Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story (2026)

[bunniefuu]

[Robin Byrd] Okay,

for those of you who don't know

what this is all about...

good, we'll keep you

in suspense.

Hi, I'm Robin Byrd

and this is the Robin Byrd Show.

And what I want everyone to do

is to get comfortable.

You're probably

with a loved one,

so snuggle up

real close with them.

And for those of you

who don't have a loved one,

well, you always have me,

Robin Byrd.

[upbeat music playing]

Will you please welcome

one of New York's

best-kept secrets, Robin Byrd.

[cheering and applause]

Everybody knows Robin Byrd!

[Annie Sprinkle] She's probably

the record holder

of the most cable shows.

That's what happens

when you produce,

direct, write, and whatever.

[Robin laughing]

[Sandra Bernhard]

She's a cultural avatar,

and I think she loved the idea

that she was hosting

the ultimate underground party.

[Annie]

Robin was an important part

of sex-positive feminism

and pleasure activism.

And the more lubricated

she becomes,

the easier it is

to insert the weenie.

[Byrdwatcher]

People dismissed her as camp,

but the truth is

that Robin fought like hell

for the g*y community.

Now, go get your rubbers while

I'm doing all this, you know.

[news reporter] Meese today

declared a federal crackdown

on obscene materials.

[Phil Donahue]

Excuse me, but Robin...

Robin, is this it? Fini?

I'm putting up a big fight.

My fans are behind me 100%.

Before you know it,

we'll be censoring everything

in the United States.

Books and what we learn

in school.

[Byrdwatcher] The fact is,

once you speak out,

they'll come after you.

[protesters] Shame! Shame!

Shame! Shame!

[Ceyenne Doroshow]

Being an activist is one thing,

but when you're

intentionally teaching,

it means you're an activator.

That's what Robin was.

Isn't it indecent?

[Robin] The human body

is not indecent.

What is indecent?

[light bulb crackling]

[Robin] Wow, I haven't had

anybody in this apartment

in over 20 years.

It's hard to find things

in here.

Oh, here's my costume.

It's a crochet bikini

that I would wear on the show.

Yep, it's stretched out,

alright.

Nope, doesn't smell.

[laughs]

So, that's this.

This should go in a museum.

As you can see,

I have the decks here

and the DV cam.

And transferring--

And my audio board

is underneath all of those.

-[dog barks]

-Sit with Daddy.

Go sit with Daddy.

Baby, you can hear me?

[Shelly] Yeah, I hear you,

and I'm not gonna say a word.

[Robin] That's Shelly.

He never left,

no matter how crazy I am.

[Robin laughs]

[Robin sighs]

And these are all our children.

We have more than 600 tapes.

December 27th, 1989.

Different century.

They're numbered.

All my shows are numbered.

So, these are the earlier ones.

Here's one with Heather Hunter.

[seductive music playing]

It's always fun

when Heather's on.

Julie Bond was my first

transsexual.

She was beautiful.

She was beautiful.

I always thought

it would be a good idea

to get up close and personal

with Jeff Stryker.

So we did an interview in bed

at my hotel in Vegas,

and then we had sex

and Shelly filmed it.

And his d*ck was large.

It had girth.

This is the first--

the Hot Legs show.

Let's put this in the box.

[Shelly]

That is a super classic.

[Robin] This is one

of the first shows I did.

[funky music playing]

In 1976, there was

a porn producer,

Bobby Hollander.

And he had this TV show

called Hot Legs,

hosted by two porn stars.

Bobby had begged me

'cause nobody was in town

to do the show.

It was a half-hour show

on Thursday nights.

They called me and said,

"Do me a favor."

And I'm like, "What?"

"Well, can you come down

and be a host?"

And he was like, "Oh, please,

please, please, please."

I'm like, "Okay, Bobby,

I'm gonna do this for you."

The format, it was a film.

Like a short.

Like a-- like a 8-millimeter

short for 15 minutes.

And then, the next 15 minutes,

you opened up the phone lines

to the audience.

This was the first time

that TV was interactive.

And everybody

took all their hostilities out

on this poor half-hour show

where they could talk to the TV.

But first, some phone calls.

And I was so reluctant

to push the first call

because they weren't screened.

-Hello?

-[caller 1] Hot Legs.

Hot Legs, this is.

I oozed "Please love me."

[laughs] Please don't hate me.

All I want is love

for everybody.

[caller 1] I want to know,

what makes you so hot?

All these lights here.

[laughs]

And they're like, "You're great,

we love you,

you're so beautiful."

[caller 2] You've got

a great show. You got a hit.

[Robin] So, I was like,

"Oh, thanks.

I'm beautiful. Oh, great!"

You know, there's nothing

like a compliment,

especially on television.

[caller 3] Hello. Your hot legs

are absolutely very delightful.

[Robin]

And I said, "Oh, thank you."

And, "You wanna say anything

about the film?"

"No, we just want to see

more of you."

[upbeat electronic

music playing]

And I didn't get paid.

My payment

was all those compliments.

You know, this was the '70s.

We didn't do things for money.

I continued to go back every

Thursday to fill in for them.

And the studio that we were

doing it at said,

"Oh, there's no show tonight."

I'm like, "Why?"

He says, "Well, Bobby Hollander

owes me a lot of money.

"And until he pays me,

there's not gonna be

any more show."

And I said,

"Well, I wanna do a show."

And they said, "Well, you can't

call it the Hot Legs show."

And I said, "Well, what am I

gonna call it?"

And I said, well, Johnny Carson

had the Johnny Carson Show.

Tom Snyder had

the Tom Snyder Show.

I'm gonna call it

the Robin Byrd Show.

[upbeat electronic

music playing]

I was the first woman

to bring adult programming

to television.

Well, it was mostly

a male audience

when it started out as Hot Legs

'cause it was run by a man.

It was more geared towards men.

And here I am, I have

a female's point of view,

which is a lot softer.

-Hello?

-[caller] Hi, how are you?

I just want to know

why the show has changed

from the Bobby Hollander Show

to now, of course, your name?

Well, because

I'm producing it now.

[caller] Oh, very good.

[Robin]

In the beginning, they said,

"You'll have

to produce it yourself."

And I said,

"Okay, I'll produce it,"

not knowing

what a producer does.

Of course, 30 years,

some-odd-years later,

I know a producer

does everything, everything.

-Hello?

-[caller] Yes, Robin.

-Yes?

-[caller] Yes, I'd like to know

what do you do

when you're not on the show?

Um, I'm constantly thinking

about the show.

I was always told that in TV,

you can't use white,

black, or red.

And I'm like, well,

I'm gonna change that.

I got my red background paper.

I had a black rug on the floor.

I wore a black crochet bikini.

And you know what?

All those colors

and psychedelic looks

that I added to the show,

well, I taught the studio

how to do video feedback.

And that's what you see

on the show.

We're gonna do

some exercises now,

and that's all part

of living these days.

Back in those days,

it wasn't common for women

to be bodybuilding.

Now, you breathe...

[inhales sharply]

...in from your diaphragm.

So, I'd show everybody,

this is what I do for my body.

I do squats, I do lunges.

This is my thing.

You can do the same.

Do leg circles.

