Film
Bill Hicks: Revelations
Bill Hicks at full power: seventy-five minutes of ferocious, funny interrogation of American hypocrisy, performed at the Dominion Theatre in London. He's fast-talking, righteously angry, and genuinely brilliant—a stand-up who thinks like a philosopher and lands his points with the precision of a sniper. For anyone who wants comedy that actually means something.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you love sharp, furious stand-up where a single performer rants with real moral conviction and makes you laugh while your own assumptions get pried open.
Skip it if you want gentle, observational jokes or can't stomach bitter, profane outrage aimed squarely at politics, religion and consumer culture from start to finish.
What it asks of you: It runs about seventy-four minutes of one man on a stage, so it asks for steady attention and a tolerance for escalating intensity rather than quick laughs.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
George Carlin: Jammin' in New York1992
Carlin at his peak, taking on language, religion, and the American dream with the same ferocious intelligence. This is what happens when a comedian becomes a social commentator and refuses to soften the edges.
But Carlin's profanity is relentless and intentional in a way that can feel repetitive if you're not aligned with his specific targets.
Norm Macdonald: Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery2017
Norm builds absurdist philosophies the way Hicks builds social critique—patient, weird, committed to the bit even when it confuses people. Deadpan genius.
But His comedy is deliberately shapeless and anti-climactic; if you want a punchline every thirty seconds, you'll get frustrated.
Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin2017
Chappelle unpacking race, celebrity, and moral compromise with the same urgent intelligence. He's performing at the Beacon Theatre with full control of his material and his platform.
But His later Netflix specials have provoked real debate about his approach to certain topics; this one is brilliant but politically dense.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bill Hicks: Revelations
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Network1976
Both are furious diagnoses of American cultural sickness dressed as entertainment. Hicks is the prophet screaming from the stage; Network is the fictional world that proves him right.
Sidney Lumet's savage satire about a news anchor's madness becoming television gold. It predicted the hypocrisy of media and entertainment that Hicks is attacking—and it does it through narrative rather than stand-up. Structurally inverted but thematically identical.
But It's a 1970s studio drama with a theatrical tone; if you want contemporary comedy delivery, the artifice might feel distant.
More like this (3)
Sam Kinison: Breaking the Rules1987
Kinison screams truth at the machine like Hicks does, but with apocalyptic fervor and a preacher's intensity. Wild, unhinged, completely committed.
But The screaming and histrionics work for some people and feel exhausting to others—he's performing at maximum volume constantly.
John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City2018
Mulaney channels the Hicks lineage through a different lens: sharp observation, perfect timing, comedy as architecture. His stories build with mathematical precision.
But He's gentler and more mainstream than Hicks—if you're looking for that righteous anger, you won't find it here.
The Holy Mountain1973
Both attack religious hypocrisy and ask whether enlightenment is possible in a corrupt world. Hicks uses comedy; Jodorowsky uses nightmare imagery. Same war, different weapons.
Jodorowsky's surrealist masterpiece about enlightenment, religion, and the grotesque gap between spiritual truth and organized delusion. It's Hicks's themes rendered as hallucinogenic visual sermon—shocking, committed, absolutely serious.
But It's deliberately obscure, symbolist, and difficult. There's no narrative thread and no jokes; if you need clarity, this will frustrate you.
People
Cast
Bill HicksSelf
Directing
- Chris BouldDirector
Writing
- Bill HicksWriter
Production
- Sue HancockExecutive Producer
- Charles BrandProducer
Recommended by
Eddie Murphy Raw, Richard Pryor: Live in Concert, Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip