Interesting, I'd never heard this. I love Bill Hicks, really a waste that he died young. I have never seen enough of Leary and Hicks I suppose to notice. Bigger thing for me would be the sound of their voices. Leary is a New York loud mouth, and Hicks is a psychedelic cowboy from Texas. Would be hard for me to ever mistake Leary as a copy without more familiarity.
Leary is a ******* hack.