Gayest Episode Ever

“Stealing Nikki” (November 26, 2000) Go figure: It’s our longest episode yet, and it’s about a show you might not even remember! We were fortunate enough to get Talking Simpsons co-host Henry Gilbert back for a second go-around, and we decided to make use of his encyclopedic knowledge of professional wrestling. Lucky for us, there is in fact a sitcom that discusses pro wrestling and queerness in the same context, and it’s Nikki Cox two-season comedy series, which could not be more early 2000s. Even better? It aired on The WB, which allows us to discuss that netlet’s role in TV history. Listen to Talking Simpsons, because we ripped it off in making this show. If you haven’t yet, treat yourself to GLOW: not the Netflix version (which is also good!) but the original syndicated 80s Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling show. Read the 2006 Outsports interview with Kevin Nash, this episode’s guest star, where he daringly shares his progressive views on gay people. Check out our sponsor, Spaces! Go shop at our TeePublic st

“My Hair Lady” (February 15, 2004) Welcome to season six of Gayest Episode Ever! True, season don’t really mean anything on this kind of podcast, but we are back from our summer hiatus and we’re super eager to get back into talking sitcom queerness. We’re kicking off this season with our fourth look at King of the Hill. It’s an interesting one in that it has (presumably) straight writer Wyatt Cenac telling a story about Bill pretending to be gay, yet it’s pretty well done, in that both Glen and Drew walked away not being offended or annoyed by anything Bill says or wears. This is actually high praise for us. Check out our sponsor, Spaces! Listen to the Teen Creeps episode about Cherry Falls here. Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts cour

Hi. This is the fourth and final installment of our summer rerun series wherein we send out old episodes that we think are good but perhaps didn’t get all the attention they should have. This Wings episode is actually our least-listened-to episode, and we’re pretty sure that is a result of Drew naming it originally “Roy Biggins Has a Big Gay Son.” We’re betting that forefronting the fact that it’s Wings will help more people listen to it, because you’re more likely to know what Wings is than you are to remember who Roy Biggins was. Either way, this is an episode we will be revisiting in the not-too-distant future when we do the episode where Roy’s gay son comes back to the show! See you in September with new episodes! “There’s Always Room for Cello” (December 14, 1990) Roy Biggins is the chuckling villain of Wings, an NBC sitcom that is a solid B but which has a reputation for being a C minus. In the second season, Roy’s son came out and Roy was given — and totally biffed — a chance to act like a grown-up. Jo

It's another summer rerun! This time, of our 17th episode, which never really pulled in the numbers we thought it should. We swear it doesn't suck! “Lez Be Friends” (April 28, 1997) For many kids watching sitcoms in the 90s, Amanda Bearse would have been one of the first actors they would have known to be openly gay. That’s what makes this episode so special. She’d put in her time on Married… With Children season after season, playing Al Bundy’s sparring partner, Marcy D’Arcy. So it’s sweet that toward the end of the series, she got to play Marcy’s cousin Mandy, who is so down to hang that Al actually likes her — and she’s openly gay. Are there more than two gay episodes of Married… With Children? Because we did the one where Al and Peggy meet a gay couple. So if you’ve got any suggestions for additional Married… episodes, we’re all ears. Support us on Patreon! Follow: GEE on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn  A

This is a summer rerun of an episode that originally aired July 30, 2018. We're posting not only because Harley and Ivy went from subtextual lovers to full on romantic partners on the HBO Max series but also because we've got a new Batman: TAS episode of Cartoons That Made Us Gay, which you can listen to here. Excuse the echo! It was 2018 and we didn't know better@ "Harley and Ivy" (January 18, 1993) In GEE’s first bonus episode, Glen and Drew focus on something that's not a sitcom but is nonetheless pretty damn gay — the Batman: The Animated Series installment that put a lesbianish aura around Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, which extended to the comics and ultimately made the duo a full-fledged couple years later. Support us on Patreon! Follow: GEE on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn  And yes, we do have an official website! And we even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob

“Phil’s Assertion School (September 23, 1977) Sanford Arms was NBC’s attempt to continue the world of Sanford and Son without either Sanford or the Son. It didn’t work, and of the eight episodes produced, only four ever aired. That said, it’s second ever installment not only introduced a gay character but also it became the first black cast sitcom to ever do a gay episode with an out gay person of color. So while this attempt at a Sanford spinoff didn’t work, it still landed its place in history. We’re joined again by Dr. Alfred L. Martin to discuss. Buy Alfred’s book, The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom. Listen to our previous Sanford and Son episode. Watch this episode of Sanford Arms on Vimeo. Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes, we do have an official website! We even have

It's our first-ever summer rerun! And we're doing this one in preparation for a full-length, main feed bonus episode next week, where we're talking about Sanford Arms, the sequel series to Sanford and Sun. Enjoy! “Lamont, Is That You?” (October 19, 1973) Norman Lear for the win! This podcast probably won’t go in depth on ’90s classics like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters or A Different World because many black sitcoms of that era didn’t do gay episodes. Back in 1973, Sanford and Son did, however, and the result is classier and more interesting than what you’d see on shows ten and twenty years later. Check out A Love Bizarre, Los Angeles’ new queer art space:  Support us on Patreon! Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah

