Flip Wilson Quotes
The devil made me do it.
Wilson, Flip. The Flip Wilson Show. NBC, 1970.
Responding to a question of how he, as a black man, could talk with the president of South Africa:
The Spanish had brought the potato back from the New world in the 16th century. However, Europeans did not change their food customs easily and the potato was not a major food. The fact that it was always in the dirt did not give an aura of cleanliness. The exact theology of the Church causing such opposition to the potato may have been the fact that eating the clean green leaves would sicken humans and sometimes kill them. Another theory was brought on by the Little Ice Age which caused the usual grain crops to fail. The cold weather was clearly a punishment by God for man’s sins. However, the potato would survive the very cold winters when God wanted the people’s crops to fail. Therefore, the Devil must be protecting the potato and thwarting Gods will. Hence, it was the Devil’s plant. The Little Ice Age was so extreme that there was almost no food available for the winter and starvation—the wrath of God—was rampant. People in desperation turned to the Devil’s plant and it saved millions of lives. Shortly, in countries like Ireland, the potato became the major source of food and nutrition, despite the church. However, after a while the prelates were starving also, and decided that the potato might not be the Devil’s plant after all. The king of France would publicly eat potatoes to get his people to plant and eat the new crop which had saved Germany and other parts of Europe.
Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series The Flip Wilson Show, and introduced viewers to his recurring character Geraldine. The series earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards, and it was the second highest-rated show on network television for a time. Wilson was the first African American to host a successful TV variety show. In January 1972, Time magazine featured Wilson's image on its cover and named him "TV's first black superstar". He released a number of comedy albums in the 1960s and 1970s and won a Grammy Award for his 1970 album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress.
