The little known comic, who had his career stolen by Dennis Leary, is one of my favorite comedians. Bill died back in 1994 from liver cancer and it killed him within a year of diagnosis. He was 32.
Very off beat and atypical for the time, his morose musings and highly liberal attitude made him a difficult performer to justify using by most TV studios. In fact, after scoring perhaps his greatest appearance opportunity on the Late Show with David Letterman, he went on to see his entire appearance cut in post. Bill was upset and didn't hold back from tearing into Letterman and CBS, and even wrote a scathing letter explaining the betrayal to a writer for The New Yorker.
Then, in 2009, a full 15 years after his death, David Letterman hosted Bill's mother on the show and formally apologized for cutting his performance from the show.
Too little too late in my opinion, but at least Letterman can rest his head a bit easier between the breasts of his latest intern.
Anyway, here is Bill at his best:
