Television: All in the Black Family

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It was so successful that he recorded 48 more and blue humor became his trademark. In one of his cleaner club routines, he is served a drink onstage by a pretty white waitress. "Oh, you're gorgeous, darlin'," he tells her, "but I don't want a white woman. No, I don't want a white woman. If I want a white woman, may the Lord strike me down with polio." Then his body goes out of joint, and he hobbles offstage. The records and a few "clean" appearances on TV eventually caught the eye of Las Vegas managers, and Foxx became a regular at the Hilton International.

Foxx's break into TV actually cost him about $70,000 in forfeited pay from his Hilton contract. Beyond that, he had to move his wife and seven dogs from Las Vegas, which he loves, to Hollywood. Still, he is well aware that he stands to recoup his losses, and then some. "I was doing two shows a night at the club—90 minutes' work for grand-theft money," he says. "But television is the now medium. Suddenly I've got a lot of future." But the years of waiting have left him rather bitter. "'Sanford made it in twelve weeks," he says. "Yet Redd Foxx has been around for 33 years. What took them so long?"