How That ‘Pam & Tommy’ Appendage Came Alive — And How Viewers Reacted
Even here in the so-called golden age of nude men on screen, we never would have expected for the fictionalized Tommy Lee to talk to his penis in the new Hulu series Pam & Tommy… or for his penis to talk back. (Talk about a cast member!)
The conversation comes halfway through the second episode, “I Love You, Tommy,” as the Mötley Crüe rocker (played by Sebastian Stan) realizes he’s in love with Baywatch star Pamela Anderson (Lily James).
As they confer in a hotel bathroom, Tommy’s penis looks the drummer in the eye, begging him not to become a one-woman man. “We’ve been down this road before, and it never ends well,” it says, voiced by The League’s Jason Mantzoukas. “Tommy, you’re not thinking clearly. … Don’t do this, man. Do not f—king do this.”
What a time to be a TV viewer! Indeed, Pam & Tommy executive producer Rob Siegel told Entertainment Weekly the scene is a “first” for the small screen. Here’s how it came together—and what viewers thought of the final product.
The Inspiration
As Stan told Variety, the Pam & Tommy team took inspiration from the real Tommy Lee, who included conversations with his penis in his 2004 memoir Tommyland. (Example line from the memoir’s third page: “Tommy, my dear friend, you’re old enough to know this by now: I have been behind every decision you’ve ever made since second grade. I got you everything and everyone you’ve ever had.”)
“Obviously, Rob and [executive producer] D.V. [DeVincentis] read the book and wrote the scripts and kept that in mind,” Stan added.
Siegel corroborated that origin story to Variety, adding that as much as he’d “like to take credit” for the scene, he was “simply adapting a chapter” from Tommyland.
Erin Simkin/Hulu
“Throughout the book, he has these, I presume imaginary but maybe not, exchanges between himself and his d—k,” Siegel told EW.
For its part, Hulu offered “gentle pushback” on the scene, “just because you’ve got to push back a little when a talking penis is presented to you,” but was “extremely supportive” in the end, the producer told Variety.
Fellow executive producer Sue Naegle concurred. “They were so supportive the entire time and I think were of the mind of, ‘Just tell the story as uniquely as you can and go for it,’” she told Variety. “And so we did.”
In an interview with CNN, head of makeup David Williams and special makeup effects designer Jason Collins recalled their initial reactions to the scene. “When David and I first read the script, I believe I called Dave, and I said, ‘You think they’re gonna keep this thing?’”
Added Williams, “My words were, ‘This could be really great. Or this could be a dumpster fire.’”
But Collins “like[d] the choice of our creators to go in that direction, as opposed to some salacious version of focusing on what was actually on the [leaked sex] tape. This was a much smarter way to understand this [sexual] element exists.”
The Filming
Filming Tommy’s heart-to-heart with his body party involved a hollowed-out prosthetic phallus, which was designed by Autonomous FX, attached to Stan’s pelvis, and brought to life with puppeteers and—as Naegle said—“a lot of CGI.”
Craig Gillespie, who directed the episode, told Variety it was “just awkward” filming that scene, especially with “like, four puppeteers working with an animatronic penis.”
Stan, meanwhile, treated the scene “like it was an intimate buddy conversation that one might have when they’re falling in love.”
Gillespie credited Stan for being “completely emotionally invested in the conversation,” while DeVincentis gave props to the actor for “being a real trooper” during the filming.
“You’re standing there naked as an actor with this prosthetic on you, that unseen to the camera has wires running out of it—under you, behind you. And there’s a guy on the floor with toggles, and he’s remotely controlling like a drone apparatus,” DeVincentis told Variety. “It’s kind of wild.”
DeVincentis provided the temporary voice for the penis, and the Pam & Tommy team “batted around your DiCaprios” and other “left-field choices” to re-record the dialogue, as Siegel told EW. Finally, they landed on Mantzoukas, an actor with voice credits on the TV shows Big Mouth and Star Trek: Prodigy, to dub the lines.
Altogether, the Hollywood magic makes for “a very adult version of The Muppets,” as Siegel said. “Like if Kermit, instead of being a frog, was … a penis.”
The Reactions
“Pam & Tommy” is good. I will suggest you do not watch it with either your parents or your children. Tommy’s “Mister Peepers” has an entire monologue during a scene. I’m not joking. I thought I was having an acid flashback. There’s more schlong in that thing since Boogie Nights.
— Russ Parscal (@Big12_Parscal) February 3, 2022
My mom just walked in right as Tommy was talking to his penis in the mirror about Pam being ‘the one’ 🤣 #PamAndTommy
— Laura Sanders (@laurathejourno) February 3, 2022
Pam and Tommy is so good but the prosthetic willy talking to seb is after throwing me for a loop hahahahhaahha
— Jay (@jamiekellyr) February 2, 2022
https://twitter.com/ConorDougherty/status/1490188864543068163
https://twitter.com/chelseagsummers/status/1489961336356417540
The talking penis bumps me out of the story.
Other than that I'm digging Pam & Tommy. Hope they give Pam Anderson the story she deserves.
— Kat Corbett (@KatCorbett) February 4, 2022
Me, trying to have a jolly nice time reliving my Mötley obsessed youth
Pam & Tommy: Here's a talking prosthetic penis
Oh
Oh no— Stacey Jenkins 💀⚰️ (@HereLiesStacey) February 5, 2022
Of the many things I was expecting from Tommy and Pam, I wasn't expecting an extended conversation with a talking penis followed by singing showtunes.
This is the definition of "I'm not nearly high enough for this."
— Dr. NerdLove (@DrNerdLove) February 6, 2022
Pam & Tommy manages to be raunchy with zero male gaze — that's no small feat. (Related: it also contains perhaps the most onscreen schlong in a mainstream TV series ever). It's not as great as I, Tonya, but Craig Gillespie might be genuinely underrated as a director
— Michael Idov 🌻 (@michaelidov) February 3, 2022
when I read that the talking penis in Pam & Tommy was controlled by a puppeteer I was picturing something made of felt with googly eyes, like a muppet. reader, it does not look like a muppet, and I feel somewhat cheated
— Emily Garbutt (@emilylgarbutt) February 5, 2022
Pam & Tommy, Wednesdays, Hulu
