Here we have "Best in Sex: 2019 AVN Awards" and the title is fairly telling of course. This is an awards ceremony from the year 2019, so still fairly recent, and the word "Sex" implies that this is about the adult film industry, so in a bit more of a general take you could call this event we have here the porn movie Oscars from 2019. This is the 36th edition of the event already and while many of the older shows went really, really long, occasionally over 2.5 hours without commercials, they are taking the short route here now. Have been for quite a while. Admittedly, the older editions were also this long because they showed lengthy sequences from the nominated movies. Not so here. They are keeping it essential. The show I watched ran for under 80 minutes without commercials and actually I think almost 20 minutes from that were already pre-show footage, interviews and stuff, so the actual show or what they cut it into ran for minimally over an hour only and that is truly not much.
This was from January 2019, so almost two years old now, late January to be precise. I am a bit confused about the exact date though, but it is not too important really. What is more important is that they do not wait for months and months until they finally put this show on and it is available somwhere. This has happened too many times in the past and really should not apply to any awards show. I mean if you don't want to show it live on air, at least show it in the same week. You can always see that a great deal of cutting and editing was done and I am not sure if this is gonna change as long as Gary Miller is in charge. He has been writer (here co-writer), director and producer of the AVN Awards for ages now. Definitely the man fully in charge behind the camera. We'll see if somebody else takes over at some point. As for this event here from early 2019, the host was Asian American Esther Ku, a comedienne. Well, what can I say about her. Not too much really. Actually, nothing. Not familiar with her at all and judging from the material she delivers here, especially at the start, it is definitely not my loss. The scene with her and these other girls was so unfunny and her standup routine immediately afterwards was not any better. Good news is she was out of the show for the most part. Actually to an extent where she could not even be considered a host anymore. Really strange. I have seen some of these shows and most times they pick one comedian to host and (s)he gets support from two adult film actresses. This is also true here. Romi Rain and Bailey Rayne show up as hosts too and honestly, even if they were not anything special either, it may have been the first time when the two actresses did a better hosting job than the pro really. Kinda embarrassing for Ku. Sounds harsh, but it's true. That even rhymes.
Still, completely aside from that, I applaud every female courageous enough to host this show, even if they weren't doing a great job. It's every woman's own decision what she does with her body. The bigger mention goes out to blue-haired Cardi B though. The AVNs never struggled with getting successful and sometimes high-profile music acts, but someone like Cardi B they have never had so far I think. Or almost never. She is a global superstar. It's not right because I don't see much talent in her because her tunes may be catchy, but her voice offers nothing and the lyrics are nothing special at all either. The contrary in fact. But she is a global superstar, so no surprise they emphasize how happy they are to have her and also of course she is allowed to perform twice. Once at the very start and again at the very end. I think at the end she tries to get everybody on stage, but the broadcast ends before we see if that happens. Anyway, even if I do not like her, I am glad she was there and the event received some additonal attention this way because honestly adult films and adult film ceremonies can really need it during the age of #metoo and political correctness. Kinda fitting Stormy Daniels was still referenced on one occasion because of her smear campaign against President Trump. And that is actually nothing to be proud of. What she did was as shameful as it gets, but the industry is not only not distancing itself from her, but showing support. Can only shake my head at that.
As for the awards, a Jekyll and Hyde movie was the big winner that night taking home many trophies. The lead actress is not unattractive, I will give them that. However, in terms of the hotness, even if there were some attractive girls here, I don't think there were really beautiful ones like icons Sasha Grey, Belladonna or Riley Reid. Pity. Maybe better looks next year. Oh by the way, Reid was in fact nominated and she was/is still pretty young but she did not win this time. Parodies are also still a thing apparently because a Deadpool parody ended up triumphant too. For Best Actor, some other categories too, such as the parody category indeed. Very fitting. Man, they got so many categories, like an endless list, but I guess nobody can really be offended if 80% of the categories are not part of the show because literally almost everybody is shut out. Still not really cool. I must say I wished there could have been more big names and familiar faces here. Also on the men's side. The big names like Mandingo, Steele, Spears and Ron Jeremy (for known reasons) and many others too were missing. But Manuel Ferrara was there. He has been part of the industry now for so long too really, so he is definitely a big name and an icon. And he was right I think about his wife winning for Best Director. Another winner for a directing effort made an emotional reference to his dad, which was kinda cute and heartfelt to me. It sounded as if the dad is dead or he really has no clue where he is. By the way, it was obvious that in times like these so many would thank their wives. Too bad the women do not thank their husbands equally often. Speaking of something entirely different, it felt a bit cringeworthy when somebody (was it the guy talking about his dad?) said he had been working on the script for decades, started back in the 1980s or so. Okay, that was a bit much, even if it may be true. I also do not like it admittedly when they do something like that at the Oscars. It has happened many times.
