Matt Baume

When you think of great queer allies in Hollywood, Al Pacino may not be the first name that springs to mind. But it turns out that he not only had a surprisingly progressive attitude towards LGBTQ+ folks, going back decades ... but he secretly did some very important charitable work on behalf of que

Hello there! In this week's bonus video, I have a curious case of conflicting stories from Cruising director William Friedkin, most of them relating to Al Pacino. To hear Friedkin tell it, Pacino was one headache after another: He was unprepared, didn't know his lines, showed up late, and his hair l

It's 1978 and director William Friedkin needs to do a little research, so he strips down to a jockstrap and walks into The Ramrod with a friend who's carrying a concealed revolver. In this week's bonus video, I have the weird story of how Friedkin found himself nearly nude and surrounded by orgiasti

Hello there! I've got some more fun artifacts from my Yale research trip to share with you -- this time, some scribbles in scripts and early drafts from the sitcom Ellen. Plus! A group of very effective lesbians shutting down a particularly homophobic & antifeminist speaker on the Dick Cavett show.

Good afternoon or whatever! I'm chugging away on a video about Will & Grace and wanted to share some more fun discoveries with you, including the time the actor who played Will said that he wanted his character to date Brad Pitt, and instead wound up dating Max Goof. Also! I stumbled across a VERY u

If you could step out of your body and look at yourself from the outside, how unfamiliar would you look? It's impossible to evaluate yourself with complete impartiality, but my guest this week has found ways to get as close as possible. Professor Ali Mushtaq's preferred method for clearing his mind