Porn parodies have been around almost since the beginning of porn’s golden age. Back then they were done cheaply, done with little resemblance, for the most part, to the movie or TV show they were parodying. But for porn it was a very easy area to take on by adding some hardcore sex and playing off the movie title. The writing and acting left a lot to be desired in most of these take offs. The companies doing these films were careful not to use the exact title in the parody for legal reasons so that lent itself to some classic parody titles back in the day. Titles like “Edward Penishands”, “The Sperminator”, “The Da Vince Load”, “Shaving Ryan’s Privates”, “Forest Hump” and others that will go down in porn history.
However, there were also some very good parodies done back then and two of them were among the first I had seen. In 1982 there was a takeoff on M*A*S*H called “Nurses of the 407th” starring Jesie St. James. This one actually had the very look and feel of the TV show but not much story substance. Then in 1986, porn star Hyapatia Lee came out with her parody take on the Canterbury Tales called “The Ribald Tales of Canterbury”. This was a very solid production that was excellently done in content and performance. I have reviewed this film previously as part of my “Porn Classics Revisited” weekly feature.
So, as you can see, the parody genre has been with us for many years in a variety of forms, some good, some not so good and some totally forgettable. However in 2008 a major change took place when it came to the parody genre. Will Ryder came along and did a takeoff parody on one of the classic TV shows of the 70’s, “The Brady Bunch”. What set this one apart was that after Ryder went through all the proper legal channels, and also using the word “Not” in front of the real title, the music was also almost dead on as well. He was able to get actors that could look like the real stars, he had some crisp writing and the sets were almost exact duplicates of what you saw on TV. When the Brady Bunch parody debuted the reaction and reception was beyond anything, even Ryder expected, and aside from record breaking sales, Ryder, the film and some cast members won a slew of awards in 2009 for this monumental experience.
Buoyed by that success Ryder then kept on churning out over the next few year TV and movie parodies that covered just about every TV show you could think of, “Happy Days”, Bewitched”, “Charley’s Angels” , “Love Boat”, “Three’s Company”, “The Cosbys” and of course, Brady Bunch sequels plus many others and all of these productions would wind up winning a number of awards from AVN, XRCO, NightMoves and other factions along the way. Ryder would also tackle classic movies like “Rocky” and even delve into doing a “Three Stooges” parody. He would also move into the musical porn parody arena with award winners like “Not The Wizard of Oz” and “Not Grease XXX” and most recently another big award winner “Not Jersey Boys the Porn Musical”
Ryder’s success, which still continues today, opened up the floodgates for porn parodies to be done by others like Lee Roy Myers, General Stone, Jordan Septo, Jim Powers and others. Parodies like “Taxi Driver”, “The Graduate”, “The Lone Ranger”, “E.T.”, “The Rocky Whore Picture Show”, “Zorro”, “Saturday Night Fever” and “Tomb Raider” were done and having reviewed most all of them over the years, I have to say the majority were extremely well done ion content, casting and production.
Then along came another gentleman in the parody field that would have a profound effect on the next level of porn parody. His name is Axel Braun and he would, through Vivid Entertainment bring the comic book super hero to life. Braun, like Ryder, was a trailblazer and as an admitted comic book geek, this was a natural for Axel. A perfectionist with a canny eye for minute detail, his productions were big budget with costuming, special effects, well written stories and plots with plenty of non sex action in his productions. Now porn and parody lovers were treated to the likes of Batman, Superman, Spiderman, The Hulk, Star Wars, Wolverine, The Avengers, Iron Man and more. Once again Braun’s excellence with these projects brought he, his casts and his films all kinds of awards from everywhere. Currently The Avengers 2 XXX is out and soon to be released is Superman vs. Batman XXX.
Braun left Vivid about a year ago and moved over to Wicked Pictures and developed a Fairytale line that has produced award winners with solid dramatic parody versions of Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty with more to come. In addition Braun also helmed the award winning“24 XXX” parody of the hit TV show. He also did some solid parody work over at Hustler, most notably his 3D version of “Avatar”.
So now that the directors like Ryder, Braun, Septo, Myers and others have taken the porn parody from hit TV shows, classic Hollywood films and musicals, comic book super heroes and classic fairytales, what is there left for porn to parody? Is there any area of entertainment they have not yet taken on in porn parody form?
That question was just answered a few days ago when it was announced that Weill Ryder, in association with Adam and Eve Pictures have put together a series of episodes that will air online first before becoming DVD’s. Ryder has now delved into the “soap opera” arena with this new series title “The Young and the Rest Of Us”. While not a direct takeoff on TV’s # daytime soap, there will be some similarities in the make up of this project that centers families in the fictional town of College Grove and all the trials, tribulations, cliff hangers soaps are known for. Only in this one there will be plenty of hardcore sex as well. It will be coming online very soon so watch for it.
So, while we will still get a variety of movie, TV, fairytale and comic book super hero parodies, can we now look forward to the soap opera being the next big thing in porn parody? Stay tuned. One thing is for sure and that is parodies in porn are big business and one of the things that has helped keep the industry afloat, current and popular. Thanks to the folks like Will Ryder, Axel Braun and the others in the parody genre, both in front of and behind the camera, a big thank you for giving everyone many, many hours of good, fun and sexciting entertainment.
Art Koch, National Features & DVD Editor, NightMoves Magazine and AAN
