--- description: Jerry Seinfeld says he thinks Bill Cosby’s comedic accomplishments are still worth noting, even in the face of sexual assault accusations. title: Jerry Seinfeld Calls Bill Cosby 'Biggest Comedian of All Time' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e9e4fc44c47cbe/6988dbdc656a3f5861bd17f1/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Jerry Seinfeld Calls Bill Cosby the 'Biggest Comedian of All Time' by [Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 30, 2017 8:40 PM CUT  Andrew Toth—FilmMagic/Getty Images; Frank Carroll—NBC/Getty Images by [Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 30, 2017 8:40 PM CUT After sexual assault [allegations against Bill Cosby](https://www.thecut.com/2015/07/bill-cosbys-accusers-speak-out.html "undefined") once again came to light about three years ago, many have publicly denounced the comedian. But on the latest episode of _Norm Macdonald Live,_ [Jerry Seinfeld](http://time.com/4637386/jerry-seinfeld-comedians-cars-coffee-netflix/ "undefined") says he thinks Cosby’s comedic accomplishments are still worth noting, even in the face of these accusations. “I think Bill Cosby’s the biggest comedian of all time,” Seinfeld told Macdonald while the two were discussing their comedic influences. “I don’t think anyone will ever match his production and quality of material.” Macdonald responded first by taking an awkward sip of water, though he acknowledged that, “I love Bill Cosby” and that he listened to Cosby’s comedy albums growing up. “I used to have maybe the greatest Bill Cosby story ever, and now it’s not in the top 10,000,” Macdonald said. “Because I’ll tell people the story, and now I’ll constantly be interrupted by, ‘Did he rape you?’ He didn’t rape me, it had nothing to do with the story.” “How much are you bothered by the fact that this comedian who you really thought was great turns out to be this person doing horrible things?” Seinfeld asked. “Do you separate his work from the person? Does it taint it at all?” “Not at all,” Macdonald said before launching into a thought experiment about Beethoven. Watch the full clip above — the Cosby discussion starts about five minutes in. _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/tv/2017/08/30/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4922343/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby-biggest-comedian/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4922343/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby-biggest-comedian/"},"headline":"Jerry Seinfeld Calls Bill Cosby the 'Biggest Comedian of All Time'","datePublished":"2017-08-30T20:40:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:14:00.626Z","description":"He made the comment while on 'Norm McDonald Live'","url":"https://time.com/4922343/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby-biggest-comedian/","keywords":["celebrities","Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e9e4fc44c47cbe/6988dbdc656a3f5861bd17f1/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christian Holub / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2e9e4fc44c47cbe/6988dbdc656a3f5861bd17f1/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby","caption":"","creditText":"Andrew Toth—FilmMagic/Getty Images; Frank Carroll—NBC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4922343/jerry-seinfeld-bill-cosby-biggest-comedian/","name":"Jerry Seinfeld Calls Bill Cosby the 'Biggest Comedian of All Time'"}}]}] ```