Gay Star Interviews with Matt the Great!

Mandy Goodhandy and Todd Klinck are the founders and geniuses behind Goodhandy’s in Toronto. Goodhandy’s has become world-famous for they’re wildly entertaining shows and special events. You never know who or what you will see. Each night is sure to be new and exciting. I had a chance to spend a little time with Mandy and Todd a couple of weeks ago along with my friends, Pierre Fitch and Julien Cox. I knew after spending a night in the they’re club and having a fantastic dinner with them that I had to interview these two creative and talented individuals. They are truly remarkable people with remarkable concepts and a passion for entertaining people of all genders and sexual orientations. At Goodhandy’s everyone is welcome. You’re always among friends, so don’t be shy. If you are in the Toronto area be sure to stop by 120 Church Street and see what all the excitement is about. You can also visit them at www.goodhandys.com, and at www.amateurcanadianguys.com.

MATT: Hi Mandy and Todd! I really appreciate you guys agreeing to do the interview.

TODD: Oh, it’s no problem.

MANDY: It’s our pleasure.

MATT: I really appreciate your hospitality when I was up there a couple of weeks ago. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed that.

MANDY: Well, you’re very welcome. I’m glad you did.

TODD: Toronto’s a nice city. I like showing people that have never been here that Toronto is not a bad place at all.

MATT: No it’s not. I was actually impressed with how clean it is. Let me ask you, how did you two meet?

TODD: You want to answer this, Mandy?

MANDY: That’s a standard question, everybody asks that.

TODD: Well, you know what, I met Mandy on the end of a leash. That’s the dirty answer. I was working as a webcam model, freelance, just doing various modeling type things and she had a pioneering shemale website back in the wild-west days of the internet, and she was looking for male models and someone referred me to her to do just a simple photo shoot focusing on her. She just needed a prop, just a boy in a jock strap to crawl around on the floor.

MANDY: My original T-girls site, Matt, merged in with www.amateurcandiantgirls.com and www.ladyplus.com. The original one had bits and pieces of ideas from both of them. Just in case you’re wondering what happened to the original website, I just got over it. I think going through the sites is important, don’t you think Todd, to tell the story. We’re not just involved with male porn, we have the T-girl aspect which is how we actually started our whole business. It actually stems from our T-girl content and our T-girl crowd that we managed to build over years out of doing private parties at first in my party room in Mississauga, and Todd ended up being the camera person. We would charge the guys to come in and we would have T-girls on hand who would do sex shoots and the guys got to watch. And that’s how we made money and we got material out of it. That’s how we started our whole business. Then Todd and I decided we wanted to branch into the male aspect as well.

MATT: Where did the idea for opening Goodhandy’s come from?

MANDY: It’s a networking story, Matt. We started out with T-girl events. It stemmed into T-girl events in night clubs. We would go around as promoters and we would bring the T-girl events into clubs, and then we had our male strippers/video models and we brought that into the basement of a straight strip club and started off male end of it in that club. So we started off as promoters. I guess what happened is we got tired of going into other people’s establishments and not really being able to do our full vision. So that’s how we stemmed into this. Todd and I are both very pansexual oriented and this is the reason Goodhandy’s is the way it is. We wanted a variety of different events on different nights and really reach out to lots of facets of the community whether it’s sexual or whether  it’s sex worker, whether it’s lesbian or whether it’s gay or whatever it’s focusing on, it’s a mixture of everything and we love that.

MATT: When I was there I noticed that. You had a good mixture of gay, straight, bi, just everyone. I guess it really is pansexual. It’s all inclusive of everybody.

MANDY: The thing is, Matt, as far as Todd and I know there has never been a club that opened queer and invited the straight mainstream world into our space as opposed to the other way around. There were always a lot of straight clubs that would have a gay night or a lesbian night, but we were probably the first club that I’m aware of – I may be wrong – but I’ve never heard of a queer-positive club that invited invited them into our world.

MATT: Who is Mandy Goodhandy?

MANDY: Mandy Goodhandy was a character that we came up with for our shemale line, but I didn’t want to do the heavy porn aspect of it because it’s really not my thing, obviously not that I have anything against that. But me personally, I have done one X-rated film where Mandy Goodhandy actually does end up having sex, but it was more tongue-in-cheek. Mandy Goodhandy was more of a character we came up with because of the spanking fetish, the seducing the straight boys. At first what happened was that we were using the T-girl admirers who were not predominately gay, but we would use them as models and the gays who would buy the Mandy Goodhandy spanking line would get to appreciate the straight-ish or bisexual boy being displayed naked and in an erotic way by Mandy Goodhandy and in some cases the boys would be turned on by Mandy even though she’s totally dressed. So, it was almost like the gay people could watch it and appreciate and be turned on by the fact that these boys were being seduced.

