Sketch Comedy's Greatest Gay Hits

Skits that make light of gay stereotypes

Gay stereotypes that reduce gay people to one-dimensional punch lines used to be the standard in television comedy. Now, however, they’re more often used to mock those who hold a limited view of gay people as individuals.

In Acceptable.TV’s most popular sketch, the fake reality competition “Operation Kitten Calendar, ” photographers are challenged to please a Donald Trump-type tycoon who made his fortune on kitten calendars. One contestant who makes it to the final round is Silence, who mimics the sassy gay male contestant often found in the cast of reality shows. When Silence is eliminated, he insists that he still has a bright future ahead: “I’ve been awarded an Alternative Lifestyles Image Award for raising awareness of homosexual stereotypes.”

Meanwhile, British comic Catherine Tate played with gay stereotypes with the character of Derek Faye.

The formula for the skits involves another character presuming that Faye is gay, prompting him to take offense and utter his catchphrase, “How very dare you?” Part of the humor of the Faye skits is that the offense usually occurs when someone tries to subtly show their support and acceptance of Faye’s presumed homosexuality, as when a relative suggests that he could finally get married under new Civil Partnership laws. However, each skit also ends with Faye doing something very flamboyant, usually storming out of the room holding the hand of his friend, Leonard.

Tate plays with gay stereotypes differently in the “Gay John Reilly” skits. When we first encounter Reilly, he is struggling to come out to his tough-talking mother. He braces himself for the worst reaction, but when he finally reveals the truth, she is thrilled with the news and immediately hits him up for fashion advice.

John gets similar reactions from others in the village who learn that he is gay and immediately assume that he knows something about fashion (which he doesn’t). Although he braces himself for more negative reactions, John doesn’t seem much happier with the ones he gets, since everyone still sees him as a different person after learning he’s gay.