| Name | Bill Hicks |
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| Birth name | William Melvin Hicks |
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| Birth date | December 16, 1961 |
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| Birth place | Valdosta, Georgia, U.S. |
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| Death date | February 26, 1994 |
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| Death place | Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
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| Medium | Stand-up, music |
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| Nationality | American |
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| Active | 1978-1994 |
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| Genre | Black comedy, observational comedy, satire/political satire, philosophy |
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| Subject | American culture, American politics, current events, pop culture, human sexuality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, recreational drug use, entheogens, conspiracy theories, consumerism |
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| Influences | Woody Allen, Johnny Carson, Mort Sahl, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, Terence McKenna, Noam Chomsky, |
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| Influenced | Denis Leary, Doug Stanhope, Lewis Black, Ron White, David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Dave Attell, Andy Andrist, Joe Rogan, Mitch Hedberg, Dave Chappelle, Sarah Silverman, Larry the Cable Guy, Chris Rock, Henry Rollins, Tool, Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, mclusky |
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| Website | billhicks.com |
|---|
William Melvin "Bill" Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, satirist and musician. His humor challenged mainstream beliefs, aiming to "enlighten people to think for themselves."
Hicks used a ribald approach to express his material, describing himself as "Chomsky with dick jokes", His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy and personal issues. Hicks' material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy. In both his stand-up performances and during interviews, he often criticized consumerism, superficiality, mediocrity and banality within the media and popular culture, describing them as oppressive tools of the ruling class, meant to "keep people stupid and apathetic."
Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. In the years after his death, his work and legacy achieved the significant admiration and acclaim of numerous comedians, writers, actors and musicians alike. In 2007 he was voted the 4th greatest stand-up comic on the UK's Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 4th greatest stand-up comic.
Early life
Born in
Valdosta, Georgia, Bill Hicks was the son of Jim and Mary (Reese) Hicks, and had two elder siblings, Steve and Lynn. The family lived in
Florida,
Alabama and
New Jersey, before settling in
Houston, Texas, when Hicks was seven. He was raised in the
Southern Baptist faith, where he first began performing as a comedian to other children at
Sunday School.
He was drawn to comedy at an early age, emulating Woody Allen and Richard Pryor, and writing routines with his friend Dwight Slade. Worried about his behavior, his parents took him to a psychoanalyst at age 17 but, according to Hicks, after one session the psychoanalyst informed him that "...it's them, not you." Although drinking and drugs helped Hicks to loosen his tongue, he eventually had to quit, realizing that it would interfere with his act, making it too controversial (and occasionally shambolic) for the public to handle.
Once Hicks gained some underground success in night clubs and universities he quit drinking, realizing that it wasn't alcohol that made a comic genius, but his ability to express a truth, even if it was an unpopular one. However, Hicks continued to smoke cigarettes. His nicotine addiction, love of smoking, and occasional attempts to quit became a recurring theme in his act throughout the 1990s.
California and New York
In 1986, Hicks found himself broke, but his career received another upturn as he appeared on
Rodney Dangerfield's
Young Comedians Special, in 1987. The same year, he moved to
New York City, and, for the next five years, performed about 300 times a year. On the album
Relentless, he jokes that he quit using drugs because "once you've been taken aboard a
UFO, it's kind of hard to top that", although in his performances, he continued to extol the virtues of
LSD,
marijuana, and
psychedelic mushrooms. He fell back to
chain-smoking, a theme that would figure heavily in his performances from then on.
In 1988 Hicks signed on with his first professional business manager, Jack Mondrus. Throughout 1989, Mondrus worked to convince many clubs to book Hicks, promising that the wild drug- and alcohol-induced behavior was behind him. Among the club managers hiring the newly sober Hicks was Colleen McGarr, who would become his girlfriend and fiancée in later years.
Hicks quit drinking in 1988, as stated in his 1990 album Dangerous on the first track, entitled "Modern Bummer".
