From to Hannibal to Apatow: The Comedic Downfall of Bill Cosby

Originally written for the television/web start-up, TouchVision TV in 2015

It wasn’t until 2013 that a unique set of incidents took place, almost in Shakespearean form, to finally bring Bill Cosby down over the course of two years. Until recently, if it wasn’t a pudding pop pun it wasn’t easy poking fun at Cosby’s sordid life — he was a comedy icon who paved the way for positive black representation on television and film and so synonymous with his media persona that when information about his infidelity and allegations of sexual assault came and went through news cycles, no one seemed to care or remember.

That November, Cosby had just released his first standup special in 30 years, Far From Finished, on Comedy Central, which coincided with a comedy tour of the same name. Additionally, Cosby had a sitcom in the works with NBC, a follow-up standup special in the works with Netflix and by September of 2014, one of the most comprehensive biographies about him, written and published by Mark Whitaker. The book, Cosby: His Life and Times, made no mention of Cosby’s many allegations of sexual assault, prompting some news outlets to release timelines of allegations. With Cosby gearing up for the victory lap of his career, there was a lot at stake in terms of how he would be remembered.

A month later, comedian Hannibal Buress was performing in Cosby’s home city of Philadelphia, and in a bit about him he counteracted every cliche, moral Cosby-ism with, “Yeah, [but] you’re a rapist.” It was the closest thing to a real jab at Cosby in a standup since the 1987 concert film RAW, in which Eddie Murphy talked about answering his phone with Cosbyon the other end.

Murphy [as Cosby]: “Yoouuu cannot say filth flarn filth flarn filth in front of people!”

Murphy: “And I said, ‘I never said no filth flarn filth! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m offended that you called! F — k you!’ And that’s when Bill got raw on me!”

Murphy [as Cosby]: “That’s what I’m talking about! Yoouuuuu cannot say … f — k!”

If only Murphy had said, “You’re a rapist.” What would the reaction have been in 1987? The 2014 reaction to Buress’s joke (which had been workshopped in front of audiences for weeks) was complex, and once it caught the media’s attention (after catching hold on social media, of course), it became the first rock to leave a crack on Cosby’s glass house.

A few months ago, I asked Comedian Baratunde Thurston, author of the popular book How To Be Black, how he felt about the intersection of comedy and societal issues, in regards to this moment. Why is it that a comedian’s joke being caught on a phone and uploaded to YouTube had more power than nearly 40 women speaking out about Cosby over the years? Ultimately, it just made for a good headline.

“I think he was in some ways the fatal blow in a video game metaphor like Cosby is this boss level character,” Thurston explained. “And then in comes another man, another black person and another comedian; this sort of trifecta of an alignment who just says ‘oh yeah he’s a rapist!’ Which he had been saying but it landed differently because of all those other shots being fired at the same time and that was like the… cheat code that brought down this boss level character at the end of a very long video game.”

As a comedian, I can clearly see the correlation between comedy a public opinion. A phrase often heard aboutan opening joke is “The Elephant In The Room.” In some ways it’s the most important concept in comedy. What is the elephant in the room? It can be anything really. Sometimes the elephant is the comedian’s physical appearance (the way Conan O’Brien is always pointing out his freakish height and poofy hair), other times it’s about something less tangible like politics or the idea of a person. When things in the latter form pop into our consciousness, it’s almost as if comedians get a group text from God saying, “Hey, you need to joke about this!” That’s when comics start testing audiences’ reactions to see where their humor fits in with the real world.

If you’ve ever been to an open mic, you know the results are often not pretty. An intelligent comic knows that there are bigger issues in play when tackling a joke about a rapist without perpetuating rape culture, but with so much at stake, an intelligent comedian also can’t resist trying.

Most recently, filmmaker Judd Apatow did his very first late night set on The Tonight Show, and his closer puts a cap on how much of a 360 we’ve made on The Topic of Bill Cosby. From Hannibal workshopping a joke to a crowd in Philadelphia to a polished set from Apatow on TV’s No. 1 late-night show (the same show Cosby once graced with Johnny Carson and even its current Fallon) we can trace through comedy how each brick on the path to The End of Bill Cosby was laid.

March 19, 2009

30 Rock slides in a Bill Cosby jab

30 Rock is known for tossing about a billion jokes and references per minute, and they always work on multiple levels, meaning you laugh if you know what’s being referenced but you also laugh if you have no clue because it’s just another funny moment in a show. In this scene from the third season’s “The Bubble” episode, Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) thinks he’s talking to Bill Cosby on the phone. “Bill Cosby, you got a lotta nerve gettin’ on the phone wit’ me after what you did to my Aunt Paulette!” he says. The joke, which directly calls attention to Cosby’s assault allegations, went un-noticed by many until December 2014, thanks to this Crushable post.

Oct. 16, 2014

A Hannibal Buress bit about Cosby goes viral

The joke Buress tells in this clip — secretly recorded and uploaded to YouTube — had been workshopped for weeks already and is possibly even being workshopped at this set in question. The added sting to the joke? Buress was performing in Cosby’s home city of Philadelphia. At this point in time, not many people knew of his rape allegations, and you can kind of sense that by the reactions in the room. The jokes are funny and that’s why people laugh, but the bursts of laughter end quickly each time as if people are thinking, “What is he talking about?” “Google ‘Bill Cosby Rape,” Hannibal tells the audience. “That shit has more results than Hannibal Buress.”

