Editing Lenny Bruce (section)

==Career==
Bruce's early comedy career included writing the screenplays for ''[[Dance Hall Racket]]'' in 1953, which featured Bruce, his wife [[Honey Bruce|Honey Harlow]], and mother Sally Marr; ''Dream Follies'' in 1954, a low-budget burlesque romp; and a children's film, ''[[The Rocket Man (1954 film)|The Rocket Man]]'', in 1954. In 1956, [[Frank Ray Perilli]], a fellow nightclub comedian who later wrote two dozen successful films and plays, became Bruce's mentor and part-time manager.<ref>[http://www.mediamaestro.net/candybutcher.htm The Candy Butcher (2016)] p. 152.</ref> Through Perilli, Lenny Bruce met and collaborated with photojournalist [[William Karl Thomas]] on three screenplays (''Leather Jacket'', ''Killer's Grave'' and ''The Degenerate''), none of which made it to the screen, and the comedy material on his first three comedy albums.<ref>[http://www.mediamaestro.net/lenny.htm Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet (1989)] pp. 54–63.</ref>

Bruce was a roommate of comedian [[Buddy Hackett]] in the 1950s. The two appeared on the ''[[The Patrice Munsel Show (TV series)|Patrice Munsel Show]]'' (1957–1958), calling their comedy duo the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players",<ref name="WTF">{{cite web |title=Episode 966: Sandy Hackett |url=http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-966-sandy-hackett |website=[[WTF with Marc Maron]] |date=November 8, 2018 |access-date=10 November 2018}}</ref> 20 years before the [[Saturday Night Live cast members|cast of]] ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' used the same name. In 1957, Thomas booked Bruce into the Slate Brothers nightclub, where he was fired the first night for what ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' headlined as "[[blue humor|blue material]]". This led to the theme of Bruce's first solo album on [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley]]-based [[Fantasy Records]], ''The Sick Humor of Lenny Bruce'',<ref>[https://archive.org/details/lennybrucemaking00thom/page/n7 Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet (1989)] pp. 276–229.</ref> for which Thomas photographed the album cover. Thomas also photographed Bruce's other covers, acted as cinematographer on abortive attempts to film their screenplays, and in 1989 wrote a memoir of their ten-year collaboration, ''Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mediamaestro.net/lenny.htm|title=Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet|first=William Karl|last=Thomas|website=www.mediamaestro.net|access-date=June 19, 2017}}</ref> The 2016 biography of Frank Ray Perilli, ''The Candy Butcher'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mediamaestro.net/candybutcher.htm|title=The Candy Butcher (2016)|access-date=June 19, 2017}}</ref> devotes a chapter to Perilli's ten-year collaboration with Bruce.

Bruce released four albums of original material on Fantasy Records, later compiled and re-released as ''The Lenny Bruce Originals''. Two later records were produced and sold by Bruce himself, including a 10-inch album of the 1961 San Francisco performances that started his legal troubles. Starting in the late 1960s, other unissued Bruce material was released by [[Alan Douglas (record producer)|Alan Douglas]], [[Frank Zappa]] and [[Phil Spector]], as well as Fantasy. Bruce developed the complexity and tone of his material in [[Enrico Banducci]]'s [[North Beach, San Francisco|North Beach]] nightclub, the [[hungry i]], where [[Mort Sahl]] had earlier made a name for himself.

Branded a "sick comic", Bruce was essentially blacklisted from television, and when he did appear, thanks to sympathetic fans like Hefner and [[Steve Allen]], it was with great concessions to [[Broadcast Standards and Practices]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Museum of Television & Radio Presents Two Five-Letter Words: Lenny Bruce|url=http://www.paleycenter.org/pressrelease-2004-lenny-bruce|website=The Paley Center for Media|date=July 18, 2008|access-date=February 28, 2015}}</ref> Jokes that might offend, like a routine on airplane-[[inhalant|glue-sniffing]] teenagers that was done live for ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]'' in 1959, had to be typed out and pre-approved by network officials. On his debut on Allen's show, Bruce made an unscripted comment on the recent marriage of [[Elizabeth Taylor]] to [[Eddie Fisher]], wondering, "Will Elizabeth Taylor become bar mitzvahed?"<ref>{{YouTube|id=oCplnUga0hU?t=1m45s|title=Lenny Bruce}}</ref>

In the midst of a severe blizzard, Bruce gave a famous performance at [[Carnegie Hall]] at midnight on February 4, 1961. It was recorded and later released as the three-disc set ''The Carnegie Hall Concert''.<ref>[https://www.carnegiehall.org/Blog/2011/02/Live-From-Carnegie-Hall-Lenny-Bruce Live From Carnegie Hall: Lenny Bruce – Carnegie Hall.] Retrieved August 20, 2020</ref>{{full citation needed|date=June 2016}} In his posthumous biography of Bruce, Albert Goldman described that night:<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ladiesgentlemenl00gold/page/348/mode/2up/search/free+association|title=Ladies and gentlemen – Lenny Bruce!!|via=archive.org|last=Goldman|first=Albert|author-link=Albert Goldman|year=1974|page=349|publisher=New York, Random House|isbn=978-0394462745|url-access=registration}}</ref>

{{blockquote|It's all a trip—and the best of it is you haven't the faintest idea where you're going! Lenny worshiped the gods of Spontaneity, Candor and Free Association. His greatest fear was getting his act down pat. On this night, he rose to every chance stimulus, every interruption and noise and distraction, with a mad volleying of mental images that suggested the fantastic riches of Charlie Parker's horn. The first flash was simply the spectacle of people piled up in America's most famous concert hall.|author=|title=|source=}}

In August 1965, a year before his death, Bruce gave his penultimate performance at San Francisco's [[Basin Street West]], mainly talking about his legal troubles. The filmed performance was released by Rhino Home Video in 1992 as ''The Lenny Bruce Performance Film''.<ref>[https://www.villagevoice.com/2011/11/02/stand-up-seriously-or-when-lenny-bruce-got-a-camcorder-in-not-funny/ "Stand Up, Seriously. Or: When Lenny Bruce Got a Camcorder in Not Funny"], Singer, Matt. ''The Village Voice'', November 2, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2020.</ref>