Kinky Friedman melds Texas politics, reality TV

SAN ANTONIO - He won't be eating bugs or vying to work for Donald Trump, but humorist and Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman plans to put his own stamp on reality television.

"Go Kinky," which follows Friedman on the campaign trail, premieres next week on Country Music Television, spokeswoman Laura Stromberg said on Friday.

The two pilot episodes aren't exactly getting premium air time among CMT's usual diet of music videos and related programming, running back-to-back at 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

If the network likes the show, however, "Go Kinky" could return as a series in the fall of 2006 in political primary season.

The former frontman of Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, a country group, was followed by camera crews last spring and summer as he ramped up his independent campaign, whose slogan is "Why the hell not?"

Friedman is attempting to get on the statewide ballot through petition next spring on a platform that neither of the two major political parties can effectively govern.

"We hope the people of Texas are going to reject the choice of paper or plastic," the humorist told Reuters earlier this year.

In addition to writing songs like "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed," Friedman has written a column for Texas Monthly magazine and a series of mystery novels with a main character based on himself.

- REUTERS