Journalist/Comedian Harmon Leon dives into comedy cult classics, comedic influences, and all things comedy history.
We dive into the Sam Kinison origin story - and his role as a member of the Texas Outlaw Comics in Houston during the mid-1980s.
Kinison was a former preacher who turned to stand up comedy. During his Houston years, Kinison found his comedy voice - working alongside another future comedy legend: Bill Hicks.
The Texas Outlaw Comics were a group of comedians based in Houston that formed at the Comedy Workshop in the mid-1980s. This collective of
like-minded comedians became an incubator of a unique style of comedy - that brought the world such legends as Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison.
In Part One, we'll dive into the Bill Hicks origin story; from clean-cut suburban kid - to full-blown Texas comedy outlaw.
Yakov Smirnoff is a comedian from Russia.
He's known for his catchphrase: "What a country."
Yakov's comic persona was of a naive immigrant who was perpetually confused and delighted by life in the United States.
And then came the fall of the former Soviet Union. What happened to Yakov's career? We have a surprise twist that will make you say....what a country!