As for the show itself, one really positive aspect for me was that they finally included Male Newcomer during the broadcast. I mean the New Starlet (for females) has been one of the most important (if not the most important) categories for years , if not decades, and finally there is some equality and the guys get screen time as well. But this is basically the only positive thing I can say here. Some of the show's inclusions were really bizarre like how they made references to one performer's big genital and how it interviewed his "owner" and other people. Okay sorry, I am all for comedy, also nasty stuff, but that was pre-school level honestly. The female equivalent scene with the adult film actress basically having her vagina molded felt also a bit off, but it was not as bad as the guy version. Why did she have to watch scenes from her movies in the process though? And what was up with them creating a pleasure toy shaped like an AVN Award afterwards? How do they come up with stuff like that? I don't even. Also I guess I need to be careful with the words I am using here to even get this review through confirmation process. However, if you are reading this now, it means I have succeeded. I mean come on, this is an adult film event, so of course it is explicit. Okay, now once more back to the show: I think the categories overall they included were not the worst choice. They could keep it this way, but maybe find a way to include other categories in the broadcast too. I mean it's okay this does not run for three hours still, but more than 1.5 hours is definitely tolerable.
Okay, I think this is it. Maybe you understood from reading my review that I think the outcome here was infamously underwhelming. Highly disappointing. The 2020 edition I watched as well was pretty poor (read my review for that one too if you care), but this one here was just as bad unfortunately. Definitely skip. Oh yes, finally quickly another positive note: At least they stopped with the making-out in the audience, always between females. This may also have to do with the current political climate in terms of feminism, but maybe not only because of that. Sexualiziation is a big thing. I never really liked it. Okay, that is really all though now. I hope they can add more and better quality again for future editions, at best already right away for the 2021 edition that is not far away because this event always takes place in January I think, although I am not sure if corona might have an impact there too. In any case, if it turns out as bad as the 2019 edition, then it's no problem if you skip that one too. Or if it doesn't even get made anyway. Oh I almost forgot about Kati3kat. Okay, her I like quite a lot with the really blue hair, not gonna lie. Maybe hottie of the night if we are talking only those actually seen during the show. Glad she took home this fan-voted cam girl award three times in a row. Also kinda funny how this category of course did not exist in considerably earlier editions of this event, simply because the internet was not a thing yet. So, technical progress is also measurable with the AVN Awards, although I can understand if people complain why a cam girl category is part of these awards (and I don't mean because there is no cam boy category, sexism again) because honestly there are many other essential adult film categories that should be part instead. Besides, how many nominees are there for cam girl??? Holy moly, really not fair to most of them that only ten or so were mentioned during the broadcast. Then why not nominate ten simply instead of fifty or so. Okay, really all now. Bye.
This was from January 2019, so almost two years old now, late January to be precise. I am a bit confused about the exact date though, but it is not too important really. What is more important is that they do not wait for months and months until they finally put this show on and it is available somwhere. This has happened too many times in the past and really should not apply to any awards show. I mean if you don't want to show it live on air, at least show it in the same week. You can always see that a great deal of cutting and editing was done and I am not sure if this is gonna change as long as Gary Miller is in charge. He has been writer (here co-writer), director and producer of the AVN Awards for ages now. Definitely the man fully in charge behind the camera. We'll see if somebody else takes over at some point. As for this event here from early 2019, the host was Asian American Esther Ku, a comedienne. Well, what can I say about her. Not too much really. Actually, nothing. Not familiar with her at all and judging from the material she delivers here, especially at the start, it is definitely not my loss. The scene with her and these other girls was so unfunny and her standup routine immediately afterwards was not any better. Good news is she was out of the show for the most part. Actually to an extent where she could not even be considered a host anymore. Really strange. I have seen some of these shows and most times they pick one comedian to host and (s)he gets support from two adult film actresses. This is also true here. Romi Rain and Bailey Rayne show up as hosts too and honestly, even if they were not anything special either, it may have been the first time when the two actresses did a better hosting job than the pro really. Kinda embarrassing for Ku. Sounds harsh, but it's true. That even rhymes.
Still, completely aside from that, I applaud every female courageous enough to host this show, even if they weren't doing a great job. It's every woman's own decision what she does with her body. The bigger mention goes out to blue-haired Cardi B though. The AVNs never struggled with getting successful and sometimes high-profile music acts, but someone like Cardi B they have never had so far I think. Or almost never. She is a global superstar. It's not right because I don't see much talent in her because her tunes may be catchy, but her voice offers nothing and the lyrics are nothing special at all either. The contrary in fact. But she is a global superstar, so no surprise they emphasize how happy they are to have her and also of course she is allowed to perform twice. Once at the very start and again at the very end. I think at the end she tries to get everybody on stage, but the broadcast ends before we see if that happens. Anyway, even if I do not like her, I am glad she was there and the event received some additonal attention this way because honestly adult films and adult film ceremonies can really need it during the age of #metoo and political correctness. Kinda fitting Stormy Daniels was still referenced on one occasion because of her smear campaign against President Trump. And that is actually nothing to be proud of. What she did was as shameful as it gets, but the industry is not only not distancing itself from her, but showing support. Can only shake my head at that.
