Bill Cosby down with plan for Muslim ‘Cosby Show’
12 February 2011
13 Comments
By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa with Megan Johnson from the Boston Herald
Legendary funnyman Bill Cosby is down with Katie Couric’s plan for combating Islamophobia in America: a Muslim “Cosby Show.”
“I like her idea,” The Cos told The Track. “I think you could very well teach and people could understand. I do feel that whenever I have gotten to meet people who are coming from different countries that may have been Muslim, I do know that they say they love ‘The Cosby Show.’ And then they ask me, ‘You know why? Because it’s about family.’ ”
Couric floated the idea on her webcast, suggesting that someone create a sitcom that follows an American Muslim family the way Cosby’s ’80s sitcom about Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable and his family chronicled upwardly mobile African-Americans.
“I know that sounds crazy,” she said, “but ‘The Cosby Show’ did so much to change attitudes about African-Americans in this country, and I think sometimes people are afraid of things they don’t understand.”
Cosby concurs.
“If you hear philosophies that come out of the readings and the religions, some of these sayings are absolutely fantastic,” he said. “I remember a Muslim woman said to me . . . ‘There’s a saying: Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel.’ Now that’s wonderful! And I think everybody could have a good feeling about that.”
The 73-year-old comic, who lives in the woods of bucolic western Mass., said he doesn’t see any reason why a Muslim sitcom wouldn’t do well on TV — it’s not like there’s anything on the tube that floats his boat.
“I just see jokes on sitcoms that go right to sexual parts, or some form of name calling, or make fun of somebody or something, or just get a laugh from a profane word,” he said.
Although he’s retired from weekly TV, Cosby keeps developing new projects and still hits the stage to perform live stand-up. He will do two shows at Symphony Hall on Feb. 19.
“It’s a wonderful wonderful business . . . and I know that because I laugh,” he said. “I do know that when I laugh, if I laugh hard, that is very, very dangerous because my lungs fill up with fluid and I start coughing. Also my stomach muscles burn. But there’s a general feeling, the feeling of kind of happy. Smiles also do the same thing. So it’s a good, good feeling about the job you’re doing.”
File Under: The Doctor Is In.
Original post: Bill Cosby down with plan for Muslim ‘Cosby Show’
I would love to see this sitcom. Also, Canada has a fun series that should be aired in the U.S. “The Little Mosque on the Prairie.”
12 February 2011 at 6:06 pm