Sam Kinison, An American Classic

I loved Sam Kinison‘s sense of humor and still mourn his passing, more than sixteen years after the fact.

His intelligence, timing, energy, twisted perspective, emotional pain, vocal dynamics and weird hair all worked for me.

One of my favorite movie scenes is the one he did with Rodney Dangerfield in the 1986 film Back To School. “I’m going to keep my eye on you.”

This video clip (sorry about the quality) is from his first network television appearance on Late Night With David Letterman in 1984. As Dave said in introducing Sam that night, “Brace yourselves. I’m not kidding.”