<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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 &lt;a href="https://www.hughryan.org/"&gt;Hugh Ryan&lt;/a&gt; has a new book about the people who shaped that decade, entitled &lt;a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hugh-ryan/my-bad/9781645030577/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. I spoke to Hugh back in 2020, when he released his previous book &lt;a href="https://www.hughryan.org/when-brooklyn-was-queer"&gt;&lt;em&gt;When Brooklyn was Queer&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. 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.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Fantasy novels & queer history

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.


The Sewers of Paris

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

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;You might’ve seen that I have a new video up on YouTube this week — it’s about&lt;a href="https://youtu.be/m4F2ozwvybw"&gt; the long hard fight for marriage equality, and how some Hollywood icons got involved in the cause&lt;/a&gt;. 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 &lt;a href="https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social"&gt;Chris Geidner&lt;/a&gt;. 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 &lt;em&gt;Phantom of the Opera&lt;/em&gt;. 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.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Phantom of the Opera and the US Supreme Court

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.

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

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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 &lt;a href="https://www.joephillips.com"&gt;Joe Philips&lt;/a&gt;. 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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick reminder that I host weekly livestreams every Sunday &lt;a href="http://twitch.tv/mattbaume"&gt;on Twitch&lt;/a&gt;, and I hope you’ll join me for those. Plus — check out my book &lt;a href="http://gaysitcoms.com"&gt;Hi Honey, I’m Homo!&lt;/a&gt; at &lt;a href="http://gaysitcoms.com"&gt;GaySitcoms.com&lt;/a&gt;; subscribe to my email newsletter at &lt;a href="http://mattbaume.com"&gt;MattBaume.com&lt;/a&gt;, and if you’re enjoying The Sewers of Paris, &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;support the show on Patreon&lt;/a&gt; at &lt;a href="http://patreon.com/mattbaume"&gt;Patreon.com/mattbaume&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Also, if you’re in Seattle, I’m hosting &lt;a href="https://www.elliottbaybook.com/events/5654320260622"&gt;a live talk about coming-out scenes&lt;/a&gt; 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.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Green Acres, The Wiz, and Superboy jockstraps

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.

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

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;For this week’s episode, we have two guests: Andrew Klaus-Vineyard and Daniel Talbott are the directors of a new documentary short called &lt;a href="https://www.welcometotoolshed.com/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Welcome to Tool Shed&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, which opens to the door to an iconic leather bar in Palm Springs. They’re just back from showing the film at Cannes, and it’ll be popping up at film festivals around the world in the coming months. Daniel and Andrew are longtime collaborators, first with daring theater projects, then with queer horror, and now with a documentary about how a generation that never expected to be senior citizens, and what they have to teach us about not just enduring difficult times, but thriving.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Gregg Araki, Larry Kramer, and Beautiful Thing

For this week’s episode, we have two guests: Andrew Klaus-Vineyard and Daniel Talbott are the directors of a new documentary short called Welcome to Tool Shed, which opens to the door to an iconic leather bar in Palm Springs. They’re just back from showing the film at Cannes, and it’ll be popping up at film festivals around the world in the coming months. Daniel and Andrew are longtime collaborators, first with daring theater projects, then with queer horror, and now with a documentary about how a generation that never expected to be senior citizens, and what they have to teach us about not just enduring difficult times, but thriving.

Permission to Make Queer Art (Ep 569 - Gregg Araki films/Daniel & Andrew)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;&lt;br&gt;We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads-up that Sewers of Paris episodes will take a pause for the month of May — but you can come see me live, because I’ll be on a book and speaking tour all month long. Come see me in Stockholm; Vienna; Utrecht; and Heidelberg, Germany. &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://mattbaume.com/events"&gt;Details and dates here! &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

murder mysteries, Buffy, and reality TV

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 Sewers of Paris episodes will take a pause for the month of May — but you can come see me live, because I’ll be on a book and speaking tour all month long. Come see me in Stockholm; Vienna; Utrecht; and Heidelberg, Germany. Details and dates at mattbaume.com

We Went Through the Ringer (Ep 568 - murder mysteries/Caleb)

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?

The Sewers of Paris

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