjoying this film, I no longer consider it must-see viewing. The quote selected seems eerily prescient.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0083652\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I really want to study this whole thing of drinking, getting drunk, and people saying that they&#8217;re having a good time.&#8221; Synopsis: Bill Cosby waxes comedic on anything and everything related to family life. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Bill Cosby Films Family Problems Stand-Up Comedy Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Peary drops the ball in his review of this classic stand-up comedy film, written and directed by Cosby himself, and &#8220;us[ing] footage from four 1981 performances in Hamilton, Ontario&#8221;. He&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1226\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1226"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62036,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1226\/revisions\/62036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}