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 25: A Queer History of SNL, Part Four: The Lost Years
People use the term “the lost years” differently when speaking of Saturday Night Live, but this podcast is using it specifically from the time Lorne Michaels left the show after season five up until season eleven. Aside from Eddie Murphy’s presence on the show, these are the sketches that are less remembered today because they weren’t rerun on Comedy Central in the 2000s as much and they’re largely absent from the cache of episodes preserved online today. And that’s too bad, because this is when the show boasted some legends in the cast — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Billy Crystal, Joan Cusack, Robert Downey Jr., Martin Short and Damon Wayans among them, as well as queer cast members Terry Sweeney, Denny Dillon and Danitra Vance.
The sketches (and click here if you want to watch them):
- “SoHo Lesbians” (S6E10: Debbie Harry)
- “Little Richard Simmons” (S7E1: No host)
- “James Coburn Is a Homosexual” (S7E11: James Coburn)
- “Focus on Film: Making Love” (S7E12: Bruce Dern)
- “Penny Lane” (S10E11: Roy Scheider)
- “Pinklisting” (S11E1: Madonna)
- “Mr. Monopoly” (S11E12: Griffin Dunne)
- Monologue (S11E16: Catherine Oxenberg)
- “Lesbian Pick-Ups” (S11E18: Anjelica Huston)
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