Hello there! And welcome to Fleckman's.
In this week's bonus video, we're taking a look at a few fun things viewers sent me -- and then diving into some fun research I've gathered for an upcoming Golden Girls video, wheeeeeee! Check out some of the early pre-Golden Girls projects that the gals did: Rue McClanahan was in a super cheap gaysploitation flick in 1971, Estelle Getty played a lesbian on stage (as Estelle Gettleman), and Bea Arthur once saved a gay bar on ...
2022-01-09 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris podcast is one of the busiest people I’ve ever interviewed. Roo George Warren is an educator, an ecologist, a singer, an activist, a performance artist, and that’s not even half of the jobs you might find him doing on any particular day. Roo was raised with a healthy respect for skepticism and rebellion, and after venturing away from the town where he grew up, he found his calling close to him — now focusing on issues like food sovereignt...
2022-01-06 17:01:09 +0000 UTC
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Welcome to a shiny new year! Let's make this a 2022 that Betty would have wanted. For this week's bonus video, I've rounded up some fun bits from Betty White's career, including a few times she's stood up for queer people. (And also the surprising inspiration for her Mary Tyler Moore Show character -- Anita Bryant, really?!?!?) Also! A little peek at some topics I'm exploring for videos in 2022!
My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris podcast has been a lot of different people — Andy Casadonte grew up a meek kid in Maryland, came out of the closet when he went to school in New York to study illustration, and then had to watch his step when his first job out of college required him to move to Tennessee to work on the religious show Veggie Tales. For a while, he found solace in the fandom of queer ani...
2021-12-30 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Hello neighbors!
I hope the year-end holidays find you in good cheer, surrounded by loving family of whatever composition brings you the greatest joy. I know I say this a lot, but I couldn't make any of the stuff that I do without your support, and I'm so grateful every single day to be on this fun ride with you.
As 2021 comes to a close (good riddance, frankly) I wanted to go through some of the highlights of the year -- some of the best stuff that you made possible by being a pa...
2021-12-28 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Hi hello!
A little late for a Christmas present BUT here is a new bonus video for you -- this one's got some fascinating details that I dug up about why Rita Moreno's guest appearance on The Golden Girls is so weird and confusing; and also a few scant details that I found about the Moreno-focused sitcom that never was. Also! After her memorably short Oscar speech back in the 60s, Rita finally got a chance to redo her acceptance in 2017 and it's really lovely. I've also got (unrelated to...
2021-12-26 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I hope you’re having a delightful holiday time, full of seasonal entertainment and sweaters and good cheer. For this week’s episode of The Sewers of Paris, we’re heading into the archives to hear my 2016 interview with Jonathan, who grew up in a deeply religious family and always found himself swept up in the pageantry of the season. These days, he's distanced himself from the faith, but unexpectedly Christmas has become spiritual for him in a far more personal way.
2021-12-23 17:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Well hello! Time for another bonus video, which if you can't see it above give this little link a tap and you should be on your way to bonus town:
https://youtu.be/3uFystJFPZM
This week's highlights include a few more fun stories about Rita Moreno -- the time she dated Elvis to make Marlon Brando jealous, and also a 2011-ish reprise of her delightful Googie Gomez character from The Ritz
2021-12-19 18:01:01 +0000 UTC
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My guest on the Sewers of Paris podcast this week is playwright Tyler Dwiggins, who grew up in an isolated, rural Indiana farm town where there wasn’t much in the way of arts — especially if someone else needed to use the school’s combination auditorium/cafeteria. That’s why today he produces the kind of stuff he was looking for back then, starting with a series of queer-inclusive plays for high schools.
2021-12-17 17:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Well hello there! I hope you had a chance to check out my new video about the smashing Rita Moreno, and her absolute triumph of a career. In putting that together, I came across a ton of great stories that I didn't have room for in the final script -- so here they are in a bonus video just for you. (Tap here if the embed doesn't work: h...
