This week is the birthday of actress Megan Mullally, who you know as Karen on Will & Grace among many other roles. And we’re celebrating with a special trip back into the sewers archives to talk to another actor — David Mattar Merten, for whom Will & Grace was a life-changing piece of media. I spoke to David in 2020, when he was still early in his acting career; since then he’s earned and MFA, appeared on Broadway, and in prestigious productions alongside Kate Mulgrew and Jeremy Strong. Not bad for a kid who moved to New York with just some luggage, some dreams, and some inspiration from a sitcom. 

For the last few days I’ve been looking back over the many great performances of Patrick Stewart — among them, of course, his role as the captain on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s reminded me of just how powerful that franchise has been, across many decades and incarnations. And for this week’s episode, we’re heading into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2021 chat with David Strugar. David grew up in a religious family, and until his early 30s was closeted and struggled through ex-gay treatment. Helping him to put that life behind him was Star Trek, where he came to realize he’d picked up more of his sense of right and wrong than from church. After cutting ties with his old life, he sold almost everything he owned for a one-way bus ticket to LA.

Also, in case you missed it: I have a new video up on YouTube paying tribute to Patrick Stewart — as as captain of the Enterprise, sure, but also for the surprising choice that he made after Star Trek ended, stepping away from blockbusters to appear in an indie gay rom-com. That video’s available now at Youtube.com/MattBaume.

And I hope you can join me at Twitch.tv/mattbaume this Sunday for a livestream of the classic Patrick Stewart gay rom-com Jeffrey.

My guest this week is Eliot Glazer, whose work you know from shows like Broad City, The New Girl, and Difficult People; and the new series So You Think You Can Sports? Eliot’s career took a couple of unlikely swerves — first, escaping from Long Island on an opera scholarship that he turned into Golden Girls scholarship. He also struggled though some especially bad advice when he was coming out in the early 2000s, which is partially what inspired his new book of essays, entitled The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Gay. 

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First a quick heads-up that, just in time for Halloween, I published a new video on YouTube this weekend about the show Interview with the Vampire, and why this story of blood-sucking creatures from the shadows resonates so strongly with me. That video’s available now at Youtube.com/MattBaume.

Also, a quick heads-up: This weekend we'll be watching The Paul Lynde Halloween Special on Twitch! Hope you can join us -- it's at noon pacific on Sunday Nov 1. (Timely!)

We generally have queer guests on this show, but I’m willing to make an exception for this week’s guest: The actor Barry Bostwick, who played Brad in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. A few weeks ago I ran into Barry at the pop culture convention Ancient City Con in Florida, and he very generously sat down to chat with me about Rocky Horror, what he hears from queer fans whose lives the movie changed -- and occasionally saved — and also the advice he got from a psychic for playing George Washington. 

Also, a quick heads-up that I have a new video about to go live on YouTube. It’s about the show Interview with the Vampire, and why the situations these creatures of darkness find themselves in feel strangely familiar to me. Make sure you’re subscribed at Youtube.com/MattBaume and hit the notify bell to get an alert when it goes live.

This was a video interview, and you can watch my conversation with Barry (with film clips and archival photos) here: https://youtu.be/bWlTIXW4GbY

My guest this week is often unrecognizable. Josh Duart creates cosplay looks that are so elaborate that as soon as he puts them on, he simply vanishes into whatever character he’s re-creating. I personally met him several times over the course of a recent weekend at a convention, and every time I thought I was encountering someone I’d never met before. And as much fun as it is to embody another person, for Josh, a lot of the pleasure comes from how differently people react to him when they perceive him as someone else.

And by the way, big thanks to everyone who supports the Sewers of Paris on Patreon — members can get sneak peeks at my upcoming YouTube videos, bonus videos, stickers and books in the mail, and more. Head over to Patreon.com/mattbaume to join.

As we head into spooky season this October, I want to take a peek back into the Sewers archives for a chat with Sam Irvin. As a kid, Sam Irvin loved Bride of Frankenstein, and he brought that influence with him as an adult when he co-produced the film Gods and Monsters, and directed the show Dante’s Cove and the movie Elvira’s Haunted Hills — among many other projects. Whether working with Christopher Lee, Brian DePalma, or Ian McKellen, Sam is an endless source of amazing haunted Hollywood tales.

We’ll have that conversation in just a moment. First a quick reminder that I host weekly livestreams every Sunday on Twitch. This weekend we’ll be continuing our watch-along of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And you can get a heads-up on other fun projects by subscribing to my email newsletter at MattBaume.com.

Sorry this week's Sewers of Paris is coming a few days late -- it took a little extra time to arrange but I think it's worth it! This week I’m chatting with Scott Heim, the author of the 1995 novel Mysterious Skin, which was adapted into a film by Gregg Araki in 2004.

Scott's book is the story of two teenage boys, both dealing with the same childhood trauma in very different ways, and this conversation’s a little different from the usual Sewers of Paris interviews: Scott recently passed through Seattle, and I sat down with him at Northwest Film Forum to interview him for our local alt-weekly, The Stranger. You’ll hear the audio of our conversation in this episode. And if you’d like to watch the video version, you can find that on The Stranger’s YouTube channel, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1RUyWAuNM

My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris is Damian Pelliccione, who started his career as an actor — if you watch closely, you can catch him on a 2005 episode of Gillmore Girls. Twenty years later, he’s in a very different role, as the co-founder and CEO of the streaming video service Revry. That service hosts an eclectic mix of queer-themed movies, shows, and original web series (including King of Drag, which just launched its second season).  But despite having dedicated the last decade of his life to building this business, these days Damian feels particularly nostalgic for a time in his life when none of it would have been possible.

Also, a quick heads up that I’ll be a guest at the pop culture convention Ancient City Con in Florida this weekend, September 25, 26, and 27. I hope to see you there!

Like everyone on Earth, I’ve been looking back at the work of both Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, in absolute awe of everything they gave us. For this week’s episode of The Sewers of Paris, we’re revisiting an interview that touched on both Dolly and Tim: My 2018 conversation with the drag performer who now goes by Alaska, and her longtime friend and collaborator Jeremy Mikush. We talk about all about their early influences, watching Rocky Horror together on a little laptop screen, and also the creation of the Alaska drag-sona, the time they sang Dolly Parton songs so loud the cops were called, and also how Alaska bombed her first audition for Drag Race.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I’ll be a guest at the pop culture convention Ancient City Con in Florida next weekend, September 25, 26, and 27. I hope to see you there!

And! I have a new video up on YouTube about Dolly Parton’s surprising connection to the gay community… and I have a video coming this weekend about the many ways in which Tim Curry shaped our lives.

My guest this week has a track record of going viral — whether he wanted to or not. Mike Aylesworth’s first brush with fame was as a teenager in the late 90s when he challenged the Boy Scouts’ ban on gay members… then in adulthood when he dreamed up an invention in the bathtub that changed his life, first for the better and then for the worse. He’s written about his work with the Scouts (and how that turned into work against the Scouts for awhile) in an upcoming book entitled Boy Pageant. As you’ll hear, Mike’s always been drawn to stories about strangers who are surprised to discover that they fit together, from the Golden Girls to art thieves to the crowned heads of Europe; those stories set the stage for the work he does now, helping young people figure out how they fit into the world.

We’ll have that interview in a moment. First a quick heads up that I have a new video on YouTube about Dolly Parton’s surprising connection to the gay community… and I have a video coming soon about the many ways in which Tim Curry shaped our lives.

You might recognize the voice of this week’s Sewers of Paris guest — Tony Rodriguez 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. 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 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 — lately we’ve been watching and talking about the film 9 to 5. 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.