American: The Bill Hicks Story

This time last year the UK was looking forward to the release of American: The Bill Hicks Story and helping get his name out with a twitter hashtag, #BillHicksDay. Now it's finally America's turn to see the film in the warmth of a movie theatre. This as well with twitter celebrating today's "Bill Hicks Day" so keep an eye out for the afore mentioned hashtag.

If you haven't heard about the man then hop onto youTube and search for him, head over to billhicks.com [The design is quite dreadful, unfortunately] or have a rant on the official message board as I'm sure Bill would approve! You can still read his rantings on twitter via @bill_hicks_rip

There was something about Bill and his comedy that caught the public in America and sliced them in two. You either loved his comedy or wanted him off the airwaves as fast as possible. He was rude, shocking and disrespectful - the three things needed to be a great comedian. Also, he was remembered on the 10th anniversary of his death with an Early Day Motion in the UK Parliament from MP Stephen Pound.

That this House notes with sadness the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks, on 26th February 1994, at the age of 33; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being worth of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.

If you want you can use the above as wallpaper - just click here

15 years after his death (Dec 16, 1961 – 26 Feb, 1994), Bill Hicks is now more popular than ever, and is widely seen as one of the best comedian of the modern era. However, in America, where he challenged institutions and accepted ways of thinking, he suffered censorship and was never truly recognised by a wide audience. In the country which enshrines freedom of speech in its constitution his story is truly about what it means to be an American.

Now Bill’s remarkable story is brought to life in AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, a feature-length documentary which combines live action with a stunning new animation technique manipulating 1,000s of photographs to uniquely immerse the audiences in his world, which is re-told from the point-of-view of the people who shared it with him.

Hitting US theatres April 8, 2011
Otherwise if you can't wait then you can always buy the DVD or the Blu-ray from amazon.co.uk