2021-12-13 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Twenty-one years ago this week, the show Queer as Folk made its American debut, and this week we’re diving into the Sewers of Paris podcast archive to revisit one of the very first episodes of the podcast — my 2015 interview with Toronto performer Raymond Miller. If you were a teenager in Toronto in 2002, you saw him every afternoon hosting a local after-school TV show. He's also appeared on stage in Mamma ...
2021-12-09 21:19:47 +0000 UTC
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Hello hello!
I know this bonus video's coming a bit later than usual, but I've been chugging away for the last couple days on a fun collaboration with some great folks -- that'll be revealed soon, but until then, here's some fun stuff I found while researching the most recent video about Jim Nabors. If the embed doesn't work, try this link: https://youtu.be/_usAkSrJQvg
One ...
2021-12-03 18:00:07 +0000 UTC
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My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris podcast is Robert Steele, author of a new book about a figure in the early modern gay liberation movement that you probably never heard of. Robert’s subject is Jim Foshee, a teen runaway who landed in Los Angeles in the middle of a time of incredible upheaval. He was also Robert’s good friend, and between the two of them are some incredible stories about gay life of the 1950s onward.
2021-12-02 17:01:03 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is Alex Salyer, whose work you may have seen on HBO’s Animals, on Tuca and Bertie, on BoJack Horseman, and also possibly in some of your weirder dreams. Alex is an animation director whose work defies the rules of reality, and any other rules he might happen to run into. Working in adult animation, at this point Alex may have animated more dicks than anyone else in his field — quite an accomplishment for someone who grew up in a conservative r...
2021-11-25 17:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Video embed not playing? Try this link: https://youtu.be/KdvpnAE7dpI
I've been chugging away on some fun research for upcoming videos, which includes (for the first time!) the acquisition of PHYSICAL MEDIA. Come with me now on a journey through TV Radio Mirror magazine, a celebrity gossip mag of the 1970s featuring an in-depth look at television's sexiest drag performer ... an attempt to...
2021-11-21 18:00:06 +0000 UTC
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We’re careening towards Thanksgiving, and you know what that means — an onslaught of holiday specials on the horizon. One that I’m particularly looking forward to is Santa Inc, a stop-motion special featuring the voice of comedian Joel Kim Booster. I spoke with Joel back in 2017, and this week we’re diving into the Sewers of Paris archive to revisit that conversation in preparation for the holidays.
Joel grew up in a household where his parents tried to control every aspect of h...
2021-11-18 17:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Hello Patrons! It's time once again for a bunch of bonus stuff. (Click here if the embed doesn't work: https://youtu.be/aaq2Q3cz0KI )
This week I'm sharing a few more stories about Elvira, and also some nifty stuff I dug up for three upcoming videos. So! Let's begin by checking out Elvira's stripper-outfit from Happy Days, and just TRY to guess who gave it to her. Then let's turn our gay gaze to the golden-age-of...
2021-11-14 18:01:01 +0000 UTC
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My guest on the Sewers of Paris podcast this week is Lane V. Rogers, who splits his time between posting videos on YouTube, streaming on Twitch, posting nudes on OnlyFans, and getting a degree in business — all of which would be a tremendous surprise to him just a few years ago. When he graduated from high school a few years ago, Lane realized that he had spent so much time rebelling that he hadn’t developed any interests...
2021-11-11 17:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Hi hello! Here's some more fun stories that I came across in my Elvira research, and also some fun finds from viewers like you! If the embedded video doesn't work, try here: https://youtu.be/IPSI9snHX48
First things first: Can you identify where you might've seen Elvira's spooky old mansion before? The answer may make you say "how surprising." And: Thanks to viewer Tuna, at least one of Elvira's "lost" Saturday N...
2021-11-07 18:01:02 +0000 UTC
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At first glance, Elvira — the late-night movie hostess — looks like a character custom-engineered to appeal to straight men. So why do so many gays love her? I’ve got a new video up on YouTube exploring that very question, with help from someone who knows a thing or two about the character — her longtime collaborator and writer, Ted Biaselli, who also happens to be Director of Original Series at Netflix. Several years ago I interviewed Ted for The Sewers of Paris podcast, and...
