name	Bill Hicks
birth name	William Melvin Hicks
birth date	December 16, 1961
birth place	Valdosta, Georgia, U.S.
origin	Houston, Texas, U.S.
death date	February 26, 1994
death place	Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, music, philosophy
nationality	American
active	1978—1994
genre	Observational comedy, dark comedy, political satire
subject	American culture, American politics, current events, pop culture, human sexuality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, recreational drug use, entheogens, conspiracy theories, consumerism
website	BillHicks.com. WebCitation archive.
footnotes	}}

William Melvin "Bill" Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. 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 was just sixteen years old when started performing stand up comedy at the Comedy Workshop in Houston in 1978. During the 1980s he toured America extensively and performed a number of high profile television appearances. It was in the UK, however, where Hicks first amassed a significant fan base, packing large venues with his 1991 tour. Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. In the years after his death, his work and legacy achieved acclaim in creative circles. In 2007 he was voted the sixth-greatest stand-up comic on the UK's Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, and appeared again in the updated 2010 list as the fourth-greatest comic.

Early life

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Bill Hicks was the son of Jim and Mary (Reese) Hicks and had two elder siblings: brother Steve and sister 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 for other children at Sunday School.

Hicks 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."

Career

Change in comic style

Hicks graduated from high school and began touring in the early 1980s. After a few years of performing the same material, he felt that his act wasn't progressing. He wanted to push the boundaries of creativity as his idols Jimi Hendrix and Richard Pryor had done. At 21 years old, Hicks had never consumed alcohol, smoked cigarettes, or tried drugs. He began to experiment to see if intoxication was indeed the key to crossing the line. 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 his later years.

California and New York

In January 1986, Hicks found himself broke, having spent all his money on a variety of substances. His career soon received another upturn, though, 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 5 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 ''Just for Laughs'' and filmed his second video, ''Relentless''.

Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording with the ''Marble Head Johnson'' album in 1992. During the same year he toured the UK, where he recorded the ''Revelations'' video. for Channel 4 He closed the show with his soon-to become-famous philosophy regarding life, "It's Just a Ride". 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.

Hicks and Tool

The progressive metal band Tool invited Hicks to open a number of concerts for it 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 dedicated its triple-platinum album ''Ænima'' (1996) to 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, ''Ænima''s 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, calling him "Another Dead Hero," and mentions of Hicks are found both in the liner notes and on the record.

Controversy

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 using 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 television audience didn't get to experience the uncensored Bill Hicks that people saw in clubs.

On October 1, 1993, Hicks was scheduled to appear on ''Late Show with David Letterman'', his 12th 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, which was later published as a chapter in Lahr's book, ''Light Fantastic''.

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, saying, "It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."

Denis Leary

For many years, Hicks was friends with fellow comedian Denis Leary. But in 1993 Hicks was angered by Leary's album ''No Cure for Cancer.'' 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."

The friendship ended abruptly as a result. At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole Hicks's 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 said, "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."

The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in ''American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story'', by Cynthia True:

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During a 2003 Comedy Central 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."

Comic style

Hicks's style was a play on his audience's emotions. He expressed anger, disgust, and apathy while addressing the audience in a casual and personal manner, which he likened to merely conversing with his friends. His material was less focused on the everyday banalities of life and placed greater emphasis on philosophical themes of existence. He would invite his audiences to challenge authority and the existential nature of "accepted truth." One such message, which he often used in his shows, was delivered in the style of a news report (in order to draw attention to the negative slant news organizations give to any story about drugs):

Another of Hicks's most famous quotes was delivered during a gig in Chicago in 1989 (later released as the bootleg ''I'm Sorry, Folks''). After a heckler repeatedly shouted "Free Bird", Hicks screamed that "''Hitler had the right idea, he was just an underachiever!''" Hicks followed this remark with a misanthropic tirade calling for unbiased genocide against the whole of humanity.

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, 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.

