Horny is a Response (Ep 579 - Batman & Robin/Jack)

August 20, 2026 Matthew Baume

My guest this week is writer and historian Jack Shoulder. You might know him from his daily social media posts focusing on butts from across art history, or for his upcoming book Museum Hotties… which is about exactly what it sounds like. As a kid, Jack’s interest in classical sculpture was inspired, in part, by the muscular contours of superhero costumes… and much of his work today is an exploration of how that’s an interest shared by many folks over thousands of years. And sometimes, that means fighting against conservative forces in the art world who don’t want to admit just how queer art has always been.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video coming this weekend about a Broadway director responsible for bringing tons of queer characters to must-see-TV in the 90s. To catch that new video, make sure you’re subscribed at https://YouTube.com/mattbaume. Also I hope you’ll join me for weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch. Check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! at GaySitcoms.com; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com, and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/mattbaume.

Nasty Pig is Poetry (Ep 578 - Pink Floyd/David Lauterstein)

August 13, 2026 Matthew Baume

My guest this week is David Lauterstein, the founder and CEO of Nasty Pig. You probably know his company for their sexy fetish-infused street wear, so you might not expect that David’s background is in writing poetry. But the closer you look at his approach to designing clothing, the more it makes sense — using fabric to build a scene like a writer uses words. David recently published a memoir called Sodomy Gods, chronicling the early days of his company and how its origins lie in a surprisingly wholesome love story.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video coming soon about a Broadway director responsible for bringing tons of queer characters to must-see-TV in the 90s. To catch that new video, make sure you’re subscribed at https://YouTube.com/mattbaume. Also I hope you’ll join me for weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch. Check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! at GaySitcoms.com; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com, and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/mattbaume.

Southern Decadence (Ep 577 - James Baldwin/Jonathan)

August 8, 2026 Matthew Baume

This week marks the birthday of the author and activist James Baldwin, and to mark the occasion we’re heading into the Sewers archives for a conversation that touches on the expansiveness of Baldwin’s writing. In 2022, I spoke with a guest named Jonathan about how literature helped him discover a larger world — which led to a lifetime of eye-opening experiences, from a brief marriage to a woman to enduring the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

The Harlot's Progress (Ep 576 - Iain/composing opera)

July 29, 2026 Matthew Baume

My guest on The Sewers of Paris this week is Iain Bell, who made a career out of his personal passion for music. But he took a winding road to get there ... and could never have predicted that a job as a personal trainer would be a crucial step towards premiering an opera in Vienna.

I Owe My Life to Mariah (Ep 575 - Mariah Carey/Bisi)

July 23, 2026 Matthew Baume

My guest this week grew up in challenging circumstances — a gay kid in Nigeria with a religious family, Bisi couldn’t imagine anywhere on Earth he might belong. Especially after he came out on national television, and had to apply for asylum to escape his increasingly dire living situation. It took a lot of work to get himself to a much happier place — along with the support of his friends, and inspiration from music that helped keep him going.

And just a heads-up: This episode touches on some sensitive themes, including suicide, survival sex work, and abuse.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick reminder that I have a new video up on YouTube about the long, messy fight for marriage equality, check that out at https://YouTube.com/mattbaume. Join me for weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch. Check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! at GaySitcoms.com; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com, and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/mattbaume.

A Great Excuse for Touching (Ep 574 - Interrupting TV shows/Murray Edelman)

July 18, 2026 Matthew Baume

A few months ago, I came across an incredible video. It’s the early 70s, and a local Chicago talk show is interviewing a doctor who wrote a sex education book that millions of people across the country were reading … unaware that it was full of wildly incorrect and frankly homophobic claims about homosexuals. The interview is going smoothly until suddenly a man jumps up from the studio audience and does what nobody else had dared — he confronts the doctor about his misinformation and demands he explain himself. That man in the audience was Murray Edelman, and I’m very excited to say that he’s my guest this week on The Sewers of Paris.

Here’s the video — jump to 9:25 to see Murray’s interruption: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChFM8kAjhw

A quick reminder that I have a new video up on YouTube about the long, messy fight for marriage equality, check that out at https://YouTube.com/mattbaume. Join me for weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch. Check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! at GaySitcoms.com; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com, and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/mattbaume.

