Donahue- May 26, 1986 (Guest: Bill Cosby)

ladies and gentlemen it is my pleasure to present mr bill cosby [Applause] [Music] the one what with who what happened with theo where you taught him about the real world that was wonderful last week's show you liked that episode uh-huh where are these get these writers to think up this stuff about goldfish being flushed down the toilet um well you look real rested uh here's a man who sold out at radio city music hall you're doing uh a rating on television that's beyond the reach of anybody else on the air how come you're not an egomaniac or are you i mean how's this doing for you personally and emotionally this i hope you're enjoying this [Laughter] [Applause] listen uh you set out to do things and and i think if if there's a message for for anybody it is to do what you want and feel is best for you without it being um necessarily a gift to anybody yeah and from there comes a genuine understanding with yourself that uh you're doing the right thing obviously the numbers that exist and the people who are satisfied and happy that the show is doing something for them it gives me an insurmountable happiness which i will achieve and equal only with the love of our family my wife in first place it's uh it's difficult for me to uh to walk around and say golly this is really wonderful uh mainly because i'm still working and i think in terms of if we say entertainment that's exactly uh the epitome of it all being able to make people laugh and no not being able to do something and then have people understand and enjoy what you've done you did this before and it didn't work in 1976 you had a show called cause and it was a time when uh you got ripped pretty good for trying to be uh nuclear family and hus f daddy knows best sort of re at this was a time when the humor was angry and everybody was running around and people said that's what was wrong there's certainly uh what you're doing now is uh not all together that different in its purpose what's the difference how come that didn't work and this did is this a better show or is the time different time it's a different time sure i i followed uh i think i followed walt disney in those days oh you mean as in as in time period on the schedule no you mean time as in time of our nation yes uh the the the changes that occurred from from that particular period uh they had television sensors in those days who would not allow people to throw cars off of the bridges and people to pull out 357 magnums and stick them in somebody's mouth and prostitutes also women weren't used the same way they were window dressing but by the same token they weren't just particularly thrown in to be raped and uh to be used as uh as vividly sexually the violence wasn't as strong you had your fights you had your arguments i remember when i was doing i spy bob and i had lived a line and i think i did i said well the guy's crazy and uh the sensor came in and said you can't you can't say that and bob and i felt it was very very harmless and of course we asked why and the answer came out sort of like well you know you'll offend the crazy people there there's a there was a problem when the cosby show came before the cosby show came on and that was i was quite liberal cable was in i was quite liberal in feeling that my my children should see and it was all right to see shows where there was um cursing uh where teenage boys and girls ran around drank beer and uh and talked about sex and then had sex and and then told their parents what they wanted to do and then the parents let them do it and after watching about 20 of those shows i began to feel that my children were seeing enough of these things to actually believe that this could be the fun of the real world and so i moved in and i monitored what they were looking at and uh i've i watched network television sitcoms and i found that people were getting jokes off of um thrill words well my boobs are too small and the audience would laugh uh you have a pimple on your behind and the audience would laugh well that wasn't up to the level of uh of let's say father knows best of um ozzie and harriet of uh william bendix of lucille ball of carol burnett i've i felt that the writers were taking an easy way out producers were taking an easy way out of three people in an apartment none of them married and here comes so-and-so's father hide in the closet for 24 minutes or it it just didn't mean or do anything and i decided that um i wanted to see something else on television it was cheaper for me to come back and do this particular series than to throw away the tv sets i owned yes ma'am well first of all you had to be good because you're from philadelphia thank you and don't you feel at this time and with the reaction in south africa that a strong family nucleus is the thing that this country is looking for again that a family feeling is needed and we have to draw together again and that's the basis of your show and that's why it's so popular and is received so well i'm i'm having trouble uh you said south africa i think she might be referring to the piece that said you're hot in south africa the earth program is beamed everywhere and uh the report that i saw said that uh you do your hut level is very good there i think that's what she means she wonders whether this uh nuclear family ideas doesn't have universal appeal i i don't understand nuclear family man wife uh dog spot system junior what does that have to but they they they were no i'm not arguing with with the lady what i'm talking about is nuclear family nothing this goes back to uh 18 something to something in virginia with 19 children and the mother and father saying you will do this and the children saying well paul i don't understand and they say we love you and we know best because we've lived these many years and uh perhaps at times we'll go out seek your own every child doesn't pay attention nor will every child execute what parents say nor is every parent correct when they say i say you will do that but mine has nothing to do with nuclear i feel that's a little too too young yet to have to deal with uh let's say adam and eve whose kids didn't get along so well either well well that that's why we don't have to ask so much where does the brain damage come from you can have brain damage your