“Just got back from my ‘Flying Saucer’ tour. Like UFO’s, I’ve been appearing before handfuls of rednecks in out of the way southern towns.”
I recall seeing an interview with Bill where he said “Actually, I ripped of Leary, but to throw people off the trail, I did it before him.”
As far as Kinison and Hicks go, I recall hearing stories about them belonging to a comedy “group” (the Outlaws or some such name) in Austin, so I don’t see that as a rip off. It’s probably more of a “starting from the same original collaboration point” situation.
Then how did he make so much money, for so many years, in the US? Working 200 nights a year, he may have played some dives, but he generally worked the best venues in any town he played. He was on the cover of LA magazine within 6 months of moving there.
Hicks did a great job of selling London audiences on the idea that Brits were cool enough to “get him” when his own country didn’t. And then in the US he’d flatter the audience by pointing out there were the hip cool ones, like the posh Brits, who enjoyed his comedy. Don’t forget that the man was a professional.
Newsflash - lifestyle magazines are not the be-all and end-all of public opinion. Successful comics do not need to tour seven months of the year.
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He was evidently such a professional that he lived out his own bullshit. When a man packs the Dominion Theatre for three nights in the UK then goes home to play to 30 people in a chickenwire bar in Buttfuck, Nebraska, it is safe to say that he is less popular on the left side of the pond.
OK, having been a Leary fan for years, I only recently got around to listening to Hicks’ material. No reason, other than that Leary is more known to the general public over here, mostly for his early to mid 90’s MTV stuff.
Let there be no doubt: Denis Leary did not just “borrow a joke”. He blatantly uses entire Hicks routines in his shows. I have been unable to find anything so far, but what was the deal at the time? I’ve seen Hicks make some snide comments about Leary’s stealing, but nothing majorly upsetting. Was there ever any serious legal action over this? Did Leary get away with it?
Bill Hicks took a little getting used to, but man, he blows Leary out of the water. Yojimbo, you were right when you recommended the man to me a couple of years ago. May he rest in peace.
FWIW, I think “No cure for cancer” was written and performed firstly in 1992, before the death of Bill Hicks. So I wouldn’t go as far as to say the title has anything to do with Hicks, like some seem to suggest.
Hicks and Leary used to be blackballed from the most venues, so they used to do shows together, flipping a coin to see who wouldl go on first. there is a huge amout to compare them on, and As big a Leary fan as i am, I love Hicks more.
Like so many dead performers, Hicks keeps on getting more and more popular. Kids who were only 6 when he died are discovering his work. I like to think he´s holed up in a motel somewhere with Elvis Presley, and JFK´s alien lovechild.
mog
Recently bought “Rant in E Minor”. I like Hicks a lot, but I found him just too bitter in this CD to be either funny or thought-provoking, unlike most of his other work.
He really has a go at his audience and you do feel that he’s bottling some issues that has him mightily upset at the world. If you’re gonna rant, rant about what’s pissing you off, not by picking fights with the front row.
“I was in a diner the other day when a waitress came up to me and asked, ‘Why are you reading?’. Not what are you reading, but why are your reading. Why am I reading? Because I don’t want to be a fucking waitress for the rest of my life like you, that’s why I’m reading!”