In two days, on February 26, it will be ten years ago that Bill Hicks passed away after losing his short but fierce battle with cancer.
I would have posted it on the day itself, were it not for the fact that I’ll leave for a holiday (and a wedding!) in the States tomorrow.
I dunno, it just felt to me this could not pass unnoticed. Especially in this day and age, Hicks’ material sounds very apt again - even the names are the same again, in the case of the Iraq jokes.
I’ve never heard such a razorsharp, well-timed, and motherfuckin’ angry comedian. Why he wasn’t granted more than 32 years on this little green and blue planet, I’ll never know.
From one person who only discovered him 6 years after his death: you’re missed, Bill. I hope you crack 'em up, wherever you are.
I just discovered Hicks a couple of years ago, via p2p files of his routines. I was in college from 1989-1993 when he was in his prime. I was an angry young man then (I’m a slightly less angry 30-something now), and I would have followed Hicks like Jesus had I known about him. I heartily recommend the Trio documentary The Censoring of Bill Hicks to anyone who thinks they might remotely be interested in him. The man was a comic genius of the first order. His excoriation of Rush Limbaugh is one of the vilest, sickest, most hillarious things I’ve ever heard in my life (“I started with ‘scat muncher’ and worked backwards”), and I can only imagine what he would have done with the Iraq war if he had been around.
Who has taken up his mantle? Who am I missing today?
I don’t agree with his political side, and find the similarities between his Iraq War Part I and Part II a lay up. Just check out Dennis Miller’s DVD release from 94’. What I love is his cigarette, “I want to smoke” deal. That beauty about fighting for the rights of a victimless (don’t bicker) crime is wonderful.
Last night I was at an open mic night here in Denver, when one of the guys got up and started in on a routine.
I thought it sounded really familiar, and then realized he was doing word for word, a Bill Hicks bit. I got a little bent, and almost started heckling him, calling him Dennis Leary, among other things. Then he wrapped up by saying it was a tribute to Bill, and he hoped he saw it. Made me feel a right Schmuck.
An answer to Vibrotronica, no one has picked up the mantle. No one comes close to the truth, timing or comedic genius of Mr. Hicks.
And yet Gallagher still walks among us, unmolested.
T’aint right.
My first exposure to Bill Hicks was in Preacher, a great comic book.
The first issue opens on Jesse Custer, the reverend of a pathetic little town in Texas. He hates the town. He hates being a preacher. He hates himself for accepting it. So he drinks, alot, a whole lot.
One night, he finally can’t take anymore. He goes into the town’s bar and tells everybody exactly what he thinks of them. He exposes all their secrets. He spews hatred and shows them just how pathetic they all are. Until somebody breaks a chair on his head.
It isn’t until dozens of issues later that we’re told what finally made Jesse stop wallowing in misery and do something. He met Bill Hicks.
My older sister brought me to see him in Dublin in 1992. I was starting college at UCD so I thought I’d be more into Hicks then she was. The opening band was a band call Balloon who were fairly decent. Hicks gave an amazing show. I loved it even though I knew I was an Irish (real Irish) Catholic Republican back then. Long story short, we went to the Stag’s Head for a few pints afterwards and had the pleasure to meet Mr. Hicks. This is where it really started to get interesting, or strange depending on how you look at it.
He was a pleasure. Witty, charming and great fun to be around. He spent most of the night talking to my sister but not in a sleazy way. I always looked down on my older sister because she wasn’t the greatest academic and I thought I was a genius at 18. Hicks saw me as a stupid kid and saw her as a mature young woman. It was a sobering experience for me (and no,he wasn’t hitting on her). Class act, class man. Farewell Bill Hicks.
I’ve been a big fan of Hicks since I saw him in concert back in 1989. Even then he was so staggeringly original that he blew away all of his fellow “Outlaws of Comedy”. And I’ll never forget the day back in '94 when I opened up the L.A. Times and saw his obituary. I have never been so shocked–I wasn’t even aware he was sick. I clipped out his obit & still have it to this day.
One aspect of Hicks that often goes unnoticed was his fascination with religion & the Bible. Hicks often toured with Sam Kinison–a former preacher, and the two of them would often stay up all night arguing & discussing theology. Hicks had read the Bible cover to cover several times & kept a journal full of his theological musings. I’ve often wondered what ever became of them & if there have ever been any plans to publish any parts of it. I, for one, would be very interested in checking it out.
Also it was through the comedy of Bill Hicks that turned me on to the work of Terence McKenna. Bill was a big fan of Terence’s, and he referenced him in several of his bits. I can definitely see how McKenna influenced Hicks. They were both brilliant minds. And both were cut down years before their time due to cancer.
To me, one of the saddest things about his passing was the fact the we lost such an original, inspiring voice. One that challenged us, made us think, and was willing to make us face the worst parts of our humanity, while simultaneously reminding us of the good in all of us.
And while he inspired so many, it’s so disappointing to see that no-one has picked up where he left off. The corporatization & homogenization of our culture which he railed against has seemed to have extinguished any voices like his. And the world is much poorer as a result.
Speaking of Hicks, does anyone know anything about the new (?) book called, ** Love All The People: Letters, Lyrics, Routines, by Bill Hicks.**??? Amazon has no info on it. Is it only available in Great Britain? Sounds like a must-have for the Hicks completist…
Bill was and is a hero of mine. He could be outrageously funny about the strangest things, goat boy anyone? When he did politics he went for the jugular and ripped in out with his teeth. A true comic/political commentator genius had left us.
He would be sooooo angry with the current state of things. Dubya is a perfect target for men like Bill. Hopefully somebody will step forward and fill the space. It’s a big space though.
As for who’s carying the mantle now, I dunno.
David Cross has done some hillarious/ scathing bits on religion in his stand up, albeit without the fury of Hicks.
Nowadays, he seems more preoccupied doing sitcom stuff, which doesn’t really showcase his edgy side.
