Line #13 YMMV/BillHicks


1	* CoveredUp: A lingering criticism of Creator/DenisLeary is that he stole some of his early material (mainly smoking/cancer related material and "good musicians die while sucky musicians don't") from Hicks.
2	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
3	** Most of his act, but none more so than when he brings out lolicon-loving, sex maniacal, AntiChrist wannabe 'Goatboy', or 'Beelzebozo, The Clown from Hell.'
4	** The Creator/RushLimbaugh routine doesn't so much cross the line twice, as perpetually accelerate back and forth over the line in a giant circle. VulgarHumor doesn't even begin to cover the first line, and it's all downhill from there.
5	-->'''Bill:''' Doesn't Rush Limbaugh remind you of one of those gay guys who likes to lay in a tub while other men pee on him??
6	* FairForItsDay: His material overall. He strongly denounced a lot of the machismo that permeated American culture, but his material still sometimes fell into misogynistic or homophobic territory, and as ruthlessly as he attacked American capitalism, his material also falls into classist territory at times. Regardless, by '90s standards he was quite ahead of the curve; he's a lot less misogynistic or, for that matter, ''mean'' than many of the other popular comics of the day, and his ultimate message was that people should be more empathetic to each other (see the "It's Just a Ride" routine on the Heartwarming page).
7	* FandomRivalry: With Creator/DenisLeary. See CoveredUp above.
8	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Hicks was more well known in the United Kingdom than the USA.
9	* HarsherInHindsight: He was a very, very heavy smoker, who habitually tore the filters off his Marlborough Reds before smoking them and joked about going through "two lighters a day" in his act. One routine had him confessing his failure to quit, which is greeted with ecstatic cheering from the audience. He turned this into a joke too. "Bill's gonna kill himself, WOOOH! Bill's gonna lose a lung, YEEAH!" He didn't lose a lung, though he would succumb to aggressive pancreatic cancer at the age of 32. So, err, yeah.
10	* HilariousInHindsight:
11	** Hicks' rants about the first Persian Gulf War applied equally well to the second, right down to the name of the president. (Although the "tell me when, Lord" portion may be more HarsherInHindsight in the light of actual reports of W crediting his war motives to divine inspiration...)
12	** Hicks' material about how Billy Ray Cyrus [[Music/MileyCyrus shouldn't be allowed to breed]].
13	** His bit on Music/GeorgeMichael, back before he came out. One line in particular went, "If money had a dick, George Michaels [sic] would be a flaming faggot." Well...
14	** His Music/RickAstley jokes are very applicable to Music/JustinBieber nowadays.
15	** In one bit, he talks about being so sick of a particular trend, he could puke blood. [[Characters/GLRedLanternCorps Why does that sound familiar?]]
16	** His list of non-talented celebrities included Creator/MarkWahlberg. One can only imagine what Bill would make of Wahlberg's resurgence as an actor.
17	* HypeBacklash: There was a show booked for the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe Festival titled "Bill Hicks Wasn't Very Good". It's ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
18	* JerkassWoobie: Bill was one of the most infamously abrasive comedians of his time. His barbs at plastic pop stars and right-wing politicians are sadistic, and his whole stage persona in general tends to be pretentious at best, and disturbingly confrontational at worst, whether his audience is into it or not. Yet Bill wasn't shy about letting audiences in on how much of a toll his uncompromising approach takes, and it never escaped his notice that some of his peers achieved superstardom while he languished in smaller clubs (such as Creator/JayLeno). His apparent bad luck in the dating world is often brought up as well. His cancer diagnosis only made his dark material even darker, best demonstrated on posthumous release ''Rant In E-Minor,'' where there's little idealism to be found like there once was. Bill truly put the Sad in SadClown.
19	* MemeticMutation: While never a major celebrity in his lifetime, his effect on the stand-up comedy world is HUGE. His style is probably one of the most commonly cited as being imitated. To the point nearly every comedy club in America has graffitti in the green room saying "Stop Trying to be Hicks".
20	* MisaimedFandom: Hicks is quoted by just about every StrawNihilist on the Web.
21	* PosthumousPopularityPotential: Bill had a serviceable career as an alt-comic in the shock comedy scene. However, he didn't reach the peak of his popularity until the 2000s, as Generation Y discovered his work posthumously.
22	* {{Squick}}: His Radio/RushLimbaugh rant.
23	* ValuesDissonance: While often considered ahead of his time, Bill was also ''very'' much a product of the late 80s shock comedy scene, the kind where guys like Creator/SamKinison prospered. In light of the social climate today, it might be a bit jarring to experience Bill with fresh ears now - halfway between politically incorrect humor and the insightful commentary he developed a cult following for. By today's standards, bits of Bill's material simply come off like casual homophobia and mild sexism. Of course, the changing standards in comedy is just one more reason fans often wonder WhatCouldHaveBeen, had he lived to see his influence grow.
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