Carnegie Hall Concert [Live]

Lenny Bruce | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 15, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000005H1G
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,078 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #4 in Music > Indie Music > Miscellaneous > Comedy & Spoken Word
  • #6 in Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Poetry
  • #77 in Music > Miscellaneous > Radio Shows

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, even today., January 19, 2001

By 

David C. Mason "brauticat" (Muncie, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carnegie Hall Concert (Audio CD)

Hmmm, I was just reading the review by the guy who says that MAYBE Lenny Bruce is funny to people born before 1960. Maybe he is. I was born in 1975 and purchased this album when I was 19. It was funny then and it is funny now. Yes, there is a LOT of social commentary, and Lenny certainly focused on current events which dates the album, but seldom do I find myself not being able to follow his humor.

Lenny Bruce is not a comic for the intellectually challenged. He was quick, improvisational in nature, and at times brilliant. Listening to one of his live performances requires your undivided attention, like great jazz or classical music, to truly appreciate. If you want jokes jokes about dad making breakfast and babies being born, go listen to Cosby and Pryor, they ARE great, but when I want my gray matter tickled along with my funny bone, I go to Lenny Bruce. To those of us who do appreciate Lenny Bruce he was more than just an important and influential comedian, he was a prophet and a sage; still is. But along the way, if you have the guts, the brains, the honesty to listen, you WILL laugh, because Lenny Bruce is a very funny (if dead) man.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lenny Bruce, Junkie Socrates, Burlesque Poet, Genius, April 11, 2001

By 

John Rudolf (Colorado Springs, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carnegie Hall Concert (Audio CD)

If you wish to glimpse into a mind that could veer in the course of one performance (in one minute, sometimes!) from the hilarity of the burlesque that has been a joy to humanity from its birth, to the poetry of compassion and insight into the profound of a great poet, to the moral anguish of Auchwietz and Hiroshima, and the love of a father, brother, friend in a private moment, then listen to the words of this inimitable performer and creator.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars M' Lords and Ladies of the Royal Court...., August 5, 2000

By 

Eddie Landsberg "My 10th year as a reviewer !... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Carnegie Hall Concert (Audio CD)

Lenny Bruce has become such a cultural icon, a lot of his wit and genius have been burried beneath the "isms" - - that is to say, many people are more likely to know his face, even life story, than have actually heard his message or truly understand what he was about and even when we do, its almost as if we're no longer part of his audience... we're sort of listening to his routines the same way people rewind that tape of the Kennedy assasination and play it over and over again... its not Kennedy they're interested in seeing... its the conspiracy and what's hidden beneath the surface - - not what's there.

A fan of Lord Buckley, Bruce's mentor, it was inevitable after hearing schticks like "Psychopathia Sexualis" (on the Beat Generation boxed set)and hearing his gay Lone Ranger routine, I finally decided to bang my head against the wall, try to forget all the biographical/historical propaganda rammed down my throat and try to relive his routines. I found them to be incredibly engaging, thought provoking, at times rambly and self centered, at other times hillarious. In fact, in many ways, Bruce surpassed his mentor, especially in his abililty to bring a wide array of strange and twisted charactors to life... from his Yiddish accents to American icons and authority figures. Lord Buckley was moreso Lord Buckley and his imagination, whereas Bruce had a knack with charactors.

His routines are great and absorbing. He draws you into his world and holds you. Though perhaps a product of the beat generation, and later the hippies, his style of intellectual comedy holds well today, surpassing the times, and making much of the comedy one sees and hears today seem superficial.

Long live Bruce and Buckley ! ! !