Family-friendly comedian and actor performs at the Visalia Fox Theatre this Saturday, Nov. 9
VISALIA – Ranked by Comedy Central as one of the “100 Greatest Standups of all Time,” actor and comedian Sinbad has had audiences laughing for over three decades. This Saturday, he will bring his profound yet not profane storytelling style of comedy to Visalia.
Born David Adkins on Nov. 18, 1956, in Benton Harbor, Mich., the energetic youngster spent much of his youth entertaining his three brothers and two sisters and refining his unique sense of humor. A passion for basketball and the Harlem Globetrotters won the red-head a basketball scholarship to the University of Denver, but a knee injury later sidelined his sports career.
Adkins quickly shifted from free throw lines to punch lines and turned his attention back to comedy. Long before cable had a dedicated comedy network, Adkins was on the road, riding a Greyhound bus from city to city working the comedy clubs. He adopted the name Sinbad, a character from Middle Eastern lore who went on fantastic adventures in magical realms, encountering monsters and witnessing supernatural phenomena on his seven voyages.
The comedian’s own journey had just begun after seven appearances on the television talent show Star Search. It was there he caught the attention of legendary comedian Redd Foxx and earned a spot as Foxx’s son on The New Redd Foxx show in the mid-’80s. And while the show only made it through a single season, it lasted long enough to catch the attention of another comedy icon and joined the cast of Cosby Show spin-off A Different World in 1987. Sinbad made his big screen debut in 1989 as a stand up comedian in the film That’s Adequate. He followed with scene stealing minor roles in Necessary Roughness (1991) and Coneheads (1993), before taking the lead in 1995’s Houseguest and co-starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way (1996).
In 2010 he competed on the celebrity reality show The Apprentice, and created another stand up special, titled Where U Been?, that same year. The next year he produced and starred in his own WE TV’s reality show, Sinbad: It’s Just family.”
More recently Sinbad’s credits include the TV series “Rel”, starring Lil Rel Howery, who is best known for his roles as Robert Carmichael on NBC’s “The Carmichael Show” (2015-2017) and as TSA Officer Rod Williams in the thriller “Get Out” (2017). Sinbad plays Milton, Rel’s widowed father, on the show.
Presented by Perico Productions, Sinbad will perform on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Visalia Fox Theatre. Doors open at 7 p.m. followed by showtime at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $45 and can be purchased at foxvisalia.org or from the box office, located at 300 W. Main St. in downtown Visalia.
