You're Wrong About

Tue, 15 Apr 2025

Have you scrubbed down the top of your fridge lately? Home & garden correspondent Sarah Archer i...

Tue, 01 Apr 2025

This week, flim flam correspondent and certified April Fool Chelsey Weber-Smith is here to talk abou...

Wed, 26 Mar 2025

At the end of our last episode, we asked you to call in and tell us what has been bringing you joy, ...

Thu, 27 Feb 2025

What do Lily Tomlin, Snow White, and Kenny Ortega have in common? They were all part of the 61st Aca...

Wed, 12 Feb 2025

What is "emotional labor," and why is it probably not what your boyfriend accuses you of m...

Thu, 30 Jan 2025

In County Kilkenny, Ireland, in an early year of a century not too long before our own, Alice Kytele...

Sun, 12 Jan 2025

What would you do if you were pinned down by an 800-pound boulder, and no one knew where you were? I...

Wed, 01 Jan 2025

There's one last present at the toe of our stocking, and it's a new album by producer Caro...

Mon, 23 Dec 2024

'Twas (the night before) the night before Christmas/ And all through the show/ We await Sarah A...

Thu, 12 Dec 2024

Miles Klee can’t take it anymore. This week, a tale of corporate intrigue, world domination, and s...

Tue, 05 Nov 2024

"Our alleged serial killers deserve better than this." Was Elizabeth Báthory the most pro...

Thu, 24 Oct 2024

Black cats and goblins and broomsticks and ghosts/ Covens of witches with all of their hosts/ You ma...

Fri, 18 Oct 2024

What could possibly go wrong when two skeptical podcasters try to summon a ghost? Join Sarah and Che...

Sat, 12 Oct 2024

Kellie Carter Jackson, author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, is here to take ...

Thu, 26 Sep 2024

"Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought nece...

Wed, 18 Sep 2024

Or, is it legal to have gay sex in your own home? This week, Marcus McCann takes us back to the 2003...

Wed, 04 Sep 2024

"As long as the law is male, women must be outlaws." — Linnea Johnson This week, Moira...

Mon, 19 Aug 2024

This week we travel back to the 80s, when America’s parents decided to freak out over some kids ro...

Mon, 05 Aug 2024

Maggie Mertens tells us a tale of the first women who fought to run the marathon, and of one woman w...

Mon, 22 Jul 2024

What is “originalism,” and what does it have to do with all these bribes? Mackenzie Joy Brennan ...

Wed, 10 Jul 2024

The city of Cleveland will not be made to apologize for its balloons. Harmony Colangelo defends the ...

Tue, 25 Jun 2024

This week, Taylor Lorenz fights our latest moral panic. Are phones really making kids anxious, or ar...

Tue, 11 Jun 2024

Alejandra Oliva, author of Rivermouth, came by to catch us up on the last few decades of American im...

Wed, 29 May 2024

Sarah Archer came by to make an episode from scratch. What's the real history of the American h...

Tue, 14 May 2024

Today, Princess Weekes takes us to meet the real Rosa Parks.Find Princess on YouTube: Princess’ vi...

Tue, 30 Apr 2024

Let's go outside in the sunshine.   An extended cut of this episode is available for Patreon ...

Tue, 16 Apr 2024

He turned a bright spark into a flame.(Part 1 of 2!)You can buy Marcus McCann's book, Park Crui...

Mon, 01 Apr 2024

Sarah talks with Chelsey Weber-Smith, host of American Hysteria, about some of their favorite hoaxes...

Mon, 25 Mar 2024

Celebrity correspondent Eve Lindley came by to tell us about Britney Spears' memoir The Woman i...

Mon, 18 Mar 2024

In 1974, Robert Opel ran naked through the Academy Awards telecast, and into American history. Today...

Mon, 04 Mar 2024

Blair Braverman tells us how the legendary story of one good dog is actually a story of two good dog...

Tue, 20 Feb 2024

This week, writer Miles Klee tells us why we have to take our shoes off at the airport.Read Miles Kl...

Tue, 06 Feb 2024

This week, Harmony Colangelo tiptoes through the tulips with us. You can find Harmony at This Ends ...

Thu, 25 Jan 2024

During what should’ve been Roe v. Wade’s 51st birthday week, Sarah and reproductive health polic...