routine on hbo is fantastic and it's a pleasure to be able to watch a comedian for the whole show without having to turn it off because your ears are burning well i i i think that first of all i don't i don't like to put down those who are using certain language or even some of the subjects that they choose to uh to talk about i think that the differences in in the comedians happens to be what makes it fine for everybody because those that you may not like can fill up radio city music hall just as quickly as i and and are are just as good so there are some people wherein you and i would feel well it isn't such a good thing but then there are others who can who can handle it very very well on a recent cross-country flight i saw a dramatic example of why being a parent is harder job than being president united states jeffrey he knew jeffrey was four years old because the kid kept going up to all the veggies i'm jeffy i'm four years old he didn't say i'm jeffrey said i'm four years old i think that was a limit of his he knew everybody in the plane knew he was jeffrey because his mother kept saying jeffrey come down from there finally after everybody gets kicked in the leg and you get chocolate smeared on your shirt the kid falls asleep five minutes before they land this is a transcontinental flight the mother gets off the plane with jeffrey like she's carrying a garbage bag jeffrey's father's waiting for him with a big smile and a clean shirt and jeffrey's mother hands him to his father and says here's your kid go to hell um did you take notes on that or is it will you uh how long does it take to have this real life experience translate itself into uh something very no what what happens is that that whole flight with with jeffrey you just you just don't you keep looking at this woman and you you keep saying take jeffrey some place lady because because jeffrey was jeffrey was running he was running her he was running the airplane and you know people were being nice to this four-year-old kid who needed to be to be told that he was misbehaving and you remember people like that uh you have a number of uh i should say uh bills uh here's bill's uh treaties on fatherhood and he speaks from the trenches this is not a theorist you're talking to a man who claims five children and they variously throughout their lives claim him his youngest is nine nine you have one boy yes was he different i mean from the girls parenthood raising don't give me the look you know what i mean i don't want this i don't want this young man waiting for me the words the words of my wife i i love to see you beg where is where where is your son along the line he's set in the middle set in the middle our our oldest is 21 the next one is 19 and he's 16. and he can't win anywhere it is a different challenge do you think raising a male raising a boy yes of course it is uh if you agree yes but i wanted to ask when you get home do uh do your children critique your show do they say you treat rudy differently than when i was that age do they do that no not yet they they say they say in reality in reality they say we wish you would behave like that and we wish mom would behave like that and my wife and i say if you all behaved like the children on that show then of course we would behave that way who thought of the dancing at the beginning of the show oh that was just something that um i thought up we just put we'll we'll do a new intro next year also i don't know what it'll be how are the children in the show handling the tremendous success being so young and is it do you find it easier for them perhaps having to show tape to new york rather than being out in the west where it seems that uh young children get caught up in a lot of this hollywood craziness and backpack and whatever first of all unless you live in hollywood and deal with that the entertainment actor syndrome it isn't a rat pack those kids are are no different really from the ones that work around in new york we were very very fortunate to have chosen kids whose parents have a great futuristic idea of what to do we also have great tutors working with the children one on one they are interested in their school work they take great pride in in learning understanding and then coming on the set and doing their job they've learned they had to go through in the first year the usual problem of am i going to be working here next year uh the the kids are great the parents are wonderful and our staff it's it's a great support system that exists for them and i'm sure that the same thing could and would exist in california for them because uh jay sandrich the producers carsey werner um they have children and all of us make sure that the children working on the set have uh a great support system which is love understanding the most uh well when when keisha first started of course we had a problem with her because she's a baby and dealing with a baby and her embarrassment or at a certain time having to work and not really caring about millions of dollars might decide that she just didn't want to be there at that time but now she's a she's a grown woman of seven and quite professional and will even have nerve enough to tell me that that wasn't what i said wasn't in the script and she has no idea of what i'm saying no matter how much the pressure on your spinal cord builds up this is important advice from bill cosby to parents everywhere this is this is really something you should write down never no matter what the pressure never let these small people know that you have gone insane you want to tell them the excellent reason you want me to do this go ahead there's an excellent reason for this they want the house and the first sign that something is wrong with you they will take it right away from you he's worried about the day when he's 65 and spills something on his shirt then the kids will come up and they'll say we're sorry dad but you can't control yourself you've got to go so make sure you never have the keys to the house in your own pocket this is not unlike uh bill cosby himself and your own childhood i think your father's uh words of uh warning were uh if you don't uh shut up this would be 10 11 o'clock at night he had a subtle wave he said i'm gonna kill you um bill cosby fatherhood is uh this addition to your library of uh not