Bill Cosby: Himself is a 1983 stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy

Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 featuring the comedic routines of Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby

William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...

. Filmed before a live audience at the Hamilton Place Theatre

Hamilton Place Theatre

The Hamilton Place Theatre, also known as the Ronald V. Joyce Centre for the Performing Arts, is "an internationally acclaimed theatre with a reputation for outstanding acoustics" and is located in Hamilton Place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....

, in Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, Cosby gives the audience his comedic views ranging from marriage to parenthood. The film also showcases Cosby's trademark conversational style of stand-up comedy; for most of the performance, Cosby is seated at the center of the stage, only getting up to emphasize a joke.

Many of the comedic routines presented in this stand-up were the precursors to Cosby's successful sitcom The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...

.