Lenny Bruce Research Paper

Taking a Stand in Stand Up Comedy: Lenny Bruce and the Trials of Obscenity

In this time, satire seems inescapable. We scroll through countless articles making fun of our government and other establishments and can’t help but wonder: where did this start? What or, rather, who made it so easy to create parodies and caricatures of some to the seemingly purest American ideals? What made it so our “freedom of speech” was as free as we imagined? While plenty certainly helped create this platform of parody, one man stands out from the rest. Meet Lenny Bruce. Branded one of the most influential comedians of all time and one of the Fathers of Modern Comedy, he spoke out on America’s issues in a time that no one would, and a way no one could imagine.

She temporarily retired from stripping, and Lenny provided for both of them. Soon after their daughter, Kitty, was born, the couple divorced with joint custody of their child. (O’Malley) Lenny Bruce’s comedic career prospered after this, his popularity growing even after Time magazine infamously labelled him as a “sick comic.” (Unknown, The Sickniks) He appeared on the Steve Allen show, gaining popularity as his acts grew bigger and bigger. (Eli) But as his comedic career grew larger and larger, so did his legal troubles. He was frequently arrested for obscenity and possession of drugs. His first arrest was at a gay bar, when he used an obscene word that the press described as “a description of a favorite homosexual practice.” This infuriated Bruce, for he saw nothing wrong with it, and disliked that it was connotated as a homosexual practice, for he felt it could also apply to many women he knew.

He spent much of his time testifying in court, and because of this, much of his comedic act began to obsess on the legal system and it’s flaws. As his arrests became more and more frequent, so did his drug problems. Lenny’s final performance was at Fillmore in California in 1966. (Linder) Then, on August 3, 1966, Lenny Bruce was found dead in his home, various narcotics paraphernalia littered around him, his typewriter still humming (Gleason). The nation mourned the loss of a stage-based social philosopher. In 2003, he was granted posthumous pardon from the State of New York (Wild). In 2015, thanks to the work of his daughter, Kitty Bruce, his letters and family photos are being preserved at Brandeis University (Sullivan "How Lenny Bruce’s Letters Came to Live at Brandeis."). The 50th anniversary of his death was this year (Moylan). Lenny Bruce was a revolutionary comic. He pushed the envelope with four letter words and religious satire. Many tried to brand him as a “sick comic,” many tried to label him. But the fact is plain and simple: Lenny Bruce cannot be labelled. He was something that America had never seen before. “My friend Paul Krassner once asked me what I’ve been influenced by in my work… It was an absurd question. I am influenced by every second of my waking hour.” (Bruce, page 188) Lenny Bruce took a stand in what he believed in , the right to speak on stage the same