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The Rialto Report talks with Christy Canyon – about her life as a pioneering performer at start of the video age of adult films.
This episode is 132 minutes long.
The musical playlist for this episode can be found on Spotify.
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Christy Canyon
The first thing you notice when you meet Christy Canyon today, is just how good she looks. I honestly think she looks better now than she did 35 years ago… wait, that can’t be right. Has it really been 35 years since she burst onto the scene and became one of the biggest names in adult film back in the 80s?
Together with Ginger Lynn and Traci Lords, Christy Canyon was one of the original superstars of the California video era, when the girls had big hair, fast cars, and ripped through the business, tearing up the rule book.
Christy was part of a different kind of performer to the women who had come before. These new video vixens looked like the hottest girls in your high school, and for a time, Christy was everywhere – in loops, in films, and in magazines.
Christy first retired from the business within a year, but since then, she’s had more comebacks than Frank Sinatra – and along the way, she became a Vivid girl, was a featured dancer, published a book, appeared in over 100 films and loops, and is a member of every adult film hall of fame ever invented.
For me, she was always the star that girls wanted as their best friend, and your boyfriend wanted to run off with.
Nowadays she hosts her own radio show – which is a natural for her, as she’s one of the most entertaining people you could hope to listen to.
And if anyone tells you that all women in adult films are exploited, just send them to Christy. I’ve rarely met someone as tough and independent as she is, yet she still has a heart of gold.
Christy Canyon, with husband Rob and The Rialto Report’s April Hall
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At laaaaaaaasssssssssttttttttt – this is the best news of the year so far!!!!!!
Christy Canyon on The Rialto Report!!
Congratulations all round. And thank you!!
Thanks for listening Jason!
Christy Canyon was and is legend of the adult film industry. I’ve been privileged to meet her over the years, and she is always as amazing in person as she was on the big (or the VHS) screen.
I’m looking forward to this big time.
I so love Christy!! Always have!! You’re an amazing human being!! 100% perfection!!
Love, Ronnie
The Night of Loving Dangerously features the beautiful Gina Valentino on the cover, but Gina was not in the film? I once asked Christy about this years ago in an email and she was nice enough to answer. She said she shot the cover with Gina but Gina then got sick and they had to shoot the film without her. I remember Christy and Gina looking great on the cover of Little Girls of the Streets, with a huge black man who was built like a football player. I thought, wow, Christy or Gina will probably have an interracial scene in this? But the guy just played the pimp in a non sex role.
It’s great to see Christy doing well and looking great! I wonder whatever happened to Gina?
Christy Canyon-Tamara Longley-Crystal Breeze- Melissa Melendez-Nikki Randall-Gina Carerra-Kari Fox
The 80’s no other era compares to these legends
I think she might be mistaken about that ‘Loving Dangerously’ cover, as there’s a girl/girl set that goes with the image. More likely that they used it because they DIDN’T shoot a cover and, hey, it featured Christy, right?
You could be right, but she was selling that in an 8 x10 one sheet about 10 years ago on ebay. And I asked her about Gina not being in the movie and that was the story Christy told me. Also Ron Jeremy and Christy did a behind the scenes video for Paradise Visuals, they were both really funny in it. At one point Christy is whispering a story about Gina to Ron but was calling her Roz, Ron didn’t know who he was talking about? so Christy yelled Gina Valentino! then Ron remembered her. We didn’t get to hear the story since Christy was whispering but I wonder if it was the story where Gina allegedly shot her boyfriend? that story was making the rounds in the gossip section of porn mags around late 85 early 86. Also I remember reading Gina was on the Newlywed Game in 1986.
Christy has the coolest personality, maybe she will read this and fill us in?
I’ve sent on a couple of stills (to Christy) from the layout with her & Gina.
It appeared a few times – I know because I was buying ANY mag that featured Christy back-in-the-day.
I even recall the first I picked up: The notorious ‘Velvet’ 3-D issue. 😉
One more thought (sorry, Christy!): surely they shot cover material AFTER the film was done?
50/50 but this one was shot a few days before film. We girls were so busy shooting films that studio owners grabbed what ever free day we had off!
