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This article is about Fat Albert, the television series. For the 2004 film, see Fat Albert (film).
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was an animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including the titular one. Filmation was the production company for the series.
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Origins
Fat Albert first appeared in Cosby's stand-up comedy routine "Buck Buck," as recorded on his 1967 album Revenge. The stories were based upon Cosby's tales about growing up in the inner city of Philadelphia. In 1969, Cosby and veteran animator Ken Mundie brought Fat Albert to animation in a one-shot prime-time special entitled Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert.
The special, which aired on NBC, was a hybrid of live-action and animation. The music for the special (and later the series) was written and performed by jazz pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock in 1969 and was released on the Warner Bros. album Fat Albert Rotunda.
The producers anticipated NBC to bring Fat Albert to Saturday mornings, but they refused because the series was too educational *. So, Bill Cosby and a new production company, Filmation Associates, took the property to CBS.
The series, now titled Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, premiered on September 9, 1972 on CBS for a 12-year run. It also spent a few more months in first-run syndication in 1984. Several prime-time holiday specials featuring the characters were also produced. Like most animated series at the time, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids contained a laugh track.
The Fat Albert Gang's character images were primarily created by the artist Randy Hollar with the assistance of one-time Disney animator Michelle McKinney, under the direction of Ken Brown.
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Educational lessons and songs
Fat Albert was honored and noted for its educational content. During each episode, Fat Albert and his friends, collectively known as The Junkyard Gang, dealt with an issue or problem commonly faced by young children, ranging from stage fright, first loves ("puppy love"), medical operations, and skipping school to harder, more serious themes (toned down somewhat for young children) including smoking, stealing, racism, being scammed by con artists, child abuse, drug use, and gun violence.
At the end of each episode, the gang would sing a song about the theme of the day. This sequence, similar to those seen in other Filmation shows including The Archie Show, has often been parodied.
Despite the reputation of educational children television series for being unpopular on commercial television, the series enjoyed one of the longest runs in the history of the Saturday morning cartoon timeslot.
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Revamps and renames
In 1979, the show was re-titled The New Fat Albert Show and featured a pair of new animated segments: "The Brown Hornet" (detailing the adventures of a larger-than-life African-American crime fighter in outer space whose design resembled a caricature of Bill Cosby, who also performed vocal talents on the character) and "Legal Eagle" (involving a crime-fighting eagle and a pair of bumbling police squirrels).
In 1984, the show was syndicated and renamed The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. In those episodes, the lack of network restrictions allowed the producer to delve into previous forbidden subject matter such as when the kids have an inadvertent brush with the law and are given a terrifying Scared Straight!-style tour of an occupied maximum security prison. It ended the same year. In 1989, NBC aired reruns for a few months during that summer.
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Cultural influences
In the mid-90s to early 2000s, Fat Albert and the Junkyard Gang were prominently displayed on clothing from urban clothier FUBU as well as other T-shirt producers.
Animaniacs featured a parody of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids in the episode "Back in Style", where they mocked Filmation's cheap animation techniques.
In 1998, a spoof of Fat Albert appeared on an episode of South Park where he was referred to as "Fat Abbot".
Saturday Night Live did a comedy sketch in 1999 entitled Fat Albert: Behind the Music. In the sketch Albert, played by former castmember Tracy Morgan, recalls the downfall of the junkyard gang.
In 2000, Fat Albert made a brief cameo appearance in the Family Guy episode I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar; thinking he'll be the first guy on Spooner Street to own a boat, Peter Griffin is dismayed to learn his neighbors have gotten the same offer. He then says "Well, at least I'm the fattest guy on Spooner Street to own a boat", only to see Albert standing down the street, proclaiming "Hey Hey Hey, I'm getting a boat!". Peter then grumbles "Oh man, even Della Reese is getting a boat." In 2001, the junkyard gang (minus Fat Albert) made a brief cameo appearance the Family Guy episode- "Peter Griffin: Husband, Father...Brother?". In the following scene, Peter Griffin says 'Hey Hey Hey!' as he enters the room as the characters from What's Happening! often did.
The 1999 action film The Boondock Saints has a scene where one character pulls on a homemade ski mask and is incorrectly told he resembles "Mush Mouth from Fat Ablert." Another character then jokingly asks if he is "O-bee kay-bee."
NewsRadio featured an episode ("Zoso") where Beth came up with a scheme to produce face-covering hats with eye-holes like the one Donald wore. Donald was continually confused with Mushmouth by the characters (done intentionally by the writers as a joke) in descriptions of the hat.
In 2005, Mad TV did a spoof of Fat Albert entitled "Morbidly Obese Albert".
Japanese character Koni, from the series Dotto Koni Chan, shows the influence of Fat Albert.
Characters based on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids make a cameo appearance in the first issue of the DC Comics Elseworlds series Kingdom Come, where they are apprehended by a Bat-Knight robot.
The standup comedian Anthony Frosh used to use the Fat Albert theme as entrance music for his standup acts.
On September 9, 2006, The Simpsons aired an episode, titled "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife, and Her Homer", where "the Simpson family is introduced to Fat Tony's son, Michael, while carpooling and Lisa quickly befriends the quiet boy after all of the other kids avoid him." Whilst Homer is eating at Fat Tony's mansion, he says that the Italians speak like "that kid from Fat Albert" (Mushmouth), and then imitates how Mushmouth speaks. (Ubah-Ebah-Eebah)
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Characters
Fat Albert - Catchphrase: "Hey Hey Hey"
Dumb Donald - Wore a pink stocking cap over part of his face. Prone to horrible judgement. It was revealed in the movie that he truly has no face, and has just floating eyes under the hat, but was quite attractive in the real world.
Bill - based on Bill Cosby himself
Mudfoot - Elderly proprietor of the junkyard where the group often hung out. He often conned the group out of their money.
Rudy - Flamboyantly dressed smooth talker. His family is significantly more well off than the others; he is the only band member with a real musical instrument (the others use homemade variations).
Russell - Bill's laid back younger brother, always dressed for the winter. His catchphrase: "No class.", usually used to insult Rudy.
Weird Harold - Serves as Mushmouth's translator, a tall skinny kid who always wears a shirt and jacket, clumsy except on the basketball court
Legal Eagle - Another show-within-a-show, involving a crime-fighting cartoon bird and two lazy squirrel underlings
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Seasons and Specials
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — 1972–1973 (22 episodes), 1975–1976 (14 episodes)
The New Fat Albert Show — 1979–1981 (23 episodes)
The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids — 1984–1985 (50 episodes)
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Trivia
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids received an Emmy nomination in 1974.
Gold Key Comics did a comic book adaptation of Fat Albert, which ran for 29 issues, from 1974-79.
In 2002, Fat Albert was placed at number 12 on TV Guides list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time.
Contrary to what the movie suggested, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids has never aired on TV Land, though many other shows produced by Bill Cosby, including The Cosby Show and Fatherhood, have.
Bill Cosby based the slow-witted, good natured Fat Albert character after his dyslexic brother Russel.
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See also
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