Gayest Episode Ever

Happy Endings Comes Out for Thanksgiving

“More Like Skanksgiving” (November 20, 2012)

Here you have it: the one other gay-themed Thanksgiving episode of a sitcom. Three seasons in, this one reveals heretofore-unheard canon that the Happy Endings characters exist as they do solely as a result of MTV’s The Real World — and that Max things he might have been the first gay person on TV. Meanwhile, no one is remarking how Jane’s 2002 raver outfit is one of the more explicitly bisexual things she’s ever done on this show...

The Fox Files: Good Grief

“Ladies and Gentlemen... Ernie Lapidus!” (September 30, 1990)

Hey, they can’t all be winners… or even pop culture curiosities. We may love Wendy Schaal and we may be Howie Mandel-ambivalent, but the first installment of this short-lived funeral home comedy is pretty clearly the worst show we’ve reviewed for this miniseries, to the point that we’re not even 100 percent sure whether Schaal’s character was supposed to be a ghost or not. But at least you’ll get some revision...

The Gay Subtext of Dobie Gillis, TV’s First Teen Sitcom

 “The Ruptured Duck” (October 10, 1961)

On the surface, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis tells the story of a teen boy who falls in love with every girl except Zelda Gilroy, who pines for him hopelessly. All of this is complicated by the fact that the Sheila Keuhl, the actor who played Zelda was in real life a gay woman who ultimately lost out on getting her own spinoff because she didn’t fit the idea for what a leading lady was in the early 1960s. But Keuhl got the last laugh ...

The Fox Files: Parker Lewis Can’t Lose

“Pilot” (September 2, 1990)

Is Parker Lewis Can’t Lose somehow the best show we’re profiling in this miniseries? Maybe! It’s especially remarkable that a show trying to seem hip and of-the-moment to young people can look good 35 years later, but this show really does it though a combination of surreal humor, inventive camera angles and the guts to make a sitcom that didn’t look like anything that aired on network TV before. 

Watch this episode 2025-10-23 05:20:39 +0000 UTC View Post

A Quick Programming Note

Hi all! The audio file here is just the ad break that went into the public feed version of the recent Simpsons episode. But I wanted to also tell everyone on the Patreon feed that we will not be putting out an episode next week, for scheduling reasons explained in the ad. Apologies! And to offset this, the next episode of Fox Files, about Parker Lewis Can't Lose, will be free to everyone to listen to. It's going live later today.

Talk to you again next week!

Marge Simpson Meets a Drag Queen

“Werking Mom” (November 18, 2018)

Yes, The Simpsons did a drag episode, and you might be interested to know that the idea did not originate with “Hey, let’s do one about RuPaul’s Drag Race.” In fact, co-writer Carolyn Omine provided some background info, including how the surprising success of drag queens in the Tupperware sales market ultimately resulted in both Marg and Homer donning drag, and we ...

The Fox Files: Open House

“Parade of Homes” (November 26, 1989)

Three seasons in, Fox decided that one of its early critical darlings, Duet, could benefit from functioning more like a standard sitcom, and so Alison LaPlaca’s Linda was elevated to star and the rest of the cast was ditched. The new show, set in a Sherman Oaks real estate office, doesn’t live up to the standards set by Duet, but working in its favor is Harley Quinn herself, Arleen Sorkin, who carries over to the new series as the scheming G...

Small Wonder Celebrated an 80s Kid Who Was Different

“The Neighbors” (September 14, 1985)
“Victor / Vicki-toria” (February 14, 1987)
“The Bad Seed” (November 7, 1987)

Ignore whatever you might have heard about Small Wonder and focus instead on how the show spotlighted Vicki (a.k.a. V.I.C.I), a kid who was labeled as different just for acting the only way she knew. As a result of being defiantly resistant to social norms, Vicki has become iconic to all sorts of 80s kids also failed to fit in, and in this episode, we’ll ...

The Fox Files: Women in Prison

“Vickie Does Prison” (October 11, 1987)

On paper, a sitcom about female prison life by the creators of Married… With Children seem like it should be a surefire assault on the sensibilities. Not so! What aired featured six female characters and more nuance than you’d expect from a show that typifies the mood of an early Fox sitcom — buoyed in its efforts by a kickass cast that includes CCH Pounder, Denny Dillon, Wendy Jo Sperber and the mean girl from Romy & Michelle.

Fired Up Had the Best Gay Character on Must See TV

“Truth and Consequences” (September 29, 1997)

Though it didn’t even get a chance to finish out its second season, Fired Up was one of the rare Must See TV sitcoms to feature two female leads. What’s more, the recurring gay character, Shannon (played by Mark Davis) is unusual in that he’s out, confident and going about his life in a way you just didn’t see on other NBC shows of this era. What’s even odder is that his traditionally masculine dad (Jonathan Banks) loves his so...

