If you think fans of Janeane Garofalo and Bill Maher are sad, then check out the cult of deceased stand-up comic Bill Hicks. I’m happy to see that I’ve already summed up my disdain for Hicks while celebrating a far better comic. Sadly, his fanatical following now brings us the insanely self-congratulatory trailer for American: The Bill Hicks Story.

That trailer does a pretty good job of suggesting how dull Hicks was in his outrageousness. Among his many moronic routines was one about those crazy Christians who wear crosses, with Hicks noting it was like honoring John F. Kennedy by wearing a small gold rifle. I remember my sister making that same comment when she was about 13 years old, and lots of other kids have done the same at that age. Hicks just took a lot longer to figure it out. Then he found an audience stoned enough to laugh at the tired idea.

Hicks was actually a pioneer in making a living by reassuring desperate folks that they were all really cool and insightful, just like him. That’s Garofalo’s gig now, and also Kathy Griffin’s. There’s one inadvertently hilarious moment in the American trailer where Hicks is literally screaming at his audience about how everyone in the club with him is so much smarter than everyone else. The trailer is funny, but Bill Hicks remains pathetic—and the people who go see American are the same types who honestly believe they’re smart because they prefer Conan O’Brien to Jay Leno.

 

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