WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're stepping 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:06.179 away from, uh... maybe the usual laughs you associate 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:08.580 with stand -up comedy. We're looking at a really 00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:10.759 devastating story. Yeah, it's pretty heavy stuff. 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.400 It weaves together comedy, that kind of rock 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:17.519 and roll intensity, shocking tragedy, and this 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:21.160 secret betrayal that lasted for decades. We're 00:00:21.160 --> 00:00:23.719 talking about Sam Kinison, you know, the screaming 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:26.039 comic who just burned so bright and so fast. 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:28.559 And his best friend, Carl Above. Exactly. His 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.960 opening act, fiercely loyal friend, but as we'll 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.969 see, maybe Kinison's... greatest victim in a 00:00:34.969 --> 00:00:37.030 way it's a complex relationship to say the least 00:00:37.030 --> 00:00:39.890 so our sources they really lay out kinnison's 00:00:39.890 --> 00:00:42.509 like meteoric rise you know how he went from 00:00:42.509 --> 00:00:46.049 this small town preacher's kid to this this confrontational 00:00:46.049 --> 00:00:48.509 high voltage comedy force right we have the biography 00:00:48.509 --> 00:00:51.130 the career milestones all of that but the real 00:00:51.130 --> 00:00:53.490 mission here for this deep dive is digging into 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:56.189 the human cost yeah that's the core of it we've 00:00:56.189 --> 00:00:58.109 got the details on his explosive career sure 00:00:58.109 --> 00:01:00.810 the fatal car crash that killed him but then 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:03.840 there's the staggering story Almost unbelievable, 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:06.159 really. The paternity scandal. Yeah, that came 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.219 out years later and just consumed Carl LeBov's 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:12.000 life. Exactly. Yeah. And that's the challenge, 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:13.519 isn't it? Connecting those dots. You've got their 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.319 shared rise in comedy. Then the shared trauma 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.439 of the crash, which LeBov physically survived, 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:22.299 he was in the car. Right there. Witnessed it 00:01:22.299 --> 00:01:25.439 all. And then almost two decades later, this 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:30.299 devastating personal fallout hits LeBov. Financially, 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.810 emotionally, just... Ruinous. It's easy to just 00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:35.890 remember the stage persona with someone like 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:39.950 Kinison, you know? The scream. Totally. That's 00:01:39.950 --> 00:01:42.769 the icon. But this forces you to look past that 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:46.390 to the real wreckage left behind. Wreckage that 00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:48.750 LaBeouf had to carry for so long. Yeah, for Dexter. 00:01:48.750 --> 00:01:51.290 And that persona. Wow, it was powerful. Kinison, 00:01:51.329 --> 00:01:53.450 the EX RV, he even had it on his license plate, 00:01:53.530 --> 00:01:56.129 right? On that Corvette. Yeah, the 86 Corvette. 00:01:56.170 --> 00:01:58.030 It was a statement. A total lightning rod. His 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:02.060 comedy was just... raw uncomfortable and always 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:04.659 punctuated by that scream it felt like pure confrontation 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:07.260 it really did and labov was right there through 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:09.560 it all born in fort worth he wasn't just some 00:02:09.560 --> 00:02:12.439 hanger on either no definitely not he was successful 00:02:12.439 --> 00:02:15.039 in his own right one of the original outlaws 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:18.580 of comedy yep credits on seinfeld rosanne leno 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:22.319 he had a real career but yeah in people's minds 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.069 he's forever linked to sam The constant presence, 00:02:25.189 --> 00:02:28.069 just offstage. The loyal friend. Okay, so to 00:02:28.069 --> 00:02:30.969 really get Kinison's whole explosive thing, you 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:33.449 kind of have to look at where he came from. Absolutely, 00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:36.330 that's key. Samuel Burrell Kinison, born 53 in 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:38.909 Yakima, Washington, but he grew up mostly in 00:02:38.909 --> 00:02:40.870 East Peoria, Illinois. And the defining thing 00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:43.270 there was the church, right? Pentecostal background. 