Controversial comedian Bill Cosby hopes to put his legal woes aside and hit the streets again next year, he announced in a radio interview today.
WGH Talk host Scott Spears asked Cosby if he would be returning to comedy in the coming year, and the answer was yes.
“When I get out of here, I have a feeling that I’ll be able to perform and be the Bill Cosby that my audience knows me to be,” Cosby said, then adding, “It’s so much fun doing this one Telling stories I do,” Cosby said.
85-year-old Cosby’s last live stage performance was on May 2, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was part of the Far from Finished tour. Earlier in 2014, Cosby was scheduled to release his new standup special, Bill Cosby 77, on Netflix. The film’s release was canceled when sexual assault allegations were made against Cosby.
He was convicted of criminal sexual assault in April 2018. During his high-profile trial, 60 women testified that he sexually abused them. He was found guilty in 2004 of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home.
He was released from prison in 2021 after his conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court.
Cosby’s legal troubles are far from over. Five women have filed a sexual assault lawsuit against him and NBC. Earlier this year, Cosby lost a civil lawsuit when a woman claimed she was forced to perform a sexual act on him when she was 16. The jury awarded her $500,000.