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.

The Sewers of Paris Holiday Special Special

Hello and welcome to the Sewers of Paris Holiday Special Special! In the spirit of the season, we’re diving back into the Sewers archives for my 2017 conversations with numerous past guests about their very favorite seasonal entertainment. We'll have an appreciation of Batman Returns from writer Anthony Oliveira, author of Lord of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling among many other works. There's a tribute to Snow Miser from Glen Weldon of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Performance artist Johnnie Jungleguts will explain why Eyes Wide Shut is his favorite Christmas movie. Videomaker & Dungeon Master Carlos Maza will bring us tidings of Arianna Grande and gay men's choruses. And there's lots more guests and lots more special -- we've got everything to fill your hearts with festive cheer at this, the darkest time of year. 

Fandom Acts of Kindness (Ep 412 - Kaela Joseph and Tanya Cook)

We’re doing something a little different on this week’s episode — we’ve got TWO guests. Kaela Joseph and Tanya Cook are the authors of the new book Fandom Acts of Kindness, which is about how fandoms can change the world, from Star Trek to Xena Warrior Princess to Supernatural and Our Flag Means Death. Kaela and Tanya have spent years within various nerdy communities, where they’ve seen how fans can use their love of all things geeky to make the world a better place. 

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out next year about queer sitcoms! 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.

Hiding out in a Theater (Ep 411 - JP & me/Phantom of the Opera & Harriet the Spy)

This week my guest is J.P. Der Boghossian, and I’m also his guest. JP’s the host of the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life, where he talks to queer folks about their favorite books. And we’re doing a sort of podcast exchange — for the first half of the episode I’ll interview him about the entertainment that impacted him the most, and then he’ll turn things around and interview me about one of my favorite books. Let me know what you think of this little experiment! And check out his podcast at ThisQueerBook.com.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out next year about queer sitcoms! 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.

Wanting to Be Him and to Date Him (Ep 410 - Noah/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

This week’s guest is Noah Adams, a researcher investigating the experiences of people who are trans and autistic. Noah’s understanding of himself began with cartoons in childhood, with characters that drew his interest in ways that he wouldn’t fully understand until years later.

By the way, in our conversation, Noah mentions a fundraiser that he’s doing to help queer people relocate to safety — here’s the link for that if you’d like to chip in.

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