I like Bill Hicks, a lot. That being said I would rather listen to an entire Larry the cable guy set then hear fucking goat boy ever again.

I discovered Bill Hicks through Tool. :(

You seem alright by me Adham! Perhaps you're one of the exceptions! :)

Hicks needed a "thing" and Goatboy was that thing. I remember reading somewhere that he hated the whole idea of Goatboy but was kinda forced into it as people were trying to get him more involved with the mainstream/sitcom audience. He was writing a sitcom of his own at the time I believe..

Carlin's good, but he was no Lenny Bruce. Agreed on his sociopolitical stuff.

Carlin had a long and storied career that bridged the counterculture with the mainstream. My 80 year old father checks out Carlin audiobooks from the library.

But yeah, there are some dumb observations. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a much more precise, descriptive and useful term than "shell-shocked"

I don't hold that against him. I'm sure if he were alive today that he'd be an enlightened SJW like me.

When I was in middle school, one of my favorite rappers was Big L. Recently I put him on for old times sake, and when he dropped "If I catch aids I'ma start raping bitches," I just raised my eyebrows and smiled to myself, happy it wasn't at work. Fact of the matter is, he was put on the pedestal with Tupac and Biggie after he got murdered; after listening to him again I don't really think he deserved it at all. He had a great flow and solid production, but his punchlines were kinda corny and he said a lot of repulsive shit.

Context is important. A lot of rappers said some really repulsive shit in the 90s. Some of them are still saying repulsive shit (most of Brand Nubian comes to mind). And he had some corny lines, but most of them were no more corny than his contemporaries. He's certainly overrated to his death, but I still think he was above average for the time period.

I really hope that there are websites that go DEEP into that conspiracy theory.

Merry fuckin Christmas

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/the-conspiracy-theo ry-that-alex-jones-is-actually-legendary-long-dead-texas-comedian- bill-hicks/

It's not that different from jokes I hear about Justin Bieber. Hicks wasn't really picking on him for being gay, it was for being a sellout.

BTW, no one should like me because I made a lot of homophobic jokes while in middle school, and I also enjoyed the Marshall Mathers LP.

Wow cena way to jinx the living hell out of my post. Welcome to New York.

I can't say for sure, but if George Micheal had been out, bill Hicks wouldn't have made this joke. not saying anybody deserves to be ripped on for being closeted and gay. And not trying to say that this bit doesn't have a lot of cringe to it.

Michael's image was as a sex symbol for women. His vapid music also helped perpetuate a vapid image obsessed culture. Hick's was attacking a representative of that bullshit culture. The way he went about it was and is wrong...because Gay should not be a punchline.

I'm just saying, Hicks wasn't going after Michaels for being a closeted gay man, he was going after him for being shit.

No, he was certainly going after him for being gay. Gay-shaming was still a thing back then and that's absolutely what Hicks was doing.

You could argue that Hicks was gay-shaming Michael because he felt the music sucked, but how would that play out had Hicks exhibited any other form of bigotry against an artist whose work he didn't like?

(pretends to shoot M.C. Hammer in the back of the head) "You know M.C. Hammer is a big nigger. If you ladies like him, you're a nigger-lover."

If you want proof how awful it is, listen to the people who laughed and hooted the loudest at this "joke."

I don't have much of an opinion on Hicks either way, but kind of agree with BtH here. He could have, it being '89, gone after Bon Jovi or something like that, but i think he was specifically gay shaming George Michaels. That being said, times and culture change, and Hicks seems like the kind of person who would evolve a more progressive opinion on gays, had he been given the chance.

There was a time where I considered myself progressive on the issues of gay marriage, but would still make childish gay jokes. 2004, I was college. I voted for Micheal Badnarik (libertarian) for president and I voted against the change to the Georgia's state constitution that would ban gay marriage. People were watching election results in the TV room of the dorm and one resident who was a lesbian was very angry about that constitutional amendment passing. I overheard her say, "This is bullshit, there should be riots in Atlanta over this."
To which I replied in my old but somewhat more acceptable in 2004 style of humor, "There would, but it's kinda hard to throw a trashcan through a window with limp wrists."
She took off her boot and chased me around the dorm trying to hit me with it. Fortunately for me it was hard for her to run with just one boot.
Hicks hated the religious right and Republicans. I'm sure he supported gay rights. He just also happened to make gay jokes, cause they were funny back then. Remember Men on Film from In Living Color? Hilarious back in the 90s.

@binro: It's literally impossible for Hicks to be gay bashing George Michaels as Georgy wasnt out until 98 and Hicks having been dead for four years. He was using gay as a punchline though, his joke is basically school kids saying "you're a gaywad". and that's not kosher and certainly didnt (nor does it) help normalize homesexuality. but it's a far cry fucking difference then straight up going after someone for being gay.

@cena.I agree with the person who said there should be riots. I chuckled at the limp wrist joke (because I'm a bad person) and laughed out loud to hear you were chased with a boot for it.

>>>You could argue that Hicks was gay-shaming Michael because he felt the music sucked, but how would that play out had Hicks exhibited any other form of bigotry against an artist whose work he didn't like?

>>>(pretends to shoot M.C. Hammer in the back of the head) "You know M.C. Hammer is a big nigger. If you ladies like him, you're a nigger-lover."

I think it would be more like "If you ladies like him, you're craving a big hard black cock." Which is, you know, not necessarily a bad thing. I've been there.

Some of this kind of humor is arguably about pointing out the everyday existence of homoeroticism, something that was generally denied. This kind of humor isn't hateful. It's dated.

^ *****

Hey Adham Nu'man Glad you're still around. I've been working on a video for you!

The one Andrew Dice Clay album I listened to sounded like a Klan rally to me. Close your eyes anmd you can see the torches.

Sounds like Bill Hicks is too deep for you. I'm sure Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia, or Jeff Dunham would be right up your ally.

Patton Oswalt FTW

I don't think his appeal was simply because he was contrarian, but that he did speak honestly about what he felt. There was a lot of bitterness there, but I expect that anger seemed fresh in an era of comedy that was more saturated/family friendly.

I think you've just agreed with me. If norm of comedy was saturated/family friendly, then the contrarian position was anger etc.