This is how I got my a*s.

And then,

I had a five-minute story

that I would write,

Byrd's Book of Bedtime Stories.

My, uh, bedtime music, perhaps?

This was X-rated fairy tales.

So, I would turn you on

and tuck you in.

"He had taken her out to dinner,

and then he had

taken her to a disco."

[upbeat electronic

music playing]

I started having guests

on the show

after the Byrd's Book

of Bedtime Stories...

because people didn't

understand the adult industry.

They thought that everybody

walked around with dildos

in their mouth and their ears,

and stuck up their butts.

And-- and I just wanted

to show people

that these are just

human beings

that have a lot of talent.

Mix me with vodka

And call me Bloody Mary

Mix me with hot sauce

And I get pretty scary

-Thank you.

-[Robin] Oh, that's great!

-[laughing]

-That's great!

-Thank you.

-I love that. That's super.

[upbeat dance music playing]

We were on once a week

on Wednesday night at midnight.

'Cause it's hump day!

And with me is Samantha Fox.

And I want to...

[both] Mm.

Cut.

-[both laugh]

-Oh, boy.

If that wasn't hot enough

for you, we have more.

Then later on,

as the show got more popular,

I had up-and-comings

and all kinds of people.

Lie back, get comfortable.

We have a great show

for you tonight.

First on line is Annie Sprinkle.

[spitting and groaning]

[Annie]

I did a performance piece

on Robin's show

about my 100 worst

sexual experiences.

[yelling]

We'd all go and promote

our stuff on Robin's show.

That was like the internet.

[Robin] You-- you've been

doing postmodernism.

I like to call it

porn-formances.

-Porn-formance art.

-Oh, porn-formance, yeah.

[Annie]

Robin was so passionate

about people

in the sex industry,

and her heart

really came through.

-[caller] How you doing?

-Oh, I'm great, how are you?

I've been watching a long time.

I think your show is great.

-Thank you.

-The first time

I've gotten through.

Oh, thank you so much.

And you know what?

My show is still on

in reruns today,

even though the technology

is changing.

This is my cable box.

But in the beginning,

there was a sit-top thing

where you had a dial,

and then there was one

with push buttons.

And the cable box

has been keeping me on

for all these years.

In the '70s,

buildings were getting taller

and your rabbit ear antennas

weren't picking up as much.

And they couldn't get

the reception

from the antennas,

so that's why they decided

to get cable.

[Kirsten Fleming] Instead of

sending signals through the air

like they did

with broadcast TV,

they put cables

under the streets.

Since the streets

were public property,

politicians and advocates

demanded

that cable companies set aside

some channels for public use,

which would become

public access TV,

the wild wild west

of the boob tube.

Hi, welcome to Speak Out.

My name is Ken Sander,

and tonight's issue is,

should New Yorkers

carry handguns?

[Bob Morris] The idea was

that local community members

who were not represented

on broadcast TV

would be able to put

themselves on television.

-There were church groups...

-Come to Jesus

...community neighborhood

associations.

[speaking Spanish]

Artists, activists.

Reagan, Connor, and Anderson.

That's what they are.

Call them the three musketeers.

[Michael Musto]

Politics, town hall rants.

Canned wine.

[Michael] Manhattan Cable

actually handed out

free studio time

to anyone who signed up.

As you can see from the hearts,

this is our

Valentine's Day show,

so we have one

of the most romantic bands

in New York City with us,

the Beastie Boys.

What you do is you

put your fingers here,

you put your fingers there,

and you walk like this, see?

[Michael]

No gatekeepers, no auditions.

Just show up and boom,

you're on TV.

Mm, we have an excellent

Burgundy today.

A Fixin from Hervelets.

[upbeat dance music playing]

[Robin] And then,

Manhattan Cable

added another channel,

which was Channel J.

Getting comfortable

in swinging.

Channel J was the first

leased access channel

where you could rent time

and sell ads.

[announcer]

1-900-HOT-TOOL.

[Robin] As long

as it wasn't considered

legally obscene,

you could pretty much do

anything you wanted to do.

[Coca Crystal]

We have the world's only

weekly pot report.

[Jim Chladek]

Our studio was an open door.

I didn't censor you.

I didn't do anything.

Only thing you couldn't do

in the studio was start a fire.

[Robin]

Jim Chladek was a rebel.

He had an office next door

to Time Warner.

And he somehow rigged

a wire in the alleyway

between the two buildings

to connect it for live TV.

[blowing]

[blowing]

That's an old tape.

[director] Why are you

holding on to all your tapes?

[Robin]

It's a good question.

I don't know why

I'm holding on to the tapes.

I don't need all these tapes.

But I can't see myself

getting rid of them.

[Shelly] These originals

are gonna stay,

or are you gonna

put them in storage?

[Robin]

I'm not gonna continue

paying so much money

for storage.

You know, we're living

on a fixed income.

You wanna hold on

to the physical tapes?

Yeah, the physical tapes, sure.

What are you gonna do with it,

throw it away?

[Robin]

Things don't work anymore.

The-- the format's not the same.

Destroy these tapes?

[Robin]

What would happen if I die?

-You know what's gonna happen?

-Oh, you're never gonna die.

-Says who?

-[Robin] I'm not magic.

-What's gonna happen with it?

-You're never gonna die.

-Really?

-Yes.

[Robin] What, you think

I'm Superwoman?

Yes. I know it.

[Robin] Okay, but if I die,

city marshal's gonna come in

here and throw everything away.

It only means something

to you and me

because we put our life into it.

Ah, dealing with dementia.

I'm not gonna win at this one.

-[people chattering]

-[birdsong]

Central Park is my backyard.

This is where

I come to get away

and to have me time.

I used to come here

with Shelly, too,

but now he has dementia.

So, it's usually just me

and Om.

I was born and raised

in Manhattan.

I was adopted at childbirth,

and I was taken away

from my mother

right then and there at birth.

My adopted father

was an antiques dealer,

and I would hang out

in the store with him.

But he always loved me.

I was Daddy's little girl.

My dad died when I was eight.

Everything changed.

My adopted mother,

she took a lot out on me.

She drank and cried

and screamed.

She would always say I wasn't

going to amount to anything,

and that I was ugly.

And we got into a big fight,

and she said to me,

"Well, if you don't

like it here, then get out."

And I'm like, "Okay, bye."

[folksy acoustic

music playing]

And I ran away,

and I packed up whatever

I thought I needed,

which wasn't much,

slept in Central Park

for a couple of days.

There were hippies everywhere.

It was freedom.

The '60s was the awakening

of love and sex.

You could come out of

the closet with your sexuality.

And that's when I realized

I really liked women, too.

I had a girlfriend, and she

knew I needed a place to stay,

so she suggested that I come

live with her and her family.

-[upbeat music playing]

-[singers vocalizing]

Fast-forward, I took a GED

and I got into college.

I wanted to be

an art director.

I wanted to be

a creative director.

I wanted to be the director.

So, I went to School

of Visual Arts.

I started taking

some art classes.

And I needed money.

So, I posed for line,

you know, drawing,

and I had to be naked.

My friend said that,

"If you're already

modeling nude,

"and you're comfortable

with it,

why don't you enter this

Miss All Bare America contest?"

