name	James Timothy Hardin
background	solo_singer
birth name	James Timothy Hardin
alias	Tim Hardin
birth date	December 23, 1941
Birth place	Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
death date	December 29, 1980
Death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
genre	Folk
occupation	Singer, songwriter
years active	1965–1980
label	Verve, Columbia
notable instruments	}}

James Timothy "Tim" Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Bobby Darin, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, The Four Tops, and Robert Plant; his song "Reason to Believe" has been covered by by many artists, including Rod Stewart (who had a chart hit with the song). Hardin is also known for his own recording career.

Early life and career

Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon and attended South Eugene High School. He dropped out of high school at age 18 to join the Marine Corps. He spent part of 1959 in Vietnam as a military advisor. Hardin is said to have discovered heroin in Vietnam.

After his discharge he moved to New York City in 1961, where he briefly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was dismissed because of truancy and began to focus on his musical career by performing around Greenwich Village, mostly in a blues style.

After moving to Boston in 1963 he was discovered by the record producer Erik Jacobsen (later the producer for The Lovin' Spoonful), who arranged a meeting with Columbia Records. In 1964 he moved back to Greenwich Village to record for his contract with Columbia. The resulting recordings were not released and Columbia terminated Hardin's recording contract.

After moving to Los Angeles, California in 1965, he met actress Susan Morss (known professionally as Susan Yardley), and moved back to New York with her. He signed to the Verve Forecast label, and produced his first authorized album, ''Tim Hardin 1'' in 1966 which contained "Reason To Believe" and the ballad "Misty Roses" which did receive Top 40 radio play.

''Tim Hardin 2'' was released in 1967 and contained "If I Were a Carpenter".

An album entitled ''This is Tim Hardin'', featuring covers of "House of the Rising Sun", Fred Neil's "Blues on the Ceilin'" and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", among others, appeared in 1967, on the Atco label. The liner notes indicate the songs were recorded in 1963–1964, well prior to the release of ''Tim Hardin 1'' by Verve Records. ''Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert'', released in 1968, was a collection of live recordings along with re-makes of previous songs; it was followed by ''Tim Hardin 4'', another collection of blues-influenced tracks believed to date from the same period as ''This is Tim Hardin''.

In 1969, Hardin again signed with Columbia and had one of his few commercial successes, as a non-LP single of Bobby Darin's "Simple Song of Freedom" reached the US Top 50. Hardin did not tour in support of this single and a heroin addiction and stage fright made his live performances erratic.

Also in 1969 he appeared at the Woodstock Festival where he sang his "If I Were a Carpenter" song solo, as well as a full set of his music while backed by a band that included drummer Muruga Booker.

He recorded three albums for Columbia—''Suite for Susan Moore and Damion: We Are One, One, All in One''; ''Bird on a Wire''; and ''Painted Head''.

In 1973, Hardin appeared on stage with Harry Chapin as part of Chapin's concert in Potsdam, New York. They jammed on a blues riff that survives in a bootleg recording. Some of the topics covered in the seven-minute long jam include drug use, travel and death. In Chapin's introduction, he makes reference to Hardin's participation as a session musician on his first two albums.

Later work and death

During the following years Hardin moved between England and the U.S. His heroin addiction had taken control of his life by the time his last album, ''Nine'', was released on GM Records in the UK in 1973 (the album did not see a US release until it appeared on Antilles Records in 1976).

He sold his writers' rights in the late 1970s.

Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose in 1980, and his remains are buried in the Twin Oaks Cemetery in Turner, Oregon.

Discography

1966: ''Tim Hardin 1'' (Verve Forecast FT/FTS 3004)

1967: ''Tim Hardin 2'' (Verve Forecast FT/FTS 3022)

1967: ''This Is Tim Hardin'' (demos recorded 1963/64) (ATCO 33-210)

1968: ''Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert'' (Verve Forecast FTS 3049)

1969: ''Tim Hardin 4'' (Verve Forecast FTS 3064)

1969: ''The Best of Tim Hardin'' (Verve Forecast FTS3078)

1969: ''Suite for Susan Moore and Damion: We Are One, One, All in One'' (Columbia CS 9787)

1971: ''Bird on a Wire'' (Columbia CK-30551)

