If you’ve spent any time in the darker, sweatier corners of the internet comedy archives, you’ve probably seen the phrase. Bill Hicks its gon rain. It sounds like a definitive bit. A classic. Something you can almost hear him saying in that low, gravelly, cigarette-ash-coated Texas drawl.
But here’s the thing. Bill Hicks never actually said it.
I know, I know. It feels wrong. It feels like one of those Mandela Effect things where you could swear you remember him standing under a spotlight in a black duster, looking at the audience like they’re the dumbest people on earth, and uttering those three words. But if you scour Relentless, Revelations, or the legendary Sane Man—the holy trinity of Hicks specials—you won’t find it.
The "It's gon' rain!" line actually belongs to a completely different cultural touchstone: Ollie Williams, the weather reporter from Family Guy. So why does everyone think it's a Bill Hicks joke?
It’s about the vibe. It’s about the "Here’s Tom with the weather" energy that Hicks practically patented before he died in 1994.
The "Here’s Tom With The Weather" Connection
To understand why Bill Hicks its gon rain became such a persistent search term and a piece of misattributed folklore, you have to look at the "Positive Drug Story" bit. This is arguably the most famous minute of stand-up comedy ever recorded.
Hicks starts by mocking the news. He hates how the media only shows the negative side of LSD or mushrooms. He then performs a mock news broadcast that has been sampled by everyone from the band Tool to lo-fi hip-hop producers.
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"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."
That transition—from the most profound, ego-shattering realization a human can have back to the mundane, boring reality of a local weather report—is the "Hicks Moment."
It’s a masterclass in bathos. He builds you up to the stars and then drops you back into a puddle. When people search for Bill Hicks its gon rain, they are usually looking for this specific brand of cynical, weather-based observational humor. They’re looking for the guy who saw the weather report as the ultimate symbol of how "the system" keeps us distracted from the miracle of existence.
Why We Confuse Hicks with Ollie Williams
Honestly, it’s kinda fascinating. Ollie Williams from Family Guy is a caricature of a shouty, blunt news reporter. He yells "IT'S GON' RAIN!" because it's the simplest, most aggressive way to deliver information.
Bill Hicks was also aggressive. He was also a truth-teller who didn't have time for your "internal dialogue," as he used to say.
The two personas merged in the collective consciousness of the internet. We took the bluntness of the Family Guy meme and draped it in the philosophical weight of a man who believed we should "squeegee our third eye."
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The Lizard People and the Los Angeles Sun
If you want the closest thing to an actual "rain bit" from Bill, you have to look at his 1993 set about Los Angeles. He hated the sun. Well, he hated the relentless positivity of the California sun.
He used to mock the locals who would say, "Isn't it a great day? Hot and sunny!"
Hicks' response? "What are you, a fucking lizard? Only reptiles feel that way about this kind of weather. I’m a mammal. I can afford coats, scarves, cappuccino, and rosy cheeks."
He wanted the rain. He wanted the gray. He wanted the atmosphere to match his internal landscape of "righteous anger" and social critique. To Bill, constant sunshine was a mask. It was fake. It was the "marketing" version of reality.
The Legacy of the "Weather" Meta-Joke
Why does this matter in 2026? Because we are still living in the world Hicks described.
Maybe more so now.
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We are bombarded by "news" that feels like a distraction. We have influencers and algorithms doing the job of the 1990s news anchors he despised. When someone types Bill Hicks its gon rain into a search bar, they are usually looking for a way to make sense of the absurdity.
Hicks wasn't just a "dark" comedian. He was a frustrated idealist. He wanted the world to be better, and it drove him crazy that we settled for "hot and sunny" or "here's your brain on drugs" commercials.
What You Can Actually Learn from Bill Hicks Today
If you came here looking for a clip of Bill yelling about the rain, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It doesn't exist. But what does exist is a blueprint for how to live in a world that feels increasingly fake.
- Question the Narrative: Whether it's the weather or the war, Hicks taught us to look at who is telling the story and why.
- Embrace the Profound: Don't be afraid of the "acid story" realizations. It's okay to think about the big stuff, even if society wants you to focus on the 5-day forecast.
- Find the Humor in the Dark: Life is "just a ride," as he famously said in his final special, Revelations. If it's gonna rain, you might as well laugh at the clouds.
The next time you hear a weather reporter drone on about a "beautiful sunny day," remember Bill. He’d probably be inside, blinds closed, smoking a cigarette and waiting for the storm that finally washes the "lizard scum" away.
Next Steps for the Hicks Fan:
Go watch the full "Just a Ride" monologue on YouTube. It’s the closest thing to a spiritual experience you’ll get from a guy in a leather jacket. After that, listen to the album Arizona Bay. It’s a concept album about California falling into the ocean—the ultimate "it’s gon’ rain" scenario ever recorded.