This Guy Sucked

Claire and Molly Brookfield explain the world’s worst hobby and the guys who popularized it.

Guest

Our guest Molly Brookfield is a researcher, editor, and historian of urban spaces, women, gender, and masculinity, Her book Watching The Girls Go By: A History of Street Harassment in the United States is available here. Visit her website here.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Racial violence, sexual assault

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Instagram @drclaireaubin, Bluesky ce...

Claire gets together with Dylan Gottlieb and the team at Debt Heads to find out what happened to our money.

Collaborators

- Debt Heads is a narrative podcast turning the concept of debt upside down. Listen to it here.

- Dylan Gottlieb is an Assistant Professor at Bentley University and a historian of American cities and capitalism. His book Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers and Gourmands Who Conquered New York, is available here. Follow him on Twitter and Bluesky, or visit his website.

Credits

Claire and Shane Madej ask whether or not we should judge some Guys Who Sucked off their looks alone, and conclude that the answer is: kinda?

Guest

Our guest Shane Madej is a co-founder of Watcher Entertainment, game show and podcast host, and paranormal investigator. His podcast The Quizard’s Pit is available here, and his show Puppet History is available here. Follow him on Instagram and Youtube.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Sexual assault, child death, murder

Credits

- Ho...

Claire and Lindsey Fitzharris explore the inspiration behind Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. No, seriously.

Guest

Our guest Lindsey Fitzharris is a medical historian and television host. Her newest book, Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes, is available here. Follow her on Bluesky and Instagram, watch her Youtube channel, or visit her website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Sexual assault, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, murder, child death

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her...

Claire and Greg Jenner let listeners in on some tricks of the trade.

Guest

Greg is the creator and host of the hit BBC history-comedy podcast You’re Dead To Me, as well as a historian and author of books like Dead Famous, Ask A Historian, A Million Years In A Day, and the Totally Chaotic History series. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram, or visit his website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Murder, genocide, child sexual abuse

Credits

- Ho...

Claire and Craig Fehrman determine that the best part of a 19th century trapper in North America is usually his wife.

Guest

Our guest Craig Fehrman is a journalist and author. His book This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis and Clark is available here. Visit his website here.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Animal attacks/violence, sexual violence, child sexual abuse, slavery

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Instagram @drclaireaubin, Bluesky ceaubin, Twitter...

Claire and Daisy Dixon do a deep-dive on depravity.

Guest

Our guest Daisy Dixon is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Cardiff. Her book Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art, is available here. Follow her on Instagram or visit her website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Child sexual abuse, sexual assault, bestiality, domestic violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Instagram @drclaireaubin, Bluesky ceaubin, Twitter @ceaubin or check out her website.

Claire, Mischa Stanton, Mayanna Berrin, and Julia Schifini commit bird-on-bird violence.

Co-stars

Game

Credits

- Host & E...

Claire and Kate Lister remind you that no man is worth putting up with this type of tomfoolery.

Guest

Our guest Dr. Kate Lister is a literary scholar and historian of sexuality. Her newest book, Flick: The Story of Female Pleasure, is available for pre-order here, and her podcast Betwixt The Sheets is available here. Follow her on Instagram @drkatelister or visit her website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Fatphobia, child sexual abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, incest, domestic violence, medical malpractice

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Claire and Prof. Lauren Working talk adventure kidnapping, and why you can never trust an alchemist.

Guest

Our guest Lauren Working is a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Studies at the University of York. Her book A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Tudor and Stuart England, is available here.  Follow her on Bluesky @laurenworking and on Instagram @drlaurenworking.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Violence, child abuse, child death, racial violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find h...

Claire and Jamelle Bouie prove that fear is the mindkiller. Especially in the Civil War.

Guest

Our guest Jamelle Bouie is a political commentator and columnist for the New York Times. Follow him on Bluesky, Instagram, and Youtube.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, racism

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Instagram @drclaireaubin, Bluesky ceaubin, Twitter @ceaubin or check out her website.

- Editor: Julia Schifini. Check out her website.

...

Claire and Sara McDougall go on a mission to prove everything you thought you knew about medieval women wrong in one of our special This Gal Rocked episodes.

Guest

Our guest Sara McDougall is a Professor of History at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the CUNY Graduate Center. Her book Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor is available here. Follow her on Bluesky @sarannmcd and Instagram @saramcdougall_medieval.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, child abuse, infanticide

Claire and Dr. Roel Konijnendijk return with another chat about an extremely untrustworthy ancient mediterranean man. Shocker.

Guest

Our guest Roel Konijnendik is a Darby Fellow in Ancient History, Lincoln College at Oxford. Follow him on Bluesky @roelkonijn.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

slavery, suicide, genocide, murder

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Instagram @drclaireaubin, Bluesky ceaubin, Twitter @ceaubin or check out her website.

- Editor: Julia Schifini. Check out her website.

Claire and Prof. Craig Perry remind you that the medieval period didn’t only happen in Europe, and Christians did not have the monopoly on doing bad stuff.

