LOS ANGELES – Following the appearance of one of the company’s DVD box covers on a popular prime-time sitcom, adult entertainment studio Irritable Angel is celebrating what it calls “an unprecedented moment of mainstream exposure” for its brand.
“In Thursday night’s new episode of the hit CBS comedy The Big Broke Couple: New Orleans, if you pause the show on your DVR during the scene in which the one sorta hot blonde chick is arguing with her nerdy boyfriend who works for the crime lab, and you squint really intensely at the pile of stuff on their coffee table, you’ll see the top of the spine of an Irritable Angel DVD box cover,” said Irritable Angel owner Colin H. Wallace. “We can’t tell which title it is, exactly, or eliminate the possibility the box cover might actually read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, but we’re really excited about this amazing, high-profile mainstream exposure, nonetheless.”
Wallace said the possible, partial appearance of the corner of the DVD box cover is the most significant positive publicity the studio has received since 2006, when the name of a character on Law and Order: Crass Exploitation Unit was only nine letters removed from being identical to then-Irritable contract girl Muffy Diver.
“Honestly, making a big deal out of a character name was a bit of a stretch,” Wallace admitted. “This is different, though. This time, we’re talking about a confirmed possibility someone might have placed, knowingly or otherwise, one of our box covers on camera, if only for a fleeting moment, in the middle of Thursday night’s No. 3-ranked, new half-hour comedy. This is huge for us, an absolute publicity coup de ville, as they say.”
Porn fan and regular CBS viewer Nicholas Stokes, however, said he took a “very close look” at the footage in question, and he’s not persuaded the box cover is really an Irritable Angel title.
“I would love to sit here and be able to say I witnessed a convergence of my favorite producer of anal gonzo and superhero porn parodies and my second-favorite weeknight network sitcom,” Stokes said. “But to me, the hue of red on the box cover in question just doesn’t look like Irritable’s trademark crimson; it’s more reminiscent of the muted scarlet used for the border of the recent Thor titles from Paramount Pictures.”
Wallace rejected Stokes’ theory, noting the laminate on the partial box cover visible on the episode of TBBCNO is peeling badly at the corner, which Wallace called “a telltale sign of the highly affordable packaging materials used by our valued partners at Throb Distributors.”
“Throb’s materials decompose in a very distinct fashion, yielding a hip ‘vintage’ look that often sets in even before the titles hit the shelf,” Wallace said. “I believe they also hold a design patent on the ‘EZ-Break’ grip teeth in the center hub that holds the disc, a simply brilliant concept that has led to a nice side industry for us in the sale of replacement DVD boxes.”
Adult industry publicist Bryce Gauche concurred with Wallace, calling the partial depiction of the DVD “a watershed event” for Irritable Angel.
“This could be the moment when Irritable finally separates from the pack and establishes itself as a major player in the ongoing crossover between porn and mainstream,” Gauche said. “For example, as we speak, I’m in negotiations with a reality TV producer about the possibility of having a Kardashian ‘accidentally’ tweet a link to the trailer for Irritable’s soon-to-be-released new superhero porn parody movie, Headpool.”
