Why the romance between Lenny Bruce and Mrs Maisel is impossible?

• Stand-up legend Lenny Bruce died of an overdose in 1966 at the age of 40.

• In

  The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

  , the character inspired by Lenny Bruce plays mentors for Midge.

• Luke Kirby, the interpreter of Luke Kirby, explains to

  20 Minutes

  why their romance is almost impossible.

If there's one thing that

There's no shortage of

In the first three seasons, many men competed for the attention of the bubbly Midge (played by Rachel Brosnahan).

As Season 4 of the Amy Sherman-Palladino-created series premieres Friday on Amazon Prime Video over four weeks, some fans are hoping Midge will reconnect with her first love and ex-husband Joel (Michael Zegen), d Others are counting on a return of the charming Dr. Benjamin Ettenberg (Zacharie Levi).

Of course, the majority are hoping for a romance with stand-up star Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby), especially after that steamy connection in Season 3 where they end up outside the famous comedian's hotel room.

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Lenny Bruce, a character who really existed

Against all odds, Midge then decided to leave… “Lenny's role in her life as a friend, confidant, mentor… All that would change the minute they were in bed, analyzes the creator of the show in TV Line.

He may be the only person in her life who actually understands what she wants.

He is the first man who has ever looked at her as a person and not as a nice little ass.

This relationship is very special.

And I think she was too scared to screw it up.

»

"Maybe someday, before I'm dead" ("Maybe one day, before I'm dead"), throws Lenny Bruce.

"It's date" ("It's a date"), retorts Midge.

These two lines are important.

On the one hand, they make it possible to maintain a form of erotic tension between the two characters.

On the other hand, they refer to the tragic fate of the real Lenny Bruce, legend of American stand-up, who died on August 3, 1966, of an overdose.

A clever way to remind the viewer, a little frustrated, that a romance between the two heroes is impossible: one is a character of pure fiction, the other is inspired by a person who really existed.

"I begged Amy never to cross that line, and she agreed," Rachel Brosnahan told

.

Lenny Bruce, "Midge Maisel's Fairy Godmother"

And to continue: “They love each other because they admire each other, they admire the talent of the other and they admire the dynamism of the other.

“Became the most famous and controversial comic of the United States in the 1960s, Lenny Bruce embodies, like Midge in the series, the protest spirit and the freedom of tone of this time.

It is no coincidence that on the set of the show called Miami After Dark in season 3, Lenny Bruce presents Midge as his “wife… or maybe my sister” (“wife… or maybe my sister”).

“I don't really know what Amy and Dan's intentions were in bringing her on board this fiction.

I saw him from the start as a fairy godmother type character, who swings between the historical and the world of fiction, ”comments Luke Kirby for

.

“If you want to tell a story in the stand world around 1957-1958, it's hard not to have Lenny Bruce, who was such a figure at the time.

When I read the pilot and saw that Lenny Bruce was one of the characters, it made me want to be part of the show.

I also think it's also a factor of coolness for the show, ”recalls Michael Zegen.

Lenny Bruce, “symbol of the first amendment”

It is difficult to measure the importance of Lenny Bruce on this side of the Atlantic.

“He was a funny guy and a great comedian.

He is the one who put the most of his personal history in his numbers.

He felt compelled to find his own way and tell his own story.

And he found himself talking freely.

The microphone and the stage became for him the means of exploring his greatest frustrations”, explains Luke Kirby.

On stage, he invents a stand-up style that leaves plenty of room for monologues, digressions and irony.

Leonard Alfred Schneider, alias Lenny Bruce on stage, an outspoken American mixed with Yiddish, did not hesitate to exercise the sacrosanct right to blasphemy.

"In his quest for truth and honesty, he said a lot of things that are considered problematic in the eyes of the

, whether it's religion or government," the actor continues.

This earned him "the presence of police officers" at many shows.

"He didn't just pay the fines, he went to court and fought tooth and nail," said Luke Kirby.

In his numbers, he evokes sexuality, his addiction to drugs, the right to abortion, religious hypocrisy and denounces racial and social discrimination.

“The First Amendment is very important in the United States and I think a lot of people see it as sort of a symbol of free speech.

»

Lenny Bruce, "a kind of mythical creature"

“Many stand-up comedians today look up to him as a kind of god, but also as a martyr.

Because he died young, and the pressure of constantly being arrested, thrown in jail, and fighting the courts led to his loss, addiction, and overdose.

He is a kind of mythical creature,” says Michael Zegen.

Already embodied on the big screen by Dustin Hoffmann in Bob Fosse's film,

in 1974, Lenny Bruce has enough facets to be explored in different ways.

Luke Kirby initially approached his character "as in a biopic".

Then, with more freedom: “The great charm of the series is that I don't have to be very attentive to the smallest details.

Since it's not a biopic, historical accuracy can be circumvented a bit.

I have to play him as a man and explore what he was like.

But at the same time, there's this kind of magic realism sprinkled on him, I see that as a privilege for me, it keeps me flexible and free, ”concludes Luke Kirby.

The actor has managed to find the right balance between fiction and reality for a performance that has already been hailed by an Emmy Award in 2019.

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