In profile Bill Hicks

Been meaning to do something like this since i started this, basicaly write a profile on someone i either really like or admire, or both. Thing is if i am going to do that i'd like to do it properly and it may even require some sort of research, now obviously i'm not getting paid for this shit so i'm not a complete nutter that i am gonna spend hours looking into historical background etc.

Frankly for quality of information i'd probably reccomend Wikipedia rather than what i expect my profiles to turn out like, in fact i daresay i'll use it myself as a source. Still i'll give it a bash and for my first profile i am choosing to honour the late great Bill Hicks!

If you are familiar at all with the works of Bill Hicks then i don't need to tell you just what a dude this guy was, i'll assume that not everyone knows of him and try and give you a flavour of just how good this man was.

As a comedian he was utterly fearless, it is a great sadness that i never got to see him perform live. He did come to Scotland and perform, indeed i have a friend to went to see him when he was here and i was green with envy when i found that out. Unfortunately for myself i think i was only about 14 at the time and not yet aware of this comedy god.

Short aside, yah dancer i've just found a CD that i don't already own Shock and Awe, i've been meaning to look for ages for any new stuff. I say new but well of course he is no longer here performing and commentating on the insane world we life in but he didn't have a great deal of his stuff released whilst he was alive, i can safely say that all the posthumous stuff i've bought has in no way harmed his legacy. There are a couple of interesting looking books i wasn't aware of either, i shall need to look into acquiring the CD and possibly the books.

I honestly can't say exactly how i got to know and love Bill Hicks. I have vague memories of seeing him on channel 4 as a teenager, but that was a mere one off exposure. I thought he was hilarious but it didn't lead to anything further. I did look out for him and ironically i got him a little confused with Dennis Leary for a spell. I think he next popped into my conciousness whilst watching the film Human Traffic, there is a short Bill Hicks clip played and it certainly stood out.

After that i'm not really sure why i went out and bought a CD, it was some time later, i bought a copy of Relentless and i havn't looked back.

So basicaly why do i rate him so highly? He is more than just a funny comedian. At their very best comedians show a level of insight into society that can be quite exceptional, using humour to show up just how rediculous some of our ideas and believes can look. Hick's does this, also his whole style, passionate and wrathful and yet the man truly cared about the world he lived in and railed against what he saw as the evils contaminating our collective consciousness.

Stand out topics are the LA Riots, JFK assasination, relgion, politcs.

Listening to Arizona Bay there to refresh my memory so i could transcribe a couple of short bits, but no just go buy it, borrow it or download whatever just get a copy, it is brilliant. Ok if you really want some written as text examples they can be found here.

Ok so this is less of a profile, more of an advert, get some Bill Hicks stuff and prepare to squee gee your 3rd eye!