[announcer]

Now, ladies and gentlemen,

let's take a look at Number 8.

Here she comes.

[Robin]

It was like Miss USA,

but it was all bare.

[applause]

[announcer] Let's hear it.

Aren't they something?

All shapes, sizes, colors,

East and West...

[Robin]

High Society magazine saw me

and asked me to do a layout

for the Christmas issue.

My whole life,

I was told I'm ugly,

according to my mother.

She got that wrong.

I realized, yeah,

I have a bitchin' body.

I got a great a*s.

'70s was fun.

Disco, orgies.

I was the orgy queen.

[Annie]

The birth control pill

becoming accessible

changed women's lives.

They could have lots of sex

without fear

of getting pregnant.

So, they went wild

and they started experimenting

and having

lots of sex partners.

This age of permissiveness

may have finally found

its ultimate expression.

A sexual Disneyland

where you can live out

your wildest fantasies.

[Robin] I used to go

to Plato's Retreat,

which was a sex swingers club.

And I used to love going there

because I love sex.

I loved it.

And I was having sex

with the people

who were

in the porn films off camera.

So, they said, "Well, if you're

gonna do it off camera...

why don't you do it on camera

and get paid for it?"

And I'm like, "Oh, okay."

[chuckles]

Is she not attractive, monsieur?

Ah, oui, oui.

[Robin]

And so, I started doing films.

Do it, Glenna.

Do whatever you want to me.

My most famous film

is Debbie Does Dallas.

I was Mrs. Hardwick

of the candle store.

[upbeat funky music playing]

They premiered

at the Pussycat Theater

in Times Square.

[Annie]

I mean, back in the day,

the New York Times

had ads for X-rated films.

Deep Throat kind of launched

that golden era porn chic.

This is Harry Reems,

and I'm interviewing Robin Byrd.

No! And Veronica Hart?

I'll tell you what,

you give me your autograph,

-I'll give you my phone number.

-Oh, yeah!

[both laugh]

I'll go for that, sure.

[Annie] Movie theaters

were showing these films,

and you could go

with your husband or wife.

[Robin]

And the porn stars all came,

and the paparazzi were there.

And it was like

any other premiere or movie

that you would go to

like any other film.

No f*cking way

do I have any regrets.

I have done 13 films.

I didn't set out

to do these things.

My life has been

always like I'm a pinball,

and I hit one bumper, and then

I go to another bumper.

I mean, that's how I met Shelly.

I'm filming in the park,

and I see a familiar face

sitting on the rock.

It was Shelly.

So, I walk over to him

and I went, "Hi, remember me?

We met in Fire Island

just last summer."

I think it was love

at first sight.

Well, second sight.

We had a lot in common.

I was interested in art,

and he was the artist.

He was a hot sh*t art director,

creative director.

He had his own ad agency,

but he worked

with all these big advertisers.

He was, you know, a big deal,

but that didn't

attract me to him.

What attracted me to him

was the fact

that he was

so sensitive and warm,

and he was the woman

that I always wanted to marry.

We had sex in different

little places

that he would never think

of having sex.

But I was always on top.

We moved in together,

and we've been

in the same place since then.

...day to you

Happy birthday, dear Robin

-Happy birthday to you

-...to me

[cheers and applause]

Thank you!

Now, everybody strip!

[all laugh]

Hi. My name is Shelly.

I live in a shoe.

This is my friend Robin.

She's in there, too.

[laughing]

Woo-hoo!

This is my 69th birthday.

-A sexy number. Mm, mm, mm.

-[Shelly chuckles]

Last year, it was 68.

You do me, I owe you one.

[laughing]

Oh, this is so good.

-Who needs real food? Mm!

-[Shelly] Oh, wow.

Whipped cream.

I was in a film where I was

covered with whipped cream once.

It's so delicious,

but it's so hard

to get off your skin.

Do you remember I came home,

and I had to shower

and bathe for like-- like--

[Shelly] Three weeks. [laughs]

[Robin] I was a sundae,

and people ate it off my body.

Yum!

-[Robin laughing]

-Ah!

[Robin] How many years

have you and I

been coming here

for my birthday?

[Shelly] One.

-That's not true.

-[Shelly] Two.

-No.

-Three.

We've been together almost 50--

we'll be together

50 years this July,

so 45 years at least you and I

have been coming here.

How did you meet me?

[Shelly]

Oh, I-- I met the Byrd, uh...

-[Shelly clears throat]

-Do you remember?

[Shelly] No.

Yes, you do.

-You don't remember?

-Give me-- give me a hint.

[Robin] Fire Island.

I mean, he's still a jokester

and he's still funny,

but he's not the same.

He was there when we signed

the contract

with Manhattan cable that

we were gonna be producers.

And then, in the studio,

he made sure the crew

did what they were

supposed to do.

We had a cameraman,

a sound person who was deaf,

a technical director

who was colorblind,

and me.

We called him Mr. Head Gopher,

and that was Shelly's,

Mr. Head Gopher's job,

was to answer the phone

and tell them to hold on.

And I would always say,

"He gives the fastest head

in the city.

Coffee, tea, and head."

Head Gopher.

Mr. Gopher,

go back in your hole.

[laughs]

I don't call him by his name.

Well, Mr. Gopher's screening,

what can I say?

475-1550...

My audience has this

imagination of who I am.

I'm their fantasy.

I mean, nobody knew

we were married.

This is probably

a complete shock

to know that I've been

with him since '74.

Me, the orgy queen?

But he never judged me.

I called Shelly

the Head Gopher.

But he's-- was so much more

than that.

He's so much more than that.

[seagulls cawing]

[waves lapping]

It's a whole different story

with the dementia.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Hello! How are you?

[Shelly] Hey, you guys.

Hey, you guys.

Hey, you guys. Hey, you guys.

Hey, you guys. Hey, you guys.

-Hello.

-[Robin] Good afternoon.

[Shelly] Hey, you guys.

Hey, you guys. Hey, you guys.

[Robin] Hello, travelers.

-[person] Hi, Robin.

-[Robin] How are you?

The Byrd, the Byrd, the Byrd!

This is where I sit

every morning.

[Robin] I know, but you're not

gonna sit here now.

[Shelly] No, that's for sure.

[Robin]

We have to make the boat.

[Shelly] You bet.

-[upbeat music playing]

-[singer vocalizing]

[Robin]

It's our 50th anniversary.

The first time Shelly and I

crossed paths

was right here on Fire Island.

I wanted to see if I could

jog his memory a little.

Just wanted to have him

regain something.

-[laughing] Hey. Thanks, man.

-Happy birthday.

[Robin]

Does this look familiar?

[Shelly] No.

So, why are we--

why are we here?

[Robin]

I'm here because I love you.

[Shelly] We're not gonna be

walking all the way down there.

[Robin]

Uh-huh. Yeah, come on.

[Shelly]

No. You don't want to do that.

[grunting softly]

That's it. This is the end

of the line for me.

[Robin] You don't wanna go

any further?

[Shelly] That's right.

[Robin]

Alright, maybe we can leave you

-and I can walk further?

-[Shelly] Sure.

