www.kennykahn.com

Kenny’s Interview with Norm Goldman

The following interview was conducted by: NORM GOLDMAN: Editor of Bookpleasures.comToday, Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Kenneth Kahn, author of The Carny Kid Survival of a Young Thief. Ken is not only an author but also a successful criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles, as well as a stand up comic. Good day, Ken, and thank you for agreeing to participate in our interview. KEN: THANK YOU VERY MUCH, IT’S A PLEASURE FOR ME TO HAVE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO BE WITH SUCH A DISTINGUISHED REVIEWER. Norm: Ken, what made you want to write an autobiography of yourself? KEN: I NEVER WANTED TO WRITE IT, I HAD SPENT MOST OF MY ADULT LIFE HIDING MY EARLY BACKGROUND. I WAS AFRAID PEOPLE WOULD JUDGE ME HARSHLY, I WAS HIGHLY MOBILE, UPWARDLY MOBILE, AND I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE SOMETHING OUT OF MYSELF IN THE SOCIAL WORLD AND I THOUGHT MY BACKGROUND WOULD HINDER ME. SO I SPENT THE MAJORITY OF MY LIFE HIDING MY BACKGROUND. IT WASN’T UNTIL I GOT TO A CERTAIN POINT WHERE I HAD THE CONFIDENCE IN MYSELF AND IN WHO I WAS TO ALLOW ME TO GO AHEAD AND WRITE THIS BOOK. Norm: What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing The Carny Kid Survival of a Young Thief? How did you overcome these challenges? KEN: THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE I HAD WAS GETTING THE DISCIPLINE TO WRITE EVERY SINGLE DAY. I KNEW THE STORY, IT WAS IN MY HEAD. I DIDN’T HAVE A LOT OF PROBLEMS AND I HAD MADE A NUMBER OF FITFUL STARTS IN THE PAST, BUT WHEN IT CAME TIME TO SIT DOWN AND JUST WRITE THE BOOK IN IT’S ENTIRETY. . . IT WAS A MAJOR CHALLENGE TO FIND THE DISCIPLINE WITHIN MYSELF TO SIT DOWN EVERY DAY AND COMPLETE A COMMITMENT TO DO THE ENTIRE BOOK. THAT WAS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE I HAD. Norm: When you wrote your book, did you have a particular audience in mind? KEN: NO, WHAT I WAS WRITING THE BOOK FOR WAS FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING MY CHEST AND OUT OF MY HEAD. I WAS HOPING THAT A NUMBER OF PEOPLE, WHO WERE PERHAPS FROM A BACKGROUND WHERE THEIR PARENTS WERE LESS THAN GREAT, WOULD GET SOME TYPE OF MOTIVATION OR INSPIRATION FROM THE STORY. . .AND I WAS HOPING THAT OTHER PEOPLE WOULD FIND IT OF GENERAL INTEREST. I WAS ALSO HOPING THAT PEOPLE OF MY GENERATION, WHO GREW UP IN THE 1950s, COULD APPRECIATE THE STRUGGLE AND UNDERSTAND THE STRUGGLE. SO, IN A SENSE IT’S WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE WHO HAD DELINQUENT PARENTS AND FOR PEOPLE WHO HAD TO STRUGGLE IN THEIR OWN LIVES AND LATER ON WENT BECAME A SUCCESS. IT’S BASICALLY FOR THOSE TWO GROUPS. Norm: What would you say is your biggest strengths? Your biggest weaknesses? KEN: MY GREATEST STRENGTH IS MY ABILITY TO HANG IN THERE, NO MATTER WHAT THE ODDS ARE. I’M NEVER DETERRED BY THE FACT THAT I HAPPEN TO BE IN A HIGHLY DIFFICULT SITUATION WHERE I’M GREATLY OUTNUMBERED, PARTICULARLY IN MY LAW PRACTICE. VERY OFTEN I GO TO COURT AND I’M ARRAYED AGAINST THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY, THE ENTIRE POLICE DEPARTMENT, THEIR INVESTIGATORS. . . AND THERE IS JUST ME ON THE OTHER SIDE. THIS DOES NOT DAUNT ME, AND I BELIEVE THAT MY GREATEST STRENGTH IS THAT I NEVER, EVER, EVER GIVE UP. MY WEAKNESS IS THAT I’M A HIGHLY EMOTIONAL PERSON AND I’M ALSO SUBJECT TO ACT ON A MOMENTS NOTICE. I HAVE A GREAT IMPULSIVE DRIVE INSIDE OF ME, AND MY IMPULSES WILL LEAD EVERYWHERE FROM TAKING ON A NEW CAREER, SUCH AS I DID IN COMEDY, TO JUST DROPPING EVERYTHING AND GOING TO BRAZIL. IN A SENSE IT’S A WEAKNESS BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE A LOT OF CONTROL OVER THESE IMPULSES, AND I IN FACT ENJOY GIVING IN TO THEM. UNFORTUNATELY, IT DOESN’T ALWAYS WORK OUT TO MY ULTIMATE BENEFIT. Norm: Who are your favorite authors, and why do they inspire you? KEN: WELL MY FAVORITE AUTHOR IS HERMAN HESSE, AND I’VE READ EVERYTHING OF HIS. MOST IMPORTANTLY, SIDDHARTHA, AND HIS STRUGGLE AND SEARCH FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE REALLY HAD A DEEP IMPACT ON ME. BUT EVERYTHING THAT HERMAN HESSE WROTE HAS DEFINITELY IMPACTED ME.		