1972: ''Painted Head'' (Columbia CK-31764)

1973: ''Nine'' (Antilles AN-7023)

1981: ''Unforgiven'' (San Francisco Sound SFS 10810)

1981: ''The Tim Hardin Memorial Album'' (Polygram PD-1-6333)

1981: ''The Shock of Grace'' (CBS Columbia PC37164)

1981: ''The Homecoming Concert'' (Line LICD 9.00040)

1990: ''Reason to Believe (The Best Of)'' (Polydor 833954)

1994: ''Hang on to a Dream: The Verve Recordings'' (Polydor 521583)

1996: ''Simple Songs of Freedom: The Tim Hardin Collection'' (Legacy /Sony 64858)

2000: ''Person to Person: The Essential, Classic Hardin 1963–1980'' (Raven)

2002: ''20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Tim Hardin'' (Polydor)

2002: ''Black Sheep Boy: An Introduction to Tim Hardin'' (Universal International)

2007: ''Through the Years 1964–1966'' (Lilith)

Covers of Hardin songs

"Black Sheep Boy" - Okkervil River on their concept album ''Black Sheep Boy'', Scott Walker on his album ''Scott 2'', Paul Weller on ''Volume Nine'', the ninth issue of ''Volume magazine''.

"Don't Make Promises" - Helen Reddy on her album ''I Don't Know How to Love Him'', Three Dog Night on their eponymous first album, Bobby Darin, The Kingston Trio, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Rick Nelson Scottish singer Tam White, a 1969 single on Deram Records, Chris Smither on ''Drive You Home Again'', Joan Baez on her 1995 live ''Ring Them Bells'' album.

"Eulogy to Lenny Bruce" - Nico, on her debut solo album, ''Chelsea Girl'', Damon and Naomi on their album ''Damon and Naomi with Ghost''.

"How Can We Hang On To A Dream?" - Echo & the Bunnymen, on their ''Avalanche EP''; The Nice, on their self-titled third album and ''Elegy'' (in both cases as "Hang On to a Dream"), Rudy Bennett in the film ''Zoeken naar Eileen'', Emerson, Lake & Palmer's on the 4-disc retrospective ''The Return of the Manticore''; Gandalf on their eponymous debut (appearing as "Hang on to a Dream").

"If I Were A Carpenter" - Wes Carr, Stan Webb's Chicken Shack, Bobby Darin, Johnny Cash and June Carter, The Four Tops, Leon Russell, Rod Stewart, Doc Watson, Joan Baez (as "If You Were a Carpenter"), Cornelis Vreeswijk, The Nice, Small Faces, Robert Plant, Leonard Nimoy, John Holt, Smile (band), Bob Seger, Leslie West, and Ramblin' Jack Elliot .

"It'll Never Happen Again" - The Dream Academy, David Sylvian.

"The Lady Came from Baltimore" - Joan Baez, Bobby Darin (single), Scott Walker on his album ''Scott'', Jesse Malin, Lloyd Cole, John Stewart on his "Neon Beach" live album, and Bob Dylan (performed live but never released on record)

"Misty Roses" - Colin Blunstone, Astrud Gilberto, Ron Davies, Sonny and Cher, Jess Roden, The Youngbloods, Bobby Darin.

"Reason to Believe" - Paul Weller, Billy Bragg, The Youngbloods, Brainbox, Rod Stewart, Cher, Ron Sexsmith, Wilson Phillips, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, The Carpenters, Marianne Faithfull, Bobby Darin, Glen Campbell, The Kingston Trio, Weddings Parties Anything, Mason Williams, and by the Israeli singer Arik Einstein.

"Red Balloon" - Rick Nelson, Small Faces, Kula Shaker.

"Shiloh Town" - Mark Lanegan on his fourth solo album ''I'll Take Care of You''.

"Never Too Far" - Wally Tax, member of The Outsiders on his solo album ''The Entertainer'', and Gandalf on their eponymous debut.

"You Got a Reputation" [aka "Reputation"] - The Association, The Byrds (recorded during the ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' sessions and eventually released some 22 years later on ''The Byrds'' box set in 1990) and Gram Parsons (on ''Another Side of This Life: The Lost Recordings of Gram Parsons'').

"You Upset the Grace of Living" - Gandalf on their eponymous debut.

