Lenny Bruce - Classic or Dud?

I just finished the Carnegie Hall 1961 2xCD set. I can't say I laughed once, but then, half the time he mumbles, grunts, whispers, and generally speaks in a way that's difficult to understand on my cheapo car stereo.

Maybe there's better stuff, though.

I got one LP on the "Demon Verbals" label, it's short but OK.

Lenny rules over Richard

No way. Pryor is actually funny/still makes people laugh.

Lenny and Pryor are on the same plane.
Saying Lenny doesn't make people laugh now means you've not heard enough, you got hung up on the topical humor or yer tin eared.

yeah I gotta say how could anyone not still lol at "thank you masked man," that shit is hilarious

sooo... ok this thread is (tellingly?) short on 'search'es

Lenny rules over Richard

u so crazy!

Search (just for starters):
The Interview
Father Flotski
Adolph Hitler and The MCA
White Collar Drunks
Steve Allen Show Bit
Bronchitis
The Palladium
How to Relax Your Colored Friends at Parties
To Come
The Perverse Act
Tits and Ass
Dirty Toilet
A White White Woman

Two points worth considering: seeing him on video explains a lot; dude is very physical. The other is that you need to bear in mind the times he was working in. Both those points apply to Pryor as well, actually.

How to Relax Your Colored Friends at Parties

otm otm otm

And yes, Thank You Masked Man. And Religions Inc. And Lima, Ohio. And much of the Berkeley show, especially the "cavemen creating society" bits. And on and on.
St. Lenny died for your sins, don't forget.

Also: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lenny+bruce&search=Search

Start Here.

I've got "The Trials of Lenny Bruce" book (which paints Lenny as a valiant but confused, accidental defender of freedom of speech) includes a CD featuring most of those bits forks mentioned.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Dirty-Influence-People/dp/0671751085/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8175502-7250553?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180571867&sr=8-1&quot;>necessary reading for all god's children.</a>

necessary reading for all god's children.

I thought that was out of print for some reason? I'll have to pick it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua0TT87KNwo

The NY Times did sort of a hit piece on Lenny to mark the 50th anniv of his passing, then published this letter.

To the Editor:

“How Would Lenny Bruce the Rebel Play Today?” (On Comedy, Arts pages, Aug. 10), on the 50th anniversary of Lenny Bruce’s death, was aggravating. Most annoying: Patton Oswalt’s comment that comics who said they found Mr. Bruce funny were lying.

Your overview of Mr. Bruce’s career wasn’t bad, but you danced around his groundbreaking responsibility for the future course of American comedy and his fearless battle for the First Amendment.

In 1964, The Times reported that after an obscenity arrest, nearly 100 of the heaviest hitters in the American arts signed a statement calling Mr. Bruce a social satirist “in the tradition of Swift, Rabelais and Twain.”

Oh, but you do report that “hardly anyone laughed” at a recent screening of 40 minutes of his act. This material was delivered when Mr. Bruce was frenzied and broke, his cabaret card canceled after scores of busts. His lifelong fight for freedom of expression brought him to that bottom, accelerated by drug abuse.

His work — from the hilarious to the profound — is available on CDs, DVDs and in books. I hope that young comedians who aren’t dissuaded by your article listen to the Berkeley, Calif., and Carnegie Hall performances. They’ll learn what it takes to be an authentic artist, whether Patton Oswalt laughs or not.

RICHARD LEWIS

Los Angeles

Was listening to Julian Cope, and heard a piece of this sampled, and I knew who it was immediately, but not much more. Seems like part of The Law routine—

“I figure, when it started, they said, "Well, we're gonna have to have some rules" -- that's how the law starts, out of that fact.

"Let's see. I tell you what we'll do. We'll have a vote. We'll sleep in Area A. Is that cool?"

"OK, good."

"We'll eat in Area B. Good?"

"Good."

"We'll throw a crap in area C. Good?"

"Good."

Simple rules. So, everything went along pretty cool, you know, everybody's very happy. One night everybody was sleeping, one guy woke up, Pow! He got a faceful of crap, and he said:

"Hey, what's the deal here, I thought we had a rule: Eat, Sleep, and Crap, and I was sleeping and I got a faceful of crap."

So they said,

"Well, ah, the rule was substantive --"

See, that's what the Fourteenth Amendment is. It regulates the rights but it doesn't do anuthing about it. It just says, That's where it's at.

"We'll have to do something to enforce the provisions, to give it some teeth. Here's the deal: If everybody throws any crap on us while we're sleeping, they get thrown in the craphouse. Agreed?"

