Hello, I’m Matt Baume, and welcome to the Sewers of Paris. We’re on a podcast search for the entertainment that changed the lives of queer people.
My guest this week is author Benji Carr, whose novel Impacted comes out next week, and is the product of a lifelong obsession with soap operas. It’s not entirely surprising, as his own life was often more dramatic than he knew how to handle. It was shows like Melrose Place,...
2021-07-01 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patreon friends!
I hope you're staying cool in this absolute SCORCHING summer. Right now I'm listening to my computer's fans whirring like a jumbo jet to stay cool as it renders some bonus videos for you!
As I'm sure you know, I come across a lot of fun stories in my research that I don't have room for in my final scripts, and I like to share those "extras" with you here on Patre...
2021-06-26 21:24:31 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Ravi Roth. You may know him from his travel series Ravi Round the World, or his new show Gaycation, where he visits queer hotspots across the globe. Ravi knew from an early age that he loved performing, and for a time he was laser-focused on making it to Broadway. But once he was there, he found that h...
2021-06-24 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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This week, to celebrate Pride month, we’re heading into the Sewers of Paris archives for a chat with a man who was present for the Stonewall Riots. 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. We talked on...
2021-06-17 22:54:31 +0000 UTC
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Helloooo Patreon friends!
I had so many extra stories about John Waters, Baltimore, and a terrible trashy faux pas that I've made a second Patreon-exclusive video for you. Last week's bonus video was all about what came before JW's "trinity of trash" in the 70s, and this video is all about what came after. From saucy conversation with David Letterman to a film project that wound up getting cancelled for a VERY awkward reason, here's more fun stuff that I just wasn't able to fit...
2021-06-16 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Hello friends!
Here are some fun stories and details that I wasn't able to fit into my John Waters video last week, exclusive for Patreon. From Andy Warhol's films Kiss and Blow Job to Wakefield Poole's Boys in the Sand, the '70s were a fertile time for the work that John was doing in his movies. Too bad the Baltimore Police weren't so enthusiastic!
By the way -- I've heard that some An...
2021-06-11 18:28:12 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is comic artist Joe Glass, author of the just-released Pride Omnibus which collects several years of his queer superhero stories. Joe’s work is heavily influenced by his youthful love of heroes from X-Men to Buffy, and like those heroes, there were times when people tried to stop him from pursuing the work that he knew was right.
We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I just posted a new video over on YouTube that’s all about John Water...
2021-06-10 16:01:29 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patreon friends!
I feel like I say this every month, but: Well, here we are. We've somehow muddled through and made it to another Pride month -- one where we might actually be able to see our friends in person!!! Groundbreaking.
Anyway, I hope you're celebrating with as much pluck and aplomb as Leslie Uggams in the above video, and if things don't go according to plan, just remember her famou...
2021-06-03 20:33:46 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is a legend — the amazing Justin Vivian Bond, or just Vivian — an actor, singer, performer, icon. You may recognize their name from the act Kiki and Herb, or from performances ranging from La MaMa to Carnegie Hall, or from collaborations with Jake Shears, John Cameron Mitchell, and Rufus Wainwright. Vivian knew they wanted to be a performer from an early age, and their journey to the stage was an adventure that brought them from a small town to experimental theater in S...
2021-06-03 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patreon friends!
As I mentioned in my last video, I came across a ton of fascinating stories while researching my Rocko video that I just didn’t have room for in the final script, and I wanted to share them with you. Here's another bonus video for Patreon backers!
A few days ago, I showed you some of the eye-opening queer coding in golden-age animation from the 30s to the 60s, and now I want to show you w...
2021-06-01 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Hi Patreon friends!
I hope you’re doing well! You probably saw that my last video was about Rocko’s Modern Life and gay cartoons of the 90s. In making that video, I dug up a lot of interesting stories and tidbits that I just didn’t have room for in the final script, but that I still think are super interesting! So I wanted to share some of those with you, and also give you a little tease for what I...
