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Cozy Pants 61: It's all Coming Back to Feet

Well, we're back on our nonsense with another episode of the Cozy Pants podcast. James has a rogues' gallery of new characters to introduce, and I've been reading up on the history of gay New York. And perhaps we're a bit late to this particular announcement, but that Avatar cartoon is really quite good! Also this week, we are closing in on the end of Modelland, and yet somehow it feels nothing like a conclusion.

Sewers of Paris: We Were Too Busy Being Gay (Ep. 289 - Stonewall/Tree)

Hello and welcome to the Sewers of Paris. Fifty-one years ago, a riot against police brutality helped kick off the modern Pride movement, and on this episode we’ll hear from someone who remembers it. He earned the nickname Tree thanks to his six-foot-five stature, and he’s been a part of New York’s gay community going back to the fifties, when he didn’t even know a community existed. Tree’s been a member of Brooklyn street gangs, worked with the mob, and counted among his friends Bu...

June Update: Making a Better World

Hi friends,

Like all of you, I've been paying close attention to the protests happening all over the U.S., and looking wherever I can for opportunities to contribute to positive change. 

In these monthly update messages, I usually go into detail about what you can expect from me in any given month. But right now I think it's best to keep the focus on addressing systemic injustice, police violence, and making a better world for all -- particularly marginalized communities of c...

Sewers of Paris: The Pack Rat (Ep. 288 - Norman Lear/Steven Capsuto)

My guest this week is Steven Capsuto, whose book Alternate Channels documents the history of queer images on television across the twentieth century. An updated edition was released last year and it’s absolutely vital reading for anyone interested in LGBTQ culture — which I suspect is you. Steven’s work as a historian began as a personal project, videotaping gay episodes of TV in the 80s because it helped him feel less alone — but before long that personal project turned into a vital ...

Cozy Pants 60: Dora the Explorer's Mummy Collection

On this week's Cozy Pants podcast, we actually talk about something we enjoyed for once. (Although that doesn't stop us from complaining about Star Wars some more.) The Avatar: The Last Airbender really is great! We talk about a few highlights, and almost immediately get sidetracked into a discussion about how the next Batman should be played like a real dummy. Plus: Tyra must've had a busy week because the latest chapter of Modelland is a whopping three pages long.

Sewers of Paris: Superheroes Are Basically Naked (Ep. 287 - Marc Andreyko/Moonlighting)

My guest this week is comic book author Marc Andreyko, who’s written for Wonder Woman, Batwoman, Dr. Strange, and more. You might know him for his work on Love is Love, an anthology to benefit the victims of the Pulse shooting. Mark got his big break in comics at a young age, almost entirely by accident, and since then he’s been peppering queer stories into comics wherever he can.

Also, a reminder that The Sewers of Paris is on 2020-05-21 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Cozy Pants 59: The Colossus

This week on the Cozy Pants podcast... can you believe we're talking about Cats again? This time it's the SCALDING tea that Andrew Lloyd Weber just spilled regarding his feelings about the Cats 2019 movie, compared to the Cats 1998 direct-to-video adaptation. (He's not a fan of the new Bustopher!) Also, James has created what may be his most obscene character to date; and we are DELIGHTED by the new interactive Kimmy Schmidt special. Plus, quite a lot of revelations in this week's chapter of ...

Sewers of Paris: Fairies and Mortals Can't Get Married (Ep. 286 - Dee Michel/The Wizard of Oz)

My guest this week is Dee Michel, author of the book “Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love the Wizard of Oz.” Dee grew up in the 1950s with the threat of the red scare looming over his family — his parents met at a Communist Party meeting, and there was the constant threat that the family would be exposed. Added to the general chaos of the time was the discovery that his father was gay, and Dee’s own struggle to find his place in the world.

Also, a reminder that The...

Cozy Pants 59: Oh, Jeeves

On this week's Cozy Pants podcast we're reviewing some truly terrible science fiction: We've watched Highlander II and oh BOY is that movie jam-packed with terrible choices. And also others that are outstanding. We also watched Disney's John Carter movie, which features some very interesting characters who get to do precisely zero interesting things. And we did our darndest to watch Andrew Lloyd Weber's Oh, Jeeves musical, which is the opposite of science fiction but was also quite t...

Sewers of Paris: It Started as a Sexy Fun Project (Ep. 285 - Amos Mac/Original Plumbing)

My guest this week is Amos Mac, one of the founders of the magazine Original Plumbing a decade ago, and more recently one of the writers on the reboot of the show Gossip Girl. Amos was working in queer nightlife when he started the magazine as a fun sexy side project, but it was a runaway hit and took on a life of its own, giving him a foot in the door to launch his career in television.