References

External links

http://www.songsinger.info/th Detailed fan site.

Category:1941 births Category:1980 deaths Category:American composers Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American folk singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:People from Eugene, Oregon Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in California Category:Turner, Oregon

cs:Tim Hardin de:Tim Hardin fr:Tim Hardin it:Tim Hardin he:טים הרדין nl:Tim Hardin no:Tim Hardin pl:Tim Hardin pt:Tim Hardin ru:Хардин, Тимоти Джеймс sv:Tim Hardin

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on ''The Daily Show'' and for his Comedy Central show ''Important Things with Demetri Martin''.

Early life

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest. Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.

Career

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase ''Premium Blend''. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show ''If I...''. The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. In 2004, Martin had his own ''Comedy Central Presents'' stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on ''The Daily Show'', on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace. On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on ''The Daily Show'', talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled ''These Are Jokes'', which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features ''Saturday Night Live'' member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to ''The Daily Show'' on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the new Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series ''Flight of the Conchords''. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.

He also had a part in the movie ''The Rocker'' (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season. The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that ''Important Things'' will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film ''Taking Woodstock'' (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled ''This Is a Book by Demetri Martin''.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie ''Moneyball'', however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans

Martin sold his movie concept ''Will'' to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role. He will play the lead in the film ''Moon People'', a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.

''If I''

''If I'' is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.

Comedic style

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once. He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.

Personal life

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.

Filmography

''Invite Them Up'' (2005)

''These Are Jokes'' (2006)

''Demetri Martin. Person.'' (2007)

''Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009-2010)

Filmography and television work

''If I'' ''12:21'' ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' "''Someone to Love (Fountains of Wayne song) ''Flight of the Conchords (TV series) ''The Rocker (film) ''Paper Heart'' ''Post Grad'' ''Taking Woodstock'' ''Important Things with Demetri Martin'' ''Take Me Home Tonight (film) ''Contagion (film) ''Conan (TV series)

Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2002	''Analyze That''	Personal Assistant
2003	|	Himself	British television special, also writer
2004	|	Himself	short film, also writer
2004	|	Himself	1 episode, series writer
2007	Someone to Love''" ||	Seth Shapiro	''Fountains of Wayne'' music video
2007	Flight of the Conchords'' ||	Demetri	Season 1, Episode 12
2008	The Rocker'' ||	Kip (a music video producer)
2009	|	Himself
2009	|	Ad Exec
2009	|	Elliot Tiber
2009–2010	|	Himself / Various	writer, series creator, executive producer, and composer
2011	Take Me Home Tonight'' ||	Carlos
2011	Contagion'' ||	Dr. David Eisenberg
2011	Conan'' ||	Himself	guest

Written works

''This Is a Book'', April 2011, ISBN 978-0446539708.

Awards and nominations

AwardPerrier Comedy AwardEmmy Awards Shared with Mike Sweeney (writer)Writers Guild of America Award Shared with Mike Sweeney (writer)Barry Award (for comedy)

Year	|	For	Category	Result	Other notes
2003	|	''If I''		Won	At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2004	|	''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''	Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program	Nominated	Mike Sweeney (head writer), Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg
2005	|	''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''	Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) - Series	Won	Mike Sweeney (head writer), Chris Albers, Jose Arroyo, Andy Blitz, Kevin Dorff, Daniel J. Goor, Michael Gordon, Brian Kiley, Michael Koman, Brian McCann, Guy Nicolucci, Conan O'Brien, Allison Silverman, Robert Smigel, Brian Stack, Andrew Weinberg
2006	Barry Award ||	''Dr. Earnest Parrot Presents Demetri Martin''		Won	Award for best show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival

References

External links

Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club

Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia

Article, in ''The Scotsman''

Article, in ''Gelf Magazine''

Interview by Brian M. Palmer

MP3 Audio Interview on ''The Sound of Young America'' public radio show and podcast

