200 M.P.H.
200 M.P.H. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Live album by Bill Cosby | ||||
Released | October 1968 (1968-10) | |||
Venue | Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Nevada | |||
Genre | Stand-up comedy | |||
Length | 36:15 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Bill Cosby chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
200 M.P.H. (1968) is the seventh stand-up comedy album by Bill Cosby, and his ninth album overall. It was recorded live at Harrah's, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and released by Warner Bros. Records.
Background
In 1967, Bill Cosby bought a Shelby Cobra Super Snake CSX 3303 from his friend, company founder Carroll Shelby. The car was a 1965 Cobra Competition roadster, retained by Shelby American as a PR car and then modified with the addition of two superchargers and a Ford C-6 automatic gearbox.[2] Only two such cars were built; one was retained by Shelby and the other was sold to Cosby. Side two of this album (side one on the cassette release) is a single routine that focuses on Cosby's love of sports cars and his brief ownership of the Super Snake. The title, "200 M.P.H.", refers to Shelby's boast about the car's top speed; however, Cosby became so unnerved during a test drive that he returned it immediately afterward. Shelby American sold the car to S and C Motors in San Francisco, who in turn sold it to a customer named Tony Maxey. Maxey destroyed the CSX 3303 by driving over a cliff and into the Pacific Ocean; he died from his injuries a few days later. Brian Angliss purchased the vehicle and subsequently restored it. He plans to auction the car off.[2]
In a late-night talk show appearance, Cosby briefly re-told this story and said that he had heard that Jimmy Webb (of "MacArthur Park" fame) eventually ended up with his Cobra.[citation needed]
While the majority of Cosby's Warner Bros. standup albums were regularly re-released on LP, and eventually issued on CD in April 1998, 200 M.P.H. was not reissued on vinyl (although it was available on cassette in the '80s). It did not see a CD release until 2005, mainly because of controversy[citation needed] over the main sketch's punchline: Afraid that the car was so powerful and hard to control that it would be lethal to the driver, Cosby decided to return it, saying, "Take the keys and this car, it's all paid for, and you give it to George Wallace." Wallace was a well-known pro-segregationist, and was campaigning for the presidency of the United States at the time this album was recorded.
Track listing
Side one
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Mothers and Fathers" | 4:20 |
2. | "The Wife" | 1:48 |
3. | "The Grandfather" | 4:08 |
4. | "Dogs and Cats" | 3:01 |
Side two
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "200 M.P.H." | 22:58 |
References
- ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r191757
- ^ a b "Barrett-Jackson - the World's Greatest Collector Car Events". Archived from the original on 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
- v
- t
- e
- Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow...Right! (1963)
- I Started Out as a Child (1964)
- Why Is There Air? (1965)
- Wonderfulness (1966)
- Revenge (1967)
- To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With (1968)
- 200 M.P.H. (1968)
- It's True! It's True! (1969)
- 8:15 12:15 (1969)
- Sports (1969)
- Live: Madison Square Garden Center (1970)
- When I Was a Kid (1971)
- For Adults Only (1971)
- Inside the Mind of Bill Cosby (1972)
- Fat Albert (1973)
- My Father Confused Me... What Must I Do? What Must I Do? (1977)
- Bill's Best Friend (1978)
- Bill Cosby: Himself (1982)
- Those of You with or Without Children, You'll Understand (1986)
- Oh, Baby! (1991)
- Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings (1967)
- Bill Cosby Sings Hooray for the Salvation Army Band! (1968)
- Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band (1971)
- Bill Cosby Talks to Kids About Drugs (1971)
- Bill Cosby Presents Badfoot Brown & the Bunions Bradford Funeral Marching Band (1972)
- At Last Bill Cosby Really Sings (1974)
- Bill Cosby Is Not Himself These Days (1976)
- Disco Bill (1977)
- State of Emergency (2009)
- The Best of Bill Cosby (1969)
- More of the Best of Bill Cosby (1970)
- Bill (1973)
- Down Under (1975)
- "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)" (1967)
- The Bill Cosby Show (1969–71)
- The New Bill Cosby Show (1972-73)
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–85)
- Cos (1976)
- The Cosby Show (1984–92)
- A Different World (1987–93)
- The Cosby Mysteries (1994–95)
- Cosby (1996–2000)
- Little Bill (1999–2004)
- Fatherhood (2004–05)
films and specials
- Himself (1983)
- Bill Cosby 77 (unreleased)
- Fatherhood (1986)
- Pound Cake speech (2004)
- Tetragrammaton Records
- Collection of African-American art
- Andrea Constand lawsuit
- Trial
- We Need to Talk About Cosby (2022)