Behind the Orange Curtain (Ep. 252 - The Real World/Brian Moreno)

Where do you find the nerve to stand up for yourself? My guest this week is Brian Moreno, who discovered a big wide world of gay culture in his conservative town. By day he was a shy nerd, by night a nightlife photographer documenting wild queer parties — at one point helping to throw a gathering that, to his shock, drew twelve hundred guests. These days he’s set that life aside, but he still uses the confidence he found at those parties to remind himself that he’s capable of so much more than he thought.

And I hope you’ll join me for a laid back livestream chit-chat on Saturday September 21 at 10am pacific! I’ll be hanging out on YouTube to talk with you about the book and movies and music and shows that you’re loving right now. Come share your recommendations, get tips from others, and spend some time basking in a friendly livestream.

And a big thanks to everyone who makes the Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of support on Patreon! Head over to SewersOfParis.com and click “support the show on Patreon” to join the folks who make the podcast possible, and to check out the backer rewards.

Also! I’m heading to Chicago in October with my comedy storytelling show Queens of Adventure, featuring drag queens playing Dungeons & Dragons. We’re doing two live shows at Hamburger Mary’s Attic — the first on October 9th with local Chicago queens Lucy Stoole, Fox E. Kim, and Joe Lewis; and the second on October 16th with Seattle legends Arson Nicki, Butylene O’Kipple, and Fraya Love. Tickets are now on sale at QueensOfAdventure.com.

Dad at the Gay Bar (Ep 251 - Fame/Pete Rush)

Where do you pick up the skills to design the life of your dreams? My guest this week is artist and theatrical designer Pete Rush, who fell in love with drama at an early age and thought he’d be a New York actor until he realized he had an aptitude for stage design. So he crossed over from creating characters on-stage to crafting the world around them. And in the process, he learned how to craft a daring world of art and adventure around himself… often with as little clothing as possible.

Check out Pete on Instagram here. 

Thanks to everyone supporting The Sewers of Paris on Patreon. Click "support the show on patreon” to check out the rewards for backers. Thanks also to everyone who’s reviewed The Sewers of Paris on your podcast platform of choice. Please reach out and let me know what you think of the show on Twitter and Facebook, or at sewerspodcast@gmail.com.

I hope you’ll join me for a laid back livestream chit-chat on Saturday September 21 at 10am pacific! I’ll be hanging out on YouTube to talk with you about the book and movies and music and shows that you’re loving right now. Come share your recommendations, get tips from others, and spend some time basking in a friendly livestream.

Also we are coming up on the end of our Kickstarter campaign for the podcast Queens of Adventure, a comedy storytelling show where Drag Queens play Dungeons & Dragons. We’re raising money to record a dozen hours of new adventures with local drag artists and D&D shows in the midwest, and you can get some gorgeous gay rewards if you back the kickstarter. The campaign ends on Saturday September 14.

Trust it & Thrust it (Ep. 250 - Showgirls & Ellen/Patrick Bristow)

We’re nearing the anniversary of the release of one of my favorite films ever made, Showgirls, which came out on September 22, 1995. So this week we’re heading into the Sewers of Paris vault for a listen back to my 2015 conversation with one of the actors in that movie, Patrick Bristow. He played the terrifying choreographer who hollers THRUST IT at Elizabeth Berkeley. He also played the wigmaster on Seinfeld, Larry David’s dance teacher on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the bubbly Peter on Ellen. He shared some fascinating behind the scenes stories about the making of all those movies and shows, as well as his own revelations about learning to set aside the need to fit in.

And hey, if you’re going to be in Seattle on September 27, I hope you’ll join me for a screening of a new documentary about Showgirls entitled You Don’t Nomi. I appear in the doc as an expert on Showgirls — which I can hardly believe myself — and I’ll be present at the screening to introduce it and answer questions. It’s happening at Northwest Film Forum on September 27.

