EDGE Dallas

Good satire is never appreciated in its own country, usually winning fans abroad. In the case of Little Britain USA, however, the reverse might hold true: the sketch show that pokes fun at an array of characters around the U.K. is a hit on its home turf, but has already drawn GLBT groups’ ire with an American spinoff.

Little Britain USA, set to debut on HBO Sept. 28, is already causing a furor for its gay themed humor that some on these shores see as an "insult" to gay and lesbian Yanks.

Part of the first episode is now available on demand for viewing, and shows two of the show’s new "American" creations, a pair of body-builder pals who meet up nude in the locker room to share steamy snippets from their sex lives--complete with illustrative pantomimes in which one man bends the other over and simulates copulation, while a third gym-goer looks on in shock.

Noting the stare from the other man, the two hurl an anti-gay epithet at him.

Such fare is standard for the show, the original of which has enjoyed broadcast on BBC America as well as DVD releases.

Little Britain, the original series, follows the adventures of a selection of outrageous characters, all of whom are portrayed by show creators David Walliams and Matt Lucas.

One character is Welsh; one is Scottish; others are Londoners. One is a cross-dressing Victorian "lady" who, with her mustachioed and similarly-dressed friend, bewilders onlookers as much for her 1800s manner of dress as for the fact that she (as she insists she is a she) is obviously a man.

Another is a leather-sporting Welshman named Dafydd Thomas, who takes pride in being "the only gay in the village" and bemoans his status as a persecuted minority... even though he neither the sole gay man in town nor persecuted, as a series of sketches playing out across the show’s several seasons makes abundantly clear.

Dafydd Thomas will be among several original series characters to be imported to the American series. In addition to bringing familiar characters to these shores, Walliams and Lucas--the latter of whom is openly gay--have also created several new characters, the swaggering body-building chums among them, and the duo have already begun to ruffle American feathers with some of their portrayals, including that of a dieting coach who, in the first episode, not only insults Rosie O’Donnell for her size but for her sexuality as well.

It’s all a bit of good, not-so-clean fun... unless you see it as a form of anti-gay entertainment programming, as some American GLBT groups do.

Both PR-Inside.com and the U.K. newspaper The Daily Star posted stories on Sept. 15 about the reaction the new American spinoff has garnered before it has even premiered.

Irwin Blair, spokesperson for the West Hollywood Gay and Lesbian Alliance, has written the show off as "the most politically incorrect, offensive and obnoxious material ever seen in this country," PR-Inside.com reported.

The Daily Star also carried Blair’s comment, along with Blair adding, "We intend to protest in the strongest terms to HBO and urge members of the homosexual community to boycott this show."

The Daily Star also quoted Gina Gallo, of New York Gay Pride, as saying, "Even straight viewers are going to be repulsed if the trailers and pre-publicity are anything to go by."

Added Gallo, "Audiences in Britain might be used to this grossly insulting material--but people here aren’t."

Gallo continued, "I’m surprised that Rosie, a leading voice in the gay rights movement, would allow herself to become the target of such homophobic abuse.

"This just isn’t what passes for comedy here. It is highly insulting."

An unnamed HBO source was cited in both items, and quoted in the Daily Star as saying, "We lead the way in edgy programming, although I guess some of the scenes are even more risqué than we are used to."

The HBO source, described as being in a "senior" position in the company, added, "We’ll be listening very carefully to any complaints but folks should understand that the best cutting-edge comedy plays off phobias and prejudices.

"Nobody is setting out to offend anyone here."

The graphic nature of the sketches (including full-frontal, albeit rubber, nudity in the case of the muscle suits worn by Walliams and Lucas in the body-builder sketch) would be enough to keep the show off the networks, according to the Daily Star article, which quoted an FCC spokesman as saying, "The public outcry would be enormous."

Added the spokesman, "But paid-for cable services are not within our remit," and therefore the sketches in the new show can live up... or down... to the type of humor Walliams and Lucas have used so successfully with the original Little Britain.