Gayest Episode Ever
“Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing” (March 31, 2015) In its sixth and final season, Community decided to explore the series-long running joke about Dean Pelton’s mysterious, complex sexuality. once again joins us to discuss how the dean is not actually gay — he may be a pansexual imp, after all — but in forcing him to pick a tidy label, this show does a good job showing how many queer people end up pigeonholing themselves in a way that doesn’t fully express who they are. Listen to Henry’s podcast, . Listen to his episode about on Podcast: The Ride. . The trailer for , which is...
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“Drew’s Brother” (November 19, 1997) We finally did it! We not only found the perfect guest for this episode — writer, performer and UCB alum — but we also got the chance to tell the world that The Drew Carey Show deserves to live it. It’s not only the most successful Friends clone but also the only one that sustained a whole series about working class young people. And in its third season, it introduced Drew’s brother Steve (John Caroll Lynch) who is a cross-dresser who might just be a transwoman. What’s more, the show pairs Steve off with Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney),...
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“The Censors,” (April 10, 1980) James L. Brooks followed up the hit Taxi with another workplace ensemble that skewed decidedly fancier: The Associates featured a young and unknown Martin Short among a group of fresh hires at a Wall Street law firm. The show didn’t work and is almost forgotten today. But its second-to-last episode did feature a trip to the Hollywood set of a sitcom where a producer battles an overzealous censor. There’s a gay sublot, but the overall story is a cautionary tale that applies to people making TV today just as much as it did four decades ago...
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"Single Stamina" (November 27, 2006) Now that HIMYM has been off the air for a full decade, it’s worth considering how this show holds up better than most from the early 2000s did. Not only did it give us Robin Sparkles, it just might be the only TV show to compare equally well to both Friends and Lost, as improbable as that sounds. This episode has Wayne Brady playing a gay character in a bit of stunt casting that worked a lot better before he came out, but it also just might be the thing that convinced Neil Patrick Harris to finally come out as well. Listen to t, all about Conan: The...
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What if we broke format to discuss America’s favorite smartypants game show? Well, we did it. And special guest joins us to discuss Amy Schneider, who became Jeopardy’s second-longest-running winner ever — and as a result became a household name and a trans icon. Listen to Emily’s Jeopardy podcast, What Is…? A Jeopardy! Podcast on or ! Listen to Peaches Christ and also Drew on ! Follow: • • • • • Listen: • • • • And yes, we do have ! We even have courtesy of . Our logo was designed by ....
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“The Courtship of Bess Richards” (October 4, 1986) The second episode of Amen concerns Sherman Hemsley’s Ernie trying to land his choir a new singer in Nell Carter’s Bess, and the result is a comedy of errors in which both he and she perform romantic interest that neither is capable of actually feeling. The result is a WWF-style wrestling match between these two iconic sitcom stars, and we’re joined once again by to discuss how this is rendered all the stranger because Hemsley and Carter both were closeted and therefore all too accustomed to acting out hetero identities different...
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“Menage a Phyllis” (November 2, 1974) In the third-season episode “My Brother’s Keeper,” Rhoda famously said the word “gay,” turning a plot about her association with Phyllis’ brother on its head. Two seasons later, Phyllis shows up in another episode that discusses gay issues but weirdly doesn’t say that word. Regardless, there’s perhaps more to be made of the newsroom’s opinions about what codes as gay, and returns to discuss this and what we’ll call the “Murray Slaughter problem.” Read Dead Buckley’s 2018 piece Episodes referenced: Dan’s previous...
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“Cousin Geri” (December 24, 1980) Fun game for listeners: Take a shot every time Drew mentions the phrase “gigantic bitch” in connection with Lisa Welchel’s Blair, who is in rare form this episode as she shuns her disabled cousin Geri for reasons that aren’t the ones you’re probably assuming. In this discussion, we bring up why Geri Jewell is a trailblazer as far as being queer and also one other thing and also why “actress recurring on Deadwood” is lowkey code for lesbian. Erin Fletcher, we want you back for that Saved by the Bell episode. Follow: • •...
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“Gay Bash” (November 10, 2004) For better or worse, Drawn Together represents a very real trend in mid-2000s humor. It specifically sought out to tell the most offensive jokes it could get on air, but that’s what makes it surprising that the episode where Xandir admits he’s gay isn’t the parade of easy jokes you might expect. The B plot sucks rancid balls, to the point that we don’t even use clips from it in this discussion, but you might be surprised how this animated reality show makes its token gay a sympathetic guy. Check out with series creators Dave Jesser and Matt...
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“Dye! Dye! My Darling!” (August 2, 2000) Spend a little time in a Daria fan community and you’ll find folks who ship the title character with her best friend, Jane. The show actually never does a gay episode and only gets the slightest bit queer in the first movie, Is It Fall Yet?, which has Jane affirming her heterosexuality despite how very queer she might seem. In this episode, we’re discussing the nonetheless existent lesbian vibes between Daria and Jane — and who better to offer input on this than Talking Simpsons cohost ? Sure, he’s straight, but it turns out that...
info_outline“The Perils of Punky” (October 20, 1985)
This might be the most famous weird episode of any TV show ever, and with good reason: it is utterly inexplicable how this parade of horrors came to be. It would be weird for any sitcom to deliberately scare its viewers, much less a show that catered specifically to kids. Wait, is the shared trauma of this Punky Brewster the reason why millennials can’t stop talking about old TV? No, really — is this why???
This is an episode of our Patreon bonus podcast Weirdest Episode Ever. Listen to the rest of those episodes on Patreon or now also on Apple Podcasts!
Check out Drew's video of all the times Brandon the dog was clearly not acting and was, in fact, actually scared of what was happening during this episode.
Most of the quotes used in this piece come from this Yahoo TV retrospective on this episode.
Watch Drew’s supercut of the Soleil Moon Frye’s pre-Punky made-for-TV horror movie, Invitation to Hell — and listen to the Monday Afternoon Movie about it!
The logo for Weirdest Episode Ever was designed by Ian O’Phelan. The theme music was composed by Nick Loiacano.
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