Background and career
William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and often steeped in dark comedy. At the age of 16, Hicks began performing at the Comedy Workshop in Houston, Texas. He toured the United States extensively and made a number of high-profile television appearances during the 1980s, yet amassed a significant fan base in the United Kingdom, filling large venues during his 1991 tour. He also achieved some recognition as a guitarist and songwriter. Hicks died of pancreatic cancer on February 26, 1994, at the age of 32. In subsequent years his work gained significant acclaim in creative circles – particularly after a series of posthumous album releases – which resulted in a substantial cult following. In 2007, he was number six on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest Stand-Up Comics", and rose to No. 4 on the 2010 list. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him number 13 on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.
Hicks was born in Valdosta, Georgia, the son of James Melvin "Jim" Hicks (1923–2006) and Mary (Reese) Hicks. He had an older sister, Lynn, and an older brother, Steve. The family lived in Alabama, Florida, and New Jersey before settling in Houston, Texas, when Hicks was seven years old. He was drawn to comedy at an early age, emulating Woody Allen and Richard Pryor, and wrote routines with his friend Dwight Slade. While attending Stratford High School and the University of Houston, he began performing comedy (mostly derivations of Woody Allen material) for his classmates. At home, he wrote his own one-liners and slid them under the bedroom door of Steve, who he thought was a genius, for critical analysis. Steve told him, "Keep it up. You're really good at this." Early on, Hicks began to mock his family's Southern Baptist religious beliefs. He joked to the Houston Post in 1987, "We were Yuppie Baptists. We worried about things like, 'If you scratch your neighbor's Subaru, should you leave a note?'" Biographer Cynthia True described a typical argument with his father:
The elder Hicks would say, "I believe that the Bible is the literal word of God." And Bill would counter, "No, it's not, Dad." "Well, I believe that it is." "Well," Bill replied, "you know, some people believe that they're Napoleon. That's fine. Beliefs are neat. Cherish them, but don't share them like they're the truth." He was close with his family his whole life, though, and he did not reject spiritual ideology itself; throughout his life, he sought various alternative methods of experiencing it. Kevin Slade, elder brother of Dwight, introduced him to Transcendental Meditation and other forms of spirituality. Over one Thanksgiving weekend, he took Hicks and Dwight to a Transcendental Meditation residence course in Galveston. Worried about his rebellious behavior, his parents took him to a psychoanalyst at age 17. According to Hicks, the analyst took him aside after the first group session and told him, "You can continue coming if you want to, but it's them, not you."
Hicks was associated with the Texas Outlaw Comics group developed at the Comedy Workshop in Houston in the 1980s.
By January 1986, Hicks was using recreational drugs and his financial resources had dwindled. His career experienced an upturn in 1987, however, when he appeared on Rodney Dangerfield's Young Comedians Special. The same year, he moved to New York City, and for the next five years performed about 300 times a year. On the album Relentless, he jokes that he quit using drugs because "once you've been taken aboard a UFO, it's kind of hard to top that", although in his performances he continued to enthusiastically praise the virtues of LSD, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms. He eventually fell back to chain smoking, a theme that figured heavily in his performances from then on. His nicotine addiction, love of smoking, and occasional attempts to quit became a recurring theme in his act throughout his later years. In 1988, Hicks signed with his first professional business manager, Jack Mondrus. On the track "Modern Bummer" of his 1990 album Dangerous, Hicks says he quit drinking alcohol in 1988. In 1989, he released his first video, Sane Man; a remastered version with 30 minutes of extra footage was released in 1999.
In 1990, Hicks released his first album, Dangerous, performed on the HBO special One Night Stand and at Montreal's Just for Laughs festival. Hicks was later engaged to his manager, Colleen McGarr, who booked him there. He was also part of a group of American stand-up comedians performing in London's West End in November. Hicks was a huge hit in the UK and Ireland and continued touring there throughout 1991. That year, he returned to Just for Laughs and filmed his second video, Relentless. Hicks made a brief detour into musical recording with the Marble Head Johnson album in 1992, collaborating with Houston high school friend Kevin Booth and Austin, Texas, drummer Pat Brown. During the same year, he toured the UK, where he recorded the Revelations video for Britain's Channel 4. He closed the show with his oft quoted philosophy regarding life, "It's Just a Ride." Also in that tour, he recorded the stand-up performance released in its entirety on a double CD titled Salvation. Hicks was voted "Hot Standup Comic" by Rolling Stone magazine in 1993.