2021-11-04 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Hello spookyfriends!
Thanks for your patience with this week's bonus video -- I was working on the Elvira video up until the last minute, and I'm just getting caught up on everything else now. (And if the video embed doesn't work for you, here's a backup link: https://youtu.be/VGVMLvhEiIA )
Here's some fun stuff that I found in my research that I didn't have room for in the final script, including a bunch of intr...
2021-11-02 23:09:09 +0000 UTC
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Hello darlings,
A wise philosopher named Steve Urkel once asked, "did I do that?" and I have to wonder if we are personally responsible for the recent surge in interest regarding The Paul Lynde Halloween Special. I'm at a loss to explain why, but the 45-year-old special seemed to hit the zeitgeist particularly hard this year -- just days after I posted a video on the subject, in response to frequent viewer requests.
Was it everyone's demand for a Paul Lynde YouTube video ...
2021-11-01 19:45:39 +0000 UTC
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My guest this week is David Pevsner, writer, actor, and erotic blogger. His book Damn Shame, a memoir of desire, defiance, and show tunes comes out in January (it’s available for pre-order now) and catalogs his adventures on Broadway and on TV, as an escort, and as a naked Tumblr star. It all starts with a kid dancing in secret to Barbra Streisand records.
And if you haven't already, check out my 2021-10-29 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Thrilling news: Patreon and Vimeo say that they've fixed the glitch that was making it hard to view videos in the app! You'll need to update to the latest version of the Patreon app (the icon is black instead of orange) and then it should work. Let me know if you're still running into issues, and here's a backup link just in case: https://youtu.be/W9Qk90qSkI0
And with that out of the way: Behold...
2021-10-24 17:01:01 +0000 UTC
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My guest on this week's Sewers of Paris podcast has some catching up to do. David is a writer who grew up in a religious family, and until his early 30s was closeted and struggled through ex-gay treatments until he finally came out. Helping him to make the adjustment: Star Trek, where he came to realize he’d picked up more of his sense of right and wrong than from the church. After cutting ties with his old life, he sold almost everything he owned for a one-way bus ticket to LA, where a cou...
2021-10-21 16:01:03 +0000 UTC
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A quick note about videos: If the embed's not working for you, try viewing it in a browser like Safari or Chrome, instead of in the Patreon app; or try viewing it at this link: https://youtu.be/NLD4NoxOyWA
Hello!
I've got a new video about Paul Lynde and his BONKERS Halloween Special, and that means yo...
2021-10-17 17:56:27 +0000 UTC
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Next week is the anniversary of the premiere of the show Gargoyles, an animated 90s series with queer subtext simmering just under the surface — and that’s according to the show’s creator.
In honor of that anniversary, we’re diving back into the Sewers of Paris archives this week for a chat with Fazaad Feroze, who became obsessed with the show when he was young. The child of immigrants from Guyana before moving to the United States, he only has to look back one generation on his...
2021-10-14 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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A quick note about videos: Patreon tells me they're still working on finding a way to make the video embeds work better. In the mean time, if it's not working for you, try viewing it in a browser like Safari or Chrome, instead of in the Patreon app; or try viewing it at this link: https://youtu.be/F9YxbP1VcQ8
Hello! Would you like to hear about some of the worst ideas f...
2021-10-10 17:01:02 +0000 UTC
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My guest on the Sewers of Paris podcast this week is the author of The Other Man, a forthcoming novel set in Mumbai about two men from very different cultures falling in love. Farhad Dadyburjor knows a thing or two about bridging cultures — growing up in India, he developed a deep obsession with western pop stars like Madonna and even came out to a friend via a carefully phrased comparison to George Michael. These days he’s g...
2021-10-07 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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UPDATE: I've changed some settings on the video so hopefully it'll work better now. If not, try clicking this link: https://youtu.be/cd61Jstb8-c
Oh hello! Here's some fun stories I dug up while researching my new video about Barney Miller: We'll start with some fun tidbits about the first recurring gay characters on television, including the lovely Beverly LaSal...
2021-10-03 17:00:04 +0000 UTC
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