Bill Cosby Plans 2023 Comedy Tour, Says ‘There’s So Much Fun to Be Had’

Here’s one last piece of bad news to cap off 2022: Bill Cosby says he wants to return to the stage on 2023. He made a surprise appearance on a tiny-ass independent radio station—WGH Talk—where the 85-year-old performer explicitly said “yes,” he wants to tour again.

“Yes. Yes, because there’s so much fun to be had in this storytelling that I do,” Cosby told host Scott Spears. “Years ago, maybe 10 years ago, I found it was better to say it after I write it.”

Cosby’s rep told Variety that the former The Cosby Show star wants to start touring in spring or summer of 2023. “When I come out of this, I feel that I will be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be,” Cosby told Spears, the radio host.

What is “this” Cosby is referring to? Might it be the minimum of five women who’ve filed a lawsuit against Cosby in New York in November? The Adult Survivors Act empowers adult sexual abuse survivors to sue their abusers after the statute of limitations expired during a one-year window starting in November. Lili Bernard, Eden Tirl, Jewel Gittens, Jennifer Thompson and Cindra Ladd allege that Cosby assaulted or abused each woman sometime between the 1960s and 1990s. “It was well known that Bill Cosby would regularly take young women into his dressing room, and when you read the complaint, you’ll see there were instances where staff saw this happening and even encouraged the plaintiff to submit,” said attorney Jordan Rutsky, who represents all five of the women. “This was not a hidden secret that Bill Cosby was doing these things.”

Wyatt said the lawsuit was “frivoulous” and the women were just “a parade of accusers” since 2014 who are after a money grab. “As we have always stated, and now America can see, this isn’t about justice for victims of alleged sexual assault, it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY,” Wyatt said to Variety when the suit was filed. “We believe that the courts, as well as the court of public opinion, will follow the rules of law and relieve Mr. Cosby of these alleged accusations. Mr. Cosby continues to vehemently deny all allegations waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”

Cosby could be talking about this new lawsuit; or he could be talking about at least 60 women who have publicly accused the disgraced comedian of raping and/or drugging and/or assaulting them. In 2018, “America’s Dad” was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for the 2004 night he drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home. After serving two years, he was released in 2021. In May, Cosby was found liable in the 1975 assault of a then 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion.

So, yes, Cosby does have a lot to “come out of,” but it’s unclear why we, the general public, must be subjected to this process. No one asked for this! No one wants to see an 85-year-old man rant about being cancelled to a paying audience. Cosby is not cancelled, if that word ever actually meant anything about a reputation. In fact, I’d bet a lot of money that 2023 will actually see him back on a stage instead of in prison.