Also, a reminder that The Sewers of Paris is on 2020-05-07 16:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post

Cozy Pants 58: Hello Norma Jean

On this week's Cozy Pants podcast we're talking about two excellent black and white movies that could not be more different: The Lighthouse, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson (both of whose names I forgot); and Some Light it Hot, starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon and Marilyn Monroe and the woman who played Ensign Rand on Star Trek. We also have some more bag-balm talk, just so you're prepared; and muse about the physiology of Andrew Lloyd Weber's human trains. And we're closing in ...

May Update: May Showers May Shower You with Shows

Hello friends! 

So, that was April, a month that was both 5 minutes and 84 years long. How are you?

I don't think I'd say that we're all settling into a comfortable routine just yet, what with all the upheaval and uncertainty and whatnot. But even with life still kind of hard to predict, I do see folks adapting where possible by creating things to look forward to: The wonderful Arson Nicki has be...

Sewers of Paris: Kind of Right & Kind of Wrong (Ep. 284 - Seth Rudetsky & Broadway)

My guest this week is Broadway’s Seth Rudetsky, writer singer actor and radio host among his many many jobs. You may know him from his Sirius XM shows On Broadway and Seth Speaks, or from the show Disaster which he co-wrote with Jack Plotnick, or from his brand new podcast Seth Rudetsky’s Back to School. Seth is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm for entertainment, and it’s impossible to listen to him talk without getting swept up in his absolute glee for showbiz.

We’ll have that...

Cozy Pants 57: Pantom on the Mind

This week on the Cozy Pants podcast, James and I have a bone to pick with Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber about this Love Never Dies musical -- a sequel to Phantom of the Opera that has everyone saying, "why?" We muse about a handful of other musicals, some of which are actually good. Listeners have written in about udders, among other topics, as well as Polari and strange gay catch phrases of the mid-20th century. And does Tyra Banks actually think the dictionary is written by a woman named Miriam We...

Sewers of Paris: I Paid my Dues, Baby (Ep. 283 - Charles Busch/Vampire Lesbians of Sodom)

I’m very excited to bring you this week’s guest — the fabulous actor and playwright Charles Busch, who first rose to prominence in the 1980s with the show Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and followed up with such hits as Die Mommy Die, Psycho Beach Party, and The Allergist’s Wife, for which he earned a Tony nomination. For the first decade of his career, Charles was a struggling writer who traveled the country with exhausting one-man shows, but his big break came when he wrote a just-for-fu...

Sewers of Paris: The Night Australian TV Lost its Virginity (Ep. 282 - Number 96/Andrew Mercado)

Some of the most groundbreaking queer moments on television happened on a show that if you’re American, you’ve probably never heard of. Number 96 is one of the most popular TV shows in Australia’s history, but it never managed to successfully make the jump to the US — maybe because its content, in the mid 1970s, was way too risqué for American audiences. My guest this week is a scholar of Australian TV. Ever since he was a kid, Andrew Mercado was devoted to Aussie soap operas, and as...

Cozy Pants 56: Will You Be My Valenswine?

Well, James is in a real state on this week's episode of Cozy Pants. We talk about our recent viewing of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly -- surprisingly enjoyable, for someone who does not especially love westerns! We explore the playful possibilities of bag balm, a potion from the "Northeast Kingdom," and discover a charming new Disney film about monkeys from 1967. I also make a serious accusation that James denies, with followup evidence to be presented next week.

Dream Role, Dream Show (Ep. 281 - Hedwig/Trystan Reece)

My guest this week is Trystan Reece, who starred as Yitzhak in the original LA production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. From an early age, Trystan was laser focused on going to Broadway and becoming a famous actor. But the experience of being an actor, it turns out, helped him learn about passions he never knew he had, and shaped him into the advocate and dad that he is today.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that The Sewers of Paris is on 2020-04-09 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Cozy Pants 55: A Pants Problem

This week, we're pondering the strange sexiness of the movie Onward. How did Pixar manage to make a Dreamworks movie? We also have a full-throated recommendation for the show Beastars, but don't leave that throat too exposed because you never know who might want to bite it. And Tyra has some strange culinary practices, can you believe that?

April Update: Cooped up & Cute

Hello friends! 

Okay. Yes. Things are weird. Everything's weird! This is supposed to be the time of year when we're shedding our thick winter coats and our hearts are turning to fancy, whatever that is. I'm all about trying to make the best of whatever situation you're in, but this situation is ... well let's call it CHALLENGING even for an optimist.

So, first things first: I know there's a lot of uncertainty about the next few months, and if you need to paus...

