Here via YouTube and CBS' Late Night With David Letterman is the set up for that appearance:
After a commercial break Dave brought out Bill Hicks' mom and well...see for yourself:
The "heartache" Dave mentions early on is the fact that yanking that spot from airing changed (again) Bill Hicks' career making him even more edgier and bitter, most times incorporating the performed routine as part of his act and pointing out the hypocracy inherent in the broadcast media. In 1993 Hicks was breaking wide and performing to packed houses in most every place he performed OUTSIDE of the US, doing a kind of ranting performance against corporate society and thinking. A large number of his nightclub performances from this point on were recorded or filmed and Bill became one of the most notorious comics of his time with a huge reputation in the underground circuits. Here, again from last night's Late Night via YouTube, is Bill's routine that he did in 1993 on Letterman:
This routine was refined and ran past the censors before Bill even walked on stage, still watching it, and knowing the fickle state of the media it's not too hard to imagine why Dave pulled the spot.
Bill Hicks is one of my heroes and an example of a true genius pioneer. Looking at his routine now it might be hard to see why. Just know that the number of political satirists like Dennis Miller and Bill Mahr (the intelligent and secure ones anyway) will all attribute their career on Bill Hick's trailblazing, while other "comedians" like Dennis Leary might not admit it so quickly but made careers by ripping off entire segments of Bill Hick's act and claimed it as their own (Bill was talking about how great it was to smoke years before Leary's "No Cure For Cancer" performance that made him famous- in fact much (if not all) of Leary's static, manic, hyper performance is straight from Hick's nightclub act). Here, on Letterman he is obviously stiff and almost sedated compared to his uncensored expletive ridden riffs, especially the ones after this debacle.
It is a great statement to Letterman's character to have has last night's program and to humbly admit his fault and mistake on the matter. I hope it gives him the kudos he deserves for doing it, as well as some sort of closure to a decision that has obviously haunted him sine he did it. Surprisingly there was no mention of Bill's recordings and the memorials and biopix that are in the planning stages to commemorate his life, and it's also a testament to Dave and his producers for allowing this footage out, playing it in it's crisp and original form, and to have the balls to have his mother out to apologize to her on air for the emotional stress and anxiety that pulling Bill's appearance caused him in his last days of his life. In his routine, where Bill admits that he started smoking again, he was already diagnosed as past the point of treatment on his cancer, and in true Bill Hicks style he decided that he was going to enjoy as much of his life in his last days that he could, and that included his nicotine addiction.

For more video on Bill Hicks, including a number of rants about being pulled from Late Night check out YouTube under Bill Hicks and see some of his genius for yourself.
WAKE UP.
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