The Complete History of Leon Carp, Roseanne's Gay Nemesis
Gayest Episode Ever
Gayest Episode Ever
4.8 • 568 Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2024
⏱️ 110 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is a summer rerun of an episode that originally went live in May 2023. We know that no one likes to reflect on how Roseanne used to be awesome, but we get through that emotional baggage as quickly as we can to discuss why Martin Mull's character is openly gay but also tweaks certain gay stereotypes.
"The Driver's Seat" (November 30, 1993)
We're giving another shot to Roseanne, because perhaps it's been long enough that you all want to listen to stories about this iconic series. Perhaps not! Regardless, this show offered us Martin Mull's Leon, who goes unsung in the annals of gay supporting characters. He's a villain, though much of his evildoing has nothing to do with his sexuality, and in this particular episode, his gayness doesn't even come up — which is unusual, because usually gay supporting characters on sitcoms only show up to be gay and do nothing else.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is Drew, and if it's Wednesday in the summer, you're getting another summer rerun. |
| 0:05.6 | And I know I've been saying that a lot of the stuff I've tried to repurpose back into the feed, |
| 0:09.7 | I'm having to do that because it was my fault. |
| 0:11.8 | In this case, it may not be my fault. |
| 0:13.9 | The episode you are getting for a second time is one about Leon, Martin Moll's character on the sitcom Roseanne, and about how Leon |
| 0:23.9 | was uniquely the nemesis for Roseanne and the person who could stand up best to her and |
| 0:29.3 | dish out to her what she gave to him, which is not something every character on that show can do. |
| 0:35.6 | Martin Moll passed away earlier this year. |
| 0:38.4 | And whenever someone dies and we've done a podcast saying they're great, I always think about |
| 0:44.0 | putting it back in like the feed or something, but that seems cheap. Like R.A.P. Martin |
| 0:49.3 | Moll, but also listen to this podcast we did before he died. I don't love the look of that, but this seems maybe a |
| 0:57.0 | little bit more honest. The reason I think this one didn't do well is because of Rosanne. People still |
| 1:01.4 | see her name and just sort of turn off in the way people turn off when they see other certain |
| 1:07.0 | sitcom stars of our youth who have since fallen in the public consciousness. |
| 1:13.5 | Roseanne is a very strange character and continues to be confounding and frustrating, mostly |
| 1:20.7 | because she was so great back in the days she was starting on the show and used it as a vehicle |
| 1:25.4 | to raise up gay characters, gay |
| 1:29.2 | performers, and a lot of female performers as well. It's hard to reconcile Roseanne then |
| 1:34.9 | with what she is now, but we're always hoping that people wanting to listen to our show can |
| 1:40.7 | see past all the other things Roseanne has done since and appreciate what she was back in the day. |
| 1:46.7 | Martin Moll's death means that Leon never actually made a reappearance on the revived series of the Connors. |
| 1:52.8 | Perhaps it's for the best. |
... |
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