Hey, Hey, Hey... It's Fat Albert in 2003

By Elizabeth Darst

Tuesday November 20, 2001 10:54 AM EST

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Thirty years ago, Bill Cosby created a Saturday morning cartoon series called "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," which became one of the most popular shows of its kind. The 64-year-old comedian, writer, producer and Jello spokesman recently completed work on the movie script based on the TV show, but he's not sure whether he'll do the voices this time around. Anyone who was raised in the 1970s spent a portion of their childhood imitating the voices of Fat Albert, Mush Mouth, Donald and Weird Harold, the gang of scrappy African-American kids who played in a junkyard. Cosby based the characters on his actual boyhood pals growing up in Philadelphia and performed all the voiceovers, as well as serving as host. It's hard to imagine anyone but Cos doing the voices, but he told AP Radio recently, "I don't know if my Fat Albert, if it's a little too full and robust now and old, and what I would like to try is perhaps to find or have auditions for someone who could really imitate what's on the track." Actor and director Forest Whitaker will helm the film, due in summer of 2003, which will be partly animated and partly live action.