Dead man's hand Dead man's hand The dead man's hand is a nickname for a particular poker hand, popularly a two-pair of black aces and black eights, although definitions of the hand have varied through the years. Such a hand is said to have been held by Old West folk hero, lawman, and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok when he was murdered. No contemporaneous source records this hand's exact cards, but Frank Wilstach's 1926 book "Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers" led to the popular modern conception of the "dead man's hand" as containing pairs of black aces and black eights. In Hickok's
Cold Dead Hand Cold Dead Hand "Cold Dead Hand" is a single and accompanying music video created for Funny or Die by comedian Jim Carrey with The Eels, playing as "Lonesome Earl and the Clutterbusters". The title is a reference to a statement Charlton Heston made while acting as spokesperson for the National Rifle Association, "I'll give you my gun when you pry (or take) it from my cold, dead hands." The song ridicules American gun culture, and specifically the deceased Heston, including a derisive caricature of him and declaring that he could not enter Heaven, as even the angels could not pry