The Sewers of Paris

Mar 06 2025 298 ep. 52 mins 2.6k

The Sewers of Paris Podcast artwork

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?

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Beauty in Trash (Ep 309 - Bruce Vilanch)

Mar 06 2025 63 mins

With the Oscars this weekend, we’ve reached the culmination of the year’s awards season. And for this week’s Sewers of Paris we’re diving into the archives for a chat with an awards show legend: Bruce Vilanch, who's been slipping sly queer comedy into our entertainment since before some of us were even born. Starting out as a joke writer for great divas of the 1970s and the

A Gay Wolf Who Goes to a Liberal Arts College (Ep 508 - Big Boys/Corey Sherman)

Feb 27 2025 34 mins

My guest this week is director Corey Sherman, whose latest film is Big Boys — a story of a teenager who isn’t even out to himself when he goes on a camping trip and starts to develop feelings for his cousin’s boyfriend. Corey’s work has often had an autobiographical element, going back to his college webseries Billiams about a queer wolf attending a liberal arts school. Big

Secrets Do Not Serve Me (Ep 507: Shane/Wayne Scott)

Feb 20 2025 39 mins

My guest this week is author and psychotherapist Wayne Scott. His new book, The Maps They Gave Us, is a memoir about navigating a rocky period in a marriage, about narrowly dodging divorce through non-monogamy, and about rediscovering his relationship with the queer community with support from his wife. It’s a complex journey, with surprising parallels to a cowboy story that was

I Don't Really Care What the Rules Are (Ep 506: Usher/Kingsley)

Feb 13 2025 30 mins

Welcome to a special episode of The Sewers of Paris! All this month, the Old Church Concert Hall in Portland is celebrating Black History Month with performances honoring Black artists. And I was lucky enough to speak with Kingsley, who helped organize the venue’s Blacker the Berry night, coming up on Saturday the 22nd. Kingsley’s inspirations span a wide range of genres, star

Sometimes I am the Villain (Ep 505: Siouxie and the Banshees/George)

Feb 06 2025 35 mins

My guest this week is musician George Alley — a returning guest who first appeared on the podcast in 2018. Back then, we talked about how he escaped some rough bullying as a kid by creating music … and by joining a street gang. Now, he’s released a new album with a Valentine’s Day twist, so I invited him back for a new chat about the punk artists who were his musical influe

The Entire Planet Was Paying Attention (Ep 504: The Real World/Judd Winick)

Jan 30 2025 50 mins

Cast your mind back, if you will, to the 1990s, when reality TV was new. Though the genre was young, many had already written off shows like The Real World as trash. But one young man saw an opportunity, and thought that maybe there was a way he could use television to save lives. His name was Pedro Zamora, and his work wound up changing the course of more lives than he could have

Gay by May (Ep 503: Snow White/David)

Jan 23 2025 35 mins

My guest this week is filmmaker David Beck. His childhood love of theater led him to a life as an actor — and also a difficult struggle to keep his head above water in a career where work was unpredictable and fiercely competitive. After coming out of the closet with the help of a few illicit substances, a chance offer from a friend led to a reinvention behind the camera. His new

The Moment Where I Lost It (Ep 502 - E.T./Andrew)

Jan 09 2025 53 mins

This month sees a rerelease of the classic ‘80s film The Goonies, which is about to turn 40. In honor of that milestone, we’re heading into the Sewers archives to hear my 2018 chat with Andrew Putschoegl, whose childhood mirrored that of ‘80s films where groups of neighborhood kids are thrown together into unstructured days of outdoor exploration. In those movies, each kid te

I Accidentally Found Myself on MTV (501: The Real World/Danny Roberts)

Jan 02 2025 55 mins

My guest this week is Danny Roberts, one of the stars of Real World: New Orleans, which originally aired on MTV in 2000. Danny was planning to become a teacher and wound up on the show through a series of coincidences, accidents, and last-minute changes of plan, so he was a little unprepared for the fame that he soon found thrust upon him. To say nothing of the weird — and someti

The Sewers of Paris 500th Episode Q&A Spectacular!

Dec 26 2024 55 mins

It's the 500th episode of the Sewers of Paris, and to celebrate James and I are doing a special Q&A with questions sent in by listeners! Huge thanks to everyone who sent questions, and let me know if you'd like to hear more episodes like these! And as requested by patron David, there's a list of some of my favorite early episodes (for anyone who wants to get started with the podca