2023-08-05 10:37:55
A typical scene in the life of the legendary Lenny Bruce: a policeman stops him following a performance at the Jazz Workshop nightclub in San Francisco. (Bettman)
On April 9, 1964, Lenny Bruce walked into New York’s Cafe Au Go Go, the epicenter of the Greenwich Village comedy scene. At the door, some demonstrators protested once morest Bruce’s actions because he was prosecuted for obscenity. Inside, the atmosphere was electrifying when Bruce took the stage. His controversies did nothing but fill the venue even more than usual.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” he began. “You haven’t come here to be offended, have you?” The audience burst out laughing and applauding.
Just a year earlier, Bruce had been at the top of the comedy world, published a best-selling book, and sold-out performances across the country. His irreverent take on religion, sex and politics was addressed to a generation that was reacting once morest social norms.
Lenny Bruce played by Luke Kirby in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, the Emmy-winning series. (First Video)
In the dimness of the club, his elegiac figure—he was the great stand-up comedian of the jazz generation—gleamed in the pale glow. Though he was young, he exuded a sort of shabby pathos. His designer suit was baggy on her, like an echo of his declining luck.
Bruce opened his performance with trivia, to gauge the atmosphere at such a difficult time in his career. He revved up with a few meaningless expletives—the laws of the time, however, caught up with the popular terms he used to talk regarding body parts and sexual acts—and without waiting any longer a man rose from the audience to stop him.
There were only two years to go before his death, at 40, from an overdose. He was a beleaguered artist wherever he took the stage.
His controversial rise and dramatic fall are the extremes of a groundbreaking career that challenged the public, the authorities and even the very ideas of free speech in the United States. Long before comedians like George Carlin and Richard Pryor attempted it, Bruce tested the limits of permissible public speech. And, as his character in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel shows, he paid for it by frequenting stages as well as police departments and courtrooms.
Lenny Bruce was very popular, appeared at Carnegie Hall and published a book that was essential for the counterculture. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
In the 1950s, stand-up focused, even in cities like New York and Los Angeles, on soft jokes regarding everyday life. But Bruce burst onto the scene with an unprecedented provocation: a racy comedy that delved into the depths of political hypocrisy, racial profiling, sexual taboos, and religious dogma.
Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider in 1925 and grew up on Long Island, New York. His mother, Sally Marr, worked as a comedian and dancer at the Catskill Mountains resort for Jewish families. In the 1940s, she was in charge of several nightclubs, which exposed her son to the entertainment business. She also recognized his talent early and encouraged him.
After a stint in the US Navy during World War II, Bruce began doing stand-up comedy under names like Lenny Marsalle, until he chose his final pseudonym in 1947.
His early skits dealt with light subjects: airplane food, TV commercials, married life. But it didn’t take him long to find his voice and launch into satirizing difficult issues at the time: sex, religion, racism. His iconoclastic style mixed improvisation and biting with vulgar language, and captivated the public.
Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider and was introduced to show business by his mother, also a comedian, Sally Marr. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
In the late 1950s, Bruce became famous thanks to his appearances on television shows that were broadcast throughout the United States, such as those of Steve Allen and Garry Moore. However, two arrests for drug use, in the early 1960s, served as a foretaste of his legal problems.
The first one on obscenity happened in 1961. Bruce used the word chupaverga during a show in San Francisco, for which he was subjected to a trial that had great repercussions in the media. Although he was acquitted, he remained an emblem of those who crossed the line.
However, his performances at Carnegie Hall in 1962 established him as one of America’s greatest comedians. He then released an album of his numbers, The Lenny Bruce Originals, which earned a Grammy nomination. The following year he published a book that is famous to this day, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People (How to talk dirty and influence people): for the counterculture it was a fundamental work; social conservatism took it as the confession of a degenerate.
“Constant abrasive irritation produces the pearl: it is an oyster disease,” Kenneth Tynan compared it in the foreword to the original edition. “Equally, according to Gustave Flaubert, the artist is a disease of society. Similarly, Lenny Bruce is a disease of the United States.”
After numerous arrests, in 1964 Lenny Bruce was convicted on obscenity charges. (Dove/Getty Images)
Bruce continued with his scathing social criticism – as well as humanitarian -, his mockery of the political and religious establishment, his sexual allusions and his rejection of racism in the midst of the fight for the civil rights of African-Americans. But he paid dearly: Between 1962 and 1965, Bruce was arrested for obscenity more than a dozen times.
His shows ended with police raids even in avant-garde comedy havens like New York. The events at the Cafe Au Go Go in 1964 led to a six-month trial, the conviction for the first time exposing how the alleged protection afforded by obscenity laws actually ran afoul of First Amendment freedom of expression. the American Constitution.
Other comedians supported Bruce: obscenity laws might be used to censor art and social commentary; the verdict also fueled public debate regarding what should be considered too offensive, as Bruce was convicted simply for using words, despite there being no evidence that they incited the public to commit dangerous or illegal acts. The trial demonstrated the subjectivity of considering a speech obscene: some members of the public were offended, but its success showed that the majority were not aggrieved.
Rachel Brosnaham como Midge y Luke Kirby como Lenny Bruce en The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. (Prime Video)
Grueling legal battles took a heavy financial and emotional toll on Bruce, who once called himself an “exposer of hypocrisy.” Stripped of his cabaret artist license, Bruce was unable to work in most New York clubs. Big financial problems were followed by others with drugs, which he had become addicted to during his relationship with Honey Harlow, the mother of his daughter’s Kitty.
Bruce relied on acting for a living and the only states where he might do it were Florida and California. In 1964 he had to declare bankruptcy; only $50 remained in his bank account.
The following year Bruce was once more convicted of obscenity in New York and faced similar charges in California. In 1966 his spirit was as broken as his finances. On August 3, he was found lifeless in the bathroom of his Hollywood home, his bright flame snuffed out prematurely. But his impact on comedy has been profound. His colleague at the Skeleton Key theater, Carl Reiner, summed it up: “Lenny pushed the boundaries of freedom and creativity. He took risks every time he went on stage.” His influence has reached artists from George Carlin to Stephen Colbert.
Dustin Hoffman was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Lenny Bruce in the Bob Fosse biopic. (FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
The biopic Lenny, directed by Bob Fosse and earning Dustin Hoffman an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Bruce, reconstructs both his troubles and his genius. His character on The Marvelous Mrs Maisel has introduced him to millennials and centennials.
Like Oscar Wilde before him, Bruce possessed a unique wit and keen social acumen. By his words, both were accused of criminals, but while the writer left the United Kingdom and sought refuge in France, he persisted in the fight in the United States until his death.
Like a laugh at the wrong time, New York and California gave official pardons to Lenny Bruce, in 2003 and 2004 respectively.
Keep reading:
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