''Why Is There Air?'' (1965) is

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 ...

's third album. It was recorded at the

Flamingo Hotel Flamingo Las Vegas (formerly The Fabulous Flamingo and Flamingo Hilton Las Vegas) is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The property includes a casino along with 3,4 ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. It won the 1966

Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement in comedy." The award was awarded yearly from 1959 to 1993 and then from 2004 to prese ...

. The final track, "Hofstra", is an expanded re-telling of the "TV Football" routine from Cosby's second album, ''

I Started Out as a Child ''I Started Out as a Child'' is Bill Cosby's second album, released in 1964. It is the first Cosby album that features his childhood memories in his comic routines, but many of the tracks are still observational comedy, observational humor. The ...

''. "I played for

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, and it's the truth," he says, "Don't keep asking 'Did you really play?' Yes, I really played. At one time I had a beautiful body."

Track listing

Side one

#Kindergarten – 8:15 #Personal Hygiene – 1:04 #Shop – 3:10 #Baby – 3:49 #Driving in San Francisco – 3:45

Side two

#$75 Car – 7:40 #The Toothache – 4:10 #Hofstra – 8:00

Legacy

Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom '' Seinfeld'', which he created and wrote with La ...

has cited this album as a major influence, stating that it "drove imcrazy" and inspired his career as a comedian.

References

Bill Cosby live albums Stand-up comedy albums Spoken word albums by American artists Live spoken word albums 1965 live albums Warner Records live albums Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album 1960s comedy albums 1960s spoken word albums Albums produced by Allan Sherman Albums recorded at the Flamingo Las Vegas {{Comedy-album-stub