| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| TarTar |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 07:45:04
One of the original envelope pushers in comedy... as far as I know, anyway. I just watched the movie Lenny with Dustin Hoffman playing Mr. Bruce. It was quite good, though I would have enjoyed more of the stand-up comedy and less of the life story since I haven't really heard any Lenny Bruce before, just heard him referenced in songs like It's The End of the World As We Know It and Zappa mentioning that he was influenced by Bruce. To me, he will now forever be Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of him. Or maybe not.
Any recommended Bruce material?
Inna zany combination of Wayne's Pet Youngin'! |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| peter radiator |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 09:31:28
I'm a longtime Bruce enthusiast.
I recommend you go straight for the cream of the crop of his official releases: Lenny Bruce Live At Carnegie Hall, and Lenny Bruce: The Berkely Concert. They're both great performances, and indicative of the totality of his genius.
If you love those as much as I do, you can delve a bit deeper by getting The Lenny Bruce Performance Film (a movie of one of his last appearances before his death - he is a beaten-down version of himself at this point, but still wildly funny in a very morbid sort of way).
I have lots of rare and/or unreleased Bruce audio and video available. If you want a list, send me a private e-mail.
~ Peter Radiator
"Real music is out there and real people are making it." ~ Webb Wilder |
| TarTar |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 08:24:24
I was reading that the scene where he's all strung-out and not making any sense was taking verbatim from a video of a Bruce performance. I think the shot in the movie was even setup to look just like the shot on the videotape, so maybe Hoffman acted it out just like Bruce did. That's a difficult scene to watch, he's so out of it.
Inna zany combination of Wayne's Pet Youngin'! |
| frank_black_francis |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 08:17:52
You should check out the Lenny Bruce biography.....as far as comedy, a lot of his albums are still commercially available on CD.....I saw a taped performance of him that was quite literally him reading thru his court case....hard to watch. What the Bob Fosse film doesn't capture, despite the fact that Dustin Hoffman did an amazing job, is Bruce's schtick....voice characterizations that are quite funny....it is remenescent of early Carlin....but in my opinion, funnier....
...a little trivia, if you happened to see Fosse's semi-autobiographical, 'All That Jazz', the main character is in the process of editing a 'Lenny' film, where the actor that portrays Bruce does an even better Lenny Bruce impression. |
| TarTar |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 08:14:44
Might as well put a few Lenny Bruce quotes here.
"'Life' is a four-letter word."
"All my humor is based on destruction and despair. If the whole world were tranquil, without disease and violence, I'd be standing in the breadline -- right in back of J. Edgar Hoover."
"If God made the body, and the body is dirty, then the fault lies with the manufacturer."
"Marijuana will be legal some day, because the many law students who now smoke pot will some day become Congressmen and legalize it in order to protect themselves."
"If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses."
"Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it." (TarTar's note: Alan Alda's character said something very similar to this in the Woody Allen film "Crimes and Misdemeanors")
"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God."
"I hate small towns because once you've seen the cannon in the park there's nothing else to do."
Inna zany combination of Wayne's Pet Youngin'! |
| TarTar |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 07:59:12
Cool. I shall check that out. Thanks Apl. Good to see we're on the same wave length.
Inna zany combination of Wayne's Pet Youngin'! |
| apl4eris |
Posted - 10/28/2004 : 07:50:28
This is weird, I was just reminded of "Underworld" by Don DeLillo in Newo's thread, and I was just about to recommend it to you here. There is a lot of material on Lenny Bruce in that amazing book. So yeah, I recommend it to you, I'm quite sure you'd love it too. |
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