Hail hail Bill Hicks

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I doubted whether this should go in "TV and media" or in "Art, writing, music" but since proper clever stand-up comedy is performance art, I think it suits best here.

Any other fans here of Bill Hicks? I love this man's comedy ; unmatched by anyone. We do have some good comedians over here in Belgium (those who understand Dutch may browse for Alex Agnew, Xander De Rycke, Michael Van Peel, and Nigel Williams) and in other places I've seen some quite good ones too (for example Kid Rock has had some great shows). But the master of all remains Bill Hicks.

His breakthrough show, Relentless, was spot on from A to Z, and that was when he just had started comedy. What I like about Hicks is that he rarely makes "easy" jokes or cliche jokes, or supposed-to-be-funny imitations of famous people. He actually has a message in his comedy. He watches society and beholds the hypocrisy in it, and then exposes that to the audience using comedy as medium. Many comedians try society-critical comedy, but few manage to succeed in doing it properly.



Would be hard to pick a favourite sketch but there's a few that just are so clever and stick with me, such as the Waffle House in Fyffe where the waitress asks "what are you reading for?" and "why read if you can just flip on the tube?".
The part about supposedly satanic heavy metal music, with subliminal messages or satanic propaganda if played backwards ; very well approached and a small stab direction Bible fanatics in between.
The sketches about drugs (he did several of those spread over several shows he toured with) were all spot on, especially the one about taxed drugs (alcohol, cigarettes) and untaxed drugs ...


Here's a glory moment from the man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFHU1X1PED4
Here's Bud for you ...


PS: found the Waffle House sketch online too... Nice subtle pointing out the growing anti-intellectualism in society and the way people believe TV without questioning ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzRa8Ic99M4

Absolutely love Bill Hicks, along with George Carlin, although I prefer the former. He truly saw the world as how it is and inspired thoughts within his audience and turned comedy into more of a philosophy class in which people were taught to question the media, their education system and their government. He is not always funny at times but is always brutally honest, which shows far more integrity in my opinion. If only he were alive today, I'm sure he would have alot to say about corporations taking greater control over politics, Obama and Religion and so forth.

The first time I saw Bill (in'Revelations') on TV, I had the eerie sense that I'd accidentally discovered a long lost brother nobody ever told me I had. He was saying so many things I'd believed and said, almost verbatim, for many years. I giggled, I wept, I peed my my pants in hysterical laughter. I couldn't wait to hear more.

It was only 6 months later, during a televised Comedy Awards show, that I came to realize he was already dead. But they were eulogizing Sam Kinison (a one time good friend of Bill's) that night and never said how he died. I had to go online to find out and at the time information on Bill was sparse. Since then, he's become a cult hero.


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^ All three of Bill's cable specials are available on one DvD, including a short biographical documentary. ^

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^ Excellent read. ^

I've never found Bill Hicks to be particularly funny. Witty, yes, but not funny. He's more of an amusing philosopher than an actual stand up comic. Still, he's a legend for a reason.

I actually think he was a bit of both: a great comedian, but using his comedy to make people think and not just laugh. He was a philosopher and a comedian at the same time.



Spot on. Bill observed the hypocrisy in society, the ugly side of society, and wanted to warn his audience for it using comedy as a tool. He was funny but also being very honest in the subjects he tackled.

Which shows of him (most are on DVD) did you watch? Did you watch the documentary on his life?

I watched revelations but also Sane Man. I love his more political stuff but Sane Man is my favorite show he ever did, he just seemed so in touch with the audience during that gig. Yeah, that is fantastic that documentary. I liked the bit about when him and his friends were talking about taking magic mushrooms at a ranch during a particular astrological alignment after they had fasted and so forth. Was rather amusing. It's amazing to see how political he became during the end of his life. When they were talking about his willingness to point out the hypocrisy of the waco incident and how he went to the place where it was happening in order to see first hand what was happening, one gets the sense that if he had not have died so early he would have become more and more political and angry towards the powers that be.

Bill Hicks, George Carlin, Doug Stanhope, Frankie Boyle. All brilliant.