Fat Albert

_{For the Fat Albert movie, see here. For the TV series, see here.}

Fat Albert
Name	Fat Albert Roberston
Voiced by	Bill Cosby (classic series) Michael Gray (classic series, singing voice)
Portrayed by	Kenan Thompson (film)
Father	Fat Albert’s Dad
Mother	Fat Albert's Mom
Gender	Male

"Hey hey hey!"

―Fat Albert's iconic catchphrase

Fat Albert is the title character and main protagonist of the Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids TV show and the main male protagonist of the movie. He is the heart and soul, and often the conscience, of the Junkyard Gang. In the TV series he is voiced by Bill Cosby himself, and is portrayed by Kenan Thompson in the movie.

Appearance

Though Fat Albert is depicted as exceptionally obese, he is very active and loves to play sports. The episode "Little Tough Guy" suggests that Albert is naturally obese, as he explains to a fellow disabled student that he continuously tried and failed to lose weight. He wears a red pullover sweater with a white shirt, bluejeans ,and white sneakers. In the movie, he states that he doesn't know what's underneath his sweater seeing how the animators never drew him without it. However, he has been seen without a shirt at least twice ("Lying" and "Water You Waiting For") whenever the gang goes swimming.

Personality

Civic-minded and wise beyond his years, Fat Albert works hard to maintain integrity within the gang as well as with others. He never hesitates to go out of his way to help people in need, but also knows when to ask for advice from the adults in his life (particularly his parents or his teacher) if he feels like he is in over his head.

Fat Albert is the lead singer of the Junkyard Band, playing a bagpipe-accordion (made from an airbag, and a radiator with an attached funnel), and on occasion plays the bedspring harp, which is normally played by Weird Harold.

Character Inspiration

The character of Fat Albert was based on Albert Robertson, a real-life childhood friend of Bill Cosby. Fat Albert first appeared in Cosby's 1968 Grammy-winning album Revenge, in which Cosby talks about how he and his friends played a game called "Buck Buck", in which one group of guys, one by one, would run and jump on top of another group of guys bunched together in an attempt to "collapse the horse". Cosby and his gang were challenged by another gang in a Buck Buck match, and at the end they called on the 2,000-pound Fat Albert to collapse their opponents' horse. But at the last second their opponents, seeing Albert for the first time (and not wanting him to land on their backs), concede defeat.

In another story from the same album, Cosby talked about how guys in his neighborhood got their kicks by scaring their friends. One such incident involved a six-foot-tall Frankenstein statue that a group of guys stole and planted on the third floor landing of an apartment building; they would take out all of the lights in the stairwell and replace one over the statue with a pink light bulb, then send one guy into the street to call someone else inside (using a ruse). The victim would follow the caller into the building, the caller would pass the statue and then tap the guy holding it, which was his cue to lean it toward the victim. Frightened, the victim would then, according to Cosby, "kill himself running out of the building". After Cosby himself became a victim of this prank, it was his turn to find another victim, who happened to be Fat Albert, only this time Fat Albert went in the apartment building first with Cosby right behind him prodding him as they made their way up the stairs. As they got to the third-floor landing, the prank was sprung, and Cosby quietly remarked, "I forgot I was behind him".

Trivia

• Fat Albert has gained a cult following in recent years.
• Since it was done in a different animation style from the actual series, the 1969 pilot depicted Fat Albert with a more expansive body, being able to stretch it as large as he can at will.
  • In the same special, he's also more sensitive to the gang's insults towards his weight, which becomes the main conflict of the special itself, as his plans to move away threaten the gang's chances of winning a football game. The only other time this was touched upon in the series is the first-season episode "Moving", which serves as a semi-remake of the aforementioned special, but with a slightly different plot. In the episode, Fat Albert's weight actually becomes a problem and gets in the way of winning a game of "Buck Buck", causing the gang to decide to vote him out of their club. However, unlike the special, Fat Albert doesn't move away deliberately, but rather his parents unexpectedly break the news to him and the gang finds out just as they kick him out. However, they start feeling bad for the way they treated Fat Albert, only for it to be revealed he only moved to another apartment in the same block.
  • In most episodes of the series, whenever any of the gang (usually Rudy) makes jokes about Fat Albert's weight, he would occasionally only get mildly annoyed at best.
• In some early episodes of season 1, as well as the 1971 pilot, Fat Albert is more prone to getting into trouble and falling for mistrusting scams as the rest as the gang, before eventually evolving into the wiser moral center.

Gallery

1969

Fat Albert singing in the show's opening theme

Fat Albert Model Sheet

Fat Albert reading a folded sheet of paper while Bill cautiously looks around

Fat Albert and Rudy being confronted by a police officer

Fat Albert in the film (cartoon)

Kenan Thompson portraying Fat Albert in the film (live-action)

Fat Albert as seen in the movie poster

Fat Albert jumping out from the cartoon dimension via Doris' television, becoming real

Fat Albert stuck in a television

Fat Albert and the Junkyard Gang depicted in a promotional poster of the cartoon being on DVD as shown in the film

Fat Albert and Bucky staring below the mall in amazement

Fat Albert on a date with Lauri

Doris and Lauri shoving Fat Albert back in the cartoon dimension via their television