Relentless
A show by
Bill Hicks
(Whistling wind) (Cheers and applause) Thank you. How you doing, folks? Me too. You gotta bear with me, I'm very tired, very tired
of traveling, and very tired of doing comedy, and very tired of staring out at your
vacant faces looking back at me, wanting me to fill your empty lives with humor
you couldn't possibly think of yourselves. Good evening.
It's been a while since
I've been here, it's great to be back, wherever I am, I
always love it when I'm here. A lot's happened, I guess. Hey, man, that
Clarence Thomas thing, I guess you watched that, eh? Boy, I tell you something,
I learned something very important watching the Clarence Thomas hearings, you know what I learned? I don't stand a fucking chance.
Don't even call the committee to order. It'd be a real short hearing. Uh,
Mistuh Hicks, are you familiah at all with a video series called 'Clam Lappers'
Volumes One through Ninety? All of them? I don't
recall. Uh-huh. Uh, Mistuh Hicks, are you familiah at all with a man named
Manuel, who works at the Show World Adult Video Parlor? Manny! Mista Hicks, dey
subpoena me, dey subpoena me! Shit. Boy, I tell you, after the Pee-wee Herman
thing, and then after the Clarence Thomas hearings, pornography has gotten a
really bad name in our country.
ON PORNOGRAPHY
And I'd like to state, for
the record, right now - I love pornography. Love it. I have tapes that are pure
fucking art, I'm telling ya. People fucking, sucking, every imaginable
position, the finest looking women, fucking, sucking - I love it. For the
record Mistuh Hicks, thank you for your testimony. I don't know if we have a
place for you right now on the Supreme Court-but, boy, you ever thought about
becoming a Senator? C'mere, boy. Bring some of them
tapes over here, lookit that-whooah. Bring them over Teddy's house, yeah, look
at that there-oooh. She go to that like a duck to
water, look at that there. How, how, how. That is one
of my big fears in life, that I'm gonna die, you know, and my parents are gonna
come to clean out my apartment, find that porno wing I've been adding onto for
years. There'll be two funerals that day. I can see my mom going through my
stuff. Look, honey, here's Bill when he was a Cub scout.
Look at how cute my baby is. His little short pants, his little hat. Look how
cute my baby was. I wonder what's in this box over here. 'Rear Entry', Volumes
One through Forty?! Eeeeerrrr, CRASH! The only guy going
through the gates of Heaven with his mom spanking him. Spank! Mom, they
were on sale! Spank! Spank! Someone named Manny called. Oh, shit! Spank! Spank!
I don't understand anything, so there you go.
ON THE MEDIA
You know my problem, I watch too much news, man, that's my problem.
That's why I'm so depressed all the time, I figured it out. I watch too much
CNN, man. I don't know if you've ever sat around and watched CNN longer than,
say, 20 hours in one day? I don't recommend that. Watch CNN 'Headline News' for
one hour, it's the most depressing thing you'll ever fucking do. WAR, FAMINE, DEATH, AIDS, HOMELESS, RECESSION, DEPRESSION.
WAR, FAMINE, DEATH, AIDS, HOMELESS . . . Then you look out your window (chirp,
chirp, chirp, chirp). Where's all this shit happening?
Ted Turner is making this shit up, man! Jane Fonda won't sleep with him, he
runs to a typewriter! "By 1992, we will all die of AIDS!" Read that
on the air. I don't get laid, no one gets laid. I'm writing Jane Fonda,
"Will you fuck this guy so we can get some good news, please?" I wanna
see a well-laid Ted Turner newscast. Hey, it's all gonna work out, here's
sports! So, it's good to be here, wherever I am. Gosh, since I was here, we had
a war, that's pretty fucking weird, huh? A war? Wasn't
really a war, you know, a war is when two armies are fighting, so, I don't know
if you could call it a war, exactly, you know. The Persian Gulf Distraction, is more like it, I think. Pretty
amazing thing, really. Bush turned out to be a major fucking demon, who
woulda guessed? Remember when he was first president, he was the "Wimp
President," do you remember that? Cover of Newsweek, cover of fucking
Newsweek, "WIMP PRESIDENT." Apparently, this stuck in this guy's craw
a little bit. That guy was a dynamite waiting to go off.
