Entertainment

Paul Mooney: Bill Cosby Got His ‘Wake-Up Call’

Published

11 years ago

July 28, 2015

Oakland Post

Paul Mooney (Courtesy of Black Enterprise)

Outspoken Comedian Comes to D.C. With Dick Gregory

By Stacy M. Brown
Special to the NNPA from The Washington Informer

Paul Mooney has never been one to mince words, particularly when it comes to race and the topic of racism in America.

So when the legendary comedian was asked about the myriad of rape allegations against Bill Cosby, it likely came as little surprise that Mooney evoked a line synonymous with his stand-up routine.

“The only thing that I can say about that is that [Cosby] got his [Negro] wake-up call,” Mooney said, using the controversial N-word he often invokes as a way of “keeping it real.”

“What’s new? Does it surprise you? It goes to show how much power he didn’t have,” the comedian told The Huffington Post. “They took off all his reruns — TV Land just took everything off. Do you see his stuff on TV now?”

Mooney is scheduled to take the stage at the Howard Theatre in Northwest on Thursday at 8 p.m. for a “one night only” performance with Dick Gregory.

Mooney’s first professional gig in comedy was with the late Richard Pryor, for whom Mooney wrote most of the hilarious routines for Pryor’s “Saturday Night Live” appearance. Mooney co-wrote the groundbreaking “Live on the Sunset Strip,” and “Jo Jo Dancer: Your Life is Calling.”

He’s also credited with being responsible for the national television debuts of the late Robin Williams, Marsha Warfield, John Witherspoon, Tim Reid and Sandra Bernhard.

When asked whether he thought it fair that television networks have pulled “The Cosby Show” reruns, Mooney didn’t hesitate with his response.

“No. But, that’s white America,” he said. “But, you know the old saying, he ‘don’t have the complexion for the protection.'”

Mooney said he didn’t believe that the removal of the Confederate flag would make a difference in race issues facing America.

“What flag has done more harm to us than the Confederate flag? It was easy taking down the Confederate flag,” he said. “Racism is going to be here until you die, I die, till everybody dies. They just get slicker with it. Back in my day, they just said what they wanted to say; nowadays they just do certain things and get slicker with it.”

Born in Louisiana, Mooney grew up in the inner-city of Oakland, California. He joined the Charles Gody circus, becoming the first African-American ringmaster in history.

In addition to his work for Pryor, he’s written for “Sanford & Son,” and “In Living Color,” where he came up with Damon Wayans’ Homey the Clown character.

Mooney co-starred with Damon Wayans and Jada Pinkett-Smith in the Spike Lee film “Bamboozled,” and he’s recorded comedic albums such as “Race & Masterpiece,” and DVDs such as “Analyzing White America” and “It’s the End of the World.”

Mooney has teamed nearly 30 times with Gregory, the activist, philosopher, anti-drug crusader, author, actor and comedian who was also on the frontline during the 1960s battle for civil rights.

Despite the many accomplishments, both men still enjoy the comedy circuit.

While Mooney also heaped praise on today’s comedians, he recalled the tone others like he and Pryor set.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

2 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

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Arts and Culture

Prescott Circus Theatre Presents Free Summer Performance Series

Now in its 41st year, the Prescott Circus Theatre is a nationally recognized performing arts education program for Oakland youth. The circus offers safe environments that challenge Oakland youth, through circus arts training, to develop the skills and confidence to thrive on stage, in school, and in life.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Prescott Circus showcase pathways pyramid. Photo courtesy of Prescott Circus.

By Post Staff

The Prescott Circus, Oakland’s longest-running youth circus, is returning this summer with its free shows. Join the Prescott Circus’s young stars as they share their joys and talents through stilt-dancing, tumbling, juggling, and more.

At the heart of this one-hour show, which demonstrates teamwork, pride, and joy, are Oakland Unified School District students ages 8 – 17 from more than 10 different schools

This is accomplished through no-cost school and community programs for more than 300 Oakland youth each year. Performing company members from Prescott, where the program began, perform and make appearances at as many as 40 Bay Area events each year.

The summer program is funded in part by Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, California Arts Council, Port of Oakland, and the West Davis & Bergard Foundation.

Performances will be held Tuesday, July 14, 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. (ASL interpreted) and Wednesday, July 15, 11 a.m., at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. For free reservations go to

https://PrescottCircusSummerShows.eventbrite.com

For group reservations for camps, childcare centers, senior centers, go to www.prescottcircus.org

A community show will be held Saturday, July 18, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., at DeFremery Park,1651 Adeline St., Oakland.

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50 Years Later, ‘Wake Up Everybody!’ Still Resonates During Black Music

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

iStockphoto.

By Hazel Trice Edney, Special to The Post

Hazel Trice Edney

“Wake up, everybody, No more sleepin’ in bed

No more backward thinkin’. Time for thinkin’ ahead

The world has changed so very much from what it used to be.

There is so much hatred, war, and poverty.

“The world won’t get no better If we just let it be.

Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw.

The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah– just you and me.”

The words of the song, “Wake Up Everybody,” debuted by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes in 1975, still resonate today as those words are just as relevant more than a half century later.

In a rare, nearly somber moment, the group’s celebrated lead singer, Teddy Pendergrass, introduced the song on Soul Train, the weekly dance and live performance TV show that aired roughly between 1971 and 2006. Pendergrass told the attentive live audience and thousands watching by television that Wake Up Everybody, the title tune of their most recent album, was intended to inspire people to take action with a goal to change America for the better.

“I’m sure that you will all agree that there are things that need to be done in this country today,” he said. “So, what I’d like for you to do is listen very carefully to see what you can do to lend a hand.”

The song’s appeal worked.

“I played that song over and over and over again because it was a constant warning to keep ourselves prepared for the society that we were living in,” says A. Peter Bailey, then a 37-year-old former aide to Malcolm X.

When “Wake Up Everybody” hit the airwaves, Bailey was working as an associate editor of Ebony Magazine. “It was a call to be aware of what we were dealing with in the country that we lived in, the world we lived in, the neighborhood we lived in, the cities that we lived in,” Bailey said in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire.

He concluded that during Black Music Month 2026, such songs should be recalled and celebrated as a key to changes for the good across America; especially because such songs successfully encouraged people to deal with the issues that might otherwise denigrate the promises of America, including the promise that “All men are created equal,”as stated in the Declaration of Independence.

“The rhythms and blues expressed our joys, our sorrows and our fears,” Bailey recalls. “It was those songs and the singing of those songs by our people that attracted us to the campaigns for justice.”

With his life inspired by that song and others, Bailey, now 88, went on to establish and teach a Black Press class at Virginia Commonwealth University. Also, he has since written three books, including a memoir, “Witnessing Brother Malcolm X, the Master Teacher,” in which he expounded upon successful principles of social justice, some of which are reflected in “Wake Up Everybody.”

Long before the term “woke” became associated with campaigns for justice, Pendergrass led the song that reverberated across America and still holds deep meaning.

The ‘wake up’ call exhorts teachers to ‘teach a new way,’ doctors to heal elders, and builders to ‘build a new land… we can do it if we all lend a hand.”

The song concludes:

“The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. Naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw, naw. The world won’t get no better. We gotta change it, yeah – just you and me.”

Hazel Trice Edney wrote this story as part of a four-part series powered by AARP in commemoration of Black Music Month, June 2026.