Mon, 08 Jan 2024

Sarah teams up with writer and editor Julie Kliegman—author of the hotly anticipated book MIND GAM...

Wed, 27 Dec 2023

The Exorcist turns 50 this week, so we invited Marlena Williams, author of Night Mother: A Personal ...

Mon, 11 Dec 2023

“The creatures outside looked from influencer to human, and from human to influencer, and from hum...

Mon, 27 Nov 2023

Mulder and Scully were busy this week, so Monroe and Marshall are on the case. Did UFOs really trave...

Tue, 14 Nov 2023

This week, celebrity correspondent Eve Lindley tells Sarah about why we should all be thankful for A...

Mon, 30 Oct 2023

This week, American Hysteria’s Chelsey Weber-Smith gives Sarah some exposure therapy.You can find ...

Mon, 16 Oct 2023

Forty whacks with a wet noodle, Bart! This week, Princess Weekes tells Sarah the true story of the c...

Mon, 02 Oct 2023

"What is it about the culture that has conditioned us to favor the wants and needs and desires,...

Mon, 18 Sep 2023

Here's one from our bonus vault: you sent in your stories about moments when you found yourselv...

Tue, 05 Sep 2023

Like so many other mostly imaginary topics, human trafficking is in the news again. Michael Hobbes—...

Mon, 21 Aug 2023

This week, Heather Radke brings us a tale of pageants, eugenics, and butts.You can find Heather onli...

Mon, 07 Aug 2023

This week, Sarah tells her favorite kind of story to American Hysteria’s Chelsey Weber-Smith: one ...

Mon, 17 Jul 2023

“Why don’t something happen?” Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow died in 1934, but their legend ge...

Tue, 11 Jul 2023

This week, we bring you a re-release from our bonus vault as Sarah tells Carolyn Kendrick about the ...

Mon, 26 Jun 2023

This week, Sports Illustrated’s Julie Kliegman volleys with Sarah about trans athlete Renée Richa...

Mon, 12 Jun 2023

Fly with us, lesbian seagull. This week Radiolab’s Lulu Miller brings us a story of queer nature a...

Mon, 29 May 2023

“I felt that empathy like it was directed towards me, and it helped me feel like my unhappiness wa...

Mon, 15 May 2023

“What if you were writing a profile on someone named Janet and I was your editor, and I was like, ...

Tue, 25 Apr 2023

 In 1988, twenty-year-old American figure skater Debi Thomas headed to the Calgary Olympics to face...

Mon, 10 Apr 2023

This week, we fight the real enemy with Allyson McCabe. Here's where to find Allyson online he...

Tue, 28 Mar 2023

This week, national treasure Amanda Knox talks with Sarah about what the American legal system claim...

Mon, 13 Mar 2023

This week, criminal justice correspondent Josie Duffy Rice dives into America’s obsession with pro...

Mon, 27 Feb 2023

This week, survival correspondent Blair Braverman tells Sarah the story of a Supertramp. In 1996, Jo...

Mon, 13 Feb 2023

This week, a tale of two Shawns/Seans, their impossible dream, and the file sharing service that liv...

Mon, 30 Jan 2023

In this episode, Carolyn and Sarah follow Karen from the height of her fame through her struggle to ...

Mon, 16 Jan 2023

Long ago and oh so far away, Carolyn and Sarah fell in love with Karen Carpenter when they saw her d...

Mon, 26 Dec 2022

On October 14, 1987, 18-month-old Jessica McClure fell down a well in Midland, Texas. This week, Sar...

Mon, 12 Dec 2022

They’re winsome and soft and so fun to cuddle/ With one of Ty’s Beanie Babies, you could never g...

Sun, 27 Nov 2022

Put on your Docksiders for a stroll through history with Avery Trufelman, who shows us how Ivy style...

Tue, 15 Nov 2022

How did Poltergeist get that PG rating? Podcast legend Karina Longworth, host of You Must Remember T...

Mon, 31 Oct 2022

Our survival correspondent Blair Braverman is here to tell us the story of Uruguayan Air Force Fligh...

Mon, 17 Oct 2022

“Abortion is healthcare and abortion is a human right. Abortion is racial justice. It’s economic...

Mon, 03 Oct 2022

Why is it so hard to find the one thing you need? The Atlantic’s Amanda Mull is here to tell us th...

Sun, 11 Sep 2022

This week, Mike and Sarah reunite to hunt for serial killers, and try to figure out whether they’r...

