by Bobby Allyn
Bill Cosby performed publicly for the first time since 2015 on Monday night, doing an impromptu act at a jazz club in Philadelphia. The famed entertainer has mostly avoided the spotlight the past few years, after numerous accusations of sexual misconduct began to build against him.
Taking the stage at the LaRose Jazz Club in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood to a mostly African-American crowd of about 50 people, Cosby wore a grey hoodie with the words “hello friend” written in colorful letters. The freewheeling performance had him scat-singing with upright bass accompaniment. He played the drums in a jam session with the jazz band. And he did storytelling while sitting on a wooden stool and wearing a headset microphone.
He spun tales about his quiet Uncle William who loved to drink and the birth of his younger brother when he was a kid growing up in public housing. And the 80-year-old riffed on the themes of aging and his struggle with blindness.
“You laugh when blind people walk into things. And guess what? Blind people laugh when sighted people fall down,” Cosby said. “Ha ha ha ha.”
