The story after the documentary.
You Can't Make This Up revisits Netflix documentaries through calm, detailed conversations with the people closest to them. Episodes move from scandal, crime, science, media power, and pop culture legacy into the practical question of what changed afterward.
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You Can't Make This Up is a documentary companion show with a patient, interview-led shape. It begins with the story viewers may recognize from a Netflix film or series, then slows down around the parts that still need explanation. The subjects are rarely simple. A chess scandal becomes a conversation about status, suspicion, rivalry, and public accusation. A film about microplastics moves from consumer habits into fertility concerns, public health questions, and the limits of recycling narratives. A series about the Murdochs becomes a study of family power, succession, media influence, and control. The show is at its strongest when a familiar headline turns out to have a more complicated interior. Rebecca Lavoie keeps the frame clear and practical, asking what happened, who knew what, how the camera changed the situation, and what the story means now. Guests are given room. Directors explain choices, contributors describe the pressure of access, and subjects revisit events that have already been turned into public memory. The tone is composed, but not cold. Episodes about Elizabeth Smart and the FLDS material carry real gravity, especially when they address abduction, coercion, abuse, and survivor testimony. Other installments widen into culture, including America's Next Top Model and the gap between a show's original ambitions and the harm visible in hindsight. The format suits listeners who like documentary detail without the noise of recap chatter. It is not just promotional background. It often asks how stories were built, why certain scenes mattered, and what responsibility comes with telling them. The result is a careful aftershow for serious documentary watchers, moving from scene to consequence with enough warmth to keep the people at the center.
Made for: For Netflix documentary viewers who want careful context, production backstory, and direct testimony after the credits. It especially suits listeners drawn to true crime, cultural scandals, media power, and survivor-centered reporting.
What sets it apart: The show pairs documentary recap with access to creators, contributors, and subjects, keeping the tone measured even when the material is volatile. Its strength is turning sensational premises into plain-language conversations about evidence, impact, and aftermath.
The incredible real stories behind the making of the biggest documentary series & films on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie leads in-depth interviews with creators and subjects, exploring how these stories are produced & their impact, while uncovering new information. New episodes every Wednesday. "You Can't Make This Up" is a co-production of Netflix and Partners in Crime Media.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Rebecca Lavoie's precise interviews connect documentary choices to the public narratives they shape.
Rebecca Lavoie treats a documentary as the start of the conversation, asking the people involved to account for what the camera captured and how the story was constructed.
Rebecca Lavoie takes you past the credits, where creators or subjects complicate the version you just watched.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A disputed chess upset becomes a focused look at reputation, rivalry, and the evidence used to defend both.
Untold: Chess Mates follows a chess upset into thornier territory: reputation, rivalry, and the pressure to prove that a remarkable result came from talent alone.
A documentary contributor recounts how close access to Samuel Bateman became evidence for investigators.
Trust Me: The False Prophet tracks Dr. Christine Marie as her access to the FLDS community in Short Creek, Utah changes from close documentary proximity into something far more consequential.
A fertility question leads Rebecca Lavoie and Luis Ahoyas into microplastics, recycling, and responsibility for plastic waste.
Rebecca Lavoie asks The Plastic Detox director Luis Ahoyas whether reducing plastic exposure could help couples conceive. The conversation gets its most memorable moment when Ahoyas recalls a scientist bringing a lifelike baby doll to a restaurant table to demonstrate how she…
A dental makeover opens a pointed look at permission, judgment, and reality TV's taste for spectacle.
America's Next Top Model gets a measured reckoning through people who knew its machinery from the inside. Rebecca Lavoie talks with Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker about Netflix's Reality Check, Inside America's Next Top Model, looking back at how a 2003 competition built on glamour…
Elizabeth Smart explains why she retold her story and what she hopes other survivors hear in it.
At 14, Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her bedroom. You Can't Make This Up introduces her conversation before handing it to Skip Intro. Smart explains why she chose to tell her story again in more explicit detail: she wants other survivors to feel less alone.
The search for Elizabeth Smart and the public suspicion her family faced.
Elizabeth Smart was being held only a few miles away while investigators followed conflicting clues in the search for her. Rebecca Lavoie speaks with director Benedict Sanderson and executive producer Claire Goodlass about the pressure on Smart's family.
Tony's crush on Gabby turns affection into strategy in Battle Camp's summer-camp social game.
Battle Camp plays like a social game dressed in summer-camp gear, with shared rooms and communal bathrooms sitting right beside the sharper question of who gets sent home.
A clear, pointed look at how Katrina exposed failed warnings, slow response, and a long recovery crisis.
The Katrina episode of You Can't Make This Up looks at the breakdown of public safety around New Orleans and the shaky promise of rebuilding, with Katrina, Come Hell and High Water as its frame.
Firsthand stories from the edge of death.
Podcast discovery from the Sherpa Chalet.
Witchy banter with glorious detours.
Female crime, told with grave attention.
Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Joe Berlinger and executive producer Rachel Profilofsky about the Netflix documentary series 'Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes', exploring the true story behind David Berkowitz's killing spree and his recorded confessions.
The host interviews filmmakers about the Netflix documentary 'American Nightmare,' which explores a real-life kidnapping case that police initially dismissed as a hoax inspired by the movie 'Gone Girl.'
Caitlin Riley hosts the official Wednesday Season 2 podcast, featuring interviews with cast and creators about the making of the show.
Chris Burns and Dana Moon dive into Battle Camp's cutthroat strategy and surprise guest QT's insights.
The Corps of Engineers designed levees only for a Category 3 storm, leaving black and brown communities in a bowl-shaped city defenseless.
Director Marina Zenovich and producer Evan Hayes explain how The Truth and Tragedy of Mariah Wilson centers her life and cycling career rather than letting the murder dominate.
Rebecca Lavoie speaks with Grandmaster Hans Niemann about Netflix’s Untold: Chessmates, which centers on the scandal around his 2022 match with Magnus Carlsen and the later accusations tied to chess.com and the Wall Street Journal report.
Rebecca Lavoie talks with Dr.
Rebecca Lavoie speaks with director Louie Sahoyas about Netflix’s The Plastic Detox, a film built around a 90-day intervention that measures sperm, urine, phthalates, and BPA in six couples.
An interview with the directors of the Netflix documentary 'Dynasty: The Murdochs' about Rupert Murdoch's media empire and the battle among his children for control.
Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews directors Daniel Savan and Maure Lushi about the Netflix documentary series 'Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model', exploring the show's legacy and problematic segments.
You Can't Make This Up examines Netflix's Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model with former judges Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker.
Elizabeth Smart says her father’s “leave the world better than you find it” ethic shaped her advocacy.
You Can't Make This Up examines the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart with director Benedict Sanderson and executive producer Claire Goodlass.
An interview with the director and producer of the Netflix documentary series 'Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes' exploring the mind of serial killer David Berkowitz.
Chris Burns and Dana Moon discuss the new Netflix reality show Battle Camp, where reality stars compete in challenges, and Chris interviews contestant QT.