History Creator / BillHicks

--> Anyone... '''[+DUMB ENOUGH+]'''... to want to be in the military... should be allowed!\\
[+AREN'T Y'ALL FUCKIN' HIRED KILLERS?! '''SHUT UP!'''+]

* DeapanSnarker

William Melvin Hicks was an American [[StandUpComedy stand-up comedian]], born in Georgia in 1961 and raised in Texas from the age of 7. He began his stand-up career in the late 1970s, and continued until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1994.

* BerserkButton: Don't heckle Bill Hicks. Just... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg don't.]] NSFW.

* DrugsAreBad: {{Inverted|Trope}}, bigtime. Hicks routinely did material on the benefits of using marijuana and hallucinogens, going so far as a "families should trip together" bit and likening the effects of mushrooms to a religious experience.
--> Shit, man, not only do I think pot should be legalized... I think it should be mandatory.
--> I took what Terence [=McKenna=] refers to as a ''heroic'' dose... (audience laughs) Five dried grams... (audience ooohs) Yeah, my third eye was squeegeed quite cleanly.
** Also, has a problem with the MoralGuardians involved with drugs:
---> "Why is the drug czar in this country--well, let's go back; Why do we ''have'' a "drug czar" in this country, A. B, why is he a cop? Why do they put drug users in jail? They're sick, they're not criminals. Sick people don't get better in prison."

* FanDisservice: There's a segment on the 'Revelations' show in which Hicks indulges in his 'Goatboy' persona for about ten minutes... during which, the audience is very, ''very'' noticeably squicked out.

* OverlyLongGag: {{Lampshaded}}: "Okay Bill, stop with the Goatboy thing, we get it alright. It's kinda amusing but... okay."

* WhoShotJFK: A running theme in his routines, played straight more or less every time.

** To be fair he does follow it up an extended series of lines like that with the killer joke that he's been setting up" "I know what all the marketing people here are thinking, (marketer impression) you know what Bill's doing? He's gong after the anti-marketing dollar, that's a good market. He's very smart. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo He's very smart.]]" Hicks was a genius at setting up punchlines with long, seemingly meandering set ups.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys -- And, ''damn'', was he bitter about that.

* AntiLoveSong -- "Chicks Dig Jerks", quoted in the previous item.
* AtomicFBomb[=/=]ClusterFBomb[=/=]PrecisionFStrike -- Hicks' routines were ''salty'', and covered all the F tropes with gusto, as the quotes on this page demonstrate.
* AuthorFilibuster -- Hicks' personal politics and philosophy informed much of his act.
* BerserkButton -- Don't heckle Bill Hicks. Just... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg don't.]] NSFW.
* BlackComedy -- "Rush Limbaugh munches scat!" and his jokes about abortion, just for starters. He even joked about his own cancer.
* CarefulWithThatAxe -- He does this occasionally for effect. For example, from the routine "Gays in the Military":

* CaliforniaCollapse -- Discussed in the "Arizona Bay" routine.
* ConspiracyTheorist -- Especially regarding...

* CovertPervert -- How he perceived Rush Limbaugh.

* DeepSouth -- One of his favorite targets.
* DrugsAreBad -- {{Inverted|Trope}}, bigtime. Hicks routinely did material on the benefits of using marijuana and hallucinogens, going so far as a "families should trip together" bit and likening the effects of mushrooms to a religious experience.

* DracoInLeatherPants -- [[invoked]] This was his view on how some people might treat Satan.

* FanDisillusionment -- A theory Hicks "claimed" explained Music/JudasPriest's apparent desire to kill off their fans.
* FanDisservice -- There's a segment on the 'Revelations' show in which Hicks indulges in his 'Goatboy' persona for about ten minutes... during which, the audience is very, ''very'' noticeably squicked out.

* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking -- Hicks had a very dim view of nonsmokers and their behavior(s) around smokers, although he also poked fun at his own smoking.
* IconicSongRequest -- A heckler repeatedly shouting "Freebird" triggered one of his most infamous rants (see KillAllHumans below).
* IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney -- He claimed this was the only possible excuse you can have to do commercials (apart from WillieNelson, who got a pass for his $24 million tax bill).
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold -- Hard as it is to believe, Hicks really did hold out hope for humanity and felt it could accomplish great things if people stopped living in fear of their own full potential.
* KillAllHumans -- "[[AdolfHitler Hitler]] had the right idea, he was just an underachiever! Kill 'em all, Adolf, all of 'em! Jew, Mexican, American, white, kill 'em all! Start over, the experiment didn't work!"
* MisanthropeSupreme -- "I'm tired of this back-slapping, isn't-humanity-neat bullshit. We're a virus with shoes."
* MurderSimulators -- "''WHAT'' performer wants his audience dead?!?"
* MyDadCanBeatUpYourDad -- "When?"
* OverlyLongGag -- {{Lampshaded}}: "Okay Bill, stop with the Goatboy thing, we get it alright. It's kinda amusing but... okay."

* PornStash -- Hicks joked about having one that was sizable.

* PublicServiceAnnouncement -- Hicks wasn't impressed by the government's anti-drugs message...and that they didn't mention that drugs hadn't managed to kill KeithRichards.
* RefugeInAudacity -- Most of Hicks' material lives and breathes this trope.

* SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud -- Bill was good at imitating gunshots and similar sound effects, sometimes bordering on VoiceChangeling.
** ChirpingCrickets -- One of his best sound effects; his impression of them was eerily accurate.
* SexForProduct -- Taken to its LogicalExtreme (i.e.: camera starts with a close-up on a beautiful woman's face, pulling back to reveal she's naked and masturbating, and then the words appear: Drink Coke!)

* SmugStraightEdge -- How he saw non-smokers as a smoker.
* TakeThat - Bill wouldn't exist without it. He called his routine "comedy of hate", and one track on ''Rant in E-Minor'' is called "You're Wrong Night" for a reason.

[[SchmuckBait Don't mention]] DenisLeary [[BerserkButton to a fan of Hicks.]] [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement Let's leave it at that]].

* AtomicFBomb[=/=]ClusterFBomb[=/=]PrecisionFStrike -- Hicks' routines were ''salty'', and covered all the F tropes with gusto, as the quotes on the page demonstrate.

* CaliforniaCollapse: Discussed in the "Arizona Bay" routine.

* DeadpanSnarker

* DrugsAreBad -- [[InvertedTrope Inverted]], bigtime. Hicks routinely did material on the benefits of using marijuana and hallucinogens, going so far as a "families should trip together" bit and likening the effects of mushrooms to a religious experience.

* {{Erudite Stoner}}

* GoodIsNotNice

* AHellOfATime

* SmokingIsCool

* ChirpingCrickets -- One of the many sound effects he imitated in his act. His impression of them was eerily accurate.

** ChirpingCrickets -- One of his better sound effects.

* ChirpingCrickets -- One of the many StockSoundEffects he worked into his act. His impression of them was eerily accurate.

* DeadBabyComedy -- "Rush Limbaugh munches scat!" and his jokes about abortion, just for starters. He even joked about his own cancer.

He has a number of high-profile fans, including [[Creator/MontyPython John Cleese]], Bill Bailey, Richard Jeni, GeorgeCarlin, WarrenEllis, and the band Music/{{Tool}}. Hicks also made a posthumous appearance in an issue of ''{{Preacher}}''.

* CovertPovert -- How he perceived Rush Limbaugh.

* GirlOnGirlisHot: Invoked on [[AuthorAppeal more than one occasion]].

* GirlonGirlisHot: Invoked on [[AuthorAppeal more than one occasion]].

* SmugStraightEdge: How he saw non-smokers as a smoker.