THE NERDCAGE

THE BIRDCAGE (1996)
dir: Mike Nichols

THE NERDCAGE
MAD #348, August 1996
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker

Armand (Robin Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) are a couple who own a drag club in Miami called The Birdcage and live above it.

(The man Armand is talking to is the maid of the household, played by Hank Azaria. The name of the club here is a pun on “La Cage aux Folles”, the French film on which this is based, and was the name of the club in that. I think it's supposed to say “La Cage Au Faux Pas” since that would make more sense and the word 'falix' doesn't even exist in the French language. The other characters on the stage are Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie (parodied in MAD as well) and Wesley Snipes, John Leguizamo, and Patrick Swayze from To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, another drag comedy. Senator Keeley, played by Gene Hackman, doesn't show up until later, but is introduced in the splash panel to establish the premise.)


Armand's son (Dan Futterman) shows up to tell his father he is getting married. Armand thinks he is too young because he is only 20 and she is only 18 but gives his blessing.

The daughter (Calista Flockhart)'s father is a right wing senator who's the head of a family values council. She's been lying about who her fiance's parents really are.

Senator Jackson, an ally of Keeley has been caught in a recent sex scandal and Keeley's wife (Dianne Weist) proposes they publicize the wedding of their daughter to make the media and public forget all about it.

Since the in-laws are coming down to Miami, the son now insists his father pretend to be straight. He asks to change the décor of the house and store away any art that hints he has gay parents. Albert comes and notices everything gone. Not knowing of the charade, Armand takes him out, tells him about it and that he must pose as a relative, and teaches him how to act like a heterosexual.

In addition to being homophobic, the Keeleys are also anti-semitic so the family must also pretend to be Christian and put Christian symbols in the house.

Armand has asked the biological mother (Christine Baranski) to show up as the wife. She gets caught in traffic and they think she won't be able to make it, but Albert shows up in drag instead. They go out of their way to keep pretending. Mr. Keeley has to be convinced but Mrs. Keeley thinks their acting odd is just their being “sophisticated”.
In a scene not used in the parody, they forgot to hide some of the gay-themed tchotckes, such as dinnerware with pictures of naked Greek man-boy athletics and and an ashtray shaped like a human ass.

The son decides the whole hoax is ridiculous and outs his family to the Senator who begrudgingly accepts, but now that it's time to leave he can't be seen by the press coming out of The Birdcage. He and his wife leave in drag so reporters won't recognize them.

(I'm pretty sure the joke is that Mrs. Doubtfire is another drag character, and it's only a coincidence that he also happens to be played by Robin Williams).


This movie was based on the superior French La Cage Aux Folles. It was already a hit in America with sequels and a musical based on it, so I'm not sure why they would need to remake it, except maybe to have Nathan Lane and Robin Williams improvise schtick together. Not sure why they would need an A-list screenwriter (Elaine May) and director for something that's mostly verbatim but c'est la vie.