Greg's Review of "The Big Gay Sketch Show"

Tonight on Logo at 10 p.m. is the premiere of "The Big Gay Sketch Show" which has been eagerly awaited for some time now. I watched the first two episodes this morning and while the skits are hit and miss, there was an inspired one that had Elaine Stritch (impersonated brilliantly by Nicol Paone) working as a greeter at WalMart. "I might be old, but I'm heeeeeeere!" She's wearing the black stockings, white men's shirt and high heels she wore in her Tony Award-winning one-woman show (in addition to a blue WalMart vest) but instead of belting out "Ladies Who Lunch," she belts out "Ladies to Shop" with the crescendo of "Buuuuuuuyyyy! Buuuuuuuuuyyyy! Buuuuuuuuuuuy!" God I loved it.
Nothing else comes close to that brilliance in the first episode but is much to be amused by including a spook of "Project Runway" called "Political Project Runway" featuring Nelson Mandella, Condi Rice, Barbara Bush, Ariana Huffington and Abe Lincoln as designers. Mrs. Bush is portrayed by Julie Goldman as a bigot, saying the F-bomb under her breath to a Tim Gunn character, refers to Condi as "Jemima." then has a fist-fight with Huffington.
A spoof of the "Honeymooners" fell a little flat to me as did a bear in the backyard sketch (the bear was a gay man bear, not a bear bear and is returned to his natural habitat which is a gay bar).
The second episode, to air next week, has a really hilarious spoof of "The Facts of Life" with Michael Serrato hilarious as Mrs. Garrett. SPOILER ALERT: Blair and Jo get it on! Also in that show, there's a very funny dance audition sketch where Steven Guarino plays a gay Ukranian assassin chorus girl named Svetlana who elimiinates her competition in very violent but funny ways.
I'm very encouraged by this show and look forward to seeing more.