(Login jimmymitchell) ....cc.... from IP address 66.75.226.186
I've continued my chronological trip through Bill Cosby's 60's and early 70's comedy albums and am enjoying them immensely. I mentioned before that as a teenager I felt their quality began to drop off by the late sixties. As I work my way through the Cosby albums now, I am finding that I don't agree at all with the opinion I formed back then (or at least with my memory of that opinion). I don't find a great difference in his style as we get to the end of the 60s. He does spend more time mining the humor to be found in the "war" between men and women. At age 15 I may not have found that topic particularly interesting, preferring he stick to subjects like go-carts and giant chicken hearts.
I was just listening to his final Warner Brothers LP: "It's True! It's True!" There's a short routine on it called "Spanish Fly" which I had completely forgotten about (because, among other reasons, I haven't heard it in at least thirty-five years). Since it concerns I Spy and "Bob", and even includes a brief impression of Sheldon Leonard, I thought it would be fun to post here.
I'm trying out a different file hosting service (4shared). The link below leads you to a page from which you can download the audio .mp3 file. You may have to wait a few seconds for all the file information to load. There should be a download button a bit more than half way down the page.
While watching, "Crusade to Limbo," a couple of weeks ago (which I know takes place in Mexico)I was thinking of this bit when Kelly and Scotty were climbing up whatever it is (pyramid; big rock stairs thingy) they climbed up to meet Howard Duff. Howie played somebody Christie, but I am too lazy to look up or bend over and check out my DVD collection for the first name.
I owned this album during my wayward youth, but lost it (amongst other LP's) during one of my many moves. I wondered, when this was released, if the title was a jab, a poke, or a reference to the, "True, true," remark from the series. It may have inspired Madeline Kahn and/or Mel Brooks.
I may have asked this in the past, but due to the recreational chemicals I ingested in the 70's and my neverending quest to drink every available ounce of Scotch in the Western Hemisphere; plus due to the size of my brain; I have forgotten (damn, that is a long sentence). Any way, the question is: does anyone know of any outtakes or bloopers available from I Spy? I believe that somewhere, someone is sitting on some hilarious tapes. A producer or editor; some one involved with the show. Based on the ad-libs that were included in the series, I can only imagine the stuff that was cut.
You expressed an interest in outtakes Jim. I acquired some audio outtakes from I Spy a couple of years ago thanks to eBay. I described them in this post:
If this is old news, I apologize. But if you haven’t heard it, you might find the excerpt below amusing. This is roughly 8 minutes of audio from The Beautiful Children comprising the scene in which Zarkas (Harold J. Stone) drives away from the airport with his two passengers (Kelly and Scotty). The tape recorder must have been inside the cab with the actors because it continues to run between takes. Mr. Stone is having a hell of a time with the cab—he can’t seem to get it in gear—and the f-word is flying. Culp and Cosby are having a great time back seat driving, and the language gets salty all around. At one point you can hear Mr. Culp say something about having “had a lot of beer myself” and they do sound a little inebriated. This may have occurred after a liquid lunch. However no one has any trouble with lines. The props are causing the problems. You can hear the always patient voice of Earl Bellamy from outside the cab, receiving good natured ribbing from the actors.
The link leads you to a page from which you can download the audio .mp3 file. You may have to wait a few seconds for all the file information to load. There should be a download button a bit more than half way down the page.
This was GREAT fun to listen to. Just like the other audio file I heard, when our two boys are going after the little guy who knocked them out. I find it quite humorous that in each take Culp seems to change his dialogue line, just a little bit, like on a acting whim.
There's another album of Cosby's from about that same era (I can't remember which one it is) where he talks about I Spy and various filming locations (Greece, Mexico, Japan, etc.). He was trying to remember the name of "an island in Greece where we had to ride this donkey." Try as he might, he couldn't remember the name of Santorini Island. A heckler in the audience suggested maybe he was referring to Coney Island.
Another heckler in the audience made some reference to Culp's long hair, suggesting he should get a haircut. Cosby more or less told him to mind his own business.
He also talked about eating very flavorful food in Mexico but, at the same time, getting deathly sick, and the geishas who romped around with him in the bathtubs in Japan.
Someone in the audience asked him if they ever filmed an episode in Israel. He said, "No. They were busy having a war at the time." (the 1967 Seven Day War)
This message has been edited by Russ_Conway from IP address 172.190.46.122 on Jul 31, 2007 12:04 AM
Re: I Spy References In Cosby's Monologue Material
July 31 2007, 3:11 PM
It’s from “It’s True! It’s True!” And at the end of that story, Cosby added that he wanted to film in Africa, “The one time that Bob ain’t gonna get no girls!”
I used to watch every Bill Cosby appearance I could on talk shows like The Tonight Show hoping to hear just one little mention of his years on I Spy. He rarely did so, but one time he told a funny little story about filming in Japan and how everything there was made for people about a foot shorter than he and Mr. Culp, and they had trouble getting comfortable in the hotel beds because their feet always hung off the bottom
