Presented here is a digital version of a recording of five free-form bits recorded by Lenny Bruce in the days before his death on August 3, 1966, plus a song written and performed by Tim Hardin after Bruce's death. In the first section, Bruce riffs on what he is doing, testing the Sony Dynamic Microphone. In the second section, he says some phrases in Spanish. In the third section, he plays the roles of the host of a radio talk show called Nightline, and of some callers. In the fourth section, he does rants as an irate pornographer and as an irate narcotics addict. He brings his girlfriend Maury Haydn (stage name Lotus Weinstock) into the bit, describing her as Banjo Eyes and as having been influenced by Timothy Hardin and Bob Zimmerman. She does a Lotty-thon consisting of monster-like noises. In the fifth section, Bruce does a different Nightline riff. On this file, the beginning is missing; this part can be found with the beginning on LB_1. Bruce acts out multiple roles including host of the late-night radio show and an irate senior citizen caller. In these voices he makes reference to beatniks on the Sunset Strip, a used car salesman who has a dog on the hood of a car in commercials (most likely Chick Lambert), a Senate investigating committee, Steve Allen and Phyllis Diller. The sixth section is Tim Hardin's song Lenny's Tune, a.k.a. Eulogy to Lenny Bruce, written and performed by Hardin after Bruce's death.
Full length copies of the recordings are available for use in the department. Please contact the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University for more information.
