Looking for Lenny Page #3

And suffering,

and I think of him

as an alchemist,

that he transformed

horror into humor.

What Lenny was doing

was talking about

what was happening

in the world.

He wasn't making

up bits.

He wasn't a comedian

that wrote routines.

He was doing an interesting

thing, and that is

what he was saying

to the audience

was the most important thing

on his mind at that time,

and he tried to make it

your most important thing.

He also attacked things

in his comedy

like the catholic church

in Boston,

the police commission

in New York.

He took on catholics,

Jews, protestants,

he took on everybody.

So they made him

the martyr,

but artistically speaking,

he went way beyond

anything that anyone

had done up until

that time.

Completely broke

every taboo pretty much.

"The bad taste award,

"should be given

to Lenny Bruce,

"who out shuttered

every other comedian

on television this year."

Okay, now another nice,

warm review.

But then finally a newspaper

with some integrity came forth,

and...

[Audience laughs]

"Last night,

a star was born."

It's almost always

a comedian

that is the first guy

to talk about social issues

that we don't

want to talk about.

Just because of the nature

of their job,

they stand on the stage

and they talk to people,

eventually it's

gonna get set.

Filmmakers take

a little while,

'cause doing a film

takes a lot longer,

uh, commentators

won't grab onto it

until it's been said

by a comedian.

Rock stars play music,

you know,

so it's comedians

that for the most part

in my book, tackle

the social issues

that we don't want

to discuss.

The job of comedy

is to attack the powerful.

To examine them.

To hopefully make them

examine themselves.

But more importantly

to make us

examine ourselves

and how we fit into this--

this huge thing

called life.

What Lenny did

was exactly that.

He challenged authority.

He held up a mirror

to what was going on

in society,

and the be-alls

of society

did not want this mirror

being held up.

He did a lot

of bits on religion,

the hypocrisy of some

of these evangelists who...

Preach give your money

to God,

and he pockets 70%,

stuff like that, you know.

We take you now

to the headquarters

of religions incorporated.

And seated around the desk

on Madison Avenue

sit the religious leaders

of our country.

Religion, big business,

we hear h.A. Addressing

the tight little group

on Madison Avenue.

For the first time

in 12 years,

catholicism is up

nine points.

[Audience laughs]

Judaism is up 15.

The big p, the pentecostals

are starting to move finally,

and now, gentlemen,

we've got Mr. netaya,

from our religious

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