Nov. 20, 2014

Conan O’Brien pokes fun at the no-response responses from Cosby, his lawyers

Conan’s approach was to poke fun at what had become the standard of Cosby’s lawyers accusing his accusers of lying. His method is buried in a segment from the show called “Celebrity Survey,” where Conan writers come up with hilarious ways stars would complete a particular sentence. In this instance, the first half of the sentence is, “Where there’s smoke, there’s usually.” “Cosby” writes, “The smoke is lying!”

Nov. 20, 2014

Seth Meyers tackles the Cosby Court of Public Opinion

On Late Night, Seth Meyers decided to act out the torment of being a comedian who has to talk about such a touchy subject for a living. After his monologue, a fake audience member stands up and demands that he talk about Cosby. “That’s not really something I want to make light of,” Meyers tells the plant. “Oh, I get it. You scared?” he replies. It’s a perfect sketch for the stage of uncertainty Cosby stood on in the court of public opinion.

Nov. 22, 2014

Michael Che addresses Cosby’s hypocrisy SNL’s Weekend Update

Michael Che, a young black comic from New York and the latest host of SNL’s Weekend Update, opened the Cosby portion of his segment with a take similar to that of Buress’ but with a sentimental edge: “Bill Cosby, pull your damn pants up!” The power of Che’s commentary at the right time mirrors the tone of the Hannibal Buress set that went viral a month prior. He dives into what it means to separate the lovable Cosby character Cliff Huxtable with the actual man, saying, “…I don’t know Bill Cosby, but Cliff Huxtable practically raised me.”

Jan. 11, 2015

Tina Fey & Amy Poehler’s Golden Globes monologue shakes up the room

This is a wonderfully awkward moment, because it’s Hollywood talking to Hollywood. Fey and Poehler end their Golden Globes opener by listing plot lines of the Disney film Into The Woods, capping it with “… and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Cosby.” The audience gasps and laughs at the same time. If you look at the faces in the few reaction shots you can tell that some don’t know how to react. In a world where people still seem to debate the comedic prowess of women, it’s great to see these funny women use humor to belittle a legendary funny, but hypocritical man.

Jan. 20, 2015

Larry Wilmore dedicates his second episode of The Nightly Show to skewering Cosby

“That f — cker did it,” is a direct quote from Wilmore, the running theme of the second episode of The Nightly Show, Comedy Central’s replacement for The Colbert Report. The comedic panel-style show opened with a rapid-fire monologue skewering Cosby. In reference to the name of Cosby’s tour, Wilmore gives a quick note to his press team saying, “… if your client is being accused of brutal assaults on a weekly basis, maybe don’t say he’s far from finished.” Since this episode, Willmore has periodically reminded his audience that he hasn’t forgotten about Cosby.

May 26, 2015

Amy Schumer satirically defends Cosby in The Court of Public Opinion on Inside Amy Schumer

In the vein of Che on Weekend Update, Schumer takes the dilemma of loving Cosby’s body of work while questioning his moral fortitude one step further by being his defense lawyer in The Court of Public Opinion. She argues against a stern case against Cosby with mindless nostalgia. The jury can’t help but fall in love with the idea of Cosby and ignore the actual issue at hand, yet when given a drink from Cosby at the end of the sketch she refuses to drink it.

July 15, 2015

Joel Mchale involves Ronda Rousey at the ESPY Awards

There is nothing elaborate about McHale’s joke, here. At an awards ceremony for national sports figures, he says a joke in classic setup punchline form by shifting focus in his monologue to mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey. “Ronda Rousey has knocked out more women than Bill Cosby,” he says, and it gets immediate laughter from Rousey and the entire crowd. This was only a week after court documents revealed Cosby’s admission to giving women drugs to have sex with them.

July 17, 2015

BoJack Horseman does a Cosby-inspired episode

The “Hank After Dark” episode from the second season of Netflix’s original cartoon focuses on a beloved, Cosby-esque character named Hank Hippopopolis, who is publicly blasted by the lead female character Diane Nguyen (voiced by Alison Brie) for his relationship with interns. In a fashion similar to Buress, she tells a crowd to google Hank Hippopopolis and to their amazement they find deplorable results. Hippopopolis is a proxy for all of the male celebrities who have miraculously recovered after their dark interpersonal lives are made public. The episode is also unique among most of the satirical takes on the Cosby situation for centering on the perspective of a woman speaking out and being shut down by the media, strangers and the patriarchy that shrouds her own personal life.

July 20, 2015

Judd Apatow does Cosby on his Tonight Show standup debut

The Tonight Show has been the premier showcase for comedians since the era of Johnny Carson. Cosby is one of the many comedians to have graced the program with his comedic presence, but at this moment we see Apatow, an ardent fan of comedy since his youth and unwavering in his support for Cosby’s victims, make his stand up debut on that very show. It begins with quips about growing up and raising his daughter, but ends on a joke that tightly seals the new perception of the actual Cosby.

July 20, 2015

Larry Wilmore calls out Cosby’s lack of self-awareness

Wilmore never forgot about Cosby and he slams him hard in this Nightly Show segment. It ends on a very serious note about Cosby and comedy, with Wilmore saying that Cosby must find something funny about using drugs on women.

The joke that harmed Cosby’s career the most was one that he himself told in a routine from his 1969 album, It’s True! It’s True!. Cosby tells a long comedic tale of putting a substance called Spanish Fly into girls drinks. The laughs pour from the audience with no hesitation as he says, “Go to a party, see five girls standing alone — boy, if I had a whole jug of Spanish Fly, I’d light that corner up over there.”

It’s scary to think about the absolute lack of an uproar at the time. Perhaps, like the joke on 30 Rock, this seemed like another innocent string of jokes within an entire album full of them. Perhaps it’s also a sign that now in the era where even Jerry Seinfeld is weary of political correctness, some jokes just don’t fly.