2021-05-28 16:01:04 +0000 UTC
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This week’s guest is John Epperson — also known by his stage name, Lypsinka, who you might’ve seen in the documentary Wigstock, in the movie Black Swan, and gracing New York stages from the legendary Pyramid Club to Lincoln Center. John moved from small town Mississippi to New York to chase a dream of a life in the theater, and found fame with his drag alter-ego in the wild 1970s and 80s, all while awash in radical revolutionary queer culture of the East Village.
We’ll have that...
2021-05-27 16:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Listeners, I’ve got a handful of interviews coming your way that you are going to love, with some Broadway drag icons. They’re not quite ready yet, but this week I want to prepare you for what’s coming with a conversation about someone who chased his dreams all the way to New York, and then followed his heart back home. This week, we’re diving into the archives to hear my 2016 interview with Mark Finley — a conversation that zooms from Japan to Cal Arts to a stint at Brigham Young w...
2021-05-20 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Hello I'm back with the sometimes-treat podcast Cozy Pants, where me and James talk about what we're up to, what I'm working on, and what we're enjoying. (And also, what I'm forgetting.) In this episode we go on a journey of Ethel Merman that might be a shared hallucination, and I provide a little sneak peek at an upcoming video about the queer history of 90s animation. And we are only a year or so late to discovering how good Knives Out it, and early in our anticipation on Knives Out 2.
2021-05-17 16:01:04 +0000 UTC
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We’re just a few days away from the start of Eurovision, the giant extravagant celebration of over-the-top music and outrageous costumes and, every now and then, taste. Eurovision is a big ball of fun, and it was the subject of the very first episode of The Sewers of Paris. So this week, we’re revisiting my 2015 interview with Jānis, who first introduced me to the joy of Eurovision, along with the German version of American Idol, gay-adjacent Hitchcock, and hard-core camp.
We’ll ...
2021-05-13 16:13:14 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patreon friends!
I hope you had a lovely weekend. Did you got to a farmers market? You should go to a farmers market. They have radishes.
ANYWAY! I wanted to share with you some more bits and bobs that I discovered while researching my video about The Nanny, but that I wasn't able to include in the final video. And as luck would have it, members of this here Patreon (like you!) get to see those fun little tidbits; check out their sly reference to The Mary Tyler ...
2021-05-10 19:30:25 +0000 UTC
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On last week’s episode I talked with James Sie about the importance of one well-placed Bette Midler album, and this week I want to dive into the Sewers archives with another guest whose life was changed by Bette — in his case, when she called him to offer him a job. Today we’re revisiting my 2017 interview with Bruce Vilanch, a writer an comedian who’s been slipping sly queer jokes into mainstream entertainment since before some of us were even born. Starting out as a writer for...
2021-05-06 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patreon friends!
Look out, there's less than a month left to gird your loins for Pride month -- whatever that's going to look like this year.
In my wanderings through old newspaper archives (you know, where I spend approximately 97 percent of my time) I came across an old op-ed by Armistead Maupin about how exhausting Pride month is -- written in 1981!!! Oh, if only he knew what lay ahead.
"June is a hectic month for brides and homosexuals," he begins, a pheno...
2021-05-04 19:38:23 +0000 UTC
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Hi Patreon friends!
Welp, somehow I went most of my life without ever seeing The Nanny, but as it turns out the show's pretty good. So good I made a whole video about it!
My latest video is all about how Fran Drescher managed to set her show apart when it comes to queer storylines, at a time when TV was not particularly welcoming. Mark your calendars for the premiere over on my YouTube channel -- Sunday May ...
2021-04-30 16:01:04 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is James Sie, whose voice you may recognize from Kung Fu Panda, Curious George, King of the Hill, and as an unlucky cabbage merchant on Avatar. He’s also the author of Still Life Las Vegas, and a new queer young adult novel called All Kinds of Other, which will have a launch celebration next Friday, May 7, to benefit the Los Angeles LGBT Center. As a ...