ON
(Iraqi voice) We surrendah!
(George Bush voice) Not good enough. (Iraqi voice) We run away! (George Bush
voice) Too little, too late! Call me a wimp, c'mon, fuckers, c'mon! Hold him
back! Those guys were in hog heaven over there, man. They had a big weapons
catalogue opened up. (Hillbilly voices) What's G-12 do, Tommy? See, it says
here it destroys everything but the fillings in their teeth, helps us pay for
the war effort. Well, fuck, pull that one up! Pull up G-12, please. SHOOP. BOOM! Cool, what's G-13 do? Big Sears weapons
catalogue. 'Weapons, for all occasions!'
You know. See, everyone got
boners over the technology, and it was pretty incredible. Watching missiles fly
down air vents, pretty unbelievable. But couldn't we feasibly use that same
technology to shoot food at hungry people? Know what I mean? Fly over
Once again, I was watching
the fucking news, and it really threw me off. It depressed everyone, it's so
scary watching the news, how they built it all out of proportion, like
And after another month of
bombing, they went from 'the Elite Republican Guard' to 'the Republican Guard'
to 'the Republicans made this shit up about there being guards out there'. We
hope you enjoyed your fireworks show. It was so pretty, and it took our mind
off of domestic issues! The
ON THE
Like, I was over in
ON UFOS AND THE SOUTH
I'll tell you a true story,
a true fucking story, man, about blood lust. I was down in
See, in
A lot of Christians wear
crosses around their necks - you think when Jesus comes back, he ever wants to
see a fucking cross? Kind of like going up to Jackie Onassis with a rifle
pendant on, you know? "Just thinking of John, Jackie,
just thinking of John. Just thinking of John,
baby." Don't love me that much. Hey, man. Killer
idea. You guys like going to the movies? You... you do? Three of you do?
I love the fucking movies. Love 'em. Now I'm watching 'Terminator 2', did ya'll
see that movie? Well, I'm watching, and I'm thinking to myself, You know what? There's no way they're ever gonna be able to
top these stunts in a movie again, you cannot top this shit. Unless... They
start using terminally ill people as stunt men in pictures. Well, hear me out.
Because I know to some of you, this may sound a little cruel: "Aw, Bill.
Terminally ill stunt people-that's cruel." You know what I think cruel is?
Leaving your loved ones to die in some sterile hospital room
surrounded by strangers.
Fuck that! Put 'em in the
movies! What? You want your grandmother dying like a little bird in some
hospital room, her translucent skin so thin you can see her last heartbeat work
its way down her blue veins? Or do you want her to meet Chuck Norris? Hey, how
come you dressed my grandmother up as a mugger? Shut up and get off the set.
Action! Push her towards Chuck! (Karate noises) Wow, he kicked her head right
off her body! Did you see that? Did you see my Grammy? She's out of her misery, you've seen the greatest film of all time! I'm still
feeling some resistance to this, man. What's up? You and your
fake fucking sympathy. Okay, how about these guys who're being executed?
Don't do that. Poison, electrocute-how cruel! And unimaginative! Put 'em in the
movies! Jeffery Dahmer, for your crimes against humanity, of which you've been
found guilty, I sentence you to Wes Craven's next picture! Bwahahaha! Ahh! Ahh!
Okay, not one of my more popular theories. But just do me a big favor-don't
ever say you love film as much as I do. I think we found your limit. So what else, folks?
ON SMOKING
I smoke, if this bothers
anyone, I recommend you looking around the world in which we live and... shutting your fucking mouth. Either that or suffer a facial
burn, your choice. After all this is
Oxygen tent, iron lung-it's
like going to Sharper Image! Major rationalizations.
