Lenny Bruce (born Leonard Alfred Schneider) was a controversial American stand-up comedian and satirist of the 1950s and '60s. Bruce, like his contemporary Mort Sahl, helped change stand-up comedy from the practice of telling jokes to an intelligent form of entertainment.

His routines took the form of stories, skits, and commentary, often venturing into subject areas considered profane, obscene and otherwise controversial. His penchant for material with high shock value caused his career to be plagued by constant trouble with the law. His obscenity trials are now considered to be significant benchmarks in the case for preservation of First Amendment freedoms.

Lenny's early career including writing the screenplays for "Dance Hall Racket" 1953 (which featured Lenny and his wife, Honey Harlow, in roles); "Dream Follies" 1954, a low-budget burlesque romp; and a children's film, "The Rocket Man" 1954.

In 1959 he performed stand-up comedy on the nationally televised Steve Allen Show. He gave a historic performance at Carnegie Hall in 1961, covering the same ground that had made him famous— politics, religion, the law, race, abortion, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Catholic Church.

In 1966 Lenny Bruce was found dead from a self-administered morphine overdose, in the bathroom of his Hollywood Hills home. He is interred in the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.