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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Bill Hicks

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02:25 / 16.11.02

If you're on Barbelith, chances are you love Bill Hicks even if you may not know it just yet. There's already been some talk on the late, great stand-up comic in the thread about his biography "American Scream", but it needs to be known that Bill's estate has OK'd &/or cashed in on (which is it? I dunno) Bill's growing legacy and released 2 CD's recently on Rykodisc. Along with the 5 CD's Ryko already publishes ("Dangerous", "Relentless", "Arizona Bay", "Rant In E Minor" and the so-called 'greatest hits' compendium "Philosophy"), Ryko now has 2 new CD's in the catalog. "Flying Saucer Tour Vol. 1" is 'the first in a series of live performances' recorded in Pittsburgh in '91 and "Love, Laughter & Truth", which is a compendium of '18 previously unreleased tracks from Hicks Estate's private collection'. Or so says Ryko's website. Some other websites of note:

BillHicks.com, which is usually hard to log onto (I usually get an error message whenever I try to log on)
Sacred Cow Productions
, which has some live video footage of Bill doing his thang.
The Bill Hicks Wildlife Fund
A Salon article
A Fade To Black article

We miss you, cuz...

02:59 / 16.11.02

Heard Love, Laughter and Truth the other day, and it's great, of course. A lot of it was familiar to me from various sources, including a bootleg tape an old roommate had.

But the real one to get is I'm Sorry, Folks, currently only availabe via boot, in which Hicks starts to scream "Hitler had the right idea! He just didn't go far enough!" In context, of course. Funny as fucking hell.

ONLY NICE THINGS

04:07 / 16.11.02

Of couse, he ripped his entire act off Dennis Leary...

04:22 / 16.11.02

Haus has obviously got very little idea what he's talking about. More like the other way around.

06:21 / 16.11.02

i thought Haus was being funny... sigh... i've not yet found Philosophy or the other 2 new CDs... damn... devoured American Scream SO FAST... to think i found out about this guy in a GQ issue i only baugh cuz it had a TMBG review in it... sigh... LONG LIVE BILL HICKS!

06:34 / 16.11.02

oh, I figured Haus was being sarcastic, but that others might not think he was being sarcastic so I tried to head the whole thing off but now I guess I'll just go back to smoking Satan's pecker. Or something.

09:08 / 16.11.02

Scored both of the new albums yesterday. Love, Laughter & Truth is pretty damn funny but is essentially another best of so it doesn't have the feel of a proper performance. It would make a good introduction to his work for anyone who's not heard his stuff before (although Philosophy would make a better one...)

Flying Saucer Tour however is superb. Proudly owning (what I believe to be) all of the available Hicks bootleg material aswell as the 4 'proper' releases, this set has just catapulted it's way right up there as the best full show of his I've heard. As the inlay says, the audience don't get it and Bill pulls out every trick he knows to try and win them over. For fans, this one's a must.

09:13 / 16.11.02

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that shootspeed records site here has all of the bootlegs for download.
Problem is, the site seems to go down frequently and sometimes the archives are there and sometimes they're not. They don't seem to be at the moment but here's the link anyway incase you want to keep trying.

13:45 / 19.11.02

Bill was a genius, no question about it.
And the new CDs kick bottom. But they would.

Let’s hope Flying Saucer Vol 1 does turn out to be the first of a number.

Videodrome, is the ‘I’m Sorry Folks’ one the Funny Firm gig in 1989 or so ? The one which opens with ‘anybody have any questions?’ and a woman asking him why his last relationship ended ? Or – heaven forbid – is there one I’ve missed ?

DBC

15:22 / 19.11.02

If anyone uses Limewire (is that still there? - I don't have high speed access here) I got like 6 hours worth of Bill Hicks stuff there last spring, most of which isn't available on CD. The best stuff I've found is the stuff he did in the UK, particularly a hysterical 'Charlie Hodge' bit from a Brighton gig. Haven't heard the new CDs yet - what I really want is more late stuff a la Rant in E Minor.

16:16 / 19.11.02

DBC - yeah, I think that's the opening of I'm Sorry, Folks. It's the one with the guy shouting for "Freebird" that culminates with Hicks staring down a few audience members. Wish I still had access to the videotape of that show.

The link that sparky provided has that show for d/l.

17:42 / 19.11.02

Bill Hicks ripped off this man

17:49 / 19.11.02

I've really tried to find Lenny Bruce funny... really...but it just didnt work...

