Product Description

'I don't mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that's how it comes out' Bill Hicks could have been on all the chat shows. He could have had his own show on prime time. He could have got rich and fat and frightened. But Hicks didn't go the easy way. He turned down the offers Satan made him. Instead he figured out his best shot at truth and then he said it. He attacked the lies that justified and prettified the carnage of the First Gulf War. He attacked the easy surrender of art to commerce, the demeaning cynicism of the marketing culture and the preposterous power of the mainstream media to confuse and corrupt. This is the first collection of all his stand-up routines, with extracts from his diaries, notebooks, letters and final writings. It reveals Hicks' work as both brilliant conventional stand-up comedy and as more interesting and dangerous: an invitation to a life lived without fear.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #343852 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-19
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

Review
'Savage, brilliant, funny, tremendously intelligent' John Cleese 'He was hilarious, brilliant, brave and right about everything.' Henry Rollins 'Being a genius is a heavy burden, and he's the only one I'm ever likely to meet' Sean Hughes 'He was what only a great comedian can be for any age: an enemy of boundaries, a disturber of the peace, a bringer of insight and of joy, a comic distillation of his own rampaging spirit'. - John Lahr, from the foreword.

John Cleese
'Savage, brilliant,funny, tremendously intelligent.'

Henry Rollins
'He was hilarious, brilliant, brave and right about everything.'

Customer Reviews

rebuttal
Ok, so this is a pretty good book. Its not supposed to be an edited text of Bills work. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a collection of his letters lyrics and routines. Including all his recorded material. If you have his CD's then you will also notice that he tends to repeat himself, albeit with slightly different takes and slants from gig to gig. This is what happens when you perform stand-up and is not a 'cynical attempt to pad out the book'. Its also interesting to fans like myself to pick up on subtle nuances and how stuff evolved. It's meant to be a book for the Bill freaks of which I am one. It's so we can have his words in written form to quote at our friends and nemeses to make ourselves look clever and look cool. It's also for those who want some extra Bill stuff never seen before. Like letters and scripts. So get off yer high horse Welsh bloke, American Scream was a Bio not a comprehensive collection of routines. How the hell does this capitalise on that? In the same way the CD's do I suppose..Love all the people is a welcome addition to the body of work on Hicks. The bloke was a genius comedian and a social commentator the likes of which could have a made a difference in todays paranoid, cartoon world had he not been cruelly taken. Anything which helps spread the word can only be a good thing.

Love All The People
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.

Finally, Someone who spoke the truth
This book will really change the way you think about everything political and beyond. You may not agree with what Hicks says but you have to have respect for a man who dare to get up on stage and say it.

He is a genius and I only wish he was here, still doing his routines. It would have been great to know what he thought of the world today. I found his ideas refreshing and I promise that you will find yourself laughing at the most awful things. His quotes are inspiring and his routines are truly his own.

This book has really got me thinking. I never understood the idea of reading a book that changed your life...until now.