Congrats, Ken Buck. One poll shows your lead over Michael Bennet in the Senate race has shrunk to a dead heat, likely due to your comparison of homosexuality to alcoholism and suggestion that global warming is a hoax, not to mention that "buyer's remorse" comment about an alleged date-rape victim. But at least you got national play on Saturday Night Live this weekend.

Too bad viewers needed to be film-studies majors to get the joke.

The gag turned up in the "Weekend Update" segment hosted by Seth Meyers. After noting that Buck had recently argued that homosexuality is a choice during a Meet the Press appearance, Meyers said, "Interesting position, Ken Buck. Did your name choose to be gay?"

This jab is presumably a reference to the 1969 Oscar-winning flick Midnight Cowboy, in which Jon Voight portrayed Joe Buck, a nascent male hustler put in the position of servicing members of both genders. If so, that means SNL, which prides itself on topical references, reached back a mere 41 years for this particular line. Timely!

Check it out below (following the usual commercial):

More from our Television & Film archive: "Michael Cera's twenty-minute-long near-death experience in Denver."

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