If you happen to be in Toronto this weekend, you may want to find your way down to Massey Hall on Saturday night for a one-night-only performance called Och and Oy!, starring actor Alan Cumming and NPR correspondent Ari Shapiro. Their collaborative show is a mix of cabaret and storytelling, and to mark its debut, I’m diving into the Sewers archives to revisit my 2018 conversation with Ari Shapiro, who was then as now one of the hosts of NPR’s flagship show All Things Considered. As a journalist, Ari primarily tells other people's stories, but his own story is considerably is more winding than you might expect -- behind his calm voice is a man who spent time as an undocumented immigrant, who carried mace for protection in high school, and who might never have found his place on the radio if a gay icon hadn't intervened on his behalf.
We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that I’ve got a book coming out this May about the history of queer characters on sitcoms, from Bewitched to The Golden Girls to Friends. It’s called Hi Honey, I’m Homo. Pre-orders are open — and those pre-orders are so important, so if you’ve been meaning to get one in, now’s the time! Head over to gaysitcoms.com to reserve your copy.
And if you like pop culture history, check out my YouTube channel for tales from behind the scenes of iconic movies and TV shows! I just posted a video about the movie The Birdcage and its long winding journey to the screen, and I’ve got another coming soon about a gay couple that transformed the way television depicted queer people in the 1970s — and the psychiatrist who tried to stop them. Check those videos out at YouTube.com/mattbaume.
Life is Drama, Make me Laugh (Ep. 353 - Dan Savage)
Called to the Kitchen (Ep 352 - Cookbooks/Adam Roberts)
Queer Dark Souls (Ep 351 - Dark Souls/Illusory Wall)
The Luckiest Little Homosexual in the World (Ep 350 - The Tonys/Jeffrey Masters)
In my Own Way I'm a Doomsday Prepper (Ep. 349 - Phuong/Drag Race)
Tough on the Outside, Nice on the Inside (Ep 348 - Pokémon/José)
A Little More F'd Up (Ep 347 - Six Feet Under/Scott)
The Devil's Name is on All my Paychecks (Ep 346 - Fran Tirado/Greek myths)
My Cat Makes Me Laugh (Ep. 345 - Bette Midler/H. Alan Scott)
Good Luck, Kid (Ep 344 - Beatrix Potter/Carl Bishop)
Always Dreaming (Ep 343 - The Brady Bunch Movie/Stan Zimmerman)
Really Stupid and Delicious (Ep 342 - Desperate Housewives/Benji Carr)
The Lone Wolf Doing Theater (Ep 341 - Ravi Roth/Broadway)
We Were Too Busy Being Gay (Ep. 340 - Stonewall/Tree)
A Pride Omnibus (Ep 339 - X-Men/Joe Glass)
Glamour Rampage (Ep 338 - Justin Vivian Bond)
Misfits and Aliens (Ep 337 - Lypsinka/Gypsy)
If You Can Survive it, do it (Ep 336 - Gay New York in the 70s & 80s/Mark Finley)
Camp is like Pornography (Ep 335 - Eurovision/Jānis)
Beauty in Trash (Ep 334 - Bruce Vilanch/Bette Midler)
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