Every Monday, adult superstar/OC girl Tasha Reign gives us her thoughts on life, sex, politics and everything in between. Today, Tasha weighs in on the similarities between the comedy and adult industry. Enjoy!
By Tasha Reign
Living in Los Angeles can make it daunting to meet new friends, because so many folks come to try and make it out here as a “star” and leave after less than a year. But I've been fortunate enough to connect with a group of female comedians who are some of the funniest, most unbridled, wildest, unfiltered girls that I know, with the kind of confidence and esprits de corps that I find among gals in my industry. Due to knowing these female comedians personally, I have a new perspective on what I find funny, stupid, entertaining, or clichéd.
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I love going to comedy shows–it's thrilling to feel that type of emotional roller coaster and let someone tap into a dark side or a light-hearted side of you in a way that can't be simulated the same way by watching other forms of media. It takes a particular type of individual to feel confident enough to go up on a stage and make people laugh, to have this idea that you can create emotion within someone that will trigger happiness or outrage or hilarity–that power is overwhelming, raw. Stand-up comedy is the epitome of free speech, stands for so much more than a joke, and is basically the last frontier of truly unregulated entertainment in this country–or so it seems.
People enjoy watching comedy, but they don't get the same amount of mainstream credit as other entertainers. Only a precious few ever break into the big time ala Chapelle and Louis CK (and it's even harder for the gals to do it). And the reason for this lack of respect is almost perverse: it's because they're so unfiltered–what makes the form popular in the first place–that they're kept at arm's length. Comics are candid; they are raw and do not seem to filter themselves before speaking. They can think much quicker than other people, and come back with witty remarks that actually make sense–and society at large never like people who are TOO truth-telling.
Which leads me to something that I've discovered during my still-young career. For some reason, most comics I meet have an “adult actress” friend, and vice versa, and there's an uncanny parallel between the two industries. The obvious answer is that we're both professions that get naked for the public, but there's something deeper than that. Maybe it's wanting to hang out with people who are able to laugh at one's self, or find humor in being laughed at. Maybe it's a feeling of being a bit of a social outcast; maybe it's just the respective confidence that has developed over the years.
Or maybe it's that both of our professions always must suffer the browbeating of others. Even in comedy, it's amazing what people are allowed to say and not say, do and not do, and how over the past generation, a stigma is now associated with racist jokes, gender jokes, and any controversial topics. Comedy is one of the last forums of freedom of speech–yet people try to attack comics for any line with which they don't agree. The irony is most comics are typically just saying what everyone in the audience is thinking, just like we in the adult industry do what people do in their bedrooms. Last time I checked, it's not illegal to offend someone, just like sex between two consenting adults is supposed to be all fine and dandy.
Or is it? I love that we live in a nation where we can practice the right of speaking our minds–but how controversial can we get before it's too much? Who calls those shots? All questions I ponder with my gal pals as they practice in front of me some of the best jokes you'll ever hear…
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