Lenny Bruce: Swear To Tell The Truth
dir. Robert B. Weide
1998

'Life' is a four-letter word. -- Lenny Bruce

Robert B. Weide (executive-producer and frequent director of Curb Your Enthusiasm) wrote, directed and editted this Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary about comedian-turned-First-Amendment-martyr Lenny Bruce.

Through archival footage, including unaired TV routines and Lenny's homemade films, and new interviews with Lenny's friends (like Nat Hentoff), family (like his mother Sally Marr and daughter Kitty Bruce) and even his enemys (Richard Kuh, the lead prosecuter in Lenny's New York obscenity conviction), Weide masterfully tells Lenny's story, from his "guiltless" childhood as the son of a vaudeville dancer to his tragic death from a drug overdose.

Lenny Bruce made America laugh at itself by forcing Americans to confront the things they considered too "obscene" or "sick". But not everyone was laughing. When the Catholic Church and morally-righteous politicans targeted Lenny for his jokes about religion, he became depressed and paranoid. His routines took a serious turn as he replaced his jokes with readings of transcripts from his legal proceedings. Lenny explained, "I'm not a comedian anymore. I'm Lenny Bruce."

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