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:46.430 Deeply. His father was a preacher, and Sam himself, 00:02:46.490 --> 00:02:49.629 he preached too, from age 17 to 24, something 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:52.069 like that. Wow, and that's not just... Like a 00:02:52.069 --> 00:02:54.430 fun fact, it seems like it's the blueprint for 00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:56.770 his whole comedy style. It really is. People 00:02:56.770 --> 00:02:59.669 found recordings of his old sermons later, and 00:02:59.669 --> 00:03:01.930 the resemblance is, well, it's kind of eerie. 00:03:02.050 --> 00:03:04.490 The whole fire and brimstone delivery, the shouting. 00:03:04.650 --> 00:03:07.530 Exactly. That style meant to, you know, stir 00:03:07.530 --> 00:03:09.689 up the congregation. He basically just swapped 00:03:09.689 --> 00:03:11.710 the pulpit for a microphone and aimed that same 00:03:11.710 --> 00:03:14.550 energy at, well, everything else. Marriage, religion, 00:03:14.669 --> 00:03:17.110 daily life. He learned how to command a room, 00:03:17.270 --> 00:03:20.879 maybe even terrify it a bit. In church first. 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:23.599 Pretty much. Though his brother Bill apparently 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:26.819 said that early on in the ministry, Sam actually 00:03:26.819 --> 00:03:29.900 lacked stage presence, focused only on the words. 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:32.379 Oh, interesting. So the performance aspect developed. 00:03:32.699 --> 00:03:35.419 Seems like it. But the source of that famous 00:03:35.419 --> 00:03:38.020 rage that might go back even further, there was 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:40.300 physical trauma. Yeah, I read about that. He 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:41.759 was hit by a truck when he was really young, 00:03:41.780 --> 00:03:44.629 like three years old. Yeah. And it wasn't minor. 00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:46.889 It apparently left him with documented brain 00:03:46.889 --> 00:03:48.689 damage and epilepsy. Okay, see, that changes 00:03:48.689 --> 00:03:50.930 things. That suggests the volatility maybe wasn't 00:03:50.930 --> 00:03:53.349 entirely a choice or an act. It could have been 00:03:53.349 --> 00:03:55.629 neurologically rooted. Could be. And then add 00:03:55.629 --> 00:03:57.530 the emotional stuff. His parents divorced when 00:03:57.530 --> 00:04:00.509 he was 11. According to his brother, Sam took 00:04:00.509 --> 00:04:04.349 that really hard. Huge protests, feelings of 00:04:04.349 --> 00:04:08.629 betrayal. That childhood anger apparently festered 00:04:08.629 --> 00:04:11.030 and grew into the adult rage we saw on stage. 00:04:11.310 --> 00:04:15.370 So the stage anger was maybe just unprocessed 00:04:15.370 --> 00:04:17.949 childhood trauma exploding outwards. It's a compelling 00:04:17.949 --> 00:04:21.389 theory. So he leaves the ministry. When does 00:04:21.389 --> 00:04:24.050 he actually make the jump to comedy? Looks like 00:04:24.050 --> 00:04:26.689 around 1980, it was after his first marriage 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:30.269 to Patricia Adkins fell apart. And he lands in 00:04:30.269 --> 00:04:33.629 Houston, Texas, which was a hotbed for a certain 00:04:33.629 --> 00:04:35.769 kind of comedy back then. Right, the Texas Outlaw 00:04:35.769 --> 00:04:38.310 Comics. That scene. Yeah, let's talk about that 00:04:38.310 --> 00:04:39.949 for a second, because it wasn't just a random 00:04:39.949 --> 00:04:42.629 group. They had a philosophy almost. Definitely. 00:04:42.769 --> 00:04:46.029 It was a rejection of this sort of clean, jokey, 00:04:46.050 --> 00:04:49.189 set -up punchline stuff that was dominant. More 00:04:49.189 --> 00:04:52.000 confrontational. More real. Even if it was ugly. 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:54.160 Bill Hicks came out of that. Ron Schock. Riley 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.100 Barber. Steve Epstein. Yeah. A really influential 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:00.199 group focused on just hitting the audience with 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:02.680 reality. And Kinison was like their point man. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.740 You could say that. Bill Hicks, who became this 00:05:05.740 --> 00:05:08.819 huge icon himself, said Kinison deeply influenced 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:10.879 him. What did he say specifically? Hicks said 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:13.839 Sam was the first comic he ever saw who did not. 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:17.279 in any way asked the audience to like him. That's 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:19.519 huge for the early 80s. Most comics needed that 00:05:19.519 --> 00:05:21.480 approval. Right. They were looking for validation. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.079 Kedison was basically demanding you deal with 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.120 his reality, like it or not. Aggressively unfiltered. 