Ask most heterosexual men what their dream job would be and I’ll bet you dollars to erections that they’ll say “full-time sex toy.” Tell them that that’s not an option, and I’m pretty sure that they’ll then say, “You know I don’t have time for this, I’m a very busy, horny man.”
If they hadn’t walked away, I’m sure they would have said they’d like to be an editor at the world-(in)famous Hustler Magazine. Just imagine: Not only would you be working for legendary freedom-of-speech invalid Larry “The Splint” Flynt, but you’d have the pleasure at staring at all that female flesh. How awesome would it be to be the writer of “Asshole of the Month” or hobnob with the fella behind “Chester the Molester”? Yes, sir, it would be a wet dream come true.
Or so I thought.
In PRISONER OF X: 20 YEARS IN THE HOLE AT HUSTLER MAGAZINE!, Allan MacDonell details his two decades at the magazine, only to find that behind all the clitz and glamour is a dirty, sleazy world – and not in that good, sexy way. He came to find out that his boss is not some Constitutional hero as the media (and Milos Forman) made him out to be, but a sordid, unintelligible pill-popper who’s only looking to make a buck. Those hot, easy-entry porn sluts? Nothing more than empty-headed, insecure puppets with daddy issues. That cartoonist you like so much? Well, turns out he’s an alleged molester in real life.
And to top it all off, someone’s leaving soda cans with fecal matter around the office.
It’s one headache after another and if that’s not bad enough, MacDonell has to deal with porn directors pissed at his reviews, paranoid and possibly violent war vets wanting their “story” told and, worst of all, living in the constant fear that at any moment and for any reason, you could be fired for the littlest thing. Behind the wacky tales of ribaldry, PRISONER OF X also chronicles MacDonell’s late-blooming maturity from self-destructive punk rocker on the early-’80s L.A. scene, to mid-’80s/early-’90s coke-snorting L.A. asshole to a present-day, burnt-out, ready-to-settle-down, tired-of-kissing-Flynt’s-ass, middle-aged overlord of smut. His voice changes as the times change, offering an ever-growing insight into a world that, in the end, lucky few of us thankfully will never know. What’s most remarkable is that MacDonell never once promotes himself as some kind of anti-hero, as writers of these types of outré memoirs are wont to do; he makes no bones about his past, never afraid to let his assholish ways become public record. It’s actually very refreshing in this respect.
PRISONER OF X pulls no punches, and is a thoroughly entertaining read, often hilariously brutal in its dissertation of the porn life, often unflinching in its honesty of the characters you encounter, but always full of wit and honesty, proving that it’s not always the stereotypical McJob that provides the best anecdotes and worst work experience. As Hustler would say, I rate this one “fully erect!” –Louis Fowler
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