Interview Believer Mag

New Jersey Monthly Magazine

Fresh Air, NPR.org

Category:1973 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York City Category:American comedy musicians Category:American comedy writers Category:American film actors Category:American humorists Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television writers Category:Living people Category:New York University alumni Category:Writers from New Jersey Category:Writers from New York City Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:Yale University alumni Category:The Daily Show correspondents and contributors

cs:Demetri Martin da:Demetri Martin de:Demetri Martin fr:Demetri Martin gl:Demetri Martin it:Demetri Martin ru:Мартин, Деметри simple:Demitri Martin fi:Demetri Martin sv:Demetri Martin

name	Lenny Bruce
birth name	Leonard Alfred Schneider
birth date	October 13, 1925
birth place	Mineola, New York, U.S.
death date	August 03, 1966
death place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
medium	Stand-up, film, television, books
nationality	American
active	1947–1966
genre	Satire, political satire, black comedy, improvisational comedy
subject	American culture, American politics, race relations, religion, human sexuality, obscenity, pop culture
influences	Dick Gregory, Mort Sahl
influenced	Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, David Cross, Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Krassner, Lewis Black, Jon Stewart, Peter Cook, Abbie Hoffman, Joan Rivers, Nick Di Paolo, Sam Kinison, Eddie Izzard, Howard Stern, Bill Hicks, Rich Vos, Jerry Sadowitz, Cardell Willis, Denis Leary, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Rick Shapiro, Dave Chappelle, Tommy Chong, Stewart Lee
spouse	Honey Harlow (m. 1951–1957) 1 child
notable work	''The Lenny Bruce Originals'' ''The Carnegie Hall Concert'' ''Let The Buyer Beware'' ''How to Talk Dirty and Influence People''
footnotes	}}

Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon, the first in New York state history. His open, free-style, dangerous and critical form of comedy which brought in politics and religion and sex in a heady mix, combined with his devil may care attitude, his epic consumption of drugs, sex and alcohol, his messy, desperate life in which he conned money in order to keep his wife from having to work as a stripper, makes him a compelling figure. He paved the way for future outspoken comedians, and he paved the way for freedom of speech. His trial for obscenity for saying the word "cocksucker", in which – after being forced into bankruptcy – he was eventually found not guilty is seen as landmark trial for freedom of speech.

Early life

Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider in Mineola, New York, grew up in nearby Bellmore, and attended Wellington C. Mepham High School. His parents divorced when he was five years old, and Lenny moved in with various relatives over the next decade. His mother, Sally Marr (née Sadie Kitchenberg), was a stage performer who had an enormous influence on Bruce's career. After spending time working on a farm, Bruce joined the United States Navy at the age of 17 in 1942, and saw active duty in Europe. In May 1945 he reported to his ship's medical officer that he was experiencing homosexual urges. This led to his Dishonorable Discharge in July 1945. However, he had not admitted to or been found guilty of any breach of naval regulations and successfully applied to have his discharge changed to "Under Honorable Conditions ... by reason of unsuitability for the naval service".

After a short stint in California spent living with his father, Bruce settled in New York City, hoping to establish himself as a comedian. However, he found it difficult to differentiate himself from the thousands of other show business hopefuls who populated the city. One locale where they congregated was Hanson's, the diner where Bruce first met the comedian Joe Ancis, who had a profound influence on his approach to comedy. Many of Bruce's later routines reflected his meticulous schooling at the hands of Ancis.

In 1947, soon after changing his last name to Bruce, he earned $12 and a free spaghetti dinner for his first stand-up performance in Brooklyn, New York. He was later a guest—and was introduced by his mother, who called herself "Sally Bruce"—on the Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show, doing a "Bavarian mimic" of American movie stars (e.g., Humphrey Bogart).

Career

Bruce's early comedy career included writing the screenplays for ''Dance Hall Racket'' in 1953, which featured Bruce, his wife, Honey Harlow, and mother, Sally Marr, in roles; ''Dream Follies'' in 1954, a low-budget burlesque romp; and a children's film, ''The Rocket Man'', in 1954. He also released four albums of original material on Berkeley-based Fantasy Records, with rants, comic routines, and satirical interviews on the themes that made him famous: jazz, moral philosophy, politics, patriotism, religion, law, race, abortion, drugs, the Ku Klux Klan, and Jewishness. These albums were 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 1950s, other unissued Bruce material was released by 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 nightclub, "The hungry i," where Mort Sahl had earlier made a name for himself.

