Cripple Triple X
So the majority of comedy shows can be a full-on tossup, either rum-and-Coke-spewing-from-your-nose funny or utterly painful to the point that the closest thing resembling a laugh is really just an effing hiccup. But here at WW, we like the edgy shit. And we know you do, too. The Cripple XXX Comedy Tour is so offensive, so crass, so derogatory, in fact, that most joints won't even book the freakin' thing. And yes, one of the two comedians, Lonnie Bruhn, a native Portlander, was born with cerebral palsy. But don't feel sorry for him—he's sure to get the last laugh.
---Willamette Week-2005
Q ANd A from 2005
With stories about having a jelly jar stuck up his ass, and a rant that merges his mild case of cerebral palsy with "shit porn," it's become gradually clear that Portlander Lonnie Bruhn is a standup comedian who doesn't hold back. His act is so relentlessly dirty that few comedy clubs will even book him, though thankfully for us, Sabala's isn't one of them--after a long hiatus, he has a big ol' show there this Saturday with fellow X-rated comics, Susanna Lee and Joe Fontenot. If the event catches on, they hope to take their Trashmouth Comedy Tour on the road.
Q: How does your cerebral palsy inform your comedy?
A: Oh, I have a 10-minute act on cerebral palsy. It used to be a little bit too cute and cuddly, so I rewrote it with this angle that there're people out there who want to help people who are handicapped, but they really only make it more difficult for us. I used to get to that bit and feel like, "here's the part where I tell you about my disease," and hate it--but now I really like it. It feels a lot more true.
Q: What's your new material like?
A: I'm kicking it up a notch on the filth. This time I just really wanted to go all out with honest and brutal stuff.
Q: What's the filthiest thing you've ever said onstage?
A: I do a bit about porn and one of the things I talk about are the different kinds--I say I like midget porn of course and then talk about how there's no cripple porn. But they have porn where people shit on each other for two hours. My shit porn bit is pretty raunchy--it's all about how the [porn stars] are rubbing it on each other and getting it in their hair. And then I come in and want them to do cripple porn and they say, "what are you, some kind of perv?"
Q: How do the audiences react to that kind of, well, shit?
A: I get more hassle from other comics than from audiences. A lot [of comics] tell me I'm not going to get anywhere doing what I do, and I say, "well, is it funny?" And they say, "yeah, but the industry doesn't like it," and I say, "well, that's all that matters." I may be a very poor man my whole life, but at least myself and my audiences will think I'm funny.
---The Portland Mercury-2005
" Lonnie Bruhn has taken the stage. A consummate professional and great entertainer; he is able to quite the hecklers with a stream of filthy jokes and rants. The current riff he's been performing involves a picture he saw on the internet of a man with a jelly jar stuck up his ass. The difficult, increasingly drunken crowd howls with delight---a gratifying victory for Lonnie and the stand up comedy scene. Lonnie Bruhn is the darkest comedian in Portland, OR. "
---The Portland Mercury-2005
" We're nuts about Lonnie Bruhn, a local stanup."
---The Portland Mercury, round two
" He's Top-grade funny. Not just ‘he's pretty good but I don't really watch after the first night' palatable, but right on your ass funny. Really funny. "
"--- Doug Stanhope from Comedy Centrals, "The Man Show" says:
