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The ratings bear witness to Wilson's success at comedy and to his appeal to whites as well as blacks. In their second season on NBC—which, Flip jokes, now really is "the full-color network"—Flip, Geraldine and his other characters have become regular Thursday-night fare for an estimated 40 million Americans. In recent Nielsen ratings, The Flip Wilson Show has been the No. 1 variety entry and the No. 2 show of any kind (after CBS's situation comedy All in the Family). Sponsors' money has followed the audience, and NBC now charges $86,000 for one minute of the show's commercial time. "You have to have an all-appeal to survive in the top ten in television," says Bill Cosby, whose own show on NBC never did achieve high ratings and lasted only two seasons. "It's no use reaching the teen-ager if the father wants to watch a western or if the mother wants to watch some doctor thing, because the kid loses out. Flip takes in everybody."
What gives Wilson this broad scope is that, compared with other comics, particularly black comics, his humor has a visceral appeal. Wilson is not just a black comedian, any more than Jack Benny is just a Jewish comedian. His characters and his situations are black, but his humor is universal. He has the talent to make blacks laugh without anger and whites laugh without guilt. "Flip touches more comic bases than anyone else," says Actor and Playwright Ossie Davis (Purlie Victorious). "He retains some of the tradition of the clown as against the comic. A comic is a personality who deals with verbal delivery and usually with bland topics like mothers-in-law and taxes. A clown is a character complete unto himself. Flip Wilson can create characters who stand on their own. He is the most versatile comic spirit in America today."
Wilson does not have the slashing wit of a Lenny Bruce, the angry bite of a Dick Gregory, the satirical punch of a Godfrey Cambridge, or the intellectual edge of a Bill Cosby. His approach is at once older and newer than that of the others. The message about racial injustice is the same as Gregory's, for example, but Flip sneaks it in and shakes loose a laugh before the audience can object. After telling a story about Indians, he asks: "How would you like it if you bought a $50,000 house and somebody came along and put up a wigwam next to it?" Or: "This is my riot jacket—I got it in Buffalo out of a window."
Spontaneous as some of Flip's lines seem, they are all the result of dedicated study. No comedian has calculated his career more carefully or worked harder for his laughs. While a neophyte in his 20s, he laid down a 15-year plan for success. Today, at 38, he has not only met his timetable but has bettered it. As in his early years, his absolute concentration on his business gives him a preoccupied, almost aloof air. Even when relaxing, he is studying people for situations or thinking up funny lines. His whole effort is bent toward making each show "my best shot."