Ron Jeremy in the Flesh: Part 1
Ron Jeremy, who may very well be The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz, swung by The Gladstone last week to stimulate us with stories from his recent autobiography. From the moment he mounted the stage the adult film icon was on a roll, dropping a few of the 1900 porn titles he's starred in: Halloweenie, Weapons of Ass Destruction (Ouch!), Fantastic Foreskin and Throbin Hood.
But interviewer Sasha Von Bon Bon was quick to cut him off, trying to take control of the stage right from the start. While Bon Bon carries a certain weight around town - writing the sex column for Eye Magazine and performing in burlesque shows - her petulance was an annoyance throughout the talk. Like in her column, she seemed to have a need to voice her disdain for certain parts of sex culture. It really surprised me that a woman with the clout she has would use it this way, revealing her less than healthy attitude, in this case towards marriage (everyone cheats don't they?), sex for/with seniors (Jeremy talked of one film where he had sex with an 87 year-old woman) and industry beauty standards (it's easy to knock fake boobs when you're sporting doubleDs). It was the wrong match for a man like Jeremy, who makes no apologies for what he does, but also having really seen and done it all is realistic about sex in all its variations and life in general.
While Ms. Bon Bon bounced between the conflicted personas of attention-hungry schoolgirl and jaded lover, Jeremy, the consummate pro, spewed anecdotes from his life in porn and we lapped up every dirty bit. Can't wait to read the book.
Keep up with TnO for Part 2 of the Ron Jeremy interview and for all the salacious details of my own encounter with the porn legend.
Comments (7)
As a member of the audience, I couldn't agree more. Bon Bon was inconsistent and self-serving in her remarks, consistently shifting the attention to herself and lack-of-love-in-the-world attitude. He's Ron Jeremy, the most prolific porn star and now sex icon, in the United States. Smart and funny too, which I wasn't ready for! Great post Sookie.
Ron Jeremy was just on a sell-sell-sell roll, which is what he always does. He touts that PhD, but is otherwise pretty stupid. He might have done 1900+ movies, but there are no brains behind his work. He hasn't actually done anything creative or productive in the adult industry. Lots of people have conveyed negative experiences working with him.
I remember an article in Hustler where the writer showed Ron Jeremy's exploitative side when he did a story on him... and Hustler isn't exactly known to be sensitive to such issues. So if they're doing a negative story on him, then you know something's wrong.
Actors in the industry can't exactly come out and say libelous stuff, but I would encourage checking out Asia Carrera's website, who unlike Jeremy is actually intelligent, articulate, and artistic, not to mention a member of Mensa and into quantum mechanics. She has some cartoons, and one is a commentary on Ron Jeremy that is shared by many in the industry.
So, this is what Sasha as an interviewer was saddled with. You might watch porn and only see the cumshot, but there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Sasha is hyper-aware of the adult industry and tends to say things outright that many would not want to hear. Having a large personality in town does not mean that the interviewer should shirk the responsibility of trying to peel off the public image to expose the person underneath. That was probably a hard subject to interview, and I think that given the circumstances she did rather well.
Nah it's perfect fit. Two self involved boors. It sometimes amazes me how she called another columnist a conservative f**. Of only because she disagrees with his perspective.
Hello,
Well it may be late to reply to this (and it's something I rarely do) but I just had to. Firstly Sookie, I did not say anything disparaging about sex with seniors. This was a quote from Al Goldstein that I used to frame another question about industry standards around womens' bodies. My critique of this has nothing to do with the size of my own tits.
Before I interviewed Jeremy I did a lot of research. He makes the same Vaudevillian jokes in each and every interview—really, there's no point in actually being there as an interviewer as he may as well be doing stand-up. This is why I cut him off and tried to get him to talk about stuff he wouldn't normally—he was already doing a bit from another interview I'd seen. I was not trying to focus attention on myself, simply the questions I had prepared and I wasn't interested in letting him go off on his usual shtick. I would be curious to see the interview you got with him.
and Ryan, I do not know WTF happened to my hair. I was having some trouble with it for a few years but it seems to have sorted itself out now.
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