american televangelism

& participatory cultures

Fans, Brands, and Play With Religious “Fakes”

DENIS J. BEKKERING
Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture

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 Denis J. Bekkering

American
Televangelism and
Participatory Cultures
Fans, Brands, and Play With Religious “Fakes”
Denis J. Bekkering
Independent Scholar
Calgary, Canada

Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture

ISBN 978-3-030-00574-0 ISBN 978-3-030-00575-7  (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955457

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For Erica, Freja, and Ellis.
 Acknowledgements

Thank you Harry and Denise Bekkering and Jake and Ann Van Damme
for your love and support.
My doctoral supervisors were incredible. Thank you Dr. Douglas E.
Cowan, Dr. Jeff Wilson, and Dr. Lorne L. Dawson for your instruction
and encouragement. Thanks also to my friend Dr. Robert Cousland and
Dr. Eric Mazur.
Thank you to all of my generous and frequently hilarious interviewees.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada, which supported this research
with a Doctoral Fellowship.

vii
 Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Robert Tilton, Ironic Fans, and Fake Religions 19

3 A Fan Club, a Fart Tape, and a Tabloid Scandal 47

4 From the Margins to the Mainstream: Recreational

Christianity and a Viral Rebranding 75

5 Tammy Faye Bakker, Campy Fandom, and Ludicrous

Tragedy 115

6 The Eyes of Tammy Faye and a Complicated Rebranding 151

7 Conclusion 187

References 195

Index 225

ix
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

It is the last day of May in 1993: Memorial Day in America. A day to

remember those lost in military service, for millions of evangelicals it is
also an opportunity to ritually reaffirm the special relationship between
their country and their god. In Irving, Texas, the Trinity Broadcasting
Network (TBN) hosts a televised Memorial Day party. Founded in the
early 1970s by Pentecostal preaching couple Paul and Jan Crouch, TBN
had become a televangelical superpower, wrapping a gospel of health and
wealth in an entertaining package, and attracting millions of donation
dollars in the process.1 Much of this money was spent on the network’s
sprawling campus, where TBN regular Mike Purkey, backed by a canned
country rock soundtrack, sings of the fall of Jericho from the porch of an
appropriately patriotic neoclassical mansion. Among the crowd gathered
at the foot of the porch is a beautiful dark-haired young woman in sun-
glasses and a sparkling white dress. Smiling and bouncing to the music,
she holds up her white-bonneted baby for a roving cameraman. A pace
behind is the woman’s husband, dressed conservatively in a short-sleeved
button-up shirt and with a camera around his neck. Enthusiastically clap-
ping and dancing, he looks over and smiles approvingly as his wife and
daughter are captured by the camera.2
Later in the broadcast the mood is more solemn. TBN singer Betty
Jean Robinson, standing on the same porch with eyes closed and left
arm outstretched, beseeches her god to send down his healing and lib-
erating presence, to the accompaniment of spare notes from an electric

© The Author(s) 2018 1

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_1
2  D. J. BEKKERING

piano. A crossfade leads to a high-angle shot of a gathering near the

edge of an artificial lake. The camera slowly moves in on three people
standing waist-deep in the water. Flanking a red-haired young woman is
Paul Crouch himself, his white hair and mustache matching his gleaming
white robe, and a similarly clad ministry assistant. The woman pinches
her nose, and as Robinson concludes with a soft “amen,” the two men
lay her back into the water and quickly raise her up, symbolically washing
away her sins and bringing her into a new life in Christ.3
At least this is how it appeared on television. These images of a young,
attractive family enjoying a day of sanctified fun, and a woman entering
into Christian community, reinforced TBN’s avowed mission to enter-
tain the faithful and evangelize the unsaved. The network’s need for
camera subjects reflecting this mission, however, rendered it vulnerable
to being “misused” by a troupe of practiced “performative parodists,”
who crashed the festivities for some tongue-in-cheek fun.4 Earlier that
day, “Brother Randall,” the exuberant, seemingly devout husband, and
his wife “Sister Donna” dressed themselves and their infant daughter in
clothing sharp enough to catch the attention of a TBN camera opera-
tor. The couple’s good friend “Sister Wendy”—her nickname also a dig
at evangelical fictive kinship titles—opted for all-black, fitting for her
convincing role as the lost sinner in need of salvation. Having left their
Dallas homes for nearby Irving, the crashers avoided paying entry fees by
parking near the outskirts of the TBN campus, hopping a fence, and hik-
ing across a field to the party in progress. There, they ate their fill of free
food and kept their eyes peeled for the network’s cameras. Back at home,
Brother Randall had set up a Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) to tape
the live broadcast, and thus document their parodies for posterity. While
his family managed to win some airtime, the day would belong to Sister
Wendy for her impressive faux baptism by TBN’s founder, which went
ahead despite her giggling as she awaited immersion.5
Nearly three months later, Brother Randall and Sister Wendy donned
different disguises for a prank associated with the embattled Dallas-
based prosperity preacher Robert Tilton. On August 12, 1993, dozens
of members of Tilton’s megachurch gathered outside of a downtown
courthouse to protest a judge’s decision that his ministry was to hand
over records related to a civil suit filed by a former supporter.6 A crew
from Dallas’ ABC affiliate WFAA-TV, led by reporter-on-the-scene Bill
Brown, covered the public action.7 The protesters circle in the shade of
the courthouse, singing and holding signs with messages such as “Stop
 1 INTRODUCTION  3

Invasion of Privacy.” Asked for comment, church member Dennis

Schroeder claims that Tilton’s latest legal entanglement evidences the
aggression that bearers of the true faith always face: “Bob Tilton is much
like Jesus. I didn’t say he is Jesus. I said he’s much like Jesus in that he’s
done nothing wrong. Even in the time when Jesus walked on the earth,
they didn’t like what he said, and they killed him for it.”
“It got more interesting,” Brown transitions midway through the
report, “when several people showed up saying they’re part of the ‘Bob
Tilton Fan Club,’ a Dallas satirical group that holds parties and shows
tapes of Tilton preaching.” WFAA aired accompanying footage of
Brother Randall—a near mirror-image of Brown with his crisp white
dress shirt, tie, and microphone in hand—standing at the periphery of
the protest with a friend manning a bulky camera on a monopod. Playing
a reporter, Brother Randall interviews a Tilton supporter in a purple shirt
and safari hat. Their conversation, however, is inaudible due to Brown’s
voiceover. Questioned by the “real” reporter, Brother Randall reveals his
worries about the uncertain future of Tilton’s television ministry: “I sure
would hate for him to be taken off the air. They cancelled Green Acres,
they cancelled F-Troop, it’s really one of the most entertaining things you
can see…You know, I’ve found a lot of people…like to watch Bob just
for fun.”
Following the brief interview with Brother Randall comes grainier
footage sourced from the interlopers’ own camera, starring Sister Wendy.
Provocatively dressed in a red gingham top tied up to reveal her midriff,
she stands in the center of a cacophonous circle of protesters. “A woman
from the fan club held up a sign with a picture of Tilton on it,” Brown
explains, “a sign the marchers didn’t like, so they all gathered around
her and began to speak in tongues.” A middle-aged woman yanks the
sign, which is adorned with a smiling headshot of the preacher and the
slogan “Robert Tilton Turns Me On,” from the hands of Sister Wendy,
who strides out of the crowd with a satisfied smile. “A few minutes later
though,” concludes Brown, “it was all patched up. The Tilton follower
told the woman she was sorry she tore up her sign, and to show it she
gave her five dollars. In a few days, the Tilton action moves off the street
and back into the courtroom.”
Televangelism has long been synonymous with the commodifica-
tion of American religion. It is unsurprising, then, that scholars have
often turned to economic concepts to analyze successful television
ministries. Sociologist Shayne Lee and historian Phillip Sinitiere, for
4  D. J. BEKKERING

example, describe the top televangelists Paula White, T.D. Jakes, and
Joel Osteen as “holy mavericks,” who have thrived in America’s “com-
petitive spiritual marketplace” by offering “spiritual goods and services
that match the tastes and desires of religious consumers.”8 According to
their framework, Osteen—often called “the Smiling Preacher” due to his
preternatural cheerfulness—markets “a message of uplift and personal
transformation” that meets his audience’s need for “the possibility of
refashioning one’s identity and a sense of spiritual accomplishment in the
face of life’s disappointments.”9
Osteen and other leading televangelists are undoubtedly savvy
marketers of messages and products that “resonate” with millions.10
Conceptualizing such individuals as mere “consumers,” however, artifi-
cially limits their agency to a simple shopping decision, and masks the
myriad and messy ways that they may use televangelism within the con-
texts of their everyday lives. For one thing, as scholars of black televan-
gelism Marla Frederick and Jonathan Walton have emphasized, viewers
are often selective. During her fieldwork in North Carolina, Frederick
encountered elderly black Baptist women who would “sift through”
religious broadcasts and “determine for themselves” what they found
useful and inspiring, and what they considered chaff and unchristian.
While some of these women derived “spiritual encouragement” from
the broadcasts of Pentecostal/Charismatic preachers, for example, they
were wary of, and even understood as religiously “inauthentic,” ecstatic
practices featured in these programs.11 As Walton writes, viewers “filter
the intended messages of televangelists to adjust and apply them person-
ally as they see fit”—in other words, they “eat the fish and…spit out the
bones.”12
Walton here draws on cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s influential ideas
about the “encoding” and “decoding” of television. According to Hall,
while producers encode “preferred” meanings into television programs,
audience members may decode them in unintended ways. “Negotiated”
decodings, for example, may involve acceptance of the central intended
message of a program, such as the promise of salvation, yet rejection
of other elements, like speaking in tongues.13 For Walton, as for most
other analysts of televangelism, the “fish” that viewers derive from
such programs is spiritual sustenance—an assumption tied to his asser-
tion that “(v)iewers and producers obviously have similar belief systems
and moral outlooks.”14 The activities of the individuals featured in the
opening vignettes, however, contradict this sweeping claim. Members
 1 INTRODUCTION  5

of the “Robert Tilton Fan Club” (RTFC), a network of irreverent view-

ers of the titular televangelist, they regularly tuned into the preacher to
be amused by his on-screen antics, purportedly ludicrous theology, and
seemingly obvious charlatanism. Beyond watching Tilton “for fun,”
some members of the RTFC also crafted their own Tilton-themed
media, products, and performances. These unintended uses of a tele-
vangelist problematize academic assumptions of inherently spiritual con-
sumption. They also lie outside the purview of “supply-side” religious
marketplace approaches like that of Lee and Sinitiere, necessitating a
theoretical framework that could be considered complementary: John
Fiske’s theory of popular culture.15
In line with supply-side religious marketplace approaches, research on
religion and popular culture has often understood the latter concept as
a nebulous, ever-expanding constellation of mass-produced and heavily
consumed cultural artifacts.16 Cultural theorist John Fiske critiques this
common conceptualization. “Popular culture is not consumption,” he
writes, “it is culture – the active process of generating and circulating
meanings and pleasures within a social system: culture, however indus-
trialized, can never be adequately described in terms of the buying and
selling of commodities.” For Fiske, popular culture emerges when indi-
viduals use the products churned out by “culture industries,” and his
theory rests on the delineation of two interrelated “economies.” First
is the “financial economy,” which involves the manufacture, marketing,
and distribution of “cultural commodities.” Rather than merely con-
suming such commodities, Fiske argues that individuals use them as
“cultural resources,” from which they construct their own “meanings,”
“pleasures,” and even products—all of which may drastically depart
from the uses intended by commodity producers. These secondary cre-
ations circulate within what Fiske calls a “cultural economy,” which is
“parallel” to, yet somewhat “semiautonomous” from, the financial
economy.17 Fiske’s concept of the cultural economy can be profitably
grafted onto supply-side religious marketplace models to account for
the actual uses of religious commodities/resources by everyday individ-
uals, and particularly uses unintended, unexpected, and even undesired
by religious commodity producers.
Published at the tail end of the 1980s, Fiske’s theory of popular cul-
ture heavily influenced burgeoning research on those individuals most
actively engaged with mass-produced and mediated cultural commodi-
ties: fans. Up to that point (and beyond) the label “fan” was often used
6  D. J. BEKKERING

pejoratively, meant to elicit images of basement-dwelling loners who

“fanatically” consumed purportedly puerile cultural products, such as
science-fiction television programs and films, rather than take on the
challenges of the “real” world.18 Similarly, at least one theologically
invested scholar of televangelism used the label to delegitimize relation-
ships between television ministries and their viewers, who, he claimed,
were “abnormally attentive” to entertaining preachers that had built
up powerful “personality cults.”19 Henry Jenkins, a pupil of Fiske and
pioneering researcher of science-fiction fandom, was an early critic of
“stereotypes of fans as cultural dupes, social misfits, and mindless con-
sumers.”20 Jenkins and others argued instead that fans were discerning
and creative, that they forged meaningful networks and communities
around their shared interests, and that they even engaged with important
social issues through activities frequently dismissed as child’s play.21
Widespread criticism of fans is perhaps difficult to conceive of in a
time when comic book superhero films fill the multiplexes, and curated
celebrity tweets are eagerly read by millions. The mainstreaming of fan-
dom has attracted considerable academic attention, including investiga-
tions into the relationships between religion and fandom. Such research
has largely swirled around the question of whether fan activities should
be considered religious activities—a focus grounded in a persistent
assumption that sincere devotion is a fundamental point of intersection
between the two cultural phenomena.22 This assumption, however, does
not hold in fan studies, where fan approaches other than the sincerely
devotional have come to be recognized. This includes “antifans”—indi-
viduals obsessed with cultural commodities that they despise—and
“ironic” fans: individuals fixated on cultural commodities that they find
unintentionally amusing.23 Despite their hatred, in the case of antifans,
or tongue-in-cheek amusement, in the case of ironic fans, these indi-
viduals share with “sincere” fans strong emotional attachments to their
chosen cultural commodities; are often just as dedicated, engaged, and
productive; and have likewise built meaningful social networks and
communities.
This book brings to light irony-inflected fan followings that formed
around the controversial televangelists Robert Tilton and Tammy Faye
Bakker-Messner between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. It pays par-
ticular attention to the “participatory” media practices of such fans
which, prior to the popularization of the World Wide Web, were almost
entirely analog-based, and were often connected to a bustling American
 1 INTRODUCTION  7

“alternative” scene.24 This scene represented what Fiske calls a “shadow

cultural economy”: an arena of cultural “production and distribution”
mirroring features of the for-profit mainstream culture that scenesters
“poached” from, played with, and often critiqued.25 There has been lit-
tle study of analog participatory media from scholars of religion, media,
and culture—a somewhat surprising situation considering the volumi-
nous attention paid to relationships between religion and online and dig-
ital participatory media.26 The oft-used designation “new” for the latter
media points to an overarching future-facing orientation in this ever-
expanding field, which has too often obscured the existence and influ-
ence of analog predecessors.27 Indeed, one prominent scholar recently
mentioned “fanzines” as an example of how “online opportunities”
allow viewers to “interact” with television programs rather than merely
“watching” them, not recognizing that fanzines originated as print-based
publications.28 At the same time, the lack of attention to analog partici-
patory media is understandable, as these artifacts have remained hidden
from most would-be researchers. When originally created and distrib-
uted, such media products were generally accessible only to those “in the
know,” and today, if they exist at all, are most likely squirreled away in
private homes.29
Yet the online and digital revolution that superseded analog participa-
tory media has also opened up new opportunities for its elusive artifacts
to be stored, and new channels by which they might be shared. I first
discovered the existence of Tilton and Bakker-Messner’s unintended fans
through originally analog videos that had been digitized and uploaded to
the video-sharing site YouTube, many years after they were first created.
This highlights the Internet’s considerable, if underutilized, value as a
vast and accessible cultural archive.30 While these videos proved fascinat-
ing, they provided little contextual information or insights into the moti-
vations and experiences of their producers. I therefore used YouTube’s
messaging service to contact two uploaders/fans—one of Tilton, the
other of Bakker-Messner—who agreed to interviews via the audio-video
chat service Skype. The Tilton fan (Brother Randall of the RTFC) would
subsequently introduce me to other members of his former fan network,
who also agreed to interviews. I sought these fans’ recollections of their
relationships with Tilton and Bakker-Messner’s television ministries, and
information to help answer the pressing “why” question: why had they
dedicated so much time and energy to controversial television preach-
ers whom they found ridiculous? Interviewees also shared memories of
8  D. J. BEKKERING

the cultural-historical contexts of their activities, which were augmented

with, and checked against, other primary and secondary sources. In some
cases these unintended fans, like many “sincere” fans, were veritable
experts on their chosen televangelists, and provided invaluable informa-
tion about their ministries and scandals.31 A few also generously shared
televangelist-themed print, audio, and video participatory media artifacts,
which proved crucial for painting a richer picture of their activities. What
quickly became clear was that humor-based participatory cultural activ-
ities associated with Robert Tilton, in particular, extended well beyond
the activities of his unintended fans. I therefore expanded the study’s
scope to include similar, and often overlapping, participatory media and
activities.
One of the goals of this book is to outline how such practices and
products contributed to significant shifts in the brands and broader pub-
lic perceptions of both Tilton and Bakker-Messner. In doing so, it chal-
lenges research on “religious branding” which, in line with supply-side
religious marketplace approaches, has attributed religious commodity
producers with too much control over their brands.32 Mara Einstein, a
pioneer in the area who examined televangelism, defines “faith brands”
as “spiritual products that have been given popular meaning and aware-
ness through marketing.”33 Certainly, high-profile television ministries
have engaged in multifaceted branding and marketing activities to asso-
ciate particular meanings with their products. As scholars of participa-
tory cultures have amply demonstrated, however, everyday individuals
may redefine and rework brands in creative, unexpected, and sometimes
even combative ways. Communication scholar Michael Strangelove, for
one, highlights how online “culture jammers” appropriated and sub-
verted, often in humorous fashion, images and meanings associated with
toy giant Mattel’s Barbie doll and the McDonald’s fast-food empire.34
Analog participatory media cultures likewise featured manipulations
of corporate brands.35 Beginning in the 1970s, for example, authors of
“slash” fan fiction placed ostensibly straight male television characters,
notably Star Trek’s Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, into same-sex relation-
ships, thereby destabilizing the heteronormativity built into the brands
of such shows.36
As will be demonstrated to follow, Robert Tilton and Tammy Faye
Bakker-Messner were both subjected to unexpected, culturally influen-
tial rebrandings that had origins in the participatory cultural milieu of
the 1980s and 1990s, intersected with the irony-heavy activities and
 1 INTRODUCTION  9

tastes of their unintended fans, and which their ministries reacted to in

diametrically opposed ways. In the case of Tilton, his rebranding began
with a humorously distasteful analog video remix that was wildly popu-
lar in the American cultural underground, including amongst members
of the RTFC. While originally invisible to, or ignored by, his ministry,
this video would cause real problems for Tilton once it migrated online,
where his ministry had limited “definitional control” over its brand, and
thus could not prevent a viral rebranding of the televangelist.37 In con-
trast to such challenges, Bakker-Messner would find opportunity in a
rebranding that began with the activities of an unintended fan following
during the 1980s. In a savvy career move, she would actively rebrand
herself to better appeal to these fans’ largely tongue-in-cheek tastes—a
decision that would help revive her career after a disastrous fall from
grace, and would even go some way towards rehabilitating her public
image.
The participatory activities and creations discussed in this book often
played with a particular cultural tension associated with American tele-
vangelism. Televangelists are arguably America’s most recognizable and
agreed-upon religious “fakes,” due to their purportedly unholy combi-
nation of capitalism and religion, mass-mediated nature, and a host of
other reasons depending on the preacher. At its core, the association of
televangelism with fakery stems from anxieties about the sincerity of such
preachers, and the religious authenticity of their gospels.38 These issues
are most publicly aired and worked through during the seemingly peren-
nial “media scandals” involving televangelists.39 However, comedy may
not be far behind, and, as will be discussed, humor has sometimes played
an important role in televangelist media scandals. Comedic treatments
of television preachers have often been staunchly satirical—weaponized
humor targeting a form of religion which many believe we would be bet-
ter without.40 Most of the individuals featured in this book, however,
engaged in a distinctly ironic style of humor, which was pervasive in the
American cultural underground of the 1980s and 1990s, often involved
winking praise for these culturally contradictory preachers, and required
their ministries to operate “as is” for the fun to continue.41 Thus, when
the RTFC’s Brother Randall revealed his concerns about the future of
Robert Tilton’s ministry to reporter Bill Brown, he meant it.
However, Brother Randall’s suggestion in the same interview that the
RTFC’s activities were “just for fun” also obscures their “critical edge.”42
This edge is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that they enjoyed
10  D. J. BEKKERING

playing not only with Tilton himself, but also, and often even more so,
with his spectacular media scandals. While such scandals had the power
to potentially deprive such fans of the televangelist, they were also boun-
tiful cultural resources from which they could construct their own com-
edy, and thereby participate in broader cultural conversations about
Christian authenticity.43 A second goal of this book, then, is to delineate
a particular form of religious work/play evidenced by Tilton and Bakker-
Messner’s unintended fans, which involved implicit and explicit religious
criticisms, and was related to these fans’ political concerns, encounters
with evangelical Christianity, personal faith histories, and other issues.44
While evaluative, such activity can be conceptually distinguished from
what Terry Lindvall has described as “religious satire,” which “aims not
just to slice and dice, but to correct and reform.”45 Tilton and Bakker-
Messner’s unintended fans, who required their respective preachers’
continued, amusing existence, mocked but rarely savagely attacked,
thereby exhibiting a lighter touch than satirists. Moreover, while deep
concern, disgust, and even hatred tend to drive satire, these fans often
also admired their chosen preachers, whether for their performative skills
and seemingly successful hucksterism, as was the case with members of
the RTFC, or for their demonstrated resiliency in the face of struggle, as
with Bakker-Messner’s fans.
Tilton and Bakker-Messner’s unintended fan followings originated
in an American cultural underground that celebrated ironic play with
the mainstream. By the early 1990s, however, the country’s culture
industries were becoming increasingly interested in “incorporating”
irony-laden participatory cultures into the financial economy, includ-
ing tongue-in-cheek play with controversial televangelists.46 Finally,
this book tracks the migration of the approaches of Tilton and Bakker-
Messner’s unintended fans from the cultural margins to the main-
stream, exploring how this mainstreaming affected their critical edge.
The lighter tongue-in-cheek approach of the RTFC would be morphed
into largely satirically ironic attacks—a transformation spearheaded by
a Christian ministry staunchly opposed to Tilton and other televange-
lists, and which had been intimately involved in the preacher’s most
damaging media scandals. Conversely, the mainstreaming of the ironic
play associated with Bakker-Messner involved a marked dulling of its
critical edge—a crucial factor in her subsequent rebranding and career
rebirth.
 1 INTRODUCTION  11

The next chapter opens with an overview of Robert Tilton’s televi-

sion ministry at the height of its power. The preacher not only gained
fame and fortune for his high-energy performances and promises of
supernatural blessings, but also attracted regular viewers who read
him as an amusing charlatan, and who in some cases created their own
analog Tilton-themed media. Among these ironic fans was the televan-
gelist’s fellow Dallas resident Brother Randall, who in 1991 founded
the tongue-in-cheek RTFC via an independent newsletter. The RTFC’s
faux homage to Tilton was indebted to its founder’s involvement in the
contemporary American alternative media scene, and this chapter exam-
ines two intersecting influences: Zontar zine and the Church of the
SubGenius (COSG). While some scholars have recently classified the
COSG as a “real” new religious movement, it is argued that the group is
better conceived, like Zontar, as a religious parody that grew out of fasci-
nation and amusement with “bad” science-fiction and horror films. The
founders of both groups would take a similar approach to bizarre and
controversial television preachers, thereby evidencing religious work/
play analogous to that of the RTFC.
In November 1991, ABC’s Primetime Live aired an investigative
report that accused Tilton’s ministry of fraudulently neglecting prayer
requests, and which portrayed the preacher as a huckster bilking the des-
perate. Rather than an objective exposé, Chapter 3 frames this report as
a piece of tabloid television, which privileged emotional provocation over
cold hard facts. This included tickling viewers’ funny bones, in which
Primetime Live was aided by the Trinity Foundation, a Dallas-based min-
istry and self-styled televangelist “watchdog” group. Besides investiga-
tive aid, Trinity provided the program with what are described as “video
proof texts”: short, decontextualized clips of Tilton’s programming
recorded during surveillance operations, some of which were intended to
highlight the preacher’s purported ludicrousness. This intriguing conver-
gence of mainstream and comedic participatory media overlapped with
the activities of the nascent RTFC, which was quick to capitalize on the
resulting negative attention focused on Tilton. The RTFC would expand
its publishing efforts and host a Tilton “tribute” night in Dallas, dur-
ing which attendees playfully participated in the emerging scandals sur-
rounding the televangelist. This evening also saw the screening and sale
of a particularly unflattering, and already somewhat legendary, analog
video remix—the Tilton “fart tape”—the origins of which are revealed.
12  D. J. BEKKERING

As discussed in Chapter 4, Tilton’s scandals were initially a boon

for the RTFC, which expanded its efforts and influence, received some
mainstream media attention, and attracted new contributing members.
This would include “Brother Russell,” an apostate from Christian funda-
mentalism who found replacement community in the RTFC, and laugh-
ter and meaning in its religious work/play. Brother Randall would come
to describe such activities as “Recreational Christianity”—a concept rede-
fined in this chapter to improve its analytical utility. Following months of
media attacks and lawsuits, Robert Tilton took a hiatus from broadcast-
ing in 1993, depriving the RTFC of the necessary resources for its play,
and thus hastening its end. Despite its death, the underground ironic
fan following would influence and anticipate subsequent mainstream
phenomena. The first was “Godstuff,” a regular segment (1996–2000)
on Comedy Central’s parody news program The Daily Show. Featuring
unintentionally amusing clips of television preachers, “Godstuff” was
produced in collaboration with the Trinity Foundation, which had come
to recognize satirical irony’s usefulness as a theological weapon. In
addition to material sourced from Trinity’s substantial archives, includ-
ing numerous clips of Robert Tilton previously used in “serious” inves-
tigative reports, “Godstuff” aired footage of another amusingly bizarre
televangelist originally taped by the RTFC’s Brother Randall. In sum,
“Godstuff” brought a satirical form of Recreational Christianity to main-
stream American television. Second, this chapter outlines the aforemen-
tioned Tilton “fart” remix’s unexpected journey from underground
sensation to online viral video. Created by a professional television editor
in the mid-1980s, the remix circulated widely in analog VHS format, and
was eagerly copied, traded, and sold by members of the RTFC. Yet it did
not achieve widespread recognition until the mid-2000s when, digitized
and uploaded online, it became wildly popular, leading to a viral rebrand-
ing of Robert Tilton as “Pastor Gas,” or the “Farting Preacher.”
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were cofounders of the “Praise the
Lord” (PTL) network, perhaps the quintessential 1980s television minis-
try. PTL produced entertaining and emotionally engaging programming
that connected with faithful viewers; however, the Bakkers’ prosperity
message, flashy style, and constant fundraising also encouraged criticisms
and suspicions seemingly validated by scandals that would rock the min-
istry beginning in 1987. Before, during, and after the scandals, Tammy
 1 INTRODUCTION  13

Faye was widely ridiculed in the mainstream media for her purportedly
excessive fashion, makeup, and emotionality. These same attributes were
central components of her appeal to an unintended fan following, com-
posed of gay men who viewed her through the lens of camp. Chapter 5
delineates a first wave of Tammy Faye “campy” fans that emerged dur-
ing the 1980s, examining fans involved with The American Music Show,
a long-running, Atlanta-based cable access program, as well as drag
parodies of the preacher. It argues that the concept of “ludicrous trag-
edy” best explains Tammy Faye’s attraction for her campy fans, whose
approach combined ironic humor and criticism with genuine identifi-
cation. While they mocked her melodrama, theology, and over-the-top
embodiment of conservative sex, gender, and family norms, campy fans
of the first wave often also related to Tammy Faye’s spectacular suffer-
ing and dogged perseverance, which intersected with their own social
marginalization.
Following the scandalous demise of PTL, her divorce from Jim
Bakker and marriage to former PTL contractor Roe Messner, and an
unsuccessful attempt to return to religious broadcasting, Tammy Faye
Messner would move to capitalize on her camp appeal. Chapter 6 reveals
that her most focused efforts came after the 2000 release of The Eyes
of Tammy Faye (TEOTF), an acclaimed documentary film produced
and directed by a pair of campy fans. TEOTF carried forward the first
wave of campy fandom’s mixture of genuine affection and tongue-
in-cheek humor to the American mainstream, albeit with a dulled crit-
ical edge. Most notably, whereas fans of the first wave often ridiculed
Tammy Faye’s theology, TEOTF argued that she was an authentic
Christian, based on the questionable claim that she had a long history
of relationships with, and compassion for, suffering gay men. TEOTF ’s
success prompted Messner to rebrand herself according to its glow-
ing representation, sparking a second wave of laudatory camp atten-
tion, and leading to her eventual enshrinement as a steadfast gay ally.
As this chapter points out, however, Messner’s rebranding project was
also somewhat contradictory and politically problematic, as it involved
the downplaying and intentional obscuring of her staunchly conserva-
tive opinions on sex, gender, and family issues, as well as her collabora-
tions with ministries vehemently opposed to the social progress of sexual
minorities.
 14  D. J. BEKKERING

Notes
1. For an overview of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, see J. Gordon
Melton, Phillip Charles Lucas, and Jon R. Stone, “Trinity Broadcasting
Network,” in Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious
Broadcasting (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1997), 355–358.
2. See “Happy TBN Family,” YouTube video, 0:27, posted by Randy R.,
September 30, 2006, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lGnZou0nmw.
3. See “Sister Wendy Gets Baptised—On TV!—By Paul Crouch!!” YouTube
video, 1:05, posted by SnakeOilChannel, September 4, 2009, https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC3Xvo34ubY.
4. For the idea of “pleasurable misuse,” see John Fiske, Television Culture
(London: Routledge, 1987), 315. For “performative parody,” see Amber
Day, Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011), 69.
5. “Brother Randall” (pseudonym retained to protect anonymity), Skype
interview by author, December 4, 2011.
6. Winnie Hu, “Tilton Supporters Protest Order by District Judge to
Release Church Records,” The Dallas Morning News, August 22, 1993.
7. “Robert Tilton Fan Club on Channel 8,” YouTube video, 2:19, posted
by Randy R., September 30, 2006, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=R0hx10eIqvI. For the date, see Brother Bob and the Gospel of
Greed (Dallas: The Door Magazine, 2001), VHS.
8. Shayne Lee and Phillip Luke Sinitiere, Holy Mavericks: Evangelical
Innovators and the Spiritual Marketplace (New York: New York
University Press, 2009), 3. See also Lee, T.D. Jakes: America’s New
Preacher (New York: New York University Press, 2005); Sinitiere,
“Preaching the Good News Glad: Joel Osteen’s Tel-e-vangelism,” in
Global and Local Televangelism, eds. Pradip Ninan Thomas and Philip
Lee (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 87–107; and ibid., Salvation
with a Smile: Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, and American Christianity
(New York: New York University Press, 2015).
9. Lee and Sinitiere, Holy Mavericks, 25, 37, 39.
10. Ibid., 3.
11. Marla F. Frederick, Between Sundays: Black Women and Everyday Struggles
of Faith (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 137–138.
12. Jonathan L. Walton, Watch This!: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black
Televangelism (New York: New York University Press, 2009), 172.
13. See Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding,” in Culture, Media, Language,
eds. Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis
(London: Hutchinson, 1980), 128–139.
 1 INTRODUCTION  15

14. Walton, Watch This!, 168.

15.  For “supply-side” religious marketplace approaches, see Rodney Stark
and Roger Finke, Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000); Roger Finke and Rodney
Stark, The Churching of America: 1776–2005: Winners and Losers in Our
Religious Economy (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2005). For
Lee and Sinitiere’s indebtedness to the “supply-side” approach, see Holy
Mavericks, 159–176.
16. See, for example, The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture’s defini-
tion of popular culture as “the products of contemporary mass culture”:
“Journal of Religion and Popular Culture,” University of Toronto Press
Journals, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.utpjournals.com/Journal-
of-Religion-and-Popular-Culture.html. See also Bruce David Forbes,
“Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places,” in Religion and
Popular Culture, eds. Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, rev. ed.
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 3–4; Richard W. Santana
and Gregory Erickson, Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the
Sacred (Jefferson: MacFarland & Company, 2008), 1; Adam Possamai,
Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament (Brussels:
Peter Lang, 2005), 18; and Lynn Schofield Clark, “Why Study Popular
Culture? Or, How to Build a Case for Your Thesis in a Religious Studies
or Theology Department,” in Between Sacred and Profane: Researching
Religion and Popular Culture, ed. Gordon Lynch (London: I.B. Tauris,
2007), 9.
17. See John Fiske, Understanding Popular Culture (Boston: Unwin Hyman,
1989), 23–47.
18. See Henry Jenkins, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory
Culture (New York: Routledge, 1992), 9–24.
19. Quentin J. Schultze, Televangelism and American Culture: The Business
of Popular Religion (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), 86–87.
See also Richard Quebedeaux, By What Authority: The Rise of Personality
Cults in American Christianity (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982),
113–115.
20. Jenkins, Textual Poachers, 23.
21. See, for example, Camille Bacon-Smith, Enterprising Women: Television
Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1992); Lisa A. Lewis, ed., The Adoring Audience: Fan
Culture and Popular Media (London: Routledge, 1992).
22. For a discussion of such research, see Mark Duffett, Understanding
Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture (New York:
Bloomsbury, 2013), 141–153.
16  D. J. BEKKERING

23. For “antifandom,” see Jonathan Gray, “Antifandom and the Moral

Text: Television Without Pity and Textual Dislike,” American Behavioral
Scientist 48, no. 7 (2005), 840–858. For ironic fans, see Ien Ang,
Watching Dallas: Soap Opera and the Melodramatic Imagination, trans.
Della Couling (Methuen: London, 1985), 96–102.
24. For “participatory” cultures and media practices, see Jenkins, Textual
Poachers; ibid., Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Exploring Participatory
Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2006). For the “alter-
native” scene and its print culture, see Stephen Duncombe, Notes from
Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (London:
Verso, 1997).
25. For “shadow cultural economy,” see Fiske, “The Cultural Economy
of Fandom,” in The Adoring Audience, ed. Lewis, 30. For the meta-
phor of “poaching,” see Fiske, Understanding Popular Culture, 28;
Jenkins, Textual Poachers; Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday
Life, trans. Steven Rendall (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1984), 165–176.
26. Historian Eileen Luhr has provided a fascinating overview of conserv-
ative Christian zines; see ibid., Witnessing Suburbia: Conservatives and
Christian Youth Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009),
82–100.
27. See, for example, Heidi A. Campbell, When Religion Meets New
Media (New York: Routledge, 2010); ibid., ed., Digital Religion:
Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds (New York:
Routledge, 2013).
28. Diane Winston, “Saving Grace: Television with ‘Something More,’” in
Media, Religion, and Gender: Key Issues and New Challenges, ed. Mia
Lövheim (New York: Routledge, 2013), 156. For fanzines, and zines in
general, see Duncombe, Notes from Underground.
29. For “in the know,” see Duncombe, Notes from Underground, 168.
30. For YouTube, specifically, as a “cultural archive,” see Jean Burgess
and Joshua Green, YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture
(Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009), 87–90.
31. Nancy K. Baym and Robert Burnett, “Amateur Experts: International Fan
Labor in Swedish Independent Music,” International Journal of Cultural
Studies 12, no. 5 (2009): 433–449.
32. For the phrase “religious branding,” see Mara Einstein, “The Evolution
of Branding,” Social Compass 58, no. 3 (2011): 331–338. See also ibid.,
Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age (Abingdon:
Routledge, 2008); Jean-Claude Usunier and Jörg Stolz, eds., Religions as
Brands: New Perspectives on the Marketization of Religion and Spirituality
 1 INTRODUCTION  17

(Burlington: Ashgate, 2014); and Paula L. McGee, Brand® New

Theology: The Wal-Martization of T.D. Jakes and the New Black Church
(Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2016).
33. Einstein, Brands of Faith, 92. For her extended discussion of Joel Osteen’s
“faith brand,” which she aligns with the branding of television host
Oprah Winfrey, see ibid., 120–146. See also Katja Rakow, “Religious
Branding and the Quest to Meet Consumer Needs,” in Religion and
the Marketplace in the United States: New Perspectives and New Findings,
eds. Jan Stievermann, Philip Goff, and Detlef Junker (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2015), 215–239.
34. Michael Strangelove, The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-
Capitalist Movement (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005),
134–161.
35. Cultural critic Mark Dery, who popularized the concept of “culture
jamming,” discusses a variety of confrontational examples in “Culture
Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs”
(revised edition 2010, originally published in 1993), accessed April 1,
2018, http://markdery.com/?page_id=154.
36. See ibid.; Jenkins, Textual Poachers, 185–222; ibid., “‘Out of the Closet
and into the Universe’: Queers and Star Trek,” in Science Fiction
Audiences: Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek, eds. John Tulloch and
Henry Jenkins (London: Routledge, 1995), 237–265; and Bacon-Smith,
Enterprising Women, 203–254.
37. For “definitional control,” see Strangelove, The Empire of Mind, 137.
38. For the relationship between sincerity and authenticity, see Charles
Lindholm, Culture and Authenticity (Malden: Blackwell, 2008), 3–6.
39. For “media scandals,” see James Lull and Stephen Hinerman. “The
Search for Scandal,” in Media Scandals: Morality and Desire in the
Popular Culture Marketplace, eds. James Lull and Stephen Hinerman
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), 1–33.
40. For satire as a weapon, see Peter L. Berger, Redeeming Laughter: The
Comic Dimension of Human Experience (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter,
1997), 157.
41. For the pervasive nature of irony in the American cultural underground of
the period, see Duncombe, Notes from Underground, 145–147.
42. For irony’s “critical edge,” see Linda Hutcheon, Irony’s Edge: The Theory
and Politics of Irony (London: Routledge, 1994), 19.
43. For humor and the determination of religious authenticity, see Terry
Lindvall, God Mocks: A History of Religious Satire from the Hebrew
Prophets to Stephen Colbert (New York: New York University Press, 2015);
David Feltmate, Drawn to the Gods: Religion and Humor in The Simpsons,
18  D. J. BEKKERING

South Park, and Family Guy (New York: New York University Press,
2017); and Douglas E. Cowan, “Episode 712: South Park, Ridicule, and
the Cultural Construction of Religious Rivalry,” Journal of Religion and
Popular Culture 10 (2005): n.p., accessed December 6, 2013, http://
utpjournals.metapress.com/content/p5595656n634613v/fulltext.pdf.
44. For the concept of “religious work” and how it can intersect with play,
see David Chidester, Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular
Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 2.
45. Lindvall, God Mocks, 5.
46. 
For the idea of “incorporation,” see Fiske, Understanding Popular
Culture, 13.
 CHAPTER 2

Robert Tilton, Ironic Fans,

and Fake Religions

In 1984, sociologist Jerry Cardwell called Robert Tilton one of the “ris-
ing stars” of American televangelism.1 The effervescent preacher reached
millions with his teaching/telethon-style program Success-N-Life, as well
as boisterous Sunday services broadcast from his Word of Faith mega-
church in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch. As indicated by his
church’s name, Tilton preached “Word of Faith” theology: a blend of
Pentecostalism and “Mind Cure” principles popularized by his fellow
Texan televangelist Kenneth E. Hagin (1917–2003).2 Word of Faith
teachings hold that individuals can manifest positive change in their lives
through proper thought, speech, and action—a “hard prosperity” gos-
pel that draws “a straight line between life circumstances and a believer’s
faith.”3
Those who attended Tilton’s services or watched his programs were
invited by the preacher to prove their trust in God with their pocket-
books. Carrying forward the “seed faith” theology pioneered by Oral
Roberts, Tilton claimed that those who sowed donations into his minis-
try would reap abundant harvests of future blessings through the mirac-
ulous work of the Lord.4 According to sociologist Milmon Harrison,
these promises would have particularly appealed to many believers
within the “seemingly permanent underclass” spawned by the slanted
economic policies of Ronald Reagan’s administration. For such indi-
viduals, miracles were a very real means of escaping their disadvantaged
situations, and perhaps even a path to participate in the “conspicuous

© The Author(s) 2018 19

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_2
20  D. J. BEKKERING

consumption” not only celebrated in the secular culture of the 1980s,

but also endorsed by televangelists like Tilton, with their flashy suits,
expensive homes, and opulent churches.5
In his brief overview of Tilton’s programming, Cardwell conveyed
astonishment at the preacher’s reductive message. No matter whether
he started with “Bible exposition” or the “born again experience,” he
generally circled back to “impassioned pleas and direct orders to give
to his ministry.” Cardwell witnessed congregants opening their check-
books at Tilton’s command which, combined with the fervent spiritual
celebrations at Word of Faith, was far removed from his own experience
as an Episcopalian.6 While donation appeals were certainly part of ser-
vices broadcast from Word of Faith, Success-N-Life featured the hard sell.
Blending teaching segments, taped testimonials, and telethon-esque ele-
ments, the program focused on explaining and evidencing the efficacy of
the seed faith system. On a set resembling a lawyer’s office, replete with
wood furniture and leather-bound books, Tilton sat at a desk, eye-level
to the camera. The sobriety of his surroundings clashed sharply with the
televangelist’s boundless energy. He loudly beseeched viewers to send
in money—appeals punctuated with desk slapping, flights of heavenly
tongues, and remote faith healings. Tilton’s intensity ramped up to fran-
tic last-minute solicitations and attention paid to paper prayer requests,
which he caressed and even crawled over, banishing demons and break-
ing curses that hampered the faithful.7
Success-N-Life was an especially “polysemic” television text, open to a
wide range of viewer interpretations beyond those preferred by Tilton’s
ministry (for example, recognition that the televangelist was favored by
God and worthy of donations).8 Intriguingly, Tilton himself often pro-
posed possible alternative readings, generally in the form of refutations.
In one instance, the preacher reassured viewers that his seed faith system
was not a deceptive fundraising “gimmick”—surely a common under-
standing of his fantastic promises—but instead rested on solid “Biblical
principles.”9 Elsewhere, Tilton acknowledged that many would find his
requests that God heal a person of “warts” to be “strange”; however,
he reminded viewers that such miracles had precedent in the Book of
Acts.10 “Don’t you laugh at me!” Tilton challenged mockers during
another animated appearance, “I know what I’m talking about!”11
Tilton’s latter rebuke had real targets, as many people were indeed
laughing at him. Among the amused was a particularly dedicated group
of individuals who were regular, even rabid, viewers of his purportedly
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  21

ridiculous programming. These were Tilton’s “ironic” fans, whose atten-

tion to the televangelist was grounded in their belief that he was a ludi-
crous huckster, and/or was propagating a laughably false gospel. The
exact extent of Tilton’s ironic fan following during the 1980s and 1990s
cannot be determined with precision, as viewing itself leaves no historical
trace. However, some of these ironic fans also used the preacher’s pub-
lic persona and programs to construct their own comedic analog media,
examples of which have since been digitized and uploaded online.
The discussion in this chapter is based on analyses of the media pro-
duced by, and interviews with, a handful of Robert Tilton’s ironic fans
active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. While all shared a tongue-
in-cheek amusement with the colorful and controversial televangelist,
each fan’s relationship with Tilton’s broadcasts was tied to their unique
social, cultural, and religious contexts. There was also considerable vari-
ety in their media activities, products, and associated social networks.
Some were, or at least started out as, “Tilton tapers,” who shared video
compilations and creations with likeminded individuals.12 Others were
deeply involved in a bustling American “alternative” media scene, within
which ironic play with, critiques, and attacks of religious subjects were
common. Whatever their sociocultural contexts and personal religious
affiliations, however, these fans all engaged in religious work related to
issues of Christian authenticity, through their play with a preacher widely
believed to represent its opposite.
In the early 1980s, cultural analyst Ien Ang solicited letters from
dozens of Dutch viewers of the American primetime soap opera Dallas,
to gain a better understanding of their viewing habits and motivations.
While most of her respondents were sincere fans of the show, which
centered on the fictional exploits of a wealthy Texan family, some did
not “enjoy Dallas itself at all,” but rather “the irony they (brought) to
bear on it.” These “ironic fans,” as Ang labeled them, were no less ded-
icated viewers than sincere fans, but derived unintended pleasure from
what they considered a “bad” mass cultural product. In contrast to view-
ers who genuinely related to the program’s “melodrama,” for example,
ironic fans found Dallas’ “excessive world” “completely senseless and
laughable”—yet incredibly entertaining for this very reason. Beyond
amused viewing, Ang pointed out that Dallas’ ironic fans also actively
“transformed” the show into a “comedy,” through techniques such as
“mocking commentary” deployed during group viewing, and creative
play with characters’ names.13
22  D. J. BEKKERING

In the minds of many, televangelists were also reliable producers of

amusingly “bad” television, and Robert Tilton in particular attracted
a considerable number of ironic fans from the late 1980s to the early
1990s. “I was a ‘fan’ (of Tilton) from way, way back,” explained one
recent YouTube commenter, using telltale inverted commas, “My level
of being a ‘fan’ was rooted entirely in the fact that this dude is crazy!”14
Although the exact extent of Tilton’s ironic fan following during this
period will never be known, some former “fans” have not only posted
testimonials online, but have also, albeit in relatively rare cases, uploaded
Tilton-related media. This includes numerous YouTube videos that were
first created with analog Video Cassette Recorders (VCRs). By the mid-
1980s, affordable VCRs, which recorded onto Video Home System
(VHS) analog tapes, had revolutionized television and film. While the
sale and rental of pre-recorded VHS tapes would become an incredibly
lucrative industry, some content providers initially viewed consumers’
newfound ability to record television onto blank tapes, or duplicate VHS
films by linking two VCR machines together, as a serious threat to their
profits.15
Television and film fans eagerly snapped up VCRs, which allowed
them to record and archive their favorite television programs for con-
venient and repeat viewing, as well as (reflecting the concerns of main-
stream media producers) share copyrighted shows and films with other
fans. However, the technology also made possible more creative fan work
and play, such as the construction of “songtapes,” widespread amongst
science-fiction fans in particular.16 By patching together two VCRs
and adding an analog audio source, fans were able to assemble compi-
lations of video clips, and then dub popular songs underneath the vis-
uals.17 These creations were traded and sold within fan networks, as well
as screened in both private settings and public conventions. While the
thematic associations between the chosen video and audio material were
often straightforward, fan scholar Camille Bacon-Smith also discovered
science-fiction songtapes that featured “ironic or humorous” juxtaposi-
tions of their constituent elements.18
When it came to the analog video productions of Robert Tilton’s
ironic fans, humor, of course, was the name of the game. As an opening
example, we can look at the video creations of YouTube user “Zschim.”
At the time of our interview, Zschim was forty-four years old and work-
ing at a comic book store in his hometown of Houston, Texas.19 His
interest in television preaching was sparked by a childhood visit in the
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  23

early 1980s to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which his

aunt and uncle were involved with. There, he came face-to-face with the
sheer immensity of corporate American evangelism. He was struck by a
statue of “big gold hands” meeting in prayer at the school’s entrance,
and the “great deal of construction going on.” Consequently, “when
cable channels became more abundant” by the mid-1980s, he started
tuning in to Roberts’ programs to catch the “construction progress,” the
donation tallies, and to be amused by a televangelist widely ridiculed, he
noted, for announcing in 1987 that God would prematurely end his life
if a lofty fundraising target was not reached.20
Between 1986 and 1987, just after he graduated from high school,
Zschim’s ironic televangelical fandom blossomed. With plenty of time
to spare, he watched “hours and hours” of Oral Roberts and his son
Richard, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Robert
Tilton. A lapsed Lutheran, Zschim found all of these Pentecostals’ mes-
sages and actions hilariously strange, but it was Tilton who was the
true standout. Asked what attracted him to Tilton in particular, Zschim
replied that it was “the absurdity of the execution of the situation”—a
somewhat cryptic statement that can be better understood by examining
his Tilton-themed video creations.
Zschim would frequently meet with a “handful” of his high school
friends to hang out, and it was his “role in the group to bring video
entertainment.” “I would record various things I watched over the days/
weeks on VHS,” he explained, “and when we got together (we) watched
my compilations.” Zschim recalled that clips of Robert Tilton proved
an “immediate success with everyone,” resulting in a domino effect:
“I watched more and recorded more…friends would bring other friends
to our parties, and Tilton would be a hit with them as well.” Beyond just
recording the televangelist, Zschim used a pair of VCRs to create what
he called “edits,” featuring repeatedly looped moments of Tilton at his
most amusingly emphatic and eccentric: Tilton throwing his head back
and screaming, “I will pay my vows!”; Tilton rebuking demons afflicting
a sick woman (“You can’t have her!”); Tilton breaking into unexpected
bouts of singing and laughing.21
Zschim’s experience points to the potentially social nature of tongue-
in-cheek amusement with televangelism, and his video creations
highlight the humor that he and his friends found in the Tilton’s unpre-
dictable, hyperkinetic style. Shared understandings of the preacher as a
ridiculous religious fake were likely also involved in their fun; however,
24  D. J. BEKKERING

for Zschim, at least, who was long removed from any active involvement
with Christianity, such play does not appear to have had much, if any,
personal religious relevance. His situation can be contrasted with the
experience of another ironic Tilton fan and taper, whose attention to,
and play with, the preacher intersected with a profound shift in his reli-
gious life.
Born in the small town of Sulphur Springs, Texas, YouTube user
“SufferinSprings” was six when his family moved to Dallas in the early
1970s.22 Previously members of a Methodist congregation, his parents
did not “find a church they were happy with” in Dallas, and therefore
“just kind of blew it off and quit going.” SufferinSprings’ lapsed state
lasted until he was twenty when, following the lead of his older brother,
he underwent a “full-throttle born again” experience, becoming a
staunch fundamentalist. Over the next three “very intense” years, he
“ate, drank, and slept the Bible.” Looking back, SufferinSprings con-
ceded that his conversion was initially “a really healthy thing,” alleviating
his “depression” and making him “more confident about life and about
myself.” After he joined a local Southern Baptist church, however, his
“beliefs became more angry, strident, and extreme.” During this time
of fervent fundamentalism, SufferinSprings was a self-described “fan” of
Jimmy Swaggart, identifying with the televangelist’s strong social con-
servatism.23 The televised health-and-wealth ministry of local preacher
Robert Tilton, however, struck a much different chord with the zealous
young man: “I remember being so angry at how blatantly slimy he was
that I actually went to the phone and called their prayer line and said,
‘I’d like to pledge five-hundred dollars on the condition that he ever
actually preaches the gospel on the air.’”
SufferinSprings’ departure from Christianity started with a shock rev-
elation that his pastor, whom he considered a close friend, was having
an affair with a married woman in their congregation. This small-scale
scandal filled him with suspicion about conservative Christian morality,
and was the “catalyst” that led to him “gradually walking from funda-
mentalism (and) recognizing it as destructive.” Removed from the faith
community that had provided him with meaning and belonging, and
unacquainted with similarly disillusioned individuals, SufferinSprings’
deconversion was a “pretty lonely experience.” It was also an intellec-
tually driven experience: “strictly a matter of reading books and qui-
etly coming to my own conclusion.” Books mail-ordered from the
free thought-oriented Prometheus Press proved crucial to the process,
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  25

including The Mind of the Bible-Believer (1986), psychologist Edmund

D. Cohen’s unpacking of what he called the “(e)vangelical mind-control
system,” and James Randi’s The Faith Healers (1987), a popular probe of
televangelist stagecraft.24
SufferinSprings’ “secularizing exit” from Christian fundamentalism
also involved a marked change in his approach to health-and-wealth
television preachers, and specifically Robert Tilton.25 Once theologi-
cally repugnant, SufferinSprings increasingly found Tilton to be “funny
as shit…because he was just such a blatant money grubber,” and
“so eccentric and off the rails.” “I started watching Robert Tilton…
for kinda entertainment purposes,” he explained, “around the same
time that I was just very gradually coming out of the Christian phase.”
Living with his parents while attending college and holding a part-time
job, SufferinSprings would set up a VCR to record Success-N-Life each
day, so that he could watch at his leisure. Much like his deconversion,
SufferinSprings’ burgeoning ironic fandom began as a private affair;
however, he would draw his father into watching with him. “At first he
didn’t quite get it,” SufferinSprings’ recalled, “and then one day Bob
Tilton did something so weird or funny that my Dad was in hysterics…
(then) it was kind of like he understood why I was watching this.” “It’s
kind of weird to bond with your Dad like you would watching a comedy
movie,” he added, “except you’re watching a TV preacher.”
Although Tilton’s programs were chock full of “weird” and “funny”
footage, the time-crunched SufferinSprings set out to be efficient in his
hunt, reviewing his recordings with the help of the “high-speed scan”
function on his VCR. “Whenever he started waving his arms, I would
stop it and watch that bit,” he explained of his technique, “and if it was
really good I would transfer it to another tape and make like a high-
light reel (with) two VCRs patched together.” Most often, a saved “bit”
consisted of a “twenty or thirty-second segment with a crazy ‘aside,’
or non-sequitur, or passage of joyful glossolalia.” Sometimes, however,
Tilton would “get on a roll, so to speak, and a whole ten or fifteen min-
ute segment would be worth saving.” Carving out and compiling these
segments was a slow but steady process, and it took SufferinSprings
upwards of two years to complete a thirty-minute “highlight” tape, orig-
inally intended for his own viewing. He has since uploaded much of this
material to YouTube.
Like Zschim, SufferinSprings collected many clips of Tilton at his
most amusingly animated. His YouTube video titled “Bob Rants for
26  D. J. BEKKERING

Eight Minutes Straight,” for example, offers exactly what is adver-

tised.26 Yet SufferinSprings also found humor in footage featuring
apparent lapses in the televangelist’s performances—moments when his
on-screen persona seemingly broke down to reveal the “real” Robert
Tilton. In some of these cases, the behind-the-scenes Tilton appears
relaxed, even jovial, as when he almost tripped over a potted plant on
the set of Success-N-Life, laughing the foible off with a ministry associ-
ate as the show cuts to commercial.27 In another moment captured by
SufferinSprings, however, a stern Tilton shines through a rare collapse
in his composure. Encouraging viewers with “any type of incurable dis-
ease” to call in, Tilton introduces a taped testimonial of a man who, it
is claimed, was miraculously healed of the “HIV/AIDS virus.” As com-
mercial segue music plays instead of the promised footage, the televan-
gelist’s smile quickly fades, and he marches out of frame to chastise a
stagehand.28
During his time as a devout fundamentalist, SufferinSprings was
greatly angered by Robert Tilton’s alleged insincerity and purportedly
perverse theology. The revelation of his own pastor’s unfaithfulness,
however, pushed him into a crisis of faith that led him to doubt and
eventually dismiss the authenticity of Christianity in general. Shelving
his own fundamentalist theology next to Tilton’s professed gospel as
absurd, SufferinSprings came to view the preacher as a reliable source
of unintentional comedy. While his resulting ironic fandom, as will be
discussed to follow, was not entirely free of theological criticism, such
judgements became increasingly less significant in a personal religious
sense. SufferinSprings’ amusement with Tilton was also intertwined
with his deep curiosity about the televangelist’s behind-the-scenes
activities—a curiosity shared with yet another ironic Tilton fan:
“Randy.”29
Dallas resident Randy started regularly watching Robert Tilton during
the late 1980s. A lapsed Methodist in his late twenties, Randy was mar-
ginally employed at the time, and therefore able to frequently tune in.
He recalled that Tilton’s programs often aired during early morning and
midday hours, when “fringy, out of work” people might be watching. In
a sense, then, he “was kind of (Tilton’s) target audience.” Like Zschim
and SufferinSprings, Randy loved Tilton’s high-energy “lunacy,” includ-
ing the hilarious “faces he pulled,” and he was amused and “fascinated”
by the preacher’s “sales pitch.” It did not take long before he became
“obsessed” with Tilton, an early indicator of the eventual depths of his
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  27

ironic fandom, and he set out to learn as much as he could about the tel-
evangelist. As he pointed out, in the days before the Internet one had to
“really dig” to find reliable information about anyone, religious celebri-
ties included. Indeed, he was even unaware that Tilton pastored a church
in Dallas until a friend claimed to have witnessed the preacher, clad in a
“full-length mink coat” and with a “woman on each arm,” leaving the
city’s airport in a “long stretch limo.” Such gossip, whatever its reliabil-
ity, entertainingly perpetuated the cultural stereotype of the televangelist
as lecherous huckster, and further inflamed Randy’s curiosity.
Despite his strong television presence and controversial gospel, Randy
recalled that at the time Tilton had yet to receive “a whole lot of media
attention.” One exception, however, was the work of Steve Blow, a
reporter for The Dallas Morning News. In a series of articles beginning
in March 1990, Blow investigated Tilton’s mysterious ministry, raising
questions about its secrecy and its leader’s apparent wealth, the verac-
ity of on-screen claims, and the religious authenticity of its commod-
itized, mediated, and miraculous style of Christianity. Through it all,
Blow betrayed a tongue-in-cheek amusement that overlapped with the
approach of Tilton’s ironic fans, and a fascination with the preacher rival-
ing that of the most dedicated, such as his reader Randy.
In his first article—“The Great Loan Officer in the Sky”—Blow high-
lighted the secretive nature of Tilton’s ministry.30 Denied access to the
televangelist, a ministry spokesperson, or any official “written informa-
tion,” Blow used Success-N-Life as his source material to humorously
summarize Tilton’s “Miracle Plan”: “You give money to God (through
Robert Tilton Ministries), and God gives you greater riches in return.”
Noting that Tilton’s “brand of Christianity” differed drastically from
the faith of “sacrifice and selflessness” he “grew up on,” Blow cheekily
added, “I don’t know about his theology, but I admire his marketing.”
The following week Blow made a surprising revelation: Tilton taped
Success-N-Life in San Diego, California, where he lived in a large man-
sion, and flew to Dallas for Sunday services.31 The reporter wondered
how this gelled with frequent appeals for viewers to call the “Miracle
Prayer Center in Dallas,” and images of Tilton handling paper forms
mailed there: “You certainly don’t get the idea that the pledges are being
handed from Texas to California.” “That’s the beauty of a thing called
fax,” countered Word of Faith attorney J. C. Joyce, who also told Blow
that Tilton’s family had decamped to California after “innumerable death
threats.” Joyce “specifically cited an incident four years ago in which
28  D. J. BEKKERING

a human head was discovered in a restroom urinal” at Word of Faith.

