Trigger

It's gonna be on Comedy Central... Hope it doesn't suck.

Deftones

It's a Friars roast, right? These are always good.

MrX

I don't think so. It just says Comedy Central Roast in the commercials, if it was a Friars roast they would have said so.

Trigger

I saw a few names - Michael J Fox and Christopher Walken... I don't think either of them are jewish.

JestersTear

Nope. Comedy Central learned that it's easier to throw their own roast. They don't have to pay the Friar's Club for the rights to broadcast, and more importantly, Comedy Central gets to choose the person getting roasted. Let's face it, Leary is not quallified to be roasted by the Friar's Club. 2 stand-up tours / cd's, and a slew of failed TV shows?

I'll be watching just to see if any of the guests have the balls to point out that Leary stole his entire routine from the late Bill Hicks.

DodgingCars

Dennis Leary & Bill Hicks? No way. I know both of their stuff and don't see the similarity.

Wooderson

This has to be a joke. Dennis Leary is as fake as they come, that jerk stole everything he could from Bill Hicks. It's not a surprise that Bill Hicks died from cancer and then Leary's album was called " no cure for Cancer" and was all of Bill's material. Yeah you better thank god there is no cure for cancer because that's the reason you have a career. I think Bill once said that he actually ripped off Denis, but to throw everyone, he just wrote the material first.

Wooderson

I don't think you do. Because it's very obvious. Just look on the net and you'll find tons of info on Leary stealing Bill's material.

rkndkn

It might have "failed" rating-wise, but "The Job" was an excellent show! Rather than his stand-up, I'm more a fan of his acting in films like "Monument Avenue", "Suicide Kings", "Final", "The Underworld", etc.

kramdenfan

I'm actually looking forward to this! I've been a Leary fan for years...but I have heard that he stole everything from Hicks.

JestersTear

Oh yeah, I know that some of his performances were well received and all... and I loved him and Walken in Suicide Kings (what an innovative use for a toaster), I just don't think he's done enough in his career to merit a roast, which seems to be more of a celebration of a lifetime of achievements.

theedge

I miss "The Job" it was awesome. I bet it was something that slid under the ratings book (ala Family Guy). It was funny as hell!

Oh, don't forget he was in Ice Age too!

Charlie Goose

Whatever happened to roasting legends, like Jackie Gleason and Frank Sinatra?

What's the point of roasting a mid-level (at best) comedian? Who's going to be roasted next. Jeff Dunham & Peanut?

Honk!

DodgingCars

Maybe I'll do some research, but I've heard No Cure for Cancer and I've seen Hick's HBO special -- I didn't see any ripped off material there.

Trigger

if you think leary stole from hicks and there's evidence of it - produce it. post links. every comedian steals stuff.

Wooderson

Here are some:

An exert from his Bio:
"But there was always a lot more to Hicks than the surly grouch of so many ill-conceived reviews. While a comedian like Denis Leary stole whole swathes of his material and wrapped his anti-social attitude around the material like it was his own, he could never hope to compete with the savage polemicist that was Hicks.
Leary, who became a much bigger star than Hicks ever was in his lifetime, was a source of constant irritation to the Texan, who dismissed the professional Oirish-American to one interviewer acidly, saying: "Sure I stole Leary's material. And to throw people off the scent, I started doing it two years before he did."
link

"I'm no huge Bill Hicks fan-- I don't know all his work but I like what I've heard. What I am about to recount is what I've picked up from his fans in Bill Hicks' Chatroom postings. As I've heard it, Denis Leary ran into Bill Hicks in either London or New York. One account has Denis Leary introducing Bill on some television show in London, on some comedian's special. As it was told online, Bill got a much better response from the crowd than Denis and you could practically see, as Denis brought Bill offstage, you could practically see the wheels spinning in Denis' head. Whether the two comedians met in the US or UK, Bill Hicks' fans say all you have to do is look at the two comedians' early compact discs for confirmation that Leary was stealing his early material from Hicks. If you listen to the early cds from each comedian, find the similar pieces, and then take a look at the copyright dates on the various cds, you'll get a clear picture of what was going on. Bill knew before he died what Denis was doing. Bill was known for being a compulsive chain-smoking comic onstage and at one point, he gave up cigarettes. A reporter asked Bill why he'd stopped smoking. His reply: "I wanted to see if Denis Leary would."
Link

"Why does Denis Leary have a career?" the old comedians' in-joke runs. "Because there's no cure for cancer." That's funny. Bill Hicks died of pancreatic cancer in 1994, leaving behind a legacy of wildly intelligent comic invective, some of which Denis Leary unapologetically pilfered wholesale on his No Cure For Cancer album."
Link