Mon, 29 Aug 2022

You may:1. Travel on the established trail2. Take the Hastings CutoffWhat is your choice?Chelsey Web...

Mon, 15 Aug 2022

This week we’re taking the back roads with Rachel Monroe, who tells us how the most prolific seria...

Tue, 02 Aug 2022

Here’s some money, go see a Porn War. This week we’re going on a field trip to Times Square with...

Mon, 18 Jul 2022

This week, Eric Michael Garcia tells Sarah about America’s barely forgotten pastime, plus the Supr...

Mon, 04 Jul 2022

Sarah and Carmen complete their epic trilogy by meeting Rick Emerson on the edge of Mount Doom to di...

Mon, 20 Jun 2022

This week we’re dishing up a mouthwatering feast of history, gossip, and white collar crime. Guest...

Mon, 06 Jun 2022

This week, Sarah tries to solve the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, in which nine experienced ...

Mon, 23 May 2022

Where did all these prisons come from? WBEZ’s Shannon Heffernan is here to give us part of the ans...

Mon, 09 May 2022

This week we begin our journey into the totally true not at all made up diary that has been scaring ...

Mon, 25 Apr 2022

We want to play a game. This week, Dana Schwartz stuffs us in an iron maiden and explains why the mo...

Sun, 10 Apr 2022

How did the information superhighway get so gridlocked? Guest Anne Helen Petersen tells Sarah the st...

Mon, 28 Mar 2022

What do Chopin, Kylie Jenner, baby carrots, and the War of the Worlds all have in common? They’re ...

Mon, 14 Mar 2022

Laci Mosley (Scam Goddess) tells Sarah about Linda Taylor and the origins of the Welfare Queen myth ...

Mon, 07 Mar 2022

What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn’t one today. Josh Gondelman is here to laugh and cry with...

Sun, 20 Feb 2022

Josie Duffy Rice and Sarah discuss the role of junk science in the criminal justice system. It is a ...

Sun, 06 Feb 2022

In this final installment of the Amityville Horror Winter Book Club, Sarah tells guest host Jamie Lo...

Mon, 24 Jan 2022

Willa Paskin (of Slate's Decoder Ring) brings Sarah back to 2005, when Tom Cruise jumping on a ...

Mon, 10 Jan 2022

Jessica Chastain and Sarah discuss Tammy Faye Bakker. Chastain is the star and a producer of the new...

Sun, 02 Jan 2022

Sarah continues telling guest host Jamie Loftus about the Amityville Horror, and the two touch on gh...

Sun, 19 Dec 2021

Sarah tells guest host Jamie Loftus about the Amityville Horror, how it’s a Christmas story, and w...

Sun, 05 Dec 2021

Jamelle Bouie explains to Sarah what the Reconstruction era was, why it remains relevant today, and ...

Sun, 21 Nov 2021

Emma Berquist stops by to tell us about how true crime doesn't have to make us better people, a...

Sun, 07 Nov 2021

Special Guest Jamie Loftus tells Sarah about Ed and Lorraine Warren (of The Conjuring and Annabelle ...

Mon, 25 Oct 2021

Special guest Dana Schwartz tells Sarah about Catherine the Great. Topics of interest include the ve...

Mon, 11 Oct 2021

An announcement!Support us:Hear bonus episodes on PatreonDonate on PaypalBuy stickers, magnets, T-sh...

Mon, 27 Sep 2021

From our friends at Maintenance Phase, the story of how Nestlé executives, global health institutio...

Mon, 13 Sep 2021

Mike tells Sarah how a tragic story became a national punchline and a decades-long moral panic. Digr...

Mon, 06 Sep 2021

While our next episode's in the oven,  enjoy this gem from the YWA vault!Support us:Subscribe ...

Mon, 23 Aug 2021

This week, the defense hires Alan Dershowitz, Marcia Clark questions witnesses and Jill Shively trie...

Mon, 09 Aug 2021

This week we debunk Mike Warnke right out of his cabin and into the lake, using Cornerstone Magazine...

Mon, 26 Jul 2021

We finish our San Bernardino joyride through Mike Warnke’s 1972 “memoir” with a hex, a horribl...

Mon, 12 Jul 2021

We continue our journey through Mike Warnke's 1972 "memoir" about his rise through th...

