The Sewers of Paris

My guest this week is drag legend Courtney Act, who you may know from Drag Race, Australian Idol, and from her countless live shows and music videos and albums. Now Courtney has a new podcast called RnR with Courtney Act where she goes deep with friends, celebrities, and celebrity friends. In part, it's a way for her to recapture that intimate, close-knit relationships she had with other queer people early in her career, before fame turned everything upside-down.And if you're in Seattle, I hope you'll join me this Tuesday June 24th at my upcoming live show What's so Gay About Frasier. It's a deep-dive into the private life of Seattle's most eligible bachelor — and an investigation into why he keeps finding himself at the center of queer misunderstandings. It's on Tuesday, June 24 at Elliott Bay Books on Capitol Hill at 7pm. Tickets are free, and I have all the details at mattbaume.com/events.Also, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows — I have a new video about the magic of Star Trek's Lwaxana Troi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is the comedian Ricky Sim, who's currently touring with his show Coming Out to Dead People. As the name might suggest Ricky's coming-out process was a little bumpy. Starting with the time that he smuggled an adult VHS tape into the one place he felt safe watching it … a church basement. (Check out Ricky's upcoming shows in Chicago and New York at https://www.rickysim.com/#tour-dates .)We'll have that conversation in just a minute. First — if you're in Seattle, I hope you'll join me at my upcoming live show What's so Gay About Frasier. It's a deep-dive into the private life of Seattle's most eligible bachelor — and an investigation into why he keeps finding himself at the center of queer misunderstandings. It's on Tuesday, June 24 at Elliott Bay Books on Capitol Hill at 7pm. I have all the details in the shownotes and at mattbaume.com/events.Also, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows — I have a new video about the magic of Star Trek's Lwaxana Troi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is culture writer Erik Piepenburg, author of the new book Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants. It's a nationwide tour of the places queer people gather to eat, and how those places satisfy more than just our literal hunger. When Erik started the project, he expected that he'd be documenting the dying-out of gay restaurants, but he found something surprising and thriving instead.We'll have that conversation in just a minute. First — if you're in Seattle, I hope you'll join me at two upcoming live events. The first is a book signing and sitcom-themed hangout at the Northgate Barnes & Noble — that's this Sunday, June 8 from noon to 4pm. Come enjoy clips from classic sitcoms, get your copy of Hi Honey, I'm Homo! signed, and pick up some free stickers & bookmarks! The store's located right off the light rail — just take it up to Northgate.The second event this month is a presentation entitled What's so Gay About Frasier — a deep-dive into why Seattle's most eligible bachelor keeps managing to find himself at the center of queer farces. That's on Tuesday, June 24 at Elliott Bay Books on Capitol Hill at 7pm. I have all the details in the shownotes and at mattbaume.com/events.Also, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows — I have a new video about the magic of Star Trek's Lwaxana Troi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is writer Christopher Tradowsky, who loves nothing more than to slip into the sanctuary of an old-fashioned movie palace, to commune with strangers all indulging together in whatever escape is unspooling up on the screen. These days, those great vintage movie houses are getting harder to find. But Christopher's extending an invitation to discover that magic through his new book, Midnight at the Cinema Palace, a novel about three friends — or maybe more? — whose love of film draws them into a 1990s-era film noir.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows — I have a new video about the magic of Star Trek's Lwaxana Troi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.Also -- if you're in Seattle, come grab a signed copy of my book, Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, hang out and chat about great queer comedy, and pick up some freebies next Sunday June 8 -- I'll be at Northgate Barnes & Noble, signing books & showing my favorite sitcom clips. It's right off the Northgate light rail stop -- see you there!

