KALAMAZOO, MI --

Maybe it's due to his time in the Navy or his years as one of TV's most beloved and demanding dads, but

is punctual.

If you go

Bill Cosby

What:

Standup comedy

When:

8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12

Where:

Miller Auditorium, WMU campus

Cost:

$65, $55, $47.50 and $37.50

Contact:

269-387-2300 or 800-228-9858;

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A phone interview to discuss his stop this weekend in Kalamazoo was set for 8 a.m. He answered the phone at 8:03 a.m. His first words, delivered in a deep growl:

"You're late."

For the next hour, Cosby, 75, talked about his time in the Navy, getting into Temple University, his first writing experiences and which period of his career is his favorite.

Cosby will perform at

.

A few tickets were available as of Wednesday afternoon, the venue said.

It marks Cosby's fourth time at the venue, the first being in 1969. Cosby's work touches generations, from his early standup comedy in the 1960s to his groundbreaking '80s sitcom "The Cosby Show" to some of his more recent commentary on education, poverty and politics.

Fans of all ages point to a variety of their favorite standup material -- from the "chicken heart" to "chocolate cake for breakfast" to "Noah." His Jell-O commercials, sweaters and films still resonate.

But on Wednesday morning, Cosby wanted to turn back the clock and talk about how and why his career -- which includes nearly every conceivable accolade, such as multiple Grammy and Emmy awards to the Presidential Medal of Honor, among many others -- happened. The topic of his previous Kalamazoo appearances came up, including his visit here in 1969, and what he'll address this time around. Instead of talking about his comedy, Cosby discussed how his time in the Navy initially inspired him to become a teacher.

"I don't see Bill Cosby (after) 50 years of show business and those kinds of reviews you've read. I don't see that guy. I don't see show business. I don't see funny, funny, funny for money, money, money," he said.

He said he wanted to become a school teacher to help "save" boys who were on a similar path as a young Cosby.

'A dying man'

Cosby was born in Philadelphia in 1937. His mother was a maid and his father was a sailor in the Navy. By high school, he became known as a class clown. He never graduated from high school and eventually joined the Navy at 19, he said. Cosby said Wednesday that his time in the military -- he repeatedly referenced his officers' thorough inspections of his bed-making ability -- helped shape a work ethic that eventually fostered a career in entertainment.

In his last of four years in the Navy, he realized if earned his GED he could get into college, become an educator and influence children following a similar path to his own.

"I saw this as an opportunity to save, not the world, but save those boys and I pinpointed the seventh and eighth grade boys who might be thinking the way I thought about life. I was going to bring it to their attention the same way they were doing in the Navy," Cosby said. "No, I wasn't going to their house and ripping up their bed and throwing the mattress out. ... But in school, as a physical education teacher, I knew the combination of sports, academics and behavior and thinking and getting one's self-esteem up through threats, not of violence, just anger, that I would get them and make them realize what they were messing up."

After the Navy, where he ran track for the Marines, Cosby said he "somehow came in contact" with Gavin White, the track coach at Temple University who offered him a scholarship. It was contingent on Cosby passing the SAT. Cosby said his days as a class clown in high school came back to haunt him.

"I went into that room and I was the dying man. I knew I was dying. My whole life was going to go. This SAT exam is to prove how much I know and I really don't know anything. A dying man sees what? His whole life pass before him," Cosby said.

Cosby said he opened the test booklet and his life passed before him. He thought the opportunity to go to college was gone. Cosby said the test addressed "all the things I didn't pay attention to." Math. Science. History.

"Every time my mind was saying, 'This is what Ms. McKinney was talking about.' I never fell asleep in classes, I didn't talk in classes ... I don't know about the ADD, ADHD or anything, I just knew soon school would be out. And I knew I could out-wait them," Cosby said of his teachers.

Cosby said he heard a rumor that the answer to every third question was "C."

"After a while, I just gave up, I said while I'm taking the exam, 'I don't know anything so guessing is better than sitting there,'" Cosby said.

Cosby said Temple admitted him and put him in "remedial everything."

