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William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 –
February 26, 1994) was an United States|American
Stand up comedian|stand-up comedian,
satire|satirist, and social critic.  Hicks is
often compared to Lenny Bruce and Sam Kinison, and
characterized his own performances as "Noam
Chomsky|Chomsky with penis|dick jokes."
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/coveringid
eas/jokes.asp

== Early life ==

Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Bill was the son of Jim
and Mary Hicks, and had two elder siblings, Steve
and Lynn. The family lived in Florida, Alabama,
and New Jersey before settling in Houston, Texas
when Bill was seven. Hicks said he was raised in
the Southern Baptist faith. He was drawn to comedy
at an early age, emulating Woody Allen, and
writing routines with his friend Dwight Slade. His
parents took him to a psychoanalyst at age 17,
worried about his behavior, but the psychoanalyst
could find little wrong with him. The therapist
apparently joked that Bill's parents would
probably benefit more from a few sessions than
Bill himself.

In 1978, the Comedy Workshop opened in Houston,
and Hicks started performing there, working his
way up to once every Tuesday night in the autumn
of 1978, while still in high school. He was well
received, and started developing his
improvisational skills, although his act at the
time was limited.

==1980s==

In his senior year of high school, the Hicks
family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, but after
his graduation, in the spring of 1980, Bill moved
to Los Angeles, California, and started performing
at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, where Andrew
Dice Clay, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, and Garry
Shandling were also performing at the time. He did
a short-lived Situation comedy|sitcom, Bulba,
before moving back to Houston in 1982. There, he
formed the ACE Production Company (Absolute
Creative Entertainment), which would later become
Sacred Cow Production Company, with Kevin Booth.

In 1983, Hicks started drinking heavily and using
drugs, leading to a more disjointed and angry, at
times even Misanthropy|misanthropic, ranting style
on stage.  As had become his trademark, he
continued attacking the American dream,
hypocritical beliefs, and traditional attitudes.
At one show, two Vietnam war|Vietnam veterans took
exception to his statements, and sought him out
after the show, breaking his leg. An infamous gig
in Chicago, Illinois|Chicago during the late '80s,
later released as the bootleg I'm Sorry, Folks,
resulted in Hicks calling a drunk, female
Heckling|heckler a "drunk cunt" and, after further
Provocation|provocation, resulted in Hicks
screaming possibly his most infamous quote, "Adolf
Hitler|Hitler had the right idea, he was just an
underachiever".

Hicks' career was improving even as his drug use
increased, and in 1984 he got an appearance on the
talkshow Late Night with David Letterman, which
was engineered by his friend Jay Leno. He made an
impression on David Letterman, and ended up doing
eleven more broadcast show appearances, all hugely
popular, despite being bowdlerized versions of his
stage shows.

In 1986, Hicks found himself broke after spending
all his money on various substances, but his
career got another upturn as he appeared on Rodney
Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special in 1987. The
same year, he moved to New York, New York|New York
City, and for the next five years did about 300
performances a year. His reputation suffered from
his drug use, however, and in 1988, he quit drugs
including alcohol, falling back to cigarette
smoking as his only vice, a theme that would
figure heavily in his performances from then on.
In 1989 he released his first video, Sane Man, to
critical acclaim.

==1990s==

In 1990, he released his first album, Dangerous,
did an HBO special, One Night Stand, and performed
at Montreal|Montreal's Just for laughs festival,
and as part of a group of American stand-up
comedians performing in London|London's West End
in November. He was a huge hit in the UK and
Ireland, and continued touring there in 1991. That
year, he also returned to the Just for laughs
festival, and recorded his second album,
Relentless.

Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording
with the Marblehead Johnson album in 1992, the
same year he met Colleen McGarr, who was to become
his girlfriend and fiancee. In November of that
year, he recorded the Revelations (Bill
Hicks)|Revelations video for Channel 4 in England.
He was voted "Hot Standup Comic" by Rolling Stone
Magazine, and moved to Los Angeles again in early
1993.

The progressive metal band Tool (band)|Tool
invited Hicks to open a number of concerts for
them on their 1992 Lollapalooza appearances, and
Hicks once famously asked the audience to look for
a contact lens he'd lost.  Thousands of people
complied. 
http://www.fadetoblack.com/interviews/billhicks/13
.html Tool singer Maynard James Keenan so enjoyed
this joke he repeated it on a number of occasions.

Later that year, while touring in Australia, he
started complaining of pains in his side, and in
the middle of June, he learned he had pancreatic
cancer. He was also working with comedian Fallon
Woodland on a Television pilot|pilot episode of a
new Situation comedy|sitcom, titled Counts of the
Netherworld for Channel 4 at the time of his
death. The budget and storyboard had been
approved, and a pilot was filmed. The Counts of
the Netherworld pilot was shown at the various
Tenth Anniversary Tribute Night events around the
world on February 26, 2004.  He started receiving
weekly chemotherapy, while still touring, and also
recording his album, Arizona Bay, with Kevin
Booth. 

