NYC Club to Mix Porn With MST3K Every Wednesday

NEW YORK CITY—They're calling it "Porn and Karaoke," but there's no singing involved—unless the participants are moved to burst out in melody. Instead, customers at the R Bar in New York's SoHo district will get to perform their own porn scenes—but in audio only. The brainchild of Montreal event planner Sherwin Sullivan Tjia, and hosted at R Bar by burlesque performer Kita St. Cyr (pictured), customers will be "assigned" 20-second clips from porn movies and be expected to improvise dialog (or, possibly, music) to go along with the miniscule excerpts. While it's called "karaoke," in practice, it's much more akin to the famous comedy show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), except without the cute robots. "You could end up with anything from lesbian porn to pterodactyl porn," explained St. Cyr on why participants can't choose their own clips. "People are not encouraged to stay true to the actual dialogue. It's actually funnier if you're not super-serious." "You go up there and make it as ridiculous as you want, or as sexy you want," added Tjia. "The whole thing is a parody of both karaoke and our attitudes about porn." According to an article in the New York Daily News, two or more participants stand at microphones and improvise dialog as the porn plays in the background, and St. Cyr and two other judges will assess the performers' "enthusiasm, technical merit and artistic impression," with winners receiving trophies and CDs of ... cat purring noises? "The audience members are also cautioned that the event may include porn scenes they don't particularly enjoy, or even find watchable," the article warns. (We can easily think of a couple of those.) Anyway, the fun starts tonight at R Bar, 218 Bowery, between Prince and Rivington Streets. It'll cost $5 to get in, but where else in the city can you see publicly-displayed porn, albeit in 20-second clips, that cheap? For more info, call 212-334-0484.