The Ambivalently Gay Viewer: "Saturday Night Live"’s Mixed Record on Gay Humor

This brought back some fun memories. Another pretty positive sketch from the mid-80s starred Howard Hesseman as a gay father whose son is home from college. The humor revolved around Hesseman trying to set up his son on dates with a several other young men as the son becomes more and more agitated, finally breaking down to confess that he's straight. Hesseman reacts by asking what he did wrong as a father. It was a very funny turnaround on coming out.

for mentioning the oddly outdated and out of touch "obsessed gay co-worker" sketch from the Christopher Walken episode this month. It left me scratching my head as to what 21st century comedy writer would think strangling a co-worker over an unrequited gay crush was funny. Then again, I find myself not getting a lot of the violence-tinged sketches that have been showing up lately, usually involving punching people in the face or shooting each other for no reason.

One minor correction to the story - the song that Jake Gyllenhaal performed in drag was from "Dreamgirls," not "Showgirls." Two very different types of campy.

is it wrong that i liked gays in space? i always found it to be quite funny and enjoyable. sometimes it's good to laugh at ourselves.

the big gay sketch show could be considered just as bad, if not worse, but it's okay cause it's on "the gay channel"?

and andy samberg snl beefcake... really?

The skit "Lyle, the Effeminate Heterosexual" may not have been a recurring character, although I seem to remember it being done more than once. Dana Carvey was a husband and father, whose neighbors and family members all thought he was gay. I don't remember it being especially funny.

Funny that none of the writers you talked to brought up the "we make fun of everybody" excuse that Leno often uses for stepping over the line.

While I have cringed at the gay jokes on SNL, the Ass-bury Park joke did make me laugh because it sounds like something my straight bar buddies might say to me, like I might rib them if they for putting their finger in a ring. It's a silly, funny jab. I can take that humor if it isn't malicious, but jocular. That kind of joke is better amongst friends.

The Canteen Boy and the Scoutmaster sketch, was creepy and rude. But I hated another Baldwin sketch no less, the parody, Brokeback Goldmine. That's when I stopped watching the show every Saturday. At the time E.W.s Popwatch Blog called it "about as fresh as refrigerator-cleanout day." Maybe it wasn't so offensive as just cashing in on the total Brokeback-ha-ha-snicker-ha-ha. That was the same night that Tina Fey's dad supplied a joke for Weekend Update: "The movie is making history as the first Western where the good guys get it in the end." So, everybody was getting in on the act.

I might have liked Gays In Space better if they had called it anything other than that. Aren't we tired of the swish and mullet jokes yet?

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Andy Samberg doesn't take his clothes off nearly enough for my taste! I admit I like my beefcake on the lean side.

As a shirtless Castaway
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As a Naked Guy (Josh Drimmer) on Weekend Update
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...And it's so great Pell is around over there. From an lgbt perspective and a female one - which according to stuff Tina Fey has said that used to be rare. I loved Gays in Space too. Mainly cuz of Maya Rudolph and the theme song...

Future epitaph: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Lots of funny memories here, and it is interesting to see the (occasional) progression from homophobic humor to homo-supportive (like in the Homocil sketch). I remember another sketch with guest Danny Devito that kept collapsing into gay erotica, always triggered by the line "You look like you need a massage;" it was the repetition of this line--like it was a magic incantation that would seduce any man--that made the sketch funny, especially by the 3rd time or so. I never found the "Canteen Boy" sketch offensive, probably because Alec Baldwin is such a brilliant comedian and so completely committed to the part--he's not creepy or pervy, he's over the moon with genuine romance. (Watch it again, and how he sighs with happiness into Sandler's hair, "Ah, you make me laugh, Canteen Boy!") If this sketch had been done with a boy it would've been inappropriate, but with 27-year-old Sandler it became a great joke. (What gay man past the age of consent wouldn't want a shirtless Alec Baldwin making a pass at them?) I agree about the lame SNL "Brokeback Mountain" sketch, however, especially because "Mad TV" did a brilliant parody of "Brokeback" with two women, and rather than be repulsed the men in their lives wanted--of course!--to watch them have sex. This neatly pointed up the homophobia double-standard with regards to gender. SNL's was just dumb. (It's surprising, considering how SNL likes to appeal to straight men, that they don't have more lesbians in their sketches at all, but maybe that's better for the lesbians.) I appreciate Andy Samberg's gay-friendliness--loved the short with Andy's dad and Jonah Hill--but if any male cast member is going to keep getting undressed, please let it be Will Forte. (Forte's reactions during Jake Gyllenhall's song were pure comic gold, too.)

