LOVE, SEX, AND THE I.R.S.
Other characters stumble into this preposterous situation. Kate, who is engaged to Jon but having an affair with Leslie, becomes the object of the tax collector’s drunken advances. The landlord keeps making surprise visits, hoping to find that the two men are harboring a female roommate, in violation of their lease. Jon’s mother shows up unexpectedly for a visit. After being introduced to Leslie, still in full drag, she flees the apartment and returns with a preacher who promises to cure her son for a mere $10.
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But in Love, Sex, and the I.R.S. the jokes are built primarily on the tension aroused by sexual anxiety. Men dressing up as women, for example, blurs sex roles and arouses anxiety in anyone who needs to keep those roles distinct. Some of the biggest laughs come when Leslie sashays around the stage limp-wristed, his arms flapping like wings. He’s acting like a “woman,” but he’s also implying that his behavior is ridiculous, which evokes an explosion of tension-relieving laughter.
