31 Nights of Halloween - Night 29: The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

We have traveled far on this benighted Halloween path, have we not, you and I? And the end is in sight. Yet perhaps the greatest horror we've met yet lays right before us. Many strange and curious things were spawned for Halloween by the 1970s, and what you are about to witness is among the most strange and curious.

On this night in 1976, a bizarre mix of entertainment enveloped TV screens nationwide. It was an awkwardly uncomfortable conglomeration of comedy, music, and cameos, all centered on its star, Paul Lynde. It is difficult to explain exactly who Paul Lynde was, and his omnipresence on American television of the 1960s and 1970s. Yet this showcase of him as master-of-ceremonies, song-and-dance man, comedic foil, and general oddball personality may suffice to assuage your curiosity. Bursting with cameos by and mentions of a slew of quintessentially '70s names and faces, only barely connected to Halloween most of the time, and reminding us just how much of a death grip the CB radio craze had on a tortured nation in the mid-1970s, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special distills down the insanity of network television programming of its era into a strange spirit indeed. Walk forth and grip it with both hands; you must tread this part of the path alone.

Oh, and did I mention KISS performs three songs?