My guest this week is filmmaker Peter McDowell, whose documentary Jimmy in Saigon is a sort of detective story that follows Peter's attempt to unravel into the strange death of his brother … and also an unspoken love story that had been hidden for years. Peter didn't expect to find himself making this documentary, and for a long time didn't even think of himself as a filmmaker. It wasn't until recently that he decided to spend his entire savings trying to unravel a mystery that had hung over his family for decades.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is Alexis Langlois, director of the film Queens of Drama — a musical love story about two performers who enter a forbidden romance behind the scenes of a pop-star competition. Alexis has been making films with a troupe of irregulars for years, inspired by John Waters' Dreamlanders and the recurring actors in the films of David Lynch. His style is scrappy, independent, political, and very queer … so you can imagine his surprise when he was invited to present his latest work at Cannes.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First — if you've been watching the latest season of Drag Race All Stars, you've seen Bosco and Irene the Alien absolutely stealing the show with great looks, funny banter, and a mischievous friendship. And you can get even more of that Irene and Bosco magic — having an absolute riot playing Dungeons & Dragons. A couple years ago Bosco and Irene joined me and my partner James for a D&D adventure, and we just posted the full audio for you to check out. Over six hours of these two drag stars on a fun, chaotic fantasy romp. You don't need to know anything about D&D to listen — it's basically like an audiobook that you can put on to enjoy while you're doing something else. I think you'll love it — Here's a link: https://youtu.be/rD8tJTtAMYA And if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. I have a new video out now about the British sitcom Vicious, starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is Pete Crighton, whose debut book The Vinyl Diaries comes out next week on May 13. It's a memoir and a disocography, based on a journal that Pete kept of his various hookups with men over the years and the soundtrack of each encounter and relationship.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. I have a new video out now about the British sitcom Vicious, starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

A new film called Lavender Men comes to theaters this month, and streaming in June — it's about a theatrical stage manager who daydreams about her connection to Abraham Lincoln through queer romance. I'm chatting with two of the folks involved in the film this week: Lovell Holder directed the film, and Roger Q. Mason is the writer and star. They're longtime collaborators, going back to college when Lovell was entranced by Roger's performance in Romeo and Juliet as the Nurse. And this film is just one step in their plans to change the world.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. I have a new video out now about the British sitcom Vicious, starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is the writer, director, and co-star of the new Argentinian film Most People Die on Sundays. Iair grew up watching soap operas, pulled into on-screen melodramas. And now as an adult, he gets to make movies and work alongside the actors he used to watch on his favorite shows. But that's only the start of what makes his latest film so personal.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. I have a new one coming this weekend about the British sitcom Vicious, starring Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

You may have seen writer, actor, and comedian Jeffery Self on the shows 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, and Jeffery & Cole Casserole alongside Cole Escola. Or you might know him from his books, Drag Teen and A Very Very Bad Thing. Jeffery's latest book Self-Sabotage: And Other Ways I've Spent My Time came out last month. And for this week's episode, we're heading into the Sewers archive to revisit my conversation with Jeffery from 2017, when we talked about forming a rebel theater troupe in his small southern hometown; testing his capacity for sass on television; and creating the circle of friends that he knew he needed in his life.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows — my latest is about the film Dog Day Afternoon. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

You might've seen this week's guest, Andrew Gurza, in the news lately. An activist and advocate for people with disabilities, he recently drew headlines for talking openly about how sex workers have changed his life, and why he believes the government should pay for them. Andrew has a new book coming out this month called Notes from a Queer Cripple: How to Cultivate Queer Disabled Joy (and Be Hot While Doing It!). And for this week's Sewers of Paris, we're diving into the archives to revisit my conversation with Andrew from 2017. At that time, he was hosting a podcast called Disability After Dark, and had recently organized a successful accessible sex party in Toronto. Now, his mission has continued: To demolish cultural taboos around disability and sex.

As you might've heard, I have a new video up on YouTube about the film Dog Day Afternoon, and a queer bank robber who stunned New York way back in the 1970s. For this week's episode, we're diving into the Sewers of Paris archives to explore queer life (and, occasionally, crime) in New York of the ‘70s. Back in the spring of 2020 I spoke with a man who remembered that era well; he earned the nickname Tree thanks to his six-foot-five stature, and he's been a part of New York's gay community going back to the fifties, when he didn't even know a community existed. Tree's been a member of Brooklyn street gangs, worked with the mob, and counted among his friends Buddy Holly, Bea Arthur, and Rock Hudson.

