Best Klee Podcasts (2026)

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Party (and Panic) Like It's 1999 with Ross Benes 1:08:34

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8d ago1:08:34

1:08:34

Ross Benes is the author of the book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times. Together we revisit what popular culture was like at the turn of the millennium and how things like Juggalos, professional wrestling, boy band rivalries, nü-metal, Jerry Springer, teen movies, the tech bubble, and the fear of the end…

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Where I Live: The Listener Holiday Special 1:30:36

14d ago1:30:36

1:30:36

“We’ve always been inventing and reinventing new worlds for taking care of each other. We just have to notice.” We asked our subscribers to send us audio postcards to encapsulate where they live, what makes it special, and what people get wrong about the place that they call home. For this holiday season, we've woven together an aural tapestry from…

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Mall Santas pt. 2 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About' 1:38:54

15d ago1:38:54

1:38:54

In part two of our two-part series, I show Sarah a more radical side of the American Mall Santa. I tell her stories of how, in some cases, the character transformed into a symbol of societal change and guerrilla protest, from the ladies who had to take his bearded place during WWII, to the Black Santa revolutionaries of the Civil Rights Movement, t…

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Frank Divers: Life Insurance and Trusts: Your Family's Financial Safety Net 37:05

20d ago37:05

37:05

About Frank Divers: Frank is the Co-Founder and CEO of Estate Documents Pro, LLC, and the Founder and CEO of Business Development Specialists, Inc. A seasoned business veteran and entrepreneur with over 40 years of experience, he has founded seven companies spanning industries from manufacturing to national sales and distribution programs for produ…

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Mall Santas pt. 1 with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About' 1:25:48

22d ago1:25:48

1:25:48

For this two-part holiday special, I tell Sarah Marshall all about the history of the American mall Santa Claus from the 1800s into the present day. For part one, we will learn about the eccentric men who created the look and vibe of the department store Kris Kringle, mass producing a jolly army of Santa proxies to whom kids could disclose their he…

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Three or More Is a Riot with Jelani Cobb 35:55

29d ago35:55

35:55

Jelani Cobb is the Dean of Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and the author of the new book Three or More Is a Riot: Notes on How We Got Here: 2012-2025 which he is here to talk with me about today. Since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement over a decade ago, Jelani has been reporting on the most consequential events from the fr…

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The Rocky Horror Picture Show with 'This Ends At Prom' 1:28:06

1M ago1:28:06

1:28:06

In honor of my favorite movie's 50th anniversary, I wanted to share an episode about The Rocky Horror Picture Show with all of you unconventional conventionalists, one that I recently recorded with my friends BJ and Harmony Colangelo for their fantastic coming-of-age film podcast, This Ends at Prom. Subscribe to This Ends At Prom wherever you get y…

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Listen Now: American Scandal | The West Memphis Three 8:02

1M ago8:02

8:02

On May 5, 1993, three 8-year-old boys were brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The tiny local police department launches an investigation but finds little physical evidence to lead them to a suspect. Eventually, outside pressure pushes them to charge someone with the killings, whether or not the evidence supports their conclusions. America…

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Cold War Santa with Sarah Archer 1:39:47

1M ago1:39:47

1:39:47

What happens when Santa trades his sleigh for a rocket ship? Christmas correspondent Sarah Archer tells Sarah about how the Cold War era affected the image of old Kris Kringle through the rampant consumerism and shiny new technology of a post-war economy. Digressions include Reagan’s girlypop diet, the Freudian aspects of the Nutcracker, and the th…

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THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE (rewind) 53:33

1M ago53:33

53:33

Brace yourselves, we are marching along with the Macy's Parade to learn about the chaos energy that has always animated this cultural institution, from its explosive balloon disasters to its surprisingly unruly origins. Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠…

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The Devil We Know with Sarah Marshall 1:28:44

2M ago1:28:44

1:28:44

Sarah Marshall of You're Wrong About joins me to wade back into the tall tales that devil-spawned the friendship we have today. In honor of her brand new podcast miniseries from the CBC called The Devil You Know about the past, present and future of the Satanic Panic, we 'll check out some never-before-heard satanic cult source material from ⁠newsp…

