Flip Wilson

Flip Wilson (born December 8, 1933, Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.—died November 25, 1998, Malibu, California) was one of the most popular comedians in America, and his comedy variety show, The Flip Wilson Show, was one of the first television shows hosted by an African American to be a ratings success. The show ran from 1970 to 1974, reached number two in the Nielsen ratings, and earned two Emmy Awards in 1971. Through his show, Wilson introduced numerous catchphrases into the national lexicon and created unforgettable characters—in particular the outrageous and inimitable “Geraldine.”

Childhood and first comedy appearances

Wilson was one of many children in a destitute household in Jersey City, New Jersey. His mother abandoned the family when Wilson was very young, and his father struggled to support the children on his carpenter’s wages. At one point, the family lived in a cellar for storing coal. Wilson spent much of his early years in foster homes followed by reform school. At age nine, however, he snuck into a theater to catch the routine of two comedians before a movie and found his calling. As he told Time magazine in 1972, “I knew then that I had to make people laugh too.”

In 1950 Wilson entered the U.S. Air Force by lying about his age (he was 16) and soon earned his nickname from the “flipped out” stories, jokes, and colorful dialects that he assumed to entertain his fellow servicemen. After leaving the air force in 1954, he worked as a bellhop at a San Francisco hotel, where he made his comedy debut during the intermission between two nightclub acts. He spent the next several years working the Chitlin Circuit around the country. He later recalled the experience in an interview with Time: “Those Black audiences in the little weekend clubs were the toughest I’ve ever played for. With all the trouble Black people have, they try to forget on weekends. You’ve got to be good to make them laugh.” In 1959 a businessman from Miami sponsored him for $50 a week, giving Wilson the opportunity to develop his comedy routines, and in the 1960s he became a regular at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem in New York City.

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Wilson’s big break into television came in 1965, when fellow comedian Redd Foxx named him as the “funniest comedian around” to talk-show host Johnny Carson during one of Foxx’s appearances on The Tonight Show. Carson invited Wilson to appear on his show, and Wilson went on to perform on other TV shows, such as The Ed Sullivan Show, Love, American Style, The Carol Burnett Show, and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in. His energetic announcement on Laugh-in—“Heah come de judge!”—became a catchphrase.

The Flip Wilson Show

After hosting a successful television special in the late 1960s, Wilson was catapulted to fame with his own program, The Flip Wilson Show. Wilson’s show was unique in that he used a theater-in-the-round studio and minimal sets, which emphasized the talents of the performers. During its run, the show featured guest spots by a dazzling array of celebrities from all genres of entertainment, including Lena Horne, Bing Crosby, Ray Charles, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, the Jackson 5, the Supremes, Muhammad Ali, Joe Namath, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Burt Reynolds, and Mahalia Jackson. By its second season, the show had an audience of 40 million viewers.

Wilson fashioned a comedic style that attempted to deal honestly with social issues and perceptions, though he drew some criticism for relying too heavily on racial stereotypes. Although known for several characters, including the “Reverend Leroy of the Church of What’s Happening Now” and “Sonny the White House janitor” (whose distinguishing trait was that he was the sole voice of reason among political blowhards), Wilson was best known for the character of “Geraldine Jones,” an outspoken working-class Black woman with a boyfriend named “Killer.” In an interview with Time in 1972, Wilson said the notable quality about Geraldine was that “she demands respect…and she’s never asking for favors. Geraldine’s liberated—that’s where she’s at. Everybody knows she don’t take no stuff.” Of his other outlandish characters and his brand of comedy, he said, “I do these characters because they’re what I know. But people are just people to me. The way I see it, I don’t have to think Black—or not think Black. I just have to entertain. I’m just a comic.”

Through his characters, Wilson made famous such one-liners as “When you’re hot, you’re hot; when you’re not, you’re not!”; “What you see is what you get!”; and “The devil made me do it.” His fans and friendships included civil rights activists, such as the politician and minister Jesse Jackson and the actor and playwright Ossie Davis. Davis once told a Time interviewer of Wilson’s talent, “Flip touches more comic bases than anyone else. He retains some of the tradition of the clown as against the comic. A comic is a personality who deals with verbal delivery and usually with bland topics like mothers-in-law and taxes. A clown is a character complete unto himself. Flip Wilson can create characters who stand on their own.”

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Later career

After his variety show ended, Wilson withdrew to private life. He appeared occasionally in films, including Uptown Saturday Night (1974) with Richard Pryor, Harry Belafonte, Bill Cosby, and Sidney Poitier, and in television series, such as The Love Boat and Living Single. His subsequent television series People Are Funny (1984) and Charlie & Co. (1985–86) were both short-lived. His last TV appearance was a guest spot playing himself on an episode of The Drew Carey Show that aired only a week before his death in 1998. Throughout his career Wilson made numerous comedy recordings, most notably The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress (1970), for which he won a Grammy Award.