OBVIOUSLY, J.D. SALINGER WITH HIS CATCHER IN THE RYE HAD HUGE IMPACT ON ME AS A TEENAGER, JOSEPH HELL IN CATCH 22 HAD THE ESSENCE OF HUMOR THAT YOU SEE VERY RARELY IN BOOKS. ASIDE FROM THAT I LOVE MARK TWAIN, I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF MARK TWAIN. . .NOT ONLY HIS WRITINGS BUT THE REFLECTED SPEECHES THAT HE GAVE DURING THE COURSE OF HIS LIFETIME.Norm: What sage advice can you give individuals who have come from similar backgrounds as yourself? KEN: YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE NOT THE VICTIM OF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES. . . IF YOU FIND YOURSELF FINANCIALLY DEPRIVED, ON THE BOTTOM, WITH NO SUPPORT. . .THE MOST IMPORTANT REALIZATION YOU MUST GRASP IS THAT YOU STILL HAVE THE ABILITY WITHIN YOURSELF TO DIRECT THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE. . AND THAT NO POWER ON EARTH CAN DISSUADE YOU FROM YOUR CHERISHED GOALS. Norm: I understand you are a stand- up comic. When did your passion as a stand-up comic begin? What kept you going? How do you come up with ideas for what your routines? What methods do you use to flesh out your ideas? KEN: MY COMIC CAREER CAME AS THE RESULT OF A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE IN COURT WHEREIN A CLIENT STABBED ME IN THE CHEST WITH AN ICE PICK, AND ALTHOUGH THE PHYSICAL DAMAGE TURNED OUT NOT BE SEVERE, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE WAS HUGE … I REALIZED MY MORTALITY, AND I KNEW IF THERE WAS ANYTHING I WANTED TO DO IN THIS LIFE I’D BETTER GET ON WITH IT. MY SECRET FANTASY HAD ALWAYS BEEN TO DO STAND UP COMEDY, SO WHEN I SAW AN OPPORTUNITY TO ATTEND A WORKSHOP ON STAND UP COMEDY I SIGNED UP FOR IT. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY I FOUND OUT I HAD A TALENT FOR IT. AS FAR THE MATERIAL GOES MY CLASSMATES WERE VERY HELPFUL, WE ALL WORKED ON EACH OTHERS MATERIAL. I DEVELOPED AN APPROACH ON HOW TO DEVELOP DIFFERENT TOPICS AND HOW TO TURN AN ORDINARY SUBJECT INTO HUMOR. I ALWAYS KEEP COPIOUS NOTES AND HAVE HUNDREDS OF SCRAPS OF PAPER, MANY OF THEM NAPKINS FROM VARIOUS RESTAURANTS, WITH ALL TYPES OF IDEAS AND SITUATIONS, EVEN SERIOUS ONES, WHERE HUMOR CAN BE FOUND. THEN I WILL SIT DOWN WITH THIS MESS OF NOTES AND BRING FORTH A ROUTINE. THE HARDEST PART OF STAND UP COMEDY FOR ME WAS REMEMBERING MY MATERIAL ON STAGE. IT TOOK AN INCREDIBLE NUMBER OF REPETITIONS, DOZENS AND DOZENS, BEFORE I FELT COMFORTABLE ON STAGE KNOWING THAT I WOULD NOT FORGET MY ACT. Norm: How have you used the Internet to boost your various occupations? KEN: YES, I HAVE HIRED A BRILLIANT GUY BY THE NAME OF BRAD BUTLER DOES ALL OF MY WEB RESEARCH, HE IS FANTASTIC. IN FACT HE CONTACTED YOU ABOUT MY BOOK. I AM TOTALLY COMPUTER ILLITERATE AND DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM, THEY WEREN’T INVENTED WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL AND I’M NOT VERY GOOD AT IT. BUT I DO SEE THE TREMENDOUS POWER AND REACH OF THE INTERNET. AS A RESULT I HAVE ENGAGED OTHERS TO DEVELOP MY CONNECTIONS AND GAIN EXPOSURE THROUGH THE WORLD WIDE WEB. IT REALLY IS A FANTASTIC AND POWER TOOL. Norm: Any unique ways you’ll be marketing your book that is different from how others authors market their books? KEN: I AM GOING TO START GOING DOOR TO DOOR SELLING THEM INDIVIDUALLY LIKE THEY DID WITH ENCYCLOPEDIAS IN THE OLD DAYS. Norm: Do you have anything else you’d like to share with our readers? KEN: YES, I WOULD LOVE GET THEIR FEEDBACK IF THEY WERE KIND ENOUGH TO READ THE BOOK, ANY COMMENTS THEY MIGHT HAVE WOULD BE HELPFUL. WE ARE TAKING THE BOOK INTO ANOTHER PRINTING, SO ANY COMMENTS THEY HAVE WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THEY CAN TO ME THROUGH MY EMAIL AT ladefenders1@earthlink.net OR THEY CAN SEND THEM TO BRAD AT irwinzuckerpr@aol.com AND THEY WILL BE FORWARDED TO ME.