We live in such a weird culture, man. Does anyone remember this, when Yul
Bryner died, and came out with that commercial after he was dead? I'm Yul
Bryner and I'm dead now. What the fuck's this guy selling? I'm all ears. I'm
Yul Bryner and I'm dead now, because I smoked cigarettes. Okay, pretty scary.
But they coulda done that with anyone. They coulda done it with that Jim Fixx
guy, too, remember that guy, that health nut who died
while jogging? I don't remember seeing his commercial! I'm Jim Fixx and I'm
dead now. And I don't know what the fuck happened. I jogged every day, ate
nothing but tofu, swam five hundred laps every morning, and I'm dead. Yul
Bryner drank, smoke, and got laid every night of his
life. He's dead. Shit! Yul Bryner's smokin', drinkin',
girls are sitting on his cueball noggin, every night of his life! I'm running
around a dewy track at dawn. And we're both fucking dead. Yul used to pass me
on his way home in the morning, big long limousine, two girls blowing him,
cigarette in one hand, drink in the other. "One day that life is going to
get to you, Yul." They're both dead.
Yeah, but what a
healthy looking corpse you were, Jim.
Look at the hamstrings on that corpse! Look at the sloppy grin on Yul's corpse!
Yul Bryner lived his life. Sure, he died a 78-pound stick figure, okay. There
are certain drawbacks. People'll say the stupidest things sometimes too,
"Hey, man, if you quit smoking you get your sense of smell back." I
live in
Four years
ago-opium. Isn't that weird, I mean, really! Night and
day, night and fucking day! Some of y'all may remember me, I was a drinker. I
was a weekend drinker, you know, I'd start on Saturday, and end on Friday, and
I thought I was controlling it there. I don't drink anymore, I don't do drugs anymore,
either, than, I'd say the average touring funk band. I had to add it up. No, I
don't do drugs anymore, either. But I'll tell you something about drugs, I used
to do drugs, but I'll tell you something honestly about drugs, honestly, and I
know it's not a very popular idea, you don't hear it very often anymore, but it
is the truth- I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone,
never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a
car, a house, a wife or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day. Sorry.
Now, where's my commercial? Why don't I get a commercial? Why is it always that
other guy that gets the commercial? "I lost my job, then my car, then my
house, then my kids. Don't do drugs." Well, I'm definitely not doing them
with you, fuck! Man, you're bumming me out, get him out of here! Who invited
Mr. Doom over, get that guy out of here! That guy by the dip, he's bumming
everyone out! He hasn't stopped talking, I wish he'd
lose his fucking voice! I mean, I've lost my car before, okay. Found it the
next day, you know, no biggie. I don't think that
warranted a commercial. "I lost my car and uh... oh, there it is by that
dumpster! Forget it! See you tomorrow! Honk, honk!"
You know, I've lost stuff, I'm not saying that. I knew we were in trouble with
that damn egg commercial, that guy. I knew that was the government's take on
drugs, we're fucked, you know. "Here's your brain." I've seen a lot
of weird shit on drugs, I have never ever ever ever
ever looked at an egg and thought it was a fucking brain, not once, all right?
I have seen UFO's split the sky like a sheet, but I have never ever ever looked
at an egg and thought it was a fucking brain, not once. I have had seven balls
of light come off of a UFO, lead me onto their ship, explain to me
telepathically that we are all one and there is no such thing as death, but I
have never ever ever ever ever looked at an egg, and thought it was a fucking
brain. Now. Maybe I wasn't getting good shit. I admit
it, I see that commercial, I feel cheated. Hey,
where's the stuff that makes eggs look like brains? That sounds neat. Did I
quit too soon? What is that, CIA stash? You see the guy in that commercial,
that guy's got a beer gut- "All right, this is it. Look up, man. This is
your brain. I ain't doing this again. That's your - "
The guy's drunk and doing this fucking commercial. "Here's your
brain." That's an egg! That's a frying pan, that's a stove, you're an
alcoholic, dude, I'm tripping right now, and I still see that is a fucking egg,
all right?