[Robin] It's really hot,

and I didn't realize

how far it was.

I mean, I was 19, 17, 18,

whatever I was.

And it's a little

too much for him.

And I don't want him--

you know, he's 84.

[gentle music playing]

You know something?

I think it was this house.

But it's been changed.

Oh, way, way different

than 50 years ago.

That's me. Yeah.

Are you familiar with my--

Hi! May I take

a picture of the house?

Thank you.

Wow.

I guess coming back

was more for me.

When I first met Shelly,

he was always an observer.

And that's what his attraction

to me was.

Get the Byrd.

Caw, caw, caw!

[Robin] Because I was

what he observed.

Do you remember

when we used to go

to the health food store there?

-Yeah, of course, yeah.

-Downstairs.

That was the best

health food store.

Didn't it have like a--

-I used to get my hair cut.

-Can we make a left here?

Didn't I get my hair cut

someplace along here?

Yeah, you got your--

next-- the next block.

Yeah.

On good old 42nd Street.

[sultry jazzy music playing]

Back in the day,

it was an adult playground,

literally.

[speaker] Ah, yeah.

Only one hot sexy token

does it all.

Come on in.

We're gonna tickle your pickle,

burn your banana and make

your liver quiver, daddy.

[Robin] Look, that's where

the Gaiety was.

The Gaiety was the male

go-go place.

And then around the corner

was Females, for straight men.

The back door of the Gaiety,

you'd be able to get through

to the straight one.

The straight men

went into the straight one

for the females,

and then snuck in the door

to the Gaiety.

Byrd used to walk

up and down 42nd Street,

getting the guests.

She used to go

from Show World to...

What was the other place?

Show Palace!

Byrd may be

dancing there tonight.

Let's check it out.

[Porsche Lynn] So, I was

performing at Show World.

I kept asking everybody,

"What am I gonna have to do

to get on Robin's show?"

And all these guys were like,

"Well, you kinda

got to be famous."

And then she's knocking

on my dressing room door

after our shows and she's like,

"Hi, I'm Robin Byrd!"

So, she finally invited me

on the show.

And then of course,

I was the female adult star

that was on the Robin Byrd Show

the most.

Ha, ha!

[no audio]

Every time

Mr. Gopher meets me,

Robin's running around.

And she's like, you know,

shouting and barking orders

at everybody.

[Robin]

Shelly, do you need a filter?

-[Shelly] No.

-[Robin] Oh, how wonderful.

[Porsche] Mr. Gopher saying,

"Come in the bathroom.

You can change."

And the bathroom's

like the size of a closet.

[Heather Hunter] It was like

a little broom closet.

I mean, we were all

crammed up in there.

[Heather laughs]

Just like total strangers

just getting dressed.

It was like no space at all.

[laughs]

[Robin] After getting them

all down to the studio,

I would get them together

and I would line them up

and say, "Okay, you're on

first, you're on second."

And sure enough, all I had

was like 10 seconds

to get myself ready.

So, that's why I would

powder myself

in front of the camera

all the time,

because people like to see you

put your makeup on.

So, I worked it into the show.

Hi, I'm Robin Byrd,

and this is the Robin Byrd Show.

And I usually, at this point,

get at least my powder on,

but there's so much disarray

in the studio all the time

that here I am

doing my powder.

I'm the director.

I direct in front of the camera.

Like, "Mr. Cameraman,

hi, how are you?

Come over here, Mr. Cameraman."

And I would play

with the camera.

Am I shining, Mr. Cameraman?

No. Good.

'Cause it's live.

There's nothing

better than live.

Live audience, live TV.

Just one take.

What you saw

was what you got.

This should be like a--

a makeup class.

Okay, and now

you put the lips...

[Joe Bruno] I mean, she pretty

much did everything, right?

So, you see her on the show

and she's kind of ditzy

and bubbly.

But when it was time

to film and stuff,

she was a businesswoman.

Lie back.

-Get comfortable.

-Get comfortable.

Here is Joey,

and he is Mr. Altar Boy.

[funky seductive

music playing]

[Joe] She suddenly jumps

behind the camera.

And she's like,

"So I'm gonna be talking to you

"while I'm filming you,

but you can look,

but you can't respond to me."

I'm like, "Okay."

Don't talk to me. Just listen.

I'm the director.

I would tell them,

"I'm on your face.

"I'm on your d*ck. Turn around.

Bend over. Let me see your butt.

"Spread your a*s cheeks.

Now get down on your fours."

[Joe] That's why

when people were dancing,

suddenly they just smile

for no reason.

'Cause she's, like,

"Oh, you look great.

We're gonna zoom in

on your crotch right now."

And you couldn't

say anything back to her.

At the end of every show,

we end the show with a song

called "Baby, Let Me Bang

Your Box."

Oh, baby,

let me bang your box

Baby, let me bang your box

I was doing a satire,

so I would grab people's boobs

and put my head

in between them.

Just what the audience

wanted to do themselves,

but here I am doing it

saying, "It's okay."

And I'm a woman doing it.

And I pulled out your p*nis

and I put it in my eye.

And I recorded

and sang the song myself.

Oh, baby,

let me bang your box

Baby, let me bang your box

Baby, let me play your 88

Gonna play

till the whole house rocks

Bang, bang, bang

Ooh, ooh, ooh, little baby

She likes that

Yeah, in the middle

Bang, bang, bang

Oh, you got rhythm

Baby

Baby, bang my box

Bang, little baby...

[Lou Cass] It was so fun

at the end, you'd always, like,

pretend like you were

blowing me and sh*t like that

at the end of the show.

"Bang Your Box," I loved that.

[Heather] It was crazy.

We would do the show...

[Robin] Hi, Heather.

How are you, honey?

[Heather]

...bang our box on stage.

It was like a never-ending

circus, you know?

Rock that, baby

Like that

In the middle

All right, baby

[caller] Hello?

I just wanted to tell you

that I watch your show

every week.

Alright!

[caller]

And I'm sitting here right now.

I'm g*y, I'm sitting here

with my lover,

-and we really enjoy you.

-Oh, great.

[Robin] I noticed that

there were a lot of g*y men

that were watching my show.

So, I started going

to the g*y theaters

and getting the g*y performers.

-[disco music playing]

-[applause]

[Robin]

Straight from the stages

of the Show Palace Theater,

here is the Brazilian

bombshell himself,

Vladimir Correa.

But I had a technical director

who was h*m*,

and I said, "Okay, bye-bye."

[seductive music playing]

Having male guests on the show

was really a good addition

because I satisfied

the viewers at home

that didn't want

to see women.

[Byrdwatcher] Ten years earlier,

we were literally getting

arrested and thrown in jail

for being g*y.

And now I'm, like,

turning on the TV

and I see Robin Byrd

and naked male dancers.

It was so liberating.

It was, you know,

some of my first memories

of seeing naked bodies

in a semi-sexual way,

but also just comfortable

around nudity.

Robin Byrd was the place

where you could be yourself.

Like, it was a place

where there was no such thing

as being taboo.

She made no confusion about it.

Sex was something

that was normal, natural,

and for everybody.

My partner and I,

we always walked around

the Village at night.

And we would see

these red lights in the window.