The Fox Files: Second Chance and Boys Will Be Boys

“The End” (September 26, 1987) and “Hot Wheels” (January 16, 1988)

Matthew Perry’s first taste of TV stardom was short-lived but complicated to explain. Initially a magic sitcom about him being guided in moral growth by his elder, dead self from the future — yes, really — the show didn’t catch on and ultimately ditched all the supernatural elements to become a show about three Bud Bundys being horny in 1980s Los Angeles. It never comes together in either version of the s...

Not Just Bugs Bunny in Drag! (Seven Very Gay Looney Tunes Shorts)

It may not be news to listeners of this podcast, but the Looney Tunes cartoons can be very gay. In celebration of the nearly 800 shorts being hosted on Tubi, Drew, Glen and returning guest Tony Rodriguez look at some of our favorites that also lend themselves to a queer reading. And no, it’s not all Bugs Bunny in Drag. In fact, we probably didn’t pick the drag moments you’re expecting. But no worries: There is ...

The Fox Files: The New Adventures of Beans Baxter

“A Nightmare on Beans’ Street” (October 31, 1987)

Woof. Despite a charming pilot that sets up teenager Beans Baxter as Washington D.C.’s youngest spy, this Halloween adventure seems to have gone off the rails, what with pumpkinhead zombie insurance salesman and explicit confirmation that magic and vampires exist in this universe. And that’s too bad, because Fox’s first-ever foray into programming showed a lot of promise. Stay tuned for the exciting connection between Better ...

Now accepting recommendations for gay Looney Tunes

In celebration of Tubi now hosting Looney Tunes shorts, our next regular episode will be a discussion of them (plus Merrie Melodies shorts) that lend themselves to queer readings. Got one you'd like to recommend? Tell me in the comments!

(This one is 1932's Ride Him, Bosko. Ahem.)

The Critic Is Very Gay (Even If Jay Sherman Is Not)

"Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice" (March 12, 1995)

Finally, we get around to discussing one of our more formative comedic experiences, and it’s one shared more or less exclusively by elder millennials: The Critic, which somehow managed to be both more grown up and more juvenile than The Simpsons. In this episode, we discuss how the two seasons of this cult favorite repeatedly insinuated that the title character was gay, and how and episode guest-starring Siskel and Ebert mana...

The Fox Files: Mr. President

“Armageddon Kinda Sore” (October 11, 1987)

While we kicked off this series with Duet, the prestige show on Fox’s initial line-up was Mr. President, which starred Oscar-winner George C. Scott. He thought he would be elevating television, but in its two short seasons, Mr. President did not deliver on this promise, even when Madeline Kahn joined the show in the second season. What’s more, this comparatively more political bent of this series make this installment the one to discuss...

Laverne & Shirley Check Into the Honeymoon Suite

“Honeymoon Hotel” (February 22, 1977)

You innocent TV Land watchers may not have suspected that there was anything queer about Laverne & Shirley, a show about two women who share an apartment and work at a brewery. Sure, they’re boy crazy, but also there’s this episode where they scam their way into a bridal suite and downtown Milwaukee’s finest hotel. Here to help us unpack the sapphic undertones is the final girl herself, 2025-08-02 00:18:31 +0000 UTC View Post

The Fox Files: Duet

“Variations on a Theme” (May 3, 1987)

Welcome to the first installment of our new bonus series, The Fox Files! We’re exploring the lesser-remembered sitcoms of the early years of the Fox network and in doing so we will be exploring how Fox figured out how to defy expectations and actually succeed… for better or worse. In this episode, we’re looking at Duet, which either ran for three seasons or four, depending on how you look at it, and during that time told the story of one r...

The Cleveland Show Whiffs a Potentially Great Bi Episode

“Terry Unmarried” (February 20, 2011)

The second season of the Family Guy spinoff makes the surprising decision to make Terry, Cleveland’s womanizing coworker buddy, not straight. And while that’s good, it’s sort of weird how no one ever suggests that he might be bisexual. This retcon underscores problems with bi representation in media, but we’re also going to talk about how during the four years it was on Fox, The Cleveland Show was one of the only black sitcoms on broadca...

Cartoons That Made Us Gay: The Creeper Arrives in Gotham City

“Beware the Creeper”  (November 7, 1998)

For our third look at the 90s animated Batman series, we focus on The Creeper, a lesser-known DC hero who at one point was considered for inclusion in this show’s “bat-family” alongside Nightwing, Robin and Batgirl. That didn’t happen, and in fact this one episode is all we see of The Creeper in this series. But what we get is really interesting, as he’s fairly gay-coded for someone who ends up hitting on Harley Quinn. We do ta...

