One of the most important comics of the second half of the 20th sentury was Bill Hicks. With razor sharp insight, HIcks railed about politics and society with a clarity seldom seen on a club stage or in any other forum of discourse. Amazingly, and perhaps a little sadly, many of routines, including those about the first Gulf War, are still incredibly relevant today, some 14 years after his death in 1994 at the age of 32 from pancreatic cancer.
Even though he is approaching 50, Russell Crowe is having a script based on Hicks’ life being developed for him to star in. Crowe stated in a short interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, that the project “is going from treatment to draft stage with Kiwi writer Mark Staufer.”
Despite his strong reputation among comedians and comedy connoisseurs, Hicks still remains relatively unknown to the general public. Even with the passing resemblence between Hicks and Crowe, I have to admit to some trepidation about the project. Though a talented actor, Crowe has never really tackled comedy before. Can he get that twinkle in his eye Hicks had when on stage?
For the unintiated, here’s just a sample of some of the milder side of Hicks, talking about drugs and evolution. If you’re at work, you might want to slipon some headphones, as Hicks’ language is often not safe for work.
