Behind the Bastards
Part One: Robert Maxwell: How Ghislaine Maxwell's Dad Ruined Science
Tue, 06 May 2025
You know his daughter as Jeffrey Epstein's right hand woman. Robert tells guest Adam Conover about Ghislaine Maxwell's dad, Robert Maxwell. He started his life on a Nazi murder quest and ended it by killing science as a field of endeavor and raiding millions from his company pension plan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: Who is Robert Maxwell and why is he significant?
Welcome back to Behind the Bastards, a podcast about the very worst people in all of history. And ladies and gentlethems, we've got a real motherfucker of a motherfucker for you this week. And to talk about one of the most interesting sons of bitches we're going to talk about on this series, I have one of the most interesting guests that we've had on this show, Adam Conover. Adam Conover.
Welcome to the program. You hardly need introduction, but obviously you were the host of Adam Ruins Everything. And you've done, I mean, you've been in a ton of stuff since you were in BoJack Horseman. You serve on the board of the WGA. And you have a podcast now, right?
Yeah, I do a show called Factually on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. And I also do video monologues, which don't really have a title, but it's sort of the current evolution of what people know me for doing. doing topical comedy about the world around us, mostly about fascism. I'm doing a lot of weekly video updates about creeping fascism and what we can do about it.
And yeah, trying to be a little green shoot in the ashes of the entertainment industry and doing stuff online now. Having a great time.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's interesting to me. You and I both came out of, because you came out of college humor, where you did a lot of your early work. I came out of crack. So we're kind of like cousins in digital media terms. Definitely. Both of whom started out doing like, yeah, pop culture commentary. And now it's just all fascism. It's just all fascism.
Remember when there used to be websites? And on the websites, you could do comedy about it. Various things. History or pop culture or just like, you know, something about dating college chicks. And people would click on that. You'd get some money. And now you've got to go on Elon Musk's platform and... Talk about how a judge was arrested. Yes.
Yes. Or you go onto Facebook and you see a crudely AI-generated image of a soldier with no arms and a face that just isn't quite right that says, nobody will share this image. It's great. I love what's happened to media. This is so much better than my friends having health care. Yeah.
No one will share this image as the funniest trope of viral Facebook boomer content.
I love it. I love it. I love it. It's so good. So this is actually slightly relevant to the person we're talking about today because our bastard this week is – he's the man who ruined science in a lot of ways. And he's also one of the major figures who like helped make media what it is. He was Rupert Murdoch's nemesis for years.
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Chapter 2: How did Robert Maxwell's early life shape his character?
I don't understand why your show's called Behind the Bastard. So far, all he's done is go on a Nazi killing spree, which we just discussed the ambiguous morals of how, you know, so I'm a little confused about the format of the show, but I guess I'll find out in the next part.
Yeah, it is. This is a real whiplash episode. I don't know if we've ever had one for the whole first episode. It's like, this guy fucking owns.
Like...
You're on like a Nazi death quest through Europe. Like that's fucking sick.
Yeah. I mean, he, he, again, he, he feels like the hero of like a pulp novel.
Yeah.
Yeah. You know, I, I have expected to be attacked by a dinosaur and wrestle it into submission.
Yeah. And I guess if you if you were to imagine it, you can you can see this part two is like right after Inglorious Bastards ends, you know, they're carving a swastika in that guy's forehead. And then like Brad Pitt goes and gets a job in finance and destroys the world.
That's basically the story we're telling. I think we need, honestly, I want more sequels that are that. I want to see the people turn into bad people or disappoint or not, you know.
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