In 1989 he released his first video, Sane Man. It was reissued in 2006.
Early fame
In 1990, Hicks released his first album,
Dangerous, performed on the
HBO special
One Night Stand, and performed at
Montreal's
Just for Laughs festival. He was also part of a group of American stand-up comedians performing in
London's
West End in November. Hicks was a huge hit in the
UK and
Ireland and continued touring there throughout 1991. That year, he returned to the
Just for Laughs festival and filmed his second video,
Relentless.
Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording with the Marble Head Johnson album in 1992. In November (or December), he toured the UK, where he recorded the Revelations video for Channel 4. He closed the show with "It's Just a Ride", one of his most famous and life-affirming philosophies. Also in that tour he recorded the stand-up performance released in its entirety on a double CD titled Salvation. Hicks was voted "Hot Standup Comic" by Rolling Stone magazine. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992.
Censorship and aftermath
Hicks constantly faced problems with censorship. In 1984, Hicks was invited to appear on
Late Night with David Letterman for the first time. He had a joke that he used frequently in comedy clubs about how he caused a serious accident that left a classmate confined to a wheelchair.
NBC had a policy that no handicapped jokes could be aired on the show, making his stand-up routine difficult to perform without mentioning words such as "wheelchair". Hicks was disappointed that the TV audience didn't get to experience the uncensored Bill Hicks that people saw in clubs.
On October 1, 1993, about five months before his death, Hicks was scheduled to appear on Late Show with David Letterman, his twelfth appearance on a Letterman late night show but his entire performance was removed from the broadcast — then the only occasion where a comedian's entire routine was cut after taping. Hicks' stand-up routine was removed from the show allegedly because Letterman and his producer were nervous about a religious joke (~"if Jesus came back he might not want to see so many crosses"). Hicks said he believed it was due to a pro-life commercial aired during a commercial break. Both the show's producers and CBS denied responsibility. Hicks expressed his feelings of betrayal in a letter to John Lahr of The New Yorker.
Although Letterman later expressed regret at the way Hicks had been handled, Hicks did not appear on the show again. The full account of this incident was featured in a New Yorker profile by Lahr,
Hicks' mother, Mary, appeared on the January 30, 2009, episode of Late Show. Letterman played the routine in its entirety. Letterman took full responsibility for the original censorship and apologized to Mrs. Hicks. Letterman also declared he did not know what he was thinking when he pulled the routine from the original show in 1993. Letterman said, "It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."
Cancer diagnosis and death
In April 1993, while touring in
Australia, Hicks started complaining of pains in his side, and on June 16 of that year, he was diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer that had spread to his
liver.
He started receiving weekly
chemotherapy, while still touring and also recording his album,
Arizona Bay, with Kevin Booth. He was also working with comedian
Fallon Woodland on a
pilot episode of a new talk show, titled
Counts of the Netherworld for
Channel 4 at the time of his death. The budget and concept had been approved, and a
pilot was filmed. The
Counts of the Netherworld pilot was shown at the various Tenth Anniversary Tribute Night events around the world on February 26, 2004.
After being diagnosed with cancer, Hicks would often joke that any given performance would be his last. The public, however, was unaware of Hicks's condition. Only a few close friends and family members knew of his disease. Hicks performed the actual final show of his career at Caroline's in New York on January 6, 1994. He moved back to his parents' house in Little Rock, Arkansas, shortly thereafter. He called his friends to say goodbye, before he stopped speaking on February 14, and re-read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.
He spent time with his parents, playing them the music he loved and showing them documentaries about his interests. He died of cancer in the presence of his parents at 11:20 p.m. on February 26, 1994. He was 32 years old.
Hicks was buried in the family plot in Leakesville, Mississippi.
