Gayest Episode Ever

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Elaine Dates a Gay Guy Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

("The Beard," February 9, 1995)

And… we're back. Welcome to season five of Gayest Episode Ever, which is a lot like the previous seasons but with a few streamlining improvements. Our first episode looks at an Elaine-centric Seinfeld in which it's supposed that a straight woman can cure a gay man if she tries hard enough and Melrose Place is a show that heterosexual men watch only in secret.

Listen to our previous Seinfeld episodes: Susan's Dad Had an Affair With John Cheever and Jerry and George Aren't Gay, Not That There's Anything Wrong With That

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

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: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

He-Man Fights a Gay Bunny-Man Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

"Quest for He-Man" (October 5, 1983)

A thousand gay nerds debating on a thousand twitter threads could come up with any number of candidates for the gayest episode ever of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, but the one we're talking about with Talking Simpsons co-host Henry Gilbert is the one where our hero travels through a swirling rainbow hole to an alternate dimension ruled by a gay-seeming bunny-man who loads a phallic rocket full of his precious, life-giving fluid, and no, we're not making any of that up.

Follow Henry on Twitter, and listen to Talking Simpsons, What a Cartoon and his show's various Patreon-only projects.

Listen to our "Glen Writes a Golden Girls" episode, featuring Ted Biaselli, executive producer of Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Also listen to our "Cartoons That Made Us Gay" episode, also featuring Ted.

Listen to episodes of Monday Afternoon Movie.

Read Drew's Shelley Long essay.

Read the Men's Health article "Who's Afraid of a Gay He-Man?"

Read about the Bo Derek Dazzler movie that never was.

Read all about Plundor the Spoiler, and here's the source for Paul Dini basing Plundor off Binky from Life in Hell.

Watch the "Laughing Prince Adam" video. In fact, what the episode we're discussing right now, for free and fully legal, on YouTube.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

Did Fraggle Rock Do an Episode About AIDS? Aug 04, 2021

Show notes

"Gone But Not Forgotten" (February 16, 1987)

Surprise! We're back! And we brought Fraggles with us!

In the final season of Fraggle Rock, the episode "Gone But Not Forgotten" features Wembley making a new friend in Mudwell the Mudbunny, who knows he will soon die. Mudwell's passing and Wembley's grief serve as not only a general life lesson for young viewers but also a parallel for the life of Richard Hunt, the openly gay Mupetteer who voices Mudwell, who lost his own partner to AIDS not long before this episode was filmed and who would die as a result of AIDS not long after. Matt Baume, queer sailor of the pop culture seas, joins us to discuss how Fraggle Rock goes deeper than you might expect.

Watch Matt's videos

Also watch the video for Ben Folds' "Do It Anyway" — featuring the Fraggles!

Watch Jim Henson's memorial service, where Richard Hunt makes a prescient speech

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

Marge Simpson Is a Homophobe and a Transphobe Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

"There's Something About Marrying" (February 20, 2005)

Gayest Episode Ever would not exist without The Simpsons — mostly because we stole Talking Simpsons' podcast format and applied it to LGBT episodes of classic sitcoms, and Talking Simpsons would not exist without The Simpsons. But cultural and personal importance aside, there comes a time to point out when a thing you love screws up, and this episode — the one that should be about Marge disapproving about Patty marrying a woman but ends up being a nasty little parable about transphobia — is not the series' best moment, despite promising bits in the first two acts. We've brought in both hosts of the Totally Trans podcast — Ada-Rhodes Short and Henry Giardina — to discuss why Marge really sucks and why the episode's conclusion is hard for some trans folks to watch even today.

Listen to some of Henry and Ada-Rhodes' favorite episodes of Totally Trans:

Read the New York Times article "The Secret History of Leviticus" — the "exception that proves the rule" article about the old testament outlawing homosexuality.

Listen to the summer/pride episode of Deep Cuts and Superficial Wounds, Drew's 80s music podcast.

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

This episode's outro track is "Summer Time" by Plastic Mode: Apple Music • Spotify

Peter Griffin Becomes a Gay Jun 23, 2021

Show notes

"Family Gay" (March 8, 2009)

Is it anticlimactic to say that this episode of Family Guy is not as terrible as you might expect? It concerns Peter being injected with the gay gene and becoming temporarily gay, and for the Seth MacFarlane of it all, this one gets some stuff right, lands a few decent jokes, biffs some bad ones and sometimes sacrifices laughs altogether to shock, horrify or offend. In short, it's typical Family Guy.

Listen to Drew and Glen on You're Making It Worse.

Listen to the summer/pride episode of Deep Cuts and Superficial Wounds, Drew's 80s music podcast.

Read the New York Times article "The Secret History of Leviticus" — the "exception that proves the rule" article about the old testament outlawing homosexuality.

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

The episode's outro track is "Desire" by Yoh-Yo, which is not on any of the streaming services so why not listen to it on YouTube?

