You're Wrong About...

What do you get when you combine a horror movie audience, a spiritualist séance, and a haunted house attraction? Beginning in the 1930s and lasting into the 1960s, midnight ghost shows were ghoulishly chaotic, wonderfully campy 4D theater performances that accompanied the scary movies of the era, beloved by a mostly-teenage audience who often became a part of the show themselves. Schlocky showman Chelsey Weber-Smith tells Sarah about how magicians-turned-ghostmasters used paranormal parlor tricks, gory skits, and marketing gimmicks to create a new form of vaudevillian dark comedy. As horror obsessives, Sarah and Chelsey muse about what it would have been like to attend one of these late night wacky fright fests that paved the way for the happily trashy theater camaraderie of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Digressions include the resilience of the horseshoe crab, dollar store competition, and plot holes in the movie High Tension (2003). More Chelsey Weber-Smith: Listen to American Hysteria Original music in th

Are you a survival pessimist or a survival optimist? Blair Braverman surprises Sarah with a harrowing, heartening, and sometimes hilarious tale of love and endurance in the face of certain death, but you’ll have to listen to find out the seemingly impossible circumstances our subjects had to overcome. Digressions include Sarah’s flight simulation skills, David Goggins' morning routine, and the best way to design your character in The Oregon Trail computer game. More Blair Braverman: Blair's new picture book, "The Day Leap Soared" Advice for Sarah from Blair Blair on Instagram More of Blair's work More You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchYWA on Instagram Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who really ended the Cold War, Ronald Reagan or a ten-year-old girl? Eighties correspondent Maris Kreizman joins us for a heartfelt conversation about America’s Youngest Ambassador, Samantha Smith, a child who wrote a letter to Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov in hopes of cooling nuclear tensions. Then, Andropov wrote back. Maris and Sarah discuss the burden we place on the youth to “change the world” while simultaneously scolding them for their naivety. Digressions include the millennial urge to cut up plastic soda can rings, Christina Applegate’s SNL infomercial, and an important lesson from the Golden Girls. More Maris Kreizman: Buy the book, I Want to Burn This Place Down Subscribe to the newsletter, The Maris Review Maris on Bluesky More You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchYWA on Instagram Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do John Hinckley Jr. and a jazz age tuberculosis patient have in common? Legal correspondent ​​Mackenzie Joy Brennan takes Sarah through some of the strange cases that helped make—and break—the insanity defense in America. Our story includes a woman who carried her (alleged) victims’ bodies around in a suitcase, and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan—carried out with the intention of impressing a young Jodie Foster. More Mackenzie Joy Brennan: http://www.mkzjoybrennan.com More You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchYWA on Instagram Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you find your way out of the maize? The corn maze has become an enduring attraction of the American autumnal experience, seen at touristy family farms next to pumpkin patches and haunted houses. But what are the historical roots of this iconic living puzzle? Sarah guides the eternally-lost Chelsey Weber-Smith through the twists and turns of the corn’s corridors and reveals the hidden architects that walk behind the rows. More Chelsey Weber-Smith: www.americanhysteriapodcast.com Mr. Jeff's Labyrinth Typology Hand Out: https://www.labyrinthos.net/Labyrinth%20Typology.pdf The Labyrinthos Labyrinth and Maze Resource Photo Library and Archive: https://www.labyrinthos.net/index.html Listen to Magpie Cinema Club: linktr.ee/magpiecinemaclub Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merch Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second part of our series, pop culture historian Jamie Loftus takes us through the meteoric rise of Pee-wee Herman and the withering of Paul Reubens' world as dubious allegations surface that threaten to turn a beloved children’s character into a real life villain. Jamie tells us about his struggle to reconcile the character of Pee-wee with the real Paul Reubens, and how his longtime friendships became his sanctuary until the very end.  Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of explicit materials involving minors  More about Jamie Loftus: https://www.jamieloftus.xyz/ Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merch Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s today’s secret word? Paul Reubens spent years bringing to life one of America’s most beloved characters, Pee-wee Herman, an icon of joy for weirdos of all ages. In the first of this two part series, Pee-wee superfan-turned-historian Jamie Loftus lets us into the playhouse for a journey through Paul’s early life and art school days, his collaborations and relationships, and the beginnings of a kind of fame that would blur the line between character and creator. More about Jamie Loftus: https://www.jamieloftus.xyz/ Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us: Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when you’re just a little too good at forging the diaries of Adolf Hitler? And why did so many people want to read them? In 1983, the West German news magazine Stern bought sixty volumes of forged journals and held a press conference to announce their publication. This week, Adrian Daub of podcasts In Bed With the Right and The Feminist Present is here to tell us all about what would be the publishing hoax to end all hoaxes…if only the book in question wasn’t so boring.  More about Adrian Daub:https://www.adriandaub.com/ More about the Hitler Diaries (German language podcast): https://www.stern.de/faking-hitler/ Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are Good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is out there behind the howling midnight parties in the distance? For generations we have coexisted in varying degrees of rivalry, conflict, and admiration with the North American canine known as the coyote. From pre-colonization to our modern backyards, through the wild west and the streets of San Francisco, award-winning NPR science reporter and YWA Maligned Animal correspondent Lulu Miller takes our pack on a journey toward a better understanding of these resilient creatures.*EDITOR'S NOTE: Lulu Miller would like to submit a correction to her statement that Ronald Reagan put a band on coyote poison, she actually meant Richard Nixon. Sarah would like to add that he grew up drinking raw milk and at least one of his brothers died of tuberculosis which really makes you think, doesn't it? Terrestrials // “The Howler: The Dog Who Joined a Coyote Pack”https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids/articles/the-howler-the-dog-who-joined-a-coyote-pack More about Lulu Miller:https://radiolab.org/team/lulu-mi

