Gayest Episode Ever

"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 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.

"#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 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"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 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"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 • 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"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 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

Yes, we said there was no episode this week, but then we realized that we had all these bonus episodes just lying around on Patreon, so here is one of those. BTW, listen to more queer readings of old cartoons here for just $1 a month. "The Mirror" (September 11, 1995) It is technically possible that someone could have watched Gargoyles and not realized that it was one of the horniest animated series ever. We think this episode — which has a very fey Puck teaming up with Demona to turn our heroic gargoyles into humans, loincloths still in place — helps demonstrate just how much homoeroticism was going on, both in the minds of viewers and the minds of people Want to spend more time with Goliath? Then listen to the What a Cartoon podcast's take on this very same episode of Gargoyles. (We will assert that ours is at least marginally gayer.) Read the Polygon article about the extended Gargoyles universe that could have been. Also read about the plans for the live-action movie. When did English-speakers decided that fairies = gay? Also read about the difference between gargoyles and grotesques. (This show should technically be called Grotesques.) Goliath : Eliza :: Bonkers : Miranda Watch a commercial for 1985's English language dub, Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years. Purchase the first issue of Drew and Glen's new comic anthology, Beyond Sunset. 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"Gay Witch Hunt" (September 21, 2006) Whelp, you asked enough so we finally did it: we covered The Office, despite the fact that its entire series run came and went during the age of online recaps and extensive online coverage. This is one of the most requested episodes we've gotten since we began this podcast. It's up to you to decide what we can add to discourse about this mid-2000s phenomenon — which, BTW, was not as big of a hit as you might remember — but we can at least point out that the epidemic of arrested development glimpsed on The Office the show was not limited to Michael Scott. No, Drew was right: there *was* a peculiar preponderance of redheads on this show. Purchase the first issue of Drew and Glen's new comic anthology, Beyond Sunset. 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"Love Letters to Sarge" (January 29, 1965) Not only is this the only installment of a podcast that will explain the gay history of Gomer Pyle and the man who played him, but also it's the only discussion of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C to feature relevant clips from both The Simpsons and Sailor Moon, because that's the kind of show this is. Special thanks to listener Robyn Pavlakovich for suggesting this episode. Watch this great explainer video on Gomer Pyle and Jim Nabors by friend of the show Matt Baume Watch the video of Jim Nabors and Rock Hudson appearing on The Carol Burnett Show, just two years before the rumors ended their friendship Listen to Drew talk about Pete's Dragon on the Inside the Disney Vault podcast. Listen to the latest episode of Smart Mouth. Find out what TV shows are part of the Tommy Westphall extended universe Purchase the first issue of Drew and Glen's new comic anthology, Beyond Sunset. 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"He Said, She Said" (November 1, 1999) The legends speak of a forgotten volume of lore known as… Becker. Allegedly a hit CBS television series starring Ted Danson, it is apparently a victim of the same magic spell that befell Wings, making it all but forgotten from pop culture discourse today. However, as guest Jasmine Friend brought to our attention, Becker did a 1990s twist on the "old friend in town turns out to be trans" trope we discussed in our recent Jeffersons episode. This will likely be the only podcast you will listen to this week that will discuss not only Becker but also the pop culture legacy of Jadzia Dax, the extreme gendering of Ms. Pac-Man and Persian custom of taarof in a single episode. Read Jasmine's Twitter thread, which is what brought this episode to our attention in the first place. Purchase the first issue of Drew and Glen's new comic anthology, Beyond Sunset 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.

"Roswell That Ends Well" (December 9, 2001) Equal parts sitcom and sci-fi epic, Futurama has some deep lore, and at the core of one of its most important storylines — that Fry is genetically destined to save the universe — is the fact that he also accidentally kills his gay grandfather and impregnates his own grandmother. Which is a lot, we realize, but in this episode we try to explain why Futurama is great and why dead, gay Grandpa Enos is vital to the cosmology of the show. If you like deep dives into Futurama, go throw money at the Talking Simpsons Patreon, where they've done whole bonus seasons about it. What does it mean that Leela is "the other"? If you want to listen to us discuss a far less good episode by the same writer, listen to "Marge Simpsons Is a Homophobe and a Transphobe," about the Simpsons episode "There's Something About Marrying." It really sucks! Less critical is "Drew and Glen Discuss Instrumental Sitcom Themes." Bender's connection to The Breakfast Club is sourced to this Mental Floss article, which sadly does not cite its sources. Listen to Astonishing Legends breakdown of the Alien Autopsy hoax. Listen to Smart Mouth's episode about how World War II made American children eat like they were going to war. Read about the history of Japanese hydrogen balloon bombs. Read about how studying after a test can make you retroactively do better on it, time causality be damned. No, microwaved water is not toxic and neither are microwaves. And listen if you dare to Tom Arnold's rendition of "I'm My Own Grandpa" from the movie The Stupids. Purchase the first issue of Drew and Glen's new comic anthology, Beyond Sunset 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 was designed by Ian O'Phelan. This is a TableCakes podcast.