Talk, Variety, or Nonfiction Program

Sometimes we need people to tell us things, or goof off with us, or point out the absurdity of modern life. And that's why God invented talk shows. We’ve always found this whole category to be a bit of an odd grouping. Saturday Night Live and Keith Olbermann are up for the same award? And if this were the real Emmys, we'd have to lump in awards - the Oscars, the Tonys and every other award show with our nominees -- and that makes as about much sense as Glenn Beck.

The shows nominated here have varying quantities of gay content, but regardless of actual quantity, they have got a definite gay sensibility that makes us love them.

The Colbert Report

Admittedly choosing a favorite between Stewart, and his progeny Stephen Colbert is nearly impossible. As a conservative blowhard, Colbert can go places that Stewart can’t, because if you miss his irony (and so much of the world is irony-challenged), he’s just being nice to the bigots.

Colvert also seems a little more inclined to go the homoerotic route than is Stewart, and that affords viewers a little more eye candy.

Just this year alone, Colbert had his hunky MLK mascot, unveiled his studly body-doubles for his Iraq trip, destroyed NOM’s Gathering Storm ad, took on Don't Ask/Don't Tell on a military base in a warzone, and mocked the recent gay demon exorcism.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann

He’s a fire breathing liberal that isn’t afraid to say he’s “one step above a dancing monkey” on his own show. Clearly, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. But he does take anti-gay bigotry deeply seriously, even if he tears it down with humor.

Whether he’s dissecting DADT with Dan Savage, wondering who Carrie Prejean is and why we care, or awarding his nightly “Worst Person in the World” award, he’s always on our side. Oh – and he looks, at least to me, to be what Alec Baldwin should have aged into.

But it may have been after the passage of Prop 8 in California that Olbermann passed “advocate for liberal causes” status and became one of our bosom buddies. His Special Comment segment concerning Prop 8s passage brought a tear to the eye of everyone who heard it.

The Daily Show

The Daily Show has seen quite a few hosts in its various incarnations over the years. There was a time when Craig Killborn hosted that it was so homophobic, we didn’t watch for years. But the queer community can’t ask for a better ally than Stewart in our fight for equality.

Stewart is exceptionally smart, funny and relentless in taking on a hypocrite, but what’s astounding is just how tireless he is fighting for our rights. This year alone, he’s proved an ordained gay bishop can be hilarious, took on Prop 8 so many times I lost track, tried running Rush Limbaugh out of New York City, saluted Vermont on gay marriage equality, took on DADT, Fox & Friends, and saluted Tim Gunn.

We’ve personally offered to knight Jon Stewart as is our right as the arbiter of all things gay. Now it's up to to decide if he's earned a gay Emmy.

Infomania, That's Gay

We’ll admit it – we’ve never watched an entire episode of Infomania on CurrenTV. Which means we have no idea what the whole program is like. That being said, we never, ever miss the Bryan Safi segment.

In fact, That’s Gay is appointment viewing for me. This summer Bryan had us in stitches talking about gay penguins, Bruno, gay commercials, faux-lesbian stunt kissing, and even Gayngels. Nothing’s sacred with this show, and that’s generally how we like our comedy. The fact that Safi’s adorable is just icing on the cake.

The Rachel Maddow Show

While AfterElton.com is all about the gay and bisexual men business, we've got such a girl crush on Rachel Maddow. She makes those nasty, insane people go quiet, because she does something totally unique in cable news – she researches facts. She’ll follow the money. And then she’ll explain it all in simple, straightforward words that we can understand.

She doesn’t use wild interactive walls. She doesn’t scream her points. She never makes stuff up. And she gets the inherent silliness of the universe. She’s a proud nerd and she’s a tireless advocate for civilized, logical debate whether the subject is torture, health care, Prop 8, and DADT.

Saturday Night Live

We can occasionally be rough on Lorne Michael’s aging baby, but to be honest, we’ve got a lot of respect for the incubator for so many of our beloved comic talents. Obviously, being topical and trying to remake the show every single week around the guest host's talents, the program can be hit or miss – especially when it goes after a gay topic. When it misses, we can be brutal, but when it hits, we tend to gush and forgive the abuse from before.