The ‘Cosby Show’ secret sauce joke seems tasteless these days
Episode 7 of “The Cosby Show” features a joke about Dr. Huxtable, played by Bill Cosby, having a secret barbecue sauce that makes people want to have sex. At the end of the episode, Huxtable even suggests to his wife, Claire, that he has “a cup on the bedside table” and that they should “come up and have some gravy.”
The connection is becoming troubling after a 2005 deposition recently surfaced in which the comedian admitted to buying quaaludes with the intention of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with.
In the 1990 episode titled “The Last Barbecue”, Huxtable’s son-in-law, Elvin, is trying to find out what ingredients are in his father-in-law’s secret sauce. Huxtable joked with him that Elvin would never understand that.
Huxtable barely says anything throughout the entire episode, even during an argument in which his daughters and their husbands disagree about whether a stripper is appropriate at a belated bachelor party. of Martin, daughter Denise’s husband or not. The fight continued until everyone started eating grilled meat. Huxtable only spoke up when Claire mentioned that it was nice that the younger couples had figured out their arguments on their own at the end of the barbecue.
Huxtable suggests that they don’t solve anything for themselves because “it’s [his] barbecue sauce.” Then, after remaining silent for most of the episode, Huxtable begins a speech about the special powers of his sauce.
“Have you ever noticed that after people eat some of my barbecue sauce, after a while when it starts to take effect, they feel really bad?” Huxtable said. “I’m serious, haven’t you noticed that after one of my barbecues and they have sauce, everyone wants to go home right away?”
“Let me tell you something else,” he continued. “I have a cup on the bedside table…” It sounded like Huxtable ended the sentence by saying “I’ll give it to you,” but with the loud laugh in his voice, that wasn’t clear.
Anyhow, Huxtable continued, “I said, I’ve got a cup. I let it breathe up there. Why don’t you give the chicken to these people? Let’s go up and have some water.” fever.” Claire smiled and agreed to go with him to get the sauce, so they both ran from the barbecue into the house. The focus then falls on young Kenny – a friend of one of Huxtable’s daughters – who is dipping some chicken in sauce while declaring his love for it. Huxtable then ran back and stopped the child from eating the sauce.
The entire episode can now be viewed on YouTube, but it’s unclear how long it will take to remove it.
To better understand the possible inspiration of the episode’s central joke – which seems tasteless given the unsavory accusations we know against the comedian – Huffington Post reached out to the co-creator episode of Janet Leahy to comment. Of course, these allegations came to light nearly 15 years after this episode aired, so it’s very possible that this is just an unfortunate coincidence. The episode recently gained attention on Reddit and has since begun to receive viral attention. Our 2024 coverage needs you
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