My friend Jack E. Jett died in 2015, but his TV work is being collected and made available online. Behind this new interest in Jack’s work is his director, Chris Rentzel, and Sean Carnage.
I first met Jack in the 1990s when he appeared on Lambda Weekly to promote his cable access show that was produced locally but was picked up by cable access stations around the country. He came to the KNON studios in full costume including his signature yellow latex gloves. Yes, he did understand it was radio, but he didn’t really understand listeners couldn’t see him.
I worked with Jack on the Q Television Network, which was located in a television production studio Haltom City, outside Fort Worth. We did a daily evening talk show. I’d ask guests the questions. Jack provided the lunacy.
After about 100 episodes, he began doing a show called Queer Edge that he co-hosted with Sandra Bernhard. That show lasted until Q Television, which was seen in very few markets and funded through what seemed like securities fraud, went off the air.
Renzel and Carnage will be screening the best of the Jack E. Jett Show and talking live about Jack during a Museum of Home Video broadcast on Twitch at 9:30 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, April 20.
— David Taffet
