Tivo alert: Bill Hicks
Even history’s “great” comedians rarely make news after they’ve passed. Bill Hicks has been gone for 15 years, and besides a few books published about the man, nothing has been as newsworthy to Hicks fans as this.
From www.billhicks.com:
The Late Show with David Letterman has scheduled a telecast of the never-aired October 1, 1993 Bill Hicks appearance. The show was pre-taped Jan. 26th (with Bill’s mom as a guest) and will air Friday, January 30th on your local CBS affiliate. We’d like to acknowledge and thank Bill’s many fans and everyone who has had a hand in keeping Bill’s comedy and philosophy alive. We hope everyone can tune in and experience what you may have missed or what you barely remember — Bill Hicks performing for a national audience on network television.
This “never aired” segment was essentially censored by CBS. The full story is fascinating, and I particularly loved the telling of it in the book American Scream by Cynthia True. If you’re a comedy geek, you know the tale. If you’re not… well, it’s a great book to buy.
The only two guests listed as being on the show for Friday are Mary Hicks and the band Gaslight Anthem. I hope this will allow Mary and Dave to chat long enough for the average viewer to grasp exactly what is is they’re being shown. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.
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Speaking of don’t miss… the final two installments of the PBS documentary series Make ‘Em Laugh air Wednesday night. Review forthcoming!
About the Author
Sharilyn Johnson is the author of the book Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z. Called "one of the city’s most discriminating comedy critics” by NOW Magazine, Sharilyn has been covering comedy for longer than she cares to admit. She served as the comedy reporter for Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for five years, and was the host of the radio show Laugh Tracks for three seasons. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, The Apiary, and on CBC Radio's national comedy programs LOL and Definitely Not the Opera.
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Oh wow. What prompted this now? I hope they’ll read a few excerpts from his incredibly long hand-written rant letter of response, too. It’s odd, I got the feeling Bill Hicks was more famous and popular in the UK than he was in America, at least he was during his lifetime.