Bill Hicks (1961–1994)

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 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.… (més)

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 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.… (més)

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 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.… (més)