On October 1, he was to appear on the David
Letterman show for the twelfth time, but his
appearance was cancelled somewhat controversially.
At the time, Hicks was doing a routine about
pro-life organizations, where he encouraged them
to lock arms and block cemeteries instead of
medical clinics, but his routine was cut from the
show.  Both the show's producers and CBS denied
responsibility for the cut, but the reason
appeared obvious to many during the following
week's Letterman show when a commercial for a
pro-life organization was aired.  For many fans,
this reinforced one of Bill's recurring themes,
that America was being sanitized and manipulated
in the name of corporate sponsorship.

He played his final show in New York on January 6,
1994, and moved back to his parents' house in
Little Rock shortly thereafter. He called his
friends to say goodbye before he stopped speaking
on February 14, and at 11:20 PM, on February 26,
he died.  He was buried on the family plot in
Leakesville, Mississippi.

The Arizona Bay album, as well as the album
considered his best, Rant In E-Minor, were
released posthumously in 1997 by his friend Kevin
Booth.

==Legacy==

Bill Hicks' influence has been far reaching. The
United Kingdom|British band One Minute Silence
named two of their songs, "It's Just A Ride" and
"If I Can Change" after some of Hicks' work; the
former was taken from a video monologue in which
Hicks asserted that life is "just a ride",
accompanied by video images of a rollercoaster
ride. 

British Band The Bluetones named their EP
Marblehead Johnson after the band that is
comprised of Bill Hicks, Pat Brown, Kevin Booth
and Curt Booth.  The song "Chicks Dig Jerks", with
Hicks on vocals, is billed as Marblehead Johnson
and appears on Relentless and Rant In E-Minor.  A
collection of songs was available on CD but is
currently out of print.

Pitchshifter (band)|Pitchshifter and Adam Freeland
have both sampled the same portion of Hicks'
stand-up: "You are free... to do as we tell you."

British band Radiohead's seminal 1995 album The
Bends was dedicated to Hicks. 

Welsh band Super Furry Animals sampled Hicks
proclaiming "all governments are liars and
murderers" on their live version of "The Man Don't
Give A Fuck".

Fila Brazillia also sampled a part of Hicks' act
regarding marketers & advertisers (similar to the
one on his Arizona Bay album) in their song "6 Ft.
Wasp" off of their album Maim That Tune.  Fila
Brazillia also dedicated that album "to the memory
of Bill Hicks".

The United States|American band Tool (band)|Tool
called him "another dead hero" in the inlay of
their album Ænima, accompanied by a drawing of
the man himself and a dedication. The songs
"Ænema" and "Third Eye" are based on his
philosophy. While "Ænema"'s lyric "learn to swim,
I'll see you down in Arizona Bay", was inspired by
Hick's distaste for Los Angeles, California|Los
Angeles, the latter contains samples of his
comedy. They also thanked him on their album
Undertow (Tool album)|Undertow, which led to
Tool's singer Maynard James Keenan becoming
friends with him.

Hicks also appeared in the comic book "Preacher",
in which he was shown to be an important influence
on Rev. Jesse Custer, the book's protagonist.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian,
Hicks was voted amongst the top 20 greatest comedy
acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

On the fourth anniversary of his death, FOX aired
Simpsons episode 5F10 with Krusty performing an
homage to him with two Hicks evangelists, Janeane
Garofalo and Jay Leno.

==See also==
*List of comedians|Other comedians

==Discography==
*Dangerous (1990)
*Relentless (1992)
*Arizona Bay (1997)
*Rant In E-Minor (1997)
*Philosophy: The Best of Bill Hicks (2001)
*Love, Laughter and Truth (2002)
*Flying Saucer Tour Vol. 1 (2002)
*Shock and Awe (2003)
*Bill Hicks Live: Satirist, Social Critic, Stand
Up Comedian (DVD) (2004)

==Further reading==
*American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story, by Cynthia
True ISBN 0-283-06353-X
*Love All the People: Letters, Lyrics, Routines,
by Bill Hicks, Foreword by John Lahr ISBN
1-84119-878-1 (UK edition February 2004)
*Love All the People: Letters, Lyrics, Routines,
by Bill Hicks, Foreword by John Lahr ISBN
1-932360-65-4 (US edition November 2004)
*Bill Hicks: Agent of Evolution, by Kevin Booth,
Michael Bertin ISBN 0007198299 (UK edition March
2005)
* Comedian As Confidence Man: Studies in Irony
Fatigue, by Will Kaufman ISBN 0814326579
* American Rebels, by Jack Newfield ISBN
1560255439

==External links==

* http://www.billhicks.com Bill Hicks' Official
Site
* http://www.sacredcow.com Sacred Cow Productions
* http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0382805/ Internet
Movie Database entry for Bill Hicks
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3513475.stm
BBC News
*
http://www.geocities.com/billhicksresurrectionlabo
ratory The Bill Hicks Resurrection Laboratory