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:32.459 So he takes this new style, this energy, to L 00:05:32.459 --> 00:05:35.160 .A. in 1980. Yep. Ends up working as a doorman 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:38.040 at the comedy store. Which sounds kind of cliche, 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:41.160 but... It was a notoriously wild time for him 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.759 personally. Extremely wild. Deep into drugs, 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:47.439 alcohol, the sources mentioned cocaine, freebasing. 00:05:47.699 --> 00:05:50.920 It was bad. Personal chaos mirroring the stage 00:05:50.920 --> 00:05:54.040 chaos. Pretty much. And apparently took his brother, 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:57.019 Bill, stepping in again. To manage him. Yeah, 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.000 kind of impose some structure, get him focused. 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:01.420 And that intervention seems to have paved the 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:03.860 way for his big break. Which came in 85. Right. 00:06:04.100 --> 00:06:07.879 HBO. Rodney Dangerfield's ninth annual Young 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:10.779 Comedian special. Dangerfield knew talent, especially 00:06:10.779 --> 00:06:12.459 volatile talent. That must have put him on the 00:06:12.459 --> 00:06:14.660 map instantly. Oh, absolutely. Catapulted him. 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:16.680 The critics noticed immediately. The New York 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:19.199 Times' Stephen Holden called him savagely funny. 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:21.959 And he nailed the core theme, didn't he? Calling 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:24.259 it the primal scream of the married man. Perfect 00:06:24.259 --> 00:06:26.519 description. Relationships were his bread and 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:28.439 butter or maybe his raw meat. And that leads 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:32.000 straight to network TV. Letterman, 85. Yeah, 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:34.750 and that famous warning from Dave. Brace yourselves. 00:06:34.930 --> 00:06:37.550 I'm not kidding. Just telling you up front, this 00:06:37.550 --> 00:06:40.009 isn't going to be comfortable. Exactly. It cemented 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:42.089 that dangerous edge. Yeah. And he leaned into 00:06:42.089 --> 00:06:46.329 the whole EXRV thing, using his past to take 00:06:46.329 --> 00:06:50.490 shots at religion, the Bible. It was the ultimate 00:06:50.490 --> 00:06:52.910 rebellion against his upbringing, played out 00:06:52.910 --> 00:06:55.730 on national TV. With that license plate reinforcing 00:06:55.730 --> 00:06:58.990 it every day. Yep. And right there, riding shotgun 00:06:58.990 --> 00:07:01.209 through all this, figuratively and sometimes 00:07:01.209 --> 00:07:04.160 literally, was Carl Above. The stable force, 00:07:04.339 --> 00:07:06.620 five years younger, had his own career going, 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:09.339 but mostly known as Sam's opener, his guy. The 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:12.300 anchor, maybe? Mm -hmm. Tied to this hurricane 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:14.240 of a personality. Yeah, that's a good way to 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:16.139 put it. And, you know, the more famous Kinnison 00:07:16.139 --> 00:07:18.800 got, the wilder his personal life seemed to become. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.819 Or maybe it just became more public. Right, and 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:23.160 it all fed back into the act. His divorces from 00:07:23.160 --> 00:07:25.139 Patricia Adkins and then Terry Marzi, that was 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:27.939 prime material. Dark, but prime. Absolutely. 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:30.600 But then things got genuinely tragic offstage. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.060 In May 88, his youngest brother, Kevin, died 00:07:34.060 --> 00:07:37.439 by suicide. He was only 28. Oh, man. That had 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:39.879 to have just shattered him. Reports say it devastated 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:42.600 him. And think about that context. You've got 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:44.839 the childhood physical trauma, the epilepsy, 00:07:45.120 --> 00:07:47.660 the addiction issues, the pressure of fame. And 00:07:47.660 --> 00:07:49.439 then your younger brother takes his own life. 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:52.439 The amount of personal darkness Kennison was 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:55.339 wading through. It's hard to fathom. No wonder 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:57.720 the comedy was so dark. It wasn't just an act. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:07:59.699 It was coming from a place of, like, genuine 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:02.860 deep -seated misery. It seems that way. And that 00:08:02.860 --> 00:08:06.379 misery, or maybe chaos, just continued right 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:09.420 up until the end. He married Malika Swery just 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:13.180 six days before he died. April 4th, 1992, Las 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:16.180 Vegas. Right after his second divorce was finalized. 