Sidetracked

From the Michael Richards Incident to George Carlin’s Day in Court, Here’s My Top Five Comic Moments 

Not only do I still remember the first comedy show I saw in person — Steven Wright, 1987 –I can actually remember some of the jokes he told. (One of my favorites: “The other day I spilled spot remover on my dog; now he’s gone.”)

If you’re a comic, you’re lucky if someone will remember a joke or a bit 20 years from now. But some — and I’m thinking Michael Richards here — will be remembered for something not so funny.

Continuing yesterday’s blog entry, here are my top five most memorable stand-up comic moments. I should warn you ahead of time, though — the Carlin and Michael Richards links contain some pretty salty language.

  5.) Lenny Bruce Is Not Afraid

In his autobiography, “How to Talk Dirty and Influence People,” Bruce wrote, “The police visit me occasionally.”

Which, of course, was an understatement. Bruce – the man “Time” once called “the sickest of them all” – was arrested numerous times for obscenity over the years. But a 1964 show at Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village, which included jokes about Eleanor Roosevelt’s breasts and sex with chickens, would kick off his most difficult legal battle.

At Bruce’s trial, several celebrities offered support, but the court was unimpressed, saying Bruce “appealed to prurient interest,” was “patently offensive to the average person in the community,” and lacked “redeeming social importance.” 

Bruce appealed his conviction and sentence – four months in a work house – but before his appeal was heard, he died of an accidental overdose, in 1966.

In 2003, Bruce was posthumously pardoned by Gov. George Pataki.

4.) Kramer Goes Crazy

After he was heckled while doing standup at the Laugh Factory in L.A., Michael Richards (a.k.a., Kramer from “Seinfeld”) lost his cool, unleashing a tirade laden with the N-word and references to lynching. The performance, recorded on a cell phone camera, eventually found its way on the Internet, leading Richards to humbly seek forgiveness from African-American leaders.

Later, he sought “spiritual guidance” with a monk in Cambodia and told the L.A. Times he had retired from standup.

“That night, when I was insulted and disrupted, I lost my heart,” he told the Times. “I lost my sense of humor.”

3.) Pryor Has Left the Building

By 1967, Pryor had garnered a national reputation. But as he stood on the stage at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, everything felt wrong.

“What the f—- am I doing here?” he shouted as he walked off, mid-act.

While Pryor had achieved success, he had done so with safe, mainstream humor. And, as he wrote in his autobiography, “There was a world of junkies and winos and pool hustlers and prostitutes . . . screaming inside my head, trying to be heard. The longer I kept them bottled up, the harder they tried to escape.”

After that, Pryor revamped his act to better reflect his background, conveying the African-American experience like none other.

2.) Mr. Carlin Goes to Washington

When a man driving with his son heard Carlin’s “Filthy Words” bit on the radio in Pacifica, CA, it set off a chain of events that would lead to a crucial Supreme Court decision about the limits of free speech on the airwaves.

The driver reported the routine to the FCC, which then contacted the radio station that aired the bit from Carlin’s album Occupation: Foole

Called the Seven Dirty Words Case, FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) established indecency regulation for radio and television.

“Broadcasts extend into the privacy of the home,” the Court wrote, concluding radio and TV were “uniquely accessible to children.”

The 5-4 ruling sided with the FCC.

Contrary to popular belief, Carlin’s famous seven words are not regularly heard on TV today.

1.) Andy Kaufman’s Punchline

A fan of wrestling as a child, the mysterious comic concocted a zany idea: He would become a wrestling villain himself.

First he wrestled women. Then he challenged a top male wrestler, Jerry Lawler, to a duel. After a lopsided match that supposedly left Kaufman in a neck brace, the two were scheduled to appear on “Late Night with David Letterman” in 1982.

 The plan called for Kaufman to sing “What the World Needs Now,” according to the Orlando Sentinel. But Kaufman, who hated that idea, called Lawler in his hotel and suggested they get into a fight on the show.

“Go for it and hit me hard,” he told Lawler.

Letterman interviewed the two, who began to argue. Then Lawler stood up and slapped Kaufman hard. Kaufman fell backward as Letterman sat stunned. For years, people speculated whether the event was staged.

Kaufman would die two year later, but it would be another decade before a TV special revealed it was all a hoax.

Posted on May 15th, 2008 by Pat
Filed under: Comedians