If you've seen Babe, you wouldn't be able to eat this!
October 17, 2012 11:35 AM Subscribe
The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show was a short-run syndicated talk show from 1996. Staring the eccentric duo of Jim Bullock and Tammy Faye Bakker Messner (replaced by Ann Abernathy due to Tammy Faye's initial cancer diagnosis that ultimately took her). Some off-beat guests included Hula-Hooper Mat Plendl, Sweepstakes King Steve Ledoux, Handwriting Expert Bart Baggett, and in this insane, hot-dog waving intro from episode 6 features sword swallower Zamora The Torture King.
Please excuse the grammar. I words sometimed.
posted by wcfields at 11:41 AM on October 17, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by wcfields at 11:41 AM on October 17, 2012 [4 favorites]
I believe this was the beginning of the redemption of Tammy Faye Baker Messner, where she stopped being a homophobic huckster and started embracing the gay community.
posted by xingcat at 12:02 PM on October 17, 2012
posted by xingcat at 12:02 PM on October 17, 2012
Wait.. Tammy Faye Baker and Jm. J Bullock? The same Jm. J Bullock who was raped on Too Close For Comfort? When.. what.. wait.. this was a talk show? Oh, clearly that's where they messed up. Cuz that's a sitcom if I ever heard of one.
posted by mediocre at 12:08 PM on October 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by mediocre at 12:08 PM on October 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
Twice in one lifetime Tammy Faye was part of an eccentric duo with a talk show featuring off-beat guests (as in, a couple of standard deviations off-beat)—and both times her partner was "Jim". I guess her time here was well spent.
posted by she's not there at 12:09 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by she's not there at 12:09 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
<climax>Zamora, the crossroads of the world</climax>, that Zamora?posted by adipocere at 12:34 PM on October 17, 2012
Well I'll be damned. I clicked through the Zamora link thinking "What are the odds he's the guy I saw at a Renaissance Fair in Orange County, California in 1997?" and it turns out he is. He was a really nice and interesting guy to talk to.
posted by usonian at 12:39 PM on October 17, 2012
posted by usonian at 12:39 PM on October 17, 2012
Actually -- and please correct me if I'm wrong -- I think she wasn't terribly awful to The Gays, even while on PTL. I'm sure people with more knowledge than I could give many examples of her being complicit with the usual homophobic evangelical rhetoric, but from what I recall in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, there were several clips where she was crying on behalf of AIDS patients.
That movie is worth watching for the puppets alone. Also, it is narrated by RuPaul.
posted by Madamina at 12:41 PM on October 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
That movie is worth watching for the puppets alone. Also, it is narrated by RuPaul.
posted by Madamina at 12:41 PM on October 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
Here is a photo of Zamora performing in front of thousands on the second stage of Lollapalooza, 1992.
posted by Tube at 12:44 PM on October 17, 2012
posted by Tube at 12:44 PM on October 17, 2012
Madamina is right. She was one of the first to reach out to AIDS patients, for example, when she was still with Jim Bakker, back when people caught major crap for doing so.
If you haven't seen The Eyes of Tammy Faye, you should. Really interesting documentary.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 12:48 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
If you haven't seen The Eyes of Tammy Faye, you should. Really interesting documentary.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 12:48 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
...where she stopped being a homophobic huckster...Was she ever known to speak harshly of homosexuals? I'd heard she displayed a pretty gracious attitude even back in the PTL days.
posted by BurntHombre at 1:00 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
I spent 3 years around PTL (1 year as an intern), and Tammy Faye was never homophobic, although I can understand the ease of guilt by association. She was one of the most accepting, open, warm, and loving people I have ever met. There were plenty of issues to be concerned about, and Tammy was just as human as any of us, but rejection, fear, and judgementalism were never part of her makeup. (Pun!)
posted by The Deej at 1:01 PM on October 17, 2012 [11 favorites]
posted by The Deej at 1:01 PM on October 17, 2012 [11 favorites]
St. Alia of the Bunnies: "Madamina is right. She was one of the first to reach out to AIDS patients, for example, when she was still with Jim Bakker, back when people caught major crap for doing so. "
Surely she would have known that Jim J. Bullock / JM J. Bullock had been HIV positive since 1985.
xingcat: "... she stopped being a homophobic huckster..."
