The Devil in my Head (Ep. 172 - The Bodyguard)

May 31, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Byron Lane

A well-told joke doesn't just have the effect of making an audience laugh -- it can also provide armor for the person telling it. My guest this week is actor and comedian Byron Lane, whose projects include the webseries Last Will and Testicle, and the stage show Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist. Through his work, he went from the kid who always wanted someone to protect him to a man who could protect himself through laughter.

Byron's show is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but first they're doing a couple of bon voyage/fundraiser shows in LA. Tickets are available: Fri 6/29 8pm & Sat 6/30 8pm at Casita del Campo.

We'll have that conversation in a minute -- but first, I want to let you know that I've just launched a new podcast along with some fantastically funny drag queens. It's called Queens of Adventure, and it's based on our live shows where drag queens play a real Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Queens of Adventure brings together larger-than-life drag shows and epic fantasy adventures, with the queens rolling the dice every other week to combat killer wigs, tame burly bears, investigate shady seamen, and misty step their way into your heart. Season One just launched -- head over to QueensOfAdventure.com to subscribe.

And if you're in Seattle, mark your calendars for June 21! We're doing our next live Dungeons & Drag Queens show at Kremwerk just in time for Pride. Tickets are now on sale at QueensOfAdventure.com.

Huge thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of a dollar or more a month on Patreon. If you're enjoying the show, click "Support the Show on Patreon." Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

This Week's Recommendation: Last Will and Testicle

Thanks again to Byron for joining me. Head over to LastWillAndTesticle.com to check out his webseries, an autobiographical comedy about all the different stages of coping with a life-changing diagnosis. In bite-sized morsels, each little episode highlights the emotional impact that the news has on family and friends, and also the goofy ways that a cancer scare changes a person's life.

Over the course of two seasons, we see Bryon deal with denial, anger, bargaining, and the rest. He engages in dialogue with his balls. He processes his feelings with the help of a therapist, religious parents, and a boyfriend who is mostly just grossed out by the whole thing. And throughout it all, he seems mostly befuddled, since now matter how prepared you might be for a health crisis, it will always be larger than one person can handle on their own.

Look for cameos from Jonathan Van Ness, Drew Droege, Sam Pancake, and other usual-suspects. Although these familiar faces often pop up on various gay webserieses, in this context it's particularly comforting to recognize them. Health problems are scary, so it's nice to have family by your side -- whether it's biological family or a chosen gay family of the LA gay comedy scene.

Thanks again for listening.

Making Things up as You Go (Ep. 171 - Björk)

May 24, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Santiago Melli-Huber

How do you know when it's time to move versus when is it time to stay put? My guest this week is Santiago Melli-Huber, who's on a constant hunt for a place that feels right. Whether trying new jobs, new cities, or new social circles, he's made himself into a bit of an investigator, always asking what needs to change and then taking action to try something new.

Hey, if you're in Seattle for Pride next month, mark your calendars for June 21! We're doing our next live Dungeons & Drag Queens show at Kremwerk. Tickets are now on sale at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Week's Recommendation

Thanks again to Santiago for joining me. I'm always delighted to talk about Bjork, particularly because Iceland is just about my favorite place. Should you find yourself fortunate enough to spend a little time in Reykjavik, my recommendation is that you look into a group there called Drag-Súgur that's doing some of the most interesting drag on Earth.

Even Iceland's capital city isn't very large, and so as drag troupes go, Drag-Súgur has a decidedly small-town feel. Experimental, surprising, and very youthful, the group is diverse out of necessity, since Reykjavik just isn't large enough for different queer groups to splinter into many different subcultures. What's more, their shows attract a crowd of friendly international regulars, where everyone knows each other's names and does their best to learn each other's languages.

When I visited last summer, the impression that I got was one of true queer community: supportive, friendly, willing to give each other the space to try something new. There was a tribute to The Fifth Element, a goth rock song, a bit of Euro-pop and some friendly barbs exchanged between hosts. In other words, a place where you can instantly feel at home, despite being far from where you're from.

Stuff We Talked About

No More I Love Yous (Ep. 170 - Drag Families)

May 22, 2018 Matthew Baume

Special Guest: Alexis Nicole Whitney

No matter how thoroughly you've planned, life has a way of taking you by surprise -- and when it does, it's often family that gets you through the tough times. Alexis was born to a woman unprepared for motherhood, and so grandparents stepped in to raise her. As she grew older, Houston's drag scene provided a second family where she was free to express herself more freely. But it was an unexpected health crisis that brought both families together when their daughter needed them most.

