The Sewers of Paris

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.

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 with a family in Brazil. A career in showbiz took him to Los Angeles, where he worked alongside big-time celebrities and also faced a crisis — the more comfortable he was living as an openly gay man, the more he realized that he’d have to cut ties with some of the homophobic celebrities he worked with.

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 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 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, earning a nickname from Fidel Castro, and writing a biography of Madeline Kahn.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 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!

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 themes of Fallout is people stepping out of bomb shelters and discovering there’s more to life than self-isolation. Something Tim had to force himself to do when he decided it was time to emerge from the closet. Watch Tim's YouTube videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CainOnGames And check out his chocolate blog: https://chocolateihaveknown.wordpress.com/ Also, a quick reminder that I host weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch, and I hope you’ll join me for those — lately we’ve been watching the film Strangers on a Train and comparing it to the screenplay and Hitchcock’s original, even gayer cut of the film. 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.

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, and now to the last place on Earth he ever thought he’d go — the place where he grew up. 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 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.

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 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.

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 that conversation for this week’s episode. And by the way, if you’d like to see Joel live, he has a shows coming up in San Francisco, part of SF Sketchfest: https://sfsketchfest.com/2026-lineup/

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 have that interview in a moment. First a quick reminder that I host weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch, and I hope you’ll just us for those; also 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.

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 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.

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 special and streamed it online. My latest YouTube video is the behind-the-scenes story of that special’s creation. And I was very fortunate to speak with the writer, director, co-producer, and co-star, BenDeLaCreme — who graciously made time to chat with me while on tour this year. For this week’s Sewers of Paris, we’ll hear that full conversation. We talked about DeLa’s history with the holidays, the ulterior motive behind the holiday show, and the future of queer theater. Huge thanks to DeLa for chatting with me. When this episode goes live, there are still a few performance dates left on this year’s tour, and you should absolutely go see them live if you can. And if not, stream past year’s shows at JinkxAndDeLa.com/.

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 special, including an exclusive interview with BenDeLaCreme and lots of never before seen behind the scenes footage. That goes live this Sunday, December 21 — check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume. And if you’re doing some holiday shopping right now, just a reminder that my book Hi Honey I’m Homo makes an excellent present — and although shipping deadlines might be tight, you can still get the ebook, and audiobook at gaysitcoms.com. Plus: I’ve activated gift memberships on Patreon — so you can give your friends and lovers access to literally hundreds of hours of bonus videos. That’s at Patreon.com/mattbaume .

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 Reilly’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 YouTube video out about the powerful gay magic behind The Wizard of Oz and Wicked. Check out my videos at youtube.com/mattbaume. And if you’re doing some holiday shopping right now, just a reminder that my book Hi Honey I’m Homo makes an excellent present — you can get it in paperback, ebook, and audiobook at gaysitcoms.com. And I’ve activated gift memberships on Patreon — so you can give someone access to literally hundreds of hours of bonus videos starting at about $21 for an entire year. That’s at Patreon.com/mattbaume .

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 journey; you’ll hear from writer Josh Trujillo about his youthful obsession to Oz collectibles; from YouTuber Emma McMahon about the positive lessons she picked up from Wicked, before she even knew she needed to hear them; and Oz scholar Dee Michel about his surprising historical discoveries about Oz and queer culture. Dee Michel: https://www.deemichel.info/ Josh Trujillo: https://www.joshtrujillo.com/ Terry Blas: https://terryblas.com/ Emma McMahan: https://www.mcmahan.media/ Emma’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mediaprocessingchannel/ Watch Emma's video about Wicked's stage-to-screen adaptation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWZ1nB1mNy0