No! I’m not wrong! They spent a day shooting covers in that era….they maybe sold images but to my recollection no g/g set was shot…purely box cover variety poses. then she – Gina – wasn’t feeling well day of film. PV paid Ron for box cover shots. Please forward any other shots you’ve found other than alternative shots for this cover
Wow! Hi, Christy!
Not sure what to say, but there is a softcore set with you and Gina as you appear in that shot. It’s set in an alleyway, with a crushed garbage can. It showed up in a few mags.
Very similar to the cover of ‘WPINK-TV’ (a great one!) – a softcore set (clearly shot at the same time) circulated with you, John Holmes & Ali Moore?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CHRISTY-CANYON-Gina-VALENTINO-Lesbian-Big-tits-Magazine-EVAs-in-Love/173857287812?hash=item287ab3ae84:g:-xcAAOSw-0xYi0eR
Here is Gina and Christy from a magazine on ebay, is this the same set?
I knew you would remember Christy! Your memory is too good not to remember that shoot. Thank you for clearing that up, you are the best to the fans.
OK-did Gina really shoot her boyfriend?
Not that I EVER heard! She just went MIA one day and melted back into civilian life I suppose!?! But no I never heard that. I’d love to see her and heather Wayne again!
Thanks for making yourself available for this, and for being so candid and open. The site must appreciate it, and
I know their audience does.
I could, and would, easily listen to another two hours. This appearance covered so much, and could still only scratch the surface of your experiences.
Hopefully you’ll come back and do this again, and we can hear more about what it was like to be there, inside lookin out, in such iconic eras.
Thanks for everything that you gave us, you’re a queen and an idol.
what a name for ur handle . wonder what happened to her. ? wonder if Gina , like christy , but unlike a lot… look very different … actually ran into Gina / Rod at santa monica pier but we both w our others and our kids and i just didn’t say anything . 192 when that happened…
I loved the interview and the insight. Another classic Rialto Report and the best part, it was with Christy Canyon. I met her 25 years ago in a shit hole adult bookstore in Iowa after being a fan for a long time. On the radio, while she’s promoted as “A living legend” but I rarely hear her boast about it and she downplays it a lot on air. She has a knack for being on air and I really enjoy listening to her.
Again, another home run for the Rialto Report.
Thank you as always Patrick!
Holy shit!! Christy Canyon!! Always a big fan of hers and even more so now. What an absolutely hilarious interview! Christy would be so much fun to hang out with.
She was my dream girl back in the 80s as we are about the same age. As soon as I turned 18 and had access to the porn video section at various shops, I zeroed right in on this absolutely stunning brunette with the most incredible body I’d ever seen! Rented any video she was in. It was cool hearing her mention some of those early tapes with Traci Lords that I saw back then. I need to find that scene with her and Ginger (her first g/g scene!!)
Thanks April for another great interview! You do an incredible job and I appreciate all the hours of hard work you must put in before we get to enjoy these interviews.
In the future I’d love it if you could get Taija Rae on.😎👍🏽🔥🔥
Thanks so much E.31!
What a great episode! I’ve always loved Christy/Missy and now I love her even more. It was pure pleasure getting to write Vivid vehicles for her. I’m so happy she cited the Passages series, which I wrote for her and Jennifer Stewart, as some of her favorites. I wrote so many scripts for her it was almost like she was an alter ego. In fact, I wrote an essay about this for Ravishly, which isn’t online anymore but there are bits and pieces of it in this one: https://ravishly.com/2015/02/09/confessions-smut-scribe-turned-soccer-mom Such a breath of fresh air!
Cathy, I really enjoyed that piece, and yet I know those several-hundred-odd words don’t comprise a single blade of grass on the proverbial lawn that was your career as a “smut scribe.” I can only imagine the tales you could tell.
Wow! That was such a vivid classic of mine! Such great times we had and I loved your script….with my piss poor acting I’m sure I butchered your masterpiece! I believe I learned a new word from one of the four parts. You wrote the word writhe in my dialogue. I had no clue what that meant so PT explained it…I was still uncertain so I changed it to wiggling. PT didn’t argue…
Thanks for the insight.
Please do a retrospective on the great erica boyer
Well, that’s my birthday and Christmas rolled into one. You’re the cat’s jammy-jams, April!
Thanks as always JWP!
April, wonderful interview with Ms. Canyon who comes across as very level headed. It’s always nice to hear the stories about the women who took control of their career and turned it into a big positive.