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:19.220 Yeah. But even that relationship wasn't simple. 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:21.660 It had its own major public scandal just before 00:08:21.660 --> 00:08:23.420 the wedding. Okay, yeah, we should touch on that. 00:08:23.689 --> 00:08:26.490 The 1990 incident, Swery accused a bodyguard 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:29.110 Kinison hired. She alleged rape, said it happened 00:08:29.110 --> 00:08:31.509 while Kinison was asleep in the house. The bodyguard 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:33.629 claimed it was consensual. And the legal outcome 00:08:33.629 --> 00:08:36.730 was murky, right? Jury deadlocked. Yeah, charges 00:08:36.730 --> 00:08:39.470 were eventually dropped. But people in Kinison's 00:08:39.470 --> 00:08:41.649 circle pointed to that whole ordeal as a real 00:08:41.649 --> 00:08:44.509 wake -up call for him. A moment of crisis. Did 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:46.850 it lead to any changes? Apparently it did. It 00:08:46.850 --> 00:08:48.990 reportedly pushed him to try and get clean. He 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:51.779 joined AA. started telling audiences around March 00:08:51.779 --> 00:08:54.580 1990 that he'd quit getting high. So a genuine 00:08:54.580 --> 00:08:58.399 attempt to clean up his act, to escape the wreckage. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:01.320 It seemed like it. Yeah. But the underlying volatility, 00:09:01.580 --> 00:09:04.659 it was maybe too deep. Because then you have 00:09:04.659 --> 00:09:06.700 incidents like the one with Guns N' Roses. Oh, 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:11.399 yeah. May 1991. Slash Duff McKagan. What happened 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:13.759 there? He got physical. Apparently, Kinison was 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.580 furious because Slash missed showing up for something 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:19.139 at one of his gigs, found him at a hotel, and 00:09:19.139 --> 00:09:21.559 allegedly attacked him. The quote is, he nearly 00:09:21.559 --> 00:09:25.940 choked Slash to death. Wow. Just wow. A comedian 00:09:25.940 --> 00:09:29.240 almost killing a rock star over a missed appearance. 00:09:29.419 --> 00:09:31.620 It's nuts. But it really highlights that tension, 00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:34.200 right? The attempt at sobriety versus this just... 00:09:35.090 --> 00:09:37.110 Uncontrollable rage simmering underneath. Yeah. 00:09:37.230 --> 00:09:39.129 And that brings us to the whole controversy around 00:09:39.129 --> 00:09:41.950 his material itself, the legacy. It's thorny 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:44.129 for sure. Looking back, people definitely point 00:09:44.129 --> 00:09:47.049 to misogyny, homophobia in his routines. And 00:09:47.049 --> 00:09:48.789 it wasn't just later reflection. There was backlash 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:51.090 at the time. For sure. Like that queer nation 00:09:51.090 --> 00:09:55.250 protest in Nebraska, February 91. Right. In Lincoln. 00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:58.750 They were protesting his show, chanting anti 00:09:58.750 --> 00:10:02.679 -woman, anti -gay, Sam Kinison, go away. This 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.240 was organized opposition. Not just bad reviews, 00:10:05.379 --> 00:10:08.639 but people actively protesting his message. And 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:10.299 even his own record label seemed uncomfortable. 00:10:10.779 --> 00:10:13.240 Warner Bros. Records. What did they do? On his 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:16.320 88 album, Have You Seen Me Lately, they put this 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.899 really unusual disclaimer sticker on it. Apparently, 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:22.940 employees requested it. A disclaimer. Saying 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:31.679 what? It said, Whoa. That's basically the label 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.879 saying, we'll sell this, but we don't stand by 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.559 it. Unheard of, almost. Tells you how divisive 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:39.139 he was, even internally. Which sparks that debate, 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:42.409 you know? Was he genuinely hateful? Or was it 00:10:42.409 --> 00:10:44.669 all an act, an intentionally shocking character, 00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:46.629 like that New York Magazine article suggested 00:10:46.629 --> 00:10:49.289 in 2016? Pushing boundaries, playing a role. 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:51.629 It's a possible interpretation. It is. But hear 00:10:51.629 --> 00:10:54.169 the tragic irony. Despite those claims of getting 00:10:54.169 --> 00:10:57.210 sober around 1990, the toxicology report after 00:10:57.210 --> 00:10:59.830 his death found tranquilizers and cocaine in 00:10:59.830 --> 00:11:02.870 his system. Oh. So the sobriety didn't last. 00:11:03.090 --> 00:11:06.100 Or wasn't complete. Seems not. The character 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:08.440 and the chaos, they were just too intertwined. 