Listen Live
Donate
 on air
Schedule

KCRW

Read & Explore

  • News
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Culture
  • Events

Listen

  • Live Radio
  • Music
  • Podcasts
  • Full Schedule

Information

  • About
  • Careers
  • Help / FAQ
  • Newsletters
  • Contact

Support

  • Become a Member
  • Become a VIP
  • Ways to Give
  • Shop
  • Member Perks

Become a Member

Donate to KCRW to support this cultural hub for music discovery, in-depth journalism, community storytelling, and free events. You'll become a KCRW Member and get a year of exclusive benefits.

DonateGive Monthly

Copyright 2025 KCRW. All rights reserved.

Report a Bug|Privacy Policy|Terms of Service|
Cookie Policy
|FCC Public Files

Back to Special Programming

Special Programming

Too Smart for the Room: The Lord Buckley Story

Lord Buckley was a hipster comedian in the 1950's who influenced many of America's comedic giants. His "hip semantic" renditions of literary classics delighted audiences, but Buckley caught flack for performing them in an African-American dialect. This half-hour documentary, produced for KCRW, includes rare archival recordings of Buckley performing, and interviews with Jonathan Winters and Larry Storch, plus sound of a Buckley appearance on Groucho Marx's quiz show. (Airs from 2:30-3pm and pre-empts Politics of Culture)

  • Share
Dec 29, 2009 • 1 min read

Lord Buckley was a hipster comedian in the 1950's who influenced many of America's comedic giants. His "hip semantic" renditions of such literary classics as The Raven and The Gettysburg Address delighted audiences, but Buckley caught flack for performing them in an African-American dialect. This half-hour program includes rare archival recordings of Buckley performing, and interviews with Jonathan Winters and Larry Storch, plus sound of a Buckley appearance on Groucho Marx's quiz show.

This original documentary, produced for KCRW by Jon Kalish and Marty Goldensohn, airs from 2:30-3pm and pre-empts Politics of Culture

Credit: © Ray Avery / CTSImages.com

    Culture
Back to Special Programming