Asked for comment, however, a local police Sergeant described the inci-
dent as less of a threat than a macabre prank, perpetrated by “teens…
(who) had stolen the head from a mausoleum and apparently chosen the
church at random.”
Steve Blow’s articles painted an even more amusingly bizarre picture
of Tilton’s ministry than his ironic fan Randy likely could have expected.
Randy’s fascination was further stoked by the televangelist’s intentional
reclusiveness, which Blow admitted had also made him “more intrigued
by this charismatic figure.”32 While Blow continued with his investi-
gative reports over the following months, Randy itched for even more
information about Tilton, spurring him on to his own print media ven-
ture.33 He set his sights on promoting the project via a local talk radio
station, through which “people around Dallas that knew Bob growing
up” shared “anecdotal things”:

I hit upon the idea that if I put together a little newsletter about Tilton,
and sent it to this radio station, that they might mention it as a joke, but
also give my P.O. Box. I thought, ‘Well, maybe I’ll hear some stuff’…like
casting my net and maybe I’ll pull something in.

Randy’s expectation that his newsletter might be read as a “joke” high-

lights the fact that it was not only intended as a tool to collect Tilton-
related information, but was also an expression of his ironic fandom. In
this latter regard, Randy’s publishing efforts would be heavily influenced
by his involvement in what was a thriving American alternative media
scene.
During the 1980s and 1990s, analog participatory media networks
flourished within the United States, facilitating more “democratic” com-
munication between “people…normally excluded from (mainstream)
media production.”34 Perhaps the most pervasive participatory media
form of the period was the printed “zine.”35 Small-scale, independently
produced, and relatively cheap to make, distribute, and purchase, zines
proved crucial to the maintenance and proliferation of fan networks,
resulting in the subcategory of the “fanzine.”36 Fanzines focused on sci-
ence-fiction television and film received considerable attention from early
academic analysts of fandom. While these publications often contained
rather straightforward synopses and reviews, some also featured the
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  29

unauthorized poaching and “transforming” of elements from shows and

films, as with the aforementioned slash fanzine fiction.37
Robert Tilton’s ironic fan Randy would similarly poach and trans-
form the object of his attention through publishing activities—work evi-
dencing his place in what zine scholar Stephen Duncombe describes as a
distinct American “alternative culture.” Within this culture, Duncombe
argues, zine producers sustained an “underground” publishing move-
ment reflecting the views of cultural and economic outsiders to the per-
vasive conservatism fostered during Ronald Reagan and George H.W.
Bush’s presidencies.38 Surrounded by “spin, promotions, public rela-
tions, and pseudo-events,” many zine creators worked to expose, mock,
and attack what they considered “TV horseshit reality,” suffuse with
“artifice” and “hypocrisy.”39 This was often accomplished by ironically
and satirically commenting upon and rearranging mainstream culture
and its products, allowing individuals on the cultural margins “to domi-
nate, if only in laughter, the dominant culture.”40
A self-described “fringy” person and “general geek,” Randy was
deeply immersed not only in “fan publications associated with comic
books and music,” but also alternative zines like Thrift Score, an inform-
ative and comical guide to second-hand shopping, and Pills-a-Go-Go, an
irreverent probe into America’s relationship with prescription pharma-
ceuticals.41 Discussing his vast underground interests, Randy admitted
that televangelists like Tilton—those most vivid symbols of religious arti-
fice and hypocrisy—were but one amusingly strange cultural phenome-
non that he was “obsessed with.” He recognized, however, that living
in Dallas, which he described as the “Hollywood for media ministries,”
allowed him “access to stuff” unavailable to many others creating alter-
native publications. Additionally, he knew that a strong ironic televan-
gelical “taste culture” already existed within this publishing movement,
providing him with a ready potential audience.42
Two key sets of contributors to this taste culture, mentioned by
Randy during our interview, were founding members of the Church
of the SubGenius (COSG), and the editors of Zontar zine.43 Deeply
enmeshed in the contemporary alternative media scene, the COSG and
Zontar were religious parodies, an approach Randy would also adopt in
his publishing and fan efforts. Both the COSG and Zontar fetishized a
wide range of purportedly bizarre American cultural phenomena, includ-
ing a number of television preachers. The individuals behind the COSG
and Zontar not only watched televangelism ironically, but also poached
30  D. J. BEKKERING

particular preachers and their programs as raw materials for their own
creations. While they often satirically attacked conservative televange-
lists who were politically engaged, and thus considered threats, their
approaches toward Pentecostal television preachers were often more
complicated, and at times blended ironic amusement with genuine admi-
ration. Threading through it all, however, were comedic criticisms of
televangelists and others who deviated from what Christianity ought, in
their opinions, to represent.
Douglass St. Clair Smith, aka the Reverend Ivan Stang, and Doctor
Philo Drummond (Dr. Ph.D.) established the Church of the SubGenius
in 1981 with a one-dollar, fifteen-page zine alarmingly titled REPENT!
Quit Your JOB! ¡SLACK OFF! The World Ends Tomorrow and YOU
MAY DIE. This was the first missive in what would become an endlessly
expanding, intentionally anti-canonical, and therefore often confusing
and contradictory SubGenius mythology. The villain of the story is a
diffuse “Conspiracy,” which uses cultural homogenization and exploita-
tive capitalism to deprive humans of “Slack”: a sacred freedom and state
of blessedness. While “Normals,” or “Pinks,” play into and perpetuate
the Conspiracy, SubGenii have been commanded to fight for Slack by
their Church’s “High Epopt” J. R. “Bob” Dobbs.44 “Bob” (whose holy
nickname, when printed, always appears in quotes), had a “close encoun-
ter with a UFO at the age of three,” and thereafter possessed “strange
powers of persuasion.”45 By the early 1950s he had become the world’s
greatest salesman, when “Jehovah 1” revealed to him the truth of the
Conspiracy and Slack through his television.46 Ever the profiteer, “Bob”
would found the world’s “first industrial church” upon Jehovah 1’s
revelation, based on a simple motto: “They’ll pay to know what they
think.”47
Since its inception, the COSG’s “Sacred Scribe” Rev. Stang has faith-
fully disseminated his hidden master’s teachings through a plethora of
publications, films, books, radio programs, and items featuring the
sacred image of “Bob”: an illustrated headshot of a stereotypical mid-
dle-aged white American male from the 1950s, complete with a pipe
sticking out of his smile.48 During our interview, Rev. Stang described
the COSG as a “big social thing that sometimes acts like a real religion,”
yet added that “pretty much everybody involved in it understands the
gag”—excepting a few followers who have taken it “too seriously.”49 It
could be argued that some recent academic observers have also taken the
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  31

COSG much too seriously, in their attempts to uncover a “real religion”

at its core.
Carole Cusack, for example, writes that the COSG has been “derided
as a ‘parody religion,’ and asserted to have no conceivable spiritual
merit.” Arguing that the group should be considered “a functional
equivalent of religion, at the very least,” she instead includes the COSG
within her own category of “invented religions”: new religious move-
ments which admit to their “invented status,” yet which are, in many
ways, “functionally similar” to “traditional religions.” It follows that she
compares the concept and attainment of Slack to the Tao and Buddhist
enlightenment, and describes the COSG as “a legitimate path to liber-
ation in a world dominated by work and money.”50 Similarly, Danielle
Kirby draws on the work of Adam Possamai to categorize the COSG as
a “hyper-real religion”: “a simulacrum of a religion, created out of, or
in symbiosis with, popular culture, which provides meaning for believ-
ers/consumers.”51 She associates the COSG with “left hand path mag-
ical and occultist traditions,” and describes Slack as a “unique magical
system.”52
In line with Cusack, Kirby suggests that the COSG should be consid-
ered a religion that is “masquerading as a joke rather than the other way
around.” She worries that reducing such groups to “simply sophisticated
jokes”—a somewhat contradictory phrase—obscures their “underlying”
spiritual “substance.”53 Kirby and Cusack’s “caretaking” approaches not
only disagree with Rev. Stang’s take on his own “religion,” however, but
also, by emphasizing the COSG’s purportedly religious/spiritual essence,
downplay the group’s inherently relational nature.54 Thomas Alberts,
who has described the COSG as a “fake religion,” encourages examining
how such groups “subvert the authentic religion of the privileged elites,”
as well as “tensions” between fake religions and the “real” religions that
they copy and criticize.55 Although Rev. Stang and Drummond largely
patterned the COSG after fringe faiths like Scientology and UFO reli-
gions, the group has also often played with American evangelicalism, a
vastly more powerful religious system. Cusack does note that the COSG
has “culture jammed” prosperity-oriented “Pentecostal Christian meg-
achurches,” and that its “Devivals” ape the style of evangelical “revival
meetings.”56 However, there has been little discussion of its growth in
the context of the heavily politicized conservative American Christianity,
ubiquitous television ministries, and alternative media scene of the
1980s and 1990s—all of which helps demonstrate that the COSG is
32  D. J. BEKKERING

less “authentic” religion than comedic commentary about religious

authenticity.
A better understanding comes through examining the COSG in tan-
dem with the contemporary zine Zontar. Named after the space mon-
ster featured in director Larry Buchanan’s low-budget, made-for-TV film
Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966)—a remake of Roger Corman’s It
Conquered the World (1956)—Zontar the zine’s main focus was “obscure
‘B’ to ‘Z’-budget films,” or in the lingo of the zine itself, “badfilms.”57
Cultural critic Jeffrey Sconce has recognized the underground publi-
cation as an important contributor to the development of a “cinematic
subculture” centered on “the most critically disreputable films in cine-
matic history.”58 Holding together this subculture was what film schol-
ars Ernest Mathijs and Jamie Sexton call “ironic connoisseurship,” and
Sconce describes as a “highly ironic” “paracinematic sensibility” not only
associated with badfilms, but “all manner of cultural detritus,” including
“TV preachers.”59 Unfortunately, Sconce does not delve into Zontar’s
televangelist-related material, nor its creators’ claims that they actually
worshipped the titular space monster.
Jan Johnson and Brian Curran, Zontar’s chief editors, began col-
laborating artistically in the late 1970s while attending Boston’s
Massachusetts College of Art and Design.60 Together they developed
a confrontational, collage-based style which Johnson described during
our interview as “very hard, very left politics mixed with a combination
of Surrealism and pop art.” The pair first unveiled Zontar in 1981, the
same year of the COSG’s inaugural publication, and also the year when
Ronald Reagan first took office as President. From its outset, Zontar
engaged in the heated “culture wars” that would extend well into the
presidency of George H. W. Bush (1989–1993), joining the “progres-
sive” side against seemingly overwhelming “orthodox” forces. The latter
included Republican-supporting American evangelicals, whose conserv-
ative positions on issues such as abortion, drugs, and the arts were tied
to their belief in “an external, definable, and transcendent authority”—a
god which Zontar’s editors would savagely belittle through satirical
parody.61
In their character “Zontar,” Curran and Johnson crafted a divinity
comparable to, and at war with, the god of American evangelicals. “THE
MASTER” of the entire universe, Zontar ordered his disciples to fight
against the “evil forces of ‘Born Again’ Christianity” and their “unholy
alliance with Greed-oriented power politics.”62 Omnipotent, violent,
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  33

and jealous, Zontar resembled the god of the Old Testament but with
an important difference: he was transparently fake and patently absurd.
“OUR MASTER,” Curran and Johnson freely admitted, “is a poorly
constructed, obviously phony RUBBER MONSTER from a cheezy old
science-fiction movie that no-one could possible believe in, let alone take
seriously.” Still, he was preferable to Jesus Christ, who was a “bleed-
ing corpse hung on a tree-trunk,” and “namby-pamby turn-the-other
cheek hypocrite.”63 Notwithstanding Rev. Stang’s argument that he and
Drummond “were very cautious never to be political in a serious way,”
the COSG’s Jehovah 1 was likewise an obvious parody of the evangelical
god, and a reaction to their experiences in Bible-belt Dallas: “that world
of evangelical Christians shoving their self-righteous sci-fi in our faces,
when we had sci-fi that we considered more entertaining, like Japanese
monster movies.”64 By rhetorically “reframing” Jehovah 1 as “NOT
GOD but a mad alien from some corporate sin galaxy”—an idea that
could have fit right in a science-fiction badfilm—Rev. Stang further dele-
gitimized the divinity of American evangelicalism by dragging it into the
realm of what the COSG called “bulldada.”65
A neologism combining “bullshit” with the name of the provoca-
tive early twentieth-century Dada anti-art movement, Rev. Stang and
Drummond defined bulldada as “the nearly unexplainable label for that
mysterious quality that impregnates ordinary things with meaning for
the SubGenius no matter how devoid of value they may appear to The
Others.”66 The COSG elevated the collection and contemplation of “con-
sumer products dismissed by the mainstream” to mock sacramental status,
with SubGenii so-called for their ability to access faux-sacred truth lying
below the surface of (“sub”) such cultural artifacts, often also collectively
referred to as “bulldada.” The “SubGenius,” Rev. Stang and Drummond
explained, “is fully capable of receiving authentic god-consciousness from
soap operas and monster movies, junkyards and ‘dives,’ freakshows and
back alleys”—and television preaching.67 Zontar’s editors similarly claimed
that “badtruth,” a concept explicitly associated with bulldada, could be
accessed not only through badfilms, but also by watching “CULT TV
programming,” including “religious shows.”68 During our interview, Jan
Johnson recalled that he and Curran watched a large amount of televan-
gelism during art school, often while smoking marijuana, which helped
their minds “go to more interesting places.” Rev. Stang stated that he and
Drummond were more interested in “agitated, screaming” Dallas radio
evangelists, and only “occasionally” watched television preaching. Yet he
34  D. J. BEKKERING

acknowledged that the COSG was “baked in the oven of the televange-
lists,” and like the editors of Zontar he not only encouraged particular
ways of reading televangelism, but also appropriated television preachers
and their ministries for his own creative endeavors.
Two projects that Robert Tilton’s ironic fan Randy cited as influ-
ences during our interview were Rev. Stang’s High Weirdness by
Mail: A Directory of the Fringe: Mad Prophets, Crackpots, Kooks and
True Visionaries (1988), a book-length guide for acquiring free and
cheap bulldada through the mail, and Perverse Preachers, Fascist
Fundamentalists, and Kristian Kiddie Kooks (1991), a package assem-
bled by Jan Johnson that contained a zine and VHS compilation
of religious programming.69 Both projects set their satirical sights
on prominent, politically engaged television preachers, most nota-
bly Pat Robertson, who had failed to win the Republican nomination
for President in 1988, and Jerry Falwell, whose Moral Majority lobby
group was considered a dangerous cultural threat.70 Rev. Stang included
addresses for the Moral Majority and the organization “Pat Robertson
for President” in the High Weirdness by Mail chapter “Groups You Love
to Hate – But They Hate You Even More.” Despite his abovementioned
claim of political indifference, Rev. Stang framed requests for material
from these groups as important reconnaissance during the culture wars:
“nobody ever won a battle by ignoring the enemy, whereas many bat-
tles have been won by knowing how the enemy thinks.”71 Literature
acquired from the Moral Majority, for example, would allow readers
to “learn just how moral they are…Worse than you would’ve thought.
Much worse.”72 Rev. Stang pointed out that insincere requests for mail-
ings could also deplete the resources of such offensive organizations:
“Imagine if half their yearly budget starts going to supply us mockers.”73
This tactic was likely implied in his vague listing for “Pat Robertson for
President”: “You know what to do.”74
In his Perverse Preachers zine, Johnson wrote that he wanted to
“inform and warn” his readers/viewers about how “the evil forces of
the Christian right have harvested a loathsome power in the oppressive
government of this once great nation.” He blasted “fuckin’ Falwell”
as a “foul fundamentalist,” who fought “against sexual freedom of
every kind,” cozied up to Presidents Reagan and Bush, and headed an
“evil empire” built “on hate and lies.” In line with Rev. Stang’s tactics,
Johnson also included an image of a mailer sent out by Falwell’s min-
istry—addressed to “Mr. Edward Zontar”—seeking donations to help
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  35

counter Martin Scorsese’s “blasphemous movie” The Last Temptation of

Christ (1988), a culture war flashpoint for its portrayal of a human and
uncertain Jesus.75 This pointed to his and Curran’s concerns that preach-
ers such as Falwell might influence their own primary arena of cultural
expertise and pleasure: film. Although no footage of Falwell appeared
in the Perverse Preachers video, a clip of “Pat the Rat Robertson” was
featured. “He was running for the highest office in this land,” Johnson
wrote, “let history never forget this.”76 The included clip does not
involve political matters, however, but rather Robertson’s take on embat-
tled fellow televangelist Jim Bakker, whom he faulted for prioritizing
money and fame. “He had Johnny Carson as his role model,” Robertson
claimed, adding that his own “role models” were “Jesus Christ and the
Apostle Paul.”77
Such claims to religious authenticity, however, were challenged by Jan
Johnson and Rev. Stang, who argued that politically engaged Christian
leaders deviated sharply from the true faith as outlined in the Bible—
evangelicals’ own “supreme…court of appeal”—as well as the exam-
ple and intentions of Jesus himself.78 During our interview, Johnson
bemoaned “right-wing stuff that pretends to be Christian,” and par-
aphrased Jesus’ injunction in Matthew 6:5–7 that his disciples pray
behind closed doors, instead of publicly like “hypocrites” (read: politi-
cally active conservative Christians) who were always “involved in other
people’s business.” In his Perverse Preachers zine, Johnson suggested that
Christianity had gone astray quite quickly, arguing that Paul, “referenced
so often by the frothing fundamentalists of the repressive right,” includ-
ing Pat Robertson, had warped the original gospel of Jesus, such as by
adding teachings that subjugated women.79 In High Weirdness by Mail,
Rev. Stang wrote that he had “nothing against Jesus per se”; indeed, the
Christian god was “one of ‘Bob’s’ oldest drinking buddies.” He did,
however, take issue with some “of His fans”—a disparaging use of the
word—“who gloat when abortion clinics are bombed, who celebrate
when AIDS strikes homosexuals (and who) have made him look like
an embittered, jealous, bigoted hypocrite. Yeah, I bet JESUS is REAL
PROUD of these characters.”80
The founders of the COSG and Zontar argued that Christianity was
ridiculous, and substantively no different than their own parody reli-
gions or other equally bizarre, but less powerful faiths. “How are Jesus
contactees any different from UFO contactees?” asked Rev. Stang in
High Weirdness by Mail, “You got Me.”81 Nevertheless, they explicitly
36  D. J. BEKKERING

and implicitly conveyed similar ideas of authentic Christianity as toler-

ant, compassionate, and private. These understandings were not person-
ally meaningful to Johnson and Curran, who identified as atheists, nor
Rev. Stang, who hewed to a skeptical agnosticism.82 Yet by endorsing
and circulating such conceptions of authentic Christianity, and by satir-
ically attacking politically involved television preachers believed to have
violated them, the founders of Zontar and the COSG engaged in public
religious work associated with the definition of America’s most powerful
faith, self-proclaimed televised representatives of which had the potential
to negatively impact their lives.
While politically problematic television preachers like Pat Robertson
and Jerry Falwell were considered dangerous, unholy, and worthy of
mocking counterattack, Rev. Stang and Zontar’s editors also devel-
oped what could be considered ironic fan relationships with less explic-
itly political, spiritually focused televangelists. While their attention to
such preachers and their programs was grounded in ironic amusement
with their strange ministries, it sometimes also involved genuine admi-
ration—a messiness recognized in other studies of ironic fandom. For
example, in her work on the soap opera Dallas, Ien Ang came across
one viewer who evidenced “an uncomfortable mixture of ‘really’ liking
Dallas and an ironic viewing attitude.” Ang’s use of the word “uncom-
fortable” here points to her own desire to resolve this tension, and she
argued that the viewer’s irony was a “defense mechanism,” allowing her
to make fun of the program with friends and hide the fact that “secretly
she ‘really’ likes Dallas.”83 In her more recent studies of the British radio
soap opera The Archers, Lyn Thomas argued that ironic and sincere fan-
dom need not be so rigidly compartmentalized, as listeners could readily
“switch” between genuine “emotional involvement” and a “more ironic
stance.”84
Rev. Stang and Jan Johnson’s approaches to the fiery, and gener-
ally apolitical, Pentecostal televangelist Jimmy Swaggart were sim-
ilarly messy.85 On one hand, both men effusively praised Swaggart for
his pure preaching ability. “Even if you don’t believe it, it can be very
entertaining to see someone who’s that good,” affirmed Johnson,
who pointed out the preacher’s kinship with pioneering rock musi-
cian Jerry Lee Lewis: “There’s something about that family…They’ve
got a gift.”86 Rev. Stang also made a rock and roll connection in High
Weirdness by Mail, exhorting readers to tune in to the “Mick Jagger of
TV evangelism”:
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  37

If you’ve never seen Swaggart preach, you’ve missed something…the guy

is good…My favorite Swaggart riff is when he whirls around and addresses
Camera 2 in close-up: ‘And you there by (the) television, suckin’ on that
JOINT!! Oh, you think Jimmy Swaggart’s real FUNNY! But will you be
laughing on that Day of Judgement??’ WHAT A MAN! Oh, HELL is a
POPULAR JOKE these days…a ‘funny’ ‘joke’!87

This blurb crystallizes Rev. Stang’s complicated take on Swaggart,

whom he described as his “favorite televangelist” during our interview:
“although what he was saying was ridiculous to me, he said it beauti-
fully.” He also revealed that he had even appropriated Swaggart’s style
for his own preaching at SubGenius Devivals, one of which—1986’s
“Boston Bobalon”—was organized by Zontar’s Jan Johnson.88 “I basi-
cally imitated Jimmy Swaggart,” Rev. Stang admitted, “I would tape
his sermons and just twist them around a little bit, but I’d use the same
cadence.”89
Rev. Stang also admired Swaggart because he “seemed sincere.”90
During our interview, he expressed his belief that the preacher “was
never in it for the money,” and that his sexual scandals were “tragic”
public missteps by someone who deeply believed in his own fire and
brimstone gospel.91 Indeed, Rev. Stang argued that the majority of the
groups and individuals featured in High Weirdness by Mail possessed this
particular virtue:

They may be wrong, insane, simpleminded, or whatever; but, with only a

few exceptions, they mean what they say. They’re sincere. In that respect,
these kooks and weirdos possess truer humanity – faults and follies not-
withstanding – than many of those who gave them that label.92

Zontar’s Brian Curran and Jan Johnson likewise praised the seeming sin-
cerity of one of their own favorite religious broadcasters, the eschatolog-
ical-minded Howard C. Estep, whose long-defunct program The King is
Coming appeared briefly in the Perverse Preachers video. They wistfully
recalled the “thin, aging PROPHET O’DOOM’s” “quirky style,” cen-
tered on hyper-modernized evangelical “chalk talks” during which Estep
scrawled “strange signs and weird abstractions” upon an “abstract glass
‘black-board.’”93 While his style and theology were amusingly absurd,
Curran nevertheless commended Estep for his “certainty,” “enthusi-
asm,” and sincerity: “What was inspiring about Estep was his passionate
38  D. J. BEKKERING

DESIRE for the END OF THE WORLD. He just couldn’t wait for the
cleansing rapture and purifying rain of nuclear fire.”94
As for health-and-wealth televangelists whose sincerity was highly sus-
pect, Rev. Stang and Zontar’s editors were somewhat split. Rev. Stang
detested television preachers who used mass communications technol-
ogy to simulate sincerity in their pursuit of cash. In High Weirdness by
Mail, he lambasted the gimmicks and pseudo-personal approach of tel-
evision faith healer Peter Popoff, who mailed out “paper prayer rugs
and Anointing Oils to the depressingly gullible – complete with fake
handwritten notes to ‘YOU’ PERSONALLY.”95 Rev. Stang would even
claim ethical superiority over such alleged hucksters, since the COSG,
a fake parody religion centered on a divine salesman, made no bones
about its profiteering, nor hid behind favorable government regulations:
“The Church of the SubGenius…is the ONLY religion that is NOT tax
exempt. Out prophets want profits, and we don’t expect heathen unbe-
lievers to subsidize us.”96 Had he actually tried to pass the COSG off as
a “legitimate religion” with a “straight face,” Rev. Stang had little doubt
that he could have fleeced plenty of dupes: “I’ve seen people fall for such
patently obvious bullshit when we weren’t really even trying to convince
them.”97
The editors of Zontar, in contrast, found many purportedly insin-
cere televangelists absolutely hilarious, with one standing head and
shoulders above the rest: Robert Tilton. Whereas “true believers” like
Howard C. Estep provided amusing looks at “strange other worlds,”
Johnson believed Tilton to be one of the most “outright blatant
frauds” of television preaching.98 Yet he also found that Tilton was
“always funny,” and perhaps even worthy of admiration for his incred-
ible success as an obvious huckster.99 In his article “Confessions of a
Cult-TV Addict,” Curran would also praise the “incredible Success-N-
Life” as a “great seed faith classic,” and the “best show” among the
“truly unbelievable and demented Jeezuz programming available to
adventurous cable-watchers.”100 Johnson’s Perverse Preachers compila-
tion did not, alas, feature footage from this prized program, but rather
a clip of Tilton taken from a 1990 fundraiser hosted by fellow pros-
perity preacher Morris Cerullo, whom Johnson mocked as “one of
the least watchable of the tele-preachers.”101 Tilton brazenly steals the
limelight from Cerullo during his appearance, providing plenty of the
bizarre behavior and money grubbing that Curran and Johnson loved:
“You get him telling you to put your hand on a private part, speaking
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  39

in tongues, and telling you how much he likes $1,000 all in one short
clip.”102
Johnson poked further fun at Tilton’s fundraising tactics by includ-
ing reproductions of his ministry’s mailers in the Perverse Preachers
zine, which he had long collected using the pseudonym “Karl Zontar.”
The zine’s back page was filled with what Johnson assured readers was
an “actual” mailer from 1989, in which Tilton asked recipients to write
their “biggest prayer requests” on an illustrated footprint, to “claim”
their “victory” while standing on the paper, and then to return the sheet
so that the preacher himself could stand on it and pray on their behalf.103
A ridiculous example of the pseudo-personal tactics that enraged Rev.
Stang, Johnson not only found such mailers hilarious for their bizarre
instructions and laughable graphics, he was also forced to admit that
Tilton’s ministry was “very creative” with its strategy.104 Still, Zontar’s
take on Tilton was not completely free of any critical edge. Curran took
a shot at the authenticity of the televangelist’s theology due to his selec-
tive use of the Bible. He claimed that Tilton’s “pitch is based on at most
three short and obscure passages of Scripture,” most often a “minor epi-
sode” from 1 Kings 17 in which “a little widow woman…baked a cake
for Elijah even though she was about to starve to death.” In the same
way that the woman’s food was miraculously restored after her sacrifice,
those who vowed money that they “don’t even have TO GOD c/o Rev.
Bob (who is God’s Prophet, just like Elijah),” would be blessed: “check
the mailbox for that unexpected check, etc.…”105
Zontar reader and fellow ironic Tilton fan Randy would similarly
combine tongue-in-cheek humor, flashes of genuine admiration, and
light criticism in his own print project based on the televangelist: The
Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter. A two-sided, single page
of pale green paper published in August 1991, Randy’s inaugural effort
featured a black-and-white cutout of Tilton’s smiling face in its header—
likely poached from a ministry mailer.106 Following in the line of Zontar
and the COSG’s religious parodies, Randy assumed the nom de plume
“Brother Randall,” a winking dig at evangelical fictive kinship conven-
tions. “Are YOU a Robert Tilton Fan?” Brother Randall asked readers,
“If your answer is an unhesitatingly resounding AMEN, then this is the
newsletter for you, brother.” Should anyone mistake the “fan club” to be
genuinely devotional, Brother Randall made his ironic approach explicit:
“Tilton is so completely over the top, unabashed, blatantly (sic) insin-
cere, unrepentant, and downright EVIL that it’s refreshing.” “To some
40  D. J. BEKKERING

I’m glorifying an evil scumbag, to others I’m mocking a holy man of

God,” he acknowledged, “I don’t want to get into any moral debates…
that’s not what this is about. I’m looking at Robert Tilton on a whole
other level: it’s my favorite TV show, just like the Beverly Hillbillies or
Green Acres or whatever. Bob is a damn good snake oil salesman. The
best.”
Like the COSG, Brother Randall’s venture reflected his experi-
ences living in Dallas, the American “capital of evangelicalism.”107 He
wholeheartedly agreed with Rev. Stang and the editors of Zontar’s
take on what he called “despicable,” politically aggressive variants of
Protestantism.108 This strong stance was, in large part, a reaction to
his time as an undergraduate at Baylor University in nearby Waco, a
Christian school where the preponderance of “fundamental Baptists”
had, as he put it, left “a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth.”109
Pentecostal ministries, and particularly media ministries like Tilton’s,
however, he found relatively harmless, hilariously “crazy and supersti-
tious,” and enormously “entertaining to an outsider.” Further evidenc-
ing the often messy nature of ironic fandom, such “entertainment” was
not entirely of the tongue-in-cheek variety. Brother Randall sincerely
praised Tilton during our interview as a “good performer,” who pro-
vided exciting television and stage shows that appealed not only to his
faithful followers, but also “interloper(s)” like himself, who wanted to
“join in the fun.”110 Nevertheless, his first Tilton-themed publication
was heavily ironic and evaluative, filled with joking admiration for an
“evil” televangelist skilled at fleecing the desperate and gullible.
During our interview, Brother Randall claimed that he “was reacting
to” the “shallow and materialistic” culture of Dallas with his newslet-
ter, rather “than anything about religion per se.” However, his Tilton-
related activities would involve implicit and explicit arguments about
what Christianity ought to be—in part through his very play with its pur-
ported opposite. In his first newsletter, Brother Randall not only show-
ered faux praise on a preacher considered a religious fake by many, he
also, like Zontar’s Brian Curran, poked fun at Tilton’s seed faith theology
by highlighting his myopic use of the Bible, and specifically his reliance
on the tale of the starving widow: “That particular passage is the foun-
dation of the Tilton ministry.” Such playful religious work would thread
throughout the existence of Brother Randall’s fan club, which at the time
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  41

had a membership of one. “All you Robert Tilton fans please write!”
he appealed to potential readers/contributors, “Write about your most
memorable viewing experience. Write about that time you spotted Bob
at the airport…No detail is too trivial.” His ultimate wish, he wrote, was
that the newsletter would become a “meeting place where Tilton news,
views, and gossip can be exchanged.” Little did he know that his efforts
would indeed bring together a network of ironic Tilton fans, connected
through the mail and face-to-face, and that his fan club’s influence would
be felt well beyond America’s underground alternative culture.

Notes
1. Jerry D. Cardwell, Mass Media Christianity: Televangelism and the Great
Commission (Lanham: University Press of America, 1984), 122–125.
2. See Milmon F. Harrison, Righteous Riches: The Word of Faith Movement
in Contemporary African American Religion (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2005), 5–12.
3. Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 97.
4. See David Edwin Harrell Jr., Oral Roberts: An American Life
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985), 141–142, 284–285, 413.
5. Harrison, Righteous Riches, 150–151.
6. See Cardwell, Mass Media Christianity, 122–125. For Cardwell’s the-
ological background, see Jeffrey K. Hadden, review of Mass Media
Christianity: Televangelism and the Great Commission, Jerry D. Cardwell,
Religious Television: The American Experience, Peter G. Horsfield,
Review of Religious Research 28, no. 2 (December, 1986): 196–198.
7. See “Bob Crawls Around on the Prayer Requests (and Much More)!”
YouTube video, 14:51, posted by SufferinSprings, July 21, 2012,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7nmOzECqn4.
8. Fiske, Television Culture, 15.
9. “1 of 2—Bob Wants A THOUSAND DOLLARS,” YouTube video,
13:45, posted by SufferinSprings, February 28, 2012, http://www.you-
tube.com/watch?v=jiLoUkvSh2s.
10. Ibid.
11.  “BOB’s BEST RANTS 1—‘We’ve Seen Midgets Grow!!’,” YouTube
video, 13:26, posted by SufferinSprings, November 4, 2012, https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm-Rf-f5zw4.
12. Brother Randall, ed., The Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 4 (Dallas,
1992), n.p.
 42  D. J. BEKKERING

13. Ang, Watching Dallas, 96–102.

14. See “moreabouttheworld,” comment on “BOB’S BEST 5: “You Are
Not Gonna Have Diarrhea any Longer!” YouTube video, 14:41, posted
by SufferinSprings, December 9, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=d7msyXQq4Vg&list=UU2oWfwRTeW_pS4V-0nfDFww.
15. See Lucas Hilderbrand, Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape and
Copyright (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009), 33–72.
16. See Bacon-Smith, Enterprising Women, 175–184.
17. For the process of editing via two linked VCRs, see Ilisa Barbash and
Lucien Taylor, Cross-Cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making
Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1997), 445–446.
18. Bacon-Smith, Enterprising Women, 177.
19. Zschim (real name withheld to protect anonymity), email interview with
author, February 2 and 7, 2012.
20. See “People in the News,” Associated Press, January 6, 1987.
21. See “Z-TV Bob God Classic 01 Robert Tilton,” YouTube video, 10:26,
posted by Zschim, October 22, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=hVLq8SNPT7k.
22. SufferinSprings (real name withheld to protect anonymity), Skype inter-
view by author, December 17, 2011.
23. For an overview of Jimmy Swaggart’s ministry, see J. Gordon Melton,
Phillip Charles Lucas, and Jon R. Stone, “Jimmy Swaggart,” in Prime-
Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting (Phoenix:
Oryx Press, 1997), 340–342.
24. Edmund D. Cohen, The Mind of the Bible-Believer (Buffalo: Prometheus
Books, 1986), 8; James Randi, The Faith Healers (Buffalo: Prometheus
Books, 1987).
25. For “secularizing exit” as a style of deconversion, see Heinz Streib,
Ralph W. Hood Jr., Barbara Keller, and Rosina-Martha Csöff, eds.,
Deconversion: Qualitative and Quantitative Results from Cross-Cultural
Research in Germany and the United States of America (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009), 26.
26. “Bob Rants for Eight Minutes Straight,” YouTube video, 7:56, posted
by SufferinSprings, July 15, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=XVjSui1Kuck.
27. “Bob Nearly Trips over the Plants,” YouTube video, 1:51, posted by
SufferinSprings, March 1, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
cS_-zrJsGRc.
28. “Classic Bob Snippets—‘HEE HAMMA HABBA!!’,” YouTube video,
5:16, posted by SufferinSprings, January 21, 2012, http://www.you-
tube.com/watch?v=9MCHIPvuJOA.
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  43

29. Randy (last name withheld to protect anonymity), Skype interview by

author, December 4, 2011.
30. Steve Blow, “The Great Loan Officer in the Sky,” The Dallas Morning
News, March 11, 1990.
31. Steve Blow, “Omnipresent? That’s Neither Here Nor There,” The Dallas
Morning News, March 18, 1990.
32. Steve Blow, “Easter Service Appropriately Joyful, But…,” The Dallas
Morning News, April 18, 1990.
33. See, for example, Steve Blow, “Next-Greatest Show on Earth: Brother
Bob,” The Dallas Morning News, December 11, 1991.
34. Chris Atton, Alternative Media (London: Sage, 2002), 4.
35. See Duncombe, Notes from Underground.
36. Ibid., 9.
37. Ang, Watching Dallas, 98.
38. See Duncombe, Notes from Underground, 174–194.
39. Ibid., 32–33.
40. Ibid., 145–147.
41.  For a mention of Pills-a-Go-Go, see Duncombe, Notes from
Underground, 26. See also Jim Hogshire, Pills-A-Go-Go: A Fiendish
Investigation into Pill Marketing, Art, History and Consumption
(Townsend: Feral House, 1999); and Al Hoff, Thrift Score (New York:
Harper Collins, 1997).
42.  For “taste cultures,” see Herbert Gans, Popular Culture and High
Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste (New York: Basic Books,
1974). For “ironic taste culture,” see Laurel Westrup, “Thinking
Through Sampling, Literally,” in Sampling Media, eds. David Laderman
and Laurel Westrup (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 235.
43. Much of what follows was previously published, in a different form,
in Denis J. Bekkering, “Fake Religions, Politics, and Ironic Fandom:
The Church of the SubGenius, Zontar and American Televangelism,”
Culture and Religion 17, no. 2 (2016): 129–147.
44. See Reverend Ivan Stang and Dr. Philo Drummond, REPENT! Quit
Your JOB! ¡SLACK OFF! The World Ends Tomorrow and YOU MAY
DIE (Dallas: The SubGenius Foundation, Inc., 1981).
45. Arise!: The SubGenius Video, directed by Ivan Stang and Cordt Holland
(1991; Austin, TX: The SubGenius Foundation, 2005), DVD.
46. Stang and Drummond, REPENT!, 7.
47. J. R. Dobbs, The Book of the SubGenius: The Sacred Teachings of J.R.
“Bob” Dobbs (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 18. Stang and
Holland, Arise!
48. For a SubGenius-esque overview of Reverend Ivan Stang’s position, fea-
turing a picture of him wearing a T-shirt covered in a variant of “Bob’s”
 44  D. J. BEKKERING

face, see “Rev. Ivan Stang,” SubGenius Wikia Clench, accessed April 1,
2018, http://subgenius.wikia.com/wiki/Rev._Ivan_Stang.
49. Reverend Ivan Stang, Skype interview by author, May 1, 2012.
50. Carole M. Cusack, Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith
(Burlington: Ashgate, 2010), 1, 3, 83–87.
51. Adam Possamai, “Yoda Goes to Glastonbury: An Introduction to
Hyper-Real Religions,” in Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions, ed. Adam
Possamai (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 1.
52. Danielle Kirby, “Occultural Bricolage and Popular Culture: Remix and
Art in Discordianism, the Church of the SubGenius, and the Temple
of Psychick Youth,” in Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions, ed. Adam
Possamai (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 44, 49.
53. Ibid., 43, 48.
54. See Russell T. McCutcheon, Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the
Public Study of Religion (Albany: State University of New York Press,
2001).
55. Thomas Alberts, “Virtually Real: Fake Religions and Problems of
Authenticity in Religion,” Culture and Religion 9, no. 2 (2008):
127–128.
56. Cusack, Invented Religions, 84, 93, 104. Dery described the COSG as
one of the culture jamming movement’s “poster children”; see “Culture
Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs.”
57. Brian Curran, “Notes on the Great Bad Film Debate,” Zontar 9 (1991
[1983]): 41.
58. Jeffrey Sconce, “‘Trashing’ the Academy: Taste, Excess, and an
Emerging Politics of Cinematic Style,” Screen 36, no. 4 (1995): 372.
59. See Ernest Mathijs and Jamie Sexton, Cult Cinema: An Introduction
(Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 1–4; Sconce, “‘Trashing’ the
Academy,” 371–374, 377.
60. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012.
61. James Davison Hunter, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America
(New York: Basic Books, 1991), 44.
62. Brian Curran, “The Hate Break: A Column of Sociopathological
Opinion,” Zontar’s Ejecto-Pod 4 (1992): n.p.
63. Brian Curran and Jan Johnson, “What Happened to the Body Counts?
Editorial,” Zontar 9 (1991): 3–4.
64. Reverend Ivan Stang, Skype interview by author, May 1, 2012.
65. Kirby, “Occultural Bricolage and Popular Culture,” 50; Dobbs, The Book
of the SubGenius, 14.
66. For the combination of terms see Cusack, Invented Religions, 88. For
the definition, see Stang and Drummond, REPENT!, 8. For an over-
view of the Dada art movement, see Mark A. Pegrum, Challenging
 2  ROBERT TILTON, IRONIC FANS, AND FAKE RELIGIONS  45

Modernity: Dada Between Modern and Postmodern (Oxford: Berghahn

Books, 2000).
67. Stang and Drummond, REPENT!, 8–9.
68. For the association, see “Zontarian Aesthetics,” accessed April 1, 2018,
http://www.subgenius.com/ZONTARZONE_/aest.HTML. Brian
Curran, “Confessions of a Cult-TV Addict,” Zontar’s Ejecto-Pod 2
(1990): n.p.; ibid., “Notes on the Great Bad Film Debate,” 41.
69. Reverend Ivan Stang, High Weirdness by Mail: A Directory of the Fringe:
Mad Prophets, Crackpots, Kooks & True Visionaries (New York: Simon
& Schuster, 1988); Perverse Preachers, Fascist Fundamentalists, and
Kristian Kiddie Kooks, ed. Jan Johnson (Boston, 1991), VHS and
accompanying booklet, “Zontar Video.”
70. See David G. Bromley and Anson Shupe, eds., New Christian Politics
(Macon: Mercer University Press, 1984); Jeffrey K. Hadden and Anson
Shupe, Televangelism: Power and Politics on God’s Frontier (New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1988).
71. Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, 195.
72. Ibid., 199.
73. Ibid., 195.
74. Ibid., 75.
75. Johnson, “Zontar Video,” n.p. For the significance of this film in the
culture wars, see Hunter, Culture Wars, 233–234.
76. Johnson, “Zontar Video.”
77. Johnson, ed., Perverse Preachers.
78. David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of
Spurgeon and Moody (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 23.
79. Johnson, “Zontar Video.”
80. Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, 59.
81. Ibid., 59.
82. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012; Reverend Ivan
Stang, Skype interview by author, May 1, 2012.
83. Ang, Watching Dallas, 107–109.
84. Lyn Thomas, Fans, Feminisms and ‘Quality’ Media (Routledge: London,
2002), 139; ibid., “The Archers: An Everyday Story of Old and New
Media,” Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio
Media 7, no. 1 (2009): 60.
85. For Swaggart’s downplaying of politics, see Michael Giuliano, Thrice-
Born: The Rhetorical Comeback of Jimmy Swaggart (Macon: Mercer
University Press), 22.
86. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012.
87. Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, 74.
88. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012.
 46  D. J. BEKKERING

89. Reverend Ivan Stang, Skype interview by author, May 1, 2012.

90. Ibid.
91. However, it should be noted that Stang did make fun of Swaggart’s mer-
chandising efforts in High Weirdness by Mail, listing an address for the
“Jimmy Swaggart Gift Catalog,” so that readers could purchase “goods
for people you don’t really like”; ibid., 74.
92. Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, 21.
93. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012; Johnson,
Perverse Preachers; Johnson, “Shucking the Rubes,” Zontar’s Ejecto-Pod
2 (1990): n.p.; Curran, “Confessions of a Cult-TV Addict,” n.p. For
chalk talks, see David Morgan, Protestants and Pictures: Religion, Visual
Culture, and the Age of American Mass Production (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999), 251–256.
94. Curran, “Confessions of a Cult-TV Addict,” n.p.
95. Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, 64.
96. Ibid., 107.
97. Reverend Ivan Stang, Skype interview by author, May 1, 2012.
98. Johnson, “Shucking the Rubes,” n.p.
99. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012.
100. Curran, “Confessions of a Cult-TV Addict,” n.p.
101. Johnson, “Zontar Video.” For an overview of Morris Cerullo’s min-
istry, see J. Gordon Melton, Phillip Charles Lucas, and Jon R. Stone,
“Morris Cerullo,” in Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious
Broadcasting (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1997), 50–51.
102. Johnson, “Zontar Video.”
103. Ibid.
104. Jan Johnson, Skype interview by author, April 18, 2012.
105. Curran, “Confessions of a Cult-TV Addict,” n.p. For the Biblical story,
see 1 Kings 17:7–16.
106. Brother Randall, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 1
(Dallas, 1991), n.p.
107. Richard Kyle, Evangelicalism: An Americanized Christianity (New
Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2006), 235.
108. Randy, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
109. Ibid. Historical information about Baylor University can be found in
William H. Brackney, Congregation and Campus: Baptists in Higher
Education (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2008).
110. Randy, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
 CHAPTER 3

A Fan Club, a Fart Tape,

and a Tabloid Scandal

In the first newsletter of the “Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club”

(URTFC), dated August 1991, founder Brother Randall outlined neg­
ative press that his so-called “hero” had received over the past “couple of
years,” and defended the preacher with his tongue firmly in cheek.1 He
denounced “local media bloodsuckers” who had not “come up with any-
thing concrete against the ministry,” and praised Tilton as “too smart,
too insulated” to be taken down by such amateur attacks. The televange-
list’s skill at concealing his behind-the-scenes activities, and his unwilling-
ness to offer any potentially incriminating public “guarantees” about the
effectiveness of his seed-faith gospel, convinced Brother Randall that the
preacher would be around for the foreseeable future: “I’m not worried
about my favorite show being taken off the air.” Yet his optimism would
prove misplaced, as a scandal-plagued Tilton would soon retreat, albeit
temporarily, from the airwaves. In the interim, however, the scandals that
surrounded the televangelist would open up unprecedented opportuni-
ties to play with Tilton, and to publicize and expand the URTFC.
The scandals that would temporarily fell Tilton effectively began with
an investigative report on the national television newsmagazine Primetime
Live, which accused his ministry of deceptive and exploitative fund-raising
practices. While some scholars have framed the Primetime Live report as a
rather dispassionate unveiling of wrongdoing, this chapter demonstrates
that it was instead a piece of tabloid television, which privileged emo-
tional provocation over facts, and set out to portray Tilton as a ridiculous

© The Author(s) 2018 47

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_3
48  D. J. BEKKERING

religious fake. Largely responsible for this portrayal was the Dallas-based
Trinity Foundation, a Christian ministry focused on the downtrod-
den, and self-styled televangelist “watchdog” organization. In addition
to crucial investigative aid, the Trinity Foundation provided Primetime
Live with what are conceptualized here as “video proof texts”: short,
often acontextual, and frequently funny clips of Tilton derived from their
long-running surveillance of his broadcasts. Intended to delegitimize
the televangelist’s ministry, these clips represent an intriguing and unex-
plored convergence of participatory and mainstream media. In return for
its help, Primetime Live praised the Trinity Foundation as a paragon of
Christian authenticity, while obscuring aspects of the ministry that viewers
might find strange.
Robert Tilton’s unfolding scandals were an incredible boon for the
URTFC. In collaboration with his friend, record store owner, and fellow
ironic Tilton fan “Brother Bucks,” Brother Randall would ramp up the
production, distribution, and publicizing of his newsletter. Moreover,
the pair would host a well-attended Tilton “tribute” night—“Love That
Bob!”—less than two months after the damaging Primetime Live report.
This evening brought together many elements of the city’s ironic tele-
vangelical taste culture, and featured musical performances, games, par-
ticipatory media screenings, and the sale of an array of Tilton-themed
products. It also facilitated face-to-face networking, and would be
the means by which the aforementioned ironic fan and fundamentalist
deconvert SufferinSprings would come to join the URTFC’s Dallas-
based core. In sum, “Love That Bob!” encouraged playful participation
in the public negotiation of authentic Christianity involved in Tilton’s
scandals, and it is compared in this chapter to contemporaneous Church
of the SubGenius Devivals—events that have been erroneously described
as “religious.”
Neither the Trinity Foundation’s video proof texts, nor the URTFC
newsletter, were the first humorous Tilton-related participatory media
artifacts to prove culturally influential. This honor would belong to an
already-legendary VHS remix briefly mentioned by Brother Randall
at the end of his first newsletter: “the infamous fart video.”2 Featuring
noises of flatulence dubbed beneath clips of Tilton in action, the crea-
tors of this remix have long remained a mystery to the members of the
URTFC, and indeed most everyone else. This chapter reveals that the
tape originated with two employees of a Seattle television station in the
mid-1980s, who originally shared their creation with a small number
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  49

of acquaintances and coworkers. The remix would thereafter be widely

copied, shared, sold, and cherished, particularly by Brothers Randall
and Bucks of the URTFC. In a sense, the “fart tape” was a viral video
before the advent of the Internet; however, as will be discussed in the
next chapter, once this remix was, in fact, digitized and uploaded online,
it would cause real problems for Robert Tilton’s ministry.
Released in October 1991, the second edition of The Unofficial
Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter opened with an “inspirational let-
ter” from “Brother Bucks of Dallas,” identified as the publication’s “first
PAYING subscriber.”3 A good friend of Brother Randall and propri-
etor of Fourteen Records in Dallas, Brother Bucks was an established
underground scenester who, as the newsletter pointed out, was also the
founder of the “Mr. Ed Fan Club.” This ironic fan following of the titu-
lar 1960s “talking” sitcom horse anticipated and likely influenced many
characteristics of the URTFC: it had its own newsletter—“The Horses’
Mouth”—hosted “two Mr. Ed parties in Dallas, where ‘Edheads’ gath-
er(ed) to watch videotapes of the black-and-white show,” and was
grounded in over-the-top devotion to a purportedly ridiculous cultural
phenomenon.4 In his letter, Brother Bucks claimed that it would have
been him who “started a Tilton Worship Service,” if he “weren’t already
so burdened with my duties of operating the Mr. Ed Fan Club.”
Raised as a Baptist in Arkansas, by the time of our interview Brother
Bucks was no longer an “active Christian” and “ambivalent” toward his
childhood faith: “I like to say, Jesus and I love each other, but we see
other people.”5 He added, however, that he would “always take pleasure
in pointing out and making fun of (Christians) who take it to extremes…
And I’m grateful for those people because they’re entertaining as hell.”
Quite unexpectedly, the Mr. Ed Fan Club had provided him opportu-
nities to publicly mock a strident Ohio-based evangelist, Jim Brown,
who claimed in the mid-1980s that Mister Ed’s jaunty theme song, “A
Horse is a Horse,” contained the backward-masked messages “someone
sung this song for Satan,” and “the source is Satan.”6 Brother Bucks
proved an ideal interviewee for press outlets looking to ridicule Brown,
such as the high-profile music monthly Spin. In a 1986 blurb, Brother
Bucks countered that the sitcom horse was “the last word in sacred,” and
claimed to have been “baptized in a Mr. Ed T-shirt.”7 In a follow-up,
however, he struck a more serious tone, asserting that while the contro-
versy was “hilarious,” Brown was also “promoting a brand of spiritual
terrorism that I dislike very much.”8
50  D. J. BEKKERING

Much like the editors of Zontar, who attacked evangelical culture war-
riors encroaching on the world of film, Brother Bucks satirically battled
Brown’s interference in his own area of cultural expertise: popular music.
Also like Zontar’s editors, he would take issue with Brown’s religious
authenticity, or lack thereof. He told the Chicago Tribune, for example,
that Brown was a “so-called Christian,” who instead of helping “starv-
ing and homeless people,” was strangely looking to “lambaste Mr. Ed.”9
In general, however, Brother Bucks’ approach to American evangelical-
ism was less satirical than lightly ironic, as evidenced by his own audiotape
series: “God’s Greatest Hits.” In 1990, he began compiling selections
from his substantial “bad white gospel” album collection, many of which
featured hilariously “bad album covers.” Indeed, Brother Bucks con-
sidered himself something of an archivist of American evangelicalism’s
audio detritus, which featured anachronistic, inept, and theologically
bizarre attempts to spread the gospel. While “for legal reasons” he could
not “really market” his unauthorized compilations, the tapes sold well at
Fourteen Records, with most people purchasing them “ironically to enjoy
them for all the wrong reasons.” However, there were also some “pretty
rabid” fans of the tapes from Dallas’ “straight-laced Christian” commu-
nity, who were looking for inspirational “old gospel music.” Brother
Bucks was more than happy to have his irony “misfire” in such a lucrative
fashion, and gladly sold evangelicals their own laughably bad recordings.10
True to his nickname and retail career, profit would motivate Brother
Bucks’ Tilton-related activities, including his involvement with the
URTFC, the newsletters of which sold from his record store counter.11
A dedicated viewer of televangelism since at least the “late 1970s,” he
echoed the complexities of Brother Randall’s ironic Tilton fandom dur-
ing our interview, describing the preacher as a “crook,” yet also praising
him as “quite good” at his “act.” Although his play with the purported
religious fake would often prove theologically and ethically evalua-
tive, Brother Bucks maintained that he did not carry any sort of grudge
against, or “contempt” for, the preacher’s ministry. What he was most
interested in, besides the fun that it promised, was the URTFC’s poten-
tial for financial return, which he framed as an amusingly subversive twist
on the prosperity tactics of preachers like Tilton: “we just wanted to
make as much money off of Christianity as our heroes were making.”
While he would, of course, fall far short of this lofty goal, he and Brother
Randall would earn at least hundreds of dollars through copying and
selling a particular VHS tape that had already acquired legendary status
in the American cultural underground.
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  51

Following plugs for “God’s Greatest Hits,” and Jan Johnson of

Zontar’s Perverse Preachers compilation, Brother Randall briefly dis-
cussed this tape in the second URTFC newsletter, under the header “It’s
a Gas”:

Seems like everyone we’ve talked to lately has seen or at least heard about
a video that’s making the rounds which consists of a series of clips of
Bob ranting and raving and squintching (sic) up his face with fart noises
dubbed in. I couldn’t possibly do it justice trying to describe it on paper,
but it’s a sure-fire way of inducing laugh-till (sic)-you puke fits of joy.

