Bill Hicks: Love All The People
Bill Hicks (1961-1994) was one of the best american stand-up comedians ever to walk this earth. He didn’t write jokes as much as observed and criticized the society around him with a wit and intelligence that stands unchallenged to this day. Me and my friends obsessed over his CD:s for several years and could quote long sections as support or comedic relief in heated discussions over beers. I’m fairly certain he contributed a lot to our sometimes cynical view of the world and we thank him for it.
“Love All The People” is a collection of his work, transcripts of his shows, essays he wrote and interviews of him. Since most of his work is stand-up comedy his work really is best to listen to and anyone who hasn’t heard him really needs to listen at least to one of his CD:s before reading the book so you know how he performs. You can find them on iTunes or http://thelaughbutton.com/ has two of them for free (not sure how they do that legally but enjoy while it lasts).
To me the transcripts of his shows are readable but not nearly as funny as his full performance. Reading does, however, make it easier to analyze his jokes if that’s your thing and the book helpfully references and explains some of his subjects and connections to those of us lucky enough not to know who Debbie Gibson is.
The best part of the book are the interviews and the essays as well as background information on Bill that you might not get elsewhere. His essay “Thoughts on Love and Smoking” is the best writing about lost love that I have ever read and easily worth the price of the book alone. I have it bookmarked so I can easily show it to friends or go back and read it again.
I’m hard pressed to recommend the book to people who haven’t heard of Bill Hicks before, I’d rather introduce them to his CD:s because that is where his brilliance was. However, it is surely worth the price of a paperback for anyone who feels a pang of sorrow over the loss of Bill Hicks and wishes he was here to tell us the truth about bankers, subprime mortgages, terrorists and wars all while making us laugh about it.
ps. Don't feel bad about skimming over parts that seem boring, its that kind of book.