TODD: Yeah, this was back in like 2002. Obviously people have simultaneous ideas everywhere. The way she describes her vision as a director way back then is what ended up happening… basically your shooting straight guys but it’s for the gay guys, blatantly. Like she’s spreading their asses, the camera’s going up their hole. It’s meant for the gay aesthetic. It’s meant for men who want to look at boys in that way, and perverted females I guess too. I mean that in an affectionate way when I say perverted.

MANDY: An empowered female enjoys that, when we’re exploiting boys in a naked form for people to appreciate. I find a lot of empowered women always come up and say, “You know it’s really cool how you do your videos. You get these cheeky boys who are mouthy, these straight boys with attitude and you punish them, and you don’t get naked.” And I don’t. They don’t get anything from me. All they get is a good spanking. And when I say me I mean Mandy Goodhandy the character. It’s very separate from my private life. So this is where Mandy Goodhandy was born, and of course Todd is always encouraging these sort of things where I come up with these strange ideas. So anyway, when we opened the club it was a no-brainer. We had to call it Goodhandy’s.

TODD: I appreciate the camp sensibility behind it in a way that Mandy couldn’t… and she shouldn’t think about it academically like that. The club was an evolution from the videos, an evolution from the clubs, and evolution from promoting events, and evolution from private parties; a whole amalgamation from where we could focus all of our energies into one place as opposed to sort of scattered around.

MANDY: Both Todd and I are both sex workers. We still see the occasional clients, so being sex workers we are both sex worker positive. And as long as everyone is enjoying themselves in a safe environment – no one else is doing it for the queers. Of course you can go to a steam bath and get the gay environment there, but it’s not the same as a night club; something that has a different vision to it. We have the Mandy Goodhandy show itself on Wednesday nights. We’re filming live porn in front of people. People can go to a steam bath and see boys having sex all the time, but it’s a different twist to it. Of course you get the Mandy Goodhandy character up there loosening people up and joking around and making people feel welcome and comfortable in an otherwise sexually energy in the club. Some people get uptight about that so you need someone out there that’s going to add humor, but not so ridiculous to the degree that I’m actually interfering with the sex part.

MATT: So you more or less moderate the activities that go on rather than really control the action. Is that a fair assessment?

MANDY: Well, I guess that’s fair, in a humorous manner and break the ice.

TODD: Like a liason.

MANDY: It took the gays a while to get used to me, they couldn’t really figure me out at first.

TODD: We would do the Mandy Goodhandy show for like ten people and we would do it just exactly like we do it now… well, not exactly, it’s evolves a bit, but generally. It took a long time for gays to figure it out and get into it and now we have steady regulars. We’re consistently good on Wednesday nights.

MANDY: It was something that people had never seen before because it was something that was never being done. Number one, I’m not a drag queen. They had seen drag queens before, but they had never seen a transvestite up there performing and providing this form of entertainment, and number two is the fact that this wasn’t strippers. This was boys that were actually having sex with each other before their very eyes. And like Todd said, it took a long time to teach the audience and you almost have to do that with a clientele that doesn’t know what the hell this is. You almost have to educate them and show them what the show’s about. We don’t care if there’s only one person in the audience… we want it to be packed, but Todd are like, you know what, On Wednesday it doesn’t matter if we’re busy, it doesn’t matter if we don’t make money, that’s the night where we are creating content for our website and that’s the most important part for us.

TODD: And the gays were the last group to come around to accept Goodhandy’s as a club, oddly enough.  They took the longest to get too. We had more success with other demographics, so to speak.

MANDY: We already had the clientele built in with our private parties and mailing lists and my websites. So the T-girl parties were the most simple, like Todd was saying. Then the queer women loved us and they started bringing events in. And Todd’s right, the gays were kind of like… what happens with the gays, if you’re not running a gay every night they don’t look at you as a gay bar, and how they would describe us was as the “tranny bar.”

TODD: Or the “bath house”, or the “whore house.”

MANDY: They weren’t sure what it was about and it took people a while to understand the concept, but once we got them, we got them. And we love having the gays in our club.

MATT: On the flip-side of that I asked who Mandy Goodhandy is, so who is Todd Klinck?

TODD: I’ve always been someone who’s been very open about what I do and what I am. I started writing relatively young. I was kind of a multimedia… I’m an uncatagorizable artist and business person, meaning I wrote a book, so you could say I’m a novelist. I co-wrote a screenplay, so you could say I’m a screenwriter. I produce porn, I wrote a column for Fab Magazine for three years called Trade and it was related to the sex work, related to business, related to my life. I’ve done journalism for more mainstream publications like the National Post, which is a national newspaper. I have always been honest and upfront. That’s sort of my style of presentation, just shoot reality, write reality and show people what’s going on. My topics of interest are usually the fringes and subculture of the underground and sexual minorities, sex workers definitely. I noticed from the beginning that there were not a lot of male sex workers that were open. I felt that was a voice that had to come out. I just felt that it was an area that I was interested in, passionate about and wanted to do, so I wanted to represent male sex workers.

