Al and Lenny - brothers under the skin

I recently watched all three seasons of Deadwood in some marathon viewing sessions. Man, what an outstanding series, merging real-life personalities with a fine narrative.

One of the things that struck me was the use of profanity. One of the rules for HBO seems to be that the word fuck must be used at least ten times an hour; I guess they feel it differentiates themselves from dull old network TV, but it usually comes off as an unnecessary affectation to me, as most people I know don't talk that way, or think it is the mark of a cultured person. But when you're talking about life on the frontier in the 1870s, it seems appropriate, and adds to the authenticity.

Apparently there was quite a lot of debate on exactly which words to use, though. Profanity in those days was mostly blasphemous religious references, which didn't translate well for modern audiences. As linguist Geoffrey Nunberg pointed out, "if you put words like goldarn into the mouths of the characters on Deadwood, they'd all wind up sounding like Yosemite Sam." So there are a lot of references to sexual and bodily functions, but the word that stood out much to me was cocksucker, which seemed to be use more often than all other profanities combined? Why was this? I have a theory...

Let's step back 50 years, to the comedian/philosopher who truly revolutionized standup, and whose martyrdom made possible the modern school of comedy of such luminaries as George Carlin and Richard Pryor, as well as revolutionary musical groups like the Fugs and Mothers of Invention. He was scandalized at the time for his use of language, but his true legacy was getting away from the "take my wife, please" school of comedy to a stream of consciousness style that was critical of cultural hypocrisy. He also had lots of fun with words. He riffed language like a hipster riffing jazz. If you aren't familiar with this master's work, go listen to some of his recordings or videos, or at least watch the fine bio film (starring Dustin Hoffman).

He was a little too much for many in the rather uptight early 1960s, and was dismissed by many as a "dirty" comedian. It wasn't the words, though; it was the politics they didn't like. His downfall began with an obscenity arrest, and he spent much of the rest of his life trying to fight it. And what was the word they nailed him on? In his classic routine Blah blah blah, he refers to it as "a ten letter word for a favorite homosexual practice." And of course, that word is... cocksucker. They used that word so often it became a running gag. For example, the wonderful character Mr. Wu only knew three English words, and it was one of them.

I'm wondering how much of a conscious decision this was by the creators of Deadwood? I'm betting this was a tribute of sorts to Lenny. I wonder how many others have made this connection?