“Thank you for tuning in to spend some time on my North Pole!”— Paul Lynde, as played by Michael Airington.

 Let’s start with some LGBTQ history: Back in the ’70’s, we had Paul Lynde, an inimitable actor and comedian who could somehow be obnoxious yet oddly loveable at the same time, albeit with alternatingly different proportions of the two traits depending on the situation.  In October 1976, America’s favorite NOT GAY star (this was 70’s TV after all) had a Halloween-themed TV special that featured such celebrities as Betty White (!), Donny and Marie (!!), and Roz “Pinky Tuscadero” Kelly (!!!), among others. In one of the first scenes, Lynde’s housekeeper Margaret Hamilton transformed from a dowdy frump into The Wicked Witch of the West, and actually looked far more attractive and fabulous in full greenface witch drag. She then introduced Lynde to her sister Witchiepoo (from H.R. Pufnstuf) and the three of them took a magical trip through the scary world of 1970’s TV specials… featuring some truly AWFUL skits, ill-conceived musical numbers, and Lynde’s corny jokes. But all of that didn’t seem to matter: The audience just kept right on laughing throughout, thanks to a laugh track. Still, it was a thrill to see Florence Henderson, AKA “Mrs. Brady”, perform a disco version of That Old Black Magic (That camera got REALLY close!) and to see the entire cast boogie to Disco Baby (a corruption of Disco Lady) at the end credits while KISS stared disapprovingly from a Gothic balcony. Even with their makeup, you can see the embarrassment of the band at being in this rocky horror of a picture show.  For better or worse, “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special” was unavailable for decades… until finally appearing on DVD in 2007.  It was truly awful… and I LOVED it!

Fast forward to 2023, and “Paul Lynde” has finally made a comeback!  This time, it’s a Christmas special, and the absolutely NOT GAY star (This is, ahem, TV in the 70’s, after all…) has gathered a new and exciting bunch of guests to help him keep the yuletide gay.  The absolutely NOT GAY Special Guests include Tab Hunter (!), Sal Mineo (!!), and Liberace (!!!).  But wait!  Seth Rudesky, Jackie Beat, Lady Bunny, and… Bea Arthur (?) also show up.  How is that possible? Now, THAT’S a trans-generational cast!   Mimicking the 1976 original, Paul kicks off with a new take on Kids, his signature song from the musical Bye Bye Birdie.  A bunch of hunky “boys” in Santa hats dance around him.  Also like the original, this special also includes skits, musical numbers, and Paul Lynde’s corny jokes.  But unlike the presumably pre-recorded original special, this one appears to be…LIVE!  Not having been on the set of the ’70’s Halloween -themed production, I can’t say that Donnie and Marie or Florence Henderson would have never dropped the “F” bomb.  But in THIS special, the censors either drank too much Body on Tap beer shampoo or got crushed from the door of Lynde’s closet exploding open from all that coded homosexuality.  So… Lady Bunny and Jackie Beat get to be their reliably raunchy selves, which is a welcome breath of dirty air compared to the PG-13 rated drag slumber party thrown by their younger peers.  The queens are joined by another loose cannoness: boozy diva Edie Harris (Jack Plotnick), who offers the audience such lines as “I just drink to be social… and to keep from shaking!” while she forgets the words to our beloved Christmas classics.  But as in the original, all this beautifully bad behavior doesn’t seem to matter: The audience just keeps right on laughing, thanks to a laugh track!  

But about those Special Guests… Sal Mineo (David Hernandez) shows up to ask his friend Paul about breaking away from his “rebellious kid” screen image.  The visit turns into a high-energy song-and-dance number which is quite impressive.   What can top that? How about a visit from The Glitter Man himself?  Liberace (David Maiocco) drops by to show Mr. Lynde how he uses his magic fingers– with the piano, that is.  If Maiocco seems to flawlessly channel Liberace, both with his look and his piano skills, it’s because he is an established Liberace tribute artist IRL.   Heartthrob Tab Hunter (played exceedingly well by Spencer Day) shows up to throbs Lynde’s heart and possibly other body parts.  His musical number is These Boots are Made for Santa, set to the tune of… well, you can guess. He sings and dances until he is whisked off by those hunky “boys” from the first musical number (still wearing Santa hats, but not much more this time…)  Bea Arthur (?) pops in to sing with Lynde: Their duet is presumably named Go to Hell, sang to the tune of Silver Bells.  But let’s not forget the “reason for the season”!  As the creator of a seemingly endless number of cracked Christmas shows, no Yuletide would be complete without Jackie Beat!  Taken from her show A Gay in the Manger, the lucky TV audience gets to be there for the big event, along with such lyrics as “He wants everything special and everything nice.  So jazz up that breast milk with some pumpkin spice!” (FYIU, that’s one of the MILDEST lyrics!) Is it blasphemous? Bold? Baudy?  The answer is “Yes!”

I don’t know how seriously the cast and crew of Lynde’s original holiday special took their 1976 magnus opus, but I’m pretty sure that the creators of Making the Yuletide Gay: A Very Special Paul Lynde Christmas knew just what they were doing when they dialed the unapologetically queer content and camp factor to the nth degree.  How could you not love when Lynde tells Liberace, “Come on, Lee.  Let’s cut that fruitcake!”  The show works best when it laughs at itself and pays tribute to the kitschier aspects of pop culture: Airington-as-Lynde mentions Bewitched and even references the Halloween Special, declaring “Fifty years from now, we’ll still be talking about it!”  (#Facts) Another delightful moment comes when Bea Arthur (played with deadpan butchness by Jackie Beat) mentions the ill-fated 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. The cast is clearly having fun.  Physically, David Airington is not initially a dead ringer for Lynde, but his voice and mannerisms quickly make him believable as the idiosyncratic star.  Seth Rudesky, as the long-suffering lover of Josh Plotnick’s boozy Edie Harris, plays it as straight as he can in this queer-hued kaleidoscope. A few creative touches also boost the film.  The set pieces, well served by the clear and sharp-as-Jackie-Beat’s-tongue cinematography, are done well.  Another fabulous touch is the insertion of the vintage commercials.  One of these is for Gino’s pizza rolls– which is, believe it or not, even more weird and bizarre that the Halloween special which inspired this film. 

The end credits state that Making the Yuletide Gay: A Very Special Paul Lynde Christmas was made with the trust and support of Paul Lynde’s estate. I can understand why they’d approve.  Despite the zaniness and humor that’s more Blueboy than Bye Bye Birdie, the Paul Lynde character in this movie comes across as hugely sympathetic: an old-school TV star trying to play it safe and to keep it, dare I say, “family friendly” in a world where the sexual revolution was pounding on closet doors en masse. But with this very funny romp, it’s clear that Lynde, along with the viewer, gets the last laugh.   

Making the Yuletide Gay: A Very Special Paul Lynde Christmas will be available on VOD by Amazon Prime on Friday, December 15th.

Making the Yuletide Gay: A Very Special Paul Lynde Christmas was executive produced by Scott Rockett, Theo Sloan, Geric Frost and Kevin Frost, produced by Scott Rockett, Theo Sloan and Bruce Vilanch, co-Produced by Colleen Davis and Justin Ross, written by Bruce Vilanch with additional special material written by Michael Airington, Jackie Beat, Lady Bunny, Clark Childers, Dennis Hensley, Jack Plotnick, Scott Rockett and Seth Rudetsky. Original music and lyrics were provided by 14-time Emmy-winning composer and arranger, Dominic Messinger. The special is produced by Skyy Rockett Entertainment.