While he was unable to pinpoint exactly when he first received a copy

of the Tilton fart tape, Brother Randall noted in our interview that it
came from someone he “traded tapes with” in the “pre-YouTube” days.
In his newsletter, he mentioned that there were “(a)t least two different
edits…floating around—a shorter, color one, and a slicker, longer, black
& white one” that was about ten minutes long, and seemingly “(p)rofes-
sionally edited together.” “The mysterious geniuses who put it together
are still unknown to us,” Brother Randall lamented, “but we’re on their
trail so that we may bow down to their greatness and possibly upgrade
our copy of the video. Any info would be appreciated.” Although he
would never discover who created the tape, he did manage to get on the
right track: “The story I heard was that when Success-N-Life was on the
air it went out to a lot of…smaller stations all over the U.S., and some-
body at one of those stations that had professional video editing equip-
ment made it.”12
One of the creators of the Robert Tilton fart tape was a “post-produc-
tion editor” and “production engineer” at Seattle’s KTZZ-TV during
the mid-1980s, who chose the evangelical-ribbing pseudonym “Brother
O’Nottigan” for his participation in this study.13 As he explained it, the
origins of the tape began with office pranks, sometime “around 1985”:

I was one of a handful of production engineers at Channel 22 in

Seattle…One of the favorite things to do was to sneak up behind some-
body who was looking at a monitor…and just waiting behind them with-
out them knowing about it until something would happen…on their
monitor in front of them that was wanting a fart noise. So you’d make
a farting noise behind them and scare them, and it became a very funny
thing to do.
52  D. J. BEKKERING

KTZZ-TV carried Tilton’s programs at the time, and one of Brother

O’Nottigan’s coworkers, perhaps an ironic fan himself, collected many
unintentionally amusing clips of the televangelist: some featuring him
“ranting and raving about money” or “in tongues,” others with him pre-
siding over strange miracles, like the healing of a woman with a “tarry
stool.” “One of the scenes just had him kind of bearing down in the
middle of it and kind of shaking his head and not saying anything,”
Brother O’Nottigan recalled of the moment when inspiration struck:
“there were a bunch of us watching and I said ‘Tom, back that up again,
back it up,’ and so he played that again and I made the farting noise
just when he beared down and, of course, everybody started laughing.”
Encouraged by the response, Brother O’Nottigan and his coworker used
the station’s equipment to compile a “rough cut videotape” packed with
flatulence-filled Tilton clips, the first of several versions that they would
copy and distribute to friends, acquaintances, and business clients.
An early version of the remix since posted online, which Brother
O’Nottigan judged to be “probably from late 1987 or early 1988,”
reveals the coworkers’ winning blend of source material selection and
skillful editing.14 Most commonly, the pair manipulated clips featuring,
as the URTFC’s Brother Randall put it, Tilton “squintching (sic) up his
face”—a contortion intended to convey the televangelist’s purported
intake of the Holy Spirit.15 Through artful dubbing, Brother O’Nottigan
and his coworker transformed such instances into posterior exhalations
of a much less divine wind. At points, the remix also plays with the
preacher’s penchant for boisterous outbursts, such as an energetic, desk-
slapping moment from Success-N-Life: “Hallelujah. The first thing that
happens that’s it! (fart sound) Wooooo!” The pair thus mocked Tilton’s
apparently “uncontrollable bodily eruptions of religious enthusiasm,”
which many of his faithful followers would have viewed as evidence of
his animation by the powers of the Holy Spirit.16 This was further rein-
forced through segments in which Tilton’s words carry an amusing dou-
ble meaning within their new context: “I sense the anointing flowing
out of me”; “This truth that I’m about to give you has exploded…(fart
sound)…in power.”
During our interview, Brother O’Nottigan revealed that he did “not
like televangelists,” whom he considered “crooks,” nor “organized reli-
gion,” describing himself as “spiritual” rather than “religious.” Yet his
remix was motivated less by any anger toward Tilton than a serendip-
itous syncretism between the preacher’s bizarrely amusing antics and
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  53

the office shenanigans at KTZZ-TV: “just kind of a fluky thing where

he fit the context so perfectly, and in so many different ways, that it
kind of became this natural thing to put the two together.” What he
never expected was the mushrooming spread of his creation, as recipi-
ents reproduced and shared their own tapes. He recalled that after “a
year and a half or two years, it started showing back up in places,” and
he would receive reports of copies “where you could almost not even
make out the picture anymore,” due to the progressive degradation
involved in copying analog videotapes. Such noise was a visual indi-
cator of the remix’s expanding reach, as well as its status as an “illicit
object.”17 For Brother Randall of the URTFC, however, the noise was
merely an annoyance, and he spent “a lot of time trying to go back and
upgrade my copy (and), get close to the source of the original one.”18
In the other direction, he and Brother Bucks would become noteworthy
copiers and distributors of Brother O’Nottigan’s underground remix,
especially in the wake of a televised investigative report that would cause
serious trouble for Tilton, and which would contain participatory video
artifacts that were also intended to amuse viewers.
At the turn of the 1990s, Robert Tilton’s ministry was booming:
services at Word of Faith in Dallas were packed, its broadcasts reached
across the United States and internationally, and untold millions of dol-
lars poured into its coffers. By the end of 1991, however, the minis-
try was mired in scandal, which effectively began with an investigative
report on the ABC network’s newsmagazine Primetime Live. Hosted
by Diane Sawyer, the report portrayed Tilton as a conniving huckster
with a checkered past, who secretly grew rich on donations from the
desperate. At the core of Primetime Live’s investigation was the alleged
discovery of hundreds of prayer requests apparently divested of contri-
butions and callously tossed, unread, into dumpsters.19 In describing
the report, Kate Bowler writes that Tilton “made national news when
reporters showed him dumping thousands of prayer requests into the
dumpster after removing the money from envelopes.”20 While Bowler’s
account reinforces the caricature of the hypocritical, greedy televangelist,
this scenario never occurred. Years earlier, sociologist Anson Shupe called
Primetime Live’s report an “exposé of (Tilton’s) corrupt and cynical
direct-mail fund-raising tactics,” and his “manipulative showmanship.”21
The word “exposé,” however, suggests a level of journalistic objectiv-
ity that masks how the program actively molded Tilton into the audi-
ence-generating figure of the religious fake.
54  D. J. BEKKERING

Rather than a disinterested and dispassionate revelation of “facts”

about Robert Tilton and his ministry, Primetime Live’s report is better
understood as an example of what Kevin Glynn calls “investigative tab-
loidism.”22 Whereas “official journalism” is based on “objectivism” and
the maintenance of “a proper distance—critical and emotional—from
its subjects,” investigative tabloidism “sensationalizes the news, short-
circuiting reason through excessive emotionality,” frequent appeals to
“the melodramatic,” and, often, the use of “campy irony, parody, and
broad humor.”23 Primetime Live used many of these tactics to construct
Robert Tilton as America’s latest televangelical huckster, and was greatly
aided in this mission by a Christian ministry called the Trinity Foundation.
Founded in 1972, the Trinity Foundation was led by Ole Anthony, a
self-educated religious leader and one-time religious broadcaster who
drew together a coterie of struggling individuals into a neo-Jewish-
Christian commune, based in a row of houses in rough East Dallas.
Anthony preached a message of radical social change, led ritual celebra-
tions based on the Jewish calendar, and farmed day-to-day matters out
to “Levites,” ministry members under a vow of poverty. Anthony and his
acolytes believed that prosperity preachers demanded prophetic rebuke
and counteraction, and the Trinity Foundation would become a self-styled
televangelist “watchdog” organization. Members kept tabs on suspicious
ministries by collecting mailers and fastidiously studying, recording, and
archiving broadcasts—all in the hopes of discovering criminal activity.24
The ministry would prove much more effective, however, at convicting tel-
evangelists within the court of public opinion, perhaps none more effec-
tively than Robert Tilton. As part of his proactive, press-focused approach,
Anthony would partner with the national tabloid television programs
Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition.25 In many ways it was a natu-
ral fit: the emotionally-charged “victimization” emphasis of these programs
intersected with the Trinity Foundation’s stance that Tilton was a danger-
ous predator, they provided a national platform for Anthony to serve as
expert and exemplar of authentic Christianity, they eagerly incorporated the
ministry’s video material into their reports, and, crucially, they agreed with
the Trinity Foundation’s leaders that provoking disbelieving laughter in
audiences was an effective way to discredit suspicious television preachers.26
In early 1991, Inside Edition’s Steve Wilson interviewed Ole Anthony
for a segment about Robert Tilton’s ministry.27 Tall, blue-eyed, and steady-
voiced, Anthony criticized not the concept of miracles, but rather Tilton’s
seed-faith system. “God does miracles but it doesn’t cost you anything,”
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  55

he argued, adding with a tone of annoyed amusement, “He implies that it

costs you a thousand bucks to get a miracle, which is ludicrous.” To illus-
trate the televangelist’s purportedly laughable formula for divine wonders,
Inside Edition aired a clip from Success-N-Life that was almost certainly
sourced from the Trinity Foundation. Sitting at his wooden desk with eyes
closed, Tilton visualizes and vocalizes a humorously strange return due a
certain needy viewer, if only they might have the courage to make a vow:
“There is faith right now for a new car, if you’ll seed today for that new
car, the loan will go through, you will get that new car.” Of course, much
of the clip’s potential humor value is lost when reduced to paper and ink,
and Inside Edition was not explicit about the fact that it was intended to
amuse viewers. However, this intention would be evidenced by the Trinity
Foundation’s later incorporation of the same clip into a segment on a tele-
vision comedy program, as will be demonstrated to follow.
With video editing equipment likely lying somewhere between the
professional rig used to make the Tilton fart tape, and the patched-
together VCRs used by some of the preacher’s ironic fans, the Trinity
Foundation produced clips intended to portray the televangelist as a
ridiculous huckster, which it then shared with national media outlets.
This involved taking short pieces of footage from long broadcasts, thus
removing them from their broader contexts. While Ole Anthony, like
many others, charged that Tilton’s seed-faith theology was often backed
by the acontextual “proof texting” of small selections of Scripture, his
ministry engaged in what could be described as “video proof texting.”28
The potential power of video proof texts to negatively impact the reputa-
tion of televangelists is perhaps best evidenced by a clip taken from Jimmy
Swaggart’s infamous televised confession after he was discovered in the
company of a prostitute.29 A long service from Swaggart’s Louisiana
church, aired February 21, 1988, was distilled into a short clip, or some-
times series of short clips, the centerpiece of which was the preacher, face
wet with tears and eyes looking to the heavens, confessing, “I have sinned
against you, my Lord.”30 Packed with an explosive admission and impli-
cations of hypocrisy—were these crocodile tears?—this video proof text
would become an oft-used shorthand for televangelist charlatanism in
mainstream television reports for more than two decades.31
Not all video proof-texted televangelists, however, have taken it lying
down. Some have vociferously fought back against what they have con-
sidered egregious misrepresentations via manipulative editing. On May
23, 2007, the ABC newsmagazine 20/20 aired an investigative report of
56  D. J. BEKKERING

the California-based prosperity televangelist Frederick K.C. Price, sug-

gesting that the preacher improperly financed his high-flying lifestyle
with church donations.32 After a snippet of an interview with a church
member, who claims “I know my money’s being put to good, excellent
use, without one question,” host John Stossel continues with a voice-
over: “And yet her pastor, Fred Price, boasts that…” Stossel’s segue is
followed by a short clip of Price preaching, and apparently outlining
his considerable wealth, accompanied by illustrative images: “I live in a
twenty-five room mansion. I have my own six-million dollar yacht. I have
my own private jet, and I have my own helicopter, and I have seven lux-
ury automobiles.” Through this assemblage of testimonial, host narra-
tive, preaching clip, and supporting images, 20/20 quickly established its
thesis that the televangelist was an evil exploiter.
However, viewing the clip within its original context—a 1997 ser-
mon—reveals that Price was not, in fact, speaking about his own riches,
but rather relating a parable in the first-person about an individual who
experienced “bad success”: wealth with attendant misfortune.33 Despite
all of his possessions, this hypothetical man complained that “my wife’s
making out with the gardener…All of my children are on drugs. And
I really don’t know who my friends are, because I don’t know if they
like me, or like what I can do for them because of my money.” Price’s
ministry was understandably angered with 20/20 and took legal action
against ABC, Stossel, and also, notably, Ole Anthony and the Trinity
Foundation, which had created and shared the offending clip.34 While an
initial ruling found that despite being taken out of context, the clip was
a “substantially true” representation of the health-and-wealth preacher’s
lifestyle, Price’s lawyers persisted, arguing that the way in which the foot-
age was “juxtaposed” unfairly portrayed their client as “a hypocrite and
deceiver.”35 The matter was finally settled in 2011, with ABC admitting
“that it did not conduct sufficient investigation of the clip after receiving
it to establish its correct context.”36
By 2007, the Trinity Foundation had been producing and sharing
video proof texts of controversial televangelists for many years, with
Price’s Word of Faith compatriot Robert Tilton proving their longest-
running target. The Trinity Foundation’s most impactful media collabora-
tion vis-à-vis Tilton would be with ABC’s Primetime Live. On November
21, 1991, the program aired investigative reports of three Texan televan-
gelists: W.V. Grant, Larry Lea, and Tilton.37 In her introduction, host
Diane Sawyer assured viewers that criticisms of Christianity itself would not
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  57

factor into their investigation: “we are in no way questioning faith or reli-
gious belief of any kind. In fact, many of the people who helped in this
investigation are devoted members of religious organizations.” This lat-
ter comment hinted at the involvement of the Trinity Foundation, which
provided Primetime Live with key investigative aid, an authoritative talk-
ing head who purportedly represented “real” Christianity, and video proof
texts which, in the case of Tilton, often featured the televangelist at his
most energetic, absurd, and unintentionally amusing.
“This is Robert Tilton,” opens Sawyer, as Primetime Live cuts to a
clip of the preacher at his Success-N-Life desk, wildly pantomiming a
physical beating of the devil, “He has the fastest growing ministry on
television today.” “Viewers are riveted by his melodrama, his quirky
style,” she continues, her points illustrated with footage of a smil-
ing Tilton shaking his head, speaking in tongues, and pausing before
directly addressing viewers: “I love you.” No mention is made of the
Pentecostal tradition of glossolalia, which might sully the clip’s humor
value with contextual information. Later, Sawyer states that although
Tilton’s ministry is “shrouded in secrecy,” Primetime Live uncovered
deposit receipts suggesting that his “followers send his ministry, con-
servatively, eighty-million dollars a year, tax-free.” Despite these hypo-
thetical totals, his “flashy style,” and his “high-tech church,” Tilton,
the program argues, presented himself as “a simple preacher who cares
about the sickness and suffering of his followers.” An accompanying clip,
however, suggests otherwise. On stage at Word of Faith, Tilton rests his
hand on the clavicle of a middle-aged, balding man with eyes closed and
arm raised to heaven. After shouting “bones go together!” Tilton orders
the man to “move it around.” He slowly circles his arm, grimacing in
excruciating pain as Tilton swiftly moves on to the next person in need
of “healing.”
As will be discussed in the next chapter, all of the video proof texts men-
tioned in the preceding paragraph would later be repurposed for explic-
itly satirical purposes by the Trinity Foundation, which had sourced the
material and forwarded their edited selections to Primetime Live. These
clips helped the tabloid report quickly establish the preacher’s purported
ridiculousness, and hopefully sufficiently amuse and interest viewers so that
they would continue watching. Intriguingly, Primetime Live would even
propose that at one time in his life, Tilton may have found his own antics
unintentionally hilarious. His face shrouded in darkness to ensure anonym-
ity, the program interviewed an alleged college friend of the televangelist,
58  D. J. BEKKERING

with whom he, in Sawyer’s words, would “use drugs, or get drunk, and
go off to tent revivals as a kind of sport.” According to the man, the
pair had great fun parodying the spiritual experiences of the “real” faith-
ful: “You would be drunk, and, uh, go down front, fall to our knees, uh
speak in tongues.” A clip of Tilton preaching in 1983, uncovered by the
Trinity Foundation but not aired on Primetime Live, lends credence to this
account. “Up until the time of the New Birth, I laughed about preachers,”
Tilton confesses. “I’d sit in a bar, and drink beer, and imitate ‘em,” he con-
tinues, shaking his head in disapproval at his own actions. Although unac-
ceptably irreverent, Tilton proposes that such mocking parodies actually
made him a “good candidate” for his eventual calling—practice that would
pay off after he swapped “unholy spirit(s)” for the Holy Spirit.38
Primetime Live, however, charged that Tilton had never stopped his
act. Lacking any footage of Tilton’s earliest days on the revival trail, the
program instead, in true tabloid fashion, aired a number of “surrogate
images.”39 This included dated footage of Marjoe Gortner taken from
his eponymous documentary (1972), in which the former child preacher
and self-admitted huckster works a tent revival healing line and collects
donations.40 These inclusions subtly reinforced Primetime Live’s thesis
that Tilton too was an accomplished, persuasive, and exploitative actor.
Further developing this theme, Sawyer stated that “Tilton and his friend
started developing parodies, so-called ‘Jesus raps’ of their own.” Right
on cue, the televangelist’s purported former friend offers a sample “rap”:
“Oh dear God, come into this young woman’s life, heal tonight! She has
a need to find Christ!” Primetime Live matched this with a clip of Tilton
bizarrely crawling over a pile of prayer requests and beseeching the divine:
“Oh God, in the name of Jesus. We believe in prayer, we believe in mir-
acles!” Concluding the segment, Primetime Live’s informant offered a
complaint: “I personally thought I was a lot better at it than he was.”
The crux of Primetime Live’s report was a probe into Tilton’s mail-
ing operations, conducted with the assistance of the Trinity Foundation.
Armed with hidden cameras, a small group including ABC employees
and Ole Anthony infiltrated Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Response Media,
which was in charge of Tilton’s mailers, and which Sawyer described as
the “nerve center of his ministry.” Having tricked company president
Jim Moore into believing that they wanted to “start a big-money min-
istry like Tilton’s,” Moore revealed some tricks of the trade. He empha-
sized, for example, the effectiveness of mailing out free trinkets with
pseudo-personal letters—“written by ghostwriters,” not televangelists,
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  59

Sawyer was sure to point out—which would ideally be returned with

donations. In the case of Tilton, Sawyer explained, this included “miracle
prayer cloths he promises to touch and place upon an altar,” and “cords
he says he’ll place on a ‘Wall of Deliverance.’” “I’m not sure exactly all
the reasons why it works,” Moore admitted, “but I can tell you from
years and years of experience, it does.”
ABC’s undercover operation set up Primetime Live’s killing blow,
which was framed as a final challenge to Tilton’s claim that he was look-
ing out for “people that are beat up, that are hurting.” The program
reported that mail sent back to the televangelist’s ministry was “for-
warded, unopened to Tilton’s bank in Tulsa,” where employees opened
it “not to share the agony, but to get the money.” “And those items
that people have prayed over and sent in, believing Robert Tilton would
touch them and pray over them too,” Sawyer continued, “Well, if some
made it to Tilton, there are thousands that didn’t.” What followed was
Primetime Live’s big reveal: shots of thousands of apparently discarded
gimmicks and neglected prayer requests, allegedly discovered by Trinity
Foundation members in dumpsters behind the Tulsa bank and Response
Media. These images were the program’s emotional pay dirt: dozens
of paper “angels of God” pulled from a garbage bag; a “tracing where
Tilton said he’d place his hand, ripped up by the bank.” Also on display
were “heartbreaking appeals from followers,” including one envelope
containing “a prayer message,” “personal photographs,” and a “sev-
en-thousand dollar pledge.” “The money probably made it to Tilton,”
Sawyer proposed, “the prayers went in the trash.”
Having thoroughly established Robert Tilton as America’s latest tele-
vangelist fake, Primetime Live concluded its report with suggestions as to
what constituted authentic Christianity. In closing, Diane Sawyer offered
“a final word of thanks to that Dallas minister you saw, Ole Anthony of
the Trinity Foundation, who helped us gain access to key parts of this
investigation.” She explained that Anthony’s ministry was “involved with
the homeless and the local community,” and described him as “a fierce
critic of big-money TV preachers.” For all of his help, Anthony received
an unprecedented national platform to succinctly outline his own take
on Christianity, which he presented as diametrically opposed to the
mass-mediated, faux-intimate, health-and-wealth gospel of televangelists
like Tilton. “The longing of a man’s heart is for community,” Anthony
asserted in a brief one-on-one interview with Sawyer, “for a sense of
being able to lay down his life for something important. That can’t
60  D. J. BEKKERING

happen with a television tube.” He further encouraged viewers to “look

at the need around you,” rather than donating money to “some far-away
evangelist that’s talking you into playing a heavenly lottery.” Through
localized acts of charity, Anthony assured audience members, they would
receive the “hundred-fold blessing” promised by Tilton.
In portraying Ole Anthony and the Trinity Foundation as shining bea-
cons of true Christianity, Primetime Live’s producers neglected, perhaps
intentionally, to turn a critical eye toward their collaborators. In 2006,
journalist Glenna Whitley of the Dallas Observer published an investiga-
tion of the Trinity Foundation, based on interviews with numerous for-
mer members.41 Whitley claimed that at the time of the Primetime Live
investigations, the ministry was a spiritual autocracy helmed by Anthony,
who, much like his target Tilton, claimed to have prophetic knowledge
of the divine will, and manipulated and controlled people “who were
struggling, vulnerable, seeking answers”—charges echoed in ex-mem-
ber Wendy Duncan’s tell-all published the same year: I Can’t Hear God
Anymore: Life in a Dallas Cult.42 Whatever these reports’ veracity, the
fringe theology, intense activities, and communal focus of the Trinity
Foundation would have certainly been far removed from most Primetime
Live viewers’ understandings of “authentic” Christianity.
Writing about the Trinity Foundation’s role in the Primetime Live
takedown of Robert Tilton, Whitley presented Anthony as a willing
participant in what was at least a partial misrepresentation of the tele-
vangelist, featuring “distorted facts,” interviews taken “out of context,”
and the absence of “information favorable to Tilton.” Turning to infor-
mation uncovered during Tilton’s subsequent legal battles with ABC,
Whitley even challenged the veracity of Primetime Live’s damning images
of trashed prayer requests. According to former Trinity Foundation
member and Tilton investigation participant Powell Holloway, Anthony
and Primetime Live’s producers had, in Whitley’s words, “mixed the
trash from various dumpsters.” “‘It was on videotape,’” said Holloway,
referring to raw footage examined during the legal proceedings, “‘Ole
and the producers literally playing with the evidence on B-roll.’”43
In their tabloid-esque push to provoke audience anger, the Trinity
Foundation and Primetime Live may have played loose with the facts.
Robert Tilton responded to the Primetime Live report by publicly
lashing out in a special episode of Success-N-Life that aired the follow-
ing day.44 Wearing a casual blue jacket and jeans instead of his custom-
ary sharp suit—all the better to project a down-to-earth image—Tilton
rattled off a largely ad-libbed performance that contained some cogent
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  61

counterpoints. Regarding his lavish lifestyle, for example, which

Primetime Live had heavily emphasized, Tilton flippantly pointed out
its relationship to his health-and-wealth theology: “So what? I never
preached poverty to you. I said God would provide you with the best…
you can have the best but I ain’t supposed to have nothing?” While
Primetime Live branded Tilton an insincere crook, he shot back that
those involved in the report had themselves acted untruthfully. “Diane
Sawyer admitted that they lied and deceived to go behind the scenes,”
he snarled, “now when did they stop lying? They really never stopped
lying.” In sum, Tilton described the report as an “anti-real Jesus,”
Satanic conspiracy, created with the help of the “so-called minister” Ole
Anthony: “he’s nothing, he’s less than nothing…His whole world is
around tearing me down.”
Of course, an episode of Success-N-Life would not have been com-
plete without Tilton’s trademark energetic and unintentionally humor-
ous moments, which Primetime Live had highlighted. In one instance he
abruptly broke into a bout of singing glossolalia, lifting his eyes and hands
to heaven. “That’s singing in tongues for you illiterate folks out there,” he
mockingly explained where Primetime Live had not, “That’s in the Bible.
What happens is most folks just never saw anybody as anointed as I am,
as bold as I am, as wild as I am on television.” Tilton’s most ridiculous
moment, however, would be his laughably strange, and frankly unbelieva-
ble, proof of intimacy with viewers’ prayer requests. “I lay my hands, per-
sonally, on every prayer request,” Tilton stated, going on to outline his
purported daily routine within his personal “prayer closet”:

I begin to pray over stacks of the prayer request forms that you send in.
Those prayer request forms have ink on them, and, uh, all kinds of chem-
icals. I laid on top of those prayer requests so much, that the chemicals
actually got into my bloodstream, began to swell my capillaries…

The end result, the televangelist explained, were ink-induced bags under-
neath his eyes—“Frankly folks, it was a serious mess; messed my bot-
tom eyes up”—which necessitated the plastic surgery, as well as vacation
home and pleasure boat (for doctor-ordered relaxation), revealed and
criticized by Primetime Live.
While Tilton acknowledged that his strange revelation would be a
“newsy thing,” he also made a sharp warning: “And you media people
that are taping this, please don’t edit it to pieces and make me look bad
again, or your blood is going to be on your own hands.” This did not
62  D. J. BEKKERING

stop Primetime Live from incorporating short clips taken from the rebut-
tal into a follow-up report, intended to portray Tilton as a brazen and
ludicrous liar.45 This included clips of the preacher complaining about
his ink-related illness, and his glib “closing words”: “So, until we meet
again, happy trails—I love that song—Happy trails to you, until we meet
again.” Despite his seemingly sunny outlook, the following weeks would
be rough for Tilton, as it was reported that the Internal Revenue Service
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were joining the Texas Attorney
General’s office and other governmental organizations to find out whether
his ministry had engaged in mail fraud, or illegal diversions of donations.46
While Tilton would accordingly be crucified in the press, Ole Anthony
was beatified and provided with many opportunities to further excori-
ate the televangelist on television. Although the bulk of his attacks were
quite serious, during an appearance on the local Dallas NBC talk show
Spectrum, Anthony could not help making fun of the preacher.47 “He
says,” Anthony reported about Tilton, “that he takes every one of these
prayer requests, lays over them to the extent that the ink from the prayer
request sort of chelates into his body, and his lower eyes get messed up so
he has to have plastic surgery.” Encouraged by scattered laughter in the
studio audience, Anthony goes further, fictitiously expanding on Tilton’s
original statement in the name of satire: “And he lays on ‘em so strong,
that his hair gets so messed up that he has to have permanents every
week…(and) he has to have more makeup on than Tammy Faye Bakker.”
In December 1991, not long after the Primetime Live special aired,
Brother Randall published the third issue of The Unofficial Robert Tilton
Fan Club Newsletter.48 Beneath an illustration of Tilton with a snake
body, halo hovering over his head—a graphical representation of his par-
adoxical status in relation to issues of religious authenticity—and erupt-
ing from the television of a solitary viewer, Brother Randall opened with
a question that was likely on the minds of many other ironic fans: “Is
This It?” On one hand, he confessed his excitement about “the attention
Bob is getting”; on the other, he felt great “dread that the plug might
really be pulled this time.” While the Primetime Live report, which
Brother Randall accurately critiqued in his newsletter for its emotion-
ally manipulative, tabloid-esque style, had unleashed a flood of negative
attention threatening Tilton’s, and by extension his ironic fan follow-
ing’s, existence, there was also no better time to expand the URTFC’s
reach. Millions of Americans had been exposed to Tilton’s unintentional
humor value via Primetime Live, due in no small part to the participatory
media products of the Trinity Foundation.
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  63

That same month, the URTFC received some welcome publicity from
Steve Blow of The Dallas Morning News, whose humor-laced articles on
Tilton, as discussed in the previous chapter, were avidly read by Brother
Randall.49 In addition to excerpts from the URTFC newsletters, Blow’s
article featured interviews with Brothers Randall and Bucks. Complaining
about the bad press that Tilton had been receiving, Brother Randall
praised the preacher as a prime example of the venerable “American tra-
dition” of the “snake-oil salesman”—indeed, one standing “at the very
top of his craft.” Brother Bucks added, perhaps somewhat hopefully, that
there were “a lot of closet Tilton fans out there,” who appreciated the
preacher for “his bad art value.” Blow included Brother Randall’s mail-
ing address, ostensibly to allow these fans to make “editorial contribu-
tions” to the URTFC newsletter, and noted that Brother Bucks’ Fourteen
Records was the “exclusive retail outlet” for the underground publication.
While Blow’s mainstream attention may have bumped the URTFC
newsletter’s certainly meager circulation, far more people would trek
down to Fourteen Records to acquire another funny participatory media
artifact mentioned in Blow’s article: “the ‘gassy’ Tilton tape that has
been making the rounds in Dallas for more than a year.” Brother Bucks
recalled that from the very day of the article’s publication, “it was like a
barrage of people – five, ten, sometimes twenty (people) a day – coming
in…saying, ‘Are you the one with the fart tape?’”50 To meet the sudden
spike in demand, Brother Bucks, with Brother Randall’s help, started
copying the remix onto “generic tapes,” and even some salvaged from
the trash. These copies were then sold as a “behind-the-counter item,”
much like Brother Bucks’ illicit “God’s Greatest Hits” compilations.
Whether the retail price was ten dollars, as Brother Bucks recalled, or
twenty or twenty-five dollars, according to Brother Randall, these tapes
put a few hundred dollars into their pockets.51
With the profitability of Tilton-themed merchandise established, and
the preacher’s troubles rolling on, Brothers Bucks and Randall embarked
on an ambitious venture: a tongue-in-cheek Tilton tribute night at the
aptly named “Club Dada,” in Dallas’ hip Deep Ellum district.52 “We just
wanted to mix up some cool rock and roll with some bad gospel action,”
explained Brother Bucks, who possessed event promotions experience as
well as deep local connections.53 Named for an obscure 1950s sitcom,
“Love That Bob!” brought together many elements of the area’s multi-
faceted ironic televangelical taste culture.54 Among the more prominent
were hip-hop artist “MC 900 Ft. Jesus,” whose stage name referenced
a vision of a colossal savior allegedly experienced by Oral Roberts, and
64  D. J. BEKKERING

“Reverend Bob,” a huckster revivalist character portrayed by amateur

club comedian Farley Scott, best known for his fantastic onstage “heal-
ings,” with flashy pyrotechnic accompaniment, of mundane objects.55
Scott came up with his shtick during college in the mid-1970s, when
he started developing a “‘Cheating Preacher’ character,” and witnessed
a caller to one of Pat Robertson’s programs hilariously testify that
God had repaired her refrigerator.56 By the time of “Love That Bob!,”
Reverend Bob had in many ways become a mocking parody of Robert
Tilton, whom Scott found both funny and infuriating, and who, in his
opinion, deviated from “the example that Jesus set.” In addition to his
stage performances, Scott had also hosted a largely improvised local tele-
vision show since the mid-1980s—“Rev. Bob’s Inspirational Moment”—
thanks to the participatory affordances of public access television.57 In
one episode from June 8, 1992, Reverend Bob, wearing a comically loud
plaid suit jacket and sitting on a set resembling a discount version of
Success-N-Life, leads his audience in a bout of “squeenching.”58 “Instead
of praying we’d ‘squeench up,’” Scott explained during our interview,
“which was something I did get from Bob Tilton…he’d squinch his
face up really tight like he was getting direct downloads from God or
something.” With two pets lying at his feet, Reverend Bob announces
that it is time to “squeench with the dogs.” Drawing one onto his lap,
he scrunches up his face and tents his hand over the dog’s head while
instructing viewers: “Grab your thighs. Grab your TV. Put one hand on
your TV. Put one hand on your mammals. Begin to feel the squeench
vibes radiating.”
Robert Tilton’s habit of “squeenching,” critical to Brother
O’Nottigan’s fart tape and highlighted for laughs in Primetime Live’s
report, was a widely recognized shorthand for the televangelist’s amus-
ing absurdity, and was accordingly used by Brothers Bucks and Randall
to promote their “tribute” night. “Squinch on Up and Come On Down
To…Love That Bob!” ordered a pink poster, adorned with an illus-
tration of a squinting Tilton hanging on a cross, with a nail piercing
a dollar bill held in his right hand. The poster hinted in a sidebar that
another renowned example of “squinch”-related fun might also feature
during the event: “Q: Will they play that naughty tape I’ve heard so
much about? A: Maybe.”59 Another print advertisement in The Dallas
Observer free weekly newspaper, designed by offbeat comic artist Buddy
Hickerson, featured a grotesque, angular illustration of Tilton, his suit
jacket stuffed with dollar bills. The preacher stands in front of Club Dada
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  65

while a group showers him with adulation. “Catch Robert Tilton Fever!”
the copy called out, “He’s thinner than Elvis; He’s richer than Elvis;
He’s better than Elvis!”60
Held on January 9, 1992, “Love That Bob!” was a huge success,
drawing in hundreds of attendees. This included Michael Precker of The
Dallas Morning News, who described the event as an “evening of mer-
rymaking at the expense of Dallas’ own controversial televangelist.”61
“We’re here to praise Bob and have a little fun with him at the same
time,” Brother Bucks explained to the reporter, highlighting the messi-
ness of the URTFC’s approach. As Precker reported, the night featured
sets by local bands, a toaster healing by Reverend Bob, a “‘Speaking in
Tilton’ contest” with parody glossolalia, a “Tilton Trivia contest,” and a
stand-up routine by Hickerson targeting what he called “televandelism.”
Precker noted that several pieces of Tilton-related participatory media
were also played, including a “heavy metal speed rap” audio remix cre-
ated by the artist “Schwa,” who had been inspired by Tilton’s plea dur-
ing his Primetime Live rebuttal. “He said, ‘Now please don’t edit this
to make me look bad,’” Schwa explained to Precker, “I thought, ‘Gee,
what a challenge.’”62
The most anticipated participatory media artifact of the night, how-
ever, was Brother O’Nottigan’s fart tape, which was played right off
the bat. “The evening begins with a screening of the notorious ‘Joyful
Noise’ video,” Precker wrote, “a bootleg tape that apparently has been
around for about a year.” He described the remix as “undeniably juve-
nile, but not ineffective. The audience howls with laughter through-
out.” Reverend Bob, who had only recently become acquainted with the
remix, recalled that it was frequently replayed throughout the evening:
“every time they played it, I ran back into the main room so I could
watch it on the screen.”63 To satiate audience demand for the hard-to-
find tape, Brothers Bucks and Randall hawked copies for twenty dollars
from a table near the door, where attendees could also buy back issues
of the URTFC newsletter, bright neon photocopies of a yearbook pho-
tograph of Tilton, and shirts with images of Tilton “squeenching,” or
surrounded by dollar signs and bills.64 Looking back, Brother Bucks
remembered that they had “made a lot of money that night.”65
With its free-flowing alcohol, raucous parodies, and religious comedy,
“Love That Bob!” was akin to the Devivals organized by the Church
of the SubGenius, which was also based in Dallas. The COSG, as men-
tioned, was an important influence on the URTFC, and Reverend Bob
66  D. J. BEKKERING

was likely but one card-carrying member who attended the event.66 As
indicated by their name, Devivals were takeoffs of revivals, and video
evidence from the period highlights how evangelicals broadly, and tel-
evangelists specifically, could be targeted during these gatherings.67 A
1992 Devival held in a Cleveland nightclub, for example, featured a faux
“hymn”—“My Wallet Belongs to ‘Bob’”—a boast by Rev. Ivan Stang
that the COSG’s founding salesman could sell “hypocrisy to Baptists,”
his mention of “killed-again SubGeniuses,” and a lengthy “rant” about
evangelicals in his hometown.68 “They call Dallas…well, it’s part of the
‘Bible Belt,’” Stang explained to the rowdy crowd, “And because Bob
Tilton…and so many other preachers come from there…Dallas is called
the ‘buckle’ of the Bible Belt.” “What we have been called to do by J. R.
‘Bob’ Dobbs,” Stang continued, to rising cheers from the audience, “is
to unbuckle the Bible Belt so that its stupid looking pants may drop to
its knees and it will be forced to gaze, unflinching, upon its own private
desires!” As a particularly timely symbol of purported evangelical hypoc-
risy, participatory media creations featuring Tilton were folded into the
multimedia barrages exhibited during Devivals in the early 1990s. This
included Brother O’Nottigan’s fart tape—described by Rev. Stang as
“one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen”—as well as a slickly produced
video for the Tilton-sampling song “Don’t Eat Your Seed,” which fea-
tured an actor in a cardboard Tilton mask frolicking with scantily clad
models.69
The tone of “Love That Bob!” was much less vitriolic than the sharply
satirical approach of the COSG’s Devival meetings. Although there was
undoubtedly a critical edge to the evening’s activities, there was also
genuine admiration for Tilton’s skills as a performer and/or religious
huckster. “There’s really a great deal of affection for him here,” Brother
Bucks explained to The Dallas Morning News’ Michael Precker.70 During
our interview, Brother Bucks tellingly added that he found the COSG,
which he had some contact with during the 1980s, “too negative” for
his own tastes.71 The striking similarities between “Love That Bob!”
and COSG Devivals, however, challenge Carole Cusack’s argument
that the latter were, in part, a form of “religious celebration,” during
which “inspired and charismatic preachers” helped spread the gospel
of “Slack.”72 With their comedic performances, media screenings, mer-
chandising, and collegiality, Devivals were more akin to fan gatherings,
and specifically ironic fan gatherings like “Love That Bob!,” which grew
out of the American alternative underground. Although these were not
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  67

religious events, they did involve religious work, with performers and
attendees at least implicitly reinforcing particular understandings of
authentic Christianity through their play with examples of its purported
opposite. In the case of “Love That Bob!” and at least some contempo-
raneous Devivals, participants also became actively involved in the media
scandals that surrounded Robert Tilton, through which the preacher was
publicly constructed as the nation’s latest religious fake.
What these activities meant within the contexts of participants’ per-
sonal lives varied immensely. For Brother Randall, who had an on-
and-off relationship with Methodism, and likely for others, such play was
associated with beliefs in the superiority and validity of mainline “Golden
Rule” Christianity—the “authentic” Christianity against which Tilton’s
theology and actions were often weighed in the mainstream media.73 For
another soon-to-be “Brother,” however, “Love That Bob!” would also
prove an important stop on his journey away from the religion. As dis-
cussed in the previous chapter, Dallas-based ironic fan SufferinSprings
underwent a bitter breakup with fundamentalist Christianity, which
he described as being, at least initially, a “pretty lonely experience.”74
Likewise, his amusement with, and activities related to, Robert Tilton,
who had greatly angered him when he was a fervent fundamentalist, also
started as an essentially solo enterprise. This would change drastically
after he came across the Buddy Hickerson-illustrated advertisement for
“Love That Bob!” in The Dallas Observer. “I saw immediately that it was
a tongue-in-cheek thing,” he recalled during our interview, “and I just
about fell out of my chair. I was like, ‘I have to go to this.’” With a date
in tow, SufferinSprings headed to Club Dada, where he crossed paths
with Brother Randall and his wife, “Sister Donna,” at the merchandise
table. Breaking the ice with a Tilton-esque burst of glossolalia—“Kool-
abasanda!”—SufferinSprings told the pair that he was a longtime viewer
who had compiled his own “highlight reel” of clips, and they exchanged
contact information.
One month later, Brother Randall released the fourth issue of his news-
letter.75 With the word “unofficial” dropped from the header, this edition
of The Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter focused largely on the success
that was “Love That Bob!” Brother Randall wrote that, for him, “the most
enjoyable part of that blessed night of miracles was getting to meet some
of the fan club partners like Brother Derek, Sister Rene, (and) Brother
Russell”—the latter being SufferinSprings’ self-selected pseudonym for
his involvement with the now-“RTFC.” In his inaugural contribution to
68  D. J. BEKKERING

the newsletter, Brother Russell shared his own excitement: “I was thrilled
to learn so many others share my obsession with the Tilton phenomenon.
Finding out that there was a fan club made my spirit leap within me.”
While shot through with silliness, Brother Russell’s statement also fore-
shadowed, as will be discussed in the following chapter, the RTFC’s role as
a surrogate community and creative outlet after his deconversion.
“Love That Bob!” helped transform the RTFC into a more collabo-
rative enterprise, comprised of a Dallas-based core, members of which
would embark on new activities and adventures, and fans connected
through the newsletter. The ironic fan club would also receive increased
recognition in both alternative and mainstream media circles, which
helped expand its reach and influence. Robert Tilton’s eventual, if tem-
porary, departure from the airwaves, however, would spell the end of the
RTFC, leaving another organization to bring the fun of ironic televan-
gelical fandom, and the religious work it represented, to the American
mainstream: the Trinity Foundation. In line with its tabloid news col-
laborations, the ministry would deploy a satirical irony aimed at ridi-
culing and delegitimizing televangelists such as Robert Tilton, drawing
heavily on its arsenal of amusing video proof texts. However, it would be
Brother O’Nottigan’s gaseous remix which, quite unexpectedly, would
cause the most problems for Tilton’s ministry.

Notes
1. Brother Randall, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 1
(Dallas, 1991), n.p.
2. Brother Randall, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 1.
3. Brother Randall and Brother Bucks, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan
Club Newsletter, 2 (Dallas, 1991), n.p.
4. See Scott McCartney, “Fan Club Hopes to Revive Television’s Talking
Horse,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 13, 1984. Mister Ed, syndicated/
CBS, 1961–1966.
5. Brother Bucks (real name withheld to protect anonymity), Skype inter-
view by author, January 6, 2012.
6. See “Mr. Ed Song Satanic: Evangelist,” The Montreal Gazette, April 25,
1986. W. Scott Poole highlights the role of Louisiana preacher Jacob
Aranza in popularizing fears of “satanic” messages in popular music dur-
ing the 1980s; see ibid., Satan in America: The Devil We Know (Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 175–176.
7. “Flashes,” Spin, July 1986.
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  69

8. Sukey Pett, “One Man’s Horse Habit,” Spin, November 1986.

9. Justin Mitchell, “Satan Taking Mr. Ed Along for the Ride?” Chicago
Tribune, May 8, 1986.
10. Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012. For the
potential of irony to “misfire,” see Day, Satire and Dissent, 41.
11. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
12. Ibid.
13. Brother O’Nottigan (real name withheld to protect anonymity), Skype
interview by author, May 9, 2013.
14. Ibid. “ORIGINAL Robert Tilton Video (1991),” YouTube video, 4:02,
posted by RotanCam, January 4, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Oa3cPYm5ISU.
15. Brother Randall, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 2.
16. Chidester, Authentic Fakes, 195.
17. Hilderbrand, Inherent Vice, 163, 176.
18. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
19. Primetime Live, ABC, November 21, 1991. A copy of the report and the
date can be found on Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
20. Bowler, Blessed, 137.
21. Anson Shupe, “Economic Fraud and Christian Leaders in the United
States,” in Wolves Within the Fold: Religious Leadership and Abuses of
Power, ed. Anson Shupe (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press,
1998), 59; ibid., In the Name of All That’s Holy: A Theory of Clergy
Malfeasance (Westport: Praeger, 1995), 8. See also ibid., Spoils of
the Kingdom: Clergy Misconduct and Religious Community (Urbana:
University of Illinois Press, 2007), 88–89.
22. Kevin Glynn, Tabloid Culture: Trash Taste, Popular Power, and the
Transformation of American Television (Durham: Duke University Press,
2000), 123.
23. Ibid., 7.
24. For two contrasting overviews of Ole Anthony and the Trinity
Foundation, see Burkhard Bilger, “God Doesn’t Need Ole Anthony,”
The New Yorker, December 6, 2004, and Glenna Whitley, “The Cult of
Ole,” Dallas Observer, August 3, 2006. For “watchdog,” see “About
Us,” Trinity Foundation, accessed April 1, 2018, http://trinityfi.org/
about-us/.
25. Entertainment Tonight, syndicated, December 3, 1990; Inside Edition,
syndicated, January 31, 1991. Video copies of these investigative reports
and their dates can be found on Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed,
VHS.
26. For themes of “victimization” and tabloid journalism, see Glynn, Tabloid
Culture, 124.
70  D. J. BEKKERING

27. Inside Edition, syndicated, January 31, 1991.

28. For complaints about the “proof texting” practices of evangelical “popu-
larizers,” including television preachers, see Kyle, Evangelicalism, 318.
29. For an overview of the Swaggart scandal and the televangelist’s public
defense, see Giuliano, Thrice-Born.
30. For an online clip featuring a very short version, see “I HAVE SINNED,”
YouTube video, 0:10, posted by handcuffed1000, August 25, 2009,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1OXAi7rNMg.
31. See, for example, The Rachel Maddow Show, “Touched by a
Televangelist,” MSNBC, December 1, 2010. A selection from this show
is available at “Rachel Maddow the Televangelist Infidelity Matrix,”
YouTube video, 6:04, posted by PresidentObama3, December 2, 2010,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjuvzUX6yo4.
32. 20/20, “Enough!” ABC, March 23, 2007. A selection from the program
is available at “Enough—20/20 with John Stossel—Ministry Videos,”
GodTube video, 6:54, posted by videos, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
www.godtube.com/watch/?v=2B1JNNNU.
33. For a comparison of ABC’s clip with the original sermon, see “THE
TRUTH: About 20/20’s Report on Dr. Price & CCC,” YouTube video,
7:07, posted by adambaumen, July 25, 2007, http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=0LurX47zfks.
34. For Ole Anthony and the Trinity Foundation’s involvement in this situa-
tion, see Glenna Whitley, “Ole Oops,” Dallas Observer, August 9, 2007.
35. “Frederick K.C. Price v. John Stossel; Glenn Ruppel; American
Broadcasting Companies, Inc.; Ole Anthony and Trinity Foundation,
Inc., Case 09-55087 (9th Cir. 2009),” accessed April 1, 2018, http://
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2010/08/26/09-55087.pdf.
36. Melissa Maerz, “ABC News Apologizes to Crenshaw Christian Center
Founder for Misleading Video [Updated],” accessed April 1, 2018,
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/04/abc-news-
appologizes-to-crenshaw-christian-center-founder-for-misleading-video.
html.
37. This broadcast has often been uploaded to YouTube. See, for exam-
ple, “ABC News PrimeTime Live,” YouTube video, 48:54, posted by
Michael Pannoni, December 4, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=m2In7tZsBHY.
38. A copy of this clip and the date can be found on Brother Bob and the
Gospel of Greed, VHS.
39. For “surrogate images,” see Glynn, Tabloid Culture, 20–21.
40. Marjoe, directed by Sarah Kernochan and Howard Smith (1972; New
York: eOne Films, 2006), DVD.
41. Whitley, “The Cult of Ole.”
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  71

42. Wendy J. Duncan, I Can’t Hear God Anymore: Life in a Dallas Cult

(Garland: VM Life Resources, 2006).
43. Whitley, “The Cult of Ole.” “Tilton v. Capital Cities/ABC Inc., 827 F.
Supp. 674 (1993),” accessed April 1, 2018, http://law.justia.com/
cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/827/674/1458627/.
44. Success-N-Life, November 22, 1991. A video of the rebuttal has since
been posted online; see “Robert Tilton Defends His Honor,” YouTube
video, 58:35, posted by donquixote235, March 17, 2013, http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=ZiiroE52ic0.
45. Primetime Live, ABC, November 28, 1991. A copy of the report and the
date can be found on Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
46.  See “Agencies Coordinate Tilton Investigations,” Austin American-
Statesman, November 30, 1991. A number of television news reports
relating to these investigations can also be found on Brother Bob and the
Gospel of Greed, VHS.
47. Serious attacks by Ole Anthony can be found in reports from WFAA-TV
(Dallas), December 9, 1991, and KXAS-TV (Fort Worth), December 9,
1991. The Spectrum show was broadcast on KXAS-TV (Fort Worth),
December 8, 1991. All of these clips and their dates can be found on
Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
48. Brother Randall, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 3
(Dallas, 1991), n.p.
49. Steve Blow, “Next-Greatest Show on Earth: Brother Bob.”
50. Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012.
51.  Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012; Brother
Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
52. For the cultural significance of Deep Ellum, see Alan Govenar and Jay
Brakefield, Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds
of Dallas Converged (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1998).
53. Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012.
54. For Love That Bob, see James W. Roman, From Daytime to Primetime:
The History of American Television Programs (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2005), 82.
55. For Oral Roberts’ vision, which led to a “resounding outburst of public
ridicule and criticism,” see Harrell, Oral Roberts, 415–417. For the stage
name of “MC 900 Ft. Jesus,” see Jeff Ashley, “Profiles,” Earpollution,
accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.earpollution.com/vol3/oct01/
profiles/mc900ftjesus/mc900ftjesus.html. Both MC 900 Ft. Jesus and
Reverend Bob are mentioned in a promotional poster for “Love That
Bob!”; see robotilt, Flickr image, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.
flickr.com/photos/81188628@N00/6439953955/. For an example of
72  D. J. BEKKERING

“Reverend Bob’s” stage show, see “RevBob Heals the Wedding Cake,”
YouTube video, 2:25, posted by fwscott, May 26, 2006, https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=t_ylog6PxvY.
56. Farley Scott, Skype interview by author, April 26, 2012.
57. See Laura R. Linder, Public Access Television: America’s Electronic Soapbox
(Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999).
58. “Squeenching with Mammals,” YouTube video, 2:17, posted by fwscott,
May 29, 2006, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtb2MI1pJk8.
59. For an image of the poster, see robotilt, Flickr image, accessed April 1,
2018, http://www.flickr.com/photos/81188628@N00/6439953955.
60. For an image of Hickerson’s poster, see robotilt, Flickr image,
accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.flickr.com/photos/81188628@
N00/6439952673/. For examples of Hickerson’s work, see Buddy
Hickerson, The Quigmans (New York: Harmony Books, 1990).
61. Michael Precker, “Poking Silly Fun at Tilton,” The Dallas Morning News,
January 14, 1992.
62. A video version of Schwa’s remix opens Brother Bob and the Gospel of
Greed, VHS. The remix turns Tilton’s rebuttal into a confession of his
greed. For example, “Come on people, give me a little break,” is changed
into “Come on people, give me ten thousand dollars”.
63. Farley Scott, Skype interview by author, April 26, 2012.
64. Precker mentioned the merchandise table and the price of the fart
tape in “Poking Silly Fun at Tilton.” An image of Brother Randall
behind the merchandise table can be found at robotilt, Flickr image,
accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.flickr.com/photos/81188628@
N00/6439933691/.
65. Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012.
66. Farley Scott, Skype interview by author, April 26, 2012.
67. For the relationship between revivals and Devivals, see Cusack, Invented
Religions, 93.
68. “1992 Rant ‘N Rave SubGenius Devival in Praise of ‘Bob’ Dobbs,”
YouTube video, 2:01:32, posted by General Public, April 10, 2012,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXAdY-epBTA.
69. Reverend Ivan Stang, Skype interview by author, May 1, 2012. The screen-
ing of the Tilton fart tape at an Atlanta Devival was mentioned in the video
description of “SubGenius Devival with the Swingin’ Love Corpses 1992
PhenomiCon,” YouTube video, 2:01:44, posted by Philo Drummond,
August 7, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G354OZtnGEo
(video since removed). For the Dallas Devival featuring the “Don’t Eat
Your Seed” video, see “Club No New Year SubGenius Devival—Dallas,
1991–92,” YouTube video, 1:42:53, posted by General Public, April 10,
2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTXznMCPnhg. The video
 3  A FAN CLUB, A FART TAPE, AND A TABLOID SCANDAL  73

was created by John A. Davis for “Drill Thrall music”; see “Producer Profile:
John A. Davis,” Big Movie Zone, accessed April, 1, 2018, http://www.big-
moviezone.com/filmsearch/producers/producer_display.html?uniq=275. A
copy of the video can be found on Robert Tilton and the Gospel of Greed:
Special Video Festival Edition! (Dallas: The Door Magazine, n.d.), DVD.
70. Precker, “Poking Silly Fun at Tilton.”
71. Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012.
72. Carole Cusack, Invented Religions, 3, 106.
73. See Nancy T. Ammerman, “Golden Rule Christianity: Lived Religion in
the American Mainstream,” in Lived Religion in America, ed. David Hall
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 196–216.
74. SufferinSprings, Skype interview by author, December 17, 2011.
75. Brother Randall, ed., The Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 4 (Dallas,
1992), n.p.
 CHAPTER 4

From the Margins to the Mainstream:

Recreational Christianity and a Viral
Rebranding

After Primetime Live’s damning investigative report in December 1991,

Robert Tilton’s ministry would be pummeled with legal troubles, accu-
sations, and negative press. For the “Robert Tilton Fan Club” (RTFC),
the preacher’s “unofficial” ironic fan following, the attention to the
embattled televangelist initially opened up new opportunities for growth,
expanded influence, and the religious work/play that its founder,
Brother Randall, would come to describe as “Recreational Christianity.”
As a “parasitical” cultural phenomenon dependent on the continued
existence of Tilton’s ministry, however, the RTFC could not survive the
preacher’s temporary absence from the airwaves beginning in 1993.1
While the RTFC received some mainstream attention during its lifespan,
it would be the Trinity Foundation, Tilton’s nemesis, that would bring
ironic televangelical humor, and a sharply satirical form of Recreational
Christianity, to American cable television. This would include the airing
(and sometimes re-airing) of numerous video proof texts intended to
mock and discredit Tilton, who returned to broadcasting in 1997. Yet
it was another piece of originally analog participatory video—Brother
O’Nottigan’s fart remix—that would do the most damage to the preach-
er’s revamped ministry, once it was digitized and uploaded online.
“Love That Bob!,” the nightclub “tribute” to Robert Tilton held at
the beginning of 1992, helped turn the RTFC into a truly collaborative
enterprise. The RTFC newsletter would increasingly feature submissions
from other ironic fans, including the former fundamentalist Brother

© The Author(s) 2018 75

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_4
76  D. J. BEKKERING

Russell, who used the public platform to try and connect with others
who also recorded Tilton:

I’ve been compiling a highlights tape of Success-N-Life for the past year
or so, saving some of Bob’s more ‘anointed’ moments for posterity.
Has anyone else been crazy enough to do this? If so I’d like to contact
them and maybe get some stuff I’ve missed (like the legendary ‘toppling
the walls of Jericho’ program where Bob marched around the prayer altar
seven times and then shouted the shout of victory).2

Brother Randall echoed his fellow fan’s appeal—“All you Tilton tapers
get in touch”—and added his own requests for a copy of Tilton’s book
How to Kick the Devil Out of Your Life (1988), as well as a “widow’s
mite”: a replica coin sent out by the preacher’s ministry, based on the
gospel tale of a sacrificially generous widow.3 A material symbol of
the faith sustaining the seed-faith system to true believers, for Brother
Randall this was an amusing “kitsch” object representing Tilton’s ludi-
crous theology and the laughable credulity of his supporters.4 “Have
lots to trade,” Brother Randall wrote, hoping to entice book and mite
holders.
In March 1992, while the Texas Attorney General’s office inves-
tigated his ministry’s fundraising practices, Tilton was hit with a forty-
million-dollar civil suit by an Oklahoma woman who claimed the “mali-
cious infliction of emotional distress,” after she allegedly received “mail
solicitation letters” addressed to “her husband months after he died.”5
Brothers Bucks and Randall would piggyback on Tilton’s compounding
scandals, moving to expand the reach of their ironic fan network. The
pair produced and distributed a press release that promoted the RTFC
as a “third” approach to the beleaguered televangelist—a collection
of “false followers” interested in his ironic “entertainment value,” and
lying somewhere between “faithful viewers” and “angry naysayers.”6
Their press release caught the attention of reporter Karen Thomas from
the prestigious Chicago Tribune, who interviewed the pair for an over-
view of Tilton’s scandals published at the end of the month.7 Brother
Randall explained to Thomas that they approached Tilton “from a non-
religious point of view, as an entertainer,” and made sure to plug the
RTFC newsletter.
In addition to press attention from the other side of the country,
the Robert Tilton Fan Club was also introduced to viewers across the
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  77

pond through a segment on the British television program Made in

the USA. Produced by Americans Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato,
who, as will be discussed in the following two chapters, had a com-
plicated fan relationship with another controversial television preacher,
Made in the USA highlighted amusingly bizarre and obscure facets of
“American pop culture,” and was an early example of the mainstream-
ing of tongue-in-cheek approaches to televangelists.8 Standing before
one of Tilton’s roadside billboards in Dallas, reporter Bill Judkins
summarized the preacher’s rise to fame, followed by a quick dig: “Of
course, it goes without saying he’s under investigation for fraud.”9
“Whether you think Robert Tilton is an angel or the devil,” Judkins
continues as he walks up to a suburban bungalow, “there’s no deny-
ing he makes some pretty terrific television…Come with me as we meet
the unauthorized Robert Tilton Fan Club.” Inside the house, Brothers
Randall and Bucks stand in front of a floor-to-ceiling painting of Tilton
with canine facial features. “The thing about Robert Tilton to me that’s
so good is that he’s so over the top, so unabashed, so blatantly insin-
cere and downright evil that it’s refreshing,” explains Brother Randall,
using words lifted nearly verbatim from his first newsletter. The seg-
ment’s centerpiece is footage of an apparent RTFC meeting, featuring a
boisterous “speaking-in-tongues workshop.” “The bigger trouble Bob
gets in, the more demand there is for Bob products,” explains Brother
Randall, standing at a table laden with items, including some leftovers
from “Love That Bob!” “This is the Robert Tilton paddle-ball set,” he
points out, grabbing a paddle with a classic image of a squinting Tilton,
“It’s something that’s just going into production, this is kind of the
prototype.”
Although entertaining television and unprecedented advertising for
the RTFC, Brother Randall admitted during our interview that much of
what appeared on Made in the USA, including the paddle-ball set, was
“complete b.s.”—a playful fiction that artificially enhanced the excite-
ment involved in their fan club gatherings.10 “The reality,” he stated,
“would be a bunch of people sitting around on couches watching TV.”
“But we’d have fun,” he continued, “and Big Bucks would come over
and bring one of his bad white gospel (cassettes)…and we’d have lit-
tle singalongs…after a few drinks, and get into the music and the spirit
of things.” Brother Russell, who would find his way into the RTFC’s
Dallas-based core, recalled that Tilton tapes and “other weird stuff”
were also copied and traded during these low-key “house gatherings”:
78  D. J. BEKKERING

