Live at the Curran Theater [Live]

Lenny Bruce | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Fantasy
• ASIN: B00000K0Y7
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,582 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Once Lenny Bruce had amassed legal troubles, he turned a corner, going from standup performer doing funny, if acerbic, routines (which is more than being simply a comedian) to being a free-improvising social commentator. Here is the first CD reissue of Bruce's 1961 show at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. It's a direct rerelease of the three-LP set issued a decade after the show, a half-decade after Bruce's overdose, and it's a fantastic experience. Bruce sounds breathlessly overrun as the show starts, trying to distill his San Francisco bust into something cohesive. Of course, Bruce's technique includes turning away from the microphone, interrupting himself, fracturing his own narrative, and drawing his verbal loops ever wider. Bruce is able over these two-plus hours of narrative to cover a wealth of topics, from his Philadelphia bust and the court system's persecution of his performances to a wealth of historical figures. His style at the Curran remains difficult to absorb, full of solipsism, elliptical thought, recreated conversations with interlinear commentary, and more. Wondering whither the roots of performance narrative à la Spalding Gray, Eric Bogosian, and David Sedaris? Here they are. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lenny, We Miss You, November 24, 2000

By 

Stewart Axelrad "sunbard" (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live at the Curran Theater (Audio CD)

I remember buying this recording as an LP, approximately 25 years ago; I had heard of Lenny Bruce, his notoriety and his courage. I also remember listening to the LP for the first time and being somewhat non-plussed. This was comedy? I couldn't understand half of what Lenny was saying, he spoke so fast and used so much hip and Yiddish argot, that I missed much of the satiric bite of his routines (I was only 20 at the time).

Since then, I have listened to this extraordinary concert over 100 times (easily) and was overjoyed when the CD was finally released.

The Curran Theatre concert was fueled by a white-hot anger, resulting from Lenny's two busts (one for obscenity, one for drugs) in the months just prior to this show. As a result, Lenny throws off all restraint and attacks the hypocrisy of society, full-tilt boogie. The opening bit, in which Lenny cracks that the only way he could fill the house (only 100 people actually showed up) was to offer free whiskey to the local winos, in classic and hilarious. From there, he gives a blow-by-blow description of the two busts, complete with great characterizations of the judges who tormented him. He also indulges in a fantasy, wherein he exacts a poetic revenge on one of them.

Throughout the show, he indulges in free-form snatches of his classic bits, such as "Christ and Moses" and "Las Vegas T & A". Some of the humor is referencial to current events of the day, and thus somewhat oblique at times, but it presents a marvelous slice of life in the early 1960's. The final bit, in which Lenny gives his take on Judy Garland, is worth the price of the CD alone.

There was always much more to Lenny Bruce than just a "dirty comic"; he was probably the greatest social satirist of his generation,and he paid a horrible price for it. Sadly, no one has emerged to take his place (perhaps no one could) since his death in 1966. In this era of "political correctness", we need someone like Lenny more than ever.

In conclusion, it is interesting to compare the Carnegie Hall concert (also available on CD) with this recording, in terms of tone. For my money, both are seminal recordings for any Bruce collector; however, Carnegie Hall presents us with a humorist at the height of his popularity, before the bad times. Less than a year later, Curran Theatre displays the bitterness of a man who feels that he been wronged by society, both in terms of principles and his own persecution.

Listen to how Lenny fights back with the only weapon he has: humor. It is tragic that he did not continue to adopt this strategy in his later years. Lenny, you left us much too soon.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, September 9, 2000

By 

"leper2000" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Curran Theater (Audio CD)

I first saw the name Lenny Bruce on the sleeve of a book in my father's library. I was ten and all I remember of the incident was the cover shot of Lenny Bruce with those Billy Joel eyes. At any rate, I was reminded of that scene when reading certain passages from Don DeLillo's Underworld last year, illuminating the author's vision of Lenny Bruce on stage toward the end of his life. I'll get to the point soon I promise. But lemme go ahead and preface this with the fact that I'm only 24; Bruce was long since dead before I was born, a year and a day prior to the death of Elvis. But enough about me.

This recording offers the young person a great window from which to surreptitiously view the state of culture and the times of the early 60's. I grew up on Diceman and Bobcat Goldthwait tapes that seemed very much informed by Woody Allen bits, or schtick; don't expect that here. The Lenny Bruce evidenced in this recording has no rules, it follows no guidelines; it is the spritz style of comedy. After listening you will recognize his influence on so many others, Jackie Mason's jews and gentiles routine is a direct lift from Bruce's jewish and goyish spritz. Howard Stern's extremely personal, anything goes, boulliabase style of radio seems heavily influenced by Bruce's nothing sacred style. Bruce discusses himself, for instance his law problems and his jewishness, politics, for instance RFK's preoccupation with the mafia, and comedy itself with no fear. He'll have the crowd eating from his hand and then he'll say something that totally alienates them. He contradicts himself. He invents new syntax. He deals with issues like race and segregation, at a time when those issues really mattered, without being ponderous, heavy handed or preachy. In an age of Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Foxworthy cd's, and Spike Lee filming black comedians whose schtick is still based of the tried and true Def comedy jam formula of "white folk do this, while black folk do that," it's really something else listening to Lenny Bruce. Don't expect to laugh every two seconds, just keep your ears open and learn.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh, Alive, Close To His Best, January 1, 2000

By 

Cameron Hughes (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live at the Curran Theater (Audio CD)

Sadly, there are only four complete Lenny Bruce performances available: This, The Curran Theater Concert from 11/19/61; The Carnegie Hall Concert from earlier that year in 2/4/61; The Berkeley Concert recorded later, perhaps in 1965; and another apparently complete set from a nightclub performance in 1962, available on the Viper's Nest label entitled "Lenny Bruce: The Historic 1962 Concert When Lenny Was Busted." This last one is an extreme departure in tone and sobriety from the 1961 concerts and foreshadows the fall to come.

The rest of the original albums, travesties recorded on the Fantasy label, were released during Lenny's lifetime and are edited and spliced together from jarringly dispirit performances. So obvious are the splices, and so startling is the effect, it's difficult to listen to them today. Is it possible audiences of the 1950s couldn't hear this on early vinyl?

The Curran Theater concert is important and enjoyable. We hear Lenny in his prime, before the court battles and the drugs demented him. So confident is he here, the performance is largely ad-libbed. Think of that, a comic creating on the spot for over two hours, a net-less tight rope. Some of the routines refer back to earlier established bits, true, but this night Lenny attempts (as he admits during the performance) to fly like a jazz musician.

The concert clocked in at over three hours. What we have here on CD has been edited to a more listenable length. Perhaps this is for the best for even here Lenny at times becomes a bit long-winded and repetitive.

The performance is by no means perfect. There are lulls as Lenny searches for the thrust of his story, for the humor in what he is relating. He always succeeds, but it sometimes takes him a while to find the groove.

However, for its few faults, this recording shows us the genius of Lenny Bruce. From the beginning he talks to the audience as if they are his friends hanging with him on a Friday night. There's no schtick here, no prefabricated comedic framework. This is a comedian TALKING to an audience, reaching out and bringing it closer, breaking down the wall not only of performance versus life, but of performer versus confidante.

What this is NOT is a collection of comedy bits from rehearsed and perfected routines. Rehearsed and perfected Lenny was. But here you have a popular humorist revealing himself in a captivating, unsettling way. Understanding and listening to this performance may take a bit more effort than usual, but it's worth it. Lenny was a unique human being, an obvious precursor to George Carlin and Richard Pryor. As you listen, try to imagine what it must have been like saying these things in public in 1961. George Carlin never had to be so courageous.