Minimum Wage (2026) just dropped on Netflix, a mockumentary about quirky teenage employees at a pizza place in central New York. The surprisingly hunky Randall Park plays company CEO, who drops in to inform the the workers that he's planning to shut down their branch for under-performance, but changes his mind when they help restore his joie de vivre.
I was surprised that teenagers working part-time minimum wage jobs love the pizza place so much that they are devastated by the threat of closure. Couldn't they get new jobs elsewhere? And why doesn't the title have something t to do with pizza, to go along with premise: "Money doesn't buy happiness, but it buys pizza, which is almost the same thing." Agreed.
No gay characters are immediately obvious; there are several mentions of girlfriends or the desire for girlfriends in the first episode. But some of the guys are cute, such as Tommy Armstrong as an indie musican, and there's a shot of unexpected beefcake.
Here it was Aidan (Aidan Micho), pranked by his coworkers into thinking that if you spend ten minutes in the freezer, your penis will grow two inches. When he asks "How long?", they just make numbers up. That's mean -- and dangerous -- but the reference to Aidan's penis is a plus. And no one said he had to be shirtless.
1. Is the character Aiden gay?
He wears a bracelet and an ostentatious ring, and sometimes flashes a limp wrist. When the drama club visits, Aidan becomes defensive about his knowledge of classic musicals: "It's not weird." Does he mean "It doesn't make me gay?"
He tries to find some male strippers for the female manager's birthday party, and approaches two EMT guys outside a club. "Fun, an EMT theme! How much do you guys cost?" "Free, depending on your insurance."
"Great, my friend is gonna die. Come to 605 Water Street in ten minutes."
When he worries about losing his hair, he notes that both of his dads have full heads of hair. "My surrogate mother must be bald!" Har-har.
They're not going to make a guy with gay dads gay himself.
Oh, well, at least he takes off his shirt again when they buy a hot tub, and cuddles with Hyde Healy, left.
Sorry Hyde, you're short, but not attractive enough for a profile.
But Aidan?
Question #2: Has Aidan played any gay characters elsewhere?
Filmmaker and comedian Aidan Micho has 120,000 followers on Instagram and 51,000 on Tiktok, with 1.1 million likes. He and his brother Ryan have 616,000 Youtube subscribers for their comedy shorts.
They grew up in Baldwin, New York --- upstate, about a 20 minute drive from Syracuse - graduated from high school in 2019 and 2021, and attended Syracuse University.
Most of Aidan's on-screen roles have ben walk ons:
Banana Split (2018), about two girls chasing the same boy. Dylan Sprouse appears.Aidan plays Locker Student.
Left: Dylan's dick, in case you haven't seen it lately.
Miguel Wants to Fight (2023): Miguel (Tyler Dean Flores) is moving to the big city, where he'll have to fight, so he asks his three friends to help him prepare. Aidan plays a Bully's Friend.
Prom Dates (2024): Two girls break up with their romantic partners just before the big prom. Now they need new dates in a hurry! I seem to recall hearing that one of girls is a lesbian. Aidan plays "Cargo Shorts Bro"
More after the break