Now we need an interview with my favorite of that era, Tracey Adams!!!
I agree – it’s great to hear Christy totally owning her work and life!
Christy is one of those strong ladies, that could have been a big star in main stream movies as well!
Glad to see her adopt her children, and to see how much joy that brings to her life!
Excellent as always Rialto, keep them coming!
Thanks so much Richard!
I think everyone listening to this snorted along with April when Christy mentioned Ron Jeremy stealing her craft services breakfast.
GREAT interview . Christy is a one of a kind to grace the industry . She had the looks , skills and a natural on screen and made the golden era GOLD .
She’s still the possessor of one of the all-time great adult film bodies, without a doubt. Like Luciano Pavarotti, whenever Christy did a show, she saw EVERY fan that stopped by to see her. I can remember at CES in,what, 1988 (she was wearing a black lace dress) talking to her and when we looked around at the Aladdin they were turning out the lights. She was also one of the last major adult actresses to never do any so-called “interracial” scenes, which shows how different times are today. The thing back then was “…except for Billy Dee” which was how Christy and Amber Lynn got past that, though fitfully. Great to see her still around, and I appreciate the fact that she still has her own take on the industry.
Amber Lynn performed with Field Marshall Bradley and the late Ray Victory in the 80’s
What an awesome podcast! Great job April, but please don’t let two months go by before there’s another one!
We’ll keep on trucking Greg!
This is Bobby Lockhart and i‘ve known Christy for a long time and she looks better than ever, and i loved it. HI Christy by the way. LOVE YOU.
I believe you were in my snail mai fan club in the day! I know your name!
second hottest of her era after Keisha.
well done.
I would put Keisha in the top 5, in my humble opinion here are my top 5 beauties
1. Christy Canyon
2. Angel
3 Crystal Breeze
4 Melissa Melendez
5 Keisha
Don’t eat pop rocks!
They are all stunning….. but I’d find room in any top-5 for Laura Lazare. Now that beauty could have been a Miss Universe contender. Loni Sanders too!
Didn’t she go out with Robin Williams once or twice?
Loved the Christy Canyon interview. April it came across that you enjoyed interviewing her very much. She’s very down to earth and quite a character
Wow! April Hall is smoking hot.
yes she is
She is so beautiful inside and out. Perfect women, intelligent, and obviously hot
Christy Canyon…GODDESS. Have always LOVED her voice, it always aroused me. It’s so different to hear it when she isn’t onscreen, in character. Hearing her as herself, being so candid and matter-of-fact about everything there is. How she comes across, as Melissa, is so endearing.
This is the first time that I’ve listened to “THE RIALTO REPORT”. April has such a smart, witty sensuous and warm voice. Hope that she records some solo episodes, without an interview, even though she’s such a talented interviewer.
Thanks for this, everyone.
We so appreciate it EVM!
I’ve loved the Rialto Report ever since discovering it a few months ago. I’ve never commented, but Christy’s interview was terrific!
I’m about the same age as Christy, and I fondly remember the 80’s and her career, where she seemed to be the absolute pinnacle of the adult world. Yet, I never really watched any of her stuff. Why? She was too beautiful, too other-wordly, and in my young no-confidence-with-women days, I couldn’t even fathom seeing someone like her, much less relate to them as even a fantasy. It was like she was from another, more beautiful plane of existence.
Fast forward 35 years, and listening to this still gorgeous lady talk about her life and career was mesmerizing. Listening to this confident, intelligent woman own her choices and career attracted me to her more than any video cover or magazine layout ever could, and it made her “real”. It was like the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, in which absolute beauty came to life in front of me.
April’s interviewing style as always is incredible. It seemed more like a chat between two friends who were completely comfortable with each other, with questions that let us see the whole person, not just the Christy “character”.
Thanks again!
Thank you so much Desert Monk!
CHRISTY CANYON is undoubtedly one of the blazingest, scorchingest, smokingest babes to spread her stardust across our screens. With her incredibly lush brown tresses, mesmeric gaze, and shapely and oh-so-natural proportions that caused every guy with a pulse to feel like hot candlewax being melted down, Christy rightfully owns her status as a goddess sent to this Earth.
I first witnessed Christy’s unparalleled beauty and talent(s) in the mind-blowing if controversial Savage Fury.
