Laughing in the Face of Death
Simultaneous Ryko releases keep Bill Hicks legend alive

"I'm getting out of comedy," is what Bill Hicks would tell people back in 1992 and '93. What he failed to mention was why: cancer of the pancreas. The cancer claimed him in February of '94 at age 32. To those familiar with his work the news came as a shock. In all his years as a comedian with a penchant for telling people truths they didn't always appreciate hearing, he never admitted outright to his fans that he was dying of an incurable disease.

Hicks started performing stand up in Texas clubs at age 15, having to sneak out of his parents' house to do so. He was recognized early on for his natural comic talents and went on to perform with the Texas Outlaw Comics (also featuring Sam Kinison). Over the years he developed a unique comic style that challenged and offended his crowds with jokes and routines that tore apart the social conventions he felt were holding humanity back spiritually and evolutionarily. Because of his refusal to rock his audiences to sleep with nice safe jokes, Hicks is often compared to the original comic/social witch doctor, Lenny Bruce.

In February of '97, Rykodisc re-released the first two Bill Hicks albums, Dangerous and Relentless (both had been out of print for over three years) and posthumously released the albums Hicks was working on when he died: Arizona Bay and Rant in E-Minor.

Hicks kicks off Dangerous, by mocking his New York audience and questioning their blindness to the homeless situation in their city:

"Now I'm no bleeding heart, okay? But, when you're walking

down the streets of New York City and you're stepping over

a guy on the sidewalk who, I don't know, might be dead...

does it ever occur to you to think 'Wow, maybe our system

doesn't work?' Does that thought ever bubble up out of you?"

He goes on to aim his scorn at the US South, non-smokers, wimpy pop artists (such as Debbie Gibson and George Michael), and anti-abortionists. He even breathes new life into comically overdone topics such as family trips in the car and hotel living. On the track, "The War on Drugs," Hicks wonders why there are never any positive drug stories on the news:

"Same LSD story everytime... 'Young man on acid, thought he

could fly, jumped out of a building, what a tragedy.' What a dick!

Don't go blaming acid on this guy... if he thought he could fly,

why didn't he take off from the ground first and check it out?

He's an idiot, he's dead... good!"

Hicks was one of the few performer/entertainer types who insisted that mind altering drugs have done positive things for people and he was not afraid to explore the posibility further with his audiences.

Relentless delves further into many of the subjects covered on Dangerous but takes a noticeable turn toward the political. His material on the Gulf War is already classic. While the capitulating silence of lesser comics was becoming deafening, Hicks was there at the front line exposing the conflict for what it was: A big lie. He referred to the conflict as 'The Persian Gulf Distraction', believing it never was an actual war:

"A war is when TWO armies are fighting... People said 'uh-uh Bill,

Iraq had the fourth largest army in the world.' Yeah maybe, but

you know what? After the first three largest armies, there's a

real big fuckin' drop off, all right? The Hare Krishnas are the fifth

biggest army in the world... and they've already got our airports."

There are three uproarious tracks on Hicks' favorite subject, drugs, including this classic admission:

"I used to do drugs and I'll tell you something honestly... I know

it's not a very popular idea and you don't hear it very often anymore

but, it is the truth... I had a great time doing drugs... Sorry.

Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone,

never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife, or kids...

laughed my ass off, and went about my day... Sorry."

Other topics explored: The Clarence Thomas hearings, Jesus and beliefs, pornography, the sanctity of life, and a great idea on how to deal with the terminally ill. He and his band, Marblehead Johnson close the album with the song, "Chicks Dig Jerks".

Arizona Bay is a creature of a different color, sort of a comic concept album. Here Hicks sets the collapse and destruction of Los Angeles to music. His own music. Interspersed between great material on the Rodney King trial, the resulting LA Riots, and further analysis of US/Iraq relations, Hicks and long time friend Kevin Booth turn out some wonderful instrumental numbers. Sometimes the music punctuates the end of a bit, elsewhere the tunes flow throughout the piece. Hicks was an excellent guitarist with a decent singing voice.

"During the LA Riots when those people were being pulled

out of their trucks and beaten half to death, how many of

y'all wondered like I did... step on the fucking gas, man!!

They're on foot, you're in a truck. I think I see a way out of this!"

At some point before or during the production of Arizona Bay, Hicks learned about his cancer. From then on his material took on an edge, a fearlessness, that can only be perpetuated by a man who has nothing to lose by speaking his mind:

"By the way, if anyone here is in marketing or advertising...

kill yourself. Just planting seeds is all I'm doing. No

joke here. Really. Seriously kill yourself. You have no

rationalization for what you do. You are Satan's little helpers.

Kill yourself, kill yourself, kill yourself now. Okay,

back to the show..."

There are 36 tracks on the 73 minute long Rant In E-Minor. This disc rapid fires the best moments of Bill Hicks' last live performances straight into your noggin via short, concise tracks. Once again the comedy is textured with instrumental music, including tunes from the very last jam session he recorded about two months before he died. There is literally no holding back here. Hicks, who believed that the US's tragic flaw was that it is an irony-challenged nation, had by now accepted that there was no place for him in the mainstream of comedy. The final straw was his entire twelfth appearance on Letterman being left on the editing room floor due to it making the producers nervous about losing sponsors. Hicks also understood he did not have much time left on this world. Thus Rant paints dark comic portraits with no holds barred. There is something to offend everybody here, no matter what side of the spectrum you may be from.

For example, one track offers this short but sweet attack on a well known radio demagogue's greatest weakness... his homophobia:

"Speaking of Satan, I was watching Rush Limbaugh the other

day. Doesn't Rush Limbaugh remind you of one of those gay

guys who likes to lay in a tub while other men pee on him?

Am I the only one? Can't you see his fat body in a tub while

Reagan, Quayle and Bush just stand around pissing on him?

His little piggly wiggly dick can't get hard, 'Uhh... uhh...

I can't get hard. Reagan, pee in my mouth!'..."

Who else could so thoroughly offend right wingers and the gay community with one simple joke? And that bit goes on for another few minutes, bringing Barbara Bush into the picture... (you'll have to buy the disc to hear the rest). Hicks does a brilliant impersonation of Jay Leno killing himself on the set of the Tonight Show after interviewing child TV star Joey Lawrence for the umpteenth time. He admits he wouldn't mind 'tightening his belt' to help pay off the federal deficit as long as he could tighten it around Jesse Helms' neck. He explores the last news-hyped issues he would know in his life: Gays in the military ("anyone dumb enough to want to be in the military should be allowed"), the Waco debacle, American Gladiators, and the Pope's bullet-proof world tour ("There's faith in action for ya").

It's great following world events through the eyes of this guy. Unfortunately Hicks didn't live long enough to produce material on some of the more recent media frenzies: Kurt Cobain's suicide; the O.J. Simpson 'low-speed chase' and eventual trial; the Oklahoma City bombing; the capture of the Unabomber; and the Heaven's Gate cult suicide. It would be refreshing to hear the Hicks take on these events. Although no one needs to be reminded how absurd and maddening our recent history is, Hicks would point out to us, in a way no one else could, exactly why certain events are senseless, why certain people we trust are actually insane, how we can combat craziness by opening our third eye and how to laugh until we cry.

–Mattro