My guest this week is Caleb Roehrig, author of young adult mysteries and the occasional romance. Caleb had always wanted to be an author, but life intervened and he found himself living in LA, working as a producer on reality TV shows. He didn’t realize it at the time, but that work was a training ground for storytelling. Though he still might not have figured it out until an economic crisis forced him to try something new. We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads-up that Sewer...
Apr 30, 2026•57 min•Ep. 568
The world just celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday — born in late April, a scant four hundred and sixty two years ago, which makes him almost as old as this podcast. Over the years we’ve had many guests on The Sewers of Paris for whom Shakespeare’s work was an inspiration, and this week we’ll hear my 2021 with Jeffrey Masters — then the host of the acclaimed podcast LGBTQ&A , and now a senior producer at The New Yorker Radio Hour . Jeffrey launched his career in interviews and storytelling wit...
Apr 23, 2026•51 min•Ep. 567
My guest this week on The Sewers of Paris is Jes Battis , who’s just written an appreciation and analysis of the movie Labyrinth entitled It’s Only Forever . Labyrinth turns 40 this year, which marks 40 years of Jes’ particular fascination with the goblin characters — and wondering why he’s always felt so eager to descend into their weird scrungly world. Fortunately, writing a book about it provided some clues....
Apr 17, 2026•45 min•Ep. 566
To mark the recent re-re-re-rebooting of The Muppet Show , this week we’re heading into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2020 interview with Dan Steadman. Dan grew up in a household that was so religious, his parents forbade him from watching certain episodes of The Muppet Show , due to a guest appearance by Alice Cooper. His upbringing in a sheltered religious community found him placed in a lot of unusual circumstances, including a reboot of his entire identity when his family swapped lives w...
Apr 10, 2026•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 565
A few weeks ago I came across an online video from a comic convention featuring a phalanx of comic book figures — life-size statues, painted to look like they’d walked off the pages of a comic book. Their creator is Greg Maraio , an actor and artist in Boston who fills his time between shows with this unique project that’s turned into an artistic calling … though for many years, it seemed like it was bringing him to financial ruin. We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick reminder th...
Apr 02, 2026•53 min•Ep. 564
The day this episode comes out, March 26 2026, is the 115th birthday of renowned playwright Tennessee Williams. And to mark the occasion, we’re heading into the Sewers archives to hear my 2020 interview with writer William V. Madison, whose career was inspired in part by a moving experience in college involving a Streetcar Named Desire . That brought William to a series of adventurous jobs, from working on Broadway shows to producing the news alongside Dan Rather, singing to Angela Lansbury, ear...
Mar 26, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 563
My guest this week is illustrator Ricardo Bessa , whose beautiful art features lush colorful fantasy settings and characters on fabulous adventures, often very queer. Ricardo knew he was a fish out of water in the town where he grew up, and planned to move to London to find others like him … and that worked, at first, but he didn’t count on running into burnout that nearly ended his career.
Mar 20, 2026•58 min•Ep. 562
On last week’s episode we heard from drag comedienne Pissi Myles, and this week we’ll hear from Pissi’s husband, photographer and creative director David Ayllon . David’s specialty is weird colorful visions that lean heavily on the spooky, the queer, and the poppiest of pop art — a career that he thought he’d blown after one particularly disastrous interview and a years-long search for something that seemed, for a long time, impossible: A job that pays the bills and is creatively fulfilling. We’...
Mar 12, 2026•45 min•Ep. 561
My guest this week is drag comedienne Pissi Myles , who always knew she needed to be on stage but wasn’t always sure where she fit in… thanks to a music theater education that left her feeling like she couldn’t measure up to her classmates, and comparing herself to the host of Blues Clues . That is, until she discovered a wig and heels and her calling, which these days involves ruining showbiz classics, in a loving way. We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick reminder that I host we...
Mar 06, 2026•53 min•Ep. 560
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Pokémon, and to celebrate we’re diving into the Sewers archives to hear my 2019 chat with Cody Shipman . Cody’s a graphic designer and artist here in Seattle whose work is very beautiful, very gay, and very explicit. For a long time, he felt hesitant about blending his gay interests and his nerdy interests together. But it was when he finally merged them that he found inspiration for some of his most rewarding work to date. Check out Cody’s ...