I see the UFO's around it,
but that is a goddamn egg in the middle. There's a hobbit eating it, but,
goddamn it, that hobbit is eating a fucking egg. He's on a unicorn, but that
dam-up-nup-oh-hop, that's a fucking egg, yeah. How dare you have a wino tell me
not to do drugs. (From the audience) "Why did you
quit?" Why did I quit? Because after you've been taken aboard a UFO, it's
kind of hard to top that, all right. They have Alcoholics Anonymous, they don't
have Alien Anonymous. I tell you what, though, going to AA meetings, which I
have to do, but going there and hearing people talking about their fucking
booze stories, you know. "You know, I love the taste of gin, it's so good,
tastes-" Fuck you, I've been on a UFO, fuck off! I went drinking with
aliens, you fucker, shut up! "I lost my wife-" I lost an alien
culture who wanted to take me to the planet Arcturus, fuck you! I mean, I don't
know if I've got the resentment, you know, forgiveness
part down in the book, but... (singing) "One day
at a time . . ." I just cannot, you know, believe in a war against drugs
when they've got anti-drug commercials on TV all day long, followed by,
"This Bud's for you." I got news for you, folks. A-1, alcohol is a
drug, and B-2, and here's the real one, alcohol kills more people than crack,
coke and heroin ... combined each year. So, thanks for inviting me to your
little alcoholic/drug den here tonight. You fine, upstanding citizens, you,
wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Now. You know what, if I was
going to have a drug be legal, it would not be alcohol, you know why? There's better drugs and better drugs for you. That's a
fact, so you can stop your internal dialogue. Wait a minute, Bill, alcohol is
an accepted form of social interaction which for thousands of years has been
the norm under which human beings have congregated in the form of social events
and... Shut the fuck up. Your denial is beneath you, and thanks to the use of
hallucinogenic drugs, I see through you. Pot is a better drug than alcohol - fact,
and I'll prove it. You're at a ballgame, you're at a concert, someone's really
violent, aggressive and obnoxious, are they drunk or
are they smoking pot? (Audience) Drunk!
The one and only correct
answer, tell them what they've won, Johnny. I have never seen people on pot get
in a fight because it is fucking impossible! Hey, buddy. Hey, what? End of
argument. Say you get in a car accident, and you've been smoking pot. You're
only going four miles an hour. Vroom... CRASH. Shit,
we hit something. Forgot to open the garage door, man.
We got to get the garage door open so Domino's knows we're home! But I'll tell
you the truth, I have never heard one reason that rang
true why marijuana is against the law. That rang true, now, I'm not talking
about the reasons the government tells us, because I hope you know this, I
think you do, all governments are lying cocksuckers. I hope you know that.
Good. I mean, marijuana grows everywhere, it serves a thousand different
functions, all of them positive, to make marijuana against the law is like
saying God made a mistake, you know what I mean? It's like God, on the seventh
day, looked down on his creation and said, "There it is. My creation. Perfect and holy in all ways.
Now, I can rest... Oh my me. I left
fucking pot everywhere. I should never have smoked that joint on the
third day. Shit. If I leave pot everywhere, that's gonna give people the
impression they're supposed to use it. Shit. Now I have to create
Republicans." So, you see, it's a vicious cycle. And I'm not promoting the
use of drugs, believe me, I'm not. I've had bad times on drugs, I mean, just
look at this haircut. Fuck. Tell you, I live in New York now, man, tell you,
man, the war on drugs has taken a real cease fire there, it's, I mean, it's
incredible. They sell drugs out loud on the street. "Heroin,
heroin! Heroin, heroin!" "Coke, coke! Smoke, smoke!"
"Heroin, heroin!" Those guys bug the shit
out of me. I'm walking down the street one day, this guy's walking ahead of me,
passes one of those dealers, he looks at him, he goes, "Heroin, heroin,
heroin!" I pass him, he goes, "Glue!" I can afford heroin, you
fucker. I'm doing laundry right now. Soon as my shirt's out of the cleaners,
I'm coming back and buying some of that shit from you! I mean, he embarrassed
me to death, I was mortified. Glue. Fucker.
