Tough on the Outside, Nice on the Inside (Ep 422 - Pokémon/José)

On the last episode of Sewers of Paris, we heard from Max Miller, host of the YouTube series Tasting History the book of the same name. This week, we’re revisiting my 2020 conversation Max’s partner José, who as a kid was a shy gay nerd before he grew up to be … also a shy gay nerd. But one who helped launch Disney Plus, who now cohosts a YouTube series of his own, created a life for himself he could never have imagined when he was young.

Also: A quick reminder that I’ve got a book of my own about to come out — Hi Honey, I’m Homo — and I’ll be hosting live readings this month in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and we’re about to add Los Angeles to the itinerary.

All of Your Passions Together (Ep 421 - Max Miller/Tasting History)

This week, we’re diving into the Sewers of Paris archives to revisit my 2020 interview with Max Miller. He’s the creator of the Tasting History YouTube channel, and author of the new book Tasting History, which comes out this week. In Max’s video series, he shares historical recipes and intriguing stories about the origin of the foods that humans have eaten throughout history, and his book expands on that work. It was inspired, in part, by Max’s appreciation for The Great British Bakeoff, and at first he didn’t intend for his videos to be anything other than a fun hobby to entertain family and friends — which is why nobody was more surprised than him when it took off, making unexpected use of his background in musical theater and his time swinging from the rafters of a cruise ship.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book of my own about to come out in May — tracing the history of queer characters on American sitcoms and entitled Hi Honey, I’m Homo. I’ll be hosting live book readings around the country to celebrate launch! So far we have New York, Chicago, and Seattle on the calendar, and we’re about to add Portland. Plus there’s more on the way. Check out the details at gaysitcoms.com, or subscribe to my weekly newsletter for all the latest at mattbaume.com.

Comrades and Bedfellows (Ep 420 - Walt Whitman/Andrew)

My guest this week is Andrew Rimby, host of the Ivory Tower Boiler Room podcast. Andrew’s career as an entertainer began at an early age as a stage performer, but then he took an unexpected swerve into academia, and he’s spent the last decade pursuing a PhD, exploring the work of Victorian poets and in particular the homoerotics of Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde. 

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out this May — Hi Honey, I’m Homo, now available for pre-order at gaysitcoms.com. And we’ve just announced a bunch of in-person events I’ll be hosting around the country to celebrate the book launch! So far we have New York, Chicago, and Seattle on the calendar with more on the way. Check out the details at gaysitcoms.com.

And! I popped by Andrew’s podcast to talk about my work, activism, and queer liberation. Check that out here.

Enemies to Lovers (Ep 419 - Christopher Rice/Gay romance novels)

Author Christopher Rice is known for a lot of things, from his thrillers to his podcast to collaborations with his mother Anne Rice to his more recent foray into novels about gay romance. I spoke to him last year about his book Sapphire Sunset, and now he has a new book in that series coming out. It’s entitled Sapphire Storm, and it’s about two men who start as bitter enemies before they realize that there’s an irresistible force pulling them closer together.

I caught up with Christopher for an update to our previous conversation, and we spoke about his writing process and why gay romance matters. Because of his busy schedule, this conversation’s a little shorter than the usual Sewers of Paris interviews. But chatting with Christopher is always a delight — and if you want more, after this episode you can jump back to our conversation last year in episode 378.

Also, a quick update on my upcoming book about the history of queer characters on sitcoms, Hi Honey I’m Homo: we’ve announced some live in-person events, with more on the way! Head over to GaySitcoms.com to see if I’m coming to your town for a reading and book signing — so far we have events confirmed for New York, Chicago, and Seattle, with additional ones in the works.

Where the Action Was (Ep 418 - Harvey Brownstone/Making Love)

My guest this week is Harvey Brownstone, who in 1995 became Canada’s first openly gay judge. Focusing his career on family law, Harvey helped shine a spotlight on Canada as a destination for same-sex couples to wed before it was legal in the US. But before all that, he was a young gay kid who’d been thrown out of the house, struggling through school, living on welfare, and searching for others like him.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First just want to let you know that we’re gearing up for the release of my book, Hi Honey I’m Homo, on May 23rd. It’s all about the history of queer characters on sitcoms, and you can pre-order now at gaysitcoms.com. As the book release approaches, there may be a few gaps in the podcast release schedule — but I’m hoping to keep those to a minimum. Thanks for your patience, thanks to everyone who’s pre-ordered already!

