The rumors of Sinbad's death are greatly exaggerated

This story is actually a little old now, but I'm revisiting it because it happens to be the subject of my "Cindy Swanson, CyberSnoop" radio feature this week.

As CyberSnoop, I de-bunk or verify those dubious e-mails that continually pop up in your inbox. Now, I've developed radar. I can almost tell you at first read whether the e-mail is a load of baloney. It always amazes me that wonderful, really intelligent people will unquestioningly send these things along to everyone on their e-mail list without bothering to check them out first.

There are a few good ways to check them out, by the way. My favorite is Snopes.com. I've found them to be very reliable. Another good one is Truthorfiction.com.

Anyway, back to Sinbad...

Earlier this month, a Sinbad bio on Wikipedia
claimed that Sinbad had died of a heart attack on March 10th.

The actor first heard about it through a phone call from his crying daughter. Not long afterwards, the phone calls and e-mails started pouring in. In a radio interview, Sinbad noted wryly, "I wish that people would’ve called me back like this when I was alive. I gotta die more often.”

Sinbad said a couple of other pretty funny things in the interview, including, "I'm writing a movie about this right now. Seriously, my death is gonna be my comeback!"

He also said his new voice message on his phone is: "I ain't dead. Call me back."

Afros and Bellbottoms

Personally, I've always liked Sinbad. If you've never seen his stand-up video, Afros and Bellbottoms, you should--especially if, like Sinbad and me, you are a child of the 70's. In the video (or DVD, of course), Sinbad proves that you can be guffawingly hilarious without resorting to sexual humor and profanity.

He's on the road doing stand-up, and I have no idea if he's continued that tradition of being funny without being nasty. If he could "come back" onto the entertainment scene with that relative wholesomeness intact, I'd love to see him make a comeback. Lord knows we have enough comedians who think they can't get a laugh without being gross.