Basic Trope: LGBTQ people are perceived as inherently humorous.
- Straight: Adam and Ben flirting with each other is Played for Laughs, while Charles and Denise's relationship is more sincerely heartwarming.
- Exaggerated: Any time Adam and Ben come onscreen or say anything, the whole show has to pause while a hysterical Laugh Track plays for an entire minute.
- Downplayed: While Adam and Ben's relationship is usually portrayed the same as the straight characters', one episode contains a gay joke at their expense.
- Justified: Ben is a gay comedian who makes self-deprecating jokes about his sexuality as part of his act, which bleeds into his daily life.
- Inverted:
- Charles and Denise are the token straight couple of the show, and their love life is Played for Laughs much more often than the gay characters'.
- Adam and Ben act as Straight Mennote to the quirky heterosexual characters.
- The work views queerness as a tragic and unfunny thing (and must be no stranger to Values Dissonance).
- Subverted: A scene between Adam and Ben includes loads of Double Entendres that all turn out to have a completely innocent meaning to them.
- Double Subverted: The scene ends with an explicit gay joke.
- Parodied: Adam is a Straight Gay who isn't particularly quirky nor emotional... And yet, there's always an obnoxious and exaggerated Laugh Track which plays whenever he does even the most mundane and boring things, like eating a sandwich, painting his garage, doing his taxes...
- Zig Zagged: The characters laugh at Adam and Ben, but are grossed out by Cheryl and Diane.
- Averted:
- Adam, Ben, Cheryl, and Diane not perceived as humorous.
- There are no LGBTQ characters in the work.
- Adam, Ben, Cheryl and Diane are plenty funny because they are quirky and well-written, as all comedy protagonists should be. Being Queer informs both the characters and humor, but defines neither.
- Enforced: Values Dissonance
- Lampshaded: "What is it people find funny about gays?" "Ha, ha, ha! You said 'gays'!"
- Invoked: The area was previously very hostile to LGBTQ. Adam, Ben, Cheryl, and Diane. Better that they are laughed at than lynched.
- Exploited: Adam and Ben use the fact that everyone finds them inherently funny to create a stand-up comedy act.
- Defied: The main characters do not want to be thought of as intolerant in any way, and agree that homosexuality is not amusing.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Everyone laughs at Adam and Ben just because they're gay? This show is sick!"
- Deconstructed: The characters' jokes are perceived as intolerance.
- Reconstructed: Adam, Ben, Cheryl, and Diane understand that any jokes about them are just meant to be friendly.
- Played For Drama: Ella laughs at Adam, Ben, Cheryl, and Diane because she's a Heteronormative Crusader, and is trying to bully them.
Why does everyone laugh at Adam and Ben? Because Queer People Are Funny, of course!
