Lenny Bruce on Playboy's Penthouse (Part 2)

[shawnfella]

Amazing. LB invents a spontaneous bit on live TV to cover getting caught up needing to clear a runny nose full of coke.

[whatfhefck]

Uncomfortable entertainment

[tbirdtim]

Lenny Bruce on "political correctness" in 1959! He knew it way back when that PC is BS!

[gearhart2009]

A most amazing comic who paved the way for all of those who followed.

[shawndw1000]

He did a line of coke before the show...that's y he needs a tissue. lol...

[bwallace77]

Yes his end did come as a result of a morphine overdose, but that's a small piece of what he was. His comedy touched taboos of that time religion, government, race, gays, sex acts, etc. You may think what he was donig was not important, nobody was touching those issues. But if you like free speech & don't want others to choose what you hear, then give him some credit. He knew what he was doing was his right & legal. Whatever your comment, "in Jewish" means I don't know, you sound like a bigget

[Cowinacan]

Thanks for sharing, do you have any more footage from PB PH?

[scottmanduzy]

Make people laugh, but also make them think!

[bwallace77]

You made it to the jewish cemetary, I went to see you. Boring for you, not for me this is classic film!!!!!!1

[tzkelley]

My God this show was boring. And I like old TV shows.

[tabbs9]

@tzkelley

It is for sure....Lenny Bruce was the inspiration for Pee Wee Herman.....a major difference being, Pee Wee Herman is a thousand times funnier!

[bwallace77]

@tabbs9 Pee Wee is a genius in his own right. You are comparing two different performers. You should learn a little bit more about Lenny and his strugle to have free speach. You think comics would talk about taboo things such as race and religion, Lenny broke down all that uptight scene. he will always have my respect.

[shalom1948hellyeah]

@bwallace77 Bruce was a junkie who died with a needle in his arm. He was clearly singled out by the authorities but let's face it, he wasn't fighting some altruistic fight for civil rights in Birmingham, his fight was to say cock, cocksucker (in Jewish) onstage and make money off shock value. I understand that it's usual to deify anti-establishment types, particularly Jewish ones, and particularly those fighting against WASP power structure in those days but dont get carried away.

[EmitFlestiKY]

@shalom1948hellyeah What do you mean by cocksucker "in jewish". Lenny was a defender of, and martyr for, the 1st amendment. His brand of humour was the laugh-out-lud kind exepcted today, but he was brilliant and pushed boundaires that needed to be pushed. Shame on those who hounded and persecuted him to his death for speaking his mind!

[bwallace77]

@tzkelley I think it's great! This is classic film of Bruce and Hefner. Alot of what you think is boring now back then was new and interesting.

[ironman5454]

@bwallace77 Did anyone catch Hefners line "when you get your own show ..." I think this was a 'hint' to Lenny to keep cool - "if you want to be outrageous do it on your own show, don't blow it for me". In those days it was so easy for a show to disappear overnight - a round of phone calls (complainants of being offended) could end a show in an instant. For those of you who didn't live through those times you can't imagine how outrageous Lenny is here - you can't compare it to today.

[ironman5454]

Respond to this video... The tension is palpable - I can just imagine the shows producers, sponsors, the guys in the sound booth etc, not to mention Hefner (whos sucking away like crazy on that pipe) all with their fingers/toes crossed that Lenny ain't gonna step 'over the line'. By todays standards this is is lame but back in those days this was cutting edge 'dangerous'. Ed Sullivan would ban acts for the slightest 'offense'. Props to Hefner for taking the risk also.