A Queer History of SNL, Part Three: The “Not Ready for Prime Time” Era

Dec 6, 2023

Welcome to the first of our in-depth looks at LGBTQ humor in specific eras of Saturday Night Live. Of course, we’re starting at the beginning, in the classic era, and yeah, some of them are better than you’d guess and some of them are so much worse. It’s a real grab bag, but there are lessons to be learned about how SNL came to be what it is today and how American humor has evolved since 1975.

 

Buy Josh Trujillo’s new book, Washington's Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron Von Steuben.

 

Watch all the sketches featured in this episode here.

 

Here are the sketches, in order:

1. Jamitol (S1E1: George Carlin, Oct. 11 1975)
2. Long Distance (S1E4: Candice Bergen, Nov. 8 1975)
3. Latent Elf (S1E8: Candice Bergen, Dec. 20 1975)
4. Household Hints (S1E16: Anthony Perkins, March 13, 1976)
5. The Snake-Handling O’Sheas (S2E2: Norman Lear, Sep. 25, 1976)
6. Monologue (S4E11: Cicely Tyson, Feb. 10, 1979)
7. The Ex-Police (S4E11: Cicely Tyson, Feb. 10, 1979)
8. Miles Cowperthwaite (S4E18: Michael Palin, May 12, 1979)
9. Not for Transexuals Only (S4E20: Buck Henry, May 26, 1979)
10. The Continuing Correspondences of Eleanor Roosevelt (S5E3: Bill Russell, Oct. 20 1979)

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