The character Fat Albert first appeared in Bill 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 inner city North 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 was written and performed by jazz pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock in 1969 and was released on the Warner Brothers album Fat Albert Rotunda. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, premiered on September 9, 1972 on CBS, and lasted for 12 years (however, it was not in continuous production). It also spent another season in first-run syndication in 1984-1985. Several prime-time holiday specials featuring the characters were also produced.
Gold Key Comics created The Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids comic book, which ran for 29 issues, from 1974–79. This comic was an adaptation of the Saturday Morning Cartoon series. The Museum of UnCut Funk has acquired the entire collection of the Fat Albert comic book that will accompany our Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids black animation traveling exhibit. These comic books are a part of The Museum Of UnCut Funk Black Comic Book Collection.
Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids © 2017 Comcast-NBC Universal
2 Comments
I’ve been looking for ONE issue. You scored the entire collection? How cool is that? Curious, where did you acquire your collection?
BTW, I absolutely love the site!
Have you any idea of who can be credited for the writing and illustration of this comic book series?
All I have found is the copyright, ” © [date] by William H. Cosby, Jr. – Filmation Associates” but that’s about ownership; not necessarily authorship nor artistry.
No credits are given in the books and I have been unsuccessful in researching them.
It would be great to give proper credit to the talent behind these.
Thanks for sharing these by the way!