Andrew Dice Clay: I Wrote Sam Kinison’s Famous Intro

andrew dice clay sam kinison

This Friday Unmasked with Andrew Dice Clay airs and Dice drops the bomb that he wrote the infamous intro to Sam Kinison’s act.

Earlier this month, when Dice sat down with Ron Bennington to tape an hour long interview in front of a studio audience, Dice put the character aside, and talked seriously about his career and his comedy.  During the interview, Andrew talked very candidly about his rivalry with Sam Kinison– which was well known, and brutal.  Sam would frequently and publicly bad mouth Dice on talk shows and in interviews. Dice talked about some of the fights that they had– which came very close to becoming physical– and the bad feelings that would make headlines for years, and you can hear all of that on Friday when the episode of Unmasked premieres.

But despite all the bad blood, Dice told Bennington that he always respected Kinison’s comedy, and would go see his shows and laugh.  “He was a really great comic.” Dice said.  “One of the only ones I could sit and watch.” What Dice loved about Sam, was that unlike most other comics, Sam understood “performance.”  And before the rivalry, fights, and bad headlines, they were friends.  Such good friends that they would sit around after their shows and bullshit and talk comedy.  In fact, Dice told Bennington that he was the one who wrote Kinison’s infamous intro– and it was his idea for Sam to open his show in the quiet calm-before-the-storm style that would become a trademark for Kinison.

Dice told the story of the night that he and Sam sat around his kitchen table at Cresthill, the house that Mitzi Shore owned, where Dice was living at the time.   “Sam was already working on all these incredible bits,” Dice said,  “And I go, Sam. It’s all in the beginning. It’s all in the presentation of the character.”  It was late at night and most of the other comics who lived in the house were asleep at the time when Dice told Sam how he should come out on stage, before going into his act.

“I go, ‘when you come up you gotta suck em in. Just stand there. Light your cigarette. And then introduce yourself. Smile. Give em a nice smile.’ (Dice laughs) and it was hysterical cause I’m trying to be him. And I’m going [in character as Sam] ‘Hi. How are you doing. My name’s Sam. Sam Kinison. And you probably saw a lot of comics here. Maybe some you want to come back and see again.’   And then the face changes. The smile goes away, Sam and you just go numb. ‘But you see, my name’s Sam. Sam Kinison. And I can promise you people one thing from me. You’re gonna WISH TO GOD YOU”VE NEVER SEEN….” And then you blow your stack. Then you scream. You go right to that guy in the front. ‘YOU’LL WISH TO GOD!!!!’  So now he gets up and he starts doing the ‘Hi. My name’s Sam.

All of a sudden here comes the Russian comic, Yakov Smirnoff, thinking I’m in a fight downstairs with a comic. He was sleeping. Like  ‘Andrew! Andrew is everything okay!?’ Now Yakov is awake doing the Sam thing in Russian. And next thing you know there’s Carl Labove, Fred Asparagus and we’re all sitting around this big dining room table doing ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ with the intro to Sam’s act. So when you get to “but you see my name’s Sam” the next guy gets up “Hi, how you doing.” And it winds up this screaming fest.

You can listen to the clip below and then make sure you tune in this Friday, at 2pm on SiriusXM RawDog 99 to hear the Diceman, like you’ve never heard him before, when Unmasked with Andrew Dice Clay premieres.  You won’t want to miss this.  Want more Dice before Friday? Listen to a clip of Dice talking about Rodney Dangerfield and the night of his break-through set on Dangerfield’s New Comedians show.

Get a copy of Dice’s new book The Filthy Truth on Amazon.com, and he’ll be performing at the NYCB Theater in Westbury New York on January 30th, 2015 along with his sons who will be opening for Dice with their band “L.A. Rocks.”   You can also catch Andrew Dice Clay at the Hard Rock in Vegas throughout December.  Get more info at AndrewDiceClay.com.

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