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Lenny Bruce was a groundbreaking comedian in the 1960s, pushing boundaries with taboo subjects and profanity. He faced numerous obscenity charges and censorship, leading to depression and drug addiction. He died at 40, but his influence on comedy and free speech lives on.
In today’s world of stand-up comedy, there are many comedians who use their comedy to make political statements or get a reaction. In the 1960s, there was only one person who was truly pushing the boundaries of comedy. Lenny Bruce was a true original; he wrote and performed material that was entertaining, challenging and radical for its time.
Lenny Bruce was born in 1925 in Long Island, New York. His mother was a dancer, and with her help, young Lenny Bruce began performing in small nightclubs. Bruce slowly began to hone his stand-up comedy skills in the jazz and strip clubs of New York City. His act was soon recognized as completely different from other comedies of the time.
Dark and lean with intense energy, Bruce prowled the stage taunting taboo subjects. His act was filled with four-letter words and forced people to examine their own biases. Racism, religion, drugs and sex were all covered in Bruce’s monologues. Writers were beginning to sit up and take notice as he gained notoriety. Bruce was soon seen as the comedian who would go where others feared to tread.
The real problems for Lenny Bruce started when his fame started to spread. He was continually arrested for obscenity charges. In one of his court cases, Bruce pleaded with the judge to allow him to carry out his act in court. Bruce wanted the judge to understand his humor in context; not just the profanity the police read in court. The judge refused and Bruce was sentenced to several months in prison.
Bruce became increasingly depressed and paranoid due to police harassment and the drugs he was taking. He continually found himself in court on various charges due to his refusal to tone down his act of him. He saw this censorship as a strike against his freedom of speech. Whenever Lenny Bruce performed on stage, the local police stood by, waiting to arrest him for any obscenities he uttered.
In 1965, due to court costs, Lenny Bruce was broke and in debt. At one of his last concerts in Los Angeles in 1966, he appeared on stage bearded and overweight. He performed to a very small crowd, including hecklers and mandatory deputy police. His material consisted of his current obsessions; his constitutional right to free speech and his interminable court cases. Lenny Bruce died six months after the concert of a drug overdose at the age of 40.
Lenny Bruce has been a huge influence on many comedians. The late Bill Hicks and stand-up comedians such as Dennis Leary have all paid tribute to Bruce. We take free speech for granted today, but it is thanks to individuals like Lenny Bruce that we are able to do so.
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