Lenny Bruce speaking at UCLA 2/9/1966

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  • Опубликовано: 28 дек 2013
  • From the archives of the UCLA Communications Studies Department. Digitized 2013.
    The views and ideas expressed in these videos are not necessarily shared by the University of California, or by the UCLA Communication Studies Department.

Комментарии • 136

  • @MSYNGWIE12
    @MSYNGWIE12 Год назад +27

    Lenny's take on the Catholic Church and Vietnam is very interesting- thank you creators of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel for bringing this brilliant comic to the forefront again- now I dig why George Carlin admired him so much...Peace Everybody...Namaste from Canada 😊

  • @midnightodellewest1999
    @midnightodellewest1999 2 года назад +45

    So interesting how listening to this simultaneously shows how much and how little things have changed in 55 years.

    • @rosepereira4152
      @rosepereira4152 Год назад +1

      Things changed a lot.Peoplo is much more stupid.

    • @rosemadder5547
      @rosemadder5547 Год назад +3

      They hide that fact from us so well 😂

  • @GrandGobboBarb
    @GrandGobboBarb 9 лет назад +70

    Probably the most important comedian of the 20th century.

    • @dancewomyn1
      @dancewomyn1 8 лет назад +2

      +Kit42 ....Most definitely! ;)

    • @rabbieburns2501
      @rabbieburns2501 5 лет назад +1

      Agreed.

    • @EricScottBloom
      @EricScottBloom 4 года назад +2

      I became enraptured at age 6!!!!!!!~E

    • @ozymandiasnullifidian5590
      @ozymandiasnullifidian5590 4 года назад +6

      I agree that he was important, seminal, but...to call him comedian.. He was more like social, political satirist... People laugh way more to other comedians, but those are shallow, and their jokes are just jokes, while Lenny was always, almost always with deeper meaning in his, I would say speeches...

    • @nonenoneonenonenone
      @nonenoneonenonenone 2 года назад

      @@ozymandiasnullifidian5590 Exactly. Comedians today all try to be like him, but they can hardly tell a joke or a story.

  • @plotnonyo
    @plotnonyo 2 года назад +18

    I can't get enough of this guy. He was a great.

  • @thegooodmachine
    @thegooodmachine 6 лет назад +6

    Thank you for this upload (along with the subtitles/sound quality)

  • @therealDac10012
    @therealDac10012 Год назад +8

    Lenny's legacy is SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

  • @chadmunsey
    @chadmunsey 10 лет назад +38

    Lenny, Thank you for everything.

  • @DailyBrusher
    @DailyBrusher 6 лет назад +45

    In reading the comments below, about some people finding Lenny "boring" near the end, because he discussed legal points, rather than just doing bits; about Lenny's coherence or incoherence: You have to understand that this was not an ordinary performance. It was part of a speaker series at UCLA, an academic setting. That is why he is discussing various points, and he does the bits really only for reference. He was not doing his normal act, and besides his health issues, you have to consider that he was "riffing," intellectually, but not really trying to get laughs... His losing his place makes more sense, in this context.

    • @zamaraththoth3582
      @zamaraththoth3582 5 лет назад +2

      Stand up philosophy. Like Leary...too much pressure. Necessary. Epic

    • @bobwaidelich6757
      @bobwaidelich6757 5 лет назад +4

      This is not comedy. Reality is funny. Wake up and laugh!

    • @stephenzevetchin
      @stephenzevetchin 5 лет назад +5

      The legal stuff is a goldmine. People don't know half the references he used.

    • @steveochs1865
      @steveochs1865 4 года назад +3

      Actually, though this is officially a lecture, his later "shows" were also lectures on his legal troubles and what they meant to our freedoms. Bascially, he would read form the court transcript that bastardized his act, then perform the bit as "written" (he improvised a lot, so "written" may not be the appropriate term). See the Berkeley Concert film (you can listen to it here; www.nytimes.com/1971/06/27/archives/what-lenny-bruce-was-all-about-what-lenny-bruce-what-lenny-bruce.html).

    • @wgaule
      @wgaule 3 года назад

      @@stephenzevetchin No, but I know the other half

  • @chestermarcol3831
    @chestermarcol3831 2 года назад +4

    Amazing insight that is even MORE apropos today.

