The Sewers of Paris

You might’ve seen that I just released a new video over on YouTube about the queer secrets of the show Bewitched, and how this bizarre sitcom from the 60s managed to be about homosexuality without ever saying so. For this week’s episode, we’re jumping into the Sewers archives for another conversation about witchcraft — it’s my 2015 interview with a Minnesota entertainer named Joe, a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence who was inspired by imaginary worlds and TV witches to conjure up magic wherever he went, whether it was on military bases or in his ice cream truck. But first, a, a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. Visit Patreon.com/mattbaume to join the folks who make the show possible and get some backer rewards. And just a reminder that I’ve got a 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 in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. The latest one is all about the secret queerness of the show Bewitched. And I hope you’ll join me for regular livestreams — I hang out every Saturday on YouTube starting at 11am pacific, and on Twitch at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 5pm pacific.

Hello, I’m Matt Baume, and welcome to the Sewers of Paris. Last week we heard from a Twitch streamer from Germany who goes by the name Jygglypuffdaddy, and this week I want to bring you a conversation with another streamer — Brian Gray, also known online as Urban Bohemian. A shy kid, Brian used to find it difficult to make friends… until he realized that his love of nerdy culture like Clue and British sci-fi were actually signposts that could help him find the friend group that he’d been looking for all his life. And by the way — Brian’s recently joined the cast of the show Rivals of Waterdeep, a D&D livestream and podcast. Check out RivalsOfWaterdeep.com to follow along with his adventures there. Also, a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And just a reminder 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 in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over atTwitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific.

Hello, I’m Matt Baume, and welcome to the Sewers of Paris. My guest this week has been on a wild adventure since high school. Andre, also known online as Jygglypuffdaddy, grew up in a small German village and found queer friends online, eventually leaving home to move in with his internet-boyfriend in Berlin the day after he graduated from high school, eventually getting married. It was a risky move that paid off — and he’s hoping that his latest venture, dropping out of grad school to become a Twitch streamer — will pay off too. We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And just a reminder that I’ve got a 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 in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams throughout the week — at a new time! I stream games and laid back chill chit-chat at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings, now at 5pm pacific. And over on YouTube, I do Saturday livestreams where we comb through old news archives, searching for weird fun artifacts. Last week we found evidence that the “in this economy” joke was invented by a lesbian in New York in 1970s. Come join me at youtube.com/mattbaume for those news archive hunts.

With Valentine’s Day coming up soon, I wanted to bring you a special episode from 2016 — a conversation with several wonderful queer folks about the romantic entertainment that changed their lives. Join me now on a candle-lit paddle through the Sewers, where we’ll bump into Louis Virtel, host of the Keep It Podcast; Edd Kimber, the first winner of Great British Bakeoff, Comedian Kevin Yee, Artist Terry Blas, and more — all talking about the book and movies and music and shows that define love.

My guest this week is Timothy Siragusa, who was very popular with about 30 lesbians in Omaha. He was part of an experimental theater scene in a small city that was at first a little, let’s say, challenging for mainstream audiences to appreciate … until one night he had a brainstorm that transformed their struggling avante garde troupe into a huge local hit. We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And just a reminder that I’ve got a cute weekly newsletter for all the stuff I’m working on. You can sign up at mattbaume.com for sneak peeks into upcoming projects, little bits of weird fun cultural artifacts I’ve uncovered, my comic book reviews, 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 at 2pm pacific. I FINALLY have emotes on my channel, it only took me two months. And of course I also host livestreams on YouTube every other Saturday — we dig through old news archives looking for queer gems. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume.

We’re trying something different this week. Perhaps you've been watching Marvel’s new TV series WandaVision, a strange, otherworldly series that debuted earlier this month with each episode so far re-creating the genre of classic old sitcoms. Episode 1 was a throwback to The Dick Van Dyke Show, Episode 2 referenced Bewitched, and last week’s Episode 3 has traces of The Brady Bunch. As someone who spends a lot of time ensconced in entertainment history, I am of course obsessed with WandaVision and its mysteries, and so last weekend I hosted a livestream conversation with another queer media lover and comic expert, the wonderful Brett White, TV critic at The Decider. He was my guest on Sewers of Paris episode 309, so you can jump back to that one if you’d like to hear more about his obsession with Charles Nelson Reilly and speedos. It was a great fun nerdy talk, and that’s what you’re about to hear on this episode. We livestreamed this conversation on my YouTube channel so we were joined by lots of great folks in the chat who shared their own observations about WandaVision and classic queer TV. Thanks to everyone who dropped by and shared their thoughts during the livestream. A quick warning that there are WandaVision spoilers in this conversation, so if you’re not caught up with Episode 3, you might want to skip this one.  And I’d love to know what you think about this episode, tweet at me @mattbaume to let me know if you like hearing conversations like this one on the show. And hey, if you’d like to join me for future streams, I’m live every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on Twitch at Twitch.tv/mattbaume, and on Saturdays on YouTube at YouTube.com/mattbaume. 

