SNAFU with Ed Helms
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Hosted by Ed Helms, SNAFU is a podcast about history's greatest screw-ups. This is Season 2: MEDBURG. The story of a daring heist that exposed a colossal FBI SNAFU.
Introducing GREATEST ESCAPES with Arturo Castro
While we're hard at work on season 3 of SNAFU, we’re excited to revisit a pivotal moment from Season 1 with a special bonus episode of GREATEST ESCAPES. Produced by the same folks behind SNAFU, it's a brand new podcast covering history’s wildest true escape stories of all time. Ed joins host Arturo Castro this week to dive deeper into the bonkers escape of Oleg Gordievsky, the Cold War double-agent who helped avoid nuclear annihilation during Able Archer 83 and was able to slip through the clutc
Announcing the SNAFU Book!
Exciting news from SNAFU headquarters: our first book is coming out April 29, 2025. It's called SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History's Greatest Screwups. Spanning from the 1950’s to the 2000’s, Ed Helms steps in as unofficial history teacher with a loving tribute to humanity’s finest faceplants, diving into each decade’s craziest SNAFUs. From planting nukes on the moon to training felines as CIA spies to weaponizing the weather, this book will unpack the incredibly ironic decision-making and h
Introducing Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News
While the SNAFU Team is hard at work on our next season, we are excited to share the first episode of a new season from our friends at Slow Burn. On Season 10, host Josh Levin takes you back to a crucial inflection point in American history: the moment between 2000 and 2004 when Fox News first surged to power and a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Part One: Curtis Yarvin: The Philosopher Behind J.D. Vance
Robert sits down with the great Ed Helms to discuss Curtis Yarvin, the American philosopher of dictatorship whose ideas inspired J.D. Vance. (2 Part Series) Sources: Curtis Yarvin, Political Theorist - Tablet Magazine Who is Curtis Yarvin, the monarchist, anti-democracy blogger? | Vox Mouthbreathing Machiavellis Dream of a Silicon Reich (thebaffler.com) A Founder's Farewell • Blog • urbit.org Interview with Curtis Yarvin — Max Raskin https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/trumps-vow-to-fire-
The FBI and Indigenous Movements with Nick Estes
COINTELPRO was shut down in 1971, and J. Edgar Hoover died in 1972. But the agency's dirty tricks continued in the years directly following the Media Burglary. Nowhere is this more evident than in the FBI's interactions with the American Indian Movement. Scholar, historian, and podcast host Nick Estes joins SNAFU to talk about how COINTELPRO and Hoover's legacy permeated the FBI, from the Wounded Knee Occupation in 1973 to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock in 2016/2017.See omn
Surveillance Now & Then with Loch Johnson
Former Church Committee Staffer Loch Johnson helps us dig deeper into the Church Committee Hearings to cover the appalling findings we didn't get to in Episode 7 of our season. Then, he takes us straight through to present day surveillance, where we try to answer the question: Where is the right balance between citizen rights and national security? Do we even have any privacy left anymore?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
8. Statute of Limitations
The FBI tries to clean up its act, but will all those lessons learned later be… forgotten? Plus, the legacy of the Media Burglary.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
7. The 'Do Not File' File
Journalist Carl Stern stumbles upon a single, curious codeword in the burglarized documents: COINTELPRO. As shocking revelations about the FBI come to fruition, Congress forms the Church Committee to investigate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
6. Tin, Rubber, and Oil
A mole, a raid, and a war on trial. The Camden 28 make national headlines. But will their trial jeopardize the identities of the Media burglars?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
5. G-Men Are Coming to Town
The FBI hunts the burglars, who suddenly have a window into J. Edgar Hoover's most twisted and sinister operations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
4. The Heist of the Century
As Ali and Frazier go head-to-head in The Fight of the Century, Bill Davidon and his team aim to pull off the heist of the century. But at what cost?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
3. The Girl from Hartford
With the team assembled, the burglars begin staking out a small FBI satellite office in Media Pennsylvania. And Bonnie Raines takes a big risk.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2. Want to Come to a Party?
