Was Bill Hicks offed and did he instinctively know it?

[brainpanhandler]

Bill Hicks was not offed and if he suspected he was going to be assassinated he did not suspect it instinctively. And I can't imagine that Hicks ever genuflected before anything, ever. Furthermore, and I'm sure this will sound like blasphemy, but I can hardly imagine a better way to honor the substance of Hicks' schtick than to blaspheme it, Hicks was not funny. He didn't make me laugh. He made me cringe. He made me recoil in horror. He made me nod my head knowingly. But he didn't make me laugh. He wasn't funny. And he was hardly a threat to any entrenched power. He preached a cultural black mass to a small choir of apostates. That's it. I think he'd be happier if you went and pissed on his grave, rather than sing his posthumous praises, as though he was some sort of latter day anti-saint.

[elfismiles]

He preached a cultural black mass to a small choir of apostates.

Well he sure was fucking funny to me and my small choir of apostates.

And yeah, I do admire him like a saint: Saint Bill / Saint Hicks.

The only people I've ever shown his routines to who didn't laugh were either hard core Christians who can't laugh at themselves or folks who despise "foul language".

[elfismiles]

I wonder what ever happened to this project:

Russell Crowe plans Bill Hicks project
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19805

[elfismiles]

When the heck did this come out:
[Oh, it premieres here in a few weeks!]

AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story
http://www.americanthemovie.com

We are extremely proud to announce that AMERICAN The Bill Hicks Story has been invited to hold its North American premiere at SXSW!

Bill has a very strong cult following in the US, but nowhere more so than Austin, and as British filmmakers, we are very excited to be taking the story of one of America’s most important cultural icons back to his homeland.

The SXSW festival is one of America’s leading festivals, and runs from the 12th – 20th March. We are pleased to be mentioned in their opening paragraph, alongside Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Michel Gondry’s The Thorn in the Heart, and Steven Soderbergh’s And Everything Is Going Fine.

http://www.sxsw.com/node/4208

[brainpanhandler]

The only people I've ever shown his routines to who didn't laugh were either hard core Christians who can't laugh at themselves or folks who despise "foul language".

Well, I'm neither and he didn't/doesn't make me laugh. That's just how it is.

I just can't believe the guy would've wanted people placing tacky plastic tulips on his grave.

[RocketMan]

I think he'd be happier if you went and pissed on his grave, rather than sing his posthumous praises, as though he was some sort of latter day anti-saint.

I think he was a bit more of a complicated customer than that. I have a book of his routines and writings, whose name is a quote by him: Love all the people.

[elfismiles]

The only people I've ever shown his routines to who didn't laugh were either hard core Christians who can't laugh at themselves or folks who despise "foul language".

Well, I'm neither and he didn't/doesn't make me laugh. That's just how it is.

I just can't believe the guy would've wanted people placing tacky plastic tulips on his grave.

Hi BPH.

Well, everyone's entitled to their own sense of humor. And I wasn't trying to imply that you fit the bill (hardy har) of those I've shown him to who didn't get him or find him funny.

Just outta curiosity, what standup comedians do you like?

[IanEye]

Just outta curiosity, what standup comedians do you like?

[elfismiles]

Just outta curiosity, what standup comedians do you like?

"Wocka Wocka Wocka?"



HE is funny but his jokes aren't... but that's the joke, right?

[psynapz]

Hicks was not funny. He didn't make me laugh. He made me cringe. He made me recoil in horror. He made me nod my head knowingly. But he didn't make me laugh. He wasn't funny.

It seriously wrenches my guts to hear his act. I barely knew of him outside of inclusion in stand-up mix shows on Comedy Central, and he makes me wish I had lived in Austin during his prime. Watching some of his old specials recently has made me laugh pretty hard in a few places, but not really the places it counts.

