MovieChat Forums > The Bill Cosby Show (1969) Discussion > FAVORITE 'CHET KINCAID' MOMENTS

FAVORITE 'CHET KINCAID' MOMENTS

posted 18 years ago by zoewood
8 replies | jump to latest

I'm curious to hear about your all time favorite "CHET" moments!
This comedy was definitely ahead of it's time, don't you agree?

I absolutely love the HENRY FONDA episode - "The Elevator Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" - probably amongst the top two, three or four finest episodes of classic sitcom comedy in the history of Television, if you ask me!
My approximate "GREATEST CHET MOMENTS" ranking would be:

1. "Let X Equal A Lousy Weekend"
In this classic episode, Chet goes down to his local candy store to try to figure out an embarrassingly impossible algebra problem in time to save face for Monday's class! The guy who plays the candy store clerk is absolutely hilarious as he tries to sell Chet some excellent 'nougat' for more than it is currently priced, because he thinks Chet is a little bit eccentric and nutty!! I laughed so hard that I was crying!!

2. The Henry Fonda episode - This one has some beautiful interaction between the soul searching character that Fonda plays and Chet Kincaid. I love the scene where Mrs Wochuck tells the night watchman off in her native lingo and Chet says: "that's really tellin' it like it is." CLASSIC STUFF BETWEEN FONDA AND COSBY HERE - WATCHING ONE OF THE ALL TIME GREAT ACTORS, HENRY FONDA, JUST LOOK SO NATURAL AS HE PRAISES CHET FOR HIS SKILL AT THE GAME OF TWENTY QUESTIONS MADE ME REALIZE HOW EFFORTLESS ACTING CAME TO FONDA.
"It's just beautiful the way you do that - very impressive"

3. "GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD" or "The Wally Cox Episode" - some truly hilarious moments in this one! I love Chet's humble, good natured attempts ("it's all about eye contact - when she looks at you - 'BOOM' - you just drop it right on her) at assisting the nerdy cafeteria chef (played by Wally Cox) as he tries to teach him how to be a stud and ends up having to save him from a suicide attempt! ("When will she look at my socks, Chet?")

4.. The Christmas episode, "A Christmas Ballad" - This one makes me tear up everytime I see it - Chet is a truly endearing, great humanitarian hero of his time!

5. "Driven To Distraction" - I love the way Chet interacts with that nerdy, stuffy guy at the beginning when he's applying for the driving instructor's position! ("there's no room for frivolity in driving instruction")( "there's no room for slovenliness in driving instruction") Chet is stunned by the guy's nerdiness, but he has to get the job so he responds by saying "I believe in that."

MORE CLASSIC KINCAID COMEDY:

In the episode where Chet is making the TV commercial for the cereal company - A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR - Chet goes to the drama teacher at Holmes High to seek some coaching in the art of acting; while there, the lady drama coach (one of those classic lady character actors that we've all seen a hundred times in old Jerry Lewis movies and such) tries to instruct Chet in the finer techniques of vocal projection by suggesting that he SING out his lines - when Chet breaks into his subdued, "Bing Crosby-esque" rendition of "SIT DOWN AND HAVE SOME BREAKFAST, JIMMY" - I have to stop the DVD 'cause I'm laughing so hard!
These little moments of "nuanced" humor that only someone like COS can deliver is what makes this show so totally unique and so hilarious - it's the kind of moment of hilarity that would escape most viewers - I believe you have to appreciate the nature of COSBY'S uniquely timed, subtle comedy in order to "GET" most of the show!!!!

CLASSIC EPISODES SUCH AS THESE MADE THE BILL COSBY SHOW ONE OF THE MOST GENUINE AND HEARTFELT COMEDY SERIES IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION AND IT IS TRULY HILARIOUS, PRIMARILY DUE TO THE BRILLIANT NUANCE OF HUMOR THAT IS PRESENT IN EVERY MOVE COSBY MAKES!!!

[–] dtrea3n605 17 years ago

I remember that episode about the Corn Wispy's!! I remember Bill mentioning how he didn't want to Pop his P's, as he ate the cereal, and also being overdosed on the cereal, or the commericial! One funny scene was when he asked the very snobish Jimmy to sit down, at the table when he was already seated! Jimmy,I remember gave him some great inside information about how he shouldn't eat the cereal, because it would "kill you"! My family howled at that segment!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] antifrodis 16 years ago

My favorite episode is when he accidently befriends an old man and quickly realises that he can't get rid of him. The guys keeps showing up wherever Chet goes. The faces Chet makes when he answers the door and the old guy walks in are hilarious! The show gets a little sappy at the end where Chet finally tells the guy to get lost and hurts his feelings. However, the payoff scene in the end makes up for it.

Chet's showdown with Big Bronson is also a great moment. Shirtless, wearing a bandana and wielding a machete, he's ready for a fight.

[–] steve-brink 14 years ago

I'll go with the episode where he takes a date in a trash truck. I remember the whole family watching that episode and even my mom was laughing so hard.

[–] jacksmak11 14 years ago

i haven't seen this show in years,but i remember it fondly.
i remember an episode where chet is dating a single mother and flips out in front of her and her son while losing a handball game. very nice!
ps i never cared for the 1980s show.

[–] librachashjesu 13 years ago

Loved the Season 2 episode when Chet was trying to help a friend quit smoking and he pretty much became a zombie in a trance at the party he was hosting. A woman at the party complimented a picture and said she wanted one like it, and Chet pulled it down for her and handed it to her. The friend who was quitting smoking asked him to stick nearby and Chet was in his face the whole time at the party, unable to speak. Later, as the friend was praising Chet, another guy said 'how do I get my wife to stop?' and Chet pulled a lit cigarette out of her mouth right there and then! The friend than said, "I guarantee you, you put a cigarette in my mouth right now, I won't smoke it," and Chet put the woman's cig in his mouth, and sure enough, he didn't! Then, after the party, he decided to help clean up and Chet "woke up" out of the trance! Best ever!

[–] chambers112 12 years ago

I love the episode where he hurts his back and can't get a doctor to see him. His scenes with the boy at the hospital were so funny. And of course I like the first episode where he's jogging and get into all sorts of trouble just from answering a ringing pay phone.

meg.

[–] bwalright 7 years ago

Ep where he's sick at home. His Mom catches him answering door w/o slippers/bathrobe. The best is how he puts kleenix in his 1 stuffed-up nostril ( I did that as a kid when sick! )