SNL's new season is gayer than ever

I'm one of those weird people who still watches Saturday Night Live, and is willing to slog through an hour and a half of intolerably bad guest hosts, openly wretched intro monologues and enough Will Forte to choke a camel for just a glimpse of Kristen Wiig in any of her twitchy incarnations.

But only two episodes into the season, something already seems different about SNL: it's bona fide gay-crazy.

The biggest gay gag thus far was the premiere's digital short, where Andy Samberg sang a love song to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, based on the leader's baffling comments to an audience at Columbia University early last week that there were no homosexuals in his country.

But this week's episode (which featured guest Seth Rogan) featured a gay-inclusive moment that was far more interesting for the fact that it was barely even addressed. In a skit about a couple of hideous twin children who keep interrupting their parents' dinner party, Jason Sedakis and Fred Armisen played what was obviously supposed to be a gay couple. But in a rare turn, their being gay had nothing to do with the skit and wasn't a punchline of any kind or an excuse to camp things up. It felt as thought the writers simply said, "Well, if an urban couple was having a few other couples over for dinner, one of them could very well be a gay couple" and that was that.

The Weekend Update's "Really!?! With Seth and Amy" skit called out Larry Craig for his gay bathroom sex antics and anti-gay policy, and made the point that it's not the gay part that has them upset, it's the sex in bathrooms part.

The bit was funny and hit the right notes, and a later joke about George Takei getting an asteroid named after him once scientists realized he was "supergay" was amusing if only for the continued mention of the actor, whose public profile has skyrocketed since he came out.