Overview

The outrageous, groundbreaking comic Lenny Bruce, whose iconoclastic material in a conservative era got him into tragic trouble, is profiled by a close friend, Fred Baker, who prefers to remember the laughs Lenny Bruce's memory evokes instead of the tears. By presenting Bruce's landmark skits on the Steve Allen Show, his failed TV pilot episode and a candid interview with Nat Hentoff, Bruce's genius and anguish show through the dramatic and tragic trajectory of his career from aspiring artist to hunted "lawbreaker".

Genres

Cast

Fred Baker

Narrator (voice)

Steve Allen

Self / DJ (archive footage)

Nat Hentoff

Self (archive footage)

Paul Krassner

Self (archive footage)

Mort Sahl

Self (archive footage)

Jean Shepherd

Self (archive footage)

Kenneth Tynan

Self (archive footage)

Lyndon B. Johnson

Self (archive footage)