Francisco had been a comedy town before, and it was becoming one again. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was famous for nightclubs like the hungry i, where Mort Sahl and Bill Cosby held court; Ann’s 440 Club, where the volatile Lenny Bruce grew into a force of nature during his lengthy residencies; and the Jazz Workshop, where Bruce was arrested for obscenity after using what the abashed local newspapers could only refer to as a ten-letter word. (It was cocksucker.)
