Bill Hicks was a rock and roll star, magic mushroom eater, and a comic genius.
Lenny Bruce said that the job of a comic is not to just entertain, but to tell the truth through comedy. Bruce, Richard Pryor and Bill Hicks are some of the only American comics to ever do that.
You see, Bill Hicks never faked it, which can not be said for 99.9% of anyone else in the entertainment business. He stood his ideas against popular thought and made everyone listen. Bill made comedy out of issues that other stand-ups wouldn’t even attempt. Common topics included Desert Storm and drugs. And he got away with it. Stupid people laughed at their own stupidity. Ha Ha!
If you want to see how fast America can get ugly, just look at the Gulf War. As long as we don't suffer casualties, Americans like a war.
I got beat up for marching in a rally against Desert Storm in Madison, Wisconsin, once a place known for its Vietnam protests. But you have to remember this wasn't Vietnam. Americans weren’t dying. Only 150,000 Iraqis to save a nickel on a gallon of gas.
America felt great about itself killing defenceless Arabs.
So many American flags were bought and hung that everyday looked like the fourth of July. A president as stupid as Bush had the highest rating of any president ever. Did I say stupid, yeah I did.
A few months later the Storm was calmed and Bush couldn't even win a re-election. The Republicans weren’t laughing for the first time in over a decade. I thought it was hilarious.
Then there was Bill Hicks, the one voice of reason. What did Bill have to say about all this? Just that, "He was for the war but against the troops." Classic.
Not that he even thought of it as a war. ‘A war is two armies fighting’. Get it?
Bill Hicks died tragically of pancreatic cancer. But he kept all his convictions to the end. He lived it like he preached it. Now that is facing your demons.
One demon Hicks faced while still alive was David Letterman, famous Late Night puppet for the network moneybags. Letterman banned the last show Hicks recorded. Bill Hicks, we at Pax Acidus salute you and your beautiful dead ass.