Feb 26, 2026•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 559
This week, I’m welcoming back Randy West , who was my guest in the Sewers of Paris way back in 2017 . Randy is a TV industry veteran whose voice you might recognize from announcing on shows like The Price is Right , Supermarket Sweep , Big Brother , and countless others. From his decades behind a microphone, Randy’s been present for the creation of a lot of iconic TV shows, and these days he’s helping to preserve that past at one of the most important production studios in the world. We’ll have ...
Feb 19, 2026•56 min•Ep. 558
My guest this week is Steven Salvatore , author of young adult romances like And They Lived… , No Perfect Places , and When Love Gives You Lemons . Steven’s plan, when he was younger, was to be an artist… until a cruel art teacher crushed his dreams. But that set the stage for him to discover a passion for writing, and for exploring stories about young queer people in love. We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I’m planning a European book tour this spring and summer...
Feb 12, 2026•42 min•Ep. 557
My guest this week is game developer Tim Cain, who’s shown us what the end of the world looks like. Back in the mid-90s, Tim was working with a small team on a post-apocalyptic game with a 1950s aesthetic — a weird mix of styles that Tim was worried would bomb so hard he expected his next job would be serving fast food. But … that game was Fallout, which became a massive phenomenon, with multiple sequels and a TV series based on the game that just wrapped its second season. One of the recurring ...
Feb 05, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 556
My guest this week is Massachusetts State Senator Julian Cyr , whose district includes Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket — a situation he never expected to find himself in. As a teenager, Julian was mainly focused on singing, and planned to pursue a career in the humanities. But when budget cuts threatened local arts programs, he organized people to speak up, and discovered he had a knack for leadership that eventually brought him to a specialized program at NYU, the Obama White House, ...
Jan 29, 2026•39 min•Ep. 555
My guest this week is queer artist and illustrator Cheyne Gallarde , whose style blends drag icons with classic comic book covers. Cheyne first discovered drag in queer bars of Hawaii, and after a memorable night getting pulled up onstage, he started translating the magic that he saw in the community into literal super powers. 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; also check out m...
Jan 22, 2026•41 min•Ep. 554
Congratulations to actor-writer-comedian Joel Kim Booster, who got married last month to his partner John. You might know Joel as the writer and star of the movie Fire Island , or as a voice actor in KPop Demon Hunters , or from shows like Big Mouth , Search Party , and Loot . But before all that, Joel was a guest on The Sewers of Paris , way back in 2017, when we talked about his childhood, his coming out, and a period when he was homeless. To celebrate his wedding, we’re taking a trip back to ...
Jan 15, 2026•51 min•Ep. 553
You may know this week’s guest from his online persona, The Black Gay Comic Geek — an identity that grew out of his Buffy fandom, which was so intense that for a time he was an administrator of a Buffy role-playing community where he was a magic shop owner and queen of the vengeance demons. These days, Michael flies around the country covering pop culture, always looking for his great passions: Blood, sex, gore, and magic. Check out Michael’s work at https://linktr.ee/blackgaycomicgeek We’ll hav...
Jan 08, 2026•40 min•Ep. 552
My guest this week is author Jumata Emill , whose new novel is entitled I Don’t Wish You Well . It’s about a true-crime writer who uncovers a queer coverup in his hometown — based in part on Jumata’s prior work as a real-life crime reporter, before he made the jump to fiction. We’ll have that interview in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new video out about the making of the Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme holiday special. Check that out at youtube.com/mattbaume . And please join m...
Jan 02, 2026•32 min•Ep. 551
I can think of few better ways to spend the holidays than seeing some live queer theater, whether it’s Golden Girls Live, a sing-along to Mame, or shows with some of my local Seattle drag legends like Dina Martina and Scott Shoemaker . And one of the most iconic holiday duos to emerge from the Emerald City is Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme . Every year they create a new holiday show and tour it around the world, and you might recall that when theaters were closed in 2020 they taped a holiday spe...
Dec 25, 2025•28 min•Ep. 550
My guest this week is Steven Milliken, author of a book of autobiographical essays entitled Late Bloomer Baby Boomer . Steven was a class clown who grew up to become a teacher in some fairly rough schools, and had to move in and out of the closet over the years as he navigated sensitive careers alongside alcoholism and sobriety We’ll have that interview in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new video coming this weekend about the making of the Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme holiday ...
Dec 18, 2025•53 min•Ep. 549
My guest this week had his big screen debut alongside Adam Baldwin and Matt Dillon in 1980; made a career getting gays online with PlanetOut in the 90s; and today work for TED Talks, bringing together who are doing, as he describes it, some of the weirdest work in he world. Tom Rielly’s had a lot of jobs, and one of the constants has been figuring out new ways to bring audiences along for an unpredictable ride. We’ll have that conversation in a moment. First, a quick heads up that I have a new Y...