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The Dictionary Wars! with Gabe Henry 1:12:25

2M ago1:12:25

1:12:25

Remember being a teen and coming up with “cool” ways of spelling common words? Well, just like the teenager it was, the United States in the 18th century was annoying their mom, England, with the hip words that were being edited and added to their lexicon. The antagonistic pair of nations on the brink of the Revolutionary War were always competing …

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Disneyland’s Disastrous Opening Day with Riley Swedelius-Smith and Miranda Zickler 1:17:32

2M ago1:17:32

1:17:32

Our associate producer (and my brother) Riley Swedelius-Smith is here to tell our producer Miranda Zickler and me about the chaotic opening day of The Happiest Place on Earth way back in 1955. We’ll learn about the many quirks of Walt Disney, the events that unfolded as he tried to build his ludicrous dream, and how everything went down when it was…

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Bot Farms and the Troll Toll with Perry Carpenter 1:14:14

2M ago1:14:14

1:14:14

Have you ever wondered if the person you are arguing with in a social media comment section is really a person at all? Perry Carpenter is a cybersecurity expert, author of FAIK: A Practical Guide to Living in a World of Deepfakes, Disinformation, and AI-Generated Deceptions, and host of The Faik Files podcast. I asked Perry to explain the phenomeno…

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Introducing: The Devil You Know with Sarah Marshall 41:10

2M ago41:10

41:10

Listen now to the first episode of Sarah's new 8-part series with CBC Podcasts, The Devil You Know. In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale — yet these thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. In this all new s…

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BLOODY MARY 1:03:21

2M ago1:03:21

1:03:21

Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...For our Halloween special, we are going to trace the history of the slumber party ritual known as Bloody Mary in which a young summoner stands in the dark in front of a mirror to call up a dangerous, blood-soaked witch-woman. By looking at the Victorian era occult divination games of girls, the many cemeter…

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Spontaneous Human Combustion with Sarah Marshall of 'You're Wrong About' 1:42:08

3M ago1:42:08

1:42:08

Sarah Marshall is here to teach me about the confounding phenomenon of Spontaneous Human Combustion in which a person is found almost totally incinerated with no explanation, seeming to have burst into flames from within. From the Victorian era to the modern day, we will look at historical cases and modern explanations to try to separate fact from …

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Midnight Ghost Shows with Chelsey Weber-Smith 1:43:58

3M ago1:43:58

1:43:58

What do you get when you combine a horror movie audience, a spiritualist séance, and a haunted house attraction? Beginning in the 1930s and lasting into the 1960s, midnight ghost shows were ghoulishly chaotic, wonderfully campy 4D theater performances that accompanied the scary movies of the era, beloved by a mostly-teenage audience who often becam…

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12 Ft Skeleton (rewind) 1:03:30

3M ago1:03:30

1:03:30

This is a rerelease of our 2023 Halloween special about the 12 Ft Skeleton Halloween craze and the strange history of our relationship to skeletons, both real and fake, stretching back hundreds of years. On 10/14 you can hear me on You're Wrong About covering Midnight Ghost Shows! I am doing a new series over on Patreon and Apple+ called Dispatches…

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Horror Movie Curses with 'What Went Wrong' Podcast 1:32:38

3M ago1:32:38

1:32:38

What Went Wrong hosts Chris Winterbauer and Lizzie Bassett join me to tell the stories of three allegedly cursed horror movies and the unexplained events that befell the cast, crew, and sometimes even audiences. Were these films really possessed by dangerous, otherworldly energy? Or are we dealing with social conditions, marketing gimmicks, and saf…

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The Auralyn with Blair Braverman 1:11:24

3M ago1:11:24

1:11:24

Are you a survival pessimist or a survival optimist? Blair Braverman surprises Sarah with a harrowing, heartening, and sometimes hilarious tale of love and endurance in the face of certain death, but you’ll have to listen to find out the seemingly impossible circumstances our subjects had to overcome. Digressions include Sarah’s flight simulation s…