MANDY: Todd doesn’t apologize for what he is or what he does and what his past is, and the reason is because he’s not ashamed of it. In fact he promotes it. And I’m very similar to that and that’s why we’re probably in your face. A lot of people are shocked by it to a certain degree but once they get to know our background they realize that we’re good honest people. And there are a lot of good honest people who are out there in the sex working industry, and I find even the one’s that aren’t sex workers apologizing for it. Like I see them going on talk shows and people obliterate them, and I’m like, how could you do this? And they just sit there and take it, and I’m like, what are you doing? Stand up and tell them that you’re proud of what you’re doing. It’s very very frustrating! I went off on a tangent. I’m sorry.

TODD: Matt, there is something very political about us at our core, but we are also in the night club business. We’re in the business of creating fantasies and atmosphere and a place where people can unwind and let go. I’ve always been a believer that your best politically can be done by being an example instead of lecturing people. So it’s not like people walk in the club and there are political posters everywhere. They get a sense of freedom after a while and they’re like, oh, it’s OK to be a hooker or it’s OK to be a pervert or to watch people make porn. They see boys doing porn and especially in the gay scene, they have such a double standard where they’ll judge boys as hookers or porn people. Porn boys have a harder time getting laid than other people because people are always judging them, but when they get a chance to see them in person and hear them talk to Mandy on the microphone they realize that these are real people and they’re not ashamed of it. A real interesting part of the Mandy show lately has been her sort of porn star interviews, well, like what you’re doing. She talks to the boys on the microphone, she brings them up on stage and it get’s to be like a reality show or talk show. The boys just say whatever comes to mind and you get to know a little more about them.

MANDY: Some of the guys that come to our show are awesome young guys and people need to see this. People need to see that they’re not just some boys getting their cocks sucked. They need to see that these guys are interesting, they’re fascinating to watch and they have something to say, and they have lives just like everybody else and we shouldn’t be judging them. I’m thrilled that we’re able to have this kind of platform. So we’re actually doing a political message but we’re doing it in a way that’s fun and interestingly so it’s not in  your face and we’re not yelling with out fists in the air. And Mandy Goodhandy, when she’s on the stage, make political points of view but in a subtle and funny way so that the people that are getting it really get it and the other people just think that it’s just a joke or being funny, but everything I’m saying I mean. When you do something lightly with people they’re educated quicker and I think that works. It’s an interesting way of putting your point across.

MATT: That is an interesting dynamic. I like how you described that. Let’s talk a little about the spanking aspect of your show. You touched on that a little bit. Where did that come from?

MANDY: Well, right now Mandy Goodhandy is spanking 100 boys for 2009 and we’re accumulating a video to be released in early 2010, and hopefully the 100 point will be made. People will see and interesting side of spanking. Spanking in this video, some of the boys are going to be excited, titillated, doing a little screaming. Some will be a little embarrassed. There are so many different reactions from each boy in it that people will get to see what spanking is all about and they’ll get to see that it can be fun but it can also be extremely erotic. Now what’s happening is that Mandy is spanking the boys but now I’m starting to bring some of the other boys in on it where they can help, they can put the other boy in positions, so it becomes quite erotic as well and people can see that side of spanking.

TODD: As a porn product is kind of interesting because it’s not geared to just the connoisseurs of spanking, where there are spanking videos that only a spanking fan would buy. This has a mix of comedy and maybe softcore porn where you don’t see them naked but you see their bum. They’re regular guys from the audience who have their own limits, so it should be an interesting video in the end. It will be very difficult to edit.

MANDY: It’s very voyeuristic too. There’s a lot of voyeurs out there in the world. I don’t know how many people I speak to that say when they watch a porn movie, “you know what, when I watch a porn movie I watch the people undress and I fast forward through the sex and then I watch them get dressed again.” I don’t know how many people have told me that. Or they’re fast forwarding through a lot of the porn, and of course you get the people that want the hardcore of course. I get that. But there’s still a whole market out there of people that watch, they want to see the undressing, they want to see boys being forced to undress. They want to see boys having their pants pulled down even though they weren’t planning on having it happen. I mean, that’s impressive to people. So a lot of the cases the boys is there at the club standing there and told, “OK, you’re going to get spanked by Mandy Goodhandy.” We never force anyone, of course. They all have to a release, but in a lot of cases they weren’t expecting it. So that look of, “oh, I have to take my pants off, oh, I’m getting spanked,” that kind of thing going on. People find that intriguing. It’s real, like Todd said earlier, we like to do reality porn, and that’s what it’s about. We don’t use scripts, Matt, ever for any of our stuff. We have ideas and we go, OK, this is what’s going to happen hear, but but we do not give people dialogue. Even in Mandy Goodhandy’s spanking video everything that’s involved in the spanking videos is all off the top of my head. I’m talking to these boys and telling them this is what’s going to happen and this is what I’m going to do to you, so let’s film it. And whatever the boys are saying, it’s real. And that’s what’s so fascinating about it. People love reality. Why do you think all those home cams are more popular than joining web sites? People want to see these amateur boys on camera taking off their clothes and playing with themselves, and it’s interesting.

