Watch: The year Jack E. Jett celebrated Halloween on TV five times with weird celebrities galore (& Sandra Bernhard too)

“Halloween is gay Christmas,” said the late great homo TV talk show pioneer, my mentor Jack E. Jett.

I would tend to agree with this. Just look at the legendary West Hollywood Halloween Parade—the biggest in the world—which springs from the loins, so to speak, of L.A.’s notorious gay ghetto each year. Never have I witnessed a more splendiferous display of sartorial faggotry than what I see on Santa Monica Boulevard every October 31st.

Or how about the fact that many boys (and girls) have their first drag experience when the Great (Gay) Pumpkin is high in the sky? You know, just trying it out as a costume this year and—chantay you stay!—headlining Hamburger Mary’s the next.

Or how about the fact that there’s the word trick in the signature Halloweentime phrase “Trick or Treat”? Hmmm.

Jack E. Jett, self-described “aging TV manwhore”—and my inspiration.

Well, one thing I do know for sure is that Daddy Jack loved Halloween so much (almost as much as you-know-who loved the Jesus) that he celebrated it five days in a row on his landmark LGBT TV program, The Queer Edge, waaay back in 2005.

And there were celebrities.

A ton of strange and amazing celebrities including comedian Sandra Bernhard, Butch Patrick (Lidsville, The Munsters), Glen Meadmore, Selene Luna, Perez Hilton, Reichen Lehmkuhl (The Amazing Race), James St. James (Party Monster, World Of Wonder), Lenora Claire and a buttload more.

And there were bands! Including the inimitable gospel punk duo Fireworks, one man groove machine Books On Tape, the all-female Misfits cover band the Miss Fits, and Brandon Cruz, the Dead Kennedy’s Jello Biafra replacement for awhile.

If you can find stranger and better unsung queer cable TV programming from this century, well… I wanna know about it!

In the meantime, Happy Halloween.

Watch the complete Jack E. Jett / Queer Edge Halloween playlist here

Or click on any of the videos below:

With guest co-host: SANDRA BERNHARD

Featuring:
00:42 – JACK E. JETT opening monologue
05:24 – SANDRA BERNHARD actress + comedian
10:18 – REICHEN LEHMKUHL Amazing Race winner
16:43 – GLEN MEADMORE musical performance
21:33 – SELENE LUNA actress + burlesque performer
29:29 – SCOTT WITHERS & CHRISANNE EASTWOOD at the Weho Halloween Parade
36:27 – VALVAL SISTERS send in the clowns
46:12 – LENORA CLAIRE, JAMES ST. JAMES and PHAEDRA
55:29 – MISS FITS musical performance

Run time: 57:07
Broadcast date: 10/31/2005

With guest co-host: BUTCH PATRICK

Featuring:
00:42 – JACK E. JETT opening monologue
05:55 – BUTCH PATRICK Munsters + Lidsville actor
12:55 – JACKIE ENX news from the edge
16:59 – CHRISTOPHER DALLMAN musician
25:14 – PEREZ HILTON celebrity blogger
34:50 – TONY KOOPSTEAD goth artist
41:00 – ROB WILLIAMS as Darcey Williams, Canadian

Run time: 48:31
Broadcast date: 10/24/2005

With guest co-host: BUTCH PATRICK

Featuring:
00:42 – JACK E. JETT opening monologue
10:51 – JACKIE ENX news from the edge
16:53 – BOOKS ON TAPE musical performance
23:08 – RENEGADE EFFECTS GROUP play dress up
32:34 – JOEL STURDIVANT as Lindsay Lohan
33:09 – DEL SHORES writer
46:80 – JACKIE ENX hypocrisy now
51:31 – STEFANE ZAMORANO comedian

Run time: 59:51
Broadcast date: 10/25/2005

With guest co-host: BUTCH PATRICK

Featuring:
00:42 – JACK E. JETT opening monologue
10:26 – JACKIE ENX news from the edge
17:07 – BUTCH PATRICK Munsters + Lidsville actor
19:48 – JULIE GRIBBLE musical performance
31:13 – MICHAEL RAYNER post-modern vaudevillian
36:55 – ADRIENNE JANIC actress + TV host
45:05 – BRANDON CRUZ actor + Dead Kennedys singer

Run time: 59:58
Broadcast date: 10/26/2005

With guest co-host: BUTCH PATRICK

Featuring:
00:42 – JACK E. JETT opening monologue
10:37 – JACKIE ENX news from the edge
16:56 – FIREWORKS musical performance
31:10 – CARL CREW Jeffrey Dahmer actor
43:12 – JOEL STURDIVANT as Lindsay Lohan
43:45 – ALYCIA COOPER comedian
49:55 – ROB WILLIAMS and JACK DAGGER knife thrower