ALBUM: The Story of Lenny, What I Was Arrested For (1975)
MVC Rating: 3.5; $$$
REM, of my Athens, Ga. home, wrote about the end of the world (as we know it):
That’s great, it starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes
And Lenny Bruce is not afraid
Lenny Bruce would certainly not be afraid., Buzzing on amphetamines,, he was driven by what:? By insecurity? Courage? Seeking attention? All of the above?
He was relentlessly stepping up to the line and crossing over. He eventually contributed to moving those lines.
He was busted on drug and obscenity charges over and over again between 1961 and 1966, at which time he died of a narcotics overdose.
He was glib and cussed on stage in the early 1960s, pushing the boundaries of society’s slowly expanding borders of taste and decency.
As a journalist i appreciate pioneers in the freedom of speech. I would err on the side of freedom of expression over someone’s idea of decency. But in most situations I like decency, with the weapons of profane words used strategically for effect
The fall-out is that the F-word, and others, became ubiquitous in the movies. And everywhere for that matter. Do people really talk like that? All the time? Well, in newsrooms, yes, I can vouch
I remember Kat in Walnut Creek, Calif., at the Contra Costa Times had a tip jar requiring a dollar for every naughty word. Some reporters (Tom Peele?) paid in advance. Others on the installment plan.]
.We in the news biz have been much more lenient on what we allow in the more free-wheeling online platform. You’ll see less of that kind of language in the actual newspaper.
What Lenny Bruce was doing as a traveling comedian was delving into matters sexual and heretofore considered obscene.
My problem is he wasn’t all that funny, based on this record Of course it’was a different time.
Half the material was about his legal problems and his inability to keep his fucking mouth shut (sub freaking if necessary, trying to demonstrate effect here.)
Sure he was a pioneer. But an unpleasant addicted self-absorbed one.
In his biographical book on Bruce, author Albert Goldman cast Lenny as a pioneer and martyr, albeit haunted by demons. It’s the same Goldman who wrote an exhaustive, negative tome on Elvis. (I read both books because I was fascinated in my 20s by both of these larger than life figures.) In Goldman’s portrayals, Lenny did much better than Elvis,, who was portrayed as a fat, drug using, liquor swilling redneck, who’s talents were demeaned more than praised. Forgive me if I can’t remember details, I read both decades ago.
Closing up now I see the lineage between Bruce and George Carlin and Richard Pryor, both of whom could be brilliant. Dave Chapelle is another.
My tastes wander more around absurdists such as Monty Python, Steven Wright and Andy Kaufman.
Reminds me of another REM song:
Now, Andy did you hear about this one
Tell me, are you locked in the punch
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch
If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool
Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.
o