Aug
19
I discovered Bill Hicks when I was in college. A friend of mine loaned me one of his comedy albums, and having never even heard of the guy — Hicks had died of pancreatic cancer in ‘94 — I was a little leery. As far as I was concerned, stand-up comedy was a dying art. Stand-ups in the late-’90s were for the most part simply auditioning for safe, family-friendly sitcoms. The truly edgy comics, the ones that also happened to be funny, were literally a dying breed. Kinison was gone. Pryor was in failing health. It’s almost as though being riotously funny was a death sentence. That being said, Dane Cook is probably immortal.
Listening to Hicks’ mad genius for the first time as an angry young man was one of the few college experiences I truly found rewarding. I quickly sought out all of his comedy albums and spend hours in the computer lab, downloading his MP3’s and drooling on the floor with breathless laughter. Here was a man who could transform his anger, his confusion, and his perversions into comedy gold. He made the medium his own. Every bit is just as fresh today as it was in the early-’90s. That we have another Bush in the White House, another war in Iraq and another all-singing, all-dancing Cyrus keeps his material still oddly relevant.
According to CHUD.com, Russell Crowe is developing a Bill Hicks biopic. Crowe’s sort of an intense personality himself. I could almost imagine him in the role. Most fans seems to be opposed to the idea of a biopic about the comedian. If anything, it’ll increase people’s awareness of him. There have been a few more comedy albums of his released in fits and starts over the years, but he’s nowhere near as posthumously prolific as 2Pac. A film about him might have previously unreleased material, filtered through an actor who can be quite a chameleon.
How would Hicks feel about a biopic? Well, he was always very outspoken about his extreme dislike for people who sell out. But I can’t imagine this film would be a major motion picture, costing in the hundred million dollar range. I imagine an indie — part concert film, part dramedy. I’d love to see it shot all in black-and-white like his album covers. It needs that raw quality, not to look like audition material for an ABC sitcom.
-Brad Lohan
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