Who was Lenny Bruce?
Watch some comedian on Comedy Central hopscotch from bleeped-out word to bleeped-out word in front of a live audience, and the idea of an entertainer being arrested for using expletives may seem quaint. But only 41 years ago the comedian Lenny Bruce was not only arrested but convicted of obscenity in New York City for his irreverent stand-up act. Despite his legal troubles, his raw, flippant style has been imitated ever since. Luckily for all those who followed him, standards have since relaxed. Lenny Bruce, born Leonard Alfred Schneider on Long Island in 1925, was a high school dropout and a failed con artist who was performing in burlesque clubs when he began to gain a reputation for his edgy acts. In 1959 Steve Allen invited him on his popular late-night TV show, introducing him as “the most shocking comedian of our time.” While most comedians of the time joked about their mothers-in-law or delivered lines like “Take my wife, please,” Bruce lambasted racist stereotypes, poked fun at
