Bill Hicks Lives! (one night only)

On October 1st, 1993, comedian and "Dark Poet" Bill Hicks performed for his twelfth and final time on the David Letterman show.

A comic with material many deemed controversial, he had been subjected to censorship in the past on the show. His set for this twelfth visit was his first time on Letterman since his much publicized move to CBS, an earlier time slot, and the Ed Sullivan Theatre. The show was under greater scrutiny than ever, and therefore so was Hicks' material.

His set had been approved and reapproved and (so the unrefuted story goes) received his best ovation ever from the audience. He recieved the call hours later saying that his set (including commentary on the pro-life movement, homophobia, and Christianity) would be cut completely from the show, with no satisfactory explanation to come Hicks had heard that they had aired a pro-life commercial during the program.

“The networks are delivering an audience to the advertisers,” Hicks said later. “They showed their hand. They’ll continue to pretend they’re a hip talk show. And I’ll continue to be me. As Bob Dylan said, the only way to live outside the law is to be totally honest. So I will remain lawless.”

From The Goat Boy Rises" by John Lahr. Click here for the full article.

Tonight, nearly fifteen years after Bill Hicks' death, David Letterman will be airing that never-seen segment and feature Bill Hicks' mother as a guest.

I reiterate: this material is over a decade old and has never been aired.

Through Hicks' letter to Lahr, material from his posthumous albums, and other bootlegged sources, most Hicks fans know the material that will be heard tonight. Like many Hicks fans, I suspect, I'll be more interested in hearing the audience reactions on that tape rather than Hicks' voice (Did Hicks truly kill that night?), but those of you who have never heard Hicks, I urge you to tune into David Letterman tonight to hear him for the first time and witness this never before seen footage. It may be bittersweet, disappointing, or just awesome (especially if Letterman eats enough Humble Pie on camera--it seems he's already set up the table and dinner guest just to do that), but it will definitely be historic. You'll either want to buy all his albums and DVD's or YouTube the hell out of him.