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By Robert Scucci
| Published
I can’t think of a single stand-up comedian who was more heartfelt, intense, and volatile than the late, great Bill Hicks. After dying at the age of 32 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1994, Hicks left behind a treasure trove of dark comedy that was not only in your face, but also socially conscious and prophetic to the point where’ n still resonates with die-hard comedy fans to this day. Recently revisited American: The Bill Hicks Story on Tubi, it didn’t take long for me to fire my copy of his Sane man special to watch the master at work as he shouts, chain smokes, and flips around on stage like a madman with an ax to grind as he uses his microphone to point out all the problems with modern America after Ronald Reagan turned the world is the world of “the third center from the sun.”
A Celebration of the Life and Times of Bill Hicks
American: The Bill Hicks Story is an extraordinary documentary that chronicles the upbringing of Bill “The Dark Poet” Hicks and his early love for the craft of stand-up comedy, all the way through his tragic and untimely death, and everything in between. Through archival photos and interviews from those closest to him, American: The Bill Hicks Story pulling back the curtain all the way back to his early days as a young man who wanted to shake things up with his worldview that was critical of religious dogma and consumerism, global militarism, and the decline of the American dream as he saw him. But beneath his cynical veneer, Hicks dreamed of a future where we stopped fighting wars and started using our abundant resources to explore space together in peace and harmony.
I mean, Bill Hicks might have come off as the worst kind of cynic you’d never want to hang out with, especially during his drug days, but American: The Bill Hicks Story states that he is more of a disappointed optimist than anything else.
Excellently Edited
Through stories from his parents, and his childhood friend, Dwight Slade, American: The Bill Hicks Story unlike any documentary I have ever seen before. Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas directed and edited it all documentary using archival footage and old photographs of Hicks. I’m not just talking about a B-reel playing on screen while a voice narrates the whole thing like your average documentary, however, but rather a style of animation that jumps off the screen almost as if the viewer gets to travel together. Hicks while his life plays out kaleidoscopically for all to see.
During the sections of American: The Bill Hicks A story which highlights his period of drug abuse before adopting a sobriety lifestyle (although he never quits smoking or extols the virtues of mind-altering substances), the images become quite trippy as we watch a bright young mind wrestle with his personal demons while trying to discover the voice that would eventually be recognized and celebrated.
American Streaming: The Bill Hicks Story
If you’re one of those comedy fans who doesn’t appreciate Bill Hicks’ abrasive, often bleak worldview, but wants to understand why comedians think so highly of him, then American: The Bill Hicks story must see. You may not agree with his politics (or even like his sense of humour), and I’m not here to push you one way or another, but his passion for setting the stage alight with ‘to deliver a bombshell makes a lot more sense when you learn where he was coming from as a fiery young man who tirelessly pursued comedy as if it was his only lifeline until the day he died. .
American: The Bill Hicks Story also earns points for not being all sunshine and candy canes when retelling his life story. But when his family, his friends, and his creative cohorts talk about his journey looking back, their stories come from a place of love because they know how special a human being he was despite his many flaws. Bill Hicks burned bright and flew a little too close to the sun on several occasions, but every up and down during his career helps paint the full picture of how ahead of his time he really was, and why his voice is sorely missed.
As of this writing, you can stream American: The Bill Hicks Story free on Tubi.
