Comic used to sell this recording after gigs

A rare recording of groundbreaking stand-up Lenny Bruce is to be released on vinyl for this year's Record Store Day.

Lenny Bruce Is Out Again is an official bootleg, compiled from various gigs between 1958 and 1963. The comedian pressed the original disc himself in 1964 and used to sell it at clubs where he was performing.

The new release has been authorised by Lenny's daughter Kitty, unlike much of the material that has been released since his death in 1966 from a drug overdose.

Bruce was known for his bruising conflicts with authority over obscenity laws, fighting for his freedom of speech. Kitty has said: 'My father's legacy was that of a freedom fighter for the first amendment therefore he touched every part of modern comedy.'

A limited edition of 1,000 copies of Lenny Bruce Is Out Again will be released to mark Record Store Day in the US on June 20, then available online the following weekend.

Record label Comedy Dynamics are also putting it out as a download from May 22 here. It is a different album from another collection of the same already available on some streaming services.

Published: 4 May 2020