The Big Gay Sketch Show
Encyclopedia
The Big Gay Sketch Show is an LGBT
-themed sketch comedy
program that debuted on Logo
on April 24, 2007
. The series is produced by Rosie O'Donnell
and directed by Amanda Bearse
. The program was originally titled "The Big Gay Show" but was renamed during production. As the name indicates, the show features comedy sketches with gay themes or a gay twist. Sketch topics include parodies of old sitcoms like The Honeymooners
and The Facts of Life
under the Nick at Nite
-parodying heading "Logo at Nite," a lesbian speed dating
session and an extended send-up of Broadway legend Elaine Stritch
working as a Wal-Mart
greeter, among other decidedly un-glamorous jobs.
Logo produced a second season of the series. Paolo Andino and Colman Domingo joined the cast (replacing Michael Serrato and Dion Flynn). Season 2 premiered on February 5, 2008.
Production on season three began in March 2009. Erica Ash is no longer with the cast. In 2009, Logo announced plans for a search for new castmembers. However, the result entitled, "The Big Gay Casting Competition," was limited to an online talent search, in which videos by contestants were uploaded to logoonline.com and voted on by site visitors. The winner, Wil Heuser, was a former American Idol
contestant, who appeared in only one episode of the series, but as an extra, not a castmember. Season three debuted on Logo April 13, 2010.
Recurring celebrity impersonations include:
, RuPaul's Drag U
, and The A-List: New York
with comparatively lower production costs, the Logo network, by not picking up a fourth season of The Big Gay Sketch show, has effectively cancelled the show..
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
-themed sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
program that debuted on Logo
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
on April 24, 2007
2007 in television
2007 in television may refer to:*2007 in American television*2007 in Australian television*2007 in British television*2007 in Canadian television*2007 in Japanese television...
. The series is produced by Rosie O'Donnell
Rosie O'Donnell
Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell is an American stand-up comedian, actress, author and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT rights activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family...
and directed by Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse
Amanda Bearse is an American actress, director and comedienne best known for her role as wacky neighbor Marcy D'Arcy on Married.....
. The program was originally titled "The Big Gay Show" but was renamed during production. As the name indicates, the show features comedy sketches with gay themes or a gay twist. Sketch topics include parodies of old sitcoms like The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
and The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
under the Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
-parodying heading "Logo at Nite," a lesbian speed dating
Speed dating
Speed dating is a formalized matchmaking process or dating system whose purpose is to encourage people to meet a large number of new people. Its origins are credited to Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish HaTorah, originally as a way to help Jewish singles meet and marry. "SpeedDating", as a single word, is...
session and an extended send-up of Broadway legend Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch is an American actress and vocalist. She has appeared in numerous stage plays and musicals, feature films, and many television programs...
working as a Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
greeter, among other decidedly un-glamorous jobs.
Logo produced a second season of the series. Paolo Andino and Colman Domingo joined the cast (replacing Michael Serrato and Dion Flynn). Season 2 premiered on February 5, 2008.
Production on season three began in March 2009. Erica Ash is no longer with the cast. In 2009, Logo announced plans for a search for new castmembers. However, the result entitled, "The Big Gay Casting Competition," was limited to an online talent search, in which videos by contestants were uploaded to logoonline.com and voted on by site visitors. The winner, Wil Heuser, was a former American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
contestant, who appeared in only one episode of the series, but as an extra, not a castmember. Season three debuted on Logo April 13, 2010.
Current cast
- Julie GoldmanJulie GoldmanJulie Goldman is a comedian, actress, and musician. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. She is Jewish, and an open lesbian....
(Season 1 - 3) - Stephen Guarino (Season 1 - 3)
- Jonny McGovernJonny McGovernJonny McGovern , also known by his character name The Gay Pimp, is an American stand-up comedian, musician and podcaster. He has recorded three albums as comedic singer The Gay Pimp, and is also a cast member of Logo's The Big Gay Sketch Show.-Early life:Jonny McGovern was born to Mary McGovern and...
(Season 1 - 3) - Kate McKinnonKate McKinnonKate McKinnon is an American sketch comedian.-Career:Kate McKinnon was hired during her senior year at Columbia University in 2006 to join the original cast of the LOGO Network's Big Gay Sketch Show...
(Season 1 - 3) - Nicol Paone (Season 1 - 3)
- Paolo Andino (Season 2 - 3)
- Colman DomingoColman DomingoColman Domingo is an American actor, playwright and director.Domingo graduated from Temple University where he majored in journalism...
(Season 2 - 3)
Former cast
- Erica AshErica AshErica Ash is an American actress, comedienne, singer and model. She was a cast member on the sketch comedy programs MadTV and The Big Gay Sketch Show.-Early years:...
