Josh Gad to play controversial comedian Sam Kinison for director Larry Charles

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

There are few memorable sounds as recognizeable as the ear-splitting scream of comedian Sam Kinison. Once you've heard it, you'll instantly recognize his voice no matter where you hear it, be it in old stand up or his many appearances in movies, TV shows, and radio, where he was very prolific until his untimely death in 1992. . Now, the scream will be resurrected by Book of Mormon actor Josh Gad, who will portray the evangelist-turned-comedian in a biopic to be directed by Larry Charles (BORAT, BRUNO, THE DICTATOR) with a script by XXX's Rich Wilkes, based on the book Brother Sam by Bill Kinison.

“There was nothing conventional about Sam Kinison and neither will be the cinematic interpretation of his life,” said producer DavidPermut. “Larry Charles is the perfect director to bring Rich Wilkes’ incredible script to screen, and Josh Gad’s tremendous ability to morph into a role will bring great depth to Kinison’s larger than life persona.”

According to Deadline, "the film picks up the Kinison story in the 80s, as he transitions from the family business of Pentecostal preaching and into stand up comedy in Hollywood." Kinison was a vibrant, loud, hilarious, and controversial comedian, who made a lot of waves talking about his drug and alcohol abuse and the adventurest that followed as a result. He was renowned for his "confessional" like appearances on the Howard Stern show, which always seemed to bring out the "best of the worst" in the comedian. Kinison died in a car accident in 1992.

This is an interesting and provoking project and I'm interested, more than anything, to see and hear Josh Gad's take on the late comedian. Kinison's scream is a tough one for anyone to nail and an enigmatic performance is definitely on order, which could potentially mean Oscar territory for Gad if he can pull it off. Having Charles as the director of this is a smart choice, as he's certainly not one to shy away from the more risque material that will undoubtedly find its way onto the screen.

Gad will next be seen as Steve Wozniak in another biopic, JOBS, which opens on August 16, 2013.