Looking for Lenny Page #7

So I went out to the beach,

it was in Santa Monica,

venice, somewhere,

and kitty was there,

you know, "hi, kitty,

blah, blah, blah,

I'm just waiting

for your grandmother."

She was with my grandma Sally,

and she sat down and

there was like a water fountain,

and I was sitting there,

and they wanted me

to go into the car.

And something was just

like weird.

Sally came, and I mean,

I remember

just, I mean I just

said to her,

"Sally, Lenny's dead."

I mean, I just, I didn't

know how to cushion it,

or I just said it.

And so then we went back

to the apartment,

and she told kitty.

She said, "you remember

that daddy was always sick?"

And I said, "yes."

And she said,

"well, daddy died."

And I remember feeling

like it was

a really bad joke.

And I remember

screaming hysterically.

Um, I did not

take it well.

And the icky part

is in school,

kids were bringing

the newspaper,

and the--

when he died,

Phil spector

was kind enough,

he tried to buy

the negatives

from the LAPD,

from photos,

said that they

wouldn't be used

for the public to see.

And they repositioned

my father's body,

they stuck the needle

back into his arm

for 8x10 glossies,

and...You know made sure

that his jeans were pulled

way down

so that he would be

lying there naked

with the needle

in his arm.

His death was a hideous

publicity nightmare

which they would never

do today.

I'll always think

that that famous photo

of him naked

in his toilet, dead,

I'll always think

that's a posed shot.

They found him one way,

they pulled his pants down

before the photographers

got there, and said

take a photo of that.

They did it to

black guys all the time.

I don't think he wanted

to die,

I think he wanted

to get high,

and I think somebody

brought him some bad sh*t.

The beard, the heroin,

he died that way,

and you have to really--

he was portrayed that way

when he died,

but most of the time,

he wasn't like that.

That's a small--

that's unfortunately--

that is perceived

as a big part of his life,

but the way that he was

for a little time

for a few months when

he felt really bad,

at the end of his life,

actually he felt

a little better,

he wanted to make

that comeback.

He said,

"I'm a fighting Jew.

"I'm not someone

who's going to bow my head.

I'm a fighting Jew,"

and he fought to the end.

I said at the time, I said,

"Lenny died for our sins."

And I think it's true.

I feel that his

Christian sacrifice--

I say this because I think

he was crucified, you know,

has been so ill-served

in many ways,

by the kind of "anything goes"

profanity and vulgarity

you see today.

It would offend him that so many

comedians today

get their laughs

on the four-letter words.

Like Jesus, people took

what he said, bastardized it,

took his ideas,

bastardized it.

The national consciousness

of Lenny Bruce,

probably more people

know about him

maybe from

the movie, Lenny,

which was a total--

I won't say

a total fabrication,

but it wasn't--

I love Dustin Hoffman,

but he wasn't Lenny Bruce,

and so people have all

their preconceptions

and ideas of what they think

he was like.

I'm amazed that he's become

the figure he has.

I was amazed when

they made the film of him.

And I think what happened

is,

and what made me more aware,

is maybe,

that some people were

aware of the fact

of how seminal he was,

how important he was.

Lenny Bruce laughed

about that.

'Cause he said usually

when people march for you,

they lead you

to the chair.

So he didn't

believe in that,

and he certainly

didn't want to be seen

as a martyr.

Maybe as a comedian,

but as Lenny Bruce.

He wanted to be

Lenny Bruce himself.

My opinion is,

at the beginning,

he didn't have

any intention

of breaking new ground

and changing the world.

He just got up there

and said what

was in his heart,

and the world

started changing.

I don't think back then

Lenny Bruce was trying

to inspire anybody,

because when Lenny Bruce

was doing it,

there weren't

that many comics.

You know, buddy hackett

had told me a couple

great Lenny Bruce stories,

unfortunately buddy's

gone and I don't

remember the stories.

But I think Lenny

was just trying to stay alive.

And I don't think Lenny

had enough time

to really even

come into his own.

I think he wanted

to tell it like he saw it.

I don't think

he wanted to be a martyr.

I'm sure a part of him

knew at some point.

I mean how can you

be that...

That groundbreaking

and that profound

in so many different ways

and not know it's going

to have some

kind of impact?

You know it is.

I remember saying

to him that

people would realize.

I mean, unfortunately

it would be in some future time

that people would understand

who he was, and, you know,

he would be vindicated.

I remember I did

a show in San Francisco,

there's a big article,

some gay guy,

but a really uptight

gay guy.

I mean, just an

annoying little f*ggot.

Like Chris rock,

black people are n*ggers,

this guy was a f*ggot.

You know. A little f*ggot.

And keep that

on there, too.

Just a little

f***ing queenie f*ggot.

Um, and it's silly to say

we have gay friends,

but we call them the gaybors,

they live right down the street,

they come over all the time,

okay, so I have gay friends.

This guy was a f*ggot.

And anyway, at the show

I was doing a whole bit about

how gay people are gay

because they're happy.

The word "gay"

means happy.

You're with your friends,

you still get blowj*bs.

How great is that

to be with your friends

and get blowj*bs?

Even gay guys,

they're still guys,

and I don't care what color,

what race you are,

you don't like foreplay,

you don't want to talk

after sex,

you blow your friend,

he blows me,

you go to sleep, whatever.

Um, and it was all

going on and on.

Why gays want

to get married?

Why do you want to be

miserable like us?

Do we look happy

to you?

I wish I was gay

because I don't know

what to buy my wife.

If you're a gay guy,

you know what to buy

another guy.

You buy him a sweater.

He doesn't like it,

you get to wear it.

So basically,

it was so pro gay,

but all this little f*ggot

heard was

me doing gay jokes.

And that's all that he heard,

you know what I mean?

And it's almost

like a buzz word.

N*gger, aids,

f*ggot, c*nt,

you know,

there's a word,

and it doesn't matter

what you're saying.

Some people hear the word

and just shut down totally

to the rest

of your show.

I think we think we have

progressed more than we have

as far as the civil rights

movement to now,

or what Lenny Bruce

was enduring to now.

And I think that he'd

be repulsed

by what a dishonest nation

we are now.

I think on the surface

we've progressed.

And I think it's very cool

for white people to embrace

what is so appealing

about the black experience.

But I still think

there's that weird, like,

"ooh, I'm hanging out with

somebody black."

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