20:49 / 19.11.02

Yeah, whatever. And Eddie Murphy in his prime ripped off Richard Pryor, who probably ripped off a bunch of people you've never heard of. They're still funny as fuck. So's Bill Hicks, who's never been shy about mentioning Bruce as an influence. And if you've heard Hicks shows where he deosn't sound honest or complete in his belief of his material, I'd love to hear them.

09:40 / 20.11.02

I’m completely with videodrome on this – Bill was always cheerfully honest about his influences (and I think that people point to Sam Kinison as much as Lenny Bruce), and I don’t think he “ripped him off” in the same way that one could say that, well, Denis Leary ripped Hicks off.

If you have good enough hardware, there are often people offering CDs of Hicks stuff on ebay – mp3s, I think it is.

DBC

01:27 / 21.11.02

eBay?!? Fuck eBay. There's a mirror to the Bill Hicks Bootleg Archive here: http://my.genie.co.uk/minus17/speed/bill/bill.htm.

Brigade du jour

04:59 / 21.11.02

don't worry so much about who ripped who off. everybody rips everybody else off, that's what happens when you're part of one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. better idea would be hire a massive van with the loudest sound system in the USA and park outside the White House playing revelations over and over again until monkeyboy starts listening or has an aneurism, either of which would be a happy outcome.

ONLY NICE THINGS

01:47 / 25.11.02

Oh for God's sake, Videodrome, of course I was taking the piss. I was mocking the hagiographic approach to hicks where all our little anti-establishment sheepdrones gather around to suck down their sheepdrone mulch while praising the name of Hicks.

"Hicks told us to think for ourselves. That's how we know we can believe everything he said."

"Hicks was so creative. let us celebrate his creativity by repeating his routines until those around us beat themselves to death."

"Hicks wanted us all to form opinions based on our own jusgements of people. Let us use 'likes Bill Hicks'" as a criterion for whether we approve of others."

Honestly. It feels like you're talking about a character in Preacher half the time.

And now we can all celebrate Bill's campaign against the iniquities of capitalism by heading on down to our local Virgin Megastore and pumping some cash into Rykodisc. Fantastic.

02:24 / 25.11.02

Oh goodie, another back and forth to see who gets the last word. Yay!

Our Lady of The Two Towers

09:09 / 25.11.02

But I thought Bill Hicks was a character in Preacher.

11:34 / 25.11.02

Now I'm really confused. I thought Haus was a character in Preacher. Would someone please tell me what's going on?

12:42 / 25.11.02

Aw, come on Haus, he's funny. And we're all hypocrites, sitting at our 2-grand computers hooked up to an ex-military network funded by capitalism, often while we're drinking coffee and sitting in an aircon office provided by The Man. (Unless you're like me, then your pooter cost 200 and you find yourself making suspiciously-establishment arguments. But then that's the lower classes for you.) So, like Vanilla Ice, we've all been sent in to ...

SUCK SATAN'S COCK!

The Natural Way

12:54 / 25.11.02

Is he funny, though? I mean, I've never really found him funny... too, well.....smug and he does irony and sarcasm with all the subtlety of a bloody sledgehammer. it's all THIS IS MY POINT, DO YOU GET IT NOW?!? DO YOU?!? DO YOU?!!!!!!!!???????????!!

13:06 / 25.11.02

Made me laugh. So he was funny. I'm not fan, though, so I couldn't possibly argue for him with much passion.

Though I will say that irony is something else entirely and quiet, understated sarcasm is so fucking pointless-smart-arse-English it makes me want to stick a sharpened pencil in my eye.

The Natural Way

13:27 / 25.11.02

But, y'know, there is a middle ground....that Bill Hicks steered a long way away from.

DO YOU GET MY JOKE ABOUT PRO LIFERS? DO YOU? DO YOU?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????

13:44 / 25.11.02

Hehe! I see your point, but I'm guessing he was playing to a specific audience. One that, on the whole, was from another country with a different use of language and so had different ideas about what was funny.

XXII:X:II = XXX

14:57 / 25.11.02

In the vein of Hicks, the closest thing I've heard to his style of late is David Cross' new 2-disc album Shut Up You Fucking Baby. He pretty much makes sure to piss off just about everyone. At one point, someone in the audience's cellphone goes off, and he says, "No, it's okay, just answer it and say, 'I'm an asshole; I forgot to turn off my cellphone.' I can understand maybe for the first few months, maybe a year after they hit the market, people forgetting, but it's been FUCKING YEARS." He also makes fun of John Ashcroft feeling the need to drape the bare breast of the statue of Justice, imagining him there late at night sucking on it. Quality stuff.

