Brother Sam

"Sam was absolutely fearless," said Robin Williams. "Most people go to the edge and then stop. Not Sam. He'd see the edge and then just keep going. And I think that scream he was famous for was just the sound he made on his way down." Sam Kinison was Lenny Bruce at warp speed. He was not only beyond hip, he was beyond gonzo. He was a white Richard Pryor; a preacher-turned-comedian; a primal screamer who shrieked for our sins. He was known as the "rock and roll comic" - a burly, volatile high-wire act, calculated to offend, demolishing taboos on national television with brute force. When he…