Bad Elizabeth

Jett Road Studios presents "Bad Elizabeth" a comedic true crime podcast hosted by friends and former “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” office mates, Gideon Evans and Kathy Egan-Taylor. The premise is as simple as it sounds - each episode explores the story of an “Elizabeth” (or any derivation of that name) who is notorious; be they a murderer, a fraudster, or just a complete a-hole. These women span both past and present, in pop culture, and world history. Gideon & Kathy guide you through these sordid and outrageous tales breezily, as if you were a guest at a fun cocktail party. Season 1 Elizabeths profiled include famed axe-wielder Lizzie Borden, imprisoned Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, the ruthless Queen Elizabeth I, and the bloodthirsty Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathory. Gideon and Kathy explore the misdeeds of the Elizabeths in question, and determine whether they deserve to be called "bad". Each episode also features a special guest, be it an expert, actor, author, or an actual living and breathing Elizabeth (a good one). Evans and Egan-Taylor don’t harbor any resentment against Elizabeths - many of whom they hope to woo as listeners - however, there are a lot of them out there who are objectively s****y (we all know at least one). Consider yourself warned!

  1. Bad Elizabeth - Betty Wilson with Sharon Gless

    MAR 27

    Bad Elizabeth - Betty Wilson with Sharon Gless

    This week on Bad Elizabeth we double the intrigue and mystery with a sensational story about twin sisters accused of murder. In 1992, Betty Wilson and her twin sister Peggy Lowe were both put on trial for murder, accused of plotting to kill Peggy's opthalmologist husband Dr. Jack Wilson, who was found in a puddle of blood on the landing in his house, with an aluminum bat next to his body. This case was front-page news in Alabama, where the crime was committed, and became a sensation nationally as well, even becoming the Made-For-TV movie Separated by Murder, starring Sharon Gless - of Cagney & Lacey fame - playing both twins. The case has twists and turns galore. One suspect was an alcoholic swinger, who referred to her husband a "shitbag," and the other was a choir teacher at church who was married to a minister. The story also involves a particularly inept, extremely addled hitman. Were both sisters involved in the plot? Was only one of them? Or did the hitman commit the crime on his own. Both twins were charged with the same crime, yet they had two separate trials. Only one went to jail. After Kathy and Gideon dig through the details of the case, they welcome Emmy-winning actress Sharon Gless who talks about the challenges of playing twins in the Made-for-TV movie, her on-screen kiss with Rosie O'Donnell in Queer as Folk, and how her producer husband Barney Rosenzweig saved Cagney & Lacey from being pulled off the air. Gless also tells the story behind the famous McCarthy Chopped Salad at the Polo Lounge, named after her powerful lawyer, polo-loving Grandfather. ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack ----------------------------------------

    1h 14m
  2. Bad Elizabeth - Elizabeth Bigley, Elizabeth Debbie Eden with Chris Sarandon

    MAR 10

    Bad Elizabeth - Elizabeth Bigley, Elizabeth Debbie Eden with Chris Sarandon

    This episode is a little different, we have a theme going on here - Bank Robberies. We will feature not one, but two Elizabeths from different historical periods, with bank robberies in common. Part One is about a Gilded Age con woman named Elizabeth Bigley, but she used many different names and personas in order to accomplish some pretty impressive scams. Many scammers take money from regular folk, but Bigley set her sights on tougher targets like Lawyers and Bank Presidents. Bigley's biggest scam was pretending she was the illegitimate daughter of Steel magnate and extremely rich guy, Andrew Carnegie. If you hate banks and extremely rich people, you will love Elizabeth Bigley, a/k/a Cassie Chadwick, a/k/a Madame Lydia DeVere, a/k/a Madame Marie LaRose. Part Two of this episode involves a bank robbery and an Elizabeth, but she didn't commit the crime, she inspired it. In 1973, John Wojtowicz, a Viet Nam veteran, attempted to rob a Chase bank in Gravesend, Brooklyn. The robbery went completely off the rails, and turned into a hostage stand-off that lasted hours and became a mass media event. The reason Wojtowicz robbed the bank - he needed the money to pay for his lover's gender reassignment surgery. His lover, Ernest Aron, later became Elizabeth Debbie Eden. If this story sounds familiar, that's because it was later turned into the blockbuster film "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino, John Cazale, and Chris Sarandon. Sarandon - who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Al Pacino's love interest - joins Kathy & Gideon as our special guest. Sarandon tells us what advice director Sidney Lumet gave to him that helped portray this unprecedented - at the time - character for a mainstream film. We also talk to Sarandon about some of his other amazing roles and film experiences, including working with the late Rob Reiner making "The Princess Bride." Sarandon has played so many great roles including the lead of the beloved vampire film "Fright Night," and voicing the character of Jack Skellington for the Tim Burton holiday classic, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack ---------------------------------------- SOURCES: The Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age by Annie Reed https://a.co/d/0hzudhMF The High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance by Abbot Kahler https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-high-priestess-of-fraudulent-finance-45/ Dog Day Afternoon https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B000GOXGO2/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r The Dog (documentary) https://youtu.be/npe6yTYmTiM?si=nSD4vfIdhxQQd9jA The Princess Bride https://youtu.be/JtVRCmWm2lA?si=kdEwlvha6acPqZ5d Fright Night https://youtu.be/JtVRCmWm2lA?si=kdEwlvha6acPqZ5d Nightmare Before Christmas https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/ Jump cut - Real Dog Day hero tells his story https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC15folder/RealDogDay.html The Center - Liz Eden Papers https://archives.gaycenter.org/repositories/2/resources/18

