Fade to Black Magazine Presents:

For thirty years, many people, from journalists to musicians to artists, who are always quick to jump on the free speech bandwagon, have scrutinized, examined and praised the life of Lenny Bruce. More often than not, he is portrayed as the noble hero trapped in conservative America who is not afraid to speak the truth. This martyr-like quality often associated and adorned on Lenny and his life conveniently overshadows the flaws and imperfections of his personality, such as his unfair treatment of women or the fact that he would often turn his friends to police to free himself from drug charges. However, no amount of overzealous Free Speech rhetoric can silence two important facts: One, that Lenny was truly funny, even by today's standards; and two,  Lenny really did change the face of comedy. 

Before Lenny, comedy consisted of hacks who were doing "My girlfriend is so fat.." and "A Rabbi, a Polac, and a Greek walk into a bar..." type jokes. Lenny revolutionized the comedy scene by striping away the superficial banality and willingly standing naked before audiences exposing his thoughts and ideas. He paved the way for the Richard Pryor's, George Carlin's and Bill Hicks' of the world.

The work of Lenny Bruce has stood the test of time and is waiting to be rediscovered by a new generation.

With the help of the Freedom Of Information Act, we have acquired Lenny Bruce's FBI file, and bring it to the Internet for the first time. Although there are no shocking surprises, it is interesting to see exactly what information the FBI decided was important and how  J. Edgar Hoover felt about Lenny Bruce.

The fourteen pages included are exactly the way they were provided to us. We cleaned them up as best as possible, but some pages may require some squinting.

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