2 hours ago
Before location was YouTube — or OnlyFans — location was Robin Byrd.
From 1977 to 1998, nan sometime character was nan queen of New York City’s weirdest, wackiest late-night talk show, connected nationalist access’ Channel J. “The Robin Byrd Show,” which besides ran successful reruns for years later, welcomed porn stars, strippers and downtown deviants to fto it each bent out, literally.
And erstwhile cablegram supplier Time Warner tried to scramble nan content, Byrd fought nan company each nan measurement to nan Supreme Court — and won a free reside battle.
But Byrd, now 69, isn’t vengeful. The truth that Warner Bros. Discovery, nan institution that subsumed her aged foe, is now distributing a documentary astir her is, she told Page Six, “not revenge. It’s karma.”
The doc moreover has nan respectable sheen of Hollywood: It’s co-produced by Sarah Jessica Parker. Premiering Tuesday connected HBO, it’s called “Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story” aft nan “Bang My Box” taxable opus that ended each section of nan show, on pinch a group creation and, often, a unrecorded striptease.
The movie, directed by Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam, is an affectionate look backmost astatine nan Manhattan native’s life arsenic a section icon who preached safe activity astatine a clip erstwhile AIDS had nan metropolis scared.
Despite her bubbly personality, Bird did not person an easy start.
Raised connected nan Upper East Side, her adoptive father, an antiques dealer, died erstwhile she was 8 years old, and nan female she refers to arsenic her “Mommie Dearest” threw her retired of nan location erstwhile she was 13. Byrd — who cinematically refers to her adopted sister arsenic “the bad seed” — spent a mates of days successful Central Park earlier moving successful pinch a friend and past a boyfriend, taking connected activity activity to support herself.
“It was nan ’60s — peace, emotion and nary warfare … and I’m a very trippy hippie,” she said.
She attended nan School of Visual Arts, worked arsenic a nude exemplary for creation classes, and appeared successful immoderate X-rated films — including nan infamous “Debbie Does Dallas” arsenic Mrs. Hardwick.
But Byrd’s existent fame came successful 1977 erstwhile she launched her show connected Channel J, clad successful her signature achromatic crocheted bikini.
“I was nan Damon Runyon of my time,” she said of nan legendary Prohibition-era writer whose stories astir Broadway hustlers and folly girls inspired “Guys and Dolls.”
“I would spell to each [strip club] — each constitution had a prime of stars that I would take,” she said of booking guests.
Filmed connected 1 of nan lowest fund sets ever seen, nan show was proudly goofy and ne'er took itself excessively seriously.
“I spell done life happy and spreading emotion to everybody,” Byrd said. “It’s easier to emotion — love is love, and it’s truthful overmuch easier than hate.”
She whitethorn not person been known extracurricular of New York City, but present she was a celebrity, photographed by Richard Avedon for The New Yorker and spoofed by Cheri Oteri connected “Saturday Night Live.”
“We were filming connected Fire Island and a man successful his 70s approached america and said, ‘I’m truthful gladsome you’re making this film,'” co-director Schwam recalled, “‘because successful nan ’80s, erstwhile having activity was a decease sentence, Robin made america consciousness little alone.'”
And erstwhile Time Warner made a move to scramble big contented unless subscribers wrote successful to petition otherwise, Byrd and Screw magazine patient Al Goldstein, who besides had an big talk-show connected Channel J, revenge a suit successful consequence — eventually starring nan Supreme Court to norm that nan company’s demands were a First Amendment violation.
One point viewers ne'er saw, though, was Byrd’s improbable emotion story.
“Everybody has their ain thought of who I americium and what I do, and they really don’t,” she told Page Six.
Although describing herself arsenic bisexual, she is joined to a man named Shelley, whom she has been pinch since 1974 and calls nan “love of my life.”
“He’s very soft and delicate and caring and worrisome. He’s for illustration my small Jewish mother,” Byrd said.
Now 86, Shelley suffers from dementia, and Byrd is his full-time caretaker astatine their location connected Fire Island. She confesses that “it’s difficult for maine to spot him nan measurement he is now,” but shares that they are “always laughing and joking and fun.”
The couple’s emotion for each different is intelligibly evident passim nan film.
“We instantly fell successful emotion pinch Shelley,” co-director Gunther told The Post. “You could consciousness his emotion for her and her emotion for him … For us, nan emotion communicative was a gift from nan universe. I deliberation it turned a humanities look-back into thing pinch a batch of bosom and soul.”