Guest

Our guest Craig Perry is Associate Professor at Emory University and historian of slavery and Arab-Islamic and Jewish culture in the medieval Middle East. His book, Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt: A History is available here. Follow him on Bluesky @caperry.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

slavery

Credits

- Ho...

Claire, Christa Dierksheide, and Nicholas Guyatt teach you something new (we promise) about one of the Founding-est Fathers.

Guest

Christa Dierksheide is a Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of the Age of Jefferson at the University of Virginia, and Nicholas Guyatt is a Professor of North American History at the University of Cambridge. Their book Jefferson’s Wolf, is available here. 

Follow Nick on Twitter @nicholasguyatt and Bluesky @nicholasguyatt.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, racial violence, racism

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Claire and Brendan Greeley talk trash about the Andrew Tate of the 18th century, and explain the economy a little bit too.

Guest

Our guest Brendan Greeley is a writer and former US economics editor at Financial Times. His book The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World’s Most Powerful Money, is available here. Follow him on Bluesky @bhgreeley and Twitter @bhgreeley.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, sexual abuse, trafficking, murder, kidnapping

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Au...

Claire and Emma Southon get really mad at the Romans. What else is new?

Guest

Our guest Dr. Emma Southon is an author and historian of Ancient Rome. Her new book Not Built in a Day: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire (US) or Servus (UK) is available here. Follow her on instagram @emmasouthon, or visit her website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, starvation, suicide, torture, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, animal abuse, murder

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer...

Claire and Paul Quigley talk duels, masculinity, and what really happened to Charles Sumner.

Guest

Our guest Paul Quigley is an Associate Professor of Civil War Studies and the Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech. His book The Man Behind the Cane: Preston Brooks, Political Violence, and the Road to the Civil War, is available here. 

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, racial/racist violence, violence, murder

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. A...

Claire, Nicole Hemmer, and Kevin Schultz play some games and answer the easiest question in the world: are all of the American presidents bad?

**THIS UNLOCKED EPISODE WAS RECORDED LIVE AT THE CHEERFUL EARFUL PODCAST FESTIVAL IN OCTOBER 2025**

Guest

Nicole Hemmer is a professor of History at Vanderbilt University and Director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency. Her podcast This Day is available here or anywhere you get your podcasts. Follow her on Bluesky and Instagram.

Claire and Gautham Rao get into why, exactly, this guy is often ranked the worst president of a country with a lot of truly awful presidents.

Guest

Our guest Gautham Rao is an Associate Professor of History at American University. His newest book, White Power: Policing American Slavery is available here. Follow him on Bluesky @gauthamrao, and on Instagram @rao__gautham, or visit his website here.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, racism and racial violence

Credits

- Host & Executive...

Claire and Prof. Catherine Fletcher take a (metaphorical) trip to the gun range, except it’s in Italy and the people are wearing funny pants.

Guest

Our guest Catherine Fletcher is a Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her new book The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires is available here. Follow her on Bluesky @catherinefletcher or visit her website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Gun violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find he...

Claire and Prof. Andrew Wender Cohen confirm that you really, really, really did not want to be alive in the 19th century.

Guest

Our guest Andrew Wender Cohen is a Professor of History at Syracuse University. His new book Gangster of New York: A Violent Life in 19th Century America, is available here.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Racial violence, domestic violence and child abuse, sexual violence, misogyny

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter...

Claire and Eli Yudin ponder the long-term negative effects of poisoning everybody you’ve ever met.

Guest

Our guest Eli Yudin is a comedian, writer, and host of What A Time To Be Alive. Watch his new stand-up special Humble Offering here. Follow him on Twitter @eliyudin, Bluesky @eliyudin, Twitch @pig_dog and Instagram @yahootoolbar, or visit his website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Murder, domestic violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin an...

Claire and Prof. Peter Mancall remind listeners that all those places were named after a real guy, who might still be alive since we don’t technically know what happened to him.

Guest

Our guest Peter Mancall is a Professor of History, Anthropology, and Economics at the University of Southern California. His newest book Contested Continent: The Struggle for North America c. 1000-1680 is available here. Visit his website here.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Genocide, racial violence, child abuse, child death, murder, corporal pu...

Claire and Devin Thomas O’Shea come up with a series of incredible drag names and talk about a Confederate soldier/secret society founder a little bit.

Guest

Our guest Devin Thomas O’Shea is a writer and lecturer at Saint Louis University. His book The Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis is available here. Follow him on Twitter and Bluesky, or visit his website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Murder, warfare, animal death, racism and racial violence, slavery

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Claire sits down with two Mark Twain experts for a live discussion of his memory and misdeeds. In his own home.

Guests

Matt Seybold is an Associate Professor of American Literature and Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College and the host of The American Vandal, and Erin Bartram is a historian and the Associate Director for Education at the Mark Twain House and Museum. Visit Matt’s website here, and Erin’s here.

A special thanks to the Mark Twain House and Museum for organizing and hosting this...

Claire and Dylan Gottlieb do some introspection on their brie and Pellegrino habits.

Guest

Our guest Dylan Gottlieb is an Assistant Professor of History at Bentley University and the host of Who Makes Cents. His new book Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers and Gourmands Who Conquered New York, is available here. Follow him on Twitter and Bluesky, or visit his website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Arson, murder

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter...

