Inquiry: Gerald Nachman: SERIOUSLY FUNNY part2: Nichols and May; Bob Newhart; Lenny Bruce

Inquiry continues it’s conversation with media historian GERALD NACHMAN about his landmark history SERIOUSLY FUNNY: THE REBEL COMEDIANS OF THE 1950S AND THE 1960S. Tonight on part 2, we talk about the sophisticated and intelligent humor of Mike Nichols and Elaine May. Though their comedy career lasted only four years, they are perhaps the “most ardently missed of all the satirical comedians of the time. Also tonight, we discuss the very odd “button-down” mind of Bob Newhart , whose stand up routines were masterworks of comedy by “inference”, and Lenny Bruce , the last performer in the United States to be tried for obscenity.