"Well, everybody?"

"Yeah."

"But what if it's my mother?"

"You don't understand. Your mother would be the fact. That doesn't have anything to do with it. It's just the rule, Eat, Sleep and Crap. Anybody throws any crap on us they get thrown in the craphouse. Your mother doesn't enter into it at all. Everybody gets thrown in the craphouse -- priests, rabbis, they'll all go. Agreed?"

"OK, agreed."

OK. Now, it's going along very cool, guy's sleeping. Pow! Gets a faceful of crap. Now he wakes up and sees he's all alone, and he looks, and everyone's giving a big party. He says,

"Hey, what's the deal? I thought we had a rule, Eat, Sleep, and Crap, and you just threw a faceful of crap on me."

They said,

"Oh, this is a religious holiday, and we told you many times that if you're going to live your indecent life and sleep all day, you deserve to have crap thrown on you while you're sleeping."

And the guy says,

"Bullshit, the rule's the rule."

And this guy started to separate the church and the state, right down the middle, Pow! Here's the church rule, and here's the federal rule. OK, everything's going along cool, one guy says,

"Hey, wait a minute. Though we made the rule, how're we going to get somebody to throw somebody in the craphouse? We need somebody to enforce it -- law enforcement."

Now they put up this sign on the wall, "WANTED, LAW ENFORCEMENT." Guys applied for the job:

"Look. Here's our problem, see, we're trying to get some sleep and people keep throwing crap on us. Now we want somebody to throw them right in the craphouse. And I'm delegated to do the hiring here, and, ah, here's what the job is.

"You see, they won't go in the craphouse by themselves. And we all agreed on the rule, now, and we firmed it up, so there's nobody gets out of it, everybody's vulnerable, we're gonna throw them right in the craphouse.

"But ya see, I can't do it cause I do business with these assholes, and it looks bad for me, you know, ah . . . so I want somebody to do it for me, you know? So I tell you what: Here's a stick and a gun and you do it -- but wait till I'm out of the room. And, wherever it happens, see, I'll wait back here and I'll watch, you know, and you make sure you kick 'em in the ass and throw 'em in there.

"Now you'll hear me say alotta times that it takes a certain kind of mentality to do that work, you know, and all that bullshit, you know, but you understand, it's all horseshit and you just kick em in the ass and make sure it's done."

So what happens? Now comes the riot, or the marches -- everybody's wailing, screaming. And you got a guy there, who's standing with a short-sleeved shirt on and a stick in his hand, and the people are yelling, "Gestapo! Gestapo!" at him:

"Gestapo? You asshole, I'm the mailman!"

Was listening to Julian Cope, and heard a piece of this sampled, and I knew who it was immediately, but not much more. Seems like part of The Law routine—

“I figure, when it started, they said, "Well, we're gonna have to have some rules" -- that's how the law starts, out of that fact.

"Let's see. I tell you what we'll do. We'll have a vote. We'll sleep in Area A. Is that cool?"

"OK, good."

"We'll eat in Area B. Good?"

"Good."

"We'll throw a crap in area C. Good?"

"Good."

Simple rules. So, everything went along pretty cool, you know, everybody's very happy. One night everybody was sleeping, one guy woke up, Pow! He got a faceful of crap, and he said:

"Hey, what's the deal here, I thought we had a rule: Eat, Sleep, and Crap, and I was sleeping and I got a faceful of crap."

So they said,

"Well, ah, the rule was substantive --"

See, that's what the Fourteenth Amendment is. It regulates the rights but it doesn't do anuthing about it. It just says, That's where it's at.

"We'll have to do something to enforce the provisions, to give it some teeth. Here's the deal: If everybody throws any crap on us while we're sleeping, they get thrown in the craphouse. Agreed?"

"Well, everybody?"

"Yeah."

"But what if it's my mother?"

"You don't understand. Your mother would be the fact. That doesn't have anything to do with it. It's just the rule, Eat, Sleep and Crap. Anybody throws any crap on us they get thrown in the craphouse. Your mother doesn't enter into it at all. Everybody gets thrown in the craphouse -- priests, rabbis, they'll all go. Agreed?"

"OK, agreed."

OK. Now, it's going along very cool, guy's sleeping. Pow! Gets a faceful of crap. Now he wakes up and sees he's all alone, and he looks, and everyone's giving a big party. He says,

"Hey, what's the deal? I thought we had a rule, Eat, Sleep, and Crap, and you just threw a faceful of crap on me."

They said,

"Oh, this is a religious holiday, and we told you many times that if you're going to live your indecent life and sleep all day, you deserve to have crap thrown on you while you're sleeping."

