Bill Hicks on Letterman, Finally

A 1993 standup performance by Bill Hicks on David Letterman that was cut from the telecast 15 years ago finally saw light of day on an unusual episode of "Late Show with David Letterman" on Friday.


Suddenly awash with guilt for cutting the performance in its entirety, months before the edgy comic died of pancreatic cancer, Letterman not only showed the entire performance, he also invited the comic's mother, Mary Hicks, on the show so he could say how sorry he was for the whole thing.


"Let me again apologize for the heartache and sadness my decision caused your family," Letterman told the white-haired lady.

"I appreciate you saying that," she said.

At the time, it was the first time a whole performance had been cut from the late night show because of content. It caused enough consternation that Hicks wrote a 39-page letter to John Lahr in the New Yorker.

Letterman said Friday he realized that decision to pull the performance from the telecast caused pain to the family, who were among the few to know about the cancer that would kill him four months later.

"I know I can't make up for the damage that was causes, but I do hope that this makes it up symbolically to you," he said.

The performance was, like a lot of Hicks' work, funny and twisted and challenging at times.
Letterman warned that some of it might be dated, but it was only in that he railed against textbooks promoting gay lifestyles (twisted, he said, except maybe for "My Two Mommys").

He also poked fun at the right to life people. If they were so serious about their calling they should stop blocking medical clinics and start blocking cemeteries, he said.

But the routine began with a segment about a new TV show he was going to do called "Let's Hunt and Kill Billy Ray Cyrus."

Coincidentally, the segment came after a promo for that night's Craig Ferguson show, in which he was discussing Miley Cyrus.


Source: blogs.courant.com