You Can’t Make This Up

A bright and mesmerizing teenager tries to make her way in the world only to find her father is the one person standing in her way. Sharon Marshall navigates high school in the 1980s with a mysterious home life that troubles all those around her. As her teenage years unfold, so does the darkness of Sharon and her father's relationship. Girl in the Picture Podcast is a companion to the documentary...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series "Web of Make Believe: Death Lies and the Internet" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Brian Knappenberger. The Internet connects friends and strangers like never before. But that ease of communication, and the ability to mask your identity or location, can make the digital world...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Rachel Dretzin. Through personal accounts, "Keep Sweet" reveals the incredible events leading to the 2011 life sentence of Warren Jeffs, the self-professed prophet of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latte...

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey." From forced underage marriage and pregnancy - to a complete unraveling of the oppressive criminal cult of Fundamentalist Mormons under Warren Jeffs’ rule - the story uncovers extraordinary bravery battling tyrannical control in modern America. In our next episode, host Rebecca Lavoie...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series "Meltdown: Three Mile Island" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Kief Davidson. In 1979, crews at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania were stunned when a series of malfunctions led to a partial core meltdown. Though plant operators said the situation was under con...

On this special bonus, we’re going to hear an episode of the podcast "Factually! with Adam Conover" as Adam talks about his new Netflix series, “The G Word.”  Love it or hate it, the government plays a huge role in our lives. Adam explores its triumphs, failures and how we might be able to change it.  In this podcast, The Fifth Risk author Michael Lewis turns the tables on Adam, interviewing him a...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are again talking about the Netflix documentary "Our Father" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Lucie Jourdan. For decades, Dr. Donald Cline was a respected physician in fertility medicine. With the growing availability of home DNA-testing, many of the adult-children conceived at his clinic began to search for relatives of thei...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary "Our Father" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews documentary subject Jacoba Ballard. Jacoba’s mother became pregnant with the help of an Indiana fertility clinic and donor sperm. When she used a home DNA kit to find possible half-siblings, she found more people than would be conceived by an avera...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Emma Cooper. Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe's tragic death spawned conspiracies and rumors leading all the way to the White House and which Hollywood legends are made of, securing her unique place in history. By piecing t...

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes."  She was Hollywood's biggest star and her 1962 overdose rocked the nation. Hear directly from those who knew her work, her personal life, and secrets about her death. In our next episode, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews the director of "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe," Emma Cooper. If you have...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary "White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Alison Klayman. The clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch conquered malls in the late ‘90s with gorgeous models at the door, pulsing dance beats from inside, and a fierce scent all over. It had the aur...

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about "White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch."  All the cool kids were wearing it. This documentary explores A&F’s pop culture reign in the late ’90s and early 2000s and how it thrived on exclusion. In our next episode, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews the director of "White Hot," Alison Klayman. If you haven't watched the film yet, make...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the documentary series "Our Great National Parks" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews  Executive Producer James Honeyborne and Series Producer Sophie Todd. Produced and narrated by former President Barack Obama, "Our Great National Parks" brims with wonder, humor, and optimism as each episode tells the story of a park t...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the documentary series "Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King" out now on Netflix. Our host Rebecca Lavoie interviews the director of the documentary film, Luke Sewell. Gerald Cotten was the head of Canada's largest bitcoin exchange. While on his honeymoon to India, Gerald become ill and died from complications from Crohn's disea...

On this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the documentary series "The Andy Warhol Diaries" out now on Netflix. Our host Rebecca Lavoie interviews the director Andrew Rossi. This breathtakingly expansive, six-part portrait of a legend chronicles the remarkable life of Andy Warhol from the intimate vantage point offered by the artist’s own posthumously published diaries. Though...

Today we're talking about "Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives." which is the latest documentary series on Netflix, directed by Chris Smith. Bad Vegan is about a wild four-part documentary series that explores how Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restaurateur behind the glittering New York hotspot Pure Food and Wine, went from being the queen of vegan cuisine to being known as the “Vegan Fugitive.” S...

Today on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the true-crime series, "Worst Roommate Ever" out now on Netflix. Our host Rebecca Lavoie interviews the director and executive producer, Domini Hoffman about the terrifying series.  Every day in newspaper ads and online posts, people reach out to find someone to share a space and the cost of their rental properties with, but who is that strange...

Today on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about "jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy" out now on Netflix. The lives of an emerging superstar and filmmaker intertwine in this intense and intimate three-act documentary following Kanye West's career. The documentary event showcases both his formative days trying to break through and his life today as a global brand and artist. Our host Rebecca Lavoie in...

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about "jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy" out now on Netflix. The lives of an emerging superstar and filmmaker intertwine in this intense and intimate three-part documentary following Kanye West's career. The documentary event showcases both his formative days trying to break through and his life today as a global brand and artist. In our next episode, ho...

New to this podcast? We tend to talk about some pretty heavy stuff, from stories about true crime, scandals, and swindles... to documentaries ranging from socially conscious to emotionally gripping and suspenseful. BUT TODAY on You Can't Make This Up, we are adding a little bit of spice and Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness! You better believe that on this episode, our host Rebecca Lavoie spe...

Years before he was pretending to be a millionaire playboy, Simon Leviev was Shimon Hayut, the son of an Orthodox rabbi from a small town near Tel Aviv. In this final episode we take a deep dive into Shimon’s younger years. We’ll hear the true tale of his upbringing, his earliest crimes, and a chilling story that shines a new light on the making of a Swindler. The Making of a Swindler is a compani...

It’s clear that Simon is a criminal mastermind. But that level of skill requires practice, and a certain amount of pathology. In this episode, Felicity and Bernadette try to understand the mind – and methods – of the Swindler. We hear from an old friend - patient zero if you like - who knew Simon before he was The Prince of Diamonds. The Making of a Swindler is a companion to the documentary, The...

Wherever he went, Simon Leviev’s entourage would follow. A carefully curated supporting cast – his business partner, his driver, his security guard and more – created an air of glamour and legitimacy. But who were these people? Were they in on the scam? Or were they victims of his lies, as much as the women Simon swindled? In this first special episode, we look into the theater of Simon.  The Maki...

SPOILERS AHEAD! Today Rebecca talks with the director and producer of the hit documentary, The Tinder Swindler.  Felicity Morris and Bernadette Higgins talk about how they wanted to focus on the women behind this story and the sophisticated nature of the con. They also explain why it can be so hard to prosecute swindlers like Simon. Plus, they introduce the upcoming You Can't Make This Up series,...

In this week's episode we take a closer look at a Netflix documentary podcast, 'The Last Movie Ever Made.' This podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Netflix film 'Don't Look Up.' Today we have the film's Co-Producer and Podcast contributor, Staci Roberts-Steele speaking with our host, Rebecca Lavoie. The production of the film's fictional global emergency was upended by a real-...