My guest this week is author and architect Robert Raasch, whose recent debut novel The Summer Between is a coming-of-age adventure set in Greenwich Village of the late 1970s. It's a topic that Robert knows well, having lived through that time himself — making the most of the thrilling disco and loft parties and sexual exploration it had to offer. And now his book offers a glimpse back at the best of those years, and maybe some inspiration for recapturing that energy of liberation.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is writer SW Kent, whose new novel is The Storyteller from Balincia. He's been a storyteller himself since he was a kid, but for the first act of his career he had to rest his fiction-writing muscles so that he could concentrate on his job, which largely concerned programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In that role, he helped people in marginalized communities tell their stories. Now it's his turn to tell his own story, through his favorite genre of dark epic fantasy.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

We're trying different for this week's Sewers of Paris. Instead of one guest, we have three — the cast of the new film Throuple. It's a polyamorous romcom, a concert film, a coming-of-age story … and also a culmination of a long journey for Michael Doshier, Tommy Heleringer, and Stanton Plummer-Cambridge, who each individually struggled to find their place in the world before coming together for a movie that was extremely difficult to get made.Throuple has its theatrical debut in New York and LA this week, and then it'll be available online later this year.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. You may also enjoy my YouTube videos about the making of iconic movies and TV shows. And check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

With the Oscars this weekend, we've reached the culmination of the year's awards season. And for this week's Sewers of Paris we're diving into the archives for a chat with an awards show legend: Bruce Vilanch, who's been slipping sly queer comedy into our entertainment since before some of us were even born. Starting out as a joke writer for great divas of the 1970s and then moving on to variety shows, the Academy Awards, and a notorious holiday special, Bruce provided a subtle queer infusion into American showbiz for decades. We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos — I just released a new video about the movie Cruising, and how a Hollywood director accidentally wandered into an explosive fight between New York's gay leaders and the NYPD.Also check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is director Corey Sherman, whose latest film is Big Boys — a story of a teenager who isn't even out to himself when he goes on a camping trip and starts to develop feelings for his cousin's boyfriend. Corey's work has often had an autobiographical element, going back to his college webseries Billiams about a queer wolf attending a liberal arts school. Big Boys gave him a chance to tell a personal story that had been building up inside him ever since he was a kid, running around with a camcorder and making movies with his friends … and also holding onto desires that he wasn't sure he was supposed to have.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos — I just released a new video about the movie Cruising, and how the Hollywood filmmaker accidentally wandered into an explosive fight between New York's gay leaders and the NYPD.Also check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is author and psychotherapist Wayne Scott. His new book, The Maps They Gave Us, is a memoir about navigating a rocky period in a marriage, about narrowly dodging divorce through non-monogamy, and about rediscovering his relationship with the queer community with support from his wife. It's a complex journey, with surprising parallels to a cowboy story that was a point of obsession and mystery in his youth.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

Welcome to a special episode of The Sewers of Paris! All this month, the Old Church Concert Hall in Portland is celebrating Black History Month with performances honoring Black artists. And I was lucky enough to speak with Kingsley, who helped organize the venue's Blacker the Berry night, coming up on Saturday the 22nd.Kingsley's inspirations span a wide range of genres, starting with a youthful obsession with heartbreak songs before her heart had ever been broken; continuing with a degree in opera; and with her recent work which gleefully breaks all the rules she spent years learning.Check the shownotes for more info about Kingsley, The Old Church's Black History Month lineup, and the Blacker the Berry show next weekend.And if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.Kingsley: https://www.iamkingsley.com/Old Church Concert Hall: https://www.tocportland.org/all-eventsBlacker the Berry tickets: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/91587145/the-blacker-the-berry-iicelebrating-black-creatives-featuring-kingsley-with-veana-babythe-dutchess-more-portland-the-old-church

My guest this week is musician George Alley — a returning guest who first appeared on the podcast in 2018. Back then, we talked about how he escaped some rough bullying as a kid by creating music … and by joining a street gang. Now, he's released a new album with a Valentine's Day twist, so I invited him back for a new chat about the punk artists who were his musical influences, and about why he doesn't mind being the villain of his own songs.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

