Films and Other Projects
In 1990, Sinbad did his first stand-up comedy special for HBO called Sinbad: Brain Damaged. The special was recorded at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1993, Sinbad did his next stand-up special in New York City's Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden called Sinbad - Afros and Bellbottoms for which he won a 1995 Image Award. The show was such a success that he was brought back in 1996 for Sinbad - Son of a Preacher Man and again in 1998 for Sinbad - Nothin' but the Funk. All of these shows have been released on VHS and DVD.
Sinbad again won a 1998 Image Award in 1998 for his role in Sinbad's Summer Jam III: '70s Soul Music Festival.
By 1995, Sinbad had created a company called "David & Goliath Productions" that was located in Studio City.
From 1989 to 1991, Sinbad was host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, and returned in 2005 while regular host Mo'Nique was on maternity leave. He hosted a Soul Train episode that aired January 14, 1995; appeared as a contestant in a 1998 episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!; and was the emcee for the 2000 Miss Universe Pageant.
During the 1990s, Sinbad guest-starred on an episode of Nickelodeon's All That. In one sketch, he played the father of recurring character Ishboo, dubbed "Sinboo". He also made a cameo appearance in the comedy movie Good Burger, starring Kenan & Kel, as "Mr. Wheat", a short tempered teacher whose car gets crushed by a giant realistic hamburger. His character was modeled after Gough Wheat, a past teacher of the movie's producer at White Station High School in Memphis, Tennessee.
He and Phil Hartman co-starred in the comedy film Houseguest, where he plays Kevin Franklin, a Pittsburgh resident who owes $50,000 to the mob. Hartman, as Gary Young, comments to his children that they're waiting to pick up a black man. Taking who they think to be a well-known dentist home, Young's family is stabilized by Franklin's own unstable nature. Released January 6, 1995, the film grossed $26 million in North America.
Sinbad's film roles also include First Kid, which he starred in, and Jingle All the Way (1996). For Jingle All the Way, Sinbad won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Supporting Actor - Family". He also performed his HBO comedy special "Son of a Preacher Man" at the Paramount Theatre in Denver, Colorado.
In 1996, Sinbad joined First Lady Hillary Clinton and musician Sheryl Crow in a USO tour in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The NAACP Image Awards recognized his 1996 role in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, nominating him in the "Outstanding Performance in an Animated/Live-Action/Dramatic Youth or Children's Series/Special" category. He lent his voice to Riley, an animal character in Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996), and later voiced the horse "Hollywood Shuffle" in Ready to Run.
VIBE magazine started its own syndicated late-night talk show in August 1997 which aired on UPN, hosted by actor Chris Spencer. Spencer was fired in October, and replaced by Sinbad; the series lasted until the summer of 1998. At that same time, Sinbad performed his HBO comedy special "Nothin' but the Funk" in Aruba's Guillermo P. Trinidad Memorial Stadium.
He was also featured in a 1999 infomercial for Tae Bo, where he claimed that he was successfully using the Tae Bo system to become an action star.
In 2004 he was named the #78 greatest stand-up comic of all time on "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time".
In 2006 Maxim Magazine ranked Sinbad as the "Worst Comic of All Time".
Actor Mark Curry credits Sinbad and Bill Cosby for helping convince him not to commit suicide. Sinbad was responsible for discovering R&B trio 702; convincing their parents to let him take them to a music convention/competition, under the name "Sweeta than Suga", eventually being heard by music producer Michael Bivins.
Sinbad also made a cameo appearance on the television show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as himself in a rehab center in the episode Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life, which originally aired October 23, 2008. His cameo was met with positive acclaim from fans of both him, and the series.
Sinbad was the host of Thou Shalt Laugh 3. The DVD was released on November 11, 2008
He recently performed his Comedy Central television special "Where U Been? at Club Nokia, which was later released on DVD to even greater success.
On March 14, 2010, he debuted on the Celebrity Apprentice and was fired on the second episode (March 21, 2010) after losing in the Kodak challenge as project manager, placing 13th.
On January 25, 2011, he was the celebrity speaker of MacWorld Expo 2011.
Sinbad starred in a reality show on WE tv called Sinbad: It's Just Family that aired on Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m., however it was cancelled in 2011.
Sinbad made an appearance on "The Eric Andre Show" June 25, 2012, a late night comedy sketch show that airs at 12:00am on "Adult Swim".
Read more about this topic: Sinbad (entertainer), Career
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