A review by apokras
How to Talk Dirty and Influence People by Lenny Bruce

4.0

Bruce was really the original shock comic. The things he discussed on stage just hadn’t been done before him. He talked about sex (a lot), drugs (a lot), and rallied against war and our government. He was arrested multiple times, debuted reentry to the UK due to his previous stand up routines there, and was the original “obscene” comic. While his some of his comedy may be rather tame by today’s standards, it can still shock. His memoir is no different. For those of us 50 and 60 years removed from his comedy, his memoir is a testament to his values and his honesty to his own vision of the world. The first 2/3 of the book was better than the end, but I think that also reflects his mental state as he grew older. The book itself isn’t often funny, but it is incisive and humorous with its melancholy. Sadly, he died at 40 due to a drug overdose.