Porn Valley- Tyler Knight who is with www.exoticstarmodels.com was a guest on the Sports Swami show Friday. It was noted that some of the features Knight was in got nominations this year.

Knight said it was exciting to see that the work gets recognized. “It’s nice that your work isn’t done in a vacuum so to speak. That there are people out there who appreciate your work.”

Knight concedes that there’s a lot of tough competition in the industry. “A lot of great work being put out there by other companies. Of the thousands of releases in a given year that some of the things you’ve done are singled out, it’s just really cool.”

Swami suggested that noms might get parlayed into a better work, more money opportunity situations whereas Knight accepted the second alternative- the atta boy. “A pat on the back- nice job.” Knight said he has only one way to go in the business.

“There’s guys who have been in this business forever like say Mr. Sean Michaels who is the man,” says Knight. “Without him I wouldn’t be getting half the stuff that I’m getting right now. I got an AVN nomination last year for best male newcomer. That actually helped quite a bit. Because the factor with new guys is can they actually perform; can they actually do the job? Because everybody knows that 90% of the people who try, fail. So that helped eradicate a lot of doubt in peoples’ minds. It opened a lot of doors for me.”

Quoting an “insider” to the business, Swami said male talent is the equivalent of a football kicker or punter. “You don’t notice them unless they really screw up.” Knight was asked how much pressure is on him being on set and is it stressful.

“We’re pretty much the frame for the girl who’s the picture,” Knight replied. “But as far as pressure goes I’ve done probably close to 200 scenes in the last couple of years. To this day I still get a little jitters if it’s a new crew I’ve never worked with and stuff like that. But for the most part it’s the same crew over and over again. It’s almost like shorthand- the communication between everybody. We pretty much don’t really have to say much at all.”

Knight’s worst scene was his first. “It was the worst scene I’ve ever done,” he states. “It was for VCA’s Barbara Broadcast 2. I couldn’t stay hard. There was a camera beneath my testicles and stuff like that.” Knight said in one instance he went to the bathroom to get a magazine to get himself hard and accidentally jerked off in 30 seconds. “I’m walking around thinking how can I escape? I was thinking about climbing through windows and stuff like that. Fortunately for me I had a very understanding director who didn’t expect much anyway. It worked out. Veronica Hart was the director on that. She told me not to quit and I didn’t so here I am.”

Asked if he worked with any female performers who didn’t want to know from newbies and have no tolerance towards them, Knight said he’s been fortunate in that respect so far.

Knight was also asked to offer his opinion on the interracial brouhaha created by the Terrell Owens-Nicollette Sheridan skit on Monday Night football. From his standpoint, Knight thought that it was very funny.

“It was a calculated risk,” he says. “Actually it’s genius. It’s a small price to pay [FCC fines-wise]. It’s like fining me 5 bucks every time I do a scene because it’s against some community standard. Who cares?

“As far as the race issue I think it’s ridiculous,” Knight went on to say. “The same people that are complaining about the race issue- it could be a white guy. The fact is, it’s a professional athlete not taking his job seriously enough to have a fling with a beautiful woman- they should be mad at that, not because of the guy’s race. He could have been purple. It’s irrelevant. I personally think it’s funny. The big picture is this. What you really have to ask is, these people that are complaining that, there are 10, 12, 13, 14 year-old kids that are watching this and shouldn’t be exposed to this. They can turn on any soap opera in the middle of the day and see the exact same thing. Women dropping their towels and jumping into guys’ arms. Let’s not forget that football is not exactly a pacifist sport. It’s not badminton or tennis. It’s a very violent sport. I think this is funny, a conflict of statements- violence is okay- even though controlled albeit- but non-explicit nudity, not even showing ankles, that’s bad. I don’t get it.”

Talking about “the idiot in New York with the long goofy hair” [Howard Stern], Swami brought up the popular topic on Stern about female porn performers not doing blacks because it hurts their careers. Knight said the first time it happened to him he thought it was funny. “I got up and left the set- I didn’t even try to negotiate or anything. But it does happen from time to time. It’s kind of funny. You can chug all the penis you want as long as it’s not a black guy. If I was someone’s dad I could care less what color the dick is in a girl’s mouth. The act is the same regardless of color in my daughter’s orifice.” Knight points out that there are still some states where interracial product can’t be sold to.

