Love him or hate him, the comedy world has yet to recover from
\nthe death of Sam Kinison.<\/p>\n
When Kinison was killed in a car crash in 1992, the scene lost
\none of its most vocal satirists. His abrasive, caustic style often
\ncalled our attention to subjects other comics didn’t want to tread
\non. (Ironically, Kinison ripped world hunger organizations on his
\ndebut album
\nLouder Than Hell<\/i>; over the past two weeks, the
\nChicago Tribune<\/i> has run investigative reports on these
\nagencies. Too bad Kinison scooped them by a decade.)<\/p>\n
After his death,
\nLive From Hell<\/i> was more than a scream beyond the grave – it
\nwas a fitting memorial to the comedian. And it’s an album I
\nconstantly find myself drawn back to, even though I’ve listened to
\nit over 50 times over the last five years.<\/p>\n
Recorded in Houston, Kinison is captured in non-stop rare form.
\nIf there were any golden calves left that Kinison hadn’t defrocked,
\nhe found them on this album. No one – from Captain Kangaroo to
\nJeffrey Dahmer – was safe from his often biting, often
\nobscenity-laden tirade. (Obviously, this one ain’t for the kids –
\nthough the adults should find this incredibly funny.)<\/p>\n
But there is a message behine the shock. Fresh off the incident
\nwhere Paul “Pee-Wee Herman” Reubens was arrested in an adult
\ntheater, Kinison calls for “Pee-Wee Herman” to be executed: “Make
\nan example of him to other people involved in children’s
\nprogramming.” And in one sense, you find yourself agreeing with the
\nhidden message that those who do children’s television should be
\nmore careful what they involve themselves in.<\/p>\n
Offended? Lighten up, gang – it’s a joke. Kinison no doubt was
\nkidding when he called for executing the homeless in America, but
\nhe did bring to light a more serious question: How can we allow
\npeople to be homeless in a country like America, the land of
\nopportuinity? When you’re not laughing, Kinison has you
\nthinking.<\/p>\n
Some of the comedy misses the mark – such as an alleged liaison
\nwith Penny Marshall and some of the barbs against the gay community
\n(though it is a little tamer than earlier routines). But Kinison
\nmanages to pull off a strong 50-minute routine with only a few
\nfluctuations – probably better than some of his detractors thought
\nhe would be able to do.<\/p>\n
If you’re looking for the traditional shouts that Kinison
\npeppered his act with, they’re not as sharp as they used to be –
\npossibly the only concession Kinison was making to age.<\/p>\n
\nLive From Hell<\/i>‘s most poignant moment comes at the end of
\nthe album, after Kinison has left the stage… a fan yells
\nout,”Sam! Where are you?” How true, indeed…<\/p>\n
Kinison’s style of comedy was definitely not for everyone, but \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6417],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38762","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-sam-kinison","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38762"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nif you can get past the shock value of the material and enjoy it
\nfor what it is – biting, hilarious social commentary – then
\nLive From Hell<\/i> is an album worth searching out. (For that
\nmatter, long-time fans of Kinison may wish to visit the
\nofficial home page<\/a> and sign a
\npetition asking Warner Brothers to finally release
\nLouder Than Hell<\/i> on compact disc.)<\/p>\n