Hicks may refer to:

Places

• Hicks Island

People with the surname Hicks

• Hicks (surname)

Other

• Kaldor–Hicks efficiency, a type of economic efficiency
• HM Capital Partners, a private US equity firm, formerly "Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst"

See also[link]

• Hick (disambiguation)
• Higgs (disambiguation)
• Yokel

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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".^[1]

Hicks was 16 years old when he started performing stand-up comedy at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas, in 1978. During the 1980s he toured the United States 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.^[2] 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 fourth-greatest stand-up comic on the UK's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups on Channel 4, and appeared again in the updated 2010 list as the fourth-greatest comic.^[3]

Early life[link]

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Bill Hicks was the son of Jim and Mary (Reese) Hicks and had two elder siblings: sister Lynn and brother Steve. 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.^[4]

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."^[4]

His mother described Hicks's early interest in comedy on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 30, 2009:

He always said up until the time he got interested in comedy that he was going to Texas A&M to be a vet. He loved animals and that's what he wanted to do. And then he got interested in watching Johnny Carson and he read books about Woody Allen, so he got interested in that. He said that he saw Johnny Carson on TV and he thought, "You mean you can make a living doing that?" So he decided that's what he would do.^[5]

Career[link]

Beginnings[link]

Hicks graduated from Stratford High School in Houston 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.^[6]

Once Hicks gained some underground success in night clubs and universities, he quit drinking, realizing that it wasn't alcohol that made a great comic, but his ability to express a truth, even if it was an unpopular one.^[6] 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[link]

In January 1986, Hicks found himself broke, having spent all his money on a variety of substances.^[7] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[8] He fell back to chain-smoking,^[9] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[10] It was reissued in 2006.

Early fame[link]

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.^[11] 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.^[12] 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 in 1993. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992.^{[citation needed]}

Hicks and Tool[link]

The progressive metal band Tool invited Hicks to open a number of concerts in its 1992 Lollapalooza appearances, where Hicks once famously asked the audience to look for a contact lens he had lost. Thousands of people complied.^[13]

Members of Tool felt that they and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts".^[14] Intending to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, Tool dedicated their triple-platinum^[15] album Ænima (1996) to Hicks. 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 album, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean. Ænima's final track, "Third Eye" contains samples from Hicks' Dangerous and Relentless albums.^[14][16]

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[link]

Censorship and aftermath[link]

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".^[17]

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.^[18] 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.^[19] 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.^[11][18] Although Letterman later expressed regret at the way Hicks had been handled, Hicks did not appear on the show again.^[18]

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."^[20][21]

Denis Leary[link]

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, which featured lines and subject matter similar to Hicks' routine.^[22] According to American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True, 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."^[23]

The friendship ended abruptly as a result.^[24]

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.^[25][26][27] In an interview, when Hicks was asked why he had quit smoking, he answered, "I just wanted to see if Denis would, too."^[28]

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."^[29]

The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in American Scream:

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.^[23]

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.^[30]

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."^[31]

Comic style[link]

Hicks' 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):

Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration—that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather.^[32]

Another of Hicks' 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.^[33]

Much of Hicks' 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 that 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."^[34]

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[link]

Hicks wrote, "On June 16, 1993 I was diagnosed with having 'liver cancer that had spread from the pancreas.'"^[35] 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.^[36]

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 11:20pm on February 26, 1994. He was 32 years old.^{[37][not in citation given]}

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",^[35] 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[link]

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.^[3]

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 the band 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.^{[citation needed]} Singer/songwriter Tom Waits listed Rant in E-Minor as one of his 20 most cherished albums of all time.^[38]

Contemporary comedians David Cross and Russell Brand have stated that they were inspired by Hicks.^[39][40]

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:

That this House notes with sadness the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks, on 26th February 1994, at the age of 33 [sic]; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being worth [sic] of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.^[41]

Hicks appeared in a flashback scene in writer Garth Ennis' Vertigo comic-book series Preacher, in the story "Underworld" in issue #31 (Nov. 1997).^[42][43]

Film and documentary[link]

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.^[44]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bill Hicks

• Official website
• Sacred Cow Productions
• Bill Hicks Quotes
• Bill Hicks at the Internet Movie Database
• The subversive legacy of comic Bill Hicks, Salon.com
• Bill Hicks is Dead: Tribute and Biography, with related videos.

Further reading[link]

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (October 2010)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2010)

Esther Hicks (born Esther Weaver) is an American inspirational speaker and best-selling author. She has co-authored nine books with her husband Jerry Hicks, presented workshops on the Law of Attraction and appeared in the first release of the film The Secret.^[1] The Hicks' books, including the best-selling series The Law of Attraction, are — according to Esther Hicks — "translated from a group of non-physical entities called Abraham." (Hicks describes what she is doing as tapping into "infinite intelligence").^[2][3]

Biography[link]

Esther Hicks was born 1948 in Coalville, Utah. In 1980, she married Jerry Hicks, then a successful Amway distributor and former acrobat at a circus in Cuba, musician, MC and comedian.^[1][2][3] She has one daughter, Tracy, by her former marriage.^[3][4] Jerry Hicks died on 18 November 2011.^[5]

Outline of Abraham–Hicks' teachings[link]

According to Esther and Jerry Hicks, Abraham is a group of entities that are "interpreted" by Esther Hicks. Abraham has described themselves as “a group consciousness from the non-physical dimension.” They have also said, “We are that which you are. You are the leading edge of that which we are. We are that which is at the heart of all religions.” Abraham has said through Esther that whenever one feels moments of great love, exhilaration, or pure joy, that is the energy of Source, and that is who Abraham “is”.

