> Suddenly in the Eighties, we started getting
> comics with a real reactionary edge to them, like Kinison or Andrew Dice
> Clay. (Pryor and Tomlin had pretty much moved away from standup, but
> Carlin was really re-energized by Kinison.)
> What matters to me is whether the guy can make me laugh. I mean, I
> probably wouldn't have agreed with Sam Kinision on trade imbalances or
> the Gulf War, but the guy made me laugh harder than damn near any other
> comedian I can think of.
I wasn't crazy about Kinison at first, but he grew on me (Michael O'Donoghue gave me his insights as to why Kinison mattered -- "What a beast!"), and if you watch his early stand-up, you see his anger about the hypocrisies of evangelism expressed in evangelical tones, which made sense since Kinison was a boy preacher working the small church and tent circuit. That's what made him unique, even though his takes on African starvation and women (primarily marriage) did not endear him to most lefties I knew.
According to his brother, Bill, Kinison still believed in God; and when he lay dying on the side of the road after his car accident, one of Kinison's friends looked into his eyes which were staring off into space as Kinison said something to the effect of, "Yes. Yes. Okay." Then he died. Wonder what he saw, or who he was talking to . . .
DP