The Lenny Bruce Performance Film

Lenny Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 06/27/2006 Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R	How to Talk Dirty and Influence People In 1963, before the law and his drug habit brought the curtain down on the comedian, Hugh Hefner asked then-superstar Lenny Bruce to write his autobiography. Lenny hired writer Paul Krassner to help him edit the book, which appeared in Playboy over the next two years. Though ...	Lenny Bruce Without Tears The outrageous, groundbreaking comic Lenny Bruce, whose iconoclastic material in a conservative era got him into tragic trouble, is profiled by a close friend, Fred Baker, who prefers to remember the laughs Lenny Bruce's memory evokes instead of the tears. By presenting Bruce's l...	Let the Buyer Beware UNEDITED, UNCENSORED, UNAPOLOGETIC...The ultimate Lenny Bruce box set 10 years in the making! Let The Buyer Beware is an unprecedented 6-CD boxed collection of Lenny Bruce's popular recorded performances, never-before-released performances, and various private recordings that te...	Carnegie Hall Concert Back when it took a computer the size of the Pentagon to do long division, Lenny Bruce was the personification of hypertext, connecting ideas through puns, jokes, impressions, and the weaving together of complex tales. As Don Friedman says in his spoken introduction to this prest...
Bill Hicks Live - Satirist, Social Critic, Stand-Up Comedian Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 10/26/2004	The Lenny Bruce Originals, Vol. 1 These 1958 tracks from The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce and Interviews of Our Times are the roots of the rage but not the rage itself. When Bruce first made the scene in the late 1950s, he was considerably tamer than he would become (although he was already quite volatile by the era...	The Lenny Bruce Originals, Vol. 2	Live at the Curran Theater Once Lenny Bruce had amassed legal troubles, he turned a corner, going from standup performer doing funny, if acerbic, routines (which is more than being simply a comedian) to being a free-improvising social commentator. Here is the first CD reissue of Bruce's 1961 show at the Cu...	The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of An American Icon Lenny Bruce’s words had the power to provoke laughter and debate—as well as shock and outrage. It was the force of his voice that would place him on the wrong side of the law in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. Lenny committed his life to telling the trut...

Lenny Bruce must be seen.
Lenny Bruce was not "dirty". He did not tell dirty jokes. The reason he is still current is that is that he was truly funny. This does not mean that he wasn't also insightful and brilliant. It's just that he was able to translate it into comedy. One thing that separates him from just about everyone who followed him is that he was spontaneous. He did not do the same routine exactly the same way twice. I believe that this is because he identified with jazz musicians. Comedians today generally recite their routines and hope for the best. The result of this spontaneous feeling on the part of Lenny Bruce is that he has marvelous rapport with his audience. That is what you can experience when you watch this performance film. Sometimes in his routines he will create dialogues between several characters - and you will believe you are witnessing their interaction. He has compassion. He can feel what others are experiencing. Most critics miss the point. They usually do. They concentrate on everything but the essence. Lenny Bruce is funny. He likes to perform. He is a great performer.

NOT FOR THE NEOPHYTE!
At the outset let me say that I am not a Lenny Bruce fan! I remember seeing this film in the late 1970's at a midnight showing and not 'getting it'. It was not until sometime in the 1990's that I had an unquenchable desire to reconnect with Lenny Bruce only after I was given a copy of the double LP "Live in Berkeley".(Thank you Mr. Zappa!) That started an obsession for me with all things Lenny. After having read LB's autobiography and most all of the other books, it was time to revisit this film. [BTW...The Trials of Lenny Bruce is a heavyweight; but essential reading if you can handle it. I must also highly recommend the 6 CD set titled "Let The Buyer Beware"] Now,forget about what other reviewers have written about "a dying and broken man" or that Lenny was drugged out! I found this DVD to be 'the grail' as Lenny delivers cogent arguments to his detractors while also imparting some very funny material. In hindsight it's sad that Lenny's supporters could not do more to champion this prophet; but that's the way it was back in the mid 1960's. Sadly, the system took the 'fight' out of the man but could never take the man out of the 'fight'. Only Lenny could do that. In closing let me restate that I highly recommend this to anyone who has done a little bit of 'under graduate' study of Lenny Bruce. Then, buy this DVD! As I said, I am not a fan of Lenny Bruce but a lover of this philosophical genius! Lenny Bruce was one of the greatest teachers of all time (and also one of the most honest and spiritual human beings) THANK YOU LENNY BRUCE!

still burning at the end
Although Lenny was near the end when this performance was filmed, he still puts on a riveting show. He does go on about the legal system a lot but what he says makes so much sense. You almost wish he could have used something like this in some of his courtroom defenses. He always said the prosecutors would do a "bad" Lenny Bruce in court! For people who assume he was constantly harrased and busted for his foul language, get a hold of this film and see how brilliant he was.

AN ESSENTIAL PIECE OF HUMOR --- AND HISTORY
George Carlin says it best: Bruce's genius' was the unique ability to investigate hypocrisy and expose social inequities in a street rap that was really a form of poetry. In this--- the only complete stand-up performance of Bruce ever captured on film --- the iconoclast poet speaks. Loudly. Filmed in 1965 at San Francisco's Basin Street West (in what would be his penultimate live appearance), the show consists of Bruce's responses to the accusations and allegations stemming from his multiple arrests for obscenity and the trials that followed. While the production values are far from superior, it is an important piece of history for humorists and historians to embrace.

Lenny Bruce nearing the End - Funny but Damaged
I'm a Lenny Bruce fan. I know about Lenny Bruce, and I know about 'The Lenny Bruce Performance Film'. I know the circumstances under which the film was made, and the circumstances of Lenny's life and career at that time. Consequently, my expectations for this performance were low. But from the very start... he's good. Not brilliant... but good. Unfortunately, good is such a come-down for Lenny Bruce. And the performance is not helped by the way it is filmed. Lenny is never seen in full figure, which tends to be the best way to show stand-up. The dim lighting was also as strong as Lenny's eyes could stand. He looks rather chubbier than in his prime, and the trademark sharp suit has been replaced with looser clothes to hide his bulkier body. But THIS IS Lenny Bruce performing on film, and it is because so little of this exists, this this film has the fascination it does. Lenny is working with a document in hand - a transcript of one of his prosecutions - and the bulk of his performance revolves around what this contains... How what he has said and done in nightclubs was misrepresented by the legal system of America. And this main section of his performance works remarkably well. He knows the points he wants to make, he easily find the sections of the transcript he needs, his vocal technique is still very much in evidence, and he is FUNNY. But very soon, we see what is lacking in this Lenny Bruce. The incisive mind may still be there, but the playfulness is gone. While discussing the law, he talks about mime artists losing their "freedom of speech". What an opportunity! He misses what could have been one of the best laughs of the night. But even this adequate performance can't be sustained. The end is heart breaking. An obligation of this performance was that Lenny reproduce some of the classic routines of just a few years earlier... and suddenly he tries. Very sad. He can't do it. He can't reproduce his original passion or delivery of those bits. Maybe he can't remember. One routine lasts a few seconds, before he tries another. Important lines we know should be there are missing. Lenny is clearly in trouble. It is like watching one of those "peace officers" he earlier criticizes for hopelessly trying to portray Lenny Bruce the performer in court. Without the real Lenny Bruce speaking, these famous routines quietly die a death. Eventually the performance dwindles to a close. Lenny goes to a side door, and improvises some lines to passers-by. We can't really hear what he is saying, and it seems embarrassing to try. After a minute or so, the door allows his escape. This was Lenny's next to last nightclub performance. Within a year he will be dead.