Cancer diagnosis and death

Hicks wrote, "On June 16, 1993 I was diagnosed with having 'liver cancer that had spread from the pancreas.'” 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 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 side effects of his cancer treatment 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 verse on his perspective, wishes, and thanks of his life, to be released after his death as his "last word", ending with the words: "I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit."

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.

Devotees of Hicks have incorporated his words, image, and attitude into their own creations. By means of audio sampling, fragments of Hicks' rants, diatribes, social criticisms, and philosophies have found their way into many musical works, such as the live version of Super Furry Animals' "Man Don't Give A Fuck". His influence on Tool is well-documented, he "appears" on the Fila Brazillia album ''Maim That Tune'' (1996) and on SPA's self titled album ''SPA'' (1997), which are both dedicated to Hicks; the British band Radiohead's second album ''The Bends'' (1995) is also dedicated to his memory. Singer/songwriter Tom Waits listed ''Rant in E-Minor'' as one of his 20 most cherished albums of all time.

Rappers Adil Omar and Vinnie Paz have also cited Hicks as an influence to their work; contemporary comedians David Cross and Russell Brand have stated that they were inspired by Hicks.

The British actor Chas Early portrayed Hicks in the one-man stage show ''Bill Hicks: Slight Return'', which premiered in 2004. The show was co-written by Chas Early and Richard Hurst, and imagined Hicks' view of the world 10 years after his death.

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 reads: of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.}}

Film and documentary

A documentary entitled ''American: The Bill Hicks Story'', based on interviews with his family and friends, premiered on March 12, 2010, at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Discography

References

Notes

Further reading

External links

Sacred Cow Productions

Bill Hicks Quotes

The subversive legacy of comic Bill Hicks, ''Salon.com''

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 cannabis activists Category:American satirists Category:American social commentators Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Cancer deaths in Arkansas Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Free speech activists Category:Former Baptists 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:American agnostics

bg:Бил Хикс ca:Bill Hicks de:Bill Hicks el:Μπιλ Χικς es:Bill Hicks fr:Bill Hicks is:Bill Hicks it:Bill Hicks he:ביל היקס mk:Бил Хикс nl:Bill Hicks ja:ビル・ヒックス no:Bill Hicks pl:Bill Hicks ru:Хикс, Билл simple:Bill Hicks sk:Bill Hicks sr:Бил Хикс fi:Bill Hicks sv:Bill Hicks tr:Bill Hicks

name	Michael Collins Piper
birth name	Michael Bernard Piper
birth date	July 17, 1960
occupation	Author, talk radio host }}

Michael Collins Piper is a political writer, conspiracy theorist, and talk radio host living in Washington D.C. He is a regular contributor to the ''American Free Press'', a newspaper backed by Willis Carto.

Piper was described on his website as a political "progressive in the LaFollette-Wheeler tradition." He is the author of books such as ''The High Priests of War'', in which he criticizes the neoconservatives in the Bush administration, and ''Final Judgment'' where he claims that the Israeli Mossad was responsible for the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

Early life

Piper was baptized as Michael Bernard Piper. Although one side of his family are devoutly Roman Catholic, he claims he was raised without religion. He says his political engagement was inspired by his older brother's experience in the Vietnam War. Piper once said that his late brother "never completely recovered from the physical and psychological impact of the war."

Piper has been an associate of Willis Carto for many years. He spent more than two decades writing for the Carto-backed newspaper, The Spotlight. Piper also published a book-length defense of Carto called ''Best Witness'' in 1994. He also promoted a conspiratorial view of the Oklahoma City bombing and attacked the Federal Reserve.

Kennedy and King assassination theories

Piper claims John F. Kennedy's assassination "was a joint enterprise conducted on the highest levels of the CIA, in collaboration with organized crime and ... the Israeli intelligence service Mossad." In his underground best-seller ''Final Judgment'', he posits that Israeli prime-minister David Ben Gurion was the prime mover in his assassination. It was due to disputes with Palestine and Egypt, plus Kennedy's attempts to halt Israeli atomic research.

