On Halloween night in 1979, the original lineup of Kiss appeared on The Tomorrow Show for what would become one of the most chaotic and revealing moments in rock and roll television history. According to author John Harrison, the infamous interview with host Tom Snyder offered a public glimpse into a band on the verge of collapse, with the clear division between its “serious” and “party” factions on full display.
In an interview with the Booked on Rock podcast, Harrison, author of Creatures of the Screen, explained that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley saw the appearance on the high-minded talk show as a unique opportunity.
“The Tomorrow Show was a very sort of serious late-night TV show,” Harrison said (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “I mean, Tom Snyder was someone that often had politicians and big political figures and real sort of intellectuals. So for Gene especially, and Paul, I think they saw The Tomorrow Show was their chance to really show the serious side of Kiss, to try and show how intelligent and clever they were.”
Those ambitions were quickly derailed by guitarist Ace Frehley. “But unfortunately, as soon as Ace started opening his mouth, that sort of went downhill,” Harrison noted. A clearly inebriated Frehley took over the interview with constant jokes and his trademark cackle, much to the visible annoyance of his bandmates. “And I think rather than go along with it and at least get into the spirit of it, Gene and Paul just decided to really hunker down. And you can sort of tell Gene is really miserable and doesn’t want to talk about anything really exciting.”
Harrison pointed out that with the benefit of video playback, the tension is palpable. “There’s a couple of shots here, which you maybe didn’t catch when you first saw it live… you can really see Gene and Paul making dagger eyes towards Ace and Peter [Criss].”
The most telling moment, however, was an audible whisper from drummer Peter Criss to Frehley after the guitarist made a joke at the band’s expense. “You can actually hear Peter say under his breath, ‘That’s funny, you’re gonna pay for that in the dressing room later.’ Like, Gene and Paul are gonna k*ll you when you get back there,” Harrison revealed.
Just a few months after the broadcast, Peter Criss was out of the band. Harrison believes the interview’s legacy endures because it shattered the band’s mystique and exposed the very real fractures within the group, which was happening just as their popularity was peaking.
“Look, obviously it’s become one of the mythical appearances in Kiss history,” Harrison concluded. “And for good reason: it’s not only funny and endearing, it shows that Kiss were real people with real issues and real problems: they weren’t superheroes. And it was kind of like almost watching the band disintegrate before your eyes.”
Years later, Ace Frehley paid tribute to the host and the chaotic TV spot with the song “Return of the Space Bear,” a bonus track on his 2007 solo album, Anomaly.
Kiss is set to host a special three-day fan event called “KISS Army Storms Vegas” at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, running from November 14 to 16. This marks the band’s first public appearance since their “End of the Road” farewell tour concluded in December 2023.
