Friends, Fans Will Honor Outlaw Comic Sam Kinison : Tribute: A celebration of his contribution to American comedy is set tonight at Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre.

Pacing the stage like the Pentecostal preacher he once was, Sam Kinison would work himself into a primal heat as he railed against homosexuals, AIDS, organized religion and one of the topics closest to his heart: Marriage.

“Oh, Oh-h-h - h-h! Marriage is hell - l-l-l-l!” the twice-divorced comic would scream.

With an infectious giggle and his signature banshee wail, Kinison soared into the public consciousness in the mid-’80s as the King of Shock Comedy. His detractors--and there were many--called him obscene, vitriolic and annoyingly loud. His fans--and they were legion--called him an innovator, a biting social commentator for whom no topic was taboo. Not the Crucifixion. Not sex. Not even necrophilia.

When the 38-year-old comedian was killed in a head-on collision on his way to a show in Laughlin, Nev., in April, media reports referred to the wild stage persona and the equally wild personal life of the man who joked that his cocaine use was once so heavy he used a garden hose to inhale.

But his friends, many of whom will be celebrating the outlaw comic at a comedy tribute tonight at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim, remember another Sam Kinison.

“The partying is legendary, but there also is a side of him that was very sweet and loving and he was very good to a lot of people,” said Richard Belzer, who first met Kinison in 1980.

Scheduled to join Belzer on stage are Robin Williams, Rodney Dangerfield, Judy Tenuta, Carl LaBove, Jim Carrey and Pauly Shore. The show, which will include video clips of Kinison’s career, will be taped for a later TV broadcast on the Fox network.

Tenuta, the accordion-playing, self-anointed Love Goddess who met Kinison in a Denver comedy club in 1985, joked that, “We used to hang out cruising for chicks together, Sam and I.”

“He was the most compassionate person I ever met in my life,” said LaBove, Kinison’s best friend and longtime opening act. “He was always there for me.”

But don’t expect a stream of sugary testimonials tonight. According to Belzer, “The tribute is going to be a life-affirming thing rather than maudlin.”

“There won’t be a lot of reminiscing,” said Bill Kinison, Sam’s brother and manager who is serving as executive producer of the show. “It will be kind of a ‘Heaven Can Wait’ type set with a lot of smoke and things like that. The story line is basically whether or not Sam makes it (to heaven).”

That seems an altogether fitting premise for a tribute to the outlaw comic with the hell-bound persona. Yet despite Sam’s penchant for the sacrilegious on stage, Kinison said, his brother never lost his own faith.

“He was a strong believer,” he said. “His unhappiness was with religion and never his commitment to God.” With a laugh, Kinison added: “I don’t know if you’re going to have a lot of Christians who are going to believe that.”

Proceeds from the tribute, according to Kinison, will go to his brother’s estate. At the time of Sam’s death, Kinison said, he was nearly $1 million in debt. “After he died and I looked at the estate I thought, ‘Well, if you can die a million in debt you can say you enjoyed life.’ ”

Kinison feels a comedy tribute is the kind his brother would have wanted. “And I think just about all the entertainers that are involved are involved because of the contribution he made. When I watched ‘Comic Relief’ this year there was not only the (raw) language but the (controversial) viewpoints that you probably wouldn’t have seen on HBO or on television if it hadn’t been for Sam breaking down all the walls.”

Bill Kinison believes his brother belongs in the same camp as such boundary-stretching predecessors as Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor. “What he brought--and they also brought--is being totally honest on stage. Even to a fault. There’s a lot of people who would not have agreed with Sam’s views on things, but he was honest on stage about it.”

* The Sam Kinison Tribute is at 8 tonight at the Celebrity Theatre, 201 E. Broadway Blvd., Anaheim. $30, $55 and $105. (714) 999-9536.