If you don’t know who this man is, I would suggest looking him up on Youtube.  I don’t want to embed any videos on here because I want to keep- my website simple.  He had such a great bit about negative drug stories in the news.  He may have been a bit scathing at times, but he had to be.  To steal a quote from the movie Se7en, “When you have something important to tell someone, you can’t just tap them on the shoulder anymore.  You have to smash their face in with a sledgehammer, and then you’ll see you have their full attention.”  I think that’s why Bill was so offensive, because if he didn’t talk in that way, he wouldn’t be able to get the ideas he was trying to spread into people’s thick skulls.  I love the joke he does in the above link, “Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.  There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves…here’s Tom with the weather.”  It’s not just a joke, but it opens your mind to a different experience of looking at the world.

Also in that clip, thankfully, there is his most life-affirming piece of material called, “It’s just a ride.”  Wonderful, enlightening piece of material that totally blows your mind.  That is what all these enlightened teachers have been trying to teach, that life is a dream, or a ride, or something similar, and that to take it seriously, or as if it were real is only going to lead to suffering.  The choice between fear and love.  This guy got it, and he was also funny about it, which sure helps convey the message better.  He made you laugh, and he made you think, and ponder.  One audience member once yelled out, “I don’t go to comedy clubs to think.”  Bill responded by saying, “Where do you go to think?  I’ll meet you there.”  He reminds me a lot of George Carlin, although I feel like Bill went further.  Bill wasn’t afraid to bomb, he wasn’t afraid to express his unpopular opinions.  The guy was Relentless, which coincidentally enough, was the title of one of his DVDs.

The sad part was, however, that he never gained a mainstream audience in America, because he was not allowed to express his ideas on television the way he wanted to and, frankly, most people were not ready to hear what he had to say.  So he went to the UK to perform and his comedy was uncensored on Channel 4, and the people there loved him.  He was allowed to be himself, not some censored, edited version of himself.  He gained a huge following there, and he now has a sizable following in America, but not nearly as big as the Carlin fans or the other really popular comedians.  His ideas were radical and controversial, and they made sense.  He was no sellout, and would call out those who were.  He was one of a kind, and had integrity and was honest.  He told people how he saw the world and he was dead on.  But like all the other people who say, “We should all just get along, stop fighting, become one with the world,” he died young, but not too young, because he at least got his messages out.

He would mock religion, mock these popular, mediocre pop artists, like the New Kids On the Block and Rick Astley.  This was in the late 80s and early 90s, as Bill; tragically died in 1994.  It’s amazing how many people have never heard of him.  I hadn’t heard of him until late 2005.  And it took me awhile to really warm up to him, just like it did with Carlin.  But he has been a part of my life ever since, because listening to him is like getting an upgrade in integrity and consciousness.  He sure had a lot to say.  He used to joke that he was “Noam Chomsky with dick jokes.”  He used to say something like, “I know what you guys are waiting for, and don’t worry, dick jokes are coming.  I editorialize for about one hour, then we go down dick joke highway, because I know that’s why y’all are here.  Don’t worry, they’re coming.”  I’m sure he rubbed a lot of audience members the wrong way and some people probably think he is an asshole, but he was just trying to wake people up.  That’s all.  He truly wanted humanity to evolve to a higher state of consciousness, and isn’t that what we all want?  I’d say so.

In closing, this guy is one of my heroes.  He had morals, he had rebellion, he had such conviction in what he was saying that it just made him either more or less likable, depending on how much you agreed with him.  I have more respect for him than any other comedian, because he was real, he was uncensored, and he would take risks that other comedians wouldn’t even dream of.  I’m pretty sure he was a reclusive type of person, somebody who didn’t quite fit in, but he sure used that to his advantage to call out those who were completely full of shit.  I just wish his work hadn’t fallen on mostly deaf ears during his lifetime.  But today, I think the word is getting out more, and although not as sizable as others, his comedy can still entertain and enlighten us for decades more.  Bill, you are a fucking hero and I hope more people get the word out about you like I’m doing right now.

Here’s some links that may be offensive, but I’m going to add them anyway:

• Bill Hicks on Rush Limbaugh
• Bill Hicks gets angry
• Bill Hicks-Play from your fucking heart
• Bill Hicks-Drugs and Music
• Bill Hicks on JFK Assassination
• Bill Hicks on Creationists
• Bill Hicks on Smoking

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  There are so many more clips on Youtube of this man and his thoughts, so feel free to browse because I have a feeling you might learn something.  The Rush Limbaugh one is a bit offensive, just to warn you.