Excited and Scared (Ep 417 - Ari Shapiro/Stephen Sondheim)

If you happen to be in Toronto this weekend, you may want to find your way down to Massey Hall on Saturday night for a one-night-only performance called Och and Oy!, starring actor Alan Cumming and NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro. Their collaborative show is a mix of cabaret and storytelling, and to mark its debut, I’m diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2018 conversation with Ari Shapiro, who was then as now one of the hosts of NPR’s flagship show All Things Considered. As a journalist, Ari primarily tells other people's stories, but his own story is considerably is more winding than you might expect -- behind his calm voice is a man who spent time as an undocumented immigrant, who carried mace for protection in high school, and who might never have found his place on the radio if a gay icon hadn't intervened on his behalf.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out this May about the history of queer characters on sitcoms, from Bewitched to The Golden Girls to Friends. It’s called Hi Honey, I’m Homo. Pre-orders are open — and those pre-orders are so important, so if you’ve been meaning to get one in, now’s the time! Head over to gaysitcoms.com to reserve your copy. 

And if you like pop culture history, check out my YouTube channel for tales from behind the scenes of iconic movies and TV shows! I just posted a video about the movie The Birdcage and its long winding journey to the screen, and I’ve got another coming soon about a gay couple that transformed the way television depicted queer people in the 1970s — and the psychiatrist who tried to stop them. Check those videos out at YouTube.com/mattbaume.

Punks Versus Hippies (Ep 416 - David/FM Radio)

This week we’re concluding my conversation with filmmaker David Weissman (We Were Here, The Cockettes, Conversations With My Elders) with part 3 of our talk. Previously we talked about his background in hippie enclaves of Los Angeles in the 1960s, and then moving to San Francisco. We ended our last conversation on a pause, since it was moving in a direction David wasn’t prepared to talk about — and so this week we’re resuming with an explanation of why.

It Was Completely Weird (Ep 415 - David/Grateful Dead)

This week we’re picking up my previous conversation with filmmaker David Weissman, who started off in hippie enclaves of Los Angeles in the 1960s before moving up to San Francisco for the particularly adventurous 70s. In this part of our chat, we touch on SF’s counterculture scene, the music and nightlife, and also the political upheaval that soon followed.

Just as we were starting to talk about the 1980s … our connection momentarily dropped out. And when we picked up, David asked to pause the interview, because it was going in a direction that he wanted to reconsider. So you’re about to hear our conversation up to about that point, and then I’ll pop back in to explain what happened next.

West Coast 60s Psychedelic Culture (Ep 414 - David/Jimi Hendrix)

My guest this week is documentary filmmaker David Weissman (The Cockettes, We Were Here), who was in exactly the right place at the right time to have a front-row seat to one of the most revolutionary periods in American culture. In fact, he wasn’t just an observer of the Venice Beach LSD scene in the 60s, or of San Francisco’s chaotic drag cauldron in the 70s — he was an active participant, exploring and enjoying an explosion of music, live performance, and a rejection of institutions that once seemed unassailable. My conversation with David delves deep into what it was like to bounce around beach communities, music festivals, and underground theater in California during that time … and he has so many great stories and memories to share that we’re going to be breaking our conversation into multiple parts, with the first coming this week. I hope you’ll find David’s perspective as fascinating as I did.

We’ll have the first half of that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out this May about the history of queer characters on sitcoms, from Bewitched to The Golden Girls to Friends, and how the real-life story of queer liberation is told over decades of television comedy. It’s called Hi Honey, I’m Homo, and pre-orders are open — head over to gaysitcoms.com to get all the details. 

And if you like pop culture history, check out my YouTube channel for tales from behind the scenes of iconic movies and TV shows — I just posted a new video about Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Rope, which featured a gay couple as the main characters all the way back in 1948 — unbeknownst to censors, of course. Also unbeknownst were the details of a real life gay love affair going on behind the scenes between the movie’s writer and its star. Check that out at YouTube.com/mattbaume.

And a big thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon! Head over to SewersOfParis.com to support the show, and listen to over 400 past episodes.

Never Saying No to Anything (Ep 413 - Andrew/Monty Python)

My guest this week is Andrew Farrier, a New Orleans tour guide and podcaster who began his career in a small Louisiana town, giving tours of haunted houses as a kid. A child of hippies, Andrew was given wide latitude to explore creative pursuits, and it wasn’t long before he found himself in New Orleans, testing the boundaries of performance and exploring surprising histories — from early gay inhabitants to a close friend’s long-hidden connection to voodoo.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out next year about the history of queer characters on sitcoms, from Bewitched to The Golden Girls to Friends, and how the real-life story of queer liberation is told over decades of television comedy. It’s called Hi Honey, I’m Homo, and pre-orders are open — head over to gaysitcoms.com to get all the details.

And a big thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon! Head over to SewersOfParis.com to support the show, and listen to over 400 past episodes.