Today I wanna talk you about a person that is a big inspiration for me: the stand up comedian Bill Hicks. He used the comedy as a weapon to expose truths and show people how governments are screwing us every day of our lives. He was born on December 16th, 1961 in Valdosta, Georgia. At the age of 13 he did his first gig. Six weeks before his death, aged 32, he did the last. His death was a real tragedy because he was in the best moment of his career.
Well, he started telling jokes at the school with Dwight Slade one of his closest friends and at 12 years old they formed a comedy double act. At home Hicks locked his bedroom door having inside his guitar and shelves filled with books and typed comedy routines into the early hours. Gaining experience and understanding he could look on all subjects with the detachment of a neutral. He saw the positive and negative, the grey area.
Later on working with Kevin Booth he toured constantly, became an underground star and having an attitude that believed President Ronald Reagan “a criminal against humanity” he was bound to upset some “patriots.”
In 1983 feeling going nowhere, Bill got into drugs and became a very addictive person and in 1988 he quit realizing he was surrounded by people offering him drugs all the time. But unlike so many stars he didn’t rail on about the hell of drug addiction, instead using his awareness to enlighten. In one of his most inspired routines he went to rail against news coverage which always focused on bad drugs stories, Hicks instead hoping for a different perspective: “Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.”
In his first video in 1988 called "Sane Man", able to see the absurdity of life that humans take life too seriously and invest too much time being concerned with unimportant things. He prowls the stage, thinking on his feet and when introducing the topic of smoking he seems to be whipping up the crowd to mock smokers, like some P.C. comic as he talks about coughing up a “phlegm”. He questions how many non-smokers there are in the audience, getting them to cheer, before altering perceptions with “What a bunch of whining maggots,” nonchalantly pulling out a cigarette.
He worked ceaselessly to spread the word. He was on a mission to wake people up; “Aren’t people frustrated by the lies being told daily in the name of God and country?” His material about the Gulf War was telling people things they really hadn’t been allowed to be aware of because of media manipulation.
In 1992 he and Kevin Booth even filmed around the Waco siege, analyzing the situation to uncover truths about the FBI and ATF’s murderous role. In later routines he would say, “If the FBI’s motivating factor for busting down the Koresh compound was child abuse, how come we never see Bradley tanks smashing into Catholic churches?”
In 1993 learned he had a cancer. On january 1994 Hicks’ deterioration was evident and he knew he was dying. He spent his final moments with his family and closest friends. He died on Saturday, 26th February, 1994 in Little Rock, Arkansas. At the memorial service Hicks’ brother read out a piece Bill had written and requested be read: “I left in love, in laughter, and in truth, and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.”
That's all friends. I recommend you to watch this videos with spanish subtitles :D
-Tribute to Bill Hicks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUeXV6YIt8Y&feature=related
-Speaking against war: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPBPXIdpj04&feature=related
-Speaking on non-smokers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PvVo7r2vIQ&feature=related