a few folks who are out there trying to help you cope with parenthood nobody ever told us it was going to be easy yes ma'am i think most of us enjoy your show so much because you don't insult our intelligence you're a pleasure to watch i think whether you have children or not every one of us have gone through some of those stages ourselves i loved when when your son tried to pierce his ear his sister pierced his ear and you told him it would rot off you know everyone that has a family or is in a family has gone through that and you're entertaining and you're not insulting you can watch your show and be thoroughly enjoyable yeah go ahead one of one of my favorite portions of what you've done is where you tell your kids are pushing and touching at each other and you're at the end of your rope and you yell up the stairs don't you ever touch your sister again you say things that we've all said my kids are in the early 20s and when they saw that tape he said i've been meaning to ask you can i now touch my sister i mean i told him seven years old don't ever touch her again we are in new york city with bill cosby and we'll be back in a moment [Applause] yes ma'am can we look forward to any more hbo specials i i don't i don't think so they they run this one too long uh well yeah it's on it's on too long that's enough for that they ought to take it off yeah uh i kind of understand i think your philosophy would you go elaborate a little more on your feelings about receiving awards once again it goes back to the fact that i did this show because i was tired of seeing what i saw on on network television i didn't do it uh so that people could vote on whether bill cosby is a better actor than in a comedy series than tony so and so or such and such it's wonderful to have people say you were the best but it also means that they pop four pictures of of different people on a screen and then they say and the winner is and that leaves three people sitting there who've done fine jobs actors who've done fine jobs who lost and it may not have anything to do with whether or not they were fine actors it may have to do with the fact that my writers are better uh my show is put together better and i don't want to compete and i don't want my fellow actors uh to feel that you know they're competing against me number two the thing with the people's choice i've really had enough i know that people love me and i don't need a television program to go on and say and the winner is over uh roy so-and-so or earl so-and-so i mean the the ratings come in and it shows that the numbers of people really enjoy our program at eight o'clock thursday night they understand it the letters that come in whether they be pro or con it's wonderful and that's enough so i i don't want emmys oscars obies roys um it's it's it's just uh it's that that's enough i don't that's enough your uh view seems to be catching on the oscars uh did not enjoy the ratings that it has in past years maybe that has nothing to do with me that is the in viewing oscars i think that the movie industry is no longer absolutely what it used to be and the in the old days when you and i were in our teams studios controlled the actors the publicity went out controlled um we didn't see edward g robinson except on film we didn't see irene done except on on film and just to see these people and see them ride in their limousines these days everybody uh rides in a block long limousine and everybody arrives at some show and everybody is a star and and and when you look at all the other shows whether it be the country western awards or black music awards people along with the fact that mtv is programming their stars on film doing things people get to see them more so so it isn't really a big thing anymore the oscars are still big because the movie industry is big however there's no need anymore to tune in and worry about who won an oscar for what do you um just let me get this one in i'm coming right back here how do you feel about the the color purple controversy i feel that it is one of the silliest controversies ever made up why is that i saw a television movie with farrah fawcett majors her husband beat her up every two minutes and then she set him on fire now why is the color purple such a big thing uh the male was a louse in that very very much so um the fellow just died james cagney went to stardom taking a grapefruit and bashing it and i mean bashing it well in a woman's face i think the grievance is about the con about the fact that there were no redeeming males in the in the uh doesn't have to be the problem is is that it was a movie with black people in it that was the whole process you think racism is the reason there were no awards out of it i think i think the whole world's problem with dealing with black people and people of color and then down the line an irishman versus an italian even if there are no black people i think that a swede against the swede if there are no irish or italian people to turn around and look at i think it's human beings period who cannot deal with each other back to what's written in the bible adam and eve two sons one kills the other there's only four people if the guy didn't like his brother he could have gone to hawaii [Laughter] [Applause] are we doomed then is there no hope for no no because god has a sense of humor and we're funny to god that's why we're still around i know that uh dr busan reviews your scripts could you give us example of something that he's taken out of your show well it is it isn't as sensational as something that he's taken out there are things that he he will he will suggest when he's writing when he that comes back on the script and it looks it looks no different from your midterm exam sometimes we get a b sometimes we get a d sometimes we get an f and we go back to and we clean up what the professor says we are to clean up and and i am very very thankful that he works on our show any any show that i would put together dr poussaint worked with the book and there were many things that i had written that dr prasad sent notes back on saying you you really can't and this is too heavy and you really ought to do this even though it is true and even though this was your behavior this is not a good thing to put it oh many times i disagree with them and we we talk about