Mon, 28 Jun 2021

Sarah and Mike return to Camp You're Wrong About for another Satanic Panic story hour. This tim...

Mon, 07 Jun 2021

Mike and Sarah have big feelings about an enduring debate. Digressions include “Carrie,” party p...

Mon, 03 May 2021

Mike tells Sarah about an impending conflict, a dissident singer and America's first internet-e...

Mon, 19 Apr 2021

Mike tells Sarah how liberal magazines turned a "kids these days" moral panic into a natio...

Mon, 05 Apr 2021

Bob Shapiro is on a mission from God, F. Lee Bailey joins the Dream Team, and we get in our DeLorean...

Mon, 22 Mar 2021

Special guest Cassie da Costa tells Mike and Sarah how Vanessa fell from grace and picked herself ba...

Mon, 15 Mar 2021

Mike reached new levels of rantiness on his other show and we wanted to make sure all our beloved de...

Mon, 08 Mar 2021

Mike tells Sarah how a 20-year-old singer, actress and French horn player became Miss America with l...

Mon, 01 Mar 2021

Sarah's other show has a special guest! Maintenance Phase co-host Aubrey Gordon visits Why Are ...

Mon, 22 Feb 2021

To tell the story of the "dream team" we must begin by going back to the future. This week...

Mon, 15 Feb 2021

Mike tells Sarah the real reason Congress called a bunch of rockers to Washington D.C. Digressions i...

Mon, 08 Feb 2021

Mike tells Sarah how a congressional wife started a moral crusade. Digressions include Sheena Easton...

Mon, 01 Feb 2021

Special guest Eric Michael Garcia tells Mike and Sarah about the deep roots of a pernicious modern m...

Mon, 25 Jan 2021

This week, we put on our suits and head back to the courtroom. O.J. Simpson pleads not guilty, Marci...

Mon, 18 Jan 2021

Mike tells Sarah how a troll-ish experiment turned a South Carolina teenager into one of the most ma...

Mon, 11 Jan 2021

This week we talk about the early days of Paula and O.J.’s relationship and the celebrity cameos r...

Mon, 28 Dec 2020

This week we return to the  O.J. Simpson trial and learn what Paula Barbieri did after the Bronco c...

Mon, 21 Dec 2020

Mike tells Sarah the complicated story of an over-simplified study. Digressions include Tonya Hardin...

Mon, 07 Dec 2020

Mike tells Sarah what makes older Americans more vulnerable to misinformation — and who is deliver...

Mon, 30 Nov 2020

Sarah tells Mike about the thrilling conclusion to a children’s labor action and an overlooked Dis...

Mon, 23 Nov 2020

Sarah tells Mike about media history, labor organizing, century-old moral panics — and the unlikel...

Thu, 19 Nov 2020

Was Harvey Milk's killer really given a light sentence after claiming that junk food made him d...

Mon, 16 Nov 2020

Topical episode! Special guest Jamelle Bouie tells Sarah and Mike about his problematic Founding Fat...

Mon, 09 Nov 2020

“You can be a hot mess express and still leave the world better than you found it.” In the final...

Mon, 02 Nov 2020

This week, Diana leaves the royal family with her reputation intact and her title slightly edited. D...

Sat, 31 Oct 2020

What if the scariest thing in America is unfettered capitalism and unaccountable corporations? Sourc...

Thu, 29 Oct 2020

 Mike comes on Sarah’s new show to talk about robots, dads, the little metal hands guys and &quot...

Thu, 22 Oct 2020

Mike has a new podcast! Here's the first episode, in which he debunks the absurd Cold War traum...

Mon, 19 Oct 2020

This week, Mike and Sarah dissect the Creepy Encounters subreddit and how to handle our creepy feeli...

Mon, 12 Oct 2020

This week, Diana swaps out her husband for a Horse Dude and Mike and Sarah act out other people&apos...

Mon, 05 Oct 2020

This week, Diana gets married, joins her new family and meets the press. Digressions include Judy Ga...

Mon, 28 Sep 2020

We start our new series with the story of a girl, a prince and the society that convinced them they ...

Mon, 21 Sep 2020

For our 100th episode, American Hysteria host Chelsey Weber-Smith visits our campfire to tell us abo...

Mon, 14 Sep 2020

“It’s like these men are being held in a bubble as science marches forward.” Mike tells Sarah ...

