Son of a Preacher Man

Sinbad opens his third HBO special by recounting his brief, unsuccessful stint in the Voices of Faith choir, establishing the loose storytelling rhythm that made him a mid-90s fixture. By 1996, he was starring in major studio movies like “Houseguest” and “Jingle All the Way”. On stage, he strips away the Hollywood apparatus, relying entirely on his conversational pacing and physical act-outs. Filmed at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, the city where he went to college, the set captures a working professional operating at the height of his mainstream visibility. He keeps the material completely free of swearing. The routine zeroes in on the everyday indignities of bad vacations, the mechanics of skiing and scuba diving, and the specific absurdities of women’s lingerie.