Dec 11, 2025•56 min•Ep. 548
For this week’s Sewers of Paris , I’m chatting with four Oz superfans about their intense connections to films like The Wizard of Oz , books like Return to Oz , and adaptations like Wicked . These conversations are all part of my new video about Oz and queer culture that just went live on YouTube — check that out at YouTube.com/mattbaume . In this episode, you’ll hear from writer and artist Terry Blas about his childhood traveling between Idaho and Mexico, which felt very similar to Dorothy’s jo...
Dec 04, 2025•2 hr•Ep. 547
To mark the recent release of the second Wicked film, for this week’s episode we’re revisiting my 2020 interview with Dee Michel , author of the book Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love the Wizard of Oz . Dee’s book is an in-depth examination of queer Oz fandom, which for him has its roots in happy memories of watching the movie with his dad. Dee grew up in the 1950s with the threat of the red scare looming over his family — his parents met at a Communist Party meeting, and there w...
Nov 27, 2025•56 min•Ep. 546
I am delighted to welcome back a friend of the Sewers , film critic and holiday aficionado, Linoleum Knife ’s Alonso Duralde . His book, Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas , is now out in a revised and updated edition, gathering even more expert recommendations for holiday films to enjoy this season and year-round. We chatted about how Christmas movies have changed since he wrote the first edition of his book, fifteen years ago, and what the future of holiday films might be. And also why he’...
Nov 20, 2025•41 min
The second of the Wicked films comes out later this month, and so for this week’s episode we’re jumping into the Sewers archives to hear my 2017 chat with Tony winner Stephen Oremus, who was the music director for Wicked on Broadway and conducted the orchestras for the two Wicked films. He was also music director for the Academy Awards, taught Idina Menzel how to sing “Let it Go,” and worked on everything from Book of Mormon to Avenue Q to 9 to 5. Not bad for a kid who started his musical career...
Nov 13, 2025•52 min•Ep. 544
My guest this week is Trung Le Nguyen , author of the new graphic novel Angelica and the Bear Prince . Trung’s books emerge from his lifelong love of fairy tales, some of them quite dark, and also his fascination with people figuring out how to take care of each other. We’ll have that conversation in just a minute. First, a quick heads up that I have a new YouTube video out about Frankenstein and the gay director who brought the monster to life, James Whale . That’s at youtube.com/mattbaume . An...
Nov 06, 2025•46 min•Ep. 543
My guest this week has been giving a lot of thought lately to what he was born to do. Wellington Love is one of the producers of the new documentary I Was Born This Way , which tells the story of Archbishop Carl Bean. That might not be a household name, but you’re certainly familiar with his work and the people he’s influenced — from his pioneering activism around HIV/AIDS, and also his musical career and the disco anthem that inspired Lady Gaga’s Born this Way . We’ll have that conversation in ...
Oct 30, 2025•38 min•Ep. 542
My guest this week is Jim Farmer , festival director of Atlanta’s Out on Film fest. Jim’s a longtime arts reporter in Atlanta, though he got his start in journalism doing just-the-facts newsgathering — a beat that bored him to tears, until he decided to take the reins and create his own career doing what he loved. We’ll have that conversation in just a minute. First, a reminder that for the entire month of October I’m hosting livestreams of films by and about James Whale, the iconic director beh...
Oct 16, 2025•39 min•Ep. 541
Now that we’re in October already, it’s a fine time to reflect on the uncanny grasp that horror has in the hearts of so many queer people. So for this week’s episode, we’re heading into the Sewers archives for a chat with director Jeffrey Schwarz, for whom horror is just one small slice of the story. Jeffrey’s made a lifelong study of film, starting with an early job editing the documentary The Celluloid Closet , right up to today with documentaries about people like Divine, Vito Russo, and horr...
Oct 09, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 540
My guest this week is writer Mark Waddell. His novel, Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World , comes out next week on October 7 — a queer story about an office worker whose career advancement involves world-ending consequences. There’s an autobiographical edge to the story, since in his real life Mark had a dream job going back to childhood… and it was only after he achieved it that he realized just how harmful his dreams were, and decided to leave it all behind to become a writer. We’ll have t...
Oct 02, 2025•44 min•Ep. 539