Old brown-eye is back

22:18 / 25.11.02

You can definitely see Lenny Bruce in BH's influences in that both of them had a bit of a social conscience and both of them swore. His main man though was Kinnison, who he did indeed rip routines off in exactly the same way Dennis Leary would do with him years later. The angry messiah thing? Kinnison. That really odd bit about how things were better when the cops went easy on drunk drivers? Kinnison. The thing about how all women are bitches? Big Heavy Metal Sam.

The other thematic link between the two of them of course is that they were both funny as fuck.

15:39 / 26.11.02

Well, they also came out of the same scene - Kinison "discovered" Hicks at the venue they both played in Texas.

19:29 / 09.12.06

Watched 2 of the 3 performances on the Bill Hicks Live DVD last night. My first experience with Hicks, and I'm quite impressed with much of his material, but there's...well..he's an unrepentant misogynist, and sort of racist too. Does everyone just sort of quietly cough into their hands and let it slide because his passion and wit and craziness are so obvious? Why are all the Bill Hicks threads that I've found on Barbelith just waxing his car? Is no one at all concerned by "Do you know what causes sexual thoughts? HAVING A DICK."?

Just curious.

00:32 / 10.12.06

Why are all the Bill Hicks threads that I've found on Barbelith just waxing his car? Is no one at all concerned by "Do you know what causes sexual thoughts? HAVING A DICK."?

I suppose i'm just happy that I thought Bill Hicks was rather guache before it was fashionable to say so.

Bill Hicks is an awful wanker, and everyhing that he says is wrong. But I love him, I love him...

Actually, I'm not bothered.

I Hate him, I ... God, I'm bewilderd.

12:44 / 10.12.06

Many comedians need to phrase things provocatively or sometimes crudely to drive a joke or point home. The part about the relation between being in the possession of sexual "equipment" and sexual thought is not imho, a derogatorily intended remark. One could bring up the subject of a-sexuality, but I think it's besides the point I think he's trying to make. Which I think is that in the context of censorship of sexual imagery, the people wishing to censor tend to overlook the fact that we are sexual creatures with urges, and that sexual content of cultural porducts and the like is not per se bad, and there for a reason.

I think it would be taking it too far if one were to read the remark above (taken out of context), as for instance an excuse for the mistreatment of women.

08:59 / 11.12.06

Is he funny, though? I mean, I've never really found him funny... too, well.....smug and he does irony and sarcasm with all the subtlety of a bloody sledgehammer. it's all THIS IS MY POINT, DO YOU GET IT NOW?!? DO YOU?!? DO YOU?!!!!!!!!???????????!!

I think there's a lot of truth in this. I find the videos of his shows really hard to watch for this reason - it's those exaggerated faces he pulls when he's doing this kind of "Hang on a minute!! What's wrong with this picture?!?" expressions. I find it a lot easier to listen to the recordings, where I don't have to see his gurning fat head ramming the point home.

One of the most facile comedy performances I've ever seen on DVD is that half-hour thing he did for HBO or somesuch with the routine about "Yeah I did drugs! Didn't kill anyone, kept my job, kept my house - had a real good time", and it gets this big laugh and cheer, despite the fact that its contribution to the drugs debate is roughly equal to that of a half-witted fifteen year old who once smoked a joint and then went on to pass most of their GCSEs. I really hate that routine: it's an embarrasment. It's all very well people claiming he was adressing a specific audience, but come on - this is a man idolised for his rants against the dumbing down of debate for the masses. So, I find myself edging towards the 'Bill Hicks - not all that' camp. Some of his stuff is really good but he did come out with a lot of shit.

09:46 / 11.12.06

Oh, come now children. Let's not bicker...

My favourite Bill clip is not from his stand-up, but some British TV promo thing he did in a pub somewhere. He's being interviewed by a man and a woman and the woman takes exception to his ideas about stand-up - "don't people just come to see comedians to laugh?", she keeps saying.

Anyway, old Billy has all his arguments shot down - that he's trying to enlighten and entertain etc until finally, after a protracted pause he turns to her and says:

"you know, I have the number for this great juggler...if you want."

Ah, magic.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:53 / 11.12.06

Indeed. In honour of a controversial and confrontational comedian, let's try to silence any dissenting voices on the matter of his genius.

Oh dear.

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