The Sewers of Paris

The Sewers of Paris

The Sewers of Paris is a podcast of revealing personal stories about how entertainment has changed the lives of gay men. Each week, a guest plucks a piece of entertainment from their past -- book, movies, music, shows, and more -- and answers the question: how did it change your life?

I Just Lied (Ep 368 - Andy/Revolutionary Girl Utena)

December 30, 2021 Matthew Baume

My guest this week has been a lot of different people — Andy Casadonte grew up a meek kid in Maryland, came out of the closet when he went to school in New York to study illustration, and then had to watch his step when his first job out of college required him to move to Tennessee to work on the religious show Veggie Tales. For a while, he found solace in the fandom of queer anime. And when he was finally able to escape Tennessee, it was to a city and a job where queerness could be celebrated.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a reminder to check out my YouTube channel where I post stories about pop culture history. And head over to my Patreon to watch hours of bonus videos. I just posted a roundup on Patreon of the most downloaded episodes of Sewers in 2021, along with my most watched YouTube videos.

Also check out my cute little newsletter where I share sneak peeks at what I’m working on at mattbaume.com.

Big thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris at Patreon.com/mattbaume. And to everyone who’s left a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.

That Really Felt Like Christmas Magic (Ep 367 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer/Jonathan)

December 23, 2021 Matthew Baume

I hope you’re having a delightful holiday time, full of seasonal entertainment and sweaters and good cheer. For this week’s episode, we’re heading into the archives to hear my 2016 interview with Jonathan, who grew up in a deeply religious family and always found himself swept up in the pageantry of the season. These days, he's distanced himself from the faith, but unexpectedly Christmas has become spiritual for him in a far more personal way.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a reminder to check out my YouTube channel where I post videos about queer pop culture. And head over to my Patreon to watch hours of bonus videos featuring stories of TV and film history.

Check out my cute little newsletter where I share sneak peeks at what I’m working on at mattbaume.com.

Big thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris at Patreon.com/mattbaume. And to everyone who’s left a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.

A Boy in the Country (Ep 366 - The Wizard of Oz/Tyler Dwiggins)

December 16, 2021 Matthew Baume

My guest this week is playwright Tyler Dwiggins, who grew up in an isolated, rural Indiana farm town where there wasn’t much in the way of arts — especially if someone else needed to use the school’s combination auditorium/cafeteria. That’s why today he produces the kind of stuff he was looking for back then, starting with a series of queer-inclusive plays for high schools.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a reminder to check out my YouTube channel where I post videos about queer pop culture. And head over to my Patreon to watch hours of bonus videos featuring stories of TV and film history.

Check out my cute little newsletter where I share sneak peeks at what I’m working on at mattbaume.com.

Big thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris at Patreon.com/mattbaume. And to everyone who’s left a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.

I'm Not Gay, I'm Just a Dance Major (Ep 365 - The Boys in the Band/Raymond Miller)

December 9, 2021 Matthew Baume

Twenty-one years ago this week, the show Queer as Folk made its American debut, and this week we’re diving into the Sewers archive to revisit one of the very first episodes of the podcast — my 2015 interview with Toronto performer Raymond Miller. If you were a teenager in Toronto in 2002, you saw him every afternoon hosting a local after-school TV show. He's also appeared on stage in Mamma Mia, blink on Queer as Folk, and with the Canadian Opera Company. Back when he was a TV show host, management told him he needed to get rid of his lisp. And if he couldn't on his own, they told him, they had a solution to straighten him out: hockey.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a reminder to check out my YouTube channel where I post videos about queer pop culture. And head over to my Patreon to watch hours of bonus videos featuring stories of TV and film history.

Check out my cute little newsletter where I share sneak peeks at what I’m working on at mattbaume.com.

Big thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris at Patreon.com/mattbaume. And to everyone who’s left a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.

The Boys' Secret Society (Ep 364 - Gay Newspapers/Robert Steele)

December 2, 2021 Matthew Baume

My guest this week is Robert Steele, author of a new book about a figure in the early modern gay liberation movement that you probably never heard of. Robert’s subject is Jim Foshee, a teen runaway who landed in Los Angeles in the middle of a time of incredible upheaval. He was also Robert’s good friend, and between the two of them are some incredible stories about gay life of the 1950s onward.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a reminder to check out my YouTube channel where I post videos about queer pop culture. I just published a new one about Jim Nabors, the Andy Griffith Show, and a scandalous fake marriage that nearly ended two closeted actors’ careers. And head over to my Patreon to watch hours of bonus videos featuring stories of TV and film history.

Check out my cute little newsletter where I share sneak peeks at what I’m working on at mattbaume.com.

Big thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris at Patreon.com/mattbaume. And to everyone who’s left a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen.

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.

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