class=”alignleft size-medium wp-image-47373″ title=”american the bill hicks story dvd” src=”https://www.heyuguys.com/images/2010/10/american-the-bill-hicks-story-dvd-190×300.jpg” alt=”” width=”190″ height=”300″ />

Arizona Bay, Relentless, Counts of the Netherworld, Rant in E Minor, Dangerous – if you’re smiling now, it’s because you already know who Bill Hicks is, and how powerful and influential his comedy was, and is.

Commanding respect from audiences and fellow comedians Hicks’s philosophy and extremely funny stand up routines were inspirational, freeing and hilarious experiences, and no-one has done it better since his death in 1994 at the ridiculously young age of 32.

Telling the story of the life of Hicks has been attempted many times, with Agent of Evolution (written by his friend Kevin Booth) doing it best, intermingling the words of Hicks with those of the people who knew him best. Along with a collection of his stand up routines, Love All the People, the picture which forms is of a man doing what he loved, without any scent of an egotistical agenda, and doing it to encourage people to engage, to think, to live in freedom.

Filmmakers Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas have collected a wealth of material from interviews with his family and friends and use an engaging ‘motion photography’ animation style to bring it to life. It works perfectly, and the flow of the documentary takes us through Hicks’s early years, with some great footage of a teenaged Hicks on stage, and his life, through drugs, drink, respect, fame and his comedy, is effortlessly conveyed.

It’s an absolute treat, with the man under examination first, with the comedy second and this is where it succeeds. His early, unexpected death is dealt with compassion and a real sense of loss and at the end of the film you will want to find out more, and with this DVD you’re in luck.

The extras are contained on a separate disc, and are far more than just perfunctory featurettes and sweepings from the cutting room floor; you can watch extensive interviews with filmmakers and friends of Bill which provide an excellent accompaniment to the main feature as an oral history is built up about the man and the comedian.

What makes the features particularly special in this case are the half an hour or so of rare footage of Hicks on stage. Fans who scoured the internet and passed bootlegged versions of the shows around may have seen some of it, but it’s gratifying to see some new footage after all this time.

The Making of Arizona Bay and the Hicks’s personal journals are a goldmine, and far from being exploitative they help further define Hicks as comedian, embellishing everything the film itself sets out to do.

So here’s my take on this DVD – if you’re a Bill Hicks fan then you’ve already bought it, or at least should have done, if you don’t know Bill Hicks then this is a great place to start, and if you’re like me then you won’t stop until you’ve enjoyed every precious second recorded of this man who was the finest comedian of his generation, and one who deserves to be remembered as such.

American: The Bill Hicks Story is out now.