The Queer Merman of London (Ep. 315 - The Little Mermaid/Sacha Coward)

There are incredible secret stories hidden all around us if you just know where to look, and today’s guest knows where to look. Sacha Coward is a historian, escape room designer, and mermaid hunter in London who’s always had a passion for stories of myths and monsters. And as a museum professional, he now gets to explore those stories, discover new ones, and share them with the world.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including recent new members Halcyon, AJ, Drew, and Katriona. I couldn’t make the show without you.

And hey I want to let you know that I’ve started a new weekly newsletter for all the stuff I’m working on. You can sign up at mattbaume.com — each week I give you a little sneak peek into upcoming projects, little bits of weird fun cultural artifacts I’ve uncovered, and of course links to cute animal videos.

And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for games and fun friendly chit chat. I do creative games on Mondays, weird games on Wednesdays, and furry games on Fridays. 

Also check out my YouTube videos for dozens of deep dives into queer moments on TV and film that changed the world. 

Sewers of Paris: Being Gay Was my Ticket Out (Ep 314 - Reruns/Taylor)

You may think you love reruns, but this week’s guest lives them. Taylor grew in literally the most geographically isolated town in the lower 48 states, where his only connection to the outside world was syndicated TV. Fortunately, he had a ticket out, and found a way to create an entire career around investigating, studying, and teaching others about the magic of old TV shows.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including recent new members Tony, JaL, Patrick, and FunkyDiva. I couldn’t make the show without you.

And hey I want to let you know that I’ve started a new weekly mailing list. You can sign up at mattbaume.com — each week I give you a little sneak peek on what I’m working on, what’s coming up, little bits of weird fun cultural ephemera I’ve uncovered, and of course links to cute animal videos.

Also I hope you’ll join me for regular livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for games and fun friendly chit chat. And check out my YouTube videos for dozens of deep dives into queer moments on TV and film that changed the world.

A Telemundo Reaction (Ep. 313 - Santa Claus Conquers the Martians)

Happy December holidaytime, listeners, I hope you’re able to celebrate and relax and revel and enjoy what has always been a weird time of year, now that we’re in the weirdest year of our lives. For this week’s episode, I wanted to bring you one of my favorite Christmas-themed episodes from the Sewers of Paris archives — a conversation with Jose Gonzales, who found an unexpected connection with his distant father through, of all things, the Arnold Schwarzenegger Christmas movie Jingle All the Way.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone in my Patreon community — including recent new members, Funky Dive, Patrick, Dillon, Michael, Kaeleigh, Barry, Ari, and Marcus. I couldn’t make the show without you.

And hey I want to let you know that I’ve started a new weekly mailing list. You can sign up at mattbaume.com — each week I give you a little sneak peek on what I’m working on, what’s coming up, little bits of weird fun cultural ephemera I’ve uncovered, and of course links to cute animal videos.

Also check out my YouTube videos for dozens of deep dives into queer moments on TV and film that changed the world. 

And I hope you’ll join me for regular livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for games and fun friendly chit chat.

Sewers of Paris: Deranged but Thought-Out (Ep 312 - Frank DeCaro/The Munsters)

I’m so excited to bring you this week’s guest — the wonderful Frank DeCaro, writer, performer, pop culture encyclopedia. Frank was a role model for me back in the 90s when I would watch him on The Daily Show, and it was an absolute joy to geek out about pop culture with him and hear his disbelief that a weird little kid from Jersey got to grow up to have as many bonkers adventures as he has.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including recent new members, Sinn Sage, Duffee, Bryan, and Fairy Onion Rings.

And if you’re like hearing about queer entertainment, check out my YouTube videos for dozens of deep dives into queer moments on TV and film that changed the world. I just posted a new video about hilarious old holiday commercials that prey on heterosexual insecurities, and how commercials for queer folks are surprisingly different.

Also, if you’d like to hang out, join me for regular livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for games and fun friendly chit chat.

All of Your Passions Together (Ep 311 - Max Miller/Tasting History)

Last week we heard from Great British Bakeoff’s Edd Kimber, and this week I’m so excited to bring you another guest whose life was touched by the show. Max Miller is the creator and host of the fantastic YouTube series Tasting History, where each week he shares a historical recipe as well as an intriguing story about the surprising origin of some food we still eat today — and occasionally have never even heard of. The series was inspired in part by historical segments that appeared on early seasons of Bakeoff, and Max never intended for it to be anything other than a fun hobby to entertain family and friends — which is why nobody was more surprised than he when it took off and shot him to YouTube fame, drawing unexpectedly on his background in musical theater and his time swinging from the rafters of a ship while playing Peter Pan.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including this week’s newest members, Ilana, Jason, and William! Visit Patreon.com/mattbaume to check out the rewards for backers.

And if you’re like hearing about queer entertainment, check out my YouTube videos for dozens of deep dives into queer moments on TV and film that changed the world. I just posted a new video about the first married gay couple on TV way back in the 1970s — and as always, Patreon backers get early ad-free access to watch.

