Redd Foxx
Long before Eddie Murphy, Andrew Dice Clay, or Howard Stern raised the ire of censors and threatened the delicate sensibilities of mainstream American good taste, there was Redd Foxx, arguably the most notorious "blue" comic of his day. Prior to finding fame in the 1970s as the star of the popular sitcom Sanford and Son, Foxx found little but infamy in the first several decades of his performing career; salty and scatological, his material broke new ground with its point-blank riffs and brazen discussions of sex and color, and although his party albums were generally banned from white-owned record stores, the comedian's funky narrative style and raspy delivery proved highly influential on comic talents of all ethnic backgrounds.
Foxx was born John Elroy Sanford in St. Louis on December 9, 1922. While still in his teens, he became a professional performer, working as both a comedian and actor on the so-called "chitlin circuit" of Black theaters and nightclubs; he formulated his stage name by combining an old nickname, "Red" (he had a ruddy complexion), with the surname of baseball's Jimmie Foxx. After cutting a handful of explicit blues records in the mid-'40s, he teamed up with fellow comic Slappy White in 1951, a partnership that lasted through 1955.
Foxx was performing at Los Angeles' Club Oasis when a representative from the tiny Dooto label contacted him about cutting an album; the comedian agreed, and was paid $25 to record Laff of the Party, the first of over 50 albums of Foxx's racy anecdotes. An onslaught of Dooto releases followed, among them over half-a-dozen other Laff of the Party sets, The Sidesplitter, The New Race Track, Sly Sex, and New Fugg. His records were poorly distributed, and sold primarily in Black neighborhoods; when they did appear in white record stores, they were sold under the counter. In the 1960s, Foxx signed to the MF label; his routines became even more explicit, as evidenced by titles like Laff Your Ass Off, Huffin' and a Puffin', I Am Curious Black, 3 or 4 Times a Day, and Mr. Hot Pants. After a brief tenure on King, he signed to Loma, a division of Frank Sinatra's Reprise imprint; with records like Foxx-A-Delic and 'Live' Las Vegas, he became one of the very first performers to use four-letter words on major-label releases.
As the 1960s wore on and longstanding cultural barriers began to crumble, Foxx's audience expanded, and he made a number of television appearances. In 1970, he made his film debut in Ossie Davis' Cotton Comes to Harlem; when the film became a surprise hit, Foxx became a hot talent, and soon signed to star in Sanford and Son, a retooled sitcom version of the British television hit Steptoe and Son. The series, which starred Foxx as junk dealer Fred Sanford, premiered in 1972 and became a huge hit, running through 1977; he also continued recording, issuing You Gotta Wash Your Ass, a live set taped at the Apollo Theater in 1976. The short-lived programs Sanford, The Redd Foxx Show, and The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour followed; additionally, he starred in the 1976 feature Norman, Is That You?, and became a Las Vegas headliner.
By the early '80s, Foxx's career hit the skids; his difficult personality made him an unpopular commodity around Hollywood, and a number of divorces and ill-advised business decisions left him bankrupt. By the end of the decade, however, his influence on the new breed of Black comedians was openly acknowledged, and in 1989 Eddie Murphy tapped him to co-star in his Black-themed crime-noir film Harlem Nights. Although the film flopped, Foxx's career was renewed, and in 1991 he began work on a new sitcom, The Royal Family; tragically, he suffered a heart attack on the series' set and died on October 11, 1991. Even after his death, though, Foxx's name remained synonymous with off-color comments; on an episode of the hit show Seinfeld broadcast several years later, Jason Alexander's character George was chastised for the "curse toast" he delivered at a friend's wedding, prompting an exasperated Jerry to exclaim "You were like a Redd Foxx record up there!"
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
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Discography
20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Racy Tales
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Comedy Classics on 1 Jul 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
You Gotta Wash Your Ass
Pop - Released by Rhino Atlantic on 16 Oct 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Ain't Lied Yet
Humour - Released by CULT COLLECTIBLES on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Both Sides of Redd Foxx
Humour - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 4 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ultimate Comedy Collection
Humour - Released by Comedy Classics on 1 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Laff Of The Party, Vol. 3
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Apr 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Getting' Down N' Dirty
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Oct 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
On The Loose: Recorded Live!
Humour - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 4 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best Of Foxx, Vol. 1
Humour - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 Apr 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Foxx-A-Delic
Humour - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 30 Sep 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Burlesque Humor
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Comedy Classics on 12 Jun 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
'Live' Las Vegas
Humour - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 4 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
For President
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Fuel 2000 on 17 Aug 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Bitch Plz (feat. Dread Boi Tr3)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by The Proof on 10 Jul 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Up Against The Wall
Humour - Released by Rhino - Warner Records on 30 Sep 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Racy Tales
Alternative & Indie - Released by Hallmark on 1 Jul 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classic Stand-up: The Early Years Collection 1946-60
Humour - Released by ACROBAT on 5 Aug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo