You Can’t Make This Up

You Can’t Make This Up

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.

Episodes

December 31, 2025 37 mins
We return to our discussion of the one true crime story you couldn’t get enough of in 2025: the Netflix documentary series Amy Bradley is Missing. Host Rebecca Lavoie revisits her conversation with directors Phil Lott and Ari Mark. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched Amy Bradley is Missing yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.  Dig deeper into all of your favorite Netflix documentaries and films at t...
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On this episode, we’re revisiting one of the most thought-provoking and conversation-starting films from the past year. We’ll return to our discussion of the Netflix documentary The Perfect Neighbor. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Geeta Gandbhir and producer Nikon Kwantu. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched The Perfect Neighbor yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.  Dig deeper into all of yo...
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December 18, 2025 28 mins
In our latest look at the Netflix documentary series Sean Combs: The Reckoning, we’ll hear from Combs’s former personal assistant, Capricorn Clark. She talks about her complex working relationship with Combs, the difficulties of coming forward with her story, what it was like to face him in federal court, and her reaction to the jurors who said in the series that she was not a convincing witness. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watc...
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December 10, 2025 34 mins
The Netflix documentary film The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo follows war correspondent Gary Knight as he attempts to learn who actually captured the famous “Napalm Girl” picture. The hunt for the unidentified photographer will take him across the globe and put him at odds with a journalistic community deeply protective of Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Nick Út’s legacy. Knight enlists a visual forensics team to pin...
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December 3, 2025 37 mins
The four-part Netflix series Sean Combs: The Reckoning is a staggering examination of the media mogul, music legend, and convicted offender. It features never before-seen-videos of Combs in the days before his arrest. It also offers exclusive interviews with those who allege he used violence to succeed in business and exploit women.  In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producers Alex...
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November 26, 2025 37 mins
The Netflix documentary film The Carman Family Deaths looks into the strange events surrounding Nathan Carman and whether he murdered his mother and grandfather for a multimillion dollar inheritance. It explores whether police misinterpreted the typical behavior of an autistic person as incriminating, and whether the tragedy on the high seas was an accident or a crime. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie...
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November 19, 2025 35 mins
The Netflix documentary Being Eddie looks at Eddie Murphy’s remarkable life - from superstardom to career lows and back again. For the first time, he tells his own story about his varied artistic choices, avoiding celebrity pitfalls, and living as a dad and a homebody. It features interviews with legendary comedians who discuss Murphy’s legacy and ponder what it must be like being Eddie Murphy.  In this episode of You Can't Make T...
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November 12, 2025 36 mins
The Netflix documentary series Marines follow the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as they prepare for a high-stakes training exercise that tests their readiness “in the air, on land and sea.” The series follows a group of enlisted men and officers  - snipers, gunners, and pilots - as they push themselves physically and emotionally in order “to claim the title of United States Marine.”  In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, hos...
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November 5, 2025 36 mins
The Netflix documentary film Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers recounts Aileen Wuornos’s violent childhood, lethal killing spree, and problematic trial. It provides additional context to her story and invites viewers to reconsider her complicated legacy. Featuring never-before-seen footage from death row, Wuornos discusses the trauma she endured, the case against her, and the victims of her crimes. In this episode of You Can't M...
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October 29, 2025 41 mins
The Netflix documentary film Who Killed the Montreal Expos? revisits the baseball team’s collapse and relocation to Washington. It lets heartbroken fans, beloved players, and vilified owners point fingers at who or what was responsible for the club’s demise. Was it management blunders, labor disputes, political indifference, or basic economics? Or…do all these things share blame for Montréal losing its beloved baseball team?   In ...
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October 22, 2025 37 mins
The Netflix documentary film The Perfect Neighbor offers a real-time look at the simmering dispute between a white woman and her Black neighbors. Told largely through police body cam footage, it reveals the petty complaints that started the conflict - and the heart-wrenching grief when it ended. It also explores whether Susan Lorincz tried to weaponize police against those living around her and whether she tried to exploit self-def...
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October 15, 2025 36 mins
In the Netflix documentary My Father, the BTK Killer, Kerri Rawson embarks on a personal journey of understanding—confronting childhood trauma and searching for healing. In this bonus from the podcast Monster: BTK from Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts, Executive Producer Payne Lindsey sits down with Kerri to talk about her early childhood, learning about her dad's true identity when she was an adult, and dealing with the aftermath ...
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October 8, 2025 34 mins
The Netflix documentary Rebel Royals offers an intimate look at the unlikely romance between Märtha Louise, daughter of the King of Norway, and Shaman Durek Verrett, a mystic from California. The spiritual couple navigates issues of class, race, and national identity as they prepare for a royal wedding among the Scandinavian fjords. They address critics in the press and the public who view their union as an oddity, and reveal what ...
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October 1, 2025 35 mins
In part two of our look at the Netflix series Love Con Revenge, we talk to the private eye working with The Tinder Swindler’s Cecilie Fjellhøy about the tradecraft of locating other con artists who’ve swindled their partners. She discusses the challenge of uncovering their web of deceit and bringing any measure of justice for victims duped by those who loved their money more than they loved them. In this episode of You Can't Make ...
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September 24, 2025 39 mins
In the Netflix series Love Con Revenge, Cecilie Fjellhøy from The Tinder Swindler teams with a private investigator to track down other swindlers and tell the stories of those left both broke and heartbroken. Faced with limited legal options, the team goes to bat for a group of victims who were ripped off in different ways, but were all victims in elaborate romantic long cons. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecc...
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September 17, 2025 42 mins
From Executive Producer Spike Lee, the Netflix series Katrina: Come Hell and High Water tells the story of what happened, what’s changed, and what hasn’t. It recounts the harrowing experiences of those whose lives were forever changed by the storm. And it provides a report card 20 years later on the long term efforts to rebuild a community and its culture, and the effects of Katrina’s wounds that will not heal. In this episode of ...
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September 10, 2025 38 mins
The Netflix documentary film aka Charlie Sheen looks at the actor’s rise to movie and TV stardom, his personal demons, and his public implosion. With deeply candid insights from those he loved and those he fought, Sheen gives his own colorful takes on the heights of celebrity, the depths of addiction, the cycle of self-destruction, and the quest to be #winning at life. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie...
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September 3, 2025 36 mins
The Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish brings us the teen victims, their families, and the investigators behind a disturbing case of digital harassment. We also hear from the catfish who attempts to explain their actions, as well as the people they hurt, about whether or not they can forgive the pain inflicted on them. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Skye ...
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August 27, 2025 34 mins
In the Netflix documentary The Truth About Jussie Smollett? we hear directly from the actor about his claim he was beaten by racists that frigid night on a Chicago sidewalk. We also hear from police, journalists, and the two men who say Smollett paid them to fake the hate crime. The film also explores unexamined evidence which questions whether the assailants were actually the two Black men who took responsibility…or whether they w...
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In the Netflix series Fit for TV: The Reality of The Biggest Loser, former contestants, producers, and stars of the show talk about what went into making the revolutionary weight-loss competition. It reveals the tensions between medical staff and show runners about the lengths players were pushed to. It explores The Biggest Loser’s legacy and the long-term effects on those who played the game. In this episode of You Can't Make Thi...
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