I usually put obituaries in the Sunday linkdump, but I thought this one merited its own post.
Kinky Friedman
Richard “Kinky” Friedman — the provocative and flamboyant Texas satirist who mounted a spirited campaign for governor in 2006 — has died. He was 79.
Friedman died at his longtime home at Echo Hill Ranch in Medina, his friends Cleve Hattersley said in an interview and Kent Perkins said on social media. He had Parkinson’s disease, Hattersley said.
“He was a communicator. An unusual, but very pointed and poignant communicator,” said Hattersley, his friend of roughly 50 years. “He could bring you to tears on stage. He could make you roll on the floor in laughter.”
Friedman ran for governor as an independent against Republican incumbent Rick Perry in 2006. Despite a colorful campaign and heavy media attention, Friedman finished fourth in the race. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for agriculture commissioner in 2010 and in 2014.
Friedman was known for his outsized persona, pithy one-liners and signature look: curly hair poking out from beneath a black cowboy hat, cigar in hand.
“Kinky Friedman stepped on a rainbow at his beloved Echo Hill surrounded by family & friends,” a post from Friedman’s account on the social media site X said. “Kinkster endured tremendous pain & unthinkable loss in recent years but he never lost his fighting spirit and quick wit. Kinky will live on as his books are read and his songs are sung.”
Friedman was born in Chicago in 1944 to Russian Jewish parents. The family moved to Texas the year after Friedman was born and eventually settled in Medina. He graduated in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin.
[…]
In politics, Friedman staked out unusual positions at the time for someone seeking statewide office in Texas, like legalization of marijuana and casino gambling. He supported same-sex marriage in 2006, long before the Supreme Court legalized it nationally, quipping, “I support gay marriage because I believe they have right to be just as miserable as the rest of us.”
Friedman also supported crackdowns on undocumented immigration, boosting pay for Texas teachers and ending the death penalty.
“Kinky Friedman was a larger than life Texas icon and will be remembered as one of the most interesting personalities in Texas politics,” Perry said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “Kinky’s run for governor in 2006 made an otherwise grueling campaign cycle actually fun. May he rest easy after a life lived to the fullest.”
I have complex feelings about Kinky Friedman, who I saw perform at the old Laff Stop on West Gray back in the 90s. It was a great show, a mix of music and standup – he told one of the funniest jokes I’ve ever heard (*) – and like many people I was entertained by the idea of him running for Governor. He was making the rounds for his candidacy more than three years before the election, so it was not a whim on his part. It didn’t take me long to realize that he was cracking the same jokes in every feature story, which where the whole thing started to lose some of the shine for me. I mean, if you’re there for comic relief, you need to keep your material fresh. It might have felt differently if there had been a good dose of policy mixed in with the jokes, but it was mostly jokes, and they were the same jokes over and over again. The novelty wore off quickly, and what was left wasn’t much.
Friedman finished fourth in that race, and I will admit that I’ve always been a little salty about his candidacy based on a simple pair of numbers: 1,716,792, the number of votes Rick Perry got in winning a second full term, with 39% of the vote, and 1,721,964, the number of votes that Democratic candidate for Land Commissioner VaLinda Hathcox got. Yes, thanks to fellow independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn and the votes she no doubt pulled away from Perry, we could have elected Chris Bell if only every Dem that had voted for Hathcox had also voted for him. C’est la vie, as they say.
Friedman ran twice more for statewide office, both times for Ag Commissioner, both times as a Democrat. I interviewed him in 2014 for the primary, and while I’d say he had improved on his ability to talk policy matters, he was still more entertainer than statesman. That’s just who he was, and it’s how he’ll be remembered. I have a couple of his CDs, I’ve read several of his mystery novels – I’d say “Armadillos and Old Lace” was the best of them – and despite my annoyances from 2006 I’m glad to have had the Kinky Friedman experience. He was a colorful character, the kind that came from a Texas that isn’t in existence anymore, and he left his mark. He’ll be missed. Rest in peace, Kinky. Texas Public Radio and the Chron have more.
(*) I won’t repeat the joke here, not because it’s filthy or offensive – it wasn’t really dirty and only mildly offensive, at least compared to some of his other material. No, I won’t repeat it here because it’s one of those jokes you have to hear, and really see, someone tell for it to be as funny as it is. It would still be funny on the page, just not nearly as funny as it should be. As it deserves to be. Ask me in person and maybe I’ll tell it to you.