On this episode we’re remembering Chi Chi DeVayne, performer and Drag Race star who passed away last week at the age of 34. I spoke to Chi Chi back in 2018, when she was appearing on All Stars, about her roots, her religion, and how she drew on military training as she discovered her love of drag.
This week I’ll also be posting some clips on the Sewers of Paris Twitter and Facebook of stuff that Chi Chi and I talked about — Big Freedia, To Wong Foo, and Bulletproof.
Also I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on August 29 at 11am Pacific. It’s a nice relaxing time to just hang out and chat. There’s a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.
And if you’re looking for more queer entertainment, check out Culture Cruise on YouTube for a deep dive into queer entertainment milestones. And take a listen to Queens of Adventure and Queens of Adventure: Legends, two narrative comedy shows with drag heroes going on adventures in a world of fantasy.
The Unspoken Queerness of the South (Ep 298 - Steel Magnolias/Anthony Methvin)
The topic this week: Tori Amos, Steel Magnolias, and Alice in Wonderland.
What piece of media gets you through your rough patches? For my guest this week, it’s Steel Magnolias, a movie that helped him understand his place as a little gay kid among powerful southern women. It’s also the film that got him through election night 2016.
First, a reminder that The Sewers of Paris is on Twitter and Facebook, where I post clips of the stuff that we talk about on each episode. This week you can look forward to of course some Steel Magnolia clips, along with the best Tori music videos and a little Disney.
And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on August 29 at 11am Pacific. It’s a nice relaxing time to just hang out and chat. There’s a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.
And don’t forget to check out my other shows! Culture Cruise on YouTube is a deep dive into queer entertainment milestones. And check out Queens of Adventure and Queens of Adventure: Legends, two narrative comedy shows with drag heroes going on adventures in a world of fantasy.
Bright Colors, Zany Action (Ep 297 - Skeletor/JP Karliak)
Imagine if there was someone out there who could, in a matter of minutes, help you make sense of the unanswered questions you’ve asked about yourself for as long as your can remember. My guest this week is JP Karliak, a voice actor and writer who you might recognize as the voice of the characters Boss Baby, Wile E Coyote on those occasions when he speaks, as Spider-Man and Willy Wonka and tons of voices from The Last of Us to Castlevania to Evangelion. JP was always making of characters and voices and stories, going all the way back to his childhood love of Skeletor or Auntie Mame — and some of those tendencies started to make a lot more sense as an adult, when for the first time he met his birth mother.
Also, a reminder that The Sewers of Paris is on Twitter and Facebook, where I post clips of the stuff that we talk about on each episode. This week I’ll be posting my favorite clip of all time from He-Man, as well as some extremely gay moments from Auntie Mame and also a little quiet time with Rita Repulsa.
And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on August 15 at 11am Pacific. It’s a nice relaxing time to just hang out and chat. There’s a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.
And don’t forget to check out my other shows! Culture Cruise on YouTube is a deep dive into queer entertainment milestones. And check out Queens of Adventure and Queens of Adventure: Legends, two narrative comedy shows with drag heroes going on adventures in a world of fantasy.
Not a Fan of Hanging Around in Reality (Steve Kmetko/E! News)
You might’ve seen the news this week that after three decades, NBC cancelled the entertainment show E! News. For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting my 2015 conversation with one of the hosts of E! News, Steve Kmetko. Steve was the face of the E! cable network from 1994 to 2002, and in addition to hosting the news show he also anchored countless Oscar and Emmy broadcasts, reported from film festivals, and interviewed everyone who was anyone in Hollywood. It was his dream job, but privately, he was being weighed down by a lifetime of baggage: a career that demanded he stay closeted, and a religious upbringing that burdened him with guilt.
First, a reminder that The Sewers of Paris is on Twitter and Facebook, where I post clips of the stuff that we talk about on each episode. This week I’ll be posting clips from Peter Pan with Mary Martin, Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, and of course, Steve himself reporting on entertainment.
And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on August 15 at 11am Pacific. It’s a nice relaxing time to just hang out and chat. There’s a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.
And don’t forget to check out my other shows! Culture Cruise on YouTube is a deep dive into queer entertainment milestones. And check out Queens of Adventure and Queens of Adventure: Legends, two narrative comedy shows with drag heroes going on adventures in a world of fantasy.
Now, here’s my 2015 interview with Steve.