Required Reading

This article from the late Harvey Pekar helps put the art of stand-up comedy and the craft of late-night TV into perspective.

Remembering a Dark Day with Dark Humor

Today's the anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Here's a classic Bill Hicks clip from his Arizona Bay album. 

Spread the News

Today marks the anniversary of the death of comedian Bill Hicks. Here's an image of a T-shirt that used to be on sale at Sacred Cow Productions.

A Bill Hicks Quote I'm Bound to Use in a Future Article

"I thought I lived in the US of A, the United States of America, and actually we live in the US of A, the United States of Advertising. Freedom of expression is guaranteed, if you've got the money."

--Bill Hicks, Austin Public Access interview, 1993

Haiku for Bill Hicks

Four o'clock mass priests,

both masked in mass of maskless.

There's faith in action.

Happy Halloween

Here's a sketch featuring Bill Hicks and Fallon Woodland that went by the name "Satanic Eye Doctor" when it was first passed around in the nineties.

 

Happy Easter

Here's my obligatory Bill Hick selection (they removed the clip I originally used).

 

And on the Subject of Evolving

Here's a clip of Bill Hicks from his album, Rant in E-Minor.

 

Your Weekly Dose of God

Can't believe I never thought to post this on a Easter weekend. Here's part of Bill Hicks' censored routine on David Letterman's show.

Bill Hicks on Rush Limbaugh

From what many have documented as the late comedian Bill Hicks' last ever show. The majority of his Rush Limbaugh routine would highly likely be considered problematic (rewind from my starting point if you dare), so I skipped to him talking about how his father was into Rush. It reflects many of my feelings today. 

I Can't Wait to See This

Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait.




A perfect day will be watching that film back to back with this one.

Happy Easter

Here's my obligatory Bill Hicks post.

Bill Hicks Bootleg: Watch It While You Can

Dubbed "The Lost Hour," the footage comes from a show performed days after Hicks' performance was excised from David Letterman's show in 1993.

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.