"I was the happiest 23-year-old on the face of the earth, in terms of knowing what I wanted to do, knowing what I wanted to be. Show business is nowhere in the picture," Cosby said.

A comedian emerges

In a freshman English class, the professor assigned students to write a composition about a first-time experience. Cosby opted to write about losing a tooth at age 6. He said he was afraid to fail at becoming a teacher and poured himself into the paper. He turned it in and a week later, Cosby said, the professor lectured the class about their "boring" submissions, but read his piece aloud. Cosby said he scored an A for the overall story and a C- for grammar, spelling.

"Now, I'm pumped," Cosby said.

Much like the comedy he'd continue to develop, he painted a picture or a scene everyone could identify with. The same professor gave another assignment. Cosby titled the piece, "Procrastination (Perfect Point)." Cosby used a No. 2 yellow pencil and a legal pad to do homework. When he didn't want to get started, he'd go to great lengths to sharpen the pencil to a perfect point.

"I found so many times that the wood around the lead wasn't shaped right, the point was too close to the lead ... all of this wasting time, so I wrote that," he said. "The end of the piece was that I had continued looking for the perfect point until there was no pencil left, just the metal and the red rubber eraser."

Cosby said he scored an A for the story and a slight improvement, a B+, for grammar, spelling.

"Get out of dodge," Cosby said. "Those two experiences, sir, opened up for me a new taste. A new belief that I could, that I had something to offer in terms of what I think and how I think pertaining to comedy."

Cosby said he didn't see himself as a performer. At the time, one didn't see black comedians on TV and there wouldn't be an opportunity for him. He said he decided to try to sell his material to established comedians as they came through Philadelphia. He wrote jokes and tried to pitch them. His first encounter with a comedian, whose name he didn't want to share, bombed.

"He read my stuff and said, 'This is not funny.' So I said, 'Wait a minute, let me show you how to do it.' Then I read it and showed him the moves and showed him the faces. And he said, 'It's still not funny,'" Cosby recalled.

Cosby said it raised the level his frustration to the days of being corrected by Naval officers. In his mind, he thought it was funny. He later took the jokes to The Gilded Cage, a prominent venue in Philadelphia, and convinced the owner into talking to the audience. Cosby said the owner also didn't think he was funny. A frustrated Cosby threw his work into the sewer and rode the subway home, he said.

That night, he resigned himself to the fact his comedy career had ended. He turned his attention to becoming a teacher, but continued to write.

During a lecture in his history class his junior year, Cosby's "mind drifted to a thing called toss of a coin. While he (the professor) was talking, I started writing that."

The sketch was included on Cosby's 1964 album, "Bill Cosby is a Funny Guy ... Right!" Cosby said much of the material for his first two albums came during his time at Temple. His career set sail from there.

'I think therefore I am'

Over the next several decades Cosby honed the skill of telling funny stories about experiences most people know well. He's considered one of the greatest comedians of all time.

But at this stage in his career, why still do standup comedy?

"Descartes ... I think therefore I am. When the people see me, they'll know once again I've pulled in things I have seen, things that I feel and I'll begin to tell them in a way they will see, understand, laugh and feel good," Cosby said. "Fun."

Does he have a favorite period of his career?

"N. O. W.," Cosby answered.

He said he's in the midst of working on a new sketch about people accidentally calling a wrong number and how much you learn about their personality during the brief exchange. Will he test it out on Kalamazoo?

"No. No. No. When I write it, I'll write it and when it's ready, it'll ease into play. I don't take things into comedy clubs to try them out. I don't feel comfortable doing that."

Who do you test your new material on?

"Myself. If I think it's funny, then I do it. I'm going to make sure I do it the best way in handling that particular piece," he said.

Then, he returned to his Navy days.

“I have learned if you’re going to make this bed, you’re going to make it so you can bounce the quarter off of it," he said. "If you're going to sweep, mop, dry, you're going to make it as perfect as you can -- to be proud of it," Cosby said.

John Liberty can be reached at 269-370-7372 or jlibert1@mlive.com. Follow me on Twitter @JohnTLiberty