Bill Hicks (1961–1994)

Bill Hicks was the greatest stand-up comedian of all time. No one else comes even close. Pryor was terrific but, compared to Hicks, his comedy was narrowcast and lacked the sheer savagery and visceral power of the Texas tornado. While Pryor was unafraid to offend, Hicks went out of his way to attack cultural icons and pillory high office. He detested hypocrisy and lashed out at the righteousness he saw pervading American power structures and religious communities.

This book largely consists show more of transcriptions from his stage act and fans of Hicks will find it indispensable. We can HEAR his voice in every line. However, those unfamiliar with Hicks' body of work should first seek out the man's CDs and DVDs, watch and listen to him in action. Then, perhaps, you'll understand the scope of the loss we suffered when he died so young (of pancreatic cancer), never getting the chance to loose his savage wit on George Bush II, Clinton and his sexual peccadilloes and even Prez Obama, who promised so much and delivered so little. show less

What's there to say?

Bill Hicks is a fallen, dark poet. Maybe the dark poet, who didn't like labels on anything. And he certainly didn't like governments sticking their fingers in things, as well as christians, non-smokers, homophobes, rednecks... Endless list.

And he did love the search for truth and the debunking of lies, which - as he states in the book - was once Noam Chomsky's definition of what lays the base for being an intellectual. I think Bill hit the nail straight on its head when show more he described himself as "Noam Chomsky with dick jokes".

And he was. More than a rambler, always with an open heart - except for that bit in his life when he was a completely out-of-touch alcoholic drug-abuser - and a very open mind...but don't let me label him any more.

The man was a genius, and it's too bad he didn't live for longer.

This collection of routines, letters, lyrics, poems and short-stories is brilliant, should be edited once more and expanded, especially seeing how David Letterman has, during 2010, publicly apologised to Bill's mother.

I bought this for £3 and it's one of the most wisely spent sums of money I've ever shared with the world; I just wish I'd bought ten copies more and given it to friends. show less

I loved Bill Hicks's stand-up routines when I saw them on TV (never got to see him live), so I was looking forward to reading this book. It was good initially, but as it provided a transcript of what seemed like every gig he ever did, it quickly got repetitive and stale.

So much of the power of Hicks's performance was in his delivery that the words on their own don't convey his message that well, even when you can picture him in your head. What's missing from this recitation of Hicks's show more routines is Bill Hicks and it suffers for it.

Unless you're studying comedy as an academic subject (I bet this book is one of the most well-thumbed volumes on [a:Stuart Lee|52882|Stuart Lee|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s bookshelf!), Hicks is best remembered by his filmed performances. A sad loss to those who like their comedy with a sense of purpose and challenge. show less

I'm thrilled that this book exists, but it's a lot like one of those jazz box sets that incorporate the complete recording sessions for an album - it's interesting to follow the evolution of a song in the studio, but all of them? In a row? It takes some serious OCD to listen to that, and it does here as well. In addition, this has the issue that trying to transcribe a spoken word performance to paper is like reading sheet music. Lots of subtleties are lost. That said, if one reads the show more non-transcript portions of this are fascinating and teach you something about just how brilliant Hicks was that even reading his excellent biography didn't even do for me. This was a man who thought long and hard about serious issues and turned them into something to laugh about. No easy feat. Get the book, skip the transcripts and pick up his albums instead. show less