Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce ( born October 13, 1925 on Long Iceland, New York, as Leonard Alfred Schneider, † August 3, 1966 in Hollywood Hills ) was a controversial American stand-up comedian and satirist. Bruce made ​​a major contribution to change, stand- up comedy from one form of mere jokes storytelling to smart and time -related entertainment.

Bruce's repertoire contained numbers about politics, religion, law, race, abortion, the Ku Klux Klan, the Catholic Church, the social effects of automation and a large number of jokes that went below the belt. In the latter approached, he answered many times: If you disgusts something on the human body, complain to the manufacturer!

Bruce, who appeared among others with Frank Zappa, was in the course of his career, repeated problems with the police and judiciary. Since 1962, he was not allowed to occur in Australia, the same year he was indicted in San Francisco for obscenity, but acquitted. In 1964 he was sentenced in New York to a prison term of six months, but acquitted again in a later procedure. Since 1966 he had almost anywhere in the U.S. was banned from performing. In his later appearances the police topics, obscenity, and the right to free speech, occupy a large space. Known for his heroin addiction Bruce was found in August 1966 with a needle in the arm at his home in Hollywood Hills dead.

In October 2003, he was subsequently pardoned by New York Governor George Pataki for his Obszönitätsverurteilungen. It was the first and only posthumous pardon in that State.

His performances are partially documented on plates.

The resulting 1974 film Lenny by Bob Fosse starring Dustin Hoffman is based on Bruce's life. He is a character in the novel Underworld by Don DeLillo. Musicians such as Stan Ridgway, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, John Lennon, Nico, REM, Nada Surf, Chumbawamba, Nuclear Valdez and Grace Slick (Father Bruce ) were trained by him to inspire songs.

Works

• How to Talk Dirty and Influence People. 208 pages, Fireside, 1992, English, ISBN 0671751085, ISBN 978-0671751081.
• The Berkeley Concert. Produced by Frank Zappa and Herb Cohen, reprise 2xs 6329, 1968, double LP, USA.