We really couldn't

figure out what they were.

But, we finally figured out

that it was the Robin Byrd Show

coming on at 10 o'clock.

And after that,

we started watching it.

[Fredd E. Tree]

Everybody loved that show.

We had cable

on at the bar at Julius'.

We'd put it on

and we'd all scream,

"Robin! Hey, Robin!"

-Hi, Robin.

-Hi, Tree.

This is Tree from--

from Julius'.

The g*y audience really got me

in a different way.

They really loved me.

[laughs]

[Fredd] Are you gonna be

on the air next Wednesday,

-Christmas night?

-Yeah, of course!

[Fredd] Good, you're gonna

be live, 'cause I have to work

so we'll keep

each other company.

There you go.

[Fredd] It got to a point

I had almost a special number

that I could call,

and I was always

the first one

or the second or third.

[Robin] 475-1550.

-And you're live, hi!

-[Fredd] Hi, Robin!

-Hi, Tree!

-How you doing, sweetheart?

Did you see Jeff this time?

I wanted to take off

Jeff's c*ck ring

from the inside.

[Robin] Wait, wait, wait.

But what about Keith's?

While I'm doing that,

I'm gonna reach

for the brass ring

many, many times.

[Robin laughs]

[Fredd] Sometimes she had

guys on there

that nobody would touch

with a 10-foot pole.

But then she had some of them

that were real hot,

and those are the ones

I said, "Bring to Julius'."

And then she'd always ask,

h-how many people are there?

-[Robin] How many

people there, Tree?

-[Fredd] Oh, about 25.

Hi, guys!

Hello, everybody, wave to Tree

at Julius', 25 at one time.

[upbeat electronic

music playing]

[Michael]

You have this wonderful window

where Robin's show emerges,

and this is a time

between Stonewall and A*DS.

So, this is the window

of sexual revolution,

a lot of g*y pride,

and much more openness

than in the past.

And it was so refreshing.

[Sean McKenna] I got to New York

in 1980 from Long Island.

You could be bisexual,

you could be g*y,

you could be l*sbian.

Sex was something

that people enjoyed,

something that people

didn't frown upon.

It was really,

really very exciting.

But within two years,

everything changed.

We just got

our sexual freedom.

But it turned on a dime.

It happened so fast.

[Tom Brokaw] Scientists

at the National Centers

for Disease Control

in Atlanta today

released the results

of a study,

which shows that the lifestyle

of some male h*m*

has triggered an epidemic

of a rare form of cancer.

[news reporter]

Researchers know of 413 people

who have contracted

the condition in the past year.

[Fredd] I was watching

my friends die.

My friend Richie's

mother and father

put him on the floor

in the garage

and would wash him

with a hose

because they wouldn't

let him use the tub.

[Sean] As a young g*y man

with HIV/A*DS,

it also forced me

on disability.

So, I no longer had a job.

I no longer had a sex life.

The sex life I wanted

was scary.

The stigma was awful.

[news reporter]

Ambulance drivers have refused

to take A*DS patients.

The person said outright,

"I'm not touching him."

[Michael] When A*DS first

started in the early '80s,

everyone thought, "Oh, my God,

you know, one encounter

and you could die

this horrible death."

Sex became the devil.

[David Burrington] All this

has led to a drastic change

in sexual practices

and lifestyle.

According to one study,

8 out of 10 g*y men here

have stopped all unsafe sex.

Ronald Reagan never

even said the word HIV or A*DS.

He never acknowledged

what was going on in the world,

until it was too late.

[protesters]

Act up! Fight back! Fight A*DS!

Act up! Fight back! Fight A*DS!

Act up! Fight back!

Fight A*DS!

[Robin] Every summer

I would come to Fire Island,

and more and more

of my friends were gone.

And I'm thinking,

"Shouldn't there be more

information about safe sex?"

Now, go scrub your teeth

and go get those rubbers

while I put on my lip gloss.

I had this platform

that I could speak out.

It was community television.

That's what it was made for.

Just because you carry rubbers

in your wallet

doesn't mean

that it makes it safe.

They have to come

from your wallet on your dicks

for you to have safe sex.

[Byrdwatcher] She would

always have this kind of

safe sex message on the show

where she was, like,

doing these demos.

I do have my rubber.

Do you have yours?

And dental dam!

[babbling]

[laughs]

Everybody should have

a dental dam.

[Byrdwatcher] It was funny

and it was entertaining.

For a dental dam,

what you do is you snip

that little rolled-up thing,

and then you unroll it,

just like this.

Then you would have

this rectangular piece of latex

in which you will have

oral sex with.

[Byrdwatcher]

It really did keep me safe.

It's so easy when

you're young, dumb, and horny

to not practice safe sex.

But I did end up

using condoms all the time.

My George Sardi,

Johnny Poo lube bag,

where I have my condom.

[Byrdwatcher] And it's like

in no small part

because of Robin.

Do you need one?

Do you have one?

[Byrdwatcher] She really did

give me this, um,

sense that it was our

responsibility as a community

to keep each other healthy,

and-- and it's really powerful.

It's a really powerful legacy.

[dramatic music playing]

[Robin]

People were dying,

and they were losing

their loved ones.

So, I wanted to give them

the love that they were missing.

What I want you to do

is to lie back,

get comfortable, snuggle up

next to your loved ones.

What's that?

You don't have a loved one?

Well, you always have me,

Robin Byrd.

-Really.

-[Sean] Quite frankly, honestly,

there were nights when Robin

was my only person.

I know that sounds strange,

but I was really grateful

to have her there.

And I was also grateful to have

some semblance

of sex in my life

because it wasn't happening

for me because of my situation.

[Byrdwatcher]

I didn't have a loved one.

And I always had Robin.

It was wonderful.

So, the things

I learned from Robin

were really helpful to me,

as I was very broken

and trying to fix my life.

One was the power

of acceptance and openness

to who I am as a g*y man

and how I fit in.

Robin Byrd meant

everything for the culture.

[clears throat]

When I say the culture,

I mean people

that were outcasts,

the people that

were forgotten about,

the people

that people wrote off.

[Sandra Bernhard] I think

she's an accidental activist.

A*DS was raging.

She was trying to keep

the fun and the spark alive

and the spontaneity of sex,

but also remind people

that one wrong move

and you were gonna be

in the soup.

I was on the beach

at around 5 o'clock

in the morning the other day,

and I saw three guys f*cking.

Nothing wrong with that.

But you weren't using a rubber.

Now, obviously, my message is

not getting across to everyone,

and that means you!

So, the next time

you wanna butt f*ck,

use a condom.

I did see it and pulled it,

sort of.

I can't remember the last time

we loaded these.

Annie Sprinkle emailed me

and said I should

archive my tapes.

Annie had all her-- her stuff

archived at Harvard.

Here, listen.

"Dear Robin, greetings

from San Francisco today.

"You have this incredible

archive and legacy.

"You have documented

years and years

"of sex-positive community,

of pleasure activists,

"movers and shakers

of the sexual revolution,

visionary sex educators,

and more."

I'm getting very, um, emotional.

This is amazing.

"Your archive is one of a kind,

"and it must be preserved

for decades to come

"before it's too late.

