The Lenny Bruce Story

Pardon Me?

NY Governor George Pataki

Last year, for reasons that continue to baffle even Bruce's most ardent supporters, Pataki issued a pardon for Lenny Bruce, in essence wiping away the comedian's 1964 obscenity conviction in New York. It was that conviction - the last time, as Collins noted, that anyone was "tried and convicted for word crimes in a comedy club" - that put the final nail in Lenny Bruce's career, turning him into not just a bankrupt pariah, unable to find a job or an outlet for his humor, but may also have led to his death.

And now, Collins said, "America has come to honor him."

Pardon document for Lenny Bruce

"I think they've come to honor him for two reasons," Collins said. "I think once he was dead people realized that a great injustice had been done...Once Lenny Bruce dies, then the whole reincarnation starts, and I think it starts for two reasons: One, because people realized the injustice that had been done, and two, it's easier to honor the dead than it is to respect the living."

Mort Sahl, comedian

In his book, Collins quotes the comedian and social critic Mort Sahl as saying that Bruce used to complain that he was being crucified, "and I'd say 'Hey man, don't forget The Resurrection.'

"And it's true...once he was dead, he rose like the great phoenix...Lenny the man has become Lenny the icon," Collins said.