Tue, 08 Sep 2020

Mike tells Sarah about the longest "non-therapeutic" experiment in medical history. Digres...

Mon, 31 Aug 2020

This week, Sarah makes a Nancy Grace-style argument against the prosecution. Digressions include &ap...

Thu, 27 Aug 2020

Sarah tells Mike about her new foray into Dad Studies and, for the second time this week, discusses ...

Mon, 24 Aug 2020

Sarah tells Mike about the real-life conspiracy written between the lines of a 1970s horror novel. D...

Mon, 10 Aug 2020

In another "mini" episode that accidentally turned mega, Mike tells Sarah about the Wayfai...

Mon, 03 Aug 2020

Mike tells Sarah how a silly sports promotion galvanized a reactionary movement. Digressions include...

Mon, 27 Jul 2020

Mike tells Sarah about the most common forms of violence in America and how they differ (twist!) fro...

Mon, 20 Jul 2020

This week, Sarah walks Mike through Nancy Grace’s prosecution of American juries. Cameos include M...

Thu, 16 Jul 2020

Sarah and Mike tell Laura and Adrian about how we met, how we research and what we would say to Jess...

Mon, 13 Jul 2020

This week, Nancy Grace makes her case against defense attorneys in general and Scott Peterson’s la...

Mon, 06 Jul 2020

“It’s interesting that we became enthusiastic about ASL in the process of teaching it to a popul...

Mon, 29 Jun 2020

Special guest Candace Opper tells Mike and Sarah how a grunge star became the protagonist in one of ...

Thu, 25 Jun 2020

“The criminal justice system should treat everyone like a white teenage girl whose future it’s c...

Thu, 18 Jun 2020

Sarah tells Mike how a superhero’s genesis was a supervillain’s origin story all along. In our n...

Wed, 17 Jun 2020

On June 17, 1994, the world screeched to a halt so 95 million Americans could watch a white SUV craw...

Mon, 08 Jun 2020

“You really shouldn’t date people who go in thinking, ’This person has good bones but they’r...

Thu, 04 Jun 2020

In honor of Pride Month and revolutions past, present, and future, we're re-releasing our episo...

Mon, 01 Jun 2020

“I’m being pulled into planet myth … and I like it here.” Special guest Dana Schwartz tells ...

Thu, 28 May 2020

We discuss Jessica's reality-show marriage and its painfully ordinary end. Digressions include ...

Mon, 25 May 2020

“It’s a mess and a nightmare and maybe it’s disingenuous to think you can turn the story of so...

Thu, 14 May 2020

“Her parents’ financial success is dependent on her abdomen.” This week, Jessica moves to L.A....

Thu, 07 May 2020

Our journey through late-'90s pop stardom begins with an intervention and ends with an audition...

Mon, 04 May 2020

Mike tells Sarah how an obscure technical glitch became a nationwide mobilization. Digressions inclu...

Thu, 30 Apr 2020

We conclude our book club with Michelle's escape from the dungeon. The dead baby trend continue...

Mon, 27 Apr 2020

Sarah tells Mike about the clash of the titans, the fury at the grand jury. We follow Kato, the wise...

Thu, 23 Apr 2020

This week, our lithe psychiatrist takes his favorite patient hiking, a priest burns some furniture a...

Thu, 16 Apr 2020

Sarah and Mike continue into the depths. With Dr. Pazder home from Mexico, he and Michelle continue ...

Mon, 13 Apr 2020

“What’s sad about her has nothing to do with the content of her character.” Special guest Dana...

Mon, 06 Apr 2020

Sarah and Mike continue their journey into the book that launched a thousand lawsuits. Michelle and ...

Thu, 02 Apr 2020

Mike tells Sarah about a dying industry, a dangerous car and the Pulitzer Prize-winning article that...

Thu, 26 Mar 2020

Sarah describes the spark that ignited the Satanic Panic. Our setting is a therapist’s office in 1...

Mon, 23 Mar 2020

In the final chapter of our series on the D.C. sniper attacks, Mike finally tells Sarah about the D....

Mon, 09 Mar 2020

Sarah tells Mike about a week in the life of Marcia Clark, who became America’s most famous prosec...

Mon, 24 Feb 2020

Mike tells Sarah about the indoctrination of Lee Boyd Malvo and the beginning of the sniper attacks....

