I'm gonna chime in on Bill Hicks.

Bill Hicks considered the comedy club to be the perfect venue to spread a message of peace and freedom of mind, and to attack those things he considered ignorant or hypocritical. He was also an egotist with airs of romantic suffering. His tastes and experiences, from dislike of summer to his smoking habit to a stint of drug use take precedent over others. As a matter of fact, you have a good chance of living longer and healthier if you don't smoke regardless of the sometimes smug nature of non-smokers(which is sometimes genuine concern for the wellbeing of others having had close members of their own family perish young from it). Not everybody can handle access to drugs freely(specifically crack, cocaine, meth, speed, and heroine) and society suffers from it. The only good thing about winter in my opinion is the opportunity to break out my bitchin trenchcoat.

His egotism also manifests in his complete inability to interact with his audience. Any burst of audience interaction ends either on a low note lacking in real jokes or him berating them. I'd like to also note a sort of taste for casting himself as a suffering hero, a noble man in a world of idiots that ignore him.

I like him, but I think he should have stuck to maybe writing or editorials or somesuch, where his deft skill at metaphor and keen insight would have served him better, and where he never need so much as talk to the people he was so fond of preaching to.

(It doesn't really fit into the above, but I'l like to note couple of things Bill Hicks said about two of the above comedians. The first being the miserable hack Denis Leary, who may have stolen/happened upon a similar joke or two of Hick's, but was otherwise very distinct so a full aping is right out. More of a status quo confirming raconteur asshole really. The second is Gallegher, who Bill Hicks really hated as a mindless prop comic. Except Gallagher was an observational comic of above average ability who happened on a gimmick that brought people in. In both instances very shallow evaluations)