When Peter Cook Brought Lenny Bruce To London...

At the height of his fame, the American stand-up was summoned to play at The Establishment Club...

Peter Cook and Lenny Bruce - the 1960s kings of UK and US comedy respectively. As such in made sense that the former, whose list of credits included his being the proprietor of Soho’s Establishment Club, should book the latter to play a series of gigs. Mr Cook takes up the story…

"I’d heard [Lenny Bruce's] records. He was obviously a very good draw. But I had no idea what he was like. I thought – big American star arriving – so I hired a large car, Rolls Royce or something, and went out to the airport to meet him. And out came this wreck. 'I thought, Jesus, what have I got on my hands?'

"One of my first assignments was to go and get him some drugs, which I knew nothing about. He had this terrible phoney prescription, signed by 'Dr Ziglovitz' for a heroin derivative.