The Ambiguously Gay Duo

Did You Know?

• A live-action film adaptation was pitched in 2000 with Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Fallon, but ownership disputes between Universal and Paramount prevented production.
• In 2005, a script was commissioned and pitched to Jim Carrey, but it never entered production.
• One of Stephen Colbert's ideas for the film script was an opening sequence with a naked muscular male chest with credits formed by water and soap.

Plot

Ace and Gary, the Ambiguously Gay Duo, are a parody of classic comic book superhero teams, presented in the style of old Saturday-morning cartoons. They wear matching pastel turquoise tights, dark blue domino masks, and bright yellow gauntlets, boots, and trunks. Their episodes usually start with their enemy Bighead, a criminal with a huge head, telling his henchmen about a plan for world domination, only to be interrupted by arguments over whether the duo are gay. When a crime happens, the police commissioner calls the heroes, often debating the same question with the chief. Ace and Gary stop the plot while drawing attention with outrageous, innuendo-filled antics seen as stereotypically homosexual. Other episodes show them answering fan mail, giving child safety tips, or driving children home in their Duocar while making suggestive comments.

Background

Robert Smigel, an executive producer for The Dana Carvey Show in 1996, wanted cartoons to differentiate the show from Saturday Night Live. Writer Dino Stamatopoulos pitched a parody of Wallace and Gromit implying oral sex, which Smigel deemed unacceptable for ABC. After that conversation, Smigel conceived the idea of two superheroes everyone suspects are gay, noting it was more about people obsessed with their sexuality than the heroes themselves.

The shorts satirized suggestions that early Batman comics implied a homosexual relationship between Batman and Robin, a charge leveled by Fredric Wertham in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent. In 2020, Smigel told The Daily Beast that the cartoon's engine was an obsession with sexuality, and that the point was it does not matter whether the superheroes have sex. He added that due to progress since the series premiered, he would not write it today.

Characters

Ace, voiced by Stephen Colbert, is the duo's leader and mentor to Gary, whom he calls friend of friends. He possesses a wide array of superhuman powers, including most of Gary's powers. Gary, voiced by Steve Carell, is the younger sidekick and protégé with fewer powers, including superhuman strength, breath, stamina, flexibility, flight, and laser vision. The Announcer, voiced by Bill Chott, is a disembodied voice announcing episode titles.

The Police Commissioner, voiced by Steve Carell, is the duo's primary contact who calls them when trouble arises, often interrupting a workout. The Chief of Police, voiced by Bill Chott, waits for evidence supporting his belief that Ace and Gary are gay. Kijoro is the duo's mentor whose spirit resides in the Fortress of Privacy. Piño is their butler.

Bighead, voiced by Robert Smigel, is a mad scientist with a large bald head obsessed with outing the superheroes as gay, to the annoyance of his henchmen. Dr. Brainio, voiced by Stephen Colbert, is another mad scientist with a brain suspended above his head who occasionally partners with Bighead. Orbitrox is a small green droid who sides with Bighead on the duo's sexuality, with his sounds translated by subtitles.

Episodes

The first episode debuted on The Dana Carvey Show and was re-aired on Saturday Night Live in September 1996. On January 12, 2002, the duo made a surprise appearance in The X-Presidents episode The Hunt for Osama, helping capture Osama bin Laden. On April 29, 2006, Ace and Gary co-hosted Saturday Night Live: The Best of TV Funhouse, performing the opening monologue and appearing in bumper segments revealing an obsession with former cast member Jimmy Fallon. The show ended with the duo taking cast members Jason Sudeikis and Andy Samberg naked to their secret headquarters. In May 2011, a live-action skit aired with Jon Hamm as Ace and Jimmy Fallon as Gary; Daniel Villarreal criticized it as biphobic. In 2015, Bif Bang Pow Toys produced an 8-inch retro action-figure line of Ace and Gary, sold together in a set, and a Tin Tote action-figure set of Ace, Gary, and Bighead.