Laughing With the Queer Comedians Running the Show
There’s a phrase that magazine editors use when we’re trying to convince our colleagues that someone deserves a story written about them: that the person is “having a moment.” When applied to an individual, it’s both a recognition and a bestowal, affirmation of the artist’s contribution to the culture.
But when the phrase is applied to a group of people, one defined by some intrinsic part of their identity, the compliment sours — it suggests that the individuals within it are being recognized not for their personal accomplishments but for being part of some larger trend.
And all trends, no matter how bright they burn, are fated to fade. In T’s spring Men’s Fashion issue, Mark Harris takes a look at a group of individuals whose shared identity is both inseparable from their distinct achievements and also incidental to it.
Gay humor as written by gay comics, in ways either coded or forthright, has long been one of the key strands of American humor — that’s nothing new.
