Biopic: A Podcast Story

About Biopic: A Podcast Story

In a world where mimicking the gestures of a historical figure is awards bait, Biopic: A Podcast Story examines the good, the bad, the unspeakable, and the hilarious about this category of film that frequently dominates the Oscars but just as often offends our sensibilities. Biopic: A Podcast Story looks at the casting, the acting, the quality of the script, and the endless tropes that dominate these movies. Hosted by Rena and Sara. We have watched a lot of biopics. Biopic: A Podcast Story sits at the meeting point between movie, comedy, and history podcasts. New episodes drop every Tuesday.

Publisher

biopicapodcaststory

Category

comedy · history · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

17 May 2024

Latest episode

21 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

109 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Jun 2026

   Episode 87: Wired, the Cursed John Belushi Biopic That’s Secretly About Bob Woodward!

   Wired is one of the worst things we’ve ever seen, even here in the year of our lord 2026, where everything is kind of awful. And yet it persists with a righteous confidence that it has done nothing to deserve. Wired answers the question, what if a biopic both disdains its subject and tells its subject’s story through the perspective of one of America’s most preachily moralizing, self-righteous boomers, who pretty much relies on that one time he was awesome to justify all of his subsequent life choices? And isn’t that a question we’ve all asked? John Belushi takes the world’s saddest journey through his life, presented here as a parade of regrettable humiliations and IP-skirting recreations of his work, in a taxi driven by Ray Sharkey, an actor incapable of doing an inoffensive Spanish accent (or of admitting to vulnerable partners that he had a deadly virus). While all of this is happening, we watch in suspense as Scoop Bob Woodward tries to get the story about John’s drug addiction. It’s an unfun fever dream that tries really hard to be interesting and fails in a way that almost destroys your will to live. We welcome back comedian and filmmaker Liam McEnaney, who helps us parse through this movie that absolutely has no business existing. https://heyitsliam.com/ Sources used in the episode include… Wired, by Bob Woodward. Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers, and Guests, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. Various interviews with Michael Chiklis et al that we found on the internet, but that Rena is unable to track down in a hurry befroe running to to the eye doctor almost four months after recording this thing, when we just want to get new content up again at long last. Pre-order Sara’s new book, Dark Messiah, here! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-messiah-sara-z-carson/1149827886 Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

2. 

   9 May 2026

   Episode 86: Hidden Figures, the Story of the Black Women Who Won the Space Race!

   AND WE’RE BACK. We’re sure you’ve all missed us terribly, but some very good life stuff (Sara’s book is available for pre-order on Amazon! Rena’s work can be read on Galerie.com!) busted up our routine. Also busting up our routine: Our non-hate for Kevin Costner’s performance in Hidden Figures, a film in which he is not the star. Hidden Figures is, instead, a tour-de-force of gorgeous performances by astonishingly attractive, gifted actors which manages to commit some sly transgressions on the “white savior” trope that dominates so many movies about the Black civil rights movement. (Who has the balls to make Sheldon a villain? Hidden Figures does). Telling the true story of the Black female NASA employees—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—who sent men to the moon, Hidden Figures brought us joy. This film is packed with supportive partners and parents, well-behaved and thoughtful children, Karens getting undermined, and deeply brainy women, and we’re here for its optimism. Oh, and Mahershala Ali is here? Okay, cool. We discuss: Apollo 13 and how maybe that control room shouldn’t have been wall-to-wall Clint Howards, the discomfort of Operation Paperclip, flawless makeup, math, and whether Sara’s brain is still fully functional (spoiler: it is not). Hidden Figures is directed by Theodore Melfi, and stars Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson, Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, Janelle Monae as Mary Jackson, Kevin Costner as Al Harrison, Kirsten Dunst as Vivian Mitchell, Jim Parsons as Paul Stafford, Mahershala Ali as Colonel Jim Johnson, Aldis Hodge as Levi Jackson, and Glen Powell as John Glenn. Sources used in the episode include… The book Hidden Figures https://www.space.com/35145-hidden-figures-right-stuff-history.html https://frockflicks.com/hidden-figures-2016/ https://madamenoire.com/784290/on-the-problematic-and-unnecessary-white-saviors-in-hidden-figures/ https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/baldwin-witness Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Pre-order Sara’s new book, Dark Messiah, here or on Amazon, or from your local bookstore! https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-messiah-sara-z-carson/1149827886 Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

3. 

