I grew up watching Joe Pyne and marveling at his bitter rants. He was the template for Fox News and geek journalism.

Lewis Marvin was a stone cold freak who happened to be very very rich. He was the heir to the Green Stamps fortune and with his inheritance established the hippie community Moonfire in Topanga Canyon. Moonfire was at the epicenter of Southern California’s new age scene, drawing a mixed bag of rock and rollers, actors, groupies and wandering flower children. In this clip, Pyne attempts to scramble Marvin’s already scrambled signals. Pyne, an ex-Marine, was notorious for his loathing of hippies, beatniks and pinkos. He was the Bill O’Reilly of the sixties…without any intellectual pretense.

Witness Marvin as he boldly confronts Pyne and the screaming tomato.
 

Yeah, I remember as a young teen watching Joe and his fellow talk show host Alan Burke and being fascinated by their mix of repugnance and aggression.
Wild stuff.
They’d fit right in on Fox News now for sure.

Though I never saw his show, I recall hearing the story of how Zappa bested him in a verbal confrontation: Pyne insulted Zappa by saying, “So I guess your long hair makes you a woman.” Zappa replied, “So I guess your wooden leg makes you a table.”  (Pyne did indeed have a wooden leg.)

Wow, what a prick. I don’t think I’d ever heard of Joe Pyne before and I don’t suppose I missed much. Wonder if he’d have been as much of a shit towards LaVey had he realised what common political ground they shared…

When Paul Krassner was a guest on Pyne, the host made reference to acne scars on Krassner’s face.  “Well, Joe,” Paul replied, “if you’re gonna ask questions like that, then let me ask you: Do you take off your wooden leg before you make love with your wife?” The audience gasped! (See Confessions Of A Raving, Unconfined Nut, Krassner’s autobiography.)

One question: Bill O’Reilly has intellectual pretense?