AUSTIN, Texas — This story was originally published by our partners at the Texas Tribune
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.
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.
At the same time, he gained the respect of musical titans like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.
In the late 1970s, Friedman was playing every Sunday night at the Lone Star Cafe in New York City, Hattersley remembered. Hattersley’s job became getting him on stage and keeping him there. Hattersley recounted the storied guests who came to see him, such as actor Robin Williams and John Belushi and other cast members of Saturday Night Live.
There was no one else in country music like him, Hattersley said. He recalled his friend as a “connection point” who introduced him to all sorts of people he never would have met. And his lyrics were “insane” — a reflection of the revolutionary times of the 1960s and 1970s in which they’d lived. Once, Friedman famously sprayed the New York Rangers hockey team and their wives with beer while wearing a long jersey, cowboy boots and no pants.
"The irreverence that he was able to get away with opened up more ideas,” Hattersley said. “Right now we're in kind of a time in society where word usage is being suppressed, and language is being codified almost to the point of hieroglyphics and so much is being left out. Kinky never left anything out.”
Later, Friedman turned to writing books, publishing novels that often featured a fictionalized version of himself, including “Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola” and “Armadillos and Old Lace.”
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."
Friedman befriended former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. After he lost to Perry in 2006, Friedman backed the former governor in his failed 2012 presidential bid.