His growing fame led to appearances on the nationally televised ''Steve Allen Show,'' where he made his debut with an unscripted comment on the recent marriage of Elizabeth Taylor to Eddie Fisher, wondering, "will Elizabeth Taylor become bat mitzvah?" He also began receiving mainstream press, both favorable and derogatory. Syndicated Broadway columnist Hy Gardner called Bruce a "fad" and "a one-time-around freak attraction", while ''Variety'' declared him "undisciplined and unfunny". On February 3, 1961, in the midst of a severe blizzard, he gave a famous performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was recorded and later released as a three-disc set, titled ''The Carnegie Hall Concert.'' In the liner notes, Albert Goldman described it as follows:

{{blockquote|This was the moment that an obscure yet rapidly rising young comedian named Lenny Bruce chose to give one of the greatest performances of his career. ... The performance contained in this album is that of a child of the jazz age. Lenny worshipped the gods of Spontaneity, Candor and Free Association. He fancied himself an oral jazzman. His ideal was to walk out there like Charlie Parker, take that mike in his hand like a horn and blow, blow, blow everything that came into his head just as it came into his head with nothing censored, nothing translated, nothing mediated, until he was pure mind, pure head sending out brainwaves like radio waves into the heads of every man and woman seated in that vast hall. Sending, sending, sending, he would finally reach a point of clairvoyance where he was no longer a performer but rather a medium transmitting messages that just came to him from out there — from recall, fantasy, prophecy.

A point at which, like the practitioners of automatic writing, his tongue would outrun his mind and he would be saying things he didn't plan to say, things that surprised, delighted him, cracked him up — as if he were a spectator at his own performance!}}

Personal life

Bruce met his future wife, Honey Harlow, a stripper from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951. They were married that same year, and Bruce was determined to have her end her work as a stripper.

In 1953, Bruce and Harlow eventually left New York for the West Coast, where they got work as a double act at the Cup and Saucer in Los Angeles, California. Bruce then went on to join the bill at the club Strip City. Harlow found employment at the Colony Club, which was widely known to be the best burlesque club in Los Angeles at the time.

In late 1954, Bruce left Strip City and found work within the San Fernando Valley at a variety of strip clubs. As the master of ceremonies, his job was to introduce the strippers while performing his own ever-evolving material. The clubs of the Valley provided the perfect environment for Bruce to create new routines: according to Bruce's primary biographer, Albert Goldman, it was "precisely at the moment when he sank to the bottom of the barrel and started working the places that were the lowest of the low" that he suddenly broke free of "all the restraints and inhibitions and disabilities that formerly had kept him just mediocre and began to blow with a spontaneous freedom and resourcefulness that resembled the style and inspiration of his new friends and admirers, the jazz musicians of the modernist school."

Honey and Lenny's daughter Kitty Bruce was born in 1955. In 1959, Lenny's divorce from Honey was finalized.

Legal troubles

This desire to end his wife's stripper days led Bruce to pursue schemes that were designed to make as much money as possible. The most notable was the Brother Mathias Foundation scam, which resulted in Bruce's arrest in Miami, Florida later that year for impersonating a priest. He had been soliciting donations for a leper colony in British Guiana (now Guyana) under the auspices of the "Brother Mathias Foundation", which he had legally chartered – the name was his own invention, but possibly referred to the actual Brother Matthias who had befriended Babe Ruth at the Baltimore orphanage to which Ruth had been confined as a child. Bruce had stolen several priests' clergy shirts and a clerical collar while posing as a laundry man. He was found not guilty because of the legality of the New York state-chartered foundation, the actual existence of the Guiana leper colony, and the inability of the local clergy to expose him as an impostor. Later, in his semifictional autobiography ''How to Talk Dirty and Influence People'', Bruce revealed that he had made about $8,000 in three weeks, sending $2,500 to the leper colony and keeping the rest.

On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco; he had used the word ''cocksucker'' and riffed that "''to'' is a preposition, ''come'' is a verb", that the sexual context of ''come'' is so common that it bears no weight, and that if someone hearing it becomes upset, he "probably can't come". Although the jury acquitted him, other law enforcement agencies began monitoring his appearances, resulting in frequent arrests under charges of obscenity.

