Times Colonist from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • 47

TIMES COLONIST tlmescolonlst.com THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2010 D7 COMEDY TTT7 S3 The Cos is mmin i ARTS 1 Groundbreaking comedian brings unique style to town this weekend I INTREPID THEATRE Veenesh Dubois wrote the play Under the Mango Tree. THEATRE Author's life story reflected in; Mango Tree ON STAGE What: Under the Mango Tree Where: Intrepid Theatre Club, 1609 Blanshard St When: Opens 8 p.m. tonight continues -through Sunday (all shows 8 p.m. except Sunday performance at 2 p.m.) Tickets: $1 8 plus $2 Intrepid Theatre mem- bership (tel. 250-383-2663) IN CONCERT What: Bill Cosby When: Saturday, 6 p.m.

and 9 p.m. (two shows) Where: Royal Theatre Tickets: $59.50569.50 MIKE DEVLIN Times Colonist Leave it to Bill Cosby to turn news of his death into a punchline. When a computer virus disguised as a news brief about Cosby's sudden death hit the Internet in early February, one of the first to comment was Cosby himself "As you well know, a dead person cannot rebuttal," Cosby, 72, wrote on his site. "Therefore, I am rebut-talling to tell you that when I heard the news I immediately began rebuttalling and went into denial My wife has just informed me that there is no such word as rebuttalling; she says the word is rebutting. But I don't care, because I'm alive!" It was classic Cosby.

Though the comedy legend is decidedly old-school still a No. 2 pencil man," Cosby said), he isn't out of the loop when it comes to the Internet. He uses it every day and is active on social networking sites Twitter, Face-book and MySpace. He loves the freedom and immediacy of it, but he's quick to add that quite a bit on the Net gets lost in translation. "One of the things they have out there is my political beliefs," Cosby said, during an interview from his home in Shelburne Falls, Mass.

"And I had to put on my website, 'I never said They can do anything they want to do with you." There is an upside, Cosby said. "Celebrities in the past have not had the access to deal with unchecked gossip and you can stop it quickly now." The Cos is on the road doing what he loves more than anything else standup. He is appearing in Victoria for two shows Saturday at the Royal Theatre, which he'll follow with another two on Monday in Mobile, Ala. When he first became interested in doing standup, Cosby had the writing part down but he didn't have a performance style. His slightly goofy, everyman persona came to him one day during dinner at a Chinese Bill Cosby says TV these days "stinks" because networks are "making became the first black actor to win an Emmy (he won three for his role on I Spy) and created the seminal Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

His profile went through the roof when The Cosby Show, on which he portrayed loving, lovable father Dr. Heathclif Huxtable, debuted in 1984. Cosby's show spent five consecutive years ranked at number 1 in the Nielsen ratings, and by dominating prime-time unlike any other actor during the decade he took his place among the most famous and influential stars on television. After the show wrapped its eighth and final season in 1992, he was promptly inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. The Cosby Show was event television something the entire family could watch together, and also appreciate.

It is to everyone's disservice, Cosby said, that this type of program no longer exists. "TV stinks. It absolutely stinks. That entertainment time, Comedian goes for blunt THE BROKAW COMPANY money off of bad behaviour." from 8 p.m. through, it is difficult to get the values and the behaviours to remain constant so that you have some aid to give to parents.

Somebody behaves like an idiot, they get a TV show; An athlete does something and you turn around and the guy's got a commercial. That's the TV industry making money off of bad behaviour." Cosby has always been a big proponent of wholesome educational programs, perhaps bigger' than most. Teaching kids to read, keeping kids off drugs, preaching self-respect these are core issues that Cosby continues to preach. "Education, and a commitment to it, is the only way one can really be satisfied in life," he said. "It produces you enjoying being you.

The person who runs away from education is running away from a growth of happiness about oneself." To read more from Bill Cosby on a variety of topics, visit our website: www.timescolonist.comentertainment laughs the jokes from an ancient gag book his father gave him. He admits some onlookers failed to appreciate his sendup of bad comedy. "A lot of people didn't understand it. Well, what, do they think I'm mentally ill?" he said, laughing. When it comes to comedy, Macdonald said he avoids jokes that employ innuendo.

That's what he aimed for with Weekend Update, where he gave voice to politically incorrect thoughts many held but few would utter. "I wanted to take the cleverness out of it and just make the joke as preposterously blunt as possible. I guess that would be my philosophy, although I never really thought about it I feel like if you can use innuendo, you should be able to say the dirty stuff." His hero is not a comedian but a musician. Macdonald loves Bob Dylan (the comedian's own son is named because of his contrarian approach. "Every time I see him he's more crazy than the last time.

He doesn't do his songs right. He just gets on the audience's nerves. But I understand why he's doing it He doesn't want to do the exact same song the exact same way every night of his life. "I've always embraced that. With standup, you could polish 45 minutes and kill forever with it But it's kind of an insane way to spend your life." adiamberlaintccarAestcom restaurant in Philadelphia during the early 1960s.

Cosby was sitting by himself, eating ribs and bitter melon and chicken, before heading to his job tending bar down the street. There was a party across the room with nine people at a table. Cosby remembered hearing laughter like he had never heard before, which intrigued him. "The guy who's talking is not a professional performer, but I assume by watching that he's a friend. People are chiming in and they're laughing hard at what he's saying.

