Favorite Gay-Oriented SNL Sketches
I've watched Saturday Night Live off and on since its first season in 1975-76 (when I was a freshman in college). Now finishing up its 44th season, the show is approaching 1,000 telecasts - which translates into more than 10,000 comedic sketches. Despite this huge inventory I don't recall any sketches with a gay angle until the early '90s. What follows are nearly two dozen that I get a kick out of, the majority being from the past ten years. Some have an out-and-out gay storyline, others have a gay sensibility to them, or a character who's gay (or seemingly gay).
THE ACTRESS
From the latest season, guest host Emma Stone plays an eager actress who plays the role of jilted wife in a gay porn video. The guy who plays her husband is a skeevy-looking character; the godson looks like Taylor Lautner (remember him?). (Season 44, 2018-19)
LAWYERS MEET BOSS'S 'GAY-FAMOUS' NEW WIFE
An established lawyer (played by Larry David) introduces colleagues from his law firm to his "gay-famous" new wife. (Season 43, 2017-18)
OLIVE GARDEN
The director of an Olive Garden commercial shoot requests a lesbian kiss between Scarlett Johansson's and Leslie Jones' characters. (Season 42, 2016-17)
LESBIAN MAKE-OUT SESSION IN KITCHEN
While her husband and his friends are watching the Super Bowl, oblivious to what's happening in the kitchen behind them, the sister of one of the friends (played by Kristen Stewart) seduces the dutiful wife who's preparing Totinos frozen pizzas. (Season 42, 2016-17)
This sketch, featuring Scarlett Johansson and Kenan Thompson, brought us to a memorial service for a dentist who, unbeknownst to his wife, composed deep club tracks. (Season 42, 2016-17)
CHERRY GROVE LESBIANS
This sketch is a tune-in promo about a reality series on Logo about lesbians and their summer share at Cherry Grove. And it contrasts life there with life in the Pines, the high-energy gay community next door. (Season 40, 2016-17)
Human-looking robots are introduced at a trade fair and the audience is puzzled why they've been programmed to be overtly gay (played by Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney). (Season 42, 2016-17)
SARAH'S DESIRE
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler played two actresses who get acting directions to be more over-the-top in the their reactions to each other during a lesbian scene in a movie. (Season 41, 2015-16)
A New York couple (Peter Dinklage and Aidy Bryant) take out of town friends from Columbus, OH to a trendy restaurant in the Meatpacking District that in the '70s and '80s was a seedy club whose attraction was its glory holes. (Season 41, 2015-16)
This skit has two lesbians showing the assortment of kittens available at their shelter. Kate McKinnon is paired with guest hosts that included Amy Adams, Charlize Theron and Tiffany Haddish. (Season 40, 2014-15)
"DYKES & FATS" COP SHOW
TV promo for the buddy cop show Dykes & Fats (Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant) that is likely a tribute to the '80s show Cagney & Lacey. (Season 39, 2013-14)
'TARGET LADY' MEETS HER FIRST LESBIAN
Kristen Wiig played the Target lady innumerable times and in this sketch she had her first encounter with a lesbian customer. (Season 38, 2012-13)
GAY SUMMER WEDDINGS
This parody pharmaceutical ad for Xanax for Gay Summer Weddings is prescribed to heterosexuals attending weddings of gay men who become depressed thinking how uninspiring their ceremonies were compared to those of their gay friends. The ad concludes with a disclaimer that the drug is not needed for lesbian weddings. (Season 38, 2012-13)
CLASSY SEXY ELEGNACE
This sketch is an ad for a CD compilation of vapid club tracks, with titles such as You're on Blast and This Is My Catchphrase (Spread It). And the sales pitch is, "So if you're a gay man looking to bring something you can make fun of to a party, this is the CD for you!". (Season 38, 2012-13)
This sketch, featuring Kristen Wiig, is included because of Liza's position as a revered gay icon. Of course, I found it hilarious, but as I watched I noticed there wasn't a lot of laughter from the audience; this lack of appreciation was probably because it had too few gay men in it. (Season 37, 2011-12)
A series of Vincent Price holiday specials featured a randy Liberace (played by Fred Armisen) who laced his remarks with outrageous double entendres. And a few of these sketches had appearances by Judy Garland (played by Kristen Wiig). (Season 36, 2010-11)
JUST TWO REGULAR GUYS
Fred Armisen and Bill Hader occasionally appeared on Weekend Update as two regular guys who happen to be a gay couple. One time they were Maine fishermen, another time goombahs from NJ. (Season 34, 2008-09)
Jonah Hill confides to Andy Samberg that he's dating Andy's dad. (Season 33, 2007-08)
HOMOCIL
A parody ad for Homocil pitched a drug for easing parental anxiety disorder when they're confronted with the reality that their child is gay. (Season 26, 2000-01)
GAY SUPERHEROES
The Ambiguously Gay Duo, from the early 2000s, was a cartoon about two superheroes (voiced by Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert).
SCHMITTS GAY BEER
This commercial parody from the early 1990s for Schmitts Gay Beer had Adam Sandler and Chris Farley surrounded by Speedo-clad eye candy. (Season 17, 1991-92)
STUART SMALLEY
Although it was never established with certainty that he was gay, self-help coach Stuart Smalley gave off a strong gay vibe (he was portrayed by SNL writer Al Franken, well before he became a US Senator). In his sketches from the early '90s he interacted with guest hosts, with his session with NBA legend Michael Jordan likely the best known.
LYLE, THE EFFEMINATE HETEROSEXUAL
From the early '90s came a spoof of a sitcom called Lyle, the Effeminate Heterosexual (Dana Carvey). This turned the tables on the stereotypical fey gay man by ascribing those traits to a straight man (and we all have a few friends like Lyle). (Season 17, 1991-92)
Finally, perhaps you noticed that I didn't include Bill Hader's character Stephon as a favorite. Although he was funny the first few times, I soon found his character tiresome, doing the same shtick (which included cracking up at what was on the cure cards) when he appeared on Weekend Updates.
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