Tag Archives: comedy
Hail Hicks
Bill Hicks is probably the greatest comedian of Generation X. The only competition for that title might be Chris Rock, and both of them are automatic candidates for any top ten list of all-time-best stand-ups. Yesterday we marked the 23rd anniversary of Hicks’ death from pancreatic cancer on February 26, 1994. Of course, Hicks was [...]
Saint George’s Day
This week we remember losing George Carlin on June 22, 2008. I’m a student of stand-up comedy — it’s been an important influence in my own performances and I have an entire library of books about comedy, comedians and funny cinema. The only thing more terrifying than walking onto a stage with only a guitar [...]
Hateful Review
I’ve been following the critical response to The Hateful Eight very closely, and I’ve managed to bite my tongue about my thoughts on the film until after the movie played in its roadhouse edition and then opened wide to the general theater audience. I also kept my review from this blog until after it had [...]
Happy Buckday
Today we celebrate the long strange life of actor, writer and director Buck Henry whose contributions to Saturday Night Live and scripting of The Graduate were crucial contributions to the countercultural voice that paved the way for the best of today’s contemporary comedy. Buck is 85 on December 9. Here he is discussing his twisted, [...]
George Carlin’s Bad for Ya
It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since George Carlin won a posthumous Grammy for the album version of his last HBO Comedy Special, It’s Bad for Ya. I wasn’t able to confirm these facts, but I’m almost positive that George was the first comedian to do an HBO Comedy Special and that [...]
The Roast of Richard Pryor
In our ongoing examination of avant garde artists, here is yet another example of what happens when a sharp-edged talent takes a stab at the mainstream. Here’s a hint — it’s a bloodbath. In 1977 Richard Pryor got his own television show on NBC. On paper, the decision made sense — Pryor was already on [...]
Mitch Hedberg’s Lost Movie
When comedian Mitch Hedberg died from a heroin and cocaine overdose in 2005, it cut short the career of one of the most interesting stand-up comedians since Bill Hicks. Hedberg combined contemporary stoner observations with the brevity and timing of an old school one-liner comic to hilarious effect, and his star was on the rise: [...]
Bill Hicks’s DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
20 years ago, comedian Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer and the greatest comic of his generation disappeared forever. Hicks was working on a new CD when he experienced the first symptoms of the disease that would take his life. That project found Hicks mixing his stand-up with his own musical recordings to create a [...]
