AMERICAN SCREAM: The Bill Hicks Story

The first ever biography of the cult anti-hero comedian, Bill Hicks.

You know who's bugging me these days? The pro-lifers . . . if you're so pro- life, do me a favour -- don't lock arms and block medical clinics. Lock arms and block cemetaries.

A lot of Christians . . . wear crosses around their necks. Nice sentiment, but do you think when Jesus comes back he's really going to want to look at a cross? . . . Ow! Maybe that's why he hasn't shown up yet.

It is this kind of humour that made Bill Hicks 'an exhilarating comic thinker in a renegade class all his own' (New Yorker). But it also led to the notorious censorship of his entire twelth performance on the Late Show with David Letterman.Hick's response was typical: 'Why are people so afraid of jokes?'

Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, just four months after the Letterman incident. He had been selling out at theatres all over Britain, and at thirty-two was on the brink of becoming a major voice in America. His popularity has mushroomed since his death, with the video and CD legacy of his anarchic talent consistently occupying the comedy bestseller lists.

Cynthia True, former comedy correspondent for Time Out New York, has spoken to many of Hicks's peers as well as his manager, close friends and family to produce a sensitive and revealing biography, as candid as Hicks himself.