When did this guy stop being funny? He seemed to have lost it somewhere. Were hose Bill Hicks rumors true? That Leary stole Hicks' chain smoking and delivery style?
Much better question is when was he ever funny? He never seemed like much to begin with and has declined steadily since coming onto the scene. The only thing remotely entertaining I ever saw him do was those stupid MTV commercials where he's talking about Cindy Crawford and eskimo pies.
Thanks for a great season, Pick of the Week fans...see you next year at Planet Magic in Denmark, WI!
Originally posted by StaggerLeeMuch better question is when was he ever funny? He never seemed like much to begin with and has declined steadily since coming onto the scene. The only thing remotely entertaining I ever saw him do was those stupid MTV commercials where he's talking about Cindy Crawford and eskimo pies.
Say what? No Cure for Cancer was one helluva piece of work. "I'm an Asshole" might have been the first and best cannonball fired at the fortress of political correctness.
That, and he's a Red Sox fan, so hooray! :-)
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Leary was indeed funny, and I say there was enough distinction between him and Hicks. Yes, both were doing stand-up about the same time in England, and, yes, Hicks had developed enough of a recognized following there for Leary to have aped his mannerisms. But I don't see it.
Leary, for one, had a much more antic delivery. Quicker, angrier, more violent. If anything, he took some attitude from the Sam Kenison style of comedy. And as far as the chain smoking, even Andrew Dice Clay was doing that onstage before his heyday as a performer.
Hicks, from what I've seen, was more laid back in his style, and he spent time talking about sex (Goat Boy), something I've never heard Leary joke about. Hicks was also much more anti-establishment. Leary attacked stupidity. Hicks attacked mediocrity. Big difference.
But I haven't found Leary too funny in stand-up lately, and I would point to the Locked and Loaded performance when he started talking about being a dad. Fatherhood generally kills the rock-and-roll attitude of hip comics. Cosby had a second renaissance when he used his kids as material because he was always a storyteller, not merely a set-up/punchline comic.
I do like Leary on TV series. The shortlived ABC show where he was a cop was brutally funny stuff.
(edited by Matt Tracker on 17.1.05 0801) "To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Dennis Leary, on numerous occasions, has admitted to 'swiping the Bill Hicks 'style', but not his material.' This was recently said late last year when John Stewart had him on THE DAILY SHOW pimping his firefighter show (which I can't remember the name of it now, but anyways...).
Bill Hicks and Leary were close friends and supposedly, Hicks gave him the ok to swipe from him, but it's kinda hard to prove that hith one of the parties no longer with us.
For anyone wanting to see Leary 'back when he was funny', there's a somewhat new DVD out with two of his older HBO stand-up shows. NO CURE FOR CANCER is one of them. I saw it at Best Buy for $19.99.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and how could you have NOT liked him in THE REF... now THAT'S a movie that would have been absolute shit if it wasn't for him carrying it.
(edited by Cerebus on 17.1.05 1213) Cerebus: RIP 1977-2004.
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I really liked "The Job" and now "Rescue Me", but Leary has said himself that he doesn't have much to be angry about lately. "No Cure For Cancer" is so brilliant because he just has such rage about the world. He has said something to the effect of "I'm in my 40s, with a wife and kids and a good life, what should I be angry about?" And today, when he sings the "Asshole" song, he doesn't do his spoken word part over the middle about John Wayne and big cars and stuff. He's no longer a struggling stand-up comic.
Denis Leary is a watered down, mainstream version of Hicks. I don't recall ever reading that Hicks gave permission for someone to blatantly rip off his style and even a few of his bits and go big time with it. Once someone asked Hicks why he quit smoking, and he said that he wanted to see if Denis Leary would too.
In all fairness, Leary was ok years ago, but in the last several years, not a chance. I wasn't a fan of Tough Crowd, but this exchange with Greg Giraldo bitching him out was a classic:
Originally posted by ParagonOfVirtueDenis Leary is a watered down, mainstream version of Hicks. I don't recall ever reading that Hicks gave permission for someone to blatantly rip off his style and even a few of his bits and go big time with it. Once someone asked Hicks why he quit smoking, and he said that he wanted to see if Denis Leary would too.
In all fairness, Leary was ok years ago, but in the last several years, not a chance. I wasn't a fan of Tough Crowd, but this exchange with Greg Giraldo bitching him out was a classic:
Count me in as another person who has never in his life heard of Bill Hicks giving permission to Denis Leary to rip off his stuff. I'd be interested in seeing where you got that information.
"I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did."
- Bill Hicks on Leary.
"I just know that when Bill and I were driving to go see the branch Davidian siege, he had just bought the Leary album and put it on and was just playing it and just seething, seething in a way of like, 'great, this guy is selling a zillion copies on Warner Brothers, doing all of my ideas and material', This is what was annoying to him. It was the same kind of thing with Andrew Dice Clay, as well."
- Bill Hicks' friend Kevin Booth.
Also, there aren't just accusations that Leary ripped off Hicks' style but some of his actual material. A bit about Jim Fix's death for example. Now it might just have been a coincidence but a lot of people, including Hicks, seem to think otherwise. And for the guy who said Hicks was more laid back in his style, he certainly could be more calm than Leary during a lot of his act but he would also scream and wail and channel the Kinisony rage with the best of them, better than Leary in my opinion.
I thought Denis Leary was funny before I'd ever heard of Bill Hicks and if he "stole" Hick's stuff, well, I don't care...it's still FUNNY. I guess if the Bill Hicks estate were to sue him or something I might feel differently, possibly.
NO CURE FOR CANCER is awesome.
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I think No Cure For Cancer was the first CD I ever bought. I could probably do all the routines from memory. It's always weird for me to watch the actual show on TV and see the material cut from the CD (I guess for time).
I think it was just a matter of putting the finishing touches on the episode, not writing it, etc. How else would they still had the voices of McFarlane on there?