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Bonus! The Lost Seinfeld Episode, and More (?!?!) Charles Nelson Reilly

🕑 Added 2022-07-10 17:01:01 +0000 UTC

Comments

Zardogs! Zardogs!

1. As a teen who was absolutely questioning his sexuality, but not out, I got my Left ear pierced. I lived in SoCal, but I was in London, and let me tell you, Left was straight, right was gay in at least two countries. 2. My dad watched WKRP in reruns and from a young age I was keyed in that Les was Gay Coded a decade before I knew that terminology. Kind of weird to see they actually had an episode about it. And Bruce was absolutely a gay coded name and I would have understood it at the time.

Ten Thousand Worlds

Growing up in the 1980’s in the central US, I remember hearing the phrase “left is right and right is wrong”, which was supposed to mean that a man who wore an earring in his right ear was a heterosexual while a man who wore one on the left was gay.

Lee-Gwen Booth

I think the earring was an entirely intentional reference, but I think that the fact that a black man was calling white men "boy" was also part of the joke.

Bob Geise-Hoefer

The right ear/left ear gay indicator was very 70s/80s. (There are oodles of links of you Google). No self-respecting hetero male pierced his right ear. But I don't remember it being around in the 90s forward.

Matt Baume

Oh no, sorry the videos are giving you trouble! Yes, sometimes the Patreon app doesn't play nice with video (they tell me that there's a fix for that coming sometime this year) -- in the meantime the backup links at the bottom should work. But let me know if you're still not able to see them or if you're getting an error message and I'll keep troubleshooting.

Sinn Sage

ow come patreon is telling me none of these videos exist? is this just a problem w the patreon app?

Daniel Harrigan

Reportedly, the producer of The Incredible Hulk TV series had the lead characters name changed from Bruce to David, because Bruce "sounded too gay". Wouldn't want any gay subtext in your show about an ordinary guy that swells up into a body builder when aroused.

Matt Baume

Oh now THAT'S my kind of Bruce

burrrlin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bellas

burrrlin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_the_Batman_franchise

Robert E. Stutts

I remember the "Mark, Rick, or Steve" line from Steel Magnolias, but I didn't know about the history of "Bruce." In the WKRP scene, I thought (then and now too) the big joke was not Les's line about "Bruce" but his actions: that he suddenly started standing on that narrow ledge while on the phone as if he wasn't on a ledge (when just minutes prior he'd been clinging to the wall). No?

Tony Holewinski

Patrick is hilarious anytime he’s onscreen! Thanks for a great bonus episode & here’s hoping the vertigo goes away. Can’t wait for the book! ❤️

Darren Simon

isn't the earing in Seinfeld's standup at the time? I believe he had a bit about all these signals and that he can't ever keep them straight, left right yadda yadda yadda...I think the joke is maybe he is, maybe he isn't but either way...HE IS BIGGER than they are.

Yonatan Zunger

Fascinating! My read on the two gags is that in WKRP, it's the small pause and body language before "Bruce" - it's a bit flirtatious. We have the whole episode about how he doesn't want anyone to think he's gay, but then we start to wonder... The Seinfeld gag seems way simpler: Costanza says "nothing is going to make me shut up," loudly and angrily, and then an extremely large man tells him to be quiet and he does. That gag has got to be as old as vaudeville at least. :)

Matt Baume

I wonder how she wound up there! The Nanny would have been in production but not yet premiered at that point.

Matt Baume

This is the WEIRDEST gay Bruce joke EVER

Matt Baume

Oh WOW this is fascinating. I want to find that Milton Berle stuff mentioned in the comments!!!

Matt Baume

OMG you're right! And then weirdly they made him a recurring character -- but a different character -- a season later. He's EVERYWHERE

Matt Baume

Oh I forgot to put it on this one! Fleckman will be back.

Fred Maxon

Figured I should pass this along -- In The Outing, Estelle Harris wasn't available for her hospital scene, so it was first shot with queer icon Fran Drescher playing George's mother and then Estelle was edited in later. https://youtu.be/UsQmUZUKCHI?t=789

Steve McLean

I don't know if the gay association with the name Bruce predates this song but I remember this parody from 1969. It's a take-off on Jimmy Dean's big hit "Big Bad John" about a miner who died in a mine cave-in. This song is about a hairdresser who dies in a salon fire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH6GaZzNX8U

Bryan Cybershaman(X) Logie

This Substack article/post had some good information about the Bruce = gay thing around the time of that WKRP episode: https://jasoncolavito.substack.com/p/bruce-a-name-too-gayish-for-tv

Adam Hammack

You've got "sodomy" on the brain! Wow! (Also, and I didn't realize it until I saw the clip of Patrick typing, he played what must've been on an homage to this *exact* same role on an episode of Mad About You. Paul and Jamie visit a hotel with their dog, and he's the clerk they're trying to sneak the dog past. He does the same fast typing bit and everything!)

IV Elmendorf

Your brain knows you best. Mine spells out cuddle in calligraphy haha

Irisarc

I kinda liked the Fleckman's ending you were doing (at least once, I didn't go back and check). It's such a cute, kitschy, inside joke end cap. Just a thought.