A Special WandaVision Chat with Brett White!

January 28, 2021 Matthew Baume

We’re trying something different this week. Perhaps you've been watching Marvel’s new TV series WandaVision, a strange, otherworldly series that debuted earlier this month with each episode so far re-creating the genre of classic old sitcoms. Episode 1 was a throwback to The Dick Van Dyke Show, Episode 2 referenced Bewitched, and last week’s Episode 3 has traces of The Brady Bunch.

As someone who spends a lot of time ensconced in entertainment history, I am of course obsessed with WandaVision and its mysteries, and so last weekend I hosted a livestream conversation with another queer media lover and comic expert, the wonderful Brett White, TV critic at The Decider. He was my guest on Sewers of Paris episode 309, so you can jump back to that one if you’d like to hear more about his obsession with Charles Nelson Reilly and speedos.

It was a great fun nerdy talk, and that’s what you’re about to hear on this episode. We livestreamed this conversation on my YouTube channel so we were joined by lots of great folks in the chat who shared their own observations about WandaVision and classic queer TV. Thanks to everyone who dropped by and shared their thoughts during the livestream.

A quick warning that there are WandaVision spoilers in this conversation, so if you’re not caught up with Episode 3, you might want to skip this one.

And I’d love to know what you think about this episode, tweet at me @mattbaume to let me know if you like hearing conversations like this one on the show. And hey, if you’d like to join me for future streams, I’m live every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on Twitch at Twitch.tv/mattbaume, and on Saturdays on YouTube at YouTube.com/mattbaume.

A Professional Bee Botherer (Ep 320 - Lord of the Rings/Lewis Bartlett)

January 21, 2021 Matthew Baume

My guest this week wears a lot of hats, and occasionally frocks. Lewis Bartlett is a bee scientist, baker, and drag queen who found his way from Yorkshire, England to Athens, Georgia. A shy, nerdy kid, he found refuge in Lord of the Rings novels and Live Action Role-Playing (or LARPing) groups, but he reached a turning point where he decided to give all that up, along with years-long friendships, so that he could pursue the studies that eventually led him to become, as he says, a professional bee botherer. But as an adult the old nerdy pastimes of his youth have come back to him in unexpected ways, such as his observation that bees are the ultimate World of Warcraft players.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And! If you’re a fan of science and drag, check out an upcoming online cabaret show featuring Lewis and many other queer scientists. Tickets are now available for Science is a Drag, a livestream to be held on Tuesday March 9, 2021. Just go to Eventbrite.com and search for Science is a Drag Volume 3.

And just a reminder that I’ve started a new weekly newsletter for all the stuff I’m working on. You can sign up at mattbaume.com — each week I give you a little sneak peek into upcoming projects, little bits of weird fun cultural artifacts I’ve uncovered in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos.

Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. And I hope you’ll join me for a very special livestream this Saturday, January 23, with my guest Brett White — TV critic for The Decider and recent Sewers guest. We’ll be chatting about the new show WandaVision, its connection to classic old sitcoms, and the magic of queer-coded characters on shows like Bewitched. That’s on Saturday January 23 at 1pm pacific, at Youtube.com/mattbaume.

And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific.

Wholesome Vibes (Ep 319 - Twitch/Blizzb3ar)

January 14, 2021 Matthew Baume

My guest this week is one of the most wholesome people on the Internet — a Twitch streamer who goes by Blizzb3ar. His goal is to create refuge from drama and competitiveness and cynicism, and for viewers to be able to relax in the comfort of good clean kind fun. It’s the sort of environment that he realized he was missing for himself, and now he’s got big goals for transforming his life in 2021.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon.

Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. I just posted a video about why San Francisco in the 1970s was one of the most exciting times in history to come out of the closet, by way of Harvey Milk and Cloris Leachman. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume.

And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific. Lately I’ve been playing my way through Undertale and having a lot of feelings.

My Love of Death (Ep 318 - Dennis the Menace/Sheldon Goodman)

January 7, 2021 Matthew Baume

What’s the story you plan to leave behind, and what happens if that story doesn’t go according to plan? My guest this week is Sheldon Goodman, a historian who specializes in cemeteries, discovering the untold stories of people who are long gone, and excavating the memory of bygone eras — metaphorically speaking. In his work Sheldon’s discovered countless stories that were previously lost — particularly of LGBTQ people — and he’s considered nearly every aspect of how he himself wants to be remembered … every aspect, that is, but one.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including recent new members Michael, Jake, Jeff, Marcus, Stacey, Amy, and Stefne.

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