Music Arcades: Bill Hicks: Philosophy - The Best of Bill Hicks

I am not really very interested in comedy. I always trot out that Brecht quote to explain my antipathy. I never go to see live comedy — which is a bit of bummer when you're living in South East London, where comedy seems to be the only kind of culture on offer (unless you count organic delicatessens and overpriced lager). I did go once, to see Harry Hill in York sometime in the '90s. It was similar to his TV show, except not as good.

So I'm surprised I ended up with this CD. The first I remember hearing of Bill Hicks was from Martyn and Jim when Tim and I went to Amsterdam with them for the Crossing Borders festival in 2000. Then, you know how it is: all those reviews and features that must have been there all along, but which you never noticed, start jumping off the page at you. It was the Lenny Bruce comparisons that sold him to me, I guess. (Yes, I know Lenny is comedy, too, and I'm not supposed to like comedy, but, well, consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, as someone once said.)

Tracks like Smoking have a kind of macabre rubbernecking interest given the cause of Hicks' early death. But I still can't see why anyone would listen to the same comedy album more than about three times. I lent this CD to Jeremy for a year or two — he takes comedy much more seriously than I do — and maybe I should give it back to him.