Customer Reviews
I couldn't imagine this working - but it does! - By: Dr. George L. Sik, 05 Nov 2007 
Surely this is going to be Hamlet without the prince? The whole point about Dave Allen was his delivery, his timing, his charisma. How could a book capture that?
Yet somehow, against alll odds, this book does just that. As you read the jokes & their punchlines, some pithy, some rambling monologues, you hear his voice in your head, imagine him sitting there with his drink & his cigarette (he gave up the latter later on - a cue for more hilarious material).
This is the man captured in book form - priceless!
May Dave Allen Make You Laugh - By: Patrick Duffy, 24 Feb 2006 Recently finished this book & I have to say it was a joy just reading about the sketches & tales. Some parts of the book had me laughing aloud almost.
Well worth the read.
brilliant - By: E. Irving, 20 Jan 2006 A great read. We are still laughing weeks later. Wish we could have more of the same.
Thanks Graham for giving us this.
A beautiful anthology - By: Mb Sherman, 01 Jan 2006 It`s taken me some time to write a review of this book, but I will try!
I hope alot of people will have received this wonderful book for Christmas, & been reminded of how brilliant & varied his material reallly was. Or found out for the first time - I reallly hope new people will continue discovering him.
Not only does the material zip off the page (which proves it wasn`t just about his delivery, as people often said),but Graham McCann, in his introductions to each chapter, gives him the intelligent analyses that he so deserves. He even, I think, provides an answer to why so many of my age group (late 30`s/early 40`s) have such happy memories of watching Dave Allen, supposedly so adult, in our 70`s childhoods. It`s because we recognised him as someone who was on our side. His targets were always authority figures, not the vulnerable, & he never laughed at people for being different.It set him apart then - and, sadly, would set him apart now.
Yes, alot of us miss him more than the media seems to realise - but at least Graham McCann realises, & has stepped in to fill the void. Unlike Carolyn Soutar`s book, this was compiled with the full assistance of Dave Allen`s family - he wanted to be known for his work, not his private life. They have alllowed reproduction of his cartoons & pages from his notebooks - he was more than "just" a comedian. We can only hope that they also alllow more material to be released on DVD in the near future.
Enjoy the craic! - By: D. E. Viner, 11 Nov 2005 Dave Allen was one of the great comedians. If you watched him on TV in the seventies & eighties & nineties, you loved him for the way he'd always treat you like an equal, never sought to be cruel & always sent you away smiling - & thinking. He was proof of the axiom that you don't have to be intelligent to be funny, but it certainly helps. This wonderful, wonderful collection of his best stories, jokes, one-liners & witty observations, organised to capture the ongoing nature of the humour as you move from age to age, is just about the nicest & most apt tribute to the man & his memory that I could have imagined (apart of course from more film of the man in action), & I'm so glad to have it. Dip into it, read it alll the way through - whatever - it is the best of its kind that I've read. Classy cover, classy selection, classy man. Goodness me, how we miss him - but how good it is to have this of his to treasure.