MATT: In the short time that Goodhandy’s has been open you have really become renowned all over North America. Even here in the South people have heard of Goodhandy’s even if they’ve never been,

TODD: That comes from the second half of the show. We’ve been talking a lot about the erotic, softcore comedy from the first half of the Mandy Goodhandy show. But just so no one is confused, the second half of the show is when we shoot a live porn scene. We always work with the models we have on hand, so if it’s a newbie he might just be comfortable jerking off so we might position him behind two boys sucking each others’ cocks. But a lot of weeks it’s absolutely hardcore fucking right on stage.

MANDY: Just so you know, Matt, I’m not on stage for any of that. As soon as that part starts Mandy Goodhandy leaves. There’s the funny comedy element, and then the boys being real.

TODD: She directs by osmosis. She’ll say something occasionally on the microphone if something’s really getting bad, but she’s not even generally watching all of it. The videographer and I are trusted to shoot everything. But I think that’s what’s making it sort of notorious across the continent is that you really can’t go anywhere and watch people shooting live porn.

MANDY: It’s huge in Europe. We have a large European base. I don’t know how many people in Amsterdam, or Ireland or Great Britain say that they’ve heard of our club. It’s incredible. We probably have more fans on the internet than we do people that actually come to our club in person. And that’s proven when we have visitors coming in from out of town, we’re the place they come. It’s like, “oh, how did you find out about us?” We keep forgetting that we huge presence on the internet before all of this started. We know how to use the internet, we know how to put our stuff on the internet and Todd and I were very big believers in that from the beginning. There are a lot of night clubs in Toronto that don’t even have an internet space, and if you do they don’t do anything with it. It’s part of our advertising. Our website is a big part of promoting what we’re doing.

MATT: Of course the DVD’s are available on you website, www.goodhandys.com, where people can to order them.

MANDY: Yeah, or www.amateurcanadianguys.com, or you can get them at the club. We have a rack there with all the DVD’s on it.

MATT: Yeah, I’ve seen the DVD rack there by the bar. It’s actually a very nice bar… well, two bars. One upstairs and one downstairs. The club itself, for the people that have never been, it has an outstanding layout. I love the floor plan. It’s an intimate environment. You feel at home there, you don’t feel out of place.

TODD: Well, it’s good for cruising. The structure of the bar came that way. But I talked to a friend of mine, and we’re connoisseurs of bar cruising, and cruising in general, and it’s like you have to have layers, you’ve got to have levels; places to move, places to peek and it’s almost like the people that designed it for a straight rock and roll band designed it perfect for cruising with all the balconies and all the levels.

MATT: You’ve had quite a few big name gay porn stars come through and perform for you.

TODD: Some of them you’ve interviewed. It from another promoter here in Toronto. It’s not our event but our venue lends itself well to the format because they can porn star type presentations. It’s very different then what we do. They don’t shoot porn. It’s more like the porn star comes in, they get naked and interact with the audience and it’s like a dance party with go-go boys and that kind of stuff. It’s a monthly event.

MANDY: Yeah, it’s the first Friday of every month and it’s called the Dirty Sexy Party. Like Todd said, that’s a promoter that does that and they focus on bringing in a porn star every month.

TODD: One of your recent interviews, Jesse Santana, Roman Heart, Damian Cross, and the bigger name ones. A part of our club is working with promoters. We have a fetish night as well which is organized by a promoter and it helps get people into our club that we normally wouldn’t get in.

MANDY: The thing is we work with the promoters. We don’t just hand over the stage. They have to run past us what they are planning on doing and we thought the Dirty Sexy was a great concept because it’s different from the Mandy Goodhandy show and it’s different from Tabernac, it’s a totally different set up and it fits well with what our club is promoting. So we don’t just bring in any old event. It has to be something that will fit our theme and be open-minded and be the way we are. We leave them to do the big porn stars and we do the visiting male models more than the porn stars. The biggest name we’ve had is Pierre Fitch. One of the main reasons we wanted to deal with Pierre is because he’s Canadian and there isn’t enough of that going on, there aren’t enough Canadian porn stars. I can count them on one hand. So I mean he’s a little dynamo and I thought, you know, we’ve got to get this kid in here. And you know, Matt, it took me three years to get that boy into our club. But the thing is it was totally important to get him into our club because he’s Canadian and people need to know about the Canadian porn. It exists, it’s out there and we’re doing it ourselves and it needs to be promoted.

MATT: You’re right  Pierre had told me that you had been after him for a few years to get him into the club, and I’m glad he finally agreed. He’s thrilled with the arrangement.

