Lenny Bruce Without Tears

Lenny Bruce was a stand-up comic (though he frequently sat down do deliver his monologues) whose work in the early ’50s electrified the intellectual community of his time. It is not just that he was foul-mouthed; many contemporaries were that. It was his daring inclusion of political observations and social commentary into his act which edified as often as it resulted in gales of wry laughter. As he grew more famous, his big-city, hip decadence, and his political outspokenness led to difficulties with authorities. These troubles included prosecution on obscenity charges. This filmed documentary shows brief excerpts from some of his acts, and features interviews with “eggheads” such as Kenneth Tynan and Malcom Muggeridge., The troubled career and private life of comedian Lenny Bruce (dead at 40 of a drug overdose in 1966) are profiled through interviews and film clips, assembled by Fred and Barbara Baker.