Fiction

the view you are presenting is where and when he left the conversation. More of an accident than a deliberate and planned take down of social expectations and demands like Richard Pryor and George Carlin had going and later of course Dave Chappelle.
By the time I knew of Lenny he had been eclipsed. I think his recognition was about making his remarks to an audience in public, using the forbidden language of the day. Ginsberg has also been dropped from the conversation.