The Best of The Sewers of Paris: A Drag Race Spectacular!

Starting this week, I’m doing something special for Pride. Throughout the month of June, I’m going to bring you the very best of the last nine years of Sewers of Paris interviews — excerpts from some of my very favorite conversations. We’re starting this week with a roundup of some of the fabulous Drag Race performers that have stopped by the show, starting with BenDeLaCreme, continuing on the Peppermint, then Jaymes Mansfield, Alaska, and then paying tribute to Chi Chi DeVayne.

 I’ll have more best-ofs next week — for that episode, themed around musicals of stage and screen.

And if you’d like to hear the full interviews, check out these episodes:

And for some more BenDeLaCreme, check out Matt’s So-Cast Pod Episode 1.

Bright Colors, Zany Action (Ep 470 - Skeletor/JP Karliak)

You may have most recently heard this week’s guest on X-Men 97, where he plays the character morph — but you’ve also heard him as the voice of the Green Goblin, the Joker, Boss Baby, Archie, Wile E. Coyote, and so many more I’ve lost count. I spoke with JP Karliak back in 2020 about his career as a voice actor for video games and animation. And for this week’s episode, we’re celebrating season 1 of his X-Men role by revisiting that interview about the animated villains who inspired him as a kid.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my other projects. This weekend I’ve got a new YouTube video premiering about the movie Cabaret — you can join us for a livestream and premiere at youtube.com/mattbaume starting at 11am pacific.

Or you might want to check out my new podcast where we dive into the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, one episode at a time — it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts, just search for Matt’s So-Cast Pod.

And check out my Twitch livestreams, videos, my book, my newsletter, and more at MattBaume.com.

Dangerous Book of Secrets (Ep 469 - Lord of the Rings/Jared)

My guest this week is Jared Pechaček, author of the forthcoming fantasy-horror novel The West Passage. Jared’s work is heavily informed by his homeschooling and his upbringing in the Pentecostal church — influences that found their way into his writing without him realizing it. When he finally did understand just how much his fiction revealed about him, it was like finding clues that his brain had been dropping for years. Clues that helped point him in the direction of understanding his past, and coming to terms with it.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my other projects. For example, my weekly livestreams on Twitch. 

Or you might want to check out my new podcast where we dive into the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, one episode at a time — it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts, just search for Matt’s So-Cast Pod.

And check out my videos, my book, my newsletter, and more at MattBaume.com.

Don't Ask Me Out Again Until You've Written Chapter Two (Ep 468 - Steven Rowley/Tootsie)

Photo by Afonso Salcedo

The writer Steven Rowley is known for numerous novels: Lily and the Octopus; The Celebrants; The Editor; and The Guncle, which is about a gay man who finds his hands full when he takes in a niece and nephew he never expected to raise. Not only did that novel win the Thurber Prize — it’s now the first installment in a series, with his latest novel, A Guncle Abroad, coming out on May 21, 2024. For this week’s episode, I’m diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2016 interview with Steven. At that point, his debut novel Lily and the Octopus had just hit shelves. We spoke about how he’d spent a large chunk of his career disguising himself, writing rom-com scripts about heterosexual relationships. But there came a point when he decided to stop de-gaying his stories — and little did he know then just how much success that choice would bring him.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my other projects. For example, my weekly livestreams on Twitch. This weekend we’ll be continuing our watch-along for the musical episode of The Love Boat.

Or you might want to check out my new podcast where we dive into the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, one episode at a time — it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts, just search for Matt’s So-Cast Pod.

And check out my videos, my book, my newsletter, and more at MattBaume.com.

There Was a Rage (Ep 467 - Star Wars/Karl Dunn)

My guest this week is writer, activist, and former gold trader Karl Dunn, whose new book How to Burn a Rainbow (available for pre-order on Amazon) is a memoir of how he pieced his life back together after a chaotic divorce. Karl’s journey from wedded bliss through a nightmare of legal battles and losing his livelihood and then ultimately finding inner peace sounds like a Hollywood narrative — which isn’t surprising, given that he worked for a time as a screenwriter, drawing on inspiration from wildly different sources from epic sci-fi novels to angry hip-hop to confrontational queer activism. 

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my other projects. For example, my weekly livestreams on Twitch — this weekend we’ll be starting a two-part watch-party of the movie Cabaret. 

Or you might want to check out my new podcast where we dive into the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, one episode at a time — it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts, just search for Matt’s So-Cast Pod.

And check out my videos, my book, my newsletter, and more at MattBaume.com.

