FLYING SAUCER TOUR VOL. 1 Pittsburgh, PA 6/20/91
CREDITS
Executive Producer: Mary Reese Hicks
Producer: Jeff Rougvie
Mastered and edited by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering
Cover concept and series title: Ryan Hicks
Design: Steven Jurgensmeyer
Thanks, always, to Jim Hicks, Lynn Hicks, Steve Hicks, Marty Primeau, Ryan Hicks & Rachel Hicks for their continued encouragement and support while we work to get Bill's material out. Thanks to Marie and Nash Rougvie, Philip Lyon, Don Chesebro, Bill's loyal and new fans, club owners where Bill peformed these shows, and family and friends too numerous to list lest one be left out.
LINER NOTES
FLYING SAUCER TOUR VOLUME 1 is (as the title suggests) the first in a series. Bill performed up to 300 live shows a year and compared the schedule to a never-ending tour that only took place in small southern towns. Bill, like many comedians, recorded most of his shows. He left a vast archive of these recordings when he moved on in 1994.
All of Bill's previous releases have been edited to some extent. The goal of the FLYING SAUCER TOUR series is to release the very best full-length, unedited Bill Hicks performances from that archive. That said, this show, the first in the series, is edited.
Surely an edit diametrically opposes the lofty ethos that motivates the series concept? Is this the work of Beelzebozo? No. There's an edit because - drum roll - the tape ran out. Here's what happened: when it was decided to launch this series, 100 Bill Hicks shows were reviewed. They all have their own particular charm and picking one wasn't easy.
It became apparent that the more compelling shows were in front of audiences that didn't "get" Bill's comedy. Although he was sometimes (vocally) frustrated with these crowds, they made Bill work harder. A few particularly difficult audiences were so impenetrable that the gigs deteriorated into shouting matches. While fascinating, those shows aren't conducive to repeat listens, and the harshest of them has already been widely circulated.
In 1991, Bill played an extended series of dates at the Funny Bone in Pittsburgh, PA. The venue was a supporter of Bill's, but the local crowds weren't as gung-ho. One early-evening performance was non-smoking(!!!). It was a tough string of gigs.
At this show Bill appeared before a crowd that he dubbed "the worst audience I've ever faced" after just over 15 minutes. From there on he whipped out every trick in his book to win them over and the show is magic. Most gigs from this period are 50-65 minutes long. For this show, Bill went over 80 minutes. Based on other Pittsburgh performances, it appears he was in the middle of the last bit when, due to the extended length of the show, the tape ran out. That bit, "A Question For The Ladies," can be found in its entirety on "Love, Laughter and Truth" (albeit from a different performance).
Because this is an exceptional and unusual show, we released it anyway. Rather than allow the show to cut off, we instead excised the incomplete final bit and added Bill's closer from another night in Pittsburgh. While not 100% authentic, it is as close to complete, genuine, unfiltered Bill Hicks genius as this performance can be.
Hopefully you and Bill will forgive us.
Jeff Rougvie / 2002