Also, a quick heads-up that I’ll be doing a very special livestream this Saturday, September 7. A team of drag artists is going to put me into drag, live on camera. Join me along with Arson Nicki, Fraya Love, and Londyn Bradshaw to catch a glimpse of a side of me that nobody, including me, has ever seen. Check the pinned tweet at twitter.com/sewersofparis for a link to the video, and to set a reminder for when we go live. 

And just a reminder that right now we’re running a Kickstarter campaign for Queens of Adventure, a comedy storytelling podcast where Drag Queens play Dungeons & Dragons. We’re raising money to record a dozen hours of new adventures with local drag artists and D&D shows in the midwest, and you can get some gorgeous gay rewards if you back the show. The campaign ends on September 14.

The Family I Always Wanted (Ep. 248 - The Sims/Christopher Smith Bryant)

Human interaction is challenging even under the best of circumstances, and for years this week’s guest was resigned to just always having difficulty understanding other people. Comedian Christopher Smith Bryant picked up techniques for socializing from interactive entertainment like video games, and later from improv classes. His adult life has been a series of unexpected discoveries, from the realization that he actually shouldn’t be a minister to a recent diagnosis that’s helped him understand what it means to be on the autism spectrum.

Find Chris online: Instagram and Twitter and LA Gayming Society

I also want to let you know about new project I’ve just announced. You’ve probably me talk about my show Queens of Adventure, a comedy storytelling podcast where Drag Queens play Dungeons & Dragons. Well, for the first time ever we’re taking our cast on the road, bringing them to Chicago to record a dozen hours of new adventures with local drag artists and D&D shows in the midwest. There’s a Kickstarter underway to make the trip possible, and if you pledge now you can get some gorgeous nerdy-gay enamel pins, bonus episodes, and even guest on an episode of the show. Head over to QueensOfAdventure.com and click the banner at the top for all the details on our ongoing Kickstarter. The campaign ends on September 14.

Gay Men's Catnip (Ep. 247 - The Wizard of Oz/Josh Trujillo)

Hello, and welcome to the Sewers of Paris! This week is the 80th anniversary of the premiere of The Wizard of Oz, and to commemorate that, we're diving into the Sewers of Paris archives. The very first interview I recorded for the show was with Josh Trujillo, a writer then based in LA and now living in New York. The Wizard of Oz played a major role in his life -- as a kid, he was obsessed with film, and later discovered that Oz conventions (yes, there really is such a thing) served as a sort of meeting-place for older closeted gay men.

With the movie hitting 80s years old this week, it's a fine time to look back at the impact that it's had on culture -- particularly the culture of we people known in certain circles as friends of Dorothy.

We'll have that conversation in a moment. First a heads-up about some upcoming live events I'll be hosting! This coming Sunday, August 18th, we're doing a livestream of Queens of Adventure -- a comedy storytelling show where drag queens play Dungeons & Dragons. I hope you'll join us at 4pm Pacific at youtube.com/queensofadventure to see me and our party of drag artists journey into the unknown! That's this Sunday, August 18, at 4pm pacific.

And if you're going to be in Seattle, we're doing two live shows later this month. The first is on Wednesday, August 28 at Kremwerk -- tickets to that are now on sale at QueensOfAdventure.com. And the second show is going to a panel as part of PAX West -- so if you have PAX badge, join us on Sunday September 1st at 8pm in the Sasquatch theater.

Details on all those shows is at QueensOfAdventure.com.

I Was a Regional Rockstar (Ep. 246 - Hellraiser/Old Witch)

Picture the creepiest, most sinister decaying swamp hag you can imagine, and that’s my guest this week — the Seattle drag queen who goes by the name of Old Witch. She’s the product of a delightful shy nerd who grew up in a tiny Montana town and who struggled to find housing before finding her footing as a rock star, a champion of literacy, an adoptive parent, and a pillar of the community in the Pacific Northwest. 