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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark with Liz "Cosbrarian" Gotauco 1:06:56

3M ago1:06:56

1:06:56

For this episode, I get schooled on the history of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, the children's horror book series that terrified 80s and 90s kids with its repurposed urban legends and folklore as well as genuinely terrifying illustrations. Liz Gotauco (AKA Cosbrarian), the creator of the F*cked Up Fairytales series, talks with me about how th…

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The Kennedy Curse with George Civeris 1:17:20

4M ago1:17:20

1:17:20

George Civeris is the host of the comedy podcast Straightiolab as well as a new podcast called United States of Kennedy that explores our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty and the ways that this family has continued to shape American life for decades. For this episode, George lays out the tale of the Kennedy Curse through a handful of t…

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Samantha Smith vs. the Cold War with Maris Kreizman 1:18:42

4M ago1:18:42

1:18:42

Who really ended the Cold War, Ronald Reagan or a ten-year-old girl? Eighties correspondent Maris Kreizman joins us for a heartfelt conversation about America’s Youngest Ambassador, Samantha Smith, a child who wrote a letter to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov in hopes of cooling nuclear tensions. Then, Andropov wrote back. Maris and Sarah di…

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Houdini's Afterlife with Sarah Marshall and Tim Harford 1:06:48

4M ago1:06:48

1:06:48

Tim Harford is the host of the podcast Cautionary Tales which recently put out a series on the most famous magician of all time, Harry Houdini. For this episode, Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About joins me as co-host to discuss with Tim the Victorian religion-turned-public spectacle known as Spiritualism, the wonderfully gullible Sir Arthur Conan…

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#Elsagate (rewind) 48:04

4M ago48:04

48:04

This is a rerelease of our 2021 episode. In 2017, YouTube Kids was embroiled in a major scandal when it was discovered that a dark underbelly of inappropriate cartoons, computer animations, and live action videos were lurking just under the surface of the supposedly safeguarded app. With themes of injections, sexuality, violence, scatology, and muc…

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Introducing: Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes 8:10

4M ago8:10

8:10

From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate, to the Octopus Murders and the Waco Siege, the world is full of deception, manipulation, and destruction. Listen to Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes every Wednesday as we explore the real people at the center of the world’s most shocking secrets and nefarious organizations. Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crim…

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Jason and Tonja Henderson: Wealth Without Permission: Controlling Your Financial Destiny 32:12

4M ago32:12

32:12

In this episode, your host Jason and Tonja Henderson discuss: Financial Education Gaps Control of Personal Wealth Deceptive Investment Practices Public Education System Limitations Intentional Financial Strategy Development Key Takeaways: Financial education is critically absent in traditional schooling, and individuals must proactively seek knowle…

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The Disturbing World of Mobile Game Ads with 'Panic World' Podcast 1:17:36

4M ago1:17:36

1:17:36

Warning: REALLY WEIRD EPISODE. On social media and YouTube, bizarre, shocking, disgusting, creepy, and confusing animated ads for simple mobile games have popped up over the last few years. In collaboration with the guys from the Panic World podcast, we watch (and describe) some of the freakiest ads I have found over time, analyze the advertising p…

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Dear Chelsey and Ask Sarah Marshall 1:13:34

4M ago1:13:34

1:13:34

In the spirit of American advice columnists Dear Abby and Ann Landers, I am joined by Sarah Marshall of the podcast You’re Wrong About to give our own unique advice to some of the funnier questions sent in to Dear Abby and Ask Ann Landers from the 1950s to the early 2000s. Get some of our new merch at americanhysteria.com, all profits go to The Sam…

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The Insanity Defense with Mackenzie Joy Brennan 1:20:40

5M ago1:20:40

1:20:40

What do John Hinckley Jr. and a jazz age tuberculosis patient have in common? Legal correspondent Mackenzie Joy Brennan takes Sarah through some of the strange cases that helped make—and break—the insanity defense in America. Our story includes a woman who carried her (alleged) victims’ bodies around in a suitcase, and the attempted assassination…

