46 Years Later: The Night Ace Frehley Made KISS’s Funniest TV Moment Unforgettable
Personality conflicts that had quietly been pulling KISS apart became public on Oct. 31, 1979, during a now-legendary live interview on national television — one that remains unforgettable 46 years later, especially after Ace Frehley’s recent passing.
Everything spiraled out of control just 18 seconds into their appearance on Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow program. That’s when a clearly inebriated Ace Frehley burst into laughter, joking about being the lead “trout” player — riffing on Snyder’s off-camera mispronunciation of “bass” guitar. The moment instantly turned a standard promotional interview into late-night TV history.
Frehley’s wild jokes, loud laughter, and constant interruptions soon dominated the conversation, visibly annoying usual band spokesmen Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. What began as harmless fun quickly became a masterclass in chaos — the exact kind of energy that made Ace both adored and unpredictable.
At first, Stanley tried to keep up, laughing nervously before attempting to steer things back on track. Simmons, on the other hand, glared at his bandmate, giving the kind of death stares that could have melted through the makeup. Viewers could almost feel the tension through the screen.
Snyder, however, loved every second of it. His producers had warned him that Ace would be “the hardest to make talk,” but he quickly realized Frehley was pure gold. He egged him on, letting the Spaceman take over the stage and turn the interview into a comedy skit for the ages.
Peter Criss couldn’t stop laughing either. In his 2012 biography Makeup to Breakup, he recalled the joy of watching Ace steal the spotlight: “For the first time, Ace and I had hijacked an interview from Gene and Paul, and the result was hilarious.” For once, the quieter half of KISS owned the show.
At the time, everything still seemed perfect for KISS. Their Dynasty album had just produced the hit single “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” and each member had recently released platinum-certified solo albums. But beneath the makeup, the band was cracking — that interview just made it visible.
Behind the scenes, the solo records were really a last attempt to keep Frehley and Criss from quitting. At the same time, KISS’s new disco-inspired sound and flashy Vegas-style costumes were alienating longtime fans. To many, the Tomorrow interview became the public face of those private fractures.
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Consumer fatigue was another factor. Between 1975 and 1979, KISS toured relentlessly, released multiple albums, live records, solo projects, and flooded stores with merchandise. The burnout was real — even the diehards were getting tired.
Tour sales began to dip. “It was shocking and scary to see that instead of getting bigger, we were getting smaller,” Stanley later admitted in Face the Music. The Tomorrow appearance, funny as it was, revealed a band losing balance between fame and exhaustion.
Off-camera, Frehley admitted he had been drinking to calm his nerves. “I was nervous as hell about going on network TV live,” he wrote in his memoir No Regrets. “So I started pounding Stoli in the limo.” When he arrived, manager Bill Aucoin greeted him with champagne — by airtime, Ace was “feeling no pain.”
Even in that state, Frehley realized Gene and Paul were fuming. “If you watch the video, you can see me turning to Gene, putting my hands up like, ‘What?’ — like a kid who wants his dad to lighten up,” he said later. “How serious can you take yourself when you’re in superhero makeup?”
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Paul Stanley later reflected that while it may have seemed funny to the audience, he saw it as a deeper issue — one rooted in frustration and a lack of respect. “It may seem funny that somebody is drunk,” he said years later, “but below the surface, it showed a lack of appreciation for a gift that you’ve been given.”
Within months, KISS’s original lineup imploded. The Tomorrow Show became a time capsule — the last chaotic flash of the original four before everything unraveled. Six weeks later, the final Dynasty tour show marked the end of an era. Frehley would officially leave in 1982.
Now, looking back after Ace Frehley’s death, that laughter feels immortal — the unfiltered, cosmic humor of a man who embodied the unpredictable heart of rock ’n’ roll. Even 46 years later, his laugh still echoes — as if the Spaceman never really left the room.
