Everything is bigger in Texas. Bill Hicks knew this. He started doing stand-up comedy at the tender age of 15, and of all places, it was Sunday School. Johnny Carson inspired Bill, revealing to him that you CAN make a living making people laugh. And laugh they did.
“Good evening, my name is Bill Hicks. I’ve been on the road now doing comedy 12 years, so, uh, bear with me while I plaster on a fake smile and plow through this shit one more time. … I’m kinda tired of traveling, kinda tired of doing comedy, kinda tired of staring out at your blank faces looking back at me, wanting me to fill your empty lives with humor you couldn’t possibly think of yourselves.”
Bill always let his audience know what exactly was on his mind. He hated the rampant commercialism that was beginning to flourish all around him, especially in advertising and marketing. When fellow comedian Jay Leno starred in a Doritos commercial in the late 80′s, Bill took it personally, naming The Tonight Show a “cultural train wreck”.
“Do a commercial, you’re off the artistic roll call, every word you say is suspect, you’re a corporate whore and eh, end of story.”
But Bill wasn’t always just a satirist. He put forth his opinions on anything from marijuana decriminalization to world hunger. His views on religion, society, consumerism and politics were often controversial among the mainstream media, but he didn’t care. Bill cared about the Truth, and only spoke the Truth. His profound antics became popular in the after hour comical realm, and still live on today...
