On May 20, 2003, a press conference (see the press release) was held in New York City to call upon Governor George E. Pataki to posthumously pardon Lenny Bruce for his November 1964 obscenity conviction (read the never before published N.Y. trial court opinion). The petition was submitted by Ronald Collins and David Skover, co-authors of The Trials of Lenny Bruce (2002). The petition was endorsed by letters of support by well-known entertainers and writers and by prominent First Amendment scholars and lawyers.

http://www.trialsoflennybruce.com/pardon.htm

Email and how to help at site.

Give him the chair!

...oh...nevermind

He has a wonderful book, "How to Talk Dirty and Influence People," that I got partially through but have not as of yet finished. It's an amazingly well written book.

Truly amazing guy.

There's a good movie out now, a documentary with clips of interviews and live shows and some old movies he did, a lot of interviews of those who knew him.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0175844


"I have been a fan of Lenny Bruce for years, and I was impressed that the film made the point that Bruce was a pioneer, and without him, other comedians such as George Carlin, Richard Pryor (and later, Chris Rock and others) might not have had the careers they did.

After Bruce's conviction in New York for obscenity, no other comedian has been prosecuted. He set the trend, and his suffering smoothed the path for others."

More

Chronology of his life:
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/lennybruce/lenny.htm

An old interview with Pierre Berton:
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/lennybruce/pierreberton.htm

The latest book (nice little audio clip here):
http://www.trialsoflennybruce.com/

Article, "The persecution of Lenny Bruce":
http://www.jamescampion.com/cheklenny.html
http://www.jamescampion.com/cheklenny2.html

And of course there's the old movie "Lenny'' with Dustin Hoffman:
(1974)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0071746

"Interview-style biography of controversial and pioneering stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. The film traces Bruce from his beginnings as a Catskills comic to his later underground popularity based on his anti-establishment politics and his scatological humor."

While we are at it how about an official appology for the prosecution of Larry Flint!

http://www.geocities.com/deadsheepwalking/lennyb.txt