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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Leader of the Banned

Sam Kinison

Warner Bros. Records · Album · 1990 · 49 min

A Las Vegas comedy set bolted to a glam-metal vanity project.

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Sam Kinison didn’t just want to be a comic; he wanted to be a rock star. Leader of the Banned is the artifact that proves it. Split straight down the middle, the release dedicates Side A to his trademark high-volume stand-up and hands Side B over to a full-blown glam-metal vanity project. Backed by musicians like Slash, C.C. DeVille, and Randy Jackson, the back half of the record features the comedian shrieking his way through covers of “Highway to Hell” and “Mississippi Queen.”

Recorded at Bally’s in Las Vegas, the comedy portion captures a performer leaning entirely into his own chaos. He tears through tracks like “Casual Users of Terrorism,” “Old People Must Die,” and “Grilled Cheese Sandwich,” deploying his signature Pentecostal outbursts at every turn. By 1990, his confrontational material was drawing organized protests outside his shows, while his offstage life unspooled into a string of car crashes and substance issues. The audio carries that friction, capturing a high-intensity rant from a man burning through a sudden surplus of fame and controversy.

Reviewers were predictably mixed on the final product. Critics praised the Vegas material but largely wrote off the musical covers as a misguided flex.

The set list

3 bits

  1. Jerry's Bastard Kid

    Kinison brings wheelchair-using comedian Doug Bady from his 'Outlaws of Comedy' onstage to sharply criticize Jerry Lewis and his annual MDA telethon.

  2. Casual Users of Terrorism

    Kinison delivers political remarks touching on the war on drugs and proposing drastic foreign policy measures.

  3. Phone Call from Hell

    After an audience member complains that his former partner slept with his best friend, Kinison places an actual phone call from the stage to scream obscenities and berate her.

How it plays

Tone
Raunchy, abrasive, expletive-heavy, and aggressive.
On stage
A 'rock & roll comic' known for intense tirades and distinctive screams, though notably restrained here with his trademark screaming appearing only a few times.
Pace
A mix of standup pacing with uncharacteristically sparse use of his trademark high-volume screaming, combined with half the record devoted to hard-rock musical performances.
About
war on drugs, terrorism, telethons and Jerry Lewis, relationship betrayal and infidelity, aging

What the critics said

Met with negative to lukewarm reviews; critics found the stand-up routine mediocre or disappointing and heavily criticized the second side of classic rock/hair metal covers, though Doug Bady's appearance was singled out as a highlight.

In the room: Live Vegas crowd participating in audience exchanges about personal grievances.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: allmusic.com, kinison.com, discogs.com, ew.com, northernstar.info, latimes.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Released after backlash and record label disclaimer stickers/AIDS awareness pamphlets on his previous album; recorded in Las Vegas during the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon weekend while Kinison was attending AA and cutting out alcohol.

Details

Released
Taped
Bally's, Las Vegas
Runtime
49 min
Where
Warner Bros. Records (album)
Topics
After
Family Entertainment Hour (1991)

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