The Origins of Gigolos

You can buy this mug on Showtime's website if you want to.

If you listened to Richard on Matty P's Radio Happy Hour last month, you already know the story that underlies this post: in a nutshell, a guy picked Richard up at a blackjack table in Vegas, turned out to be a gigolo, and his life so intrigued Richard that he decided to stay for a couple of weeks, get to know the guy's friends and, in the end, make a television show about that world.

I haven't written about Gigolos before because I've never seen the show and don't know anything about it beyond some brief information I've found online: apparently, the guys featured are real male prostitutes, but the gigs we witness don't happen in the ordinary course of business--no big surprise, since I'm guessing that the average woman who hires a gigolo isn't open to that encounter being televised. My only personal conclusion about the show has been that, based on the photographs I've seen, the show's creator / producer is far more...um...salable...than the gentlemen on the auction block.

I enjoyed the "how it all began" tale Richard told on this radio show much more than the canned, "Why does it always have to be about women pleasing men?" kind of philosophical justification I've read in a lot of previous interviews about Gigolos, but if this story raised questions in your mind, you're probably not alone.  I mean, it doesn't take a lot of creativity to boil this story down to "Richard Grieco met a male prostitute in Vegas and ended up staying a couple of weeks."  'Cause, you know, that's apparently what happened.

To Richard's credit, he didn't append any "not what it sounds like" disclaimers to this story, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't what it sounded like.

All in all, this explanation of where the idea came from made me a bit more interested in actually checking out the show. If you've seen it, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments or forums.