"You wouldn't believe how dry it is backstage" [takes a slug of whiskey] CLASSIC Hitch. Although judging by how he looks/acts previous to that moment, backstage was in fact utterly soused.
Take heart he has inspired many. It is the duty of our species to evolve beyond our limits & constraints. That is all he really wanted in my opinion. He gave us a fun head start in this. Best wishes
I once saw Christopher Hitchens at a debate in Cambridge years ago, and after the debate he done a similar thing and the audience a selection of his more risqué limericks....well it was so funny, he'd recite one then do it again and change the words I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. A great man with a plethora of human flaws who's sorely missed by many.
Here's a Hitchens-esque joke: A man has marriage problems as a result of heavy drinking every night, to the point at which she says 'if you go out drinking one more time'. Meh sneaks out the next night, telling his wife he's going to church. After hours of drinking he vomits all over himself and, in his drunken state panics. His friend tells him not to worry and says that he should keep his clothes as they are, but stuff a $20 in his pocket and tell her it was from a guy who throw up on him and gave him the money for the dry cleaning. He goes home covered in vomit to his wife's dismay. 'You went out drinking didn't you? You're covered in vomit' he stops her and takes the money out of his pocket saying 'no no... Another man threw up on me and gave me $20 for he dry cleaning'. She notices all the money in his hands and says 'then why are you holding $40?' To which he replies 'the other $20 is from the man who shat in my pants'
He's an Oxford educated journalist, who writes with flawless prose, formulates utterly convincing arguments, is still the nemesis of all major religions (even though he is dead), AND he can do a witty stand up routine. I wouldn't be surprised if a video surfaced of him playing for Manchester United
This is great. I don't think a lot of people understand that his vehement stance on many things, was driven by natural born human kindness, or so I believe. He was a hedonist and polemic but his heart was pure gold.
I respectively disagree with your point about Hitchens being a hedonist. He was more than just a hedonist. Hitchens was a libertine, in the tradition of John Wilmot and William Hazlitt.
@@michaeldalscais2538yeah, he’s not a hedonist. in fact, that probably would be frowned upon in Trotskyist circles. he was against taking drugs, though he did seem to love women, whisky, and cigarettes. but he was almost always reading, writing, or speaking in some capacity. the man was a machine.
I never saw this before. OMG, if only I could have met this man. His timing, pacing, every single minute of that performance--perfect. After all his other talents, he could do a fair stand-up gig, at least once. Dang!
and then i said I'm proud you are a stalker of mine; I'll add you to my favorites and stalk you right back, since I've always enjoyed your posts on other topics. Take that!
tekobari hey man! It's been a while, i added you to my "circles" though a little while ago... I'm not sure what that means entirely, but yeah. You take that now!. Nobody is truly cool until they get a stalker haha
Mr. Hitchens is one of the greats. I don't know why, but everything about him caught my attention when I first discovered him. His sentences are beautiful. People are right; he was a worthy celeb unlike today where we have losers famous for no reason. Mr. Hitchens, you are binded with the sands of time. Thank you.3
As a Hitchens fan, I’m so happy to come across this treasure to save it to my archives! Love some of the one liners in this video. Thanks for uploading this. “All filth is local.”
How many high-end intellectuals on the face of the planet can stand in front of a crowd and make the majority of them laugh with bad jokes? Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends there will never be another Christopher Hitchens, I miss him so dearly.
10:08 It's so subtle you can easily miss it, but you can see Hitch restraining himself from laughing here. Knowing what incredible people found personally funny, interesting, etc. is a really cool insight into dimensions of them we don't often think about. That's what makes this standup so special for Hitchens's fans.
it must have been such a pleasure to have known Hitchens in real life....We are so lucky that his debates and moments like these are forever available to us online and to future generations also...he was such a brilliant, fascinating, and funny person
Too true. I suppose our only consolation is that he lived in this lovely age of recording, where he's still well and alive on video, audio, and paper. We can at least give thanks for that.
