Lord of the Lap Dance

In the movies, Don Ameche played Alexander Graham Bell, father of the telephone. Spencer Tracy played Thomas Edison, father of the electric light. Paul Muni played Louis Pasteur, father of pasteurization. But for the father of the nude lap dance, no actor would do. The guy for whom that distinction is claimed, Joe Redner, plays himself onscreen.

Shelby McIntyre’s documentary Strip Club King: The Story of Joe Redner chronicles the famous/notorious Redner, owner of the celebrated Tampa, Florida, strip club Mons Venus. For more than two decades, Redner has clashed with authorities over attempts to regulate lap dancing, especially the “Six-Foot Rule” which requires that distance, at a minimum, between dancer and patron. He’s run repeatedly for public office, and has waged legal war with Ronda Storms, who sounds like a stripper herself but is actually a rabidly conservative Florida Republican pol with a taste for homophobic ordinances.