Born in Valdosta, Georgia, Bill Hicks was the son of Jim and Mary (Reese) Hicks and had two older siblings: sister Lynn and brother Steve. The family lived in Florida, Alabama, and New Jersey, before settling in Houston, Texas when Hicks was seven. He was raised in the Southern Baptist faith, where he first began performing as a comedian for other children at Sunday School.
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 the significant admiration and acclaim of numerous comedians, writers, actors and musicians alike. In 2007 he was voted the 6th greatest stand-up comic on the UK's Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 4th greatest stand-up comic.
Hicks was associated with the Texas Outlaw Comics group developed at the Comedy Workshop in Houston in the 1980s. Once Hicks gained some underground success in night clubs and universities, he quit drinking. However, Hicks continued to smoke cigarettes. His nicotine addiction, love of smoking, and occasional attempts to quit became a recurring theme in his act throughout his later years.
In January 1986, Hicks found himself broke, having spent all his money on a variety of substances. His career soon received another upturn, though, as he appeared on Rodney Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special, in 1987. The same year, he moved to New York City, and, for the next 5 years, performed about 300 times a year. On the album Relentless, he jokes that he quit using drugs because "once you've been taken aboard a UFO, it's kind of hard to top that", although in his performances, he continued to extol the virtues of LSD, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms. He fell back to chain-smoking, a theme that would figure heavily in his performances from then on.
In 1988, Hicks signed on with his first professional business manager, Jack Mondrus.[citation needed] Throughout 1989, Mondrus worked to convince many clubs to book Hicks, promising that the wild drug- and alcohol-induced behavior was behind him. Among the club managers hiring the newly sober Hicks was Colleen McGarr, who would become his girlfriend and fiancée in later years.[citation needed]
Hicks quit drinking in 1988, as stated in his 1990 album Dangerous on the first track, entitled "Modern Bummer".
In 1989 he released his first video, Sane Man.
In 1990, Hicks released his first album, Dangerous, performed on the HBO special One Night Stand, and performed at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival. He was also part of a group of American stand-up comedians performing in London's West End in November. Hicks was a huge hit in the UK and Ireland and continued touring there throughout 1991. That year, he returned to Just for Laughs and filmed his second video, Relentless.
Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording with the Marble Head Johnson album in 1992. During the same year he toured the UK, where he recorded the Revelations video for Channel 4. He closed the show with his soon-to become-famous philosophy regarding life, "It's Just a Ride". Also in that tour he recorded the stand-up performance released in its entirety on a double CD titled Salvation. Hicks was voted "Hot Standup Comic" by Rolling Stone magazine in 1993. He moved to Los Angeles in 1992.
The progressive metal band Tool invited Hicks to open a number of concerts in its 1992 Lollapalooza appearances, where Hicks once asked the audience to look for a contact lens he had lost. Thousands of people complied. Members of Tool felt that they and Hicks "were resonating similar concepts".
Intending to raise awareness about Hicks's material and ideas, Tool dedicated their triple-platinum album Ænima (1996) to Hicks. Both the lenticular casing of the Ænima album packaging as well as the chorus of the title track "Ænema" make reference to a sketch from Hicks's Arizona Bay album, in which he contemplates the idea of Los Angeles falling into the Pacific Ocean. Ænima's final track, "Third Eye" contains samples from Hicks's Sane Man and Relentless albums. An alternate version of the Ænima artwork shows a painting of Bill Hicks, calling him "Another Dead Hero," and mentions of Hicks are found both in the liner notes and on the record.
In 1984, Hicks was invited to appear on Late Night with David Letterman for the first time. He had a joke that he used frequently in comedy clubs about how he caused a serious accident that left a classmate using a wheelchair. NBC had a policy that no handicapped jokes could be aired on the show, making his stand-up routine difficult to perform without mentioning words such as "wheelchair".
On October 1, 1993, Hicks was scheduled to appear on Late Show with David Letterman, his 12th appearance on a Letterman late-night show, but his entire performance was removed from the broadcast—then the only occasion where a comedian's entire routine was cut after taping.
Hicks's stand-up routine was removed from the show allegedly because Letterman and his producer were nervous about a religious joke ("If Jesus came back he might not want to see so many crosses"). Hicks said he believed it was due to a pro-life commercial aired during a commercial break. Both the show's producers and CBS denied responsibility. Hicks expressed his feelings of betrayal in a letter to John Lahr of The New Yorker. Although Letterman later expressed regret at the way Hicks had been handled, Hicks did not appear on the show again.
Hicks's mother, Mary, appeared on the January 30, 2009 episode of Late Show. Letterman played the routine in its entirety. Letterman took full responsibility for the original censorship and apologized to Mrs. Hicks. Letterman also declared he did not know what he was thinking when he pulled the routine from the original show in 1993, saying, "It says more about me as a guy than it says about Bill because there was absolutely nothing wrong with that."
For many years, Hicks was friends with fellow comedian Denis Leary. But in 1993 Hicks was angered by Leary's album No Cure for Cancer, which featured lines and subject matter similar to Hicks's routine. According to American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True, upon hearing the album "Bill was furious. All these years, aside from the occasional jibe, he had pretty much shrugged off Leary's lifting. Comedians borrowed, stole stuff, and even bought bits from one another. Milton Berle and Robin Williams were famous for it. This was different. Leary had practically taken line for line huge chunks of Bill's act and recorded it."
The friendship ended abruptly as a result.
At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole Hicks's material as well as his persona and attitude. In an interview, when Hicks was asked why he had quit smoking, he answered, "I just wanted to see if Denis would, too."
