Bill Hicks

[rylojr]

Today marks the 25th year since the tragically young passing of a comedy icon and extraordinary talent.

RIP Bill. See you in the cosmos.

Thankfully we have plenty of videos of his unique delivery.

Absolutely blistering performance this:

 

[dholliday]

he's become persona non grata in this sensitive PC age.

i still like his work, George Carlin too

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

he's become persona non grata in this sensitive PC age.

i still like his work, George Carlin too

I doubt there's anyone born before 1970 that the internet couldn't crusade against to destroy their legacy.

Hicks and Carlin were both amazing comedians in my eyes.

 

[LostLegend]

Amazing how relevant some of his material still is all these decades later.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Saw him on his last UK tour - think it might have been the same one in that clip up there, hands down one of the best live performances I've ever seen - music, comedy, whatever. Tragic loss to have died so young.

In all honesty I don't find him that funny now watching it back, but I don't think stand up ages well for any comedian. Plus his style was so influential, birthed a whole generation of stand up that we've now seen a million times, that you forget how original he was at the time.

 

[GrumpyBlue]

With the angels now

 

[dholliday]

Amazing how relevant some of his material still is all these decades later.

his classic LSD quote is so bang-on, i never get tired of hearing it.

 

[dead_soft]

I used to be a big fan when I was younger, as I think a lot of people were. Regardless of the actual material, I think it has aged very poorly, a lot relies on pure anger than particularly well constructed jokes and doesn’t stand up to a great deal of scrutiny

 

[rylojr]

I like the theatricality of his performance and intelligence, he makes you laugh and then think, particularly with his dissection of the 1st Gulf War - extraordinary insight that holds up for the subsequent mess in the Middle East almost three decades on.

His drug material is nothing less than inspired as well - as is his comments on consumerism and advertising.


Such a shame he isn't around now - the target material would be incredible - The internet, Trump, Reality TV, Putin, North Korea, Manufactured pop stars......

 

[dead_soft]

[QUOTE="rylojr, post: 6880669, member: 30943]


Such a shame he isn't around now - the target material would be incredible - The internet, Trump, Reality TV, Putin, North Korea, Manufactured pop stars......
[/QUOTE]

See this is actually where I think he falls down. He had a scattergun approach that makes it quite draining watching him - reality TV and manufactured pop stars aren’t worthy of the same ire as Trump, Putin, clas warfare, but I could imagine him putting the same energy into it all and at best that’s intellectually weak and at worst snobbish. He’s the anti-capitalist who loves BAT’s products but rails against culture he sees as lowbrow

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

I always found him more interesting and cerebral rather than outright hilarious and it was how it made me look at my perspective of the world in a comedy routine that i appreciated so much.

If the material isn't seen as relevant, the attitude and message of truth and rebellion certainly still rings true.

Never my favourite comedian but an important one in my personal development and in modern culture.

 

[rylojr]

Bill was apparently asked why he finally quit smoking . His response - "To see if Denis would..."