"If we don't share

our her-stories,

"the people who want to erase us

will write the history.

"We can't have that.

f*ck that.

"Please start this process

"of placing your archive now.

"Time is of the essence.

"Place your archive

in a safe institution

"before the fascists

burn it all.

It can happen here, sadly."

Alright, Annie, we'll do this.

-[upbeat music playing]

-[singer vocalizing]

[cell phone ringing]

[Robin] Hello?

[Shelly] [on phone]

Hey, day Byrd, baby!

How's it going there?

Where are you now?

[Robin] I'm in Brooklyn.

I'm going to meet

with the archivist, remember?

Byrd, you're in Brooklyn?

Oh, man.

When are you

coming back here?

Shortly.

Do I have to give

the whole library?

Do they even want my stuff?

Do I have to have

these all digitized?

And who pays for that?

[upbeat music

continues playing]

-Hi, I'm Robin.

Nice to meet you.

-Daylon. Nice to meet you.

[Robin]

Nice to meet you, too.

[Daylon] Um, and see, I just

wanted to show you a few things.

Just to give you a better sense

of like the sort of work

that I'm doing.

Right, 'cause I'm--

I'm new to this,

-you know, um...

-Yeah.

It's a weird niche thing

that I do.

It's-- in my house,

it's called hoarding.

-Yeah. Yeah, no.

-[Robin laughs]

Sometimes in my house, too.

-Oh, Veronica. I love her.

-Yes, yeah.

-Yeah.

-I've been working

with Veronica and with Annie.

Oh, and with Annie.

Yeah, yeah.

That's actually how I--

-we got together this way.

-Yeah.

[Robin] Wow.

So, if we decide

to work together...

-Right.

-...one of the next steps

is gonna be actually

seeing your stuff.

I know we had talked--

you had mentioned, uh, tapes.

I have

three-quarter-inch tapes.

Right. Um, so the-- the tapes,

some digitization will happen.

-I mean, there's like, you know.

-I get the tapes back, correct?

Well, no, the institutions

that I'm working with,

they would prefer

to have the tapes.

It's worth a lot to myself

and my husband.

-Those are my babies.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Those are my children.

-Absolutely.

[cell phone ringing]

[Robin] I have to take this.

This is my husband.

Hello?

[Shelly] [on phone] Day Byrd,

baby, where are you?

I'm interviewing the archivist

to, uh, investigate archiving

the Robin Byrd Show

to be in an institution

like Harvard or Columbia,

-or an--

-Or a mental institution.

-No mental institution.

-[Shelly laughs]

You're not giving him any tapes

or anything like that, are you?

[Robin] No, not yet.

Not yet. Oh, boy.

Uh, be very careful, Byrd.

Don't let these things

out of your possession.

[Robin] You know that I am not

going to give away our babies.

Okay, just remember that--

that--

I can't forget it

'cause you keep reminding me.

Okay, give me a call.

[Robin] Okay, sweetie,

I'll call you on the way back.

Bye.

How do you decide

whether and how...

that you want my stuff?

I mean, I need to see

the archive, you know?

-Mm-hmm.

-And know more about what

we're actually talking about.

[car horns honking]

[car horns honking]

[door opens]

[Robin] Oh, sh*t.

[plastic bag crinkling]

[Shelly] You're gonna

go through all this?

[Robin] Holy sh*t.

Oh, my God, they are!

The original Robin Byrd Show

T-shirts.

Always signed on my butt.

"Bang my box, love always,

Robin Byrd."

Oh, my God.

Hello, old friend.

Seeing this sign makes me wanna

get back on the air and do it,

but I guess you don't wanna see

a 70-year-old

in front of the sign

with that crochet bikini.

[laughing]

But at any age.

I'm not age shaming.

But I'm not as sexy as I was,

let's put it that way.

This is pretty old.

Oh! Oh, my God.

Sandra Bernhard segments.

[disco music playing]

[Sandra] I became aware

of Robin Byrd

the summer I was here

doing my show off-Broadway.

And I was up late

every single night.

One night I came home,

and she had callers.

So, I called in.

[chuckles]

Back then,

that was a much more, like,

kind of like amazing revelation

that you could be

talking to somebody

while it was live on TV.

I told her how much

I love the show

and how she was keeping me

company late at night.

And so, we hatched a plan

for me to come on her show.

And I co-hosted with her.

-So--

-[Sandra indistinct]

-How are you?

-Fine, how are you?

Great. Lie back and...

[both] ...get comfortable.

Put on your nylons.

-Your rubbers.

-Rubbers.

[both laugh]

Your silks and satins.

[Sandra] We're here

with Lili Marlene, darling.

[Sandra] It was really funny

and really out there.

[Robin] And how many films

did you make

while you were

in the business?

Somewhere between 200 and 300.

-[Sandra] No!

-And in-- in five years.

[Sandra] Wait a minute,

Katharine Hepburn has a name

for each one

of your films, honey.

-Well, she doesn't

make the kind of--

-How the hell do you do it?

We ask Lili Marlene tonight.

Well, I'm a flaming

sex maniac, I guess, really.

[laughing]

[Sandra] The '80s,

when you could still do things

that were totally insane,

and fun, and cutting-edge.

[Bob]

The Robin Byrd Show is a hit.

Miss Byrd is a cult figure with

her trademark crochet bikini,

white manicured nails,

sisterly enthusiasm

for her guests,

and playful

polymorphous curiosity.

She has become

a kind of kitsch Lady Liberty

for the city

that never sleeps.

Alright, we're back

with Barry Manilow.

[audience cheering]

[Michael] Robin has

a real nose for publicity.

She's great at getting

her name in Page Six.

I remember Barry Manilow said

he was a huge fan of hers.

-Yeah.

-Her name is Robin Byrd,

and she's got this

cable television show.

-And I met her at a party.

-[Johnny] Mm-hmm?

[Barry] And we had a very

innocent photo taken.

And the next thing I knew,

it was--

you know,

I was gonna marry her, yeah.

[Coca]

Robin, I saw in the paper

that said you were gonna

marry Barry Manilow.

-That you were engaged.

-Well, he asked me to marry him.

You see, I don't have

the ring yet.

[Michael] And she went with it,

and really got publicity

out of it.

[Bob] When Robin began,

it was just a modest show

for her neighbors.

But when your neighborhood

is New York,

the country's biggest

media stage,

everyone ends up watching.

Hello, there.

I'm Robin Byrd,

and this is

the Robin Byrd Show.

[Robin] And when they did

the SNL sketch,

I couldn't believe it.

I'm on national TV.

[Cheri Oteri] They said,

"Cheri, they want you

to do Robin Byrd."

And I was like, "As if!

"Yeah, I'm not putting on

a macram bikini top

with-- with bottoms."

And then I had an idea

of putting, like,

big fake boobs

into the macram,

and then we adjusted it

on top of my boobs.

And don't forget

to wear your rubbers!

See you tomorrow at midnight!

[jazzy music playing]

She had called in to SNL,

and she said to me,

"Cheri, ask me anything."

I said, "Do you ever think

of maybe upping

the production value?"

She goes, "Cheri, nobody wants

to see well-produced porn."

And she gave me her lip gloss.

