8/3/2019 Lenny Bruce

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COMEDY/REBEL

Let the Buyer Beware (6 CDs)

( S H O U T ! F A C T O R Y )

, Here's anideaof justhow quickly"the '60s"tookplace:

In 1966 comedian Lenny Bruce died at age 40 inLos

Angeles,drivenfromperforming inNew York City afteranobscenity conviction. Only three years later, the hit

stageplays inNew York wereHair and Oh,Calcutta!,Midnight Cowboy was the top movieand even people

inthehinterlands weredevouringPorfrwy's Complaint.

The patron saint ofevery misunderstood comic —

and every comedianwhosimply thinksthey're being

misunderstood —Lenny Bruce made standup com-

edy safe for blunt talk about hot-button issues. He not only skewered America's sacredcows ("Eleanor Roosevelthad the nicest tits"), he was willing to affront his audi-

ence (often beginning aperformance by asking, "Are there any niggershere tonight?")

and, at his best, he skewered his own preconceptions. He used four-letter words not

to shockbut to cut past euphemism and dishonesty. "The truth,"he once said, "can

never be offensive."

Let the B uyer Beware is a . welcomeaddition to the Lenny Brucecanon.Authorizedbyhis daughter, Kitty,thesix CDs span Brace's entire career from hisJames Cagneyand

Peter Loire impressions on a 1948Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts radio broadcast

through his frightening tape-recorded ramblings the night before his fatal morphine

overdose.Thecollection includes almostallofhis essential routines,from "ThePalladium"

and "Thank You Masked Man"to "Religions, Inc."and "How to Relax Your Colored

Friends at Parties"(where Bruce's bigot sounds eerily like Archie Bunker, a decade

before All in theFamily), plusover60previously unreleased tracks.

Forty years later, Bruce's more controversial routines ('To Is aPreposition; Come Is

aVerb,"orJackie Kennedy's"haul(ing) ass to save her ass" when JFK was assassi-

nated) have mellowed, andhis scatological languageno longer offends; the onlyword

that might put off modern listeners isBruce's incessant useof "dig."Buthis observa-tions ("Marijuana will be legal infive years," he tellsone 1962 audience before getting

busted onstage, "becausemost of yo u inlaw school smoke marijuana and willbecomesenators and legalize it toprotect yourselves")still provoke. Mostofhis monologues,

though dated, remain hilarious. And Bruce's fascination with all things showbiz —

from Carnegie Hall (where he triumphantly performed in 1961) andPlayboy (there's

audio from a 1959 Bruce TV appearance with Nat King Cole and a nerdy-sounding

Hef) toa Times Square flea circus and the lyrics to "Spanish Harlem"—shinesthrough

all six discs. —AndrewMilner