BTW, The Sewers of Paris is made possible by everyone who pledges a dollar or more a month on Patreon. If you're enjoying the show, click "Support the Show on Patreon" to help make this podcast possible. Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

And if you're in Seattle, mark your calendars for June 21! We're doing our next live show, featuring drag queens playing Dungeons & Dragons, just in time for Pride. Tickets are now on sale at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Episode's Recommendation: Adults Only

Thanks again to Alexis for joining me. For this week's recommendation, seek out the short film "Adults Only," which (full disclosure) was directed by a friend of mine, Heath Daniels, a couple of years ago. It's the wordless story of a deaf man mourning the end of a relationship, and struggling to figure out what's next. He's still mired in past memories, disconnected and longing for connection.

That connection comes in an unpredictable place and an even more unpredictable form: the neon-lit labyrinth of a bathhouse, where he's surrounded by peep shows and public sex. The short forgoes dialogue, instead using evocative imagery and sexually charged daydreams to illuminate the main character's pain -- and also his drive to move on despite not quite knowing the way.

It's hard enough to put yourself in another person's place, particularly someone who doesn't experience the world with the same senses that you do. But the deaf protagonist of Adults Only finds a common ground that's hard not to relate to -- heartbreak, loss, and mourning, followed by the thrill of unexpected pleasure.

Stuff We Talked About

Spitefully Outed (Ep. 169 - So You Think You Can Dance)

May 17, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Phil Stamper

My guest this week is Phil Stamper, whose book The Gravity of Us tells the story of two young men who fall in love amidst the drama of a mission to Mars. For years, Phil struggled to balance competing impulses to be silly and serious, and to keep his creative spark alive throughout the drudgery of office work. The result is an upcoming debut novel that amplifies his own queer experiences with some help from science fiction.

Just a reminder -- I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat on Saturday May 19, at 2pm Pacific with special guest Fazaad Feroze. We want to hear about the book and movies and songs and shows you're obsessed with right now.

And if you're in Seattle for Pride next month, mark your calendars for June 21! We're doing our next live Dungeons & Drag Queens show at Kremwerk. Tickets are now on sale at QueensOfAdventure.com.

This Week's Recommendation: Steven Universe

Thanks again to Phil for joining me. You can find out more about him and his book at PhilStamper.com. We talked this week about the mix of culture both silly and serious, and for my recommendation I hope you'll take a look at one of my favorite shows, Steven Universe.

You'll want to give it a few episodes to really get going, and then the show will reward your patience many times over. What seems at first like a goofy kid's show suddenly yanks back the curtain midway through the first season to reveal a show that, while still fun, has seemingly endless layers of depth and sophistication and darkness and a pumpkin that barks and cuddles like a dog.

It is also possibly one of the queerest shows ever to have existed, featuring magical science-fiction women in relationships so complex we don't even have words for how they relate to reach other. Come for the zapping lasers and space battles; stay for the lesbian commune drama.

Stuff We Talked About

How to Make Something About Making Something (Ep. 168: Bedknobs and Broomsticks)

May 10, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: James Connelly

What if you had the power to make the places you imagine real -- so real that people can walk through them and touch them, and millions of strangers could see the setting that once only existed in your mind? My guest this week is James Connelly, who designed the sets for shows like The Voice, Bill Nye Saves the World, the Teen Choice Awards, and many more. When he's building worlds for television, he draws on his memories and experiences and daydreams, mashing together influences from across his life to invite the world into his imagination.

By the way, if you're heading to DragCon in LA this weekend, I hope you'll join me for two panels! On Sunday, I'm be hosting a game of Dungeons and Dragons played by BenDeLaCreme, Erika Klash, Kitty Powers, and Fraya Love. And on Sunday, I'll be hosting a fun friendly chat about tabletop gaming, featuring a panel of queer and ally gamers sharing recommendations for finding games and people to play with.

And mark your calendars for our next Sewers of Paris live chat -- it's on Saturday, May 19th, at 2pm Pacific.

If you're enjoying The Sewers of Paris, click "Support the Show on Patreon" to join the folks who make the podcast possible for as little as a dollar a month. Or you can support The Sewers of Paris for free by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice -- that really helps people find the show.

This Week's Recommendation: The Great British Bake-Off

Thanks again to James for joining me. I hope you've already seen this week's recommendation, but in case you haven't, make this the week you finally watch The Great British Bake-Off -- or as it's called in the US, the Great British Baking Show.

