Notes On Blogging Aesthetics XIII

And yet, it was in performances like these that [Lenny] Bruce's real achievement could best be seen. He broke down the old setup-punch line structure of stand-up comedy. And he held back nothing. Everything got tossed into the performance Mixmaster: social criticism, political commentary, pop culture satire, snatches of autobiography, sexual confessions, personal gripes, public hectoring, today's headlines and yesterday's trip to the laundry. All of it was out there on the stage, raw and unfiltered-- everything that he knew, thought, hated, remembered or could dream up.
-- Richard Zoglin, Comedy At The Edge: How Stand- Up In the 1970s Changed America