Fri, 14 Feb 2020

Valentine’s Day re-release! Sarah and Mike reflect on one of the only love stories they’ve ever ...

Mon, 10 Feb 2020

“Every big fish you catch, you end up with a hole in the net.” Mike tells Sarah how America’s ...

Mon, 03 Feb 2020

Mike tells Sarah how a nice Jamaican kid became the disciple of a mean American adult. Digressions i...

Mon, 20 Jan 2020

Sarah tells Mike the ending to the story of the mimbo and the alibi. Digressions include O. Henry, N...

Mon, 06 Jan 2020

“If you’re black, you can’t get work as a serial killer even if you’re manifestly qualified....

Mon, 16 Dec 2019

Sarah tells Mike how an aspiring actor protected and then betrayed Nicole Brown Simpson without know...

Mon, 02 Dec 2019

"There’s no precedent for women in this family being treated like they matter." Sarah te...

Mon, 25 Nov 2019

Mike tells Sarah how NGOs, activists and George W. Bush resurrected the 'stranger danger' ...

Thu, 14 Nov 2019

Sarah tells Mike how Marcia Clark got the slam-dunk case that ended her career as a trial lawyer. Di...

Fri, 01 Nov 2019

"Centering conversations around blame is not the most useful thing for us to be doing." Sa...

Thu, 17 Oct 2019

“You can’t expect people to know the exact kind of help they need.” We continue our deep dive...

Thu, 03 Oct 2019

Mike and Sarah begin their epic journey into O.J. Simpson's trial for the murders of Nicole Bro...

Thu, 19 Sep 2019

Our first live show! Mike tells Sarah about Janet Jackson, the 2004 Super Bowl Halftime show and the...

Tue, 10 Sep 2019

Mike tells Sarah how the myth of meddling wives serves to exonerate terrible husbands. Digressions i...

Thu, 22 Aug 2019

“Isn’t it amazing how we can only imagine our monsters capitalistically?” Mike tells Sarah how...

Fri, 16 Aug 2019

“When you allow emotion into the courtroom, bias rushes in alongside it.” Special guest Rachel M...

Wed, 07 Aug 2019

“Things are not going to get better if we make the people who scare us seem more powerful.” Mike...

Fri, 26 Jul 2019

“The story that did the most damage to the people in it was the one that made the most money.” S...

Thu, 18 Jul 2019

Sarah tells Mike the story of a world-class figure skater who worked at a mall potato restaurant. Di...

Thu, 27 Jun 2019

“Humans aren’t good at remembering what got us where we are.” Mike tells Sarah how a turning p...

Thu, 20 Jun 2019

“Once you tell a story incorrectly once, you can’t control where it goes.” Sarah tells Mike ho...

Tue, 11 Jun 2019

“We’re uncomfortable with the evidence that teen girls have sexual agency.” Special guest Amy ...

Wed, 05 Jun 2019

“He’s been punished even more than the American prison system can aspire to punish anyone”: Mi...

Tue, 28 May 2019

"It just seems like capitalism masquerading as religion": Sarah tells Mike how a horror mo...

Thu, 16 May 2019

“We want stories that don’t exist in systems”: Mike tells Sarah what happened when Utah set ou...

Thu, 09 May 2019

“Why did we make fun of Dan Quayle for misspelling the word ‘potato’ when we should have made ...

Thu, 25 Apr 2019

Mike tells Sarah how a 5-year-old kid transformed a city, divided a political party and (maybe) dete...

Thu, 18 Apr 2019

Sarah tells Mike how an aspiring rich kid became an emblem of a world he didn't belong to. Digr...

Thu, 04 Apr 2019

Mike tells Sarah how a simple idea in a single school district became a nationwide racial panic. Dig...

Tue, 05 Mar 2019

Mike tells Sarah how the media, the president and the Pope turned a simple medical story into a comp...

Wed, 20 Feb 2019

Sarah tells Mike how a poor Texas girl made herself into an icon and America made her into a punchli...

Fri, 15 Feb 2019

Mike tells Sarah how an environmental problem became a national rallying cry, a sticky diplomatic is...

Thu, 07 Feb 2019

Sarah tells Mike how a sex scandal ruined a rising star and established a new template for American ...

Fri, 25 Jan 2019

“She only said one thing her whole life”: Sarah tells Mike how two decent women became scapegoat...

