Tribute reflects Cosby's emphasis

By: By Brett Zongker | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 04, 2009

Bill Cosby still thinks that America is funny -- like the name-calling over health care and the way we drink so much water from plastic bottles that could be toxic -- even though he says that the country has some serious problems it needs to tackle.

Cosby, 72, who has long drawn laughs for his wisecracks and deadpan observations, recently received the nation's foremost humor prize, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The tribute will air at 9 p.m. today on UNC-TV.

It is a prize that Cosby has turned down twice before because he said he was disgusted with profanity and N-words thrown around by performers honoring Richard Pryor, who was the first recipient in 1998.

"I told them flat out no because I will not be used, nor will Mark Twain be used, in that way," he said from his home in New York.

The profanity bugs Cosby. He always kept it clean with the family laughs on The Cosby Show, portraying a middle-class black family and everyday life, from 1984 to 1992. And he isn't impressed with today's comedians who can't help but curse.

It took a chat with the president of the Kennedy Center, Michael Kaiser, this year at Sen. Edward Kennedy's birthday celebration for Cosby to accept the award this time.

"What I wanted was to associate my work with why I do what I do," he said.

For a man with a master's degree and doctorate in education, his life is about more than laughs.

So Cosby helped craft the tribute show to capture his overarching emphasis on taking education seriously and telling stories that teach something in the process. He has planned a special nod to his beloved Central High School in Philadelphia, with fellow alumnus James DePreist conducting an orchestra playing the school's alma mater.

Cappy McGarr, one of the show's executive producers, said that they are thrilled with the tribute's lineup, which included Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Sinbad, Carl Reiner, Wynton Marsalis, and Cosby co-stars Phylicia Rashad and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.