The Sewers of Paris

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 Rogers, 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/6747ce291f64c511e374f759 We’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.