12/08/2025
A true GOAT!!
Remembering American stand-up comedian and actor Samuel Burl Kinison (December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992). A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinctive scream. Initially performing for free, Kinison became a regular fixture at The Comedy Store, where he met and eventually befriended such comics as Robin Williams and Jim Carrey.
Kinison's comedy was crass observational humor, especially towards women and dating, and his popularity grew quickly, leading to appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with David Letterman, and Saturday Night Live. At the peak of his career in early 1992, he was killed in a car crash, aged 38.
Kinison received a Grammy nomination in 1988 for the single "Wild Thing" from his Have You Seen Me Lately? album, and a posthumous win in 1994 for Best Spoken Comedy Album, Live from Hell
In August 1985, his big break came on HBO's Rodney Dangerfield's Ninth Annual Young Comedians Special.
On April 10, 1992, Kinison was driving his Pontiac Turbo Trans Am when it was struck head-on on Needles Highway northwest of Needles, California, by a pickup truck driven by a juvenile, who had been drinking alcohol
After the crash, Kinison appeared stable, with only minor visible facial wounds. He got out of his vehicle and sat down on the side of the road, where he soon died from internal injuries. His head had smashed the windshield, because he was not wearing his seat belt