MANDY: I’m glad. It took him and long time to trust us, and I don’t blame him. You can’t trust a lot of people in this industry, and we had to prove ourselves to him. He didn’t have to prove himself to us, we had to prove ourselves to him, and every time I’ve gotten in touch with him I’ve asked him if he was read to do this. It wasn’t until he started becoming a DJ when he saw that this might be a good idea for him to start off. Also over the three years I think he started hearing about us and knew that we weren’t a couple of perverts running a club that just wanted to use his name. So it was the perfect marriage at that point because the kid’s and entrepreneur. It was like, OK, let’s do it this way because you’re a promoter, you’re not just a porn star, you’re not just coming in as a porn name. The first time we had, of course, was for Pride, which was perfect. Canada again. We had to pay him big dollars and I said to Todd that we have to get Pierre Fitch in here. I said, “I’ve been after him so long, let’s just give him what he wants.” And so that’s the way it went. Pierre gave his demands and he’s entitled to that. Pierre’s an entrepreneur and a very smart young man and he’s entitled to what he deserves. So he asked for this, he wanted that, and so we said, OK kid, alright, come on in. It worked out great so we started talking about the promoting after that and the DJ’ing.

MATT: When you really get to know him he really is a humble person. I don’t think he asks too much.

MANDY: He’s got his business persona and that’s what I was talking about there, and he deserves everything he gets because he’s built himself from some kid that did some cam site into and entrepreneur and someone who’s made a name for himself, and that’s big feat. Todd and I respect that situation so that’ what I meant by the demands. Because if you’re bringing in Barbra Streisand, what ever she wants she gets. Not to compare the two, because as far as I know Barbra doesn’t do any porn. But it sort of the situation where that’s it.

MATT: I think you hit the nail on the head. Pierre is a very hard worker and has that entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s talk a little about some of your regular events that you host on a monthly basis.

MANDY: Well, are you talking about Todd and I or the promoters.

MATT: Both.

TODD: We’ve accumulated some interesting promoters over the years, and the ones that I’m quite proud of are ones that are groups that have been around for a very long time. They often outlive the bars that they’re in just because they’ve been around for so long. One I’ll mention is the Northbound Fetish night. It’s in it’s nineteenth year. They say they are the longest running Canadian club event. And that’s a perfect fit because it’s mixed. It’s sexual and it’s a leather and fetish crowd, and it’s just great. Another one is TNT Men. They are basically the nudist who got arrested and fought for the right to wander around during Pride naked, and they’re revolutionary and I’ve always admired them. They’ve moved their monthly naked dance here and that’s turning out to be a good fit as well, because they’ve always done an afternoon monthly event but they’ve always been at clubs where is was sort of good for them, but then they had to worry because the club would have regular customers coming in after the party and they would have to get dressed and get pushed out. So that’s another monthly event that I’m pretty happy with.

MATT: Of course you have the T-Girls night, you have Tabernac with Pierre Fitch.

TODD: Tabernac is one of our newest events and I think it’s got a lot of promise. It’s going well and it’s giving Pierre a chance to focus on his music and his smut. It seems that a lot of porn stars are looking at their next career as an end to porn. It’s like they’re ashamed of their porn. He was very articulate in the interview I read. He was like, “I’m not stopping porn. Even if I’m behind the camera, I’m doing porn forever.” It’s complementing, it’s him being realistic that obviously he’s not going to be a fifty year old man doing porn, but he’s not ashamed of it. He’s integrating that into his parties. His parties are dirty and a lot of fun.

MANDY: We even have a queer singing contest at our club. The third Friday of every month, Matt – and this is like groundbreaking – it’s called Queer Idol. Even Canadian Idol didn’t survive but Queer Idol is becoming so popular. It’s gay people who want a singing career. There’s about $43,000 worth of prizes drummed up for this event, and it’s happening at Goodhandy’s. We’re so thrilled and it’s not even as sexual  event, but it’s like-minded queer people.

TODD: You have to line up down the street and around the corner for it. It’s such a phenomenal event.

MANDY: We’re fortunate to have it.

TODD: Yeah, and we don’t take down our posters for our dirty events or take down our porn for queer idol because it’s part of being queer. So, we’re just glad that the organizers of Queer Idol were not judgmental about the location and in fact likes the politics.

MANDY: And then there’s Todd’s favorite party. It’s a sex party the last Saturday of every month. It’s Todd’s baby, I’m not even allowed at it. That follows the TNT naked party.

TODD: It sort of overlaps so there’s thirteen hours of penis. It’s like 4:00PM to 9:00PM, and we have about an hour so we can clean up some of the cum and then people start coming back in for a later night sex party.