Sewers of Paris: Don't Make Superman TOO Sexy (Ep. 280 - Joeboys/Joe Phillips)

Last week I chatted with comic book author Dale Lazarov, and this week we’ll hear from a comic artist — Joe Phillips. Jos images were some of the first glimpses of gay life I ever saw, back in the 90s as a teenager. His art was simultaneously sexy and wholesome, depicting smiling scantily clad young muscle men in tenet romantic scenes. It wasn’t until a few years later that I learned about his more erotic endeavors. Joe’s work touches on a wide variety of settings and themes, not unli...

Sewers of Paris 279: Connect, Not Just Sex (Ep. 279 - Luis Buñuel/Dale Lazarov)

Hello and welcome to the Sewers of Paris. My guest this week is Dale Lazarov, a comic book writer who specializes in sexy character-based stories. Dale grew up in Puerto Rico, amidst a conservative culture of machismo, and as a young adult he was scandalized by anything sexual. His writing helped him overcome the social baggage that kept him in the closet, and now his novels serve as a sort of wish fulfillment — he writes about his dreams, and then miraculously, they seem to come true.

Cozy Pants 54: My Wig is in the Heavyside Layer

Well, Cats (2019) is now available for digital download and we are obsessed anew! If you would like to hear us talk about this movie for ANOTHER hour, you are in luck. Best of all, there's a new director's commentary with all kinds of fabulous insights, primarily that the director is even WEIRDER about everything than we previously thought. Also, James educates me about Phil Collins, and I educate him about everyone's favorite ghost  singer. Booooo!

Sewers of Paris: The Most Expensive Flop in History (Ep. 278 - Madeline Kahn/William Madison)

My guest this week has a had a lot of jobs and a lot of adventures, from working on Broadway shows to producing the news alongside Dan Rather, singing to Angela Lansbury, earning a nickname from Fidel Castro, and writing the biography of Madeline Kahn. William Madison knew he had a passion for creative artists from an early age, but there’s no way he could have predicted how closely he’d work alongside them.

We’ll have that conversation in a minute. First, a reminder that The Sewe...

Cozy Pants 53: Liquid Fulfillment

Well here we are, podcasting from our isolated bunker in Seattle to let you know we're doing OK and are conjuring up some entertainments to keep the stir craziness at bay. On this week's Cozy Pants, James and I explain why Frozen II is ... you know, just okay; and we also decide definitively which Pixar movie we would want to keep us company on a lonely voyage through space. I forget all manner of names, and we learn the terrible secret behind Gargamel from the Smurfs and the first artificial...

March Update: Cheers to You

Hello friends! 

Whewwww, what a long decade the last few weeks have felt like. I hope you're all healthy and well and keeping safe -- between the coronavirus and endless election angst it's an absolutely bonkers time we seem to be living through right now. But (and it's a big but) we have each other to get through it all -- whether at a safe six-foot distance in person, or keeping each other company online.

Here's what your support makes possible this month:<...

Sewers of Paris: Failed Mystics (Ep. 277: Buffy/Anthony Oliveira)

Hello and welcome to the Sewers of Paris. Have you ever been lucky enough to enjoy the sensation of villainy? For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting my interview from three years ago with Anthony Olivera, who you might also know for his incisive tweeting as Meakoopa. We spoke in 2017 about his love for villains, failed mystics, and queer ...

Sewers of Paris: Queer People Before There Were Queer People (Ep. 276 - X-Men/Mike Ciriaco)

How have you discovered your hidden talents? My guest this week is a former shy kid who, after trying to hide from the spotlight for years, was shocked to discover that he’s actually really good at acting, journalism, and go-go dancing. Growing up in a rougher environment, Mike learned the hard ay that he’d sometimes be challenged to stand up for himself — such as the time he came out as gay, got punched in the face, and then surprised everyone by wheeling around and breaki...

Sewers of Paris: My Mentor was a Murderer (Ep. 275 - Muppet Show/Dan Steadman)

My guest this week has a lot of stories to share, both in his role as a filmmaker and as person who’s lived a lot of lives. Dan Steadman’s upbringing in a sheltered religious community found him placed in a lot of unusual circumstances, surreptitiously consuming forbidden entertainment and rebooting his entire identity when his family swapped lives with a family in Brazil. His career in showbiz took him to Los Angeles, where he worked alongside big-time celebrities and also faced a crisis...

Cozy Pants 52: Get me Lester Snivels

On this week's Cozy Pants podcast, we're reflecting on a film that sits halfway between Labyrinth and Mac & Me, which is not something I even knew was possible. James tortures me with a game of What's-Her-Name for Drew Barrymore, or as I like to call her, Blituta. I reveal my craving for DJ Qualls, America's cutest mouse. And oh my GOODNESS, Modelland tickets are now on sale. But make sure you go to the right website, because they didn't manage to get the URL you might expect.