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Variety is reporting today that actor Dan Fogler has signed on to play comedian Sam Kinison in the HBO production Brother Sam, a biopic of the comedian’s life and career — a career that was jump started by HBO. The film will be based on “Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison,” a memoir written by his brother and manager, Bill Kinison, and Steve Delsohn.

It is a film that has been in development for quite a while with Bruce Almighty director Tom Shadyac and producer David Permut bringing the project to HBO after eight years of trying to get the film made over at Universal. Now at HBO, the creative team has signed Fogler, who is the Tony-winning star of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and the star of the recent comedy Balls of Fury, in the lead role.

As Variety points out, Kinison’s star was launched by an appearance on HBO’s Rodney Dangerfield-hosted “Young Comedians” special in 1984. Here is a little taste of that below.