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Brick Wall Comedy

Live From Hell

Sam Kinison

Priority Records · Album · 1993 · 53 min

The Grammy-winning final album from the famously loud comedian.

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Live From Hell arrived a year after Sam Kinison’s death, capturing the comedian at full volume right as the cultural tide was turning against his brand of stand-up. The posthumous album relies on his established formula: winding up a grievance about geopolitics or dating until he has no choice but to deploy the scream that made him famous.

Recorded in Houston, Texas, the 54-minute set functions as a final document of Kinison’s aggressive worldview. He targets the first Gulf War on “100 Hour War,” mocks pop culture on “Execution for Pee Wee,” and voices everyday annoyances on tracks like “The Pee Trough” and “Cable T.V.” The entertainment industry was already shifting away from 1980s excess by the time the album dropped in 1993, but the recording still earned Kinison a final nod, winning the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album.

The set list

6 bits

  1. Execution for Pee Wee

    Calls for Paul Reubens to be executed following his adult theater arrest to make an example for children's programming hosts.

  2. The Pee Trough

    Rails against the indignities of public urinals and mocks an elderly man struggling and groaning to urinate.

  3. I Missed the Joan Rivers Show

    Argues that his showbiz unreliability pales in comparison to scandalous criminal antics by rock and funk stars like Rick James, Billy Preston, and Axl Rose.

  4. Captain Kangaroo

    Imagines host Bob Keeshan feeling trapped after decades in children's television and offers an X-rated definition of CBS.

  5. J.F.K.

    Declares John F. Kennedy his favorite president because of his romantic liaisons with icons like Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Angie Dickinson.

  6. Rap Sucks

    Attacks 2 Live Crew and rap music while defending classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones.

How it plays

Tone
Caustic, abrasive, vulgar, jingoistic, and irreverent.
On stage
Loud, angry, offensive, and caustic rock-and-roll comedian known for trademark shrieking and intense tirades.
Pace
High-volume, aggressive, and relentless, punctuated by screaming outbursts.
About
television, politics, music, sex and relationships, Persian Gulf War, current events and scandals

What the critics said

Polarized; unfavorably reviewed by the Los Angeles Times and PopMatters as dated, mean-spirited, and dependent on screaming over wit, while praised by AllMusic and Daily Vault as a strong final document of Kinison's provocative style.

In the room: Fervently enthusiastic and highly encouraging, laughing and shouting approval in response to offensive material.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, deseret.com, allmusic.com, latimes.com, popmatters.com, dailyvault.com.

Backstory

Recorded six months prior to Kinison's fatal car accident in 1992; the material reflected the era of the Persian Gulf War, the fall of the Soviet Union, and pop culture scandals of the early 1990s.

Details

Released
Taped
1991, Laff Stop Comedy Club, Houston
Runtime
53 min
Where
Priority Records (album)
Honors
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album (1994)
Topics
Before
Family Entertainment Hour (1991)

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