You might recognize the voice of this week’s Sewers of Paris guest — Tony Rodriguez [https://www.instagram.com/thetonyrodrig/?hl=en] plays Julio on The Simpsons, a role originated by Hank Azaria. This part didn’t come to Tony in the way you might expect. It was a combination of talent, training, taking some very bold initiative, and an intercession from the podcast Gayest Episode Ever [https://www.gayestepisodeever.com/]. As you can imagine, being cast on The Simpsons was the opportunity of a lifetime … and it was fitting, since Tony’s initial inspiration to become an actor came from another, much earlier Hank Azaria role.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/mattbaume] about Dolly Parton’s connection to the gay community — including in ways you might not have heard about before. Also I hope you’ll join me for weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch [http://twitch.tv/mattbaume] — lately we’ve been watching and talking about the film 9 to 5. Check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! [http://gaysitcoms.com] at GaySitcoms.com [http://gaysitcoms.com]; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com [http://mattbaume.com], and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon [http://patreon.com/mattbaume] at Patreon.com/mattbaume [http://patreon.com/mattbaume].

I Came Out with the Latinos (Ep 380 - The Birdcage/Tony Rodriguez)

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.

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

My guest this week on The Sewers of Paris 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 [https://store.nastypig.com/products/sodomy-gods-book?srsltid=AfmBOoryjAskwJzPeDdOHlG8Z76iZk_ERHArJRBIwSrwzDn77HKH3Pt7], chronicling the early days of his company and how its origins lie in a surprisingly wholesome love story.

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

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.

Southern Decadence (Ep 577 - James Baldwin/Jonathan)

My guest on The Sewers of Paris this week is Iain Bell [https://www.iainbellmusic.com/], 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.

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

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.

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

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 [https://www.youtube.com/mattbaume], check that out at https://YouTube.com/mattbaume [https://youtube.com/mattbaume]. Join me for weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch [http://twitch.tv/mattbaume]. Check out my book Hi Honey, I’m Homo! [http://gaysitcoms.com] at GaySitcoms.com [http://gaysitcoms.com]; subscribe to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com [http://mattbaume.com], and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, support the show on Patreon [http://patreon.com/mattbaume] at Patreon.com/mattbaume [http://patreon.com/mattbaume]. 

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

My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris is writer/comedian Mano Agapion [https://www.instagram.com/manoagapion/?hl=en], 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 [https://www.patreon.com/cw/welovetrash] and Drag Her [https://headgum.com/drag-her-a-rupauls-drag-race-podcast]. 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.

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

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 [https://www.hughryan.org/] has a new book about the people who shaped that decade, entitled My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond [https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hugh-ryan/my-bad/9781645030577/]. I spoke to Hugh back in 2020, when he released his previous book When Brooklyn was Queer [https://www.hughryan.org/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.

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

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 [https://youtu.be/m4F2ozwvybw]. 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 [https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social]. 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.

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

Matt Baume (@mattbaume) · Zencastr

Matt Baume (@mattbaume)

Revealing stories about the books, movies, tv, music and more that have changed the lives of gay men. Each week, a guest plucks a piece of entertainment from their past, and answers the question: how did it change your life?