Christy’s on SiriusXM now, but a few years back she popped up on a great albeit short-lived video blog venture dubbed The Joint. I’ll never forget Christy and Debi Diamond “crashing” Tiffany Granath’s show by doing “topless jumping jacks” beside the studio window. Christy went one step further and pressed her beautiful rear up against the glass, too…all while a live show was being streamed! Good times! (:
Wonderful podcast by April Hall & the Rialto Report. Christy Canyon was a great interview: funny, earthy, honest & a joy to listen to.
Thank you so much for listening Frank!
Back in late 1995 my friend and I waited in line at a St. Petersburg, Florida adult video store to meet Christy and get a signed picture. Upon meeting Christy I mentioned my favorite movie with her in it which is WPINK-TV, great scenes with her and Ron Jeremy and the quality of the whole production including sets and lighting was very high. Paradise Visuals!!
Anyway, Christy was very nice and told me that was one of the first shot-on-video adult movies which she fondly remembered..Christy telling me this made the whole experience even better than it already was. Later on my friend asked me what Christy and I were talking about lol. Fast forward 23 years later around Thanksgiving 2018 and a couple asked me who was the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen in person. I didn’t hesitate to tell them it was Christy Canyon back and they were mesmerized by the whole story and wanted to know all the details..it was all true, I didn’t know a woman could look even better in person but Christy Canyon was the best ever!
Ahhhhh thank you!!!! This story is so nice to hear! xoxoxo and may our paths meet again!
P.S. Fantastic podcast, April. This is probably the best one yet from The Rialto Report. Kudos!
Geia sou (Hi) Christy!
I truly enjoyed listening to your story! From the beginning- the Greek- Armenian part of your heritage! 🙂
Wishing you all the best in life for you and your family and keep being as you are! Stay beautiful!
Great interview (as always) April! 😉
Regards from Athens! (The original one!)
Pan. K.
Wow,that interview was such a treat!I only discovered Christy’s work a decade ago and I understand why she was so popular!Those two hours flew by so fast and April,you are an incredible interviewer and I could listen to you for hours!
What a great interview with Christy Canyon. I have listened to every Rialto Podcast and this one is at the tops of them all!!! So great to hear about a star from the Golden Years who lived right during her career in porn… thinks about the smart things to do…looked towards her future which gives her story a happy ending. Great job Christy!!!
Anyone know what Greg Rome is up to nowadays?
He made a comeback in the mid 90’s for a couple of films, the 6 pack abs, and muscles were gone, he no longer over bleached his hair blonde, he looked a little rough.
Christy Canyon she was awesome x-rated film star from 1984 through 1985 she made come back from 1989 through 1993 on and off-screen relationship with Peter North thank you April I am old school Golden Age x-rated film from the 70s 80s and early 90s 1970 through 1993 forever
It’s late 2020. I’m casting around for … I dunno, _something_ to make me feel grounded, or normal, or whatever. When I stumbled upon this interview, I was instantly transported back to junior high, sneaking Christy’s videocassettes from my -brother-in-law’s closet. ( I had a key to my sister’s house so I could mow their lawn on summer weekdays.) Christy had become… kind of a big deal to my sexual wake-up. I devoured this interview hoping it would re-create some of that feeling. Which it did, because, gawd, Christy Canyon. But I am even more astounded by the quality of the interview. April Hall has done her homework, knows the history, and asks perfectly placed questions in the moment. That Jim South question was on point, provocative, and only possible because of a professional doing a bang-up job with her craft. This is world-class journalism in a place where world-class journalism usually fears to tread. In short, I came for the Christy Canyon, but I’m staying for the April Hall! Can’t wait to catch up.
Great stuff. Christy comes across as very clever and self assured. Glad she mentioned Heather Wayne, albeit briefly. Please somebody find out where Heather went and how she’s doing!
Christy Canyon was and is still stunning. Kay Parker was another actress thst stood out for me. Thanks again April!
Thanks so much Leej!
I read Christy’s book back when it came out in 2004. I sent her email telling her how much I enjoyed it and couldn’t put the book down. She sent me the sweetest email back.
In an industry where one can be easily destroyed, she was the total opposite and shared positive experiences although times were very different then.
Great interview and great song choices!