You Can’t Make This Up

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary film “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Colette Camden.

A driver’s assault on pedestrians is foiled by the man he picked up hitchhiking, striking him in the head with a hatchet from his backpack. The story of the rescue by a colorful, carefree drifter goes viral. Soon there are memes, TV appearances, and talk of a reality show for the man simply known as “Kai.” But those taken with Kai’s whirlwind, feel-good story overlook the obvious warning signs. Is the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker just a quirky vagabond, or does a violent person linger beneath the surface?

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street," out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Joe Berlinger.

Bernie Madoff was considered an elder statesman of the stock market, but hidden away from his legitimate securities firm, he was running an unregulated hedge fund. But it was all a Ponzi scheme swindling investors out of $64 billion. “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street” chronicles the rise and fall of a stock market giant. It also exposes the many missed opportunities to protect his victims and discover his scam. 

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street." 

This series reveals the truth behind Bernie Madoff’s infamous $64 billion global Ponzi scheme - the largest in history - which shattered the lives of countless individual investors who had placed their trust in the revered Wall Street statesman.

In our next episode, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Joe Berlinger. If you haven't watched “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street,” make sure to add it to your watch-list before next week’s episode. Stay Tuned!

To finish out the year, we're replaying one of our most popular episodes of 2022.

Wherever he went, Simon Leviev’s entourage would follow. A carefully curated supporting cast – his business partner, his driver, his security guard – created an air of glamour and legitimacy. But who were these people? Were they in on the scam? Or were they as much victims as the women Simon swindled?

The Making of a Swindler Part 1 is a companion to the documentary, "The Tinder Swindler", only on Netflix.

At the top of Rebecca's Best Of list, we're replaying her interview with “Descendant" director and producer, Margaret Brown.

The Clotilda was the last known ship to arrive in the United States carrying enslaved Africans, decades after slave importation was outlawed. The ship was burned and sank somewhere in the Mobile River, while its passengers would later settle in the community of Africatown. In the century that followed, the descendants of The Clotilda struggled to preserve their heritage in an Alabama town encircled by industrial property owned by the descendants of the slave owners. As a renewed effort to find the missing wreck gets underway, the community grapples with the implications of its discovery.

One of Rebecca's favorites of 2022, we're replaying her interview with "Trainwreck: Woodstock '99" director Jamie Crawford and producer Cassie Thornton.

Organizers from the original Woodstock tried to recreate the music and magic at a new three-day festival in 1999. But concert-goers expecting another groovy weekend were met with high food prices, dirty water, and mountains of litter. And promoters learned too late their audience wasn’t filled with 60s flower children; they’d drawn an army of rowdy thrash-rock fans who showed their displeasure by - literally - burning it all down.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host  Rebecca Lavoie talks with Amanda Richards, the docs and docuseries writer for Tudum, Netflix's editorial companion site, about their favorite Netflix titles from 2022.

This year there were intriguing cold cases, historical crimes, and cunning con men. There were meltdowns at power plants and meltdowns at rock concerts. There was also plenty of drama on reality shows. We cheered for cooking, baking, catfights, and matchmaking. There were game shows that asked whether true love is blind…and asked “Is It Cake”?

Rebecca and Amanda give their top five favorite things from 2022.