Bill Hicks
- American
- Stand-up comedian
Press clippings
Why comedians stopped being funny
It's safer to become a podcaster than tell a good joke.
Dorian Lynskey, Unherd, 8th February 2022Streaming with laughter: 50 best stand-up comedy shows
From Bill Hicks to Hannah Gadsby, Dave Chappelle to Josie Long - here are 50 specials you can watch right now.
Paul Fleckney, Harriet Gibsone, Ellen E Jones, Brian Logan and Graeme Virtue, The Guardian, 22nd February 2020Young comics reassess Bill Hicks
He was the Kurt Cobain of comedy, railing against advertising, politicians, the war on drugs, even waffle waitresses. What do the new generation make of the chain-smoking motormouth?
Brian Logan, The Guardian, 25th February 2019"You're in the right place: it's Bill." This 1993 set from London's Dominion Theatre - like Hendrix, Hicks initially found more love in the UK, after galloping up on the coattails of grunge - is historic. But how dated, even rather innocent, it all feels now; this cowboy-preacher taking potshots at power - Bush Sr, rather than Bush Jr - and Christian fundamentalism during the last decade of relative peace and quiet. It's great, sure, but very much a show of its time.
Ali Catterall, The Guardian, 30th April 2016Another outing for John Thomson/'s comic creation Bernard Righton: a formerly blue club comedian who has attained a left-wing conversion, and reconfigured his act accordingly. Bernard acts as compere on this festive clip show, introducing archival Christmas pieces by the likes of Bill Hicks, Emo Phillips and Les Dawson - all "appearing" at his club. The archival jokes are a lot funnier than Thomson's, which is probably the point, but which makes for strangely uneven viewing.
John Robinson, The Guardian, 16th December 2015DVD review: live comedy round-up
'Tis the season to be jolly with DVDs from legendary stand-up figures such as Dylan Moran, Bill Hicks and, um, Dapper Laughs.
Brian Donaldson, The List, 8th December 2015Robert Newman interview
The comedian on his odyssey into the human brain, why he never wants to play a stadium again - and the reason he turned down his comedy hero Bill Hicks.
Paul Fleckney, The Guardian, 20th October 2015Interview: rarely asked questions - Alex Edelman
There is a long tradition of American artists being quickly embraced in the UK, from Jimi Hendrix to Bill Hicks. I think at the moment Alex Edelman is in the process of joining that illustrious list.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 16th August 2015Tiff Stevenson: Mad Man
In Tiff Stevenson: Mad Man, the comic will ask why, in our current world, where it is no longer reasonable to be reasonable, do we literally have to scream to be heard? What makes a person anyhow? Martin Walker asks if she enjoys the label, 'the female Bill Hicks'.
Martin Walker, Broadway Baby, 3rd August 2015Fringe actors discuss playing dead celebrities
Bill Hicks, Harry Houdini, Nina Simone, Bob Monkhouse and Arthur Conan Doyle appear at Edinburgh Fringe.
Gareth K. Vile, The List, 7th July 2015