Editing Bill Cosby (section)

=== Influence on other comedians ===
Before the 2014 allegations, younger, well-established comics like [[Jerry Seinfeld]] had credited Cosby as an innovator both as a practitioner of stand-up comedy, as well as a person who paved the way for comics to break into sitcom television.

Seinfeld said of Cosby: "He opened a door for all of us, for all of the networks to even consider that this was a way to create a character, was to take someone who can hold an audience just by being up there and telling their story. He created that. He created the whole idea of taking a quote-unquote 'comic' and developing a TV show just from a persona that you see on stage."<ref name="GQ Bill Cosby Himself Tribute">{{cite web |last=Penn |first=Nathaniel |date=May 2013 |title=The 30th Anniversary of Bill Cosby: Himself – An All-Star Stand-Up Salute |url=https://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201306/bill-cosby-himself-30th-anniversary-june-2013 |location=New York City |magazine=[[GQ]] |access-date=June 22, 2021 |archive-date=June 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627200202/http://www.gq.com/entertainment/humor/201306/bill-cosby-himself-30th-anniversary-june-2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Comedian [[Larry Wilmore]] also saw a connection between ''Bill Cosby: Himself'' and the later success of ''The Cosby Show'', saying: "It's clear that the concert is the template for ''The Cosby Show''."<ref name="GQ Bill Cosby Himself Tribute" />