Lenny Bruce Gets Busted > Comments > "Review of Lenny Bruce Gets Busted"
Piece Comment
Commenter Profile
- Marjorie Van Halteren
- Username: mvanhalteren
- Location: Lille, France
- Joined PRX: Jan 03, 2004
Piece Information
- "Lenny Bruce Gets Busted"
- Summary: how comedy's great free speech martyr fought the law, and how the law won
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Review of Lenny Bruce Gets Busted
Marjorie Van Halteren
Posted on January 16, 2005 at 10:24 AM
When I first saw the subject, I thought, yes, there's something people should hear about in these times - are younger people really aware of where the first amendment was in those years? Then when I listened, a strange feeling came over me, as I wondered, why does it seem so long ago now, yet so close again? Why does what Lenny Bruce had to go through (serious harrassment over the uttering of words in public among consulting adults - never mind sticks and stones!) - seem to fade disturbingly in shock value when set again the backdrop of the current climate? How far we've come - and fallen back again! The piece is elegantly done - the comedy clips are clean and crisp - and message is, to me, slightly understated. Let listeners make their own conclusions. Yes, he yelled fire in a crowded theatre. Because there was, as the interviewee said, "a fire." Did anyone put it out?