Bill Cosby’s Career Choice

Bill Cosby realized in the eighth grade he wanted to be a comedian when he got laughs telling his classmates what it was like growing up with his brothers in a poor part of Philadelphia. Says Cosby, “With my teacher’s permission, I walked to the front of the classroom and faced my first audience. ‘I share a bed with my little brother,’ I began, ‘but he’s not little enough.’

The laughter hit me like a drug. ‘Y’see, he keeps touching me, and I don’t like a bed that feels like a bus.’ More laughter. ‘And sometime he thinks the bed is a boxing ring, but he never goes to a neutral corner.’

Their laughter was even a sweeter sound than the tinkle of change in my father’s pants. It was the only vocational guidance I would ever need.”