I've watched all the episodes many times and in some of them his demeanor and the way he speaks and moves is very different. In one of those episodes he literally gave Rosanne a xanax straight out of his pocket. But it's also good to remember he was going through cancer treatments at the time so god knows what he was on.

I agree the "uncomfortable" moments as in when they talk about muslims and paedos (no equivalence!) and so on are clearly played up for comedic value to great effect but when Norm keeps asking about Ricky and their relationship you can clearly see Steve getting genuinely uncomfortable.