Homosexuality for Comedy’s Sake?

This GLOC article on the Brie & Jacobs’s (aka the two hot chicks on Community) faux lesbian photoshoot for GQ got me thinking. 

In the article it says:

Openly gay NY performer Jess Barbagallo asks, “Why is it funny when gay people kiss each other? It should be funny for the same reasons it’s funny when straight people kiss each other. It just feels sad, like girls in college who make out to get attention from guys at bars.”

I was just actually thinking about this the other day, and I’m glad that smart ladies at GLOC addressed it.  But I want to take this issue further.  Something I find generally annoying in improv or comedy, is that if two men kiss it’s ‘funny’ and if two women kiss it’s ‘hot’.  Kissing in improv in general is funny because it’s obviously two friends, who don’t want to kiss in real life on some level.  Dissecting why something is funny is a slippery slop.  My point is, I get bored with people trying to use two men or two women being intimate or affectionate as a joke.

Why is homosexuality funny?  Too me it’s just a cheap as making a joke about race or gender roles.  You would never drop an N bomb on someone or tell a woman to get back to the kitchen or you’ll beat her, if you did the audience would turn on you. 

Perhaps audiences haven’t quite caught up with the gay movement.  Maybe people laugh at faux homosexuality because it is unexpected or it makes them uncomfortable that one or both straight comedians are perhaps squeamish.  As long as people laugh, I imagine improvisers/comedians will exploit homosexuality.  However, I hope that the audience becomes smart enough to give it a blank stare in time.

It’s just a cop out.  We should play to the top of our intelligence and let the circumstances, stakes and our wit bring the comedy, not just make fun someone for existing.  

Now that being said: sometimes it is totally necessary to make out with a man/woman/child/giraffe in a scene and is absolutely hilarious. Nothing is off limits when it comes to comedy, but maybe we should try for the smart laugh instead of the cheap laugh - even if they sound the same.

With great power comes great responsibility.