In the early 1970s, Flip Wilson was among a group of rising Black comics that included Bill Cosby. Nipsey Russell, and Dick Gregory. Wilson is best remembered as the host of the variety program The Flip Wilson Show-the first variety series since The Nat "King" Cole Show (1956-57) to be hosted by and named after an African American-and for his role in renewing stereotype comedy.

     With a keen wit developed during his impoverished youth, Clerow Wilson rose quickly to fame as a stand­ up comic and television show host. Under the stage name "Flip," given to him by Air Force pals who joked he was "flipped out," Wilson began performing in cheap clubs across the United States. His early routines featured Black stereotypes of the controversial Amos 'n' Andy type. After performing in hallmark Black clubs such as the Apollo in Harlem and the Regal in Chicago, Wilson made a successful appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Recommended by Redd Foxx, Wilson also performed on The Tonight Show to great accolades, becoming a substitute host.

     After making television guest appearances on such shows as Love, American Style and That's Life, and starring in his own 1969 NBC special, Wilson was offered an hour-long prime-time NBC show, The Flip Wilson Show, which saw a remarkable four-year run. Only Sammy Davis Jr. had enjoyed similar success with his song-and-dance variety show; comparatively, earlier shows hosted by Nat "King" Cole and Bill Cosby were quickly canceled, owing to lack of sponsorship and narrow appeal. At the high point of The Flip Wilson Show, advertising rates swelled to $86,000 per minute, and by 1972 the series was rated the most popular variety show, and the second-most popular show overall in the United States.

     Wilson's television success came from his unique combination of "new" stereotype comedy and his signature stand-up form. His style combined deadpan delivery and dialect borrowed from his role models, Foxx and Cosby, but Wilson replaced their humorous puns with storytelling . His fluid body language, likened to that of silent-screen actor Charlie Chaplin, gave Wilson's act a dynamic and graceful air. The show benefited from his intensive production efforts, unprecedented for a Black television performer; he wrote one-third of the show's material, heavily edited the work of writers, and demanded a five-day work­ week from his staff and guests to produce each one-hour segment. Audiences appreciated the show's innovative style elements, such as the intimate theater-in­ the-round studio and the use of medium-long shots, which replaced close-ups in order to fully capture Wilson's expressive movements.

     Wilson altered his club act for television in order to accommodate family viewing, relying on descriptive portraits of Black characters and situations rather than ridicule. Still, his show offended many African Americans and civil rights activists who believed Wilson's humor depended on race. A large multiethnic television audience, however, found universal humor in the routines, and others credited Wilson with subtly ridiculing the art of stereotyping itself. Wilson denied this claim, strongly denouncing suggestions that his race required that his art convey anti-bias messages.

     In fact, these divergent interpretations reflect the variety among Wilson's characters. Some were rather offensive, such as the money-laundering  Reverend Leroy and the smooth swinger, Freddy the Playboy. Others, such as Sonny. a White House janitor and the "wisest man in Washington," were positive Black portraits. The show's most popular character, Geraldine. exemplifies Wilson's intention to produce "race-free" comedy. Perfectly coiffed and decked out in designer clothes and chartreuse stockings. Geraldine demanded respect and, in Wilson's words, "Everybody knows she don't take no stuff." Liberated yet married, outspoken yet feminine. ghetto-born yet poised, Geraldine was neither floozy nor threat. This colorful Black female image struck a positive chord with viewers; her one­ liners-"The devil made me do it," and "When you're hot, you're hot"-became national fads. Social messages were imparted indirectly through Wilson's characters; the well-dressed and self-respecting Geraldine, for example. countered the female-degrading acts of other popular stand-up comics. Through Geraldine. Wilson also negotiated racial and class biases by positively characterizing a working-class Black female. in contrast to the absence of female Black images on 1970s television (with the exception of the middle­ class Black nurse of the 1969 sitcom Julia).

     Wilson sometimes did address race more directly through story and theme; one skit, for example. feature Native American women discourteously greeting Christopher Columbus and crew on their arrival in North America. Such innovative techniques enabled Wilson's humorous characters and themes to suggest racial and gender tolerance.

     Wilson's career lost momentum when his show was canceled in 1974. Although he was the recipient of a 1970 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing and a 1971 Grammy for Best Comedy Record. Wilson's career never rekindled. He continued to make television specials and TV guest appearances; made his film debut in Sidney Poitier's successful post-blaxploitation movie Uptown Saturday Night; and performed in two subsequent unsuccessful films. His 1985 television comeback. Charlie and Company- a sitcom following The Cosby Show's formula-had a short run.

     Wilson saw himself first as an artist. and humor was more prominent than politics in his comic routines. This style, however, allowed him to impart success­ fully occasional social messages into his act. Moreover, he achieved unprecedented artistic control of his show. pressing the parameters for Black television performers and producers. Through Geraldine. Wilson created one of 1970s television's few respectful images of Black women. who were generally marginalized by both the civil rights and women's movements of that era. Finally, although no regular Black variety show took up where Wilson left off, the success of his program paved the way for the popularity of later sitcoms featuring middle- and working-class Black families, situations, and dialect, shows such as Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and Good Times.