‘F*** you, madam’: Lenny Bruce’s obscene 1962 comedy tour that never was

These days, comedians can’t go a sentence without dropping an f-bomb or relating a sex story that leaves comedy venues in fits of laughter.

But in 1962, the decision by notorious US comedian Lenny Bruce to utter a single swearword on stage was enough to get him in deep, deep trouble in Australia. Profanity may be the norm for many people these days – just check out any recent films, video clips or reality TV shows to see multiple pottymouths in prime time – but using four-letter words in public forums in the ‘60s was against the law.

Bruce had already been banned from performing in most venues in his home country of America, and was even sentenced to four months in a workhouse for his raunchy comedy routines that included plenty of criticism of the police and the law. He even once referred to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s “nice t**s” and was arrested in the US for using the word “c**ks*****” on stage – all of which outraged popular morals of the time.

In September of 1962, fans in Sydney got the chance to see the controversial Bruce, whose birth name was Leonard Schneider, in the flesh. The only problem was there was so much hype surrounding the shows  that authorities quickly shut down what was meant to be a two-week stint in the harbour city.

The 37-year-old managed to get through his first appearance unscathed but at his second he swore at a female audience member who heckled him – “F*** you, madam,” is what he reportedly said – and newspapers branded the show “blasphemous” and “obscene”.

The reported prompted other venues to quickly drop his planned appearances, he was refused a pre-arranged interview on the ABC and authorities cancelled replacement on-campus shows that university students tried to organise.

Although his shows were cancelled, though, Bruce wasn’t forced to leave Australia and he did actually appear on stage in Sydney a week or so later for 200 fans – an event that was marketed as being “for free thinkers only”, with seats going for one pound.

The purpose of the Aussie tour was to boost Bruce’s reputation, but being marketed as sick and twisted to a much more conservative Australia of the time backfired on the comedian, according to the Dictionary of Sydney site.

The Aussie tour certainly didn’t improve Bruce’s already dire finances, and unable to work in the US, he died of a drug overdose just four years later at the age of 40. But he was posthumously pardoned in 2003 for his obscenity convictions in the state of New York. 

In recent years, Rolling Stone called him the third-best comedian of all time, who “he almost singlehandedly transformed stand-up into an outlaw occupation”. (It voted Richard Prior the best of all time.) “It was messy, meandering, sometimes ungainly and without a perfect punchline, but his act was unlike anything that had come before it.”

 Do you remember the controversy surrounding Lenny Bruce when he was in Australia? Is comedy too rude these days?