Today would have been Lenny Bruce’s 88th birthday, and we couldn’t celebrate the scathing satirist’s legacy without a little help from a few fellow controversial comedians. Bruce is most famous for his highly publicized 1964 obscenity conviction, which found well-known personalities like Woody Allen, Allen Ginsberg, and Norman Mailer speaking in support of the stand-up. He was granted a posthumous pardon in 2003. Bruce’s straightforward style and struggles against censorship helped paved the way for other comics. We highlight a few of their stories, below.
Lenny Bruce
“Take away the right to say ‘Fuck’ and you take away the right to say ‘Fuck the government.'”
George Carlin
The Priest of Profanity, George Carlin was never at a loss for words when it came to social critique and total exasperation with the general populace. The angsty funny man was arrested for performing his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” routine and dragged to court when the bit appeared on radio. “I felt like I was being called to the big principal’s office in Washington,” he told Playboy in 1982. “That these nine men had summoned me into their presence to question my conduct absolutely thrilled the perverse and rebellious side of my nature. I thought, Even if I just become a little footnote in the lawbooks, I’ll be a happy footnote forever.”
When it comes to “naughty” words upsetting people, Carlin believed it was all about repression:
“The whole problem with this idea of obscenity and indecency, and all of these things — bad language and whatever — it’s all caused by one basic thing, and that is: religious superstition.”
He continued:
“There’s an idea that the human body is somehow evil and bad and there are parts of it that are especially evil and bad, and we should be ashamed. Fear, guilt and shame are built into the attitude toward sex and the body. It’s reflected in these prohibitions and these taboos that we have.”
Richard Pryor
The uncompromising Richard Pryor pushed buttons when it came to topics like racism, women, and the darker side of life. In a 1983 interview with CBS Morning News, the comedian responded to people’s complaints about his use of the N-word:
“I think that people should say what they feel. I mean, you know, I don’t give a (censored) if it’s racism or whatever ism it is. I mean, whatever, man. Just to be yourself is such a nice thing. I like to be accepted, you know, but usually in order to be accepted by white people, you have to compromise so much from your hello. You know what’s obscene to me? The presidents of the United States stands on television and tells people that we are helping to fight communism in South America by killing the people. I would never do that.”
Sarah Silverman
Silverman’s potty mouth has gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion — like that time she used an ethnic slur on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Some say the comedian has been the victim of a double standard when it comes to obscene humor. She responded to the notion in an interview earlier this year:
“I think it’s natural that women are the cruder, more graphic comics right now because women are going through some real-life shit right now and comedy naturally reflects that. So when society tells us our body parts are gross or that we shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions regarding our very own bodies, that shit — that anger is gonna be reflected in comedy. It makes perfect sense to me.”
Louis C.K.
Middle America learned exactly what Louis C.K. thought of people criticizing his vulgar, brutally honest style when the comedian joined NBC’s Today Show for an interview: “There’s no such thing as a cheap laugh. They all cost something, and it’s cost me a lot, being dirty.” And C.K. doesn’t quite understand the odd juxtaposition of backlash and popularity: “I shouldn’t be a household name I’m a filthy comedian. A household name is like ketchup. Everybody wants ketchup. Ketchup doesn’t hurt anybody.”
Bill Hicks
Late stand-up comic Bill Hicks once took to the airwaves to vent about naysayers, including the Standards and Practices officials who have frequently censored him:
“Another thing. This idea of ‘I’m offended.’ Well I’ve got news for you. I’m offended by a lot of things, too. Where do I send my list? Life is offensive. You know what I mean? Just get in touch with your outer adult. And grow up. And move on. Reasonable people don’t write letters because… A: They have lives and B: they understand it’s just TV. C: If they see something they don’t like, something they do like might be on later. I’ve seen many comics I’ve hated. I’ve seen many shows that have offended me. I’ve never written a letter. I just go about my life.”
Lisa Lampanelli
The always provocative Lisa Lampanelli’s routines are filled with cringe-worthy ethic slurs and insults, which has alienated audiences and critics alike. But the Queen of Mean doesn’t plan on ditching her digs at minority groups any time soon. When responding to the backlash about a Tweet, in which she posted a photo with Lena Dunham calling the Girls actress “my nigga,” Lampanelli had this to say:
“I’ve played every comedy club and every theatre across the country for the last 25 years and seen a lot of audience members from different ethnic persuasions. I have been using these words since I started in comedy and guess what, people? I won’t stop anytime soon, just because your A$$ is up on Twitter. I have always used in my act every racial slur there is for Asians, blacks, gays, and Hispanics. To me, it’s acceptable if the joke is funny and if it is said in a context of no hate. It’s about taking the hate out of the word.”
Chris Rock
“I don’t believe I can offend you in a comedy club,” Chris Rock told NPR last year — but the Comedy Central favorite offended many when he made comments about “White People’s Independence Day” on Twitter. Rock responded exactly as one would expect:
“People have different fans, and on the Internet, everybody can say something, everybody gets a voice. And if people who aren’t into you don’t like something, what is that? I said this in The New York Times the other day: ‘You can only offend me if you mean something to me. You can’t break up with me if we didn’t date.’ So there’s a lot of people proclaiming the breakup, but we didn’t date, we didn’t go out.”
Howard Stern
Stern has earned his “shock jock” label over the years, but the radio personality “is passionately against what is truly obscene in our society,” as George Takei has explained in his defense. Stern fights for free speech, but he doesn’t believe in obscenity for the sake of obscenity: “Yes, I believe blue material is funny, but if that’s all you’ve got, you’re dead in the water. It’s not good.”
Margaret Cho
In an essay about her faith, written after Christian groups attacked Cho for comments about Sarah Palin, the racy stand-up and TV star bit back and defended her outspoken, buttons-pushing style:
“God wants us all to just get along. He doesn’t give a shit about the profanity. The bitch fucking invented profanity. He thinks it is hilarious. He just wants you to talk to him, and he doesn’t care what you have to say. He just wants to keep the conversation going. Like Jay-Z, he just wants to love you. He just wants you to be able to make your own decisions. God is all about you and what you need. God is happy that you are gay. God made you fucking gay cuz he thinks it is awesome. God understands if you need to have an abortion. That is why he created abortion, on the 8th day. God accepts. God forgives. God loves all of us, even though some of us might have a problem with each other.”