REDD FOXX

Redd Foxx (1922-1991) was an American comedian and actor.  He was famous, of course, for his role as Fred Sanford on the TV series Sanford and Son.  He was also, however, known for his raunchy comedy.  In the 1950’s he began appearing in nightclubs.  Very quickly he was signed to Dootone Records and went on to release more than 50 albums.  Known as the “King of the Party Records”, he influenced a generation of comedians, including Richard Pryor and Chris Rock.  Foxx was one of the first black comedians to appear before white audiences.  He used his success to get jobs for other people of color, like Slappy White, LaWanda Page, Gregory Sierra and Pat Morita.  His films included All the Fine Young Cannibals, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Harlem Nights, and Ghost of a Chance.  He died of a heart attack on the set of the TV series The Royal Family.  It was a routine he had faked on Sanford and Son so, at first, the other actors thought he was kidding.

A Redd Foxx joke, as quoted in the James Ellroy novel Blood’s a Rover:

Foxx delivers a eulogy at the wake of a murdered rogue LAPD detective including the line, “Scotty Bennett was fucking a porcupine. I gots to tell you motherfuckers that it was a female porcupine, so I don’t see nothing perverted in it.”

And a link to “Jokes I Can’t Tell on Television”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0N9uOXdiEU

May 2017