Podcast Picks: Behind the Bastards

Hosted by: Robert Evans // iheart.com

Bastards are fascinating. In the context of the show, they're the bad guys of the world. Almost overwhelmingly middle-aged white men (the quintessential bastard), these people have done more than their duty to make the world a worse place. 

Combining history and humor, Behind the Bastards often turns tragedy into well-researched comedy. The show's host, journalist and author Robert Evans (formerly an editor at Cracked.com) takes the listener on a deep dive into the heels of humanity. Evans guides the production, sprinkled with clips and plenty of sources, his guests mostly there for some welcome color commentary. 

Most recently, the show concluded a six-part series on Henry Kissinger, with guests Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony of the like-minded podcast The Dollop. Former guests have included the likes of Andrew Ti, Jamie Loftus, and Paul F. Tompkins. 

Do you want to find out about how capitalism swallowed modern Christianity? Or know about the people who paved the way for FOX News? What about subjects like Amway, Ivermectin, or Thalidomide? It's all covered here in hated detail by Evans. 

With more than 450 episodes — released every couple of days — the show has run since 2018, so there are plenty of bastards to dive into. 

The podcast feed also features a weekly aggregation of It Could Happen Here episodes, a daily podcast that Evans also hosts. A prolific presence, Evans even has his debut novel due in May, titled After the Revolution.

Apple Podcasts // Stitcher // Spotify