Sam Kinison
| Sam Kinison | |
|---|---|
Kinison (left) with Rodney Dangerfield
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| Birth name | Samuel Burl Kinison |
| Born |
December 8, 1953 Yakima, Washington, United States |
| Died | April 10, 1992 (aged 38) Needles, California, United States |
| Years active | 1978–1992 |
| Genres | Black comedy, satire, observational comedy |
| Subject(s) | Human sexuality, current events, American politics, religion |
| Spouse |
Patricia Adkins (m. 1975; div. 1980) Terry Jean Marze (m. 1981; div. 1989) Malika Marie Souri (m. 1992) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | samkinison |
Samuel Burl "Sam" Kinison (December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was known for his intense, harsh and politically incorrect humor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were most often characterized by an intense style, similar to charismatic preachers, and punctuated by his trademark scream.
Samuel Burl Kinison was born in Yakima, Washington, the son of Marie Florence (née Morrow) and Samuel Earl Kinison, a Pentecostal preacher. The family moved to East Peoria, Illinois when Kinison was three months old. His father pastored several churches around the country, receiving little income. Kinison had two older brothers, Richard and Bill, and a younger brother, Kevin. His parents divorced when he was 11 and his brother Bill went to live with his father while Sam stayed with the rest of his family against his protestations. Bill described this as the root of much of Sam's anger.
Sam later attended East Peoria Community High School in East Peoria. He and his brothers emulated their father by becoming Pentecostal preachers. Kinison attended Pinecrest Bible Training Center in Salisbury Center, New York. His mother married another preacher and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Kinison lived for a while. He preached from the age of 17 to 24 and 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. His brother Bill, however, noted that "ironically, he had no stage presence" and he was not very successful at making money from preaching. After he and his first wife were divorced, he abandoned preaching and took up comedy as a profession.
Kinison began his career in Houston, Texas, where he performed in small clubs. He became a member of a comedic group at the Comedy Workshop, known as the Texas Outlaw Comics, that also included Bill Hicks, Ron Shock, Riley Barber, Steve Epstein, Andy Huggins, John Farneti, and Jimmy Pineapple. Hicks cited Kinison as a major influence on his comedic style, noting that "He was the first guy I ever saw to go on stage and not in any way ask the audience to like him." In 1980, Kinison moved to Los Angeles hoping to find work at The Comedy Store, but was first employed as a doorman. He soon developed a cocaine habit, quickly progressing to the freebase form, and struggled to make a foothold in the business until his brother Bill moved to Los Angeles to help manage his career.
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