I am a very very big fan of Buuurl(Bill to the uninitiated) and feel his untimely death robbed the world of potentially the greatest comedian ever.

He is lauded the world over for his views on everything from American/World relations, smoking and drugs via the easter bunny and the 'Grassy Knoll'. His ideas stand up usually to the highest level of argument of that there is no doubt. My problem is that he just does not make you laugh like some other comedians.

He is definitely the template for most up and coming comedians and the benchmark to hit, and his mark has well and truly been left in indellible ink for generations to come.

Nobody ever questions him though. No-one has ever said, or more to the point no review has ever said, "Bill you need to evolve, you need to take this act up a notch". He has a status in comedy of the untouchable, but the truth is his act barely changed over the years so if like me you have a lot of his material it becomes very samey and tedious.

That said, if this is going to be a one off purchase for you, if this is likely to be one of the only Bill Hicks sets you own, it WILL be worth it and it WILL change your opinion of what comedy could and should be. ie it can be serious and not as Bill says an excuse to ignore the real in exchange for banality.

To sum up, as a one of purchase this is as relevant today as it was over ten years ago. Also the name of his major nemesis has not changed, there is a stroke of luck, eh?

Bill Hicks stands out again as the most innovative and controversial comedian of his genre. For more of my feelings about Bill Hicks and the direction of comedy please visit my website www.thomasjhayes.com