    1h 5m
  3. Bad Elizabeth - 2026 Trailer

    SEASON 1, EPISODE 9 TRAILER

    Bad Elizabeth - 2026 Trailer

    The "Bad Elizabeth" podcast series with Gideon Evans and Kathy Egan has a rather simple concept, each episode is about a different person named Elizabeth (or variation of that name, like Liz, Betty, or Beth) who is notorious. These folks can be figures from history or true crime, or they might just be a big ol' a-hole. We are happy to report that more bad Elizabeths are headed your way shortly. We think you are going to love them...I mean, hate them. I mean, find their stories fascinating and entertaining. But before we turn to our new episodes in 2026, we thought it would be fun to make a trailer that looks back at the episodes we dropped in 2025. We had some really fun/scary/nasty Elizabeths like cancer-faker Elisabeth Finch, alleged axe wielder Lizzie Borden, bear baiting fangirl and monarch Queen Elizabeth I, Hungarian blood countess Erzsebet Bathory, Steve Jobs wannabe Elizabeth Holmes and many others. We also welcomed a gaggle of whip-smart, amazing special guests like Julie Delpy, E. Jean Carroll, Griffin Matthews, Charles Graeber, Ric Rebello, Alice Loxton, Michael Musto, and Jane Borden. Thanks to all of them for helping make our show awesome. We weren't able to include everyone in a two minute trailer, but we hope you like it, and it gets you excited for more episodes coming up in short order. Thanks also to others who helped put our show on the map likeThe Guardian who named it one of the "Best Podcasts of the Week" and Hysterical host Dan Taberksi who called our show "The funniest idea for a podcast, ever." And Apple who named it a podcast that "We're Loving" and Spotify who also promoted the series. We appreciate all of you and hope you will continue to listen and spread the word. And of course continue to like, follow, and review the show (I know some of you still haven't done it). It really helps so we'd love it if you give us a bunch of five star ratings and glowing reviews as we roll out more episodes. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

