Minutes before comedian Bill Cosby entertained a capacity Stephens Auditorium crowd Sunday, he was backstage drawing laughs from Iowa State President Martin Jischke and Athletics Director Gene Smith.

Jischke, Smith, Dean of the College of Education Camilla Benbow and Government of the Student Body President Bryan Burkhardt presented Cosby with gifts. They also thanked the comedian for attending the kickoff to a yearlong celebration of ISU alumnus George Washington Carver.

Cosby, the mastermind behind such characters as Fat Albert and Cliff Huxtable, was first presented with an ISU letter jacket that had his name sewn above the right breast pocket.

“With all of the miles you’ve put in coming here, you’ve earned it,” Smith said.

Sunday marked Cosby’s third visit to the ISU campus. He headlined the first Residence Hall Week celebration in 1969 and performed at Hilton Coliseum in 1987.

Smith and Jischke also presented Cosby with an ISU shirt for his wife, Camille Cosby.

“I’m glad her name is not on it,” Cosby said, joking about keeping the gift for himself.

Benbow presented Cosby a college of education sweatshirt, acknowledging the Amherst College graduate for his support of education.

“We know you were a doctor on TV, and we also know you are Dr. Bill Cosby with your degree,” Benbow said.

Cosby responded, referring to the large sweatshirt, “What size do you think I wear? I hope it shrinks.”

Later, Cosby shared his strategy for his back-to-back performances in Ames.

“I look at the audience first,” he joked, “and see if they look like they know anything. If they know nothing, then I’ll give them nothing.”

Cosby, who currently hosts CBS’s “Kids Say The Darndest Things” and stars in “Cosby,” also on CBS, said he does not base much of his material on his own life.

“I’m a storyteller,” he said. “I draw from making things up. I just decide that it’s time to do a story about how I would feel having a child.”

Cosby said he was excited to perform for college students, a departure from his usual family-oriented audience.

“I don’t target. I do my material, and the people who like it show up,” Cosby said. “If you get 19- and 20-year-olds, they may very well come to hear me because of ‘Picture Page’ or because they like Jell-O.

“I may not be Chris Rock or Sinbad or whoever is hot, but sooner or later, they all have to come this way because people age,” he said.