As BurntHombre has said, I believe you are mistaken. I can't recall that she every landed in the anti-gay/homophobic crowd of Televangelism. In 1985 on PTL (Praise the Lord) she interviewed Steve Pieters, a gay Christian minister with HIV. Part 1 & Part 2.
posted by wcfields at 1:16 PM on October 17, 2012
Surely she would have known that Jim J. Bullock / JM J. Bullock had been HIV positive since 1985.
xingcat: "... she stopped being a homophobic huckster..."
As BurntHombre has said, I believe you are mistaken. I can't recall that she every landed in the anti-gay/homophobic crowd of Televangelism. In 1985 on PTL (Praise the Lord) she interviewed Steve Pieters, a gay Christian minister with HIV. Part 1 & Part 2.
posted by wcfields at 1:16 PM on October 17, 2012
You can keep your Tammy Faye; I'm a Jan Fan through and through.
I'm just sorry I couldn't find a video of her using her puppets and annoying her husband Paul. Those were the best times.
posted by benito.strauss at 1:17 PM on October 17, 2012
I'm just sorry I couldn't find a video of her using her puppets and annoying her husband Paul. Those were the best times.
posted by benito.strauss at 1:17 PM on October 17, 2012
Tammy Faye, from what I remember of the 80s and what I saw on The Surreal Life was definitely a sweet lady, and like my mother who doesn't hate teh gay, politics notwigthstanding, would welcome them into her home and feed them and give them love as much as anyone else. I had a newfound respect after watching her on Surreal Life.
posted by symbioid at 1:18 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by symbioid at 1:18 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Jan Crouch is absolutely EVERYTHING they claimed Tammy was (when she wasn't). I don't understand how in the hell my mother watches that tripe. *sigh*
posted by symbioid at 1:19 PM on October 17, 2012
posted by symbioid at 1:19 PM on October 17, 2012
I don't understand how in the hell my mother watches that tripe.
I'm guessing she isn't a bored teen-ager up past 1AM in Orange County without cable, so I can't understand either.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:23 PM on October 17, 2012
I'm guessing she isn't a bored teen-ager up past 1AM in Orange County without cable, so I can't understand either.
posted by benito.strauss at 2:23 PM on October 17, 2012
I saw this show once, when I was young. I'm glad it was real, as I was starting to believe it was some sort of Candle Cove type thing my brain made up.
I remember they had some sort of pro fighter on there who was demonstrating techniques, and J(i)m J jumped onto the punching bag and started slapping it cat-fight style.
Every time someone mentions Tammy Faye the image that pops into my mind is that of a woman looking surprised and confused on a stage as a tall man in a suit swings back and forth on a punching bag slapping the crap out of it...
posted by The Power Nap at 2:42 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
I remember they had some sort of pro fighter on there who was demonstrating techniques, and J(i)m J jumped onto the punching bag and started slapping it cat-fight style.
Every time someone mentions Tammy Faye the image that pops into my mind is that of a woman looking surprised and confused on a stage as a tall man in a suit swings back and forth on a punching bag slapping the crap out of it...
posted by The Power Nap at 2:42 PM on October 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
I loved her on PTL back in the day. Before the theme park fundraising took over the show, in addition to her singing, she had an adorably fake patio garden segment where she talked about Women's Things, like--surprise--make up. "Christians like to look pretty, too."
She cried so often on camera, she once explained, that she took to wearing waterproof clown make up for mascara. Later, in the documentary referenced above, she said, "Without my eyelashes, I don't know who I'd be, but it wouldn't be me."
