Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
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Robert Evans dissects history's worst people, from Jimmy Savile to Jeffrey Epstein.
Behind the Bastards turns infamous figures into long, grimly funny case files. Robert Evans and guests move from Jimmy Saville to Phil Spector to Iran’s first shah, mixing historical context, moral anger, and sharp conversational detours.
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Behind the Bastards is hosted and researched by Robert Evans, who narrates a subject's biography across two- to three-part episode arcs, typically moving from childhood and early career into the mechanics of the harm they caused. Each episode pairs Evans with a co-host or guest who reacts live to the material, giving the show an interview/panel format layered on top of prepared narrative research; recurring voices include Courtney Kosak, comedian Andrew T, and guest Jason Petty ('Prop'). Recurring subject types include institutional predators (Jimmy Savile's decades of BBC-enabled abuse), financiers and their political networks (Jeffrey Epstein's ties to MIT, crypto figures, and world leaders), music-industry figures (Phil Spector), and online cult or conspiracy leaders (Romana Didulo's Telegram-based 'Queen of Canada' movement). Episodes also sometimes cover abolitionist or reform history, such as Granville Sharp and Olaudah Equiano's legal fight against the British slave trade. Sourcing draws on biographies, court records, and journalism, citing works like Dan Davies's Savile biography and Vice's reporting on Didulo. Tone alternates between dark humor and straightforward investigative narration, with hosts openly editorializing rather than reporting neutrally. Episodes run roughly an hour and are usually released as connected multi-part series rather than standalone stories. The show is produced by Cool Zone Media and distributed via iHeartPodcasts, with ad reads for other Cool Zone shows appearing inside episodes. It sits in the true-crime and history space but leans toward explaining the systems — media, finance, government, religion — that enable the people it profiles, rather than just recounting their crimes.
Made for: Listeners interested in true crime, political scandal, and cult history who want long-form, multi-part biographical deep dives with dark comedic commentary.
What sets it apart: Unlike single-episode true-crime shows, it builds multi-part biographical arcs connecting a subject's personal history to the institutions that enabled them, narrated with open editorializing rather than neutral reporting.
There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance noveli
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Robert Evans turns notorious lives into sharp studies of power, complicity and the political conditions that let destructive figures flourish.
Behind the Bastards follows the making of notorious public figures and movements, with Robert Evans guiding guests through biography, evidence and the social conditions that enabled harm.
Phil Spector meets choose-your-own-adventure logic, and your horrified laugh escapes before permission arrives.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
The man everyone called a weirdo was also the man everyone wanted at their parties.
Robert Evans centers this Savile episode on a vocabulary gap: the word 'pedophile' did not exist in the communities around Savile, leaving his contemporaries with no better term than 'weirdo.' A witness who knew Savile says it plainly, and Evans, with co-hosts Courtney Kosak and…
Robert Evans and Courtney Kosak mix banter with a dark hustler-origin story, though sponsor breaks briefly slow the pace.
Robert Evans and Courtney Kosak start in a loose, funny register, then steer into a darker story about a hustler making money in the middle of wartime chaos.
A grim, sharp true-crime discussion that keeps the case clear even as the details get ugly.
Phil Spector Part Four stays tightly on the case, with Robert and Greasy Will revisiting the police work, the shifting accounts, and Phil's habit of talking himself deeper into trouble. The hosts keep the pace steady, so even the messier details stay clear.
A format flip hands Phil Spector's origin story to a host who came ready to tell it.
Behind the Bastards hands the episode to Greasy Will -- a Grammy winner and friend of Robert Evans's for fifteen years -- while Evans settles into the listener's role.
A jagged look at Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein, and an ICE detention scene that keeps the pressure high.
The episode moves from Bill Clinton describing how he first met Jeffrey Epstein on a 2002 Clinton Foundation plane trip to the later 2003 flights and the eventual cooling of that relationship after the AIDS program gained traction.
A grim, funny look at how pickup artistry feeds into incel culture.
This episode moves from pickup artistry into incel territory with the show's usual mix of commentary, disgust, and jokes. The clearest strength is how it treats pickup artistry less like a weird side note and more like a bundle of hacks, cognitive tricks, and psychological…
The host reads a 2014 Epstein email about Bitcoin and follows it somewhere most coverage hasn't.
