Heckler: You suck![pause]
Bill: You suck?
[long pause, deep breath, seems to be considering something]
You fucking cunt, get the fuck out of here RIGHT NOW! Get out! Fuck you! FUCK YOU, you idiot! You?re everything about America should be flushed down the toilet, you fucking TURD! Fuck you! Get out! Get out, you fucking drunk bitch! Take her out! Take her FUCKING OUT! Take her to somewhere that?s good! Go see fucking Madonna you fucking idiot piece of shit.
Laugh.
Doesn't sound like the words of man who thought that 'all of us are one', does it? And yet, somehow, it makes sense, given who Bill Hicks was. He did believe we were all one. He did believe in loving all the people. He got it, and he spent his whole life trying to make other people get it, and he got very, very angry when nobody did.
Ah, Bill. Like Rage Against The Machine, we need you now more than ever. Also like Rage, your shit sounds more appropriate to THIS age than the one in which it was written.
'Agent of Evolution' is the biography of Bill Hicks. It was assembled by one of his best friends, Kevin Booth, but it's not written solely by him. It's written by everyone who ever knew him. The list of writers in exhaustive. His friends, his enemies, his brother, his lovers, his fellow comedians- the perspective flips several times a chapter, and the viewpoints are refreshingly balanced and realistic about Bill's strength and flaws- as I'm sure he'd want it.
It doesn't repeat a lot of his material- that part of Bill's life is amply documentd in the excellent Love All The People, which I would recommend reading before trying this out. AoE follows his childhood, the rise, fall, then rise of his career, the trial of his alcoholism, his legendary 'cancelled' set on Letterman, and his untimely (yet, somehow, appropriate) death.
It's good. I read it in one sitting, and never once felt unentertained. It's the story of a decent, wise, funny, intelligent, angry man, that everyone (who gets it) should read.
d
As usual, this book is up for grabs! Comment your desire for it, and I'll mail it to you.
This is a 
now i know i still have tokyo stories (which i am about a third of the way through) but i totally adore bill hicks and would really, really like to read this book.
i'll swap you his "rant in e-minor" for it...
oh pretty please!
I'm about halfway through 'Love All The People' right now (it's fucking brilliant I must say) so I reckon this may have to be my next read. Dunno about borrowing it though, how do ya feel about posting it?!? I will return! :-)
Abi- you can't get two books through the Dan Book Club- then we may as well call it the 'funnel books directly to Abi Club'. Maybe when you've finished Tokyo Stories AND passed it on to someone else you can be re-eligible for book-sharing.
Matt- postage is sponsored. I'll get your address. You have to pass it on to someone (no need to return it- I never read books twice) when you've finished, though. And, uhm, review it here, since you lack your own blog, criminally.
Oooh, can I borrow it after Matt? Pretty please?
I'm afraid that once the book is released, it's up to Matt where it goes to next! I don't see why that shouldn't be you, though.
Well I could think of a few reasons. Most of them are because of the nasty glares I got when taking pictures of Pix. Now some might say thats not a valid reason for telling other people where to send other peoples books, but they would be wrong.
Maybe if you knit me some socks ...