MANDY: Then we are other nights where we have female burlesque performers come in. It’s very theatrical. They’re not strippers, they’re burlesque performers. It’s really interesting. We have a lot of artsy shows come into our club. We have a lot of people raising money, charitable events. Todd and I personally put on two huge charitable events every year. My next one is in January, and we have bug people to come to this, entertainers to donate their time and raise money for ACT, which is the AIDS Committee of Toronto. So it’s not as if we’re just sitting there not having anything to do with the community. I mean, we like  to do the fund raisers.

TODD: We’re running for grand martial of the Pride parade. We ran a couple of years back and we lost by four votes. A lot of people supported us and we’re going to run again this year. We hope that we can win this year and lead the entire Pride parade.

MATT: Wow! You lost by four votes. I would have demanded a recount.

TODD: Well, there was a recount and there was a bit of scandal, and it was in the paper and everything. We actually caused them to re-evaluate the way they do their voting because there were more that four people that we know of that were turned away. And it’s not because they were trying to scam us, or that was it was a big conspiracy. It was just disorganization and sometimes big community organizations are sometimes messy. That doesn’t excuse them, but we chose not to fight it, we just supported the person that won. But this year we are really going to  push and campaign this year. Hopefully we can pull that off.

MANDY: You know what happens with the community, Matt, is that the community has to stop pretending that the sex business is just in our community. They’ve got to stop going on with the apologizing; so to have two sex workers, two people who are sex positive and pansexual positive leading that parade for this community, especially when we’ve dealt with every aspect, every facet of our community… The only people we don’t have in our club are the handicapped and that’s because they can’t get up the stairs, but if we could we would if we had the money. The situation is that I think it’s important, not because it’s necessarily something I want to do, because I’m not that kind of person. But Todd wants to do it and we’re a team, you know what, I will do it. I will run for this with Todd, and we’ll see.

TODD: The provision is that if we win we not only get to lead the parade but all of our promoters can follow right behind us. It could be the case that Pierre’s on the float DJ’ing, somebody from the singing contest is singing, the leather people are whipping each other, the nudists are naked. It would be a non-boring entrance for the parade.

MATT: I don’t know if I can vote for you from the States, but if I can you certainly have my vote.

MANDY: Thank you, dear.

MATT: I know that you both have to go and get ready to open the club. Is there anything that you would like to add?

MANDY: I think we covered everything unless Todd has something to say, but I do want to mention, because I think it’s important that people know what amazing people Pierre Fitch and Julien Cox are. They are such nice, interesting, charming young men. And people should know the personal aspects of them. I mean, you know what they are like personally. Not many other people would know that and we were gifted to find that out. I kind of took me aback actually. When I met Pierre I thought this kid was going to be some diva, but when I met him in person he was just this adorable, down-to-earth young guy with all this energy. I mean the boy is all over the place. And Pierre knows this, but it takes Todd and I all our energy to keep up with him. When he’s in town we have to drop almost everything because Pierre needs that attention. It’s fascinating how he operates his businesses in such an ADD form, but still manages to pull it off.

TODD: Yeah, he’s very intelligent.

MANDY: He is, so anyway, I just wanted to say that. He’s such a charmer and so adorable. And Julien was so incredible during the last Tabernac. Julienwas running models. All I had to do was tell Julien, “You know, Julien, you should do this job. All the boys are around. You let them know when they have to do their displays and when they have to perform, and you go around and you kick their little bums and get them going.” And Julien just pulled it off beautifully. Then there’s Pierre, we find out that his forte is being in that DJ music playing this exciting music that he plays, because as soon as someone else starts to play, the party dies. So, what we figured out as we went along is to have Pierre playing until about 2:00 in the morning then have the show.

TODD: We’re alternating the schedule. The way the first one worked is we had a second DJ with Pierre and the second one the show was too early, so it was a really good night but everyone kind of left early. But the third one Pierre is going to DJ a four hour set. I think that’s important for people to know. I’m not an expert on DJ’ing, but I do have a bit of a musical background. I think he’s a promising DJ. I think that’s going to be an interesting part of his career. Maybe within the year he’ll be doing gigs internationally and get some respect in that area. He’s not just dabbling. He takes it very, very seriously and he’s very focused. He’s very good at it and he’s relaxed and he leads the room.

MANDY: You never know what’s going to come out of his mouth next. He’s always on the go, and now they’re going to start working on a documentary. At one point he emailed me a picture. He had bought one of those blowup dolls of John Holmes and had a picture of him on the street in Montreal holding this blowup doll. He just sends this email to me with no explanation. Sometimes I’m on the computer working and I’m so stressed and then there’s Pierre Fitch holding onto this blowup doll from the middle of nowhere. That’s the kind of thing this kid does. He’ll just send me pictures of his cat in cute positions. He’s a very thoughtful person in that way. Anyway, Todd is absolutely right, I don’t know a lot about music. We’ve only heard a lot of DJ’s. I only judge it – because I’m a dancer -  I judge it on who can keep those people up there dancing. That to me is a good DJ, who can get up there and get the party atmosphere going, and you know what, Pierre, he jumps up and down to his own music. That means he’s getting it, which means he’s getting it as a dancer, not as a DJ. What I think happens is that with a lot of DJ’s they get too technical and start thinking about the music and the technicality of it. What happens with Pierre, he’s just so raw. You can’t get any more real than Pierre. He goes into a place and never changes no matter what environment he’s in, it’s incredible. It’s almost to the point where he doesn’t know how to change. Not in an entirely bad way, but he’s not afraid of talking . You were there, Matt, you remember that.

