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Samuel Sam Burl Kinison (December 8,
1953–April 10, 1992) was an American
stand-up comedian.  He was famous for his raunchy
humor and wild, colorful outfits.  A former
revival-style preacher, his standup routines were
most often characterized by intense, angry ranting
punctuated by a trademark primal scream.

==Early Life==

Kinison was born in Yakima, Washington, and
originally became a preacher, which shouldn't be a
surprise to most fans as his routines always
border on fire and brimstone style screaming.  He
was forced to leave preaching when he divorced his
wife, at which time he took up comedy.  Shortly
before his death he took to the pulpit one last
time.

==Comedy life==

Widely considered to be Kinison's breakthrough
performance would be his November 14, 1985
appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. 
David Letterman's introduction of Kinison would
prove to be prescient: Brace yourselves.  I'm not
kidding.  Sam Kinison.

Kinison might be considered a rock and roll
comedian since he occasionally was accompanied by
a touring band, as well as having a prodigious
appetite for recreational drug use|drugs and
alcohol.  In 1988, he had a hit song with his
novelty version of the Troggs' Wild Thing.  The
video for his version of Wild Thing played like a
who's who of rock artists, from bad boy Billy
Idol, and rock guitar god Steve Vai, to guitar god
Frank Zappa's son Dweezil Zappa, and a raunchy
roll on the mat dance with Jessica Hahn.  Sam
hammered out some licks on a custom Stratocaster
with an airbrush picture of his face frozen in his
famous scream.  One of his albums featured four
songs performed by him and his band, and during
one notable Tonight Show performance, he delivered
what began as a beautifully rendered version of
Elvis Presley's Are You Lonesome Tonight, but
which descended into angry ranting during the
spoken breakdown.

Some of Kinison's most spontaneous moments came
during his frequent appearances on Howard Stern's
radio show. He made an angry phone call on-air to
Bobcat Goldthwait. He embarrassed comedienne Judy
Tenuta to the point of driving her off the show,
as he sat in with Penn Jillette, Chuck McCann, and
Jack Riley. His most notorious stunt resulted in a
highly entertaining on-air feud with Stern: he
made an on-air promise to bring to the show
members of the rock-n-roll band Bon Jovi, with
whom Stern was feuding, but they never showed up.
It turned out he had never had the intention of
bringing them to the show. Stern's reaction was
swift and vindictive, bringing about the eventual
apology of Kinison, but not before one of the
show's funniest moments in which comedian Gilbert
Gottfried and Stern both savaged an emotionally
charged phone call Stern had with Kinison, during
which both stars used the words man and dude
toward one another so often that Gottfried and
Stern went into stitches on hearing the playback.
Stern and Kinison eventually made up, and paired
on Stern's pay-per-view special, U.S. Open Sores.

Even as Kinison sometimes seemed a romantic at
heart, his routines mostly expressed a dim view of
love, possibly as a result of a string of failed
relationships, but more plausibly  because of the
kind of women he attracted with his wit, charm,
big heart and large, loose wallet. He was known as
an extraordinary tipper, often tipping 100% of the
check.

==Death==

He was working to get himself clean and sober in
the months immediately before his death and
married his girlfriend Malika Souiri in 1992.  But
just six days after the wedding, he was killed
when his car was struck by a drunk driving|drunk
driver on a two lane highway in the Mojave Desert
near Needles, California|Needles, California. 

It is said that just before his death Kinison
wandered from the car and was heard talking to
himself. He is said to have said I'm not ready.
followed by a pause then saying a resigned
Alright.

Ironically, Kinison had often belittled the
dangers of drunken driving in his comedic skits
with statements like:
: You're just trying to get home, right? 
: Yeah…give me a bus pass… 
: Right! 
and 
: It's the only way to get the goddamn car back to
the house!

==Famous bits==

;An end to world hunger.
:Kinison talked about the people that go over to
Ethiopia and film commercials to get you to send
money to help feed the kids; meanwhile the filming
crew is five feet away and maybe they could give
the kids a sandwich. He claimed that if you really
want to help starving Ethiopian kids, then stop
sending your money.  Instead, send some U-Haul
trucks to take the people where the food is. He
went on to explain to the Ethiopians that they
can't plant food in sand, and in a hundred years
it will still be sand. He would end the routine by
screaming We have deserts in America, we just
don't live in them, assholes!

;Bringing forth liquor from the barren land
:Kinison also had a reputation for coming through
to keep the party going.  Once, after two shows
and the following party, all his hotel mini bars
had run dry, so he went down to the main bar but
was told that after legal serving hours, the bar
was locked and the hotel manager didn't even have
the key. So, Sam found a phone book and called a
local limousine service. He asked All your limos
have stocked bars, right? Well, yes,” the
limo service answered. So Sam ordered a fleet of
limousines to restock the party.   

;Sex
:He often claimed I'm just trying to help and
would offer the audience suggestions for stronger
relationships and better sex.  One of his more
notorious comic routines included the suggestion
that while performing cunnilingus one ought to
lick the letters of the alphabet.  He even went so
far as to suggest amyl nitrate by the bed side, in
one routine.

==Trivia==

*Kinison was considered for the role of Al Bundy
in the sitcom Married... with Children, but
television producer|producers thought he would be
too controversial, so Ed O'Neill won the part.
However, Kinison did make an appearance on the
series as an angel during a Christmas episode when
Al had an It's a Wonderful Life-like moment.
*He had a supporting role as a history teacher in
the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School.
*Following Sam's death, Howard Stern has had
Kinison's brother, Bill Kinison, perform the voice
of Sam from beyond the grave.

==Filmography==
*Charlie Hoover (1991) (TV) ... Hugh
*Three Amigos! (1986) ... Mexican Bandit
(uncredited)
*Back to School (1986) ... Professor Terguson
*Savage Dawn (1985) ... Barber