Where did all these teens come from? Harmony Colangelo, co-host of This Ends at Prom, is here to explain how, before Americans got to worry about what teenagers were up to, we first had to decide what they were—and how a boom in postwar educational films taught a generation of adolescents what not to do.Skipper Learns a Lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8kJzBJrOkU1950 Family Date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8kJzBJrOkUMore about Harmony Colangelo:https://www.instagram.com/veloci_trap_torSupport You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks: http://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpod Support the show Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you scrubbed down the top of your fridge lately? Home & garden correspondent Sarah Archer is here to tell us how and when we got so obsessed with the antiseptically clean house as a status symbol, and whether we really need to worry about every bit of dust on that baseboard. Find out more about Sarah Archer:https://www.sarah-archer.com/Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks: http://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpod Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, flim flam correspondent and certified April Fool Chelsey Weber-Smith is here to talk about a fistful of fake memoirs, featuring girls raised by wolves; the chicken pox of James Frey; what poetry can give us that memoir can't; and Eugene, Oregon (twice!).  Read more about it here: The Smoking Gun's "A Million Little Lies" https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies Blake Eskin's "The Girl Who Cried Wolf" https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/08/18/the-girl-who-cried-wolf-a-holocaust-fairy-tale/ Michelle Dean's "Opal Whiteley's Riddles" https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/opal-whiteleys-riddles Christopher L. Miller's Impostors https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo29203296.htmlListen to Chelsey's podcast American Hysteria:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-hysteria/id1441348407 Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks: http://patreon.com/yourewrongabou

At the end of our last episode, we asked you to call in and tell us what has been bringing you joy, connecting you to your community, and where you’ve been finding hope in these last few months. These are some of the responses we wanted to share in hopes that we can all find new ways to survive this world together. Thank you to all who sent us messages; though we couldn’t play them all, we felt inspired listening to each and every one. Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks: http://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpodhttps://www.podpage.com/you-are-good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do Lily Tomlin, Snow White, and Kenny Ortega have in common? They were all part of the 61st Academy Awards, a broadcast now remembered as the worst of all time, and masterminded by Allan Carr (lover of spectacle and producer of Grease). But awards season correspondent and New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman is here to argue that the tackiest, most disastrous Oscars of all time might just be... unfairly maligned. And to tell us what's bringing you joy and excitement right now, send us a voice memo (three minutes or shorter) at sloppyandalive (at) gmail (dot) com. We can't wait to hear from you.Michael's book Oscar Warshttps://www.harpercollins.com/products/oscar-wars-michael-schulman?variant=41063519387682Michael's New Yorker pagehttps://www.newyorker.com/contributors/michael-schulman the video of the opening numberhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mronRVvdmw the video of Pee-wee and RoboCop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETFHeMSIMGc&t=63s And the book Michael mentioned about Allan Carr, Party Animal