In another interview, Hicks said, "I have a scoop for you. I stole his [Leary's] act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and, to really throw people off, I did it before he did." During a 2003 Comedy Central roast of Denis Leary, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast.
The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in American Scream: Leary was in Montreal hosting the "Nasty Show" at Club Soda, and Colleen [McGarr?] was coordinating the talent so she stood backstage and overheard Leary doing material incredibly similar to old Hicks riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: "Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut. The plot thickens." When Leary came offstage, Colleen, more stunned than angry, said, "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks's material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and briskly left the dressing room.
Uncle Charlie's Revenge
Bill Hicks Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My brother told me 'simmons was the thing that got his goat:
He'd sat there on the back porch, drinking Elum tea,
And went he finally went to eat there wasn't any soap.
There wasn't any plates nor cups nor no place to sit down,
There wasn't any table, there wasn't any chair,
And his wife was in the living room without no underwear.
(chorus)
Charlie, Oh Charlie, your name will always be,
You took my grampaw's fiddle and you throw'd it up a tree,
They say you ate the 'simmons that had landed on the ground,
And when you pitched that fiddle up they say you shot it down.
Well old-time Charlie looked and looked, his house was awful strange,
The clock was running back'ards, the upstairs felt like rain,
His couch was lying on the floor his car was in the ditch,
He picked up grampaw's fiddle but it wouldn't get in pitch
Old Charlie wound and tuned and tuned, he twisted all them wires,
He put his E on Mercury he put his G on Mars,
His head was spinning like the Moon is spinning round the Earth,
He rosined up his bow a spell but took an awful thirst.
(chorus)
By the time he got his pistol out the 'simmon punch was gone,
The Sun has passed behind the ridge, evening was coming on,
It took him twenty cartergize -- ey god he got 'er down --
He dragged his leg into the house and left er on the ground!
(chorus)
In Bill Hicks's song Uncle Charlie's Revenge, the lyrics depict a bizarre and comical story about Uncle Charlie, who throws his fiddle up a tree. The song's narrative is filled with absurdities, such as the clock running backward, the upstairs feeling like rain, and the couch lying on the floor while the car is in the ditch. Uncle Charlie's frustrations build up throughout the song, and it becomes clear that he is haunted by the lack of soap, victuals, plates, and cups in his house. But, to make things worse, his wife is in the living room without any underwear.
The song's chorus revolves around Uncle Charlie's misdeeds, and his name will always be associated with throwing Grampaw's fiddle up the tree. The lyrics suggest that Charlie shot the fiddle down after eating the 'simmons that had landed on the ground. The narrative culminates with Uncle Charlie picking up Grampaw's fiddle, but it would not get in pitch. As he worked on the fiddle, he put his E on Mercury and his G on Mars, twisted all the wires, and rosined up his bow but became awfully thirsty. By the time he got his pistol out, the 'simmon punch was gone, and evening was coming on, and he had taken twenty cartergize to get it down.
Line by Line Meaning
Uncle old-time Charlie threw his fiddle up a tree
Charlie was so drunk and frustrated that he threw away his fiddle
My brother told me 'simmons was the thing that got his goat:
Simmons was Charlie's favorite food, and it upset him that he couldn't find any in the house
He'd sat there on the back porch, drinking Elum tea,
Charlie was sitting on the porch drinking moonshine
And went he finally went to eat there wasn't any soap.
When Charlie went to eat, there was no food or utensils available.
There wasn't any victuals, nor any silverware,
Charlie had no food or utensils to eat with
There wasn't any plates nor cups nor no place to sit down,
Charlie had no plates, cups, or chairs to use for his meal
There wasn't any table, there wasn't any chair,
Charlie had no table or chairs for his meal
And his wife was in the living room without no underwear.
Charlie's wife was in the living room without any underwear on
(chorus)
Repeats the refrain of the song
Charlie, Oh Charlie, your name will always be,
The singer is addressing Charlie by name and criticizing him for his behavior
You took my grampaw's fiddle and you throw'd it up a tree,
Charlie threw away the singer's grandfather's fiddle
They say you ate the 'simmons that had landed on the ground,
Charlie ate the fruit that had fallen on the ground
And when you pitched that fiddle up they say you shot it down.
Charlie destroyed the fiddle by throwing it up the tree and then shooting it when it fell
Well old-time Charlie looked and looked, his house was awful strange,
Charlie's house was in disarray and seemed strange
The clock was running back'ards, the upstairs felt like rain,
The clock was running backwards and the upstairs was leaking
His couch was lying on the floor his car was in the ditch,
Charlie's furniture was scattered and his car was damaged
He picked up grampaw's fiddle but it wouldn't get in pitch
When Charlie tried to play the fiddle, it was unable to produce the correct notes
Old Charlie wound and tuned and tuned, he twisted all them wires,
Charlie tried to fix the fiddle by adjusting the strings
He put his E on Mercury he put his G on Mars,
Charlie experimented with tuning the strings by placing them on different planets
His head was spinning like the Moon is spinning round the Earth,
Charlie's head was spinning due to the alcohol he consumed
He rosined up his bow a spell but took an awful thirst.
Charlie tried to play the fiddle but became thirsty and stopped
(chorus)
Repeats the refrain of the song
By the time he got his pistol out the 'simmon punch was gone,
Charlie was so slow that by the time he got his gun, the fruit punch was already gone
The Sun has passed behind the ridge, evening was coming on,
It was getting late in the day and the sun was going down
It took him twenty cartergize -- ey god he got 'er down --
Charlie eventually drank twenty shots of moonshine
He dragged his leg into the house and left er on the ground!
Charlie stumbled into his house and left his gun on the ground
(chorus)
Repeats the refrain of the song
Contributed by Alexander A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.