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May 13, 2005

Kenny Kahn, Local Attorney Extraordinaire — Author, Comedian and Criminal Attorney.

Opening Paragraphs + extract:

SANTA MONICA — Kenny Kahn is a criminal defense attorney in Santa Monica who has defended clients in greater Los Angeles for 30 years. But he is not your ordinary 9 to 5 lawyer.

From an early age and perhaps due to many life-changing experiences, Kahn learned to nurture a sense of humor. As a youth, he managed to overcome some of life’s greatest challenges in an environment where only the strong-willed flourish. And later as a successful criminal defense attorney, he narrowly escaped with his life after being stabbed in the chest.

His reaction to such a life-threatening blow was not to quit and get sour, but to seek out more opportunities to share his humorous outlook on life. This included a satisfying stream of appearances as a professional stand-up comedian.

Kahn reveals his painful and turbulent childhood in his recently released biography entitled The Carny Kid: Survival of a Young Thief, by Pendant Press. In spite of his upbringing, he evolved into a highly-regarded criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles. He is known for using a candid approach to clearly explain and help individuals to more easily navigate the complex American legal system.

Kahn has made thousands of courtroom appearances and public speaking engagements. As a polished comedian, he gets the world to laugh at his profession with his unique, sometimes “Kahn-troversial” monologue and an unending supply of lawyer jokes. He has performed at such clubs as the Laugh Factory, The Comedy Store and The Improv and in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, and New York City.

Kahn has been featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” profiled on “CNN Showbiz Today” and is still in demand for speaking engagements by audiences from coast-to-coast.

Kahn first gained nationwide notoriety when he defended Andrew Dalton Lee in an espionage case that became a feature film The Falcon and the Snowman.

“I had the Justice Department, the CIA and the FBI on one side, and me on the other,” he said. “That was quite a challenge.” Lee received a life sentence, but Kahn developed a reputation as a fighter who wasn’t shy of the establishment.

. . .

Kenny was the oldest child of the only Jewish family in the Ramona Gardens housing projects in East Los Angeles. In The Carny Kid, he tells a gripping story of living with two delinquent parents who make their living as traveling gypsies and then graduate to dealing heroin from their cockroach infested apartment.

