“We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.” – Bill Hicks -

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Stand-up comedy is a tricky genre. Unless you arrive at a formula that shrewdly balances social commentary, stupidity, edginess, tits-and-arse humour, topped off with a remarkable stage presence, people will laugh at you for the wrong reasons. Or worse, they won’t laugh at all.

Watching stand-up comedians, many seem to come from the same kind of upbringing as the tonedeaf people who have been tricked into auditioning for the X-Factor by their mum, who for some reason believe that her daughter is the next Celine Dion. Just because you’re able to crack up the winos in your local pub, doesn’t mean you’re born to hit the big stage. See, pretending to fart is funny, but only for a minute. Even man-tits jokes wash out after a while.

“The worst kind of non-smokers are the ones that come up to you and cough. That’s pretty fucking cruel isn’t it? Do you go up to cripples and dance too?” – Bill Hicks -

With Bill Hicks it’s a different tale. Mixing intelligence with dark comedy, Hicks did what so many comedians seem to be afraid of. He talked about what mattered, be it politics, wars, the powers of marketing, religion, homosexuality, gun culture, etc. He refused to be held back, and his 1993 performance at the David Letterman show was consequently pulled as it allegedly collided with the CBS’s Standards and Practices.

Hicks was born in Georgia in 1961, and was at age 17 already a hit-performer at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas. He had a great career, but a short life, and died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, 32 years old.

But, as with all great artists, their work lives on. And Hicks’s acts have become more and more relevant with time. History repeats itself, and Hicks’s sharp criticism of President George H. W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, the Gulf War and other significant events that took place during Hicks’s heyday, are just as applicable now.

“Go back to bed, America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed America, your goverment is in control. Here, here’s American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up, go back to bed America, here is American Gladiators, here is 56 channels of it! Watch these pituitary retards bang their fucking skulls together and congratulate you on the living in the land of freedom. Here you go America – you are free to do what well tell you! You are free to do what we tell you!” – Bill Hicks –

Hicks was an outcast. A sophisticated, raving mad, angry political commentator, who made people think about important stuff while wetting their pants. Truly one of the most important and brilliant stand-up comedians that has ever been.

“I’m gonna share with you a vision that I had, cause I love you. And you feel it. You know all that money we spend on nuclear weapons and defense each year, trillions of dollars, correct? Instead – just play with this – if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor of the world – and it would pay for it many times over, not one human being excluded – we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever in peace. Thank you very much. You’ve been great, I hope you enjoyed it.” – Bill Hicks –

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Tags: hicks, stand up comedy