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Bill Cosby brings his comic style to College for two shows Sept. 8

After nearly 40 years in the entertainment world, Bill Cosby is one of the most influential names in Hollywood and recognized across the nation.  He will bring his comedy to the Potter Center at Jackson Community College for performances at 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8.

 Cosby’s performances at JCC will benefit the Dr. Wilbur Dungy Endowed Chair in the Sciences. Cosby had previously told NFL Coach Tony Dungy that if the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl, he would perform in Jackson for free and donate the money to JCC’s endowment for Dungy’s late father, Wilbur.  The Super Bowl-winning coach, Tony Dungy, and his family members will attend both performances.

Best-known as America’s favorite TV dad on the 1980s-early ‘90s situation comedy “The Cosby Show,” Bill Cosby is a veteran stand-up performer and is well-known through concert appearances and recordings, television, films, commercials and education.  He points out the humor in our lives, and in doing so, he touches our hearts.  His appeal is not restricted to any specific group.  “The Cosby Show” helped to resurrect the sitcom genre in the 1980s and became one of television’s biggest and most influential hits of the modern era.  It also launched a spinoff comedy, “A Different World.”  He and Phylicia Rashad teamed up again for “Cosby” in the late 1990s. 

He got his start in stand-up comedy, and in the mid-1960s had as many as six albums on the charts at one time.  He won Grammy Awards for “Best Comedy Album” five times, and he is the best-selling comedian of all time on records.  He made the transition from stand-up comic to actor in the NBC-TV series “I Spy” and the original “The Bill Cosby Show.”  He has starred in films, such as “Uptown Saturday Night” with Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, “California Suite” with Richard Pryor, and more recently, “Jack” with Robin Williams. 

In addition, Cosby has filmed numerous television specials, starred in NBC TV’s Children’s Theater and PBS-TV’s “The Electric Company,” did “Picture Pages” on “Captain Kangaroo,” and produced television show and specials based on “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.”  

In the publishing world, Bill Cosby has shattered records with each of his books. “Fatherhood,” published by Doubleday/Dolphin in May of 1986, became the fastest selling hardcover book of all time. His next Doubleday/Dolphin title, “Time Flies,” had the largest single first printing in publishing history --1.75 million copies. Like its predecessor, it too remained at the top of the New York Times list. Bantam Books published the paperback version in the fall of 1988.  “Love and Marriage” was published by Doubleday/Dolphin in April of 1989, and covered everything from childhood romances and adolescent crushes to first love, dating and courtship, the ebb and flow of relationships and the rewards of marriage.

One of his later books, “Childhood” (published by Purtnam in 1991), deals with the predicaments of growing up and coming of age, combining stories of his legendary childhood with comic insights about children of today. 

Cosby’s generous support of numerous charities, particularly in the field of education, has endowed many Americans with the gift of hope and learning.  In 1985, he received the Springarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for distinguished merit achievement.  In 1998, he was feted by the Kennedy Center Honors, and in 2002 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the two highest civilian awards in the U.S. 

Tickets for Bill Cosby are $45, $50 and $55 and may be purchased by calling the Potter Center Box Office at 517.796.8600, or online at www.jccmi.edu/events.