When Barry Sanders was an undergraduate in Los Angeles in the 1960s he attended Lenny Bruce’s infamous performances nearly every night. He eventually befriended Bruce and wrote about his experiences with the provocative comedian in Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History (1996), his acclaimed book about the corrosive power of laughter in society. Sanders, a prolific author and professor emeritus of Pitzer College, discusses Bruce’s outrageous routines and how they forever changed American popular culture.
Above: Mug shot of Lenny Bruce from his 1961 arrest on obscenity charges