The Cosby Show

With the TIVO set to record the UNC - Oklahoma basketball game, Erica and I headed over to the new Durham Performing Arts Center on Sunday afternoon to see Bill Cosby's performance.

Cosby opened the show with a brief tribute to celebrated historian John Hope Franklin, who among a series of notable other achievements worked with Thurgood Marshall's legal team on the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Dr. Franklin in his home in December for a Duke Law magazine article. He passed away last week at the age of 94.

After the tribute, Cosby drew consistent laughs with humorous tales about everyday life, including some observations about marriage that resonated with our own experience. Particularly familiar was the story of how "romantic" it is to cut down your own Christmas tree.

Cosby smoothly handled distractions like a backstage crash and a heckler who thought we had paid to hear him yell out things like "You're my TV dad" and provided two hours of fun, slice-of-life comedy.