Cast your mind back, if you will, to the 1990s, when reality TV was new. Though the genre was young, many had already written off shows like The Real World as trash. But one young man saw an opportunity, and thought that maybe there was a way he could use television to save lives. His name was Pedro Zamora, and his work wound up changing the course of more lives than he could have possibly imagined. That story's the subject of a new video that I just posted this weekend — about Pedro, about MTV, and about a turning point in the fight against AIDS.When Pedro was on The Real World in 1994, one of his closest friends was an artist named Judd Winick. Judd very generously spoke to me about his time on The Real World for my video. I have excerpts from that interview in the video on YouTube. But Judd shared so many fascinating stories and insights that I wanted to make our full conversation available. So this week, for a special episode of the Sewers of Paris, you'll hear my full interview with Judd Winick. We chatted about getting onto The Real World, about befriending Pedro, and about becoming part of a movement that changed the course of history.Check the episode description for a link to my YouTube video about Pedro's work and legacy.And if you want to see more of Judd's work, I'm also including links to his book Pedro & Me; to the upcoming 11th book in Judd's HiLo series; and more information about the National AIDS Memorial and the Pedro Zamora Scholarship.My video about Pedro: https://youtu.be/o2Le9Bf_s3wPedro & Me: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780805089646/pedroandme/ HiLo Book 11: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741634/hilo-book-11-the-great-space-iguana-by-judd-winick/ The Pedro Zamora Scholarship: https://www.aidsmemorial.org/pedro-zamora-scholarship Donate to the National AIDS Memorial and the scholarship: https://www.aidsmemorial.org/donate-now

My guest this week is filmmaker David Beck. His childhood love of theater led him to a life as an actor — and also a difficult struggle to keep his head above water in a career where work was unpredictable and fiercely competitive. After coming out of the closet with the help of a few illicit substances, a chance offer from a friend led to a reinvention behind the camera. His new film, Regarding Us, is the story of a trans woman working at a Catholic school. It comes out next week, but it very nearly never saw the light of day.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.(PS: Thanks for your patience with the podcast schedule while I heal up! I'm feeling much better, and I'm not expecting any more gaps between episodes.)

This month sees a rerelease of the classic ‘80s film The Goonies, which is about to turn 40. In honor of that milestone, we're heading into the Sewers archives to hear my 2018 chat with Andrew Putschoegl, whose childhood mirrored that of ‘80s films where groups of neighborhood kids are thrown together into unstructured days of outdoor exploration. In those movies, each kid tends to have one unique trait that sets them apart, and marks them as an outcast. For Andrew, that trait was that at the age of 9, he suddenly woke up to find his hair falling out. It was a medical mystery that made his already-awkward teenage years even more difficult.We'll have that conversation in a moment. And I also want to give you a quick heads-up that there may be some breaks between episodes of the podcast. I just learned that I've sustained some damage to my spine — nothing too serious and I'm getting treatment, but I might need to step away from my desk now and then for medical appointments and rehab. I'm expecting to make a full recovery, it'll just take a couple months to get back to 100%. The short version of what's going on is that one of my lower vertebrae has slipped slightly to the side, and it's pressing on a nerve that's causing blindingly bad pain all the way down one leg. But there's good news! As these things go, it's the least severe grade of damage; I'm on some wonderful painkillers at the moment; and I have a team of experts helping with my recovery. As I'm typing this, my pain is at a 2 out of 10, which is a huge relief after a few days of not being able to move! It's looking pretty good for me to get better, but I'll have to be patient as it won't happen overnight. In the mean time, the painkillers should add to the unhinged chaos of my weekend livestreams.I'll be posting about my recovery process on Bluesky, so give me a follow there if you'd like to see how things are coming along. As a little tease, right now you can see an ultrasound image of my left butt cheek!

My guest this week is Danny Roberts, one of the stars of Real World: New Orleans, which originally aired on MTV in 2000. Danny was planning to become a teacher and wound up on the show through a series of coincidences, accidents, and last-minute changes of plan, so he was a little unprepared for the fame that he soon found thrust upon him. To say nothing of the weird — and sometimes awful ways — that fame took control of his life. But fortunately, he was able to find a way to take control back.Check out Danny's work with History UnErased at https://unerased.org/I recorded this interview with Danny for a video that I'm working on about The Real World's cultural impact. That'll be coming your way on YouTube a bit later in January, so stay tuned for that — and subscribe to my free email newsletter to get a heads-up when it goes live, at mattbaume.com.

