The comedian addresses the sitcom’s ’80s cultural domination from a modern perspective
Few things had as profound of an effect on Amanda Seales’ young mind as The Cosby Show. The show taught the comedian and actor to bring a personal slant to everything she does, a lesson she still carries with her to this day.
On this episode of The Spark Parade, Seales talks about how foundational The Cosby Show was to her personal and professional development — and how she wrestles with that considering the disgraceful revelations about its star. In particular, she touches on how important it was for one of the biggest sitcoms of all time to feature such prominent Black representation.
“The Cosby Show being this Black family who is pretty affluent in Brooklyn… it was greatly [impactful] socially,” she explains. “There was of course naysayers who were like, ‘No one’s gonna watch this. Who’s gonna relate to this?’ But they really ended up beating the odds of that.”
Of course, the legacy of the program has been severely tarnished. Seales and host Adam Unze address the elephant in the room and whether it’s possible to separate art from artist. At the same time, they acknowledge that The Cosby Show was more than just one individual, and its influence on young Black people in the the ’80s like Seales was very real.
Listen to Amanda Seales talk about The Cosby Show in this episode of The Spark Parade. Please also take the time to like, review, and subscribe to The Spark Parade wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network. Additionally, make sure to check out Seales’ new documentary In Amanda We Trust here!
Host Adam Unze (The Opus) explores creativity in all its forms on The Spark Parade by asking musicians, artists, comedians, and other creators to share the single cultural work that has most inspired them. Whether it comes from the world of music, film, comedy, visual art, or literature, we all have something that sparks our own creative desires. On The Spark Parade, guests reveal the single piece of art that ignites within them to fire of creation.
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