Now that Bill Cosby's in jail, Kenan Thompson got to dust off his Cosby impression on SNL
Not that he rates anywhere on the list of people negatively affected by anything now-convicted rapist Bill Cosby has done in his life, but poor Kenan Thompson. Despite having a solid Cosby impression in his back pocket all these years (he was play Fat Albert, for crying out loud), Thompson has had to keep his Cosby stuffed shamefully down in there, since parading a mugging, lovably incomprehensible Cos out there on Saturday Night Live each week might have been considered in poor taste, especially since Hannibal Buress’ offhand joke about Cosby’s long-whispered-about criminal history finally got people to give a crap. Well, on last night’s Seth Meyers-hosted SNL, Kenan finally felt it was safe to bring the Cos back out, since the comedian is now safely behind bars.
Introduced to new prisoner Meyers as his new cellmate, Kenan’s Cosby was nothing if not consistent, hamming it up in self-satisfied silliness and talking about Jell-O, and how the young people need to pull up their drawers, and stop with all the filth, and whatnot. He also joked about former Cosby Show costar Geoffrey Owens, recently outed as having to take—gasp—a regular job. (It should be noted that, in addition to rolling in acting offers since people started being dicks to him, Owens is not known to be a sexual predator.) Anyway, Thompson’s Cosby appeared undaunted by his imprisonment, still eating huge (if contraband) hoagies, shmoozing with old pal Quincy Jones (actually a live turtle), and telling the unimpressed Meyers that he fully intends to lecture every single black man in the joint, “with no guards present,” about proper living. Meyers, who played straight man to a lot of silliness last night, saw his prisoner suggesting, with all due respect, “Have you considered just dying?” For the oblivious Cosby, apparently even that sweet release is denied him, since his signature goofily indulgent dance moves keep him eternally alive. Which, considering where he’ll be dancing for the next three-to-ten, we’ll call it a wash.