Sophie is pretty terrible. Robert is interesting as are the topics.

Have you ever thought of doing this topic? Would love to see how you and Sophie handle it.

Sophie is brilliant at stating the obvious. Good job

Mostly okay, but there isn’t enough Sophie.

In the March 2020 episode, “How LRH Made an Antichrist,” the host says “mononogomy” instead of “monogamy.” The context makes clear this wasn’t a simple word fumble. He’s so unaccustomed to normal socio-sexual politics that the word escapes him. Fascinating, in a way. “There’s healthy ways to do mononogomy.” Okay great, thanks? No new ground was covered on the episode, just the same vague sex magick symbology found on Parsons’ & LRH’s Wikipedia.

When Sophie starts talking, forward 30s, back 15s. Repeat as necessary.

Everyone’s quite entertaining, politically cool, and fun. I especially love Robert and Sophie’s relationship/banter. I’ve been listening to this every week (more or less) for about a year now. Also helps that a one of the cool zone folks have run in similar circles that I was in. My parents grew up under Ceausescu, and every single aspect that Robert described about him, I grew up hearing stories of. He also tackled the subject from a politically conscientious angle (those who seek to have power over others produce harm). Ceausescu, RFK, and the Himmler episodes are my favorite thus far. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the Clavicular episodes recently. I do understand some frustration about the Netflix deal, I would also like to say it seems like behind the scenes there was a lot of pushback and it was out of of Sophie and Robert’s own hands. It’s not a thrilling thing, but unfortunately healthcare is a massive necessity. So I understand why CoolZone is sticking with iHeart for now.

I can't listen to this show because the Robin Quivers person just says "ewwww". Really? That's it? Just say EWWWWW inside your head if that's all you have to add.

Sold their audience out for a buck from Netflix. Been a fan since day one, but them pulling and paywalling free content to try to get people to sub to Netflix for the same content is gross.

I want to love this podcast but Sophie is obnoxious, especially when it’s heavy topics like Epstein, and she’s yelling ‘ew’ or talking over Robert.

If your first instinct, as a reviewer, is to unfairly malign Sophie, you are a miserable human being and should maybe examine your heart for sexism. (Or just eff off into the sun. I believe that’s how the David Lynch quote goes? Fix your hearts or off into the sun you go?) Anyway. It’s fine. History with a side of bleak (and sometimes abrasive) humor, the “you’re laughing because otherwise you’d be crying” sort of stuff. I admit I don’t quite love it with my whole heart (it’s not my favorite coping mechanism), but I love it enough, I guess.

Why bring on guests with nails-on-chalkboard voices who also interrupt constantly? If I can’t follow the narrative bc of constant interruptions/migraines, I stop listening to that series early in ep. 1 and wait until you get a different guest a couple weeks later.

Not to be trusted when discussing anything involving foreign policy. When it really matters (Syria, China, Ukraine, Venezuela, Cuba, etc…), Robert “Bellingcat” Evans always sides with the US State Department over the international working class.

would pay for episodes with sophie edited out

My iPhone won’t let me listen to this podcast anymore, just this podcast. Anyone else? I’ve listened to it for 6 years

Love the guests, particularly Dr. Kaveh and Prop. Would love to see them on together.

cannot count how many times i’ve been recommended this show; finally listened bc i thought a deep informative dive into the hideous short history of the manosphere would be really interesting. lemme save you the time: in the two-part episode on the subject, if you were to remove all the grabassing, crosstalk, embarrassing ‘jokes’ and giggling, you might end up with twenty minutes’ worth of information that could be better had from wikipedia.

Well written, great banter and Sophie and Robert and the guests have incredible rapport. Really great podcast and the archives are deep. We love Sophie for keeping it all together she is 1a and Robert is 1b. Let the haters listen to brain rot podcasts instead

i do really like this podcast, no meme here! fun and insightful. but i know why you turned off the comments ins spotify 👀 and i agree

Seriously, someone mute her mic until she’s ready to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way. The constant talking over Robert and the guests is so grating to hear. I have been listening for years, and every time I take a break, it’s a direct result of her.

Oops all Sophie? I’m just saying. It’s a great show; I noticed many reviews dogging her (what a shock, eh?) so here’s my counter balance. Sophie forever!

Great topics but the girls commentary needs to stopppp! I couldn’t even hear what was being said cause she said “ew” literally like 30 times in a row.

I really just wanted the facts on the Hobby Lobby Artifacts scandal but instead I got some facts but a lot speculations because they hate Christian conservatives so much. I could not make it through the first ten minutes it was so awful.

Sophie’s humor should be studied. It’s a perfectly preserved artifact of everything not funny and oh so terribly cringe about millennial 2000’s online humor. She’s like a living walking talking rage comic personified and preserved in amber. Listening to this podcast like trying to talk to the mysteriously knowledgeable dude in the back of the class while you’re constantly interrupted by the annoying girl who wears cat ears and fingerless gloves.

Tell Sophie to shut up

My favorite podcast for the better part of a decade now. BTB has genuinely helped shape my worldview and helped me become a better person, and I’m so thankful for the work that Robert and the rest of the crew (especially Sophie!!!) do. Every episode teaches me something new and fascinating and causes me to laugh out loud at multiple points. Also, all the conservative losers whining in the comments about the “conservative bashing” on the show sustains me and gives me life. Keep it coming, dorks.