It's the 500th episode of the Sewers of Paris, and to celebrate James and I are doing a special Q&A with questions sent in by listeners! Huge thanks to everyone who sent questions, and let me know if you'd like to hear more episodes like these!And as requested by patron David, here are some of my favorite early episodes for anyone who wants to get started with the podcast, or jump back and re-listen:Camp is like Pornography (Ep. 1: Eurovision)I was Quite Happy to be the Villain (Ep. 2: Julian and Sandy)Not a Fan of Hanging Around in Reality (Ep. 36 - Steve Kmetko)The Person I was in Namibia and the Person I am Now (Ep. 44 - Desperate Housewives)The Joke of Being Gay (Ep. 45 - Polyester & Arrested Development)I Embrace Being High-Strung (Ep. 50 - Louis Virtel & Jeopardy!)You Don't Want to See Minnie Mouse Take Her Head Off (Ep. 63 - Ben DeLaCreme)A Kid Who Had Powers in Japan (Ep. 79 - Sailor Moon)A Need to be Doused in Black Culture - (Ep. 95 - Sonari Glinton)A Big Purple Man in a Loin Cloth (Ep. 96 - Gargoyles)My Life is Drama -- Make me Laugh (Ep. 100 - Dan Savage)Failed Mystics (Ep. 114: Buffy, X-Men, He-Man, and Lwaxana Troi)

My guest this week is Sean Hemeon — an actor, writer, painter, and former Mormon drug dealer. Sean's currently working on a memoir that details just how deep he fell into a violent, and at times deadly world of dealing crystal meth. And how an arrest, a lucky break, and a love of acting helped pull him out.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is director Sav Rodgers, whose new film is Chasing Chasing Amy. It began as an exploration of the origin of the infamous ‘90s rom-com, but in the process of making the documentary, interviewing folks, and digging deeper into the movie's message, Sav uncovered some surprising truths about himself — ones that he was reluctant to include in the documentary, but eventually realized … he had to.Here's a link to the online premiere of Chasing Chasing Amy on December 15, 2024, with a special introduction by Kevin Smith and a Q&A with Sav & Riley Rodgers: https://watch.eventive.org/chasingchasingamy/play/6747ce291f64c511e374f759We'll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick reminder — this month we'll be hitting the 500th episode of The Sewers of Paris! And to celebrate, I'm doing a special Q&A episode, answering questions from listeners. So if you have anything you'd like to ask — about the podcast, about pop culture and queer history, or just for recommendations — please send it along to at matt@mattbaume.com.

My guest this week is pop culture writer Frank DeCaro, whose latest book is Disco: Music, Movies, and Mania under the Mirror Ball. Frank grew up in disco's heyday, which he experienced through teenage disco parties in the New Jersey suburbs. He also experienced the anti-disco conspiracy that sent the genre into a sort of musical witness protection program for the following decade or two. We talked about the conspiracy among music critics to suppress disco in the ‘70s — and why disco's outlived those who tried to squash it.Also, just a quick reminder — this month we'll be hitting the 500th episode of The Sewers of Paris! And to celebrate, I'm doing a special Q&A episode, answering questions from listeners. So if you have anything you'd like to ask — about the podcast, about pop culture and queer history, or just for recommendations — please send it along to at matt@mattbaume.com.

Before we get to this week's episode, I have a question for you. And that question is … do you have any questions for me? I ask because we're coming up on the 500th episode of The Sewers of Paris next month, and to celebrate I'm going to be doing a special Q&A episode where I answer questions from listeners. So if you have anything you'd like to ask — whether it's about the show, or for recommendations, or about pop culture and queer history — please send it along to at matt@mattbaume.com.Also, a head's up that may be of interest: This week sees the release of Part 1 of Wicked — a musical inspired by The Wizard of Oz. And although, when I initially heard about the film, years ago, my first reaction was “oh, there's no way that'll be any good” … folks, I've seen it, and it is, in fact, very good. So to mark the movie's release, I'm releasing special episode of my companion podcast, Matt's So-Cast Pod, where we talk about the strange parallels between the musical Wicked and the TV show My So-Called Life — both written by the same woman, Winnie Holzman.And also, on this week's Sewers of Paris, we're diving deep into the archives for a chat about why The Wizard of Oz has had particular resonance for gay men ever since the book was first published over a hundred and twenty years ago. My guest is Josh Trujillo, who was so obsessed with Oz that as a kid he attended Oz conventions, and discovered that they served as a sort of meeting-place for older closeted gay men who felt unable to meet in public or in bars.We spoke back in 2015 — it was the third-ever episode of this podcast! So my apologies that the audio quality is at times a little peaky. Nevertheless I hope you'll enjoy this trip back in time.

