![]() He’s proving that there is in fact a place for unapologetically queer comedy on such a mainstream show, and widening the boundaries for how an effeminate man can act on TV. ![]() Every time he plays a queer character, he’s widening the scope of what’s considered normal. And at a time when 81 percent of Asian and Pacific American LGTBQ+ youth still don’t feel comfortable being themselves around their family, his presence on the iconic show is vital for them too. The question of why Yang finds it so important to challenge these assumptions could be explained in part by Terry Sweeney’s statements as to why he decided to come out in the middle of the AIDS epidemic, in a period when doing so could (and did) have such a negative impact on his career: “I did what I thought was the right thing to do.” Thirty-six years, later, Yang says, “I kind of don’t really care about how my tenure on the show is perceived in any particular way, other than … I want this to facilitate something better for the next person.” This is what makes Yang’s first two years at SNL so important to LGBTQ+ viewers and aspiring performers. The Racist Panic That Thrust Michael Jordan Into the Debate Over “Sneaker Murders” I Read the Dragon-School Romances Dominating the Bestseller Lists. Here’s What the Backlash Is Really About. Taylor Swift’s Go-To Producer Is a Controversial Figure. The Beatles’ “Final” Music Video Shows That Peter Jackson Has Really, Truly Lost It On a network comedy show that has historically prioritized a straight, white, primarily baby boomer audience, this was a bold choice, even if it shouldn’t have been. There were plenty of ways Yang and co-writer Anna Drezen could’ve gone about writing this sketch, plenty of different directions they could’ve gone in that had nothing to do with queer culture. None of this is necessary for the joke, exactly, but the specificity with which this character is drawn helps makes the whole thing pop. His amazingly flamboyant iceberg outfit and his makeup, slang, and hand gestures are all queer-coded. ![]() The iceberg sketch is notable in that, although it’s definitely not the entire joke of the sketch, Yang’s character is clearly, emphatically gay. Whereas Sweeney never received the chance to expand beyond the limited roles of his debut season, Yang is thriving on the show and constantly expanding his list of characters, from a cocaine-obsessed frat guy, a French Canadian news anchor, and the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. It’s a sketch that expects straight viewers to do what queer viewers have been doing forever: learn to appreciate the humor within a culture that isn’t your own. But unlike those ’80s sketches, this was written for queer people by queer people Yang, who co-wrote the sketch, also appears as Styles’ disapproving boss, cautioning him, “We think it would be healthy if Sara Lee stopped having threesomes.” The writing makes no attempt to cater to a straight audience who might not be familiar with terms like twinks or poppers. Like much of the material performed by Terry Sweeney, this sketch is firmly rooted in stereotypes about gay men. One early sketch that would become emblematic of Yang’s imprint on the show starred Harry Styles as a social media manager who accidentally fills up Sara Lee’s Instagram account with gay thirst comments. Within the first few episodes, he made his mark with figures like Andrew Yang and fictional trade representative Chen Biao, as well as by playing characters like a SoulCycle instructor, the guy from the choking poster, and Bottle Boi. When Bowen Yang joined SNL in the fall of 2019, the show had a much better idea of what to do with him. Yang is challenging a double standard, one sketch at a time.
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