Long before Jerry Springer had family food fights on his show, Richard Bey was tying fat chicks to skinny dudes and having them race on roller skates. And before guests were snatching wigs off on Ricki Lake, Richard Bey was doing it to the guests on his show himself.

And on every show, he always asked the same question every viewer at home was thinking: “Where do they find these people?”

Richard Bey = god.

He’s got the delivery of a Catskills comic, and can feign enthusiasm like no other host in the biz.  Sure, his audience and guests are of the Waffle-House-and-Dollar-Store demographic. But there’s no denying Richard Bey is the best peddler of schlock entertainment there is.

In its heyday, The Richard Bey Show was a popular, nationally syndicated cocktail of trash culture: Guests were pied in the face, there were hot mom & daughter contests, and who can forget the cheesetastic sound effects?  Two women fighting = soundboard of howling cats: No other talk show was quite like The Richard Bey Show.

It was canceled in 1996–during the “clean up” of television. Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake and a slew of others eventually met the axe too.

And while survivor Jerry Springer managed to gain a fortune–and a–following as the “ringmaster” of tv trash, that door would not have been open, if not for Richard Bey–a true icon of kitsch entertainment.

Recently he resurfaced in the Sacha Baron Cohen flick Bruno, and starred as himself–a talk show host with an outlandish guest, Bruno. According to reports, the audience was real, but the show was not. No, sadly there isn’t a Richard Bey Show still on the air–or any thing else comparable.

To honor the man, I’d like to offer 15 reasons why The Richard Bey Show was the best fucking thing, ever.

1. The show was a hot mess. Watch Richard Bey accidentally snatch a wig off a guest:

2. Richard Bey has the best fans:

3. The fights were never edited:

4. The best place to reveal a secret was on The Richard Bey Show:

5. And another:

6. Cash or Splash should get its own spin-off:

7. Wall of vain:

8. Wheel of torture:

9. I Hate My Sister Olympics:

10. Before Fear Factor, there was the  Richard Bey concoction:

11. Sexiest wife contest promo: Features JJ Walker from Good Times as judge, faux-Russian voice over, and a curiously placed “ayyyy papi.” Doesn’t get any better than that:

12. Mr. Punyverse & Miss Thunderthighs in a marathon, hell yes:

13. A Dating game show with convicts? Only on The Richard Bey Show:

14. He always knew how to make an entrance:

15. Only the classiest guests:

For more on Richard Bey, visit his Web site: RichardBey.org