It’s too bad Lenny didn’t live long enough to enjoy this :

Comedian Lenny Bruce was granted a posthumous pardon by Gov. George Pataki on Tuesday for a nearly 40-year-old obscenity conviction prompted by a foul-mouthed political commentary.

Pataki, a third-term Republican, called his decision to issue the first posthumous pardon in New York state history “a declaration of New York’s commitment to upholding the First Amendment.”

The campaign to win a pardon for the groundbreaking 1960s comedian was supported by his ex-wife and daughter, more than two dozen First Amendment lawyers and entertainers including Robin Williams, the Smothers Brothers and Penn and Teller.
. . .
During a November 1964 performance at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Bruce used more than 100 “obscene” words. Undercover police detectives attended the show, and later testified against Bruce. The charge was giving an obscene performance.

He was convicted following a six-month trial. Bruce mishandled his own appeal, and, beset by legal and financial problems, died of a drug overdose in 1966 with the conviction still on the books. He was 37.

And for those of you curious to find out what was considered “obscene” in 1964, here’s an excerpt of the Judge’s opinion in the People v. Bruce :

All three performances of the defendant, Lenny Bruce, were obscene, indecent, immoral and impure within the meaning of Section 1l40-a of the Penal Law. While no tape is available as to the first performance [past midnight, March 31-April 1], this monologue, according to the testimony, was essentially the same as that of the second [April 1, after 10:00 p.m.] and third [April 7, after 10:00 p.m.] performances. In the latter two performances, words such as “ass,” “balls,” “cock-sucker,” “cunt,” “fuck,” “mother-fucker,” “piss,” “screw,” “shit,” and “tits” were used about one hundred times in utter obscenity. The monologues also contained anecdotes and reflections that were similarly obscene.

For example:
1. Eleanor Roosevelt and her display of “tits.” (1st performance; transcript of 3rd performance at p. 27)
2. Jacqueline Kennedy “hauling ass” at the moment of the late President’s assassination. (Transcript of 2nd performance at p. 22; transcript of 3rd performance at p. 13)
3. St. Paul giving up “fucking.” (1st performance; transcript of 2nd performance at p. 12; transcript of 3rd performance at p. 19)
4. An accident victim-who lost a foot in the accident-who made sexual advances to a nurse, while in the ambulance taking him to the hospital. (1st performance; transcript of 2nd performance at p. 25)
5. “Uncle Willie” discussing the “apples” of a 12-year old girl. (transcript of 2nd performance at p. 20; transcript of 3rd performance at p. 12)
6. Seemingly sexual intimacy with a chicken. (transcript of 2nd performance at p. 25)
7. “Pissing in the sink” and “pissing” from a building’s ledge. (transcript of 2nd performance at p. 24; transcript of 3rd performance at p. 15)
8. The verb “to come,” with its obvious reference to sexual or orgasm. (1st performance)
9. The reunited couple discussing adulteries committed during their separation, and the suggestion of a wife’s denial of infidelity, even when discovered by her husband. (1st performance; transcript of 2nd performance at p. 29)
10. “Shoving” a funnel of hot lead “up one’s ass.” (transcript of 2nd performance at p. 22; transcript of 3rd performance at p. 13)
11. The story dealing with the masked man, Tonto, and an unnatural sex act. (1st performance)
12. Mildred Babe Zaharias and the “dyke profile of 1939.” (transcript of 3rd performance at p. 27)

During the first performance Bruce fondled the microphone stand in a masturbatory fashion. In the second performance, while telling of an act of exposure, Bruce turned his back to the audience and moved his hand outward and upward from below his waist in an obvious and crude pantomime of an act of exposure and masturbation.

The dominant theme of the performances appealed to the prurient interest and was patently offensive to the average person in the community, as judged by present day standards. The performances were lacking in “redeeming social importance.”

The monologues were not erotic. They were not lust-inciting, but, while they did not arouse sex, they insulted sex and debased it. [A discussion of the legal authorities, sustaining such debasement as pornography, followed here.]

They [the monologues] were obscene, indecent, immoral, and impure. The monologues contained little or no literary or artistic merit. They were merely a device to enable Bruce to exploit the use of obscene language. They were devoid of any cohesiveness. They were a series of unconnected items that contained little of social significance. They were chaotic, haphazard, and inartful….

Goddamn, I wish I could have been there….