Bill Hicks: Relentless

I watched a stand-up show from Bill Maher the other day and made comment on the fact that when he pushes to a delivery of "outrage" or anger" he seemed to lose his point and just ended up hammering the audience with a rant rather than becoming more passionate and convincing. I didn't know it when I wrote that sentence the other night but essentially what I meant was "he's no Bill Hicks". I have recently been making an effort to catch up on the man whose name is still spoken with reverence in the stand-up world and it is easy to see why because he manages to produce politically-aware, anger comedy that does not rely on him just ranting or shouting.

Of course he does shout and "go off on one" regularly but what he doesn't do is make less sense as a result and indeed the energy and anger he comes over with feels real and natural as opposed to some comedians who come over more like they are trying to fire up their audience by being extreme. In Relentless he covers subjects from smoking to celebrities advertising products and throughout he is consistently thoughtful but also funny. Now I am not saying that he excels at both, because I don't think he is wildly hilarious or incredibly wise or correct in all he says but just that in terms of getting the mix just right, he is spot on. A lot of this is from the writing but his delivery is good as he plays his arguments really well to both make his point and draw laughs at the same time.

The structure of his delivery is also important because, although extreme, he mostly manages to draw the audience in and see things from his point of view ("mostly" I said). This is again something to his credit because with many extreme political comedians (again, like Mayer) they tend to only play well to home crowds and are not good enough to "discuss" opinions as they get to their point. Here, Hicks does that well in the most part and only occasionally does he appear to throw an extreme opinion out of nowhere (and when he does, at least it tends to be funny).

Relentless is worth checking out and it is significant that, even so many years later it still feels relevant and fresh in most areas - something that similar comedians cannot often manage. Not the funniest comedy you'll ever hear, nor the most insightful commentary either but what Hicks did do very well was blend the two so they both work at the same high level and Relentless is a good example of why his name lives on long after his death.

Comedy is merely the hook on which Bill Hicks hangs a series of biting observations about subjects such as drugs and war and government.No cosy anecdotes about the colour of navel fluff to be found here. The high shock factor and skilled delivery almost disguise one of the most nakedly emotional performers of the last 20 years. Because of the depth and resonance of the material this is one of those rarities: a stand up performance that bears repeated viewings.

Relentless by name, Relentless by nature.

I try to avoid the Denis Leary/Bill Hicks "taking sides" stance, because no one knows for sure what was stolen, who might have stolen what, and so on and so forth. Evidence has been put forward for both parties - I try to focus on their individual acts and not let the controversy over who's the real "genius" ruin their performances. Everyone steals from everyone - in the end, it's who did it best that matters.

Hicks was very funny. Misunderstood in his lifetime - and understandably so - but his death has given him a more legendary status amongst comedy aficionandos. In this classic performance from '92, Hicks rants about everything - politics, smoking, abortion, music, life, death, sex - and hits some really funny stuff.

Unfortunately, in my own opinion his actual delivery is not as funny as some other comedians. Hicks went for the throat - and sometimes he went too far. He was a great comedian, but I think a few more years would have helped him perfect the actual delivery of his jokes, because as you can hear in this recording, he often pauses or messes up his jokes (presumably because he forgets the next line).

If you enjoy comedy, this is a must-have. It's one of Hicks' classic performances and a classic performance by any standard, really.

I searched Google for "best comedy specials of all time" and this one was #2. For reference, Dave Chappelle's Killin' Them Softly was #1 (and that's a well-deserved rating). So, I was excited to watch this.

But, it was awful. Just really, really bad. The guy makes these stupid faces and laughs at his own terrible jokes. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. I wish I could get the time I wasted watching this, back. I would go get a root canal, instead.

Bill Hicks is considered a comic genius and one of the greatest comedians of all time. He's SO overrated. Sure, the guy was intelligent, and he had some important and insightful things to say, but none of it is in a comedy friendly format. He's more like a stand-up motivational speaker/commentator that thinks he's funny. He literally shoved the mic in his mouth in one of his specials yelling into it causing the mic to spike and sound painfully obnoxious. I can't stand his stupid monkey faces where he always just sticks his bottom lip out He's simply not funny. Another thing, he drags on his specials with unfunny material and laughs at his own jokes. People need to get there head out of his ass. There, I said it.

People are going to say, " Oh, you just don't get Bill Hicks," No, "I GET" Bill Hicks, and its awful.

George Carlin, Doug Stanhope, Richard Pryor, Louis CK, Bill Cosby, Sam Kinison, Woody Allen....all great stand-up comics...Bill Hicks shouldn't even be in the same breath as these guys!

I really wanted to like Bill Hicks, I watched all of his specials for free on you tube, and it was a huge waste of time. I get the appeal for some people, but he was just a bad comedian. He also came off like a pretentious douche who thought he had all the answers. Nothing but a flash in the pan.

Final note: George Carlin and Louis CK: 10 out of 10. Bill Hicks: 2 out of 10