The Cynic Says……

If anyone out there reading this has never heard of Bill Hicks, you’re seriously missing out on one of the greatest comics to have ever lived. Even though he died in 1994 of pancreatic cancer, his comedy is still relevant to this day. Amusingly, many of his jokes are about the president, war in Iraq, invading other countries, corporate America, drugs, alcohol, smoking, religion, etc. All are pretty much timeless issues that are still relevant now. Anyone who’s republican, right-wing, or very religious WILL be offended by his dark, no-holds-barred humor, but that’s just tough shit. I personally find him incredibly amusing and for the most part dead-on in his observations of the world around him. I have all of his stuff minus (I think) one CD and would say that “Rant in E-Minor” to be the best of the bunch. It was recorded not long before he died and is probably his darkest, pessimistic and utterly brutal humor. Even though it was recorded shortly before he died, it was actually released AFTER he died, as were most of his other CD’s. The only two that got released before he died were “Dangerous” and “Relentless”, both in 1990. At any rate, I think he’s one of those comedians that everyone should give a listen to at some point, simply because of the eye-opening quality that his views on the world around us have. Much of what he said, I agree with, regardless of how un-popular they were (and certainly still are). He was a heavy drinker, a heavy smoker, and experimented with many psychedelic drugs. I guess that’s part of why I find his comedy so amazing… he was basically a normal human being who just didn’t give a shit what anyone else thought. He wasn’t even really THAT vulgar… nowhere near as bad as Andrew Dice Clay or even Dennis Leary. He was just brutally honest and would make jokes about anyone and everyone imagineable. Nobody was exempt from being the butt of a Bill Hicks joke. The president, the pope, athletes, Jay Leno, rock bands, people in the crowd… didn’t matter. We need more comedians like him.