Back From Hell: A Tribute to Sam Kinison

Frankly, with Why Did We Laugh? already on the market, I wasn’t quite sure that the world really needed another “documentary” style film about Sam Kinison. But as a longtime Kinison nut, I had to see it and I’m glad that I did. While the various talking heads (from Denis Leary to Lewis Black) don’t add anything extremely interesting (although brother Bill Kinison has a great Billy Idol story regarding the “Wild Thing” video), the classic Kinison standup footage makes Back From Hell: A Tribute to Sam Kinison must-see material.

Like Why Did We Laugh?, there’s plenty of footage from many of the Kinison videos/specials that have been well circulated through the years. But predictably, there’s also a good amount of “previously unseen” standup footage from the Kinison archives and it makes this tribute special a power hour of viewing for Kinison fans.  All of the classic bits are here (move to where the food is!) and Back From Hell exposes once again what a unique comic talent Sam Kinison was and it’s another reminder of how much his presence is missed.

Back From Hell premieres tonight at 10pm on Comedy Central. The uncut/uncensored DVD will be in stores on Tuesday.


8 Comments on “Back From Hell: A Tribute to Sam Kinison

  1. Oh, Sam, how we miss you. I was lucky enough to see him live in concert about a year or so before he died, when he was at the top of his game. And as much as I dislike organized religion, some of his most captivating moments were when he “channeled” his preacher-from-the-pulpit past as part of his comedy routine … to me, that was proof that he was put on this earth to make the world laugh.

  2. Seeing him live New Years Eve in LA as he called some guys girlfirend and racked her over the coals on speaker phone to thousands at the Universal Theatre was a highlight of my life. This is just good memory pain.

  3. That’s one of his classic bits, for sure! There are a couple of samples of
    that on this new DVD..

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