Listening closely to the first segment of the Dead’s appearance on Playboy After Dark, you hear Jerry, ostensibly offering party chatter – the conceit of the show is that it’s a party in Hugh Hefner’s penthouse apartment – saying: “So there we were. There were seven of us, armed to the teeth with Buck knives, and – ” and then Hefner says, on-microphone, “Jerry, the Grateful Dead has been part of the San Francisco scene about four-five years…” and the interview is under way.
Seems pretty obvious to me it was a contrived bit, rather than a real story, but who knows?