Bruce was arrested again in 1961, in Philadelphia, for drug possession the same year, and again in Los Angeles, California, two years later. The Los Angeles arrest took place in then-unincorporated West Hollywood, and the arresting officer was a young deputy named Sherman Block, who would later become County Sheriff. The specification this time was that the comedian had used the word ''schmuck'', an insulting Yiddish term that is an obscene term for penis.

In April 1964, he appeared twice at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, with undercover police detectives in the audience. On both occasions, he was arrested after leaving the stage, the complaints again pertaining to his use of various obscenities.

A three-judge panel presided over his widely publicized six-month trial, prosecuted by Asst. Manhattan D.A. Richard Kuh, with Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964. The conviction was announced despite positive testimony and petitions of support from – among other artists, writers and educators – Woody Allen, Bob Dylan, Jules Feiffer, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, William Styron, and James Baldwin, and Manhattan journalist and television personality Dorothy Kilgallen and sociologist Herbert Gans. Bruce was sentenced, on December 21, 1964, to four months in a workhouse; he was set free on bail during the appeals process and died before the appeal was decided. Solomon later saw his conviction overturned; Bruce, who died before the decision, never had his conviction stricken. Bruce later received a full posthumous gubernatorial pardon.

Last years

Despite his prominence as a comedian, Bruce appeared on network television only six times in his life. In his later club performances Bruce was known for relating the details of his encounters with the police directly in his comedy routine. These performances often included rants about his court battles over obscenity charges, tirades against fascism and complaints that he was being denied his right to freedom of speech.

He was banned outright from several U.S. cities, and in 1962 was banned from performing in Sydney, Australia. At his first show there, Bruce took the stage, declared "What a fucking wonderful audience" and was promptly arrested.

Increasing drug use also affected his health. By 1966 he had been blacklisted by nearly every nightclub in the United States, as owners feared prosecution for obscenity. Bruce did have a famous performance at the Berkeley Community Theatre in December 1965. It was recorded and became his last live album, titled "The Berkeley Concert"; his performance here has been described as lucid, clear and calm, and one of his best. His last performance took place on June 25, 1966, at The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, on a bill with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. The performance was not remembered fondly by Bill Graham, who described Bruce as "whacked out on amphetamines"; Graham thought that Bruce finished his set emotionally disturbed. Zappa asked Bruce to sign his draft card, but the suspicious Bruce refused.

At the request of Hugh Hefner and with the aid of Paul Krassner, Bruce wrote an autobiography. Serialized in ''Playboy'' in 1964 and 1965, this material was later published as the book ''How to Talk Dirty and Influence People''. Hefner had long assisted Bruce's career, featuring him in the television debut of ''Playboy's Penthouse'' in October 1959.

Death and posthumous pardon

On August 3, 1966, Bruce was found dead in the bathroom of his Hollywood Hills home at 8825 W. Hollywood Blvd. The official photo, taken at the scene, showed Bruce lying naked on the floor, a syringe and burned bottle cap nearby, along with various other narcotics paraphernalia. According to legend a policeman at the scene said, “There is nothing sadder than an aging hipster” which itself possibly was one of Lenny Bruce’s lines. Record producer Phil Spector, a friend of Bruce's, bought the negatives of the photographs to keep them from the press. The official cause of death was "acute morphine poisoning caused by an accidental overdose."

His remains were interred in Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills, California, but an unconventional memorial on August 21 was controversial enough to keep his name in the spotlight. The service saw over 500 people pay their respects, led by Spector. Cemetery officials had tried to block the ceremony after advertisements for the event encouraged attendees to bring box lunches and noisemakers. Dick Schaap eulogized Bruce in ''Playboy'', with the memorable last line: "One last four-letter word for Lenny: Dead. At forty. ''That's'' obscene."

His epitaph reads: "Beloved father – devoted son/Peace at last."

Bruce is survived by his daughter, Kitty Bruce (born Brandy Kathleen Bruce), who lives in Pennsylvania.

At the time of his death, his girlfriend was comedienne Lotus Weinstock. On December 23, 2003, 37 years after his death, New York Governor George Pataki granted Bruce a posthumous pardon for his obscenity conviction.

Legacy

Bruce was the subject of the 1974 biographical film ''Lenny'' directed by Bob Fosse and starring Dustin Hoffman (in an Academy Award-nominated Best Actor role), and based on the Broadway stage play of the same name written by Julian Barry and starring Cliff Gorman in his 1972 Tony Award winning role.

