HILF: History I'd Like to F**k

Hear about the places that managed to avoid the plague, at least for a little while, and what a medieval haz-mat suit looked like. Also, continue to roll the 'Death Dice' along with celebrated music supervisor, Mary Ramos, to see if any of the characters we meet along the way manage to avoid the sickness and death that overcame half of the global population. 

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🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!<...

Dawn is joined by celebrated Music Supervisor, Mary Ramos, who has worked on some of the most incredible film scores in movie history! A close collaborator with Quentin Tarantino, she’s had a hand in everything from Pulp Fiction to Django Unchained - and a slew of other favorites in-between.

Join us as we discuss the very beginning of The Black Death, starting with Patient Zero in Italy and then follow us… and the rats, and the fleas… around the world and right to our own back door.

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Join Dawn for three hilarious stories told live, all centered around one simple question: what is the WORST DAY AT WORK? Dawn and her guests dig into spectacular professional disasters, bad decisions, and the kind of workplace chaos that makes you grateful you can just go home at the end of the day. Recorded live with the HILF crowd at Flappers Comedy Club (in beautiful Burbank, California). 

🔗 JOE ROCHE

🔗 KELLEY VROOMAN

--- Read the Gizmodo article from 2010! This discusses the play-by-play detail of the lost iphone prototype story. 

✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! <...

It was a cold and blustery night in 1692 when the Macdonalds were slaughtered in their beds by a group of rival Campbells who had not only sworn them no harm, but had been their guests for almost two weeks. Dawn is joined by friend and comedy writer, Joe Roche, for the dark tale of the Glencoe Massacre. 

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

Join Dawn and some very special guests - including her dear, sweet mom - and a live audience at Flappers Comedy Club (in beautiful Burbank, California). Hear the tragic tale of Jonestown, why you too could have fallen into the charm of Jim Jones, and the stories of hope and resilience among the bloodshed.

🔗 Ryan Ripple

🔗 JB Ball

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🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

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Dawn is joined by Kat Perkins, one of her best friends (and the voice of the HILF theme song!) for a dive into the dark history of cults. From the strangest real-life rituals, to the made-up cults - and why it's important to know the difference. 

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

King Philip is simultaneously a real historic figure, and an object of early American fantasy. Join Dawn and a live audience at Flappers Comedy Club (in beautiful Burbank, California) to hear the tale of how history reports... and distorts... just like the present does. 

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🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

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LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

The journey isn't over, it's only just reached the underworld.  Rejoin Dawn and guest Sam Cowan as they link arms to follow Odysseus all the way home.  Whether you're preparing for Christopher Nolan's upcoming blockbuster movie, revisiting an old favorite, or experiencing The Odyssey for the first time, this episode explores why Odysseus' long road home remains one of the most thrilling—and profoundly human—stories ever told.

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🎫 Visit Theatricum Botanicum - Sam performs in Treasure Island, June - October, 202...

As Christopher Nolan brings The Odyssey to the big screen, Dawn is taking listeners back to the source. Join Dawn and guest Sam Cowan as they get down and dirty with Homer, unpacking the gods, mortals, monsters, and misadventures that made The Odyssey one of the most enduring stories ever told. By the end, you'll be walking into your local cineplex HILF'd and loaded.

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🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🎫 Visit Theatricum Botanicum - Sam performs in Treasure Island, June - October, 2026

✅ Checkout S...

You're back in the cockpit with Dawn and guest, Heather Cowan, for part two of this little-known chapter of World War II history. Re-join these badass fliers through more of their spine-tingling adventures (and misadventures) all the way to victory and beyond. 

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🎧 HILF EP39 - NAZI KILLERS with Michelle Mosher

🎧 HILF EP60 - AMELIA EARHART with Fallon Morey

🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

✅ Checkout Heather's work in Personal Development: Body of Work 

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*c...

Climb into the cockpit with Dawn and guest, Heather Cowan, as they get to know some of the baddest-asses from this little-known chapter of World War II history. 

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🎧 HILF EP39 - NAZI KILLERS with Michelle Mosher

🎧 HILF EP60 - AMELIA EARHART with Fallon Morey

🎟️ Get tickets and HILF LIVE! : First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

✅ Checkout Heather's work in Personal Development: Body of Work 

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SILFS (Sources I'd Like to F*ck): 

Dawn and guest, Kelly Vrooman, go down the rabbit hole with neither the first nor the last "disgraced" American president.  Join them as they review the unlikely rise and spectacular fall or Richard Nixon. Hear about the founding of the EPA, the Watergate burglars, and the insane story of Martha Mitchell. 

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✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! 

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

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LILF's (Link's I'd Like to F*ck) 

Welcome back to book club! Whether you’re a book worm who is always looking for new nerdy stuff to read - or you only like history when it’s funny - this is for you! Return with Dawn and her classmate, Stacey Hovhannisyan, to discuss ALL the books they read over the last semester in school and which ones you - yes you - will want to read!

🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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BOOK LIST: 

Whether you’re a book worm who is always looking for new nerdy stuff to read - or you only like history when it’s funny - this is for you! Dawn sits down with her classmate, Stacey Hovhannisyan, to discuss ALL the books they read over the last semester in school and which ones you - yes you - will want to read!

🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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BOOK LIST: 

Join host, Dawn Brodey, and a LIVE audience to hear this most-titillating chapter from The Golden Age of Piracy, the tale of Mary Read and Anne Bonny. Born in very different circumstances and on opposite sides of the Atlantic, their worlds would collide and eventually combine in the most swash-buckingly way. 

Hear pirate trivia with comedian, Becca Melkonian.

Test your knowledge against comedian, Meryl Klemow.

Get to know my classmate, and future history professor, Stacey Hovhannisyan. 

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Join Dawn and a LIVE audience to hear what John Wayne Gacy and a plane crash have to do with her birthday. You'll also get to know the fabulous Sam Hale, Horror Nerd, and learn all about her grandpa... and his bulge.

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✅ Follow HILF on TikTok! 

🎥. See Sam's one-hour special!

🎙️ Come see Dawn in Horror Nerd at The Hollywood Improv, April 17th, 2026

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

🤑 HILF is now on Patreon!

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Dawn found herself tits-deep in pirate history and fell so far down the rabbit hole, she called on her friend - and frequent leading man - Patrick Day to fall with her!  Hear the swashbuckling story of a man who helped write some of the 18th century's most toe-curling and horrifying chapters. 

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🎥 - Watch Florescent Beast - "What is the cost of being creative?"

🎥 - Watch Cruel Hearts - "Find what you love, let it kill you..."

🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursda...

Climb in bed with one of the first-ever sex symbols, Mae West! She was born in the 1800’s and lived long (and well) enough to star on broadway, lead the silver screen, and even release a ROCK ALBUM before she died! Guest is historian and playwright, John Heimbuch, who wrote the hit play Mae West and the Trial of Sex. 

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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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SILF's (Source's I'd Like to F*ck) 

Re-join Dawn and her guest, 76 year-old Zari Faripour, an elegant, intelligent, one-time refugee from the Iranian Revolution. Dawn delivers a utility outline of the major events and people involved in the 1970's revolution, while Zari colors it with her unique perspective and amazing life experiences.

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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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SILF's (Source's I'd Like to F*ck) 

Before there was Adam and Eve, there was Adam and Lilith! Hear the hot gossip straight from the Garden of Eden, and some of the best stories of this pre-biblical bad-ass. 

Dawn is joined by two Minneapolis besties who thought when they booked their tickets to LA from Minneapolis in January, they'd be escaping ice... In fact, they found they were taking a mere break from fighting I.C.E. Fall in love with Rhiannon and Shanan, artists from the Twin Cities and the best coven you never knew you needed to join. 

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Dawn's Guest, Dave Reinitz is a stand-up comedian and stain-glass artist whose personal connection to this slice of History brings it alive for all of us. Hear about how his mother, Janet Braun-Reinitz, joined with the Freedom Riders in 1961 and endured and enlightened one of the darkest chapters of American History. 

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Dawn's Sources   

The 'Father of Philosophy' and the teacher of Plato, Socrates was arguably the most important intellectual in human history. He was also a war veteran, a bad dad, and never wrote anything himself. So why did Athens kill him; and why do you and I still talk about him?  Buckle up for a hell of a HILF along with guest, comedian Nat Baimel.  

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✅ Keep up with Nat Baimel on Instagram

🎟️ Get tickets to HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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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 Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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SILF's (Source's I'd Like to F*ck) 

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!

🎟️ HILF Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy...

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) 

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 Public School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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SILF's (Source's I'd Like to F*ck) 

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, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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SILF's (Source's I'd Like t...

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 School - the live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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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 has no recollection of ever reading the book - and only cursory memory of the early film versions. However, as the original r...

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, as they explore the crime scene and sort through the suspects. 

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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 live, interactive version of HILF: First Thursdays at Flappers Comedy Club - Burbank, CA

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LILF's (Link's...

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. 

Mary Gallagher on Instagram

Mary's upcoming events

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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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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)

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. 

KERSTIN PORTER on Instagram:

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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)

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 yourself falling in love with Amish all over again. 

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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)

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 Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank.

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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F*ck)

"...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 which he and I HILF Alcatraz.

Then you’ll meet the endlessly lovable, LA Radio and...

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)

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)

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! (June 25th, 2025 - BOSTON) 

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SILF's (Sources I'd Like to F...

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 court of Germany; and so much more!

Along with Dawn on this historic journey, is comedian Alex Malt, whose first comedy alb...