  • @satyammishra2090
    @satyammishra2090 9 лет назад +15

    Some of the comics/actors Lenny influenced - Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, David Cross, Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Krassner, Lewis Black, Jon Stewart, Peter Cook, Abbie Hoffman, Joan Rivers, Nick Di Paolo, Sam Kinison, Eddie Izzard, Howard Stern, Bill Hicks, John Belushi, Rich Vos, Jerry Sadowitz, Cardell Willis, Denis Leary, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Rick Shapiro, Dave Chappelle, Tommy Chong, Stewart Lee, Emery Emery, Lou Reed, Joe Rogan.

  • @trombonecoach
    @trombonecoach Год назад +3

    “Remember to keep comments respectful and to follow our Community Guidelines”…how little difference there is between Silicon Valley technocracy and the court system and censorship that was driving Lenny crazy 60 years ago.

  • @modelprisoner
    @modelprisoner 2 года назад +1

    Oct 13 HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENNY!

  • @giovannifeldman6965
    @giovannifeldman6965 9 лет назад +2

    Thought I had all his works, but I didn't have this. Not his best stuff (from this era the Berkeley concert is cleaner), but well worth having.

  • @brendaprice409
    @brendaprice409 Год назад +1

    And that's the way our world is today as we know it!!!

  • @sportshistorybuff
    @sportshistorybuff 10 лет назад +10

    The 1974 movie "Lenny" with Dustin Hoffman had scenes suggesting Bruce was playing in front of bored crowds near the end because he would only talk about his legal battles, and crowds wanted his comedic act.

    • @EricScottBloom
      @EricScottBloom 7 лет назад +7

      i could listen to him read the phone book

    • @leica0000
      @leica0000 6 лет назад +2

      I wonder if that really happened or if Fosse did that for dramatic affect?

    • @thegooodmachine
      @thegooodmachine 6 лет назад +7

      ..there's a video of it on youtube. and its actually still very funny, and insightful not only to the tragedy in his life, but about the problems of the legal system/obscenity etc..just search Lenny Bruce Final Film, I think, and you should find it) and the Fosse movie was terrible. I honestly do not think I saw Hoffman snap his fingers ONCE! Really???? And hey how many tit shots can we fit into a movie about a legend? It's in black and white and its ABOUT "obscenity," so its ART! yeah ok..It still sucks IMO i tried to give it a THIRD chance today and couldn't get past the halfway mark. Hoffman "sounds" a little like Bruce at some parts but his demeanor....it all just felt so OFF. He didn't snap his fingers once! If you think I'm crazy for saying that just watch or listen to any lenny bruce performance. The man had impeccable comedic timing and snapped to it seemingly unconsciously (like a musician tapping his foot)

    • @shannonm.townsend1232
      @shannonm.townsend1232 4 года назад

      @@EricScottBloom me too, me too.

  • @charlesomeara9918
    @charlesomeara9918 9 лет назад +17

    one of the great minds of the 20th century - because he saw through the bullshit. another great talk in this vein is jack kerouac's 'is there a beat generation?'

  • @zamaraththoth3582
    @zamaraththoth3582 5 лет назад +4

    Brilliant.. Social engineer Naturally. Unreal Funny on the edge. Pushing envelopes. Great Artist. GIANT

  • @marilyncatalano6478
    @marilyncatalano6478 4 года назад +6

    At home, 10/23/19, listening to and learning about Lenny. And now, I can see how Carlin came to be, Williams came to be. I think Lenny was the REAL genius and I now think Carlin was also and heavily influenced by Lenny. I was ten almost when he died and how I came to know the name Lenny Bruce WAS through Carlin, Williams and something called U-Tube. Thank the Lord (I'm no longer a religious person) for U-TUBE. I FKG LOVE Lenny and U-TUBE. His material is all new to me at 62 y.o. but still, when I listen closely, I feel like I've heard it before, sort of. Yep, it was Lenny's voice coming out of Mr. George Carlin. Now, all three are gone and so, I searched more about Dave Chappelle and he is the best LIVING comedian alive on this planet. Phew, thanks Lord, for a minute I thought you forgot about laughter.😪💔😣☹️🤫🤫p.s., I love his NY accent. Sounds exactly like my Brooklyn accent. Sounds great to me!!!! 😅😂🤣😟

  • @doctorzaius4084
    @doctorzaius4084 9 лет назад +2

    Wow, can't believe he smoked DMT... that's crazy

  • @joe10jo
    @joe10jo 2 года назад +1

    ❤️

  • @michaelh5416
    @michaelh5416 3 года назад +7

    Brilliant guy with messages that are timely. John Stewart needs to come back now to point out the evil that is present today.