This theory also seeks to tie in other John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, primarily involving Jewish mobster Meyer Lansky's organizing the hit, and future president Lyndon B. Johnson staging the event from inside the administration. Piper also alleged that the Jewish organization Anti-Defamation League also was linked to the murder. The ADL responded with harsh criticisms, called the claims ridiculous, and denounced ''Final Judgment'' as anti-Semitic.

Additionally, Piper has written articles in ''American Free Press'' that claim that the Mossad and the FBI conspired to set up the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Piper claims this was motivated by fear of King's anti-Israel statements combined with his massive grassroots power. He says they believed would eventually lead to a popular uprising, thus forcing them to limit their amount of power and influence over the American people.

Islam and Israel

In 2006, he spoke on 9/11 conspiracy theories at the International Islamic Fair in Malaysia, at which 9/11 Truth movement personages William Rodriguez and Jimmy Walter also appeared. That same year, his book ''The New Jerusalem: Zionist Power in America,'' was on sale at an Iranian conference for debating Holocaust denial. Piper argues that the War On Terror is a war against Islam.

Piper posits that the American media is controlled by groups that are planning to destroy the Islamic world. He says this global network of tightly-knit families and financial interests people also worked in support of the Bush administration, whose policy is controlled by Jews. Further, he argues that "Jewish and Christian extremists" have seized power in the U.S., to the injury of Islam and the benefit of arms manufacturers.

Piper also claims that the story of the September 11 attacks, as reported in the U.S. media, is untrue, although those who suffered and died in the tragedies deserve honor. He says the collapse of the World Trade Center towers was part of a planned, controlled demolition. Further, Piper claims the Mossad knew of the attacks and allowed them to happen. He is listed as an author of the book ''Debunking 911'', published by American Free Press in 2005. Other authors listed include Victor Thorn, William Rodriguez, Christopher Bollyn, Greg Szymanski, and Ellen Mariani.

Radio Show

In February 2006, he started a radio show called ''The Piper Report'' that can be heard on the Republic Broadcasting Network or downloaded from the Network's Radio Archive. Regular guests have included Mark Glenn (leader of Crescent and Cross and a critic of Judaism), former candidate for Texas state legislature Barbara Samuelson and then ''AFP'' writer, Christopher Bollyn (who occasionally filled in for Piper).

Piper has commented about the war on Lebanon, the Mel Gibson affair (in which he lightly derided him for driving under the influence and apologizing for his statements which Piper supported and criticized for being too weak ), and the battle between Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman and Ned Lamont (for which he showed much enthusiasm following August 8th; Lamont defeated Lieberman in the Democratic primary, but lost to him in the general election). He also defends alternative medicine, animal rights and the past activities of Liberty Lobby and Willis Carto. He has been featured as a guest on James Edwards' radio show, ''The Political Cesspool'', which has also been accused of promoting anti-Semitism.

Controversy

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has repeatedly challenged statements made by Piper. It calls him a promoter of antisemitic conspiracy theories, a Holocaust denier, and a defender of the ''Protocols of the Elders of Zion''. The group also says Piper traveled to the United Arab Emirates in 2003 to lecture on anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic themes.

In one instance, the ADL stated that Piper had suggested that Israel was working on an "ethnic bomb" targeting only Arabs. In response, Piper said he was referring to an article by a Jewish writer, writing in the ''The Times (London)'' which Piper says mentioned the weapon.

Piper responded to increasing ADL criticism through his 2006 book ''The Judas Goat''. It accuses the ADL of using unethical infiltration and information gathering techniques, such as the use of 'Agents provocateurs'. He claims that he began a series of events that ultimately lead to the ADL Files Controversy some years later.

Writing in the Asia Times, researcher and journalist Keith Bettinger says that Piper's views are "characteristic of an effort by anti-Semites and white supremacists to repackage themselves as 'alternative media voices' claiming to tackle stories the mainstream media in the US won't touch."

See also

Willis Carto

American Free Press

References

External links

Michael Collins Piper personal web site

America First Books (hosts Piper's works as ebooks)

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:American political writers Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Anti-Zionism in the United States Category:Place of birth missing (living people)