Hicks, Bill

William Melvin "Bill" Hicks ( English William Melvin "Bill" Hicks ; December 16, 1961 - February 26, 1994 ) - American stand-up comedian and social critic. With his humor, Hicks challenged the mainstream , seeking, in his own words, "to enlighten people and make them think independently." ^[4] In his work, Hicks used an obscene language and described himself as " Chomsky with jokes below the belt." ^[4] In his speeches, Hicks discussed society , religion , politics , philosophy and personal issues. Hicks' creativity was often deliberately controversial, with a considerable admixture of black humor. Both in his stand-up speeches and in interviews, Hicks often criticized consumerism , superficiality, mediocrity and commonplaceness in the media and popular culture , calling these phenomena tools that the ruling class used to “keep people in dullness and apathy” . ^[five]

Bill Hicks died on February 26, 1994 from pancreatic cancer . After the death of Hicks, his work won considerable recognition and popularity. In 2004, Hicks took the 19th place in the list of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, according to Comedy Central . In 2007, in a similar list, according to the British television channel 4, Hicks was in 6th place.