it and then there are times when i will say well the reason why i'm doing this is because of this and then he says well make sure your audience knows why hi it's obvious you've come to some sort of acceptance of yourself and you're at peace with yourself um and you believe in god what are your spiritual abilities what are your spiritual beliefs well it's certain uh the only way i can put it is i i don't have to go to a human being and have them tell me what jesus said or what god said um i've made many many mistakes in my life and making many many more but i do believe that there are times and the best time is when your fellow human beings get a feeling from you and you get a feeling from them selfishness plays a large large role in in our lives and many times we do things to see if we can get away with it the more power you have the more you have to control yourself in terms of using and abusing people and i i think that it's there is a supreme being but i also think that it is our job to be as sensible as we can and and not as selfish think twice and then go on with what you believe in are you sorry that you punched tommy smothers in the face you must want me to get a lawsuit or something i'd rather not uh talk about that because after it happened it was it was all over and uh there's no apology necessary and i and i will not apologize to him for it and i think that tommy understands me better now he he knows why you punched him in the face he absolutely does he's well aware of why it happened but you don't want to tell us why no it's none of your business can you talk to him if you met him today you'd say hello i would not talk to him you wouldn't no there's no reason for me to talk to him well where's this forgiveness from the bible and all this good stuff same place that i get when i don't hit him again um one once again i don't see if i talked to tommy then i wouldn't be for real what would i have to say to him if i don't like him now if tommy made some changes then that would be fine there's a difference between having faith and having hope i don't have any faith and tommy smothers i have hope all right you did you did spank your kids too as well did you as well as what hitting tommy [Applause] you do believe that occasionally huh with love applied no there's no love applied at that time you know there's no love applied at the time i i don't know how many times i i i've i've hit one of my children and i'm not too sure if at the time a strike may be as wrong as a talk that didn't work i mean what's what's the difference i mean if at a time when i say something to a child of mine and a child of mine decides to leash back at me and and i say i said do this and the child then becomes outrageous my opinion and i physically apply a form of for lack of a better word discipline or if i sit and talk to the child and explain and say i love you which i do more than i hit but the child goes off and does it again you understand i failed verbally why is it a a verbal failing is not as bad as a physical failing so so people who say abuse yes abuse i don't believe in there's a there's a thing that that i i love to to speak of my mother and father gave me a beating it was not abuse it was a beating now i'm not sure if my mother said to me i don't want you going out of this house when i'm at work stay here and watch your little brother and i decide for whatever kid well if i leave him here and just go out for a little while and i do and my brother turns the pot over turns the stove over and what my mother comes home and sees a child burned and my job was to look after and she expected me to understand that yet i went out so she says to me i told you so forth and so on and blah was the driver's life and i say here and i start to cry and then some form of punishment go to your room stay or do whatever whatever or no punishment at all just to talk now she goes out again she says stay here and watch this and i decide to go out and and the kid doesn't do anything this time but i went out and we discussed what could have happened as opposed to the second time she says i told you you understand and i cry do you understand me yes and the next time i decide to go out maybe it wasn't so much i don't want to get hit again or that that moment worked see that's that's what i'm talking about now this this uh part in the book i think worked because i said to my son i guess he was 12 13 i said you have to do your work you have to do and he lied he lied to me he lied to his mother he lied three times and i said to him when i come home i'm gonna clean your clock i said i said i've had i've had enough of your lying i've had enough of this whole behavioral scientist smoothed out and somehow you understand what i'm saying i and i and and i said this two weeks two weeks before coming home i said i'm gonna clean your clock well of course you're a parent and most parents this whole thing subsides and you you don't forget about it but it's all another thing i came home and i said i said to myself i made a promise to this boy and i have a feeling that if i don't follow through he's going to think he's got a sucker again because children will do that children will do that they're very very capable of figuring out and i've heard kids confess to me well my mom said she will but she doesn't well we're talking about sucker time and the first day i was at home i didn't see him he was avoiding me and i let him avoid me and then the second day i said to uh somebody around the house tell my son i'd like to see him he came in and i got a stick stick about this long about this round nice weight and i said we're going over to the barn you and i are going to talk and my mother who lives about 50 feet away from our house the same woman [Laughter] [Applause] said to me where are you going and she's 4 11 and and i still fear when she gets tough and she says sit down but this time i was warm and i said get out of my way and she said you are not going to hit that boy i said mom get out of my way this is my son and we're going to talk she said well leave the stick i said eventually i will leave the state and i took him to the barn and we had the squishing of the eyes and the tears and coming and old dad and numbers everything no and i said we're going to talk about lying you lied to me you