5 ms·

Bill Hicks's Principles of Comedy

57 points by ivankirigin 17y ago

JacobAldridge 17y ago
I particularly like #10 - "Play to the top of the room." This forces your audience into a race for the top, rather than forcing you as a comedian (business person, lover, whatever) into a race for the bottom (a.k.a 'Nutty Professor 2'). # 1 - "If you can be yourself on stage nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered." makes a heck of a mantra for life. If you try to be somebody else, at best you'll only ever come second.
- apotheon 17y ago
  You managed to pick out my two favorite list items.
- patio11 17y ago
  #1 works well for when people try to copy your business, too. People warned me this would happen if I kept blogging about my business, and it turns out they were right. I think I have two dopplegangers now. Turns out that if you're concentrating on beating your own previous best performance beating the performance of knockoffs of your own previous best performance isn't all that hard.
- bitwize 17y ago
  On the other hand, there's the Dennis Miller ratio.
mynameishere 17y ago
Here's Bill Hicks being "funny" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg The guy was a pure, pure, foul and vile juveline. "Fuck" "turd" "cunt" "toilet". That's his humor.
- aerique 17y ago
  No, he wasn't just that. Your comment says more about you than about Bill Hicks. Bill Hicks has been quoted by more than one famous comedian as an example and inspiration. Among his repertoire was toilet humour, yes, but he also was a razor-sharp critic of society, beliefs, values. He wasn't just a comedian, he also tried to make people think.
- bitwize 17y ago
  Do me a favor. Grab a piece of paper. Draw four large squares on it in such a way that they form a bigger square. Write "Clean" and "Dirty" alongside the squares on one axis and "Funny" and "Not funny" alongside the squares on the other axis. Now, fill in the squares with the names of comedians who meet the criteria: clean and funny, clean and not funny, dirty and funny, dirty and not funny. I'm sure you can think of more than one for each square. After this exercise is completed, consider that comedians make their money -- and like to be judged as comedians -- based on only one of these axes. I leave it as an exercise for the reader which axis.
- drenei 17y ago
  You've backed up your comment with one 2 minute long video - that is a response to a heckler? Hicks performed for over 10 years - and covered a lot of ground during that time. If you see his performances as juvenile or foul, you've missed a lot of the brilliance, and humour that I have found in him. For those curious about him though, here's a lazy link to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=bill+hicks&search_sort=video_view_count http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search...
  - mynameishere 17y ago
    First link's first joke, "By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself". Okay, that's a non-joke that you'd expect from a 13 year old. But he's setting the context, and maybe the best foot was not forward, so let's keep listening... Okay, he keeps at that theme for awhile, repeating himself, and then uses the phrase "Satan's little helper" which I'm pretty sure he got off the simpsons, which he presumably was familiar with. http://www.google.com/search?q=%22satan%27s+little+helper%22+simpsons http://www.google.com/search?q=%22satan%27s+little+helper%22... (I could be wrong, as the vid isn't dated.) He then repeats himself a few more times and then says, "There's no joke coming" which I suspect is true. He then repeats himself a few more times adding the word "fuck" which is a word that stopped being daring on the stage right around Tennessee Williams' mid-career. He then reiterates the past theme, as well as correctly stating again that there is no joke involved. But then he gets to the first joke, about how the marketing people in the audience are probably interpreting his anti-marketing bit as in fact being pro-marketing. Okay, not funny, but at least it's a joke. He then performs several variations on that theme. End of bit. ....... It doesn't do much good to critique comedy, but the point is: He's repetitive, he has an anti-establishment shtick that I find trite and unconvincing, his jokes are punctuated with gratutious vulgarities which are as informationally valuable as "hmm", "uh", "umm", "whu?", etc., and I sit there watching...and not laughing...ever. Which is the final test. It is possible to do blue comedy right, you know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H94jAkaTqQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H94jAkaTqQ
    - dkarl 17y ago
      he has an anti-establishment shtick that I find trite and unconvincing If you're immersed in a world of pro-establishment suckers, then his comedy provides some validation and relief. I remember what it's like to be a young kid and feel like my life is controlled by idiots, but I no longer feel that way. If you've been hanging around with worldly people who have read a little bit of history, or a little bit of anything really, then this kind of comedy just misses. I still know there are a lot of idiots in the world, but I no longer feel oppressed by them, so Bill Hicks seems beside the point.
katamole 17y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6yCinSlZk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6yCinSlZk Great interview for those who haven't seen it.
edw519 17y ago
10. Play to the top of the intelligence of the room. There aren’t any bad crowds, just wrong choices. This is true for everything. I am constantly amazed at how many of my peers bitch about their customers and users while never doing anything to help them aspire to be what they can be.
jamesbritt 17y ago
"I love my cracker roots." Yes!
asdlfj2sd33 17y ago
I LOVE Bill Hicks, but I'm flagging this because it is absolutely not HN.

