''200 M.P.H.'' (1968) is the seventh stand-up comedy album by

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

, and his ninth album overall. It was recorded live at

Harrah's Harrah's Entertainment (later named Caesars Entertainment Corporation, previously The Promus Companies) was an American casino and hotel company founded in Reno, Nevada, and based in Paradise, Nevada, that operated over 50 properties and seven go ...

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake i ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and released by Warner Bros. Records.

Background

In 1967, Bill Cosby bought a Shelby Cobra Super Snake CSX 3303 from his friend, company founder

Carroll Shelby Carroll Hall Shelby (January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012) was an American automotive designer, racing driver, and entrepreneur. Shelby is best known for his involvement with the AC Cobra and Mustang for Ford Motor Company, which he modified dur ...

. The car was a 1965 Cobra Competition roadster, retained by Shelby American as a PR car and then modified with the addition of two

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced indu ...

s and a Ford C-6 automatic gearbox. Only two such cars were built; one was retained by Shelby and the other was sold to Cosby. Side two of this album (side one on the cassette release) is a single routine that focuses on Cosby's love of sports cars and his brief ownership of the Super Snake. The title, "200 M.P.H.", refers to Shelby's boast about the car's top speed; however, Cosby became so unnerved during a test drive that he returned it immediately afterward. Shelby American sold the car to S and C Motors in San Francisco, who in turn sold it to a customer named Tony Maxey. Maxey destroyed the CSX 3303 by driving over a cliff and into the Pacific Ocean; he died from his injuries a few days later. Brian Angliss purchased the vehicle and subsequently restored it. He plans to auction the car off. In a late-night talk show appearance, Cosby briefly re-told this story and said that he had heard that

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", " By the Time I Get to Phoenix", " MacArthur Park", " Wichita Lineman", " Wo ...

(of " MacArthur Park" fame) eventually ended up with his Cobra. While the majority of Cosby's Warner Bros. standup albums were regularly re-released on LP, and eventually issued on CD in April 1998, ''200 M.P.H.'' was not reissued on vinyl (although it was available on cassette in the '80s). It did not see a CD release until 2005, mainly due to controversy over the main sketch's punchline: Afraid that the car was so powerful and hard to control that it would be lethal to the driver, Cosby decided to return it, saying, "Take the keys and this car, it's all paid for, and you give it to

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist a ...

." Wallace was a well-known pro-segregationist, and was campaigning for the presidency of the United States at the time this album was recorded.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

References

{{Bill Cosby Bill Cosby live albums Stand-up comedy albums Spoken word albums by American artists Live spoken word albums 1968 live albums Warner Records live albums 1960s comedy albums 1960s spoken word albums