2021-04-29 15:55:04 +0000 UTC
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You may recognize my guest Brian Falduto for his music, his coaching, or his role in the 2003 movie School of Rock as Billy, the stylist kid. When he shot his scenes, Brian had no idea what gay even meant, but as soon as the movie came out, it seemed like the whole world was telling him who he was. That pushed him deep into the closet, until another musical experience helped him find his authentic self again in an unlikely genre — country.
We’ll have that conversation in a minute. F...
2021-04-22 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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A few years ago, this week’s guest Steven Wakabayashi lived to party. His gay agenda centered on nightlife and a relentless fitness routine, but that all came to an end when the physical toll became too much for his body to bear and he found himself hospitalized for months. To recover, he had to completely change his life and set himself on an entirely new path — one that’s led him to film and literature he would never have otherwise known.
We’ll have that conversation in a minu...
2021-04-15 18:17:48 +0000 UTC
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I regret to inform you that it is time yet again for an episode of Cozy Pants, the bizarre podcasting experiment in terror in which James and I discuss the entertainment that fills us with glee. This time we're all atwitter about springtime, about Falcon and Winter Soldier (if that is indeed their names) and a loooooong fantasy novel that I've somehow reached the end of. Also going on dates to hunt monsters!!!! And I sing what few lyrics I can recall of the Star Trek theme song.
2021-04-12 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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This week I’ve got a very special guest — the wonderful Kristin Russo, whom I’m sure you know from the podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer, the YouTube channel Everyone is Gay, the book This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids, all-ages Pride in New York, and oh my God so many great projects. And it all started with a young queer woman watching My So-Called Life, wondering if she was more like the free-spirted Rayanne or the teen-angsty Angela. When you watch My So-Called Life, your favo...
2021-04-08 18:13:41 +0000 UTC
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This week’s guest spent time on the front lines of a revolution in the 60s and 70s. Steve Bull is an activist who fought for gay liberation in Los Angeles, and then brought those tactics to his small town in Maine when it was time for him to retire and move back home. Now he teaches the radical queer tactics that he learned to young organizers who want to follow in his footsteps.
We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of P...
2021-04-01 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patreon friends!
I have a feeling a lot of you have been waiting a long time for this: I finally have a video coming about the show Friends. (An obscure little indie show from the ‘90s.).
I’m planning on releasing the video on my YouTube channel Sunday April 4 at 11am pacific (Patrons at $10+ will get early ad-free access), and immediately following that premiere 2021-03-31 16:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Back in 2015, one of the very first guests on The Sewers of Paris was my friend Amp, who was then just getting started on his career as a kink educator and adult performer. In the years since, he’s built a huge following for his podcast and YouTube series, Watts the Safeword, and on Friday of this week he’ll appear on the Epix TV show Sex Life, a documentary series about sex-posi...
2021-03-25 16:01:02 +0000 UTC
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A few years ago, the Royal National Theater in London recorded an amazing production of the play Angels in America, starring Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Russell Tovey, and more. And they just made that recording available to stream at NTatHome.com. For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting my 2015 interview with actor and singer Jonathan Blalock, whose life was completely changed by Angels in America, in part because of ...
2021-03-18 17:55:03 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Rob Urbanati, a New York playwright and director. He had a unique upbringing — he grew up openly gay in a small suburb in the 1960s, and people were generally accepting. That gave him an unusual freedom to explore the gay scene, the hippie scene, the club scene, and the drug scene. But the great mystery that he wonders about to this day is how he wound up interested in the movies and art that he did.
We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a quick than...
2021-03-11 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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You might’ve seen that I just released a new video over on YouTube about the queer secrets of the show Bewitched, and how this bizarre sitcom from the 60s managed to be about homosexuality without ever saying so. For this week’s episode, we’re jumping into the Sewers archives for another conversation about witchcraft — it’s my 2015 interview with a Minnesota entertainer named Joe, a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence who was inspired by imaginary worlds and TV witches to conjure up magi...
2021-03-04 21:24:32 +0000 UTC
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