    2 min
  4. Bad Elizabeth - Erzsebet Bathory with Julie Delpy

    12/03/2025

    Bad Elizabeth - Erzsebet Bathory with Julie Delpy

    In this episode, Gideon and Kathy delve into the sordid, gory story of Countess Erzsebet (the Hungarian variation of Elizabeth) Bathory,  AKA “The Blood Countess.” Born into an aristocratic family with lots of in-breeding in 1560 in the Kingdom of Hungary (an area that is part of Slovakia today), Bathory came to believe that blood was the tonic that could help her achieve eternal youth, and she ended up torturing and killing up to 650 young maidens, in hopes of preserving her smooth, alabaster skin. She used many methods of luring maidens to the castle, and even more methods of extracting the young women's blood - including torture devices like the Iron Maiden. She drank blood, bathed in blood, and even forced a few women to eat their own flesh. Apart from these horrific acts, Bathory was very adept at running and defending her massive estate, and even indulged in meaningful philanthropy. The story of Bathory was an inspiration of Bram Stoker when he wrote "Dracula" (in addition to the Romanian Vlad the Impaler). Bathory was also a model for many characters in literature and film, including the Evil Queen in Snow White. It may not be a surprise that Bathory is also a muse for several heavy metal bands from around the world. Is Erzsebet Bathory the Baddest of all of our Bad Elizabeths so far? Does mental illness mitigate how bad she was, or was she simply misunderstood? Later, Actress, director, writer, composer, and polyglot, Julie Delpy joins the discussion. You may know her from many things, notably for acting in Richard Linklater's beloved films “Before Sunrise," “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight”, she earned Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay for the latter two works. Gideon and Kathy talk to Julie about her 2009 film “The Countess,” which tells Bathory’s story. She also talks about her first encounter with a real life Bathory when she was young, shooting in actual castles where torture took place, and the challenges of acting and directing while wearing a very restrictive corset. Julie Delpy can currently be seen on the Netflix series, “Hostage,” and soon in director Ruben Ostlund’s latest black comedy, “The Entertainment System is Down” alongside actors Keanu Reeves, Kristen Dunst and Delpy's “Countess” co-star, Daniel Bruhl. This is the last episode of "Bad Elizabeth" of 2025, thanks to all who help make this series a success including - and especially - the listeners! We are taking a short hiatus, and will have more episodes in the new year, featuring more questionable Elizabeths. Exciting things ahead, please continue to give us those five star reviews, and spread the word! We really appreciate it. ---------------------------------------- Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton Theme Song Composed by Alexis Cuadrado & Danny Gray Recorded @ Jett Road Studios ---------------------------------------- Sources: Bathory https://www.cbsnews.com/news/blood-countess-elizabeth-bathory-slovakia-serial-killer-new-theory/ Countess Elizabeth Bathory: The Life and Legacy of History's Most Prolific Female Serial Killer Charles River Editors https://a.co/d/3uSadXd Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsebet Bathory by Kimberly L Kraft https://a.co/d/dHnLGdM The Countess: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496634/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B005DD7GE2/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-29/bathorys-torturous-escapades-are-exposed https://medium.com/never-stop-writing/countess-elizabeth-bathory-real-life-vampire-or-scapegoat-of-history-dd70322adb03 Hostage https://www.netflix.com/search?q=hostage&jbv=81696688 Before Sunrise https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0091WD4ZQ/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r Before Sunset https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B001N9BGGY/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r Before Midnight https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00FJTWK0U/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack ----------------------------------------

    50 min
  5. Bad Elizabeth - Betty Broderick with Griffin Matthews

    11/19/2025

    Bad Elizabeth - Betty Broderick with Griffin Matthews

    This episode Kathy and Gideon look at Elizabeth "Betty" Broderick whose case was chewed over by Daytime Television hosts of the 1980s like Oprah Winfrey and supermarket tabloids. Elizabeth and Dan Broderick were the couple who seemed to have it all, but once infidelity became an issue in the marriage, all hell broke loose. Betty stalked and terrorized Dan and his new girlfriend including driving her car into a house. It all ended in violence and America became obsessed with the case and consumed multiple television series and podcasts for decades after it all occurred. What is it about this case that fascinates Americans, is there something relatable or universal about the players or do Americans just love to see rich, good looking, people go down. Our special guest is Griffin Matthews (the Flight Attendant, You, Dear White People), joining us from Madrid. His experience playing a Flight Attendant gives him special insight into that world, which is pertinent, since one of the victims was a Delta Flight Attendant. In dissecting the particulars, Griffin brings up another famous Elizabeth: Elizabeth Edwards, who took credit for building her husbands career. We also discuss with Griffin what it's like being an American transplant in Europe as well as acting in Spinal Tap 2. ---------------------------------------- Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton Theme Song Composed by Alexis Cuadrado & Danny Gray Recorded @ Jett Road Studios ---------------------------------------- Sources: Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story https://www.netflix.com/title/80241855 It Was Simple: The Betty Broderick Murders https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/it-was-simple-the-betty-broderick-murders/id1513430448 Dirty John: Betty: The Betty Broderick Story (podcast) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dirty-john-season-2-the-podcast/id1513500047 The Betty Broderick Story: A Woman Scorned https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dirty-john-season-2-the-podcast/id1513500047 Telling On Myself by Betty Broderick https://a.co/d/9QOp9sC Oprah interviews Betty Broderick https://a.co/d/9QOp9sC Fatal Attraction https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0B8SWV9Q3/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r One Angry Betty - LA Magazine https://lamag.com/crimeinla/one-angry-betty1/ ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

