Cosby Once Did a Bit About Drugging Women's Drinks

Behold 1969's 'Spanish Fly'
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 18, 2014 10:20 AM CST

As the sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby continue to mount, Alan Scherstuhl at the Village Voice makes an interesting observation: Cosby's accusers all have a similar story, that of feeling drugged after having drinks with the comedian, then getting assaulted. "Curiously, Cosby himself once made such scenarios the center of a stand-up routine," Scherstuhl writes. He's talking about "Spanish Fly," from Cosby's 1969 LP, It's True! It's True!.

The bit features Cosby recalling how, at 13, he heard about "Spanish fly," a drug that "would make a girl go crazy once it was put into her drink," Scherstuhl writes. Then, "more disturbingly, Cosby ... describes his adult interest in such a drug." (At Gawker, Gabrielle Bluestone notes that Spanish fly is actually "an irritant that's sometimes deadly.") The comedy routine includes the lines, "Any time you see a girl: 'Wish I had some Spanish fly.' Go to a party, see five girls standing alone: 'Boy, if I had a whole jug of Spanish fly, I'd light that corner up over there.'" (More Bill Cosby stories.)

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