This is Glenn O'Brien, creator and host of TV Party, with a ray gun.
"The ray gun often had added significance then because it was during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. It was also something we liked to have on hand at TV Party because it symbolized the basic technology of television, which used an electron gun to beam particles at the screen. I always considered the ray guns in science fiction to be symbols of television and it's power to stun or kill. TV Party was a very low cost television show, which we hoped to use to "hustle" our way into the electron beam known as the limelight. It worked but just took a lot longer than we thought. Maybe we should have had our phasers set on stun."
—Glenn O’Brien
Photographer Bobby Grossman starred in the film Downtown 81 and has exhibited his work in numerous shows, including The Outsiders: New York Underground 60s, 70s, 80s at the Galerie du Jour - Agnes B. in Paris and The Show: Downtown 81 at Deitch Projects in New York City.
