We’re in the midst of Eurovision right now, the extravagant celebration of over-the-top music and outrageous costumes and, every now and then, taste. Eurovision is a great big ball of fun, and it was the subject of the very first episode of The Sewers of Paris. This week, we’re revisiting my 2015 interview with Jānis, who on this very show was the first person to introduce me to the joy of Eurovision, along with the German version of American Idol, gay-adjacent Hitchcock movies, and hard-core camp.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a weekly newsletter where I write stories about queer pop culture and also link to cute animal videos — subscribe to that at mattbaume.com. Also take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history — I’ve got a video coming this weekend about how Will & Grace premiered at what might’ve been the worst possible time, and how the creators overcame the Ellen curse. 

Also, big thanks to everyone who supports The Sewers of Paris on Patreon! Patrons get hours of exclusive videos about super queer pop culture history, stickers and stuff in the mail, and shoutouts in the credits of YouTube videos.

My guest this week is Alejandro Varela, who was a mostly-closeted college student when he left the US for a semester in Spain. There he was able to start fresh, come out, and explore queer culture — with a little inspiration from filmmaker Pedro Almodovar — and to come back to the US a completely changed person.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. And take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history — I just posted a video about the show Dynasty. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos about super queer pop culture — lately I’ve been posting behind-the-scenes looks at the making of Will & Grace.

My guest this week is Oliver Darkshire. As a young adult, he found himself drifting away from his friends, due in part to what turned out to be an undiagnosed illness that made it hard for him to participate in day-to-day activities. It was a fantasy novel that turned things around for him — a book that took an approach to sex that had never occurred to Oliver to seek out.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. And take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history — I just posted a video about the show Dynasty. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos about super queer pop culture — lately I’ve been posting behind-the-scenes looks at the making of Will & Grace.

My guest this week is Harold Slazer, an actor-writer-director whose life was changed in an instant after a car crash and ensuing memory problems that left him unable to remember people, places, and his own work. He rebuilt his life and created a popular live show in New York called The Honeysuckles — a comedic hybrid of live soap opera and comedy cabaret — which nearly made its may into millions of American homes when it was adapted into a TV show at Fox. But there were a lot of obstacles to getting such a daring project on the air, which is why one of Harold’s memories from those days was hiding in a closet in full drag so Rupert Murdoch wouldn’t find him.

Watch The Honeysuckles pilot here: https://youtu.be/zTGq-4tn1BI

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. And take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history — I just posted a video about the show Dynasty. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos about super queer pop culture.

This week sees the release of Love and War, a new comic book set in the competitive world of varsity tug-of-war and featuring a lovely upbeat queer romance. The author, Andrew Wheeler, was my guest on The Sewers of Paris back in 2018, and for this week’s interview we’re diving into the Sewers archives to revisit our conversation about awakening untapped courage with defiantly gay comic characters. Though his stories are swashbuckling, Andrew tends to live a more quiet and domestic life than his globetrotting heroes. But it was through his books that he was able to explore beyond the town where he grew up -- in literature and eventually in real life.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. And take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history — I just posted a video about the show Dynasty. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos about super queer pop culture.

My guest this week is the performer, author, and academic known as Lil Miss Hot Mess, who was fortunate enough to grow up with a proto-queer friend group that paved the way for a professional drag career. Over the years, what began as a hobby for Lil Miss Hot Mess gradually morphed into a method for grabbing attention at protests, a full-time job that included an SNL performance with Katy Perry, and then a PhD and academic study into the very nature of drag itself — and now most recently a picture book for kids.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. And take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history — I’ve got a video coming this weekend about the show Dynasty. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos.

This month marks the 30 year anniversary of the American debut of Sailor Moon, and to celebrate we’re diving back into the Sewers of Paris archives to hear my 2018 chat with author Ryan La Salla. When we last spoke, Ryan was about to publish his first novel — Reverie, a queer adult fantasy. Since then, he’s written a second book, Be Dazzled; and his third, The Honeys, comes out this summer. Ryan’s been an imaginative creator his entire life, but as you’ll hear, he didn’t always use his powers for good.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. And take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos.

My guest this week is producer Xavier D’Leau, who always knew that he needed, somehow, to make television shows that tell the stories of black queer lives. That wasn’t going to be easy, considering he went to school for social work, but he was determined — by day he helped people in crisis, and at night he and his friends worked on their own creative projects. That all came to a head one day when he found out he was about to be evicted, and made a tough choice about which career path he wanted to follow.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter — this week I have a story about the movie Twilight and its connection to squids.

Also take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos — I just posted one about the late-70s fiasco Supertrain, a show that nearly caused NBC to go bankrupt.

My guest this week left his old life behind to chase dreams of freedom with the love of his life. Buck Jones was working a corporate job with a homophobic boss when he and his then-boyfriend, now-husband sold their home and moved overseas to open a little cafe in Paris. It was the culmination of a lot of childhood dreams, informed by Buck’s love of classic mid-century sitcoms — but it was also the start of a lot of work, and a gigantic culture shock.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter — this week I have a story about the movie Twilight and its connection to squids.

Also take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history. I just posted a video about the conflict over the sitcom Soap that engulfed America in the summer of 1977. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos, including an interview with Marsha Posner Williams, producer of The Golden Girls and Soap and many other shows.

My guest this week is New York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice, whose new book Sapphire Sunset is a passionate, steamy gay romance. Christopher didn’t think he’d grow up to be a writer, despite coming from a literary family — both his parents are authors, his mother most famously for Interview with the Vampire among many other works, but Christopher was an adult when he discovered that writing fiction gave him the opportunity to tell the stories that he wanted to read — stories informed by his childhood love of chaos and camp.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. Also don’t forget to head over to mattbaume.com to subscribe to my newsletter. 

Also take a look at my YouTube channel for videos about film and TV history. I just posted a video about the conflict over the sitcom Soap that engulfed America in the summer of 1977. And head over to my Patreon to support The Sewers of Paris and watch hours of bonus videos. I just posted an extended interview with Marsha Posner Williams, producer of The Golden Girls and Soap and many other shows.