The King Of Free Speech

Lenny Bruce Transformed Stand-up Comedy Into A Vehicle For Sharp Social Commentary — And Paid The Price For His Boldness

- Sascha Cohen

THE FIRST TIME COMEDIAN Lenny Bruce was booked on obscenity charges, it was for saying the word cocksucker onstage in San Francisco in 1961. The second time was in Los Angeles, and the words in question included schmuck and motherfucker. The next time: tits and balls in Chicago. And the final time, the one that ultimately turned the bohemian provocateur into a martyr to free speech, was in 1964 at Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. Bruce joked about sex acts with animals, among other things, as undercover agents in the audience took notes on his material. The district attorney’s office decided to make an example out of him, beginning one of the most notorious obscenity trials in U.S. history.

Despite the best efforts of his lawyers (who were First Amendment experts) and support from public intellectuals including James Baldwin, Susan Sontag and Gore Vidal (who, along with dozens of others, signed a petition condemning the arrest), Bruce was found guilty and sentenced to four months at Rikers Island, the infamous New York City jail. The comedian, already on a downward spiral after years of police harassment and now banned from performing on many stages, descended into self-destruction. He died of a morphine overdose in Hollywood in 1966 while his case was out on appeal. In one last indignity, the police photographed his naked body posed on the toilet. He was 40 years old.