Friday, April 27, 2012

April 21st - Beard of the Day - Bill Hicks

From SecondCityHockey.com
Billhicks_medium
We had a call on Twitter to re-use George Carlin as a Beard of the Day. If anyone is able to cut through all the bullshit going on in this series (from suspensions, shitty officiating and horrible goals) it would be Saint George. Sadly, we try our best to not repeat any beards and we stand by that.
Lucky for us, we haven't used someone who is just as good at calling out bullshit - the late, great Bill Hicks. Perhaps no one is better at cutting through and rallying against mediocrity, blind consumerism and hypocrisy than Hicks. Though he passed away far too early in 1994 - it's amazing how relevant his material still is to this day.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Legendary Comedian Bill Hicks Was Definitely a Legend, but Was He a Comedian?

Unpopular Opinions is a new weekly column in which a writer takes a stand against popular opinion, whether it's asserting the true merit of a supposedly guilty pleasure or dissenting against the universally lauded.

Bill Hicks was undoubtedly a massive influence on contemporary standup comedy. The impact of his confrontational style can be seen in countless comedians today, from David Cross to Patton Oswalt, Marc Maron to Denis Leary. Because of this inarguable influence and the high regard in which others hold him, I’ve attempted on several occasions to appreciate Hicks’s material. Each time I listen to it, I have the same reaction: Yes, I agree with most of what you’re saying, but… Where are the jokes? Where’s the comedy?

Full Article at SplitSider.com

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Case Study - American: The Bill Hicks Story

Stumbled upon this very interesting "case study" break down of the goals, funding, marketing and distribution for the recent Bill Hicks documentary "America". It appears it was part of a SXSW panel on March 3rd.



Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Obscure Bill references in the media

Such is Bill's legacy that it has become a common occurrence for Bill to be quoted or his material referenced by writers in all sort's of unusual publications. Sometimes for the most obscure reasons.

Here are two interesting ones this week-

The Economist

Beyond the edge Whatever happens to Greece, the failings of the euro zone have not been addressed

BILL HICKS, a comedian, used to joke that there must be a “ledge beyond the edge”. How else could the survival of Keith Richards be explained? What goes for rock stars also appears to go for Greece, which has been on the brink of a second bail-out package for weeks.

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Chicago Reader

Another sold-out show, another "Freebird!"

At last night's sold-out Heartless Bastards show at Lincoln Hall, the inevitable happened: some dolt hollered "Freebird" during the quiet time between songs of the Bastards' set. His hackneyed shout-out to the nine-minute Skynyrd romp elicited an immediate chorus of boos from what was, all things considered, a pretty mellow crowd, which had till then seemed content to soak up the chill high brought on by Erika Wennerstrom's wailing. The band chuckled at the audience's disgust, and bassist Jesse Ebaugh said something like, "I don't think I've ever heard an entire audience boo one guy like that."

In a 2005 Wall Street Journal piece called "Rock's Oldest Joke: Yelling 'Freebird!' in a Crowded Theater," Jason Fry investigates the inane ritual's origin. At one point he tells the story of an enraged, almost otherworldly freak-out by comedian Bill Hicks during a Chicago show in the early 90s:

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