“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride…and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well…maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
George Carlin himself once put it: “Lenny Bruce opened the doors for all the guys like me.”
Last night I watched the sobering documentary on the infamous American comedian Lenny Bruce called, Swear to tell the truth. It was disturbing to see him persecuted and harassed by the police and judicial system in the US because of his anti Catholic rhetoric.
It occurred to me after watching a lot of Lenny’s material here and on you tube that ‘comedy’ seems only truly savored in the era it is performed. Lenny’s material was undoubtedly cutting edge for its time, but I didn’t find it hilarious or particularly poignant. Comedy in general doesn’t seem to age well unless there is a personal connection to the artist and era it was communicated. I even noticed my favorite sit com ‘Seinfeld’ is beginning to age as its social commentary is becoming less and…
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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
about ten years ago i saw a box set of Lenny Bruce and it was on sale for like $10 it was like a give away so I thought why not- I had a long drive ahead of me so I listened to it. I don’t think I laughed once. You said exactly what I was thinking- I guess you had to be there at the time.
Comedy can be very hit and miss, but the legacy of Lenny Bruce in comedy circles and with respect to ‘free speech’ in general is monumental. You’ll see in one of the comments of the original post how Lenny struck a real chord with another poster ‘Lance’. He is a huge Lenny fan.
The reason I like Lenny is not because of his comedy but his story… I want to see this
I concur. His story is fascinating.
Excellent piece. Really enjoyed it, thanks for posting
Thanks for your kind words.