Watching Joe Pyne is interesting because he almost seems ahead of his time. Pyne was a broadcaster who had a series of panel talk shows in Wilmington, Delaware, and Los Angeles in the 1960s. He died of lung cancer in 1970 at the age of 45.

Many have cited Joe Pyne as the spiritual predecessor to figures like Morton Downey Jr. and Bill O’Reilly but…. well, I think that sells him a little short. I can’t stand those two guys, but I like watching Pyne. Pyne was cutting and sarcastic but was seldom all that nasty about it. He was host to controversial figures who weren’t appearing in other parts of the TV spectrum…. for instance, he would have KKK members on, or members of the Nazi Party, or people who were followers of Charles Manson. A typical guest was Sam Sloan, at that time a promoter of the Sexual Freedom League. Sure, Pyne had them on to oppose them or ridicule them, and you can see the template there, especially for Downey’s show. O’Reilly has too much psychological baggage and rage to really do justice to the Pyne comp—O’Reilly’s also more of a charlatan than Pyne was. With Joe Pyne there was no pretense.

Pyne represented the Archie Bunker perspective fairly honestly, he was derisive and contemptuous of oddball or extreme things and he understood that he had the ability to turn a decent foil into excellent TV. And somehow the stakes were never that high, the idea wasn’t so much “this is a threat that must be stamped out,” it was more like self-expression. You couldn’t imagine Joe Pyne starting a war over Christmas—but if he stumbled onto one, you know what side he’d be on.

Anton LaVey started the Church of Satan in 1966. On February 1, 1967, he performed a much-publicized “first Satanic wedding ceremony” uniting journalist John Raymond and New York City socialite Judith Case. That was the event that made Pyne think that LaVey belonged on his show.

During their exchanges, Pyne basically never lets an opportunity pass to make a joke about LaVey’s beliefs…. it’s true he’s not too nice to LaVey, who actually does a very good job of presenting a radical freethinking point of view. Pyne wants to know how often LaVey has to shave his head, and he’s super interested in the 500-lb. lion that shares the bedroom of LaVey and his wife. At one point very late in the interview he actually bats LaVey on the head with his clipboard, to which LaVey displays great equanimity.

In the internet comments I’ve read people seem awfully worked up about how disrespectful Pyne is here, but for my money, this is one of those exchanges where both parties come out looking pretty great.

There’s a watermark over the video but it really doesn’t mess up things much at all, it’s perfectly watchable.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Joe Pyne: The godfather of pinhead TV
Anton LaVey Pez Dispenser