But if this was not enough tragedy for a young life, during the crowning height of his teen years in Lincoln High School he acquired polio. The ravaging disease quickly eliminated half the muscle tissue on the left side of his body, including his arm and leg.

With a teeth-crunching determination to get well, he endured the seemingly unending pain of forcing himself to do continuous sets of rigorous physical exercises. Eventually he gave up the crutches and lastly his walking cane.

———

The Epoch Times | Kenny Kahn, Local Attorney Extraordinaire — Author, Comedian and Criminal Attorney.
Dan Sanchez,
May 11, 2005.

The full text of the above article can be found at
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-5-11/28704.html.

Related Internet Links:

www.KennyKahn.com.

http://mt.lincolnshirepostpolio.org.uk/archives/pandpp-news/000688.html

Radio/TV Appearances
KSAC Talk Radio (Sacramento), “Mary Jane Popp Show”

Health Talk Radio Network, “Body Talk” with Christie McPee

KRLA Radio, “Bradley Quick Show

CJAD Radio Montreal with Peter Anthony Holder

Bloomberg Radio, New York City, hosted by Joe Franklin (Listen to audio)

CNN Television, “Show Biz Today”

The “Oprah Winfrey Show

The Outlook

Venice Defense Attorney Uses Work
to become Perry Mason of Comedy

By Josh Grossberg

When your parents deal heroin, when you defend a man for wearing an American flag as a diaper, when another client tries to get himself arrested by mailing marijuana to the president of the United States, and another stabs you in the chest, there’s really only one sane thing to do: Laugh Out Loud.

Attorney Kenny Kahn, who has defended the likes of Ike Turner and Larry Flynt in his 30 years as a criminal lawyer, has taken his strange life and career and turned it into a comedy act.

Looking every bit the lawyer as he walks on stage in his double breasted suit and carrying a briefcase, the Venice resident is turning his life and passions into fodder for jokes.

Nothing is spared a punchline. Not his youth as the only Jewish kid in the Ramona housing project in East Los Angeles, where he routinely got beat up. “I was getting my ass kicked every day,” he said. “It was OK. I learned that if I told them jokes I might not get beat.”

There’s nothing funny about having drug dealers for parents, but Kahn takes his life’s experience and spins a comedy routine. His delivery is often more funny than the material. “My parents had moved us there for business reasons,” he recently told an audience. “My dad was a young, struggling, heroin salesman.” His dad; now deceased, was convicted of possessing heroin in the 1950′s. He served six months.

As Kahn became older, he told the audience, he wanted to be with people like himself. Late one night, he heard a voice. ” ‘Kenny, this is Moses. You’ll find your people in law school.’ ” His jokes often have an edge that betray his own sense of passion for the law and the people he defends. “The system is totally equal unless you happen to be poor,” he said. “If you don’t have money, you will be appointed a public defender, I think this is your cue to grab your ankles.” Then he gives an impersonation of a police officer during a traffic stop in Beverly Hills. ‘Excuse me sir, you hit a small child a few blocks away. Now, I’m not going to give you ticket, but you’ve been dragging her on your bumper.’ Compare that with Rodney King. I could never figure out if they were protecting or serving him.”

After graduating law school in the late 60s, Kahn defended friends from his commune. “Living in a commune was enough to get busted,” he said. “No more than three unrelated people could be living together. Or someone would get busted for pot. I defended as many as 50 people at one time.” Through his connection with the counterculture, he started to defend anti-war protesters and draft dodgers. About that time, he started a free legal service at the Los Angeles Free Clinic. “I’ve always been a champion of the underdog and the under privileged,” he said. “Because of my background, I have sympathy for people who are poor and powerless.”

Kahn first gained notoriety when he defended Andrew Daulton Lee in an espionage case that was made into a movie “The Falcon and the Snowman.” Lee’s well known partner was Christopher J. Boyce. “I had the Justice Department, The FBI and the CIA on one side and me on the other. It was a major challenge.” Lee received a life sentence, but Kahn developed a reputation as a fighter who would take on the establishment. He also defended Larry Flynt when he was charged with desecrating an American flag by wearing it as a diaper. “He likes attention,” Kahn said of Flynt. “He’s a brilliant guy, a master showman.” A few years later, a mentally ill client plunged a knife into Kahn’s chest as they sat in a courtroom. Kahn excused his client’s behavior, saying he didn’t believe he was the intended victim. His client, John Laurence Proudfoot, 39, “wanted officers to kill him … to stop the voices in his head.”

