Today a very funny comedian friend of mine(Sean Quinlan or @seanquinlan17 on Twitter - follow him!) posted a video on Facebook that inspired this post. The video contains clips from Bill Hicks and George Carlin linked together through auto-tune in an inspiring song that should be heard by all.
First some background on the video for some context before the main event. The video was produced by John D. Boswell AKA melodysheep(@musicalscience) who produces YouTube videos aimed at hitting the viewers soul. This video was posted one week ago and has garnered over 53,000 hits and with a good word of mouth campaign we can make this his most viewed yet.
The first clip is from Bill Hicks' comedy special "Revelations"(1993) in which he closed the show with the bit "It's Just a Ride".
The second clip is from George Carlin's comedy special "Jammin in New York"(1992) in which he is talking about how the planet is fine and will continue to be fine long after the human species is gone.
Finally Mr. Boswell added some inspirational music and wonderful scenes from around the world to complete, in my opinion, one of the best videos on YouTube.
There is not a single living human being who can say that they know with 100% certainty what is waiting for us on the "other side". It is foolish to think otherwise. We need to treat each other with love and respect today, not because some book told us to, but because it's the right thing to do.
Okay, now I get it. I'll start with a small confession before I go too far into my review of "Bill Hicks: Love All The People". Truthfully, before I started reading "Love All The People", I knew very little of Bill Hicks. He had become something of a mythical creature to me because I could never seem to find any recordings of his at the local record store. His name, while often mentioned as being a "Legend" in the comedy world, is rarely highlighted to the same extent of say a Carlin, Pryor or even Bruce. All I really knew about him was that he was considered a "Legend" and that he had a no-nonsense approach to comedy and getting his message across.
"Love All The People" opens with a brief foreword/biography of Hicks life that is incredibly beautiful and moving. Although I had just started learning about the man, by the time I had reached the description of his death there was a tear in my eye. I realized at that moment this book was going to do more than just make me laugh. "Love All The People" is essentially a collection of transcripts highlighting some of the more memorable performances of Bill Hicks career. As someone who was diving head first into my first exploration of Hicks style of comedy I found it to be incredibly satisfying. Although you do miss out on his timing and delivery the words themselves force you to understand where this man was coming from.
"Love All The People" has only one major flaw and that is it can be repetitive. Often times two shows that are transcribed as back-to-back chapters may contain only a single "joke" that appears to be different or that the order of the material is now being used differently. While the idea of being able to see how a comedian(especially someone of Hicks status) evolves his material and performance was fascinating for myself as a comic I'm not sure how much the average reader would enjoy this.
"Love All The People" truly shines when Hicks is responding to questions from fans or interviewers, it is at these moments where he is speaking from the heart and with passion that you get the sense that this man was not operating on the same level as the rest of us. He had a vision for the world and all it's surroundings that speaks to your inner voice as being sound and reasonable requests from humanity. You may not agree with everything he said or the manner in which he chose to say it but you cannot disagree with the overall theme of his comedy, his writing or his life: Love All The People.