lied to your mother well dad i'm sorry and i said you also said you were sorry three times you said you were sorry and i turned around and i hit him i turned him around and i hit him on the behind with that stick and and i hit him again with that stick and i talked to him and eyes and tears and i said now i'm not going to hit you anymore but i don't want you to lie to me do you understand i said it's important i don't want you lying to your mother i don't want you lying to me we love you and if you can't discuss something with us without trusting us then you're in trouble he said yes dad i said do you understand he said yes he turned away and i hit him again and i said oh i'm sorry i lied to you didn't and we'll be back in just a moment [Music] [Applause] mr cosby sir you will bear up if i just make the following observation in the wake of all these hands and people who want to get in this thing you have a magnificent family and you clearly have done a whole bunch of stuff right you have an achieving loving family of five children and you also have a very very readable book titled fatherhood it should also be said that you do not drink alcohol well i mean that's true but i don't know what that has to do with my family the uh the icon of american television has just told america that it's okay to hit your kid with a stick now that at least deserves a follow-up because out there in our beloved country are people who are not as enlightened as you are people who may have just had a six-pack people who may not like themselves as much as you do and as long as reasonable people who are held in esteem like you can tell funny stories about a stick in a barn and a kid and get a laugh and a hand it makes it easier for those who may not be as in charge of themselves as you are to abuse their children and i'm telling you that my story is not an isolated story of a person who has struck their child do you understand why you understand i'm not i'm not look i could say drive carefully i have not said go through traffic and tear up every car you see there's a difference there is a definite difference there are also people who talk to their children and never strike a child and the child goes on to deal with life in an a wonderful achieving way phil don't put me in a position where i've told everybody and even alcoholics or drug addicts or people who don't drink no smoke who batter their children i did not say batter your child i know i said there are times when talking doesn't work and i did not hit this boy at a time when i was enraged and wanted to kill i said i made that most people do though that's the point right that's the point i made my statement when i was under control and i said very carefully when you make a promise to a kid you have to keep it or else they're going to run over you now whether it meant i'm going to take away whatever from you i don't know but i'm telling you if i had it to do over again i would hit him with the stick again you understand maybe later on when i'm 65 he'll take me to the home and we'll be back in just a moment [Music] [Applause] you may have read the ladies home journal cover story on the tv cosby family as well as his own family here's a picture of camille and this is the real mrs bill cosby is she gorgeous thanks to the ladies hope journal that picture is 10 years old [Music] yes i would like to know you plan to make any movies no i don't i don't have time yes ma'am i really don't you just said how your son was bad and it took you two weeks to get home how do you keep control of your family and and feel like you know what's going on all the time when you're not home much well first of all when i'm home i'm home uh i'm i'm home 24 hours a day i've i've lived with them i really have you have to trust me and and understand that i have lived with them i know each one's behavior their idiosyncrasies and uh i i know them on top of that mrs cosby knows them very well and and mrs cosby and i talk about the children do you have a favorite child the last one the what is that the last one [Laughter] because what would you say about because it is the last one do you see the broadway stage in your future no please is there any pressure on your real family due to your limelight uh yes but they handle it very very well the children handle it very well is it true that you introduced ahmad rashad to feliciarez allen yes yes ma'am i have a four-year-old similar to jeffrey okay he's the last of our six and i i think that in this day and age raising children i think the most important thing is a positive attitude and a sense of humor and that's what's gotten me through and i think your show promotes that and i think thank you yes ma'am you named all of your children uh with names starting with letter e because you said it stands for excellent are you that demanding and that much of a perfectionist where your children are concerned no that was my ego uh we don't have that much time let me go this way every father's name what dad can i oh yeah well it gets to a certain age where is it dead can i also where's my change the five worst words he can do the work and adults on team music this is the cosmic dictionary adults on teen music turn that crap down and we'll be back in just a moment yes ma'am uh you and tom selleck personal friends you give him pushes in the show no no but uh tom selleck um sent me a letter telling me how much he enjoyed the show and he wished me good luck and any person that is like that is my kind of person and yeah and where did you get that divided and promotional jacket is 66 the 740 turbo wagon by volvo until ferrari builds a wagon this is it an assortment of long lasting true value alkaline batteries will power your flashlights tape players calculators and more available from true value hardware stores the drake offers an exciting weekend in new york at a special price the only swiss hotel on park avenue for reservations call 800 drake new york or 212-421-0900 yes ma'am has the success of bill cosby show help the minorities in the show business annie [Music]

Channel: pannoni 8

Views: 12,112

Keywords: Cosby Show, Phil Donahue, talk show, audience, interview, 1980s, 80s, classic, vintage, retro, nostalgia

Id: lIyvxREShsg

Length: 46min 31sec (2791 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2022