<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;My guest this week is illustrator &lt;a href="https://www.ricardobessa.com/"&gt;Ricardo Bessa&lt;/a&gt;, 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.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Fifth Element, Station 11, and Dungeons & Dragons

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.


The Fire that Came with Creating (ep 562 - Fifth Element/Ricardo)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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 &lt;a href="https://dayllon.myportfolio.com/work"&gt;David Ayllon&lt;/a&gt;. 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.&amp;nbsp;&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;</description>

professional wrestling, Buffy, and Elvira

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’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. 

Making Something Special Out of Garbage (Ep 561 - Pro wrestling/David)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;My guest this week is drag comedienne &lt;a href="https://pissimyles.com/"&gt;Pissi Myles&lt;/a&gt;, 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 &lt;em&gt;Blues Clues&lt;/em&gt;. That is, until she discovered a wig and heels and her calling, which these days involves ruining showbiz classics, in a loving way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p 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 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;. &lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Birdcage, David Sedaris, and Boy George

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 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. 

Nothing About my Life Isn't Funny (Ep 560 - The Birdcage/Pissi Myles)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;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 &lt;a href="https://www.codyshipman.com"&gt;Cody Shipman&lt;/a&gt;. 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.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Check out Cody’s (not safe work work!) art here: https://www.codyshipman.com/&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Also, a quick heads up that I’m planning a European book tour this spring and summer, where I’ll be reading from my book &lt;a href="https://www.mattbaume.com/hi-honey-im-homo"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hi Honey I’m Homo!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, as well as sharing clips from classic queer sitcom episodes. Plans for that are still coming together. But if you or someone you know is connected to a bookstore, university, community group, or any other organization in Europe that would like to collaborate on a book event in May or June of 2026, please get in touch so I can try to make it happen!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Also, 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;.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Pokemon, Dragonball, and art school

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 (not safe work work!) art here: https://www.codyshipman.com/

Also, a quick heads up that I’m planning a European book tour this spring and summer, where I’ll be reading from my book Hi Honey I’m Homo!, as well as sharing clips from classic queer sitcom episodes. Plans for that are still coming together. But if you or someone you know is connected to a bookstore, university, community group, or any other organization in Europe that would like to collaborate on a book event in May or June of 2026, please get in touch so I can try to make it happen!

Also, 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.

The Cool Person I Could Be (Ep 559 - Pokemon/Cody Shipman)

<description>&lt;p data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;This week, I’m welcoming back &lt;a href="https://randy-west.ueniweb.com/"&gt;Randy West&lt;/a&gt;, who was my guest in the &lt;em&gt;Sewers of Paris&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.mattbaume.com/sewers-shownotes/2017/4/24/i-made-30-rock-my-home-ep-111-talk-shows-game-shows"&gt;way back in 2017&lt;/a&gt;. Randy is a TV industry veteran whose voice you might recognize from announcing on shows like &lt;em&gt;The Price is Right&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Supermarket Sweep&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Big Brother&lt;/em&gt;, 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.&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 heads up that I’m planning a European book tour this spring and summer, where I’ll be reading from my book &lt;a href="https://www.mattbaume.com/hi-honey-im-homo"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Hi Honey I’m Homo!&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, as well as sharing clips from classic queer sitcom episodes. Plans for that are still coming together. But if you or someone you know is connected to a bookstore, university, community group, or any other organization in Europe that would like to collaborate on a book event in May or June of 2026, please get in touch so I can try to make it happen!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true" style="white-space:pre-wrap;"&gt;Also, 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;.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

CBS Television City

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 that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I’m planning a European book tour this spring and summer, where I’ll be reading from my book Hi Honey I’m Homo!, as well as sharing clips from classic queer sitcom episodes. Plans for that are still coming together. But if you or someone you know is connected to a bookstore, university, community group, or any other organization in Europe that would like to collaborate on a book event in May or June of 2026, please get in touch so I can try to make it happen!

Also, 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.

A Love of Showbiz (Ep 558 - Television City/Randy)

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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