The documentary ''Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth'', directed by Robert B. Weide and narrated by Robert De Niro, was released in 1998.

In 2004, Comedy Central listed Bruce at number three on its list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All-Time, placing above Woody Allen and below George Carlin.

In popular culture

Lenny is pictured in the top row of the cover of the Beatles 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''

The clip of a news broadcast featured in "7 O'Clock News/Silent Night" by Simon & Garfunkel carries the ostensible newscast audio of Lenny Bruce's death. In another track on the album ''Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'', "A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert MacNamara'd Into Submission)", Paul Simon sings, "... and I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce, that all my wealth won't buy me health."

Tim Hardin's fourth album, released in 1968 ''Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert,'' includes his song ''Lenny's Tune'' written about his friend Lenny Bruce.

Nico's 1967 album ''Chelsea Girl'' includes a track entitled "Eulogy to Lenny Bruce", written by Tim Hardin. In it she describes her sorrow and anger at Bruce's death.

Bob Dylan's 1981 song "Lenny Bruce" describes a brief taxi ride shared by the two legends. In the last line of the song, Dylan recalls: "Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had."

Grace Slick sings the song "Father Bruce" on the album "Conspicuous Only in Its Absence" by the band The Great Society.

Alternative rock band R.E.M. mentioned Bruce twice in the 1987 song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," including the line, "Lenny Bruce is not afraid."

English alternative rock band The Boo Radleys had a song called "Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce)" on their 1993 album Giant Steps.

Christian Slater while playing "Hard Harry" the pirate radio host in the 1990 movie ''Pump Up the Volume'', checks out the book "How to Talk Dirty and Influence People" from the school library. The movie deals with themes of restricted freedom of speech in modern America.

He is referenced in the Genesis song "The Broadway Melody of 1974" in the line, "Lenny Bruce declares a truce and plays his other hand."

The chorus for the song "Imaginary Friends" on the 2005 Nada Surf album ''The Weight is a Gift'' includes the line, "Lenny Bruce's bug eyes stare from an LP, asking me just what kind of fight I got in me."

During the song "La Vie Boheme A" in the musical Rent, Lenny Bruce is listed among the influences upon underground culture alongside Langston Hughes.

Scroobius Pip mentions Lenny Bruce in the song Introdiction on the album Distraction Pieces by saying "but all that was covered by Lenny Bruce back in the day" while describing the controversy that can arise from the use of certain words.

American indie pop duo Joy Zipper mentions Bruce in the 2005 song "For Lenny's Own Pleasure" including lyrics such as "Lenny Bruce selling movies, video movies with Nicky and Donna" and "Lenny's smoking a bowl for his own pleasure"

Books by or about Bruce

Bruce, Lenny. ''Stamp Help Out!'' (Self-Published pamphlet, 1962)

Bruce, Lenny. ''How to Talk Dirty and Influence People'' (Playboy Publishing, 1967)

By others:

Barry, Julian. ''Lenny'' (play) (Grove Press, Inc. 1971)

Bruce, Honey. ''Honey: The Life and Loves of Lenny's Shady Lady'' (Playboy Press, 1976, with Dana Benenson)

Bruce, Kitty. ''The (almost) Unpublished Lenny Bruce'' (1984, Running Press) (includes a graphically spruced up reproduction of 'Stamp Help Out!')

Cohen, John, ed., compiler. ''The Essential Lenny Bruce'' (Ballantine Books, 1967)

Collins, Ronald and David Skover, ''The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall & Rise of an American Icon'' (Sourcebooks, 2002)

DeLillo, Don. ''Underworld'', (Simon and Schuster Inc., 1997)

Denton, Bradley. ''The Calvin Coolidge Home For Dead Comedians'', an award-winning collection of science fiction stories in which the title story has Lenny Bruce as one of the two protagonists.

