A truly remarkable thing happened on Comedy Central’s Daily Show Tuesday.
Comedy legend Bill Cosby told host Jon Stewart to stop cursing (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
Early in their interview, Cosby commented about a benefit show he and Stewart recently did in New York City for wounded warriors called Stand Up For Heroes.
“You were out there and you used some words,” Cosby said to laughter from the audience. “And you said.” Cosby then spoke some gibberish indicating a vulgarity. “And I said to myself, ‘Oh my.’”
“And then the people were laughing so hard,” Cosby continued, “because you were swearing and cursing.”
“I’m 76 years old,” Cosby scolded. “What you have to understand, Jonathan, from whenst I cometh, when people cursed, the next thing is somebody was going to hit you. See, now there's a whole new culture. People curse and they laugh. But for me, when you were cursing, I started crying.”
Stewart’s response?
“I wasn’t cursing. It was Yiddish.”
Excuse me, Jon, but I know some Yiddish. When Comedy Central is regularly censoring your words on the Daily Show, it’s not Yiddish.
As for Cosby, he’s so right.
I long for the days when comedians such as himself could do a two hour routine without any gratuitous sexual references or vulgarity.
That’s when comedy was truly special. Today, it borders on pornography.
Bravo, Bill! Bravo!