“everybody brings their videotapes and a blank. You get what your friend
has taped, and your friend gets what you have taped.”11
Members of this core contingent of the RTFC also embarked on
adventures often covered in the fan club’s newsletter, notably crashing
services at Word of Faith and other ministry-related events. As high-
lighted in Primetime Live’s initial investigative report, Tilton’s ministry
retained security staff on the lookout for unusual behavior.12 This made
ironic fan infiltrations challenging, yet rewarding if pulled off success-
fully, which was not always the case. Brother Randall recalled one inci-
dent when he and a small group of fans had their covers blown during
the taping of “a new intro to Success-N-Life.”13 Attempting to join
a “crowd scene of people throwing away their crutches and stuff,” he
remembered that initially “everything was cool,” as they “managed to
say the right things” to ministry staffers. However, when a late-arriving
acquaintance, who was “obviously there to cause trouble,” was ejected
by security, he “called out” to the more convincing crashers, leading
to their removal as well. In retrospect, Brother Randall conceded that
they “had every right to kick us out,” even though most of the crashers
had no desire to disrupt the proceedings. Rather, their hope was to be
included in the introduction, thereby embedding an inside joke within
Success-N-Life itself.
Besides “saying the right things,” pulling off successful “performative
parodies” also depended on a convincing outward appearance, particu-
larly when it came to crashing Tilton’s church services.14 “At Word of
Faith we’d wear a coat and tie just like regular church,” Brother Randall
explained during our interview. In an undated photograph of himself and
Sister Donna standing outside of the church building, he wears a nonde-
script grey suit, while his wife wears a conservative white top augmented
with a large pin reading “Jesus”—its gaudy, on-the-nose style a subtle
indicator of her ironic stance.15 Once inside, Brother Randall and his fel-
low fans watched “Bob” perform, enjoyed the church’s first-class band,
and sang and danced with the preacher’s faithful followers. “Genuine”
enjoyment, therefore, was part of Brother Randall’s experience, at least,
and he emphasized that they “weren’t really ridiculing, or mocking any-
body.” Still, there was a critical edge to parodying congregants whom
Brother Randall described as “crazy people,” supporting a purportedly
obvious religious huckster.
In an article for the RTFC newsletter’s successor zine, Brother Russell
emphasized to would-be church crashers the importance of not drawing
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  79

attention to oneself.16 He warned, for example, against “the overuse and

ill-timing of well-known Pentecostal interjections,” suggesting, “(w)
hen in doubt, whisper, don’t shout.” Although his own religious past
was as a fundamentalist Baptist, Brother Russell had mastered what he
described as a general “Christianese,” allowing him to easily blend in
with spirit-filled worshippers. Crashing Tilton’s services with his new
friends strengthened their interpersonal bonds, which in turn helped
alleviate the feelings of isolation that arose after Brother Russell stopped
attending church services sincerely. During our interview, he described
seeing himself with “other people that watch(ed) (Tilton) for entertain-
ment” in crowd shots recorded on videotape—trophies of their suc-
cessful infiltrations of Word of Faith—as both “fucking awesome” and
“gratifying.”17
Under increasing fire, Tilton and his ministry did not initially
retreat, but instead expanded their efforts. In April 1992, the minis-
try announced “The Power Channel,” which would broadcast region-
ally twenty-four hours a day, yet feature “minimal” appearances by the
televangelist.18 Judging by the sixth RTFC newsletter, published two
months later, Tilton’s ironic fans were less than enthused with the new
project. Contributors “Brother Jason” and “Brother Derek” complained
that the preacher was “rarely in front of the camara (sic).”19 Instead, they
reported, “every couple of hours one of two odd little men appear in
Bob’s familiar library set trying to emulate him and failing miserably.”
“Brother Kenneth” added that the channel had a “very weak signal,”
and was “incredibly difficult to pick up even in Dallas.”20 Despite their
disappointments, these contributors evidenced the growing influence of
the RTFC, which was inversely proportional to the trajectory of Tilton’s
own career. This included an enhanced standing within the American
zine scene. In his sixth newsletter, Brother Randall welcomed possible
new readers arriving “via plugs we’ve gotten in such august publications
as Ghoul Pardi, Obscure, The Brutarian, and Psychotronic.”21 The lat-
ter notice was especially rewarding, as Psychotronic was the best-known
zine centered on “paracinematic culture,” followed only by the efforts of
Zontar’s editors, who also promoted the Robert Tilton Fan Club in one
of their publications.22
By the summer of 1992, Robert Tilton’s “Power Channel” had
already shut down, and services from Word of Faith stopped airing in
Dallas.23 This followed yet another damaging Primetime Live broad-
cast, which contained deposition footage of the televangelist admitting
80  D. J. BEKKERING

that he sometimes prayed over a cumulative “computer printout”

rather than each “original prayer request,” which were often “thrown
away.”24 A former family nanny also testified that the Tiltons’ garage
had been packed to the brim with boxes of unread requests, which the
preacher allegedly ordered her to dispose of. “These are trying times
for Bob-watchers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex,” wrote Brother
Randall in the next, double-edition (#7/8) of his newsletter, which
now more resembled a zine due to its glossy, stapled-page format.25
With fresh Tilton resources in dwindling supply, the newsletter was
filled with broader, playful pieces, including Brother Randall’s analy-
sis of whether the preacher was involved in the occult; a reprint of an
article from Zontar’s Ejecto-Pod (1990), in which Jayne Jain praised
Tilton as a “PROPHET OF COMMODITY FETISHIM” and “truly
ZONTARIAN”; and a Success-N-Life drinking game drawn up by one
“Brother Hal,” featuring the category “WHERE’S THE FART?”:
“Whenever Bob squinches, two drinks are taken.”26 Brother Randall also
advertised for sale a two-dollar bumper sticker reading “Robert Tilton
Turns Me On!,” and a set of “12 Robert Tilton Trading Cards” with
humorous images and captions.
While he had stepped up the aesthetic quality of the RTFC newslet-
ter, Brother Randall also read the writing on the wall about its subject’s
future, and informed readers about his plans to expand the publication’s
purview: “I hope that this newsletter will continue to be a forum where
one and all will come to gab and gossip not only about Bob, but about
the entire televangelist scene.”27 This vision was realized with his sub-
sequent unveiling of the aptly-titled Snake Oil zine, the RTFC newslet-
ter’s replacement, in 1993. On the first page of the inaugural edition, he
described the project as “America’s premier forum for secular devotees
of today’s televangelist scene”—a publication for the “growing congre-
gation of ‘false followers’ who are hip to the comedy, pathos, intrigue,
and outlandish hairdos that await them inside the doors of the electronic
church.”28 The zine would also, however, cover other amusing, fascinat-
ing, and sometimes disturbing examples of what Brother Randall called
“Kooky Kontemporary Kristian Kulture,” including the ministry of
recently deceased Branch Davidian leader David Koresh, snake-handling
churches, and controversial exorcist Bob Larson.29
Brother Randall reassured those transitioning from the RTFC news-
letter that despite its expanded focus and name change, Snake Oil
would continue covering “our towering giant of a friend Bob Tilton,”
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  81

whose ministry, he boldly predicted, would “endure.”30 Accordingly,

the first issue of Snake Oil featured much Tilton-related material, nota-
bly Brother Randall’s “Amy Tilton Wedding Scrapbook.”31 On May 15,
1993, Robert Tilton’s only daughter was married, with the ceremony
and a public reception held at Word of Faith.32 Brothers Randall, Russell
and a few other ironic fans dutifully attended, and were amply rewarded
with the chance to meet the father of the bride. “It was the first time
we had ever really had access to him,” Brother Randall recalled, “that
was the first time we had ever been face-to-face with Bob.”33 Brother
Randall’s brief moment with Tilton was immortalized in a photograph
printed in Snake Oil.34 Captioned “Bob talks to his No. 1 fan,” it
shows a suited Brother Randall and tuxedoed Tilton standing side-by-
side, both smiling widely. While this photograph documented Brother
Randall’s skills at parodying a faithful follower, and crystallized his
“pleasurable misuse” of Tilton, it also captured his genuine excitement
at meeting the longtime object of his attention.35 Although the members
of the RTFC “laughed at” Tilton, Brother Randall explained, they were
also “fascinated with” the televangelist, who “was sort of like a rock star
to us.”36 In Snake Oil, he confessed that he could hardly contain himself:
“I wanted to blurt out, ‘I’m the president of your fan club!’ but thought
better of it.”37
Brother Randall’s excitement was shared with other core members
of the RTFC. “We were just over the moon,” Brother Russell recalled,
“I didn’t get my picture taken with Bob, but just that I knew some-
body that got their picture taken with Bob…we were ecstatic.”38 A
few months after this dizzying high, however, came disastrous news. In
September 1993, after nearly two years of beatings in the news, law-
suits, declining viewership, and plummeting donations, it was announced
that Robert Tilton would be leaving the airwaves.39 “It is a matter of
the media,” Word of Faith’s bulldog attorney J. C. Joyce complained to
The Dallas Morning News, “When people get up and say Robert Tilton
is guilty of fraud, and the media not saying ‘What fraud?’ – you have
never asked the question because there is no fraud.”40 Joyce’s bitterness
was not baseless, as no legal claims against the ministry would stick.41
The end of Success-N-Life would, however, provide a clean conclusion
to the Tilton scandals as mediated religious drama, and Tilton’s capit-
ulation validated those who had denounced the preacher as a hypocrite
and charlatan. The Trinity Foundation’s Ole Anthony, for example, pub-
licly rejected Joyce’s charges, and reaffirmed his belief that Tilton was
82  D. J. BEKKERING

an exploitative conman: “The media didn’t cause his demise. His fraud
caused his demise.”42
In the second issue of Snake Oil, Brother Randall, perhaps only partly
facetiously, wrote that he was “angry” and “confused” at the cancelation
of Success-N-Life.43 “Is the world really a safer place now that Robert
Tilton is off the air?” he asked rhetorically, “Or will inferior, substand-
ard seed faith evangelists…simply move in and claim (Success-N-Life’s)
market share?” “Bob,” he lamented, “we’re gonna miss ya.” While
acknowledging that it might seem “trivial” in light of the devastating
news, Brother Randall included a brief overview of the crashing of local
television coverage of a pro-Tilton protest by members of the RTFC,
himself included, in August 1993—an action discussed in the opening
pages of this book.44 During this outing, Brother Randall and a small
group of fans had parodied a news crew, mockingly interviewing some
of the preacher’s disgruntled followers, and their colleague Sister Wendy
was aggressively swarmed by tongue-talking supporters while holding
a sign emblazoned with the RTFC’s “Robert Tilton Turns Me On!”
bumper sticker. In this instance, RTFC members had directly inserted
their comedy into mainstream media coverage related to the televan-
gelist. Fortunately, WFAA-TV was receptive to their tongue-in-cheek
approach. More than half of the segment’s running time was devoted to
the RTFC’s antics, which reporter Bill Brown deemed “more interest-
ing” than the protest itself. This included the airing of footage sourced
from the crashers’ own video camera, pointing to cooperation between
the pranksters and WFAA-TV after the event. The fans’ excursion reaped
fruit in the form of reactions from Robert Tilton himself, which Brother
Randall passed along to readers of Snake Oil. Asked by a reporter about
his unlikely fans, Tilton was on one hand dismissive—“They don’t
bother me. They seem harmless”—yet also added ominously, “They are
very unaware of the depth of their sacrilege.”45
Although attention-grabbing, this disruptive culture jam was unchar-
acteristic of the RTFC’s style. “I’ve always maintained a policy of not
harassing Pastor Tilton, his family, or his church members,” Brother
Randall wrote in Snake Oil; however, he admitted during our interview
that he did “mess with” the televangelist’s supporters at least this one
time.46 Overall, Brother Randall consistently downplayed or denied the
critical edge of the RTFC’s approach, which he distilled down to a two-
word label in Snake Oil: “Recreational Christianity.”47 A riff on the idea
of recreational drug use, Recreational Christianity, according to Brother
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  83

Randall, was tongue-in-cheek play with televangelism and other exam-

ples of “Kooky Khristianity” with the “wrong intention,” and “just for
fun.”48 His qualifier “just,” however, obscures the implicit and explicit
religious critiques and claims involved in these activities—“sacrilege,” as
Robert Tilton proclaimed; “satire,” in reporter Bill Brown’s opinion—
which also made them a form of religious work.49
Members of the Robert Tilton Fan Club, to varying degrees, partic-
ipated in the public negotiations of authentic Christianity sparked by
media scandals involving their favorite televangelist, which themselves
could involve cutting and tongue-in-cheek comedy. As evidenced by the
example of ex-fundamentalist turned ironic fan Brother Russell, their
activities could also prove religiously significant at a personal level, in
this case helping an individual navigate the lonely experience of decon-
version. As a descriptor for a particular type of religious work/play,
“Recreational Christianity” could hold considerable analytical utility
if redefined as “the ironic play with Christianities considered strange,
extreme, threatening, and/or false.” Here, Recreational Christianity’s
critical edge is tied to its targets, and the relative sharpness of this edge
has often reflected the motivations of those involved. The Recreational
Christianity of the Robert Tilton Fan Club, at least as intended by
Brother Randall, required the televangelist’s ministry to operate as is,
and was generally only lightly aggressive, at most. As will be demon-
strated to follow, however, Recreational Christianity targeting televange-
lists could also prove sharply satirical, when the intent was to challenge
theologies and dissuade potential supporters.
After Robert Tilton’s disappearance from television, Brother Randall
tried to sustain the RTFC by keeping Snake Oil’s readers abreast of local
and regional news related to the televangelist. Such information, he
pointed out, was “valuable” in the pre-Internet era, and he would cap-
italize on his access by selling “The Beast of Robert Tilton Clippings
Scrapbook,” filled with “fifty pages of news stories and articles.”50 He
passed along news of Tilton’s divorce from his wife Marte in 1993, as
well as a swiftly retracted report that the preacher had raped a woman in
1982.51 “What other scandals are the TV stations and newspapers sitting
on?” he asked hopefully, suggesting that “a good scandal is the only way
we can keep up with (Tilton).”52 At the same time that he was scram-
bling for information about the televangelist, Brother Randall’s efforts
were receiving more notice in mainstream and alternative media circles.
In the December 1993 edition of Texas Monthly magazine, reporter Dan
84  D. J. BEKKERING

Michalski plugged his publication, printed his mailing address, and men-
tioned the languishing Robert Tilton Fan Club.53 “If tongue-speak ‘Ko
da bas a to’ moves you to laughter instead of tears,” Michalski wrote,
“you can subscribe to Snake Oil.” Likely more rewarding for Brother
Randall, however, were glowing mentions in Factsheet Five, an influen-
tial zine catalog/review publication.54 “(T)his is key bulldata (sic) that
you must obtain,” one of the two reviews read, using the Church of the
SubGenius’ label for importantly useless cultural artifacts.55
Those whose interests were piqued by such plugs may have been able
to acquire what would prove the last two print issues of Snake Oil, pub-
lished in 1994 and 1995. The third issue opened promisingly with fresh
scandal: a married couple had successfully sued Tilton’s ministry for one-
and-a-half million dollars (later reversed), after sending in donations for
a never-realized “crisis center.”56 Brother Randall spent a day in court
during this trial, and confessed in Snake Oil that it had shifted his views
on Tilton. While the RTFC’s fun was grounded in a conception of the
televangelist as an evil exploiter of the desperate, Brother Randall con-
ceded that “regardless of Robert Tilton’s underlying motivations…his
program did, in fact, help those people for whom traditional counseling
had failed.” By the end of the third issue, however, he had returned to
the bizarre, reporting that Tilton had taken up “strong prayer,” and
was screaming evil spirits out of people. In Snake Oil’s final print issue,
Brother Randall explained that Tilton’s second wife, evangelist and for-
mer beauty contestant Leigh Valentine, had introduced him to the origi-
nators of this controversial practice, which resulted in “a major rift in his
home church here in Dallas.”57 Those lucky enough to live in a limited
number of television markets could catch the preacher yelling at demons
while clutching prayer requests in his short-lived new show Pastor
Tilton.58 While such histrionics were undoubtedly amusing, and Tilton’s
return to television exciting, Brother Randall complained that the pro-
gram was “toned down,” and “paled in comparison to the Success-N-Life
of yore.” Still, he admitted that “Bob Tilton Lite was better than no Bob
Tilton at all”—a situation that would resume when Pastor Tilton soon
went off the air.59
By this time Brother Randall, who was increasingly busy with
work and a young family, had decided to stop publishing Snake Oil.60
Although there was plenty of “Kooky Khristianity” to play with, finding
another televangelist as hilarious and intriguing as Tilton proved no easy
task. In the first issue of Snake Oil, Brother Randall recounted his visit to
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  85

a Dallas stop on controversial televangelist and faith healer Benny Hinn’s

crusade.61 As revealed by an included photograph, he arrived with a
prominent neck brace, hoping to be pulled up on stage and “healed” of
his fake injury. Hinn’s staff, however, kept him well away from his target,
so he settled for general seating, where he took in “the slickest begging
for money I’ve ever witnessed.” Instead of amusing, Brother Randall
found that the constant appeals for money, spurious healings, and sedate
sentimentality of the service left “a bad taste in my mouth.” Hinn, he
argued, was no match for Robert Tilton, who, apart from his ironic
humor value, was an entertaining and motivating force of nature: “Bob
pumps you up, kicks you in the butt. Benny, on the other hand, lulls you
into a submissive, emotional stupor. He’s a wimp. He’s Liberace to Bob
Tilton’s Elvis.”
Moreover, Brother Randall added, Benny Hinn was a major disap-
pointment on the scandal front. On March 2, 1993, tabloid journalism
program Inside Edition, with help from the Trinity Foundation, investi-
gated Hinn’s healing ministry and financial practices. As with Primetime
Live’s Trinity-aided report on Tilton, the special featured video clips
which, as will be shown to follow, were intended to provoke disbeliev-
ing laughter in viewers—particularly clips of Hinn blowing the Holy
Spirit upon the suffering, who often reacted wildly. Again, the core of
the report was an undercover operation, this time involving an actress,
apparently more convincing than Brother Randall, who pretended to be
cured from polio through Hinn’s onstage intervention. Confronted by
Inside Edition’s Steve Wilson, Hinn struck a conciliatory tone, express-
ing regret for his “mistakes,” and penitently promising “I really want to
do better.” For Brother Randall, this was a major letdown when com-
pared with Robert Tilton’s ridiculously entertaining rebuttals. “Benny
revealed himself to be a spineless slimeball by totally kissing the butts of
his attackers,” he complained in Snake Oil, comparing Hinn’s “cop-out”
unfavorably to the combative approach of Robert Tilton, “who did the
honorable thing and fought back.”
Historian of the American prosperity gospel Kate Bowler describes
the 1980s as the “Golden Age” of televangelism, and Razelle Frankl pin-
points 1987, the year of the first national scandals, as its terminus.62 For
ironic fans of televangelism, however, the genre’s Golden Age was just
beginning, and for core members of the Robert Tilton Fan Club, this era
would end with the disappearance of their “hero.”63 Never again would
television preachers and their scandals achieve such cultural prominence,
86  D. J. BEKKERING

or offer such tongue-in-cheek amusement. Bowler has argued that the

sensational scandals involving televangelists like Tilton encouraged a
broader movement away from “hard prosperity” principles, such as strict
seed-faith theology, toward a “soft prosperity” stance, evidenced in the
nebulous promises of plenty offered by contemporary television preach-
ers like Joel Osteen.64 While this reworked, watered-down approach has
proved more palatable to the public, and astonishingly lucrative, its pur-
veyors, in the opinion of Brother Bucks, have been dreadfully boring:
“It’s not as much fun anymore because the personalities aren’t as color-
ful.”65 According to Brother Randall, even the once-dependable Tilton,
who, as will be discussed to follow, would stage a successful return to
television, became too “sedate” for his tastes: “If I was going to watch
Bob I’d pull out one of my old videotapes and watch some clips from
back then.”66
Despite the Robert Tilton Fan Club’s relatively short life span, it
anticipated and even directly influenced two subsequent cultural devel-
opments. First, it reflected and perpetuated an ironic televangelical taste
culture that would soon migrate to mainstream American television.
This was facilitated, in large part, by the Trinity Foundation, which
would even appropriate, disseminate, and capitalize upon one of Brother
Randall’s most prized finds. Second, the RTFC, as discussed in the pre-
vious chapter, was an active early hub for the copying and distribution
of the Tilton fart tape. After this remix was transformed into an online
streaming video, its largely unchecked proliferation would result in a fun-
damental reshaping of the preacher’s public image, which his ministry
could do little about.
The late 1980s and early 1990s witnessed extensive corporate
efforts to capitalize on American alternative culture, in a bid to engage
the desirable “18- to 29-year-old” demographic. Big-money compa-
nies, in a highly ironic move, marketed the movement’s anti-capitalist
“authenticity”: Time Warner sold faux zines, rag-tag “grunge” clothing
was churned out by fashion houses, and punk-influenced albums like
Nirvana’s Nevermind (1991) filled the “alternative” sections of record
stores.67 This period also saw cable television channels profit on the
paracinematic pleasures of badfilms, which, as discussed, had been cham-
pioned by the founders of Zontar and the Church of the SubGenius.68
As Megan Mullen notes, shows like Mystery Science Theater 3000, which
moved from a local Minneapolis station to The Comedy Channel in
1989, and USA Up All Night, which premiered on the USA Network
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  87

that same year, brought “subversive viewing practice(s)” to “commer-

cial television.” Central to many of these programs, Mullen points out,
were “parodic movie hosts,” who guided viewers in the ironic apprecia-
tion of badfilms. One such host she mentions is Joe Bob Briggs, a Texan
redneck character played by the columnist John Bloom, and star of The
Movie Channel’s Drive-In Theater (later Joe Bob’s Drive-In Theater),
which aired for a decade beginning in 1986.69
In the guise of Briggs, Bloom had gained renown for tongue-in-
cheek reviews of schlocky horror films published in newspapers and his
own newsletter—work praised by the COSG’s Rev. Stang, who pointed
out in High Weirdness by Mail that Briggs’ “middle name ain’t ‘Bob’
for nothing” (a reference to the Church’s “High Epopt” J. R. “Bob”
Dobbs).70 Bloom’s personal religious affiliation, however, was more
serious and sincere, as he was a committed member of the Trinity
Foundation in Dallas. An old friend of Ole Anthony, Bloom joined the
ministry in 1984, became a teacher and leader, and was deeply involved
in Trinity’s collaboration with Primetime Live to take down yet another
“Bob”: Robert Tilton.71 He would go on to use his established parodic
persona and paracinematic cachet to help the Trinity Foundation launch
a new comedic offensive against controversial televangelists, which
would help usher the ironic viewing of televangelism into mainstream
American culture.
As outlined in the previous chapter, the Trinity Foundation encour-
aged disbelieving laughter at Robert Tilton by providing tabloid tele-
vision programs with video proof texts intended to make the preacher
look ridiculous. In 1995, the ministry entered into the business of
explicit satirical irony by acquiring The Wittenburg Door (intentionally
misspelled, and soon retitled The Door). A rare magazine of religious
humor founded by California youth pastor Mike Yaconelli in 1971, The
Wittenburg Door had a long history of satirically skewering controver-
sial television preachers.72 This included Robert Tilton, an illustration
of whom appeared on the front cover of the September/October 1989
issue. With dollar signs covering his tie and cufflinks, Tilton was drawn
up to resemble “the Joker,” the clown villain from that summer’s block-
buster film Batman, highlighting the magazine’s eager engagement with
“secular” culture.73
The issue’s feature article was by The Door’s “Televangelist Beat” cor-
respondent Brad Bailey. “I like to watch TV preachers the same way I
like, say, Plan Nine From Outer Space,” Bailey confessed, referencing
88  D. J. BEKKERING

director Ed Wood Jr.’s legendary science-fiction badfilm from 1959.74

For Bailey, Robert Tilton was a riot due to his ridiculous seed-faith the-
ology, laughable greed, and absurd physicality. “And Bob’s eyes slam
shut, squeenchy-like,” Bailey wrote of the preacher’s trademark physi-
cal idiosyncrasy, cheekily suggesting that he was “getting some feed-
back” because “God forgot to turn down his set.” He mentioned that
he had subscribed to Tilton’s mailing list in order to receive ministry
material guaranteed to make him “laugh at loud,” and that he had even
visited Word of Faith undercover, only to be ejected by church secu-
rity for acting suspiciously. One of his main takeaways from this outing
was that the televangelist put on “one heck of a show.”75 Bailey may
have felt right at home as a member of the Robert Tilton Fan Club,
still a couple of years away from existence. However, his highlighting
of Tilton’s unintentional comedy was also part of The Door’s mission of
attacking, and hopefully stopping, such proponents of purportedly false
Christianities—an agenda in line with that of the Trinity Foundation. As
Ole Anthony explained, “the main reason we accepted Mike Yaconelli’s
offer to take over the magazine is because we both recognize that sat-
ire is the most effective way to smash idols – and that’s just about our
only job.”76 Under the Trinity Foundation’s direction, The Door would
aim both barrels at health-and-wealth televangelists—those perpetuators
of the age-old “religious con game” also protested by Martin Luther—
and particularly their old foe Robert Tilton, who was soon to return to
television.77
In 1996, Robert Tilton was back in the headlines due to an acrimo-
nious divorce from his second wife. Leigh Valentine publicly accused
Tilton of habitual drunkenness, physical abuse, an all-consuming greed,
and called him a “perpetual liar.”78 She also, unsuccessfully, sued for a
share of Word of Faith’s assets, encouraging Tilton’s first wife, Marte,
to make her own unfruitful claim.79 Vilified and hounded in Dallas,
Tilton clandestinely headed east where, as the Dallas Observer’s Sean
Rowe revealed in November 1997, he set to work staging his “resurrec-
tion” from a “South Florida television studio.” With Word of Faith in
the hands of a “caretaker pastor,” Tilton started producing a new ver-
sion of Success-N-Life that would air in a small selection of markets. As
Rowe reported, Tilton’s core message was little different than that of the
program’s original iteration, if delivered in a slightly “less frisky” fashion.
Nevertheless, he implicitly assured readers that there was still plenty of
humor to be had at Tilton’s expense. For example, he lightly mocked
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  89

the new show’s set—“a Sunday-school vision of ancient Palestine, com-

plete with Styrofoam ‘stone’ walls and a gurgling fountain”—as well as
Tilton’s revamped “Miami Vice” wardrobe, featuring “pastel pants” and
“tropical sport coats.”80
While no doubt infuriating to members of the ministry, Robert
Tilton’s return also provided the Trinity Foundation fresh opportunities
to collaborate with mainstream news outlets, and thereby promote their
move into satire. In 1997, Dallas Fox News aired a two-part report on
Tilton that also served as a glowing profile of the Trinity Foundation.81
Hosted by reporter Richard Ray, the first part opened with a rapid-fire
series of older Tilton video clips, almost certainly provided by the Trinity
Foundation. These video proof texts quickly reacquainted viewers with
the televangelist’s alleged insincerity and ridiculousness, and included
Tilton pacing his church’s stage while ranting (“I’m not a dirty dog; I’m
not a thief; I’m not a fraud; I’m not a flake…”), and making laughably
bizarre pronouncements from the set of Success-N-Life: “I look at you
and I see money!” “The old Brother Bob was often over the top,” stated
Ray, using an irreverent nickname for the preacher. While the “new ver-
sion” of Tilton’s televised persona was not quite so zany, Ray suggested
that it sometimes “approaches the peak.” To illustrate, Fox News aired
a clip from the revamped Success-N-Life in which Tilton, eyes tightly
squinted, informs his audience that the “devil’s hearing a horrible noise
when you call, and he’s fleeing.”
The Fox News special then fades to footage of Ole Anthony and the
Trinity Foundation’s media manager, Harry Guetzlaff, watching Tilton’s
new show in the ministry’s small media room, packed with monitors,
VHS tapes, and recording equipment. “He’s eighty percent back,”
Guetzlaff proposes in a voiceover tinged with laughter, “on a given day,
he’ll start beating the devil and chasing the demon.” In between short
clips exemplifying Tilton’s continued absurdity, Guetzlaff sums up the
new Success-N-Life. “It’s the same stuff,” he argues, laughing and look-
ing toward Anthony, who himself smirks at footage of the televangelist,
“He’s doing it again.” In the second part of the report, Ray interviews
Guetzlaff about The Door, for which the latter worked as an editor, and
which the Trinity Foundation had already used to take shots at Tilton.82
Having described The Door as an “outrageously irreverent humor mag-
azine,” Ray peruses an issue as Guetzlaff looks over his shoulder. “That
will probably be our first T-shirt,” Guetzlaff points out after Ray flips to
a page featuring images from the Tilton-as-the Joker back issue. “He’s
90  D. J. BEKKERING

a good seller for you guys,” Ray suggests. “Oh yeah,” Guetzlaff agrees,
“people love Bob…Because he’s, y’know, he’s just over the top. He’s
funny; he’s good. There’s nobody like Bob.”
Here, Guetzlaff, like The Door’s Brad Bailey, sounded as though he
could have belonged to the Robert Tilton Fan Club. However, Guetzlaff
also longed for the end of Robert Tilton’s ministry, a desire motivated
by his own history as a former supporter of the preacher, who experi-
enced a disastrous personal freefall rather than the promised prosperity.83
Guetzlaff’s subsequent “oppositional exit” from health-and-wealth the-
ology would land him in the arms of the Trinity Foundation.84 Akin to
the experience of the RTFC’s Brother Russell, Guetzlaff’s deconversion
involved a profound transformation in his take on Tilton, whom he had
once revered and sought to emulate. Like Tilton’s ironic fans, he became
fixated on the preacher for his unintentional humor value, yet he was also
consumed with loathing. Therefore, his approach could be considered
a mixture of ironic and “antifandom,” which Jonathan Gray describes
as the “active or vocal dislike or hate of a given text, personality, or
genre.”85 As sincere “fans’ Other,” antifans may form deep relationships
with cultural commodities that they despise, but do not dismiss.86 Gray
further points out that irreverence and mockery are common features
of antifan discourse, and moral outrage one of the main motivators.87
Guetzlaff’s ironic/antifandom, however, also featured a distinctly reli-
gious element, which would be reflected in the satirical, televangelist-
focused Recreational Christianity that he helped the Trinity Foundation
bring to mainstream American television.
In his Fox News profile of the Trinity Foundation, reporter Richard
Ray noted that one of the ministry’s “unusual weapons” against televi-
sion preachers was “videotape.”88 In addition to shots of Anthony and
Guetzlaff watching Tilton footage, the report also showed ministry
member Ronnie Dunlap taking detailed notes on an archived episode
of Success-N-Life. During a sit-down interview with Ray, John Bloom
explained that a serendipitous byproduct of the ministry’s surveillance
efforts, intended to document suspicious and illegal activity, was the
acquisition of reams of amusing footage: “they were collecting these
tapes…of all these evangelists…They were watching them for a different
purpose, and, uh, they kept a lot of them just because they were funny.”
The best of this “funny” footage would form the backbone of a success-
ful Trinity Foundation project involving Bloom that was repeatedly men-
tioned in Ray’s report: “Godstuff.”
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  91

In 1996, right after Bloom finished taping the final episode of Joe
Bob’s Drive-In Theater for The Movie Channel, he used its redneck, den-
style set to film wraparounds for a half-hour pilot centered on the best
“bullstuff” (that is, “bullshit”) of religious television.89 In the persona
of Joe Bob Briggs—complete with a western shirt, bolo tie, and exag-
gerated drawl—Bloom asked the camera one simple question: “Do you
love religious TV?” What followed was a clip of Robert Tilton’s assis-
tant pastor, Dan Clowers, animatedly imitating the flight of a bird on
stage at Word of Faith. “I love religious TV,” Briggs confessed, “I’m a
channel-surfing, religious-TV, couch-potato fool. I once sat in a motel
room in Meridian, Mississippi watching a Pentecostal revival meeting
that lasted three-and-a-half hours, and they didn’t even use snakes!”
While the pilot for what was then titled Joe Bob’s Godstuff featured a wide
range of strange and potentially hilarious religious broadcasting—from
Christian bodybuilders to dancing rabbis—it also heavily emphasized the
antics of television preachers, including Robert Tilton.
As argued in the previous chapter, the Trinity Foundation provided
tabloid news programs with video proof texts of Tilton intended to por-
tray the preacher as a laughable huckster. Joe Bob’s Godstuff made the
intentions behind some of these same clips explicit. For example, in one
clip that aired during Primetime Live’s first report on Tilton, and dis-
cussed in the last chapter, the preacher places his hand on a man’s bro-
ken clavicle and shouts, “In the name of Jesus, bones go together!”90
Tilton then orders the man to start rotating his shoulder, which he does,
although wincing in agony. While this apparently failed healing was left
to stand on its own on Primetime Live, with the hope that it would pro-
voke disbelieving amusement, the audience of Joe Bob’s Godstuff was
guided in how to view the clip by its host.91 “He didn’t look so hot…
did he?” Briggs, comically cringing, asks after the footage airs. Similarly,
a clip of Tilton that the Trinity Foundation previously shared with Inside
Edition was played up for laughs in its new, explicitly comedic context.
“If you’ll seed today for that new car,” Tilton assures viewers from the
set of the old Success-N-Life, “the loan will go through, you will get that
car.”92 In a continuation of the clip unaired by Inside Edition, Tilton also
foresees a “company car” divinely endowed upon another viewer. Briggs
jokingly expresses excitement for the latter individual, but also points out
the disparity between the two automobile-related blessings, noting that
Tilton failed to “pray for a low interest rate” for the viewer supernatu-
rally saddled with debt.
92  D. J. BEKKERING

With Joe Bob’s Godstuff, the Trinity Foundation sought to bring the
ironic appreciation of television preaching to mainstream American cul-
ture, in the service of its own theological agenda. In addition to the
guidance of established star John Bloom, the ministry’s experiment
would be influenced by Brother Randall of the Robert Tilton Fan Club,
who had become a friendly acquaintance of Harry Guetzlaff. During our
interview, Brother Randall recalled his time with Guetzlaff as “just like
being with another big Bob Tilton fan,” despite their differing opinions
about the preacher’s broadcasting future.93 Guetzlaff kept him abreast of
“stuff that was going on with some of their investigations,” and passed
along “lots of videotapes and clippings.” Brother Randall reciprocated
with his own finds, notably footage of the amusing cable access televan-
gelist Jonathan Bell, whose story he outlined in the final print issue of
Snake Oil (1995).94 A hairdresser from Kingston, Ontario, Bell moved to
Dallas in 1992 with “a 71-year-old invalid and her 35-year-old retarded
son,” whom he allegedly financially exploited and physically abused.
“This sordid little tale would not be worth telling,” Brother Randall
wrote, “if shortly thereafter Jonathan had not gone on to produce two
of the most psychotic, disturbing religious programs ever made”—shows
that he had watched and recorded by chance.95
Standing on a spare, blue-curtained set for both of his appearances,
the diminutive Bell delivered what Brother Randall described in Snake
Oil as “hellfire and brimstone sermon(s) at max volume,” targeting evils
such as abortion, homosexuality (including his own past actions—the
result, he claimed, of sexual abuse), Satanism, and secularism.96 Part of
Bell’s appeal for Brother Randall was the laughable ineptitude of his pro-
grams. He wrote that “in the finest cable access tradition…(Bell) spent
half the time looking into the wrong camera,” and pointed out that in
one broadcast the preacher inexplicably, and hilariously, wore a tuxedo.
Yet it was Bell’s unrelenting aggressiveness that was the most amus-
ing, leading Brother Randall to christen him “Screaming Boy.” “I wish
I could afford to include a videotape with each issue of Snake Oil,” he
wrote, “so that Jonathan Bell would become the cult figure he deserves
to be.” Jonathan Bell’s path to cult fame, however, came through
Brother Randall sharing his footage with Harry Guetzlaff, after which
clips found their way into the Joe Bob’s Godstuff pilot. As a segue, Bloom
introduced a preacher able to “guide us gently toward a fuller under-
standing of the gospel.” This was followed by three short clips of Bell
berating his audience. “If you wanna turn the channel,” Bell taunts in
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  93

one, “go ahead, fool, turn the channel. If you wanna learn something
about God, shut your mouth and listen to me for a minute.” Bloom then
reappears with a look of mock astonishment: “I don’t think I can go on,
that was so moving.” Concluding the segment, he stated that Bell was
“better known around here as ‘Screaming Boy’”—an uncredited use of
Brother Randall’s nickname.
A redeveloped and significantly shortened version of Joe Bob’s
Godstuff, simply titled “Godstuff,” would find a home as a segment on
cable channel Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.97 A pioneering example
of comedic “fake” news, The Daily Show, particularly during the tenure of
host Jon Stewart (1999–2015), would become an unexpectedly influen-
tial political voice in America. Amber Day has argued that the program’s
mix of satire, parody, and irony exposed and critiqued the “artificiality”
of much scripted “political discourse,” thereby resonating with viewers
searching for political “authenticity and truth.”98 “Godstuff” would first
appear, however, on an earlier version of the program hosted by Craig
Kilborn (1996–1998), which had a broader popular cultural focus, and
therefore more room for such material.99 In line with The Daily Show’s
“fake” anchors and reporters, John Bloom hosted the miniaturized
“Godstuff,” now between two and four minutes long, in the guise of a
sober minister, standing at a lectern flanked by candles and backed by
a green-screened image of stained glass.100 As with Joe Bob’s Godstuff,
Bloom provided wraparounds for clips of religious broadcasting, most
of which featured television preachers. The recently returned Robert
Tilton, of course, appeared frequently. Rather than footage from his
more recent, relatively restrained programs, however, “Godstuff” aired
clips from Tilton’s heyday, which were arguably funnier, and which the
Trinity Foundation already had an ample supply of. Again, the Trinity
Foundation used footage that it had previously contributed to investigate
reports, revealing their original satirical intent. “Rejoice friends as we cast
a glad eye on the ministry of Robert Tilton of Dallas, Texas,” proclaimed
Bloom in one segment, after which a clip showed the preacher ending a
long flight of glossolalia by looking directly into the camera and declaring
“I love you.”101 As mentioned in the previous chapter, this footage had
previously appeared in Primetime Live’s first report to illustrate, in host
Diane Sawyer’s words, Tilton’s “quirky style.”102
“Godstuff’s” breakout star, however, would not be Tilton, but rather
Brother Randall’s find Jonathan Bell. Beyond his regular appearances on
“Godstuff” through clips, The Daily Show managed to track Bell down in
94  D. J. BEKKERING

Canada for a special interview with “roving reporter”/comedian Brian

Unger.103 “In just two rare television appearances,” opened Unger,
“evangelist Jonathan Bell became known to tens, even hundreds of fol-
lowers to his Dallas ministry.” The segment poked fun at the dramatic
difference between the violent evangelism of Bell’s past and his current
life as an apparently mild-mannered hairdresser, revealed through shots
of him at work, as well as Unger’s interview. Unaware of Unger’s true
intentions, Bell, as was the case with most interviewees on The Daily
Show, was unwittingly “drawn into (his) own satirizing,” and by the seg-
ment’s end the faux reporter mockingly danced and sang along as Bell
loudly belted out the contemporary Christian standard “The Power of
Your Love.”104 Back in the studio, Unger concluded with shock revela-
tions about Bell’s sordid past—including his alleged abuse of “an elderly
woman and her retarded son,” and multiple “charges of sexual molesta-
tion” against young boys—suggesting that something evil and unchris-
tian continued to lurk behind his cheerful façade.
The very existence of “Godstuff” depended on the Trinity
Foundation’s vast video collection, which focused on big-name tele-
vangelists like Robert Tilton. Finding the next Jonathan Bell, however,
would require the aid of viewers and tapers able to tune in to stations
hidden from the ministry’s surveillance. In announcing the debut of
“Godstuff,” The Door asked readers to mail in material: “We need you
to videotape…and send us as many instances as you can of TV preach-
ers doing weird, fraudulent, or just plain silly stuff.”105 In a subsequent
call, Harry Guetzlaff added that they were especially on the lookout for
bizarre preachers from “local stations and local cable access.”106 The
Trinity Foundation thus pushed The Door’s readers to act like ironic fans
of televangelists, if they were not already, and gift the ministry, as well
as a for-profit cable television concern, with their finds. In the short-
lived online version of Snake Oil, Jonathan Bell’s discoverer Brother
Randall would highlight and subtly complain about the exploitation
of his own “fan labor.”107 Although he “was proud to have supplied
some of the raw material for (“Godstuff”), if for no other reason than
to see Jonathan preaching with the Comedy Channel’s logo in the bot-
tom of the screen,” he pointed out that he had been “uncredited and
unpaid.”108 He would likewise receive no credit or compensation for the
use of his footage in Door TV’s Godstuff Video, a $24.95 tape contain-
ing “Channel Surfing through Religious TV”: “30 minutes of non-stop
Oral, Benny, Bob,” and Jonathan Bell.109
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  95

While the Trinity Foundation brought the style of underground ironic

televangelical fandom to mainstream American television, it could not
completely replicate its substance. Lost in the commoditization were
opportunities for fan networking, collaboration, and even community
building, as evidenced by the Robert Tilton Fan Club. In their place was
an authoritative television “preacher” to whom fans could send in video
donations, and who fought against his religious rivals with a distinctly
satirical form of Recreational Chrisitianity. To further its mission, the
Trinity Foundation was quick to bring “Godstuff” to the next revolution
in participatory media, again with the help of Comedy Central. In an
advertisement for the above-mentioned “Godstuff” video that filled the
back cover of The Door’s January/February 1998 issue, Joe Bob Briggs
directed readers to the cable channel’s “little website,” where they could
“download a weekly load” of “Godstuff” clips.110 This blurb pointed to
a sea change in the creation and distribution of video material which, as
will be demonstrated to follow, would have massive consequences for the
ministry of Robert Tilton.
By the early 1990s, online newsgroups—topical, text-based, and asyn-
chronous communication forums—had become important venues for fan
networking and activities.111 Although a dedicated newsgroup for ironic
fans of Robert Tilton (alt.fan.robert-tilton) would not appear until 1997,
some fans posted and connected with likeminded others in thematically
related newsgroups years earlier.112 As early as 1990, for example, Tilton
was receiving fake praise in alt.slack, a newsgroup for SubGenii, many of
whom were early adopters of online communication.113 On June 16 of
that year, one “St. Mog the Unholy” revealed that after receiving a tip
from a friend, s/he started “watching Tilton every day and putting my
hand on the screen along with Robert. I watched every fake tear, praised
his weekly ‘miracles.’ But it wasn’t until I received his prayer book in
the mail that I learned Robert is, praise ‘Bob,’ a SubGenius”—as the
preacher had learned “that ripping off Pinks is the ideal way to make a
living.”114
In 1994, Brother Randall of the Robert Tilton Fan Club made his
first foray into newsgroup networking by responding to a public query
in alt.religion.broadcasting, under the thread “I miss Robert Tilton!”115
“Lon Huber,” a California resident, lamented that Tilton was no longer
available in his state, and asked whether he was “on locally in Dallas.”
Brother Randall responded in the negative, to which the original poster
replied that he recognized his username (his fan club pseudonym). He
96  D. J. BEKKERING

asked if Brother Randall was the founder of the RTFC, revealing that he
had received unspecified material from the fan club in the mail. “Amen,
Brother Lon,” Brother Randall replied, “I new (sic) that the Internet
would provide excellent witnessing opportunities for Recreational
Christianity.” “I’ve been wondering for years what short phrase could
sum up the particular brand of Christianity practiced by myself and a few
of my friends,” Lon Huber wrote back, “‘Recreationalism’ it is. Thank
you! Thank you! Thank you!”
By the mid-1990s, the World Wide Web and graphical browsers
offered unprecedented opportunities for fan publishing, and Brother
Randall openly dreamed in Snake Oil of fostering “a virtual congrega-
tion of Recreational Christians on the net.”116 In the penultimate print
issue of his zine (1994), he announced that an online version had been
uploaded to the Web.117 In the final edition (1995), he promoted
Internet access as a necessity for Recreational Christians: “If you are a
student of Kooky Kristian Kulture and are not on the Internet, you’ve
got a major spiritual void in your life.”118 Despite such rhetoric, Brother
Randall’s own online activities would remain limited, due to his afore-
mentioned family and career obligations, as well as the increasing paucity
of hilarious “hard prosperity” televangelists.119 In the only extant exam-
ple of the Snake Oil website, published in August 1996, Brother Randall
reported that the health-and-wealth preacher, and former Primetime Live
and Trinity Foundation target, W.V. Grant had been sentenced to prison
for tax fraud.120 “W.V. will be missed,” he eulogized, “He was part of
that fading, carnival-like tradition of old time faith healers who owed
more to P.T. Barnum than to J.H. Christ.”
At the time, Robert Tilton was also an apparent victim of the chang-
ing religious broadcasting landscape, and the only way to ironically enjoy
his programming was through recordings. “I hope everyone videotaped
Tilton while they had the chance,” Brother Randall wrote in his 1994
newsgroup discussion with Lon Huber.121 There is evidence in archived
newsgroup forums of posters having done just that, with some also look-
ing to trade their footage. In an April 5, 1994 post to the newsgroup
alt.cult.movies, for example, “Father Tom” praised Tilton as the best
“comedian,” however unintentional, since “Groucho Marx.” He added
that if “anyone here has video footage of him I would love to trade 4 it,”
to which another poster replied that s/he had a copy of the preacher’s
“hilarious” Primetime Live rebuttal.122
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  97

The Tilton-related video most heavily discussed in online newsgroups,

however, was Brother O’Nottigan’s fart remix. “I saw the funniest video
I’ve ever seen last night,” wrote one poster from Tulsa, Oklahoma in
1996, “I had to leave the house I was in and go out in the bitter cold
because my stomach was hurting so bad from laughing.”123 S/he added
that “(s)ome students at a local college had dubbed in juicy flatulent
sound” whenever Tilton would “purse his mouth and clench his eyelids
in an expression of extreme intensity.” Other newsgroup posters sought
copies to buy or trade for, sometimes complaining that their own were
filled with noise—annoyances related to the analog remix’s wide distri-
bution.124 One poster to alt.video.tape-trading, who was “pretty sure”
that the remix “originated” from Tulsa or Oklahoma City, was looking
to replace a friend’s poor copy (“probably the 20th generation”) that
had been “taped over”: “Please help, it’s my only hope!” A respond-
ent, who countered that the tape probably came from Dallas, grumbled
that their own copy was “at least a 20th generation…the audio levels are
HORRIBLE!!”125 Other posters claimed to have better copies of vari-
ous versions of the remix, with one suggesting that seekers turn to the
Robert Tilton Fan Club: “I think their founder is responsible for the
Robert Tilton/Gas tape.”
While erroneous, this association of Brother Randall with the Tilton
fart tape was understandable, as he and Brother Bucks had done more
than most to disseminate the remix through copying and sales. However,
it would be another core member of the RTFC, Brother Russell, who
recognized the potential of the Web to help meet the continuing
demand. Since the effective demise of the RTFC, Brother Russell had
parlayed his skills at Christian parody—once useful for crashing services
at Tilton’s church—into a series of prank call comedy albums released
by an independent record label.126 He often phoned in to conservative
Christian radio stations, with his efforts described by communication
scholar John Downing as a “riotous” culture jam of “the loony Right
in the United States.”127 By 1998, he had established an online catalog
to sell his albums and similar items through the mail. This included a
fifteen-dollar, two-hour tape titled “Mondo Tilton”: a compilation of
the preacher’s “crazy rants, screw-ups, and scandals,” to which he had
appended “the notorious ‘fart videos.’”128
In the expanding fart tape marketplace, however, it was the remix’s
co-creator, Brother O’Nottigan, who retained a competitive advantage,
98  D. J. BEKKERING

as he owned the best possible analog version. In 1998, Brother

O’Nottigan and his wife “were flat broke and trying to figure out a way
to make money.”129 Serendipitously, a friend informed him that the hosts
of The Mark and Brian Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio pro-
gram, had praised his tape on the air, spurring him to quick action.130
He “reedited” the now more than decade-old video “one more time,”
added the title “Pastor Gas,” had professional copies made, and estab-
lished a legal corporation and website: www.pastorgas.com. The tape’s
packaging, designed by Brother O’Nottigan’s wife and uploaded to the
website, featured a picture of Tilton in his classic squinting pose, and
promised potential buyers that it would be the “funniest parody video
you’ll EVER see!”131 Their website also emphasized the remix’s scar-
city and the degraded nature of many circulating copies as selling points.
“Until recently,” the page read, “the only way you could see the incred-
ible Pastor Gas was to know someone who knew someone who had a
crazy cousin who had a fuzzy, bootlegged copy.” This was no longer the
case for anyone willing to part with $14.95.
To further promote his revamped remix, Brother O’Nottigan mailed
a “six-pack” of tapes to The Mark and Brian Show, earning a mention
that resulted in the sale of “sixty or seventy tapes that day.” However,
sales quickly dropped off to an “average” of “maybe a couple of tapes a
day.” After receiving a mailer from The Door, Brother O’Nottigan would
also contact Ole Anthony to inquire about advertising the tape in his
magazine. As a nonprofit enterprise, The Door did not include advertis-
ing, yet those involved with the publication could not resist spreading
the word about such a hilariously unflattering treatment of the Trinity
Foundation’s old enemy. At the end of 2000, The Door began adver-
tising Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, a hefty VHS collection of
material related to Tilton, including clips from what was billed as the “you-
know-what tape.”132 Following hours of news reports and amusing video
proof texts came crawling text introducing the clips, and cheekily refer-
ring viewers to Brother O’Nottigan’s website: “If you are as offended as
we are,” the text read, “contact the creators of the new digital-master
tape at: www.PastorGas.com.”133
Like members of the RTFC and the Trinity Foundation before him,
Brother O’Nottigan had found a way to make money with Tilton-
themed participatory media. The influx of cash after The Mark and
Brian Show mention was especially welcome, as it covered his “family’s
health insurance” during lean times.134 Thus, his subversive play with a
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  99

health-and-wealth preacher not only (modestly) enhanced his financial

standing, but also helped him prepare for possible medical misfortune.
The monetary value of Brother O’Nottigan’s remix, however, began
to dissolve with the advent of accessible and perfectly replicable online
digital video. On March 12, 1996, a poster to the newsgroup rec.radio.
broadcasting informed readers that they could “download segments of
the Robert Tilton ‘tootin tilton /pootin preacher’ video at my home
page.”135 Later that year, someone seeking a physical copy of the tape in
alt.cult-movies was referred to downloadable portions at the website for
the Don and Mike Show, another nationally syndicated radio program.136
An archived version of this site still hosts “Robert Tilton: Hallelujah
Farts,” which consists of three short, low-quality selections—sixteen
seconds in total—of the original remix.137
Increases in bandwidth speeds and the emergence of streaming video
technology, which permits the viewing of high-quality and lengthy live
and on-demand content without downloading, solved key limitations
of early online video.138 YouTube, founded in 2005 and purchased by
search engine giant Google the following year, has long been synony-
mous with streaming video.139 At its core a video hosting service,
YouTube is also a top social networking site based on the free sharing
of videos.140 This has proven a thorn in the side of those who previ-
ously profited on scarce video material, including Brother O’Nottigan,
who unveiled a digital video disc (DVD) of Pastor Gas the same year that
YouTube debuted.141 His sales progressively slowed until 2008, when
he decided to shutter his website. “What really ended up making it so
it wasn’t going to be viable anymore was the Internet and YouTube,”
he concluded, “now everybody can watch it wherever they are, and they
don’t have to pay for it.”142
Although it is unclear when footage from Pastor Gas first appeared
on YouTube, a blog post mentioning Tilton fart videos on the site dates
from 2007.143 Notably, this post featured frustrations about copyright.
Much of the material openly shared on YouTube is subject to copyright,
which has long angered media producers and corporations. The Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, however, provides “safe harbor” for the site,
which in turn is required to help copyright holders discover and deal
with the unauthorized distribution of video material.144 One longstand-
ing process involves the immediate removal of material after a “copyright
infringement notification” is submitted.145 While video uploaders have
the option of filing a “counter notification,” and making an argument
100  D. J. BEKKERING

for why the material should be permitted, reported videos generally

remain removed, and the accounts of uploaders may be closed after three
copyright violations.146
On March 14, 2007, a blogger complained that YouTube no longer
hosted a “genre of videos” that had provided him with considerable, if
admittedly “childish,” amusement.147 “These were clips,” he explained,
“of a popular 80s televangelist, Robert Tilton, embellished with audible
flatulence perfectly synchronized with his contorted facial expressions.”
He included a screen capture of the notice that greeted visitors hoping
to watch one such remix: “This video is no longer available due to a
copyright claim by Reverend Robert Tilton.” Some years later, another
blogger plausibly proposed that such videos fell under the aegis of “fair
use” for parodic content, and were therefore not subject to infringement
notices.148 This blogger had been banned from YouTube after receiving
his third copyright strike for uploading a Tilton fart video—again due
to a copyright infringement notification submitted by the televangelist’s
ministry. While he thought he had a case, he ultimately decided that it
was not “worth filing a DMCA counterclaim.”
Efforts by Tilton’s ministry to remove fart remixes from YouTube
came in advance of, and coincided with, its entry into the arena of
streaming video. On May 28, 2009, Scott Parks of The Dallas Morning
News reported that the televangelist was broadcasting a new show,
Robert Tilton Live!, through the Christian site Streaming Faith.149
Popular with televangelists, Streaming Faith allows subscribing ministries
to easily integrate on-demand and live videos with websites, chatrooms,
and donation forms.150 By 2011, Tilton’s ministry had moved to a sim-
ilar online broadcasting portal provided by a different service, where his
videos came in three different flavors: old episodes of Success-N-Life, new
messages from an office set, and live services broadcast from hotel con-
ference rooms.151 The latter videos, in particular, paled in comparison to
the slick services that the preacher had once hosted at Word of Faith. A
2012 broadcast from the Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
for example, was hampered by poor production values and glitches.152
Starting nearly five minutes late, the live feed opened with a slower and
grayer Tilton standing behind a podium framed by potted plants. The
entire service was captured by a single stationary camera focused on the
podium, which helped hide the small size of the congregation (judging
by the sparse responses to the preacher’s exhortations), yet also resulted
in some awkward moments, including a long sequence of Tilton smiling
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  101

as a piano solo was played out of frame.153 Audio problems also plagued
the broadcast, such as when the preacher spoke without amplification,
leaving him to grimace in frustration and rummage underneath his jacket
to turn on a portable microphone. While Tilton’s “brand message”
remained one of divinely endowed success, his amateurish online live
broadcasts no longer evidenced such blessings.154 In the Internet age,
however, production issues would prove less threatening to the preach-
er’s brand than the ever-expanding proliferation of Tilton fart remixes.
Although Brother O’Nottigan’s remix had spread widely in the analog
video era, it generally circulated within an underground “shadow cultural
economy,” and was apparently of little, if any, concern to Tilton’s min-
istry.155 Indeed, Brother O’Nottigan revealed during our interview that
he had consulted a lawyer before selling his Pastor Gas tapes online, just
in case Tilton’s ministry took offence. He never received a complaint.156
In contrast, the relocation of the remix to the realm of easily shared,
online streaming video provoked attempts by Tilton’s ministry to stem
its spread—efforts that would ultimately prove futile for many reasons.
For one, although the ministry succeeded in removing some videos from
YouTube, this was but one online outlet where the remixes could be
found. The website Religious Freaks, for example, which features a wide
range of unintentionally amusing religious content, has hosted a digital
version of Brother O’Nottigan’s creation since 2006, and promises to be
“the permanent home for Robert Tilton aka Pastor Gas.”157 This is per-
haps a sly reference to the video’s propensity to disappear on YouTube.
Such remixes were also certainly shared through online channels invisible
to Tilton’s ministry, such as email and social networking sites. In addi-
tion to the online propagation of Brother O’Nottigan’s original remix,
Pastor Gas has also spawned countless “unofficial” sequels and imita-
tors, often under variations of the title “Farting Preacher.” This likely
started with the VHS tape Farting Preacher II: Fart Harder, which was
named for the 1990 action film Die Hard 2 (tagline: “Die Harder”) and
appeared sometime during the early 1990s.158
Digitized and uploaded online, Farting Preacher II now joins not
only the original Pastor Gas, but also numerous other Tilton fart
remixes much more easily crafted with personal computers, and gener-
ally featuring more recent clips of the televangelist.159 On January 20,
2012, for example, a YouTube user uploaded seventeen entries of their
series “Farting Preacher Today,” built from the latest version of Success-
N-Life.160 Like Farting Preacher II and many copies of Pastor Gas, the
102  D. J. BEKKERING

series remains on the site, suggesting that Tilton’s ministry has given
up trying to police YouTube. However, even when the ministry was
more vigilant, uploaders found ways of evading detection. YouTube
user “drac16,” who uploaded a collection of eighteen remixes in 2009,
left out obvious words in the videos’ searchable tags, instead using
phrases spoken by Tilton when he “farted”: e.g., “Now we’re cookin’”;
“Hearing something real powerful.”161 In one video’s comment sec-
tion, a viewer proposed that drac16 “change the title so people search-
ing for the ‘farting preacher’ can find it.” “Actually, I intentionally left
out the words ‘farting’ and ‘preacher’ in the title,” the uploader replied,
“because I don’t want Bob Tilton to find it. He has a history of remov-
ing these kinds of videos.”162
In 2009, Brother Randall of the long-defunct Robert Tilton Fan
Club resurrected Snake Oil in blog form. Keeping up a fairly regular
posting schedule until 2011, he covered topics including “Thrift Store
Gospel” music, snake handling, and occasionally his old “hero.”163 In
a post titled “Robert Tilton: A History in Flatulence,” Brother Randall
sketched out the path of Pastor Gas from “humble videotape” to
“YouTube sensation.” “No matter what else Robert Tilton does in his
life,” he wrote, “he will go down in history as the ‘Farting Preacher.’”164
This outcome was made possible by the streaming revolution in video
“delivery technology,” which facilitated the effectively unfettered
spread of an originally analog participatory media artifact (and its imita-
tors), resulting in the viral rebranding of Robert Tilton as the “Farting
Preacher.”165 Tilton fart remixes have certainly received exponentially
more views than the preacher’s own online broadcasts, with many view-
ers having no idea who Robert Tilton is, or any knowledge of the history
of his controversial ministry.
Take, for example, a 2013 YouTube “reaction” video starring celeb-
rity “YouTubers” in their teens and twenties—a video that had received
more than eleven million views by the time of writing.166 Reaction vid-
eos capture viewer responses to popular clips, and reaction videos based
on Tilton fart remixes are widespread on YouTube. From little boys,
to grandmothers, to pastors, people laugh hard, sometimes uncontrol-
lably, at the manipulated footage.167 In the YouTuber reaction video,
which contained clips from many remixes both old and relatively new,
some of the viewers revealed that they were familiar with the “Farting
Preacher.” However, none of them knew anything about Robert Tilton
or his ministry. Once informed of the scandals that had surrounded the
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  103

televangelist, YouTuber Philip Wang suggested that the videos could be

considered just desserts: “If he was doing those terrible things, then…
I’m glad that he’s the butt of this joke.” “He wanted so much more out
of life,” added a laughing Catherine Wayne, “and he’s just the ‘Farting
Preacher’!”
In 2009, footage from a Tilton fart remix would even appear on
mainstream American television, on the first episode of Comedy
Central’s series Tosh.O.168 Hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, the show
attempts to recreate the experience of watching and commenting on
online viral videos, with Tosh himself offering humorous takes on the
featured clips.169 The introduction of the fart remix clip, sourced from
one of the later, anonymous efforts, began with Tosh discussing a ram-
bling online post by troubled rock star Courtney Love: “Looks like
Courtney may need some help, and we’ve all lost our way from time to
time. I know I have, and when I do, I turn to the ‘Farting Preacher.’”
As the clip plays, Tosh mimics Tilton, suggesting a deep familiarity with
its contents. “Oh, you are so full of wisdom,” Tosh joked, “I’ve been to
a few of his sermons, they’re really powerful. But you need to get there
early, those back pews fill up quick.” Through it all, no mention was
made of the name “Robert Tilton.”
Robert Tilton’s controversial ministry has long been shadowed by
comedic participatory cultural practices. The Robert Tilton Fan Club,
the preacher’s “unofficial” ironic fan following, brought together the
unintentionally amused through independent print projects and face-
to-face meetings, fostering a tongue-in-cheek, lightly critical style of
Recreational Christianity. While the RTFC would have some alterna-
tive and mainstream influence, its activities largely flew under the radar
of Tilton’s ministry. In contrast, two other forms of amusing partic-
ipatory media would cause the ministry real problems. The Trinity
Foundation’s video proof texts—first shared with tabloid television news
outlets, then repurposed for cable channel comedy—represented a main-
streamed, satirical style of Recreational Christianity aimed at delegitimiz-
ing, and hopefully stopping, the televangelist. Yet it would be Brother
O’Nottigan’s fart remix that led to an unexpected viral rebranding of the
preacher—one well beyond his ministry’s control. While comedic partici-
patory practices would therefore prove a challenge for Robert Tilton, the
following two chapters will outline how another scandal-plagued televan-
gelist parlayed such practices into a remarkably successful rebranding and
career resurgence.
104  D. J. BEKKERING

