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Bill Hicks? Overrated or underrated?

[Deleted User]

Gold TV now showing "It's Just a Ride" about the career of Bill Hicks.

As his name constantly features on comedian threads, maybe it's time he deserves a thread of his own.

What's your take on him?

Personally I always found him to be overrated as a comedian, he just wasn't my idea of hilarious...but underrated as a polemicist and a political commentator, his attack on the US government after Waco was direct and relentless, as was much of his stand up routine.

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enfant terrible

Bill Hicks never died and in fact changed his identity the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, its a well known fact.

The King of Moo

I personally don't think he was funny and find him quite annoying, but respect that others like him.

Joe_ Public

I didn't like him. I loved him. Bill Hicks on the evils of marketing...just genius. "You think there's a joke comin? There's no fkcin joke comin."

Icaras

Very funny at times, not funny at all at times. He was razor sharp with a lot of observations I just found sometimes his way of expressing them poor.

[Deleted User]

I _genuinely_ have no idea who you are talking about.

So as a test for over or under rating you could suggest two or three clips for me.

And I will tell you my response.

Littlehorny

Way overrated, i thought he was ok when i first saw his videos when i was seventeen but i am in my early forties now and his act has not stood the test of time. Not funny and nowhere near as clever as he thought he was. George Carlin was much funnier and much cleverer, i think he was only copying Carlin anyway.

uch

About as funny as Tuberculosis, Yanks dont do Funny

[Deleted User]

Littlehorny wrote: »

Way overrated, i thought he was ok when i first saw his videos when i was seventeen but i am in my early forties now and his act has not stood the test of time. Not funny and nowhere near as clever as he thought he was. George Carlin was much funnier and much cleverer, i think he was only copying Carlin anyway.

Interesting, I'd be the opposite in that I remember seeing him 20 years ago and thinking "it's not funny". But as I got older I appreciated his political views a bit more...albeit I take your point about Carlin.

boobar

I personally didn't find him very funny.

But he was interesting and quite good at expressing political views.

His take on marketing has stood the test of time, but like many things much of his other material now appears quite dated.

FortySeven

boobar wrote: »

I personally didn't find him very funny.

But he was interesting and quite good at expressing political views.

His take on marketing has stood the test of time, but like many things much of his other material now appears quite dated.

To be fair, he did die. Hard to stay current really.

[Deleted User]

Spoilers!

Littlehorny

Deleted User wrote: »

Interesting, I'd be the opposite in that I remember seeing him 20 years ago and thinking "it's not funny". But as I got older I appreciated his political views a bit more...albeit I take your point about Carlin.

I just watched him again as i got older and thought "not funny at all" and instead of being clever he just looked really smug and so proud of himself. Also whenever he was talking about how great smoking weed or smoking in general was, these musing are his own views and he's entitled to them but the man died in his thirties from smoking so his observations kinda ring hollow in this case.

Rothko

I like him but I think he's overrated to an extent. Some people treat every word he said as gospel but there are a few things on which I'd strongly disagree with, especially in relation to smoking.

LightsStillOn

uch wrote: »

About as funny as Tuberculosis, Yanks dont do Funny

Richard Pryor, Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr, Louis CK, Eddie Murphy, George Carlin etc etc.

Yanks don't do funny?

Internet Ham

Littlehorny wrote: »

I just watched him again as i got older and thought "not funny at all" and instead of being clever he just looked really smug and so proud of himself. Also whenever he was talking about how great smoking weed or smoking in general was, these musing are his own views and he's entitled to them but the man died in his thirties from smoking so his observations kinda ring hollow in this case.

I am not a biology student but last time I checked you don't inhale cigarette smoke into your pancreas.

I personally think the guy was a genius with the exception of the ''goatboy'' schtick. Never found that entertaining. Carlin did have almost thirty years experience over Hicks so of course Carlin was more proficient. Carlin himself found Hicks' work worthy of praise. A more qualified arbiter than Carlin you will not find.

Yamanoto

The guy may have had a talent for calling out hypocrisy and the emptiness at the centre of modern consumer culture, but he rarely said anything that really cracked you up.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Seems to me any comedian who expresses political views as part of their act gets overrated as an actual comedian.

I remember hearing some of Lenny Bruces stuff and although he spoke a lot of sense I never felt the compulsion to laugh.

Tigger

Comedy is timing
Bill was brilliant when he was current
Goatboy was ****e tho

Dolbert

Overrated as f*ck. Being ranted at for an hour by a smug, self-righteous arse is not my idea of comedy.

Your Face

He can't wrestle.

Realt Dearg Sec

Littlehorny wrote: »

I just watched him again as i got older and thought "not funny at all" and instead of being clever he just looked really smug and so proud of himself. Also whenever he was talking about how great smoking weed or smoking in general was, these musing are his own views and he's entitled to them but the man died in his thirties from smoking so his observations kinda ring hollow in this case.

He died of pancreatic cancer.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Hugely overrated.

Carlin pulled off the social commentator and comedian act. Hicks's never came close to replicating it in my eyes.

Cathy.C

Overrated for me. Can't understand what anyone found funny about him.

People always cite the marketing thing but to me it just was stating the obvious. For example at one section he says that advertisement companies would use hardcore porn to sell an item if they could, which is true, they would, but he says it as if it was a profound thing to say but sure we are all more than aware that they would do that if they could. Hence why some ads get pulled occasionally over the years for being to sexually graphic.

I also think there was an element of heading off the critics at the time when he mocked at one point during that material that his own agent / management might congratulate him on calculatingly going for the whole anti corporate, non conformist market with his act and he screamed (yet again) for them not to do that, because that wasn't what he was doing.

Wasn't it?

Realt Dearg Sec

Cathy.C wrote: »

Overrated for me. Can't understand what anyone found funny about him.

People always cite the marketing thing but to me it just was stating the obvious. For example at one section he says that advertisement companies would use hardcore porn to sell an item if they could, which is true, they would, but he says it as if it was a profound thing to say but sure we are all more than aware that they would do that if they could. Hence why some ads get pulled occasionally over the years for being to sexually graphic.

I also think there was an element of heading off the critics at the time when he mocked at one point during that material that his own agent / management might congratulate him on calculatingly going for the whole anti corporate, non conformist market with his act and he screamed (yet again) for them not to do that, because that wasn't what he was doing.

Wasn't it?

No.

fatknacker

The God of every 20 year old weed smoker.
"He's like, so right on...maaaan"
Or however young stoners here talk these days.

Littlehorny

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

He died of pancreatic cancer.

Ok, he may not have died as a direct smoking related cancer but being a heavy smoker doubled his chances of getting pancreatic cancer, besides my point was he tried to go on about how right on smoking was.

Guy:Incognito

FortySeven wrote: »

To be fair, he did die. Hard to stay current really.

And thats the attitude that will stop you getting to the top. Let NOTHING get in the way of success.

Dying is for the weak.

Cienciano

LightsStillOn wrote: »

Richard Pryor, Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr, Louis CK, Eddie Murphy, George Carlin etc etc.

Yanks don't do funny?

They're not funny. Give me Brendan O'Carroll, Hector, Brendan Grace, June Rogers, Sil Fox and Maeve Higgins any day of the week

Flint Fredstone

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I didn't like him. I loved him. Bill Hicks on the evils of marketing...just genius. "You think there's a joke comin? There's no fkcin joke comin."

Yeah, see I like comedians to tell jokes.

Internet Ham

Flint Fredstone wrote: »

Yeah, see I like comedians to tell jokes.

What comedians do you like? No better way to get a sense of someones taste than that.