Sam Kinison

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Sam Kinison
Sam Kinison on the cover of Rolling Stone
Born December 8, 1953(1953-12-08)
Yakima, Washington, U.S.
Died April 10, 1992 (aged 38)
Needles, California, U.S.
Medium stand-up, television, music
Nationality American
Years active 1978 - 1992
Genres Black comedy, Satire, Observational comedy, Insult comedy
Subject(s) human sexuality, current events, American politics, pop culture, religion
Influences Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor
Influenced Bill Hicks, Jeff Duran, Chris Rock, Jim Carrey, Joe Rogan, Tom Rhodes, Dez Reed, Paulie Shore
Website SamKinison.org


Samuel "Sam" Burl Kinison (December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Kinison was known for his vitriolic humor. A former revival-style preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were most often characterized by a intense style, similar to revival preachers, punctuated by his trademark scream.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Yakima, Washington, Kinison was the son of a Pentecostal preacher. His father pastored several churches around the country, receiving little income. Sam later attended high school in East Peoria, Illinois. He also lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a while with his parents. He followed in his father's footsteps as a Pentecostal preacher before becoming a comedian. Recordings of his sermons reveal that he used a "fire and brimstone" style, punctuated with shouts similar to the ones he would later use in his stand-up routines. He attended Pinecrest Bible Training Center in Salisbury Center, New York[1]. After he and his first wife were divorced, he left preaching and took up comedy as a profession.

[edit] Career

Kinison's appearance on HBO's Rodney Dangerfield's Ninth Annual Young Comedians Special in the summer of 1984 is widely considered to be his breakthrough performance. Later, during Kinison's appearance on Late Night with David Letterman, Letterman's introduction of Kinison warned his audience: "Brace yourselves. I'm not kidding. Please welcome Sam Kinison."

Kinison played on his former role as a Bible-preaching evangelist, taking satirical and sacrilegious shots at The Bible, Christianity and famous Christian evangelist scandals of his day. Kinison's daring comedy helped shoot him to stardom. On several videos of his stand-up routines, a shot of his personalized license plate reveals the words "EX REV".

Kinison made his big screen debut in Rodney Dangerfield's 1986 film Back to School, playing a short-tempered teacher.

Kinison was associated with the Los Angeles rock music scene and was occasionally accompanied by a touring band. He also gained a reputation as having a prodigious appetite for drugs and alcohol.[2]

In 1988, Kinison recorded a novelty version of The Troggs' "Wild Thing", which appeared on his album Have You Seen Me Lately? The record didn't make the Billboard Hot 100, but the video was a hit on MTV, as it featured cameos of Rodney Dangerfield, as well as many well-known rock musicians, including Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Slash, Billy Idol, Steve Vai, Dweezil Zappa, Richie Sambora, and Tommy Lee, and a raunchy "roll on the mat" dance with Jessica Hahn. Also in 1988, Kinison appeared in the music video for the Bon Jovi single "Bad Medicine".

Kinison appeared in the memorable episode It's a Bundyful Life: Part 2 (1989) of Married with Children, as Al Bundy's guardian angel, who shows him what life is like without him born. (a take off of It's a Wonderful Life).

During one notable The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson performance, he delivered what began as a straightforward version of Elvis Presley's "Are You Lonesome Tonight", which descended into angry ranting during the spoken breakdown, and then segueing back into a straightforward sung ending.

Some of Kinison's most spontaneous moments came during his frequent appearances on The Howard Stern Show. He made an angry phone call on-air to Bobcat Goldthwait, and he embarrassed comedienne Judy Tenuta to the point of driving her off the show. His most notorious stunt resulted in an on-air feud with Stern: he made an on-air promise to bring to the show members of the band Bon Jovi, with whom Stern was feuding, but they did not show up, nor did Kinison. Stern's reaction was swift and vindictive, and Kinison eventually apologized, but not before comedian Gilbert Gottfried and Stern savaged an emotionally charged phone call between Stern and Kinison, in which both stars used the words "man" and "dude" so often that the playback was used as a bit on the show.

Stern and Kinison eventually made up and paired on Stern's pay-per-view special, U.S. Open Sores. In the mid-1990s, Stern purchased the movie rights to Kinison's biography 'reported[3] that HBO would make Brother Sam with Kinison being played by Dan Fogler.

In 1991, Kinison starred in the Fox Network TV show Charlie Hoover, in which he played the inner voice of the title character, appearing as a 12" man. The show lasted only seven episodes before being canceled. Kinison also made an appearance on Married With Children as an angel during a Christmas episode.[4]

[edit] Death

On April 10, 1992, six days after he married his girlfriend Malika Souiri, Sam Kinison was killed when his white 1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am was struck on U.S. Route 95, four miles (6 km) north of Interstate 40 and several miles west of Needles, California, by a pickup truck driven by a 17-year-old male who had been drinking alcohol.[5][6] His wife survived the accident. Kinison was later found to have traces of cocaine, prescription tranquilizers, and codeine in his bloodstream.[7]

Kinison is interred with family members at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His grave marker includes an unattributed quote, "In another time and place he would have been called prophet."

[edit] Cultural legacy

[edit] In music

  • Rapper Esham samples Kinison on the song "How Do I Plead to Homicide," included on his album Judgement Day.
  • A rant from Sam Kinison is featured in the song "The Kid Goes Wild" from the band Babylon A.D. The song appears on the Robocop 2 movie soundtrack.
  • Heavy metal band Anthrax sampled one of Kinison's famous screams in their 1987 song "I'm the Man".
  • Rap band Insane Clown Posse mentions Sam Kinison in their song "Fearless" stating "I'd let Sam Kinison borrow my car if he was still around".

[edit] On film and television

[edit] Discography

[edit] Videography

[edit] Filmography

[edit] TV appearances

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.megiloth.com/thoughts_and_opinions/social_commentary/samkinison.htm
  2. ^ Sam Kinison, television biograhy from the Biography Channel, 12/28/08.
  3. ^ Brother Sam set for HBO
  4. ^ http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-synopsis/married-with-children-it's-a-bundyful-life-part-2/
  5. ^ "Sam Kinison, 38, Comedian, Dies; Wife Injured in Head-On Collision", New York Times, April 12, 1992
  6. ^ "Teen in Crash Used Alcohol, CHP Says", Los Angeles Times, April 14, 1992
  7. ^ "Tranquilizers, Cocaine Found in Kinison's System", Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1992

[edit] External links

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