Notes
1. For ironic humor as a “parasite,” see Robert N. Spicer, “Before and
After The Daily Show: Freedom and Consequences in Political Satire,”
in The Daily Show and Rhetoric: Arguments, Issues, and Strategies, ed.
Trischa Goodnow (Lexington: Lexington Books, 2011), 25.
2. In Brother Randall, ed., The Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 4
(Dallas, 1992), n.p.
3. Ibid. See Robert Tilton, How to Kick the Devil Out of Your Life (Dallas:
Robert Tilton Ministries, 1988). The story of the “widow’s mite”
can be found in Mark 12: 41–44. Footage of Tilton advertising the
“authentic replica of the widow’s mite” was featured in “Bob God
Robert Tilton in Israel 1990 01,” YouTube video, 11:49, posted by
Zschim, September 27, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
tp51EuPXCAM (video since removed).
4. For an overview of evangelical “Christian kitsch,” which has often been
mocked and derided by outsiders, see Colleen McDannell, Material
Christianity: Religion and Popular Culture in America (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1995), 222–269.
5. “Attorney Hints of Federal Suit Against Tilton,” Daily Oklahoman,
March 5, 1992.
6. An image of this undated press release can be found at robotilt,
Flickr image, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.flickr.com/pho-
tos/81188628@N00/6439954785/.
7. Karen M. Thomas, “Suits, Probes Bedevil Popular Pastor Bob,” Chicago
Tribune, March 29, 1992.
8. “Made in the USA,” The WOW Report, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
worldofwonder.net/productions/made-in-the-usa/. See also Elizabeth
Kolbert, “Viewers in Britain Catch a Bouquet of America’s Weirdest
Shows,” The New York Times, March 16, 1994.
9. Clips of this segment can be found on Brother Bob and the Gospel of
Greed, VHS.
10. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
11. Brother Russell, Skype interview by author, December 17, 2011. For
fan “house gatherings” as sites of VHS copying, see Bacon-Smith,
Enterprising Women, 164–165.
12. See “ABC News PrimeTime Live,” YouTube video.
13. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
14. For “performative parody,” see Day, Satire and Dissent, 69.
15. This picture can be found at robotilt, Flickr image, accessed April
1, 2018, https://www.flickr.com/photos/81188628@N00/
6439934289/.
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  105

16. Brother Russell, “How You Can Hang With The Holy…Hassle-Free!,”

in Snake Oil, 1, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.
17. Brother Russell, Skype interview by author, December 17, 2011.
18. Nancy St. Pierre, “Tilton Plans 24-Hour TV Format,” The Dallas
Morning News, April 28, 1992.
19. Brother Jason and Brother Derek, “Confounding the Wise,” in Robert
Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 6, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, June 1992),
n.p.
20. Brother Kenneth, “A Different Perspective,” in Robert Tilton Fan Club
Newsletter, 6, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, June 1992), n.p.
21. Brother Randall, ed., Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 6 (Dallas, June
1992).
22. Sconce, “Trashing the Academy,” 372. “Robert Tilton Fan Club,”
Zontar’s Ejecto-Pod 4 (1992), n.p.
23. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Robert Tilton Fan
Club Newsletter, 7/8, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, August 1992), n.p.
“Televangelist Tilton Cancels Sunday Show,” The Houston Chronicle,
August 14, 1992.
24. Primetime Live, ABC, July 9, 1992. A copy of the report and the date
can be found on Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
25. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Robert Tilton Fan
Club Newsletter, 7/8.
26. Brother Randall, “What Master Does Bob Serve?” in Robert Tilton
Fan Club Newsletter, 7/8; Jayne Jain, “Planting That Seed: Rev.
Robert Tilton,” in ibid.,—originally published in Brian Curran and Jan
Johnson, eds., Zontar’s Ejecto-Pod (1990), n.p.; Brother Hal, “‘Tilt’-ing
the Focus of Your Parties,” in ibid.
27. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Robert Tilton Fan
Club Newsletter, 7/8.
28. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Snake Oil, 1, ed.
Brother Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.
29. Brother Randall, “Wet David Koresh T-Shirt Contest,” in Snake Oil,
1, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.; ibid., “How Can I Find a
Nice Church Where They Handle Snakes?” in Snake Oil, 3, ed. Brother
Randall (Dallas, 1994), n.p.; ibid., “Boyd Rice on Religious Shock Jock
Bob Larson,” in Snake Oil, 2, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.
30. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Snake Oil, 1.
31. Brother Randall, “Amy Tilton Wedding Scrapbook,” in Snake Oil, 1, ed.
Brother Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.
32. Helen Bryant, “Tilton’s Good News: A Wedding,” The Dallas Morning
News, March 21, 1993.
33. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
106  D. J. BEKKERING

34. In Brother Randall, “Amy Tilton Wedding Scrapbook.”

35. Ibid. For “pleasurable misuse,” see Fiske, Television Culture, 315.
36. Brother Russell, Skype interview by author, December 17, 2011.
37. Brother Randall, “Amy Tilton Wedding Scrapbook.”
38. Brother Russell, Skype interview by author, December 17, 2011.
39. Howard Swindle and Allen Pusey, “Tilton to Discontinue His Television
Ministry,” The Dallas Morning News, September 30, 1993; Steve Scott,
“Tilton’s TV Ratings Plummet,” The Dallas Morning News, April 18,
1993.
40. Swindle and Pusey, “Tilton to Discontinue His Television Ministry.”
41. See Sean Rowe, “Second Coming,” Dallas Observer, November 6, 1997.
42. Swindle and Pusey, “Tilton to Discontinue His Television Ministry.”
43. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Snake Oil, 2, ed.
Brother Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.
44. “Robert Tilton Fan Club on Channel 8,” YouTube video. For the date,
see Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
45. Robert V. Camuto, “Love That Bob!: The Rev. Robert Tilton Inspires
Irreverent Fan,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 28, 1993; Brother
Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Snake Oil, 2, n.p.
46. Brother Randall, “From Brother Randall’s Desk,” in Snake Oil, 2; n.p.;
Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
47. For Brother Randall’s first mention of “Recreational Christianity,” which
he predicted would “be the craze of the 1990’s (sic),” see ibid., Snake
Oil, 2, n.p.
48. Ibid. Brother Randall mentioned the connection to recreational drug use
and “wrong intention” during our Skype interview, December 4, 2011.
He also used the phrase “just for fun” when describing the RTFC’s
approach to WFAA-TV’s Bill Brown; see “Robert Tilton Fan Club on
Channel 8,” YouTube video.
49. Robert V. Camuto, “Love That Bob!”; “Robert Tilton Fan Club on
Channel 8,” YouTube video.
50. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011. Camille
Bacon-Smith also noted that a Star Trek mail-based fan hub offered
“news-clip services” for those who wrote in; see Enterprising Women,
83. An advertisement for Brother Randall’s “scrapbook” appeared in
Brother Randall, ed., Snake Oil, 2, n.p.
51. Daniel Cattau, “Tilton Files for Divorce from Wife,” The Dallas
Morning News, August 17, 1993. For the retraction of the rape report
on WFAA-TV, November 5, 1993, see Brother Bob and the Gospel of
Greed, VHS.
52. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 2, ed. Brother
Randall (Dallas, 1993), n.p.
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  107

53. Dan Michalski, “Snake Oil: Guide to Kooky Kontemporary Kristian

Kulture,” Texas Monthly, December 1993.
54. For Factsheet Five, see Duncombe, Notes from Underground, 157.
55. Jerod Pore, “Snake Oil,” in Factsheet Five 49 (1993), 69; another posi-
tive review also appeared on the previous page.
56. Hugh Aynesworth, “Couple Prevail in Fraud Suit Against Televangelist,”
The Washington Times, April 22, 1994; Amy Latham, “Court Reverses
Tilton Verdict,” Tulsa World, August 1, 1996; Brother Randall, “Gospel
Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 3, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas, 1994), n.p.
57. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 4, ed. Brother
Randall (Dallas, 1995), n.p. For Valentine and Tilton’s adoption
of “demon blasting,” see Sean Rowe, “The Resurrection of Robert
Tilton,” Miami New Times, January 1, 1998. The pioneers of this prac-
tice, Sam and Jane Whaley, would feature in a February 28, 1995 inves-
tigative report on Inside Edition, which was produced with the help
of the Trinity Foundation, and which highlighted their influence on
Tilton; see “Word of Faith Fellowship/Inside Edition,” YouTube video,
9:54, posted by TrinityFoundationInv, October 22, 2012, https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwE5fBT9RYE.
58. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 4, n.p. Information
on, and examples from, Tilton’s new television venture featured on a
February 10, 1995 news report on KXAS-TV; see Brother Bob and the
Gospel of Greed, VHS.
59. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 4, n.p.; A
WFAA-TV report from August 17, 1995 noted that Pastor Tilton was
off the air; see Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
60. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
61. For a brief overview of Hinn’s ministry, see Melton, Lucas, and Stone,
“Benny Hinn,” in Prime-Time Religion, 141–144. Brother Randall,
“Benny Hinn Blew Me!” in Snake Oil, 1, ed. Brother Randall (Dallas,
1993), n.p.
62. Bowler, Blessed, 104; Razelle Frankl, “Televangelism,” in Encyclopedia of
Religion and Society, ed. William H. Swatos Jr. (Walnut Creek: Altamira
Press, 1998), 512.
63. Brother Randall, The Unofficial Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 1
(Dallas, 1991), n.p.
64. Bowler, Blessed, 78.
65. Brother Bucks, Skype interview by author, January 6, 2012.
66. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
67. See Duncombe, Notes from Underground, 131–140.
68. For “badfilms,” see Curran, “Notes on the Great Bad Film Debate,” 41.
 108  D. J. BEKKERING

69. Megan Mullen, The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States:

Revolution or Evolution? (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003),
169–171. Robert Bianco, “‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Jolting Cable Viewers of
‘Drive-In Theater’,” The Telegraph (Nashua, NH), August 21, 1987.
70. Stang, High Weirdness by Mail, 262. For Bloom’s print movie reviews,
see David Sanjek, “Fans’ Notes: The Horror Film Fanzine,” in The Cult
Film Reader, eds. Ernest Mathijs and Xavier Mendik (New York: Open
University Press, 2008), 423–425.
71. For Bloom’s involvement with the Trinity Foundation, see Jimmy
Fowler, “Joe Bob in Bloom,” Dallas Observer, December 17, 1998.
72. For an overview of The Wittenburg Door/The Door, see Michael
McClymond, “The Wit and Wisdom of The Door,” in Religions of the
United States in Practice: Volume 2, ed. Colleen McDannell (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2001), 433–448. See also Nailin’ It to the
Church: Religious Satire and the Gospel According to the Wittenburg
Door, directed by Murray Stiller (Franklin: Crown Entertainment,
2008), DVD.
73. The Door, September/October 1989.
74. For Plan 9 from Outer Space’s status as a “paracinematic classic,” see
Sconce, “Trashing the Academy,” 373.
75. Brad Bailey, “Bang! Pow! Hallelujah! Rootin’-Tootin’ Robert Tilton!”
The Door, September/October 1989.
76. Ole Anthony, “Trinity, The Door and the Power of Small Things,” The
Door, March/April 1996.
77. Ibid.
78. “Former Television Evangelist Robert Tilton Is Losing Himself,” San
Antonio Express-News, June 14, 1996.
79. Mark Wrolstad, “Ruling in Divorce Case Ties Evangelist Robert Tilton,
Church Assets,” The Dallas Morning News, November 26, 1996;
“First Ex-Wife Joins Attempt to Get Tilton’s Church Assets,” Austin
American-Statesman, December 4, 1996; “Jury Rules Preacher Tilton’s
Wife Can’t Move Assets to Her Church,” Austin American-Statesman,
January 11, 1997.
80. Rowe, “The Resurrection of Robert Tilton.”
81. “God’s Detectives,” WFAA-TV, 1997 (exact date uncertain); this report
features in Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
82. See Doug Peterson, “Tilton Rolls to Victory in ’97 Televangelist Super
Bowl,” The Door, July/August 1997.
83. See Bilger, “God Doesn’t Need Ole Anthony.”
84. Streib et al., Deconversion, 26.
85. Jonathan Gray, “Antifandom and the Moral Text,” 847.
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  109

86. Ibid., “New Audiences, New Textualities: Anti-fans and Non-fans,”

International Journal of Cultural Studies 6, no. 1 (2003): 70–74.
87. For humor’s prominence in antifandom, see ibid., “Antifandom and the
Moral Text,” 846. For examples of moral outrage, see ibid., 849–850.
88. “God’s Detectives,” WFAA-TV, 1997 (exact date uncertain).
89. Fowler, “Joe Bob in Bloom.” A copy of the Joe Bob’s Godstuff pilot
can be found on Door TV’s the Original!: Godstuff (Dallas: The Door
Magazine, n.d.), DVD.
90. See “ABC News PrimeTime Live,” YouTube video.
91. Mullen, The Rise of Cable Programming in the United States, 169–171.
92. Inside Edition, syndicated, January 31, 1991.
93. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
94. Brother Randall, “Screaming Boy,” in Snake Oil, 4, n.p. Brother
Randall drew upon and included selections from Scott Colby and
Sue Yanagisawa, “Bail Hearing Set for Monday,” The Kingston Whig-
Standard, November 4, 1994. See also Al Brumley, “Man Charged
with Abuse of 2 Assistants,” The Dallas Morning News, July 30, 1992;
and ibid., “Charges Against Evangelist Dropped: Retarded Mother,
Son Declined to Pursue Case, Return to Canada,” The Dallas Morning
News, August 6, 1992.
95. Brother Randall, Skype interview by author, December 4, 2011.
96. Both of Jonathan Bell’s appearances can be found on Saved by the Bell!
(Dallas: The Door Magazine, n.d.), DVD.
97. For the relationship between the Trinity Foundation and The Daily Show,
see Fowler, “Joe Bob in Bloom.”
98. Amber Day, “And Now…the News? Mimesis and the Real in The Daily
Show,” in Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-Network Era, eds.
Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson (New York: New
York University Press, 2009), 86.
99. Jeffrey P. Jones, Entertaining Politics: Satiric Television and Political
Engagement, 2nd ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2010), 72.
100. For the change in hosting style, see Fowler, “Joe Bob in Bloom.”
101. This undated segment, and many others from the program, can be
found on The Best of Godstuff: From the Daily Show (Dallas: The Door
Magazine, n.d.), DVD.
102. Primetime Live, ABC, November 21, 1991.
103. For an undated copy of Unger’s interview with Bell, and appearances of
the preacher on “Godstuff,” see Saved by the Bell!
104. Day, “And Now…the News?” 90. For the original song, see Geoff
Bullock, “The Power of Your Love,” in The Power of Your Love,
Maranatha, 1996, CD.
 110  D. J. BEKKERING

105. “The Door Is on the Comedy Channel,” The Door, September/October

1996.
106. Harry Guetzlaff, “DOOR Readers: Subject: Immediate Job Openings
DOOR TV Associate Producers,” The Door, November/December
1996.
107. For similar feelings of exploitation among online music fans, see Nancy
K. Baym and Robert Burnett, “Amateur Experts.”
108. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine #5 Aug 96,” accessed April 1,
2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20110717082603/http://www.
devilsweb.com/snakeoil/grape.htm.
109. An advertisement for Door TV’s Godstuff Video appeared on the back
cover of The Door, July/August 1997. A copy of the segment can be
found on Door TV’s the Original!: Godstuff, DVD.
110. Advertisement for Door TV’s Godstuff Video, The Door, July/August
1997, back cover.
111. See Nancy K. Baym, Tune In, Log On: Soaps, Fandom, and Online
Community (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000).
112. For alt.fan.robert-tilton, see https://groups.google.com/forum/#!fo-
rum/alt.fan.robert-tilton, accessed April 1, 2018.
113. During our Skype interview (May 1, 2012), Rev. Stang recalled that he
had started using the Internet “around 1994.” Research revealed that
many SubGenii were using online newsgroups some years prior. For
the COSG’s official web presence, see Morten T. Højsgaard, “Cyber-
Religion: On the Cutting Edge Between the Virtual and the Real,” in
Religion and Cyberspace, eds. Morten T. Højsgaard and Margit Warburg
(New York: Routledge, 2005), 53.
114. St. Mog the Unholy, post in “Robert Tilton Ministries,” alt.slack,
June 16, 1990, accessed April 1, 2018, https://groups.google.com/
forum/#!topic/alt.slack/SfNI94ScxiQ.
115. Brother Randall and Lon Huber, posts in “I miss Robert Tilton!” alt.
religion.broadcast, November 11–21, 1994, accessed April 1, 2018,
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.broadcast/
PabfHtwdJbA.
116. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 4, n.p. For the
broader cultural impact of the Word Wide Web and graphical web
browsers, see John Naughton, A Brief History of the Future: The
Origins of the Internet (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1999),
229–252. For the impact on fan publishing, see Duncombe, Notes from
Underground, 197; and Baym, Tune In, Log On, 216.
117. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 3, n.p.
118. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine,” in Snake Oil, 4, n.p.
119. Bowler, Blessed, 97.
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  111

120. Brother Randall, “Gospel Grapevine #5 Aug 96.” For Grant’s legal trou-
bles, see “Dallas-Area Television Evangelist Sentenced to Prison for Tax
Fraud,” Austin American-Statesman, July 23, 1996.
121. Brother Randall, post in “I Miss Robert Tilton!” alt.religion.broadcast,
November 12, 1994, accessed April 1, 2018, https://groups.google.
com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.broadcast/PabfHtwdJbA.
122. Father Tom and Bob, posts in “ROBERT TILTON Rules!” alt.
cult-movies, April 5 and 7, 1994, accessed April 1, 2018, https://
groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.cult-movies/ZpYl_YYPInQ.
123. Rock, post in “*I* Ancient Hippies,” alt.fan.pratchett, January 25,
1996, accessed April 1, 2018, https://groups.google.com/forum/
#!topic/alt.fan.pratchett/LV0y8pEgJ4s.
124. Hilderbrand, Inherent Vice, 163.
125. Andrew Bunch and Jake, posts in “Evangelist with Gas Problems,” alt.
video.tape-trading, March 26 and 27, 1996, accessed April 1, 2018, alt.
video.tape-trading, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.
video.tape-trading/2kaiCiNE_hM.
126. Brother Russell, Brother Russell’s Radio Jihad: Starring: Melba Jackson,
Vinyl Communications, 1996, CD; and ibid., Melba Comes Alive!, Vinyl
Communications, 1997, CD.
127. John D. H. Downing, Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and
Social Movements, Rev. ed. (Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2001), 140.
128. A list of the products that Brother Russell offered for sale online, and
a link to his now-defunct website (dated July 2, 1998), appears on the
Church of the SubGenius website; see Brother Russell, “Russell Media
Underground Catalog,” last modified July 2, 1998, accessed April
1, 2018, http://www.subgenius.com/updates/5-99news/X0018_
Russell_Media_Underg.html.
129. Brother O’Nottigan, Skype interview by author, May 9, 2013.
130. For archived clips of The Mark and Brian Show, see “The Unofficial
Mark and Brian Archive—By the Fans, for the Fans,” accessed April 1,
2018, https://archive.org/details/MarkAndBrian.
131. An archived version of “The Original…Pastor Gas” website, from
January 25, 1999, can be found at, accessed January 29, 2015, http://
web.archive.org/web/19990125102013/http:/www.pastorgas.com/.
132. Back Cover, The Door, January/February 2001. The first advertisement
for the collection appeared in The Door, November/December 2000.
133. See Brother Bob and the Gospel of Greed, VHS.
134. Brother O’Nottigan, Skype interview by author, May 9, 2013.
135. Misteradio, post in “QUEEN BEE BARBECUE!” March 12, 1996,
accessed April 1, 2018, rec.radio.broadcasting, https://groups.google.
com/forum/#!topic/rec.radio.broadcasting/hQsaKRXwoJ0. The site
112  D. J. BEKKERING

mentioned (no longer available) was located at http://home.aol.com/

misteradio.
136. Kev, post in “Farting Movie?” October 1, 1996, accessed April 1, 2018, alt.
cult-movies, https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.cult-movies/
GuGlpvemCY4.
137. An archived version of the website, from February 12, 1998,
accessed April 1, 2018, can be found at https://web.archive.org/
web/19980212131958/http://davids.com/david/dnm.html#movies.
138. Wes Simpson and Howard Greenfield, IPTV and Internet Video:
Expanding the Reach of Television Broadcasting, 2nd ed. (Burlington:
Focal Press, 2009), 154.
139. Hilderbrand, Inherent Vice, 226, 238.
140. For YouTube as a social networking site, see Burgess and Green,
YouTube, 58–59.
141. See archived versions of the “Pastor Gas” website from February 4, 2005,
accessed April 1, 2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20050204062520/
http://pastorgas.com/index.html and April 10, 2008, accessed April 1,
2018, http://web.archive.org/web/20080410210742/http://www.pas-
torgas.com/index.html.
142. Brother O’Nottigan, Skype interview by author, May 9, 2013.
143. Robert Hashemian, “YouTube Copyright Trouble,” Hashemian Blog,
March 14, 2007, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.hashemian.com/
blog/2007/03/youtube-copyright-trouble.htm.
144. For issues related to copyright on YouTube and the DMCA, see
Hilderbrand, Inherent Vice, 238–243.
145. See “Copyright Infringement Notification Requirements,” YouTube
Help, accessed April 1, 2018, https://support.google.com/youtube/
answer/6005900?hl=en.
146. See “Counter Notification Basics,” YouTube Help, accessed April 1,
2018, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2807684?hl=en;
“Copyright Strike Basics,” YouTube Help, accessed April 1, 2018,
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2814000?hl=en.
147. Hashemian, “YouTube Copyright Trouble.”
148. Joel Telling, “Banned from YouTube,” Joel Telling Dot Com, February
25, 2011, accessed November 27, 2011, http://joeltelling.posterous.
com/?tag=dmca. (site no longer available). For fair use provisions for
remixes that “create new meaning for the source material,” see “What
is Fair Use?” YouTube, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.youtube.
com/yt/copyright/fair-use.html.
149. Scott K. Parks, “Disgraced Dallas Televangelist Robert Tilton Has New
Life, Third Wife in Miami,” The Dallas Morning News, May 28, 2009.
 4  FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM …  113

150. See Denis J. Bekkering, “From Televangelist to Intervangelist: The

Emergence of the Streaming Video Preacher,” Journal of Religion and
Popular Culture 23, no. 2 (2011): 101–117.
151. This video portal, which now contains many broken links, can be found
at “Word of Faith Worldwide Church,” accessed April 1, 2018, http://
roberttilton.rbm.tv/.
152. Live service broadcast on www.roberttilton.rbm.tv, April 7, 2012.
153. Randall Balmer suggested that a similar technique was used in Jimmy
Swaggart’s television ministry: “The last time I had seen Swaggart on
television, which was several years ago, it had occurred to me that all the
camera angles had been rather narrow, suggesting that they were trying
to cover up for the fact that the congregation was small”: ibid., Mine
Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 4th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2006), 278.
154. For “brand messages” and the televangelist Joel Osteen, see Einstein,
Brands of Faith, 124–126.
155. Fiske, “The Cultural Economy of Fandom,” 30.
156. Brother O’Nottigan, Skype interview by author, May 9, 2013.
157. Gasmonso, “Robert Tilton Is Pastor Gas,” Religious Freaks, last modi-
fied February 26, 2006, accessed April 1, 2018, http://religiousfreaks.
com/2006/02/26/robert-tilton-is-pastor-gas/.
158. See “Farting Preacher 2 Fart Harder,” YouTube video, 4:21, posted
by Requiem 20101, October 24, 2010, https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=82e283rqxrY. Die Hard 2: Die Harder, directed
by John McTiernan (1990; Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox Home
Entertainment, 2007), DVD.
159. For the rise of digital video editing tools beginning in the 1980s, and
their increasing accessibility to everyday individuals, see Chris Meigh-
Andrews, A History of Video Art, 2nd ed. (New York: Bloomsbury
Academic, 2014), 310–317.
160. See hideadbillymayshere’s, accessed April 1, 2018, YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/hideadbillymayshere.
161. See drac16’s YouTube channel, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.
youtube.com/user/drac16/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_index=2.
162. See comments appended to “Open It Up,” YouTube video, 3:09,
posted by drac16, June 14, 2009, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=06huSREHBns&feature=relmfu.
163. See Brother Randall, Snake Oil: For Fans of TV Preachers and Related
Kooky Khristian Kulture, accessed April 1, 2018, http://snakeoilblog.
blogspot.ca. For Robert Tilton as his “hero,” see ibid., The Unofficial
Robert Tilton Fan Club Newsletter, 1.
114  D. J. BEKKERING

164. 
Brother Randall, “Robert Tilton: A History in Flatulence,” Snake
Oil: For Fans of TV Preachers and Related Kooky Kristian Kulture,
September 9, 2009, accessed April 1, 2018, http://snakeoilblog.blog-
spot.ca/2009/09/robert-tilton-history-in-flatulence.html.
165. Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New
York: New York University Press, 2006), 13.
166. “YOUTUBERS REACT TO FARTING PREACHER,” YouTube video,
9:52, posted by FBE, October 10, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=PYsBCa-v50U&t=93s.
167. See, for example, “Levi, G. and Judah Watch the Farting Preacher,”
YouTube video, 1:29, posted by Kimberly Morrison, September 26, 2013,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJovX9at7ro&t=26s; “Preachers
Reaction to the Farting Preacher,” YouTube video, 6:19, posted
by PurpleBuffaloStudios, March 31, 2012, http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=69fWz_sg75s; “Grandma Jodi Reacts to Farting
Preacher (HYSTERICAL),” YouTube video, 2:33, posted by Austin
Fennecken, September 30, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=m-S8zZ0PZA4.
168. See “Afro Ninja,” Tosh.0: Hoodies (2009; Los Angeles: Paramount,
2012), DVD.
169. See Rose Helens-Hart, “Promoting Fan Labor and ‘All Things Web’: A
Case Study of Tosh.0,” Transformative Works and Cultures 15 (2014):
n.p., accessed April 1, 2018, https://journal.transformativeworks.org/
index.php/twc/article/view/491/424.
 CHAPTER 5

Tammy Faye Bakker, Campy Fandom,

and Ludicrous Tragedy

The fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race (2012), a quasi-parodic

fashion/modeling reality show, featured thirteen hopefuls looking to
take the title of “America’s next drag superstar.”1 A production of World
of Wonder, the company that had brought the Robert Tilton Fan Club
to British viewers through Made in the USA (1992), the show was
hosted by RuPaul Charles, undoubtedly the world’s most famous drag
queen.2 The season’s opening episode was titled “RuPocalypse Now!,”
a play on Francis Ford Coppola’s war epic Apocalypse Now (1979), and
had each contestant assemble a piece of “post-apocalyptic couture” to
wear in a runway competition.3 Walking through a bustling pink sewing
room, RuPaul, wearing a gray men’s suit, approaches contestant Aaron
Coady—stage name “Sharon Needles.” RuPaul asks Coady about his
dress-in-progress, and then turns his attention to his left arm: “I noticed
you have a Tammy Faye Bakker tattoo on your arm there.” The cam-
era focuses on the black portrait of the deceased televangelist (d. 2007)
smiling through pooling tears, and underneath which “Tammy Faye” is
written in gothic lettering. “I do,” Coady replies, “She was a huge idol
to me as a kid. I didn’t even know she was selling Christianity. I thought
she was selling me makeup.”
This chapter and the next outline how an unexpected fan following
of Tammy Faye Bakker (later Tammy Faye Messner) helped transform
her from a widely derided religious fake into a celebrated gay icon,
and exemplar of an allegedly authentic Christianity. With her husband

© The Author(s) 2018 115

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_5
116  D. J. BEKKERING

Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye led “Praise the Lord” (PTL), the quintes-
sential 1980s television ministry.4 PTL’s sanctified spectacle and gos-
pel of fun and prosperity was a magnet for both supporters and vocal
critics, with many of the latter mocking and denouncing Tammy Faye
for her extreme makeup, flashy style, and frequent emotional dis-
plays. Much like Robert Tilton, Tammy Faye would also attract an
unintended, irony-inflected fan following, composed of gay men who
viewed her through the lens of camp. For these “campy” fans, Tammy
Faye was a tragicomic, relatable yet ridiculous, symbol of suffering and
perseverance.5
This chapter begins by examining a first wave of campy fans that sur-
rounded Tammy Faye during the 1980s, a decade that saw PTL reach
soaring heights before falling apart due to financial and sexual scandals.
Tammy Faye’s early campy fans loved the melodrama of the Bakkers’
struggles and scandals, and were greatly amused by her excesses and
penchant for over-the-top emotions. Some such fans, including those
discussed in this chapter, would poach from PTL and Tammy Faye’s
persona to construct their own campy media and performances.
Drenched in irony and often parodic, these creations tended to fea-
ture a critical edge, targeting conservative Christian frameworks of sex,
gender, and family that Tammy Faye endorsed and embodied, as well
as her controversial materialism. While many of Tammy Faye’s first
campy fans, therefore, engaged in evaluative Recreational Christianity,
they could also genuinely identify with her public suffering and perse-
verance, which intersected with their own social marginalization as gay
men. Although somewhat muted during the first wave of campy fan-
dom, these points of identification would be increasingly emphasized
beginning in the mid-1990s, as gay-oriented media started moving
from the cultural margins to the American mainstream. In ­collaboration
with a selection of campy fans turned influential television ­executives,
Tammy Faye would actively engage with a kinder, gentler camp
aesthetic—tentative steps that would eventually result in a markedly
successful rebranding.
Tamara Faye LaValley was born in 1942 in International Falls,
Minnesota, a town near the Canadian border, into a family of modest
means. Her religious birth came at the age of ten, when she received
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of glossolalia at her mother’s
Assemblies of God church. Years later, she underwent another experience
which, she claimed, “changed my thinking for the rest of my life.” In
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  117

defiance of her denomination’s strict stance against makeup, she first put
on mascara, and then the “the biggest sin of all – lipstick,” at the encour-
agement of a friend. Little did she know the complex significance that
such “sinful” cosmetics would come to have in her life.6
In 1960, while attending an Assemblies of God college in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Tammy Faye fell in love with Jim Bakker, a
dynamic young man hailing from Muskegon, Michigan.7 The pair soon
married, and left school to try their luck in the adventurous world of
itinerant revival preaching. By 1965, they had found their way to televi-
sion ministry, producing a children’s program broadcast through future
televangelism superstar Pat Robertson’s station in Portsmouth, Virginia.
This largely ad-libbed effort centered on a troupe of homemade pup-
pets including “Susie Moppet,” a sharp-tongued little girl performed
by Tammy Faye, and which she had fashioned from a pig-shaped sham-
poo bottle.8 The following year, the pair moved into adult programming
with The 700 Club, a talk/variety show that foreshadowed their future
projects.
The Bakkers’ success, however, was not without trials and contro-
versy. Tammy Faye, who gave birth to daughter Tammy Sue in 1970,
would later lament the negative impact of her husband’s driven nature
on their young family. “I began to feel left out of Jim’s life,” she wrote,
“His whole life became television.”9 In 1972 came a rift with Robertson,
which journalist Charles Shepard partially attributed to Jim’s ambition
and ego, as well as the couple’s questionable expenses.10 The following
year, the Bakkers established the Trinity Broadcasting Network with Jan
and Paul Crouch in California, only to have the Crouches, according
to Tammy Faye’s account, stage a hostile takeover.11 Left on their own
again, the Bakkers decamped to Charlotte, North Carolina, where they
founded the Praise the Lord television network. By the late 1970s, the
Bakkers had built PTL up into a satellite broadcasting concern centered
on “Heritage USA,” a theme park cum television studio in Fort Mill,
South Carolina.12
The flagship program of the PTL network was The PTL Club, a talk/
variety show featuring celebrity guests, musical acts, and constant appeals
for donations. The PTL Club conveyed and evidenced the Bakkers’ gos-
pel of positivity and prosperity, and the couple visually represented these
values.13 In Tammy Faye’s case, this involved wearing bright and sug-
gestive clothing (at least judged by conservative Christian standards), as
well as plenty of shiny jewelry and layers of makeup.14 Communication
118  D. J. BEKKERING

scholar Stewart Hoover, drawing on viewer interviews, argued that

Tammy Faye’s mixing of the gospel with “flashiness, materialism, and
provocativeness” made her a “dissonant symbol” for Christian audi-
ences. While many viewers were concerned about Tammy Faye’s appar-
ent immersion in the “trappings of the secular world,” they also believed
that she was “authentic at the core”—a sincere, if naïve and misguided,
Christian celebrity.15 For many of these faithful viewers, the televange-
list’s frequent emotional displays, caused by all manner of personal and
ministry struggles, and often involving torrents of tears, helped “con-
nect” them to the “real” Tammy Faye.16
For many other observers, however, Tammy Faye’s tears were less
markers of genuine suffering than evidence of her emotional instabil-
ity, calculated insincerity, and/or overall ridiculousness. Combined
with her extreme style and big-money ministry, this made the tele-
vangelist a prime target for mainstream comedy. In 1981, the SCTV
Network, an influential Canadian sketch comedy program, aired a par-
ody featuring comedian Catherine O’Hara in the role of Tammy Faye.17
The context for the bit was a long-running battle between the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and PTL over how funds donated
to the ministry were being used, compared with on-air promises made by
the Bakkers. Characteristically, the Bakkers portrayed themselves as vic-
tims of government attempts to curtail religious freedom.18 A faux com-
mercial for “Mayberline (sic) super-thick industrial mascara”—“It works
like a miracle!”—the segment features O’Hara, with a bouffant blond
hairdo and glittering earrings, sitting at a desk on a flower-filled stage,
proclaiming her ministry’s innocence as black-stained tears run down her
face: “They can audit us as much as they want, but they ain’t gonna find
nothin.’ ‘Cos we’re clean, praise Him, we are clean!” “You may not like
me, or the way I wear my makeup. And you might not even believe a
thing I say,” O’Hara concludes, “But that shouldn’t stop you from hav-
ing eternally beautiful lashes.”
Such biting mainstream comedy, while widespread, is not the only
way that humor has been used to make sense of the “dissonance” asso-
ciated with Tammy Faye’s public persona. There has also been the
approach of camp, an aesthetic that grew out of the social experiences
of gay men. Susan Sontag famously described camp as a “sensibility,”
the “essence” of which is “love of the unnatural: of artifice and exag-
geration.” Akin to Jeffrey Sconce’s idea of paracinema, the camp sen-
sibility, in Sontag’s view, is generally applied to “bad art” or “kitsch”
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  119

that exemplifies “the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate, and the
naïve.”19 On one hand, Sontag suggests, camp appropriation of com-
modities of the “mass culture” involves “detachment” and a “playful”
tongue-in-cheek style. It also, however, includes “a kind of love, love for
human nature…Camp taste identifies with what it is enjoying.”20 More
recently, Corey Creekmur and Alexander Doty distilled Sontag’s argu-
ment into their own description of camp as an “attitude at once…affec-
tionate and ironic.”21
For more than two decades, Tammy Faye attracted unintended fans
in the form of gay men who viewed her through the lens of camp, some
of whom also used her as a cultural resource to construct their own
media and performances. Much like some of Robert Tilton’s ironic
fans, these campy fans appreciated Tammy Faye in both ironic and
genuine ways; however, their fandom also intertwined with their sex-
ual minority status. A better understanding of Tammy Faye’s cultural
significance for gay men begins with a brief look at a celebrity synon-
ymous with camp: actress and singer Judy Garland. Cultural critic
Richard Dyer connects Garland’s camp appeal to the “ordinariness” of
early roles in which she portrayed the very “image of heterosexual fam-
ily normality”—most famously farm girl Dorothy Gale in The Wizard
of Oz (1939).22 Such roles could be read as amusingly campy for their
“failed seriousness,” especially in light of the fact that Garland’s off-
screen life would turn out far from normal, filled as it was with addic-
tion and relationship issues.23 This incongruity was also key to the
genuine affection that many gay men had for Garland. They too turned
out “not-ordinary,” for which they, like Garland, had experienced much
“suffering.” Rather than wallow in despair, however, Garland embod-
ied the show-business dictum “the show must go on,” symbolizing, in
Dyer’s words, a “combination of strength and suffering, and precisely
the one in the face of the other.”24 Thus, Garland could serve as an
inspirational figure, spurring marginalized gay men to carry on in the
face of adversity.
The paired themes of suffering and survival likewise stood at the
core of Tammy Faye’s resonance for her campy fans, who found her a
relatable symbol of vulnerability, victimization, and perseverance, but
also laughed at and even mocked her larger-than-life trials and associ-
ated emotionality. This tension is reflected in a definition of camp fea-
tured in an unlikely source: a 1997 episode of the animated sitcom The
Simpsons.25 In the episode, dim-witted Simpson patriarch Homer comes
120  D. J. BEKKERING

to terms with the arrival of John—an openly gay man portrayed by leg-
endary camp auteur John Waters—in his hometown.26 While visiting
John’s collectibles store, Homer openly wonders why anyone would
want to buy his kitschy merchandise. “It’s camp!” John enthusiastically
explains, “The tragically ludicrous? The ludicrously tragic?” This latter
concept of “ludicrous tragedy” captures the essence of Tammy Faye’s
camp appeal as it related to the spectacular absurdity of her public trials,
which amused her campy fans, but also offered opportunities for genuine
identification vis-a-vis suffering and perseverance.27
The concept of ludicrous tragedy threaded throughout the two
waves of Tammy Faye campy fandom discussed in this chapter and the
next. What distinguished these waves was a markedly different critical
edge, with the first wave featuring sharper criticisms of Tammy Faye’s
political and religious views. Camp’s political potential has been recog-
nized by scholars such as Moe Meyer, who highlights how “marginal-
ized and disenfranchised” gay men have applied “alternative signifying
codes” to mainstream culture—“tactics and strategies” that may func-
tion as “oppositional critiques.”28 Activities associated with the first
wave of Tammy Faye campy fandom, largely conducted within the
American cultural underground, often targeted and challenged con-
servative sex and gender frameworks endorsed by powerful Christians,
and which were vividly written upon the televangelist’s face. Moreover,
these activities often involved mockery of, and ironic play with, the tel-
evangelist’s controversial prosperity gospel, thereby critiquing her reli-
gious authenticity, and at times evidencing another style of Recreational
Christianity.
The work of Dick Richards and his castmates at The American Music
Show (TAMS), an Atlanta-based, public access program that aired weekly
from the early 1980s to 2004, offers valuable insights into the first wave
of Tammy Faye campy fandom.29 A gay man and lifelong Presbyterian,
Richards revealed during our interview that like Tammy Faye, he had
also worked for Pat Robertson, operating a television camera “for a few
months” in the late 1970s at one of the preacher’s stations in Atlanta.30
As he recalled, Robertson’s conservative stance on sexuality was not
reflected in the day-to-day operation of the station, as “there were
lots of gays that worked there.”31 Richards would sporadically tune in
to the Bakkers’ broadcasts throughout the 1980s: “maybe fifteen or
twenty minutes, here or there.” Much like Jan Johnson of Zontar, he
often watched while “stoned,” which enhanced the entertainment value
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  121

of Jim and Tammy Faye’s “continuing drama,” and the ceaseless dona-
tion appeals: “you just could tell they were heading somewhere crazy
with all of their money needs.” Although he primarily enjoyed PTL in a
tongue-in-cheek fashion, Richards admitted that he also admired certain
elements of the network’s programming, such as the talented featured
singers, and the Bakkers’ “nice outfits.”
This campy blend of ironic amusement and genuine admiration would
pattern Richards’ take on Tammy Faye, whom he found amusingly
strange yet also endearing. For example, he described her show Tammy’s
House Party—a lighthearted, often ad-libbed program with crafts, cook-
ing, and musical performances—as “so wacky,” but also “really good.”32
While Tammy Faye herself, with her outrageous style and cutesy
Christian demeanor, was in many ways ridiculous to him, Richards was
amazed by her seemingly boundless “energy,” and respected her willing-
ness to be “up for anything” in the name of television. Notably, he also
pointed out that she seemed “so vulnerable all the time” and was con-
stantly caught up in “traumatic” situations, astutely suggesting that this
was part of her appeal for gay men. Although he did not reveal whether
these aspects of Tammy Faye’s public persona were personally meaning-
ful for him during our interview, Richards would highlight the preacher’s
ludicrous tragedy on TAMS, for which he worked as both a producer
and actor.
In our interview, Richards described TAMS as a “variety show, soap
opera kind of thing.” In the same vein, cultural scholar Tara McPherson
has called it a “kind of alternative variety show,” put on by a “wacky
assortment of misfit southerners.”33 Dripping in camp, irony, satire,
and parody, TAMS, according to Richards, was influenced by “French
Absurdist” drama, and featured often improvisational play with what he
referred to as cultural “oddities.”34 This included American televange-
lism in general, and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in particular. While
public access television, by its very nature, tends to be ephemeral, Dick
Richards was a fastidious archivist of TAMS and other participatory video
projects of the era. He has since uploaded many of his recordings to
YouTube, including a travelogue of a day trip he made with his parents
to PTL’s Heritage USA during Christmas break in 1985, which aired on
TAMS on an unspecified date.35
By the mid-1980s, Heritage USA was well on its way to becoming
the third most popular theme park in the country, behind Walt Disney
World and Disneyland. PTL copied the all-American style of the Disney
122  D. J. BEKKERING

parks, and likewise sought to provide visitors a safe and clean entertain-
ment experience, albeit one steeped in a cheerful and prosperous evan-
gelicalism.36 Marketing the gospel was Heritage USA’s raison d’être, and
visitors could purchase Christian collectibles such as “a plastic crown of
thorns complete with red ‘blood,’” or “a crèche” containing a “praying
Santa.” As Thomas O’Guinn and Russell Belk suggest, while the faith-
ful may have viewed these objects as “sacred relics,” many others saw
“Christian kitsch” that was “tacky” at best, and deeply “inauthentic” at
worst.37 Such tensions vis-à-vis religious authenticity were inherent to
Heritage USA more broadly.
The lens of camp allowed Dick Richards to both sincerely appreciate
aspects of the park, and derive unintended amusement from its pervasive
kitschiness. While discussing his visit during our interview, Richards at
times praised Heritage USA in a rather straightforward manner. “They
kept it very well, it was nice and clean,” he recalled. His TAMS trave-
logue, however, emphasized the park’s ironic amusement potential, in
line with the show’s overarching style. Sitting next to a television and
VCR on a cluttered set, Richards and castmate Potsy Duncan comment
on footage of his trip to the “fabulous place.” Richards enthusiastically
highlights some of Heritage USA’s kitschiest features as they appear on
the screen, including “the famous Heritage USA plastic animals,” “Hark!
The Herald Angels Boulevard,” and an animatronic display featuring
Tammy Faye’s Susie Moppet puppet. While Richards plays the straight
man, Duncan provides tongue-in-cheek asides; for example, her response
to an oversized roadside Christmas card with a message from the Bakkers
to departing visitors: “We love you very much.” “That’s so true too,”
Duncan agrees in deadpan style, “Every time I see them I feel that they
just love me so very much.”
Duncan’s sly jab at the Bakkers’ pseudo-personal assurances of affec-
tion evidenced the subtle critical edge of the TAMS segment, as did
Richards’ performance at the conclusion of his travelogue. After Duncan
notes local opposition to PTL’s expansion plans, Richards mentions
Tammy Faye’s latest musical call to perseverance, “Don’t Give Up
(On the Brink of a Miracle),” before turning to the Bakkers’ much-
publicized marital issues.38 “One time,” Richards states, while mock blub-
bering and wiping away an imaginary tear, “Jim and Tammy almost got
a…a divorce.” “Don’t get so upset Dick, I know,” Duncan replies with
faux sympathy, and evidently struggling to keep from laughing. Through
more fake tears, Richards adds that the Bakkers managed to make it
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  123

through their marital low point, and were thus an inspiration to other
couples going through a rough patch: “they got counseling, and they
put their marriage back together. And…we hope that’ll happen to some
other groups that we might know that might be in trouble, and thinking
of breaking up.”
This campy approach to purportedly ludicrous tragedy within the
Bakkers’ marriage points to a critical undercurrent running through the
segment, Richards’ visit to Heritage USA, and much of the first wave
of Tammy Faye campy fandom, targeting conservative Christian under-
standings of the family, gender, and sexuality. As historian George
Marsden writes, “issues of family and sexuality proved the key that
unlocked evangelical potential for overt political involvement” begin-
ning in the 1970s, with evangelicals battling progressive social move-
ments, such as the push for gay rights, that threatened their vision of an
America built on pious, patriotic, and heteronormative nuclear families.39
While PTL was not as explicitly political as other television ministries,
it certainly endorsed conservative norms.40 Heritage USA, for example,
promoted clean Christian family fun, marketing a nostalgic vision of an
America that never existed, yet which offered faithful visitors respite from
troubling social changes in the outside world.41 Indeed, Darren Grem
has noted that buildings for PTL projects which might disrupt this fan-
tasy, such as facilities for “unwed mothers who chose birth instead of
abortion,” were intentionally placed on the park’s margins.42
Dick Richards’ very presence at Heritage USA as an openly gay man,
then, much like his fake tearing up over the Bakkers’ marital problems,
subtly critiqued conservative Christian values. In a similar vein, his
Heritage USA travelogue featured shots at the materialism on display at
the park, as well as the Bakkers’ prosperity gospel and fundraising. Early
in the segment, for example, Richards acts confused about a large dio-
rama centered on the slogan “Can I Give Candy?” Duncan wryly sug-
gests that “it has something to do with raising money.” Elsewhere, the
pair express tongue-in-cheek awe at evidence of affluence and commerce:
the “lovely condominium homes,” “customized vans,” and “very nice
cars” of residents; the shops and eateries that filled the park’s indoor
mall, Main Street USA; and a “fleet of three stretch limousines” parked
outside of the Heritage Grand Hotel. Such camp-inflected Recreational
Christianity, criticizing the prosperity gospel and conservative family,
sexuality, and gender mores, would feature heavily in the first wave of
124  D. J. BEKKERING

Tammy Faye campy fandom, which swelled in tandem with scandals that
would bring the televangelist’s ludicrous tragedy to its widest audience.
In 1987, The Charlotte Observer, which had long investigated PTL’s
finances, reported that the ministry had intentionally oversold mem-
berships offering contributors a lifetime of annual three-night stays
at Heritage USA. The newspaper would also charge that some of the
money donated for hotel construction costs had been secretly used for
other purposes, including lucrative bonuses for Jim Bakker. Of all the
shadowy financial transactions associated with PTL, one revealed by
The Charlotte Observer would stand out in the public mind: payments
made to a young woman named Jessica Hahn, who claimed that Bakker
had raped her in a Florida hotel room in 1980. Although he admitted
to a brief sexual encounter with Hahn, Bakker insisted that it had been
consensual—a lapse of judgment brought on by the stress of running
PTL, and his marital issues. What followed was an extended scandal-
ous (melo)drama, which included bombshell claims that Bakker had
further violated his sacred vow of marriage by engaging in homosexual
dalliances.43
Attempting to fend off a rumored takeover of their beleaguered min-
istry by fellow Assemblies of God televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, the
Bakkers would partner with Baptist Jerry Falwell. As the Bakkers would
later claim, Falwell agreed to assume temporary control over PTL, only
to initiate a deceitful coup.44 In response to the Bakkers’ complaints
against him in a May 26, 1987 broadcast of ABC’s Nightline, Falwell
hosted a press conference at Heritage USA the following morning.45 The
preacher blasted Jim Bakker for his “greed” and lack of proper “repent-
ance.” He highlighted PTL’s “fiscal irregularities,” and read, from a
sheet of Tammy Faye’s own stationery, a list of requests that the Bakkers
had allegedly made in exchange for their departure, including a “life-
time” of three-hundred-thousand-dollar annual payments for Jim, and a
third of that for Tammy Faye. “Jim,” Falwell dramatically stated, looking
out at the sea of reporters and cameras, “I must tell you that I would be
doing a disservice to God, as much as I love you, and care for you, and
will pray for you…to allow you to come back here now, or ever.”46
Falwell also used his prominent media platform to portray Jim Bakker
as a sexual predator and deviant. Not only did the latter preacher have an
evil encounter with Jessica Hahn, Falwell charged that Bakker had also
made “homosexual advances” to associates.47 This claim was tied to the
testimony of yet another televangelist, John Ankerberg, who portrayed
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  125