    56 min
  6. Bad Elizabeth - Bethe Wettlaufer with Charles Graeber

    11/05/2025

    Bad Elizabeth - Bethe Wettlaufer with Charles Graeber

    Kathy and Gideon talk about the woman many consider the worst Canadian serial killer - Elizabeth "Bethe" Wettlaufer. Wettlaufer, who grew up near Woodstock, Ontario, fits into the True Crime sub-genre of Nurses Who Kill. She worked at various rehab and medical facilities and administered deadly doses of insulin to many of her older patients, but the horrible things she did didn't come to light until much later. After admitting her crimes to various people, nothing happened to her. Was this an example of "Canadian nice" or was it just that Wettlaufer didn't "look" like a killer, and therefor nobody could believe it. We also welcome to the show, Charles Graeber, author of the best selling book "The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder" which was made into an award-winning film starring Eddie Redmayne as American Nurse Killer Charles Cullen. Graeber explains how the hospitals ignored whistleblowers, and allowed Cullen to get jobs at other facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania where he continued murdering patients. Cullen was quite possibly responsible for as many as 400 killings. And while Cullen did end up behind bars, the hospital administrators were never held accountable. Perhaps there's more than one villain in these stories... ---------------------------------------- Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton Theme Song Composed by Alexis Cuadrado & Danny Gray Recorded @ Jett Road Studios ---------------------------------------- SOURCES: The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber https://a.co/d/81TLJmc The Good Nurse (film) https://www.netflix.com/title/81260083 "Living with a Serial Killer: Elizabeth Wettlaufer" https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/living-with-a-serial-killer/8729766680284507112/seasons/2/episodes/elizabeth-wettlaufer-episode-6/06fc97a9-48ee-3cb8-a292-ad141236f59b "Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer: Elizabeth Wettlaufer" https://www.primevideo.com/region/na/detail/0SX2ANK3N5DM7AY19FW6I6YXRR?ref_=atv_dp_pb_core ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

    50 min
  7. Bad Elizabeth - Elizabeth Parris with Jane Borden

    10/22/2025

    Bad Elizabeth - Elizabeth Parris with Jane Borden

    Halloween is almost here (at the time of posting) and doing a show about the Salem Witch Trials is perfectly on-brand for this spooky holiday. The Elizabeth that our episode is about is Elizabeth Parris - whose child Betty Parris and her niece Abagail Williams - were the first to be "afflicted" by alleged Satanic influences in 1692. Parris with her husband, Samuel, and another neighbor diagnosed the so-called nefarious symptoms of their children, and accused three of being Witches - two townswomen and Tituba, who was the slave who lived in the Parris household. This first case of "Witchcraft" started the fire (to paraphrase Billy Joel) and an epidemic of satanic activity across Salem and even parts of Connecticut. Do Elizabeth and her child Betty (a variation of Elizabeth) get a pass from Gideon and Kathy? And what caused these symptoms? Kathy and Gideon go through some of the theories including "Mass Hysteria" and ergot mushroom poisoning. Later in the episode, Gideon and Kathy welcome guest Jane Borden, author of "Cults Like Us" and discuss whether the Puritans, who founded America, were essentially a cult, and how does the Puritans' cult-like behavior and thinking manifest in our modern society in America. In a twist, we channel Henry Louis Gates, and help reveal the descendant of our guest Borden...can you guess? ---------------------------------------- A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience by Emerson W Baker https://a.co/d/8k3xxRF Hysterical by Dan Taberski https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hysterical/id1753789609 Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America by Jane Borden https://a.co/d/g6Frn5F I Totally Meant to Do That by Jane Borden https://a.co/d/eh0c3Ot The Crucible by Arthur Miller https://a.co/d/383dc3f John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower https://a.co/d/ez6xt4z The Day of Doom - by Michael Wigglesworth https://a.co/d/6q4G470 ---------------------------------------- Hosted by Gideon Evans & Kathy Egan-Taylor Producer & Engineer: Will Becton / Executive Producer: Amber Becton Recorded @ Jett Road Studios ---------------------------------------- Jett Road Studios - Website - YouTube - Instagram - Substack Bad Elizabeth - Instagram - YouTube - Substack

    1h 10m

Trailers

4.6
out of 5
100 Ratings

About

Jett Road Studios presents "Bad Elizabeth" a comedic true crime podcast hosted by friends and former “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” office mates, Gideon Evans and Kathy Egan-Taylor. The premise is as simple as it sounds - each episode explores the story of an “Elizabeth” (or any derivation of that name) who is notorious; be they a murderer, a fraudster, or just a complete a-hole. These women span both past and present, in pop culture, and world history. Gideon & Kathy guide you through these sordid and outrageous tales breezily, as if you were a guest at a fun cocktail party. Season 1 Elizabeths profiled include famed axe-wielder Lizzie Borden, imprisoned Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, the ruthless Queen Elizabeth I, and the bloodthirsty Hungarian Countess, Elizabeth Bathory. Gideon and Kathy explore the misdeeds of the Elizabeths in question, and determine whether they deserve to be called "bad". Each episode also features a special guest, be it an expert, actor, author, or an actual living and breathing Elizabeth (a good one). Evans and Egan-Taylor don’t harbor any resentment against Elizabeths - many of whom they hope to woo as listeners - however, there are a lot of them out there who are objectively s****y (we all know at least one). Consider yourself warned!

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