On February 7, 1994, Hicks authored a short prayer on his perspective, wishes and thanks of his life, to be released after his death as his "last word",
Much of Hicks's routine involved direct attacks on mainstream society, religion, politics, and consumerism. Asked in a BBC interview why he cannot do a routine that appeals "to everyone", he said that such an act was impossible. He responded by repeating a comment an audience member once made to him, "We don't come to comedy to think!", to which he replied, "Gee! Where do you go to think? I'll meet you there!" In the same interview, he also said: "My way is half-way between: this is a night-club, and these are adults."
Hicks often discussed conspiracy theories in his performances, most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He mocked the Warren Report and the official version of Lee Harvey Oswald as a "lone nut assassin." He also questioned the guilt of David Koresh and the Branch Davidian compound during the Waco Siege.
Hicks would end some of his shows — and especially those being recorded in front of larger audiences as albums — with a mock "assassination" of himself on stage, making gunshot sound effects into the microphone while falling to the ground.
Hicks and Denis Leary
For many years, Hicks was friends with fellow comedian
Denis Leary. However, in 1993, Hicks was angered by Leary's album
No Cure for Cancer. Apparently, upon hearing the album, "Bill was furious. All these years, aside from the occasional jibe, he had pretty much shrugged off Leary's lifting. Comedians borrowed, stole stuff, and even bought bits from one another.
Milton Berle and
Robin Williams were famous for it. This was different. Leary had, practically line for line, taken huge chunks of Bill's act and
recorded it."
At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole Hicks' material as well as his persona and attitude. In an interview, when Hicks was asked why he had quit smoking, he answered, "I just wanted to see if Denis would, too."
In another interview, Hicks famously told an interviewer: "I have a scoop for you. I stole his [Leary's] act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and, to really throw people off, I did it before he did.". Numerous videos have appeared on YouTube on this issue, showing clips of each other's performances.
The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story, by Cynthia True:
:Leary was in Montreal hosting the "Nasty Show" at Club Soda, and Colleen [McGarr?] was coordinating the talent so she stood backstage and overheard Leary doing material incredibly similar to old Hicks riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: ("Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut. The plot thickens."). When Leary came offstage, Colleen, more stunned than angry, said, "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks' material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and briskly left the dressing room.
During a 2003 roast of Denis Leary, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast.
In a 2008 interview, Leary said "It wouldn’t have been an issue, I think, if Bill had lived. It’s just that people look at a tragedy and they look at that circumstance and they go, oh, this must be how we can explain this."
Hicks and Tool
Ænima artwork shows a dedication to Bill Hicks as "another dead hero".]]
The progressive metal band Tool invited Hicks to open a number of concerts for them on their 1993 Lollapalooza appearances, where Hicks once famously asked the audience to look for a contact lens he'd lost. Thousands of people complied. Tool singer Maynard James Keenan so enjoyed this joke that he repeated it on a number of occasions. Keenan, who worked as a comedian in Los Angeles prior to Tool, met and befriended Hicks through mutual friends and performing at the same venues.
Tool dedicated their triple-platinum album Ænima (1996) to Bill Hicks. The band intended to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, because they felt that Tool and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts". In particular, Ænimas final track, "Third Eye", is preceded by a clip of Hicks' performances, and both the lenticular casing of the Ænima album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "Ænema" make reference to a sketch from Hicks' Arizona Bay philosophy, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean. The closing track "Third Eye" contains samples from Hicks' Dangerous and Relentless , An alternate version of the Ænima artwork shows a painting of Bill Hicks and mentions of Hicks are found both in the liner notes and on record.
Legacy
Arizona Bay and
Rant in E-Minor were released posthumously in 1997 on the Voices imprint of the
Rykodisc label.
Dangerous and
Relentless were also re-released by Rykodisc on the same date.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, fellow comedians and comedy insiders voted Hicks #13 on their list of "The Top 20 Greatest Comedy Acts Ever". Likewise, in "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time" (2004), Hicks was ranked at #19. In March 2007, Channel 4 ran a poll, "The Top 100 Stand-Up Comedians of All Time", in which Hicks was voted #6. Channel 4 renewed this list in April 2010, which saw Hicks move up 2 places to #4.
