Lenny Bruce’s Birthday

October 13 – It’s Lenny Bruce‘s birthday today. Sending a shout-out to Lenny Bruce. Here’s classic footage of him in performance

this, from the transcript of the 1968 William Buckley show

AG: ..all the artists in New York got together and put out a big petition…

WB: To which saying?

AG:  ..saying Lenny Bruce should be protected, to which the police did not yield, to which the district attorney did not yield, to which the lower courts did not yield, to which nobody yielded for years and years until the poor man was dead!

WB: Well, you’re suggesting that there was a relationship? He died prematurely, you’ll agree?.. You say he died prematurely. I think it’s much more likely that he died from excessive use of the kinds of things that you are always urging on people, rather than because the DA got after him was what caused it

AG: No, I think like part of the shutdown on his general activity was the police activity which prevented him from coming to New York even physically – (so) – as to (not) be arrested – much less working and leading a more or less healthy, active life, and he got all hung up on drugs researching his, like a carbolic scholar – researching his legal case. It was really a Kafkian thing with like a state-0rganized conspiracy against him.It was very sad,

Allen and Peter (Orlovsky) were participants in the Lenny Bruce Memorial Service that took place at  Judson Memorial Church New York City on August 12, 1966 (happily preserved for us on this WBAI radio broadcast)

Here’s Bob Dylan saluting the man in 1995 in Birmingham