I knew then what my style was going to be. I'm going to be that man at the table who tells things, says things and per- forms them, for people who are laughing, smiling and enjoying themselves. Along with Dick Gregory's sage advice, 'make yourself a household I went about doing that." After finding acclaim as a standup comic, winning Grammy Awards in 1964 and 1965, Cosby made a successful transition to television. He Update, a regular segment spoofing TV news. Macdonald was notorious for employing a deadpan style while making outrageous (and often accurate) statements about celebrities.

He once said of Lisa Marie Presley, when she was married to Michael Jackson: "She's more of a stay-at-home type. And he's more of a homosexual pedophile." During O. J. Simpson's murder trial, Macdonald repeatedly suggested on Weekend Update that Simpson was guilty. It is said these observations got him fired from SNL in 1997, supposedly because one of the show's top brass was a friend of Simpson's.

Macdonald subsequently starred in a couple of short-lived sit-coms, The Norm Show (1999 to 2001) and A Minute With Stan Hooper (2003). He also had smaller parts in several movies, including Bifly Madison and Funny People. Known as a comedian's comedian, he has been a regular guest on Late Show With David Letterman and Late Night WithConanO'Brien. Macdonald's sardonic humour i came to the infamous fore dur-! ing one Conan O'Brien episode. Courtenay Thome-Smith, a fellow guest, mentioned acting in the movie Chairman of the Board with comedian Carrot Top.

Macdonald then suggested any movie featuring Carrot Top should be titled "Box Office Poison." (It was a prescient remark, as the film bombed.) ADRIAN CHAMBERLAIN Times Colonist Veenesh Dubois's father wept when he saw Under the Mango Tree. That's because the semi-autobio- graphical play explores the terrible pain his daughter experienced after he left the family to seek a better life: in Canada. Under the Mango Tree was a hit at last year's Vancouver International Fringe Festival. The show, chosen as "pick of the Fringe," played to sold- out crowds before being held over at Granville Island's Waterfront The- -atre. The drama follows a girl named Timal, who is abandoned by her -father in a Fijian village.

For four years they correspond only by letters and cassette tapes, until she joins him in Canada. The real-life story of Dubois -who performs the one-woman show is similar. The 43-year-old Vancou-I ver actor and playwright grew up in a tiny Fijian settlement. Known as No. 25 Lane, it consisted of 20 huts con- structed from tin and wood (one such home is replicated as part of the play's set).

Then in 1970, when Dubois was just four, her father decided to try his luck on his own in Canada. "I "The whole village was all happy and shaking his hand. It was like, Wow, you're like a superstar. You're going off to a new country Dubois said. I In Canada, it was a hardscrabble life at first.

Her father started out selling popcorn on Granville Street before eventually becoming a welder at Vancouver Shipyards. Her mother and sister joined him in Vancouver in 1972. Dubois was left in the village to be cared for by her grandparents. She believes her father wanted to leave one family member behind as a token of respect for his -village. Finally, two years later, Dubois was reunited with her family in Canada.

The emotional wounds festered well through adulthood. For years, she resented her father's actions. As an adult, in relationships with other men, she struggled with "abandonment" issues. 1 Tve worked very hard on my relationship with my father. Understanding why he did what he did was the hardest thing for me, for many years." Ultimately, she decided to reach out to him.

The writing of Under the Mango Tree was, in some sense, a way of reconnecting. When the show debuted at the Vancouver fringe festE vaL her dad attended. After her per-" formance, Dubois immediately touched her father's foot in a tradi- -tional gesture of respect "I looked at him and he was weepC ing. I went and touched his feet He 2 said, Thank you for telling my story. I never thought of it like that I never! thought it affected you the way it acharrteriaintccanwestiom ON STAGE What: Norm Macdonald (Jason Lamb opening) Where: McPherson Playhouse When: Tonight 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: $48.50 (tel. 250-386-6121) ADRIAN CHAMBERLAIN Times Colonist Whenever Norm Macdonald thinks of Vancouver Island, he remembers oP Harold Delaney. That's the name of the old gent who ran a Port Alberni bed-and-breakfast. Macdonald stayed overnight there more than a decade ago. Apparently, it wasn't the best of accommodations.

Macdonald, a comedian and former Saturday Night Live star, recalls it as a "ramshackle old house." The capper came that night, when Macdonald heard a knock on his bedroom door. It was Harold, carrying a Scrabble set. At his host's request, Macdonald played a few games even though Harold cheated a little. "There was no one in the house except for me and old Harold Delaney," Macdonald said last week from his Los Angeles home. "And then he didn't have any breakfast That was the other thing." Macdonald, who brings bis standup comedy to Victoria tonight, became famous in the 1990s.

For three years he anchored SNL's Weeltmd I GETTY IMAGES Norm Macdonald: Deadpan style. "I felt kind of bad after that," Macdonald said. He apologized to Carrot Top the next day. "I was always too relaxed on that show. It was just like I'm talking in a room with Conan, who is a friend.

I forgot that Carrot Top might be watchingt" Macdonald's contrarian style resurfaced when he was invited to perform at a 2008 comedy roast for actor-comedian Bob Saget Macdonald's contribution consisted of telling corny "anti-jokes" which fell intentionally flat Sample: "Bob, you have a lot of well-wishers here tonight, and a lot of them would like to throw you down one a well" Maddonald says he exhumed.