Editing Cafe Au Go Go (section)

===Comedians and Lenny Bruce arrests===
Howard Solomon not only had The Au Go Go Singers, but had also booked comedians such as [[George Carlin]] and [[Lenny Bruce]], who had regular stints at Cafe Au Go Go that would last either from one or two days to three weeks. Lenny Bruce's performances at the Go Go were controversial. In April 1964, Bruce appeared twice at the Cafe Au Go Go with undercover police detectives in the audience. On both occasions, he was arrested after leaving the stage, the complaints pertaining to his use of various obscenities. Club owner Howard Solomon was arrested too.

A three-judge panel presided over the widely publicized six-month trial, with Bruce and club owner Howard Solomon both found guilty of obscenity on November 4, 1964. The conviction was announced despite positive testimony and petitions of support from [[Woody Allen]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[Jules Feiffer]], [[Allen Ginsberg]], [[Norman Mailer]], [[William Styron]], and [[James Baldwin (writer)|James Baldwin]] – among other artists, writers and educators, and from Manhattan journalist and television personality [[Dorothy Kilgallen]] and [[sociology|sociologist]] [[Herbert Gans]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bruce/brucetrial.html|title=The People v Lenny Bruce: Excerpts from the Cafe Au Go Go Trial|date=28 June 2010|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=28 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628084404/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/bruce/brucetrial.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bruce was sentenced, on December 21, 1964, to four months in the workhouse. He was set free on [[bail]] during the [[appeal]]s process and died before the appeal was decided. Solomon later saw his conviction overturned.

By 1966, the police and the courts had managed to silence Lenny Bruce and taught him a lesson that he should not use "[[foul language]]" or show disrespect for the church and the law, eventually bankrupting him just before his death that year. Though the police had managed to silence Lenny Bruce, George Carlin continued to do his controversial comedy. Carlin eventually went on to have his own trouble with the law.  Controversy arose because of the use of obscenities in his counter-culture routine known at the "[[Seven Dirty Words]]". Both Lenny Bruce and George Carlin were two of the most influential [[Stand-up comedy|stand-up comedians]] of their time and they along with many others had come out of the Cafe Au Go Go.

On December 23, 2003,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/23/entertainment/main590005.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040227072501/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/23/entertainment/main590005.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 27, 2004|title=CBS News|access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref><ref name="totn-hentoff">{{cite web
| url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1567644
| title = Lenny Bruce Pardoned: Interview with Nat Hentoff (with audio link)
| work = [[Talk of the Nation]]
| publisher = [[National Public Radio]]
| last = Conan | first = Neal
| date = 2003-12-23
| access-date = 2010-01-18
}}</ref> 37 years after his death, Bruce was granted a posthumous [[pardon]] for his obscenity conviction by [[New York Governor]] [[George Pataki]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/03/dec23_03.htm|title=GOVERNOR PATAKI GRANTS CLEMENCY TO AN INMATE|date=14 December 2006|access-date=22 June 2023|archive-date=14 December 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214081415/http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/03/dec23_03.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> following a petition filed by Ronald Collins and David Skover with Robert Corn-Revere as counsel, the petition having been signed by several stars such as [[Robin Williams]]. It was the first posthumous pardon in the state's history. Pataki said his act was "a declaration of New York's commitment to upholding the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]]."

When the Cafe au Go Go closed, the now-famous Stephen Stills was a featured performer at the gala closing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bobdylanroots.com/al1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020125141249/http://www.bobdylanroots.com/al1.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=January 25, 2002|title=Al Aronowitz remembers... (Part 1)|website=Bobdylanroots.com|access-date=22 June 2023}}</ref>