Byline: Eithne Shortall

Over tea in Dublin's Central hotel, Eleanor Tiernan is recounting the finer details of Pamela Anderson's sex tape. Back in 1996, the Baywatch actress and her then husband Tommy Lee became pioneers after footage of them engaged in sexual activity was released on the internet. While Tiernan suspects most of the celebrity sex tapes that came afterwards were leaked intentionally, this one was not.

"It was in a safe in the house she was sharing with Tommy Lee," explains the 42-year-old comedian. "But apparently there was a guy doing work on the house whom Tommy didn't get on with. Tommy refused to pay him. This guy was like, 'I'm getting my money somehow.' He went to this safe -- he thought there'd just be money, but he got the sex tape out of it." The electrician, named by Rolling Stone magazine as Rand Gauthier, made VHS copies and sold them out of his car. "I don't think he made a lot of money. He might have got what he was hoping to get back. She [Anderson] made nothing. There's a curious history to them."

Tiernan has been researching this curious history as preparation for her new stand-up show Success Without a Sex Tape. She has watched several -- "I found them quite dull; they just go on" -- and remains unsure of just how staged they are. "It's funny to say people deserve praise for not doing sex tapes. I think that's a good starting point for the show," she says. "But also, it's fun to just change the focus. I think we're a little bit inclined to underestimate the people who are very wealthy and do sex tapes, like, say, the Kardashians. We're inclined to dismiss them a little bit."

After all, Kim Kardashian's sex tape is what made the socialite a superstar. "So I think they're a great idea and actually the...