He (Lenny Bruce) always suffered from verbal disabilities: a tendency to singsong, a habit of mumbling, a coy and uncomfortable relation with the mike. Only late at night, when he was working to a very hip crowd could he ever attain the energy level of the parent style. When he did, though, he produced the […]

Never had he (Lenny Bruce) achieved more perfectly his ideal of coming on like an oral jazzman. He didn’t want laughter anymore, he hated applause – ‘Please don’t applaud!’ he would beg. ‘It breaks my rhythm!’ – he just wanted to get so far down into his own head that he felt that he was […]