The UK band Shack released an album in August 2003 quoting a Bill Hicks routine in the title: Here's Tom With the Weather. The album also included other Bill Hicks quotes in the liner notes. English breakbeat artist Adam Freeland sampled Revelations for his track "We Want Your Soul". Welsh noise punk band Mclusky reference a Hicks routine in the lyrics to their song "To Hell With Good Intentions". Punk cabaret musician Amanda Palmer says, "I have my new Bill Hicks CD" in the song "Another Year" on her 2008 album Who Killed Amanda Palmer. The Swedish indie pop singer/songwriter Jens Lekman has written a song called "People who Hate People Come Together" after the same Hicks quote. The last track of The Kleptones album Yoshimi Battles the Hip-Hop Robots, Last Words (A Tribute), includes his "It's just a ride" in its entirety.
Hamell on Trial's 1999 album Choochtown includes the song "Bill Hicks", featuring the lyric "I wish Bill Hicks was alive/I wish Bill Hicks had survived", as well as the instrumental tribute "Bill Hicks (Ascension)".
Rapper Vinnie Paz have also cited Hicks as an influence to his work; contemporary comedians David Cross and Russell Brand have stated that they were inspired by Hicks. Irish Independent columnist Ian O'Doherty is also a great admirer of Hicks.
On their 2009 album There Is No Enemy, Built To Spill released the song "Planting Seeds" with the lyrics "I've heard that they'll sell anything and I think they might...I think Bill Hicks was right...about what they should do." referring to his stand up routine which asks marketers to kill themselves. The song title refers to a bit in the same routine when Bill explains, "Just planting seeds here, folks."
The Australian journalist and author Andrew Mueller used Hicks' "It's just a ride" line as the epigraph in his book "I Wouldn't Start From Here: The 21st Century And Where It All Went Wrong".
The British film Human Traffic referred to him as the "late prophet Bill Hicks" and portrays the main character, Jip, watching Hicks' stand-up before going out to "remind me not to take life too seriously". Hicks even appears in the comic book Preacher, in which he is an important influence on the protagonist, Rev. Jesse Custer. His opening voice-over to the 1991 Revelations live show is also quoted in Preacher's last issue.
The British actor Chas Early portrayed Hicks in the one-man stage show Bill Hicks: Slight Return, which premiered in 2005.
The Ross Noble DVD Fizzy Logic references Bill Hicks' famous Goat Boy routine with a stuffed wolf named "Randy Pan" (The name of the fictional "Goat Boy"), and is commented in inside the show.
On February 25, 2004, British MP Stephen Pound tabled an early day motion titled "Anniversary of the Death of Bill Hicks" (EDM 678 of the 2003-04 session), the text of which was as follows:
of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.}}
Mr Pound MP went on to recite Bill's famous "It's just a ride" speech.
Film and documentary
A documentary entitled
, based on interviews with his family and friends, premiered on March 12, 2010, at the
South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The film has gone on to screen at multiple festivals including the
Seattle International Film Festival, SxSW, London Film Festival,
Sheffield Doc/Fest and most recently The Branchage Festival in Jersey, Channel Islands, and has subsequently become available to purchase on DVD.
Discography
References
Notes
Further reading
External links
Bill Hicks' Official Site
Sacred Cow Productions
Bill Hicks Quotes
Bill Hicks' releases on Rykodisc
Bill Hicks is Dead: Tribute and Biography, with related videos.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Comedians: Bill Hicks at Love-It-Loud.com
Dark Poet Unofficial Fan site
Category:1961 births
Category:1994 deaths
Category:American satirists
Category:American stand-up comedians
Category:Cancer deaths in Arkansas
Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Category:People from Houston, Texas
Category:People from Valdosta, Georgia
Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics
Category:Psychedelic drug advocates
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Religious skeptics
Category:Rykodisc artists
Category:Kabarettists
Category:Comedians
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