I put it in a plastic bag

and I kept it in a drawer.

Somebody's like, "What's this?"

I go, "Robin Byrd's lip gloss."

Smithsonian!

Smithsonian!

[laughs]

[Robin] After a decade,

I finally started

making some money.

There was this woman

named Betsy Superfon.

Betsy Superfon

was out in California.

She was the queen

of the phone lines.

[announcer]

What's your fantasy tonight?

[Robin] She had sex lines,

she had astrology lines.

Betsy Superfon

bought tons of air time

on my show

for her phone sex lines,

and I would fly to California,

and she would drive me around

in her Rolls-Royce

that said "970 Girl."

[Bob] Phone lines

were like this big thing,

you know, before apps

and before webcams,

before OnlyFans.

If-- if you wanted to get off

or get connected,

you picked up the phone.

And there were actual

phone numbers

in the back of magazines.

It was analog sexting,

basically.

You never knew

who you were talking to.

But that was

part of the thrill.

Let your imagination run wild.

Just pick up the phone.

[Robin] But I realized

it was so lucrative

for everybody else,

that they convinced me

to have my own phone lines.

You can always call us

at 970-BYRD.

That's right, 970-2973.

So, then on my own car,

I went and got a license plate,

said "970 B-Y-R-D."

970-BYRD.

[Sandra]

She was very much in the moment

and very much a businesswoman

and in control.

[Robin] Well, we're gonna

take some phone calls.

The numbers are 475-1550.

It's a free call.

We don't put you on hold.

And if we do, well,

it's a free call, you know?

And if you don't wanna

spend no money

and you wanna spend

some money,

you can call my 970-BYRD

and help support the show

and talk to my girls.

They're there. Hi, girls!

They're there

waiting to talk to you now.

I had a g*y advertiser,

and he suggested

that I do just a show for men,

so that the g*y audience

could see only men

and have their own phone lines.

We called it

"Robin Byrd's Men for Men."

And I said,

"Well, let's do 970-BYRD.

Let's do 970-BEEF for the men."

"Where's the beef?"

And then, I had TVTS.

That was the transgender

phone line.

[Sandra]

So, the-- the crazy crochet

bikini-wearing loon

also put on her business hat.

[wind gusting]

[Robin]

You're not allowed here, ha-ha!

Ah, little alpha.

Ha-ha-ha, you're such an alpha.

You won't stay on your back.

No, you won't. I can keep you--

Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye!

[laughing]

What you doing?

Do you wanna get smudged?

-Do you wanna get smudged?

-[dog barks]

Let's go.

[meditative music playing]

[smoke alarm beeps]

Oh, sh*t!

-[alarm blaring]

-[dog barking]

Oh, sh*t!

Well, no more smudging.

Shelly and I would always

walk the beach to this house

that we're in now,

and found out one day

it was for sale.

I had money

from the phone lines

enough to get a loan.

A jumbo loan.

And the minute the door opened,

I said to Shelly,

"Don't say anything,

but I love it."

Hello!

[singer vocalizing]

Cheers, everybody.

Good morning!

Welcome to Byrdland.

You know, everything in this

house has a little meaning.

You know, I love disco,

so I got my disco ba*ls.

When I had this painting

made for me,

you know, a little bondage

never hurt anybody...

if you're doing it right.

The house was a party house.

-[upbeat music playing]

-[singer continues vocalizing]

I love exercising.

It's just too bad I don't have

the body right now to show it.

[laughs]

And it is a bit rusty,

but it still works.

I'm young at heart

and in my spirit,

but my body and everybody...

You know, you know...

When you have

a 60-something-year-old car...

[laughs]

...it's hard to find parts.

I chose Fire Island 'cause

it's a beautiful place to live.

It's been a haven for g*y

people since the early 1900s.

Freedom of expression

is very important

to everyone here in Fire Island.

They feel very strongly about

standing up for their rights.

This administration

is putting the purveyors

of ill*gal obscenity

and p*rn*graphy on notice.

Your industry's days

are numbered.

[applause]

[Jerry Falwell]

Thank God for a president

who agrees in totality

with what we morally

stand for here.

We are committed

to the pro-family,

anti-p*rn*graphy perspective.

[Bob] The free love vibe of the

'60s and '70s, that was over.

And suddenly, we were in

a full-swing moral panic.

Ed Meese

and the Moral Majority,

they were all coming down

on people like me.

More controversy tonight

from the report on p*rn*graphy

that US Attorney General

Edwin Meese put out this year.

[reporter]

Meese today declared

a federal crackdown

on obscene materials.

They outrageously

abuse the persons

who are being photographed

and portrayed.

They do untold injury

to society.

[reporter] Meese said

he'll introduce legislation

to ban obscene cable

TV programs

and telephone

p*rn*graphy services.

[Marjorie Heins] By this point,

part of the feminist movement

is allying

with the conservative

religious right establishment,

arguing that p*rn*graphy

is the most serious form

of harm to women.

And so, leased access begins

to become a social problem

according to some 'cause

it's a lot of sexual content.

So, I started getting censored.

Oh!

No, it can't be.

There's a box in there

that says "Byrd fan mail."

Oh, my God.

-Wow.

-Wow!

"Dear Robin, those scum-sucking

pigs really made me mad.

"Anyone who wishes

you to be gone

can simply block the channel

and f*ck themselves."

Time Warner was petitioning

to take me off cable,

and they wanted everybody

to, um, sign a card

that said that they watch

indecent programming.

The viewers at home,

I mean, they were pissed off.

[gasps]

"Dear Robin,

"if they cancel your show,

I'm going to cancel my cable.

"Their goal is nothing less

than an Orwellian measure

"to control what people

can or cannot witness

in the privacy

of their own home."

This one's from Sy Newhouse.

"As a prominent publisher

and writer,

"I'm shocked that

Manhattan Cable

"is indulging in censorship.

"Manhattan Cable is acting

like a g*ng of fascists

"and should not be tolerated.

"We have considerable power

of the press,

"both here and nationally.

Sy Newhouse,

Cond Nast Publications."

Wow, this is some

hell of a sandwich.

Unbelievable.

[protesters]

Listen, listen to my voice!

Don't take away

my freedom of choice!

[reporter] Robin Byrd's

program has escaped scrutiny

for more than 14 years,

but no more.

[protesters]

Listen, listen to my voice!

Don't take away

my freedom of choice!

Shame! Shame! Shame!

[reporter]

A bawdy and boisterous protest

outside the offices of

the owners of Manhattan Cable,

where Byrd, her viewers,

and other Channel J producers

are ready to fight.

[protesters]

Take back what is right today!

Don't take away our Channel J!

I don't tell you

to watch or not to watch.

You have that freedom.

I just give you a choice,

an alternative to what's on.

The FCC and the politicians

started stepping up

the pressure

on the broadcasters and cable.

Tightening the rules,

and that's when the lawyers

started screening

everything that I did.

[protesters continue chanting]

[Marjorie] I think a big company

like Time Warner

was primarily interested

in making profits,

and they were responding

to whatever political pressures

they perceived

in terms of their own

business interests.

So, then we get

to the 1992 Cable Act.