On PTL, it was at once hilarious and touching when she came out pretty obviously tranqed up and would trip over a camera cable or, in one memorable show, wander to the back of the set in the middle of a scene with Jim to study the backdrop.
Still, despite her drug addiction, dippiness and naivete, she came across as genuine, authentic, real. And her singing always seemed to come from the heart.
If there is a heaven, I hope she's in it.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:10 PM on October 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
She cried so often on camera, she once explained, that she took to wearing waterproof clown make up for mascara. Later, in the documentary referenced above, she said, "Without my eyelashes, I don't know who I'd be, but it wouldn't be me."
On PTL, it was at once hilarious and touching when she came out pretty obviously tranqed up and would trip over a camera cable or, in one memorable show, wander to the back of the set in the middle of a scene with Jim to study the backdrop.
Still, despite her drug addiction, dippiness and naivete, she came across as genuine, authentic, real. And her singing always seemed to come from the heart.
If there is a heaven, I hope she's in it.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:10 PM on October 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
To be fair, her first husband finally read the bible when he was in prison, and realized that he was wrong to have bilked thousands of Christians out of millions of dollars. He said he'd read only parts of the bible before he went to jail, and took some passages out of context. Sure. He may have misunderstood the part about not stealing, and thought it meant that greed was okay if one feeds only on the gullible. Wow. I bet he's glad he finally got that cleared up.
Tammy Faye doesn't seem to have gone back over the literature, however, and I guess her second husband didn't either. I noticed that she saw the light after the first criminal hubby was put in jail, and she divorced him. I suppose it was just as well, since the IRS had removed the source of their inspiration.
I remember the PTL Network, and Tammy's grotesque posturing. Okay, sweet and vulnerable, yet willing to bilk the faithful with a clear mind. Um...okay, a not so clear mind. I don't count it to her credit that she, unlike some other Christian hucksters, seems to have been open to bilking gullible folks of all persuasions, not just the straight white and gullible ones. All that means to me is that she threw a wider loop.
Affable hucksters are still thieves. I don't quite know how to express the feeling I have toward those who exploit the fearful and sick at heart: send me your money and I'll make you right with God. (But I will try.) It would be fitting if they turned out to be right--that there is a God, and he puts people into one of the circles of hell for shit like this.
posted by mule98J at 6:28 PM on October 17, 2012
Tammy Faye doesn't seem to have gone back over the literature, however, and I guess her second husband didn't either. I noticed that she saw the light after the first criminal hubby was put in jail, and she divorced him. I suppose it was just as well, since the IRS had removed the source of their inspiration.
I remember the PTL Network, and Tammy's grotesque posturing. Okay, sweet and vulnerable, yet willing to bilk the faithful with a clear mind. Um...okay, a not so clear mind. I don't count it to her credit that she, unlike some other Christian hucksters, seems to have been open to bilking gullible folks of all persuasions, not just the straight white and gullible ones. All that means to me is that she threw a wider loop.
Affable hucksters are still thieves. I don't quite know how to express the feeling I have toward those who exploit the fearful and sick at heart: send me your money and I'll make you right with God. (But I will try.) It would be fitting if they turned out to be right--that there is a God, and he puts people into one of the circles of hell for shit like this.
posted by mule98J at 6:28 PM on October 17, 2012
The whole documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, is on the internet.
I remember when she was on the air, in make up and everything, on Larry King, looking like the spectre of Death itself, the day before she died.
posted by JHarris at 6:28 PM on October 17, 2012
I remember when she was on the air, in make up and everything, on Larry King, looking like the spectre of Death itself, the day before she died.
posted by JHarris at 6:28 PM on October 17, 2012
Wait, what? Is that Tim Cridland, Off The Deep End, that Zamora? He gets around!
posted by JHarris at 6:35 PM on October 17, 2012
posted by JHarris at 6:35 PM on October 17, 2012
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posted by Ad hominem at 11:39 AM on October 17, 2012 [4 favorites]