   17 Feb 2026

   Episode 85: Dolemite is my Name, Starring Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, aka Dolemite

   This one is just FUN. Dolemite is his name and … we can’t write the rest. Eddie Murphy gives us a gonzo, super-delightful ride through the world of “Godfather of Rap” Rudy Ray Moore and the making of iconic blaxploitation film Dolemite. We are way out over our skis here as two east coast ladies with a passing grasp on the blaxploitation genre, but we loved this, we loved Dolemite, and we love Eddie Murphy, comic genius and embarrasser of the guilty (ahem, John Landis). While we discuss this film, we also talk about cultural gatekeeping, appreciating art that wasn’t made to be spoon-fed into your individual brain, if Dolemite is as artistically ambitious as Mean Streets and the work of John Cassavetes, German filmmaking nepo babies, Tyler Perry’s Madea, and so much more. Dolemite Is My Name is directed by Craig Brewer and written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and stars Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, Keegan Michael Key as Jerry Jones, Mike Epps as Jimmy Lynch, Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Lady Reed, Tituss Burgess as Theodore Toney, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nick von Sternberg, Craig Robinson as Ben Taylor, Ron Cephas Jones as Ricco, Snoop Dogg as Roj, Luenell as Auntie, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris as Walter Crane, Chris Rock as Bobby Vale, and the one and only Wesley Snipes as D’Urville Martin. Sources used in the episode include… Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxploitation Cinema By Odie Henderson Bustle: Rudy Ray Moore's Real Life Is Just As Wild As The Story Of 'Dolemite Is My Name' https://www.bustle.com/p/how-accurate-is-dolemite-is-my-name-theres-plenty-of-truth-to-the-biopic-19742402 USA Today: Fact-Checking Dolemite Is My Name: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2019/10/25/dolemite-is-my-name-fact-checking-eddie-murphy-netflix-movie/4062293002/ UCLA: Nicholas is my Name https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/nicholas-is-my-name Film Talk: Nicholas Josef von Sternberg: “There’s no doubt that my father was a highly respected film director” https://filmtalk.org/2019/08/28/nicholas-josef-von-sternberg-theres-no-doubt-that-my-father-was-a-highly-respected-film-director/ About the Dunbar Hotel: https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/dunbar-hotel/ https://www.pbssocal.org/history-society/when-central-avenue-swung-the-dunbar-hotel-and-the-golden-age-of-l-a-s-little-harlem https://lamag.com/l-a-on-screen/dolemite-is-my-name/ “Eddie Murphy Nearly Physically Assaulted John Landis While Making ‘Coming to America’,” from Cracked. https://www.cracked.com/article_41377_eddie-murphy-nearly-physically-assaulted-john-landis-while-making-coming-to-america.html “He fucked me over”: How John Landis betrayed Eddie Murphy over ‘Coming to America’, from Far Out https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/director-betrayed-eddie-murphy/ Diary of a Mad Black Woman review, Variety https://variety.com/2005/film/markets-festivals/diary-of-a-mad-black-woman-2-1200527749/ Spoiler Warning: We spoil everything. And we enjoy it. Our theme music is by Ben Patch: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5BB01QpPE7HBGacGAlullu?si=gp_6jbvsThWXg_sSLVcv6Q Follow us! Instagram: @biopicapodcaststory Bluesky: @biopic-podcast.bsky.social Threads: @biopicapodcaststory Website: https://biopicapodcaststory.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/biopicapodcaststory Contact us: biopiclistenermailbag@gmail.com

Who has been a guest on Biopic: A Podcast Story

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Brandon Wilson
• Maggie Serota
• Belle

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

1,362

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 74 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

83

Social presence

91

YouTube

65

Engagement

51

Contact Biopic: A Podcast Story

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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