Trend-setting stand-up comic. Raconteur. Ground-breaking television actor and producer. Five-time Grammy-winning recording star. Best-selling author. Philanthropist. Educator. Perceptive social critic and activist … Perhaps no other entertainer can accurately claim so many titles as Bill Cosby, a true American legend.

For nearly half a century, “the Cos” has kept concert audiences laughing with his gentle brand of nostalgic comedy sprinkled with personal anecdotes and observations. Whether he is recounting the childhood antics of Old Weird Harold, Fat Albert, and other friends from the Philadelphia projects or exploring his own foibles as a husband and father, Cosby always seems to touch a familiar and funny place inside all of us.

He’s also become a beloved fixture in our living rooms, thanks to the historic television trail he has blazed from his barrier-breaking role in “I Spy” to the landmark sitcoms ”The Bill Cosby Show” and “Cosby” to the animated children’s classic “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.”

Refreshingly reliable for decades as a family-friendly comedian, Cosby has won universal appeal without stooping to shock-value humor. For a lifetime of positive contributions to American culture, Cosby was given a Kennedy Center Honor in 1998 and, in 2002, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

An iconic American funnyman on par with legends such as Mark Twain and Will Rogers, and mentor to Jerry Seinfield and Chris Rock, Bill Cosby has always managed to make us laugh in the very best way: at ourselves and in spite of ourselves.