Hugh Hefner and Lenny Bruce engage in a blabfest

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Hugh Hefner of Playboy fame tried to break into the weekend late night talk/variety show market. The premise of his show was that you were at a high-end cocktail party. The camera would wander through the party and you might see a famous musician playing the piano, or singers, or encounter celebrities just chit-chatting.

Above is a video of Hugh and Lenny Bruce talking amidst a group of admirers. I had never seen any of Bruce's work before and what was striking is how unfunny he was. Instead he came across as a bit of a doofus with all his hepcat talk and finger snapping.

It really wasn't a bad premise for a show, but a lot of its problems was Hugh Hefner always put a damper on things when he appeared. Even as a young lad he always struck me as a pretentious pipe smoking drip in an expensive suit whenever he was on screen.

All in all the above clip is an interesting look at an artificial fantasy land from a time long past. A reminder that trendiness always devolves into goofiness as the years pass by.