    • @jackstraw262
      @jackstraw262 2 года назад

      Sadly John Stewart’s new show uses a laugh track

  • @burmansmith3944
    @burmansmith3944 10 лет назад +2

    Jack Ruby was still alive at this time

    • @garryberman894
      @garryberman894 2 месяца назад

      No, Ruby died two years before this.

  • @sportshistorybuff319
    @sportshistorybuff319 8 месяцев назад

    A comedian with no sacred cows as Bruce is a visionary worth listening to, as long as they don't hold themselves above criticism. Did he ever include self-reflection in his act? In his personal life? If he did, one must respect his ideas, even if you don't agree with him. Without the humility of self-analysis, a comedian is stroking their own ego at the expense of everyone else.

  • @valg321
    @valg321 10 лет назад +2

    6 months b4 he died

  • @sportshistorybuff
    @sportshistorybuff 3 года назад +3

    The establishment didn't create his drug problem. Lenny Bruce started using heroin in the early 1950's, long before he was ever harassed by the authorities. Heroin addicts drop dead by the dozens every week in America, most of them younger than 41. The blame for his addiction, sadly, belonged with him.

    • @gerhardschelbi2302
      @gerhardschelbi2302 2 года назад

      Drugs are not bad!

    • @christinanichols5542
      @christinanichols5542 2 года назад +5

      Lenny tried to help the cops by turning in the dealers so he could stay clean. Lenny and millions of veterans were also neglected after all these wars. Veterans with PTSD and other post-war problems are extremely susceptible to addiction. The government is partly to blame for all these drug issues.

    • @sportshistorybuff
      @sportshistorybuff 2 года назад

      @@christinanichols5542 I highly doubt Lenny was being a good citizen by ratting out the dealers, more likely he was saving his own skin from prison. Hard to picture Bruce cooperating with police in anything given the hostillity between them. Even greater millions of Americans serving in WWII did not become heroin addicts, or any type of drug addict, and many of them saw way more horrors than Bruce did. The government and mililtary's role in his problems were tiny compared to his holier than thou, too cool for school, hipster, anti-establishment personna.

    • @sportshistorybuff319
      @sportshistorybuff319 8 месяцев назад

      But by ratting out his dealers to police, Lenny wasn't taking responsibility for his own flaws/weaknesses, he was passing the consequences on to someone else, which seems curiously mercenary for someone so willing to critique hypocrisy in every corner of society.

  • @seamusjones5516
    @seamusjones5516 4 года назад +5

    First Amendment Day aka Lenny Bruce Day, a National Holiday. You can say anything you want and not get in trouble. I propose April 1st. 🙉🙊🙈 🍀

  • @randyriches2530
    @randyriches2530 Год назад

    Sadly Lenny left this world a mere 6 months after this.

  • @pettibonnotginn
    @pettibonnotginn 7 лет назад

    At Berkeley Mario Savio shouted him down.

    • @vaughnhenderson1174
      @vaughnhenderson1174 5 лет назад

      No, he urged the administration to allow Lenny Bruce to speak.
      books.google.com/books?id=Q-LQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA470&lpg=PA470&dq=lenny+bruce+mario+savio&source=bl&ots=Gudu6uDXAP&sig=t2pLfX3mNsaEzL1eRemPTYzEKW4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjE3o-jmqXfAhVbJjQIHYZZC_4Q6AEwEHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=lenny%20bruce%20mario%20savio&f=false

  • @burmansmith3944
    @burmansmith3944 10 лет назад +15

    When you cackle and and nod in convulsive agreement to Jon Stewart or Maher , it's Lenny's holy spirit looking over their shoulders right at you. Someone had to break the ground and pay dearly for it.

