HILF: History I'd Like to F**k
Host, comedian Dawn Brodey, takes you through the annals of history with a special guest and history subject each episode. From Dillinger to Frankenstein, from The Crusades to Freak Shows - Dawn brings her history degree and unfiltered sense of humor to deliver well-researched deep-dives that strip history naked and serve it up raw.
Episodes
Get into the ring with Spartacus! An enslaved gladiator turned rebel general who led the largest, most destructive assault against the Roman Empire EVER. Dawn is joined by comedian, JB Ball, who also happens to be the biggest Spartacus nerd of all time, as they trade facts and laugh... a lot!
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✅ Keep up with JB Ball on Instagram
🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flapp...
Join Dawn and a LIVE audience to get the true story you probably heard first in Jaws. It's the USS Indianapolis a doomed ship from World War 2 which endured one of the worst shark attacks in human history. On the anniversary of both the release of the movie and the sinking of the real-life ship, you'll learn along with guest, Mark Decarlo, TV. host, VO actor, and hell of a trivia player.
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JOIN US AT THE NEXT SHOW!
2026 is going to be a big year for HILF! Find out what annals Dawn will be exploring next, and what it means for you!
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🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA
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LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck)
- See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Histories Greatest Mysteries (multiple seasons)
- See Dawn on THE HISTORY CHANNEL - Crazy Rich Ancients
- Check ou...
Before it was a modern language-learning program, the Rosetta Stone was the ancient world’s ultimate decoder ring—a 2,200-year-old decree carved in stone that finally unlocked Egyptian hieroglyphics. Without it, your favorite stories and lives from ancient Egypt might’ve stayed silent forever! Join Dawn and guest, her sister-in-law Maggie, who is a former linguistics major and maker of fine martinis.
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🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Pub...
Return with Dawn and guest, improvisor Kelly Vrooman, as they follow Catherine the Great from the dramatic coup that brought her power, through her rein as The Last Empress of Russia. Forbidden pregnancies, secret letters, and of course... that whole thing with the horse that allegedly fucked her death.
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✅ Listen to Catherine the Great, Part One
✅ Follow Kelly Vrooman on Instagram.
🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, ...
Join Dawn and the hilarious, Kelly Vrooman, as they saddle up with Catherine the Great. Hear how a young German girl in middle-nobility finds herself the Last Empress of Russia. You'll love the torrid story of Catherine's rise, you'll fall for at least one of her many lovers, and find out why she is well-remembered as one of the HILF-iest HILFs of all time.
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✅ Follow Kelly Vrooman on Instagram.
🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public Schoo...
Mary Shelley began writing her novel, Frankenstein, in 1816 when she was only 17 years old. Today it remains one of the most-assigned books of all time, finding it's way into classes ranging from Law to Scientific Ethics to Fashion to Politics. As a new film by Guillermo del Toro is set to debut on Netflix, re-join Dawn for the episode that started the podcast!
Guest, Helen Shephard, is a British TV Host, model and comedian, who ha...
On a chilly January morning in 1947, officers arrived to what they were told was "a broken mannequin" lying in a field. They discovered instead, the body of a woman cut completely in half at the waist. She lay naked and drained of blood, her two halves a foot apart, arms draped almost elegantly over her head.
Yikes, right?
Nearly 80 years later, the case remains both unforgotten and unsolved.
Join Dawn and guest, Kaycee Conlee, a...
It's July 3rd, 2025 and Dawn can hardly contain herself as she invites the audience at Flappers Comedy Club to fall down the rabbit hole of history along with her, LIVE! She is joined in this HILF-ing by two special guests: comedian Lauren Harding, who get's down with King George III; and then by America's favorite step-mom Ryan Keeley who helps Dawn undress George Washington.
JOIN US AT THE NEXT SHOW!
🎟️ HILF Public School - the l...
If you get into a heated conversation on any subject these days (and who isn’t?) it often ends with someone being called a “F*cking Marxist” or “Capitalist PIG". Join Dawn and comedian, Mary Gallagher, to find out which one YOU might be... and if it's a bad thing.
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🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA
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Billy the Kid - like Black Beard and Al Capone - is one of those real historical characters whose life was so colorful and dramatic that the facts sound like fiction. Dawn is joined by actress and comedian, Kerstin Porter, for a ride with one of the most famous figures of the old west. Get to know William H Bonney, aka: William Antrim, aka: Henry McCarty who would forever be remembered as Billy the Kid.
Hear the story of the so-called Scopes Money Trial from 1925, during which Americans debated if evolution should be taught in schools... a debate that continues now, 100 years later. Dawn also answers some of Ryan’s questions which run the gamut from her personal faith to pop-star divas.
🎧 HILF EP86 - Religion in America with Ryan Ripple
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In Los Angeles? Join Dawn LIVE for HILF Public School - 1st Thursdays of the month at Flapp...
Dawn and bestie, Ryan Ripple, take on the easy, non-controversial subject of Protestant Christianity in America.
As your history books have told you, the earliest colonial settlers came seeking religious freedom, what few discuss is why these denominations were considered 'fringe' back in Europe. Walk with Dawn and Ryan down the holy road from the Shakers of the Revolutionary War, to the Prosperity Gospel of MAGA - and find yourse...
"...education is in trouble, but they can't defund me - I work for beer!" - Dawn Brodey
The first Thursday of every month, fans of comedy and history unite at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, California whence we drink, laugh and learn stuff in the class you always wished you had!
This episode was recorded live on Thursday, June 5th, 2025 and includes a full 10 minute stand-up comedy set by comedian/historian, Jason Horton - after wh...
In Part One of the Manson Family Murders, you went through the law-and-order portion of the history. Now settle in for some of Dawn's favorite mysteries, conspiracies and so much more.
🔔 This is the last episode before HILF Summer Break! Watch social media for updates and events throughout June/July and look forward to the next NEW EPISODE to come out August 6th.
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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)
- Book - Helter Skelter...
Dawn is joined by her sister, Lisa; and niece, Ellie for the HILF-ing of Los Angeles’s most famous true-crime tragedy. Hear about Charles Manson and how the world learned about his sinister cult.
As Dawn is a resident of LA, you'll ride shot-gun briefly as they leave the studio and visit a crime scene in order to better understand this dark page from LA’s past. Buckle up!
SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)
- Book - Helter Skelter b...
Hear the story of Rosemary Kennedy, sister to John F Kennedy, who goes from being the media-darling of a royal ball, to the the victim of a botched lobotomy at the age of 23.
To thank for this sad and fascinating HILF is Molly McAleer who is a comedy writer, and behind the mic of a few hit podcasts including Trend Lightly, and Mother May I Sleep With - which is devoted to Lifetime movies!
Catch Molly's LIVE SHOW Friends Only Live! (...
Welcome back! When last we met Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their Corps of Discovery, our heroes had navigated over 2,000 miles. Up and down rivers, across the Continental Divide, and all way to the Northern Pacific Coast. They saw a dead whale, it was nuts.
In the conclusion, learn why those who first saw present-day Yellowstone Park thought it was literal hell on earth; hear how Sacegewea’s son finds himself in the royal ...
Lewis & Clark were more than just two white guys in buckskins! Join Dawn and the “Corps of Discovery” as they venture into the wildest of the wild West. Meet Sacegawea, fight a grizzly, and find out what it takes to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1805.
Along with Dawn on this historic journey, is comedian Alex Malt, whose first comedy album debuts this summer!
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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)
It’s the wild, true story of Donald Nichols, a seventh-grade drop-out who rises from Army Mechanic to Black Ops Phenomenon during the Korean War. Hear the whole twisted tale - from his unlikely rise, to his fall, to the weeks of electroshock therapy - and from Blaine Harden, the world’s leading expert on the subject.
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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)
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