For decades, Bill Cosby has made people laugh with his stand-up comedy, TV series such as "The Cosby Show" and "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," his books and any number of other projects. But as he told TODAY's Al Roker Friday, even on the rare times an audience has given him silence, he's been able to work with that.
"I never was a cricket-hearer," he said of the times he didn't get a response. "I had this weird belief that if they were not laughing, there was something I was doing wrong. And I always believed in listening to myself and listening to the audience and fixing it."
Today, as he works his act at Treasure Island in Las Vegas and prepares for his first comedy special in 30 years, the legend is also gracious enough to allow amateurs to open up for him.
Amateurs like, say, Al Roker.
"You are just gonna go out there and you're going to forget about who's following you," encouraged Cosby backstage.
"So forget about the fact that Bill Cosby is following me?" asked Roker.
"What you want, is he's following you and can he do it? Can Bill Cosby follow Al the Torch?" said Cosby.
And while Roker may not have slain 'em in the aisles, neither did he hear crickets. As he left the stage, Cosby shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen, Torch Roker!"
"Bill Cosby: Far From Finished" airs on Comedy Central Nov. 23 at 8 p.m.