"Jerry and Esther never used the word channeling," Abraham clarifies. "It is used when applied to them, but they have never used it, because it means many things of which they are not, you see."

"You could leave the channeling out of it. Call it inspiration; that's all it is. You don't call the basketball player a channeler, but he is; he's an extension of Source Energy. You don't call the surgeon a channeler, but he is. You don't call the musician, the magnificent master musician, you don't call him a channeler, but he is. He's channeling the broader essence of who he is into the specifics of what he is about."

Esther herself calls Abraham "infinite intelligence," and to Jerry they are "the purest form of love I've ever experienced." Her teachings (referred to as Abraham–Hicks teachings) are based on this experience. The basic tenets of the teachings include that people create their own reality through their thoughts, that emotions are constantly guiding people toward where they want to go, and that life is supposed to be fun. The essence of Abraham–Hicks' teachings since 1986 has been presented as follows:^[6]

• Individuals are physical extensions of the non-physical.
• People are in their bodies because they chose to be.
• The basis of life is freedom; the purpose of life is joy.
• People are creators; they create with their thoughts.
• Whatever people can imagine is theirs to be, or do, or have.
• Individuals choose their creations as they choose their thoughts.
• Emotions indicate what people are creating.
• The Universe adores people; it knows their broadest intentions.
• Individuals should relax into their natural well-being, and know that all is well.
• Life is not meant to be a struggle, but a process of allowing.
• People are creators of "thoughtways" on their unique "paths of joy".
• Actions and money are by-products of focusing on joy.
• Individuals may depart their body without illness or pain.
• People cannot die; their lives are everlasting.

A large part of Hicks' work centers around the Law of Attraction, a concept written about in the early 1900s by William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932), in his book Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World (1906).^[7]

Film[link]

Esther Hicks was a narrator and star of the original version of the film The Secret, as well as a central source of the film's inspiration.^[3] The footage featuring Hicks was removed from the later "Extended Edition" after the film's creator Rhonda Byrne, who has been involved in contractual disputes and litigation regarding the film, rescinded the original contract covering Hicks' participation,^[4] and asked that Hicks relinquish her "intellectual property rights in these areas forever".^[8] In an open letter posted on the internet, Hicks stated that she had been "uncomfortable with what felt to us like a rather aggressive marketing campaign," and that ultimately Abraham gave her the following advice: "Whenever you are given an ultimatum that says, 'if you don't do this, then we will have to do such and such,' it is best that you just let it go and move on. Otherwise there is always another, and this, and this, and this?"^[8] The letter doesn't condemn Byrne, but clarifies why Hicks no longer appears in The Secret.

Hicks has since posted a video on YouTube further explaining her discomfort with The Secret and finally, her decision to discontinue involvement with the film.^[9]

Books[link]

Ask and It is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks

Hay House, Inc. published the Hicks' best-selling book, Ask and It is Given, in September 2004. Since that book they have also published five more New York Times Best-Sellers: The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent (January 2006), The Law of Attraction (October 2006), The Astonishing Power of Emotions (September 2008), Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness which ranked #1 two weeks after its release in August 2008 and The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships.^[10][11] A series of fictional children's books, Sara I, II, and III, is also available. Several of their books were translated into Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Czech, Slovenian, Slovak, Serbian and Russian.

• A New Beginning I: Handbook for Joyous Survival, by Jerry and Esther Hicks. Published by Abraham–Hicks Publications, 5th edition, 1988. ISBN 0-9621219-3-2.
• A New Beginning II: A Personal Handbook to Enhance Your Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness, by Jerry and Esther Hicks. Published by Abraham–Hicks Publications, 1991. ISBN 0-9621219-1-6.
• Sara and the Foreverness of Friends of a Feather, by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Published by Abraham–Hicks Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-9621219-4-0.
• Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Published by Hay House, 2005. ISBN 1-4019-0799-7.
• The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent: Living the Art of Allowing, by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Contributor Louise L. Hay. Published by Hay House, 2005.ISBN 1401906958.
• The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham Esther and Jerry Hicks. Published by Hay House, 2006. ISBN 1-4019-1227-3.
• Sara, Book 1: Sara Learns the Secret about the Law of Attraction, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, Illustr. by Caroline S. Garrett. Published by Hay House, 2007. ISBN 1-4019-1158-7.
• Sara, Book 2: Solomon's Fine Featherless Friends, by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Illustr. by Caroline S. Garrett. Published by Hay House Inc, 2007. ISBN 1-4019-1159-5.
• Sara, Book 3: A Talking Owl Is Worth a Thousand Words!, by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Illustr. by Caroline S. Garrett. Published by Hay House Inc, 2008. ISBN 1-4019-1160-9.
• Money and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Health, Wealth & Happiness by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Published by Hay House, 2008. ISBN 1-4019-1881-6.
• The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Published by Hay House, 2009. ISBN 1-4019-1875-1.
• Getting Into The Vortex: Guided Meditations CD and User Guide [Hardcover] by Esther and Jerry Hicks. Release date November 15, 2010. Published by Hay House, 2009. ISBN 978-1-4019-3169-8.

See also[link]

• Channelling (mediumistic)
• Jane Roberts

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Esther Hicks

• Abraham–Hicks Official Website
• Abraham–Hicks officially released videos on YouTube
• Introductory Tape as an MP3 download on the official Abraham–Hicks site — A 75 minute introductory audio released under the Creative Commons license. It summarizes how the Hicks' were introduced to Abraham.