Matt Baume

Apologies for this week's Sewers of Paris episode being a few days late! I'm just getting over a cold, as you'll probably notice in the introduction. But I'm very excited for this week's guest! A few months ago, I came across an incredible video: It’s the early 70s, and a local Chicago talk show is

It's 1971 and the dreadful Dr. David Reuben, is appearing on a Chicago talk show to promote his a homophobic sex-advice book. But there's one man in the audience who isn't going to let him get away with it: Murray Edelman, who was radicalized after cops arrested him for dancing with a man, and who w

On last week’s episode of The Sewers of Paris, I talked with comedian Tim Murray, co-star of the new show Wish You Were Queer, alongside Michael Henry and Trixie Mattel. This week, we’re going behind the scenes to chat with the show’s producer, Frank Spadafora. Frank’s a former theater kid who reali

My guest this week is culture writer Erik Piepenburg, author of the new book Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America's Gay Restaurants. It’s a nationwide tour of the places queer people gather to eat, and how those places satisfy more than just our literal hunge

Hello from New York! I'm back for some more archive research, and also a big fabulous Pride event at the Toronto Public Library (to which you're invited! Details below!) ... but that won't stop me from recording a bonus video on some random overpass with a weird clunky-looking building in the backgr

My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris podcast is the fascinating Terrence Smith, also known as Joan Jett Blakk, a drag performer who ran for mayor of Chicago in the 90s, and after that, President. Terrence has some incredible stories about growing up in Detroit, seeing David Bowie and The Supremes

Eleven years ago this week, Dan Savage founded the It Gets Better Project, and this week we’re diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my conversation with him in 2017. You've probably heard Dan speak at length about sex and love and news and politics -- but this conversation is going to be a lit

My guest this week has been through a lot -- growing up with caretakers who were processing a lot of pain, losing people he thought he could count on, confronting alarming mental illness, and learning far later than most people how to function in the world. Despite all that, Nico Lang's still here,

When did you first escape your bubble? We all start life protected by adults, looked after and shielded from the harsh realities of the world. Some of us burst out of it as fast as we can, and others like to pretend they never have to leave. This week's guest is comedian Joel Kim Booster, whose pare

What's the difference between an end and a beginning, and are they sometimes the same thing? My guest this week is Albert Williams, a longtime queer artist and activist who's seen the queer world transform over the course of his life. Throughout that time, there were periods when change just wasn't

How do you cope when everything seems sad? And how do you move on and find happiness? My guest this week is Jason DeRose. His background in divinity school taught him pastoral care, and his career as a journalist taught him how to look difficult news unflinchingly in the eye. It can be tempting to l

How will you make it on your own? This week's guest is Chris Schleicher, who moved to a big city all by himself with some dreams, some talent, and a determination to stop living for other people. He started his career inspired by sitcoms like the Mary Tyler Moore show, and now he makes sitcoms as a

When you look back on your life, who are the adults who were wiser than you realized at the time? My guest this week is NPR's Sonari Glinton. He grew up in Chicago, surrounded by amazing artists and curators who managed to steer him in the directions that were exactly what a little queer kid needed.

This Week's Guest: AK Miller Would you rather travel the world to seek out new experiences, or create new experiences in your own home town? My guest this week is Chicago theater person AK Miller, who couldn't wait to leave his small town and find the big-city gay communities he'd always read about.