American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story

by Cynthia True (Author)

• Used

  Unabridged
  2005

  $3.22

  When 32-year-old Bill Hicks died, he had been taking Britain by storm and was on the brink of fame in his own country, 'the United States of Advertising'. Cynthia True has produced a sensitive and compelling biography of the man who brought radical philosophy and rock 'n' roll to the comedy stage. Angry with the establishment, Hicks was a passionate advocate for individual freedom. He was also a man seeking enlightenment, one who believed that life is 'just a ride'. Formerly a vegetarian yoga devotee, Hicks developed a heavy smoking habit and acted as a drugs evangelist as his gigs got more popular and more dangerous. He cleaned up only months before he died from the pancreatic cancer that he had, with unsettling prescience, for years been imagining as an alien sensation in his left side. Petty censorship incensed him; never more so than when he was famously axed from the Letterman show following a tirade of pro-life and Pope digs. Hicks' response was typical: 'Why are people so afraid of jokes?'

• Used

  Paperback
  2002

  $3.22

  On the eighth anniversary of his death, the first ever biography of the cult anti-hero comedian, Bill Hicks. His popularity - buoyant when alive, with sold-out gigs (inc. 2,000+ at London's Dominion), a famously-axed spot on the Dave Letterman show, and top-selling videos and CDs - has mushroomed in Kurt Cobain-like proportions since. Born to Baptist parents in Little Rock, Hicks cited his formative influences as being down to his prized typewriter on which he'd compose his own scripts, a small b/w tv (or 'Lucifer's Dream Box'), a poster of Woody Allen and a fixation with The Tonight Show. The result was a radical philosopher masquerading as a stand-up comic, plumbing the American psyche with challenging (and side-splitting) conclusions. His brand of American self-analysis struck a particular chord in post-Thatcher Britain, with several national tours, and a widely-seen C4 commentary on the Gulf War. The Letterman show shot Hicks to national prominence in America - not only from his regular slots, but his spectacular sacking following an un-aired tirade of pro-life and Pope digs. Hicks's response was typical: 'Why are people so afraid of jokes?'