Also, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to start regular livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume — join me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon for games and fun friendly chit chat. I’m also hosting a special Thanksgiving stream next Thursday, November 26th at 2pm pacific, and I hope you’ll pop by for that.

The Nicest Debt Collector Around (Ep. 310 - Great British Bake Off)

We’re getting close to Thanksgiving, and what better way to celebrate that than with good food, feeling of thanks, and a guest who does not actually observe the holiday at all. This week we’re diving into the Sewers of Paris archives for my 2016 conversation with Great British Bakeoff Winner Edd Kimber, who found his life forever changed when he won the first season of the cooking competition. Edd was a shy, unhappy banker when his cakes, cookies, and pies catapulted him to national fame, a life-changing time in his life for which he remains eternally thankful. 

We’ll have that in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including this week’s newest members, Sam, Bruce, and Rowan. If you’re enjoying the podcast, head over to SewersOfParis.com and click “support the show on patreon” to join the folks who make the show possible, and check out rewards for backers like gifts in the mail, patron-exclusive podcast episodes, and more.

And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream. There’s a link at the top of the Sewers of Paris twitter feed.

And if you like hearing about queer entertainment, check out my YouTube videos for dozens of deep dives into the LGBTQ moments on TV and film that changed the world. I just posted a brand new video about the first married gay couple on TV way back in the 1970s and why nobody remembers them. There’s a link in the description.

Finally Dialed Up to Ten (Ep 309 - Brett White/Charles Nelson Reilly)

What does it take for you to feel comfortable truly letting loose and being yourself? For my guest this week, it took some flamboyant game show guests, improv class, and more speedos than he knew what to do with. Brett White is a pop culture critic at Decider and biographer of unjustly forgotten queer TV stars. He was inspired by giddy flamboyant 70s figures like Charles Nelson Reilly to become a professional TV-gay… but he wasn’t expecting that inspiration to extend to swimwear in his personal life.

We’ll have that in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including this week’s newest members, Trevor and Frank. If you’re enjoying the podcast, head over to SewersOfParis.com and click “support the show on Patreon” to join the folks who make the show possible, and check out rewards for backers like gifts in the mail, patron-exclusive podcast episodes, and more.

And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on November 7 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 like hearing about queer entertainment, check out my YouTube series Culture Cruise for dozens of deep dives into the LGBTQ moments on TV and film that changed the world.

If You Love Wonder Woman, You're Gay (Ep 308 - Wonder Woman/Raul Pacheco-Vega)

What unexpected superhero powers might you possess? My guest this week was inspired by Wonder Woman to become one of the world’s foremost experts on wastewater — and yes, I promise, it’ll all make sense once you hear it. Raul Pacheco-Vega has been obsessed with women superheros his whole life, an obsession his parents indulged by enrolling him in martial arts classes, perhaps knowing that their young gay kid might need to defend himself at some point. But heroism came in an unlikely form, lending his keen engineer’s mind to solve problems once thought unsolvable.

We’ll have that in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including this week’s newest members, Alfred, Karolin, and Happyninja42. Head over to SewersOfParis.com and click “support the show on Patreon” to join the folks who make the show possible, and check out rewards like exclusive video messages from me, a care package in the mail with Sewers of Paris buttons, and more.

And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on November 7 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 like hearing about queer entertainment, check out my youtube series Culture Cruise for dozens of deep dives into the LGBTQ moments on TV and film that changed the world.

You Can't Make Us Feel Ashamed (Ep. 307 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show/Matt Hintzen)

As we stumble along through spooky season, I want to dive into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2015 episode about The Rocky Horror Picture Show. My guest back then was Matthew Hintzen, a programmer who found Rocky Horror in its early days, the late 70s, when he was a closeted kid on the verge of running away from home to live on the streets. He found that the rebellious community developing around this weird new horror-musical was exactly what he needed back then — but he also found that there’s a dangerous downside to becoming emotion’s slave.

Also -- a quick thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon — including this month’s newest members, Sabrina, Chris and Seth. Head over to SewersOfParis.com and click “support the show on patreon” to join the folks who make the show possible.

And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on October 24 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 like hearing about queer entertainment, check out my YouTube series Culture Cruise on YouTube for dozens of deep dives into the LGBTQ moments on TV and film that changed the world.

An Adult Candy Store (Ep 306 - Janet Jackson/Peppermint)

The Sewers of Paris is independent, ad-free, and listener supported. Head over to Patreon.com/mattbaume to join the folks who make the show possible, and to check out the rewards for backers.

My guest this week is the legendary performer Peppermint, star of stage and screen, from Drag Race to Pose to Broadway. Her new album “A Girl Like Me” comes out this week, featuring autobiographical songs about a turbulent relationship, along with a steamy music video called Best Sex. And she’s got some livestreams and fundraisers and election events in the works as well — a very busy lady.

We’ll have that in a minute. 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.

And I hope you’ll join me for our next fun friendly livestream on October 24 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 — I just posted a video about the 90s show Dinosaurs, and its unlikely link to a real-life gay Transylvanian dinosaur hunter from the 1800s.