As for the awards, a Jekyll and Hyde movie was the big winner that night taking home many trophies. The lead actress is not unattractive, I will give them that. However, in terms of the hotness, even if there were some attractive girls here, I don't think there were really beautiful ones like icons Sasha Grey, Belladonna or Riley Reid. Pity. Maybe better looks next year. Oh by the way, Reid was in fact nominated and she was/is still pretty young but she did not win this time. Parodies are also still a thing apparently because a Deadpool parody ended up triumphant too. For Best Actor, some other categories too, such as the parody category indeed. Very fitting. Man, they got so many categories, like an endless list, but I guess nobody can really be offended if 80% of the categories are not part of the show because literally almost everybody is shut out. Still not really cool. I must say I wished there could have been more big names and familiar faces here. Also on the men's side. The big names like Mandingo, Steele, Spears and Ron Jeremy (for known reasons) and many others too were missing. But Manuel Ferrara was there. He has been part of the industry now for so long too really, so he is definitely a big name and an icon. And he was right I think about his wife winning for Best Director. Another winner for a directing effort made an emotional reference to his dad, which was kinda cute and heartfelt to me. It sounded as if the dad is dead or he really has no clue where he is. By the way, it was obvious that in times like these so many would thank their wives. Too bad the women do not thank their husbands equally often. Speaking of something entirely different, it felt a bit cringeworthy when somebody (was it the guy talking about his dad?) said he had been working on the script for decades, started back in the 1980s or so. Okay, that was a bit much, even if it may be true. I also do not like it admittedly when they do something like that at the Oscars. It has happened many times.
As for the show itself, one really positive aspect for me was that they finally included Male Newcomer during the broadcast. I mean the New Starlet (for females) has been one of the most important (if not the most important) categories for years , if not decades, and finally there is some equality and the guys get screen time as well. But this is basically the only positive thing I can say here. Some of the show's inclusions were really bizarre like how they made references to one performer's big genital and how it interviewed his "owner" and other people. Okay sorry, I am all for comedy, also nasty stuff, but that was pre-school level honestly. The female equivalent scene with the adult film actress basically having her vagina molded felt also a bit off, but it was not as bad as the guy version. Why did she have to watch scenes from her movies in the process though? And what was up with them creating a pleasure toy shaped like an AVN Award afterwards? How do they come up with stuff like that? I don't even. Also I guess I need to be careful with the words I am using here to even get this review through confirmation process. However, if you are reading this now, it means I have succeeded. I mean come on, this is an adult film event, so of course it is explicit. Okay, now once more back to the show: I think the categories overall they included were not the worst choice. They could keep it this way, but maybe find a way to include other categories in the broadcast too. I mean it's okay this does not run for three hours still, but more than 1.5 hours is definitely tolerable.
Okay, I think this is it. Maybe you understood from reading my review that I think the outcome here was infamously underwhelming. Highly disappointing. The 2020 edition I watched as well was pretty poor (read my review for that one too if you care), but this one here was just as bad unfortunately. Definitely skip. Oh yes, finally quickly another positive note: At least they stopped with the making-out in the audience, always between females. This may also have to do with the current political climate in terms of feminism, but maybe not only because of that. Sexualiziation is a big thing. I never really liked it. Okay, that is really all though now. I hope they can add more and better quality again for future editions, at best already right away for the 2021 edition that is not far away because this event always takes place in January I think, although I am not sure if corona might have an impact there too. In any case, if it turns out as bad as the 2019 edition, then it's no problem if you skip that one too. Or if it doesn't even get made anyway. Oh I almost forgot about Kati3kat. Okay, her I like quite a lot with the really blue hair, not gonna lie. Maybe hottie of the night if we are talking only those actually seen during the show. Glad she took home this fan-voted cam girl award three times in a row. Also kinda funny how this category of course did not exist in considerably earlier editions of this event, simply because the internet was not a thing yet. So, technical progress is also measurable with the AVN Awards, although I can understand if people complain why a cam girl category is part of these awards (and I don't mean because there is no cam boy category, sexism again) because honestly there are many other essential adult film categories that should be part instead. Besides, how many nominees are there for cam girl??? Holy moly, really not fair to most of them that only ten or so were mentioned during the broadcast. Then why not nominate ten simply instead of fifty or so. Okay, really all now. Bye.