What is "emotional labor," and why is it probably not what your boyfriend accuses you of making him do when you want him to go to Ikea with you? Psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe are here to tell the tale of how the term sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild coined—in her 1983 book The Managed Heart—has come to mean, well, almost everything. How is the term still useful? How can we use therapy language as a tool for growth or an excuse for avoiding it? And whose job is it to do these dishes? Happy Valentine's Day from You're Wrong about and Bad Therapist. Bad Therapist https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-therapist/id1780035004 Arlie Russell Hochschild https://sociology.berkeley.edu/professor-emeritus/arlie-r-hochschild Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-therapist/id1780035004https://sociology.berkeley.edu/professor-emeritus/arlie-r-hochschildhttp://pa

In County Kilkenny, Ireland, in an early year of a century not too long before our own, Alice Kyteler was accused of witchcraft. But the story doesn't end there. This week, Molly Aitken—author of BRIGHT I BURN—is here to tell us a tale where the more things* change, the more they stay the same. (*Men) Read Molly's books:https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2204198/molly-aitken/ This month's bonus episode on Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book: https://www.patreon.com/posts/121131515?pr=true LINKS! for fire relief and mutual aid:https://5pmlucky.substack.com/p/direct-fundraising-for-los-angeles Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks:https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2204198/molly-aitken/https://5pmlucky.substack.com/p/direct-fundraising-for-los-angeleshttp://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpodhttps://www.podpage.com/you-a

What would you do if you were pinned down by an 800-pound boulder, and no one knew where you were? In 2003, Aron Ralston had to answer that question. Today, our survival correspondent Blair Braverman is here to tell us the tale of the man, the myth, and the multitool.Blair Braverman tells us how the legendary story of one good dog is actually a story of two good dogs.  Read Blair’s book, Small Game:https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780063066175Read Blair’s Patreon (and learn more about sled dogs!):https://www.patreon.com/bravermountainSupport You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks:https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780063066175https://www.patreon.com/bravermountainhttp://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpodhttps://www.podpage.com/you-are-good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's one last present at the toe of our stocking, and it's a new album by producer Carolyn Kendrick. We'll be back with a regular episode next week, but for now, come listen to some music, and join us for a conversation about making art and community in uncertain times, and the new year's dreams that will sustain us in 2025.Find Carolyn's songs, record, website, zine, and more here:https://linktr.ee/carolynkendrick Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks:https://linktr.ee/carolynkendrickhttp://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpodhttps://www.podpage.com/you-are-good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Twas (the night before) the night before Christmas/ And all through the show/ We await Sarah Archer with eyes all aglow/ To blow the dust off some old books from the shelf/ And tell us the tale of a jolly old elf. Where did he come from?/ Where is he going?/ We know you have questions/ So bundle up, if it's snowing/ And sing out your favorite holiday song/ (As ever, it was capitalism all along.)  Sarah Archer's Website:  https://www.sarah-archer.com/ The Santa files (containing images referenced in the show): https://docs.google.com/document/d/10sMfEncIgfnHTInDCP_VfVYLBoxieuiQU9JhB3K6zNI/edit?tab=t.0 Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show: You Are Good[YWA co-founder] Mike's other show: Maintenance PhaseLinks:https://www.sarah-archer.com/https://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpodhttps://www.podpage.com/you-are-goodhttp://maintenancephase.com Support the show Learn more about

Miles Klee can’t take it anymore. This week, a tale of corporate intrigue, world domination, and soda. Read Miles Klee at Rolling Stone. Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other show, You Are GoodLinks:https://www.rollingstone.com/author/miles-klee/http://patreon.com/yourewrongabouthttps://www.teepublic.com/stores/youre-wrong-abouthttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/yourewrongaboutpodhttps://www.podpage.com/you-are-good Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices