The Gayest Comedy One Google Search Can Find
Words by Bridget Scott (She/her)
Being queer is silly.
We spend our adolescence vaguely dodging being outed, assuming we’ll fit into weird, pseudo-straight identities, and internally freaking out, only to burst into a sunshiny Wellington vibe where, hopefully, everything is chill. Mainstream media, however, tends to have a fairly narrow focus on queer lives. It often hones in on experiences that are meant to be pivotal, like coming out, gay shame, and first kiss narratives. Yet these moments are only the beginning of a young gay’s story, and much of this media fails to capture the fun and absurdity of being young, melodramatic, and yearning.
Whether you’re looking to relish in that feeling, discover it for the first time, or just searching for a relatable hour of levity, fill the gap with queer comedy. Easily found on Netflix or Neon, and brimming with joy, the following are some of my favourites from the past few years.
Psychosexual—Joel Kim Booster (2022)
Find it on: Netflix
Joel Kim Booster is bravely breaking the glass ceiling and representing the historically undervalued: Hot Comedians. Oozing confidence and charisma, the South Korean-American actor and writer conducts his audience like an orchestra. Booster’s unafraid of a challenge. He spends the first ten minutes establishing his queer credentials before finding the straightest, whitest guy in the audience and mercilessly teasing him until the entire crowd is shrieking with laughter.
The special is broken into three acts, and Booster has fun as he offers critiques for the gay community. He’s at his strongest riffing on the intersection of his early 20s, the politics of representation, and race. Booster covers everything from dating “rice queens” with “multiple katanas” on the wall to taking the wrong drugs from boys with thick South London accents on a worldwide gay cruise.
Booster’s gossipy, compelling, and salacious as hell, delving into Grindr culture, sexploitations, and open relationships. He relishes in the audience’s discomfort and lovingly exposes an oft mocked subsection of the millennial LA Gay Man WeHo lifestyle.
Sap—Mae Martin (2023)
Find it on: Netflix
Feel Good star and stand up comic Mae Martin has a dry Canadian wit and a bemused sensibility. In their recent special set at a girl guide-adjacent scout camp, they muse on everything from run ins with their most traumatising ex, their teenage rehab experience, and their relationship with gender via an extended tree sap metaphor.
Martin has lived a vibrant life, and delights in exasperatingly low stakes absurdity—stolen mail, a mythical giant moose, and bizarre parental interactions. My favourite moments are mostly within the first half of this 70-minute special, where Martin is most loose and simply tells stories.
Themes of self-expression, anxiety, and personal growth develop throughout the hour as Martin pokes fun at the human experience without ever slipping down the self-deprecation slope. This is perfect viewing for when the wind is howling, the jug is boiled, and you’re trying to get warm from the inside out.
Rothaniel – Jerrod Carmichael (2022)
Find it on: Neon
Jerrod Carmichael became known in the US for his tightly wound, clever, and occasionally controversial jokes. ^Rothaniel^ is quite different, both from Carmichael’s other work and from the other sets on this list. Carmichael perches on a bar stool in a New York jazz club and starts pulling at the threads of his life. He discusses his relationship with his father and siblings, the love he feels for his mother, and the many secrets that have ruled his life.
If you’re remotely interested, watch this without Googling or looking for spoilers in advance. At Rothaniel’s midway point, Carmichael takes an epic turn into one of the most moving queer experience commentaries I’ve seen.
He enters into a loose dialogue with the audience, answering questions, receiving support, and tolerating light teasing. It’s a beautiful insight into the black community and the support strangers can offer one another, especially when the people we most lean on fail to come through for us.
Rothaniel is a gorgeous piece of art that's reflective of Carmichael’s confidence. He knows he could tell jokes and distract the audience from the questions at hand because he’s been fooling himself that way his whole life. What emerges is poignant, meditative, and a fantastic case study in what it means to embody our place within a family and a community while honouring our true, contradictory selves.
Rhys Nicholson Live at the Athenaeum – Rhys Nicholson (2020)
Find it on: Netflix
Famous for being a RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under judge and starring in Netflix’s The Imperfects, Rhys Nicolson’s buoyant, campy, and Australian humour shines in this comedy special.
They’re quick to poke fun at themself and their own contradictions—openly riffing on their relationship with anxiety and stress whilst detailing long nights out with drag queens and accidental ketamine trips.
At the heart of this hour is a meta narrative about the relationship between representation and vulnerability, expressing what it’s like being queer in the public eye. What’s fun is Nicholson’s unwillingness to let Karens, or Carols, off the hook. They’re not going to quietly tolerate dehumanising feedback and emails—they’re reading them aloud on stage. Nicholson elevates and exaggerates random punctuation, boomer emoji choices, and casual homophobia while revelling in the boredom of bigotry with gleeful declarations. “My second husband’s gonna be a bridge!”
Kiwi viewers will take heart in the familiar descriptions of rural Australian primary schools and growing up in a supportive, if slightly confused, antipodean family. Nicholson is caring and vivid while describing their “direct” mother, the stress of random babies at family functions, and the sacrifice of camping for the sake of a partner. They’re totally jubilant and captivating while building a pathway for everyone to laugh at the silliness of being alive.
Somebody Somewhere – Bridget Everett (2022)
Find it on: Neon
Somebody Somewhere is a series about not fitting into the American Midwest. Bridget Everett stars as Sam, a lost soul who moves home to care for her dying lesbian sister. We find her in the aftermath as she fights to regain her confidence. She’s also trying to find her home in the underground queer community of Manhattan, Kansas, through her friendship with the earnest and quietly rebellious Joel.
Everett approaches the narrative with a wide definition of queerness that is rarely shown on screen. Sam is presented as basically straight and cis, but that’s secondary. She’s an outsider whose love for queer people, tendencies towards bawdiness, and cynical nature alienate her within the small town. Balancing musical performances, meditations on religion, the fun of high school gossip, fart jokes, and thoughtful trans mentorship, the show creates a charming universe of fully formed characters.
From the woman who’s legendary cabaret performances centred a musical number entitled ‘What I Gotta Do to Get That Dick in My Mouth’ comes a genuinely heart-warming show about regular people learning to they deserve to be happy.