And the guy says,

"Bullshit, the rule's the rule."

And this guy started to separate the church and the state, right down the middle, Pow! Here's the church rule, and here's the federal rule. OK, everything's going along cool, one guy says,

"Hey, wait a minute. Though we made the rule, how're we going to get somebody to throw somebody in the craphouse? We need somebody to enforce it -- law enforcement."

Now they put up this sign on the wall, "WANTED, LAW ENFORCEMENT." Guys applied for the job:

"Look. Here's our problem, see, we're trying to get some sleep and people keep throwing crap on us. Now we want somebody to throw them right in the craphouse. And I'm delegated to do the hiring here, and, ah, here's what the job is.

"You see, they won't go in the craphouse by themselves. And we all agreed on the rule, now, and we firmed it up, so there's nobody gets out of it, everybody's vulnerable, we're gonna throw them right in the craphouse.

"But ya see, I can't do it cause I do business with these assholes, and it looks bad for me, you know, ah . . . so I want somebody to do it for me, you know? So I tell you what: Here's a stick and a gun and you do it -- but wait till I'm out of the room. And, wherever it happens, see, I'll wait back here and I'll watch, you know, and you make sure you kick 'em in the ass and throw 'em in there.

"Now you'll hear me say alotta times that it takes a certain kind of mentality to do that work, you know, and all that bullshit, you know, but you understand, it's all horseshit and you just kick em in the ass and make sure it's done."

So what happens? Now comes the riot, or the marches -- everybody's wailing, screaming. And you got a guy there, who's standing with a short-sleeved shirt on and a stick in his hand, and the people are yelling, "Gestapo! Gestapo!" at him:

"Gestapo? You asshole, I'm the mailman!"

laughed out loud, twice, at "your mother doesn't enter into it"

i remember listening to Lenny as a teen and was just ~mystified~ and you just kinda grow up thinking it’s another time it’s not for me etc

but it’s not exactly true. it’s more about being able to tune your ear to the rhythms and the context

anyway i’m listening to Carnegie Hall and he fuckin cooks <3 the way his sets are entire conversations with the whole room, everything just casually tumbling out but also the laughs honed to a fine point, it’s beautiful chaos

i love early on when someone way up the top yells out they cant hear him & he’s like “is it really that much cheaper sitting way up there?” genuinely curious

My New York City raised dad mentioned Lenny Bruce and I have seen and listened to a bit-- some that connected to me and some that seemed to no longer work with time. But more worked than didn't

the audience clearly loves him, and obviously he’s so clearly of the younger culture

like you think of this time he’s at Carnegie 1961 not only is there now music & movies for youth out in the open, holy shit now comedy that’s WITH it is happening IN this hallowed stuffy parental place, not in a gin joint or a borrowed album, comedy that talks your language, that isn’t cardigans and stuffed shirts from dudes who look like your dad talking about phone calls and mother in laws

it must have been wild as a young person in that time period for lenny to be at carnegie

Yeah! A bunch of Lenny albums were released in and soon after his lifetime, in the best era of comedy albums (before Firesign etc, but I mean stand-up, and then Carlin and Steve Martin keeping it going in 70s). In and out of catalog since then---the main one I heard was The Real Lenny Bruce, released in mid-70s, with excellent takes of many already listed by forks upthread: you could hear the splices sometimes, when the volume levels and room noise changing, but noooo problemo: we got into almost all of it right away, though too young to be that familiar with a lot of the references, although cable was still largely dependent on old movies and tv shows, so that helped, but yeah excitement of the audience and so on, plus his delivery (while not really about or dependent on punchlines) really don't get how xpost Oswalt could say that.

I love some Lenny but he's also a cautionary tale of what happens when you start dwelling and fixating on your legal battles, etc.

Jello - this goes out to you

He was also a major patron of the arts to Tim Hardin (junkie buddy), and we should all be thankful for that

Well, there was at least one point at which his fixation paid off, at least for me, at the time.
Speaking of still early-ish cable, that's where I once saw a field recording, for lack of a better term: a very late, perhaps last, performance in Berkeley, after or in the midst of being put through the ringer in a San Francisco courtroom. He read from the trial transcript, commented on it, in a way that seemed more dramatic than comedic, but so otm in his takes and delivery that it really held my late night, otherwise fuzzy attention span.

xpost Nico: "Elegy To Lenny Bruce," by Tim Hardin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWdO2TAmGOs

"Eulogy," sorry!

Oh man I love Hardin, somehow didnt connect him w Lenny - interesting!