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:10.399 The attempt at reform might have been real for 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.139 a bit, but the underlying reality, the fury, 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:15.940 the substances, the confrontation that was him. 00:11:16.100 --> 00:11:19.860 And through all of this, LaBeouf is there, witnessing 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:22.960 it day in, day out, getting him on stage, off 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:25.860 stage, dealing with the fallout. Yeah, absorbing 00:11:25.860 --> 00:11:28.019 all that collateral damage. So inevitably, all 00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:30.960 that chaos, it just, it culminates in tragedy. 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:34.960 April 10th, 1992. Yeah. He and Malika Sawiri, 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:36.399 they had just gotten back from Hawaii. Yeah. 00:11:36.500 --> 00:11:38.440 A short honeymoon. And they were driving. Just 00:11:38.440 --> 00:11:40.440 a routine work trip, right? To Laughlin, Nevada. 00:11:40.659 --> 00:11:43.200 Exactly. Had a sold -out show book at the Riverside 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:45.860 Resort Hotel and Casino. Driving across the desert. 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:48.480 Needles Highway. Northwest of Needles, California. 00:11:48.820 --> 00:11:51.559 In his Pontiac Trans Am. Yeah, that iconic car. 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:54.679 Yeah. And the setting, dark desert road. Sets 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:56.460 the scene, doesn't it? It does. And the crash. 00:11:56.600 --> 00:11:59.879 It wasn't minor. Head -on collision. Right. A 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:03.110 pickup truck. driven by a 17 -year -old kid who, 00:12:03.269 --> 00:12:05.789 reports said, had been drinking alcohol. Tried 00:12:05.789 --> 00:12:08.289 to pass another car across the center line. And 00:12:08.289 --> 00:12:11.629 just plowed right into Kinison's Trans Am. Catastrophic. 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:13.450 And the crucial detail, the one that connects 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:16.190 everything for the story, Carl Bove was in the 00:12:16.190 --> 00:12:20.370 car. Yes, his best friend, his opener, riding 00:12:20.370 --> 00:12:25.169 with him. And somehow, miraculously, LeBove survived. 00:12:25.649 --> 00:12:28.440 Sawir survived too, but with injuries. A concussion 00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:31.860 needed hospitalization. Right. But Kinison, he 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:34.399 was driving. Yeah. And he didn't make it. And 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.620 a key factor, tragically, was the seatbelt. He 00:12:36.620 --> 00:12:38.759 wasn't wearing one. No. And that meant his head 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.200 hit the windshield hard. But the really bizarre 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:43.340 part is what happened immediately after. Yeah, 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:46.580 the witnesses said he seemed okay at first. Shockingly, 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:49.340 yes. Minor facial wounds, apparently. He actually 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:51.519 got out of the car, sat down on the roadside, 00:12:51.539 --> 00:12:54.789 seemed lucid. But inside... The damage was done. 00:12:54.950 --> 00:12:57.409 Totally. The autopsy later showed massive internal 00:12:57.409 --> 00:12:59.850 injuries. Corn aorta, ruptured blood vessels 00:12:59.850 --> 00:13:02.610 in his abdomen, cervical spine dislocation. It 00:13:02.610 --> 00:13:05.070 was unsurvivable. Fatal within minutes. But before 00:13:05.070 --> 00:13:10.409 he passed, those last words, they're incredibly 00:13:10.409 --> 00:13:12.429 haunting. Yeah. The accounts from witnesses, 00:13:12.570 --> 00:13:16.769 including LeBeau, are just cinematic almost and 00:13:16.769 --> 00:13:20.690 deeply strange. He was talking, but not to anyone 00:13:20.690 --> 00:13:23.919 there. Apparently not. He reportedly asked out 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.919 loud, why now? Then a pause. Then, but why? Like 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:30.860 he was arguing with someone or something? And 00:13:30.860 --> 00:13:34.120 then after another pause, and friends later interpreted 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:36.539 this pause as him maybe receiving some kind of 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:39.659 answer. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Wow. From rage 00:13:39.659 --> 00:13:43.639 and questioning to acceptance. In seconds. Yeah. 