A prescient take on religion by Lenny Bruce
I happen to think Lenny Bruce was one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, a pioneer in using comedy as social commentary. Given how religion, especially the Catholic Church, is so much in the news these days, I thought I'd post these as perhaps an introduction to people who may have heard the name Lenny Bruce, but weren't aware of what a ground breaker he was (and how he had to pay for being so far ahead of his time).
This first is a routine called "Christ and Moses" performed at Carnegie Hall in February 1961. The idea is: what would Christ and Moses think of contemporary American religion if they ever came by for a visit. Think of what a conservative time that was, and think of how much courage it must have taken to cut to the core of the hypocrisy of the religion of the day. The "John" in the routine is Pope John, just recently elected.
This second "bit" is actually earlier, from the late 1950s, called "Religions Inc." Another routine far ahead of its time.
Little known fact--George Carlin and Lenny Bruce were both arrested at the same Bruce gig--Lenny for his "obscene act" and Carlin because he refused to show ID to one of the officers involved in taking Lenny into custody.
Enjoy!
= new reply since forum marked as read
