“Jesus and Moses are walking through Harlem” and that’s all it would take for Lenny Bruce to get arrested…several times. A man with thoughts and ideas well beyond his time, Lenny Bruce was a truth-sayer in a world that wasn’t ready to hear him. Teatron Toronto Jewish Theatre hosted international premiere of I’m not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce. Written by and starring Ronnie Marmo and directed by Joe Mantegna, this deep dive into Bruce’s life is as real and unapologetic as the man himself.

I’m not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce covers the life of the famed stand up from his first memories as a child to his untimely death at the age of forty. This one-man show is interspersed with Bruce’s actual stand up bits, with Marmo often coming into the audience to talk to folks, treating us as if we’re in a real comedy club. While the production doesn’t shy away from the more difficult parts of Bruce’s life, I found his overall struggle for free speech and honesty in art to be very inspiring.

Not only does Marmo look quite a bit like Lenny Bruce, he does an impressive job bringing the infamous comedian to life. He had everything down from his attitude, to his New York accent, to the way he would lean on the mike stand and hold his head in his hand, all of it was spot on. Marmo truly embodies Lenny Bruce, and gives him a humanity which I think could easily be overshadowed by the demons which haunted him. I learned more about the real Lenny Bruce in this ninety minute show than I could have hoped for, and Marmo does it all with grace and a clear passion for his subject.

I found it incredible how relevant Bruce’s bits are today; it’s because he was primarily talking about human behaviour, which frankly hasn’t changed all that much since he was performing in the fifties and sixties. I always find it interesting to see what makes an audience laugh, as comedy is so subjective; in this case, a word or two in Yiddish had the audience rolling in the isles! I’m not a Comedian…I’m Lenny Bruce is the most apt name for this show, and his bits weren’t truly “jokes” per se, they were Bruce’s observations and aspirations for a nation in the process of great change.

The production closes with a list of names of stand-up comics who came after Bruce; comedians who would not have been able to speak their minds the way they do without Bruce laying down the groundwork for them both in the clubs and in court. It was a marvellous visualization of the impact this one man had on his industry.

For more information about Teatron Toronto Jewish Theatre and what they have coming up next, visit: http://teatrontheatre.com