Putting the "Sketch" in Sketchy

Anything goes on season two of The Big Gay Sketch Show on the lesbian and gay TV channel Logo.
Liza Minnelli acquires superpowers by swilling dirty martinis and slurring diva battle cries as she protects queens from homophobic thugs.
In a spoof of the 1980s soap opera Dynasty archenemies Krystle and Alexis make out in an inflatable swimming pool after a knockdown, drag out catfight.
A man in drag plays Maya Angelou, bringing statuesque dignity to narrations of “Men Seeking Men” ads from Craig’s List. At a mail deliver joint gay and straight characters get their rocks off while watching a lusty Latino man process their packages.
Most of these sketches appear in the consistently funny season opener, which airs on February 5. If the second episode (airing February 12) is any indication, viewers are in for a very bumpy ride for the rest of the season.
Executive producer Rosie O’Donnell watches each episode from a balcony, a playful dyke twist on the crotchety critics on The Muppet Show. As the lowbrow fun of episode one gives way to painfully unfunny second installment, you can’t help but deduce that Rosie doesn’t have the world’s greatest eye for investments. First Taboo – the failed stage venture with Boy George – and now an uneven gay knockoff of Saturday Night Live and MAD TV.
The second episode hits its low point with the final sketch, an endless parody of May-December relationships in which David Furnish and Catherine Zeta-Jones vomit excessively when they contemplate the aging body parts of their partners, Elton John and Michael Douglas. Like other sketches in this episode – including a send-up of closeted Republicans – it’s written at a third grade level. It’s too stupid to be insulting and too dull to be a guilty pleasure.
A few of the cast members are terrific, especially Kate McKinnon and Coleman Domingo. But they’ll be looking for work before long unless the show’s creators can figure out how to sustain inspired silliness for more than one episode.