How to Talk Dirty and Influence People political conventions he perceived as having hypocritical tendencies, and widened the boundaries of free speech. The title is a parody of the 1936 bestseller "How to Win Friends and Influence People", by Dale Carnegie. How to Talk Dirty and Influence People How to Talk Dirty and Influence People is an autobiography by Lenny Bruce, an American satirist and comedian, who died in 1966 at age 40 of a drug overdose. At the request of Hugh Hefner and with the aid of Paul Krassner, Bruce wrote the work in serialized format for "Playboy" in 1964 and 1965. Shortly thereafter it was
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (memoir) published that same year. Young's book does not reference either Carnegie's or Tressler's works. The aggregate site iDreamBooks lists 12 mixed reviews. The book was adapted into a one-man play that played on London's West End for several months each in 2003 and 2004. Young was initially played by Jack Davenport, then by Young himself. A feature-length film adaptation, also titled "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People", was released in October 2008. It is directed by Robert B. Weide and stars Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, and Megan Fox. The film is loosely based on the book, turning the plot