Goldman, Albert, with Lawrence Schiller. ''Ladies and Gentlemen—Lenny Bruce!!'' (Random House, 1974)

Josepher, Brian. ''What the Psychic Saw'' (Sterlinghouse Publisher, 2005)

Kofsky, Frank. ''Lenny Bruce: The Comedian as Social Critic & Secular Moralist'' (Monad Press, 1974)

Kringas, Damian. ''Lenny Bruce: 13 Days In Sydney'' (Independence Jones Guerilla Press, Sydney, 2010) A study of Bruce's ill-fated September 1962 tour down under.

Marciniak, Vwadek P., ''Politics, Humor and the Counterculture: Laughter in the Age of Decay'' (New York etc., Peter Lang, 2008).

Smith, Valerie Kohler. ''Lenny'' (novelization based on the Barry-scripted/Fosse-directed film) (Grove Press, Inc., 1974)

Thomas, William Karl. ''Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet'' (first printing, Archon Books, 1989; second printing, Media Maestro, 2002; Japanese edition, DHC Corp. Tokyo, 2001)

Filmography

Films

''The Lenny Bruce Performance Film'' ''Lenny (film) ''Looking for Lenny''

Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
1953	''Dance Hall Racket''
1960	''The Cape Canaveral Monsters''
1966	|	Himself	includes animated short film ''Thank You Masked Man'' by John Magnuson Associates
1974	Lenny''||	Biography starring Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce	Hoffman was Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor,	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role,	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
2011	|	Documentary featuring interviews with Mort Sahl, Phyllis Diller, Lewis Black, Richard Lewis, Sandra Bernhard, Jonathan Winters, Robert Klein, Shelley Berman and others	North American Premiere Toronto Jewish Film Festival May 2011, Screened at Paris Beat Generation Days April 2011

Partial Discography

Year !! Title !! Notes
1958	''Interviews of our times''	Works by Bruce; and Henry Jacobs and Woody Leifer.
1959	''The Sick Humour of Lenny Bruce''
1960	''Togetherness (Elect me, I am not a nut)''
1961	''American''
1961	''Carnegie Hall concert''
1961	''Live at the Curran Theater''
1964	''To is a preposition, come is a verb''
1965	''Berkeley concert''
1965	''Lenny Bruce is out again''

Audio/video

"Come and Gone/Thank you, Mr. Masked Man!", My KPFA – A Historical Footnote (1961 Jazz Workshop performance and two 1963 performances)

Video Clips Relating to the Trial of Lenny Bruce as assembled by the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School

Footnotes

References

External links

The Official Lenny Bruce Website

"Famous Trials: The Lenny Bruce Trial, 1964", University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law. Includes Linder, Douglas, "The Lenny Bruce Trial: An Account", 2003. WebCitation archive.

Azlant, Edward. "Lenny Bruce Again", ''Shecky Magazine'', August 22, 2006

Gilmore, John. "Lenny Bruce and the Bunny", excerpt from ''Laid Bare: A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip'' (Amok Books, 1997). ISBN 978-1-878923-08-0

Harnisch, Larry. "Voices", ''Los Angeles Times'', April 13, 2007. (Reminiscences by saxophonist Dave Pell)

Kaufman, Anthony. Archive.org archive of "Robert Weide's 'Lenny Bruce': 12 Years in-the-Negotiations" (interview with ''Swear to Tell the Truth'' producer), Indiewire.com, April 16, 2008

Hentoff, Nat. "Lenny Bruce: The crucifixion of a true believer", ''Gadfly'' March/April 2001

Smith, Daniel V. "The Complete Lenny Bruce Chronology" (fan site)

Appearance on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts radio show, 1949 (mp3), November 27, 2011

"Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet" Memoir and pictures from Bruce's principal collaborator, Media Maestro 2001.

The Pot Smokers, a satirical article by Lenny Bruce, reprinted in The (Almost) Unpublished Lenny Bruce

Idioms for Marijuana Cigarettes, by Lenny Bruce, reprinted in The (Almost) Unpublished Lenny Bruce

Category:1925 births Category:1966 deaths Category:Accidental deaths in California Category:Recipients of American gubernatorial pardons Category:American Jews Category:American memoirists Category:American satirists Category:American social commentators Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Beat Generation Category:Censorship in the arts Category:Drug-related deaths in California Category:Free speech activists Category:Jewish comedians Category:Obscenity controversies Category:People from Greenwich Village, New York Category:People from North Hempstead, New York Category:Sexual revolution Category:United States Navy sailors

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