I'm not normally one for reality show competitions where everyone's bitterly clawing for the prize, and fortunately that's not what this show is. The Bake-Off often feels more like a collaboration, a partnership between contestants where everyone enjoys seeing each other succeed.

There's no sabotage, no cruelty, no attitude from anyone -- apart from, perhaps occasionally, one of the judges -- and the whole affair feels more like friends gathering to support each other than a contest.

That's not to say it isn't dramatic. The challenges they face are overwhelming, often requiring ingredients nobody's every heard of, techniques impossible to master and recipes that may not even be in English. The show pushes the bakers to reach beyond what they think they can do -- and when it's at its best, shows them helping each other to reveal that with just a little assistance from others, we're all capable of exceeding our expectations for ourselves.

Stuff We Talked About

The Only Boy on Paradise Island (Ep. 167 - Wonder Woman)

May 3, 2018 Matthew Baume

This Week's Guest: Richard Andreoli

This week's guest grew up idolizing comic book heroes, which presented a problem as he entered adulthood: how could he possibly measure up to the flying, crime-fighting, invisible-jet-flying role models of his youth? Richard Andreoli's mission in life became seeking out the opportunities for heroics in everyday life. In other words -- not expecting to become a superhero, but finding pride in being a normalhero.

By the way, if you're heading to DragCon in LA next month, I hope you'll join me for two panels! On Saturday, I'll be hosting a breakneck game of Dungeons and Dragons played by BenDeLaCreme, Erika Klash, Kitty Powers, and Fraya Love. And on Sunday, I'll be hosting a fun friendly chat about tabletop gaming, featuring a panel of queer and ally gamers sharing recommendations for finding games and people to play with. It's going to be a blast -- hope to see you there.

And no matter where you are in the world, I hope you'll join us for the next Sewers of Paris live chat -- it's on Saturday, May 5, at 2pm Pacific. We want to hear about the book and movies and songs and shows you're obsessed with right now. There's a link at the top of the SewersOfParis twitter feed -- see you Saturday!

This Week's Recommendation: The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

Thanks again to Richard for joining me. Head over to BattleAtTheComicExpo.com to check out his book, coming out later this month.

For this week's recommendation, take a look at a documentary about another gay author: it's called The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, and it is an utter delight. You probably recognize Armistead's name as the author of the Tales of the City novels, but the documentary pulls back the curtain on the life of the man whose writing turned him into an icon.

It's a perfect primer not just on what his books are, but on why they matter and to whom they mattered most. Starting in the 1970s, his stories of singles mingling in San Francisco were only supposed to be a fun weekly newspaper column. But as time went on and his subject matter got queerer, his columns became a lifeline for a community that still faced daily struggles to survive.

Looking back, nearly a half century later, it's hard to image what that world could have been like, when queer culture was taboo even in San Francisco. So much of that history was lost to the epidemic, to bigotry, and to the fear -- completely reasonable -- that documenting LGBTQ lives would expose them to even greater harm.

If you're of a certain age, you can rely on your memory to keep those distant voices alive. But for the rest of us, those records of the time -- whether written down or shared face to face -- are a vital link to those who built the world we enjoy today.

Stuff We Talked About

The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1

By Marv Wolfman

Buy on Amazon

Mondo Homo: Your Essential Guide to Queer Pop Culture

By Richard Andreoli

Buy on Amazon

About The Sewers of Paris

The Sewers of Paris is a podcast about how queer lives are shaped by our favorite books, movies, music, and shows. Each week, guests open up about their secret struggles, hidden passions, and surprising triumphs by plucking a piece of entertainment from their past and answering the question: What’s the entertainment that changed your life?

About Defining Marriage

Each week on Defining Marriage, hosts Matt Baume and James Morris chat about what's happening with marriage equality, featuring frequent digressions into pop culture, silly banter, and the jokes and quibbles that have kept them together as a couple for over a decade.

The first eighteen episodes of the podcast contain the complete audiobook version of the book Defining Marriage, which traces the decades-long evolution of marriage through the personal stories of those who lived through it, featuring personal insights from the lives of Evan Wolfson, Dan Savage, Ken Mehlman, Dustin Lance Black, and many more.

About Matt's So-Cast Pod

Revisit the iconic '90s drama My So-Called Life, one episode at a time. Every week, host Matt Baume & his guests delve into the teen angst, the grown-up turmoil, and the endless flannel of the 90s -- and examine the show's impact on television and our lives.