Bill Cosby brings his only persona to Rialto

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Bill Cosby will perform on Feb. 10 at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet. | File photo

Updated: March 4, 2012 8:06AM

Sometimes you see a comedian you like from television and his or her act is radically different from his or her on-screen persona.

That’s the not case with Bill Cosby. The guy you remember from TV is the guy you’ll see live.

His show is for people of all ages, although younger children and teens might not appreciate the humor.

“You find out as a parent that the 5-year-old talks more than the 9-year-olds,” Cosby said.

“The 9-year-olds have started to make a connection that you’re more like a warden.

“You go through that phase of parenting where you really wanted to be a friend, but you didn’t realize through that process that the child really thought you were a servant named Mommy.

“Now you get to a place where they can do things, so you give them orders. The person who used to be a servant is now giving orders.”

Those nuggets of wisdom and more can be heard when Cosby comes to Joliet’s Rialto Square Theatre on Feb. 10.

Some may know Cosby from his color barrier-breaking role on the 1965 TV show “I Spy” for which he won three consecutive Emmys.

Others may have watched the 1970s-era Emmy-winning cartoon “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” which he created and produced.

For those who have raised children in the last 12 years, it’s likely they’re familiar with the Emmy-winning series “Little Bill,” which is based on his best-selling book series.

But perhaps Cosby’s greatest contribution to American culture is “The Cosby Show,” the TV sitcom about a close-knit, upper-class black family. The show ran from 1984-92 on NBC.

Cosby recently released The New York Times best seller “I Didn’t Ask to Be Born: (But I’m Glad I Was)” (Center Street).

The publisher came up with the clever title, he said. Cosby added that he wanted the title to be “Digression-ology,” which is what he said he does on stage.

“The first chapter (is about) if the Native Americans knew back then what they know now, this country would not look the same, and it’s hilarious,” he said.

Cosby has been married to his wife, Camille, for 48 years. They have five children and three grandchildren.

“You know it’s the last child because the parents give that child to the siblings (to raise),” he quipped. “The parents give up. They are no longer interested in justice. They just want quiet.”

Here’s more of Cosby’s parental wisdom:

“The worst parent in the world is one that is trying to make friends. Why would you make friends with somebody who doesn’t have a job, is always begging, late for this and late for that, showing no signs whatsoever of having any goals set? That’s called your kid. You’ve got to raise it.”

Cosby’s take on shopping is:

“The husband’s whole thing, behaviorally, is to find some place to sit down. Right away. And let her go on about what she’s doing.”

Here’s what Cosby had to say about forgetfulness:

“Kids forget things all of their lives, but when older people forget, people call it ‘dementia.’ That’s an old-people prejudice. It’s discrimination. From 60 on, you can’t forget anything, but your whole life as a parent, the kids have been forgetting things.”

Here’s Cosby’s take on his stand-up show:

“It’s the kind of relationship that we can connect with, but it really and truly is master storytelling. You are entertained by what I’m saying and you can form your own pictures of something, and you laugh because generally I have hit the mark on the explanation.

“Two things I hear afterwards: a man and woman saying, ‘We’ve got to go to our lawyer. We’re suing him because obviously he’s been in our house and we didn’t know it.’ And No. 2, the one I love for the husbands, their laughter and they think, ‘Gee whiz, I’m not alone. The things that he is talking about, I’m not alone.’ I try to keep it balanced. I love that friendly but very serious argument (between) man-woman and husband-wife.”

Cosby has other cause to celebrate. His 1964 album “I Started Out as a Child” will be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame on Feb. 12.

“I am very … egotistical and protective of those first five albums I ever made because I feel those first five should be in the Hall of Fame, period. They speak of human behavior and connections,” he said.

“I say, ‘Thank you,’ but I also feel that ‘Noah’ on ‘Bill Cosby’s Is a Very Funny Fellow,’ ‘Wonderfulness,’ ‘I Started Out as a Child,’ ‘To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With’ and ‘200 M.P.H.’ … those things belong in (the) LP Recording Hall of Fame.

“There was a time in the late ’60s where I had four LPs in the Billboard top 10. And I wrote every single word. And you thought I was just another pretty face.”

Yes, he’s a pretty face. He’s also a comedian, a writer, an educator, an actor, a husband, a father and a grandfather.

He was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center in 1998, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2009.

The Paley Center for Media, at its locations in New York and Los Angeles, is celebrating Cosby’s 50 years in show business with programming through early March.

Despite all this, he swears people don’t stop him on the street and ask him for advice.

“One of the great moments is when we’re out in a restaurant or someplace and people come over and say hello to me, and sometimes they will send a 5- or 6-year-old child over to the table and the child will look up and say, ‘I just love Little Bill.’ That is the one of the best feelings.”

Annie Alleman is a free-lance writer.