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:46.299 One friend said whatever voice was talking to 00:13:46.299 --> 00:13:47.919 him gave him the right answer and he just relaxed 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.279 with it. It's quite an image. The ultimate rebel 00:13:50.279 --> 00:13:52.740 preacher's son having this final personal reckoning 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:54.559 on the side of a highway. A truly unbelievable 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:57.580 end. And the legal side of it, the driver. It 00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:00.559 feels disproportionate, maybe. The teen driver 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:02.460 pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter with 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:05.399 gross negligence. And the sentence. For causing 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.500 the death of a major star, injuring his wife. 00:14:07.659 --> 00:14:09.960 One year of probation, 300 hours of community 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.299 service, and his driver's license suspended for 00:14:12.299 --> 00:14:15.480 two years. That's remarkably light, considering... 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:17.360 It seems that way. So, Kinison's gone at 38. 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:21.759 Career cut short. But his legend instantly solidified. 00:14:21.860 --> 00:14:23.799 Yeah, the posthumous honors started rolling in. 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:26.860 The Grammy in 94 for Live From Hell. George Carlin 00:14:26.860 --> 00:14:29.480 dedicating his 94 special, Jammin' in New York, 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:32.509 just saying, this show is for Sam. Ozzy Osbourne 00:14:32.509 --> 00:14:35.370 saying he believes Sam was upstairs. He's next 00:14:35.370 --> 00:14:38.029 to God. The world mourned the public figure, 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:40.669 the icon. But meanwhile, you've got Carl LeBove, 00:14:40.830 --> 00:14:44.309 the survivor, left holding this immense psychological 00:14:44.309 --> 00:14:46.350 trauma of having seen it all happen right in 00:14:46.350 --> 00:14:48.509 front of him. Yeah, the quiet guy left with the 00:14:48.509 --> 00:14:50.970 loudest, most horrific memory. So for almost 00:14:50.970 --> 00:14:52.789 20 years, that was kind of the narrative, right? 00:14:52.889 --> 00:14:57.389 Yeah. Kinison, the loud, tragic, flawed genius. 00:14:58.259 --> 00:15:00.419 LaBeouf. Yeah. The loyal friend who survived 00:15:00.419 --> 00:15:03.100 the wreck. Yeah, the story seems settled. Horrific, 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:06.820 but settled. Until February 2011, nearly 19 years 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:10.600 after the crash, this bomb drops. A revelation 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:12.940 that just completely rewrites the story of their 00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:14.980 friendship and LaBeouf's suffering. This is where 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:17.720 it goes from shared tragedy to just jaw -dropping 00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:20.580 personal betrayal. It's incredibly painful to 00:15:20.580 --> 00:15:23.039 even talk about. It really is. The news broke. 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.590 Places like the Toronto Sun reported it. Sam 00:15:26.590 --> 00:15:29.450 Kinison had secretly fathered a child. Okay. 00:15:29.929 --> 00:15:33.250 But with who? With Carl LeBeau's ex -wife. Oh, 00:15:33.250 --> 00:15:36.730 my God. His best friend's ex -wife. Yes. And 00:15:36.730 --> 00:15:39.269 the really brutal part. For almost 13 years, 00:15:39.350 --> 00:15:42.049 Carl LeBeau had believed this child, a daughter, 00:15:42.190 --> 00:15:45.350 was his. He'd been paying child support. He raised 00:15:45.350 --> 00:15:48.129 her as his own, believing she was his. Yes. For 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:51.289 13 years. She was 21 years old when LeBeau finally 00:15:51.289 --> 00:15:53.509 managed to file the legal papers challenging 00:15:53.509 --> 00:15:55.850 the paternity. How do they even prove it with 00:15:55.850 --> 00:15:58.789 Kinison dead for so long? DNA. They got samples 00:15:58.789 --> 00:16:00.710 from Kinison's brother, Bill. And the result? 00:16:01.149 --> 00:16:04.809 Unmistakable. A 99 .8 % likelihood that Sam Kinison 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:07.610 was the biological father. Wow. Just devastating. 00:16:07.950 --> 00:16:10.230 So for nearly two decades, Kinison took this 00:16:10.230 --> 00:16:13.250 secret to his grave. Labov's ex -wife knew. And 00:16:13.250 --> 00:16:15.269 Labov was living this lie, unknowingly footing 00:16:15.269 --> 00:16:17.929 the bill, emotionally and financially, for his 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:20.370 dead best friend's secret child. And the financial 00:16:20.370 --> 00:16:23.330 cost. It wasn't just the past support, was it? 00:16:23.350 --> 00:16:26.470 It got worse. Oh, way worse. It became this crushing 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:29.409 burden. He reported losing his driver's license, 00:16:29.629 --> 00:16:33.240 his passport. Why? because he was deemed to owe 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:37.580 over $187 ,000 in back child support. Wait, back 00:16:37.580 --> 00:16:40.039 support? Even after proving he wasn't the father? 