It’s 1970 when John and Bonnie Raines get a call from their friend and fellow activist, Bill Davidon. He suspects something is very wrong with the FBI, and plans to do the unthinkable: break into an FBI office to prove it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1. The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI
In March 1971, Washington Post reporter Betty Medsger receives a mysterious envelope full of classified documents. Soon, what's inside will change the way America sees the FBI.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing Season 2: MEDBURG
In 1971, a courageous group of activists broke into an FBI office and stole files containing J. Edgar Hoover's deepest, darkest secrets. How did their actions forever upend everything Americans knew about their country's most powerful law enforcement agency?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing: Broomgate
From Executive Producer Ed Helms comes a new podcast, Broomgate: A Curling Scandal. Over the course of six episodes, semi-professional curler and fully professional comedian John Cullen (Blocked Party) is exposing the unbelievable, never-before-told scandal that rocked the sport of curling. Yes, curling. Listen here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
BONUS: Forgotten History with Rachel Maddow
Back in World War II, a group of Nazis tried to overthrow American democracy, with the help of some U.S. congressmen, no less. We’re talking about The Great Sedition Trial of 1944, and it’s the subject of a history podcast hosted by Rachel Maddow called ULTRA. SNAFU and ULTRA have so much in common. Both podcasts are deep-dives into important moments in American history, which are largely forgotten – and yet, they feel oddly prescient to our world today. Ed recently sat down with Rachel to discu
BONUS: Inside the KGB with Jack Barsky
Bonus Episode – Ed speaks with former sleeper agent for the KGB, Jack Barsky. Together, they recount Jack’s life trajectory from super spy to American author, and discuss the Soviet paranoia permeating throughout the Soviet ranks during the high-intensity of Able Archer ‘83. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
BONUS: WarGaming with Matthew Broderick & John Badham
Bonus Episode – Ed speaks with actor Matthew Broderick, and director John Badham about their time on the seminal 1983 classic, “WarGames” and how it played a part in the cultural zeitgeist of the Cold War. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
8. World Gone M.A.D.
The Finale of Snafu: Season One! The holy grail of classified Able Archer documents is finally revealed. Will it hold the answers we seek? Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
7. Where the Mind Starts to Melt
Sheer terror about the near disaster recedes over time, and intrigue sets in. Competing theories emerge as Nate Jones and others uncover reports that have been buried in archives for decades. Time casts a new shadow on Gordievsky and Rupp’s Able Archer heroics. Myth, propaganda, and reality melt into one big cloudy soup. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
6. Redacted
Lt. General Leonard Perroots faces down the single most critical decision of his career: to escalate, or not? He knows the situation is bad, but he has no idea just how bad. The man’s got the fate of the world in his hands. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
5. A Script for Nuclear War
It’s Opening day for Able Archer 83. The Soviets have front row seats to NATO’s autumn military exercises. Tens of thousands of soldiers are playing pretend war in West Germany. The Soviets are NOT enjoying the show. And then… the war game actors begin ‘launching’ nukes. Holy sh*tballs, this is not looking good. The spies try to thwart disaster, and one man is faced with a cataclysmic decision. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio. See omnystu
4. Dancing on a Razor’s Edge
The situation is getting dire. Mind games and twitchy nerves lead to tragedy in Russian airspace. Finger-pointing only makes it worse, and any chance for real diplomacy flies out the window. As we hurtle toward November ‘83, a glitchy missile detection system almost spells disaster. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
3. Two Spies Living Lies
Tension mounts as Reagan's aggression deepens Andropov's paranoia. Surely, an attack from the West is imminent! Meet Oleg Gordievsky and Rainier Rupp, two spies whose loyalties aren't what they seem. These super secret agents scour the earth for signs of impending doom, but they have no idea that they're about to be embroiled in utter disaster. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio. Correction: This episode incorrectly states that Operation Barb
2. Will the Real Evil Empire Please Stand Up?
A former Hollywood actor and a former Chairman of the KGB walk into a bar and... blow the whole thing up? In 1983, the decision to launch nukes lay in the hands of two men: Ronald Wilson Reagan and Yuri Andropov. Let's talk about how their teeny tiny… inferiority complexes set us on a path – right to the edge of a nuclear cliff. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1. Not All Fun and WarGames
By the 1980s, tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union was a fact of everyday life. Early '80s American pop culture was quite literally exploding with nuclear doom. But was a real crisis unfolding right under our noses? One dauntless sleuth grows determined to get to the bottom of a decades-old Cold War mystery: Able Archer 83. Produced by FilmNation and Pacific Electric Picture Co. in association with Gilded Audio.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing: SNAFU with Ed Helms
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