Sex and comedy have gone hand-in-hand since… forever.
The world’s oldest known “joke book” comes from the Sumerians, dating around 1,900 B.C. — and it just happens to be dirty. And the dirty-sexy humor purveyed by Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Shakespeare and children’s movies (?!) are well-known and well-documented. Sex and comedy coming together in porn, really, should be no surprise to anyone.
From porn’s “most persistent narrative cliche” — the pizza dude, who always seems to be delivering an extra large sausage pie (zing!) — to parodies of everything from mainstream sitcoms to campy, popular standalone characters, porn and comedy have a pretty strong relationship But why?
How does “blue” comedy — comedy about sex — fit in with the landscape of adult entertainment? And how do performers feel about enacting the interconnection between porn and humor?
We asked Lauren Phillips, star of the recently-released porn parody of the popular Netflix series “GLOW” (which itself is a take on the 1980s-era wrestling program G.L.O.W.), aptly titled, “BLOW.”
Directed by Stormy Daniels for Digital Playground (and not to be confused with the director’s 2012 film for Wicked Pictures of the same name), BLOW stands for Beautiful Ladies of Wrestling. In the film, a character named Ruby aspires to be a better actress, so when she’s accepted as the leading lady in a wrestling-themed show, she jumps on it. Sadly, the director prefers her rival. Shenanigans ensue.
Porn and comedy coincidence
While the fodder for humor and the title may seem obvious to us, it is interesting to examine both within the context of the symbiotic relationship between comedy and porn.
Phillips commented that porn, like comedy, “is supposed to be entertaining.” That’s what gives comedy its place in porn — that they are both understandably under the same umbrella of the entertainment industry as a whole.
It can get away from us that, at its base, porn, like comedy, is there to provide entertainment for the viewer. The specifics of said entertainment are somewhat irrelevant. Interestingly, however, they culminate in a bodily function, be that climax laughter or, well, climax.
Who’s even making dick jokes these days?
Thinking about the relationship between comedy and porn further leads us down another obvious path — the path of blue comedy, or dick jokes. This is an interesting path to follow in terms of who is making the dick jokes these days.
Frequently today, we see women now being the ones to “go blue” per se. Typically a guy-centric kind of comedic style, we are seeing more and more often women the likes of Amy Schumer. But why the gender flip flop?
Partly, this may have to do with the rise in third-wave feminism. This movement focuses on women’s right to both be in charge of one’s own sexuality and sexual identity, as well as one’s own body. Part of that is being able to talk about one’s body in whatever manner one sees fit, including comedically.
This ability to talk about our bodies openly and freely is a common thread examined in porn and in porn parody. Porn is what some might say the ultimate way of expressing sexuality and embracing one’s own body. Beyond that, parody takes that revealing experience and says it’s okay to laugh along with it. It takes what we fear someone might laugh at and instead says let’s laugh with it.
Phillips went on to say that, in parody, “character is usually more defined” than in other types of porn. Having more sharply defined characters helps to showcase women and women’s abilities further.
It’s important to note BLOW itself is a women-centric parody. Sure, there are guys in it. And sure, the men in the actual source material GLOW play an important role. But at its core, both are narratives about women — a true intersection between feminism, sex and comedy.
This intersection between mainstream entertainment, wider social and political movements and porn could point to an emerging trend in the the industry. Phillips seems to agree.
“I love comedy in porn,” she concluded, “and I think there should be more of it.”
Amy Schumer parody anyone?