My guest today has experienced reality TV as both a viewer and a participant. Growing up in Australia, Antony's window to the world was watching American daytime talk shows like Oprah and Ricki Lake, where he'd occasionally catch an episode with queer guests. But it was after he moved to Hong Kong that he discovered a queer community that felt like home — and then when a friend invited him to appear on a dating show called Boyscation Too, he decided to try becoming one of those queer TV personalities he caught glimpses of in his youth.We'll have that conversation in a minute. And by the way, if you want to watch Antony's dating show experience, all episodes are now streaming free on YouTube with English subtitles.Also, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my YouTube videos, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest today is Chad Anderson, host of the Graymalkin Lane podcast. Chad grew up in a home that was not exactly a happy place to be, for a variety of reasons — among them, the rule that everything always had to look as though everything was fine. His one escape: Comic books, and despite being forbidden to read them he found a way to amass quite the collection. For decades, he felt the pressure to hide a lot about himself — and when he finally realized, after kissing another man, that it was time to come out, it was hard to envision how to write the next chapter of his life. Fortunately, by that point he was something of an expert when it came to stories of liberation.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my other projects, like my podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, and my YouTube videos! Plus, check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week got his start performing in high school, when he worked as a carnival barker. Bruce Costella drew inspiration from his environment, which consisted largely of theme parks thanks to a move to Florida initiated by his lesbian grandmothers. Now, he uses that EPCOT-based background in his own international theater productions.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my other projects, like my podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, and my YouTube videos! Plus, check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is Ian Carlos Crawford, who you may know from the podcasts Slayerfest 98 and My Bloody Judy. As a youngster Ian felt something awakened in him by powerful women like Storm and Buffy — but it wasn't until moving to New York that he discovered it was a fandom he shared with a lot of other queer folks. And while that was a pleasant discovery, New York had some other less pleasant surprises in store for him, especially when he landed a job at Buzzfeed at possibly the worst possible time.We'll have that conversation in a minute. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. And you may also enjoy my other projects, like my podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, and my YouTube videos! Plus, check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

I have a new YouTube video premiering this weekend about the miniseries Tales of the City, based on the books by Armistead Maupin, and for this week's episode we're diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2020 interview with Michael — who, like the main character of Tales, moved to San Francisco to discover himself and wound up finding someone he didn't expect. I recorded this conversation almost exactly five years ago, and a lot has changed for Michael since then — stay tuned at the end of our conversation for an update about his life that Michael just recorded.And like I mentioned, I'll have a new YouTube video coming about the miniseries Tales of the City, and the Republican scheme in the 90s to use a gay love story to defund PBS. That's going live this Sunday, October 27, at youtube.com/mattbaume.

My guest this week is Ben Graetz, also known as Miss Ellaneous — an Australian drag performer whose work is infused with influences that range from a life-changing Tina Turner concert to his family's First Nations heritage. Ben knew he wanted to perform from an early age, and attended an arts school with some actors whose names you'll probably recognize. But he struggled to figure out what his place in the theater was, and even stepped away for a few years … before coming at it from a new angle, and finding a way to make it work, on his terms.And if you're going to be in Australia, Miss Ellaneous will be a featured performer at Brisbane's Melt festival later this month — stay tuned for more details about that in our conversation, and check the show notes for a link.We'll have that conversation in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects, like my podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, and my YouTube videos! Plus, check out my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my free email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

I've got a special conversation for you this week: Toni Godwin Sells is the Chief Business and Strategy Officer at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. MoPOP is about to open a new exhibit dedicated to the works of Keith Haring and Toni and I spoke about Keith's work to bring art to unlikely places — and how Toni found connection with other queer nerds through pop culture touchstones from a love of Dr. Who to designing outfits for drag shows.We'll have that conversation in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects, like my YouTube videos! I have a brand new video about the show My So-Called Life, and how the character Rickie Vasquez changed television forever. Plus, join me for weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. There's links to all that in the episode shownotes, and at MattBaume.com.

