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I was in high school when Kinison died. Watching stand-up comedians was a regular event with my family. It's weird to think of it now considering how crass most of it was. Kinison either hosted or was a guest on some of the shows we watched. I can't say I found him funny, but clearly alot of people did.

When he died the news reports relayed how immediately after the car accident Kinison was looking up in the sky, pleading "why? why?!" and saying how he was afraid to die. Then, whomever Kinison was conversing with, Sam started to become calm and accepting of his death.

Here's a recent animated short about Norm MacDonald. Norm talks about the two approaches to comedy that Kinison taught him... It also describes what happened after Kinison's car accident.

It includes a touching song by Billy Joe Shaver.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMOY_ydCfwE

Sam Kinison was a former Pentecostal preacher who became an atheist, and when you hear that, you can understand his stand-up style, where he would yell and scream; his style was very "Pentecostal preacher". A lot of his humor was militantly anti-religious

Always felt bad for the watermellons at the end of his shows ... Hilarious ! Did not know he was a Pentecostal preacher, but the style fits.

Watermelons? Aren't you thinking of Gallagher?

I think so too.

I never thought he was funny. He was profane and obnoxious. Norm McDonald, on the other hand, had a hilarious deadpan manner. Even touchy subjects were handled with aplomb. I always enjoyed the humor about OJ Simpson in particular.

Riverboat wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2026 11:11 am I never thought he was funny. He was profane and obnoxious. Norm McDonald, on the other hand, had a hilarious deadpan manner. Even touchy subjects were handled with aplomb. I always enjoyed the humor about OJ Simpson in particular.

Norm MacDonald was a master of understated sarcasm. He loved saying outrageous things and then sitting and laughing at the reaction from the people who didn't recognize the sarcasm. I loved it when he told Barbara Walters, "Bill Clinton killed people," just to watch her reaction. A master troll.

Norm's joke about Harrison Schmitt not getting to walk on the moon is one of the funniest bits I've seen in years.

"They've got a dune buggy?!?!"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykza4L41N4s

Sam Kinison's brother, Bill, tells a story about when Sam was up and coming and getting some popularity. A couple of "wise guys" were in the audience who really took a liking to Sam. These mafia underlings started to hang out with Sam and they'd use all different types of drugs together getting blitzed out of their minds.

At one point they told Sam that they wanted to manage him. Sam apologized and said he can't leave his current manager. It wasn't what the mobsters wanted to hear. They beat Sam up and warned him that he better watch his back.

Sam becomes terrified that he's going to be wacked and so he stops leaving his apartment. Rodney Dangerfield calls Sam and asks if he's still interested in performing at his comedy club. Sam tells him that he's terrified to leave the house because some mobsters are out to get him. Dangerfield says, "what are their names?"... Sam only knew them by nicknames. Rodney says, "okay, give me a bit.... stay by your phone.".

Rodney calls him back alittle bit later and says, "okay, it's all take care of. They'll come by your place and apologize. So you're still on for performing right?".

And sure enough, the two mobsters come to Sam's apartment, hat in hand, and they express their apologies for tormenting him.

Now the other weird thing about this whole instance is that in the apartment right above Sam's a random guy was killed one night... with a bullet in the back of the head. This occurred between the points when Sam offended the mobsters and his talk with Dangerfield. These two mobsters were known for getting pretty buzzed. Bill states that it's believed that that man was killed when a hit went wrong and got the wrong floor.

But either way.... talk about the type of pull that Dangerfield had. Knowing who to contact to get the matter resolved that quickly.