Hicks cited Kinison as a major influence on his comedic style, noting that "He was the first guy I ever saw to go on stage and not in any way ask the audience to like him." In 1980, Kinison moved to Los Angeles hoping to find work at The Comedy Store, but was first employed as a doorman. He became a member of a comedic group at the Comedy Workshop, known as the Texas Outlaw Comics, that included Bill Hicks, Ron Shock, Riley Barber, Steve Epstein, Andy Huggins, John Farneti, and Jimmy Pineapple. Kinison began his career in Houston, Texas, where he performed in small clubs. After Kinison and his first wife were divorced, he abandoned preaching and took up comedy. His brother Bill, however, noted that "ironically, he had no stage presence" and he was not very successful at making money from preaching. He preached from the age of 17 to 24 and recordings of his sermons reveal that he used a " fire and brimstone" style, punctuated with shouts similar to the ones he would later use in his stand-up routines. His mother married another preacher and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Kinison lived for a while. Between 19, Kinison attended Pinecrest Bible Training Center, an interdenominational, unaccredited, three-year bible school located in Salisbury Center, New York. Kinison and his brothers emulated their father by becoming Pentecostal preachers. Sam later attended East Peoria Community High School in East Peoria. Bill described this as the root of much of Sam's anger. His parents divorced when Kinison was 11 and his brother Bill went to live with his father while Kinison stayed with the rest of the family (against his protestations). Kinison had two older brothers, Richard and Bill, and a younger brother, Kevin. His father pastored several churches around the country, receiving little income. At the age of three years, Kinison was hit by a truck, which left him with brain damage.
The family moved to East Peoria, Illinois, when Kinison was three months old. Samuel Burl Kinison was born in Yakima, Washington, on December 8, 1953, the son of Marie Florence ( née Morrow) and Samuel Earl Kinison, a Pentecostal preacher.
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. Kinison died in 1992 due to internal injuries after an automobile crash in California. Kinison's comedy was crass observational humor, especially towards women and dating, and his popularity grew quickly, earning him appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live.
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. 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. Samuel Burl Kinison ( / ˈ k ɪ n ɪ s ən/ Decem– April 10, 1992) was an American stand-up comedian and actor.