Sam Kinison

Sam Kinison
Kinison (left) with Rodney Dangerfield
Birth name	Samuel Burl Kinison
Born	(1953-12-08)December 8, 1953 Yakima, Washington, U.S.
Died	April 10, 1992(1992-04-10) (aged 38) Needles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Memorial Park Cemetery, Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Years active	1978–1992
Genres	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 Souiri ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	1
Website	samkinison.org

Samuel Burl Kinison (/ˈkɪnɪsən/ KIN-iss-ən; December 8, 1953 – April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. A former Pentecostal preacher, he performed stand-up routines that were characterized by intense sudden tirades, punctuated with his distinctive scream, similar to charismatic preachers. 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, earning him 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.^[1][2]