“Roomie for Improvement” (November 4, 1992) Al Borland is not gay. This episode makes a point of saying that he is a heterosexual, despite how many of his (comparatively) immasculine qualities might indicate otherwise. However for some, Richard Karn’s sensitive flannel man is an example of a kind of guy some of us would grow up to like and some of us would grow up to be: big, bearded, and free to be ourselves regardless of where on the gender spectrum we ended up being. Nick Del Prince joins Drew and Glen to discuss Home Improvement, one of the most successful shows this podcast has examined so far — and easily one of the straightest. And here’s the queer SNL think you may recognize Nick from. Ask Harriet? No thank you, we won’t be asking her anything? TEENAGE MUTHA! Tim Allen has never looked sexier than he does in his mug shot. Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spo

“A Fine Friendship” (February 6, 1995) One hundred episodes later, we return to The Nanny to find out what happens when Fran Fine mistakes a straight guy for a gay guy. This episode essnetially works as an inverse to the first Nanny episode we covered, right down to Fran being horrified by a gay-seeming person being straight rather than delighted by a straight-seeming person being gay.  Watch Matt Baume’s video on LGBTQ representation on The Nanny Watch Fran Drescher’s TikTok on why The Nanny had a gay sensibility Read Brett White’s column “‘The Nanny’ Is a Crucial Gay Text That Must Be Preserved and Celebrated” Go shop at our TeePublic store!   Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter   Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher •  Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn   And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art w

“Halloween” (October 30, 1996) Considering that every other major Must See TV sitcom did at least one gay episode, it’s surprising that NewsRadio didn’t — especially when you consider the fact that its lead actor, Dave Foley, jumped straight to NBC from Kids in the Hall, which experimented with gender and sexuality a lot more freely. This episode was as close as we could find to a real gay episode. And while it does feature Dave Foley donning drag once again, there’s a lot more weird stuff going on, including Phil Hartman’s character getting a premonition of his own death — about a year and a half before he’d die in real life. All this plus Andy Dick and Joe Rogan! Yeah, this is a weird episode! Read: Uproxx’s oral history of NewsRadio The interview where the NewsRadio creator compares Must See TV Thursdays to a “shit sandwich” Watch: Dave Foley in Anne of Avonlea Listen: American Hysteria, the podcast all about moral panics, urban legends and  conspiracy theories — and how they shape culture. The Science Ve

“Game Night” (December 12, 2017) Right off the top of the bat, we need to admit that yes, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a show about cops. There’s no getting around that. We try our best to discuss how to weight its copaganda status against every other aspect of the show, and while we’re not going to try to sell anyone on this show, we will say that dismissing it means skipping over one of the better episodes of a sitcom ever to address bisexuality head-on. Speaking of addressing bisexuality head-on, we’re joined by Queer Quadrant co-host Brooke Solomon to discuss the Michael Schurverse, Eleanor Shellstrops on other shows and why Stephanie Beatriz is awesome. Listen to Queer Quadrant Follow Queer Quadrant on Twitter Also listen to American Hysteria, a podcast all about moral panics, urban legends and  conspiracy theories — and how they shape culture. Watch the weird, Latina-free Quebecois remake of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Escouade 99. Listen to Stephanie Beatriz’s episode of Nicole Byer’s Why Won’t You Date Me? Go shop

“A Fish Called Selma” (March 24, 1996) In this episode, The Simpsons send up the glass closets of Hollywood and what some actors are willing to do to pass for “normal.” Troy McClure explicitly says he’s not gay, but the way the industry treats him for not fitting the leading man mold and what he does to find success anyway parallels what a lot of gay stars have done and what some are still doing.   Read: The strange history of the 2019 film Yesterday and Jack Barth, the screenwriter who wrote this Simpsons ep Mel Magazine’s history of the Richard Gere gerbil story Did Sylvester Stallone start the Richard Gere gerbil rumor? Listen: Talking Simpsons’ take on A Fish Called Selma The You Must Remember This episodes about American Gigolo and Body Double Go shop at our TeePublic store!   Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter   Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher •  Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

“Janet(s)” (December 6, 2018)   Spoiler warning: We totally spoil The Good Place, so if you have not seen it and want to go in fresh, go do that!   It seems weird that The Good Place was a show on a broadcast network at all, much less one that ran for four seasons and gave viewers so much to think about. Perhaps one of the more surprising aspects was D’Arcy Carden’s Janet, who rose above “Busty Alexa” status to become one of the more interesting characters. Janet is not nonbinary, but as five-timer Emelie Bataglia points out, Janet can work as metaphor for the nonbinary experience. In fact, there's a lot thats nonbinary about The Good Place in general.   Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher •  Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed

It’s our 150th episode, and we’ve decided to celebrate this milestone with something different: a hot takes episode, where we share our pop culture hot takes and we also share hot takes submitted from our listeners. Disclaimer: we cannot guarantee that you will find all takes equally hot, nor can we guarantee that you will find this episode to be spectacular.   We did not, in the end, have time to get to every hot take submitted by listeners, but we thank you for submitting anyway and hope to address them in a hot takes follow-up episode, should that be deemed worthwhile.   And because we lifted this idea directly from a recent hot takes episode of the Guide to the Unknown podcast, here is that episode, which you may also like.   Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher •  Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes, we do have an official website! W