Part Three of Behind the Bastards' Epstein series centers on a single document: a 2014 email in which Epstein mapped Bitcoin's internal contradictions onto the emerging conversation about gender identity.
Behind the Bastards traces how dot-com excess produced a world Epstein didn't have to build, just exploit.
Behind the Bastards makes a specific case here: Epstein didn't create the culture around him, he just knew how to use it. The dot-com era carries the argument -- Robert Evans and Andrew T.
Galloway rotates Office Hours Q&A, Raging Moderates politics, and China Decode geopolitics weekly.
Dan and Jordan fact-check Alex Jones broadcasts, old and new, clip by clip.
Annual BBC lectures where one thinker unpacks a theme, from Fiona Hill to Rutger Bregman.
Behind the Bastards part two on Jimmy Savile traces how a failed cyclist became a Daily Express race commentator in 1954 and then a BBC-era celebrity.
Robert starts with award business.
Part four moves into the aftermath.
This episode continues the series on Phil Spector while announcing nominations for Cool Zone Media shows at the Webby Awards.
This episode continues discussing Phil Spector, with the host sharing a playlist of his music and addressing copyright concerns related to educational use.
Robert Evans gives Greasy Will the driver's seat.
This episode continues a series on the first Shah of Iran, featuring a guest discussion with physician and podcaster Kaveh Hoda about medical topics and humor.
This episode explores the historical origins of Western-Iran relations, starting with the first Shah of Iran in the 1700s-1800s during British and Russian imperialism.
The episode begins with casual banter between the host and guest before introducing the show's focus on infamous historical figures.
The host introduces a lighter episode about a kooky psychic, with guest Cal Penn, after a series on the Epstein files.
Ads barge in first.
This episode explores the cultural pipeline from Elliot Roger to looksmaxing trends like hitting oneself with a hammer.
Technical failure comes first.
Part two on Dr.
Host Robert Evans and guest Gabe Dunn discuss the show's premise of exploring history's worst people, with humorous banter about their podcasting dynamic.
The hosts discuss Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and legacy, blending dark humor with historical analysis.
Jeffrey Epstein is at the center again.
Robert Evans and Andrew Ti discuss the life and impact of Jeffrey Epstein, blending dark humor with historical analysis.
Jeffrey Epstein is back, and the room hates it.
The episode discusses the life story of Greg Bovino, a notorious figure, with guest Jack O'Brien.
This episode continues a series on Queen Romana Didulo of Canada, discussing her rise to prominence and follower count in late 2021.
Welcome back gets weird fast.
The hosts banter about their new Netflix deal and introduce guest Jason Petty for a comedic history discussion.
The hosts and guest share a bizarre dream story before discussing Muhammad bin Salman and the Saudi royal family.
This episode begins a multi-part series examining Mohammed Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, with expert guest David Bell discussing his background and rule.
Robert Evans introduces a rerun episode about how cigarettes invented everything, with banter about taking a vacation.
This episode discusses the heroes who ended the slave trade, featuring guest James Stout, an author and expert on anarchist revolutions.
Behind the Bastards turns from villains to abolitionists by tracing how the Zong case in 1783 exposed the logic of the slave trade through an anonymous newspaper letter.
This episode is a Christmas special discussing the heroes who ended the slave trade, featuring banter and a book plug.
A podcast exploring the bizarre and dark lives of history's worst individuals, from Hitler to modern villains.
A comedic discussion about hypothetical hand-to-hand combat kills and the Toyota Hilux, referencing historical figures like Lawrence of Arabia.
A comedic deep dive into the bizarre lives of history's worst people, with this episode covering World War I.
Host Robert Evans and a guest discuss minor traffic incidents and the psychology of not escalating conflicts, leading into a show about history's worst people.
Robert and guest Margaret Killjoy joke about cloning extinct animals and solving societal problems with dinosaur parks.
This episode continues a series on Peter Thiel, discussing his controversial actions and ideology.
Robert Evans and guest Noah Shackman humorously discuss Nixon as a presidential candidate and introduce a series on Peter Thiel.
The host and guest engage in humorous banter about cloning and pop culture before discussing historical bastards.