Bill Hicks: Audios - Comedy/Political Satire

More can be found HERE

William Melvin “Bill” Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, satirist, and musician. His material largely consisted of general discussions about society, religion, politics, philosophy, and personal issues. Hicks’s material was often controversial and steeped in dark comedy. In both his stand-up performances and during interviews, he often criticized consumerism, superficiality, mediocrity, and banality within the media and popular culture, describing them as oppressive tools of the ruling class, meant to “keep people stupid and apathetic”. 

Hicks was 16 years old when he started performing stand-up comedy at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas, in 1978. During the 1980s he toured the United States extensively and performed a number of high profile television appearances. It was in the UK, however, where Hicks first amassed a significant fan base, packing large venues with his 1991 tour. Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. In the years after his death, his work and legacy achieved acclaim in creative circles. In 2007 he was voted the fourth-greatest stand-up comic on the UK’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups on Channel 4, and appeared again in the updated 2010 list as the fourth-greatest comic.

(20 years ago now people, have things changed that much?)

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This is Bill Hicks’ LIVE final televised interview where he appeared on the Austin, Texas public access television show CapZeyeZ, hosted by Metal Dave. He appeared on this interview prior to his performance at the Laff Stop at which his album “Rant in E Minor” was recorded. With this interview we are privileged with some of Hicks’ intuitive criticisms and “fresh” material, by which I mean stuff that isn’t included in the video and audio recordings of his stand-up acts, including his perspective toward his censored performances on Letterman which were deemed “unsuitable” for the audience- due to jokes he made about pro-life (who advertise during Letterman’s show- hence the name…United States of Advertising). In the latter half of the show Hicks takes call-in questions from audience members most of who ask the same damn question, though a couple ask questions that illicit some hilarious, critical and intuitive responses from Hicks. Some (like the guy from metal band Ed Gein) prove that Texans are among the most ignorant of all Americans, with Hicks being an exception of course. A comment near the beginning of the interview and jokes about his friends from Austin provide evidence for his resentment of being considered a “Texan” (or American in general). This is an amazing and entertaining interview that can’t be missed by any Hicks fan. He truly is the most brilliant comic to have ever lived and graced humanity with his thoughts.

Anyone remember the Stoneybridge 1996 Olympics ?…

Absolutely is a popular United Kingdom television comedy sketch show shown on Channel 4 between 1989 and 1993.

Stoneybridge Town Council (played by the entire cast) were the council of the fictional small Scottish town of Stoneybridge. Originally meant to be a one-off mocking the plague of promotional videos and adverts done by many British towns during the 1980s and 1990s, the characters proved so popular that they snowballed into a regular parody of small town and village councils run by the parochial minded with jarring grandiose aspirations for themselves and the people they are trying to serve (for example, bidding to host the Olympic Games). The council all had the same attributes, in that they all had nasal-sounding voices, and all the men had moustaches. Over the course of series, the characters developed, in particular Bruce (Kennedy), leader of the council, who would often try and manipulate things towards his own favour. Although in the series the town was described as being near the Yetts of Muckhart (and later twinned with it), the pictures of “Stoneybridge” used in the series came from the village of Breich, near West Calder in West Lothian, its town clock from Tranent in East Lothian. The “Stoney Bridge” itself is actually within the Edinburgh suburb of Warriston, on the Warriston Road.