Sailing Back Into Stand-Up

Sailing Back Into Stand-Up

Sinbad at Treasure Island

By Chris Carney

Sinbad Where: Treasure Island When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19 Cost: $45 and up Info: (866) 80-SHOWS To us normal folk, the ticket-buying public and the comedy-special-watching folk, the world of stand-up comedy seems vast and foreign. But for those who've slogged their ways upward from the trenches to comedy fame and fortune, the roads taken are often quite similar. This is as true for ever-present '90s comedy powerhouse Sinbad as it is for many of his comedy brethren. Born in a small town in Michigan, the man who would become Sinbad had numerous career dead ends, including a stint in the Air Force, which didn't quite go as planned. It wasn't until he went on Star Search, where he defeated fellow comedian Dennis Miller, that his career really got the boost it needed. From there he had a recurring role on A Different World, was part of the cast of numerous Hollywood films and eventually earned himself the comedian's crown jewel, a self-titled sitcom, The Sinbad Show. While the show earned some accolades for its positive portrayal of African Americans, it eventually went the way most comedian-based sitcoms go: off the air. But Sinbad persevered. Numerous film roles, including Houseguest and Jingle All the Way, followed. Sprinkled throughout his silver screen work were HBO specials and extensive touring. Sinbad surged to the top of the stand-up circuit, bartered that success into a successful acting career and eventually saw the fickle public move on to the next new flavor, and he has returned to his first love. And we are better for it. Published in Las Vegas Magazine 2-14-2010