I seem to remember this somewhat funny sketch that was a take off on after school specials with Mike Myers and I think David Spade that showed Spade in a high school romance with Myers, the star of the football team and the parents having absolutely no problem with it. Instead it parodied the after school specials about saving one's virginity. I remember it vaguely but it being kind of funny. In my opinion, the best gay moment for SNL was when Sir Ian McKellen hosted. In the opening monologue he had mentioned how cute he thought Jimmy Fallon was and later during Weekend Update, while dressed in drag as Maggie Smith, tricked Jimmy and planted a nice kiss right on his lips. Fallon, clearly stunned and the audience still going nuts, could only respond with, "Did I just get knighted? Or was I queened?" Brilliant spur of the moment humor from both McKellen and Fallon.

I got a kick out of Two Gay Guys From Jersey on Weekend Update, with Fred Armisen and Bill Hader as the two gay guys. It's broad, stereotype-based humor, but the stereotypes in question are about people from New Jersey, rather than about gay men. It was cool to see gay men portrayed as macho and unstylish and in love.

 Armisen and Hader also did Two Gay Guys From Connecticut, I think, with the same focus on regional and socio-economic humor. It would be great if they kept going, right across the country.

This is my first post, here, so I apologize ahead of time if any rules are broken by myself. If necessary, I am available for punishment around seven-ish. I do love "Saturday Night Live." Granted, I'm not that familiar with the first 10 years and a few recent episodes haven't given me many laughs, but I still faithfully watch the show. As Charles mentioned, there was an enjoyable skit called, "Sex and Peer Pressure at Valley High" (transcript found below).  Another skit/parody that I've always loved is the Lifetime special, "I Took a Gay Guy to Prom," where three women--including an elderly kook played by the incomparable Molly Shannon--reminisce about their prom and try to answer the question, "What attracts teenage girls to young gay men" (transcript and video found below). 

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/92/92hvalleyhigh.phtml

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/97/97qgayguy.phtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL4qB9IM9dM

 

There's no question that some SNL humor over the years has been flat out homophobic.  Certainly there were periods when it was very much so.  But the same could be said, especially in the 70's and 80's for media like the radio.

But at the same time, let's not forget that SNL also has a proud history of mocking people on the other side of the fence.

My favorite would have to be the Church Lady. Remember her?  Dana Carvey's 80's taunt of conservative Christian media personalities.  That was a very funny skit and like so many I was always eagerly awaiting her judgement of the causes behind her guests' sin with the phrase: "Could it have been....SATAN!?"

Plus of course there was plenty of good mockery of Ron and Nancy Reagan, which was well-deserved in my opinion.

SNL comedy is often heavy-handed and crude, but I think you need a Persecution Complex to believe that it was specific to us.  Besides, I laughed my @$$ off at The Ambiguously Gay Duo!

Anyone remember a sketch from years ago, in which David Spade was checking into his college dormitory? And his big beefy pal "Bear" (played by John Goodman) met his other big beefy pal "Ox" (played by Chris Farley)? Leading to a very obvious jealous, protective, and totally manly competition between Bear and Ox to see who David Spade's character liked more? When I watched it years ago the homoeroticism really jumped off the screen at me, especially because it wasn't the typical physical homoeroticism that's played for laughs, but a more psychological brand. Of course, that was still being played for laughs too...

What the heck ever happened to Terry Sweeney? Seriously. I know he was doing a show where he was Nancy Reagan but that was eons ago. Was he really only on for one season?

The gay couple in the "Jeremy & Stacia" skit obviously came about because there were only 3 women in the cast at the time, and they all had parts in this skit. Rather than dress someone in drag, it was quicker and easier to have a gay couple.