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DEAR ABBY AND ANN LANDERS 1:13:27

5M ago1:13:27

1:13:27

Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, also known as Dear Abby, were newspaper advice columnists answering questions and printing statements from their 100 million readers from the 1950s to the early 2000s. The flamboyant, eccentric women behind the columns, Eppie Lederer and Popo Phillips, had a fiery rivalry as they fought for the top spot of the adv…

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Titanic in Real Time 1:02:56

5M ago1:02:56

1:02:56

This is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. Our associate producer (and my brother) Riley Swedelius-Smith is here to tell us the absolutely wild and little-known story of how news of the Titanic shipwreck traveled to shore as the tragedy was all unfolding. We can use your support right now! ⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠…

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K'Lee Terrazas: From Solopreneur to Scale: Mastering Business Growth (Part 2) 22:39

5M ago22:39

22:39

About K'Lee Terrazas: K'Lee Terrazas is the founder of Legal Lead Sharks, bringing over 15 years of experience in sales and marketing to help law firms grow smarter and scale faster. More than just a Google Ads agency, her team acts as a fractional CMO, guiding firms from lead generation to signed cases by fixing the often-ignored systems after the…

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Polybius: The Arcade Conspiracy 40:36

5M ago40:36

40:36

This is a bonus episode from our subscribers-only podcast Hysteria Home Companion. I share the history of an 80s urban legend with our producer Miranda Zickler, one about a dangerous video game that appeared in Portland arcades with possible links to the mysterious government agents known as the Men in Black and then disappeared without a trace. ⁠B…

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Corn Mazes with Chelsey Weber-Smith 1:04:22

5M ago1:04:22

1:04:22

Can you find your way out of the maize? The corn maze has become an enduring attraction of the American autumnal experience, seen at touristy family farms next to pumpkin patches and haunted houses. But what are the historical roots of this iconic living puzzle? Sarah guides the eternally-lost Chelsey Weber-Smith through the twists and turns of the…

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K'Lee Terrazas: From Solopreneur to Scale: Standing Out in a Vanilla World 29:21

5M ago29:21

29:21

About K'Lee Terrazas: K'Lee Terrazas is the founder of Legal Lead Sharks, bringing over 15 years of experience in sales and marketing to help law firms grow smarter and scale faster. More than just a Google Ads agency, her team acts as a fractional CMO, guiding firms from lead generation to signed cases by fixing the often-ignored systems after the…

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Not Just a Phase: Goths Through History with Christine Laskowski 1:15:14

5M ago1:15:14

1:15:14

Christine Laskowski shares her research into how an ancient barbarian people known as the Goths came to represent everything from edgy Hot Topic fashion and the band Joy Division to the Notre Dame cathedral and Flannery O'Connor's writing. Christine is the host of the podcast T&J, a limited series about 6th century Byzantium. Listen to the T&J podc…

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The Top 10 FAQs You Should Be Asking About IBC 19:50

6M ago19:50

19:50

In this episode, your hosts, Jason and Carter, discuss: Recapture money from traditional banking systems Control personal capital and banking function Build consistent financial foundation Protect wealth across generations Develop financial education for legacy Key Takeaways: Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) transforms how you interact with money, an…

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The Imaginary Gods of ChatGPT with Journalist Miles Klee 1:00:04

6M ago1:00:04

1:00:04

Miles Klee is the author of a recent Rolling Stone article titled People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies which tells the stories of ChatGPT users who have come to believe that their chatbot is a sentient spiritual being. For this episode, Miles and I discuss the experiences of these ChatGPT worshippers, why the chatbot’s answ…

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Pee-wee Herman Part 2 with Jamie Loftus 1:03:47

6M ago1:03:47

1:03:47

In the second part of our series, pop culture historian Jamie Loftus takes us through the meteoric rise of Pee-wee Herman and the withering of Paul Reubens' world as dubious allegations surface that threaten to turn a beloved children’s character into a real life villain. Jamie tells us about his struggle to reconcile the character of Pee-wee with …