The Comedic Stylings Of Leonard Cohen - Vol 1

To counter the grotesquely mistaken perspective that Leonard Cohen is gloom incarnate, I've put together a video of Cohen humor. The majority of this video is devoted to remarks Cohen makes during his concerts presented here without the annoying interruptions of those songs he insists on performing between comic turns.
1. Acceptance of 1993 Juno Male Vocalist Award & demonstration of Cohen's golden voice (1988)
2. Warning to audience that he is going to "fire up" his synthesizer & an exhibition of his solo skills on that instrument (2013)
3. Reverend Leo's Toronto Revival Meeting (1993)
4. Five words Cohen chooses to describe himself
5. Meeting Janis Joplin at the Chelsea Hotel
6. The Saga of Raphael Gayol (2010)
7. Cohen's Zen names
8. Everybody wants a long stem (2012)
9. Cohen's six stages of man's allure to women (2013)
10. Cohen announces plan to resume smoking at age 80 (2013)
11. Leonard Cohen -- Just a kid with a crazy dream (2009)

[@BlackHayTV]

"Are you humouring me? If so, I accept your compassion. You sure know how to treat the elderly." - What a guy.

[@jazzmanchgo]

Ah, Jerry Lee eat your heart out!

[@robbiepeterh]

Guy's a great storyteller and has a beautiful way of seeing life.

[@jaehill13]

"...without the annoying interruptions..."
TOO funny. Thank you for this, Mr. Showalter - the best.

[@donnapelletier5347]

Love it Allan. Great job. I have had the joy of seeing LC twice. I love these moments of humor.

[@terryroper1311]

I love it, as I love him!

[@richo61]

So funny. Love this man so much.
The bit from 7:58 when he is introducing the drummer to the audience is hilarious!

[@violinmke]

Fantastic as a Canadian I salute you and tweeted you. this will have a few thousand views soon

[@RobHollanderMusic]

Good interview. I'll always love, respect and be inspired Leonard and his work.

[@edwardmulholland7912]

He was/is so very great.

[@bsilva2146]

Wonderful, thanks for sharing this Allan

[@mr.panjandrum4757]

Anyone who doesn't realize Leonard was deeply and profoundly funny doesn't really understand Leonard. Some of the funniest stuff ever. Darkly humorous? Yes, usually, but not always. And often quite subtle: "Very close companion" sounds so very much like "varicose companion" - and that's just funny as hell in the context of Closing Time (she's a hundred but she's wearing something tight). Don't think for even a second that Leonard didn't know exactly what he was doing there. Makes me laugh out loud every damn time I hear it!

[@jazzmanchgo]

I have the same reaction to "giving me head on the unmade bed." And, of course, the entirety of something like "One of Us Cannot be Wrong" or "Is This What You Wanted" ("You were K.Y. Jelly, I was just Vaseline!") . . . I personally thought "Jazz Police" didn't quite succeed, but that one line -- "Tell me now, O beautiful and spacious!" -- is an all-time keeper. I remember seeing Leonard at the Beacon Street Theater in Boston, and there was some kind of party going on in the performance space above us; you could hear the throbbing disco beat through the ceiling. Leonard cocked his head, tapped his foot to the beat for a second, and then said something along the lines of, What a blessing -- to know that my elitist songs and musings can be brought back down to earth by DISCO! Ah, there is a God!"
(And don't even get me started on written passages like the "constipation" routine in "Beautiful Losers" ("In the tiled dawn courtroom, a folded man tries a thousand oaths . . . ' How can I begin today with half of yesterday still in me? . . . Has the old machine turned the food brown? . . . Lord, make me empty, because if I'm empty I, I can receive, and if I can receive it means that I'm not alone!" -- Classic stuff. )

[@TheKamioner]

This reminds me when I saw him on stage ;-)

[@patyankouski7527]

Why so few views? He was a genius.

[@tuka108]

Thanks for this. You (and he) made my da

[@oesaki]

Great, I love it...

[@marie-christinelange131]

Génial !!!

[@bgail7669]

So good, so good!

[@m00maz]

Subtitles would be very, very good!

[@jazzmanchgo]

I agree -- the sound quality on some of those in-concert clips is really poor.

[@TheUllada]

I like it!

[@jrscrivener]

subscribed and shared, Allan. Kind regards, John Ryan Scrivener

[@AllanShowalter]

+Ryan Scrivener Thanks, Allan

[@esthercaporale2306]

Wit and wisdom... and women.

[@jazzmanchgo]

It's too often forgotten how funny Leonard was -- I've heard early interviews with him, back when he was still a "Young Lion" poet in Canada, that were literally fall-down-on-the-floor-and-roll-around-helplessly hilarious.

[@g.susanne6365]

Yeee! Hungarian subtitles !:-)

[@jazzmanchgo]

Actually, the "Kris Kristofferson" routine was part of his actual worked-out stage act during that tour. It's still funny, though.

[@ManuelaHoferchannel]

Cool! :)

[@veveruz]

Genial. Spanish, please.