Lucy Would Not Take This Down (Ep 466 Lucille Ball/Eli McCann)

My guest this week is Eli McCann, a lawyer, a humor columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune, and a devotee of Lucille Ball since the age of six. That made him an easy kid to shop for, and by the time he was a teen he’d amassed a treasure trove of Lucy memorabilia … which nearly led to a crisis when he caught wind of his classmates’ plan to ambush him at home and reveal what had been, until then, a mostly private obsession.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my new podcast where we dive into the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, one episode at a time. It’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts — just search for Matt’s So-Cast Pod.

And you may also like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my email newsletter. You can get all that and more at MattBaume.com.

Living a Superhero Lifestyle (Ep 465 - Scooby Doo/Tim Fish)

My guest this week is writer and artist Tim Fish. I first came across his work in the book Liebestrasse, written by Greg Lockard and illustrated by Tim. It’s the story of two men connecting in Berlin in the leadup to World War II, and it’s typical of Tim’s interests — personal, emotional, and thoughtful. Tim’s always been interested in comics, but for many years it was something of a secret identity for him — a passion that he thought was just a hobby, until he turned thirty and realized he wanted to walk away from his day job and become a full time artist. To make that work, he had a rich vein of inspiration to draw from, starting with Hanna Barbera cartoons.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder if that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life. The podcast is called Matt’s So-Cast Pod, and it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

And you may also like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my email newsletter. You can get all that and more at MattBaume.com.

Gay Male Student #1 (Ep 464 - Carol Burnett/Justin Root)

Next week, comedy legend Carol Burnett turns 91 years old, and in honor of her amazing career and life, for this week’s episode of the Sewers of Paris podcast we’re diving into the archives to revisit my 2018 chat with Carol superfan Justin Root. Justin’s entry to showbiz was kind of a cliché: a pretty young face who arrives in LA with no plan other than getting famous in movies. And yet, within a few days of moving from Ohio to Hollywood, Justin found himself in front of movie cameras. It didn't take long for the entertainment industry to discover Justin, but it took another decade -- and some terrified cruising in the local video store -- for Justin to find himself.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder if that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life. This week’s episode features the wonderful Guy Branum, talking about his experience writing for television and why he’s a superfan of actress Bess Armstrong. The podcast is called Matt’s So-Cast Pod, and it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

And you may also like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my email newsletter. You can get all that and more at MattBaume.com.

I Love F***-Ups (Ep 463 - Another World/Rasheed Newson)

My guest this week is author Rasheed Newson, a TV writer who got his start on the show Lie to Me and has gone on to write for The 100, Narcos, Bel Air, and more. Last year his debut novel, My Government Means to Kill Me, made a big splash — it’s the story of a young gay black man who moves to New York during the HIV epidemic. And although Rasheed didn’t experience that world first-hand, he discovered during his writing process that in a strange way, he’d been preparing himself to tell that story for years without ever realizing it.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder if that if you like The Sewers of Paris, you’ll probably also enjoy my new podcast about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life. This week’s episode features the delightful Anthony Oliveira, who appeared on The Sewers of Paris just a few weeks ago. We talked all about My So-Called Life episode 3, in which we learn a lot more about the gay teen named Rickie — and we also talked about Anthony’s own experience as a semi-closeted teen in Catholic school, and how his secret boyfriend wasn’t quite as secret as he thought. The podcast is called Matt’s So-Cast Pod, and it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

And you may also like my YouTube videos for a queer look at movie and television history, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my email newsletter. You can get all that and more at MattBaume.com.

Loners & Misfits (Ep 462 - Silence of the Lambs/Monty Wolfe)

My guest this week is director Monty Wolfe, whose queer romcom Exploding Boy is now available on streaming. Monty’s path to filmmaking took a lot of swerves over the decades — starting with a teacher who saw the potential in a young teenager, and maybe something a little queer. That was followed by some less helpful guidance from other adults in his life, a job at a news station that he landed by accident, a decision to completely upend his life and move across the country in part to get as far as possible from a homophobic coworker, and a boyfriend who believed in Monty’s dreams and pushed him to go after them.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder if that If you like this podcast, you might enjoy my new show about the 90s TV series My So-Called Life. The podcast is called Matt’s So-Cast Pod, it features a bunch of fabulous guests, and it’s available now wherever you listen to podcasts.

And you may also like my YouTube videos about movies and TV shows, my weekly livestreams on Twitch, my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo!, and my email newsletter. You can get all that and more at MattBaume.com.