Sam Kinison and the Afterlife

The Deep End #22

Two of my favorite things in life are stand-up comedy and thinking about what happens after we die. They’re more similar than you think. Both leave me with soiled underwear—one by means of pissing myself with laughter, and the other due to shit stains induced by fear. I’ll let you ponder which one is which.

Anyway. This brings us to the subject of this week’s Deep End. He’s one of the greatest comics of all time. I’m talking, of course, about Sam Kinison.

If you ask any stand-up comic who the greats are, Kinison will usually be included in their list. Joe Rogan, who I’m mentioning for the third post in a row, usually brings him up when discussing the art of stand-up with most of the comics who appear on his podcast.

Sam Kinison killed audiences with his intense bits and his famous scream. I’ll give you a bit of background on him quick. Surprisingly, his first stab at a career wasn’t in comedy. He initially started off as a preacher. I guess the guy was in tune with God, which we’ll get to shortly. Most of his sermons were spent with him screaming about fire and brimstone. When that didn’t work out, he switched to the next best thing: stand-up comedy.

He launched his comedy career in 1978, and by 1985, after appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and an HBO comedy special, he had gotten his break. Sadly though, at the height of his fame in 1992, Kinison was killed in a car crash when he was just 38.

Let’s take a moment of silence on our part and watch him perform one of his more famous bits in remembrance of the man.

After I’ve been engaged for a little over a year, I have to say, listen to this man at all costs! Alright, alright. I’m finished…for now.

Anyway. In his passing Kinison left us with some outrageous stand-up comedy, and an outrageous death to top it off. I’ll explain.

Kinison and his wife of six days were on their way to Nevada for a sold-out gig. While they were driving to the gig, a pickup truck driving the opposite direction attempted to get in front of a slow driver—crossing over into oncoming traffic and crashing head-on into Kinison.

After the crash, Sam looked fine, with just some minor scratches, but his head had hit the windshield since he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. He got out of the car and sat down on the side of the highway where he died. After an autopsy it was found that he had dislocated his spine and torn his aorta and other blood vessels. His wife survived the crash with only a concussion.

Now to the point of this article.

Once he had sat down on the side of the road, Kinison is said to have looked up to the sky talking to “no one.” This is the play-by-play:

Kinison to the sky, “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”

The sky…

Kinison, “Why now?”

The sky…

Kinison, “But why?”

The sky…

Kinison, “Okay, okay, okay.”

A few moments after that he relaxed and passed on to the next life.

Crazy right? He legit had a conversation with something that relaxed him enough to settle into the arms of sleep—er, death.

It’s a chilling thing to think about, but in all honesty, it makes me feel pretty hopeful. Like I said in the beginning, I tend to think about what’s next a lot. I don’t like doing it, but I can’t help it. 4/7 nights out of the week, just before my head hits the pillow, I think: what if I don’t wake up? Fast forward three hours later, unable to sleep with my eyes glued to the Substack app while I wish I had just gone to bed and not scared myself silly again.

I’m a pretty spiritual person and have had more than a few instances in my life that lead me to believe—and say for a fact—that there’s more to this whole life thing after we die. But even when I say it with certainty, the idea of it being just a bottomless black pit of nothingness makes me feel dizzy.

Ugh, I hate that. Give me a few seconds here.

Whatever Kinison saw or heard made him completely relax into the next phase. I really think it was God or someone close to him telling him to chill. “It’s all gonna be okay, bro,” said Jesus.

I wonder if anyone else has heard similar stories to Sam’s. I don’t want to research that right now; this post is about him. If you have some stories you’d like to share to help me feel better, please do. And don’t forget to always wear your seat belt!

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