Back in the day, a major sitcom doing a gay episode was a big deal. A proper gay episode would get headlines, but it would get the attention of two young guys who were still figuring things out — sexuality-wise and culture-wise. Gayest Episode Ever has screenwriter Glen Lakin and stay-at-home journalist Drew Mackie going through the great and not-so-great gay episodes of sitcoms past.
https://www.gayestepisodeever.com/
episode 2: A Queer History of SNL, Part Two
And here is the second half of our two-part opener for this new season. In this episode, we look at LGBTQ-themed recurring Saturday Night Live sketches airing in the year 2000 and beyond. Basically, this one gets us from The Girl With No Gaydar to Bowen Yang, and that’s actually a pretty good synopsis for the evolution of queer-inclusive humor of on this show. Our next installment will be the first deep dive into a specific era of SNL, starting with the “Not Ready for Prime Time” era, and that will be coming in November. So look forward to that — and meanwhile prepare for a little bit of cultural whiplash. Listen to part one here. Here are the sketches, in order:
- Girl With No Gaydar (S27E17: The Rock, 4/13/2000)
- Donatella Versace (S30E18: Johnny Knoxville 5/7/2005)
- Two Gay Guys (S32E4: Hugh Laurie 10/28/2006)
- Deep House Dish (S32E7: Matthew Fox 12/1/2006)
- Vincent Price Holiday Special (S34E16: Alec Baldwin 2/14/2009)
- Stefon (S36E15: Russell Brand 2/12/2011)
- Right Side of the Bed (S40E19: Scarlett Johansson 5/2/2015)
- Dyke & Fats (S39E16: Louis C.K. 3/29/2014)
- Whiskers R We (S41E13: Melissa McCarthy 2/13/2016)
- Bowen Yang Surprisingly Gay (S46E17: Carey Mulligan 4/10/2021)