We've Decided Trauma is Funny (Ep 573 - Improv/Mano)

July 9, 2026 Matthew Baume

My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris is writer/comedian Mano Agapion, whose work you may know from his appearances on Hacks and Bajillion Dollar Properties, his writing on the new Punky Brewster, or from his podcasts We Love Trash and Drag Her. Mano developed his sense of humor alongside the weirdest comedies he could find, growing up in an immigrant household, and for a long time thought that he had to keep his gay life and his comedy life separated. Until he figured out that being gay is, itself, very funny.

Sewers of Paris: Magic Horses & Middle School (Ep. 572 - Fantasy novels/Hugh Ryan)

July 2, 2026 Matthew Baume

When you compare what queer life was like at the end of the 80s to the start of the 2000s, the differences are so shocking it’s hard to believe that those years are only separated by a single decade. The author and historian Hugh Ryan has a new book about the people who shaped that decade, entitled My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond. I spoke to Hugh back in 2020, when he released his previous book When Brooklyn was Queer. We spoke about his love for pulpy sci-fi novels that filled his middle school days with magic horses; and about how he became a mild mannered academic by day and rowdy party monster by night. And after a series of adventures, including one in which he moved into another person’s life, Hugh found a calling in queer history.

My Second Life (Ep 571 - Phantom of the Opera/Chris Geidner)

June 25, 2026 Matthew Baume

You might’ve seen that I have a new video up on YouTube this week — it’s about the long hard fight for marriage equality, and how some Hollywood icons got involved in the cause. The battle for the freedom to marry has been very much on my mind lately, so I wanted to revisit an interview from 2022 with Chris Geidner. You may know Chris for his day job, reporting and writing on some of the most pressing legal issues of the day — including his expert attention to all matters Supreme Court. But he’s just as passionate about musical theater, going all the way back to the time he was enthralled by Phantom of the Opera. In fact, it was one little twist of fate that led him to a legal career instead of a life in the theater — but, as he discovered, the two careers aren’t as different as one might think.

Don't Make Superman TOO Sexy (Ep 570 - Superhero comics/Joe)

June 12, 2026 Matthew Baume

Next week sees the release of a new Supergirl movie, so for this week’s Sewers of Paris we’re diving into the archives to revisit my 2020 interview with artist Joe Philips. Joe’s illustrations of handsome, happy gay men were some of the first glimpses I got of gay life, back in the 90s when I was a teenager exploring the Internet. I remember finding his art both sexy and wholesome, showing scantily-clad young men in romantic scenes. It wasn’t until a few years later that I learned about his work on mainstream superhero comics … and his more erotic artwork. Joe’s portfolio spans a wide variety of settings and themes, not unlike his childhood, which spanned rural farms and big cities, with influences that include classic TV, Broadway musicals, church, and his grandmother: A practicing witch.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick reminder that I host weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch, and I hope you’ll join me for those. Plus — check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! at GaySitcoms.com; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com, and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com/mattbaume.

Also, if you’re in Seattle, I’m hosting a live talk about coming-out scenes this Monday, June 22! It’s at Elliott Bay Books on Capitol Hill, and tickets are free. More info on my website at mattbaume.com/events.

About The Sewers of Paris

The Sewers of Paris is a podcast about how queer lives are shaped by our favorite books, movies, music, and shows. Each week, guests open up about their secret struggles, hidden passions, and surprising triumphs by plucking a piece of entertainment from their past and answering the question: What’s the entertainment that changed your life?

About Defining Marriage

Each week on Defining Marriage, hosts Matt Baume and James Morris chat about what's happening with marriage equality, featuring frequent digressions into pop culture, silly banter, and the jokes and quibbles that have kept them together as a couple for over a decade.

The first eighteen episodes of the podcast contain the complete audiobook version of the book Defining Marriage, which traces the decades-long evolution of marriage through the personal stories of those who lived through it, featuring personal insights from the lives of Evan Wolfson, Dan Savage, Ken Mehlman, Dustin Lance Black, and many more.

About Matt's So-Cast Pod

Revisit the iconic '90s drama My So-Called Life, one episode at a time. Every week, host Matt Baume & his guests delve into the teen angst, the grown-up turmoil, and the endless flannel of the 90s -- and examine the show's impact on television and our lives.

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