American

I seem to be doing a fair bit of movie going at the moment, and last week saw me heading back to The Prince Charles round the back of Leicester Square to see the Bill Hicks movie American.

My pal had suggested it, I was only vaguely aware that the movie was out! I went with some trepidation too cos over the years that I've been doing stand up I've been nauseated by the amount of comedians who announce themselves as the "new Bill Hicks". Sadly most of em are about as funny as the 'new Jim Davidson'. Being able to shout doesn't make you edgy, it just makes you shouty.

One of the things I really loved about the film was the fact that they addressed that phenomenon too. Probably slightly kinder than I just have, but still.

I really liked the way it was put together, kinda half animation with voice overs from Dwight Slade his former double act partner, his Mum, brother, sister, other comics who worked with him in the early days, it was really well done and not too gushy.

I did feel for Dwight Slade, the bit of his solo stand up we saw wasn't dreadful, but imagine being in a double act with someone like Bill Hicks, you're always gonna be the shit one! Poor sod.

There's early days footage, and rather more sadly later days footage too, the sight of him ravaged with cancer but still on fire as a comedian brought more than a few tears to my eyes I can tell you.

Of course, me being me, I have my own Bill Hicks' story to tell. About two weeks before he was due to do his last big London show (as it turned out) at the Dominion Theatre, I got a call from my mate Neil Norman at the Evening Standard. I was no longer working for them, and had begun to dip my toe into the mad world of stand-up without much success to be honest!

Anyway Neil knew this, and figured I might wanna meet Bill Hicks. More importantly Lynn Franks PR who were plugging the show, had been hassling him for ages to get someone to do an interview and none of the regular arts writers were remotely interested. Needless to say, I was!

I dealt with a guy called Mike (sorry can't remember his surname - it was 17 years ago!) who was Bill's "english manager" and ran Laughing Stock records. He suggested I go and see Bill at Royal Holloway College in Egham in Surrey, then I could do the interview and see him warm up for the big gig. Even better Mike was happy to give me a lift there and back!

Now here's where I admit my ignorance. A couple years before I went to the Bloomsbury Theatre to see Dennis Leary do his "No Cure for Cancer" show and was pretty blown away. I'd not seen that kind of comedy before and of course Dennis was pretty cute in those days. I'd even interviewed him for the Standard while I was still working there.

Anyway, in the car with Mike I mentioned how Dennis and Bill had pretty similar themes in their comedy - smoking, Reagan, drugs in rock 'n' roll, etc. Thank god I mentioned it to Mike cos he explained how basically Dennis Leary had stolen Bill Hicks' act and dashed over here with it! Good job I didn't ask Bill if he was influenced by Leary! Of course I have no idea whether this is the full and true version of events but even so, it would've been a shit opening to the interview!

That disaster averted, we arrived at the gig, and I have to admit I was really nervous. I'd only seen videos of his performances and as you will know, he's not exactly shy and retiring onstage!

Offstage was a totally different matter tho. Firstly he was happy to be interviewed before the gig, quite a rarity at least with bands. Most performers are 'getting into their zone' pre-performance. He was charming, funny, patient and courteous - the epitome of a southern gent. Mind you I was slim at the time and wearing a short dress, might've had something to do with it!

Once I'd asked all the "interview" questions, it was his turn to quiz me. I reluctantly admitted I'd done a couple of open spots. He was really interested in how they'd gone. I told him the truth, I had trouble remembering the material and his solution was simple "take a piece of paper onstage" and not to be scared of leaving some silence while you gathered your thoughts. Obviously he'd never done an open spot at Up The Creek on a Sunday night!

The gig was fantastic, his persona was mesmerising, and he was as we all know both hilarious and thought provoking - often at the same time. At one point he stopped talking for a good couple of minutes and took out a folded piece of paper with some new material on.The audience held their breath while he read it to himself and then did it for us. He gave a little nod as he folded it back up and put it in his pocket, as if to say 'there ya go, JoJo'.

After the show, Mike took me backstage again to say goodnight and Bill asked if I'd seen what he did. I replied that I had and it was probably easier to do that when you've got an hour or more onstage and you're Bill Hicks, not so easy when you've got five minutes to sell yourself to a bunch of people who've never heard of you. Bless him, he conceded I had a point!

Once back in London I transcribed the tapes and wrote my piece. I handed it in to Neil and waited for it to appear in that Friday's paper. I really wanted to go and see him at The Dominion on the Sunday but it was all sold out, so me getting tickets was down to how happy Lynn Franks PR were with the piece. I'd put my order in for a pair of freebies and was told I'd have to wait and see if there were any available. This of course was code for 'if the piece is shit, you can whistle"

Friday I bought a copy of the paper and disaster, it wasn't in! I spoke to Neil and was told that lack of space coupled with the Features Editor never having heard of Bill Hicks meant it was dropped. I'd get a kill fee, but that was that.

I didn't bother with Lynn Franks but I did ring Mike and tell him what had occurred and how sorry I was that it didn't go in. It was nothing to do with me but I felt responsible. I faxed a copy of my piece over and asked him to apologise to Bill for me.

That was that, or so I thought. Then, on the Sunday afternoon, about 4pm my phone rang. It was Mike. He said that Bill would like to invite me to the gig as his guest and then out for dinner afterwards - not like a romantic thing, there'd be a whole bunch of people - and here is where I admit to one of less than a handful of regrets I have in my entire life - because I was too shy to go on my own, and there was only one pass going, I said thanks but no thanks! Can you fucking believe how stupid I was??????

Six months later Bill was dead from pancreatic cancer. I learned a very valuable lesson, to make the most of every opportunity, cos you just never know.

So as not to end on a downer, in about 1996 I did a tour supporting Craig Charles, and one of the dates was Royal Holloway Collage in Egham. I got to perform on the very same stage as Bill Hicks, still didn't take out the piece of paper tho!