On April 29, 1974, Kiss taped their appearance on The Mike Douglas Show at KYW-TV studios in Philadelphia. The band performed “Firehouse” after Gene Simmons was interviewed by Mike Douglas and Totie Fields. The show was aired on May 21.
This appearance has become legendary in Kisstory due to Gene’s interview, as the sole member of Kiss brought out to the audience for a chat with Mike and his other guests. This encounter quickly goes into the hilarious zone with actress Totie Fields who quickly quipped, “Incidentally, he’s up for adoption,” as Gene came out to get seated. Talking about the visual image of the band, the interview covers a quick information piece about the band and makeup, but little of substance. Asked whether he was a bat, Gene unconvincingly responded, “Actually, what I am… is evil incarnate,” generating plenty of laughter from both the guests and audience. From there the encounter gets funnier with Totie asking whether Gene’s mom was watching the show. Totie goes even further, suggesting, “Wouldn’t it be funny if under all of this he was just a nice Jewish boy.” Gene lamely retorts, “You should only know.” Totie wastes Gene with her response: “I do, you can’t hide the hook,” to which the audience cracks up at Totie scoring points off Gene with ease. The rest of Gene’s encounter quickly segues into the introduction of the winners of the kissing contest.