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To me, this is the Christian equivalent of Jesus rising from the dead and having a second coming. I’m dead serious. I cannot express my joy in any other manner but pure and utter amazement that after all these years, he would finally, finally come out with something new. He’s not the most driven person, and I definitely can relate to that, but he’s also someone who does such bizarre things and also tells absurd jokes to the point that you forget who you are completely and are immersed in his catatonic behavior. Him and Jerry Seinfeld are the two comedians that inspired me when I was first starting, most notably Jerry because I didn’t even know of Steven Wright back then. I remember the first joke of his I ever heard: “The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays Helter Skelter.” Then he goes on, “Last night I came home very late, it was the next night. I tried getting into my building, but I accidentally stuck my car keys in the door and the building started up. So I drove it around for awhile. The police pulled me over for speeding. He asked me, ‘Where do you live?’ I said, ‘Right here.’ Then I parked in the middle of a highway and yelled at all of the cars to get the hell out of my driveway.” From there, I was hooked. So strange, so bizarre, so insane, kind of like me. But I’m not just like him. I mean, he’s truly and utterly bizarre to the tenth degree and that’s why I like him. That’s what draws me to him, but I am a little more emotional onstage. I burn the passionate fire while he just stands there, all laid back. And he’s perfect at it, which is why he’s so good.

It’s funny because in an itnerview with him, he would talk about how he didn’t even see himself as montone or talking about abstract things. He just went out there and did what he thought was funny. That was it. It’s very simple, really. Do what you think is funny and hopefully you’ll find a group of people who also think it’s funny. If not, at least you’re amusing yourself. I also remember him telling of jokes that he thought weren’t that funny that were great with the audience as wel as things he thought were brilliantly funny that didn’t resonate with an audience. He’s just something to marvel at. I can’t wait until Saturday.  Also, look for a review of his peformance possibly on Sunday.  It will be a great time.  Peace.

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•  A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths.
• Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect.
• I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day cause I know it’s gonna be up all night.
• How young can you die of old age?
• I bought some batteries, but they weren’t included.
• I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.
• I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
• I have the world’s largest collection of seashells. I keep it on all the beaches of the world… perhaps you’ve seen it.
• I met this wonderful girl at Macy’s. She was buying clothes and I was putting Slinkies on the escalator.
• I think God’s going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding.
• I’m writing an unauthorized autobiography.
• If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?
• In Vegas, I got into a long argument with the man at the roulette wheel over what I considered to be an odd number.
• There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people were trapped on the escalators.
•  You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?
• So I began hitching.  I got picked up by this huge trailer truck carrying twenty brand new cars.  I climbed up the side of the cab and he said, “there’s no room in here, why don’t you get in one of the cars in the back?”  So I did.  And he was really into picking up people cause he picked up nineteen more.  We all had our own cars.  Then he went 90 miles an hour, we all go speeding tickets.
• I went to the drive in in a cab.  The movie cost me 95 dollars.
• I was skiing in England. I went up in a lift with this guy I never met.  We went halfway up the mountain without saying a word to each other.  Then he said, “You know, this is the first time I’ve been skiing in ten years?”  I said, “Really, why’s that?”  He said, “I was in jail.  You wanna know why?”  I said, “No not really.”  Then i said, “You’d better tell me why.”  He said, “I pushed a total stranger off of a ferris wheel.”  I said, “I remember you.”
• When I have a child, I’m going to get one of those strollers for twins.  I’m gonna tell him he was a twin, too.  “You were a twin and your brother didn’t listen to me.”
• I’m Caesarian born.  Can’t really tell.  Although whenever I leave the house, I go out through the window.
• Whenever I pick up hitchikers, I like to wait a few minutes before I say anything to them.  Then I say, “So how far did you think you were going?  Put your seatbelt on, I wanna try something.  I saw it in a cartoon once, but I”m pretty sure I can do it.”
• I just got back from the hospital.  I was in a speed reading accident.  I hit a bookmark, flew across the room.

I guess that’s all I really find notable, but I’m sure there’s more.  He does this one bit where he’s on a elevator and this other guy gets on and they ride the elevator to Phoenix and they go out into the desert and the phone rings and it’s Steven’s loan officer from his bank.  I find him to be abolutely hillarious.  I didn’t mention every joke because I want you to experience him for yourself.  He’s very surreal, but still, very funny.  He’s one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy him as well.  Check out his website, you won’t regret it.

If you found this post funny, insightful, helpful, or throught-provoking, feel free to donate to my site.

If you found this post funny, insightful, helpful, or throught-provoking, feel free to donate to my site.