The Ambiguously Gay Duo
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The Ambiguously Gay Duo is the name of a cartoon series that is shown on Saturday Night Live, produced by Robert Smigel. It follows the adventures of Ace and Gary, two superheroes who are ambiguously gay. Ace and Gary's initials, A and G, appear on their shirts, although some think the initials A and G stand for "ambiguously gay".
The scenario is to some degree a parody of the comic book superheroes Batman and Robin, who in their secret identities as a rich man and his young ward have been suggested by some to be a homosexual couple. This charge was most famously leveled by Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent.
Similar Saturday Night Live recurring skits feature Pat, about an individual of ambiguous gender and the short-lived Lyle the Effeminate Heterosexual, about a straight man who has flamboyantly gay mannerisms.
Standard Episode Plot
A villain is informing his associates of a plan to perform a dastardly deed. The villain states that he cannot be stopped, not even by the duo of Ace and Gary.
Upon mentioning Ace and Gary, the villain and his associates begin to debate if Ace and Gary are homosexual.
Ace and Gary get called by the mayor and the chief of police. Ace and Gary go to the villain's lair, and foil the plan. Along the way, they exhibit behavior that usually is not exhibited by someone who is heterosexual. A scene that appears more than once follows:
Ace: (patting Gary on the butt): Good job, Gary!
Villains: (suspiciously look at Ace and Gary)
Ace: What's everybody looking at?
Villains: NOTHING!
Episodes which do not follow this general plot tend to have no antagonist. They tend to feature Ace and Gary answering fan mail, and giving safety tips. One episode features the adventures of Ace and Gary when they were in high school.
Characters
- Ace
Ace is the leader of the duo. He is a mentor to Gary, and calls him "friend of friends". He is played by Stephen Colbert, currently of The Daily Show.
- Gary
Gary is the other member of the duo. He is younger and less experienced than Ace. He is played by Steve Carell.
- Mayor
The mayor calls Ace and Gary whenever trouble occurs. He tends to call them when Ace is bench-pressing weights without a shirt on. The mayor thinks that Ace and Gary might not be gay.
- Chief of Police
The chief of police tends to hang out with the mayor, wanting to see what Ace and Gary are doing. He is confident that Ace and Gary are gay, which is a subject he and the mayor debate about.
- Bighead
Bighead is an evil villain. He is bald, and has a large head, hence his name. He is a scientist, and employs thugs to fight for him. He is the person that most often tries to fight against Ace and Gary. He eventually gave up on evil deeds and was just interested in outing Ace and Gary.
He was once kidnapped by space aliens, and rescued by Ace and Gary.
Ambiguously Gay
Underlying every episode is the debate on whether Ace and Gary are gay or not. There are many reasons to think that they are gay:
- Their car is shaped like a penis and can fire semen-shaped rays.
- The letters on their shirts, "G" and "A" for Gary and Ace, spell "GA" or "AG", both of which comprise part of a common gay moniker.
- Ace pats Gary on the butt quite often.
- Their dialogue is full of homosexual innuendo; they have said to "stick it in the hole, don't play with it" when talking about electric plugs.
- Their X-ray vision is used to see if men are concealing weapons in their crotches.
- Their fighting techniques are questionable for heterosexual superheroes. Gary sits on Ace while Ace flies, they attack a gigantic monster by flying into its butt, and they use sexual positions as fighting techniques.
- Ace wears no shirt while he is bench-pressing weight.
- They disguise themselves as the Village People.
- They do not have wives, and are never shown with girls.
- Their clothing tends to contain thongs and shorts which are too small for them.
Despite this, it is still not certain whether Ace and Gary are gay or not. They seem to think that their behavior is completely normal, and get confused when people look at them strangely. On the rare occasions when they were directly confronted whether they were gay, they either misunderstood the question and said that everyone should be happy and gay, or replied that they were "gay like a fox".