The Catherine Tate Show: Did You Hear about Our John?

The Catherine Tate Show was a multiple award-winning television sketch comedy program created by and starring Irish Comedian Catherine Tate that ran for three series (seasons) on BBC Two from 2004 to 2007. The program primarily deals with situations in everyday life. Recurring characters in the series include Lauren Cooper, a typical "punk" teenage girl, and Joannie "Nan" Taylor, an Irish grandmother who often swears and criticizes those around her. This particular clip deals with a smaller character, John Reilly, and his mother. John is a teenager in Northern Ireland, who decides that it is finally time for him to "come out of the closet." He comes out to his mother, expecting her to reject him, or worse, throw him out of the house. To his surprise, she accepts him fully, perhaps even a little too enthusiastically. The rest of the skits that deal with the story show how much John's mother tries to accept him. This particular skit deals with two subjects in identity politics, specifically, sexual identity. First of all, it makes fun of the fear that many gays and lesbians may have about coming out in this day and age, while also poking fun at a sort of "sympathetic homophobia" that some people may have (i.e. they attempt to hide their homophobia by attempting to treat those they subconsciously don't accept nicely through stereotypes).

Tate, Catherine, prod. The Catherine Tate Show. BBC Two. 26 Oct. 2006. YouTube. 11 Jan. 2008. 31 Mar. 2009.