MATT: Yes, I know. I’ve known Pierre for a number of years and you’re exactly right. He’s the same as he was at Goodhandy’s, he’s the same in his own home or no matter where he is. He’s Pierre no matter where he is.

MANDY: Exactly. He and Julien are on the train talking about his sex life and some guy behind him says, “I don’t want to hear about your sex life.” But that’s Pierre. No matter where he is, he doesn’t censor himself. In some cases it’s embarrassing, but that’s Pierre. I wish I had that kind of openness. It’s fascinating that he can be that way. And the way that he and Julien complement each other also, it’s a very interesting relationship to observe.

MATT: They really are great together. I think he’s the best boyfriend Pierre has had since I’ve known him. This is by far the best.

MANDY: Well, you know, a lot of times in this business you need people that are like-minded and the fact that Pierre and Julien are not ashamed of what they do for a living and their both proud of it, that really works in their favor. Their personalities are so different. They’re yin and yang, you know, and you really need that a lot in a relationship. Sometimes if you have too much in common it doesn’t work.

MATT: You hit the nail on the head. Julien is quiet and reserved most of the time and Pierre is just out there going a hundred miles per hour. There’s something about that juxtaposition of personalities; they just fit. It’s perfect for them. I’m so glad you said these things about Pierre and Julien, Mandy. I know they’ll be thrilled to read this in the interview. What you said I can attest to first hand knowing him as long as I have. What you said is accurate, it’s perfect.

MANDY: Well, he deserves for people to know what he’s like as a person. A lot of the time people who are well known, people just assume they’re snobs or they’re difficult. Pierre always expresses himself and some people take that wrong, like when he introduces himself as a world-famous porn star people don’t get that he’s not meaning that way.

TODD: He’s just stating a fact.

MANDY: But he does it so innocently and people kind of go, “What? You’re a famous porn star? Who the hell do you think you are?” But they don’t realize that if they don’t know who Pierre is, they don’t realize that’s not how he means it, and that’s what makes him so adorable.

MATT: You’re right. There’s this innocence in him. He so honest but definitely down-to-earth. He doesn’t mean it in a bragging way or in an offensive way. That’s just who he is.

MANDY: Matter of fact.

MATT: Exactly.

MANDY: It’s a fact. If you don’t know him you wouldn’t be able to take it properly. I’m the opposite, I’m just this local celebrity type and I get embarrassed and I would never introduce myself even as Mandy Goodhandy. You know I don’t, and when people come up to me in a restaurant and go, “Oh, you’re Mandy Goodhandy,” it takes me aback sometimes and I think, oh, isn’t that cute, you know my stage name, but I’ve never been one that feels that I should introduce myself as some kind of minor celebrity. But that’s why watching him is so fascinating to me, because he’s so different than myself. Todd’s the same way, he doesn’t say, “I’m Todd Klinck,” and Todd’s extremely well known in this community. They all know Todd, but it’s that humbling situation and he never brags about himself.

MATT: You’re right, and you know I think the world of both of you. When I met you for the first time I instantly felt comfortable around both of you. I felt that you were really decent and wonderful people, and I really enjoyed spending that time with you.

MANDY: Thank you so much, Matt. That’s very kind of you to say that. It’s a compliment mostly because you get us, which is so nice. We’re that way, we’re not pretentious. What you see is what you get with us. So the fact that you saw that is appreciated. A lot of people don’t. Like I said earlier, there are so many people that have a game going and we have no game, and people are always surprised by that. Models approach us in a certain way and say, “OK, wait a minute, why aren’t I being ripped off or why aren’t they lying to me?” No, this is the way it is. This is what we are doing and this is what we’re expecting from you and this is what we’re going to give you. That’s it. You either want to do it or you don’t. The models say, “I work for you,” and I say, “No you don’t. You work with us. You guys are building your own name. You are individuals and we work together to build the club and to build a web site. And what we are giving you in return is money and building a name for you hopefully, which will help you to build your own career.” We don’t turn to these models and go, “You work exclusively for us and you won’t work for anyone else.” I’ve always thought that was insane. First of all I think it’s insane that any model would accept that, and second, I think it’s insane that any porn company is still out there doing that and treating people as if they own them. You don’t own human beings, and what kills me is a lot of people need to know that porn people or people in the sex industry are human beings. They’re not property. So, Todd and I have a problem with that, and I’m sure I can speak for Todd on that. We’re not property, we’re our own people and we’ve created our own thing in this world. Nobody owns that but us. And it always bothers me to see that, Matt, and I know that there’s a lot of that out there , and sure enough I know some of these porn companies are huge and they’re in a position where they can offer these huge contracts. But, you know what, how often does that end badly?

