Comedian Bill Hicks was born in Valdosta,
Georgia, on
December 16,
1961. From an early age, he created
comedy routines that were fashioned after his idols
Woody Allen and
Johnny Carson. The Comedy Workshop in
Houston gave Hicks his first break by allowing him, along with his friend Dwight Slade, to perform there on a regular basis. After high school graduation, Hicks met
Jay Leno while doing stand-up comedy in
Los Angeles. Later, Leno helped Hicks to get an appearance on
The Late Show with David Letterman. In
1993,
Rolling Stone gave him the "Hot Stand-Up Comic" of the year award, and for the third time he was nominated by the American Comedy Awards for "Stand-Up of the Year." Shortly thereafter, Hicks found out that he had
cancer.
Pancreatic cancer took his life on February 26,
1994, at the age of 32.
[Official Site: Bill Hicks Bio]