Also, a reminder that I host twice-monthly livestreams where I chat with listeners like you about the book and movies and music and shows that are bringing you joy right now. The next one is on August 10, and there's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

Gay-Porn Summer Camp (Ep. 245 - Star Wars/Jasun Mark)

You never know how your dreams might manifest. My guest this week is Jasun Mark, who dreamed of being a filmmaker as a kid. After some time in a tiny farming town and performing in a successful Canadian pop band, he got an opportunity to pursue that childhood dream in a particularly exciting niche — as a director of dozens of porn films, a line of work that he both enjoys and also allows him to pursue his own personal passion projects.

Also, a reminder that I host twice-monthly livestreams where I chat with listeners like you about the book and movies and music and shows that are bringing you joy right now. The next one is on August 3, and there's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.


Something from Another Planet - (Ep. 244 - David Bowie/Orlando Ortega Medina)

My guest this week is musician-turned-novelist Orlando Ortega Medina. Growing up in the music scene in and around Los Angeles, he was never really in the closet — or at least, he didn’t think of himself as closeted, until he realized that his own parents didn’t fully understand that he was married to a man. Explaining to his mother that she had a son in law wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it changed everything for his relationship with his parents. And he processed the experience in the way he knew best — by turning it into a novel.

Also, a reminder that I host twice-monthly livestreams where I chat with listeners like you about the book and movies and music and shows that are bringing you joy right now. The next one is on August 3, and there's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

Big thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of support on Patreon -- head over to SewersOfParis.com and click "Support the show on Patreon" to check out the rewards for backers.

And for more queer podcasting, check out the show Queens of Adventure, a comedy storytelling show featuring drag queens on an epic Dungeons and Dragons quest! That's at QueensOfAdventure.com. Visit queensofadventure.com or follow @dungeondrag on twitter.

The Lost Art of Cruising (Ep. 243 - Donahue/David Quantic)

For years, David Quantic’s only connection with queer community was cruising the bathrooms at the local mall, slipping away from his parents while the family shopped to meet up with men in stalls. But gradually, he found windows to a more expansive view of what the gay world could be, watching afternoon talk shows and eventually running away to Texas and then New York to capture queer life through a camera lens. It’s probably no surprise that these days his lens is turned towards sex, telling the story of queer community through our physical connections.

Also, a reminder that I host twice-monthly livestreams where I chat with listeners like you about the book and movies and music and shows that are bringing you joy right now. The next one is on July 20 at 9am pacific, and there's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

Big thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of support on Patreon -- head over to SewersOfParis.com and click "Support the show on Patreon" to check out the rewards for backers.

And for more queer podcasting, check out the show Queens of Adventure, a comedy storytelling show featuring drag queens on an epic Dungeons and Dragons quest! Visit QueensOfAdventure.com or follow @dungeondrag on twitter.

I Couldn't Get Close Enough to the Screen (Ep. 242 - The Simpsons/Matt Fisher)

My guest this week is caught between two extremes — the smart reference comedy of The Simpsons and the brutality of dramatic films about lives crumbling to pieces. Matt Fisher is the co-host of the podcast Ex-Rated movies, where he and his co-host and ex-boyfriend Ryan chat about films. Ryan was my guest on episode  235 back in May, and we talked a lot about how he finds joy in exuberant dance. In contrast, Matt’s drawn to darker stories, exploring pain through cathartic release.

Also, a reminder that I host twice-monthly livestreams where I chat with listeners like you about the book and movies and music and shows that are bringing you joy right now. The next one is on July 20 at 9am pacific, and there's a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

Big thanks to everyone who makes The Sewers of Paris possible with a pledge of support on Patreon -- head over to SewersOfParis.com and click "Support the show on Patreon" to check out the rewards for backers.

And for more queer podcasting, check out the show Queens of Adventure, featuring drag queens on an epic Dungeons and Dragons quest! That's at QueensOfAdventure.com. Visit queensofadventure.com or follow @dungeondrag on twitter.