I won't say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner. We used to write essays like: What I'm going to be if I grow up.

Increasing drug use also affected his health. At the time of his death his girlfriend was comedienne Lotus Weinstock. At forty.

He was renowned for his open free-style and critical form of comedy which integrated politics religion and sex. He paved the way for future outspoken comedians and his trial for obscenity in which – after being forced into bankruptcy – he was eventually found not guilty is seen as a landmark trial for freedom of speech in the US. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon the first in New York state history.