PTL as a den of sexual iniquity, with Bakker himself often initiating

homosexual activity.48 Forwarding these allegations of sexual sin, in such
a public forum, helped Falwell enhance his own status as a powerful “foe
of unjust homosexual authority.”49 Moreover, he would have under-
stood the seriousness of such claims against a minister of the Assemblies
of God. The denomination framed homosexual activity—a purported
perversion of God’s plan of heterosexual monogamy—as stark evidence
of an individual’s failure to truly live for Christ.50 This was particularly
troubling when the offender was in a leadership position, and it was Jim
Bakker’s alleged “bisexual activity” that led the denomination to defrock
him. “The evangelical world feels like wrongdoing and sin have conse-
quences,” explained Assemblies of God secretary Juleen Turnage, who
added that the denomination took homosexual behavior so seriously
because it was the sin “most difficult to overcome.”51
Although Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker preached love and compas-
sion toward homosexuals, they maintained that homosexual activity was
sinful.52 Accordingly, the couple would strongly deny Falwell’s allega-
tions. On the same day as Falwell’s Heritage USA press conference, the
Bakkers had a satellite interview with Nightline’s Ted Koppel.53 Sitting
on a sofa in their Palm Springs vacation home, Jim, casually dressed in
khakis, and Tammy Faye, wearing heavy makeup and bright red (her
“power color,” as she would later explain), offered their side of the
story.54 “I admitted that I’ve had a fifteen-to twenty-minute relation-
ship with Jessica Hahn,” acknowledged Jim, again denying that rape was
involved. As for the claims of homosexual behavior, Jim challenged his
accusers “to come forward publicly with this proof.” “I’ve been married
to this man for twenty-six years,” added a smiling Tammy Faye, who
affirmed that he was an ideal evangelical pater familias: “He’s not homo-
sexual, or is he bisexual. He’s a wonderful, loving husband.”
The tone of Koppel’s interview would change considerably after he
brought up the spending habits of the “shopping machine” Tammy
Faye. Intended to shame the televangelist for her money-oriented life-
style, Koppel’s label instead prompted broad smiles and giggles from
both Bakkers. “I do like to shop. I’m probably well known for my shop-
ping,” responded a beaming Tammy Faye. “But I am a bargain hunter,”
she continued, playfully pointing a finger at the camera. Rather than
shop “extravagantly,” as Koppel suggested, Tammy Faye revealed that
she frequented budget shops “like T.J. Maxx…and the outlet stores.”
“I enjoy shopping,” she explained, “it’s kind of a hobby to calm my
126  D. J. BEKKERING

nerves—Better than a psychiatrist!” “Well, it may not be cheaper, the

way you’ve been going at it,” Koppel played along, causing Jim to laugh
more.
Tammy Faye’s buoyant and seemingly naïve responses helped the
couple earn tongue-in-cheek acclaim from Los Angeles Times television
critic Howard Rosenberg, who wrote that “the Bakkers were brilliant,”
offering performances “shaped and polished from years of teary preach-
ing.” “TV just does not get any better than this,” he raved, adding that
the Bakkers were even “downright adorable.”55 Predictably, some press
coverage of Koppel’s interview featured jokes targeting Tammy Faye’s
physical appearance. Jack McKinney of the Philadelphia Daily News,
for example, described Tammy Faye as her husband’s “Avon lady,”
while the Chicago Tribune’s Joan Beck wrote, “(s)crape all the makeup
off Tammy’s face and you’ll find Jimmy Hoffa.”56 Widespread in main-
stream and tabloid media related to the Bakkers’ scandals, such humor,
like comedic criticisms of her emotional excesses and “shopaholism,”
challenged Tammy Faye’s religious authenticity by associating her with
the material rather than spiritual.57 These aspects of her public persona,
however, would also be appropriated for underground camp-inflected
performances, featuring mixtures of ironic and genuine praise, themes of
suffering and survival, and implicit and explicit criticisms. Such perfor-
mances were hinted at, albeit unintentionally, by Peter Harriman of the
Moscow-Pullman Daily News, who faulted Koppel for “failing to substan-
tiate the perfectly plain observation that Tammy Faye Bakker is a short,
squat man in drag.”58
Steven Schacht and Lisa Underwood succinctly describe “drag
queens…as individuals who publicly perform being women in front on an
audience that knows they are ‘men.’”59 In an early study of the phenome-
non, anthropologist Esther Newton situated drag alongside camp as “the
most representative and widely used symbols of homosexuality in the
English speaking world.”60 Tammy Faye has long been parodied by drag
artists, with such parodies belonging to Newton’s category of “slapstick”
drag, which relies on “gross comic effects” and “ridiculous” appearances,
actions, and situations.61 Tammy Faye drag acts can also be considered
“campy” drag, as they have tended to emphasize the televangelist’s ludi-
crous tragedies and over-the-top perseverance.62 It is little surprise, then,
that drag parodies of the preacher exploded in popularity in the wake of
the Bakkers’ scandals, when her larger-than-life, ridiculous yet potentially
relatable struggles were most prominently in the public eye.
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  127

One videotaped performance from 1987, which was uploaded years

later to YouTube, captures drag queen Heather Fontaine, in the guise
of Tammy Faye, performing at a Tampa, Florida gay bar.63 Fontaine’s
set is based on a series of interpretive lip syncs, a mainstay of slapstick
drag.64 Wearing a white, high-collared dress, curly blond wig, and layers
of shiny makeup, Fontaine unfolds a musical narrative of Tammy Faye’s
romantic life for an enthusiastic audience. She starts with the Bakkers’
halcyon early days, offering up a demure lip sync of Dusty Springfield’s
romantic, blue-eyed soul hit “Son of a Preacher Man” (1968). At the
conclusion of the second chorus, however, she abruptly shifts to country
star Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” (1968), which threatens violence against
the “other woman.” As the song kicks in, Fontaine pulls from a plastic
shopping bag a copy of the November 1987 issue of Playboy magazine,
featuring Jessica Hahn on the cover. As the crowd claps to the song’s
beat, Fontaine shakes her fist at, and mouths the song’s warnings to, the
sun-glassed, sultry Hahn. After a snippet of Peggy Lee’s wistful “Is That
All There Is?” (1969)—a look back at lost love—Fontaine finishes with
Melissa Manchester’s “Don’t Cry Out Loud” (1978), a call to survival
and stoicism that she hilariously subverts by spraying water onto her
face from a hidden bottle, causing her eye makeup to pool into two inky
blotches.65
Contained within Fontaine’s rapturously received performance were
comedic criticisms of Tammy Faye’s conservative Christian worldview.
Most obviously, and akin to Dick Richards’ work on TAMS, Fontaine
highlighted the precarity of even faith-based, heterosexual nuclear fam-
ilies by poking fun at the Bakkers’ marital problems. More subtly, how-
ever, Fontaine’s use of drag itself challenged conservative Christian sex
and gender norms. As Judith Butler has argued, by presenting gender
as a performative cultural construct rather than an essential trait, drag
critiques the dominant “law of heterosexual coherence,” which arti-
ficially conflates sex and gender.66 Like other conservative Christians,
Tammy Faye believed that this law was divinely ordained; however, her
own “exaggerated gender display” actually reinforced the idea of gender
as performance, and thus unintentionally intersected with the very crux
of drag.67 Poaching Tammy Faye away from conservative Christianity as
one of their own, drag queens like Heather Fontaine humorously cri-
tiqued allegedly divinely mandated sex and gender norms by amplify-
ing their subject’s hyper-feminine cosmetic, sartorial, and emotional
excesses.
128  D. J. BEKKERING

This is not to say that Fontaine’s parody was entirely critical. On

YouTube, she described the performance as a “tribute” to the recently
deceased (2007) preacher, and added the message “R.I.P. Tammy Faye”
to the clip’s conclusion, suggesting feelings of genuine identification,
and perhaps even a fan relationship. Nevertheless, the performance also
represented Recreational Christianity with an evaluative edge, as did
other contemporary drag parodies of the televangelist. Examples can be
found in online-archived footage from parties in Cherry Grove, New
York: “America’s first gay and lesbian town.”68 In one collection of pre-
scandal footage from 1986, a mustachioed “Tammy Faye,” wearing
a blond wig and large cross necklace, works her way through a boister-
ous house party.69 “Would you like to be saved?” she asks the camera-
person, “we have a special here today, it’s for $25.95. You get the PTL
All-American Hymnal, songs about Cherry Grove.” The “hymnal” was
a book covered in brown kraft paper, and titled with glitter paint. Other
products for “sale” included the audio cassette Tammy Faye Bakker Sings
‘For the Love of God’, the title of which poked fun at her debatable musi-
cal talents. Play with PTL’s financial focus was common in drag parodies
of Tammy Faye. In a second collection of post-scandal clips, dating from
1988, yet another “Tammy Faye” is crowned champion of a drag contest
at the “Ice Palace,” a popular Cherry Grove gay bar.70 “Where did you
spend all of your money?” a judge jokingly asks the tearful winner, who
wears a white, off-the-shoulder dress. As shouts of “Praise the Lord!” fill
the club, the same judge stuffs a dollar bill down the front of her gown.
Early drag parodies of Tammy Faye were, for the most part, per-
formed in contexts such as nightclubs, parties, and parades.71 Dick
Richards and TAMS, however, would bring campy Tammy Faye drag to
Atlanta public access television—part of the program’s pioneering efforts
to introduce the art form to a wider audience. This included the first
television appearances of RuPaul Charles, who would later write that
his “star was born” at TAMS.72 As McPherson notes, drag has long
had a strong “resonance” in the southern United States, and she sug-
gests that it “can be seen as a response to the excessively performative
nature of southern femininity.” She further points out the prominence of
“white trash” drag characters on TAMS, such as “DeAundra Peek” and
“Ruby Boxcar,” who were “Mary Kay gone bad, trumping even Tammy
Faye Bakker in their cosmetological finesse.” By “celebrating the mis-
fit” through such characters, McPherson argues that the show’s actors
and producers ridiculed “the etiquette-driven, rule-bound fixations of
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  129

southern culture,” and criticized an American south in which homosex-

ual behavior was “criminalized and pathologized.”73
Drag parodies of Tammy Faye Bakker on TAMS fell within
McPherson’s category of southern “Christian drag,” which, she writes,
was “intent on mocking the self-righteous and moralizing tone of right-
wing fundamentalism and the televangelist.”74 Again, Tammy Faye
would be lampooned on TAMS for the juxtaposition of her religiously
grounded sex and gender essentialism with her outrageously over-
the-top performance of womanhood, as well as, of course, for her pros-
perity gospel. Yet these drag parodies, like many others of the preacher,
were also often motivated by a sense of genuine affiliation with a
much-maligned, suffering “misfit,” with whom the gay community actu-
ally shared a common enemy. This latter point is evidenced by another
PTL-related creation from Dick Richards and his crew: a 45 rpm single
released in 1987 by Funtone USA, a TAMS-affiliated record label.75
Titled “Tickets to Heaven” and credited to the “Laughing
Matters,” the cover art of the Funtone USA single features an illus-
tration of Jim Bakker and a bejeweled Tammy Faye. Surrounding the
pair are slogans poking fun at their ministry’s broken promises, Tammy
Faye’s appearance, and Jim’s sexual indiscretions: “Free Hotel Rooms,”
“Free Make Up,” and “Free Back Rubs.” The jaunty sing-along is from
the point of view of a supposed follower who is “embarrassed” after
having “given all my money to Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye.” The
song’s catchy chorus mocks the couple’s mass-mediated and commod-
itized gospel: “Those TV preachers, they’ll give you what you wish/
They’re sellin’ tickets to heaven on their big ol’ satellite dish.” The
singers also take a shot at Tammy Faye’s extreme on-camera suffering:
“Tammy, she started crying, she tried not to make a scene/And my
heart skipped a beat as I watched her face a’ drippin’ Maybelline.” Yet
the number’s strongest attack, unleashed in the final line, is reserved
for the Bakkers’ prime antagonist: “Now good ol’ Jerry Falwell, is head
of the PTL/But if he’s selling tickets to heaven, I’d rather go to hell.”
Here, Funtone USA’s singers, a band of cultural outsiders, implicitly
aligned themselves with Jim and Tammy Faye against Falwell, whose
aggressive actions not only victimized the Bakkers, albeit in a melodra-
matic and amusing fashion, but who also set out to marginalize sexual
minorities.
Dick Richards explained during our interview that drag parodies of
Tammy Faye were fairly common on TAMS, as the character could “fit
130  D. J. BEKKERING

into any weird, bizarre situation.”76 He would later helpfully upload to

YouTube footage of one such “Tammy Faye” appearance on the recur-
ring segment “Bubba Gold’s Hour of Gold,” dating from September
14, 1989.77 The segment was hosted by the titular “Bubba Gold,” a
parody of Southern “country” prosperity televangelists performed by
Richards.78 Sporting a tan suit, loud tie, and garish blond wig, Gold
sings the show’s hymn-style theme song with a selection of TAMS stars,
on a set littered with ephemera such as posters for the sex-thriller film
Voyeur (1987), starring RuPaul Charles. Introducing the program, Gold
explains that his broadcasting reach is usually limited to the “gulf coast”
region, and that this is one of the “special occasions” that he is able to
appear in Atlanta—a play on bizarre and obscure public access television
preachers, like Jonathan Bell, who delighted ironic fans.
Following a Bible reading from “Sister Viola,” a man in TAMS’
characteristic trashy drag, which concludes with Matthew 5:14—“And
whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain (i.e. two
miles)”—Bubba Golds reveals that he received a letter from his “fellow
ministress” Tammy Faye Bakker. By this time, the Bakkers had moved to
Orlando, Florida, where they had founded a new church in a shopping
mall, returned to broadcasting in a very limited capacity, and were await-
ing Jim’s sentencing for his role in PTL’s financial fiasco.79 The camera
zooms in on the letter held by Gold, which asks supporters not only
for donations, but also to pray at least one hour per day for Jim during
his time of trial and persecution. In line with the scripture reading, and
in direct mockery of seed-faith theology, Bubba Gold and Sister Viola
affirm that they had been praying for two hours each day: “‘Cos we
know, as you give so shall you receive, and as we give, we is givin’ dou-
ble, so we is gonna be receivin’ double for that.” Gold then announces
that “we’s havin’ a Tammy-thon tonight. And we gonna give everybody
a chance to call in an’ make their donation to Tammy Faye, and her hus-
band Jim Bakker’s, cause.”
To set the stage for the evening’s “fundraising,” Bubba Gold invites
viewers to consider all “the good stuff Jim has done, so we can open up
our pockets and give twice as much as Jim has asked us.” What follows
is a remix marrying images of Jim and Tammy Faye in happier times,
appropriated from official PTL footage celebrating the couple’s anniver-
sary, with the gay disco song “Together,” by Funtone USA artists “The
Fabulous Pop Tarts.”80 The effect is a campy blend of humor at the
expense of the Bakkers’ struggles, and a touching treatment of romantic
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  131

joy and the sadness of lost love. Later in the segment, as an assembly
of TAMS actors man a bank of ceaselessly ringing telephones, “Tammy
Faye” appears, played by Richards’ partner David. Wearing a curly blond
wig, green dress, leopard shawl, and requisite piles of makeup, David
performs with a deep Minnesotan accent—perhaps a reference to Tammy
Faye’s humble upbringing in the state, yet also a hilariously unrealistic
take on her actual speaking voice.
“We need at least one million dollars for that legal bill, that giant
legal bill,” “Tammy Faye” informs viewers. She then discusses with
Bubba Gold Jim’s recent stint in a correctional facility, parodying the real
Tammy Faye’s tear-filled complaints about her husband’s incarceration
conditions on Phil Donahue’s talk show just three days before.81 “Oh
Tammy Faye,” Gold states mournfully, “it just brings tears to my eyes
when I have to think of Jim sittin’ in that cell block, with no covering at
all while he’s tryin’ to go to potty. How does he do that?” “It was just
so painful,” “Tammy Faye” replies, “for him to have to be in there with
all those convicts. And they put him on a parade, they were showin’ him
to all the men, they were lookin’ at his body. It was just terrible, Bubba
Gold, just terrible.” This joking allusion to purportedly sinful same-sex
lust was followed by a brief mention of Jerry Falwell’s alleged theft of
PTL, and a warning from “Tammy Faye” for viewers who might fail to
follow the seed-faith principle: “You got to give to get, you know, Bubba
Gold, you can’t get if you don’t give. So you people that are not giving
out there, well you can forget about getting anything, I guess!”
The first wave of campy fandom surrounding Tammy Faye Bakker
existed on the cultural fringes, and its associated media and performances
tended to emphasize the ludicrous nature of the televangelist’s spec-
tacular tragedies. This wave often also featured a style of Recreational
Christianity that comically criticized conservative Christian understand-
ings of family, sex, and gender, as well as Christianities, like Bakker’s
own, that emphasized financial success. Such criticisms, however, were
somewhat counterbalanced by a sense of genuine affection for, and iden-
tification with, the tearful television preacher. As a symbol of suffering
and perseverance, Tammy Faye resonated with the social struggles of gay
men, and they shared a common enemy in Jerry Falwell, who sought
to suppress such cultural outsiders. The respective emphases on Tammy
Faye’s ridiculousness and relatability, as will be discussed, would effec-
tively be reversed in a second wave of campy fandom that began by
the late 1990s, was largely initiated by campy fans of the televangelist,
132  D. J. BEKKERING

intersected with a broader mainstreaming of gay media, camp, and drag,

and which would prove an unexpected boon for the preacher’s tattered
career and reputation.
In 1989, Jim Bakker was sentenced to forty-five years in prison for
mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy in relation to the Heritage USA
fundraising scandal.82 Mere days after he entered a federal prison in
Alabama, the Bakkers’ nascent broadcasting efforts in Orlando abruptly
ended when they were kicked out by the owner of the shopping mall
that was their ministry’s home.83 Tammy Faye’s next move was to
reestablish the church, first at a local “piano store,” and then “an old
Tupperware training center,” with plans to build yet another church/
television studio.84 After a few Sunday services at the latter location,
however, the Orange County Zoning Board, which had permitted the
space to be used for television production, ruled to disallow church gath-
erings, citing safety concerns. Although Tammy Faye, with help from
the American Civil Liberties Union, would win the right to host services
at the site in August 1990, it would never function as a broadcasting
facility.85
In February 1991, not long after a federal appeals court, while
upholding his conviction, overturned Jim Bakker’s original forty-five year
sentence due to the “personal religious bias” of the presiding judge, the
Chicago Tribune’s Mary Schmich reported on a service at Tammy Faye’s
New Covenant Church.86 In a “big windowless room” packed with
“metal folding chairs,” Tammy Faye led “200 or so of the unshakeable
faithful” in worship. Schmich wrote that the preacher, wearing “gold
lamé high heels,” positioned herself “next to a podium that held a box
of Kleenex for her trademark tears, predicting in her earnest, girlish voice
that Jim would be home by next Sunday.” Despite her professed opti-
mism, Jim would not be released until 1994, exacerbating their marital
issues, and contributing to their divorce in 1992.87 Rumors flew that
another major factor in the marriage breakdown was Tammy Faye’s rela-
tionship with Roe Messner, a contractor for Heritage USA, close friend
of Jim, and a married man. While they denied any extramarital relations,
Messner would divorce his wife in 1993 and marry Tammy Faye, with
the pair moving to California.88
Frustrated in her attempts to return to Christian television during
the early 1990s, Tammy Faye would later recall that God revealed to
her a new way of moving forward: “secular television.”89 More specifi-
cally, her opportunity for career resurrection would lie in programming
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  133

that capitalized on her camp appeal, reflecting broader cultural shifts in

America. For one, the 1990s saw the emergence of a now-thriving “‘Gay
TV’ industry,” sustained by openly gay media professionals, and featur-
ing a marked increase in gay personalities, characters, situations, and
viewpoints on American television.90 In line with the aforementioned
mainstreaming of ironic humor, the decade also saw drag and camp gain
a stronger foothold in mainstream American culture. Writing in 2001
on what she called the “new gay visibility” in America, gender studies
scholar Suzanna Walters wondered about the effects of this mainstream-
ing on camp’s critical edge. “If camp was, at least in part, the outsider’s
way of sending up mainstream culture,” she asked, “then what happens
to this outrageous sensibility when camp is brought inside, repackaged,
and sold to gay and straight consumers alike?”91
Walters brings up the example of trendsetting drag queen RuPaul
Charles. RuPaul’s early performances, including those on TAMS, were
in a “gender fuck” style that was provocative and sexually ambiguous.92
He would find fame, however, in the guise of a glamorous supermodel
that was more palatable to wider audiences, yet, as Walters proposes, less
critically useful: “Is he the radical gender-bender, forcing straight culture
to reckon with the love that dare not speak its name? Or is he rather
the harmless side dish for an omnivorous cultural appetite(?)”93 Similarly,
the mainstreaming of camp treatments of Tammy Faye Messner involved
a dulling of the sensibility’s critical edge. Although she would continue
to serve as a source of tongue-in-cheek humor for her excesses and
scandalous past, there would be less comedic criticisms of her embodi-
ment and endorsement of conservative Christian sex, gender, and family
norms, or her prosperity gospel. In fact, the second wave of camp atten-
tion to Tammy Faye, as will be discussed in the following chapter, would
increasingly portray her as an authentic Christian, due to her purported
longstanding compassion for, and tolerance toward, gay men.
Tammy Faye would actively participate in the explicit “campifi-
cation” of her celebrity, despite not knowing much about the aes-
thetic.94 When asked in a later interview whether she considered herself
“campy,” she expressed confusion. “I guess I don’t know exactly what
campy is,” she confessed, suggesting that it might refer to her “down
to earth” nature.95 Nevertheless, Tammy Faye willingly played into the
light humor at her expense that was characteristic of the second wave of
camp attention, and would come to negotiate a middle ground between
“unintentional” and “intentional” camp.96 This was first evidenced in
134  D. J. BEKKERING

the short-lived daytime talk program The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show
(1995–1996). According to Tammy Faye, the idea for the program orig-
inated in meetings held with producer Dan Weaver, who “had been a fan
of my daily show, Tammy Faye’s House Party,” and Brian Graden, a Fox
network executive who would later serve as president of Logo, America’s
first successful gay-themed cable channel.97 Both Graden and Weaver
were openly gay, and judging by the name of the latter’s Dalmatian—
“Tammy Faye Barker”—his fan approach was likely campy.98
Tammy Faye’s costar for her new television venture was Jim J.
Bullock, an openly gay actor who had been a regular on the 1980s sit-
coms Too Close for Comfort and ALF, and whom she described as “funny
and crazy and full of boundless energy.”99 As suggested by early press
attention to the show, a key reason for their pairing was their shared his-
tory of suffering, in part at the hands of the cruel and fickle entertain-
ment and news industries. “We both have been down and out, and we
know what it’s like to have had,” Jim J. explained in an interview for
the Los Angeles Daily News—a thought finished by his new on-screen
partner: “And not to have.”100 Michael Lambert, president of one of the
companies backing the program, explained to a trade publication that
Tammy Faye’s history of “having lived through personal crisis” made her
“more empathetic as a host for this kind of show.”101 Thus, part of The
Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show’s intended appeal was that it offered two
celebrities written off as has-beens fresh opportunity for their talents to
shine.
In true camp style, these themes of suffering and survival under-
lay a program packed with tongue-in-cheek comedy, and within which
Tammy Faye played the role of bizarre cultural oddity. The very pair-
ing of a controversial conservative Christian celebrity with an openly
gay cohost was intended to be amusingly incongruous. More than one
press report labeled Jim J. and Tammy Faye an “odd couple,” and pro-
ducer Brian Graden envisioned the show as “Regis and Kathie Lee on
acid.”102 The show’s peppy theme song, performed by the cohosts, like-
wise highlighted the strangeness of the situation, and also made fun of
Tammy Faye’s cosmetic fixations: “We’re a recipe you couldn’t bake up/
Three times the laughs, and ten times the makeup.”103 Set on a brightly
colored stage with large Warhol-esque portraits of its stars, the program
itself was fast-paced, often ad-libbed, and frequently played Bullock’s
worldly savvy against Tammy Faye’s wacky naïvety. One episode, for
example, opened with the couple discussing Tammy Faye’s recent visit to
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  135

a drug store, during which her jumpsuit top had embarrassingly popped
open.104 “So, here I am,” she lamented, “my boobs out to the whole
world, and nobody would tell me. It was awful.” “The new Tammy!”
quipped Bullock, “You’re gonna give Madonna a run for her money.”
Conceptualized as an alternative to “sleazy” contemporary talk show
fare, The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show limited itself to the slightly sug-
gestive.105 Tammy Faye certainly helped establish these limits, later
writing that she “would not do anything to compromise my Christian
testimony. I was first a Christian and only second a talk show host.”106
Although the program was not, of course, explicitly religious, Tammy
Faye did convey her beliefs through off-the-cuff statements, such as
during an automobile-themed episode.107 “Those of you who believe
in prayer, pray for me!” she exhorted viewers before a go-kart race with
Bullock. “Forever and ever, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen!” she playfully
pronounced elsewhere. Tammy Faye thus subtly sanctified her first foray
into “secular” media. More prominent, however, was her positivity and
emphasis on perseverance, which echoed her previous life at PTL, but
also intersected with her camp appeal. In an interview with elderly drag
racer Cleo Chandler, for example, Tammy Faye praised the woman as
an “inspiration,” and expressed optimism that she would reach her goal
of racing up to her one hundredth birthday: “You’ll make it, I believe
that.”
It is unclear whether The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show featured any
overt mention of Tammy Faye’s disapproval of homosexual activity, or
much explicit discussion about homosexuality in general. More likely, the
juxtaposition of the hosts’ sexual preferences was occasionally mined for
humorous asides, as when Jim J. received a pedicure from Tammy Faye
in the inaugural episode: “Is this what it’s like to be straight? I like it!”108
In an interview with reporter Ed Bark, Tammy Faye pointed out that
just as the show was “not about religion,” it was also “not about being
gay.”109 Yet she added that she refused to “judge” Bullock for his sex-
ual orientation. For one, she explained that she too had famously expe-
rienced the sting of scrutiny: “I’ve been judged too harshly myself, and
I don’t ever want to be accused of judging anyone else.” Here, Tammy
Faye carried forward the idea of shared suffering that was integral to her
camp appeal, and suggested a stance of tolerance. However, she also
included a common Christian aphorism—“We’re not the judge. God is
the judge”—hinting at her belief that homosexual behavior was indeed
sinful.
136  D. J. BEKKERING

By the time of The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show’s debut on December
26, 1995, twenty-five episodes had already been recorded, and more
than one hundred were contractually guaranteed.110 Merely two months
later, however, it was announced that Tammy Faye would be leaving
the show due to personal issues. Not only was her second husband Roe
Messner sentenced to twenty-seven months in prison for bankruptcy
fraud—an example of history repeating itself—she had also been diag-
nosed with colon cancer, which would require surgery, radiation treat-
ments, and chemotherapy.111 While undoubtedly serious and terrifying,
Tammy Faye’s health challenges would also enhance her status as a suf-
fering survivor, which she heavily emphasized in her 1996 autobiogra-
phy: Tammy: Telling It My Way. In addition to her cancer battle, the
book devoted considerable space to the PTL scandals, which she largely
blamed on persecutory agents. Jessica Hahn, for example, was presented
as a seductress who preyed on her powerful husband: “She knew what
she was doing. She knew what to wear, what to say, and all the right
moves.”112 Jerry Falwell, in turn, was the wily usurper who understood
full well the potential impact of allegations concerning her husband’s
sexuality: “Falwell knew that many people would never forgive Jim if he
were homosexual.”113
Tammy Faye’s autobiography also took the mainstream media to
task for its role in PTL’s troubles. She accused The Charlotte Observer of
having “sustained a vicious vendetta against us for being televangelists
and charismatic Christians,” and the major television networks of acting
like “sharks at a feeding frenzy.”114 She complained about the constant
mockery, which had hurt her deeply. “Everything about me was being
ridiculed,” she lamented, “I could not watch television without my
eyelashes, my makeup, and even my tears being made fun of. I was the
butt of comedians’ crude jokes and snide remarks. My heart ached con-
stantly.”115 As The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show had made clear, how-
ever, Tammy Faye’s best chance for career rehabilitation would require
her to make herself vulnerable to, and even play along with, humor at
her expense. In a promotional interview for the show with reporter
Steven Cole Smith, Tammy Faye revealed that she had, in Smith’s words,
“learned to live with being a human parody.”116 Yet she admitted that
constantly being the butt of the joke could still sting: “Let ‘em say what
they want, as long as they’re talking about me. But it always hurts just a
little bit. But I laugh and smile through it, and nobody knows.”
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  137

Tammy Faye’s willingness to swallow her pride helped her land cam-
eos on two American sitcoms in 1996. On The Drew Carey Show, she
poked fun at her appearance by portraying the mother of the titular char-
acter’s heavily made-up coworker nemesis, and also made light of her
own emotionality: “You’ll have to excuse me. I don’t normally cry.”117
On Roseanne, she was a makeup expert at a spa, who informs the title
character, played by comedian Roseanne Barr, that “natural is best. You
know, let your face tell its own story.”118 Two years later, with her can-
cer in remission, Tammy Faye and Roseanne would cross paths again
on the latter’s own daytime talk program The Roseanne Show (1998–
2000).119 Like Tammy Faye, Roseanne had been widely criticized and
ridiculed for embodying the female grotesque, due to her brash behav-
ior and weight.120 Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Roseanne fixated on
her guest’s cosmetics during their interview. “People criticize you about
your makeup all the time,” she stated, “how mad does that make you?”
Tammy Faye replied that she had learned to “laugh” at the criticism, and
suggested that “everyone needs to be able to wear the face they’re com-
fortable with. You know, if you look good, then you feel good about
yourself.” Unsatisfied, Roseanne moved to psychologize Tammy Faye’s
“extreme” makeup, leading her to reveal that it masked serious insecu-
rities: “I think I feel ugly without it…I don’t like to look at my own self
in the mirror without it…And I feel prettier with it, and I think that if
we feel pretty, then we’ll act pretty.” Roseanne shot back that this was
“a wrong way to think,” and proposed that Tammy Faye’s makeup was a
means of “protecting herself” and “hiding.”
Subjected to an unwanted amateur diagnosis, Tammy Faye squirmed
uncomfortably until Roseanne abruptly shifted gears. “Tammy Faye,”
she segued, “you are a woman who kicked cancer in the butt.” “I
kicked it right in the butt,” Tammy Faye agreed, raising a triumphant
fist to cheers from the audience. After an overview of her medical tri-
als, Roseanne also brought up the PTL scandals: “Which one was harder,
Tammy Faye, being crucified in the press, or beating cancer?” Choosing
the former, Tammy Faye explained that the scandals had demolished
her “reputation,” and hampered her career opportunities. Not men-
tioned, notably, were the suspicions, accusations, and theological
issues that led millions to consider her an egregious and ridiculous reli-
gious fake. Instead, the segment ended with endorsements of Tammy
Faye’s religious authenticity, with Roseanne mentioning that she was a
138  D. J. BEKKERING

“minister”—not just “the wife”—asserting that she had helped people

with her television ministry, and even inviting her to “preach” and sing
at an organ set up on a second stage. As they both walked to the instru-
ment, however, Roseanne made an announcement pointing to a light
irony involved in the segment: “I wanna sing with Tammy Faye.” Many
witnesses to Roseanne’s rather tuneless participation in the gospel chest-
nut “(Give Me That) Old Time Religion” would have been reminded
of her infamous, screeching rendition of the American national anthem
at a San Diego Padres baseball game in 1990, which she had capped off
by tugging at her crotch and spitting.121 The amusing absurdity of the
situation was enhanced by the questionable singing of Tammy Faye her-
self, who certainly remained a cultural oddity to many viewers and audi-
ence members. Roseanne’s interrogation of Tammy Faye’s makeup had,
in fact, elicited chuckles from some in the audience. For Tammy Faye,
making herself vulnerable to such mockery was a means to an end, as she
was able to perpetuate her marketable suffering-survivor persona, and,
more importantly, spread the gospel. With many in the crowd singing
and clapping along, her finale on The Roseanne Show could have almost
been mistaken for a PTL service, and she concluded with a testimony
about the power of faith: “that is the firm foundation that has held me
through every trial and test that I’ve been through.”
Tammy Faye’s appearance on The Roseanne Show featured an inter-
mingling of tongue-in-cheek humor, affection, and an emphasis on her
inspirational trials and perseverance—all the hallmarks of camp treat-
ments of the former televangelist, yet without an explicit connection to
gay male culture. The segment also contained endorsements of Tammy
Faye’s purported religious authenticity, which would prove commonplace
in a second wave of sustained camp attention to the preacher, the ori-
gins of which can be traced back to yet another talk show: cable chan-
nel VH1’s The RuPaul Show (1996–1998). Having left Atlanta for New
York City in the mid-1980s, RuPaul entered mainstream American cul-
ture in 1992, thanks to the surprise hit dance single “Supermodel (You
Better Work).”122 The RuPaul Show was not only a huge step forward
in his own career, but also pushed the mainstreaming of camp, drag,
and “Gay TV” in general. Producing the program was World of Wonder
(WOW), a company founded in 1991 by RuPaul’s aforementioned man-
agers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. A professional and personal cou-
ple, Bailey and Barbato were also known in underground circles as “The
Fabulous Pop Tarts,” the gay disco duo once signed to Dick Richards’
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  139

Funtone USA records, and whose music was used to soundtrack the Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker relationship retrospective on TAMS.123
A later motto of World of Wonder—“today’s marginal is tomorrow’s
mainstream”—highlights the company’s longstanding goal of locat-
ing fringy cultural phenomena that might prove marketable to wider
audiences.124 As touched on in the last chapter’s brief discussion of the
Robert Tilton Fan Club segment on Made in the USA (1992), a WOW-
produced program for British audiences, this included ironic approaches
to American televangelism. Campy takes on Tammy Faye, however,
were also deeply intertwined with gay culture, and the principals of
The RuPaul Show were all campy fans. RuPaul would later state in an
interview that he had been a “fan” of the preacher since he was sixteen:
“She was the Judy Garland of the evangelist set.”125 “Both Fenton and
I have been obsessed with her forever,” Barbato would likewise explain,
“especially with the iconicity of her look. Maybe it’s because we’re just a
bunch of queens, but we just thought she was fabulous!”126
Bailey and Barbato had actually first worked with Tammy Faye in
1997 for another British program, TV Pizza, in which she appeared
alongside the Portland-based transgender television preacher Sister
Paula—another cultural oddity who combined evangelism with sex and
gender progressiveness.127 Tammy Faye’s 1998 interview on The RuPaul
Show, however, would mark her first American collaboration with the
producers, who, as will be discussed in the following chapter, would play
a pivotal role in her future career path.128 As Joan Osborne’s recent rock
hit “One of Us” (1995), a meditation on the hypothetical appearance
of God on earth, plays in the background, Tammy Faye struts down a
runway on The RuPaul Show stage.129 Covered in baubles, she mod-
els a zebra-print jacket for the applauding audience, circles, and lets
it slide to the floor. “Oh, gorgeous!” exclaims the statuesque RuPaul,
wearing a bright evening gown and blond wig, who then stands up to
embrace his diminutive guest. After they take their seats, RuPaul opens
with questions about her clothing: “Now first, tell me who did the coat,
who did the suit?” Tammy Faye laughingly explains that she had bought
her jacket and zebra-print pumps on the cheap in New York City’s
Chinatown, earning cheers from the studio audience, and astonishment
from RuPaul: “Oh my God! That’s amazing!”
RuPaul’s interview was peppered with praise for Tammy Faye’s
physical appearance: “You are so beautiful!”; “I think you look fab-
ulous!”; “You are just gorgeous!” Such acclaim was, in part, praise for
140  D. J. BEKKERING

the excessiveness of her gender performance, and thus carried hints of

campy irony. Tammy Faye, however, was not completely in tune with
the show’s style. “Now, you do dress very flamboyantly,” RuPaul sug-
gests, stumbling after Tammy Faye responds with an assured but unex-
pected “Thank you.” “People have called you a queen, a drag queen
before,” the host continues, leading his guest to make a comically
shocked face, “What do you say to those people who say, ‘Oh yeah, she
dresses up too much’?” “I say everybody must be who they are,” Tammy
Faye responds, “Young people, don’t ever let anyone make you some-
thing that you’re not. You have a right to be who you are.” She fur-
ther emphasizes the error of focusing on externalities, and highlights her
own personal resiliency, when RuPaul asks about her strategies to “sur-
vive” “public scrutiny.” “You know in your heart who you are, you know
what you have done and you haven’t done. And you can look the pub-
lic straight in the eye, and that’s what I did.” “That’s right, Hallelujah,
Amen,” RuPaul proclaims in the style of the Black Church, pushing
Tammy Faye into a more explicitly theological statement: “I believe in
that. I believe God knows, and you know, and that’s all that need to
know.”130 “That’s right,” RuPaul adds, “…these are just clothes, this
is just stuff, it’s nothing.” “They’re just clothes,” Tammy Faye agrees,
“underneath we’re all the same.”
Much like members of the Robert Tilton Fan Club, many early campy
fans of Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner had a messy relationship with the
televangelist, combining tongue-in-cheek play with genuine affection.
Campy fans could find relatable, if ridiculous, reflections of their own
social struggles in Tammy Faye’s melodramatic and spectacular trials, and
might even be spurred on to perseverance through her example. At the
same time, however, such fans often mocked and criticized her endorse-
ment and embodiment of conservative Christian sex and gender norms;
laughed at the breakdown of her heteronormative and purportedly
divinely approved family unit; and poked fun at her prosperity gospel
and financial focus. In sum, the first wave of Tammy Faye campy fandom
often featured sharply critical expressions of Recreational Christianity.
By the mid-1990s, however, a less critical camp approach to Tammy
Faye started to emerge, in line with the mainstreaming of camp, drag,
and gay media. Although she would remain a somewhat laughable cul-
tural oddity, her relatability as a suffering survivor, as well as her apparent
tolerance and compassion for sexual minorities, would increasingly be
emphasized. While the present chapter has highlighted some of Tammy
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  141

Faye’s tentative first steps to market herself to this kinder camp approach,
the next chapter will outline how a particular collaboration with Fenton
Bailey, Randy Barbato, and RuPaul Charles would lay the tracks for a
remarkable rebranding effort, encourage a second wave of largely laud-
atory camp attention, and even spark a partial rehabilitation of her
broader cultural significance. Once widely ridiculed as a greedy religious
fake, including by many of her campy fans, Tammy Faye would become
lionized as a gay ally and symbol of an authentic Christianity centered
on compassion and tolerance—representations that were politically prob-
lematic and based on questionable premises.

Notes
1. See RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 4 (New York: Logo, 2012), DVD.
2. “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” World of Wonder, accessed April 1, 2018,
http://worldofwonder.net/productions/rupauls-drag-race.
3. “RuPocalypse Now!”, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 4 (New York: Logo,
2012), DVD.
4. Throughout this chapter and the next, Bakker-Messner will be referred
to as “Tammy Faye,” as per her branding.
5. For the use of “campy fans” to describe an audience segment of the
flamboyant pianist Liberace, see Kevin Kopelson, Beethoven’s Kiss:
Pianism, Perversion, and the Mastery of Desire (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1996), 154.
6. See Tammy Faye Messner, Tammy: Telling It My Way (New York:
Villard Books, 1996), 3–29. At the time that she started experiment-
ing with makeup, the Assemblies of God denomination was beginning
to change its stance; see Margaret M. Poloma, The Assemblies of God at
the Crossroads: Charisma and Institutional Dilemmas (Knoxville: The
University of Tennessee Press, 1989), 15.
7. For the Bakkers’ early years, see Charles E. Shepard, Forgiven: The Rise
and Fall of Jim Bakker and the PTL Ministry (New York: The Atlantic
Monthly Press, 1989), 1–64.
8. For Tammy Faye discussing their puppets, see The Eyes of Tammy Faye,
directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (1999; Universal City:
Universal Studios Home Video, 2000), DVD.
9. Messner, I Will Survive… And You Will, Too! (New York: Jeremy P.
Tarcher, 2003), 20.
10. Shepard, Forgiven, 44–47.
11. Ibid., 48–59; Messner, I Will Survive, 22–25; The Eyes of Tammy Faye,
DVD.
 142  D. J. BEKKERING

12. Shepard, Forgiven, 60–117.

13. See Louise M. Bourgault, “An Ethnographic Study of the ‘Praise the
Lord Club’” (PhD diss., Ohio University, 1980), 43–143.
14. According to Bourgault, Tammy Faye had “just a hint of…little country
girl sexuality”; see ibid., 44.
15. Stewart M. Hoover, Mass Media Religion: The Social Sources of the
Electronic Church (Newbury Park: Sage, 1988), 222–223.
16. For Tammy Faye’s penchant for tears, see Bourgault, “An Ethnographic
Study of the ‘Praise the Lord Club’,” 44. Susan Wise Bauer suggests
that the Bakkers’ “(w)eeping…connected glittering TV leader and liv-
ing-room bound watcher”; ibid., The Art of the Public Grovel: Sexual
Sin and Public Confession in America (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2008), 123.
17. “CCCP 1,” SCTV Network, aired October 16, 1981 (Toronto: eOne Films,
2007), DVD. See also Jeff Robbins, Second City Television: A History and
Episode Guide (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2008), 128–131.
18. See Shepard, Forgiven, 118–149.
19. For paracinema, see Sconce, “Trashing the Academy.”
20. Susan Sontag, “Notes on ‘Camp’,” in Camp: Queer Aesthetics and
the Performing Subject: A Reader, ed. Fabio Cleto (Ann Arbor: The
University of Michigan Press, 1999), 53, 55, 59, 62–65. Originally pub-
lished in Partisan Review 31, no. 4 (1964): 515–530.
21. Corey K. Creekmur and Alexander Doty, “Introduction,” in Out in
Culture: Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Essays on Popular Culture, eds. Corey
K. Creekmur and Alexander Doty (Durham: Duke University Press,
1995), 2.
22. Richard Dyer, Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society, 2nd ed. (London:
Routledge, 2004), 153, 176.
23. Ibid., 176. Dyer borrows “failed seriousness” from Sontag, “Notes on
‘Camp,’” 62, n. 36.
24. Dyer, Heavenly Bodies, 145, 153.
25. “Homer’s Phobia,” The Simpsons, season 8, episode 15, directed by Mike
B. Anderson, aired February 16, 1997 (Los Angeles: 20th Century Fox
Home Entertainment, 2006), DVD.
26. For Waters as a camp auteur, see Mathijs and Sexton, Cult Cinema, 73.
27. For the use of “tragically ludicrous”/“ludicrously tragic” as opera-
tive definitions of camp, see Brock Thompson, The Un-Natural State:
Arkansas and the Queer South (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press,
2010), 201, n. 10.
28. See Moe Meyer, “Introduction: Reclaiming the Discourse of Camp,” in
The Politics and Poetics of Camp, ed. Moe Meyer (London: Routledge,
1994), 9–10.
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  143

29. These approximate dates, for lack of corroborating evidence, come from

the author’s Skype interview with Dick Richards on February 16, 2012.
30. Dick Richards, Skype interview by author, February 16, 2012.
31. For Pat Robertson’s stance on homosexuality, see David Edwin Harrell
Jr., Pat Robertson: A Life and Legacy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010),
81–82, 136, 299–300.
32. For a full episode of the hour-long program, see “Tammy’s House Party
with Lillian.mpg,” YouTube video, 55:17, posted by tbonej, November
29, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBhgkcNGPeU.
33. Tara McPherson, Reconstructing Dixie: Race, Gender, and Nostalgia in
the Imagined South (Durham: Duke University Press, 2003), 194.
34. Dick Richards, Skype interview by author, February 16, 2012. Critic
Martin Esslin discusses a French “Theatre of the Absurd” that emerged
in the 1950s, which highlighted the “absurdity and uncertainty of
the human condition”; see ibid., The Theatre of the Absurd, rev. ed.
(Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968 [1961]), 25.
35. “Tour of Jim & Tammy’s Heritage USA During Christmas 1985,”
YouTube video, 9:00, posted by misterrichardson, November 25, 2009,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOOIEStNL9Y.
36. See Darren E. Grem, “Selling a ‘Disneyland for the Devout’: Religious
Marketing at Jim Bakker’s Heritage USA,” in Shopping for Jesus: Faith
in Marketing in the USA, ed. Dominic Janes (Washington, D.C.: New
Academic Publishing, 2008), 136–158.
37. Thomas C. O’Guinn and Russell W. Belk, “Heaven on Earth:
Consumption at Heritage Village, USA,” Journal of Consumer Research
16, no. 2 (1989): 233–234.
38. Tammy Faye Bakker, Don’t Give Up!, PTL Club Records & Tapes
PTL-LP-1850, 1985, 33 rpm. For the Bakkers’ marital issues, see
Shepard, Forgiven, 154–169.
39. See George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, 2nd
ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 239–243.
40. For the Bakkers’ less explicit politics, see Frankl, “Televangelism,” 516.
41. O’Guinn and Belk, “Heaven on Earth,” 230–232. For “politics of
nostalgia” as it relates to the Christian Right, see Martin E. Marty,
“Morality, Ethics, and the New Christian Right,” in Border Regions of
Faith: An Anthology of Religion and Social Change, ed. Kenneth Aman
(Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1987), 269.
42. Grem, “Selling a ‘Disneyland for the Devout’,” 152–153.
43. For a detailed overview of the scandal, its origins, and its fallout, see
Shepard, Forgiven.
44. Ibid., 497–498, 504–505.
45. See Bauer, The Art of the Public Grovel, 136–139.
144  D. J. BEKKERING

46. “Falwell Says Bakker Shows No Repentance,” Associated Press, May 27,

1987. Clips of the press conference are featured in The Eyes of Tammy
Faye, DVD.
47. See clips of the press conference in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, DVD.
48. See Art Harris and Michael Isikoff, “The Good Life at PTL: A Litany
of Excess,” The Washington Post, May 22, 1987. In his memoir, PTL
associate Austin Miles claimed to have witnessed “Jim Bakker and three
of his male staff members frolicking about in the nude” in a “health
club” at Heritage USA, and engaging in mutual nude massages; see
ibid., Don’t Call Me Brother: A Ringmaster’s Escape from the Pentecostal
Church (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1989), 12–13. That same year,
John Wesley Fletcher, a frequent PTL guest who was involved in Jim
Bakker’s encounter with Jessica Hahn, would allege that Bakker had
homosexual affairs with himself and PTL employee David Taggart; see
Shepard, Forgiven, 176.
49. Susan Friend Harding, The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist
Language and Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000),
93.
50. See Edith L. Blumhofer, Restoring the Faith: The Assemblies of God,
Pentecostalism, and American Culture (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1993), 252–253.
51. Laura Sessions Stepp, “The Bakker Witness: Church Links Unfrocking
to Claims of Homosexual Involvement,” The Washington Post, May 8,
1987.
52. See Shepard, Forgiven, 175.
53. “Jim and Tammy Bakker Give ‘Nightline’ Record Ratings with
PM-PTL,” Associated Press, May 29, 1987. For clips of the inter-
view, see “The Best of Nightline with Ted Koppel Part 3,” YouTube
video, 6:22, posted by traderfiles, December 11, 2008, http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFXJcd21r64; “Charismatic
Televangelists Mired in Scandal,” online video, 5:28, ABC News,
March 6, 2010, http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/
charismatic-televangelists-mired-scandal-10028834.
54. For red as Tammy Faye’s “power color,” see Messner, I Will Survive,
183.
55. Howard Rosenberg, “Jim and Tammy: Totally in Command: ‘Nightline’
Ratings Set Record as Koppel Interviews Dethroned but Still
Charismatic Couple,” Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1987.
56. Jack McKinney, “A ‘Pullet’ for Ted Koppel: ‘Nightline’ Host Finds PTL
a Key to Ratings,” Philadelphia Daily News, May 29, 1987; Joan Beck,
“Made-For-TV Fight of Televangelists Is Not a Holy War,” Chicago
Tribune, June 1, 1987.
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  145

57. See Patricia Mellencamp, High Anxiety: Catastrophe, Scandal, Age,

& Comedy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), 221–
229; Kathleen Rowe, The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of
Laughter (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), 32–33; and Sean
McCloud, Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, &
Journalists, 1955–1993 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 2004), 166–172.
58. Peter Harriman, “Ted Koppel Dropped the Ball on Tammy Faye’s
Biggest Secret,” Moscow-Pullman Daily News, June 19, 1987.
59. Steven P. Schacht and Lisa Underwood, “The Absolutely Fabulous but
Flawlessly Customary World of Female Impersonators,” in The Drag
Queen Anthology: The Absolutely Fabulous but Flawlessly Customary
World of Female Impersonators, eds. Steven P. Schacht and Lisa
Underwood (New York: Harrington Park Press, 2004), 4.
60. Esther Newton, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America
(Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979 [1972]), 100.
61. Ibid., 52.
62. Ibid., 105.
63. “Heather Fontaine as Tammy Faye Bakker Tribute,” YouTube video,
3:26, posted by Heather Fontaine, December 15, 2010, https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=s8NF_uboqQs.
64. For the prominence of lip-syncing in slapstick drag, see Newton, Mother
Camp, 52–54.
65. As Newton points out in Mother Camp (p. 54), one common drag lip-
sync technique was to “pick an ostensibly serious record and lampoon
it.”
66. Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
(New York: Routledge, 2006 [1990]), 187–188.
67. Judith Lorber, “Preface,” in The Drag Queen Anthology, xvi.
68. Newton, Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America’s First Gay
and Lesbian Town (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993).
69.  “Rose Levine, Tammy Faye, and Friends—1986—Cherry Grove,”
YouTube video, 2:11, posted by Cherry Grove Historical Archives,
September 17, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTqupFi_cJI.
70.  “Tammy Faye Is Crowned—Johnny Pool’s Drag Attack at Ice
Palace—1988,” YouTube video, 2:36, posted by Cherry Grove Historical
Archives, September 28, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-
MZotk8MSzs. For the origins of the “Ice Palace,” see Newton,
Cherry Grove, Fire Island, 244.
71. For the appearance of a Tammy Faye drag queen, complete “with gobs
of makeup, huge eyelashes, and holding a bible (sic) the pages of which
are from Gay American History,” during an undated Greenwich Village
 146  D. J. BEKKERING

Halloween Parade in New York City, see Jack Kugelmass, Masked

Culture: The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1994), 23.
72. For RuPaul’s relationship with The American Music Show, Dick Richards,
and the underground scene in Atlanta, see RuPaul Charles, Lettin’ It
All Hang Out: An Autobiography (New York: Hyperion, 1995), 56–68.
For a 1986 appearance on TAMS by RuPaul, see “RuPaul and Larry Tee
Present Nelson Sullivan’s New York,” YouTube video, 24:42, posted
by 5ninthavenueproject, March 23, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ff1tnLI6hA0.
73. McPherson, Reconstructing Dixie, 194–196.
74. Ibid., 195.
75. Laughing Matters, Tickets to Heaven, Funtone USA, PTL-23, 1987,
45 rpm. Following our interview, Dick Richards uploaded a video
for the song; see “Laughing Matters ‘Tickets to Heaven (Those TV
Preachers)’,” YouTube video, 2:28, posted by misterrichardson, March
6, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdgGoYWaoj8.
76. Dick Richards, Skype interview by author, February 16, 2012.
77. See “Rev. Bubba Gold’s TAMMY-THON on the American Music
Show,” YouTube video, 10:34, posted by misterrichardson, March
10, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfK6IKus78o; “Rev.
Bubba Gold’s “TAMMY-THON” (Part 2) Featuring Tammy Faye,”
YouTube video, 9:46, posted by misterrichardson, March 12, 2012,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgC_Ee-i0to.
78. Dick Richards described “Bubba Gold” as “country” during his Skype
interview with the author on February 16, 2012.
79. See James A. Albert, Jim Bakker: Miscarriage of Justice? (Chicago: Open
Court, 1998), 319–322; Adelle M. Banks, “Bakkers Find a Home—
Orlando Televangelists Broadcast First Show from Shoppers World,”
Orlando Sentinel, May 9, 1989; and Montgomery Brower, “Unholy
Roller Coaster,” People, September 18, 1989.
80. The provenance of the original PTL video footage is revealed by a
graphic that appears within it. The information for the song can be
found in the video description for another upload by Dick Richards:
“Keith Haring, Among His Art,” YouTube video, 4:24, posted by
5ninthavenueproject, April 28, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Apm9jFnAWB0. For “The Fabulous Pop Tarts” and Funtone
USA, see the band’s page on, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.bet-
tyjack.com/funtone/poppytarts/.
81. For Tammy Faye’s appearance on Donahue’s show, see Albert, Jim
Bakker, 193.
82. For an in-depth discussion of the trial, see Albert, Jim Bakker.
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  147

83. “Bakker Ministry Forced to Leave Shopping Mall,” The Register-Guard

(Eugene, OR), October 27, 1989; “Tammy Bakker to Continue
Ministry,” Los Angeles Times, October 30, 1989.
84. “Tammy Faye Moves Church,” The Daily Record (Ellensburg, WA),
March 10, 1990.
85. See Banks, “Orange Gives Tammy Good News on Studio: County Says
Ministry Can Produce TV, Radio Shows in Warehouse,” Orlando Sentinel,
May 3, 1990; ibid., “Tammy Protests Orange TV Rules,” Orlando
Sentinel, May 4, 1990; Ike Flores, “Tammy Faye’s Plans Shot Down,”
Ocala Star-Banner, July 6, 1990; Michael Griffin, “Bakker Hopes to
Change Orange’s Mind About Church,” Orlando Sentinel, August
13, 1990; and “Orange County Votes to Allow Church Services,” St.
Petersburg Times, August 14, 1990.
86. David G. Savage, “Appeals Court Overturns Bakker Sentence,” Austin
American-Statesman, February 13, 1991; Mary T. Schmich, “Jim
Bakker’s Followers Celebrate a ‘Miracle’,” Chicago Tribune, February
18, 1991.
87. “Jim and Tammy Bakker Finalize Divorce,” Associated Press, March 13,
1992; “Bakker Leaving Prison for N.C. Halfway House,” St. Petersburg
Times, July 1, 1994.
88. For the rumors of an affair between Roe Messner and Tammy Faye, see
Karen S. Schneider, “Tammy’s Troubled Waters,” People, April 6, 1992.
For their marriage, see “Tammy Faye Bakker Weds Old Family Friend
Today,” Orlando Sentinel, October 2, 1993.
89. Messner, Tammy, 324–328.
90. See Kathleen P. Farrell, “Backstage Politics: Social Change and the ‘Gay
TV’ Industry” (PhD diss., Syracuse University, 2008); Ron Becker, Gay
TV and Straight America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press,
2006).
91. Suzanna Danuta Walters, All the Rage: The Story of Gay Visibility in
America (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001), 26, 293.
92. For RuPaul on his “gender fuck” style, see ibid., Lettin’ It All Hang
Out, 91. For an early televised example of RuPaul performing in this
style, see “RuPaul’s Daring Dance on The American Music Show,”
YouTube video, 3:00, posted by misterrichardson, July 12, 2012,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VNr6Cnm4As.
93. Walters, All the Rage, 17.
94. For “campification,” see Edward O’Neill, “How to Become a Camp
Icon in Five Easy Lessons: Fetishism-and Tallulah Bankhead’s Phallus,”
in Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture, eds. Henry
Jenkins, Tara McPherson, and Jane Shattuc (Durham: Duke University
Press, 2002), 325.
 148  D. J. BEKKERING