“Because of the community standards law. I can understand some companies not wanting to take that risk, knowing that they can always sell to certain states and not other states; or they can’t sell to cable. I guess I’ve been pretty fortunate. Nevertheless, it really hasn’t affected my career that much. I’ve actually had a lot of opportunities that a lot of guys, a lot of black performers haven’t gotten. I’m shooting a lot for Michael Ninn. I’m shooting a lot for the big feature companies. So I’ve been pretty fortunate in that regard.”

Knight also points to Sean Michaels as a trailblazer. “90% of what I’m doing wouldn’t be possible. I’m sure he dealt with far worse than I did as far as the race issue. He was THE guy back then.”

Swami divided male talent into two classes- the Lexington Steeles, the Mr. Marcuses and the Sean Michaels’.

“They act who they are- African-American. But they act very professional. They can speak the language very clear. Then you have another genre of gentlemen, led by I guess Bishop and Wesley Pipes. They seem to be more street-wise, slang talking, very hard-edged group.”

Knight said trying to homogenize male black talent into one type of person is silly. “We’re all individually unique people. I really feel strongly that when people actually do pay attention to male talent, they look for male talent because of their individual, personal quirks. A guy that wants to see someone like Wesley Pipes who’s talking during scenes and stuff and making jokes and just being funny, may not like the smooth, refined guy like Sean Michaels. Everybody has their place and that kind of diversity is one of the strong points of black performers in the business. It’s such a huge diversity.”

Knight said one of the first blacks he ever saw on film was Wesley Pipes. “I’m, like, dude, this guy’s hilarious. I wish I could do that.” For his part, Knight said he’s tried to mold himself after and emulate Sean Michaels.

Swami notes that Knight has a toy endorsement deal as well as being a Playgirl TV spokesmen. Knight said the toy idea is funny because he has to have the smallest penis on record. “For an adult male black performer’s toy line, isn’t that funny?” Knight also credits Christian Mann from Video Team for hooking him up with California Exotic Novelties. Knight was under contract to Video Team for awhile.

“They helped promote me and helped build me up to where I am right now. I owe a lot to them.” Knight said he was told that the Tyler Knight vibrating dildo is the number one selling dildo California Exotic Novelties has in its line. According to Knight, the Playgirl TV situation was also very interesting.

“It’s the first real erotic channel designed specifically for women,” he says. “They actually did their homework. They did market research surveys and stuff like that. They got to know the demographic and do the women’s point of view. It’s still hard. It’s still edgy. It’s still erotic but at the same time it’s catering to 52% of the population- women.”

Knight said he considered himself fortunate to have been included on the team but that it was strange, though, to be taking pretty boy pix instead of pretty girl pix. “But you get used to it.”

Asked if he had plans some day to start his own company, Knight said he might like to direct but his first love is performing. “I absolutely love what I do. Where can a guy in his early Thirties wake up at noon, drive across the Valley and have sex with beautiful girls? Sometimes three at the same time, whatever and get a nice fat check. I’m going to focus on that.”

Knight said he’ll also work on building his fan base. “And once it’s justified start my own thing or direct eventually. Build up my name a little more.”

Knight is also quick to credit Exotic Star Models.

“They are the best thing that’s happened to me in my business. Period, with an exclamation point. It’s kind of an intangible thing. I’m perceived differently now that I have credibility behind me with those three women [Stacey Valentine,. September Dawn and Shelby Stevens].”

Knight said he’s getting opportunities through those women that he’d never get in a million years, for instance working for Michael Ninn, Playgirl TV and Wicked. There’s also a possibility of working for Vivid and Clubjenna.

“It’s made a big difference in my career. It hasn’t really translated into more jobs per se than I would normally get on my own. But the quality of the jobs I’m getting is immensely better- the caliber of girls; the caliber of sets. It’s just great. I love those girls.”