Looking for Lenny Page #5

couldn't understand him.

Also what he was doing,

which we didn't know

until later,

and then he wouldn't stop,

he was tape recording

everything that was

going on in court,

because he had figured out

that one of the reasons

he was being prosecuted,

and then being convicted,

was because the d.A.

Was changing the transcripts.

In other words, the witness

would testify,

then there'd be

a court transcript,

and it would not be

as Lenny remembered it.

And he had his own transcript,

and he thought his

own transcript

was more accurate.

The comedy of errors

is that a cop comes in

to the cafe a go-go

and tries to take

his performance down

in long hand.

And then he would

go to court,

and Lenny would say

that's not my act,

that's not what

I did.

Lenny begged

time and time again,

"please let me do

my routine for you."

But there wasn't a single judge

that would let him do it.

When he starts reading

transcripts from the trial,

you can really track

that he's no longer being funny,

he's really outraged.

He became obsessed

with the arrest itself.

It impacted the nature,

and not always

in a positive way,

it impacted the very nature

of his act.

[Bruce]

In one of his anecdotes

relating to New York policemen

dressed up as women

to apprehend mashers,

he stated, "this would never

stop a real rape artist,

because some of those cops

really have nice asses."

Now, I didn't say this.

He took me out of context.

What I said, I said there

were many trans--

dig how they hear,

now they--

here's what I said.

"There are many transvestites

posing as policemen."

[Audience laughs]

There's a big difference.

And I said, "and they are

doing this to thwart--"

[Approaching siren]

[Audience laughs]

Oh, really?

Well, I hope they got

a big van.

You're all going,

you know.

I think every performer

can relate to how nuts

he went at the end,

when in court.

You just want people

to understand.

You want to drill it

through their thick

f***ing skulls.

And you have to read

line by line

in a transcript

to get it done...

I mean that's how crazy

he went with it.

[Man]

Yeah.

I think anyone can relate

to going to that point.

[Garbus]

He didn't act nuts.

He acted irrationally

in an irrational situation.

Now I don't know how else,

how more appropriate

you could be in

the situation.

He lived in a world

of justice,

I lived in a world

of the law.

They're two

different things.

And Lenny

didn't understand that.

He really believed

in the constitution.

I mean he really believed

in the government,

he really believed

in the legal system.

And he couldn't believe

in the injustice of it.

And he was just almost fighting

for his belief in the system,

rather than fighting

against the system.

[Man]

So you are saying then

that you feel the jury

had in fact heard of you

before the trial.

No, I don't feel that.

I have these affidavits,

and they're voice recorded,

where they all state--

six of them,

they have heard

of me before.

You feel that this

prejudiced the case?

No, I'm not concerned

with that.

I'm concerned with the fact

that crime was committed.

[Kaur]

The reason I think

he had such fight in him

is 'cause he believed

that he would win.

That he would get

vindicated because

he had this belief

in truth,

which is what

motivated him.

[Gov. Pataki]

When Lenny Bruce was convicted

back in the mid '60s,

the perception was it was

the heavy hand of government,

the right coming down

on someone

who was a spokesperson

more for the left.

Today, we have

a lot of political correctness,

where it's almost

the other way around,

where if you express

in private or in a forum

some politically

incorrect view,

all of a sudden you are

in some way reprimanded,

or held up

for some type of sanction.

[Imus]

Girls from rutgers,

man, they got tattoos...

Some hardcore hos.

That's some nappy-headed

hos there.

[Imus laughs]

Man, that's some--whew.

The girls from Tennessee,

they all look cute,

you know, so...

It's kind of like...

I don't know.

A spike Lee thing.

[Imus] Yeah.

The jigaboos

vs. Wannabees.

Isn't that that movie

that he had?

He needs to be fired

no matter what because

he injured a whole

group of people,

not just

a basketball team.

It's not the kind of language

I would ever use,

it's just not me.

But I don't think

they should have fired him.

The comedy that he brought

was talking about

a disenfranchised.

Talking about people

who are powerless,

that's the mistake.

That's the drama.

Do I think he should have

lost his job for it? No.

Who gives a sh*t?

Let him keep doing

his terrible radio show,

and let no one

listen to it.

Never apologize

for a joke.

I got protested at

Rochester institute

of technology

'cause there's a big

deaf population up there,

and I said on the radio

that deaf people

weren't really deaf,

they were retards trying

to make themselves be upgraded

by saying they're deaf.

So they came up to me,

they start protesting my show,

they start signing sh*t

at me,

I don't know

what they're saying,

and the news crew comes

to the radio station where I am,

and she's like, "are you

going to apologize?"

I'm like, "no. If they can't see

that I insult everybody

"and that I don't mean any harm,

they're not only deaf,

they're blind, too."

It was the best quote

of my life, by the way.

You have don imus

being compared to Lenny Bruce,

and what does he do?

He goes out and he hires

the same attorney,

Martin garbus.

Don imus had always been

an extraordinary fan of Bruce,

and he chose me because he saw

a connection

between Bruce

and the kind of work

that he does.

It's been characterized

as a free speech case,

but it's really

a contract case.

In so far as the fcc

is concerned,

in so far as free speech

is concerned,

he's perfectly safe.

The major issue

is the interpretation

of the contract.

And what the contract

says basically,

it says two

contradictory things.

It says, one,

that CBS hires don

to do the kind of shows

he's done in the past.

Because they understand

that there's an audience

for that kind

of material.

Then there's something else

in the contract,

which contradicts

what I just said

is in the contract,

which says they shouldn't--

uh, he should not do anything

which would hold CBS

up to scandal

or disrepute.

He was a shock jock.

You don't hire a guy

to paint a wall,

and then you come in

and go you painted the wall,

I wanted you to wallpaper.

You hired me

to paint the wall,

what are you

f***ing talking about?

The really unfortunate

part of it

is that the media,

at no point or time,

did they talk about

what imus has devoted

a great deal

of his life to,

which is helping kids

who have cancer.

So to me, for a man

who's devoted

a lot of his life to a fairly

philanthropic cause,

to all of a sudden

be demonized.

That's where I think

the media

is entirely irresponsible.

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