I agree with the premise of both of your points, Tampa. First Tyler was using his "off the cuff, sarcastic wit", when he made the "enabling them" comment. However I disagree that his line fell flat. I smiled and thought it was a great time to throw in an ad lib quip like that. Keep in mind, Tyler was laying back, getting his cock sucked, perhaps about to zone into one of his blissful out of body zones's that he gets into during sexual pleasure. When out of nowhere, David interrupted his bliss with something to the effect of, "Now is a good time to give a shoutout to SlimVintage". Much like when one is woken up out of a dream, Tyler opened his eyes wide, and went into a hand wave to Slim, and uttered his quip. I smiled and shook my head at the absurdity of transitioning from getting a blowjob to waving to a forumite. I thought Tyler handled it exactly the way I would have expected from him.
And of course, this scene was filmed before Dustin/Andrew passed away. Tyler and Dustin were the two shining stars of
Broke Straight Boys for a period in time when
Broke Straight Boys was coming into it's own. Again he was being sarcastic, pretending not to remember his name, and using the derisive nicknames that the forum members had come up with to describe Dustin at that moment in time. Having watched all of Tyler's video's and his Behind The Scenes interview with David, and having read all of his posting's on this forum, I do not for a moment think that Tyler would have been disrespectful to the memory of Dustin, by using those terms of "non-endearment" referring to his late, tragically murdered buddy and former co-worker. Guy's, let's give Tyler more credit than to even think that he would have said that after the passing of Andrew.
And finally, after reading everyone's thoughts on Tyler's performance in this video, perhaps his time on the futon has come and passed. I personally enjoy watching him do an occasional performance on screen. For me, it's kind of like being curious about seeing a former boyfriend or fuck buddy, a year or so after you stopped seeing him, and wondering how his body looks, and reminiscing about the hot times you had. Tyler has grown up, and I think that it's wonderful that he has found a career working with David and Eddie. It's like a former major league ball player, becoming a coach or manager in his post playing days, and occasionally taking part in a practice or "Old timer's Game". While Tyler is still beautiful and his body is looking better than ever, I don't think his head, (the big one and the little one) is still in making porn films. I would imagine that he is as passionate as ever, or more so, when he is behind closed doors with someone that he is totally into.
David has told us that there are more scenes with Tyler "in the can". I hope that the future releases do not receive the negative reviews that this one did. But if that is the case, perhaps it will prove that his time as a performer on this site has come and passed, but I will always be very much into watching him. I am still a huge Tyler fan, and want to see him naked as often as possible.