Looking for Lenny Page #2

and talking about the world

you're living in,

and politicians

and racism

and class, it's like,

that's unbelievable.

Lenny went beyond

what any other mainstream

comics had done at the time.

[Lonow]

He began to speak in

the verbiage

that they would speak

at a table at canter's,

which nobody did.

You know, can I say

the word "f***"?

Yeah.

Well, I couldn't

say the word "f***"

in 1952, or four or five

before Lenny Bruce,

because they were

banned words.

It was a banned word.

And there were many.

But what happened

was his patter,

the type of speech

he used,

became very personal

on a level that

all the comics

of the fifties,

couldn't do, wouldn't do,

and they were, you know,

protective of the fact

that they wouldn't do that

in public.

You know, people

would be offended.

Holy sh*t, I can't

say that on stage.

Well, I guess Lenny

either wasn't offended,

or provoked it.

He went into a direction

no one had really gone into.

And, uh...

And mort Saul

in a sense was doing it,

but Lenny was pushing...Um,

pushing further.

He responded to injustice.

And suffering,

and I think of him

as an alchemist,

that he transformed

horror into humor.

What Lenny was doing

was talking about

what was happening

in the world.

He wasn't making

up bits.

He wasn't a comedian

that wrote routines.

He was doing an interesting

thing, and that is

what he was saying

to the audience

was the most important thing

on his mind at that time,

and he tried to make it

your most important thing.

He also attacked things

in his comedy

like the catholic church

in Boston,

the police commission

in New York.

He took on catholics,

Jews, protestants,

he took on everybody.

So they made him

the martyr,

but artistically speaking,

he went way beyond

anything that anyone

had done up until

that time.

Completely broke

every taboo pretty much.

"The bad taste award,

"should be given

to Lenny Bruce,

"who out shuttered

every other comedian

on television this year."

Okay, now another nice,

warm review.

But then finally a newspaper

with some integrity came forth,

and...

[Audience laughs]

"Last night,

a star was born."

It's almost always

a comedian

that is the first guy

to talk about social issues

that we don't

want to talk about.

Just because of the nature

of their job,

they stand on the stage

and they talk to people,

eventually it's

gonna get set.

Filmmakers take

a little while,

'cause doing a film

takes a lot longer,

uh, commentators

won't grab onto it

until it's been said

by a comedian.

Rock stars play music,

you know,

so it's comedians

that for the most part

in my book, tackle

the social issues

that we don't want

to discuss.

The job of comedy

is to attack the powerful.

To examine them.

To hopefully make them

examine themselves.

But more importantly

to make us

examine ourselves

and how we fit into this--

this huge thing

called life.

What Lenny did

was exactly that.

He challenged authority.

He held up a mirror

to what was going on

in society,

and the be-alls

of society

did not want this mirror

being held up.

He did a lot

of bits on religion,

the hypocrisy of some

of these evangelists who...

Preach give your money

to God,

and he pockets 70%,

stuff like that, you know.

We take you now

to the headquarters

of religions incorporated.

And seated around the desk

on Madison Avenue

sit the religious leaders

of our country.

Religion, big business,

we hear h.A. Addressing

the tight little group

on Madison Avenue.

For the first time

in 12 years,

catholicism is up

nine points.

[Audience laughs]

Judaism is up 15.

The big p, the pentecostals

are starting to move finally,

and now, gentlemen,

we've got Mr. netaya,

from our religious

novelty house in Chicago,

he's got

a beautiful seller.

The genuine Jewish star,

lucky cross,

and cigarette lighter combined.

[Audience laughs]

Lenny Bruce took

stand-up comedy

in dimensions

it had not been taken

since, in a smaller way,

lord Buckley did.

He wasn't just

being dirty,

he was using words,

you know...

Pointing out

the hypocrisy of words.

Like the--

he goes, you know--

f***.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought they

were talking to me, you dick.

[Laughs]

Homosexuality,

sexuality,

these things that conservative

America doesn't like to discuss

and definitely doesn't like

to discuss in detail

amongst even each other,

never mind bringing it out

in a public forum,

which Lenny was doing.

[Cymbal dings]

[Bruce]

two prepositions

"Two" is a preposition

"come" is a verb.

"Two" is a preposition.

"Come" is a verb.

"Two" is a preposition.

"Come" is a verb.

The verb intransitive.

To come.

To come.

I've heard these two words

my whole adult life,

and as a kid when I thought

I was sleeping.

To come, to come.

It's been like

a big drum solo.

Did you come?

Did you come, good?

[Drum beats, cymbal crashes]

Did you come good?

Did you come good?

[Audience laughs]

Did you come good?

[Drumbeats continue]

Did you come good?

[Drumming]

Did you come good?

Did you come good?

Did you come good?

...I come better

with you, sweetheart

than anyone in

the whole God damn world.

[Audience laughs]

I really came so good.

I really came so good,

'cause I love you.

[Singing]

I really came so good

I come better with you,

sweetheart

than anyone

in the whole world

I really came so good

so good

But don't come in me.

[Drum beats, audience laughs]

Don't come in me.

[Frantically]

Don't come in me

me-me-me

don't come in me

me-me-me,

don't come in me.

Don't come in me.

In me don't come...

In me in me.

[Cymbal crashes]

I can't come.

[Audience laughs]

'Cause you don't love me,

that's why I can't come.

I love ya, I just can't come,

that's my hang up.

I can't come

when I'm loaded, all right?

'Cause you don't love me.

Just what the hell

is the matter with you?

What has that

got to do with loving you?

I just can't come,

that's all.

[Audience laughs]

Now if anyone

in this room...

Finds those two

words decadent,

[Drum beats, cymbal dings]

Obscene,

[Cymbal dings]

Immoral, amoral,

asexual,

the words "to come"

really make you

feel uncomfortable,

you probably

can't come.

[Audience laughs]

And then you're

of no use,

'cause that's the purpose

of life.

To recreate it.

[Klein]

Lenny Bruce's political bent

and social consciousness

was not an accident.

It was a metamorphosis

of sorts.

[Titus]

He started in like

'46 and died in '66.

If you look at where

he goes,

right about 12 years, in,

bam, he starts writing

that's the colored people...

How to make your

colored friends

comfortable at parties.

He starts writing about--

takes about 10 to 12 years

to become

a really good comic.

The problem today

is a lot of comics

get onstage at

a coffee house

and already think

they're Lenny.

I want to hear your pain,

I want to hear your story,

but put it in joke form.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes