American: The Bill Hicks Story.

STORY RATING

100%

Bill Hicks was a genius.

Genius is a word used way, way too often, about all sorts of non-entities and some-entities – people with a modicum of talent, people with a lot.

But Bill Hicks really was a genius.

I was lucky enough to see him perform live before he died, not once but twice. So having been a fan back in the day, maybe I am a little biased. Maybe I sound overly proselytising when I say that if you aren't aware of him or his work, you're lacking something in your life. But Bill is worth it, you see, because I believe that, when he died in 1994 at the criminally young age of 32, after battling pancreatic cancer, the world lost the greatest stand-up comedian of all time, way before his time.

If you know his work, you may already agree. If you don’t, just listen to his routines on the Iraq War – the first Iraq war, that is, the one "waged" under George Bush Snr. What Bill said then still sounds relevant now. Especially since the name of the president hasn't even had to be changed.

Bill tackled many subjects and taboos which mainstream America couldn’t handle. But he never even lived to see 9/11. He never lived to see Iraq War II, or Starbucks, iPods and mobile phones. The internet. If he had, he would have had a lot to say on the matter. Not only was he a comic, he was a visionary. A true seer. He cut through the hypocrisies of the western world. He refused to kowtow to those who wished to censor or dilute him. At the time of his death, he was far more successful and popular here in the UK than in his homeland of America. Which is why it’s actually taken the US quite a while to catch up with him. Perhaps because now they’re starting to see that - where once he seemed like a pest - actually he was right all along…

Since his death, his memory, his fame, his name, has refused to die, thanks to the loyalty of an almost cult following of fans, both in the public, and amongst his peers. Many of his fellow comedians have acknowledged his brilliance, and their debt to him. He is the quintessential comic's comic. But it's not just the pros who love him. In a recent poll on Channel 4, he was voted the 6th greatest comedian of all time by the public. Quite a feat, considering how many people haven't a clue who he is.

In the next few years, that might well change. Rumours has it, there's a biopic in the works, to be directed by Ron Howard and potentially starring Russell Crowe as Hicks himself.

Such choices sound somewhat troubling. I'm not sure Hicks would have liked a Howard/Crowe double-bill representing him. No. Much better to stay with the best kind of film: one starring Bill himself.

Thankfully, it seems, at last we have it: the definitive movie: a documentary on Bill's life, featuring the friends and family who knew him best, intercut with an interesting and arresting use of animation and never before seen or heard footage.

'American: The Bill Hicks Story' has just had its première in Austin Texas to glowing reviews. Hopefully it will be reaching UK shores later this year. It promises to be a brilliant memorial, to a great and truely missed man. But until its release, here’s the trailer: