A Biography of RENÉ HICKS

       Take a woman born and raised in SF, California under the strict, watchful eye of her dad, a Pentecostal preacher, who insists she goes to college to make something of herself.  She earns a business degree and after graduation she passes the CPA exam and goes to work at one of the largest accounting firms in the world and settles into life as a Certified Public Accountant.  Then one night, with some friends, she goes to a local comedy club and on a dare-sweetened by $100 and the knowledge that her favorite comedian, Robin Williams, got his start there, she gets onstage to do an unrehearsed routine.  Let the audience laugh uproariously and then less than a year later, let that spontaneous woman take a leave from number crunching and hit the road that leads to comedy success.  This sounds like an idea for a new television sitcom, but this is the real life story of René Hicks. 

     Such a drastic career switch didn’t go over well at home.  Her deeply religious mother feared that church members, hearing that René was working in nightclubs, would think that she was a stripper!  However, René was smitten by the world of comedy; she had to give it a go. 

      Now a comedy club veteran, René has performed her intelligent and universally appealing humor in countless clubs across the US and internationally, resulting in her having been the first African-American woman ever nominated for an American Comedy Award for “Best Female Stand-Up”.  She has appeared on numerous television shows, including her own half hour special - “Comedy Central Presents...René Hicks”.  She has also appeared on Comedy Central’s “The World Comedy Tour” and “Premium Blend”, ABC’s “Politically Incorrect”, Showtime’s “Full Frontal Comedy” and NBC’s “Comedy Showcase” with Louie Anderson.   She has also guest starred on ABC’s “Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper” and appeared in “Low Down Dirty Shame” with Keenan Ivory Wayans.  René is also enormously popular on the college campus circuit, having performed at over 600 colleges and universities throughout the US.  She is a two-time recipient of the coveted National College Comedian of the Year Award.  

      Making the move from accounting to comedy was obviously a sound business decision for René, as being funny is her greatest asset.  Her deep level of passion and commitment isn’t limited to making people laugh.                                                                                                                                        

      While attending college, she was a nationally ranked, all-American distance runner.  That fervor for athletics extends to her dedication as a sports fan-she was on the waiting list for ten years before finally getting season tickets for the 49ers.  She often flies from Los Angeles to San Francisco to attend the home games of her beloved SF 49ers and Giants.  Indeed, everywhere she tours, René squeezes in as many sporting events as possible.  And, if you get her into a discussion on any sport, watch the stories unfold and the statistics fly.  “There’s no sport I haven’t played or know something about, except maybe Jai Alai.”  Despite her crazy schedule, she keeps in shape by participating in whatever sporting activity is available to her.  She’s not one to stay put for very long.

      René has always taken time to give something back to the community, by volunteering with Special Olympics, Caring For Babies With A.I.D.S., Project Angel Food and various cancer organizations.  “I know that God has blessed me with so much, that it’s my duty to in turn give to others”, she explains.  God’s blessings were never more evident than when René recently overcame a major health crisis--lung cancer.  “I’ve never smoked, so I knew God was attempting to strengthen me for some greater purpose.  So, I used my God given gift for creating laughter to help me heal.”  “I immediately realized that it couldn’t just be a coincident that ‘humor’ rhymed with ‘tumor’ and in comedy, comics look for words that sound funny and ‘tumor’ is a funny word.”  “Two tumors go walking into a bar...see you don’t even need a punch line, it just sounds funny."  “Right before I went into surgery, I told my doctor, ala Henny Youngman, ’take my tumor, please!”  Now it is my goal, my passion to be an example for others to enlist humor in aiding them in overcoming major obstacles and upheavals in their own lives, whether they be of a life threatening nature or just life impeding."

       Wherever René’s exploding career takes her, she will always feel at home on a stage, with a mike and a stool.  “I think stand-up is the only art form where you’re really intimate with the audience; you get directly into somebody’s psyche.  You know nothing about them, may have nothing in common with them, but still touch them.”  “That’s why I truly love doing comedy, because laughter brings people together and we need a lot more laughter in this world and a lot less of the stupid crap that divides us.”