My guest this week wears a lot of hats, and occasionally frocks. Lewis Bartlett is a bee scientist, baker, and drag queen who found his way from Yorkshire, England to Athens, Georgia. A shy, nerdy kid, he found refuge in Lord of the Rings novels and Live Action Role-Playing (or LARPing) groups, but he reached a turning point where he decided to give all that up, along with years-long friendships, so that he could pursue the studies that eventually led him to become, as he says, a professional bee botherer. But as an adult the old nerdy pastimes of his youth have come back to him in unexpected ways, such as his observation that bees are the ultimate World of Warcraft players. We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And! If you’re a fan of science and drag, check out an upcoming online cabaret show featuring Lewis and many other queer scientists. Tickets are now available for Science is a Drag, a livestream to be held on Tuesday March 9, 2021. Just go to Eventbrite.com and search for Science is a Drag Volume 3. And just a reminder 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 in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. And I hope you’ll join me for a very special livestream this Saturday, January 23, with my guest Brett White — TV critic for The Decider and recent Sewers guest. We’ll be chatting about the new show WandaVision, its connection to classic old sitcoms, and the magic of queer-coded characters on shows like Bewitched. That’s on Saturday January 23 at 1pm pacific, at Youtube.com/mattbaume. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific. 

My guest this week is one of the most wholesome people on the Internet — a Twitch streamer who goes by Blizzb3ar. His goal is to create refuge from drama and competitiveness and cynicism, and for viewers to be able to relax in the comfort of good clean kind fun. It’s the sort of environment that he realized he was missing for himself, and now he’s got big goals for transforming his life in 2021. We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. And just a reminder 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 in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. I just posted a video about why San Francisco in the 1970s was one of the most exciting times in history to come out of the closet, by way of Harvey Milk and Cloris Leachman. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific. Lately I’ve been playing my way through Undertale and having a lot of feelings.

What’s the story you plan to leave behind, and what happens if that story doesn’t go according to plan? My guest this week is Sheldon Goodman, a historian who specializes in cemeteries, discovering the untold stories of people who are long gone, and excavating the memory of bygone eras — metaphorically speaking. In his work Sheldon’s discovered countless stories that were previously lost — particularly of LGBTQ people — and he’s considered nearly every aspect of how he himself wants to be remembered … every aspect, that is, but one. 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 Michael, Jake, Jeff, Marcus, Stacey, Amy, and Stefne. And just a reminder 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 in various archives, and of course links to cute animal videos. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. I just posted a video about why San Francisco in the 1970s was one of the most exciting times in history to come out of the closet, by way of Harvey Milk and Cloris Leachman. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific. Lately I’ve been playing my way through Undertale and having a lot of feelings.

Next week marks the anniversary of the original theatrical release of the film Girls Will be Girls, an otherworldly drag comedy by writer and director Richard Day. For today’s episode, we’re revisiting my 2016 interview with Richard, in which we talked about his time working on shows like Ellen, It’s Gary Shandling’s Show, and Arrested Development — and how he found inspiration from John Waters and comedians who mined comedy from the secret abnormalities of the suburbs. 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 George, Steve, Michael, Reesa, Bravo-Cube and Rory. If you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, head over to patreon.com/mattbaume to join the folks who make the show possible. 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. Also check out my YouTube videos for deep dives into queer pop culture history. I just posted a video about why San Francisco in the 1970s was one of the most exciting times in history to come out of the closet, by way of Harvey Milk and Cloris Leachman. That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume. And I hope you’ll join me for regular videogame livestreams over at Twitch.tv/mattbaume every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon at 2pm pacific.

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 Ariana Grande and gay men's choruses. And there's lots more guests and lots more special -- we've got everything to fills your hearts with festive cheer at this, the darkest time of year.  And a big thanks to everyone supporting the Sewers of Paris on Patreon. I could not make the show without all of you.

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.

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.

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.

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