Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey!

Q: I just watched The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, and I swear there has been nothing more gay on network TV since its one and only showing in 1976. Please tell me if, please oh God please, any of his other specials survive. He was a true comedic genius. And do you think there will ever be a Hollywood Squares or Storybook Squares DVD release? – William, San Francisco, CA

A: Nothing more gay on television? Perhaps you’ve never heard of Project Runway, where seven of the eight contestants were gay men? Or Sex and the City? Or a little show called Supernatural? (In the Monkey’s dreams!)

Okay, yes, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special definitely falls in the campy TV category of So-Bad-It’s Good. And yes, it’s gay, at least if you consider it “gay” to have a rare TV appearance by The Wizard of Oz’s Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West (together with Witchiepoo from H. R. Pufnstuf). Or Florence Henderson singing a disco version of “That Old Black Magic.” Or Roz "Pinky Tuscadero" Kelly singing “Disco Lady” alongside the bare-chested members of KISS in full make-up.

Gayest of all — and the Monkey swears he is not making this up — is a sequence where Paul Lynde himself is the “Rhinestone Trucker.”

Despite the fact that Halloween Special has developed something of a cult following, Lynde’s two other specials are not available on DVD. “They’re not anywhere the same caliber of the Halloween special,” says Arny Schorr, the guy who uncovered this lost, uh, gem and released it via his company, S’more Entertainment. “The references are now too obscure.”

Lynde’s two failed sitcoms aren’t available on DVD either, though there are clips of them floating around cyberspace. But he guest-starred on just about every variety show in the 60s and 70s, and many of those appearances are out there too.

Likewise, Hollywood Squares is not available on DVD, nor is it likely to be any time soon, though reruns sometimes pop up on the Game Show Network (it’s currently off the schedule). Storybook Squares, the short-lived kids’ version of the show, is pretty much lost to antiquity (and the Monkey’s fading memories of childhood).

Q: Weren’t there rumblings there was going to be a gay character on the new 90210? I will admit overall it IS getting better (and I will watch Kelly Taylor read the phone book), but what gives? – Nate, Minneapolis, MN

A: For the time being, it’s a gay-free zone. But given how many times AfterElton.com has asked the network “Will there ever be a gay character on this show?” if there ever is such a character, we will deserve at least half the credit. In fact, AfterElton.com’s own Daniel Leary personally asked 90210’s Jennie Garth for news on any upcoming gay characters when she appeared recently at the GLSEN RESPECT Awards. Jennie certainly thought there should be a gay character, but even she had no inside knowledge of one. [link to Daniel’s vlog]

The cast of the new 90210 (left); Jennie Garth (right) returns as "Kelly Taylor"

Q: So this question is probably a few years past being relevant, but I need an answer. Yesterday I was trying to explain to a (straight) friend why I didn't view Jack (from Will & Grace) as offensively stereotypical, and I couldn't make an intelligent argument. Help! Is it because, at his most queeny, Jack still refused to apologize for who he is? Is it because that, unlike other stereotypical gay characters, you can sense the gay community is in on the joke? Is it because Will is meant to balance him out (kind of)? -- David, Los Angeles, CA

A: For the record, between Jack and Will, the Monkey always found Will to be the more offensive of the two. Yes, Will was more traditionally masculine. But he was also vain, bitchy, prissy, insulting, boorish, vapid, and selfish. Save us from those who consider this to be the Gay Everyman!

Truthfully? I think it’s okay to be offended by Jack — hey, he is a collection of pretty negative stereotypes: promiscuous, materialistic, stupid. So the Monkey wouldn’t try to argue otherwise. If someone is offended, they’re offended. And I do think the show definitely crossed the line sometimes (when Jack went on to Middle America about orgies and the like).

That said, the Monkey personally wasn’t offended for all the reasons you suggest, and maybe perhaps also because he’s so clearly a cartoon. Like Karen (and unlike Will), he’s so over-the-top that only a moron or a bigot or both is going to take him seriously as a “real” person.

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