Wed, 16 Jan 2019

Mike tells Sarah how a "bad apples” explanation kept us from seeing the real scandal at the h...

Thu, 03 Jan 2019

It wasn’t an accident. Mike tells Sarah how the infamous space shuttle disaster came to be seen as...

Wed, 19 Dec 2018

Sarah tells Mike how a tragic story became a hacky catchphrase. Digressions include raccoon anarchis...

Wed, 12 Dec 2018

Mike tells Sarah how a close election and an even closer Supreme Court decision established the poli...

Mon, 03 Dec 2018

Sarah tells Mike about the sad reality — and the terrible man — behind the infamous Long Island ...

Wed, 21 Nov 2018

Special guest Megan Burbank tells us about the history, limitations and loopholes of a landmark cour...

Wed, 14 Nov 2018

Mike tells Sarah how a false rape allegation became a right-wing rallying cry and a left-wing conspi...

Wed, 07 Nov 2018

Sarah tells Mike how a case of marital rape and spontaneous mutilation became a national punchline. ...

Wed, 31 Oct 2018

How inflated statistics, cultural anxieties and moral crusaders turned a tiny number of missing chil...

Wed, 24 Oct 2018

Razorblades in apples, babysitters on acid, killers in backseats and "rainbow parties": In...

Wed, 17 Oct 2018

Sarah tells Mike how Ed Gein became one of America’s most famous serial killers despite not actual...

Mon, 08 Oct 2018

Mike tells Sarah how an over-simplified diagnosis, over-confident doctors and over-zealous prosecuto...

Mon, 01 Oct 2018

Sarah tells Mike how pop culture created a two-decade-long obsession with multiple personality disor...

Wed, 19 Sep 2018

Mike tells Sarah that America has sent the wrong messages and done the wrong things about obesity fo...

Mon, 17 Sep 2018

Special guest Rachel Monroe (re-)joins Mike and Sarah to talk about all the myths surrounding the se...

Mon, 10 Sep 2018

Mike tells Sarah why the biggest scandal of Reagan's presidency provides more (depressing) less...

Sat, 01 Sep 2018

Sarah tells Mike that shoddy policing (and Milwaukee generally) are responsible for one of America&a...

Sat, 18 Aug 2018

Mike tells Sarah that the D.A.R.E. program did not, in fact, keep kids off drugs. But that’s just ...

Sat, 04 Aug 2018

Sarah tells Mike that animal behavior is an imperfect template for human society. Digressions includ...

Sat, 28 Jul 2018

Special guest Candace Opper tells Mike and Sarah about how the death of a rock star changed the fiel...

Sat, 21 Jul 2018

Sarah tells Mike about how America's favorite gangster movie is really its favorite killing-the...

Sat, 14 Jul 2018

Sarah and Mike take a break from debunking to reflect on the first 10 episodes and tell the secret h...

Sat, 30 Jun 2018

Mike tells Sarah that America’s most devastating oil spill was not, in fact, a DUI. Digressions in...

Sun, 24 Jun 2018

Sarah tells Mike about how snuff films don't exist but lots of near-snuff films do. Digressions...

Sat, 16 Jun 2018

Special guest Rachel Monroe tells Mike and Sarah what's really behind the phrase “drinking th...

Sat, 09 Jun 2018

Part two of our epic dissection of the Clinton impeachment scandal. This week: The story breaks, the...

Sat, 02 Jun 2018

Sarah and Mike talk about what America forgot — and never learned — about history’s most famou...

Sat, 26 May 2018

Mike tells Sarah about the complicated legacy of Anita Hill and the not-particularly-complicated fac...

Sun, 20 May 2018

It’s not a real thing! … OR IS IT? Sarah tells Mike about the convoluted history of a contested ...

Sat, 12 May 2018

But not how you think! Special guest Mike Owens tells Sarah and Mike about the (attempted) debunking...

Sat, 05 May 2018

Mike tells Sarah that the TV movies of her childhood were both less and more problematic than she re...

Fri, 04 May 2018

Sarah tells Mike about the long history of white anxiety over black motherhood. Continue reading →...

Thu, 03 May 2018

Mike tells Sarah about the rash of mass shootings carried out by postal workers in the '80s and...

Wed, 02 May 2018

The 1980s were real but the Satanists weren't. Sarah tells Mike about why America spent a decad...