Do you hear the knowing, uproarious laughter during the JFK bit? You're dead right... that wasn't the least bit funny. Why did they laugh? It didn't sound like a reaction to patent absurdity, it sounded like a "Yes! Yes! Exactly! sort of laugh of agreement. Imagine a majority-progressive crowd unfamiliar with the Hicks bit hearing it today for the first time. What would the reaction be like? I'm voting for similar.

And if that's so, I wonder what an act about 9/11 would sound like? Do we need to wait another 10 years before people can laugh at a Cheney-calling-the-MIHOP-shots-while-Bush-bumbles-about-the-country schtick over drinks in a nightclub? Could we well-informed, better-grounded conspiracists be doing this now, in Hicks' honor? Or was it a time-and-a-place thing which took advantage of a certain level of pre-web cultural innocence?

How the hell did Hicks make it as a nightclub act talking about spiritual unity, taboo civil rights and pop-culture conspiracy? Was it the other stuff, the relative fluff material, that gave him the audience equity to spend on social messages? Is that how Carlin worked?

And he was hardly a threat to any entrenched power. He preached a cultural black mass to a small choir of apostates.

True or not, who now fills this void? Is there an apt heir to the black throne of the dark and bright truths of the world?

As for Jones, I cringe harder and in an entirely different way when his name is mentioned alongside Bill's, having no thought before recollection of the following:
(first, a comment from YewTewb:)

Alex jones is using NLP with the pauses he uses.

His first "yelling" was setting the stage, knocking people out of their comfort zone. That is great a NLP job! He must have been trained in this man...

Schadenfreude doesn't even apply, at least for me. Maybe it's just public performance empathy, but I actually do kinda feel bad for Jones in this one, because you can see that he was hoping to cash in on Hicks' goodwill and update the message, I think nobly, but it was delivered as poorly as it was received. I may have made the same mistake a few years ago had I been given a similar opportunity (like I took in many social situations I now wish I hadn't). How would you do this differently?

Do any of you even harp on your friends and loved ones anymore? I've nearly given up. It almost physically hurts to bother trying. I can hardly imagine investing energy into developing, crowd-testing and promoting a comedy routine around it.

[IanEye]

How the hell did Hicks make it as a nightclub act talking about spiritual unity, taboo civil rights and pop-culture conspiracy? Was it the other stuff, the relative fluff material, that gave him the audience equity to spend on social messages? Is that how Carlin worked?

'Here's the deal, ladies and gentlemen. I editorialize for forty minutes- the last ten minutes we pull our chutes and float down to Dick Joke Island together. 'Kay?
And we will rest our weary heads against the big, thick veined trunks of dick jokes while we sit in our big, cushiony bean bag scrotum chairs and giggle away the dawn like any good American comedy club audience.' - Bill Hicks

[psynapz]

'Here's the deal, ladies and gentlemen. I editorialize for forty minutes- the last ten minutes we pull our chutes and float down to Dick Joke Island together. 'Kay?
And we will rest our weary heads against the big, thick veined trunks of dick jokes while we sit in our big, cushiony bean bag scrotum chairs and giggle away the dawn like any good American comedy club audience.' - Bill Hicks

Goddamn, that's brilliant.

But people loved the rest of the material, did they not? Any former audience members here have any insight into the reception of Hicks' 40 minutes of editorializing before the descent into Dick Joke Island?

[MinM]

David Letterman's mea culpa and Bill Hicks' censored routine.

[brainpanhandler]

Just outta curiosity, what standup comedians do you like?

To be fair it's difficult to make me laugh and by laugh I mean spontaneous, irrisistible endorphin rush guffaw. Hicks could make me grin in spots.

Lewis Black makes me laugh.

[brainpanhandler]

Do any of you even harp on your friends and loved ones anymore? I've nearly given up. It almost physically hurts to bother trying. I can hardly imagine investing energy into developing, crowd-testing and promoting a comedy routine around it.

Making people laugh is a high unlike any other. I'm addicted to it. If I wasn't able to occasionally make my friends and loved ones laugh they would not want to have anything to do with me as the rest of the time I tend to make them depressed.