Sam
Kinison
Formerly a preacher, Sam Kinison
became one of the the loudest and rudest comedians of the
20th century. For some, his name conjures up images of a
hard-partying, hard-drinking wild thing. His views on
religion, women, and world hunger managed to put him on
the shock comedy map. However, the fact is this demon from
hell was an angel in disguise.
Born on December 8th, 1953 in
Yakima, Washington, Sam Kinison's beginnings were fairly
innocent. His father was a Pentacostal preacher, and the
family lived in a church in Peoria, Illinois. Sam and his
brothers followed in their father's footsteps by touring
churches across the Bible Belt and earning a decent
living. But that wasn't enough for Sam. As his preachings
became increasingly too much for the average churchgoer,
he took his thoughts and ideas to comedy clubs.
Sam Kinison became one of the
great stand-up comedians of the 1980's. His life became
the classic image of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. With
the help of friends like Rodney Dangerfield, his
popularity rose to incredible heights with HBO cable
specials, frequent appearances on Saturday Night Live and
In Living Color, and even a starring role on Charlie
Hoover, a short-lived Fox sitcom.
Sam's shows sold out like arena
rock concerts, and he quickly earned the respect of the
biggest rock acts of the late eighties, like Motley Crue,
Guns n' Roses, and Ozzy Osbourne, most of whom appeared in
Sam's music videos. Hard-drinking and hard-partying became
a major part of his act, until it became his downfall.
After realizing that drink and drug were killing him, he
decided to clean up his life. He sobered up and married
beautiful Malika Souiri, who appeared with him in his
shows and in his music videos. Ironically, on their way to
a sold-out show in Laughlin, Nevada, the newlyweds' car
was struck head-on by a teenaged drunk driver, injuring
passenger Malika, and killing Sam in 1992. Although Sam
has left us physically, his spirit continues on.