1.5 - WHO DID HE INFLUENCE?
[ Tim McIntire ]
The Outlaws of Comedy (Ron Shock, Jimmy Pineapple, Kinison etc.) He influenced anyone that ever saw him, I think. He's responsible for more than one comic realizing there's more to what we do than wacky impressions and bits about airline food. He most certainly influenced Denis Leary. Leary not only lifted Bill's persona and attitude (Leary was at best an average comic in Boston before he adopted the "new" style) but his "No Cure for Cancer" book/album has some of Bill's material verbatim in them. An inside joke among comics is that the only reason Leary's a star instead of Bill is because there's no cure for cancer."
Link

I came across a quote from Bill Hicks on the net, where he perfectly describes his comedic style, saying, "The best kind of comedy to me is when you make people laugh at things they've never laughed at, and also take a light into the darkened corners of people's minds, exposing them to the light." Without Bill Hicks, there would be no Denis Leary HBO specials, no published collections of Dennis Miller's rants. Hicks was not only a savagely funny man, but also a guy who was totally unafraid to talk about what was really going on in the world around him. It's tragic how he died the way he did; these days, we need his satirical voice more than ever, but thankfully, his recorded works sound even more relevant today.
Link

"Third Eye" - Bill Hicks (spoken word)
Bill Hicks (www.billhicks.com) (1961-1994) was comedy's "Prince of Darkness". He was a brilliant stand-up comedian-philosopher whose often-frighteningly unfunny observations on drugs, sex, government, religion, and convenience set the standards (albeit sanitized) used by other comedians like Denis Leary,
Link

Go read some of the reviews at the links below, many who are into comedians know about this.
Review
Review here
Review

Trust me if you think Leary is funny go out and get a Bill Hicks album.

DodgingCars

Ok.. that's not proof...

I'm not saying he didn't steal from him (cause I honestly haven't taken the time to research it), but what you posted certainly doesn't show that Leary did any such thing.

Proof would be showing jokes from No Cure for Cancer that were identical or at least VERY similar to jokes that Hicks did before No Cure came out.

Again, I've heard both of their routines, and I never noticed any stealing. Could Leary have been influenced by Hicks? Absolutely.

BabiG

They died.

Wooderson

Ok sure.... There’s only loads of info right there and more if you just look for it. Trust me you don't know crap when it comes to Bill Hicks and I can easily tell you haven't heard much of him. If your going to base what you heard of Bill Hicks off of a HBO special then I can't help you anymore. Hicks has endless hours of material and a one-hour show doesn't even touch the tip of it. All I can say is go out and buy some of Hick's albums not only to hear for yourself the similarities but also because they are classics. I promise you after you hear a good majority of his work you won't have respect for Leary anymore. Listen I'm not going to argue with this issue anymore, it's just not worth it.

Verbal Gorilla

I have never heard Bill Hicks, but I am interested in the proof and comparisons between him and Leary. The problem is, there is loads of info in those links...but no PROOF. All that is is a bunch of people saying how similar and identical 'no cure for cancer' is and repeating the same story. Get some quotes form routines or please point to the set of Bill Hicks that I can obtain that contains Leary's "material". No one is arguing....Just please show us what you and these guys are talking about.

Wooderson

I have no idea where to find a full transcript of thier albums. I have all of Hick's albums and have heard Leary's, I guess what I am saying is that if you want proof you need to listen to the albums.

DodgingCars

No.. you are making the claim. Give us the proof or withdraw the claim.

Wooderson

watch me

JestersTear

Leary, from NCFC, referring to non-smokers: "Whinin' f****in' maggots"
Bill Hicks, referring to non-smokers in his audience: "A bunch of whinin' f****in' maggots"

Leary, from NCFC: "We live in a country where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest, Yooko Ono is standing right next to him. Not one f****in' bullet!"
Bill Hicks: "We live in a world where John Lennon was murdered yet Barry Manilow continues to put out f****in' albums!"

Leary, from NCFC: "All these rock stars should have been killed, man. Every single goddamn one of 'em. Right after John Lennon died we should have got in the Patridge Family bus and driven around and kill 'em all one by one."
Bill Hicks: "If you're gonna kill someone have some f****in' taste. I'll drive you to Kenny Rogers's house. Get in the car, I know where Wham lives."

How's that for a beginning?

As others have tried to point out, and you keep closing your eyes to, Leary did not have this "attitude" style until he met Bill Hicks and stole the style, delivery, and jokes from him.

Wooderson

Thanks JesterTear I couldn't find some of the transrcipts that were so important to these people. The majority of Leary's NCFC material is lifted right from Bill Hick's Sane Man act.