It’s been quite a while since anyone has seen the comic Sinbad, but he’ll be making his way back to TV to star in the pilot of Rel, a story about a man named Rel who will be the main protagonist of the show. Sinbad will be playing his father Nat, who is far more concerned about his reputation in the neighborhood than the welfare of his sons. It will be a kind of switch for Sinbad since in most of the productions he’s starred in he’s always been the character that really cared about other people and showed a lot of class when it came to dealing with them. From his time on Coneheads to his appearance in First Kid he’s always been the one guy that really tried to please everyone.
Those that remember Sinbad likely grew up in the 80’s and 90’s however since this was the last time he was really relevant. He’s been around since then but he hasn’t managed to capture any of his former glory from those days as of yet. Back in the day he was one of the funniest guys around and could make a crowd laugh fairly easily. In movies he was also the kind of guy that would have a joke or a witty comeback at hand at all times so as to shred the other person or make them feel about an inch high for having the temerity to embarrass him or anyone with him. In fact I can recall only one movie in which he was actually the antagonist and it was Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even then he was more of a tragic villain than anything since like Arnold he was trying to find a toy for his kid that was about as coveted as Tickle Me Elmo used to be.
Since those days however his stock kind of went down since he hasn’t done a whole lot and he had to file for bankruptcy at one point. Even worse was that he had to file for a second bankruptcy. The strange thing is that he didn’t go all out and live the life of a celebrity and buy expensive things and go nuts. He invested in himself and others and somehow managed to lose millions upon millions over the years. The one thing that can be said about Sinbad, well, one among many, is that he kind of didn’t evolve when it came to his act. In the 80’s and 90’s he was on fire since he was doing things and saying things that no one had thought of before, but his run at the top was also short-lived since when comedy evolved and moved on, he didn’t really follow. He kept on trying to do the same old routine and making it work, and after a while it fell flat. He did the same old routine that people had seen before and it failed to work after so long.
Hopefully this will be a comeback.