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.080 How does that even work? It's a really harsh 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:45.179 aspect of the legal system in some places. Even 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.720 if you disprove biological paternity later, the 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:49.639 person who was legally recognized as a father 00:16:49.639 --> 00:16:52.179 during those years can still be held liable for 00:16:52.179 --> 00:16:54.340 the support that accrued before the paternity 00:16:54.340 --> 00:16:57.080 was legally changed. So he was basically on the 00:16:57.080 --> 00:16:59.559 hook for a massive debt generated while everyone 00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:01.960 thought he was the father. A debt for Kinison's 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:04.619 child. Essentially, yes. He was trapped. Financially 00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:06.779 obligated for money related to a child fathered 00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:09.160 in secret by his supposed best friend. It's just 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:12.680 mind -boggling. Financial purgatory. And the 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:14.940 emotional toll. You can't even quantify that. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.099 No. LeBeau himself said that learning the truth 00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:20.660 on top of the trauma of witnessing the crash, 00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:23.579 it just broke him for years. How did he cope? 00:17:23.880 --> 00:17:27.000 Not... Well, initially. He turned to self -medication, 00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:29.160 admitted abusing alcohol, saying it was the only 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.099 way he could even get on stage to do his comedy 00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:33.759 act. Just trying to numb the pain of this... 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:37.000 this unbelievable betrayal. And it got darker. 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:39.339 He reached a point during this period where he 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:42.619 attempted suicide. Oh, God. Kinison's actions, 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:45.660 years after his death, were literally destroying 00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:48.480 LeBeau's life. Actively destroying it. Think 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:51.539 about the layers. The guy was his best friend, 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:55.640 his road dog, the man he was loyal to right up 00:17:55.640 --> 00:17:57.859 to the horrific end. Surviving the crash with 00:17:57.859 --> 00:18:00.799 him. And all along. Kinison had saddled him with 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:03.299 this secret, this ticking time bomb of a debt, 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:06.200 emotionally and financially, that lasted decades 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:08.519 and nearly killed him. It's almost impossible 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:10.599 to comprehend that level of betrayal. It really 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:12.960 is. Which makes LeBeau's eventual perspective 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.019 even more remarkable. What do you mean? How did 00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:17.640 he handle it long -term? He somehow found a way 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:19.980 to forgive. He stated publicly he'd learned to 00:18:19.980 --> 00:18:22.259 forgive Sam for what he did. Forgive that. That's 00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:24.880 incredible strength. It really is. And even more 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.069 amazing, maybe. He said he managed to maintain 00:18:27.069 --> 00:18:29.190 a good relationship with the young woman herself. 00:18:29.549 --> 00:18:32.809 He mentioned she actually showed up at one of 00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:35.369 his stand -up gigs years before the news broke 00:18:35.369 --> 00:18:38.269 publicly. And he was able at that point to tell 00:18:38.269 --> 00:18:40.089 her the truth about who her biological father 00:18:40.089 --> 00:18:42.549 was. So he gave her that clarity despite everything 00:18:42.549 --> 00:18:44.990 he'd been through. He still protected her, in 00:18:44.990 --> 00:18:47.230 a way. It seems like it. That ability to move 00:18:47.230 --> 00:18:50.049 past such a profound betrayal, to still have 00:18:50.049 --> 00:18:51.809 a connection with the young woman he raised, 00:18:51.910 --> 00:18:55.130 it says so much about his character. Yeah. The 00:18:55.130 --> 00:18:56.849 loyal friend turned out to be the one with the 00:18:56.849 --> 00:18:59.349 immense emotional strength to clean up Kinnison's 00:18:59.349 --> 00:19:03.730 biggest, darkest mess. So Carl above, he kept 00:19:03.730 --> 00:19:06.930 going, continued his comedy career, but always, 00:19:06.990 --> 00:19:09.390 you know, shadowed by Kinnison. Yeah, you couldn't 00:19:09.390 --> 00:19:11.589 escape that association, professionally but also 00:19:11.589 --> 00:19:14.029 personally, carrying that huge weight. His life 00:19:14.029 --> 00:19:15.950 really became about endurance, didn't it? Just 00:19:15.950 --> 00:19:18.690 surviving this prolonged, unbelievable adversity. 00:19:19.130 --> 00:19:21.369 And he passed away relatively recently, April 00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:25.230 23, 2021. Yeah. Died from cancer. At home in 00:19:25.230 --> 00:19:27.750 Las Vegas, he was 62. Still quite young, really. 