Revolution Televised.pdf

90 This Ain’t No Junk
bought his own nightclub on La Cienega in Los Angeles, the Redd
Foxx Club, more commonly referred to as Redd’s Place. It was here
that Foxx relaxed, because no one censored what he had to say.
The club was small, what Bill Cosby would refer to as “an aisle.” 11
Foxx’s love of the club motivated him to invest most of his nightclub
earnings from Vegas into Redd’s Place.
The atmosphere was always intimate, as the lights were kept low
and the red carpeting . . . soft to the walk. The music was always
mellow, too, piped in low whenever there was nothing live coming
from the stage. And when you heard anything but a Dinah Washington
record, it was rare. 12
Redd’s Place was known for hosting some of the best performers
of the time. Jazz musicians Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie, and
Sarah Vaughan and comedians Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, and Richard
Pryor were a few of the artists who performed at Redd’s Place.
Redd often stood out front of the club under the canopy, just rapping
with anyone who passed by. For Foxx, the idea of the club
was to provide a communal yet public space for comedians to try
out their material. As Foxx reminded the entertainers, “Nobody’s
gonna fire you outa here, pal, at least not for just talking.” 13
As Richard Pryor, whose comedy album Craps (After Hours was
recorded at Redd’s Place, stated:
I hung around there often. I loved it. I loved watching him. I loved
getting on that stage and just tripping—ad-libbing new routines and
so on. . . . Those sure were the fun days. There was never a club
quite like it and probably never will be again. 14
The audience was hip and well versed in the oral traditions. Comedians
therefore had to expect hecklers if they did not get it right. Occasionally
performers realized that the people taunting them were
other comic greats such as Pryor and Wilson.
When the club got into financial trouble, Foxx made an appearance
on the Joey Bishop Show. This performance brought some
prominent African American stars to Redd’s Place. Sammy Davis Jr.
would drop by to do a few shows, and Bill Cosby, a well-respected
and mainstream comedian, invested in the club. This in turn attracted
not only the Hollywood crowd but also a more mainstream
white audience to the club, which still maintained its censor-free