''To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With'' is the sixth 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 eighth album overall. It was recorded in 1968 in the

Cleveland Public Auditorium Public Auditorium (also known as Public Hall) is a multi-purpose performing arts, entertainment, sports, and exposition facility located in the civic center district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The 10,000-capacity main auditorium shares its stag ...

, and it was released later that year on a 12″

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

Background

The day of the recording,

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

experienced a severe ice storm which tied up traffic. Cosby delayed the opening of the act for an hour to give people time to arrive and find their way to their seats. Near the end of that hour, after a period of approximately 10 minutes with no new arrivals, a woman entered and made her way to a seat very near the front row. When she had seated herself, Cosby cupped his hands around the microphone and announced in a deep, stentorian voice, "You're late!" The entire audience erupted in laughter and the show then began. This was Cosby's first album recorded in a large venue rather than an intimate nightclub. As in many of his other albums and stand-up work, Cosby delves in great detail into his childhood. Side One covers topics such as the first sin ("The Apple") and Cosby's two daughters ("The Losers"). Side Two is one long story, recounting childhood antics in the bed that he and his brother shared when they were supposed to be asleep, which were also recounted more than 20 years later in the first chapter of his book ''Childhood''. It was number 1 on '' Spin'' magazine's list of the 40 Greatest Comedy Albums of All Time, calling it "stand-up comedy's masterpiece". Writer/director

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

said on the '' An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder'' DVD that this was one of his favorite comedy albums.

Track listing

Side one

#Baseball – 2:36 #Conflict – 1:18 #The Losers – 8:50 #The Apple – 1:42

Side two

#To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With – 26:43

References

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 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album 1960s comedy albums 1960s spoken word albums {{Comedy-album-stub