00:19:27.970 --> 00:19:30.329 Definitely. And the tributes that came out after 00:19:30.329 --> 00:19:33.210 his death, they often hit on this contrast. His 00:19:33.210 --> 00:19:36.049 gentle nature versus the chaos he lived through. 00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:39.250 Like Carrot Top's post. Exactly. The fellow Vegas 00:19:39.250 --> 00:19:41.710 comedian, Carrot Top, put something on Instagram 00:19:41.710 --> 00:19:45.849 calling LeBeau one of the best today. Yeah. Not 00:19:45.849 --> 00:19:47.470 only one of the funniest, talented people, but 00:19:47.470 --> 00:19:49.690 one of the sweetest. One of the sweetest. Right. 00:19:49.769 --> 00:19:52.869 A sweet guy who endured the absolute worst of 00:19:52.869 --> 00:19:55.410 that intense rock and roll comedy world, largely 00:19:55.410 --> 00:19:57.970 because of his best friend. Yeah. It's a stark 00:19:57.970 --> 00:20:00.410 contrast. So if we try to tie their legacies 00:20:00.410 --> 00:20:03.150 together, this whole deep dive kind of comes 00:20:03.150 --> 00:20:06.410 down to that intense, maybe toxic duality of 00:20:06.410 --> 00:20:08.650 their friendship. Right. Kinison. Yeah. Short, 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:11.750 brilliant, explosive career, but ultimately defined 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:14.029 by self -destruction and the wreckage he created. 00:20:14.150 --> 00:20:17.190 And above. A longer life, seemingly stable on 00:20:17.190 --> 00:20:19.569 the surface, but fundamentally reshaped, almost 00:20:19.569 --> 00:20:21.490 destroyed by loyalty to someone who betrayed 00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:23.930 him so deeply. Kinnison's legacy is often just 00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:26.789 boiled down to the scream, the persona. But these 00:20:26.789 --> 00:20:29.029 sources, they reveal something much more devastating. 00:20:29.529 --> 00:20:32.529 A guy whose public anger maybe came from private 00:20:32.529 --> 00:20:35.369 trauma, yeah, but whose private actions, his 00:20:35.369 --> 00:20:37.750 irresponsibility, set off this chain reaction, 00:20:38.029 --> 00:20:41.609 financial ruin, emotional crisis, all landing 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:44.390 on the person closest to him. And LaBeouf's quiet 00:20:44.390 --> 00:20:47.509 suffering, his near ruin, his eventual forgiveness, 00:20:47.630 --> 00:20:52.549 that becomes this incredibly sad, powerful footnote 00:20:52.549 --> 00:20:55.150 to the whole Kinison myth. It really does. The 00:20:55.150 --> 00:20:57.569 devastating cost of loyalty. Hashtag, hashtag 00:20:57.569 --> 00:20:59.569 outro. So we've covered a lot. We've seen the 00:20:59.569 --> 00:21:02.680 rise of this. This comedic titan, Sam Kinison, 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:05.059 and the truly astronomical price paid by his 00:21:05.059 --> 00:21:07.259 closest friend, Carl Above. Yeah, it's a really 00:21:07.259 --> 00:21:10.660 stark reminder of how tightly fame, chaos, and 00:21:10.660 --> 00:21:13.440 betrayal can bind people together, even after 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:15.900 death. Absolutely. And thinking about the timeline, 00:21:16.039 --> 00:21:18.619 it's chilling. Yeah. The sources show that Kinison's 00:21:18.619 --> 00:21:20.579 family tragedy, his brother Kevin's suicide. 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:22.839 Yeah, that happened in 88. Right. And that seems 00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:24.960 to have occurred shortly before the period when 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:26.960 he would have fathered this child with Lubav's 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:30.809 wife. That timing is... It leaves you wondering, 00:21:31.009 --> 00:21:34.150 doesn't it? Did that immense personal loss, maybe 00:21:34.150 --> 00:21:37.269 the ultimate feeling of betrayal by life or family, 00:21:37.430 --> 00:21:40.609 send Kinison into such a dark, self -destructive 00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:43.170 spiral? But he became capable of betraying his 00:21:43.170 --> 00:21:45.789 closest friend in such a profound way. Exactly. 00:21:45.789 --> 00:21:48.329 Was it lashing out? Was it just recklessness 00:21:48.329 --> 00:21:50.569 amplified by grief and addiction? We can't know 00:21:50.569 --> 00:21:53.450 for sure, obviously. No, but it raises that fundamental 00:21:53.450 --> 00:21:56.089 question about artists, especially confrontational 00:21:56.089 --> 00:21:58.410 ones like Kinison. What does it mean when their 00:21:58.410 --> 00:22:01.029 life is defined both by this incredibly powerful 00:22:01.029 --> 00:22:04.190 public art and by these secret private choices 00:22:04.190 --> 00:22:07.230 that create decades of chaos and pain for someone 00:22:07.230 --> 00:22:09.950 else, especially someone who trusted them completely? 00:22:10.130 --> 00:22:13.109 Yeah, the hidden cost of that outlaw persona 00:22:13.109 --> 00:22:15.769 carried not just by him, but by those around 00:22:15.769 --> 00:22:18.430 him, particularly Lebeau, drowning in debt and 00:22:18.430 --> 00:22:20.730 despair because of secrets kept by his friend. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.640 It's definitely the kind of tangled, tragic complexity 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:26.819 that only a real deep dive into the sources can 00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:28.660 start to unravel. A lot to think about there.