Looking for Lenny Page #5

[Titus]

He started in like

'46 and died in '66.

If you look at where

he goes,

right about 12 years, in,

bam, he starts writing

that's the colored people...

How to make your

colored friends

comfortable at parties.

He starts writing about--

takes about 10 to 12 years

to become

a really good comic.

The problem today

is a lot of comics

get onstage at

a coffee house

and already think

they're Lenny.

I want to hear your pain,

I want to hear your story,

but put it in joke form.

Lenny learned how

to write a joke

and create a concept first.

Then he became

Lenny Bruce.

And I think today,

you know, if you invoke

Lenny Bruce,

you should have

to go back and study him.

Don't just go back

to bearded Lenny,

you know,

with track marks.

Go to early Lenny,

when he was really, really,

really working his craft

as a brilliant comic.

And then you

can talk about him,

and then you can say,

yeah, I'm trying to do

what Lenny did.

He obviously knew

there were certain buttons

he could press,

that would get a reaction.

You know, kind of raise a hot

button, get things to go.

That it's going to draw

attention to him,

but maybe that's not

such a bad thing.

When comics throw up,

"oh, yeah, you know, like,

Lenny did it."

Yeah, but Lenny didn't talk

about p*ssy for ten minutes.

You know, Lenny talked

about racism and segregation,

and he says it

on national television,

at a time when there was like

cops showing up, you know,

down South, to protect kids

going to school.

There are words

that offend me.

Uh, let's see,

governor faubus,

segregation offend me.

Uh, nighttime television

offends me.

Some nighttime television.

[Audience laughs]

Uh, the shows that exploit

homosexuality, narcotics,

and prostitution

under the guise of helping

the societal problem.

He gave commentary on what was

going on in the world

with humor.

The important feature

about Lenny Bruce

that appealed to me

so much,

was that he made

his comedy meaningful.

He became not only

a comedian,

and for me

the important criteria

is making people laugh.

You're not a comedian

if you're a preacher

or a teacher.

But how much more complex

in that he pushed the envelope.

Back in the '50s,

things were very sanitized,

and very let's look pretty

for the camera.

But a lot of very ugly things

were not pretty for the camera.

The racism that went on

was definitely not

camera pretty.

That was a big thing

for my father.

Party's in swing,

and the humor comes from

the now becoming obscure

white person's concept

of how do you relax

colored people at parties.

And in the bit,

I play the white guy.

[Audience laughs]

I didn't get

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