I love this clip. Boos and jeers in the beginning, but so much more applause for him at the end: even by those who booed and jeered. Pure intelligence and charisma. He is surely missed.
you're kind of a dumb fuck aren't you? His speech and appearance in this video is how it always was in every other video. how does he look drunk? then in your further post you state that "you did not watch that far" (to 7:00).....is your attention span unable to exceed 5 minutes? dude, you didn't survive the 60s. the pot and coke did you in.
I don't know, but in all the very deserved praise about Christopher Hitchens and his quite astonishing intellect and reaction to religion, and the quite brilliant discussions he took part in that opened our minds, no-one actually seems to have thought it important to remark just what a very extraordinarily pleasant voice he had. Or is that just me? MsG
If Hitchens hadn't have been a terrific author and writer he could have easily been a brilliant stand-up comedian, he's so naturally witty and erudite, I love him.
Its hard to conceive of the confidence a person has to have to do standup. Its even more impressive that he does it when there's clearly so many in that room that dislike him.
Miss you Hitch, you're greatly missed.. Not only funny as fuck, but told it as it was too. No fart arsing around, no beating around the bush, just straight to the truth.
You can find at least five people in that crowd who are completely unamused and almost contemptuous of him, rofl. It just made it even better. What a badass. Rest in peace you magnificent fuck, dammit I'll miss you.
Amazing testament to how much he has made a difference in the public discourse that Hitch strictly telling jokes has turned into a debate on religion reserved for just about any other one of his youtube videos except this one.That last joke, everyone knew what was coming...the delivery was masterful.
He died of complications of oesophageal cancer. It was the continuous smoking that really did it. The whisky was probably not connected and certainly not the main factor. Throat cancer really is the realm of smokers as an experienced ENT surgeon I took one of my children too who had a persistent cough assured me. He didn't get cirrhosis or any related liver disorder. Nowadays it would probably be possible for someone like him, a heavy smoker, to have regular screening for throat cancer just as you can screen for abnormalities in the lungs, liver, cervix, bowel, prostate, breast etc. I should have thought it would have been possible then. Most cancers, caught early, are very treatable. It surprises me that no expensive US physician he saw, or who saw his videos, never suggested looking into that signature very persistent cough he had over quite some time before he was investigated for it. The drinking fed his type of creative and analytical brain, he will have otherwise had an affluent, comfortable lifestyle with a good diet and probably exercised to some extent. He looked fine before he got ill. What a pity he didn't request or wasn't recommended yearly blood tests and some sort of more suitable scan or biopsy for his obvious susceptible organs. Screening is a lifesaver even if our lifestyles don't suit some people. We all do things that some others would be angered by, and anyway, in the US he would have been paying for it all, and in his case, would surely have willingly done so because he was no fool and savoured life and could certainly have afforded to have regular checks. I wish people everywhere could access regular screening wherever it should clearly be available until they are really too old and otherwise infirm for it to be helpful.
I just found this guy a few weeks ago while watching the Athiest Experience here on RU-vid. I love this guy and recently learned he passed away, and it broke my heart. I'm not 100% Athiest yet, but with people like Dawkins, Hitchens and I think his name is Hall, I'm getting there. Hitchens is my favorite so far, cause he don't give a gram of fuck. He loved his alcohol!! HitchNation!! Peace my friend
Mark Moon You can also watch lectures and read books from Sam Harris, Lawrence Krauss and Neil DeGrass Tyson who isn't as openly atheist as the rest but is brilliant and gives fantastic lectures.
Same here: I first came across him and Dawkins less than a year ago and I have to say he has had a huge influence on me. He got me interested in history and politics, helped me build my confidence as an atheist, has helped make me develop a more critical way of thinking, and inspired me to speak my mind when it matters no matter how controversial the issue. I regret not knowing of him before he died: I would have loved to have attended one of his debates and possibly even have met him in person.
