Bill Hicks: Revelations (1993)

I've seen many stand-ups, and I'd have to say that none of them deserve the 10 stars I've just given Hicks. George Carlin comes close with maybe a couple of 9's in his belt, but Hicks is the BEST. The best. I was born in 1995 so when I first saw this, sure, I missed out on the topical jokes that he throws out there. Doesn't matter. You know why? Because the world has not changed. As they say in Ecclessiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun." Bill's act here in Revelations is timeless. All the jokes, all the timing, all the acting of this one person are completely on point even 23 years later. It's simply the consummation of stand-up comedy. In particular, Bill displayed in this act the single greatest example of what has been dubbed, "The Call Back", wherein the comedian brings up an old joke, usually in the end of another joke, to heighten the comedic entertainment. This happens when you think he has gotten off the "JFK Assassination bit" and has gone in an entirely different direction when, suddenly.... "BOOM... Back and to the left. Back and to the left, Back and to the left" he is back on the topic with full force.The most honest, brilliant, and insightful act you have ever seen. I recommend this to every American. RIP Bill.

This was Bill Hicks last recorded stand up routine performed at the London Dominion Theatre several months before his death in 1994.This is not vintage Hicks and I found his earlier routines to be funnier. Still you get to see Bill Hicks angry and misanthropic as he rails against the hypocrisy of the church going conservative right establishment in the United States.There are routines on JFK, the first Gulf War and pop stars of the time enjoying their 15 minutes of fame once they serviced Satan's tool. If he was alive I wonder what he would make of the continued success of Marky Mark Wahlberg. Hicks is spiteful towards marketing men and as always he talks about drugs.In his latter years Hicks enjoyed touring Britain where he found a willing audience with his free thinking brand of comedy. However this show lacked focus to me and some of the material was familiar as well.

I watched all of the specials attached to Bill's Dec. 2004 DVD release, and I have to say, to see them in chronological order showed me one thing. Bill Hicks was a guy who needed focus, and as time went on, it was developing. The first 10 minutes of Revelations is funnier than his HBO half hour and Relentless combined. Not that those two weren't funny, but Revelations was focused, and he just kept pounding the audience with jokes. In his earlier days he tended to ramble, not knowing when to end a joke. As a comic, I can tell you that this is a hard thing to learn, and Bill was really getting there in Revelations. Had he survived cancer, we'd see him as a polished and brilliant comic today. Denis Leary may only be a footnote in comedy had Hicks lived on.

This video captures Bill live in London, and is the last video he made before he died. He is on fire, ranting and raving about the hypocrisy that surrounds us leaving no sacred cows. Not too many people know of Bill, he died before making it really big. If however you ever want to know what all the fuss, that some of us make, is about him check it out. I swear you will not regret it.