Bad Elizabeth Podcast: Exploring The Stories Of Those Evil Elizabeths

 True Crime is fertile ground for podcasting, primarily because human nature being what it is, it offers so many examples to draw from.  

I am always confident that independent podcasters have a unique take on the familiar true-crime podcast format. That's especially true of Bad Elizabeth. Produced by Jett Road Studios, Bad Elizabeth, a comedic true-crime podcast hosted by friends and former The Daily Show with Jon Stewart office mates, Gideon Evans and Kathy Egan-Taylor. 

The premise is as simple as it sounds - each episode explores the story of an “Elizabeth” (or any derivation of that name) who is notorious; be they a murderer, a fraudster, or just a complete a-hole. These women span both past and present, in pop culture, and world history. Gideon and Kathy guide listeners through these sordid and outrageous tales breezily, as if you were a guest at a fun cocktail party. 

Season one Elizabeths profiled include famed axe-wielder Lizzie Borden, imprisoned Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, the ruthless Queen Elizabeth I, and the bloodthirsty Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathory. Gideon and Kathy explore the misdeeds of the Elizabeths in question, and determine whether they deserve to be called "bad". Each episode also features a special guest, be it an expert, actor, author, or an actual living and breathing Elizabeth (a good one).

Thank goodness that actor and all-around wonderful person Betty White was actually a Betty and not short for Elizabeth!

Evans and Egan-Taylor don’t harbor any resentment against Elizabeths - many of whom they hope to woo as listeners - however, there are a lot of them out there who are objectively shitty (we all know at least one). Consider yourself warned!

 You can see why Gideon Evans and Kathy Egan-Taylor were successful writers on The Daily Show. They are genuinely funny, with strong narrative skills, while firmly maintain a tongue-in-cheek style. I liked the ominous intro music and the fact that the hosts explain the premise of the show in every episode so that new listeners are on firm footing.

The show has a guest for each episode to discuss that show's Bad Elizabeth. Episode eight has actor Julie Delphy to discuss the sordid, gory story of Countess Erzsebet (the Hungarian variation of Elizabeth) Bathory,  AKA “The Blood Countess.” Born into an aristocratic family with lots of in-breeding in 1560 in the Kingdom of Hungary (an area that is part of Slovakia today), Bathory came to believe that blood was the tonic that could help her achieve eternal youth, and she ended up torturing and killing up to 650 young maidens, in hopes of preserving her smooth, alabaster skin. 

The co-hosts describe how she used many methods of luring maidens to the castle, and even more methods of extracting the young women's blood - including torture devices like the Iron Maiden. She drank blood, bathed in blood, and even forced a few women to eat their own flesh. Apart from these horrific acts, Bathory was very adept at running and defending her massive estate, and even indulged in meaningful philanthropy. The story of Bathory was an inspiration for Bram Stoker when he wrote "Dracula" (in addition to the Romanian Vlad the Impaler). Bathory was also a model for many characters in literature and film, including the Evil Queen in Snow White. It may not be a surprise that Bathory is also a muse for several heavy metal bands from around the world.

The show is produced at/by Jett Road Studios, which is a podcast production company based in Studio City, CA. The studio is operated by producer/engineer Will Becton, and executive producer Amber Becton. "It is an intimate space where people can record their podcast in a comfortable, creative atmosphere."

Unlike many podcasts where the engineer's work is behind the mic, Will Becton is an active participant on the show. 

I personally liked the look of the studio and agree the design activates creativity. 

Here's a perfect example of how indie podcasters -- Gideon Evans and Kathy Egan-Taylor with Will Becton -- can conjure up a new treatment for a podcast genre -- true crime -- that seems all too familiar, trope-ridden, meme-centric, and as formulaic as a Hallmark Christmas movie.

Bad Elizabeth is fresh air in the true-crime space, with cynical wit, gallows humor, and a snide approach to these malefactors. For season two, I recommend Bad Donalds. Look at the choices -- Donald Duck (pantless), Don Draper (ruthless) and Donald Trump (clueless).