Contrary to the review above, Lenny did not co-write and co-direct this film, unless he somehow managed to do so five years after his death. If anyone could do that, it would be Lenny.Bruce's stream-of-consciousness comedic riffing, his ridiculing of homophobia and the denigration of Native Americans, his doing all the voices of the various characters, epitomize his genius, accomplished while he encountered endless formidable adversaries, the direct descendants of fanatical Comstockery. What torment he endured was a product in no small part of religious fanaticism, the same sort of social control that required the Supreme Court to decide against the forces of theocracy in Griswold v. Connecticut, Roe v. Wade, and Lawrence v. Texas. Commentators here have complained about the quality of the film, but in 1971, lacking both the budget of a Disney studio and the current state of technology that allows for instance, for South Park, it captured the essence of the man and the quality of his work. Without Lenny, we couldn't have had Richard Pryor.

Thank You Mask Man (1971)* 1/2 (out of 4)Lenny Bruce co-wrote, co-directed and does all the vocal work for this seven minute animation movie that is a spoof of The Lone Ranger. When this was first released it was highly controversial because this is basically a spoof of homosexuality and there are a lot of jokes aimed at them. Well, watching this film today you can't help but think that the only reason this was controversial is because of Bruce. I mean, if you know anything about the comedian then you know about his legal troubles dealing with his act so I'm going to guess that this short was attacked simply because of his name being on it more than anything else. As far as the film goes, I really didn't like it because it simply wasn't funny. I'm not sure what the point of this thing was but without a single laugh the film is pretty much dead in the water. At just seven minutes it moves along pretty quick and the animation is nice but that's about it.

This short comic is outright hilarious. My brothers and I saw it once about 15 years ago and recorded it on a cassette and passed it out to everyone we knew. We haven't stopped laughing about it or watching it since. We just ordered it on disc and can't wait until it arrives. My best friend is gay and could not stop laughing through the entire show.We have gotten dozens and dozens of people hooked on this short cartoon. We are trying to find other short cartoons like this one. I can't seem to find any more by this particular comedian.If anyone knows of any, please let me know. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

I first saw this Lenny Bruce skit on video when I was in college(20 years ago)....Actually never thought I'd see it again, but I was fortunate to get my hands on a VHS copy! Lenny was a pure genius and the Lone Ranger skit is so damn funny...Just thinking about the idea of the Lone Ranger being gay is enough to make you laugh..LOL.Too bad that people in the 60's were so uptight....They had the "Leave it to Beaver" family mentality....So of course, they couldn't accept outlandish humor like this! If Lenny were around doing comedy TODAY, he'd be a big hit!You can find this gem at the END of the Lenny Bruce Performance Film, which is hard, but not impossible to find.... Amazon.com has several sellers offering it as well.I think I better transfer this to DVD...just in case the VHS tape breaks!!