Retrospective: The Dennis Leary/Bill Hicks Plagiarism War

The early 1990s were a particularly edgy time for pop culture. Nirvana released “Nevermind,” marking the beginning of the 1990s grunge movement. Meanwhile, the Tim Burton Batman films dominated the box office, and TV shows like “NYPD Blue” were pushing the envelope on television.

Nowhere was this more evident than with the stand-up comedians from the era.

Andrew Dice Clay was at the peak of his mainstream popularity, George Carlin had pivoted to acting, and the untimely death of Sam Kinison shed new light on his career.

However, two comedians who became synonymous with this era were Bill Hicks and Denis Leary. The two friends shared a great deal in common. But after the release of Leary’s 1993 album No Cure for Cancer, their friendship abruptly ended.

According to Hicks, Leary had ripped off much of his act, including both his general presence and even some of his specific jokes.

Despite the involvement of two high-profile individuals and some compelling accusations against Leary, the story had little impact on his career.

There are multiple reasons that happened, and they are worth examining, even if the allegations are over 30 years old.

Understanding the Allegations

Disclosure: I am a fan of both Hicks’ and Leary’s work and have been for decades. Allegations aside, I’ve enjoyed both their work. I was also unaware of the allegations at the time, as I was just 12 years old.

The allegations began in January 1993 with the release of Leary’s first comedy album, No Cure for Cancer.

Almost immediately after the album’s release, Hicks accused Leary of plagiarizing not just certain jokes, but much of his act and on-stage character.

To that end, Hicks pointed to several similarities. He noted that Leary chainsmoked on stage and played “asshole” characters. There were also several similar jokes, including discussions of cigarette warning labels and the band Judas Priest.

However, perhaps the biggest direct similarity was that both comedians made a joke about Jim Fixx. Fixx was an advocate for jogging who died while training for a marathon. Both men found irony in that, as they both flaunted their unhealthy habits.

But Fixx died in July 1984, nearly a decade before Leary’s album. It was a strange reference for either of them to make, let alone both.

In a 1993 interview with Austin Comedy News, Hicks said, “I have a scoop for you. I stole his act, I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did.” He also joked about quitting smoking to see if Learly would do the same.

Hicks wasn’t the only comedian who had an issue with that album. In 2008, comedian Louis CK said in a radio interview that Leary’s “Asshole” bit/song was lifted from his earlier routines. Learly denied this, saying that he co-wrote the song with Chris Phillips.

In the same segment, he also joked about the Bill Hicks accusations.

Regardless, Leary has gone on to have a very successful career in both film, TV and comedy. Despite the allegations, Leary was able to move on almost immediately.

Understanding why requires looking at the bigger picture.

The Problem with Joke Theft

Joke theft has long been a thorny issue in stand-up comedy. Since there is no copyright protection for an idea, there’s no way to protect the concept behind a joke.

Because of this, comedians have largely self-enforced plagiarism norms. One comedian, Bernie Mac, even based a TV episode around this concept, creating a fictional feud with Chris Rock. Another comedian, Randy Feltface, worried that he had accidentally plagiarized a joke from George Carlin.

However, perhaps the most famous example was the viral video from February 2007, where Joe Rogan confronted Carlos Mencia on stage about allegations of joke theft.

But while those allegations have followed Mencia ever since, why did the ones against Leary not stick? There are several reasons.

First is the tragic passing of Bill Hicks in February 1994. Hicks was Leary’s biggest critic and had a high enough stature that he probably could have made things difficult for Leary if he wanted. Whether he would have done that or not is an open question.

Still, the biggest voice against Leary passed away just 13 months after Leary’s album was released.

Second, there was no internet (to speak of) at the time. The Carlos Mencia allegations were featured in a viral video, which has now been viewed more than 3.4 million times. Hick’s allegations were largely reported in trade publications and out of the public eye.

At the time, there were no montages of the two comedians’ works, and much of the public was likely unaware that there was any controversy at all.

Finally, although Learly did perform as a comedian and become famous for it, even back then, he was transitioning more towards TV and film acting. Though his song Asshole remains a favorite, his IMDB is dominated by his film and TV work.

In the end, comedy turned out to be just a small part of what he did and became famous for. This was likely never going to be more than a footnote in his career.

My Analysis

The simple truth is that we will probably never know exactly how much Leary pulled from Hicks. What we do know is that the two were friends before Leary’s album, and that they shared similar jokes and a similar on-stage persona.

But there were differences as well. Hick’s comedy is more methodical and slow-tempoed, whereas Leary’s is fast-paced to the point of being frantic. Although both made jokes about cigarette warnings, Hicks targeted the way they listed different diseases on each pack, while Leary focused on the warnings more generally.

I don’t doubt for a second that Leary drew a great deal of inspiration from Hicks. The question is whether he crossed the line into outright plagiarism.

That is much tougher to determine. First, we don’t have all the information, and the story is over 30 years old. Second, different people, including comedians, will have a wide variety of thoughts.

This is one of the reasons why, when comedians call one another out for joke theft, it’s typically over the most straightforward cases. Between independent creation, inspiration, and plain bad luck, there are several reasons why two comedians might have similar material without violating ethics.

One thing that has changed is that, with the internet, it’s easy to prove when a comedian first told a particular joke or performed a certain routine. This eliminates the debate about who performed it first and whether the alleged plagiarism is even possible.

Personally, I agree with YouTuber Comedy Zola. Regardless of whether it’s stolen or not, Leary’s biggest crime may be that he didn’t improve on Hick’s work. For all the similarities, Hick’s routine feels more polished and better performed. While this may be a matter of personal preference, I doubt many will argue that Leary had the clearly superior performance.

That, more than any allegation of plagiarism, keeps this album in Hick’s shadow. Fortunately for Leary, he found other ways to break out, just not with this album.

Bottom Line

Allegations of joke theft are among the most difficult to analyze or enforce. I have even been accused of joke theft. In January 2014, when Google acquired Nest, I made a joke on Twitter (now X) about needing to view AdSense ads to adjust the temperature.

Others made the same joke and several versions of it, including mine, went mildly viral. I don’t think anyone stole the joke; we all just had the same idea in response to the same news story.

However, this story feels different, and Bill Hicks definitely agreed. I don’t think there’s much doubt that Leary drew inspiration from Hicks, but whether that crossed into plagiarism is an open debate.

Ultimately, I can see why Hicks felt the way he did. The routines are very similar, with some specific similarities that beggar belief. Given their close friendship, I can imagine I would be upset if I were in his shoes.

Still, the scandal never really harmed Leary or his career. He hasn’t released a comedy special since 2011. He has completed the jump to TV and film very successfully.

In the end, this story is just a footnote in Leary’s career. To my knowledge, there haven’t been any allegations against Leary since that album. If nothing else, it seems clear that Leary learned from the experience.

That, in turn, may be the most important takeaway of all.