Lenny Bruce
“If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.”
This is to let you know that Lenny Bruce existed, not just as a line in a song, but as an artist ahead of his time, driven to madness, washed away in a torrent of moral posturing by the "establishment"—who labeled Bruce obscene with their blinders on, never for a moment stopping to actually listen to his humor, his commentary.
If you enjoy the work of Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Dennis Miller, or Henry Rollins, please do yourself a favour and give Lenny Bruce a look and listen.
Books
"The Essential Lenny Bruce"
edited by John Cohen
A collection of Lenny Bruce's routines published in the late 1960s.
"How to Talk Dirty and Influence People"
by Lenny Bruce
This book is much easier to find than out-of-print "Ladies and Gentlemen - Lenny Bruce!!!", but far less indicative of the true nature of Lenny Bruce's existence. I have read that Bruce took some creative liberties in telling his story. Nonetheless, "How to Talk Dirty..." still offers some interesting and entertaining insights.
"Ladies and Gentlemen - Lenny Bruce!!!"
by Albert Goldman
Perhaps Albert Goldman overemphasized Lenny Bruce's flaws—stretching the truth thin over the framework of his career-making biography—but his rendition of the truth is nonetheless engaging.
"The Trials of Lenny Bruce - The Fall and Rise of an American Icon"
by Ronald K.L. Collins & David M. Skover
This book lives up to its own hype. The authors have done an excellent job of recounting the facts of Bruce's trials and tribulations, without bogging us down with 470 pages of legal documents. Mixed in with court transcripts and other official documents are backgrounds on some of the key players and explanations of pivotal events, both of which shaped the landscape that Bruce was compelled to traverse.
"Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet"
by William Karl Thomas
The official line: "This book focuses on the creative process and motivations of Lenny Bruce, and the professional and personal closeness of the author make this book more intimate and incisive than previous works about this most controversial comedian of the century."
Records
December 12, 1965 - Berkeley Community Theatre, CA. Notable as it is an unedited recording.
The low budget packaging of this recording may smell of a quick cash-in, but it is actually a good performance. The mediocre sound quality does make it difficult to follow some of Bruce's tangents, so those unfamiliar with his material and his way of speaking may get lost. Familiarize yourself with Bruce through his Carnegie Hall performance (and his book too, perhaps), then try this one.
If Albert Goldman's take on this excellent concert doesn't convince you to listen to this performance, then nothing will!
"Let The Buyer Beware"
A six-CD set of popular performances, previously unreleased material, and private recordings.
"Live: San Francisco 1966"
This is the soundtrack of John Magnuson's 1966 film of Bruce's appearance at San Francisco's Basin Street West.
"The Lenny Bruce Originals, Volumes I & II"
Some of Lenny's most popular bits. This is where he began to make his mark as a comic, doing movie parodies as well as skits relating to the events of the day. These oft-repeated bits contrast the free-form style that later brought Lenny his greatest notoriety.
"Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Mind: The Rise & Reckless Fall of Lenny Bruce"
Recordings of Lenny Bruce, Nat Hentoff, Joel Fort, Steve Allen, Kenneth Tynan, Honey Bruce, Arthur Schaeffer, Robin Clifford, and Sally Marr are used to tell Lenny's story.
"Thank You Masked Man"
Material recorded in 1958, 1959 and 1963. An enhanced version includes John Magnuson's animated short of the same name.
"To Is A Preposition; Come Is A Verb"
As the title suggests, the emphasis here is on words and how their meanings are relative to who is speaking them.
Movies
"Hungry I Reunion"
A collection of performances by a variety of stars, Lenny Bruce included, who made their debuts at San Francisco's "Hungry I" nightclub.
"Lenny"
Dustin Hoffman portrays Lenny in this 1974 release.
"The Lenny Bruce Performance Film"
A show recorded a year before Bruce's death in which he speaks about his much publicized New York obscenity trial.
"Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth"
An excellent documentary narrated by Robert DeNiro, featuring interviews with his mother, wife, and various associates. Beginning with his childhood and ending with his death, Bruce's life is repainted, mostly in black and white, in the true color of his existence: dark with addiction, public ignorance and persecution, yet shining bright with a rightfully guilt-free insight into what makes us all hypocrites.
Although there has been another, more in-depth documentary released ("Swear to Tell the Truth"), there are still far too few opportunities to see Lenny Bruce's performances and interviews. Most of what remains of Lenny's work is available only in print or audio recordings, which makes this a no-brainer for anyone looking to learn more about him.