95. Randy Shulman, “The Words of Tammy Faye: Interview with Tammy

Faye Bakker-Messner,” Metro Weekly, June 6, 2002, accessed April 1,
2018, http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=11.
96. For “intentional” as opposed to “unintentional” camp, see Newton,
Mother Camp, 106–107, 111. Sontag also discusses a difference
“between naïve and deliberate Camp”; see ibid., “Notes on ‘Camp’,” 58.
97. For Tammy Faye’s account of the show’s origins, see Messner, Tammy,
324–328. For Brian Graden and the development of Logo, see Ben
Aslinger, “Creating a Network for Queer Audiences at Logo TV,”
Popular Communication 7, no. 2 (2009): 107–121. Tammy Faye
describes Weaver as a “fan” in Messner, Tammy, 328.
98. In 2007, Graden was included by Out magazine in its list of the fifty
most powerful gay individuals in America; see “The Power 50,” Out,
April 3, 2007, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.out.com/out-exclu-
sives/power-50/2007/04/03/power-50?page=full. For Weaver’s sex-
ual orientation, see Herbie J. Pilato, Twitch Upon a Star: The Bewitched
Life and Career of Elizabeth Montgomery (Plymouth: Taylor Trade,
2012), 316. For Weaver’s dog’s name, see “Dan Weaver,” The Donna
Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, accessed April 1, 2018,
http://www.donnareed.org/html/templates/dr_profile.php?drf_
person=weaver.
99. Messner, Tammy, 329.
100. Phil Rosenthal, “New Odd Couple: Tammy, Jim J.,” Los Angeles Daily
News, January 24, 1996.
101. See Wayne Walley, “Tammy Faye to Make TV Comeback with New
Jim,” Electronic Media, November 13, 1995.
102. See Rosenthal, “New Odd Couple”; Ed Bark, “The Odd Couple: The
Former Tammy Faye Bakker and Gay Co-Host Launch Talk Show,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 1, 1996. For Graden’s description of
the show, see Cynthia Sanz, “She’s Still Afloat: Another Mate Is Jail-
Bound, but Tammy Faye Sails On,” People, March 11, 1996.
103. “Jim J. Tammy Faye Intro,” YouTube video, 2:52, posted by
Zamora King, July 24, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
iV7MFIB4ZbE.
104. Footage of this episode could be found in “Jim J. and Tammy Faye
Show,” YouTube video, 32:11, posted by myvideostoday1, April 30,
2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU16ego5kJ4 (video since
removed).
105. Michael Lambert described other programs as “sleazy” in Walley,
“Tammy Faye to Make TV Comeback with New Jim.”
106. Messner, Tammy, 330.
 5  TAMMY FAYE BAKKER, CAMPY FANDOM, AND LUDICROUS TRAGEDY  149

107. Footage of this episode could be found in “Jim J. and Tammy Faye

Show,” YouTube video (video since removed).
108. See Bark, “The Odd Couple.”
109. Ibid.
110. Ibid. For the premiere date, see Steven Cole Smith, “Starting Over:
Tammy Faye’s Back with New Show, New Jim and Newfound
Confidence,” Dayton Daily News, January 6, 1996.
111.  See Lori Brown, “Tammy Faye Quitting Her New TV Talk Show,”
Austin American-Statesman, February 29, 1996; Cynthia Littleton,
“Tammy Faye Exits Talker,” Broadcasting & Cable, March 4, 1996; and
Norma Cavazos, “Cancer Surgery for Tammy Faye; Her Husband Is
Serving a 27-Month Jail Sentence,” Buffalo News, May 12, 1996. For
Tammy Faye’s own recollection of her cancer trial, see Messner, Tammy,
331–335.
112. Messner, Tammy, 108.
113. Ibid., 213.
114. Ibid., 180, 210.
115. Ibid., 287.
116. Smith, “Starting Over.”
117. Information about this episode of The Drew Carey Show, which orig-
inally aired on November 27, 1996, and is currently unavailable on
home video formats, can be found at “Mimi’s Day Parade,” Internet
Movie Database, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.imdb.com/title/
tt0566460.
118. “Pampered to a Pulp,” Roseanne: The Complete Ninth Season (1996;
Toronto, eOne Films, 2013), DVD. More information on this episode,
which originally aired on October 22, 1996, can be found at “Pampered
to a Pulp,” Internet Movie Database, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
www.imdb.com/title/tt0688854.
119.  A video of Tammy Faye’s appearance has since been uploaded to
YouTube; see “Roseanne interviews Tammy Faye Bakker (1998),”
YouTube video, 16:55, posted by Vinnie Rattolle, June 14, 2013,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwH4MwfDTjs. Information
about this episode, which originally aired on November 4, 1998, can
be found at “Episode 1.37,” Internet Movie Database, accessed April 1,
2018, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0688703/?ref_=ttep_ep31.
120. Mellencamp, High Anxiety, 203, 279.
121. Rowe, The Unruly Woman, 51.
122. For RuPaul discussing his move to New York, see “RuPaul Explains His
Decision to Move to New York in 1984,” YouTube video, 3:06, posted
by misterrichardson, August 1, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=G2RHMYRB4YE. RuPaul, “Supermodel (You Better Work),”
Tommy Boy Records, 1992, CD.
150  D. J. BEKKERING

123. For the relationship between Bailey, Barbato, and RuPaul, see Fenton
Bailey and Randy Barbato, The World According to Wonder: 1991–2012
(New York: World of Wonder Books, 2012), 43–51; Charles, Lettin’
It All Hang Out, 177. Dick Richards mentioned his relationships with
Bailey and Barbato during his Skype interview with the author on
February 16, 2012. For Bailey and Barbato’s significance in the devel-
opment of the “‘Gay TV’ industry,” see Farrell, “Backstage Politics,”
54, 55, 61. For their personal and professional relationships, see
Matthew Hays, The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian
Filmmakers (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007), 43.
124. Farrell, “Backstage Politics,” 61.
125. See Rene Johnston, “Get in Touch with Your Inner Drag Queen,”
Toronto Star, July 1, 2000.
126. See “The Tracks of My Tears,” Filmmaker, accessed April 1, 2018,
http://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/winter2000/my_
tears.php.
127. See Leslie Camhi, “The Fabulousness of Tammy Faye,” The New York
Times, July 23, 2000. Sister Paula describes meeting Tammy Faye
during the taping of TV Pizza in “Sister Paula Talks About Tammy
Faye & Wants to Meet Her Son Jay,” YouTube video, 3:07, posted
by Kathy Baldock, December 8, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=l_s0YAr7_TI.
128. For information on the appearance, see Scott Williams, “TV: Dis &
Dots…,” New York Daily News, March 21, 1998.
129. Joan Osbourne, “One of Us,” Mercury Records, 1995, CD. For the
interview, see “Tammy on the RuPaul Show,” YouTube video, 4:37,
posted by franceschino rossi, August 8, 2007, https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=_XVy88x63yg.
130. For interesting performative intersections between “Black drag” and the
“Black church,” see Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., “Transformance: Reading
the Gospel in Drag,” in The Drag Queen Anthology, 151–167.
 CHAPTER 6

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

and a Complicated Rebranding

By the turn of the millennium, Tammy Faye Messner had already made
some moves to market herself to her camp appeal, working with campy
fans turned television professionals who produced The RuPaul Show,
and, most notably, The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show. Both programs
featured a mainstreamed camp aesthetic that was less critical than the
approach of many of her early camp fans, who often engaged in a cut-
ting style of Recreational Christianity that mocked her prosperity gospel,
materialism, and purportedly ridiculous embodiment and endorsement
of conservative gender, sex, and family norms. Yet such campy fans
could also genuinely identify with the controversial preacher, who was
attractive to many gay men as an exemplar, albeit an amusingly strange
one, of suffering and survival. As campy takes on Tammy Faye moved
further into the American mainstream, the ludicrous side of her larger-
than-life tragic persona would be downplayed in favor of her inspira-
tional qualities.
This chapter outlines a second wave of camp attention to Tammy
Faye, starting with the 2000 documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye
(TEOTF), produced and directed by the aforementioned campy fans
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. While this film highlighted its sub-
ject’s ludicrous tragedies and amusing excesses, it portrayed Tammy Faye
as not only an inspirational survivor, but also as an authentic Christian,

© The Author(s) 2018 151

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_6
152  D. J. BEKKERING

due to her alleged tolerance of homosexuality and compassion for suf-

fering gay men. Tammy Faye would subsequently rebrand herself to
match TEOTF ’s glowing representation, evidenced by her appearances
at gay clubs and pride parades, a new autobiography, and her partici-
pation in two reality television programs. This rebranding effort would
prove remarkably successful, resulting in her enshrinement as a progres-
sive gay icon and symbol of a Christianity compatible with gay lifestyles.
As will be demonstrated, however, this rebranding project also involved
the downplaying and obscuring, intentionally and otherwise, of Tammy
Faye’s continued conservative approach to issues of sexuality, gender,
and family, as well as her involvement with ministries vigorously opposed
to homosexuality.
In 1998, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s World of Wonder
(WOW) production company moved into feature filmmaking with Party
Monster: The Shockumentary. Party Monster told the troubling tale of
Michael Alig, a leader in New York City’s libertine “Club Kids” move-
ment who was jailed for a grisly killing in 1997.1 For their follow-up
documentary, Bailey and Barbato turned to a better-known controver-
sial figure whom they had recently worked with: Tammy Faye Messner.
Despite their history, Barbato would later recall that Tammy Faye was
initially “very reluctant” to become involved in the project, as “her trust
of the media” was “at an all-time low.”2 Eventually, however, the pro-
ducers and future directors not only secured her participation, but also
her agreement that she would have no say in the shape of the final prod-
uct: The Eyes of Tammy Faye.3
Bailey and Barbato’s campy fan approach to the former televange-
list would be reflected in TEOTF ’s blend of genuine admiration and
ironic humor. While they played up Tammy Faye’s “kooky” character-
istics, benefitting from her “great sense of fun about herself,” they also
unfolded a serious story about a misunderstood woman who was once
“very overexposed” in the media, but still “felt completely under-re-
vealed, or unrevealed.”4 The Tammy Faye that TEOTF would con-
struct was a sincere, well-meaning, yet laughably bizarre former religious
celebrity. She was also an inspiring exemplar of perseverance in the face
of suffering and misunderstanding, which Barbato associated with the
marginalization of gay men and their tendency to “identify with a lot of
outsiders…whether they’re gay or straight.”5 While gay men had long
been drawn to Tammy Faye as a ridiculous and relatable cultural oddity,
TEOTF would intriguingly argue that this had been a reciprocal relation-
ship, as its subject allegedly had a venerable history of reaching out to
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  153

sexual minorities. This debatable claim would serve as the cornerstone of

the film’s thesis that Tammy Faye represented authentic Christianity—an
effective reversal of the often critical Recreational Christianity prominent
in the first wave of camp attention.
Suitably narrated by Barbato and Bailey’s associate, drag queen super-
star, and fellow Tammy Faye fan RuPaul Charles, TEOTF sets the stage
with a simple question: “What ever happened to Tammy Faye?”6 Somber
music accompanies sepia shots of the disgraced former televangelist
going about her business at her home in Palm Desert, California, where,
as RuPaul states, she lives in “virtual exile.” In a voiceover, Tammy Faye
reads from a depressing self-penned poem: “Mundane household chores
I do, vacuum floors and pick up poo. I try not to think of days gone by,
to do so only makes me cry. ‘Why me God?’ I say, ‘why’?” The melo-
dramatic gravitas of the opening scene, however, is quickly followed by
a full-color shot of Tammy Faye sitting in her backyard, where she had
been reading her poem. She pokes fun at her own propensity for over-
the-top emotional displays. “It’s a little dramatic I guess,” she concedes,
“I’ve often thought I should probably be on Broadway y’know (laugh-
ter), all my drama.”
Ludicrous tragedy permeates TEOTF, which presents its subject’s
backstory as a tale of alternating struggle and success, peppered with
plenty of campy humor. Two amateurish canine puppets, a winking
nod to the Bakkers’ early children’s programs, serve as scene transi-
tion devices, and goofily announce the title of the segment on Tammy
Faye’s origins: “A Star is Born” (a reference to the 1954 musical starring
camp icon Judy Garland).7 Following a section on Tammy Faye’s teen-
age introduction to makeup, framed as a colorful escape from a dreary
upbringing, comes backstage footage from her 1998 appearance on
The RuPaul Show. As she rummages through her stuffed makeup bag,
Tammy Faye reveals that her eyebrows are tattooed on, and embraces
her false eyelashes as a key component of her self-identity: “Without my
eyelashes, I wouldn’t be Tammy Faye. I don’t know who I’d be, but I
wouldn’t be me.” Her confession is accompanied by an extreme close-up
of said eyelashes, forcing viewers to appreciate just how amusingly
bizarre they are. This foreshadows the film’s overview of the Bakkers’
Praise the Lord (PTL) television ministry, which highlights the over-the-
top and laughably strange moments that were fodder for campy fans. A
musical montage, for example, contains zany footage of Jim Bakker rid-
ing a bicycle across the stage, singers performing in outlandish Egyptian-
style headdresses, and a well-coiffed poodle dancing on its hind legs.
154  D. J. BEKKERING

In sum, RuPaul states that PTL spread a “gospel of fun.” Barely men-
tioned, however, is the Bakkers’ financial focus, which had been blasted
by critics and mocked by other campy fans. While discussing the “elec-
tric church” in general, RuPaul points out that it was incredibly lucrative,
“generating millions of dollars in revenue.” Also included in the film is
a joking mini-montage of clips related to a fictional “Christian Shopping
Network,” through which viewers could purportedly buy kitschy “Praying
Bears” at “lower than retail price.” Nevertheless, aside from a quick shot
of someone purchasing a copy of Tammy Faye’s 1987 book Run to the
Roar, a tongue-in-cheek reading of promotional copy for one of her many
music albums, and Jim’s politically incorrect hawking of a “beautiful lit-
tle rice paddy baby” doll, TEOTF provides little commentary on, or crit-
icism of, the Bakkers’ controversial variant of commoditized Christianity.
This was certainly an intentional move by the filmmakers to distance their
subject from suspicions of duplicitous greed. Indeed, the film would argue
that rather than the beneficiary of ill-gotten gains, Tammy Faye actually
paid “the price of PTL’s success” in the form of a ruined marriage and a
plague of personal problems.
The flipside of TEOTF ’s downplaying of its subject’s relationship with
money, long central to criticisms of her religious authenticity, was its ele-
vation of Tammy Faye as a true Christian. This was largely based on the
film’s representation of her interactions with gay men, and particularly
those who were suffering. “PTL embraced those that other Christian
fundamentalists and televangelists rejected” argues RuPaul, after which
Tammy Faye appears in a grainy undated clip, sitting on a lavish televi-
sion set. “Steve is a patient of AIDS,” Tammy Faye informs her view-
ers, “and he so generously allowed us to talk to him today.” A quick cut
reveals that she is sitting next to a television on a table, featuring a sat-
ellite feed of a mustachioed man wearing glasses and a blue suit. “Was it
just a word to you?” Tammy Faye asks her guest, “Is it something that
just happens to other people and not to Steve?” “I knew that it was a
growing problem in the gay community,” he replies, “But I, as many
other people did back in 1981 and ‘82, denied that it could touch me…
Why would it hurt me? I was a good Christian pastor.” Following these
clips, a man identified as Reverend Mel White appears to provide his-
torical context. “Do you know how early that was, for anybody in the
Christian world to be reaching out and to be embracing a gay person,
let alone a person with AIDS?” he asks rhetorically, “Tammy Bakker
did it, when no one else would do it.” The film then returns to the
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  155

initial interview, in which Tammy Faye tearfully complains about a wide-

spread lack of Christian compassion. “How sad,” she cries, “that we as
Christians, who are to be the salt of the earth…who are supposed to be
able to love everyone, are afraid, so badly, of an AIDS patient that we
will not go up and put our arm around them and tell them that we care.”
In approximately one minute of running time, TEOTF presented its
subject as a longstanding ally of gay men, and an exemplar of authen-
tic Christianity due to her alleged compassion and love for that com-
munity’s most marginalized members. As Jennifer Brier has pointed
out, debates over the correct Christian response to the burgeoning
HIV/AIDS epidemic in the mid-1980s were politically impactful, even
resulting in a rift between senior advisors to President Ronald Reagan.
On one side were Reagan’s conservative Christian “education and reli-
gion advisors,” who “steered the administration toward a morality-based
AIDS initiative that shunned homosexuality and hailed abstinence and
heterosexual marriage as the only forms of effective AIDS prevention.”8
Prominent televangelists like Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart, and Jerry
Falwell shared these views, and supported what Tanya Erzen has called
a “politics of condemnation,” based on a “constructionist” understand-
ing of human sexuality.9 Countering claims that homosexuality was natu-
ral, they vilified homosexual behavior as sinful—a chosen and/or socially
influenced departure from God’s heterosexual norm that could, like any
other sin, be corrected. They also preached that gay men suffering from
HIV/AIDS, however regrettable their pain was, bore the consequences
of their sin, and often mentioned the epidemic in their calls for homosex-
uals to repent and change their lives.10
Robertson, Swaggart, and Falwell were among the “other Christian
broadcasters” who, according to TEOTF, “rejected” and “feared”
gay men, and particularly those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Yet only
Falwell—the film’s effective antagonist for his role in what is presented,
in true camp fashion, as a tragicomic takeover of PTL—is specifically vil-
ified for having “singled out the pro-abortion and gay movements for
attack.” This helped link gay men and Tammy Faye as mutual victims
of Falwell’s aggression. Tammy Faye’s interview with “Steve,” moreover,
suggested her affiliation with opposing religious and political forces that
encouraged understanding, compassion, awareness, and education in
the face of HIV/AIDS.11 However, this representation of Tammy Faye
as an early Christian gay ally, based on a small selection of video proof
156  D. J. BEKKERING

texts, inflated the extent of her meaningful interactions with gay men to
that point, and intentionally neglected her own conservative approach
to human sexuality. While the Bakkers, as mentioned, preached love and
compassion for homosexuals, they also shared with their more combative
televangelical brethren the beliefs that homosexual activity was serious
sin, that it was the result of sinful choices and/or detrimental social con-
ditioning, and that those involved could be delivered from such sin with
divine help.12
Tammy Faye’s conservative approach to issues of sexuality and family
is evidenced in her full interview with Steve Pieters, which originally
aired on the PTL show Tammy Faye’s House Party in 1985.13 Like
TEOTF ’s interviewee Mel White, who had previously worked as a con-
servative evangelical preacher and ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell and Pat
Robertson, Pieters was an openly gay, California-based clergyman with
the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) denomination.14 Founded
in the late 1960s by former Baptist and Pentecostal preacher Troy Perry,
who struggled to reconcile his faith and homosexuality, the MCC pro-
motes an “essentialist” understanding of homosexuality as natural and
divinely ordered.15 Although the denomination has had a tense relation-
ship with American evangelicalism, sociologist R. Stephen Warner points
out that the MCC has also promoted evangelical principles. For exam-
ple, by reinterpreting Biblical condemnations of homosexual behavior
and highlighting “the silence of the Gospels themselves on the subject
of homosexuality,” the MCC has upheld Biblical authority.16 In addition,
Warner intriguingly argues that the MCC functioned as “a repository of
traditionalism available to gays gravitating toward moral conservatism
in sexual relationships as knowledge of AIDS spread in the late 1980s
and romance, dating, coupling, and family values came in style in the gay
community.”17 Thus, in ways, the MCC mirrored the pro-family agenda
of the outspoken Christian Right, albeit with a radically different concep-
tion of what might constitute the sacred social unit.
The MCC’s conservative moral and theological undertones may have
made Pieters, piped into the PTL studio via satellite due to his draining
chemotherapy treatments for AIDS-related cancer, a relatively “safe”
interviewee in regards to the topics at hand. As the full interview footage
demonstrates, however, Tammy Faye openly struggled with Pieters’ belief
that his sexual orientation was innate and God-given, and searched for
reasons why he engaged in what she and many, if not most, of her view-
ers considered serious sexual sin. Following Pieters’ revelation of futile
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  157

attempts to “program myself to be straight,” for example, Tammy Faye

poses a series of questions aimed at discovering whether his homosexuality
stemmed from a lack of success with women: “Did girls make you nerv-
ous, Steve?”; “Have you ever had a sexual experience with a woman?”;
“Do you think, maybe, you just haven’t given women a fair try?” Pieters
meets these queries by emphasizing the essential nature of his homosexu-
ality—“No, my orientation is towards men”—and framing homosexual-
ity as legitimated by God: “Jesus loves the way I love.” The latter maxim
visibly breaks Tammy Faye’s stride, and she appears uncomfortable as she
tries to collect her thoughts. In turn, Pieters sighs in frustration after yet
another question implicitly presenting homosexuality in the negative:
“What made you feel that there was no hope for you to be straight?”
The deep divide between Tammy Faye and Pieters’ understandings of
homosexuality was also evident in their discussion of the social and reli-
gious lives of homosexuals. “Now, what if you should want…children,
Steve?” Tammy Faye asks, “Would you ever marry for the sake of having
children?” In response, Pieters states that heterosexual marriage was only
one way of becoming a parent: “A lot of gay couples, now, are in the
process of adopting. It is happening more and more frequently. And yes,
I would love to parent…But…that hasn’t been the path that God has led
me on at this point.”18 Tammy Faye counters what, to her, was certainly
a shocking suggestion of divinely favored gay adoption—a social devel-
opment that the Christian Right vehemently battled against—by raising
the possibility of homosexual contagion, thereby echoing stridently anti-
gay preachers like Jerry Falwell: “Would that automatically, do you think,
cause the children to lead the same kind of lifestyle?”19 “Absolutely not,”
Pieters replies firmly, “My parents were straight. All my teachers were
straight. Why didn’t I turn out straight?” Pieters also uses the interview
to praise the MCC for helping bring individuals like himself to Christ,
and for supporting positive and healthy homosexual lifestyles and rela-
tionships. “I finally found God when I met my gay brothers and lesbian
sisters at MCC,” Pieters testifies, “And it was through meeting other gay
people who were happy with themselves, who were leading productive,
active lives, who were in sacred, loving relationships with each other, that
I realized that that was a possibility for me too.” Tammy Faye, however,
would effectively strip the divine from Pieters’ experience, reframing
his life-changing joy as that produced through mundane interpersonal
connections: “So what you were feeling was that strong bond of love
between a group of people, right?”
158  D. J. BEKKERING

It is understandable that directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato

left such footage on the cutting room floor, since they sought to portray
Tammy Faye as a progressive, authentic Christian due to her purported
compassion and love for gay men. The only explicit reference in TEOTF to
its subject’s stance on homosexuality came from the mouth of her former
cohost Jim J. Bullock, who counterbalanced it with more endorsements
of her tolerance and fellow outsider status. “She has been judged by other
people, and she knows what it’s like,” Bullock asserts in a sit-down inter-
view, “So, although Tammy’s beliefs are not in favor, I don’t think, of
homosexuality, she allowed me the freedom to be who I am, and didn’t let
that get in the way of our friendship.” For her part, Tammy Faye reveals
that she ignored Bullock’s sexuality, stating that she “never even thought
of him as gay. I just thought of him as another human being that I loved.
It was as simple as that.” A reunion staged for the film in Bullock’s apart-
ment allowed Tammy Faye another opportunity to demonstrate her pur-
portedly Christ-like compassion. “Tammy hasn’t seen Jim J.” RuPaul
reveals, “since he lost his lover to AIDS, and was himself diagnosed with
HIV.” Sitting together on Bullock’s sofa, Tammy Faye gently strokes his
hand and asks about his well-being. “It’s been a long, hard road,” he con-
fesses, adding, “I’m coming around…I’m a survivor like you.”
When it came to addressing its subject’s many struggles, TEOTF was
sure to emphasize their spectacularly ludicrous nature. The film’s take
on Jim’s encounter with Jessica Hahn, for example, incorporated cheesy
clips from Fall from Grace (1990), a TV movie about the Bakkers, as
well as risqué material from Hahn’s over-the-top, religious-themed
Playboy video (1992).20 In the same vein, Tammy Faye’s recollection of
her brief dependency on sedatives is accompanied by clips of vintage car-
toons backed by disorienting calliope music, intended to comically con-
vey a sense of hallucination.21 TEOTF ’s fun at Tammy Faye’s expense
would even extend to setting her up for failure and humiliation as she
attempted to reestablish her career with the “help” of the film’s pro-
ducers. Selecting Tammy Faye’s clothing for new promotional photos,
celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch snarkily dismisses a selection of tacky hats
that she brought along. Elsewhere, during a meeting with a television
network executive almost certainly engineered by the film’s producers,
Tammy Faye’s pitches for strange and old-fashioned programs, such as
a puppet-based children’s show, are met with patient amusement but
ultimate rejection. Despite such light mockery, by the end of the film
Tammy Faye emerges triumphant, returning not only to active church
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  159

membership, but also public preaching and singing. With renewed con-
fidence she faces the “Christian community” which, in her words, “had
been so unkind” in the past, and reaps the rewards of her perseverance
in the form of a standing ovation after a musical performance at Oral
Roberts University. To cap it all off, her aforementioned song “Don’t
Give Up (On the Brink of a Miracle)” plays over the film’s closing cred-
its, cementing her status as an inspirational survivor, if a somewhat ridic-
ulous one.
Produced and directed by two campy fans, TEOTF portrayed its sub-
ject as an unlikely and amusingly bizarre gay ally—a persecuted woman
who shared gay men’s suffering, encouraged them to persevere, and
treated them with Christ-like tolerance and compassion. This glowing
representation was supported by video proof texts from Tammy Faye’s
1985 PTL interview with Steve Pieters, which were included to demon-
strate that she had a long history of positive relationships with gay men.
However, there is no evidence, apart from this interview, of her actu-
ally reaching out to the gay community prior to the production of the
film. Moreover, as mentioned, TEOTF ’s directors intentionally excluded
footage from the interview that would betray Tammy Faye’s conserva-
tive beliefs, which were also deliberately downplayed in the film more
broadly. TEOTF ’s largely laudatory style would not only set the tone
for a second wave of campy fandom and treatments of Tammy Faye, but
would also encourage her to rebrand herself to appeal to this new and
generally favorable attention. The end result would be a partial shift in
her public image—from suspicious religious fake to revered gay icon and
exemplar of authentic Christianity—which would involve further neglect
and obscuring of her ongoing conservative beliefs regarding gender, sex-
uality, and family.
In January 2000, Tammy Faye teamed up with TEOTF ’s narrator
RuPaul for promotional events at the influential Sundance Film Festival
in Park City, Utah. The attention-grabbing “odd couple” hosted “an
ice cream social,” served “drinks at a local coffee shop,” and even dis-
tributed “emergency makeup kits.”22 Having received a standing ova-
tion after its first screening, TEOTF would become the breakout hit
of the festival.23 America’s preeminent film critic Roger Ebert, who
quite enjoyed the movie, recognized Bailey and Barbato’s attrac-
tion to Tammy Faye as a “camp icon,” and admitted that he too had
watched PTL “not because I was saved, but because I was fascinated.
They were like two little puppets themselves—Howdy Doody and Betty
160  D. J. BEKKERING

Boop made flesh.”24 He also, however, admitted to moments of sin-

cere engagement: “when (Tammy Faye would) do her famous version
of ‘We’re Blest,’ yes, dear reader, I would sing along with her.” Ebert
uncritically carried forward the film’s questionable claim that Tammy
Faye “has always been friendly with the gays”; however, he also openly
wondered about her possible complicity in PTL’s financial scandals, as
well as the sanctity of her materialism. “Was she in on the scams?” he
asked rhetorically, noting that while she was “never brought to trial,”
she “lived in comfort, and still does.” The Toronto Star’s Peter Howell,
who interviewed Tammy Faye at the festival, reminded readers that Jim
Bakker “came to symbolize the ultimate in hypocrisy, preaching humil-
ity while living lavishly.”25 He stoked suspicion about Tammy Faye by
mentioning the jewelry that she wore during their interview, which, in
his opinion, demonstrated that she was “obviously not hurting mate-
rially.” More damning, perhaps, was Howell’s revelation that Tammy
Faye’s publicist intervened to “halt any questions about her financial
affairs.”
In her 1996 autobiography Tammy: Telling It My Way, Tammy
Faye strongly denied that she and Jim had ripped off “‘little old ladies’
so that we could live in extravagant luxury.” Their lifestyles, she main-
tained, were transparent to their supporters, many of whom shared their
vision of the prosperity gospel.26 She further argued that her expen-
sive makeup, adornments, and clothing were actually for the benefit of
faithful viewers, who expected her to embody success: “That was the
least I could do for all the partners who watched me and supported me
and cared about me.”27 In a promotional interview for his film, Randy
Barbato argued that Tammy Faye reflected cultural tensions between
“Christianity and materialism, spirituality and fabulousness,” and was
“somehow” able “to wrap them up in one package.” For Barbato, she
symbolized a Manichaean struggle faced by many in the Western world:
“We spend a lot of time feeling bad about ourselves, because sometimes
we feel spiritual and sometimes we want to go shopping. Well, that’s
what she is, a fabulous mess.”28 As discussed in the previous chapter,
Tammy Faye’s combination of religion and materialism was often a tar-
get of early campy fans’ Recreational Christian play. The second wave
of camp attention that followed TEOTF, however, largely ignored or
downplayed her controversial materialism, while emphasizing her suf-
fering survivor persona and purportedly Christ-like approach to sexual
minorities.
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  161

Marketing Tammy Faye as an authentically Christian gay ally was

complicated by her conservative beliefs, which could shine through
the spin. This proved the case during a July 2000 interview between
Tammy Faye, Bailey, and Barbato for the gay-oriented magazine The
Advocate.29 Echoing RuPaul’s line of questioning on his talk show
two years before, Bailey and Barbato asked Tammy Faye whether she
would be “a drag queen” if, hypothetically, she were “a man.” In
response, Tammy Faye conceded that drag could be “cute” as a form
of “play,” yet also encouraged the maintenance of divinely mandated
sex and gender divisions: “I think everybody ought to accept the body
that God put them in.” While discussing what was described as her
“very nonjudgmental” Christian approach to homosexuality—the crux
of TEOTF ’s argument for her religious authenticity—Tammy Faye
explained that the “Bible says that he loves every one of us just the
same and that he doesn’t classify sin, saying this sin is greater than that
sin.” Here, Tammy Faye explicitly revealed her unwavering belief that
homosexual behavior was spiritually aberrant—a belief that had broader
political implications, and would fill her subsequent career path with
considerable tension.
Following the runaway success of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s
documentary, Tammy Faye began rebranding herself to better capital-
ize on her camp appeal. Helping her navigate the waters was new man-
ager Joe Spotts, an openly gay man and longtime campy fan.30 Under
Spotts’ direction, she would embark on a form of itinerancy much dif-
ferent than her time on the revival trail.31 In September 2001, Tammy
Faye served as the celebrity host of the final “Red Party,” an annual
gay dance celebration in Columbus, Ohio.32 As per the dress code, she
wore a bright-red pantsuit complementing her brassy hair, cherry lip-
stick, and the often highly sexualized costumes of other attendees, with
whom she posed for many pictures.33 Two months later, she debuted
a traveling solo show—“Doing It My Way”—at the Castro Theatre in
San Francisco’s gay village.34 As Silke Tudor of the SF Weekly reported,
Tammy Faye was part of a “delightfully surreal” double bill, along-
side aforementioned camp auteur John Waters. Entering the theater
in “a long, white fur,” she performed on a stage set up like a “mock
bedroom.” She used the prop bed to illustrate how, as a child, she
would fearfully hide underneath as her parents argued, thus reveal-
ing, in Tudor’s words, a “guileless vulnerability” that was also laugha-
bly bizarre. At other points during the evening, she conversed with
162  D. J. BEKKERING

an audience member using the voices of her old puppets, and even
unleashed a semi-risqué joke: “When you die, they say you wet your
pants and all that…a little Super Glue will do the trick.” Tammy Faye’s
self-campification resonated with audience member Michael Zanzoni, a
forty-five-year-old campy fan who told Tudor that he used to watch PTL
“every day.” Holding “a highly treasured Tammy Faye record that his
brother gave him,” Zanzoni blended irony with affection when discuss-
ing the former televangelist: “She was very glamorous in a white trash
sort of way. ‘High white trash,’ I would call it. But I would never say
that to her face. She’s wonderful.”35
Tammy Faye’s willingness to engage with her camp appeal afforded her
fresh opportunities to spread her gospel during her one-woman shows.
In an interview before a stop in Miami, Florida, she explained that she
wanted to “(let) people know about God’s love and compassion.” This
core message, however, was folded into a broader “you-can-make-it type
of thing,” targeted at gay men who, like her, had “been made fun of and
put down and misunderstood and have really had a rough row to hoe in
life.”36 As Tudor reported, Tammy Faye’s San Francisco show featured
not only “pleas for tolerance, respect, and love for all people,” but also
explicitly Christian music. This included her own ode to perseverance, “If
Life Hands You a Lemon (Start Makin’ Lemonade),” as well as the classic
hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers,” which she led as a sing-along while
pumping away at the Castro Theatre’s organ.37 Such threading of posi-
tivity-laced Christianity into her intentionally campy performances would
have enhanced Tammy Faye’s kitschiness for many audience members.
Yet for others, it may have also evidenced her purported reconciliation of
Christianity and homosexuality, as argued in TEOTF.
In 2002, Tammy Faye served as the judge for a drag “Tammy Faye
look-alike contest” at a Washington, D.C. nightclub, which coincided
with that city’s gay pride celebrations. Club manager Darren Phillips
explained to a reporter that Tammy Faye had “dealt with so much
hardship in her life” that she could “relate to the hardships and crazi-
ness of being gay,” and ranked her as “one of the first drag queens…
even though she is a woman.” Contestant Jason Saffer, ecstatic about
the chance to meet his drag inspiration, added that she was a pioneer-
ing voice for positive gay-Christian relations: “She was one of the first
people to say you can be both gay and Christian…In the ‘80s, when all
the other televangelists were preaching that homosexuality was wrong,
Tammy Faye had a gay person with AIDS on her show and she hugged
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  163

and kissed him. I just love her.”38 Here, a campy fan relayed a favora-
bly distorted version of TEOTF ’s already questionable history. Along the
same lines, the Associated Press, in its mention of Tammy Faye’s role as
the Grand Marshall at Tampa Bay, Florida’s PrideFest—where, notably,
she led “the crowd in a chorus of ‘Jesus Loves Me’”—reported that she
and her ex-husband Jim had “supported homosexuals at a time when the
rest of America was fearful of AIDS.”39
Some observers, however, were more critical of, and curious about,
the seeming incongruities between Tammy Faye’s long-held conserv-
ative Christian principles and camp rebranding. As the Associated Press
reported, her appearance at Tampa Bay’s PrideFest was preceded by a
gathering of individuals distributing “leaflets proclaiming ‘Tammy Faye,
shame on you!’” One protestor, forty-nine-year-old Linda McGlade,
blasted Tammy Faye for her involvement in an event celebrating a sin
that was “up there with murder and greed.” In response, Tammy Faye
suggested that her detractors best “read what the Bible really says.”40 On
the other side, Randy Shulman, editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
gay newspaper MetroWeekly, sought clarification from Tammy Faye in an
interview related to her involvement in the city’s 2002 pride festivities.
“Given your fundamentalist roots,” Shulman asked, “are you ever sur-
prised at the acceptance you get from gays?” Tammy Faye acknowledged
that she was “stunned” by the recent support, yet also vaguely reiter-
ated TEOTF ’s glowing treatment of her past: “PTL was one of the very
first (Christian television shows) to help the gays…They knew that we
accepted them…We accepted the gay community when most religious
elements did not.” While Tammy Faye, as mentioned, had previously
publicly classified homosexual activity as “sin,” she conveyed a more rel-
ativistic and tolerant stance in her interview with Shulman, who pointed
out that “many Christians” considered homosexuality “evil” and “an
abomination”: “I think being gay is just being a person who has a differ-
ent thought on life.”41
Limits to Tammy Faye’s proclaimed progressiveness, however, were
revealed when Shulman asked for advice for “the young gay or lesbian
who has still not found the way to say to their friends and family, ‘I’m
gay’.” While encouraging such individuals to “just live your life,” she
also suggested restraint: “don’t throw you gayness in anyone’s face.”42
This latter advice sat uneasily with her own participation in events fea-
turing unfettered expressions of gay sexuality, including the very pride
celebrations that were the context for the interview. Yet Tammy Faye
164  D. J. BEKKERING

was apparently having serious second thoughts about the extent of her
rebranding efforts. On June 20, 2002, left-leaning National Public
Radio aired an interview between Tammy Faye and host Neda Ulaby.
Having affirmed that Tammy Faye “always had some gay and lesbian
fans,” Ulaby noted that this following had swelled since the release of
TEOTF, which she described as a “largely uncritical documentary.”
Ulaby also argued that the “gay community” had not “expressed much
skepticism” about the rebranding of Tammy Faye, who “walk(ed) a fine
line in terms of condoning homosexuality,” and was reluctant to “com-
ment on any political issue important to gays and lesbians, such as gay
marriage or military service.”43 Moreover, Ulaby suggested that Tammy
Faye did not “like being where gay people flaunt their sexuality. Aside,
of course,” she mockingly added, “from drag queen contests and sweaty
dance parties.” In a surprise about-face, however, Tammy Faye revealed
that such appearances were behind her. “I won’t be in the gay pride
parades, so that tells you something,” she laughingly stated, “I don’t
think they need them. See, I believe in class, and I think that people
should always have a bit of class about them.”44
Although she may have found her campy fans to be teasingly fun,
warmly affectionate, and generously supportive, Tammy Faye was obvi-
ously uncomfortable with explicit expressions of what she considered
serious sexual sin. She instead endorsed a “classier” “gayness” that was
not “in anyone’s face”—a lobbying for restraint which, as Neda Ulaby
proposed, highlighted the politically problematic nature of her camp
rebranding. In her study of “Bible Belt gays,” Bernadette Barton argues
that such proscriptions against “flaunting” homosexuality are a “dis-
cursive tool of oppression that silences gay people,” and contributes to
their social marginalization.45 Intriguingly, Tammy Faye’s rather sudden
reluctance to participate in events celebrating gay sexuality, and her pub-
licly expressed preference for muted homosexual behavior, anticipated
attempts to reestablish her celebrity within the conservative Christian
world, where controversial strategies were developed and deployed in the
hopes of eradicating homosexuality.
In November 2002, Tammy Faye was interviewed by Jeremy Reynalds
of the Pentecostal/Charismatic magazine Charisma—in some sense a
homecoming for the once self-exiled, spirit-filled Christian. The topic at
hand was Tammy Faye’s relationship with her “gay fans,” with Reynalds
reporting that his interviewee “admitted she does not specifically address
the issue of homosexuality being a sin when she talks to groups of gays.”
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  165

Reynalds’ goal was to uncover Tammy Faye’s true beliefs about homosex-
uality, lying beneath her intentional public vagueness. While she remained
somewhat guarded, Reynalds wrote that “Messner said if someone comes
up to her and asks her if homosexuality is a sin, then she tells them that
‘it’s best not to take a chance with your soul.’” Ultimately, however,
Tammy Faye argued that it was not her job to convict homosexuals of
their sins: “I leave that up to the Holy Spirit, because unless He speaks to
them, they won’t change anyway.”46
Tammy Faye’s passing use of the word “change” here intersected
with the agenda of another of Reynalds’ interviewees: Alan Chambers,
Executive Director of Exodus International. Perhaps the most prom-
inent of America’s “ex-gay” ministries, Exodus International taught
that homosexuality could be cured through reparative therapy and the
soul-cleansing power of the Holy Spirit.47 While the organization under-
stood homosexual behavior as seriously sinful—“If when asked point-
blank (Tammy Faye) never says homosexuality is a sin, then there is a
danger in that,” Chambers told Reynalds—it also reflected a broader
shift in conservative Christian attitudes toward such activity.48 According
to ethnographer Tanya Erzen, beginning in “the early 1990s,” individ-
uals and groups tied to the Christian Right increasingly moved from a
“politics of condemnation of homosexuality to one of compassion.”
Rather than vilify individuals for their sinful sexual behavior, a greater
emphasis was placed on helping those afflicted by such sin to correct
their disordered state. As Erzen argues, this apparently softer approach
was no less politically loaded, resulting in “anti-gay activism cloaked in
the rhetoric of choice, change, and compassion.” Chambers, for exam-
ple, drew upon his own experience as a purportedly reformed homosex-
ual to publicly oppose gay marriage, which would dissuade people “from
realizing the ‘root issues’ of their homosexual behavior and that they are
truly heterosexual.”49
Tammy Faye’s compassion for suffering sexual minorities was central
to TEOTF ’s claim that she was an authentic Christian, and was an inte-
gral component of the second wave of camp attention that she would
rebrand herself for. However, she would also emphasize compassion for
homosexuals when marketing herself to conservative Christians who
shared her belief that homosexual activity was a sinful threat to God’s
plan for humankind. An intriguing attempt to simultaneously reach both
markets was Tammy Faye’s 2003 autobiography and therapy manual:
I Will Survive…And You Will, Too!50 The book’s title was a clear
166  D. J. BEKKERING

reference to Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 disco hit, and longtime gay anthem of
perseverance, “I Will Survive.”51 Its pink jacket, featuring a glamour shot
of the author from the photography session featured in TEOTF, also left
little doubt as to one of its intended markets. Yet the bulk of the book
was a rather pedestrian collection of inspirational reading—recipes, diet-
ing tips, poems, quotes, and anecdotes—resembling similar fare aimed at
middle-aged, conservative Christian women.
Such women were the implied audience for the forty-seventh short
chapter of Tammy Faye’s book: “The Gay Community.”52 In this chap-
ter, Tammy Faye revealed that her gay fans had stepped in to offer sup-
port during trying times: “They helped pay my bills while Roe was in
prison”; “One gay man sent me $10,000 tax free!”; “They sent me beau-
tiful things – clothes, jewelry, flowers. They overwhelmed me with the
love I no longer felt from the Christian community.” While these fans
may have acted like earthly angels, Tammy Faye was sure to add that they
were nevertheless engaged in sexual sin. “My gay friends still know my
stand on homosexuality,” she wrote, contradicting her previous admis-
sion in Charisma magazine that she neglected the topic when addressing
gay audiences. “Most of the gays I meet say they were born that way,”
she continued, before vaguely putting forward her own beliefs. Although
“people of different sexual persuasions” attempted to “interpret the Bible
their way” (for example, Steve Pieters and others in the MCC), Tammy
Faye asserted that the Bible was “a relatively simple book” containing
clear rules on “how to live,” including sexually. Once again, she tried
to soften the blow by adding that “God does not categorize sin,” thus
lumping homosexuals’ transgressions together with everyone else’s.
In “The Gay Community,” Tammy Faye also perpetuated TEOTF ’s
debatable but influential thesis that she had a venerable history of “lov-
ing ‘the gays.’” “It all started twenty-something years ago,” she wrote,
“when HIV/AIDS had just been discovered” and was considered “a gay
disease.” Emphasizing the fear surrounding afflicted gay men, who “were
treated as if they had leprosy,” she described her PTL interview with Steve
Pieters as a landmark instance of Christian “compassion.” At the same
time that she portrayed herself as a Christ-like first responder to the crisis,
however, Tammy Faye also betrayed a naïve and misguided understanding
of the medical conditions and their communication. She began by recall-
ing a time that she, Jim, and a number of PTL employees had contracted
food poisoning from tainted hamburgers, after which they received
a financial settlement from an unnamed “restaurant chain.” Besides
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  167

a financial miracle that saved what was to be a lean family Christmas,

Tammy Faye framed the incident as a fulfillment of Mark 16:18: “If you
eat any deadly thing it shall not hurt you.” She cited the same passage as
the reason that she “felt comfortable working with people with AIDS. I
felt that God would protect me, and I still feel that way. I have proba-
bly hugged and kissed more people with AIDS than anyone. I have cried
with them, laughed with them, eaten with them, and I have ministered to
them.” While intended to highlight her courageous compassion toward
modern “lepers,” by erroneously implying that HIV/AIDS patients could
spread their conditions through “casual contact” save for divine interven-
tion, Tammy Faye potentially contributed to the ongoing social stigmati-
zation of such individuals.53
In promotional appearances for I Will Survive, Tammy Faye worked
different angles to publicly reconcile her faith with her relationship to
her gay fans.54 During a high-profile appearance on CNN’s Larry King
Live in September 2003, for example, she agreed with the host’s sug-
gestion that her “views” on homosexuality differed drastically from
leaders on the “far religious right,” such as Pat Robertson. She further
claimed that she was following the example of Jesus by reaching out to
the “hurting” “gay community,” which had suffered greatly from the
“misunderstanding of people.” Yet throughout the interview, she also
maintained that there was an unbridgeable gap between their experiences
and worldviews. No matter how much “love” she had for homosexuals,
Tammy Faye stated that “(t)here’s no way I’ll ever understand the gay
community.” Likewise, having acknowledged that she “didn’t choose to
be heterosexual,” she dodged King’s challenges to constructionist mod-
els of sexuality, key to arguments that homosexual activity was sinful, by
appealing to her own ignorance: “I don’t know the thinking of the gay
mind. I really do not, Larry.” What she was certain of, however, was that
“marriage is for husband and wife,” and that gay marriage was wrong:
“I agree with old Pat Robertson on that, and a lot of the population.”
Two months later, Tammy Faye would sit down for an interview
with a television preacher holding staunchly conservative opinions
about human sexuality: the aforementioned faith healer Benny Hinn.55
A believer in divine deliverance from the “spirit of homosexuality” who
once prophesied that God would “destroy the homosexual community
of America…with fire,” Hinn hosted Tammy Faye, her husband Roe,
and her daughter Tammy Sue on his talk show This Is Your Day!—
Tammy Faye’s first appearance on Christian television in many years.56
168  D. J. BEKKERING

After a brief overview of his guest’s many “ups and downs,” Hinn
steered the conversation to the topic of homosexuality. “Your stand…
on gays, is, you know, something people have questioned,” Hinn pro-
posed, “Why are you like that? What happened here?” “Well,” Tammy
Faye smilingly replied, “I believe that Jesus loves everyone. And I believe
the way you win people to Jesus is through love…and not through judg-
ing them.” Redeploying a maxim that she had used in her interview with
Larry King, Tammy Faye stated that she and her gay fans “agreed to dis-
agree,” and added a debatable claim: “they know my stand.” She also
argued that her work with homosexuals was evangelical in nature—“I
give them the gospel. I have one-woman shows all over the country”—
and incredibly successful in this regard: “‘Thank you for allowing God to
be part of our life,’ that is their exact words.” Intentionally left out of her
testimony, however, were references to the campy humor involved in her
solo shows, or the celebrations of gay sex on display during her previous
appearances at nightclubs and pride events.
As with her Charisma magazine interview, Tammy Faye suggested to
Hinn that her foremost duty was to spread the gospel, and that it was
ultimately up to the Holy Spirit to lead people out of sexual sin: “No
one can be delivered by the power of God unless God is a part of their
life.” Prompted by her use of the loaded word “delivered,” Hinn asked
whether she had witnessed “any deliverance” among her gay fans, to
which she quickly replied, “I have not.” After a pause, Hinn stated, “Well,
I pray you will.” “I pr…,” Tammy Faye began, before abruptly changing
course, “well, you know, I leave that up to God…Only the Holy Ghost
can reach out to hearts and minds, there’s nothing we can do. If we’re
not anointed by the Holy Ghost, we are nothing!” Deferring responsibil-
ity to the divine for delivering individuals from sexual sin helped Tammy
Faye defend her work with gay fans to conservative Christians like Hinn.
It also legitimated her general refusal to label homosexual activity as sin in
front of such fans, in favor of delivering a broad gospel of suffering and
survival that directly intersected with her camp appeal.
Despite her ceaseless conservative beliefs regarding gender, sex, and
family, the questionable extent of her historical relationships with gay
men (and in particular the medically suffering), her potentially stigma-
tizing naïvety about HIV/AIDS, and her like-mindedness with Christian
ministries that sought to limit the social presence and impact of homo-
sexuals, Tammy Faye would be increasingly elevated as a longtime gay
ally, appropriate gay icon, and a compassionate and tolerant authentic
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  169

Christian. This complimentary representation would be furthered

through her participation in two reality television projects drenched in
ironic and campy humor, one of which was produced by Fenton Bailey
and Randy Barbato’s company World of Wonder.57 Through it all,
Tammy Faye would play up her compassion and loving nature—attrib-
utes that allowed her to both market herself to her camp appeal, and
make some inroads back into the bosom of conservative Christianity.
This two-pronged approach, however, would involve considerable rhe-
torical tightrope-walking on her part, the continued downplaying of her
true beliefs about homosexuality, and even the deliberate obscuring of
her involvement with a controversial ministry that might cast doubt on
her suitability as a gay icon.
Popular culture scholar Leigh Edwards defines reality television as
“factual programming with key recurring generic and marketing charac-
teristics, such as unscripted, low-cost, edited formats featuring a docu-
mentary and fiction genre mix.”58 Although presented as “unscripted,”
Edwards notes that reality television shows are, at the least, “lightly
scripted,” with participants often placed in situations resembling “fic-
tional TV genres” like “dramas,” “sitcoms,” and “soap operas.”59 While
she may not have predicted this path for her return to mainstream tele-
vision, Tammy Faye felt at least somewhat prepared. “We were the first
reality show,” she would say of her televangelical past, “Because whatever
happened on PTL, we did it live, and whatever happened, happened.”60
Her (in)famous emotional excess also rendered her ready for reality tel-
evision, and served two functions. On one hand, it would have brought
to mind for many viewers her previous life as a bizarre and controversial
television preacher, and thus provided opportunities for tongue-in-cheek
humor. On the other hand, and much like during her days at PTL, her
emotional vulnerability allowed her to genuinely connect with viewers
who sought out “moments of ‘authenticity’” from such programs, how-
ever fabricated they might be.61
Beginning in January 2004, Tammy Faye appeared on the second
season of The Surreal Life (2003–2006), a reality program on the WB
network in which groups of has-been celebrities cohabited in a gaudy
Hollywood mansion. Edwards describes the show as an example of
“celebreality TV,” which scrutinizes and ironizes the idea of fame, and
she notes that it blended “reflexive documentary,” melodramatic “soap
opera,” and “sitcom conventions.”62 In line with its tongue-in-cheek
approach to celebrity, The Surreal Life featured a tabloid-esque aesthetic,
170  D. J. BEKKERING

with the mansion’s inhabitants provided information through the daily

delivery of a magazine resembling the National Enquirer. During the
1980s, Tammy Faye was frequently featured in tabloid magazines, which
often played with her public persona in a hypothetical fashion. In 1987,
for example, The Weekly World News asked its readers “What if Tammy
Faye didn’t wear makeup?”—and provided its own answer with a shock-
ing doctored image of the televangelist.63 Two years later, the National
Enquirer itself invited readers to imagine Tammy Faye entering a con-
vent at Jim’s request, “while he’s rotting away in the Big House.”64 The
Surreal Life would bring similar amusing scenarios to life, and specifically
place Tammy Faye in situations intended to humorously conflict with
her conservative Christian values—a visit to a nude resort; a clothing-op-
tional pool party; a psychic séance—and which often resulted in outpour-
ings of her trademark tears.
As Edwards points out, such scenes were not only included to “ridi-
cule her persona,” but also “to elicit viewer sympathy for her moral views
and what (the show) presents as the purportedly true-to-life Tammy
Faye.” Indeed, due in large part to her apparently “authentic suffer-
ing,” Tammy Faye would become the show’s emotional anchor, and
a rather unlikely symbol of authenticity in general—a “real,” if laugha-
bly bizarre, public figure.65 Notably, The Surreal Life would also portray
Tammy Faye as an authentic Christian, who treated others with tolerance,
understanding, and compassion, not least of all her castmates. In essence,
the mansion’s inhabitants formed a hilariously strange sitcom-style fam-
ily: Tammy Faye took on the role of the caring mother; young reality-
television veteran Trishelle Canatella was the wayward daughter, and sister
to Baywatch actress Traci Bingham; former television hunk Erik Estrada
was the father/older brother to disgruntled white rapper Rob “Vanilla
Ice” Van Winkle; and legendary pornographic actor Ron Jeremy was the
lovable yet creepy uncle.66 Having Jeremy and Tammy Faye live together
was the producers’ most obvious attempt to stir up entertaining drama.
This strategy backfired spectacularly, however, as the pair would become
“fast friends” and “establish a lingua franca of tolerance.”67 In the sea-
son’s final episode, talk show host and guest star Sally Jesse Raphael
made a final attempt to create discord, suggesting to Tammy Faye that
“He (Jeremy) represents everything that you should be against.” “God is
love,” Tammy Faye calmly replies, “God cares about everybody.”68
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  171

The Surreal Life’s representation of Tammy Faye as a tolerant and

therefore authentic Christian intersected with its overarching thesis,
which related to understandings of the American family. As Edwards
writes, “reality TV is a key cultural site at which contemporary politics of
the family are being negotiated.” In an era of expanding “family diver-
sity,” including “postdivorce, single parent, blended, and gay and lesbian
families,” reality television shows have put forward “arguments about
family life, sometimes implicitly and sometimes explicitly.”69 The second
season of The Surreal Life suggested that functional families could be
composed of extremely diverse individuals, and Tammy Faye served as
this particular fictional family’s emotional, moral, and religious glue. Her
willingness to accept anyone into her “family” was especially emphasized
in the season’s fourth episode, in which she traveled with most of her
castmates to a Long Beach, California coffee shop for an I Will Survive
book signing.70 As the other “has-beens” stood in approving aston-
ishment at the gay fans and drag queens in attendance, Tammy Faye
started, as she herself stated, “preaching”: encouraging perseverance in
the face of suffering, and emphasizing the power of forgiveness.
During her coffee shop “sermon,” Tammy Faye also encouraged
parents of gay children to “love them anyway…You’ll miss so much
if you don’t love your child unconditionally.” While this agreed with
her welcoming of homosexuals into her “surreal” television family,
in the “real” world she continued to express conservative opinions
about the proper composition of the American family. On March
18, 2004, about one month after the last episode of The Surreal Life
aired, Tammy Faye once again sat down with CNN’s Larry King
for a televised interview.71 “You’re friends with a lot of gays,” King
stated, “What do you feel about gay marriage?” Tammy Faye reit-
erated her position from her previous appearance on the show: “I
believe marriage is between a man and a woman.” Thus, while The
Surreal Life portrayed Tammy Faye as a progressive Christian vis-
à-vis the changing landscape of the American family—a representa-
tion she actively helped to create—her personal beliefs reflected
the restrictive understanding of family that progressive movements
sought to challenge. Similar incongruities would be involved in her
next reality television venture, which would explicitly capitalize on
her camp appeal.
172  D. J. BEKKERING

