The Humorists In The Cosby Show

While humor has the ability to raise people’s spirits, it also has the power to express public concern and be the voice for those who can’t convey their own. People who use humor are able to comment on serious issues in a comical manner in order to convey their point and encourage the betterment of society. Humorists serve a vital function in society because they shed light on heavy issues in a comedic manner, serve as advocates for social change, and bring attention to societal issues in the intent to address and challenge them.

Humorists have the ability to bring the heavy issues that consume people’s lives to the forefront of society. Satirical television programs are forms of comedic entertainment that call attention to events or people

Comedians are able to directly challenge political and social issues and encourage their audience to find ways to spread awareness about such ills. Bill Cosby is an American comedian who garnered attention towards stereotypes of African-Americans. Cosby comedically commented on the negative nature of the stereotypes that surrounded black people, and he served as a social critic who broke these stereotypes and painted black people in a positive light in media as opposed to their image in society at the time. In his show, The Cosby Show, Cosby depicted a prosperous and Black family, where he played a doctor and his wife in the show was a lawyer. Cosby’s show was one of the first sitcoms that portrayed a black family in a positive manner, and his show’s comedic nature not only entertained people, but also generated awareness about stereotypes about African-Americans. Cosby was able to showcase the need to change people’s mindsets about black people through comedy and through his hilarious shows that was popular among many middle-class Americans at the time. In addition to Cosby, Dick Gregory is another comedian who utilized his celebrity as a comedian in order to advocate for social change. Gregory used satire as a way to advance social causes. He combined social satire and moral fervor with compassionate humor in order to reveal the ills of society and promote greater action towards erasing them. Through his

While this may be true for some humorists, a number of humorists devote their content to bettering society by drawing attention to political or social ills. Satirical writer Mark Twain’s book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn utilized satire in order to attack the ideas of slavery and racism. Twain’s primary purpose for writing the book was to address the issues of freedom and slavery. The book supports the idea of abolishing slavery, especially during a time in which it was often dangerous to challenge the system of slavery. While the book takes on the humorous point of view of a young boy, the main purpose of the book is not to solely entertain people by describing the boy’s journeys, but to call attention to the problems of society and highlight the hypocrisy of society. Twain’s book gave a voice to slaves, and thus, played a vital role in society by highlighting a social issue in a comical manner in order to tackle it, and thus, is an example of a humorist who was devoted to conveying a message in addition to entertaining his audience rather than solely trying to amuse his