Laugh Track: Sam Kinison – Fire and Brimstone

Many people have said that Sam Kinison saw himself as a prophet, which seems like an apt description considering that he was once a preacher. His parents were preachers, so it was only natural that their son follow in their footsteps and become a preacher too.

How did he transform himself from a Pentecostal preacher into one of the most hardcore comedians of all time? Well, if you think about it, preaching and stand up aren’t too far from each other. They both involve standing up in front of a crowd and entertaining them. Kinison used his father’s fire and brimstone preaching style as a template for his stand up. Recordings of some of his sermons reveal that even as a preacher, he would shout at the audience and get them riled up and excited. The best way to describe Kinison’s stand up would be to call it confrontational, but that doesn’t quite cover it. He would literally assault his audience.

Although he started performing stand up in Texas in the late 1970s, it wasn’t until Rodney Dangerfield discovered him and featured him on his Young Comedians special that his career finally took off. The special aired in the summer of 1984 on HBO and it was the first taste that most people got of Sam Kinison. When Rodney Dangerfield introduced him he told the audience, “Brace yourselves. I’m not kidding. Please welcome Sam Kinison.” Also featured in the same special were Bob Sagat and Maurice LaMarche (who would go on to a successful voice over career, including voicing Brian on the television show Pinky and the Brain).

Kinison’s profile continued to rise after a series of successful appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Howard Stern Show. Kinison would frequently call in to The Howard Stern Show and embarrass other comedians or whoever happened to be on the show that day. In 1986, he hosted Saturday Night Live and appeared a number of films, including Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield.

Besides his stand up, Kinison was known for his addiction to both drugs and alcohol, which both fueled the legend of his rock and roll persona and brought about his early demise. In 1992, Kinison was driving his car when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver. When they performed an autopsy on him, they found cocaine and painkillers in his blood.