MATT: Actually, very often.

MANDY: This is what I mean, and what happens is the models get fucked in more ways than one. We’re not going to tolerate that. The model shouldn’t be getting screwed unless the model is a terrible person and decides to screw us around, we will do whatever we can to protect and speak up for models. That may be part of the difference, and that may be part of what you see in Todd and I, because we believe in what we say.

MATT: You know, I’ve spent some time with you outside of the club and have had a chance to see that side that everyone else doesn’t get to see. That’s part of the reason why I felt it was so important to interview both of you. I want them to see Todd and Mandy as these great promoters and great people that have a lot to offer to the community, but there’s nothing pretentious there. What you see is what you get both in the club and outside. You have these two awesome individuals that do their thing and have a great time with it, and hopefully everyone else has a great time as well.

MANDY: Well, it’s so nice to have an interviewer who knows that and knows what we’re trying to promote. Todd and I don’t chase the media, per se. They want to come and talk to us and it’s wonderful, so if we have something to say we want it out there. We’re not trying to promote Todd Klinck or Mandy Goodhandy or even Goodhandy’s for that matter. We’re trying to promote how important this industry is to all of us and the fact that you’ve got to be proud of who you are and what you are, and pornography is a very big part of what the world is. Too many people are sweeping it under the carpet and pretending that it doesn’t exist. OK, and there’s too many government people sticking their noses into it. And it’s like, you know what, we’re adults. Fuck off. We have rights. What ever happened to adult rights. They’re not even there. Everyone ignores them. One of the things that makes me frustrated is, why are we apologizing for that? Oh God, I’m going on again.

MATT: No, I think that’s a very valid point and I wish more people had that mentality. If you have consenting adults that want to congregate and have a good time, what’s wrong with that?

MANDY: Of course! No one’s getting hurt by it. But you know what they do, Matt? They always bring the children into it. Children have nothing to do with pornography. Just because someone has kids at home, the kids are going to suffer because their parents want to go out to a swingers club one night? What is that? What their doing is teaching their children to be uptight about sex. Mommy and Daddy have sex and go to sex parties like consenting adults. Don’t be hiding in your room pulling off the legs of little animals, which is what ends up happening. These kids get all uptight about sex because it’s hidden and it’s like a dirty no-no.

MATT: It’s human nature. Why hide that?

MANDY: That’s right. That’s why I get frustrated about that the most, when people use children as an excuse not to have anything adult going on in the world.

MATT: That’s a very valid point and I’m glad you’re making it.

MANDY: Well, nobody’s doing it. It’s like I said to you, I see all these people on talk shows and they back away from these people. They back away from the issue and they let these people sit there and berate them and I’m sitting there thinking, God, I would be standing on my feet going, you know what, this is the way it is whether you like it or not, because if you keep treating sex like something that’s criminal and disgusting then you’re going to end up promoting serial killers, rapists and child molesters. Because that’s what comes out of it. Any time you look at the background of any of those individuals it was because there was something dirty about sex they were taught as children or something happened to them physically, so now they look at sex as something that’s dirty and filthy. It’s unhealthy the way they’re being brought up. And that’s the thing, it all starts as kids, and you’re never going to find anyone who’s going to listen more and be more agitated than a child. That’s where it all begins. They’re teaching kids that there’s no such thing as transexuals. There obviously is because we’re walking around and we’re breathing and walking around. And they’re teaching kids not to be gay. I don’t know how many people have said to me, “I wouldn’t mind if my kid’s gay, but I just hope it doesn’t happen.” What kind of remark is that? You’re not going to judge what you’re kid is going to be so just relax. Just hope that your kid is healthy and growing up in a healthy environment. And if he turns around one day and says, “Guess what, I’m gay,” then at least be there to support him. These are the same people, Matt, that are complaining about pornography and the sex trade industry and instilling their beliefs on their children. You know what I think? I think they should have to fill out an application before they become parents.

MATT: Hahaha! Well, I feel the same way about a bunch of people too. I think they should at least take an IQ test before they are allowed to procreate.

MANDY: Exactly. How many kids are being tossed away out there because they are unwanted. It’s absolutely incredible. So, getting back to what I was saying earlier, don’t use your kids as an excuse, because a lot of you are not doing it right as it is. But anyway, that being said, I have to get ready for work.

MATT: Very good. Todd, is there anything you wanted to add?

TODD: No, I think that covered it.

MATT: Well, listen guys, I really do appreciate the interview. I hope I get to see you again soon.

MANDY: I hope so, Matt. Thanks and have a great night.

TODD: Thanks, Matt.