One of the great unsung heroines of the last election cycle has to be Lisa Ann – the MILFy porn star who also known as "Serra Paylin". When Larry Flynt, 1st Amendment champion and smut peddler with a heart of gold, rushed the porn parody of the GOP VP candidate, "Who’s Nailin’ Paylin’?" to print on the eve of the election, it wasn’t just a cold-hearted attempt to cash in on the Alaska Gov’s sudden popularity, it was also a way of ridiculing the candidate and the party that tried to substitute MILFy hotness for sound policy – and possibly just changed a vote or three. And since Tina Fey has been too busy to consider doing porn, Lisa Ann was a natural choice for the role. She has the body, the look, and has even gone far to master Palin’s distinctive accent. One of the great things about being a freelance writer is getting the opportunity to meet such unsung heroes, and this week I got the chance to do just that with Lisa Ann. More after the flip.
Lisa Ann, a very warm and personable woman, has actually been doing adult for years, since the mid-90s when she made the transition from model to stripper to adult films under the stage name "Sunshine". A Pennsylvania girl, originally, it might surprise you that the buxom brunette isn’t just a pretty face and an augmented rack, she’s also an experienced businesswoman. Following in the footsteps of such beauty/brains porn phenoms as Asia Carrera and Stormy Daniels, Lisa Ann is the kind of savvy entrepreneur who understands the fickle finger of popularity and how to ride a wave. "Who’s Nailin’ Paylin?" (Link NSFW) was one of the biggest selling porn movies of 2008 and continues to sell like gangbusters. Word on the street is that a new interactive called "You’re Nailin’ Paylin!" is in the works, and Lisa Ann has been able to double down on her sudden popularity by portraying the Tina Fey character in an upcoming "30 Rock" parody.
Indeed, she’s helped re-launch the porn parody into popularity after a dreary decade of low-budget "gonzo" flicks – most of which are but a few notches up the production ladder from the basic home sex movie. While Lisa Ann’s Paylin flick parodies a personality, and not a specific TV show, it was the first of a wave of nostalgic, well re-created porn parodies that range from "Star Trek" to "Happy Days" to "Bewitched" – and not one but two popular "Brady Bunch" porn flicks. This has helped breathe some life into an industry that, like everyone but bankruptcy attorneys, has seen some dramatic declines in this recession.
In addition, Lisa Ann won the coveted 2009 AVN Award as MILF of the Year, and the customers can’t seem to get enough of her. She’s seen a surge of sales of even her early work, but she’s best known and most sought after for her more MILFy titles. She also doesn’t shy away from interracial work or more, ahem, extreme scenes than the mainstream usually clings to, and she continues to be a feature dancer and popular personality at adult bookstore events, either as her "Paylin" character or her own winsome self.
She sees her late-blooming success in an industry that has traditionally glorified "fresh faces" – girls from 19 to 23 – over "seasoned players" as a victory not just within the porn world, but also as an acknowledgement that American sexuality has moved beyond the nymph stage and into a more mature and sophisticated mode. MILF is one of the biggest selling niches, now, with performers like Nina Hartley, 80s porn icons Amber Lynn and Ginger Lynn, and Kylie Ireland getting more work than younger and fresher models. But Lisa Ann is the undisputed MILF Queen, and she revels in it.
I got the opportunity to do an in-depth interview at the delightful campus of Adult products and entertainment giant Adam & Eve, at their Hillsborough, North Carolina headquarters, and while the specifics of the interview are tied up, I’d like to report a delightful time with an outstanding performer. Lisa Ann gives great interview, I’ll give her that, and she’s as intelligent and well-educated about both her industry and the political situation in general as her namesake seems ignorant.
Politically, she’s an independent, a Hillary supporter who threw her vote to Obama about the same time the rest of the PUMAs did – when McCain announced his running mate. She was just as appalled at the gall displayed by the GOP in thinking that an anatomically correct female candidate could lure Hillary’s die-hards away from Obama, and when Hustler called her to do the shoot she was eager, to say the least. Mindful of the potential of the gig, she made certain she could continue to portray "Paylin" on the road for promotional purposes, and since then her calendar has been packed.
She’s very supportive of the possibility of Stormy Daniels making a run at David Vitter, even despite the adult star’s recent legal issues (and most of the adult community is enthusiastically supportive of Stormy – one of the smartest women in Porndom). Lisa Ann also owns an adult talent agency, providing responsible representation for other performers in the industry.
But the "Paylin" character is what people love – both dewy-eyed conservatives who want to moon over this sexually-accessible likeness, and liberals drunk on the satire that gets ripped from the tabloids on a daily basis. She loved working with Larry Flynt and Hustler, who enjoy a kind of iconic status in the industry after the famous Supreme Court case establishing the constitutionality of parody, no matter how outrageous. Her signing booth at the AVN show was packed, with lines of adoring fans the other stars clearly envied. A number of politically-charged "Paylin" sequels are likely – and as long as "Caribou Barbie" Palin stays in the headlines, Lisa Ann is happy to keep parodying her. And it’s amazing how effortlessly the adult star slips into the character – responding to a recent request for a personal appearance in "Paylin’s" voice, insisting that she’d be happy to "now that I have a lot more free time on my hands".
Lisa Ann anticipates a long run in the role as the former Governor promotes her book, cashes in on the dreams of birthers and teabaggers, and preps for a run at the White House in 2012. She’s considering a book on her unique experience, and she’s getting plenty of non-Paylin work in the mean time.
And the best thing about Lisa Ann’s delicious adult satire? She won’t quit three-quarters of the way into a sex act. You just can’t buy that kind of commitment, in some circles.