S3E2: Ready, Willing, and Mabel
How did alcohol come to be illegal and why, of all the agencies, was the IRS tapped to enforce it? One rising legal superstar from California becomes the highest ranking woman in government, but she finds her efforts impeded by the IRS's newly established—and rather corrupt—Prohibition Unit.
S3E1: Satan's Last Stronghold
Organized crime, speakeasy gin, and jazz impresarios stole headlines in the 1920s, but behind the scenes boiled a bizarre government plot rooted in the first American culture war. In New York City, a pair of scientists sees the devastation written on the wall, and they try to put a halt to the mayh…
Introducing Season 3: Formula 6
This is the story of Prohibition you haven't heard. Sure, Prohibition was a gigantic SNAFU to begin with. But it turns out Prohibition was actually darker than any of us could have imagined. Flappers and jazz? Not the full picture. Season 3 of SNAFU follows an unlikely pair of sleuths trying to un…
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…
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, …
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 surg…
BONUS: 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 Es…
BONUS: 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 ba…
S2E8: 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.
S2E7: 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.