Lenny Bruce Live: San Francisco 1966 CD

With his confrontational riffs on race, religion, politics, and sex, funnyman Lenny Bruce paved the way for comedians such as Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, and Howard Stern, and in the process dealt a fatal blow to the "take-my-wife-please" approach to stand-up that previously dominated the form.

This landmark 1966 recording of Bruce's second-to-last performance finds the comedian at the end of his rope both mentally and physically. In the throes of heroin addiction and still furious over his conviction for obscenity, Bruce focuses on the absurdity of that trial. And as one would expect, he slays numerous sacred cows along the way. Though perhaps not as traditionally funny as his earlier performances, Bruce's stream-of-conscience delivery here is gripping, coming off more as a spoken-word performance piece than a stand-up act. By today's standards, Bruce's material is quite mild, but the storm of controversy it generated is truly a testament to the power of comedy. There is a DVD version of this performance available as well.