Lenny Bruce Is Dead
Documentary presented by Simon Amstell
On 3 August 1966, radical comedian Lenny Bruce was found dead in the bathroom of his Los Angeles home – the victim of a drug overdose. The 40-year-old had revolutionised stand-up comedy, leaving an impact on the art form that endures behind his death but his career was eventually destroyed by battles with the US justice system. It was a tragic decline for a man who had had a seismic impact on the industry, with highly improvised and personal shows that offered lacerating social commentary and wilfully demolished taboos surrounding topics like politics, religion, racism, sex and drugs.