We’re excited to share a preview of a new podcast we think you’d enjoy: No Such Thing

No Such Thing is a show where three best friends and journalists settle their dumb arguments — and yours — by actually doing the research. Hosts Manny Fidel, Noah Friedman, and Devan Joseph start each episode with an argument using just their gut feelings. Then they go out into the world, investigate, talk to experts, and conduct some experiments. Finally, the guys bring their findings back to the group to see if they can change minds, enlighten each othe...

Claire and Matthew Gabriele talk medieval kingship, TikTok expertise, and why all historians are basically just sword guys.

Guest

Our guest Matthew Gabriele is a professor of medieval studies at Virginia Tech and the host of American Medieval. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram, or visit his website.

Sponsors

Talkiatry is a 100% online psychiatry practice that provides comprehensive evaluations, diagnoses, and ongoing medication management. Head to Talkiatry.com/tgs and complete the short assessment to get matched with an in‑network psychiatrist.

Claire and Patrick Wyman build whatever the opposite of a monument is for this guy.

Guest

Our guest Dr. Patrick Wyman is a historian and podcaster. His book Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World, is available here, and his podcast Past Lives is available here. Follow him on Bluesky, Twitter, and Instagram.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, warfare and descriptions of war-related violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on...

Claire and Prof. Kristin Grogan serve some poetic justice to the literary world’s favorite fascist.

Guest

Our guest Kristin Grogan is an Assistant Professor of English at Rutgers University. Her book Stitch, Unstitch: Modernist Poetry and the World of Work is available here.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Torture/imprisonment, antisemitism

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and Bluesky ceaubin, or check out her website.

- Editor: Julia Schifini. Check ou...

TGS and Lingthusiasm join forces to think through all the things that can go wrong when you give a grifter too much power over indigenous languages.

Guest

Our guest Lauren Gawne is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at La Trobe University and the co-host of Lingthusiasm. Follow Lingthusiasm on Bluesky and Instagram, or join their Patreon.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Genocide, racism and racial violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and...

*THIS GUY SUCKED WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK*

In the meantime, enjoy an introduction to Multitude’s newest show, Dreaming Against The Machine with Adam Becker!

Want double the TGS episodes, all ad-free, and other exclusive perks? Join the TGS Patreon.

Shop our bookshelf - The Hater’s Library - here.

Find Us Online

- Website: thisguysucked.com

- Instagram: instagram.com/thisguysucked

- Bluesky: @thisguysucked.com

- Twitter: twitter.com/thisguysucked

Claire and Megan Kate Nelson head west and discuss old-timey journalistic ethics along the way.

Guest

Our guest Dr. Megan Kate Nelson is a historian of the American West. Her newest book, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier is available here. Follow her on Bluesky and Instagram or visit her website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Genocide, racism, racial violence, sexual assault

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and Bluesky...

Claire and Oscar Winberg consider whether it might be a bad idea to let television characters run your government.

Guest

Our guest Dr. Oscar Winberg is postdoctoral fellow at the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies and the John Morton Center for North American Studies. His book Archie Bunker for President is available here. Follow him on Bluesky or visit his website.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Racism, war

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter...

Claire and Prof. Quinn Slobodian remind everyone that no matter how bad things are, some guys have always wanted them to get worse.

Guest

Our guest Quinn Slobodian is a professor of international history at Boston University. His newest book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, is available for pre-order along with his other books here. Follow him on Bluesky.

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and Bluesky ceaubin 

- Producer & Editor: Thomas O’Mahony. Find him...

Claire and Dr. Ally Louks shout LOLITA IS NOT A LOVE STORY into the nearest megaphone.

Guest

Our guest Dr. Ally Louks is a literary scholar, writer, and public academic. Follow her on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Child sexual abuse, pedophilia

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and Bluesky ceaubin, or check out her website.

- Editor: Julia Schifini. Check out her website.

...

Claire and Manny, Noah, and Devan of No Such Thing try to figure out what’s really up with our freakiest Founding Father.

Guest

No Such Thing is a weekly podcast finding actual answers to today’s most pressing questions. Go give it a listen and follow the show on Instagram and TikTok.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Slavery, genocide

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and Bluesky ceaubin, or check out her webs...

Claire and Prof. Richard Cole head over to medieval Jerusalem and prove that dysentery is the real mind-killer.

Guest

Our guest Richard Cole is an Associate Professor of Medieval European History at Aarhus University and host of The Chronicles, from the Centre for Viking and Medieval Studies.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Warfare and violence

Credits

- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E. Aubin. Find her on Twitter @ceaubin and Bluesky ceaubin, or check out her website.

- Editor...

Claire and Prof. Nicole Hemmer take aim at the former vice president and then make him apologize for it afterwards.

Guest

Our guest Nicole Hemmer is a professor of History and Director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, as well as the host of This Day. Her books Partisans and Messengers of the Right are available here. Follow her on Bluesky @pastpunditry and Instagram @pastpundit.

Sensitive Themes & Topics

Gun violence, terrorism, warfare, torture and imprisonment<...