Bill CosbyIF YOU GO
What: Entertainer Bill CosbyWhen: 7 p.m. Sunday, April 14Where: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.Admission: $48-$65.50 (plus convenience fees)Phone: 423-642-8497Website: www.ChattanoogaOnStage.comRIVERBEND GUESTThis week’s appearance by Bill Cosby is not his first in Chattanooga. He also headlined the Coca-Cola Stage at Riverbend in 1990. According to Jet magazine, Cosby, who’d been driven to the festival site in a limousine, wanted to ride in a patrol car on his way back to the airport. “I thought he was kidding,” the magazine quoted Sgt. Brian Bergenback, “but when he got back from performing, he got in the car and said, ‘Let’s go.’ The Chattanooga policeman said Cosby enjoyed the sightseeing drive back to the airport.HE PITCHED IT• White Owl cigars• Ford Motor Co.• Ideal toys• Jell-O pudding/gelatin• Coca-Cola• Texas Instruments• E.F. Hutton• Kodak• Birds Eye frozen foods• Pan American airlines• 1990 U.S. Census
The Greatest Generation remembers “I Spy,” where Bill Cosby was the first black man to co-star on a television series. Baby boomers recall “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” the early 1970s cartoon based on his childhood. Generation Xers remember “The Cosby Show,” where Cosby was loving husband, father and doctor Cliff Huxtable. And Millennials recall the silly Jell-O pitchman.
Cosby, who won a 1999 People’s Choice award as All-Time Favorite Performer and is a five-time People’s Choice winner as All-Around Male Entertainer, will be in Chattanooga on Sunday, April 14, for one show at the Tivoli Theatre.
The comedian, author and actor has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center, the Presidential Medal of Freedom (America’s highest civilian honor), the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and the Mark Twain Prize.
Cosby, a Navy veteran and holder of an earned doctorate, has made his place in modern American culture in stand-up comedy, television, movies and books.