My guest this week is Johnnie McNamara Walker, whose solo shows The Heterosexuals and Redheaded Stepchild led to him being described as a comic genius by The Irish Times. Johnnie spent a lot of his youth doing everything he could to hide the queer kid trying to break free — while also finding himself drawn irresistibly to singing, dancing, and wearing as many wigs as he could. Now, he's not only broken free from that turmoil, but it's part of what fuels an artistic project that he says isn't so much a planned career as an all-consuming compulsion.

My guest this week is jazz musician Richard Cortez, whose new album Mood Swings comes out in one month, on October 24, 2024. Richard's love of music was instilled early in life, but he hit some road bumps on his first attempt to move to New York and make it big in the arts. That was followed by various jobs in health care, in more adult careers, and occasionally flipping between stripping and jazz singing before he finally found success with his latest project.We'll have that conversation in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — my YouTube videos, weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Check out all that at MattBaume.com.Also, I hope you'll check out a new documentary series premiering on CNN on September 22, about TV milestones that shaped American culture. It's called TV on the Edge, and I'm just one of the folks interviewed on the show.

This weekend, there's a new documentary coming to theaters about the life of Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman. It's called Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, and it's about his career, the injury that changed his life, and about what Superman the character means to different people. For this week's episode, we're diving into the Sewers archives to revisit a 2018 conversation on that topic. My guest was Glenn Kiser, whose name you might not recognize but he's had a hand in countless films over the last thirty years — helping to craft movies alongside directors like David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Jane Campion, and George Lucas. As a kid, Glenn would obsess over movies and dream of the day he could make his own — never dreaming that his journey could take him from living on an isolated ranch in Texas to working at Skywalker Ranch.We'll have that conversation in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — my YouTube videos, weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Check out all that at MattBaume.com.Also, I hope you'll check out a new documentary series premiering on CNN on September 22, about TV milestones that shaped American culture. It's called TV on the Edge, and I'm just one of the folks interviewed on the show.

My guest this week is Mark Segal, who started making waves in the 1960s and hasn't stopped since. Mark was there for Stonewall, he was there for the organizing of the first Prides that followed, and he was ready to get arrested for the cause of gay liberation — and was many times, including on one memorable occasion when he invaded a broadcast of the CBS evening news. These days, he claims the title of the nation's most awarded LGBT journalist, he continues to oversee operations at the Philadelphia Gay News, and he has some wisdom to offer queer people following the trail that he blazed.We'll have that conversation in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — my YouTube videos, weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Check out all that at MattBaume.com.Also, I hope you'll check out a new documentary series premiering on CNN on September 22, about TV milestones that shaped American culture. It's called TV on the Edge, and I'm just one of the folks interviewed on the show.

Tony Maietta and Brad Shreve are the co-hosts on the podcast Going Hollywood, where they talk about their favorite films. And on this week's Sewers of Paris, we've got a double feature — first an interview with Tony and then an interview with Brad. Tony's an actor-turned-writer whose books include The Marble Faun of Grey Gardens, which he wrote after a chance encounter with The Marble Faun himself. And Brad's a writer of queer mystery novels, though he went through a pretty rough time before his writing career took shape — spiraling through drug use, homelessness, and a period where the only way he could communicate with his then-boyfriend, now-husband was through the video game Second Life.We'll have those two conversations in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — my YouTube videos, weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Check out all that at MattBaume.com.

This week, I'm chatting with two guests, Koaty and Sumner Blayne. They're adult performers, they're a real-life couple, and they're two of the stars of the new Tubi reality series House of Heat, which centers on a house full of porn performers. So how did a structural engineer and a nice Mormon boy wind up in that particular line of work?We'll have that conversation all about that in just a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon.Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

My guest this week is A. Ashley Hoff, author of the new book With Love, Mommie Dearest: The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic. In it, Hoff chronicles the making and cultural impact of a particularly iconic film, and seeks to understand how such a weird piece of culture got made … and why it's become so important to so many people.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

My guest this week is Dr Jason Durant, a New York based therapist who kicked himself out of the closet with some help from jam bands and a crush on a straight boy. It was discovering The Grateful Dead while at a Christian college that helped him come to terms with himself. And a job on a pot farm that led him to complete a degree in psychology.Jason has a new book out about his experiences, entitled Boy From the North Country: A Queer Therapist Looks Back at Overcoming Trauma With Mindfulness. There's a link to where you can find it in the description of this episode.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, a quick heads-up that just this week I've posted a new video over on YouTube — it's the story of Howard Ashman, and how a gay hippie who just wanted to put on fun shows with his friends wound up revolutionizing Broadway and Disney. That's at YouTube.com/mattbaume.Also, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

