Made infamous by HBO's Cathouse documentary series, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch became a household name and with it, its owner rose to a celebrity status of sorts. Utilizing his newfound fame to circumnavigate Nevada's no-adult advertising law, Dennis Hof has traveled far and wide making appearances in various talk shows, leaving behind an imprint of the brand he has worked so hard to cultivate.

However, if Dennis Hof is one thing, it�s not a �pimp.� More the consummate businessman (sometimes showcased in how he breaks up with a girlfriend), his unmistakable pride is not in the �bunnies� he has cultured or how he�s constantly surrounded by beautiful women, but in how he has erected (no pun intended) a legitimate business and made it that much more palatable for mainstream tastes�almost in the fashion of Bernard Shaw�s �Pygmalion.�

SexHerald: Let�s start with your history with the Bunny Ranch.

Dennis Hof : It was founded in 1955. In 1972, Nevada legalized prostitution. Up till then, it was tolerated. In 1992, I bought the Bunny Ranch and turned it into the most famous place in the world, by using the right marketing techniques and bringing in the right girls. I just ran it like a business. I used generally accepted business and accounting practices rather than the old-school mentality of how to run a cathouse. When I bought the place, the mentality in Nevada�and, it still is in a lot of places in Nevada�was: Get in, get up, get off and get the fuck out of the house. They called it �trick and travel.�

SH: [laughs]

Hof: That�s how they treated people. I looked at this and said, �Wait a minute. Just because we have a spectacular product that everybody wants, where does that give these brothels the right to be mean to people and not have proper customer service and quality controls?� I said, �Hold on; stop that. No, no, we�re not going to do that. We�re going to treat these people�the customers�with respect; there are no more tricks. Do not use the word �trick� in my house or you will be terminated. There are no more �Johns.� These are customers; these are clients. You aren�t a whore; you are a working girl.� So, it starts with a level of respect on both parties.

Next thing I did was: �Wait a minute, I don�t like this. You mean, if the customer has the money the girl has to party with him?� �Yeah, that�s how it works. And if she doesn�t party with him, then she pays the house.� And a lot of houses are still like that in Nevada. I said, �No. In this business, I�m looking for a willing buyer and a willing seller. I want the girl to be happy. So, she has the right to say �no.��

SH: That�s a nice policy.

Hof: Yeah. In other words, a guy comes in and he�s too short, he�s too tall, too skinny, too fat, too rich, too poor, too black, too white, too whatever, and she doesn�t want to be with him. All she has to do is be nice to him and say, �You know, honey? I�ve got a regular coming in a little while and it wouldn�t be fair to you if we partied.� Or, �I think it�d be better if we found another girl.� But, don�t make the guy feel bad! Don�t say, �You�re too fat� or �You�re too black� or whatever the girl�s reason is. A girl should not have to sleep with a guy she doesn�t want to for money; she shouldn�t be forced to do that. So I said, �You don�t party with anybody you don�t want to. Be a picky ho, if you want; that�s okay.� It always works out. The one guy this girl doesn�t want to party with, three other girls DO want to party with.

Second thing, a lot of customers in here� because their spouses, wives [are] amateur sex providers; that�s the reason they�re here. Wives and girlfriends don�t know how to have sex. Until you�ve been with numerous partners and have done lots of things and expanded, you�re not good at it! If you and I are going to build a formula one racecar, we�re not going to New York School of Driving to get someone who just walked out of school. We�re going to the guy who won the race last year, aren�t we? It�s the same way sexually. And, the reason why these guys come here is because girlfriends and wives won�t do certain things and it may be something very minimal. I�ve seen guys come in and here and say how �kinky� they were and �I don�t think I can party here because I�m real kinky.� This was a lawyer who did this. And come down to it, he wanted to do it doggy style. Basic things to some people are real kinky to others. But, everybody has a limit.

So we tell the girls: �Don�t party with anybody you don�t want to. And, don�t do anything you don�t want to. Whatever your limit is, well then that�s where it should stay. So just put him off to somebody else and say, �You know what, honey? I don�t know how to do anal� or �I do anal in my personal life but not in my work life, but thank you so much for picking me.�

Last thing I said was, �Don�t do anything for less money than you think it�s worth. You decide. I don�t put a price on you. It�s not fair for me as an owner to tell you what you�re going to do in bed and how much money you�re going to get for it.� These are some of the initial things in 1992 that turned the Bunny Ranch into such a success.

SH: What does it take to be a Bunny Ranch girl?

Hof: You don�t have to be beautiful to be a working girl because that�s really not what makes it work. Madam Suzette, who does the hiring, looks for people skills and personality. So, you show me an 18 year old who I can take right to Larry Flynt and put her in Hustler or Penthouse or one of the magazines and I�ll show you a 38 year old who�s got a GREAT personality, two kids and an extra 20 pounds on her butt but she�ll make more money. Because people skills and personality are more important than looks and body�EVERY time. That being said, if you got an 18 year old with killer looks and body and she�s got a good personality, well then you�ve got a girl who�s going to make half a million dollars this year.

SH: [whistles] That much, huh?

Hof: Yeah. The average girl works at the Bunny Ranch about 10 days to two weeks a month. We don�t make them stay a certain period of time. It�s like booking a hotel. The only thing we ask you to do is do what you say. If you say you�re coming in on the 6 th and you�re going to stay until the 16 th, then do it. It�s always fun, it�s always crazy, and nobody wants to leave. We had 9,010 girls apply to BunnyRanch.com last year.