    • @TheMrDan-ys4to
      @TheMrDan-ys4to 8 лет назад

      +winstoneism Well just assholes that need to stay out of politics and stick to television programs

    • @EricScottBloom
      @EricScottBloom 7 лет назад +2

      both mediocre wanna b's...pathetic

    • @terrywitzu3795
      @terrywitzu3795 6 лет назад

      Lenny was about truth, unlike your bullshit examples.

    • @QuadMochaMatti
      @QuadMochaMatti 5 лет назад

      @ they themselves are the jokes, and neither is particularly humorous.

    • @FreakinRican6969
      @FreakinRican6969 Год назад

      @@QuadMochaMatti Mehhhh they are both funny and intelligent just not on the level of Lenny Bruce. Just because you don't find them funny does not mean they aren't 🤯

  • @johnnymolten7689
    @johnnymolten7689 2 года назад

    90yo guys looking for virility ...gold

  • @Dippedwithsweet
    @Dippedwithsweet 2 года назад

    He wasn’t afraid of the bomb

  • @CliffBronson1212
    @CliffBronson1212 4 месяца назад +1

    Evian water ...that's where it's at 😊

  • @hackenstring
    @hackenstring Год назад +2

    16:47. Heroin is a what?

  • @EricScottBloom
    @EricScottBloom 5 лет назад +3

    a SLEIGHT New York accent; but SLEIGHT....

  • @musicmitchy4296
    @musicmitchy4296 3 года назад +11

    They killed this man.. if not by murder and cover up, then by just busting him and being up his ass every step he took until he just lost it. Either way, they killed him, but he opened up the door big time for others to step through and make change. Sooooo I guess in the end Lenny got the last laugh..

    • @greatmcluhansghost7134
      @greatmcluhansghost7134 Год назад

      he was a threat to ignorance. a few people who spoke out against the Vietnam war didn't make it out of the 1960's alive. saying, the war was a complete sham, was dangerous to people like MLK and RFK.

  • @gina888warhol1
    @gina888warhol1 7 лет назад +3

    genius

  • @DateTwoRelate
    @DateTwoRelate 4 года назад +1

    He's just all over the place here and maybe it's intentional or maybe it's the heroin talking. He starts. He stops. He shifts gears. The cycle begins anew.

    • @ozymandiasnullifidian5590
      @ozymandiasnullifidian5590 4 года назад +1

      No, heroin does not work like that..probably you have never tried heroin, and I hope you never will, but I have, and I know that heroin does not do that...heroin calms, tends people to sleep or at least to be slower...If I have to guess, that is amphetamine.. Amphetamine and Meth do that, you are all over, hypomanic and you think that you have incredible energy...and maybe it is just his ordinary tehnique of stream of consciousness and free association...

    • @angelwild9145
      @angelwild9145 2 года назад

      “Just Steve,” that’s quite degrading & judgmental of you to say that about Lenny Bruce, and a substance that you obviously know absolutely nothing about. If your condescending opinion/observance of Lenny is your only analysis/personal conclusion of his talk, then that in itself speaks volumes about your intellectual limitations.👎🏻

  • @cameronwritt3820
    @cameronwritt3820 10 лет назад +1

    22:03 WOW. THAT is a bit Bill Burr did early 2000s. I don't think theft. Great minds, but wow.

    • @dancewomyn1
      @dancewomyn1 8 лет назад +4

      +Cameron Writt ...Bill Burr most probably lifted it directly from Lenny's material!

    • @dancewomyn1
      @dancewomyn1 8 лет назад +2

      +Sean Ongley ...Exactly!

    • @echolove6815
      @echolove6815 6 лет назад +2

      It was too similar. I call theft

  • @larry1824
    @larry1824 Год назад

    Tell em the truth

  • @keithbellew4101
    @keithbellew4101 8 лет назад +8

    Poor Lenny was unravelling at this point

    • @EricScottBloom
      @EricScottBloom 7 лет назад +3

      who WOULDN'T BE?!?!??!?....society was just as moronic at that time as it is now....he channeled his doom and intelligence through laser-guided satire....the best!