“A Real Guy’s Guy” (October 25,1991)   Hear us out here: Coach is a good sitcom even if you don’t like football. In fact, Drew likes Coach even though he actively despises football. This fourth-season episode has Craig T. Nelson’s character reacting to news that one of his players is gay, and it’s actually pretty flawless in terms of what a gay episode can be: a sympathetically written one-off queer character + a realistic model for how someone who isn’t comfortable around LGBTers can admit this without taking it out on anyone else. In short, a total grand slam.   Watch the opening sequence to Princesses.   And check out Coach’s Clare Carey playing a sexy robot alien woman on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show as a reminder of how weird this show actually was.   Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher •  Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes

“And Baby Makes Four” (November 3, 2003) Before she was the literal mom on Blackish, Tracee Ellis Ross was the glue holding the figurative family together for eight seasons on Girlfriends. Drew and Glen are joined by Jennifer Eden to discuss why Ross is maybe one of the better examples of showbiz royalty and why this episode of TV is unique in offering viewers two black queer women in a relationship (guest stars Dawnn Lewis and Samaria Graham). Also: William is THE WORST. When they reunited for Blackish, the Girlfriends cast explained how their show ended the way it did. BTW: Two more viewing suggestions beyond Girlfriends: the “Feminisn’t” episode of Blackish featuring that reunion and the “There’s Something About Dr. Mary” episode of Frasier. Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Stitcher •  Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn And yes, we do have an off

“#001” (September 20, 1982) Look, Madame’s Place wasn’t a good sitcom, but it was the gayest puppet-focused sitcom and also a contender for one of the first gay sitcoms, on account of its draggy sensibility and the fact that the man behind Madame was one of the first openly gay entertainers. Drew and Glen discuss how weird this show is, including the fact that its antagonist is a TV executive who’s literally missing a face and who can control the weather. All this plus dick jokes. Read a 1985 L.A. Times interview with Wayland Flowers. Decades before Joan Rivers, Faye Emerson might have been the first female late night talk show host — and also the first late night host of any gender identity. Watch: Bea Arthur vs. Madame and Playboy's Roller Disco & Pajama Party. Listen to the Round Springfield episode where Jeff Martin discusses naming Waylon Smithers after Wayland Flowers. The anime Glen fails to name, BTW, is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Faceboo

“Betrayal” (September 13, 1989) You might classify Just the Ten of Us with rest of the TGIF also-rans, but trust us: this show was better — funnier, edgier and with two actual, explicit gay jokes that ran on the same night as Urkel, to say nothing of the fact that its four sexy teenage daughters gave little gay boys a favorite no matter what kind of diva they’d end up worshipping. Frankie Frascatore joins us to talk about the Nightmare on Elm Street connection, the WandaVision connection, how this one particular outing almost becomes a gay episode and why it’s maybe notable that a show about a Catholic family punishes the most religious child for being a judgmental scold. Listen to Frankie’s episode of Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie. Here’s one of the sites claiming that JTTOU’s cancelation happened because it was the only non-Miller Boyet production in the TGIF block. Watch the intro to Going Places, which didn’t. “What Is Burn Notice?” Go shop at our TeePublic store! Follow: GEE on Face

“World’s Greatest Dick” (November 10, 1996)   Sally Solomon is a straight, cis character, but for the first two seasons of the 3rd Rock from the Sun, there was this queer or trans aura around her. This episode dispels it, for the most part, and allows the writers to craft storylines and jokes that are no longer different versions of the “man trapped in a woman’s body” trope. Drew and Glen disagree on exactly what the gay man trying to date her thinks is going on with Sally, but for all that could go wrong with this kind of plot, it’s not that bad. The ending sucks, sure, but we point out how it could have played out better.   There is actually a relationship between salmagundi, a dish that is basically charcuterie posing as a salad, and Solomon Grundy, the Superman villain.   There are only two bits of She TV on YouTube today: this one and this one.   My Living Doll is a trip.   Go shop at our TeePublic store!   Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram •

“Luann Virgin 2.0” (March 11, 2001) We’re very happy to return to Arlen, Texas, to discuss a King of the Hill episode that has a small gay subplot: Peggy technically lost her virginity before she met Hank to a friend who needed to figure out if he was gay. However, in having that thread introduce a discussion of what’s reason enough for good, red-blooded heterosexual Christians to get married, this episode (accidentally?) also makes a good argument in favor of the reasons same-sex couples wanted to get married. Wayne Trotter, we wish we’d met you. This episode begins with a discussion of the Screenrant article that argued why Peggy Hill is a bad mom. You don’t need to read the piece to understand what we’re talking about, but if you really feel like you must there it is. Listen to our previous King of the Hill episodes: Hank Hill Goes to a Gay Rodeo Peggy Hill Meets a Drag Queen Go shop at our TeePublic store!   Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew o