Lenny (1974)

Valerie Perrine: Honey Bruce

Photos 

Quotes 

• Lenny Bruce : Deny it. Flat out - deny it! If you really love your wife, deny it. If they got pictures, deny it.

  Honey Bruce : lt bugged me at first. You know, it, it hurt.

  Lenny Bruce : If they walk in on you, deny it. Just say this strange chick came into the apartment shivering with a sign around her neck that said, ''l have malaria. Lie on top of me and keep me physically active or l'll die.''

  Honey Bruce : Later, l found out a lot about why he did things like that.

  Lenny Bruce : And chances are, man... they'll believe it. Do you know why?

  The Interviewer : To prove himself.

  Honey Bruce : Needed to prove himself.

  Lenny Bruce : Because they wanna believe it.

• [first lines] 

  Honey Bruce : Oh, l would say, uh, let's see, he was busted at least nine or ten times. Twice for possession of narcotics, and three, four times for obscenity.

• Honey Bruce : Why don't you come in, big boy, and pick a few flowers?

• Honey Bruce : You do things on dope that normally wouldn't come into your mind to do.

• Honey Bruce : What's your real name?

  Lenny Bruce : Leonard Alfred Schneider.

  Honey Bruce : Well, why did you change it?

  Lenny Bruce : Too Jewish.

  Honey Bruce : l like the name Bruce. You know, Bruce sounds like the - captain of a football team.

  Lenny Bruce : That's why l changed it, but the first guy l met whose name was Bruce - tried to kiss me.

• Honey Bruce : Well, we're off to California. The new life, you know? And we're working our way across the country playing these really dinky clubs. We usually bombed, but it was kinda fun, you know? And that's where it all started.

  The Interviewer : What?

  Honey Bruce : Well, we were working this club in Detroit, and we were all clowning around in the dressing room, and this drummer comes up and says ''Hey, you cats wanna try something groovy?'' And we said ''Sure.'' So he hands us these little straws, and we started sniffing this stuff. Up our noses, you know?

  The Interviewer : What was it, cocaine?

  Honey Bruce : No, it was, um, heroin - and stuff.

• Honey Bruce : We got in with this crowd and, you know, show people, musicians, stuff like that. And they were all messing around, fixing, stuff like that.

• Honey Bruce : l don't think we can handle it.

  Lenny Bruce : Well, that's very unhip.

  Honey Bruce : Maybe l'm not hip.

• Honey Bruce : You son of a bitch! Why do you always have to be so fucking hip?

• Honey Bruce : How could you say that? Lenny, Jesus Christ, you were the one that talked me into these freak scenes.

• Honey Bruce : Why don't you tell me to stop?

  Lenny Bruce : Why don't you tell yourself to stop?

  Honey Bruce : Tell me.

  Lenny Bruce : Why? You obviously dig it.