[reporter 1]

A lawmaker from Nebraska says

he wants to protect

the sanctuary of your home

from uninvited indecencies.

He's trying to ban

the Robin Byrds of the world

from public

and leased access channels

by giving cable companies

the right to say no.

[reporter 2]

Washington lawmakers

are once again moaning

over this type of programming,

and have introduced

a senate amendment.

Members will record their votes.

[Marjorie]

So, Congress passed the law.

Censorship was gonna

be permitted.

[Robin] They wanted

to scramble my show,

which in cable terms

is making it so that

you couldn't see it.

That's when I realized

that protesting wasn't enough.

I joined in a lawsuit

to sue Time Warner

with Al Goldstein

and Lou Maletta.

They both had

their own shows on Channel J.

We were all fighting

for the same thing:

free speech.

They wanted

to scramble your signal.

Would that have

really put you off?

It's the fact

that people had to request

-this channel to be

put on the air.

-So, requesting.

-So, what's wrong with that?

-[Robin] Because you come

out of the closet.

[James C. Goodale]

The real reason is,

they think it's indecent.

I, for one,

feel that the human body

is not indecent.

I show the human body,

and they're dancing.

It's an art form.

My intent is not to be indecent.

What is indecent?

I think homelessness

is indecent.

Children who have no family,

that's indecent.

I don't think

that the human body

dancing around to songs

is indecent.

[Michael]

Once Robin joined the lawsuit

to keep her show on local TV,

she became national news.

Joan, Donahue,

they all wanted a piece of her.

Robin, Robin.

For all the Byrdwatchers,

as you call your fans

in New York,

are-- is this it? Fini?

Well, I'm putting up

a big fight.

Um, I'm not going

to give up the fight.

My fans are behind me 100%.

They're anti-censorship.

-[Donahue] Yeah.

-It's for the freedom of speech

and expression.

It's the American way.

I was fearful of losing

the audience.

I was fearful

that this negative thought

about my show

was going to go

the wrong way.

I was fearful

of losing my purpose.

[broadcaster 1]

A new court battle

over the First Amendment

and censorship, the issue...

[broadcaster 2]

The Supreme Court

will have to decide

whether this

is freedom of speech

or whether

cable companies have...

[Robin] As the decision

was being made on my lawsuit,

I was right here in this house.

[broadcaster 3] Congress said

it was protecting children

when it passed the censorship

law requiring cable operators

either to ban all indecent

programs or round them up...

[Robin] I was waiting

for the Supreme Court

to decide whether or not

I was gonna be banned

or not for the show.

-See you on the other side!

-[man] See you.

[Robin]

And they called me and said

the decision was finally made

on the courts.

The US Supreme Court

has told the federal government

to stay out of the business

of banning indecent programming

from cable television.

[laughing]

[broadcaster 1] The airing of

sexually explicit programming

on public access

and leased cable channels

was protected today

by the Supreme Court.

[broadcaster 2]

Writing for the court,

Justice Stephen Breyer

said the need to shield kids

doesn't justify

reducing the adult

population's viewing

to only what

is fit for children.

[dance music playing]

I am so relieved that there is

justice in this world,

and that... God bless America.

After Fox interviewed me

in the harbor,

we went home and opened up

a bottle of champagne

and got stinking drunk.

[blowing whistle]

I felt vindicated

for my viewers.

I felt vindicated

for my justice.

[crowd cheering]

I was elated.

[Robin] Yes.

[Nadine Strossen]

The First Amendment protects

not only the right

of Robin and others

to express themselves,

but also protects audience

members to choose to view it.

[Marjorie] It was a very

important cultural moment

when Robin challenged the power

of a very big company

to determine what our

media diet was gonna be.

[laughing]

[dance music

continues playing]

So, she's a local hero

for having represented

that diversity

and that challenge to the rule

of the big

monopolistic companies.

[seagulls squawking]

[Robin whistling]

[bird whistling]

[Robin whistling]

[Robin] After the lawsuit,

I was overwhelmed with joy

that after three years,

it finally came to a close.

[calm piano music playing]

It was a relief.

But I felt very spent,

so to speak...

'cause we used a lot of energy,

resources, money.

Hello, Bobby.

-[Bobby] Hi, Robin.

-[Robin] How are you?

Hello. How are you?

Hi. Welcome home! Hi!

And then, the crochet bikini

was getting stretched out,

and I'm hiding

my getting-older body.

[calm piano music continues]

After 25, 26 years, I'm done.

I've done it.

That's a quarter of a century,

so I'm gonna retire.

[Michael] I think

every success that is achieved

is endemic to that particular

time when it happened.

I guess Robin felt

the internet was too unwieldy,

it's global, it's scary,

it's hard to control it.

It's not like leased access

in New York.

It was one of the first times

that I was able to put things

out of my apartment,

and put them into my--

-Into someplace else.

-Yeah.

Oh, my God, I don't know

what you're gonna think

about all of this.

-I'm excited to see it.

-[laughing]

-Oh, wow. Okay, great.

-[laughing]

Awesome.

[Robin] But this is, um,

some of the...

stuff that I thought maybe

you'd find interesting.

-Yeah.

-There's lots of stuff in here.

We have the signs,

the picket signs.

[Daylon] That's awesome.

"Protect your rights.

Save Channel J."

This journal,

I don't remember this journal.

Wow!

[Daylon] Okay, this is great.

This is the sort

of thing that's--

that's, you know, definitely

of-- of scholarly interest.

There's a great sexuality

collection at, uh,

Cornell University has some

really amazing stuff.

I'd love to work with you,

uh, but the fact

that you're even,

like, thinking about this

is really good

and really important.

So, I'm thankful for that.

[gentle music playing]

[Robin] The past year

opened my eyes to the point

where I wanna do something

with the clutter,

which turns out to be

not so much clutter

as much as history.

I don't need that stuff.

All I need is you

[Shelly buzzing lips]

[Robin] He's my person.

That's true.

That's really all I need.

That's all I needed

to build what we built.

I would like to move forward

with ar-- archiving our stuff.

What do you think?

You're-- you're asking me,

but Robin is the one

that did the shows

and everything else

and says yes or no.

And I go with her decisions.

Oh, we have

an agreement there.

It's not gonna get done

if I don't make it happen.

-Because life isn't infinite.

-Sure.

-Why am I in this thing again?

-Because you're part of my life.

Oh, okay.

[Robin] Wow!

Happy birthday, dear Robin

-[friend 1] Robin!

-[friend 2] Whoo! [laughing]

Happy birthday to you

-[applause]

-Whoo! Yes!

[Robin] Not every day I turn 70.

Oh, my God, it's out there.

I'm 70.

I am 70!

Can you believe that?

No. S-Suck.

[gentle electronic music

playing]

[Robin] When you all wanted me

to walk down the beach naked,

I'm like, "Oh, no,

I don't wanna do that."

Because I didn't want

people to see that I'm,

you know, older, fatter.

You know,

I didn't want that image.

But then I was like,

"Wait a minute.

What a hypocrite am I?"

I feel that we all

have a mission.

We all have a destiny.

We're all given these detours.

Me, my-- my detour,

was to make people happy.

To give them love

that I wanted.

[upbeat percussive

music playing]