The Naked Truth Has Two Pretend Gays (Zero Actual Gays) Jun 16, 2021

Show notes

"Woman Gets Plastered, Star Gets Even" (January 23, 1997)

There was a time when two different networks were trying to push Téa Leoni as a sitcom star. The Naked Truth's three seasons spanned ABC and NBC, and while it didn't launch Leoni to TV success at this point in her career, Glen and Drew share a love of all things Téa with our guest, comedian H. Alan Scott. This episode is one of the more forgettable gay sitcom episodes sure, but there's something to learn from the sitcoms that manage to make LGBT themes seem boring and banal. Right?

Listen to H. Alan's podcast, You're Making It Worse.

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

The episode's outro track is "Follow Me" by Giusy Dej, which is not on any of the streaming services so why not listen to it on YouTube?

Boy Meets World Accidentally Does a Trans Episode Jun 09, 2021

Show notes

"Chick Like Me" (January 31, 1997)

Rider Strong's Shawn Hunter is not canonically a trans character, but there is a season-four episode of Boy Meets World that gives you all the evidence you'd need to conclude that Shawn might be. For this extra-long episode — possibly our longest! — we are joined by Faati the Street, who explains why this one episode speaks volumes about the trans experience, even if it was not the intention of anyone involved in the episode's creation.

Read Faati's Twitter thread "The Silencing of the Shrew." Also read their promised list of Doom Patrol trigger warnings.

Read Trina McGee's 1999 L.A. Times column on Shawn and Angela's interracial relationship.

Listen to Monday Afternoon Movie's episode about the Linda Blair TV movie Stranger in Our House.

Listen to the Talking Simpsons episode that explains the Julia Sweeney/Dr. Hibbert connection.

The "Snake" anti-drug PSA that Glen mentions.

Samus Aran from Metroid is a trans woman.

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

The episode's outro track is "I Never Dance" by Crysalis, which is not on any of the streaming services so why not listen to it on YouTube?

Kate & Allie Meet a Lesbian Couple Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

"Landlady" (October 15, 1984)

Right at the top of its second season, Kate & Allie did the thing so many sitcoms do and put out an episode that explicitly says "No, these characters aren't gay." In this case, CBS had allegedly worried that viewers might suspect Susan St. James and Jane Curtain's characters are anything other than platonic friends. On hand to discuss the show's lesbian underpinnings is Leah Kopperman, the queer woman of our dreams and the winner of an exhaustive nationwide search for the guest who can offer context for this 80s TV favorite.

Listen to our "Cartoons That Made Us Gay" episode.

Listen to Smart Mouth's mochi episode.

If you're interested, check out The Preppy Handbook and Real Men Don't Eat Quiche. Also watch SNL's "Dyke and Fats" sketch.

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

This episode's outro track is "I Can't Love (Female Version)" by Charley, which is not on any of the streaming services so why don't you listen to it on Youtube?

Love, Sidney May Just Be the First Gay Sitcom May 26, 2021

Show notes

"Alison" (May 16, 1983)

Most of you haven't had the chance to watch Love, Sidney, the the NBC series that ran from 1981 to 1983 and which featured Tony Randall as the title character — a gay man who is out to everyone but the audience. The show features queer themes more than you've been led to believe, perhaps, and interestingly it's the hourlong episode "Alison" that showcases Sidney's sexuality by giving him a female love interest. What results is poignant, personal and more progressive than you'd expect from a broadcast network sitcom at the time. To discuss this landmark show, we are joined by Steven Capsuto, author and historian focusing on queer representation of television.

Buy the revised edition of Steven's book, Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV.

Watch the TV movie that preceded Love, Sidney, Sidney Shorr, A Girl's Best Friend.

Read Charles Morrow's article on Tony Randall, "Love, Lennie."

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

This episode's outro track is "Love Resurrection" by Allison Moyet: Apple Music • Spotify • Amazon Music

Family Matters Never Did a Gay Episode May 19, 2021

Show notes

"Dr. Urkel and Mr. Cool" (November 12, 1993)

Yep, we finally figured out a way to talk about Family Matters. When Laura asks Steve why he is the way his is, he says he's born this way — but then he uses science to become someone else. The metaphors are easy to make, even if the writers probably didn't have anything gay in mind when they made this episode. Prepare for an overview of all the Family Matters lore you forgot you knew.

Listen and subscribe to your new favorite classic RPG podcast, Square Roots: Apple Podcasts • Google Podcasts • Spotify • Twitter • Facebook

Listen to Katherine discuss the history of pineapples with Andrew Ti on Smart Mouth.

Watch how Perfect Strangers previewed Family Matters back in the day. Also? Urkel-os! Also? Do the Urkel!

Watch Veronica Mars' AWOL mom in the opening credits to TGIF's Free Spirit. Also check her out as Prank, the proto-Harley Quinn to Mark Hamill's Trickster on the 90s Flash series.

Read the L.A. Times piece comparing Urkel to The Fonz.

Why did Jo Marie Payton leave Family Matters midway through the last season?

Watch Drew's video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen's movie, Being Frank.

Support us on Patreon!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE's Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: iTunes • Spotify • Stitcher • Google Play • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

This episode's outro track is "A Full Rotation" by Repetition, which is not on any of the streaming services so may just listen on YouTube?