Episode 2 of Hulu's Pam & Tommy features a two-minute-long scene where Tommy Lee has a conversation with his penis. What does this even mean?
Here’s the true story behind Pam & Tommy’s talking penis scene. Hulu’s Pam & Tommy revolves around the controversial sex tape scandal surrounding former couple Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee during the late 90s. The miniseries stars Sebastian Stan as Tommy and Lily James as Pam, both of whom underwent intense makeup transformations to fit into their roles.
Pam & Tommy opens with woodworker/electrician Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen) working on refurbishing the couple’s luxurious Malibu mansion, and Lee being an absolute nuisance with his constant and sudden change in work plans. In a flashback to December 1994, the show dramatizes the fateful meeting between Pam and Tommy, and how they quickly fall in love after spending only a few hours with one another. Once the two meet again in Cancun and spend a night together, Tommy wakes up the next day, still high on the ecstasy he took the day before and has a full-fledged conversation with his penis.
Season 1, Episode 2 “I Love You, Tommy”, opens with this wildly bizarre scene, with a naked Lee having a heart-to-heart conversation with his genitals. Tommy realizes that he has fallen in love with Pamela and that she is the one — a realization vehemently retorted by the animatronic penis (voiced by actor Jason Mantzoukas), which urges Tommy to seek other women instead. Other actors of the time, including Denise Richards, are mentioned, but the almost two-minute conversation is concluded after Tommy makes the decision to woo, and eventually wed Pamela.
This, of course, was not a creative decision on behalf of the showrunners, as it is based on Lee’s own autobiography, “Tommyland.” While the exact details of the conversation might vary, Lee absolutely had—or thought he had—a conversation with his penis, at least according to his memoir. From a purely technical aspect, the scene was understandably awkward to shoot, as it involved four puppeteers working with an animatronic mechanism. The end result is surreal and perhaps a bit too long, although definitely a first in the history of television.
Apart from the talking penis scene, Pam & Tommy includes creative reimaginings of the events that take place before and after the couple's sex tape is stolen, and the possible motivations that Gauthier had while committing the crime (theft and unlawful distribution). While there has been some backlash about the show re-igniting trauma for Anderson, who was not involved with the show at any stage, the miniseries is framed with considerable empathy for Pamela and her story. The gross media behavior and the absolute invasion of privacy that both celebrities were subjected to is presented as a scathing commentary, only interspersed with brief comedic/bizarre moments, such as the talking penis scene in question.
NEXT: Pam & Tommy Cast: Every Actor Confirmed (& Who They're Playing)
