Just watched this clip and wanted to post. Was already here ten years ago.

Lenny Bruce was a stone cold feminist.

*promote

i have been watching interviews where prominent comics are refusing to do gigs at universities due to the fact that the PC culture has become so saturated that they can't even do their bits,and it becomes a horror show.

young,educated people who mistake their own little bubble-world and attempt to project their sense of morality onto others by demanding changes in language and attitude by way of shrill harpy speak,is totally missing the point of humor.

comedy is the examination and critique of certain truths we may hold sacred,and expose the absurdity.a good comedian can do this fairly well,a great comedian does so with a finesse that is epic.

see:george carlin.lenny bruce,bill hicks,patrice o'neal,bill burr,louis ck.doug stanhope

so i have to disagree with you @Imagoamin.
comedians who thrive on being edgy are not thriving just for the simple fact of being edgy or controversial.they thrive because they are adept at exposing the absurdity of life in such a way that makes us all laugh.....at ourselves.

they experience pushback constantly in the form of heckling and jeering,and do so on a nightly basis and do not get upset that people get offended by their material.that is the very boundary they are pushing!

self examination,criticism and the ability to accept that maybe those things we held so dear are,in fact,absurd and in need of ridicule.the great comedians all give us a great,totally effective self-cleansing pill.they call it "the get the fuck over yourself" pill.

but the overly sensitive PC culture that is festering in our current higher education institutions is creating a new breed of human that lacks basic self-awareness and,on the whole,a gaggle of humorless cunts.

humor is a concept beyond their ken.they dont get it and instead of relaxing a bit,they prefer to get their panties in a knot over.....words.so they all get together and tweet and facebook,in order to share their outrage and make their little signs and march in front of a chris rock show with absolutely zero sense of irony.

to them they are striking a blow for justice!

which is just absurd,and in desperate need of ridicule.

I never really got this whole thing. I mean I guess I get the swearing part of it, but he's no Lenny Bruce in terms of breaking down barriers. Nor is he as funny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDkoCtMOFOg
"If the word motherfucker stimulates you sexually you're in a lot of trouble"
-Lenny Bruce, decades before often-subtle sexual nursery rhymes

Although, maybe that's it. He wasn't as funny.

>> ^EMPIRE:

I hate this whole rape-is-terrible-so-let-make-no-jokes-about-it. It's really annoying, insulting, and fucking stupid.
Yes, rape is terrible. So are many other things used for comedic effect: murder, racism, etc.
No one is allowed to demand SHIT from comedy. Take it or leave it.
Making a joke about something bad does not mean you condone it, in the slightest.


Two big differences between rape and murder: First, the victims of murder are usually dead, so they're unlikely to be sitting in your audience when you make a murder joke. Second, murder rates (in the United States, at least) are much lower than rape rates.

About 18% of American women have been raped. If you're a comedian performing in front of a large audience, realize that it is highly likely there are members of your audience who have experienced rape. And for many people, that shit is seriously traumatic. Does this mean comedians should avoid rape jokes? No. It's possible to tell rape jokes that aren't re-traumatizing to victims. Louis CK's joke about how there are no good reasons to rape someone except really wanting to have sex with them is clearly not a joke mocking rape victims (or potential rape victims). The humor comes from the ridiculousness of Louis's on-stage persona: Here's a guy saying something that starts out sounding reasonable but then qualifies it with something obviously ridiculous. It is the rapist's sense of entitlement, rather than the rape victim, being mocked.

This is not what Tosh's "joke" was like. Besides being infinitely less funny, it was targeted at the woman in the audience. Most of the people laughing weren't thinking "Ha ha, Tosh is saying something so obviously stupid." They were thinking "Ha ha, that bitch just got told." Tosh was asserting his dominance over this silly humorless heckler. That kind of rape joke -- where the premise of the joke is "Isn't it funny when bitchy women get raped?" -- is seriously re-traumatizing to a lot of victims.