57 points by ivankirigin 17y ago

I particularly like #10 - "Play to the top of the room." This forces your audience into a race for the top, rather than forcing you as a comedian (business person, lover, whatever) into a race for the bottom (a.k.a 'Nutty Professor 2'). # 1 - "If you can be yourself on stage nobody else can be you and you have the law of supply and demand covered." makes a heck of a mantra for life. If you try to be somebody else, at best you'll only ever come second.

apotheon 17y ago
You managed to pick out my two favorite list items.
patio11 17y ago
#1 works well for when people try to copy your business, too. People warned me this would happen if I kept blogging about my business, and it turns out they were right. I think I have two dopplegangers now. Turns out that if you're concentrating on beating your own previous best performance beating the performance of knockoffs of your own previous best performance isn't all that hard.
bitwize 17y ago
On the other hand, there's the Dennis Miller ratio.

mynameishere 17y ago

Here's Bill Hicks being "funny" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdKpR9qNtg The guy was a pure, pure, foul and vile juveline. "Fuck" "turd" "cunt" "toilet". That's his humor.

aerique 17y ago
No, he wasn't just that. Your comment says more about you than about Bill Hicks. Bill Hicks has been quoted by more than one famous comedian as an example and inspiration. Among his repertoire was toilet humour, yes, but he also was a razor-sharp critic of society, beliefs, values. He wasn't just a comedian, he also tried to make people think.
bitwize 17y ago
Do me a favor. Grab a piece of paper. Draw four large squares on it in such a way that they form a bigger square. Write "Clean" and "Dirty" alongside the squares on one axis and "Funny" and "Not funny" alongside the squares on the other axis. Now, fill in the squares with the names of comedians who meet the criteria: clean and funny, clean and not funny, dirty and funny, dirty and not funny. I'm sure you can think of more than one for each square. After this exercise is completed, consider that comedians make their money -- and like to be judged as comedians -- based on only one of these axes. I leave it as an exercise for the reader which axis.
drenei 17y ago
You've backed up your comment with one 2 minute long video - that is a response to a heckler? Hicks performed for over 10 years - and covered a lot of ground during that time. If you see his performances as juvenile or foul, you've missed a lot of the brilliance, and humour that I have found in him. For those curious about him though, here's a lazy link to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=bill+hicks&search_sort=video_view_count http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search...
- mynameishere 17y ago
  First link's first joke, "By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself". Okay, that's a non-joke that you'd expect from a 13 year old. But he's setting the context, and maybe the best foot was not forward, so let's keep listening... Okay, he keeps at that theme for awhile, repeating himself, and then uses the phrase "Satan's little helper" which I'm pretty sure he got off the simpsons, which he presumably was familiar with. http://www.google.com/search?q=%22satan%27s+little+helper%22+simpsons http://www.google.com/search?q=%22satan%27s+little+helper%22... (I could be wrong, as the vid isn't dated.) He then repeats himself a few more times and then says, "There's no joke coming" which I suspect is true. He then repeats himself a few more times adding the word "fuck" which is a word that stopped being daring on the stage right around Tennessee Williams' mid-career. He then reiterates the past theme, as well as correctly stating again that there is no joke involved. But then he gets to the first joke, about how the marketing people in the audience are probably interpreting his anti-marketing bit as in fact being pro-marketing. Okay, not funny, but at least it's a joke. He then performs several variations on that theme. End of bit. ....... It doesn't do much good to critique comedy, but the point is: He's repetitive, he has an anti-establishment shtick that I find trite and unconvincing, his jokes are punctuated with gratutious vulgarities which are as informationally valuable as "hmm", "uh", "umm", "whu?", etc., and I sit there watching...and not laughing...ever. Which is the final test. It is possible to do blue comedy right, you know. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H94jAkaTqQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H94jAkaTqQ
  - dkarl 17y ago
    he has an anti-establishment shtick that I find trite and unconvincing If you're immersed in a world of pro-establishment suckers, then his comedy provides some validation and relief. I remember what it's like to be a young kid and feel like my life is controlled by idiots, but I no longer feel that way. If you've been hanging around with worldly people who have read a little bit of history, or a little bit of anything really, then this kind of comedy just misses. I still know there are a lot of idiots in the world, but I no longer feel oppressed by them, so Bill Hicks seems beside the point.

katamole 17y ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6yCinSlZk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6yCinSlZk Great interview for those who haven't seen it.

edw519 17y ago

10. Play to the top of the intelligence of the room. There aren’t any bad crowds, just wrong choices. This is true for everything. I am constantly amazed at how many of my peers bitch about their customers and users while never doing anything to help them aspire to be what they can be.

jamesbritt 17y ago

"I love my cracker roots." Yes!

asdlfj2sd33 17y ago

I LOVE Bill Hicks, but I'm flagging this because it is absolutely not HN.