‘Psych’: Deon Richmond’s Guest Role Was a Long-Awaited ‘The Cosby Show’ Throwback
TV shows have produced some of the biggest names in Hollywood, especially child stars who make it so big they’re still identified as their character from the show as an adult. This is the case for celebrity Deon Richmond, except fans have also confused another notable actor of being Richmond’s The Cosby Show character.
In fact, the actor confusion has been a long-running joke for one of our beloved Psych celebrities, making Richmond’s appearance on the tv show more than a coincidence. Even better, other Cosby characters from the famous tv series have made an appearance alongside several ongoing jokes!
Richmond’s role in ‘The Cosby Show’
Richmond’s role on The Cosby Show was as Rudy Huxtable’s reoccurring friend Kenny (or Bud). The popular role came to him at the early age of eight, and the child star made quite the impression.
Bud started as a pretty annoying young boy who had misogynistic views of women, oftentimes sharing these views with Rudy to her dismay. He would say things like women should just be mothers, not have jobs, and be older than the man, so they die first. For Rudy, these comments were rightfully irritating to hear, and her responses are often commendable.
Fortunately, toward the end of the tv show, Bud’s misogynistic views were gone, and maturity helped him expand his own beliefs beyond his older brother’s. He even made it a point to say that the things he said in the past were not true at all.
His ‘Psych’ TV show appearance was part of a long-running ‘TCS’ joke
Doing what he does best, James Roday improvised in season one when he called out Dule Hill‘s character Gus, calling him Bud from The Cosby Show. Ever since then, it was almost impossible for other cast members and fans not to see some similarities — but Hill was not Bud. Nonetheless, he was regularly referenced as Bud in the show.
To top it all off, Psych brought in Richmond to play Mr. Richmond (Gus’s new boss) in season eight, episode 10, “The Breakup.” The funny catch? The real Bud was not only placed in close contact with Hill in the series to show the similarities and differences but was also scripted to call Gus “Bud” at one point.
In a funny turn of events, some more The Cosby Show references were brought into the tv show to keep the joke going. In fact, Screenrant points out that other acting choices have been Cosby-related like “in an alternate universe episode in season five, The Polarizing Express, Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played Rudy on The Cosby Show, appears as Gus’ wife, Stranjay” in addition to “Phylicia Rashad, who played the majestic Huxtable matriarch Clair, [recurring] as Gus’ mother, Winnifred Guster.”
Speaking of resemblances — Richmond has also spoofed Dule Hill
Psych is far from the only role since Richmond’s Cosby days. In fact, he has played in more than 30 other projects, including Calvin Babbitt in Teachers., Jordan Bennett in Sister, Sister, and Shorty in The Blues.
However, his most notable roles since playing Bud were Marcus in Hatchet and Tyson Fox in Scream 3.
Ironically, Richmond also spoofed Hill just a few years earlier in 2011’s Not Another Teen Movie as Malik Token — a “Token Black Guy” based on Hill’s hit role as Preston from She’s All That. Their resemblance brought this teen parody to life, further cementing the ongoing confusion between Hill and Richmond’s most popular characters.
