Bill Hicks: Censored David Letterman Appearance to Air Jan 30 As Memorial

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Jan 29,2009 - update Jan 31,2009

Bill Hicks: Censored David Letterman Appearance to Air Jan 30 As Memorial

Quick note here but no less important - The Late Show with David Letterman will be airing his censored appearance on Jan 30, 2008 as a tribute to the comic 15 years after Hicks‘ all-too-early, and truly tragic death of pancreatic cancer.

As announced on the Bill Hicks official web site:

“ HICKS’ LAST LETTERMAN SET TO AIR JAN 30TH

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.”

I don’t need to editorialize, but hey, why not? I’m a fan, and had been for a long time prior to his passing. Shared the frustration of those us who are his fans as other undeserving, watered down comics started to ape his angle and act and cash in on his groundbreaking work.

Hicks’ always readily referenced Lenny Bruce, among others, as influences on his work.

Too few comics, artists, and musicians really ever give credit where credit is due.

For the full info on Fridays airing, please CLICK HERE for the information and background. And if you have never heard the work of Bill Hicks, or George Carlin, or Mort Sahl, or Lenny Bruce - or new(er) comics like Bill Bailey or Zach Galifinakis, take some time to avail yourself of their great work.

We don’t forever have to allow in the vanilla denominator of advertising-approved network banality such as Seinfeld or Romano.

Comic work can actually say something. Even though douchebags like Dennis Miller might have one think otherwise.

Tune in, enjoy, and ask yourself “where is the new breed of such people who cut through the crap?”

They are out there btw, we just need to be aware that it’s tougher than ever to connect with them. yes, a paradox for sure given the “internet age”, but the same goes for political debate. Inherent ghettoization.

here’s some Bill Hicks on Rush Limbaugh, circa 1991 for you:

and of course, you may enjoy his take on Gulf War 1.0 aka Operation Iraqi Foreplay:

Selah.

POST SCRIPT:

Below is the segment aired on David Letterman. This might not seem so over the top but one must remember every mainstream TV appearance is picked apart of any reference that might offend advertisers or prominent members of ‘Dumb America’. Although Letterman’s show is billed as a “hip” late night venue, it’s as mainstream and white bread as Dick Van Dyke. One must be aware that the true essence of Bill Hicks’ shows were to be experienced in the venues amid the audiences he drew and commanded.

This taping material had been approved twice by show producers, but 1993 is hardly different from 2009. In 1993 North America had just emerged from 12 awful years of Nixon-like rule - although even more blatant in it’s execution of genocidal foreign policy, Chri$tian Fundamentalism, and Lib/Con Keynesian pseudo free market Corporatist rule.

The “triangulated liberalism” of the Clinton years - in essence conservativism - followed by a quick, and again a blatant regression into Nixonia as we experienced Dubya (not really much of a regression actually), and now followed by some heady yet platitude driven rhetoric that has blinded voters since it was an election campaign so perfectly executed that students of history barely had a chance to understand that the sliver of daylight between McCain and Obama policies means nothing substantive in terms of ‘Hope’, ‘Change’, and the Mavericky McMaverickness of an undiagnosed PTSD victim-cum-presidential candidate.

Again, if you are not familiar with Bill Hicks, let this be a starting point so that you can work your way back into his catalogue - and the work of other aforementioned comics. Cause after all, self learnin’ ain’t a bad thing. Just know that Bill had toned the set down to help get an essentially subversive (sadly) message out. He truly did “play from the heart”. Not something many leaders do these days.

So much more can be said as I ramble into this editorial-discourse. So I’ll shaddup and let you view what again, we feel was 15 years too late. I read a good comment on the youtube.com postings that said “David is playing Jesus to the lepers in his head” - and that may well be true.

But if it has sparked something anew among this new breed that has to fight harder to reach an audience, with an audience that seeks to reach back, fantastic.

Here’s Bill Hicks, 15 years too late-from Oct 1, 1993:

PT1: