David Hyde Pierce Talks Gay Jokes on Frasier

Photo: HuffPost Live

During the Golden Age of dry-humor sitcoms, Frasier was one of the most popular shows on television. Alongside Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce was one of the biggest actors in television. With his directorial debut on Broadway, It Shoulda Been You, he sat down with HuffPost Live to discuss what he's been working on, and how some of the episodes of Frasier people consider the best are, in fact, centered around gay jokes. As he explained:

"The reason they had those gay jokes in Frasier, especially about Niles [Crane] and Frasier [Crane] was it was examining stereotypes and those two were very neat and persnickety and it was acknowledging the fact that a lot of their behavior [like] wine tasting and going to the opera and all, would be seen as gay by a lot of people. It was never jokes at the expense of gay people. We had gay people on staff. David Lee, one of the creators on the show is gay and so, to me, it was always acknowledging the preposterousness of stereotypes."

Pierce fully admits that the way they perceived gay culture, how straight men reacted to it, and the humor around it was a completely a product and a reflection of the time, and he doesn't think those same jokes would play today.

Watch a clip of the interview below, and see Pierce's full interview with HuffPost Livehere.