On Larry King Live, Tammy Faye announced that her cancer had
unfortunately returned, and that she was to begin a rigorous chemo-
therapy regimen. Her illness and treatments would form the backbone
of Tammy Faye: Death Defying (2015), a television special broadcast
by the cable network WE (Women’s Entertainment) TV, and, like The
RuPaul Show and TEOTF, produced by World of Wonder.72 Death
Defying’s core theme was Tammy Faye’s inspirational resilience in the
face of a dark trial that robbed her of so much, including her musical
ability. In one scene, a gaunt Tammy Faye falters as she sings along to a
prerecorded backing track for one of her classic Christian songs of perse-
verance—“The Sun Will Shine Again”—forgetting words and failing to
reach her high notes.73 While intended to tug at the heartstrings, Death
Defying would also, in true camp fashion, remind viewers that the quality
of her singing was always suspect by including shots of her small dogs
loudly barking at the noise. The special is peppered with similar attempts
to highlight the ludicrous in Tammy Faye’s tragedy. In another scene,
for example, Tammy Faye reveals an unusual wish for her cremated
remains: “I’d like to have ‘em put me in maracas…And when they’re
up at church, and they’re playing the maraca, and they’re having a good
time singing…that’d be you in there, with your bones shaking (laugh-
ter).” Death Defying plays up her bizarrely amusing request with footage
of shaking maracas, backed by buoyant music.
Like TEOTF, Death Defying provided its subject with opportunities
to spread her gospel. In one scene, over shots of moving clouds and the
harsh California desert—visual metaphors for the passage of time and
death—Tammy Faye discusses the source of her strength by paraphrasing
Psalm 23:4: “I feel that presence of, of Jesus as I’m going through this
time. The Bible says that when we go through the valley of the shadow
of death, we should fear no evil, for he is with us.” Moreover, and also
like TEOTF, Death Defying proposed that Tammy Faye was an authen-
tic Christian, due in particular to her compassion for medically suffering
gay men. She is shown visiting a small group of, it is implied, gay men
at House of Mercy, a Catholic HIV/AIDS hospice in North Carolina,
with whom she commiserates.74 “I think cancer’s sorta like AIDS,”
Tammy Faye suggests, “in the fact that you have to take all this junk to
get better, and you feel gross some days.” Her compassion is evidenced
by shots, accompanied by soft piano music, of her hugging a younger
patient while asking God to “touch his body” and “give him peace…and
joy in spite of circumstances.” Through this brief scene, Death Defying
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  173

implicitly drew a line of continuity back to Tammy Faye’s 1985 inter-

view with Steve Pieters, featured in TEOTF. In the interim, however,
her public work with, and on behalf of, those suffering from HIV/AIDS
was apparently quite limited, and completely post-TEOTF. She did host
a “drag bingo” fundraiser for the AIDS Alliance in Durham, North
Carolina in January 2004—press mentions of which also helped promote
The Surreal Life, as well as I Will Survive, in which she had erroneously
suggested that men like the one she hugged in Death Defying could
transfer their conditions through casual physical contact.75
In their quest to present Tammy Faye as a supportive gay ally, the pro-
ducers of Death Defying would even go so far as to withhold information
about a Christian ministry that she worked with in the special. Having
decided to temporarily stop her chemotherapy treatments, Tammy Faye
accepts a preaching invitation in Los Angeles, where she is enthusiasti-
cally greeted by an unidentified “pastor and his wife.” While traveling to
the church in an ostentatious sport-utility limousine, the pastor, a young
man with a heavy lisp and dyed hair, reassures Tammy Faye that her false
“eyelashes look beautiful,” despite one sliding away due to tears caused
by a chemotherapy-related ocular ulcer. Their destination, according to an
exterior shot, is Gateway City Center Church, where a few dozen con-
gregants sit in chairs. With excitement in his voice, the pastor introduces
his guest as “the unstoppably (sic), undescribable (sic), the unbelievable
Tammy Faye Messner.” To a standing ovation, Tammy Faye takes the
stage in a long black dress. She tells the crowd about her feelings of hope-
lessness after receiving her initial cancer diagnosis, reveals her trust in the
Lord’s plans, and claims her health battles as a boon for evangelism, since
she had received more than “ten thousand emails… (from) people who
are praying. People that have never prayed before in their lives.” Later,
Tammy Faye’s longtime friend and gospel music legend Dottie Rambo
joins her on stage, credits her with “thirteen souls” saved during the ser-
vice’s altar call, and prays for God to cure her cancer.76 “I knew I was
going to go home from here healed,” Tammy Faye proclaims, after which
the pastor, standing astride the two women, shouts out triumphantly.
Death Defying framed Tammy Faye’s visit to Gateway City Center
Church as evidence of her faith-based perseverance in the face of ongo-
ing suffering. Intentionally left out of the special, however, was the
church’s stance on homosexuality, as well as disturbing allegations made
against its pastor, James Stalnaker. A church plant of the Pentecostal/
Charismatic Harvest International Ministry network, Gateway City
174  D. J. BEKKERING

Center Church aimed to help “homosexual men” discover “their true

identity in Christ, as the head and not the tail.”77 Stalnaker himself pur-
portedly evidenced the efficacy of such efforts, as discussed by openly
gay comedy actor Leslie Jordan in his memoir My Trip Down the Pink
Carpet (2008). A friend of Tammy Faye’s manager Joe Spotts, Jordan
once opened for her, “in full drag,” during a California stop of her one-
woman show. He was also in the congregation for the service featured
in Death Defying, along with a group of “sinful friends—all gay, all men,
all recovering Southern Baptists.” He described Stalnaker as “by far the
most effeminate man I had ever beheld,” and wrote that the pastor had
testified “that he used to be gay but now, through the miraculous power
of Jesus Christ, he wasn’t.” Jordan, however, was not so convinced, and
was unsurprised by reports in February 2005 that the “sissy preacher”
had been sued for allegedly, in the words of the Pasadena Star-News,
“coercing men in his congregations into sexual relationships” through
“mind-control and brain-washing” techniques.78
The allegations against Stalnaker arose between Tammy Faye’s appear-
ance at his church on August 1, 2004, and the first airing of Death
Defying in July 2005.79 The program’s producers, therefore, were almost
certainly aware of the sordid charges, and decided to not only scrub the
special of Stalnaker’s name, but also any mention of his ministry’s ex-gay
focus—both of which would have weakened its argument that Tammy
Faye was a suitable gay ally. The question remains, however, as to
Tammy Faye’s motivations for accepting the invitation in the first place.
As discussed, Tammy Faye believed that those engaged in homosexual
activity were sinning, and that they could be supernaturally delivered
from their sin. These beliefs intersected with the Gateway City Center
Church’s mission. Yet Leslie Jordan recalled that Tammy Faye’s message
during the service differed markedly from Stalnaker’s, as it was centered
on “love,” “tolerance,” and the scriptural silence of Jesus on the subject
of homosexuality. “She won us over,” Jordan reported, “You would have
thought we were at a tent revival meeting in the Deep South the way
we whooped and hollered. Several of my friends even went forward dur-
ing the altar call to be saved.” In Jordan’s opinion, Tammy Faye, who
demonstrated “how a Christian woman should really act,” had likely
been “duped” into appearing at a church that was so vigorously opposed
to homosexuality.80
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  175

It is difficult to verify Jordan’s recollection, as Death Defying only

features a snippet of Tammy Faye’s sermon, and it is apparently una-
vailable elsewhere. Gateway City Center Church’s public summary of
the service made no mention of Tammy Faye addressing the subject
of homosexuality—understandable if she did, in fact, deviate from the
church’s teachings—only that “she spoke of the power of forgiveness and
of God’s ability to hold us up when it seems we can’t go on.”81 In any
event, rather than being “duped,” it is more likely, as with her previous
appearance on Benny Hinn’s program, that Tammy Faye was aware of
the church’s mission prior to her filmed visit, and was continuing with
her strategy of simultaneously marketing herself to Christians with con-
servative approaches to homosexuality, and others, through the vehicle
of Death Defying, who were attracted to her camp appeal.
With her illness rapidly progressing, Tammy Faye would make one
final reality television appearance to support her son Jay Bakker, star of
the documentary series One Punk Under God: The Prodigal Son of Jim
and Tammy Faye (2006–2007). Produced by WOW and aired on the
Sundance Channel, this series chronicled Jay’s efforts to grow his own
Atlanta-based church: Revolution. Covered in tattoos, piercings, and
wearing punk clothing, Jay led services in smoky nightclubs, often while
holding a cigarette—a marked departure from the squeaky-clean style of
PTL.82 One Punk Under God’s main storyline concerned Jay’s struggle
over whether Revolution should take a gay-affirming stance: denying the
sinful nature of homosexual behavior and accepting anyone regardless
of their sexual orientation.83 As he explained in the series’ second epi-
sode, he had been “trained” since childhood to believe that homosexual
activity was “wrong” and “bad.”84 A turning point comes in the same
episode, when Bakker preaches at what an intertitle calls “an evangelical
gay–affirming church” in Sherwood, Arkansas.85 He ends his sermon in
a way that could have come from the mouth of his own mother: “We’ve
got to learn to love people. It’s not easy. So I encourage you not to give
up. Allow your security to be in God, not what others think of you, but
in what God thinks of you, and God loves you.” In a subsequent scene,
Jay smiles during a “commitment ceremony” between two women at
the same church (gay marriage being illegal at the time in Arkansas).86
After much scripture study and reflection, he ultimately declares
Revolution to be gay-affirming, causing friction within the church, and
176  D. J. BEKKERING

the loss of crucial funding from a shadowy “conservative foundation.”87

Undaunted, Jay stands by his choice: “I hope that this church has gotten
to the point where we can start accepting that others are accepted by
God, completely, just the way they are. Not the way they should be, or
not even the way we think they should be. So let’s stop closing the door
on people.”88
Intertwined in One Punk Under God is Jay’s experience dealing
with his mother’s deteriorating health. In the second episode, he flies
to North Carolina to visit Tammy Faye, who is stiff, gaunt, and more
excessively made-up than usual—an attempt to mask her physical
decline.89 While sitting in her backyard, Jay confesses his reluctance
to discuss the “gay thing” with his estranged father. Tammy Faye, on
camera at least, says nothing about her son’s conundrum. The pair
would, however, publicly discuss her relationships with homosexuals
during what would prove her final television appearance: yet another
feature on Larry King Live, broadcast on July 19, 2007.90 Shockingly
skeletal and hoarse, Tammy Faye appeared via satellite, sitting at home
beside her husband Roe. The front end of the interview was filled
with viewer questions submitted through email. “Unlike many of your
Christian contemporaries,” one man wrote, “you have been a very pos-
itive influence in the gay community. Why do you think you found it
in your heart to love and accept us?” Tammy Faye replied that “it was
the gay people that came to my rescue” after the PTL scandals, “and
I will always love them for that.” Speaking with King after his mother,
Jay proposed that her 1985 interview with Steve Pieters was a land-
mark historical event: “I mean, Reagan didn’t even mention the word
‘AIDS’ during the ‘80s, and here my mom was talking about it on
Christian television.” Although he admitted that she “might not have
agreed on everything with (the MCC—Pieters’ denomination),” he
praised Tammy Faye as someone who helped build a “bridge between
Christianity and homosexuality.”
Tammy Faye succumbed to cancer the day after her final interview
with Larry King aired. The next day, a funeral service in Kansas was led
by Randy McCain, a friend of Jay Bakker and pastor of the gay-affirming
church featured in One Punk Under God. Later recalling the service,
McCain admitted that he “had never met Tammy Faye in person,” yet
also revealed that she had been a great comfort to him as he struggled to
reconcile his faith and homosexuality:
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  177

During these dark nights of the soul there was a shining light piercing
my darkness. It was the light emanating from the eyes of Tammy Faye. I
would channel surf until I came across The PTL Club hosted by Tammy
and her ex-husband, Jim Bakker. There was Tammy Faye, smiling even
through tears, looking it seemed, into my very soul. She would say in her
cheery, upbeat, little girl voice, ‘God loves you! Just the way you are! He
really does!’91

With a sly reference to Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s hugely influ-
ential documentary, McCain carried forward its claim that Tammy Faye
was the epitome of tolerant, accepting Christianity. In the same vein,
another “Randy,” from San Francisco, posted sentiments certainly shared
by many of his fellow “gay fans” in the “thoughts and well wishes”
forum of Tammy Faye’s official webpage: “You are the only evangelist
that I’ve ever heard say that we’re all God’s children and God loves all of
his children. You were nothing if not ‘all inclusive’ in your faith and love
for ALL people.”92 Jay Bakker, in his book Fall to Grace (2011), would
paint a more balanced picture: “Mom was from a different generation, so
she never came out and said that homosexuality wasn’t a sin or anything.
But she was a gay ally, no doubt about it.”93
Such praise was the direct result of Tammy Faye’s willingness to
engage her campy fans, and rebrand herself in line with TEOTF ’s lightly
ironic and laudatory representation. Although she had long preached
a message of divine love for all individuals, including sexual minorities,
Tammy Faye’s rebranding as a progressive gay ally obscured her cease-
less conservatism. She always considered homosexual activity sinful and
potentially correctable, was critical of flaunted gay sexuality, and opposed
gay marriage. Moreover, her status as a longtime gay ally was built upon
a largely fictive history of relationships with a subgroup of gay men that
resonated with her own brand—the medically suffering—and whom she
stigmatized as highly contagious. Such potential threats to her appropri-
ateness as a gay icon were effectively washed out of the second wave of
camp attention surrounding Tammy Faye.
Not all of Tammy Faye’s campy fans, however, would view her
through completely rose-colored glasses. As mentioned in the opening of
the previous chapter, drag queen “Sharon Needles” (aka Aaron Coady)
was a participant in the fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race (2012),
approximately five years after Tammy Faye’s death. In addition to his
prominent arm tattoo, Coady signaled his campy fandom by appearing
178  D. J. BEKKERING

in a faux-vintage “I Ran into Tammy Faye at the Mall” T-shirt, featur-

ing a colorful smudge of cosmetics.94 In an interview, Coady explained
that he was attracted to Tammy Faye’s entertaining excesses, melodrama,
and perseverance: “Growing up I had a huge infatuation with her. The
makeup, the tears, the preaching, the scandal, the shoulder pads! My
kinda lady. The ultimate survivor of adversity.”95 Elsewhere, he empha-
sized “her unconventional beauty, her ability to overcome adversity and
overall insanity,” and her vulnerability and “naïve sense of humanity.”96
Despite such genuine and tongue-in-cheek praise, Coady also took a
public shot at his deceased hero for her purportedly shallow response to
the gay community’s most dire historical challenge, and thus briefly res-
urrected the first wave of campy fandom’s critical edge. In a Halloween-
themed, WOW-sponsored online video, Coady expertly makes up WOW
associate James St. James as his “favorite eighties monster”—Tammy
Faye. As he puts on the finishing touches, he riffs, “When life hands you
AIDS, make lemonade!”97

Notes
1. Party Monster: The Shockumentary, directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy
Barbato (1998; Los Angeles: Paramount Home Video, 2003), DVD. For
an insider account of the “Club Kids” scene, Alig, and the murder, see
James St. James, Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in
Clubland (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999).
2. Hays, The View from Here, 50.
3. See Bruce C. Steele, “Tammy Faye Loves You,” The Advocate, July 18,
2000.
4. “Doc U: A Conversation with Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato—
On Tammy Faye,” YouTube video, 2:23, posted by “International
Documentary Association,” December 4, 2012, http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=86k5VkS6PAU; Hays, The View from Here, 49.
5. “Doc U: A Conversation with Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato—On
Tammy Faye,” YouTube video.
6. The Eyes of Tammy Faye, DVD.
7. While these puppets were used to heighten the film’s campiness, Fenton
Bailey pointed out that the idea to use puppets was, in fact, Tammy
Faye’s; see Hays, The View from Here, 49. For Garland’s A Star is Born,
see Dyer, Heavenly Bodies, 144, 173, 188.
8. Jennifer Brier, Infectious Ideas: US Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 81.
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  179

9. Tanya Erzen, Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the

Ex-Gay Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 185.
For an overview of “constructionist” and “essentialist” understand-
ings of human sexuality, see R. Stephen Warner, “The Metropolitan
Community Churches and the Gay Agenda: The Power of Pentecostalism
and Essentialism,” in Sex, Lies, and Sanctity: Religion and Deviance in
Contemporary North America, Religion and the Social Order 5, eds.
Mary Jo Neitz and Marion S. Goldman (Greenwich: JAI Press Inc.,
1995), 96–97.
10. For Falwell’s stance on homosexuality, see Michael Sean Winters, God’s
Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized
the American Right (New York: HarperOne, 2012), 102–104, 280–
281. For Pat Robertson’s views on homosexuality, see Harrell, Pat
Robertson, 81–82, 136, 299–300; Hubert Morken, Pat Robertson: Where
He Stands (Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1988), 114–115.
For Swaggart, see Jimmy Swaggart, Homosexuality: Its Cause and Its
Cure (Baton Rouge: Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, 1983). For Falwell’s
position on HIV/AIDS, see Winters, God’s Right Hand, 279–281. For
Swaggart’s understanding of HIV/AIDS, see Susan Palmer, AIDS as an
Apocalyptic Metaphor in North America (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1997), 29–30. For Robertson’s approach to HIV/AIDS, see
Morken, Pat Robertson, 79–80.
11. See Brier, Infectious Ideas, 89–90.
12. See Shepard, Forgiven, 175.
13. This information, and footage of the interview (since removed), could
be found in “Tammy Faye Bakker Interview Steve Pieters 1985 Part 1,”
YouTube video, 7:57, posted by “helenofirvine,” September 16, 2007,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC2BD6JnuIc; “Tammy Faye
Bakker Interview Steve Pieters Part 2,” YouTube video, 9:09, posted
by “helenofirvine,” September 16, 2007, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=AuR65eSqYno; “Tammy Faye Bakker Interview Steve Pieters
Part 3,” YouTube video, 10:01, posted by “helenofirvine,” September
16, 2007, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJVUj-MFB-0.
14. See Mel White, Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America
(New York: Plume, 1994). For an online biography of Pieters, see
“The Rev. A. Stephen Pieters,” The Body: The Complete HIV/AIDS
Resource, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.thebody.com/content/
art39714.html.
15.  See Warner, “The Metropolitan Community Churches and the Gay
Agenda.”
16. Ibid., 87.
17. Ibid., 100.
180  D. J. BEKKERING

18. As Wendell Ricketts and Roberta Achtenberg point out, The Advocate
reported in 1979 on what it called the “first adoption by an openly gay
couple” in Los Angeles, notably by “a Metropolitan Community Church
pastor and his lover, a physician”; see ibid., “The Adoptive and Foster
Gay and Lesbian Parent,” in Gay and Lesbian Parents, ed. Frederick W.
Bozett (New York: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1987), 92; “Gay Couple
Granted Adoption of Child,” The Advocate, March 8, 1979.
19. For Falwell and Pat Robertson’s understanding of homosexuality as con-
tagious, see Thomas L. Long, AIDS and American Apocalypticism: The
Cultural Semiotics of an Epidemic (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2005), 2. For the Christian Right’s historical opposition to gay
adoption, see Ellen Herman, Kinship by Design: A History of Adoption in
the Modern United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008),
291–293.
20. Fall from Grace, which starred Kevin Spacey as Jim Bakker and Bernadette
Peters as Tammy Faye, originally aired on NBC on April 29, 1990; see
Phil Rosenthal, “Reality Goes Soft in Bakker Story,” Los Angeles Daily
News, April 27, 1990. Playboy’s Celebrity Centerfold: Jessica Hahn Bares It
All (Los Angeles, CA: Playboy Entertainment Group, 1992), VHS.
21.  For Tammy Faye’s addiction to Ativan and treatment, see Shepard,
Forgiven, 452–453, 460–462.
22. For “odd couple,” see Jeff Vice, “Tammy Faye Caught Most Eyes at
’00 Sundance,” Deseret News, January 28, 2000. For their distribu-
tion of “emergency makeup kits,” see Jami Bernard, “Rocky Mountain
High: Even Tammy Faye Eyes Sundance Fest as a Springboard to Movie
Greatness,” New York Daily News, January 16, 2000. For the pair’s host-
ing of an “ice cream social,” see Linda Lee, “Parties. Films. Free Food.
That’s Entertainment!” The New York Times, January 30, 2000. For their
coffee shop appearance, see Vice, “Gotta Love the ‘Color’ at Sundance,”
Deseret News, January 30, 2000.
23. The standing ovation is mentioned in Roger Ebert, “The Eyes Have It:
Tammy Faye’s Story Captured in Documentary,” Chicago Sun-Times,
January 24, 2000.
24. Ibid.
25.  Peter Howell, “Tammy Faye Bakker—A Legend Enjoys a Revival:
Notorious Former TV Evangelist Star of a Hit New Film Documentary,”
Toronto Star, January 24, 2000.
26. Messner, Tammy, 144.
27. Ibid., 148.
28. Camhi, “The Fabulousness of Tammy Faye.”
29. Steele, “Tammy Faye Loves You.”
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  181

30.  For Tammy Faye’s introduction to Joe Spotts, who, she wrote, had
“watched me on TV for years” (p. 84), see Messner, I Will Survive,
82–85. Although Tammy Faye did not mention Spotts’ sexuality, he is
identified as a “homosexual fan” in Jeremy Reynalds, “Tammy Faye
Messner Finds New Role in Ministering to Gay Fans,” Charisma,
November 30, 2002, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.charismamag.
com/site-archives/154-peopleevents/people-and-events/787-tammy-
faye-messner-finds-new-role-in-ministering-to-gay-fans.
31. For Spotts’ role in her new style of itinerancy, see Silke Tudor, “The
Tammy Faye Show,” SF Weekly, November 14, 2001, accessed April 1,
2018, http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-tammy-faye-show/
Content?oid=2143391.
32. Mickey Weems, The Fierce Tribe: Masculine Identity and Performance in
the Circuit (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2008), 119.
33.  Pictures of Tammy Faye at the “Red Party” were available at “Red
Party,” Qualia Folk, accessed January 29, 2015, http://www.qualiafolk.
com/2011/12/08/red-party/ (site no longer available). See also Satori,
“Zazoo & Tammy Faye,” Flickr image, accessed April 1, 2018, https://
www.flickr.com/photos/theclubcreatures/29683230/. A description
of the sexually suggestive nature of the event, as well as an illustrative
photo of two attendees, was available at Kaizaad Kotwal, “Thousands
Join Tammy Faye Seeing Red, All Night Long,” Gay People’s Chronicle,
October 5, 2001, accessed January 29, 2015, http://www.gaypeo-
pleschronicle.com/stories/01oct5.htm (site no longer available).
34. Elizabeth A. Armstrong writes that during the 1970s, “the Castro neigh-
borhood…was rapidly being transformed from a newly vacated work-
ing-class neighborhood into the first true gay neighborhood in the
United States”; see ibid., Forging Gay Identities: Organizing Sexuality
in San Francisco, 1950–1994 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
2002), 116.
35. Tudor, “The Tammy Faye Show.”
36. Nina Korman, “The Tammy Show, PTL,” Miami New Times, January
24, 2002, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.miaminewtimes.
com/2002-01-24/calendar/the-tammy-show-ptl/.
37. Tudor, “The Tammy Faye Show.” “If Life Hands You a Lemon (Start
Makin’ Lemonade)” can be found on Tammy Faye Bakker, Love Never
Gives Up, Pax Musical Reproductions R-2400, 1978, 33 rpm.
38.  Stephen A. Crockett Jr., “Tammy Faye’s New Club: Not PTL,” The
Washington Post, June 10, 2002.
39. “Tammy Faye Speaks at Gay Pride Fest,” Associated Press, July 9, 2001.
40. Ibid.
 182  D. J. BEKKERING

41. Shulman, “The Words of Tammy Faye.”

42. Ibid.
43. At the time, openly gay individuals were forbidden from American mil-
itary service under the auspices of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation;
see Gary Mucciaroni, Same Sex, Different Politics: Success & Failure in
the Struggles over Gay Rights (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
2008), 174–189. For a history of political debates over same-sex mar-
riage in America, and the roles of religious organizations in these debates,
see Michael J. Klarman, From the Closet to the Altar: Courts, Backlash,
and the Struggle for Same-Sex Marriage (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2013).
44. For archived audio of this piece, see “The Re-Invention of Tammy Faye,”
National Public Radio, June 20, 2002, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1145322.
45. See Bernadette C. Barton, Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of
Bible Belt Gays (New York University Press, 2012), 107–109.
46. Reynalds, “Tammy Faye Messner Finds New Role in Ministering to Gay
Fans.”
47. See Erzen, Straight to Jesus, 42–51.
48. Reynalds, “Tammy Faye Messner Finds New Role in Ministering to Gay
Fans.”
49. See Erzen, Straight to Jesus, 184–185.
50. See Messner, I Will Survive.
51. Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive,” Polydor, 1978, 45 rpm; Nadine Hubbs,
“‘I Will Survive’: Musical Mappings of Queer Social Space in a Disco
Anthem,” Popular Music 26, no. 2 (2007): 231–244.
52. Messner, I Will Survive, 265–272.
53. Luke Demaitre, “AIDS and Medieval Leprosy: A ‘Distant Mirror’?”
Historically Speaking 9, no. 5 (2008): 34. See also Susan Palmer, “AIDS
as Metaphor,” Society 26, no. 2 (1989): 44–50; Gregory M. Herek and
Eric K. Glunt, “An Epidemic of Stigma: Public Reactions to AIDS,”
American Psychologist 43, no. 11 (1988): 886–891.
54. For a transcript of Tammy Faye’s appearance on Larry King Live, see
“Interview with Tammy Faye Messner: Aired September 16, 2003:
21:00 ET,” CNN, accessed April 1, 2018, http://transcripts.cnn.com/
TRANSCRIPTS/0309/16/lkl.00.html.
55. Footage of this interview could be found in “Benny Hinn in Studio with
Tammy Faye,” YouTube video, 28:34, posted by “Elijah Mendoza,”
November 18, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnEIafX-
EUkA (video since removed). For the date (October 29, 2003), see
“2003 Heritage Updates,” Legasee Publishing, LLC, accessed April 1,
2018, http://legaseepublishing.com/wordpress/?page_id=962.
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  183

56.  For Hinn’s concerns about the “spirit of homosexuality,” see Joe
Dallas, “Theories of Origin, Part 2: Developmental, Spiritual, and
Interactive Theories,” in The Complete Christian Guide to Understanding
Homosexuality: A Biblical and Compassionate Response to Same-Sex
Attraction, eds. Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche (Eugene: Harvest House
Publishers, 2010), 209. Undated audio of Hinn prophesying that God
would “destroy” homosexuals “with fire” was featured in “Benny Hinn
False Prophecies—Homosexuals, Castro, Appearance of Jesus,” YouTube
video, 4:23, posted by “slaves4christ,” December 19, 2011, https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcZlyECHP_M (video since removed).
For footage of Hinn “freeing” a young man from a “demon of homosex-
uality,” see “Deliverance from homosexuality—Benny Hinn,” YouTube
video, 5:15, posted by “jojo090994,” January 17, 2016, https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=kpxleN9Hz-A.
57. For information on Tammy Faye: Death Defying, which was co-produced by
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and the cable channel WE (Women’s
Entertainment) TV, on which it aired, see Dennis Harvey, “Tammy Faye:
Death Defying,” Variety, July 4, 2005; “Tammy Faye Messner Announces
Her Cancer Has Returned…,” PR Newswire, July 21, 2005.
58.  Leigh H. Edwards, The Triumph of Reality TV: The Revolution in
American Television (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2013), 4.
59. Ibid., 9, 47.
60.  Tammy Faye: Death Defying, directed by Chris McKim, WE TV, July 25,
2005.
61. Edwards, The Triumph of Reality TV, 9. Edwards points here to the
viewer studies of Annette Hill; see ibid., Reality TV: Audiences and
Popular Factual Television (London: Routledge, 2005).
62. Edwards, The Triumph of Reality TV, 69–70.
63. For a discussion and reproduction of this image, which appeared in the
August 18, 1987 edition of the Weekly World News, see Mellencamp,
High Anxiety, 223–224.
64.  Mike Walker, “Tearful Jim Bakker Begs Tammy to Enter Convent,”
National Enquirer, December 19, 1989.
65. See Edwards, The Triumph of Reality TV, 73–76.
66. For some of these “sitcom”-style family roles, see ibid., 69–70.
67. Ibid., 72.
68. “A Talk Show, Supper and a Goodbye,” The Surreal Life, Hulu
video, 43:32, accessed January 29, 2015, http://www.hulu.com/
watch/196528#i0,p0,s2,d0 (video since removed). For the original airdate
(February 22, 2004), see “Dirty Laundry,” Internet Movie Database, accessed
April 1, 2018, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0713810/?ref_=ttep_ep6.
69. Edwards, The Triumph of Reality TV, 5–6.
184  D. J. BEKKERING

70. “Book Signing and Pool Party,” The Surreal Life, Hulu video,
43:34, accessed January 29, 2015, http://www.hulu.com/
watch/196530#i0,p0,s2,d0 (video since removed). For the original air-
date (February 8, 2004), see “The Good, the Bad, & the Porn Stars,”
Internet Movie Database, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.imdb.
com/title/tt0713812/?ref_=ttep_ep4.
71. For a transcript of Tammy Faye’s appearance on Larry King Live, see
“Interview with Tammy Faye Messner: Aired March 18, 2004: 21:00
ET,” CNN, accessed April 1, 2018, http://transcripts.cnn.com/
TRANSCRIPTS/0403/18/lkl.00.html.
72. Tammy Faye: Death Defying, WE TV.
73. “The Sun Will Shine Again” appeared on the album Tammy Faye Bakker,
Enough is Enough, PTL Club Records & Tapes PTL-LP-1855, 1986, 33
rpm.
74. “History & Mission,” House of Mercy, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
www.thehouseofmercy.org/History.asp.
75. See “Drag Bingo, Television, New Book: Tammy Faye Messner’s New
Life,” Associated Press Newswires, December 29, 2003; “‘Evening
with Tammy Faye’ Messner Draws 700 to Durham,” Associated Press
Newswires, January 3, 2004.
76. For Dottie Rambo, see Douglas Harrison, “Grace to Catch a Falling
Soul: Country, Gospel, and Evangelical Populism in the Music of Dottie
Rambo,” in Walking the Line: Country Music Lyricists and American
Culture, eds. Thomas Alan Holmes and Roxanne Harde (Lanham:
Lexington Books, 2013), 77–96.
77. Joseph Helms, “We Need Your Help!!” Gateway City Center, last mod-
ified July 9, 2003, accessed April 1, 2018, https://web.archive.org/
web/20030815121840/http://www.gatewaycitycenter.com/news.
php?id=20030709203655&cal=0. For general information about
Harvest International Ministry, see “About,” Harvest International
Ministry, accessed April 1, 2018, http://harvestim.org.
78. See Leslie Jordan, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet (New York: Simon
Spotlight Entertainment, 2008), 237–241. For Jordan’s relationship with
Joe Spotts, see Les Spindle, “Leslie Jordan (Catching Up With…),” Back
Stage West, October 14, 2004. Marshall Allen, “Church, Leader Named
in Lawsuit,” Pasadena Star-News, February 14, 2005.
79. For an archived online post from the church advertising Tammy Faye’s
upcoming appearance on August 1, 2004, see “Tammy Faye and
Dottie Rambo Come to Hollywood,” Gateway City Center, last mod-
ified July 28, 2004, accessed April 1, 2018, https://web.archive.
org/web/20040803070144/http://gatewaycitycenter.com/news.
php?id=20040728223738&cal=0. For the airdate of Tammy Faye: Death
Defying, see n. 60 in this chapter.
 6  THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE AND A COMPLICATED REBRANDING  185

80. Jordan, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, 239–240.

81. Benjamin Hart, “Tammy Faye and Dottie Rambo Come to Gateway,”
Gateway City Center, last modified August 22, 2004, accessed April 1,
2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20041009231256/http://gate-
waycitycenter.com/news.php?id=20040822032245&cal=0.
82. See David Kronke, “Tales of a Young ‘Punk’,” Los Angeles Daily News,
July 12, 2006. For an archived mission statement of Bakker’s church, see
“The Idea of Revolution,” last modified April 23, 2006, accessed April 1,
2018, https://web.archive.org/web/20060423025243/http://www.
vivalarevolution.org/idea.htm.
83. For Bakker’s efforts in this regard in relation to the broader “Emerging
Church Movement,” see Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel, The
Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2014), 147–148.
84. “Episode Two,” One Punk Under God: The Prodigal Son of Jim and
Tammy Faye (2006; New York: docuramafilms, 2007), DVD.
85. See Open Door Community Church, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
www.sherwoodopendoor.org/.
86. Arkansas “approved a state constitutional ban on gay marriage” in 2004;
see Klarman, From the Closet to the Altar, 109.
87. “Episode Two,” One Punk Under God, DVD.
88. Ibid.
89. Ibid.
90.  For a transcript of Tammy Faye and Jay Bakker’s appearance on
Larry King Live, see “Tammy Faye Battles Cancer: Aired July 19,
2007:21:00 ET,” CNN, accessed April 1, 2018, http://transcripts.
cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0707/19/lkl.01.html. For video clips
from the interview specifically related to the issue of homosexuality,
see “Tammy Faye Messner & Jay Baker,” YouTube video, 2:09, posted
by Gay Rights Watch, July 20, 2007, http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ySVCvOmQMC0.
91. Randy McCain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Open Door Community
Church, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.sherwoodopendoor.org/
the-eyes-of-tammy-faye/.
92. Randy, forum post at TammyFaye.com, accessed April 1, 2018, http://
www.tammyfaye.com/wellwishes.asp?p=63.
93. Jay Bakker and Martin Edlund, Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self
and Society (New York: FaithWords, 2011), 163.
94. See “Glamazons vs. Champions,” RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 4 (2012;
New York: Logo, 2012), DVD. “I Ran into Tammy Faye at the Mall”
shirts were apparently popular during the late 1980s, and briefly appeared
in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, DVD.
186  D. J. BEKKERING

95. Christine Michele, “‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: Meet the Queens – Sharon

Needles,” Socialite Life, April 16, 2012, accessed January 29, 2015,
http://socialitelife.com/rupauls-drag-race-meet-the-queens-sharon-nee-
dles-04-2012 (site no longer available).
96. Brian Peterson, “Untucked With Brian: Exclusive Interview with Sharon
Needles from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season Four!” Seattle Gay Scene,
January 30, 2012, accessed January 29, 2015, http://www.seattlegay-
scene.com/2012/01/untucked-with-brian-exclusive-interview-with-
sharon-needles-from-rupauls-drag-race-season-four.html (site no longer
available); Christine Fitzgerald, “Socialite Life’s Interview with Sharon
Needles—RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4 Winner!” Socialite Life, May
2, 2012, accessed January 29, 2015, http://socialitelife.com/social-
ite-lifes-interview-with-sharon-needles-rupauls-drag-race-season-4-win-
ner-05-2012 (site no longer available).
97. “James St. James and Sharon Needles: Transformations—Halloween
Edition,” YouTube video, 6:44, posted by “WOW Presents,” October
1, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4FaV_4MhDc. For
an interview with James St. James mentioning his work with World of
Wonder, see James Nichols, “After Dark: Meet James St. James, Original
Club Kid and Nightlife Icon,” The Huffington Post, September 15, 2014,
accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/14/
james-st-james-after-dark_n_5814144.html.
 CHAPTER 7

Conclusion

HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, hosted by a former

“correspondent” for The Daily Show, is at the forefront of a second gen-
eration of American “fake” news programs.1 Sitting at a desk in front of
a skyline image that hilariously mashes together the Egyptian pyramids,
Empire State Building, and other landmarks from around the world,
Oliver delivers monologues filled with tongue-in-cheek humor, outright
mockery, and insightful points. On Sunday, August 16, 2015, flanked
by an image of hands meeting in prayer and the word “Church,” Oliver
reports that there “are roughly three hundred and fifty thousand con-
gregations in the United States, and many of them do great work: feed-
ing the hungry, clothing the poor.”2 “But,” he continues, “this is not a
story about them. This is about the churches who exploit people’s faith
for monetary gain. And when I say that, you probably think of 1980s
televangelists like this guy…” What follows, however, is not footage
from the 1980s, but rather a pair of video proof texts from the early
1990s featuring Robert Tilton. Sitting outdoors in Israel, Tilton, his eyes
classically squinted shut, lets out a burst of heavenly tongues and asks
“someone with digestive tract problems” to “quickly call.” The next clip,
taken from the same broadcast, concludes with Tilton looking directly
into the camera and claiming, “I don’t make this stuff up!” As the stu-
dio audience laughs uproariously, Oliver jolts up in his seat: “Please, you
can’t say, ‘I don’t make this stuff up,’ just five seconds after you’ve said
the words ‘manda kasa basanda’!”

© The Author(s) 2018 187

D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7_7
188  D. J. BEKKERING

The “blockiness” of the Tilton clips indicates that they were sourced
from an online streaming video. Specifically, these two clips can be
tracked back to a YouTube video uploaded by the man once known as
Brother Russell of the Robert Tilton Fan Club, and containing a portion
of one of his laboriously assembled Tilton VHS compilations.3 Some of
the constituent material captures the televangelist in heightened defen-
sive mode. In one clip from Success-N-Life, for example, Tilton com-
plains about an “antichrist spirit” flowing through “the media,” which
aimed “to assassinate and destroy God’s servants.” This suggests that
Brother Russell put this particular compilation together during Tilton’s
media scandals, when the RTFC’s Recreational Christianity was at its
peak, and its members were most actively participating in the associated
public negotiation of Christian authenticity. As revealed in this book,
humorous participatory analog video was part of the 1991 Primetime
Live report that sparked Tilton’s troubles, in the form of video proof
texts collected and shared with the program by the preacher’s theological
enemies at the Trinity Foundation. Brother Russell, however, certainly
never would have expected that his own home recordings, originally
shared with his fellow ironic fans, would find their way to mainstream
television, much less more than two decades later.
By 2015, Robert Tilton was better known as the “Farting Preacher,”
due to the unexpected legacy of another piece of analog participatory
media turned online video, than an active television preacher. Indeed,
John Oliver assumes audience ignorance when he introduces Tilton,
explaining that “though he, like many televangelists, was caught up in
an exposé decades ago”—“exposé” problematically implying unbiased
objectivity—“he never really went away.” As proof, Last Week Tonight
airs more recent YouTube-sourced footage of Tilton holding an oil-
anointed “blessed cloth,” and, with eyes closed, ordering the “foul devil”
that is “lupus” to depart from the afflicted “in Jesus’ name.”4 Oliver
follows up by parodying the preacher to the studio audience’s delight:
“Lupus, you complicated and not especially easy to describe malady, you
go lupus! You vex us with your foul lupus-ness, you go!”
With his best days behind him, Oliver is forced to admit that Robert
Tilton is but “a very small part” of the “still-thriving” prosperity tele-
vangelist scene. However, the other preachers appearing in the pro-
gram—including Creflo Dollar, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and
Mike Murdock—were much less amusing. Therefore, following an
extended section resembling tabloid television reports, complete with
 7 CONCLUSION  189

repeated mentions of private jets, an aerial shot of a sprawling “parson-

age,” a heartstring-tugging story of an alleged victim of faith healing,
and Oliver’s complaints about “predatory” seed-faith theology, Last
Week Tonight circles back to Tilton. As he fans out a pile of letters and
the audience laughs and applauds, Oliver confesses that he had engaged
in an extended “correspondence” with Tilton’s ministry. Initiated with
a twenty-dollar donation, the result was a torrent of crafty appeals, and
gimmicks ranging from “packets of colored oil” (to be poured on letters
sent to the ministry), to “an outline of his foot, which I was asked to
trace my foot on and mail back to him with more money.” Like the com-
piling and viewing of amusing video clips, collecting Tilton’s mailers had
been a favorite activity of the televangelist’s ironic fans. A reproduction
of one of Tilton’s earlier foot-tracing sheets, as mentioned, had even
been included in Jan Johnson of Zontar’s Perverse Preachers zine. Oliver
agreed with such unintended fans, and his audience, that the items were
“hilarious”; however, he also betrayed his anger and satirical intent by
inviting viewers to “imagine these letters being sent to someone who
cannot afford what he’s asking for.”
Building off of a clip in which Tilton addresses someone “seek-
ing God for a particular purpose or decision,” Oliver proposes that the
preacher was encouraging him to “set up my own church to test the
legal and financial limits of what religious entities are able to do.” This
“church,” “Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption,” would be registered as
a non-profit organization in Texas, and would recognize as one of its rit-
uals silent meditation “on the nature of fraudulent churches.” For the
segment’s finale, Last Week Tonight cuts to a 1980s living room-style
set where Oliver, wearing a conservative suit and mustard vest, is joined
by his “wife” “Wanda Jo Oliver” (comedian Rachel Dratch in a pink
blazer and skirt, and sporting a cemented hairdo). As “Megareverend
and CEO,” Oliver invites viewers to send in their “seed”—“That’s
money,” Wanda Jo is sure to point out—to a mailing address that flashes
on the screen. Viewers are also directed to a toll-free phone number,
1-800-THIS-IS-LEGAL, to hear a recording of Oliver promising that
those who send in money “will be greeted by many miracles.” In rapid
fake legalese, he adds that “‘miracle’ is a term so subjective it’s techni-
cally meaningless,” and that “‘many’” is “defined for the purposes of
this call as a number that could, indeed, be zero.”5 After the pair parody
Tilton’s lupus “healing,” and some seed-related sexual innuendos
from Wanda Jo, a gospel choir arrives and Oliver makes a final plea for
190  D. J. BEKKERING

support: “Because if Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland, and all these

bastards can get away with it, and we get stopped, truly we have wit-
nessed a (bleeped) miracle tonight.”
Those who sowed into Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption received
in return a mailer filled with jokes, and which aped the style of Robert
Tilton’s.6 This included a large “outline of John Oliver’s Buttocks,” with
a command to “sit here and think about what you’ve done!” As for the
money, an associated website noted that should it “dissolve,” “any assets
belonging to the Church at that time will be distributed to Doctors
Without Borders, a non-profit charitable organization…which provides
emergency medical aid in places where it is needed most.” This would be
the destination for the “tens of thousands of dollars” reportedly raised
during the campaign, which ended after containers of what appeared to
be semen (i.e. human “seed”) were also received.7 Thus, this mainstream
example of Recreational Christianity not only lambasted purportedly
false Christianities, but also, and in line with the suggestions in the seg-
ment’s introduction, made a subtle argument that authentic Christianity
should be concerned with relieving temporal suffering through mundane
rather than miraculous means.
The Last Week Tonight segment demonstrates Robert Tilton’s
ongoing usefulness as an amusing example of alleged religious fakery, and
the continued use of televangelist-focused Recreational Christianity within
“secular” contexts. As evidenced by the Trinity Foundation’s deploy-
ment of satirical irony against television preachers, such religious work/
play may also manifest in explicitly religious contexts. Anthropologist
James Bielo has explored how Emerging Evangelicals take “irony seri-
ously as a practice of faith,” and their attraction to tongue-in-cheek takes
on “religious-spiritual commodification.”8 Although there has been no
analysis of how individuals in this movement might play with health-
and-wealth televangelists, those most recognizable and powerful symbols
of religious commodification, a hint comes in a brief scene featured in the
first episode of One Punk Under God (2006), the aforementioned docu-
mentary series following Jay Bakker, who has since become a recognized
Emerging Evangelical leader.9 “All you TV landers out there,” Bakker says
in a humorously raspy voice, sitting in his car and reaching a clawed hand
toward the camera, “I just wanna say, if you donate $19.95…” Viewers
with even a passing knowledge of his family history would recognize
this moment as a winking shot at his own parents’ infamous television
ministry.10
 7 CONCLUSION  191

Jim Bakker would publicly renounce the prosperity gospel and mate-
rialism after his release from prison.11 By the taping of One Punk Under
God, however, he was back on television hawking survivalist gear, hav-
ing built a new ministry complex on the outskirts of Branson, Missouri,
a Mecca of evangelical entertainment, and having reinvented himself
as an apocalyptic prophet.12 This set the stage for an awkward reunion
scene during which Jay appeared on his father’s show, looking incredibly
uncomfortable as he sat at a table covered with emergency flashlight/
radios.13 While the elder Bakker’s rebranding effort has proved remark-
ably successful, his revamped ministry’s existence in the Internet age has
also rendered it vulnerable to irreverent participatory media play able to
reach a large audience. Video artist Vic Berger, for example, has crafted
a series of surrealistic YouTube remixes which highlight and amplify the
purported ludicrousness and artificiality of Bakker’s programming, and
which have received millions of views to date.14 More pertinent to the
present study is The Jim Bakker Foodbucket Fanpage, a blog named for
the large containers of dehydrated provisions frequently advertised on
the preacher’s program. Founded by an antifan who was both angered
and amused by the televangelist, this now-shuttered blog contained bit-
ingly satirical show recaps, and encouraged the participation of other
Bakker antifans in its discussion forums.15
In contrast, the example of Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner’s campy
fans, whose tongue-in-cheek amusement was counterbalanced by con-
siderable affection, evidences how unintended appropriation and play
might lead to unexpected opportunities, and even public image reha-
bilitation. While mocked for her materialism and financial focus by early
campy fans, the late Tammy Faye continues to be praised in contempo-
rary mainstream camp circles, and beyond, as an exemplar of an alleg-
edly authentic Christianity based on compassion and tolerance, and as
an inspirational, if quirky, survivor. In early 2018, diminutive Broadway
star, committed Christian, and gay icon Kristin Chenoweth was inter-
viewed for a podcast hosted by RuPaul Charles, narrator of the tele-
vangelist’s life-altering documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000).16
To RuPaul’s great excitement, his guest reveals that she is involved in
producing, and is set to star in, a play conceptualized as “an intimate
evening with Tammy Faye.” Chenoweth acknowledges that the pro-
ject will address the inherent “humor in Tammy Faye,” yet also empha-
sizes that she wants to “honor” a “strong woman.” “She really had
her world turned upside down,” RuPaul suggests of the PTL scandals,
192  D. J. BEKKERING

“…and then she turned it into something that could work for her”—a
veiled reference to her camp rebranding, which, as discussed, was con-
tradictory and politically problematic due to her ceaseless conserva-
tism. Such messiness, however, was not on the radar of either RuPaul
or Chenoweth, who favorably distorts one of TEOTF’s most influential
scenes. “Remember when she had the first ever…man with AIDS on
her talk show?” Chenoweth asks, “which was not cool then. You didn’t
even touch anyone that had AIDS. And she said, ‘We as Christians,
should all be…not just accepting, but embracing.’ And she was crying,
and I thought…whether you are Christian or not, that’s the true epit-
ome of what Christians are supposed to be…” “Yes!” RuPaul responds
enthusiastically.

Notes
1. See “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” HBO, accessed April 1, 2018,
https://www.hbo.com/last-week-tonight-with-john-oliver.
2. For footage of this segment, see “Televangelists: Last Week Tonight
with John Oliver (HBO),” YouTube video, 20:05, posted by
LastWeekTonight, August 16, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg.
3. See “BOB’s BEST RANTS 1—‘We’ve Seen Midgets Grow!!’,” YouTube
video.
4. For the original video, see “Robert Tilton #6,” YouTube video, 28:31,
posted by 2011wof, August 4, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=h0aQJQb_Vbo&t=1417s.
5. For a recording of this message, see “Calling Our Lady of Perpetual
Exemption (1-800-THIS-IS-LEGAL),” YouTube video, 3:13, posted
by Pelon 1071, August 16, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=lfEG_eo7sCU.
6. For video of a recipient opening and describing one of these mailers,
see “Funny Letter From John Oliver’s (Last Week Tonight) Our Lady
of Perpetual Exemption!” YouTube video, 5:40, posted by Maranda’s
Toys & Books, September 4, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=TSiJWY6VSyQ&t=150s.
7. See “John Oliver’s Church: Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption—Final
Update,” YouTube video, 4:02, posted by doug3465_, September 14,
2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT3NRkllI3E.
8. James S. Bielo, Emerging Evangelicals: Faith, Modernity, and the Desire for
Authenticity (New York: New York University Press, 2011), 55, 63–64.
9. See Marti and Ganiel, The Deconstructed Church, 15.
 7 CONCLUSION  193

10. “Episode One,” One Punk Under God, DVD.

11. “Bakker Regrets Preaching That God Blesses the Rich,” Buffalo News,
September 12, 1992.
12. For Branson and Bakker’s relocation, see Aaron K. Ketchell, Holy Hills of
the Ozarks: Religion and Tourism in Branson, Missouri (Baltimore: The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), xii–xiii, xxiii, xxxiii, 72–73,
214.
13. “Episode Three,”  One Punk Under God, DVD.
14.  See, for example, “The Best of Pastor Jim Bakker,” YouTube video,
16:54, posted by Super Deluxe, June 9, 2017, https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=ezENqnD_yGg.
15.  The Jim Bakker Foodbucket Fanpage, accessed April 1, 2018, http://www.
jimbakker666.blogspot.ca/.
16. See “Episode 138: Kristen Chenoweth,” RuPaul: What’s the Tee? pod-
cast audio, February 13, 2018, http://www.rupaulpodcast.com/epi-
sodes/2018/2/13/episode-138-kristin-chenoweth. For Chenoweth’s
career, faith, and gay iconicity, see Randy Shulman, “Interview: Kristin
Chenoweth,” Metro Weekly, August 27, 2015, accessed April 1, 2018,
https://www.metroweekly.com/2015/08/interview-kristin-chenoweth/.
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 Index

A 126, 128–131, 139, 143, 145,

Alternative culture, 29, 41, 86
Alternative media, 11, 28, 29, 31, 43,
83
The American Music Show, 13, 120,
121, 127–129, 133, 139, 146
Analog video, 7, 9, 11, 22, 188
Anthony, Ole, 54, 56, 58–62, 69–71,
81, 87–89, 98, 108
Antifans, 6, 90, 191
B Brother O’Nottigan, 51–53, 64, 65,
Bailey, Fenton, 77, 138, 141, 150–
152, 158, 161, 169, 177, 178,
183
Bakker, Jay, 175–177, 185, 190
Bakker, Jim, 12, 13, 23, 35, 116, 117,
124, 125, 129, 130, 132, 139,
143, 144, 147, 160, 177, 180,
191
Bakker-Messner, Tammy Faye, 6–10,
12, 23, 62, 115, 121, 125,
147–149, 179–181, 184, 191
Barbato, Randy, 77, 138, 141,
150–152, 158, 160, 161, 169,
177, 178, 183
Barr, Roseanne, 137
Bell, Jonathan, 92–94, 109, 130
Bloom, John (a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs),
87, 90, 91, 93, 95, 108, 109
Blow, Steve, 27, 28, 43, 63, 71
Brother Bucks, 48–50, 53, 63, 65, 66,
68, 69, 71–73, 86, 97, 107
68, 69, 75, 97–99, 101, 103,
111–113
Brother Randall, 2, 3, 9, 11, 12, 14,
39–41, 46–53, 62, 63, 67–69,
71–73, 75–78, 80–86, 92–97,
102, 104–107, 109–111, 113,
114
Brother Russell, 12, 67, 68, 75,
77–79, 81, 83, 90, 97, 104–106,
111, 188

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive 225
license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018
D. J. Bekkering, American Televangelism and Participatory
Cultures, Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00575-7
226  Index
Bullock, Jim J., 134, 158
C Fandom, 6, 13, 23, 25–28, 36, 40, 50,
Camp, 13, 116, 118–121, 126,
132–135, 138, 140, 142, 147,
151, 153, 155, 160–165, 168,
169, 171, 175, 177, 191, 192
Campy fans, 13, 116, 119, 120, 131,
139–141, 151, 153, 154, 159,
160, 164, 177, 191
Castro Theatre, 161, 162
Chambers, Alan, 165
Charisma, 141, 164, 166, 168, 181
Charles, RuPaul, 115, 128, 130, 133,
141, 146, 153, 191, 192
Chenoweth, Kristin, 191–193
Church of the SubGenius, 11, 29, 30,
38, 43, 44, 48, 65, 84, 86, 111
Coady, Aaron (a.k.a. Sharon Needles),
115, 177
Comedy Central, 12, 93, 95, 103
D 143, 144
The Daily Show, 12, 93, 94, 104, 109,
187
The Door (a.k.a. The Wittenburg Door),
87–90, 94, 95, 98, 108, 110, 111
Devivals, 31, 37, 48, 65–67, 72
Drag, 13, 115, 126–130, 132, 133,
135, 138, 140, 141, 145, 150,
153, 161, 162, 164, 171, 177,
184
E Inside Edition, 54, 55, 69, 70, 85, 91,
The Eyes of Tammy Faye, 13, 151–156,
158–166, 172, 173, 177, 191,
192
F
Falwell, Jerry, 34, 36, 124, 129, 131,
136, 155–157
68, 95, 116, 119, 120, 123, 131,
140, 159, 177, 178
Fiske, John, 5, 14–16
Funtone USA, 129, 146
G
Garland, Judy, 119, 139, 153
Gateway City Center Church,
173–175
“God’s Greatest Hits”, 50, 51, 63
Godstuff/Joe Bob’s Godstuff, 91–94,
109
Guetzlaff, Harry, 89, 90, 92, 94, 110
H
Hahn, Jessica, 124, 125, 127, 136,
144, 158
Heritage USA, 117, 121–125, 132,
Hickerson, Buddy, 64, 72
Hinn, Benny, 85, 107, 167, 175, 182,
183
HIV/AIDS, 26, 155, 167, 168, 172,
173, 179
Homosexuality, 92, 126, 135, 143,
152, 155–158, 161–169, 173–
177, 179, 180, 183, 185
I
107, 109
Ironic fans, 6, 11, 16, 21, 22, 27, 55,
62, 75, 79, 81, 85, 90, 94, 95,
119, 130, 188, 189

I Will Survive…And You Will, Too!,
165, 167, 171, 173
J
Jenkins, Henry, 6, 15–17, 147
The Jim Bakker Foodbucket Fanpage,
191, 193
The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show,
134–136, 151
Jordan, Leslie, 174, 184
Joyce, J.C., 27, 81
L Primetime Live, 11, 47, 48, 53, 54,
Larry King Live, 167, 172, 176, 182,
184, 185
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,
187, 192
“Love That Bob!”, 48, 63–68, 71, 75,
77, 106
M Reality television, 152, 169, 171, 175
Made in the USA, 77, 104, 115, 139
Marjoe, 58, 70
The Mark and Brian Show, 98, 111
McCain, Randy, 176, 185
Media scandal, 9, 10, 17, 67, 83, 188
Metropolitan Community Church,
156, 157, 166, 176, 179, 180
The “Mr. Ed Fan Club”, 49
N 127–129, 138, 143, 146, 150
National Enquirer, 170, 183
National Public Radio, 164
“New” Media, 45
Newsgroups, 95, 97, 110
Index   227
O
One Punk Under God: The Prodigal
Son of Jim and Tammy Faye, 175,
185
P
Paracinema, 118, 142
Participatory culture, 8, 10, 16
Popular culture, 5, 15–18, 31, 113,
142, 147, 169
“Praise the Lord” (PTL) network, 12,
116, 128, 142, 153
Price, Frederick K.C., 56, 70
56–62, 64, 65, 69–71, 75, 78,
79, 85, 87, 91, 93, 96, 104, 105,
109, 188
R
Rambo, Dottie, 173, 184, 185
Reagan, Ronald, 19, 29, 32, 155
Recreational Christianity, 12, 13, 75,
82, 83, 90, 96, 103, 106, 116,
120, 123, 128, 131, 140, 151,
153, 188, 190
Religious branding, 8, 16, 17
Religious economy, 15
Reverend Bob (comedian), 64, 65,
71, 72
Reynalds, Jeremy, 164, 181, 182
Richards, Dick, 120, 121, 123,
Robertson, Pat, 34–36, 64, 117, 120,
143, 155, 156, 167, 179, 180
Roberts, Oral, 19, 23, 41, 63, 71, 159
Robert Tilton Fan Club, 5, 7, 9–12,
14, 67, 68, 75–86, 88, 90, 92,
228  Index
95–98, 102, 103, 106, 115, 139,
140, 188
The Roseanne Show, 137, 138
RuPaul’s Drag Race, 115, 141, 177,
185, 186
The RuPaul Show, 138, 139, 151,
153, 172
S
Sister Wendy, 2, 3, 14, 82
Snake Oil, 80–85, 92, 94, 96, 102,
104–107, 109, 110, 113, 114
Spotts, Joe, 161, 174, 181, 184
Stalnaker, James, 173
Success-N-Life, 19, 20, 25–27, 38,
51, 52, 55, 57, 60, 61, 71, 78,
80–82, 84, 88–91, 100, 101, 188
The Surreal Life, 169–171, 173, 183,
184
Swaggart, Jimmy, 23, 24, 36, 37, 42,
46, 55, 113, 124, 155, 179
T YouTube, 7, 14, 16, 22, 24, 25, 41,
Tabloid television, 11, 47, 54, 87,
103, 189
Tammy Faye: Death Defying, 172, 183,
184
Tilton “fart” remix, 12
Tilton, Robert, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12,
19, 21–27, 29, 34, 38–41, 48,
49, 51, 53, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60,
62, 64, 67–69, 75–77, 80–85,
87–89, 91, 93–97, 99–104, 108,
113, 114, 116, 187, 188, 190
The Trinity Foundation, 11, 12, 48,
54–60, 62, 68–70, 75, 85–95, 98,
107–109, 188, 190
20/20, 55, 56, 70
U
Ulaby, Neda, 164
V
Video proof texts, 11, 48, 55–57, 68,
75, 87, 89, 91, 98, 103, 156,
159, 187, 188
W
Waters, John, 120, 161
White, Mel, 154, 156, 179
World of Wonder, 104, 115, 138, 139,
141, 150, 152, 175, 178, 186
Y
42, 51, 69–72, 99–102, 104,
106, 107, 109, 112–114, 121,
127, 128, 130, 143–150, 178,
179, 182, 183, 185, 186, 188,
191–193
Z
Zines, 16, 28, 29, 86