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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Oct. 19: Lenny Bruce

What do I know about Lenny Bruce? I've got to admit, not much. Although I like the fact that at my advanced age I'm able to use the "he was before my time" line (not that that's any excuse; Socrates was before my time, too, and I love reading about him).

But we're doing a big two-hour special on Lenny Bruce on October 19 beginning at 10 pm. "We" is Steve Bowell and I. It was all Steve's idea. Steve hosts the popular Ragbag show immediately preceding What's So Funny? every Sunday night and he recently got hold of hours and hours of Lenny Bruce. Since he says he has enough for an afternoon's worth of programming, he thought it would be a good idea to do a special to launch the Fall Membership Drive on CFRO. And since it sounded like very little work from my end, I agreed. And I figured I might learn something.

As a youth in the 1980s, I bought a couple Lenny Bruce biographies, which I still own and haven't read, as well as a couple albums, which I listened to quickly and dismissed just as quickly. His humour, to my immature ears, didn't seem to transcend generations. I'm looking forward to being able to prove myself wrong.

Speaking of the Membership Drive, if you're a regular listener to our program, why don't you become a member of the station? It's not like we'll put you to work. The station, being community run and all, could sure use the dough. Where else are you going to hear your favourite comedians talk at length about their craft? Tell you what we'll do. You join up and we'll throw in this blog for nothing! You can sign up right here.

Next week we're back to our regularly scheduled live in-studio guests. And we've got a good one. The always controversial Toronto comic Darren Frost makes a return visit. Don't worry. He's really a pussycat.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I too know nothing about Lenny Bruce and the earlier start to the show is a plus for an old guy like me who also thinks of Lenny as before my time.