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The Ambiguously Gay Duo

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Genre
  
Original language(s)
  
English

First episode date
  
28 September 1996

Number of episodes
  
12

Country of origin
  
United States

No. of episodes
  
12 (list of episodes)

Program creator
  
Narrated by
  
The Ambiguously Gay Duo httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenffcAGD

Created by
  
Robert SmigelJ. J. Sedelmaier

Voices of
  
Stephen ColbertSteve CarellRobert Smigel

Networks
  
NBC, American Broadcasting Company

Similar
  
TV Funhouse, The X‑Presidents, The Dana Carvey Show, Saturday Night Live from Mila, Saturday Night Live

The ambiguously gay duo theme 8 05 2012 s pick


The Ambiguously Gay Duo is an American animated comedy sketch that debuted on The Dana Carvey Show before moving to its permanent home on Saturday Night Live. It is created and produced by Robert Smigel and J. J. Sedelmaier as part of the Saturday TV Funhouse series of sketches. It follows the adventures of Ace and Gary, voiced by Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell, respectively, two superheroes whose sexual orientation is a matter of dispute, and a cavalcade of characters preoccupied with the question.

Contents

Background

The Ambiguously Gay Duo is a parody of the stereotypical comic book superhero duo. The characters are clad in matching pastel turquoise tights, dark blue domino masks, and bright yellow coordinated gauntlets, boots and shorts. The shorts were intended to satirize suggestions that early Batman comics implied a homosexual relationship between the eponymous title character and his field partner and protégé Robin, a charge most infamously leveled by Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, the research methodology for which was later discredited.

The typical episode usually begins with the duo's arch-nemesis Bighead, a criminal mastermind with an abnormally large cranium. Bighead is usually briefing his henchmen on a plot for some grandiose plan for world domination, interrupted by a debate as to whether or not Ace and Gary (The Ambiguously Gay Duo) are gay. Once the crime is in process, the Police Commissioner calls on the superheroes to save the day, often engaging in similar debates with the Chief of Police.

Ace and Gary set out to foil the evil plan, but not before calling attention to themselves with outrageous antics and innuendo, and behaving in ways perceived by other characters to be stereotypically homosexual, as in this conversation from the first episode:

Ace [patting Gary on the buttocks]: Good job, friend-of-friends!
Villains/Bystanders [gasps, and ghastly stares]
Ace: What's everybody looking at?
Villains/Bystanders in unison: NOTHING!

Similar gags appear in almost every episode.

Episodes not following this general formula have featured Ace and Gary answering fan mail or offering child safety tips. One such episode entails Ace and Gary giving children a ride home in their Duocar and offering home decorating tips, all while blithely making various suggestive gestures and comments.

The Ambiguously Gay Duo

  • Ace (voiced by Stephen Colbert) – Ace is the leader of the duo. He is mentor to Gary, whom he refers to as "friend of friends." He has a wide array of superhuman powers, including most (if not all) of Gary's powers.
  • Gary (voiced by Steve Carell) – Gary is Ace's "sidekick" and protégé, and the younger of the duo. Gary is less experienced, and has fewer superhuman powers than Ace. His powers include superhuman strength, breath, stamina, flexibility, flight (though Ace and Gary use the phallic-shaped Duocar more often than they fly), and "laser vision."
  • Supporting characters

  • Announcer (voiced by Bill Chott) – The Announcer is a disembodied voice who announces the title of each episode.
  • The Police Commissioner (voiced by Steve Carell) – The Police Commissioner is the duo's primary contact, and when trouble arises, he makes the call to their hangout. His calls tend to interrupt a workout of some kind, with one or the other of the duo shirtless.
  • The Chief of Police (voiced by Bill Chott) – The Chief of Police is seen with the commissioner, apparently waiting to find evidence in support of his belief that Ace and Gary are gay.
  • Kijoro – Kijoro is the duo's mentor whose spirit resides in the "Fortress of Privacy" and offers advice from time to time when Ace and Gary seek counsel.
  • Piño – The butler of Ace and Gary.
  • Villains

  • Bighead (voiced by Robert Smigel) – Bighead is a mad scientist with a very large, bald head, and is usually the brains behind most of the evil schemes. Second only to his primary vocation of mad scientist is his obsession with outing the superheroes as gay, which tends to annoy his co-conspirators because they do not care about the duo's sexuality and only want to defeat them in order to rule the world. He is constantly criticized for the amount of energy he invests in this pursuit.
  • Dr. Brainio (voiced by Stephen Colbert) – Dr. Brainio is another mad scientist with a brain suspended above his head and attached by a trio of cables and tubing. He occasionally partners with Bighead, but is quite a bit more undecided about Ace and Gary.
  • Orbitrox – Orbitrox is a small, green, free-floating droid who sides with Bighead on the question of Ace's and Gary's sexual orientation. Orbitrox has proffered evidence of their having visited gay bars, but he emphatically denies visiting them himself, snapping, in subtitled form, "Back off, dickweed, it's research!"
  • Queen Serena (voiced by Ana Gasteyer) – An intergalactic Queen.
  • Flame Eye (voiced by Bill Hader) – A henchman of Bighead and Dr. Brainio with a fiery right eye.
  • Lizardo – A lizard man henchman of Bighead and Dr. Brainio.
  • Half-Scary – A Two-Face-like henchman of Bighead and Dr. Brainio.
  • Flatside (voiced by Bill Hader) – A henchman of Bighead and Dr. Brainio whose head is flat on one side.
  • Other appearances

  • January 12, 2002: (Josh Hartnett/Pink), The Ambiguously Gay Duo makes a surprise appearance in The X-Presidents episode "The Hunt for Osama." The Ambiguously Gay Duo show up in their Duocar where they help the X-Presidents capture Osama bin Laden.
  • April 29, 2006: The Ambiguously Gay Duo co-hosted Saturday Night Live: The Best of TV Funhouse. The hosting duties included the opening monologue performed by Ace and Gary, plus new animated/live-action material during the pre-commercial and post-commercial bumpers. It was revealed during these bumper segments that they seem to have an undying obsession with former cast member Jimmy Fallon. The show ended with the duo taking cast members Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg to their secret headquarters — both naked — in the Duocar, with announcer Don Pardo begging to be taken with them and a spurned Jimmy Fallon looking on from his apartment window with tears in his eyes.
  • In 2015 Bif Bang Pow Toys produced and released a new 8" retro action-figure line of Ace and Gary titled The Ambiguously gay Duo 8" retro action figure series they were both individually package on a card but sold together in a set at the Entertainment Earth Catalog and website and at other Toy and Comic book store as well that same year Bif bang Pow toys produced the Ambiguously gay Duo Tin Tote(Lunchbox) action figure set of four 5" action-figures of Ace,Gary,and Big head

    References

    The Ambiguously Gay Duo Wikipedia