BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?

Subject: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 11:58 PM

I just saw a a documentary about him. He could fill large venues in Britain when he was playing for a paltry few in the US. If you remember him, what did you like?

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: autolycus
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 01:20 AM

I've heard a couple of tapes. When he was just angry, he was unappealing; when he was angry-funny, he was brilliant.

I loved his one about, words to the effect,

"Her in America, where everyone can have a gun, there were 23,000 murders last year. In Britain, where very few people have a gun, there were 16 murders last year.

"Let me just go thru those numbers again. 23,000 murders in the U.S. where anyone can have a gun; in Britain, where very few have a gun, there were 16 murders.

"And anybody who claims there's any connection whatsoever between those two sets of statistics is a Commie bastard."


Marvellous.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 01:29 AM

"And anybody who claims there's any connection whatsoever between those two sets of statistics is a Commie bastard."

If that's the case, there are a few 'Catters who must be Commie Bastards. Or just plain ole gun-fruitcakes with small willies.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 04:21 AM

Who?

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Will Fly
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 04:29 AM

I saw Bill at the Pavilion Theatre in Brighton some years ago. He was very funny - savagely so. I've since bought a book of his routines in various venues and reading through it, realised that in actuality he had just a few themes and would riff on them as he felt.

At the end of the routine in Brighton, he came down and sat with the audience (it was an informal, tables and chairs, setting, like a club) and offered to discuss anything and answer anything from the audience. He was witty, charming, funny and very intelligent - and with a definite sense of the stupidities of the world. Defiantly pro-smoking - which is what killed him some months later.

As I recall, he started the evening by saying, "Are there any accountants in the audience? If so - leave now. No - I mean it - fucking leave NOW!" Certainly broke the ice...

Bill was good, but - for me - no-one was as ground-breaking and as shocking (at the time) as Lenny Bruce, who was a tortured genius. And let's not forget the great black comedian and satirist, Dick Gregory. Who talks of him these days?

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:19 AM

Ah, yes ~~ "alternative" comedians: & well named. What they do is certainly not comedy, so I suppose it might be an alternative.

Anyone seen that silly little Scotch booby called Jerry Sadistovich or something?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Will Fly
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:40 AM

Well, Michael, tastes vary. Jerry Sadowitz I also find utterly boring and very unfunny. However, sometimes the assumptions of society have to be challenged, and the stupidities and prejudices of society have to be questioned and exposed. There are several ways of doing this, from political activism to printed polemic, and comedy is one of them.

Bill Hicks was very funny - had us in fits of laughter. I liked Lenny Bruce as a young man but find him too over-wrought for my tastes these days.

Dick Gregory, being black and born in 1932, has had to put with the racial prejudice, hatred and lack of opportunity of a black man of his generation. He fought that with his wit and comedy and observation - and why shouldn't he? If you want to brand it "alternative", with a sneer as you do so, then that's your choice - but put yourself in Dick Gregory's place and imagine how you might feel.

I don't care for many of today's current crop of comedians - "alternative" or otherwise, to be honest. They seem to be too self-consciously clever and too smug for my taste. But genius arises occasionally, and Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce and Dick Gregory were in that category in their prime.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: akenaton
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:52 AM

I find Jerry very funny indeed ...if a little manic.
A sort of Danny Kaye with "attitude"

However I agree with Will, that we need people in the arts to rock the complacent boat, and if Ebbie and Gnu are listening, we also need them on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: akenaton
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:56 AM

Sorry forgot to mention....like Richard I've never heard of Bill Hicks.

I think UK and US tastes in comedy differ greatly.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 07:01 AM

Well, Will; I can't say I know the work of Gregory, and will certainly accept your assessment. I too thought Bruce started off as mildly amusing but soon palled. It was an evening wasted with Sado-whatever that put me off the genre in general. Tho, obviously, it's all part of that ole de gus... thingie, eh?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Will Fly
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 07:22 AM

This is a 30 minute interview from 1966 with Dick Gregory on YouTube:

Dick Gregory interview

An intelligent and perceptive man, as the interview shows. In latter years he's become a major believer in conspiracy theories (Kennedy's assassination, 9/11) - I don't hold with much of this, but Gregory's still worth listening to.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: autolycus
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 07:41 AM

The Gregory line I remember is:-

"Hey wouldn't it be a gas if this was burnt cork, and you were being tolerant for nothing."

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 11:07 AM

Loved Bill Hicks. Left us way too soon. I loved Lenny too.......a true standup philosopher. Ask Dick Gregory and see who he thinks as "great" and he'll tell you Richard Pryor. Gotta' agree with him. I think great comedians give you the ability to squirm, laugh, and cry.....all at the same time and Richard was perhaps the very best at that.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 11:36 AM

Thanks autolycus, Wil Fly for sharing your Hick related experience. and thanks to those who say they never heard of him. It gave me an idea of his scope over there.

Young comedians I like are Demetri Martin (USA) and "the Conchords" (New Zealand)

Both are more into whimsy than political comedy.

John Oliver (UK) of "The Daily Show" did a good live stand up show that I saw.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 11:41 AM

Bill Hicks was the Richard Feynman of comedy. He could take a complex subject and describe it perfectly with one simple scenario. His description of US foreign policy as a western showdown is a good example.

USA: Gwan, pick up the gun.
small country: I don't want to pick up the gun.
USA: Pick it up!
small country: If I do you will shoot me.
USA: If you don;t pick it up on the count of three you are gettin it between the eyes.
small country: Please mister, I don't want no trouble...
USA: One...
small country: OK I'll take it but I...
USA: BANG!
Small country: uuugh
USA: You saw it. He was goin for a gun.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 11 Jul 11 - 01:27 AM

I had never heard of Bill Hicks 'til I moved to the UK (from the Detroit area, in ~1998); within a few months of my arrival, friends mentioned (raved about) him. I had no idea what they were talking about.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: GUEST,livelylass
Date: 11 Jul 11 - 01:56 AM

Surprised to hear that he wasn't well liked in the US, had no idea of the divide. He probably wasn't very popular with right wingers though.. Yes, I know a number of fellow Hicks fans here in the UK.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX1CvW38cHA&feature=related

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Stu
Date: 11 Jul 11 - 04:21 AM

I never saw him but think he was brilliant.

I really don't think US and UK comedy does differ so much, although in someways self-deprecation can be a little lacking in US comedy (but then who are the Brits to criticise? I mean, we had Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning for crying out loud).

Some of the best comedy ever comes from the US, such as Arrested Development which was so brilliant it's still virtually unknown, Curb Your Enthusiasm which is superb and The Simpsons; all recalcitrant and insightful shows.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 11 Jul 11 - 01:22 PM

I saw him on British TV, probably Channel 4 around 20 years ago, when they showed a lot of brilliant stand-up and improv. I thought he was great, so I was sad to hear of his untimely death.

Kitty

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jul 11 - 12:18 PM

He was well liked in the US but when he was featured on the David Letterman show, Mr. Letterman decided to delete his performance from being aired and as a result was never seen on late night network TV again.

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 12 Jul 11 - 03:54 PM

hicks letterman 1

hicks letterman 2


hicks letterman 3

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 12 Jul 11 - 03:56 PM

hicks letterman 3

Subject: RE: BS: Brits.. Bill Hicks?
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 12 Jul 11 - 03:58 PM

hicks letterman 2