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Love All the People: Letters, Lyrics, Routines | 
| Author: Bill Hicks
Publisher: Constable
Category: Book
New (3) Used (26) from £0.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 203767
Media: Paperback
Pages: 308
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 1841198781
Dewey Decimal Number: 817
EAN: 9781841198781
ASIN: 1841198781
Publication Date: June 30, 2004
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
Great material, but an editorial failure July 10, 2008
It's always a pleasure to go back over Hicks' material, as it's always funny, intelligent and incisive. Although this book does bring together his greatest spoken word material, however, it fails to take into account that any standup, no matter how good, will inevitably repeat himself, and do so often.
Therefore a good quarter of this book is taken up by frequent reiterations of the same ideas. Hicks, in his all too short career, performed only a handful of documented routines, and those that were documented were often so similar to each other that it's hardly worth reading all of them.
I suppose in some way it does give one some sort of insight into the development of comic material, in the sense that reading a transcript of a new routine, and the reading a transcript of the same routine after a few months of careful honing, can give you an idea of what a challenge it is to make a joke work, but if anything it would have been nice to see Lahr bravely take a pair of scissors to the material and preserve only the best version of each idea. It would have made for a shorter book, for sure, but also a far more definitive read.
Nonetheless, I would recommend this book to any fan of satire and political comedy, since Hicks' material is still amongst the most hilariously trenchant currently available.
 Unnecessary repetition December 6, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Disappointing due to its repetition - the same jokes appear in routine after routine in this book, which makes it a bit tedious. Yes, Hicks is funny but I don't need the subtle nuances of how every joke developed over time to appreciate them.
 He was hilarious, brilliant, brave and right about everything' November 11, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The quote from Henry Rollins on the back of this book says it all, "He was hilarious, brilliant, brave and right about everything'
So sad that he died in his prime, this is a perfect memoir of the years leading up to his death with extracts of his performances. He saw the world as it is, shame that other comedians seem more content in pandering to the TV networks in exchange for air-time.
A true agent of truth and he will never be forgotten
Love All The People October 7, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a great collection of Bill Hicks writing in one place. It has essays, scripts and a whole host of other material. You will find his usual caustic wit and intelligent humour, and it is so good to have it in one volume to enjoy alongside his videos and Cd's. His insight and humour is sorely missed, but this book goes some small way to alleviating that. Highly recommended for die-hard fans.
We'll never see his equal, let alone superior June 7, 2006
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
If you already know of Bill Hicks, you already know what to expect. He was possibly the brightest, funniest, most insightful man ever allowed to speak publicly. Having said that, they tried to stop him. It's true the routine transcripts are essentially the same, but the joy is in seeing his ad libs and asides that differ with every show; it's partially those parts that allow you to fully understand how incredible he was. His background and story, his poetry and thoughts, his final notes and dreams and everything else included makes this an absolute treaure trove of all things Hicks. He wasn't misanthropic; he was a filthy, gentle, cigarette-smoking, genius, and everyone should be forcibly made to hear his philosophies on life, death and everything in between.
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