As you may have heard, I have a new YouTube video coming this weekend about Howard Ashman, the lyricist behind The Little Mermaid among many other works. So for this week's episode, we're diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2016 interview with artist Terry Blas. Terry was inspired to become an artist after seeing The Little Mermaid — and it helped him figure out how he could navigate the world wearing a variety of hats: Nerdy, Hispanic, Mormon, gay, comic illustrator.In the near-decade since I first interviewed Terry, he's produced some fantastic comics, all of which you should check out — Lifetime Passes, Hotel Dare, Dead Weight, as well as biographical books about Cesar Chavez and Frida Kahlo just to name a few. I got a huge kick out of listening back to this conversation with Terry, knowing how much success was about to come his way.We'll have that conversation in a moment. If you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

My guest this week is Greg Lockard, author of the graphic novels Liebestrasse and Trick Pony. Greg's career in comics started on the business side, handling paperwork and contracts, but he always felt he had stories inside him trying to burst out. So when an opportunity to climb the corporate ladder came, he was faced with a tricky choice — stay in the office, or break away from that job security to strike out on his own with a gay love story he'd been waiting to tell.If you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

If you're a member of my Patreon, you may have seen that this week's bonus video is about a bizarre Broadway-ish show called Let My People Come. It's a musical so strange I couldn't believe it was real the first time I heard of it — which happened right here on this podcast several years ago. For this week's episode, we're revisiting my 2017 conversation with Eric Marcus. He's a writer, journalist, and creator of the Making Gay History podcast, and when we last spoke he opened my eyes to a truly incredible piece of showbiz history.If you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

Returning to TheSewers of Paris this week is voice actor JP Karliak — you heard him as the voice of Morph on X-Men '97, but he's also been keeping busy with lots of other projects, from advocating for up-and-coming queer voice actors to performing alongside Rhianna in an upcoming Smurfs movie. We last spoke in 2020, and a lot has happened since then — both in JP's career, and in voice acting in general.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.We'll have that conversation in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting the show on Patreon. Patrons get access to an exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

This week I'm chatting with Christopher Rice, a returning guest who's just published a fourth book in his steamy “Sapphire Cove” series. This latest novel, entitled Sapphire Dawn, features a plucky porn performer butting heads with an unlucky-in-love wedding planner. Christopher, writing under the name C. Travis Rice, did a lot of research to make sure he captured the realities of the adult industry — both good and bad.We'll have my conversation with Christopher in a moment. First, if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll consider supporting my work on Patreon for as little as $2 a month. Patrons get access to a Patron-exclusive Discord server, stickers and books in the mail, bonus videos, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.And you may also enjoy my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like Matt's So-Cast Pod, a new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life.

My guest this week is Alonso Duralde, author of the new book Hollywood Pride, a fascinating historical tour through queer Hollywood history. If Alonso's name sounds familiar, you might recall him from several past Sewers of Paris conversations, or from the movie and TV podcasts he hosts with his husband Dave White — two men of excellent taste and encyclopedic knowledge of entertainment history.We'll have my conversation with Alonso in a moment. First, a reminder that if you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, I hope you'll check out my other projects — like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I'm Homo!, and my email newsletter. Or you might like my new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, titled perhaps a bit too obtusely Matt's So-Cast Pod.And if you support my work on Patreon, you'll get backer rewards like Discord access, weekly bonus videos, queer stickers in the mail, and more. You can join the Patreon at patreon.com/mattbaume.

Apologies for this week's episode coming a day late! I'm just catching up between Pride events and a power outage that halted editing for a bit. But here's the latest Sewers of Paris, continuing the monthlong Pride specials with excerpts from some of the best conversations I've had over the last nine years.This week, we're talking about science fiction. We'll hear from folks for whom sci-fi was an escape … and also an inspiration for future work, from throwing parties to inventing the technology that powers the Internet, to sending robots to Mars.Full conversations that are excerpted in this episode:Episode 10, CharlieEpisode 93, JoséEpisode 215, AlanEpisode 223, TroyEpisode 358, David