Sketch Comedy's Greatest Gay Hits

When the skit aired in 2003, it was reassuring to hear the audience cheer the first time Barinholtz and Meyers kiss and see that the joke focused on the guys’ confusion, not on the same-sex element. “I don’t know what’s going on here, okay?” Meyers protests. “Just because a couple guys kiss and dance a little and grope each other and one of them whispers to the other, ‘I know you’re a man, but I’m going to treat you like a lady,’ that does not make them gay.”

Chris Kattan’s character Mango on SNL was a burlesque performer who inspired obsession in his many fans – regardless of their gender or sexuality. With his talented hips and the sound of Everything But the Girl’s “Missing”, Mango’s allure was irresistible. While part of the joke was that celebrities otherwise not attracted to men were intensely attracted to Mango (even Garth Brooks was helpless to resist), the real punch line was always the obsessive lengths to which the smitten guests would go to woo the dancer. Sometimes the attempts to court Mango were interrupted by another celebrity, as in the sketch below, where David Duchovny is pulled away by John Goodman:

MadTV took aim at Abercrombie and Fitch – a retailer known for the homoerotic imagery of its catalogs – in skits featuring store employees who actually lived the lifestyle depicted in the retailer’s catalogues (i.e., skinny dipping by moonlight or traveling to a hunting lodge for a group shower with other athletic guys). The staff would frequently stop to pose for pictures and by the end of each skit would end up lying on the floor, atop one another.

Sketches that address changing attitudes towards gays

As LGBT visibility improves and homophobia becomes less acceptable, sketch comedy shows can be regarded as a barometer of mainstream attitudes toward gays.

One notable sketch on this topic is a 2001 Saturday Night Live parody ad for “Homocil,” a drug for parents suffering from anxiety over a gay-acting son. As we watch footage of effeminate boys and their worried-looking parents, a calming voice intones, “If you’re obsessed about things you can’t change; if you’re unable to cope with unforeseen developments.” If the parody ad doesn’t spell out its point clearly enough, it’s said bluntly in the tagline: “Until you come around … because it’s your problem, not theirs.”