druid333-2 This is it. The only full blown performance film that Lenny gave his "thumbs up" to before his tragic death in 1966 of a Morphine overdose (and not Heroin as most suspected),at the age of 40 (he would have turned 41,if he had lived until October of that year). What we have here is Lenny,filmed at one of the last night club appearances before his cabaret card was revoked,and he was barred from performing at any venue that sold alcohol,at least in the legal sense (he would perform at college campuses,an appearance at the Fillmore West,with of all unexpected opening acts,Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, and a few secret club appearances prior to his death). See Lenny as he waxes philosophical about his various drug and obscenity arrests,as well as taking some well intended pot shots at religion,politics,etc. Probably not as bitingly funny as some of his spoken word comedy records for Fantasy,but still worth a look. The film's photography is about the only really minor flaw (the camera seems to be one fixed camera that doesn't move about much---I'm guessing it may have been shot on crude early video,as there doesn't seem to be any edits). As this film is somewhat short,it's usually shown with Bruce's short animated film 'Thank You Masked Man'. Not rated,but contains salty language & sexually charged material that most folk probably wouldn't want junior to hear.

MisterWhiplash Seeing a complete performance from Lenny Bruce is like watching some Jazz musicians all in one form playing at the peak point at that same period in the 60s. Pretty soon all the fire that was keeping everything going would either fade away or get re-directed elsewhere. Lenny Bruce is part of the former, and this show that is likely the last time Bruce was at least totally coherent on stage, even in the similar form of Jazz. Like that, especially in seeing how he talks in a full one-hour show (as opposed to the bits I've seen on TV or occasionally heard on audio recordings), he goes off on tangents, little side-bars that almost might seem like they're going to no point or something random, but it's all in a structure. This structure that Bruce works in helps likely from keeping him on a loose track for his thoughts to go around. Here and there he does get off point, and a couple of stumbles reminds one of how he wasn't really in his full power of linguistic energy and satirical focus.Yet I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of what Bruce had to say on stage, even as he would pop into doing full vocal (if not really physical as his face only shows so much mugging) forms of the people he was referencing. This is possibly the kind of talk and dialog with an audience that might have influenced Richard Pryor. You never really feel like the guy is doing full-on 'bits', not that he doesn't do them but they're not obvious. It's more like if a person might be listening to the other at a bar or over a coffee, it's about as natural as anything. Hence the structure of Bruce's court proceedings- the rougher ones as frank as possible following his only recently over-turned conviction in 64- is always of interest. It's peppered with him sometimes doing the bits that are referred to in the court papers, and through this Bruce doesn't just go off into long-winded rants about the injustices done to him. If anything he approaches it the best way by putting some more jabs into the rot that came out of the 'issues' presented at his trial.But the special isn't only that, and in the last twenty minutes of the show the structure then kind of goes seamlessly into other bits more in tune with people in neighborhoods dealing with things, a little sex, some race, class, etc. There's even a very funny throwback to one of his earlier bits involving the word 'come' and its connotations. In fact, it's hard not to laugh through many parts of the one-hour/one camera shot show, as so much ends up coming through in the unusual flow of Bruce's dialog with the crowd (and with himself in a way) that when the punch-lines come they do work. If it's less than a great show, it's probably due to Bruce's own inhibitions perhaps, as the wear and tear of what had been going on shows as true as much of what he speaks out with. I would take a show like this, however, than more than half of the stand-up comedy on TV today- this is a guy, sometimes obsessively and in a tangent-like fashion, trying to level with those he's talking to.

steve krief Lenny Bruce was undoubtly the greatest comedian of all time. He was the first to speak about racism, drugs, sex, religion and other societal subjects on stage. He was part of that generation with Sahl, Kerouac and Ginsberg which had seen the horrors of the war and which according to Lenny, couldn't understand how Blacks were asked to die for their country while not being allowed to use the bathroom in some states. Lenny wondered how could politicians and religious figures fight against "sexual obscenity" while encouraging soldiers to relieve their war efforts in French Brothels. As is typical in Jewish Humor, Lenny Bruce comes up with more questions than answers and defies ignorance and servile attitude. The Performance Film was filmed in San Francisco and is one of the last live shows by Lenny, who died of an overdose a year later. Lenny appears sad and tired in the movie, due to the judiciary and police harassments. Yet, you'll be able to see some of his greatest bits, punctuated by a long farewell to one of his last stages.

CoolRick This is a great chance to see Lenny performing during his last days. Not as funny or as snappy as his earlier performances, his intensity comes through loud and clear. Filmed in a small intimate club, you get the feeling of what it was like to see him live on stage. The included animated short, "Thank You, Masked Man," is a hilarious take on a popular Bruce stage routine.