Bill Hicks reassessed by young comedians [split topic]

[Shit Good Nose]

I know the typical modern-day thinking about Hicks is at best "yeah he was alright", at worst "hugely over rated".  And I think the latter is increasingly the more popular opinion, especially with stand-up connoisseurs.

He's still one of my all-time favourites.  As I've mentioned plenty of times, I'm one of the very very few CaBbers who saw him live (I was at the Revelations show, which of course quickly became the most famous of his recorded shows) and, whilst a lot of it admittedly went over my head (I was 13/14 and at the time only had a passing knowledge of the type of American culture he mainly referenced) he engaged me greatly with his charisma, energy and delivery.  By the time I was 16 - after he'd died - I was properly locked in and a major fan.  I still listen to him regularly now and I still laugh.

[idunnosomename]

well apparently the cartoon Steven Universe is the height of human empathy that all future civilisations will be compared to

what an age we live in. peak woke

[Monsieur Verdoux]

watched Revelations a while back for the first time in years, and while the material didn't hit me in the way it once did, I was struck by how impeccable Hicks' stagecraft was. the facial expressions, the timing, the acting out of different characters... I mean he really was a first rate stage presence, a hugely effective communicator. Charisma for fucking days. His physical craft is like, Richard Pryor level. But the material seems a bit lacking in retrospect. I haven't read the article at the top of this thread, and I won't

[up_the_hampipe]

Wasn't much into his political rants, I wish he'd done more material like his bit about working in a shoe shop.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

I genuinely don't know the answer to this because I'm out of the loop, but do stand up comedians criticise US Imperialism much anymore? Feels like it's something very much associated with Hicks that seems to have become unfashionable

[McFlymo]

I have to take the Stewart Lee stance of pointing out that access to the material of these artists, is responsible for the impact they had on a certain generation. Hicks had some clever marketing making him come across like a rock star, in the early 90s. Hicks' bit about "if you work in marketing... Kill yourself." is running through my head now. How he would've hated being "marketed" in that way, but if he was still alive, how would he have adapted to the move to shameless self-promotion and narcissism today? Most likely, he'd have just gotten more angry and disgruntled with it all, and he had would've lost appeal and relevance, and no one would give a fuck about him today. Add to that the inevitable Twitter #cancelling at him being caught saying something un-PC at a club.

I was about 14 when I saw one of his shows on C4, late one night and I remember feeling so validated in all my teenage angst. I loved Hicks for years after that, but I remember a potential turning point was that video of him screaming and dancing about the stage in a furious rage at a woman at a gig, "I'm a dumb cunt, I can say whatever I want!!" It's pretty funny, in that, seeing someone lose their cool, so blatantly is actually kind of hilarious to watch, but it certainly didn't reflect very well on Hicks, for me. And then by today's standards: Oooof... Pretty rough.

[Funcrusher]

He says something like 'I'm Drunk and I've got a cunt, and I can yell at comedians' as I recall. His recovery from it is very funny - is this something you're trying out for your next Arsenio spot, Bill and so on.

[MortSahlFan]

I know the typical modern-day thinking about Hicks is at best "yeah he was alright", at worst "hugely over rated".  And I think the latter is increasingly the more popular opinion, especially with stand-up connoisseurs.

He's still one of my all-time favourites.  As I've mentioned plenty of times, I'm one of the very very few CaBbers who saw him live (I was at the Revelations show, which of course quickly became the most famous of his recorded shows) and, whilst a lot of it admittedly went over my head (I was 13/14 and at the time only had a passing knowledge of the type of American culture he mainly referenced) he engaged me greatly with his charisma, energy and delivery.  By the time I was 16 - after he'd died - I was properly locked in and a major fan.  I still listen to him regularly now and I still laugh.

Wow that's amazing... You were able to get in the show at the age of 13?

[McFlymo]

He says something like 'I'm Drunk and I've got a cunt, and I can yell at comedians' as I recall. His recovery from it is very funny - is this something you're trying out for your next Arsenio spot, Bill and so on.

I thought I'd try and find it on youtube, skipped about 35 minutes in and actually, now I'm totally hooked. This seems fucking great. Hicks responding to heckles and being a ball of rage, but in a fairly coherent and witty way.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBtpLTG-ONo

[Jake Thingray]

As I've mentioned plenty of times, I'm one of the very very few CaBbers who saw him live (I was at the Revelations show, which of course quickly became the most famous of his recorded shows)

Stating the obvious but the present generation finding Hicks wanting may just be a cyclical thing, reacting to the overkill of worship from the previous generation, as in Python repeats of the late 1980's failing to impress those who saw it as slow, sexist and not politically angry enough.

[MortSahlFan]

Yeah, I guess for some it's "cool" to say Hicks sucked.

[thenoise]

I hate these kinds of reappraisals. I hated that series a couple years ago "It Was Alright In The 1970s/80s/90s" where a load of shit new comedians who were roughly my age (20s) and other peoole who were around then and have been told to pretend they've never seen it before were obviously told to act as righteous and disgusted as possible when they were shown a scene from Carry On Camping or something

"Omg it's so like misogynistic and patriarchal absolutely DISGUSTING.  DISGUSTING. I can't believe people used to think like that. DISGUSTING. I'm just speechess wow"

- Alex Zane

Agree.  What's the point in reviewing material that was made in and reflected a particular era, as if it was released today?  It wasn't, so it feels dishonest to complain that it isn't addressing the half dozen topics that every comedy has to be about nowadays.

And complaints about Hicks' authority are especially hypocritical, considering their main complaint is that he occasionally differs from the accepted narrative that all comedians must now follow.

No particular fan of Hicks, and I've only just realised what Sadowitz was on about when he said about Hicks 'the waitress was right'.  Before a very funny bit about how he doesn't read books because he doesn't want other peoples' opinions in his head, and the prerequisite for having an opinion is to keep a 'clear and empty head'.

[Twed]

It's just the old geezers at The Guardian trying to make money from social awareness currently being in.

I only realised the prescience of a certain piece of Hickss;s's material after I wrote that.

Hicks died fucking yonks ago. I'm older now that he was when he died, but not even a teen when he was releasing material. It's no fucking mystery that generational gaps exist.