Comedians have mastered this bullshit where telling offensive jokes and not backing down is a badge of pride. That shit was brave when Lenny Bruce was doing it, because he was purposefully challenging the ridiculousness of obscenity laws. Comedians aren't being thrown in jail for telling offensive jokes anymore. If your joke is offensive in the service of making a serious point, or even if it's just really really funny, I think you have a license to be somewhat offensive. But lionizing offensiveness for its own sake is nonsense. Tosh's joke wasn't funny and it didn't make any useful point. Obviously I'm not suggesting (nor is anyone as far as I'm aware) that he should be legally punished somehow for making the joke. His critics are just saying he's an inconsiderate asshole for making it. Why are people so upset about that?

@Enzoblue & @Boise_Lib

He talks about it often, it is because drugs killed his idols as a kid, like Lenny Bruce.

Here is a read with him talking about it.

@Porksandwich I feel ya, I have an addictive personality as well, so I stay far far away from anything even remotely physically addicting. I know I would end up killing myself, or loosing my job, or ending up a street person...so I just steer completely clear, except for drinking...which thankfully has its own built in suffering mechanism.

"My job as an artist is to hold up a mirror to society"? Who does he think he is, Lenny Bruce? Modern pop-culture is pretty much a frat-boy farting contest, there's no "artistry" involved. He was on MadTV for a few years, that's all I know of him and I can't remember one sketch he was in.

Lenny Bruce and Bill Hicks are much alike. Good stuff.

I don't know if you're aware of Krupo's playlist:
http://www.videosift.com/playlists/Krupo/PQUEUED-with-9-Votes
but count me in anyway, it's a good idea...

EDIT: also, here's a list of videos that need some lovin'
http://www.videosift.com/video/Klaus-Kinski-incredible-Jesus-rantings-master-of-expression
http://www.videosift.com/video/Oz-The-Poet-on-Cigarettes
http://www.videosift.com/video/N-A-S-A-The-People-Tree-great-hiphop-project-animation
http://www.videosift.com/video/What-if-animated-characters-find-out-they-don-t-really-exist
http://www.videosift.com/video/Lenny-Bruce-The-Truth
http://www.videosift.com/video/Lyckans-Undulat-Detektivbyr-n-happy-accordeon-city-trip
http://www.videosift.com/video/Lisa-Germano-Red-Thread
http://www.videosift.com/video/Oscar-Peterson-Caravan
http://www.videosift.com/video/Joshua-Redman-Jazz-Crimes

*vintage *classic *lenny bruce *promote

Rougy said it (above). It is about truth. For thousands of years comedy has been one of the few things we've had to find truth. When we don't censor it we sometimes will get the lame & stupid BS. But we also get Aristophanes, Sarah Silverman, Pyror & Bill Hicks. Comedy is cool when it helps us escape the world & laugh. But it scares the powerful & the devious (not always the same thing, right?) when it vivisects the sacred cow, and brutalizes the tyrant. And if you have a comment about censorship, wait until you find out about its history. Read about Socrates, Lenny Bruce & George Carlin. For a start, check out what Bill Hicks said on the website 'Konformist' (I'm not connected to it, just found it looking for the above video). He tells how the next Letterman show had a commercial paid for by 'pro-lifers'. This is how the world goes round. Then on rare occasion the power shifts when someone has the brains & the guts to laugh at the intellectually-naked emperor. Oh, and one thing Bill always reminds me of is that TV has always referred to their products as 'programming'. I am proud to dedicate my first-ever posting to the great Bill Hicks. Peas & Luv. Kevin S.

>> ^dannym3141:
>> ^volumptuous:
>> ^dannym3141:
The only comedy to rival the brits over the years has been black american comedians and bill hicks

And Mr.Show, and Office Space, and Big Lebowski, Idiocracy, Strangers With Candy, The State, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Daily Show/Colbert, Zack Galafinakis, The Simpsons, Ren&Stimpy.... we can go on and on and on.

