FAN 208.1 No Joke! New Off-Broadway Lenny Bruce Play Offends Millennials

Fresh off a sold-out, wildly successful run in Los Angeles, Theatre 68 in association with Dennis Paladino and Kitty Bruce, Joe Mantegna will direct the Off-Broadway premiere of I’m Not A Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce, written by and starring Ronnie Marmo.

I’m Not A Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce stars Ronnie Marmo brilliantly chronicling the life and death of the most controversial comedian of all time: Lenny Bruce. Busted for obscenity, Lenny fought for freedom of speech all the way to the Supreme Court. He accidentally died of an overdose in 1966, while out on appeal.

An undisputed comic legend, Lenny Bruce was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. His life and work have had an impact on poetry, politics, music, film and, of course… comedy.

Controversy 

From Brian Niemietz at the Daily News (March 31, 2019):

“Are there any n---ers here tonight?”

That’s the opening line of a nearly 60-year-old Lenny Bruce bit causing renewed controversy since the popular off-Broadway show “I’m Not a Comedian... I’m Lenny Bruce” moved to the Lower East Side earlier this month. Despite solid reviews, the show’s star was not prepared for the way politically correct millennials are interpreting Bruce’s risque material.

Roughly five minutes into his show, Marmo goes into Bruce’s controversial 1960s bit, verbatim, arguing that the use of a terrible word like n---er desensitizes and takes away its power. It was Bruce’s contention that if the word lost its shock value, "you could never make some 6-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a n---er at school."

"I don’t think white people have a right to use it, and shouldn’t use it,” Marmo said. “That word has been more than earned by (black people). But I see value in sharing it in a play because I’m taking people back to a different time to do a historical piece on a historical figure.”