Bill Hicks: The most outspoken and necessary stand-up of modern times

As the 20th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks is marked, Dominic Cavendish pays tribute to a comedian who made rare sense of the world we live in

Twenty years after his death, isn’t it time we saluted Bill Hicks as the best of the goddam bunch? Shouldn’t we brace up and face facts? He came. He saw. He poured hilarious, bilious scorn. Pancreatic cancer claimed him at the age of 32. And we shan’t see his like again – not in the USA, not anywhere – in our lifetimes.

They’re holding a commemorative tribute for him on the anniversary itself – February 26: an official tribute show in Camden, with a visitation from his folks (mother, sister, brother) and contributions from comedians such as Robin Ince and Brendon Burns. There will be chat. There will be clips, courtesy of the guys who made the superb bio-documentary “American”. Great, so far as it goes, but it will only be a small token of esteem scaled against his immense talent. The most provocative, outspoken, necessary stand-up of modern times? I’d say so.

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