You can list stuff back and forth all day and disagree with what each other person says for fun whether you think it's true or not. So what's the point? Watch:
Mr. Show - definitely not
Idiocracy - see above
Strangers with Candy - see above
George Carlin - HUGE no
Richard Pryor - black comedian, which i listed
Daily show - close but no
Colbert - HUGE no
Now you'll just disagree with me and say those things are fucking great, but some of those make me despair, especially colbert, i can't believe you listed him
Ok so where now.......nope, nowhere, we can just disagree each other out all night, brits have definitely been the leaders in the comedy department. I'll let you have anything else, technology, success, even the things we once held proud like education and health, i'll even let you say we're getting as fat as you guys or possibly fatter, we're no longer quaint - packed with macdonalds and other terrible bland-brands that overtook better individual-brands, i'll let you say we're a bit of a hanger on internationally like the kid that hangs out with the bully, you've got the edge on industry, attractive people, land mass, weather, continental diversity within your country, most forms of entertainment, holidays, tourism, film industry, vehicles, engineering, and shit you're just generally nicer people.
But you can't have comedy, that's definitely ours, and i think i'm probably right in saying that too.. i bet a lot of americans would have to admit we've had the powerhouses of that genre.
(and probably military quality too, i'm taking that with me, that's ours, you can have military quantity and technology, i'm not greedy, and we'll share military embarassment every 1st and 3rd week)
Come on now, fair's fair.


I certainly disagree with you on a few of those. John Stewart is the funniest man on television, bar none.

Also the guy who listed those shows forgot the one, the only;

South Park!

And if you think South Park isn't funny, you must be British or something.

Mitch fucking Hedberg.
Patton Oswalt, Rodney Carrington, Ron White.
Americans have the best animated comedy shows too, simpsons, futurama, south park, family guy, american dad, king of the hill.

British comedy is very different from American comedy. It usually much more satirical and/or quirky than just sit-com or slapstick - and that's not always better.

>> ^dannym3141:
>> ^volumptuous:
>> ^dannym3141:
The only comedy to rival the brits over the years has been black american comedians and bill hicks

And Mr.Show, and Office Space, and Big Lebowski, Idiocracy, Strangers With Candy, The State, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Daily Show/Colbert, Zack Galafinakis, The Simpsons, Ren&Stimpy.... we can go on and on and on.

You can list stuff back and forth all day and disagree with what each other person says for fun whether you think it's true or not. So what's the point? Watch:
Mr. Show - definitely not
Idiocracy - see above
Strangers with Candy - see above
George Carlin - HUGE no
Richard Pryor - black comedian, which i listed
Daily show - close but no
Colbert - HUGE no
Now you'll just disagree with me and say those things are fucking great, but some of those make me despair, especially colbert, i can't believe you listed him

But I prefer the Macintosh operating system.




>> ^dannym3141:
>> ^volumptuous:
>> ^dannym3141:
The only comedy to rival the brits over the years has been black american comedians and bill hicks

And Mr.Show, and Office Space, and Big Lebowski, Idiocracy, Strangers With Candy, The State, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Daily Show/Colbert, Zack Galafinakis, The Simpsons, Ren&Stimpy.... we can go on and on and on.

You can list stuff back and forth all day and disagree with what each other person says for fun whether you think it's true or not. So what's the point? Watch:
Mr. Show - definitely not
Idiocracy - see above
Strangers with Candy - see above
George Carlin - HUGE no
Richard Pryor - black comedian, which i listed
Daily show - close but no
Colbert - HUGE no
Now you'll just disagree with me and say those things are fucking great, but some of those make me despair, especially colbert, i can't believe you listed him
Ok so where now.......nope, nowhere, we can just disagree each other out all night, brits have definitely been the leaders in the comedy department. I'll let you have anything else, technology, success, even the things we once held proud like education and health, i'll even let you say we're getting as fat as you guys or possibly fatter, we're no longer quaint - packed with macdonalds and other terrible bland-brands that overtook better individual-brands, i'll let you say we're a bit of a hanger on internationally like the kid that hangs out with the bully, you've got the edge on industry, attractive people, land mass, weather, continental diversity within your country, most forms of entertainment, holidays, tourism, film industry, vehicles, engineering, and shit you're just generally nicer people.
But you can't have comedy, that's definitely ours, and i think i'm probably right in saying that too.. i bet a lot of americans would have to admit we've had the powerhouses of that genre.
(and probably military quality too, i'm taking that with me, that's ours, you can have military quantity and technology, i'm not greedy, and we'll share military embarassment every 1st and 3rd week)
Come on now, fair's fair.