Recently, as Jeff Giles of Popdose and I were recording the first installment of our latest podcast series, “Ebony and Ivory” (premiering soon,) we fondly discussed memories of “The Cosby Show.” A watershed moment in TV history, it marked the first time (or one of the first times) that a successful black family appeared on TV. No tenement slums, no annoying catch phrases, no kids adopted by white people, no “movin’ on up.” I’ve recently gotten sucked down the “Cosby” rerun rabbit hole on TVOne as well, and have been enjoying going down memory lane with the Huxtables.

Bill Cosby is Everydad, right? Probably the most beloved black celebrity of all time (or at least significantly less polarizing than Jackson, Murphy, Tyson, Pryor, Prince, Whitney, etc…) Bill is also 75 years old, and apparently still appears on TV from time to time. On Friday, the Cos appeared on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” and I can’t tell whether his appearance proved that he’s still a comedic genius, or if it proved that the old man has finally lost his got-dang marbles. See for yourself.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn2bjyaAfGc]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtzm5tP4Ahw?list=UU8-Th83bH_thdKZDJCrn88g]

I must admit-I laughed like a loon through this whole thing-partially because it was legitimately funny, partially because Black Thought’s facial expressions are priceless, and partially because it was kinda uncomfortable. For some reason, I was also reminded of this, since a big part of Cosby, Fallon and The Roots’ interaction was based on Cosby’s long-standing opinion that most modern music is noise…get off my lawn, Tariq!!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4SwafH688o]

Regardless of how much of Bill’s schtick was legit schtick, he’s faring much better than Tempestt Bledsoe, who portrayed Huxtable kid Vanessa-the most easily forgettable sibling. Somewhere in my head, I thought she was the oft-neglected middle sibling, but she wasn’t! Theo was! And even Theo got more shine than she did!  One might say that Bledsoe has the last laugh, as she’s the only “Cosby” alum currently on network TV. One might also decide to watch an episode of “Guys With Kids”-the “sitcom” that Bledsoe co-stars in along with Anthony Anderson, Meadow Soprano, and a few other folks-and wonder if Tempestt wasn’t better off trying to be a C-grade Ricki Lake or appearing on a weight loss reality show. I’m pretty easily entertained, and I couldn’t get through one entire episode of this show! Seriously! Anthony Anderson–you left “Law & Order” for THIS????

I wonder what Elvin and Dabnis Brickey are doing these days…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJBLb_ctwHE]

(Interesting to note; Jimmy Fallon co-created this show; maybe it’s why he decided to have Tempestt and The Cos on his show on the same night?)