Where's a bank machine?
C'mere! C'mere, Mr. Dealer,
c'mere! I'm gonna show you my balance! Then I'm gonna buy heroin from that
little kid across the street! Fuck you!
Okay, I'll tell you what
else. I'm gonna extend the theory to our generation, now, so it's more
plicable. The musicians today, who don't do drugs, and in fact speak out
against it-"We're rockers against drugs"-boy, they suck. Suck.
Ball-less, soul-less, spirit-less, corporate little bitches, suckers of Satan's
cock, each and every one of them. (sucking noises into
the microphone). Suckin' Satan's pecker, suck it! Put that big scaly pecker
down your gullet! "We're rock against drugs, because that's what George
Bush wants!" (sucking noises) That's what we
want, isn't it? Government approved rock n' roll? Don't you want to be at a
concert one night, look to your right and see Dan fucking Quayle right next to
you, man? You know you're partying then, you know you're on the edge!
"Fuck it, the Quayle-Monster's here, there ain't no going back! We might
be up to eleven tonight, fuck this!" "We're
rock stars who do Pepsi-Cola commercials!" (sucking)
Luckily, Satan's dick has many heads, so all these little demon piglets can
nuzzle up and suckle all at once. "Here comes a fella named Vanilla
Ice!" (sucking) "Here comes M.C.
Hammer!" (sucking) "Here's Madonna, with two
heads!" (sucking) Suckin' Satan's pecker, suck
it! It's only your dignity, suck it! It's only your dignity, suck it! M.C.
Hammer - oh, I'm sorry, it's 'Hammer', he dropped the
M.C. I can't wait till he drops the Hammer too. How about this, drop it all.
Good. I am available for children's parties, by the way. Some of y'all might have
a young'un coming of age, and not want to go the traditional, clown/balloon
animal route this year, you might want to look me
up-"Beezlebozo." Clown from hell. "Hi, kids, it's Beezlebozo
time!
Tell me something,
who here out of you young'uns has never smoked a cigarette? C'mere, kids!"
(kissing noises) "What's your name?" (little boy voice) "Tommy." "Tommy, how old are you?" "Five." "Five years old, and
you mean to tell Beezlebozo you're not smoking cigarettes yet? C'mere,
Tommy!" (kissing noises, hacking) "Hold it
in." "Mommy!" "Nope, it's
Beezlebozo time. "Tell me something, who here out
of you young'uns has never watched a skin flick? C'mere, kids! See them, them's
titties!" "Mommy!" "That is your
mommy. It's Beezlebozo time." Clown from hell. See, I don't know, I just
differ, you know, like, you remember those summer trips you'd take with your
folks, growing up, you remember those nightmare fucking excursions, you know?
Instead of doing that, why don't families take mushrooms? Stay home and trip together.
Be a much better trip. The home movies would be tons more fun. Just twenty
minutes of someone's thumb. WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. "You
see, son, the thumb is opposable, that's why we can use tools and live
indoors." WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. "Speaking of
indoors, do you get the impression the walls are breathing?" "I do,
Mom." WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. "It's like we're all
one consciousness, experiencing itself
subjectively." WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. "There is no
such thing as death, son, it's only an illusion that we are separate beings, in
actuality we are all one con-" WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. "God is love and love
is all there is, and if that's all there is, there can be no opposite."
"Cool, Dad." WRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I think that'd
be such a neat trip, to go away, with your parents, I think it'd be more of an
eye-opener, perhaps a third-eye opener. But that's the problem with this
country, one of the many, but this whole issue of sexuality and pornography,
which I don't understand what pornography is, I really don't. To me,
pornography is, you know, spending all your money and not educating the people
in America, and spending it instead on weapons, that's pornographic to me,
that's totally filthy, and etc., etc., down the line, you all in your fucking
hearts know the goddamned arguments, okay, great. But no one knows what
pornography is.
