REVIEW: BILL COSBY CHARMS SHOW ME CENTER CROWD

The stage was empty except for one lightly-padded metal chair. Not many performers could pull it off -- captivating an audience of 4,972 for 10 minutes shy of two hours with no props, special effects or intermission. Comedian Bill Cosby did just that at the Show Me Center Saturday night.

The setting seemed intimate -- a theater in the round with floor seating and risers. His familiar face and expressive mannerisms were visible at all times on four gigantic big screens above the stage. His familiarity with the audience made it seem more like the conversations occurred across a living room rather than a packed auditorium.

He was dressed casually, in khaki pants and a white-and-red embroidered Southeast Missouri State University sweatshirt. Across the top were the words: "Hello Friend." The sweatshirt and message came at the request of Cosby. That was the way his son Ennis greeted people. His 27-year-old son was killed in a drive-by highway shooting Jan. 16, and since his father returned to performing he has worn such a sweatshirt with those words at each engagement.

In fact, the last 10 minutes of the performance proved the most touching as Cosby spoke of his son to the audience. He told the crowd: "Mrs. Cosby and I felt your prayers." As he spoke, a woman in a red dress quietly delivered a single red rose to the stage, which Cosby accepted with a nod.

"One lady said to me, `You know, God called Ennis.' I said, `I don't think so. God wouldn't do that to Ennis.' The killer of our son was riding with Satan. When the verdict comes they always say, `May God have mercy on his soul.' I'm going to stand up and say, `No, no. He rode with the devil. Let the devil get him out of it.'"

Applause ripped through the auditorium that had been silent but for his voice.

"My son's murderer never had a chance, with the prayers coming from all over."

With that, Cosby smiled at the audience and descended the stage. A standing ovation thundered as he departed.

Cosby arrived in town at 6:30 p.m. Saturday on his private jet Camille, named for his wife of many years. His performance was the culmination of the inauguration celebration for Southeast President Dale Nitzschke. Cosby arrived on campus at 7:15 for a private reception with Dr. Nitzschke and the Board of Regents.

He then met with two visitors. The first was longtime friend Meadowlark Lemon, a former Harlem Globetrotter who was in town to give a clinic for 75 students at the high school. Lemon surprised his old friend and then stayed for the performance.

The other visitor was Barbara Hubbard with New Mexico State University. She flew to Cape Girardeau to talk with Cosby about a scholarship that previously had been established in his name. Hubbard asked permission to rename the scholarship for Ennis.

Cosby was introduced with the following observation: To laugh at Bill Cosby is to laugh at ourselves. It proved so true. Stories that probably weren't so funny at the time were hilarious in the retelling. His humor focused on his upbringing in the projects, and his trials and tribulations both in high school and in the Navy.

"Thank God for fifth-grade fractions. I had two brothers I didn't ask for. I knew they were greedy, but I knew fractions." He turned as if talking to those young siblings. "What size slice of pie would you like, one-tenth or one-fifth?" He told the crowd with glee: "They went for 10 every time."

In the seventh grade, he saw the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, Doris. He worked out his schedule so he could walk past her during every class break -- six times a day.

"I never said anything to her," he confided. "I didn't want to ruin the relationship."

The bane of his young existence was math. He had the same enthusiastic teacher for geometry, calculus and trigonometry. Cosby said of his teacher, "I just thought he came all the way from Russia to bother me."

He observed, "In the 10th grade, we still had English. I'm talking good. Old people could understand me."

Cosby wondered out loud: "If it's who and whom, how come it's not you or youm? .... Conjugate that!"

He dropped out in the 11th grade and joined the Navy.

The recruiter talked of Hawaii, Spain, Oregon and Rhode Island. "The man did not say I'd have to get up at 4:30 in the morning. I wouldn't have signed."

In the Navy, a drill sergeant would turn on all the lights and beat a stick in an empty trash can, and hit the beds with the stick. "I just looked at him and wanted to say `How rude.'"

He remained in the Navy three years. Suddenly, he was motivated about school, taking the G.E.D. test and earning admission to Temple University. Eventually, Cosby earned both master's and doctorate degrees.

Cosby was personal and genuine, at times chatting with people on the front rows. At one point, he picked up an envelop from the stage and asked who had left it there. A man hesitantly raised his hand.

"We were in the Navy together," he told the audience with delight, as he strode to the edge of the stage to shake the man's hand. He told the man's wife, "Take our picture." And with a hug, he mugged for the camera.

The Show Me Center needed to sell about 5,000 tickets to break even. Those who went not only saw a fabulous show, but helped to demonstrate that Cape Girardeau can support first-class entertainment.