SH: Let�s briefly talk about HBO�s Cathouse.

Hof: It�s HBO�s highest rated nonfiction show; the ratings are gigantic. We started our fourth year in February with a new concept. Instead of doing weekly shows like we�ve done in the past, we�re going to do monthly shows. They�re going to do one show and air it a zillion times in a month and then give �em another one; they�re going to dole them out. I think it�s going to be amazingly successful because people travel, they do things, they miss shows, and they need to be caught up on the soap opera. We�re a reality show, but more of a soap opera.

SH: Reality shows are not real, per se; as in the actions that transpire are not always spur of the moment and unscripted as viewers are beginning to realize. So, how much on the show is actually real? Is anything staged at all?

Hof: No, no. It�s reality; it�s just what happens here. This is what�s going on. It�s how we live. Because something�s always happening, we�re always saying, �Gosh, I wish the film crew were here�; because crazy things are happening. We set up the cameras. When we first started, it was five years ago. The concept was Taxicab Confessions but at the Bunny Ranch, because I liked that show.

The concept was the customer comes in and� Nevada is a one-party state. So, we can film as long as one party knows you can film or audio record. So, we�d set it up; the guy would go to the room; the girl would talk to him about what he wants to do, how much he wants to spend, why he�s here; all this stuff. Then the girl would push the button and say, �Madam Suzette, would you come here please?� like she was going to collect the money, then they�d tell him. �You know, we�re filming a documentary��because that�s what it was at the time��and we want you to be a part of it. If you don�t want to be a part of it, nobody will ever see it and it�ll be destroyed; if you want to be a part of it, sign a release, and make yourself a part of the show.� Now it�s turned into more of a show about the life of me, my girls, how we live, what we do, and the soap opera that we have in the business.

SH: Much to my chagrin, I haven�t seen all the episodes. But the ones I did watch, they seem to emphasize your role in the drama that involves some of these women�s heartbreak. Do you date the girls at the Bunny Ranch?

Hof: Oh, yeah; I don�t date civilians. I wouldn�t even consider dating a girl who�s not in the business. First of all, she can be a bad lover; second of all, they can�t handle my life. They can�t handle me being around girls all the time; they can�t handle me going to a porn event and having some porn star hanging on me. It�s hard not to date a working girl that understands.

As for the heartbreak stuff, I dated a girl that was here; she was married. Then we got together and she was a swinger that became a porn star and she came from that life. Then we hooked up; we had threesomes with girls, we had fun, we had a good time. All of a sudden, all of that changed. And when it changed, it wasn�t fun for either one of us anymore. Then we split up and that was the end of it. She moves on, I move on. She knew the ground rules when we went in. I don�t want to be monogamous. I want to be with a girl that likes girls. I don�t want to date a girl that doesn�t like girls. Why set myself up for a problem? I�m gonna be with other girls; it�s that simple.

I�m not a jealous person. I don�t mind if the girl I�m dating is here having sex with guys. I�m above all that. I know what we have; I know the difference between love and sex. And, I understand I�d be a major hypocrite if I told the girl she couldn�t work. And they need to understand who I am: this is my business, this is my life. The deal I will make with them is I won�t party with any other girls unless they�re involved in it. That�s fair. That�s how the relationship was. After a period of time, she wanted to change the rules; she didn�t like that.

SH: What was the longest relationship you�ve ever had?

Hof: Nine years with one woman and it was a monogamous relationship [we were married]. This was when I was young. Then I bought the Ranch and I was living with a girl for five years, and that was a monogamous relationship. I�m basically a serial monogamist; I want to be with one girl�that�s what I like. First and foremost, I�m a businessman rather than a playboy. I�m a great single guy. But do I like going out and picking up girls and getting home at four in the morning with some drunk chick and having to do deal with all that and staying up way too late? No. I want to be in bed at a reasonable time, doing my business the next day. If I was up until 5 o�clock in the morning banging some chick last night, I wouldn�t be here this early in the morning; I was here at 7:45 overseeing some construction and getting ready for a television show we�re doing.

If I have a girl in my life, it grounds me; it just slows me down a little bit, which is good. I�ll get a call, like Ron Jeremy called me. �Dennis, I�m in Puerto Rico. Come over here. You need to be here with me.� I�m like, �No. I got a date tonight with this girl.� �Dude, c�mon. Blow her off.� �No, I�m not blowing her off; I like this chick. I�m seeing her. She works here. And, I promised I�d take her to this function.� �Oh my god, you�re like in love.� I said, �No. I�m just respectful.� I�d rather wake up with the same girl every day than be out banging different chicks all the time.

SH: Do you have any children?

Hof: I have two children that I disowned a long time ago.

SH: Why is that?

Hof: They just didn�t do the right thing; they disrespected a family and it�s goodbye. I haven�t spoken to them in 15 years and I don�t plan on ever speaking to them.

SH: Going back to the business, you bought the Bunny Ranch in 1992 for a million. How did you come up with the money to make the purchase?

Hof: Real estate developments. I did timeshare projects.

SH: Why did you decide to buy the Ranch?

Hof: Opportunity. I was a small businessman all my life. I had done different businesses. I had a company that gave lectures throughout the world on investments in the United States; I owned a chain of gas stations when I was really young. All it was a business opportunity.

SH: You seem to have gentlemanly mannerisms that�s pervasive in your speech. Where did you grow up?

Hof: I grew up in Phoenix, south Tempe, Ariz.

SH: Lastly, what is your favorite sex position?

Hof: Cowgirl.