LGBT Pride Forgotten Television: Rick and Steve The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World

In West Lahunga Beach, a fictional gay town in California, lives Rick (Will Matthews) and Steve (Peter Page) a seemingly happy gay couple.  Their best friends are two other couples, Kirsten (Emily Brooke / Jessica Snow Wilson) and her wife, Dana (Taylor M. Dooley); and Chuck (Alan Cumming) who is HIV-positive and paralyzed from the left testicle down due to a car accident; and his husband Evan (Wilson Cruz, Star Trek Discovery) a 19-year-old drug addicted club hopping boy toy.  Kirsten and Dana want to have a baby using Rick’s sperm, but not Steve’s, and this causes some issues between the title couple at first.  As they decide whether to provide the sperm or “axle grease” as Dana prefers it be called, Rick and Steve seek out a third to spice up their sex life, but when that doesn’t work out, they realize that maybe a child is what they need and both decide to secretly “contribute” to the axle grease they give to Kirsten but when some of it spills on Dana, she is the one that gets pregnant.

Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World is a stop motion animated adult sitcom shown on the Logo TV channel starting on July 10, 2007, and running for two seasons, ending on January 27, 2009.  Created by Q. Alan Brocka which is a spinoff of the 1999 short film of the same name. The 1999 shorts were done using Lego blocks and figures, but Lego sued and so the series uses something that looks like a combination of Lego and old Playmobil figures. The show satirizes the stereotypes that exist in the gay community as well as confronting racism and other social issues.  Unfortunately, the show ended on a cliffhanger and there are no plans to do a third season. How will we ever find out who the father of the child is?

Warning the following program contains graphic language, violence and puppet on puppet sex. It has no role models and does not represent the opinions of the entire LGBT puppet community…yet. The show should be viewed by legally and emotionally mature adults.

The above disclaimer shown at the beginning of each episode is a sample of the smart yet juvenile humor this show embodies.  It is difficult to get the comic timing right within an animated production, but this series nails it.  The show has a bitingly sharp wit with dialogue that is both funny and smart.  It balances that intelligent dialogue with the more physical and crass situations and there are a multitude of “Did they just say that!” moments, much like Family Guy or the Simpsons. The show has an amazing cast with actors like Margaret Cho, Wilson Cruz and Alan Cumming lending their vocal talents, and the show even won the Atrios Award for Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation TV Programming in 2008, given by the Casting Society of America. I don’t always enjoy shows like this, they aren’t usually my thing, but I really enjoyed Rick and Steve and thought it was hilarious as well as smart!

You’re welcome here in our little queer community
Whether or you’re hot or if you’ve got HIV
You may just find the love of your life…your same sex husband, your same sex wife!
There’s Dana and Kirsten and Evan and Chuck but all our lives just suck
Compared to Rick and Steve! Rick and Steve! Happy and Gay like you wouldn’t believe!
Loving Life, hating girls. They’re the Happiest Gay Couple in all the world!