Then there was the time Kahn tried to get someone into jail. Ron Kiczinski mailed a quarter pound of marijuana to President Clinton in an attempt to start a debate on the legalization of drugs. To make sure they knew who he was, he sent the package registered, and videotaped himself mailing it. “He called the White House demanding to be arrested,” Kahn said. “They sent a thank you card. We could not get him arrested.”

Liliana Leopardi, his secretary who describes herself as Kahn’s babysitter, called him an unusual boss. “This business is very tense,” she said. “He attacks it with a sense of humor, and it makes it easier to work for him.”

Behind the laughs, the law is serious business for Kenny Kahn. He is outraged at what he sees as the erosion of constitutional rights in the United States and blames the Supreme Court. “The Bill of Rights as we know it no longer exists,” he said. “They should give new justices a Constitution and a bottle of white-out. People have no idea how our Constitution is being raped. I have a lot of anger, but that translates well into comedy.”

The Comedy Magazine

Headliner Kenny Kahn

“It is not easy being a lawyer. I’m also single and that makes it worse. To get a date I have to lie and say I’m a used car salesman.”

“I’m from East Los Angeles. Everybody in my neighborhood was either Hispanic or Black, and I was the only Jew. I did not change that until I went to law school which is the natural habitat of the Jew.”

“In East Los Angeles a Hispanic driver is stopped for only three reasons. First if the car he is driving is not a used Chevy. Second, if the registration is up to date and lastly if there is only one kid in the car.”

“The presiding Federal judge in Los Angeles has a courtroom that is so massive he has to speak through a microphone. He often asks when I appear, ‘Do you have anything to say before I pass sentence on your client?’ I answer, ‘Aren’t we entitled to a trial first?’”

“This Federal judge is like God. I wish they would make him Pope. That way I would only have to kiss his ring.”

Westside Weekly

Santa Monica Lawyer Kenny Kahn Turns Comic After Dark

By Anna Marie Stolley

Kenny Kahn: By day, he’s a criminal defense lawyer, hard at work convincing juries to let his clients off the hook. But at night, Kahn faces an even tougher challenge, trying to make an audience laugh.

He’s a lawyer. He’s a stand up comedian. And he’s never short of material, relying on almost 30 years . . . Read more:  http://www.kennykahn.com/westside.asp

Kenny is the author of Carny Kid, Survival of a Young Thief – his life story.  www.kennykahn.com

Los Angeles Daily Journal

Joke-Peddling Lawyer Loathes Doing Day Job

By Garry Abrams

Take his job. Please. When a disgruntled, mentally unbalanced client stabbed him in the chest with an ice pick in 1987, criminal defense attorney Kenny Kahn decided that maybe it was time for a career change.

But to put it politely, Kahn has not made meteoric progress in switching jobs. Indeed, turtles look like supersonic jets by comparison. Fourteen years after the assault on him in the Torrance courthouse, Kahn is trying to make the leap from lawyer to stand-up comedian. “That’s sort of why I started my alternate career,” Kahn said, referring to the ice-pick episode that put him in hospital. “I hate dying.”  Read more:  http://www.kennykahn.com/dailyjournal.asp

SUNDAY MAY 1, 2005

A ‘Carny Kid’ Tells Students How He Beat the Odds An L.A. lawyer credits a teacher who ‘set off a spark in me’ for inspiring his journey from grifting to riches. Read more at:  http://www.kennykahn.com/article_times050105.asp

Saturday, October 18, 2008, Kenny Kahn will be the guest speaker at a luncheon held by the Los Angeles Paralegal Association at the L.A. Omni Hotel.  Author of Carny Kid, Survival of a Young Thief, an autobiography, Kenny rose to his position as a prominent Los Angeles based criminal defense attorney. With a case history as colorful as his past, Kenny has become well known for representing the famous and the infamous in a career that spans three decades.

Kahn has been featured on TV shows such as the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and “CNN Showbiz Today.” Radio appearances have included “CBS Network,” “KABC,” and “KMPC.” He has been featured in print by The Los Angeles Times, Associated Press and The Los Angeles Daily News among others.