Introducing… FOX FILES!

Finally, more than a year after we announced our new Patreon bonus series, we finally have a premiere date for The Fox Files, our examination of the lesser-remembered TV series of the Fox network’s first broadcast years. Fox first started broadcasting in the 1986-1987 TV season, and that first season two shows would become signatures for how it sets itself apart from the big three networks: Married With Children, which we have discussed a lot, and 21 Jump Street, which we’ve discussed les...

Rebecca Howe Is Not a Lesbian (But Kirstie Alley DId Save Cheers)

EDIT: Apparently the first version of this file chopped off early. I've uploaded a new version. If yours ends early, delete it and re-download it.

“A Kiss Is Still a Kiss” (December 3, 1987)

We’re supporters of Shelley Long on this podcast, but in advocating for the Diane years of Cheers, we’ve overlooked the Rebecca years. As such, we’re bringing Jonathan Bradley Welch b...

Cartoons That Made Us Gay: Jonny Quest

“The Invisible Monster” (January 28, 1965)

Sure, Venture Bros. is just a twist on Jonny Quest, but Jonny Quest was its own twist on existing material — and with its own sense of homoeroticism, no less. In this episode, we take some wild gay swings on an otherwise ordinary episode of the adventure serial to say that the invisible monster named in the title is actually homosexuality. It kind of works.

Watch this and all of the original run of Jonny Quest 2025-06-21 07:11:43 +0000 UTC View Post

Ventures Bros. Is a Very Gay Show, But…

“Handsome Ransom” (October 25, 2009)

Let’s say this at the top: We are both fans in general of The Venture Bros, but this extremely homosocial show has a tendency to tiptoe up to being full-on gay and then laughing it all off as a joke. It’s a product of its time, and even explicitly gay characters like The Alchemist and Shore Leave don’t get their own episodes. So when it comes to picking one installment of the Adult Swim series that comes closest, we had to go with the one w...

Schitt’s Creek Gets a Pansexual Love Triangle

“The Throuple” (January 17, 2017)

We’re back! Officially, but also now bimonthly — or biweekly, depending on how you want to look at it. And we are coming back in grand Canadian style by doing a show that Drew for years refused to do: Schitt’s Creek! Because you asked! And asked and asked and asked!

As special thanks to Patreon supporter curlsthefanenby for finally getting us to do this show.

Cartoons That Made Us Gay: The Tick

“The Tick vs. Dinosaur Neil” (September 24, 1994)

Do we have to explain why a cartoon about a super buff man in a skintight suit is gay? Maybe! But the third episode of the original, animated version of The Tick really attempts to signal to viewers that it’s doing more than your average Saturday morning series with an extended joke about The Tick and Arthur defending their lifestyle to Dot, Arthur’s boring sister. It’s very weird to miss all the ways this acknowledges gay subt...

Hiatus Over! / Status Update

EDIT: The curse of Glen has struck again, and now the Tick CTMUG episode is coming next week, not next weekend. But onward and upward nonetheless.

Hey all.

Thank you for sticking around during my little podcast hiatus / mental health meltdown / what I am generously referring to as a vacation. Whatever this was, it was badly needed, and I am ready to resume production on Gayest Episode Ever. I think for now we will be releasing new main feed episodes on a biweekly basis, j...

Hiatus

Hi, all. I said all these in the ad break in the Power Rangers episode, but I am writing here to notify anyone who didn’t get that message that GEE is going on a small hiatus. Glen is out of town until May, for one thing, but also I am just really beat and I need to not make podcasts for a hot second. 

As you may know, this podcast is in some ways a one-man show. I don’t say that to downplay Glen’s role as cohost, but I do 100 percent of the research as well as 100 percent of...

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Does a Body/Gender Swap Episode

“Switching Places” (October 4, 1993)

If you’re reading this and deciding that Power Rangers is not a sitcom, you’re correct! We’re doing it anyway, and as elder millennials who were just a little too old for MMPR when it originally aired, we’re bringing in a ringer in the form of Sina Grace — artist, writer and bonvivant. whose work in the comics world has included writing for these very teenagers with atti...

Mork Is the Mommy, Mindy Is the Daddy

“Mama Mork, Papa Mindy” (November 5, 1981)

Thus far, we have not attempted the Happy Days universe of TV shows, and we’re starting with this season four Mork & Mindy that has our interspecies marrieds creating a baby that redefine their gender roles. Essentially, Mork hatches an egg from which comes a child that puts a shocked Mindy in the role of father. It’s silly, but as returning guest Diam...