Aunt Esther appreciation thread

hated this show with the heat of a million suns

I love Esther. She's religious and sassy like me.

You’d never see this on TV today.

She and Wanda Sykes have the same voice and delivery.

LaWanda Page stole the show. She was hilarious!

I loved it. Fred reminded me of my grandfather, who was white btw. He looked a bit like him and had the same build and walk. Red Fox was a comic genius. That skit is right out of Black vaudeville. Also note the orange slippers.

My favorite. Thanks, OP.

LaWanda Page worked "blue". Her comedy act was filthy.

I love LaWanda Page! Aunt Esther could steal the show sometimes and her scenes with Fred Sanford was comedy gold.

Perfect!

When Redd Foxx became famous and got the show he brought all of his St Louis friends that was on the chitlin circuit and put them on: Esther, Grady, Bubba, Skillet. There would be no way a network would hire this many older black folks. And they were hilarious

I was shocked when she said on TV "what did you say, n*****?"

Ontie Esther......it's AUNT....AUNT.....pronounced ANT......who are you, Gloria Upson? Drives me crazy.

R11; all of the popular black sitcoms had at least one scene of someone saying the n word.

[quote]Ontie Esther......it's AUNT....AUNT.....pronounced ANT

Wrong. It's a black thing. You wouldn't understand.

Esther, I could dip your face in some batter and make gorilla cookies

R14 I might understand if someone would explain it to me......I will try......

The original Steptoe and Son, is also great, but it's much darker.

In the American version it's played for laughs but in Steptoe, you can really feel the character's angst. And they live in an actual slum, not a TV slum.

I liked her titty shows best.

I think Redd Foxx got a kick out of casting her as a highly religious woman since her comedy was so dirty.

LaWanda Page and the actress that played Fred's girlfriend Donna wete actual sisters

R12, my family - whitey whites from New England - pronounce it “Ont”. My in-laws - whitey whites from the rust belt - pronounce it “Ant”.

Canadians also say "Auntie".

r20

Page was the older sister of Lynn Hamilton, however this is not the Lynn Hamilton who costarred with Page on Sanford and Son. This caused a rumor that the two actresses were sisters. Series lead Demond Wilson confirmed the rumor to be false in 2016

LaWanda Page was the Bronze Goddess of Fire!

LaWanda Page had a filthy mouth!

You better work bitch!

Not listed on her Wiki page is LaWanda Page's voice on RuPaul's supermodel recording!

"Free Sanford! You ole buckle-eyed fool!"

" Esther, you look just like a Bull dog in a ugly pageant! "

"Watch it, sucka!"

She was one of the only things I liked about that show. Her fights with Fred were the funniest thing on TV.

She was one of the only things I liked about that show. Her fights with Fred were the funniest thing on TV.

Esther Anderson is my idol!

[quote]Esther Anderson is my idol!

Who?

To this day I user her "snaggle tooth jackass" epithet.

Esther Anderson !

She had to be Pentecostal.

HALA GLORY!

Yep - Pentecostal all they way....

Esther is my friend.

R32, I use “you old goat” on my husband all the time.

Esther: My body was blessed by Mother Nature!

Fred: And it was cursed by Father Time!

Brown, smooth and easy to spread

It was polyester, SUCKA

LaWanda Page had for me the funniest scene in one of my favorite film comedies and that's FRIDAY. I remember the first time I watched this. Her scene was at the beginning and it took me about 15 minutes before I could continue with the film because I kept replaying it over and over again. Absolutely hilarious!

LaWanda Page also participated in several of Dean Martin's celebrity roasts. She was always real funny in them.

(At 4:50 of this clip, she does say something really sweet about roastee Jimmy Stewart, which shows how classy she actually was underneath all of her joking around.)

Loved her and loved "S&S" the first few years. It jumped the shark when Redd Foxx returned to the series after having briefly left in a salary dispute.

Miss Page extemporizes on the subject of whores

LaWanda's wiki is worth reading. Apparently she and Redd Foxx were friends back to childhood. One of the Sanford & Son eps showcased her early career as a fire eater and her stand-up could be as raunchy as anything Foxx could do.

"I can't ride this horse all the way to St. Louis!"

I love aunt Esther, tender.