    • @Tsumami__
      @Tsumami__ 6 лет назад +1

      Keith Bellew but still somehow so together with it, too

    • @thegooodmachine
      @thegooodmachine 6 лет назад +1

      ill just say i feel qualified to consider your opinion right OP...and it is sad but still beautiful that he did come out to the people and almost just want to confess. I wonder if he had planned it or not I can't help hearing this in some ways and hearing that he sort of already had made up his mind--its just kind of 'junkie dialect' for lack of a better term. you kind of know you could die any hit..it really is so sad and terrible how he was lost, but at least not to history..Bill Hicks (who in some ways I feel was like the vengeful ghost of Lenny, reincarnate but I like to dream) also talked about how its always the good guys who for soooome reason get taken out early (and was an example himself :( ) The tragedy behind the greatest comedy in my eyes is, for lack of a better word, poetic. Vonnegut would quickly be my first example.. anyway sorry Keither Bellew from 1 year ago..i feel bad "thumbs-upping" the comment just because I do think I can hear it and it makes me sad.... : (

    • @leica0000
      @leica0000 6 лет назад

      He definitely doesn't sound too healthy there. :-(

    • @timpage54
      @timpage54 Год назад

      BIG time. Barely coherent.

  • @thecreativeprocess-pureima3389

    David Chappelle ripped off his whole way of storytelling. Tempo, pace, delivery. The lot.

  • @thomassmith6644
    @thomassmith6644 9 лет назад +3

    bar stools and bus stops.
    the revolution is cheap.

    • @ozymandiasnullifidian5590
      @ozymandiasnullifidian5590 4 года назад

      Revolution, REAL revolution is not cheap...You need people, influence and a lot of guns... There was no succesfull cheap revolution..

  • @janorhypercleats
    @janorhypercleats 10 лет назад +3

    This kind of incoherant. The drugs and the legal battles were taking their toll on him.

    • @EricScottBloom
      @EricScottBloom 7 лет назад +3

      his mind is just working too fast for the general listener....speed-of-light......no bullshit.....INSIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • @crankydragon
    @crankydragon 2 года назад

    yeah, guess I should be happy the, KKK is spending money on "good times instead of rope". Such a messed up context but a context none-the-less .

  • @timpage54
    @timpage54 Год назад

    And the poor students had to sit through this. They were polite in those days.

  • @bobwaidelich6757
    @bobwaidelich6757 5 лет назад +2

    This is not comedy. Reality is funny. Wake up and laugh!

  • @druha10304
    @druha10304 8 лет назад +4

    george carlin ripped him off hahahha

    • @malic1950
      @malic1950 7 лет назад +2

      .....dear, time difference is a factor

    • @DailyBrusher
      @DailyBrusher 6 лет назад +1

      I'm glad, though, that while he was still alive, Carlin acknowledged Bruce in several ways.

    • @obfuscated3090
      @obfuscated3090 6 лет назад +7

      No, Carlin ACKNOWLEDGED him. Carlin quote: "“Lenny Bruce opened the doors for all the guys like me; he prefigured the free-speech movement and helped push the culture forward into the light of open and honest expression,”

    • @stephenzevetchin
      @stephenzevetchin 5 лет назад

      @@DailyBrusher Carlin picked him up in a taxi he was driving.

  • @dantean
    @dantean 3 года назад +1

    They sure as hell wouldn't let him speak today. They'd compare him to the Chancellor of 1930s Germany and threaten him to prevent him appearing.

    • @timpage54
      @timpage54 Год назад

      Oh nonsense. We've had many more daring comics in the years since. He's something of a bore here. Listen to the early records.

  • @teeniebeenie8774
    @teeniebeenie8774 6 лет назад

    loved him'
    but why him so dum to destroy his talents with drugs????

  • @GreenEnvy.
    @GreenEnvy. 6 лет назад +3

    Didn't laugh once.

    • @dennisgilesjnr3538
      @dennisgilesjnr3538 5 лет назад +2

      Because your already dead.
      This man was a comedic genius !!!
      Period.

    • @Odawg292002
      @Odawg292002 4 года назад +2

      Green Envy, this is well beyond you then.

  • @pontificateus
    @pontificateus 8 лет назад

    I presume everybody knows that this is not the voice of Lenny Bruce - it's a black guy doing a cover