Thank you for the most recent BTB 4 episodes on the influence of Jeffrey Epstein on modern societal infrastructures. I almost never hear journalists seriously address his brother Mark Epstein. I don’t get that.

Don’t listen to the haters I love Sophie participating it’s great I miss her so much when I listen to old episodes

The banter between the guests, Robert, and Sophie is always a delight and keeps the podcast engaging and entertaining while covering these bleak subjects. Don’t mind to the incels hating on Sophie & the guests for speaking. Listening to only one person for an hour straight would be duller than dishwater.

I was a history minor in college, and remember thinking how much was purposefully left out of my education to that point. Read People’s History while in Iraq, and caught that same feeling. The stuff that Zinn couldn’t stomach? That’s this show. 10/10 no notes.

I really like this show when it’s really just the host talking. I can’t even listen to the deadly treatment episode because the guest won’t stop talking. There doesn’t need to be so many injections, just let the story be told, none of care about their personal stories or them asking questions to the host. The producer interrupts with the most useless comments all the time too. I don’t need to hear someone go “omg ewww” yeah we all know you don’t need to keep doing it,

If you’ve ever seen that clip of Yoko Ono yodeling into the mid while John Lennon and Chuck Berry Jam you’ve basically seen a summary of every episode of this show. Great content but the interruptions are extremely irritating

It’s already been said, but recent episodes are hard to listen too. The producer should stick to production. I’m sure if she goes back and listens she can hear the problem, it’s very obvious.

This podcast has great potential. Have Sophie expand her vocabulary. She could be replaced by a button that says “ew” every 30 seconds. She contributes nothing to the conversation. Redo as a solo or duo.

The information is presented really well on Epstein, but if I had to hear the woman host say ”EW” more time…. I had to turn it off. I wish I had a count for how many times she said it, but I couldn’t listen any longer.

Overall I like the show, but every once in a while there’s a guest that’s just too much. Gabe Dunn was that off putting guest for me recently. They just talked too much and really slowed the episode down. Gabe’s voice just isn’t for me, I hope they aren’t a guest again. If they are I’ll have to skip those episodes.

Love the pod, but listening is like trying to have a conversation with friends while an annoying kid keeps butting in. The Epstein eps were my last straw…if I had to hear Sophie yell “ew” one more time I was gonna scream. Deeply childish behavior and actively standing in the way of critically engaging with a serious conversation…if you can’t handle the subject matter, leave the room.

Epstein episode ruined by Sophie (as are others) and Dr. Sleep ruined by Gabe. All the interjections are awful and make it hard to keep on track with what would likely be a really informative and interesting episode

I love the show, Robert is excellent at laying out stories of these awful people, his guests/cohosts are entertaining and engaging, and until now I enjoyed Sophie acting as third host but these Epstein episodes are changing that. I think she is funny and has meaningful contributions to this show usually, but constantly interrupting the script to retort “ew ew ew ewwww” about a known very gross man and his reprehensible friends isn’t adding much. It mostly distracts me from the show and irritates me while trying to listen. Not trying to be mean just giving a critique. Thank you for the show and all the hard work behind the scenes.

I love this show and I have no problem with but Sophie pleas don’t bring the guest that was on the doctor sleep episode

I was excited to start this podcast. I chose random ones to start with. Within minutes, there was Trump and conservatives bashing... On EACH episode. I can't imagine how many episodes does this. Didn't realize this is a political podcast. Ridiculous, intolerant, and petty.

Love this show overall, especially Robert’s style of detailed research and foundation-laying. Giving it four stars though because of Sophie - her interjections and commentary don’t add anything and detract from Robert’s conversation with his guests, to the point where it makes it hard to listen. Please keep Sophie a producer, not a host!

The topics and stories are really interesting, but I agree with the other comments about Sophie’s interjections. Every time she speaks I wince because the comments are inevitably irrelevant at best and cringeworthy at worst. It comes across as middle school commentary and misaligned with the tenor of the show.

Annoying hosts and insanely childish outbursts.

long time listener and fan of the show. but sophie’s constant interjections has made it so hard to listen. she’s always interrupting robert and the guests and disrupting the flow of the episode with her comments, which are usually just her reactions or repeating what has already said. unless she’s going to be added as a cohost, mute her mic.

Robert’s research and presence make this show. The recurring guests…Jamie, James, Garrison, Andrew… serve as an effective foils. However, Sophie’s interjections often derail funny bits or genuinely interesting chains of Robert’s commentary, with little to no intellectual or comedic value added. I used to tolerate but recently her interruptions seems to be getting worse…we get it: Jeffrey Epstein an co are gross… Sophie interrupting for the fortieth time to say “ew” doesn’t enhance that understanding, it just derails and makes the show so much less listenable. Please, can we return to the previous time where producer was actually a background role?

The host sounds like a valley girl using the word like several times in each sentence and Sophie needs to pipe down because her contributions make the show unlistenable

The main guy clearly does plenty of research and tried to stay on topic but his guests who clearly have less background understanding of the topic constantly interrupt him. I think it would be better if he had less guests

I really enjoy the podcast, but I feel that Sophie’s input is forced and adds no real value to the show. I feel horrible saying this, but anytime she talks, I cringe.

Honestly I just can’t see myself opening up Netflix. “Ew” as some would say.