(Season 1 - 2) - Dion Flynn (Season 1)
- Michael Serrato (Season 1)
Recurring characters and sketches
Recurring original BGSS characters include:- Gay Werewolf (McGovern), a straight man who turns gay - and hairy - under the light of a full moon.
- Svetlana (Guarino), an ex-KGB secret agent and chorus dancer who practices her Soviet brand of martial arts as a means to stardom.
- Fitzwilliam (McKinnon), a gender-confused English boy desperate to obtain a vagina. Sketches also include his father (McGovern).
- Steven, a morbidly obese man, also known as "Waffles" (McGovern). This character originated on McGovern's podcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, Gay Pimpin' with Jonny McGovernGay Pimpin' with Jonny McGovernGay Pimpin' with Jonny McGovern is a bi-weekly free gay-themed podcast currently based out of Hollywood, California, originally out of New York City. The show began airing on January 16, 2006. It currently ranks the highest in popularity under the keyword "gay" on the iTunes music store, is the...
. - Ron Odyssey, a frustratingly flamboyant gay male receptionist (Guarino) who gives customers / patients a difficult time.
- Chocolate Puddin', a transgender hooker. Puddin' originated in McGovern's stage show "Dirty Stuff".
- Naldo (Andino), a Latino worker, who moves items (e.g. packages, luggage, furniture) in an explicit, sexual manner, unknown to him, exciting his gay male clientele.
Recurring celebrity impersonations include:
- Maya Angelou (Domingo), who reads sexually explicit posts from CraigslistCraigslistCraigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
. - Antonio Banderas (Andino)
- Liza Minelli (Goldman)
- Elaine Stritch (Paone), who appears performing a series of menial jobs like Wal-Mart greeter, airport luggage inspector and the like.
- Barbara Walters (McKinnon), appears in "The View" sketches.
Critical reception
- VarietyVariety (magazine)Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
: "[G]ay or straight, the audience has too many options to rely on mediocrity, which is why this exercise would seem a whole lot bigger and gayer if it was just a bit funnier."
- AfterEllen.comAfterEllen.comAfterEllen.com, founded in April 2002, is a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbian and bisexual women in the media. AfterElton.com, its brother site for gay and bisexual men, was launched in January 2005. The websites were founded by Sarah Warn, who initially served as the editor in...
(owned by Logo): "BGSS faces inevitable comparisons to mainstream sketch shows like NBC's long-running Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
and Fox's Mad TVMad TVMad TV may refer to:*MADtv, an American sketch comedy television series based on Mad magazine*Mad TV , a 1991 German television station management simulation game*MAD TV , a Greek music channel-See also:...
and In Living ColorIn Living ColorIn Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the Fox Network from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century...
. The success of SNL has hinged on the ability of its most talented cast members to develop memorable recurring characters. Similarly, the strength of both Mad TV and In Living Color is in the willingness of each to "go there" with the sort of sociopolitical humor that the modern incarnation of SNL (save for its brief and brilliant Tina FeyTina FeyElizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
era) usually avoids.
"With its cast of mostly queer performers and its residence on a gay network, BGSS has a unique opportunity to do both of those things well. If the first two episodes are any indication, it looks promising."
- The SoupThe SoupThe Soup is an E! Entertainment Television weekly series; it is a revamped version of Talk Soup that focuses on recaps of various pop culture and television show moments of the week...
: Host Joel McHaleJoel McHaleJoel Edward McHale is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, television producer, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for hosting The Soup and for his role as Jeff Winger on Community....
commented unfavorably during the April 24, 2007 episode about BGSGs opening sketch, "Pocket Gay Friend," citing its similarity to The Soup's "Little Gay" recurring character that had debuted a year earlier and jokingly threatening a lawsuit.
- AfterElton.com (owned by Logo): "I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Big Gay Sketch Show demonstrates definite promise....this is pretty standard sketch comedy, save a few more gay characters peppered in and some humor based around gay relationships. And to be honest, the skits that had little to do with gayness were often much funnier than the ones that lampooned gay life....if Big Gay focuses on developing great characters and skits that don't get bogged down in the concept, the show could become a solid hit."
Cancellation
With the success of RuPaul's Drag RaceRuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo. RuPaul plays host, mentor and inspiration for this series, which details RuPaul's search for "America's next drag superstar."...
, RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U is an American reality television series. Hosted by RuPaul and a team of drag queen "professors," Drag U is a spin-off of the series RuPaul's Drag Race...
, and The A-List: New York
The A-List: New York
The A-List: New York is an American reality television series from the LGBT-interest network Logo. The series, frequently described as a Real Housewives-style show, follows the lives of six gay and bisexual men in New York City. The series was originally announced under the title Kept but the title...
with comparatively lower production costs, the Logo network, by not picking up a fourth season of The Big Gay Sketch show, has effectively cancelled the show..