ON ADVERTISING
Supreme Court says
pornography is anything without artistic merit that causes sexual thought,
that's their definition, essentially. No artistic merit,
causes sexual thought. Hmm. Sounds like... every commercial on television,
doesn't it? You know, when I see those two twins on that Doublemint
commercial-I'm not thinking of gum. I am thinking of chewing, maybe that's the
connection they're trying to make. What? You've all seen that Busch beer
commercial, where the girl in the short hot-pants opens the beer bottle on her
belt buckle, leaves it there, and it foams over her hand and over the bottle
and the voice over goes, "Get yourself a BUSCH." Hmm.
You know what that looks like, nah, no way. I'll tell you the commercial they'd
like to do, if they could, and I guarantee you, if they could, they'd do this,
right here. Here's the woman's face, beautiful. Camera pulls back, naked
breast. Camera pulls back, she's totally naked. Legs apart.
Two fingers, right here, and it just says, "Drink Coke." Now I don't
know the connection here, but goddamn if Coke isn't on my shopping list that
week. "Dr. Pepper." "Snickers,
satisfying." (Mouth-guitars "I Can't Get No Satisfaction")
Damned if I'm not buying these products! My teeth are rotting out of my head,
I'm glued to the television, I'm as big as a fucking
couch. "More Snickers, more Coke!" That's what I find ironic, too, is
that people who are against these things that cause sexual thought are
generally fundamentalist Christians, who also believe you should be fruitful
and multiply. Boy, they walk a tight rope every day, don't they? "How do
we be fruitful and multiply and not think about it?" "We could sing
hymns during it." (sings) "One
stroke at a time, sweet Jesus. One stroke at a time,
sweet Lord." I did that joke in
ON PEOPLE
Hallelujah! Trailer parks, all over
CHICKS DIG JERKS (SONG)
Chicks Dig Jerks Written
and performed by Marblehead Johnson. Aw, man Oh, Hitler had Ava Braun, Manson had
Squeaky Frawn, Ted Bundy got lots of dates, I wonder what I'm doing wrong. I
don't pretend to understand women's little quirks Just
one thing I know for sure - chicks dig jerks, yeah. Well, if I meet one more
single mom Whose true love is up and gone Tells me on her trailer porch 'Bout
that man Still carries a torch, Sure, he came home drunk each night Beat the
kids and her in a fight, But, man, she loves him so, It's so hard to let him
go, aw. Well, I don't pretend to understand women's little quirks, Just one thing I know for sure - chicks dig jerks. Well, I'm
sure there's some out there who can relate, Particularly young men without a
date See some jerk, some fine, fine babe, Go driving away, aw. Well, is that a
new bruise you got on you? What does it say, that he
loves you? Sure he beats you, but afterwards he cries, "Oh, baby, I could
die." Honey, I don't think that's nothing to be proud of, I think it's called alcoholism I don't think you should move away,
Stay with him till you're in your grave, yeah. "You're so sweet."
"Can't we just be friends?" "I think of you as a brother."
Aw, man. You're hurting me. What do I have to offer you, baby? Poetry and true love. That's not enough,
I know for sure, You need someone to throw you through the door. Well, I don't
pretend to understand women's little quirks. Just one thing I know for
sure-chicks dig jerks! Chicks dig jerks, it's so true. Tell you, man, be mean
to 'em man, they'll never leave you, then, 'Cause chicks dig jerks. Just ignore
'em. Act like they're not there. Man, you're gonna be pulling chicks out of
your hair. They love that. Act like you don't care, Aw, look at them
everywhere, they come running. Tired of being a good guy Such
a lonely life. I'm gonna be a jerk Yeah, that's right, I'm gonna step on lots
of toes. Whoo, girls gonna go crazy for that kind of guy. Baby, I'm gonna act
like I don't know you. Not gonna return one of your calls. Yeah, I'm a jerk And it's working out.