The greatness that is....Bill Hicks

[brokensaint82]

Soem of you may wonder who Bill Hicks is and if you dont then well you suck and you need to go find a fucking soul. I remember being a young lad of 12 years old on a cold wintery afternoon in 1994, i was home from school with a broken leg and was flipping through the TV when i happened upon Comedy Central, back when they used to show things that were funny and not recycled movies and TV shows that pass as comedy these days. 24 hours of stand up comedy and while not all of it was gold some of it was tolerable. On this day i was treated to the mastery that is Bill Hicks. Now this program i watched wasnt his comedy but a retrospective because a year earlier he had died sadly and the world was deprived of his light. Upon watyching this retrospective i was amazed by him and his views on life and the world. From then on my life would become more and more cynical to the world around me, from religion to life in genral, BillHicks George Carlin and Richard Pryor all helped in that sense and now I want to pay tribute to bill by spreading his greatness around, so here you go a couple of videos for you to peruse and discuss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndRp1wjbQgs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg

[Tadao]

Bill Hicks is a hack and stole most if his work from his uncle.

[Dimnos]

And then he had it stollen from him by Denis Leary.

[Pub Lover]

What is with all this 'Bill Hicks is great' bullshit? If this guy OF WHOM I HAVE NOT HEARD is so great, then he can't be dead. Dead people are not anything other than dead. Bill Hicks is a hack, T? Or was he a hack because he is dead.

brokensaint82, the only person on your short list of which I have heard is Rich Pryor. He was in Superman 3. He was also black, and therefore I am forced to hate anything with which he was involved.

Was Geoff Carlin black or a hack? I'm thinking he was probably both, but I cannot be sure.

[Tadao]

Bill Hicks is one of those guys who said a lot of "bad" words to get famous. The only problem was that his jokes weren't funny.

[Dimnos]

Bill hicks joke....

"Hey remember that time we were REALLY high? Yeah me either. LOL!"

[Fathom Zero]

I have the book "Love All The People" which has most of has stand-up as well as many letters, interviews, and scripts, as well as a ton of old magazine articles. A lot of thought was put into it.

Also, Ron Howard is making a movie about him, but I forgot who plays him. Someone completely ridiculous, as I remember.

Regardless, he wasn't a comedian. He was, for lack of a better term, a "street prophet". That's how I see him, anyway. Oh well. Groovy dude and fun to listen to.

[Mockery]

Bill Hicks was definitely a funny guy, but yeah, he didn't have a great voice or presentation so it's easy to see why a lot of people would overlook him.

Denis Leary, while he had some similar jokes to a few o' Bill Hicks', had far better delivery and a more polished act overall.

I like 'em both a lot.

[brokensaint82]

I have the book "Love All The People" which has most of has stand-up as well as many letters, interviews, and scripts, as well as a ton of old magazine articles. A lot of thought was put into it.

Also, Ron Howard is making a movie about him, but I forgot who plays him. Someone completely ridiculous, as I remember.

Regardless, he wasn't a comedian. He was, for lack of a better term, a "street prophet". That's how I see him, anyway. Oh well. Groovy dude and fun to listen to.

You sir are a good man, i have the book as well and i agree that he wasnt so much a comedian as he was a street prophet. As for Publover you are a sad sad person for only knowing richard pryor for superman 3 and not even knwoing GEORGE Carlin......i would post youtube links to try and help you but since you wouldnt watch them regardless why even bother i merely shake my head and walk away from a sad human being like you

[Tadao]

1: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain

2 a: a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual b: the use or language of sarcasm

[bigtimecow]

bill hicks is pretty funny, but he's a much better thinker and philosopher. he had a lot of great ideas, and he presents them in a funny way, and i don't think i would have ever listened to what he had to say unless it was presented in such a way. and i think hicks knew that too. he knew what was up

[Big Papa Goat]

Bill Hicks had a kind of authentic anger and angst going on that you often see attempted by other comedians who just get it all wrong. Like Denis Leary, taking some of Bill's jokes and delivering them with exaggerated angry energy. It's kind of like a guy like Leary is really trying to be funny-angry, while Bill Hicks was just really being angry on stage. So Leary kind of comes off as funnier to most people, and maybe he was funnier, but Bill Hicks was definitely more authentic, and that makes listening to him a different kind of pleasure. I don't know if I would call him a philosopher, maybe a thinker, but I'd almost want to say he's doing something kind of like a sermon in his own way.
But ya, he definitely wasn't a typical comedian, thinking back to listening to his routines, they were really something different, the way they were presented.

[Fathom Zero]

I tried really hard not to call him a philosopher, but I could come up with little else. And I dig Denis Leary as an actor. At that, he's preeeetty good.

And here's the website for American: The Movie.

http://americanthemovie.com/

I thought it was strange that Ron Howard was making a movie about someone the vast majority of people have absolutely no idea about, but it should be interesting if nothing else.

[brokensaint82]

I tried really hard not to call him a philosopher, but I could come up with little else. And I dig Denis Leary as an actor. At that, he's preeeetty good.

And here's the website for American: The Movie.

http://americanthemovie.com/

I thought it was strange that Ron Howard was making a movie about someone the vast majority of people have absolutely no idea about, but it should be interesting if nothing else.

SOME of leary's stuff is good, i do liek Rescue Me, part of that is because I'm a volunteer Firefighter and its good to see stuff like that on TV, but a lot of his other stuff IDK i just couldnt get into him that much, and as far as Bill is concerned I mean I would tend to agree with you on the prophet part but what other word could we use to describe him

[Dimnos]

Prophet? Really?

[Big Papa Goat]

Prophet is a pretty silly word to use. I mean, when was the last time the word prophet was ever used to describe someone in a non-metaphorical, non-analogical way? The fact that we're talking about 'street-prophet' to describe someone that did basically all his work on the stage strikes me as one reason the word doesn't really apply.

I think you may as well say that he was a comedian that was more like a social critic than most other comedians.

[Fathom Zero]

Well, I said it was stupid.

[bigtimecow]

SOME of leary's stuff is good, i do liek Rescue Me, part of that is because I'm a volunteer Firefighter and its good to see stuff like that on TV, but a lot of his other stuff IDK i just couldnt get into him that much, and as far as Bill is concerned I mean I would tend to agree with you on the prophet part but what other word could we use to describe him

what the fuck are you talking about? we're talking about leary's stand up, not his acting performances, which have absolutely nothing to do with his stand up

shut up

[Fathom Zero]

I was, though. I talked about him being better as an actor than a stand-up guy. That relates, I think.

[Misdemonar]

BILL HICKS DIED

[Dimnos]

OF CANCER

[Pub Lover]

I'm a volunteer Firefighter and its good to see stuff like that on TV

Firefighters? What are firefighters? I think you are talking about WaterMen. Boy, do they know their way around a hose. :orgasm

Their bright blue WaterTrucks are very cool as well.

[Esuohlim]

I think I once saw a plumber in the phone book named Bill Hicks

[Misdemonar]

DID HE OFFER SCALDING COMMENTARY ON THE GOVERMENT

[Esuohlim]

He offered to use his stopcock on my leaking pipes ;)

He's probably a funny guy though!