History Podcast / TheLastPodcastOnTheLeft

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: This frequently comes up in relation to serial killers and murderers. While most serial killers have horrific pasts filled with abuse and/or mental illness, the guys always make it clear that it does not excuse or justify their monstrous actions and they lost their right to pity and understanding when they started murdering people. In regards to subjects that had a mental illness that might have influenced them to kill or hurt people, Marcus often says "Mental illness isn't your fault, but it ''is'' your responsibility."

* Scandinavians in the "DeathMetal" episodes either veer between "The Swedish Chef" and "Stereotypical German". Likewise, Dennis Nilsen varies between "thick {{Scotireland}}" and "Cockney" (in RealLife, Nilsen was neither and had a posh Scottish-tinged English accent due to being in England for so long).

** Marcus describes the ChrisBenoit murder-suicide in detail in a very serious tone as such a tragedy would deserve, culminating in Benoit using his weigh machine to snap his neck...Then the guys wonder what if Benoit went to ''Yahoo Answers'' [[note]]now defunct but tened to have trolls giving dumb answers[[/note]] to get advice on "The quickest way to break your neck" and the stupid answers that ensue.
-->'''Henry (as YA troll):''' "The easiest and quickest way to break your neck is to get rid of your whole family... and that's the quickest and easiest way to break your neck!"

Recurring topics on the show include serial killers, cults, aliens, cryptids, and hauntings and they are discussed with all the respect that they deserve... [[BlackComedy which is usually none]].

Recurring topics on the show include: serial killers, cults, aliens, cryptids, and hauntings.

* TakeThat:

** He also tears Jim Jones a new one, albeit posthumously, deriding his supposed "grand revolutionary gesture" as nothing more than a senseless and selfish act that didn't even get him the recognition he wanted.

** Marcus describes the lead-up to Rasputin's assassination in precise and dramatic detail, going so far as to include a sample of the music that was playing at the time... which turns out to be ''Yankee Doodle Dandy''.

* RedBaron: Whenever a serial killer has a particularly cool name attached to them, i.e. Peter Kürten ("The Vampire of Düsseldorf"), Peter Sutcliffe ("The Yorkshire Ripper").

** The trio all waste no time in mocking Israel Keyes for his smug, obnoxious “Nu Metal” attitude= and his [[MostAnnoyingSound irritating laugh]].
** Mark Twitchell’s lack of talent and bungling of every aspect of his single successful murder earns him plenty of mockery from all three hosts.

** Ben reading poorly.

** The trio all waste no time in mocking Israel Keyes for his obnoxious “Nu Metal” attitude, more befitting of a sullen teenager than a grown man.
** Mark Twitchell’s lack of talent and bungling of every aspect of his singular murder earns him plenty of mockery from all three hosts.

* ScrewTheRulesImFamous: Jack Unterwager pulled off an extreme version of this by becoming a bestselling author while in jail for his first murder, which people ate up in droves. His newfound celebrity status served as a powerful shield that allowed him to commit even more murders, since nobody wanted to believe that he hadn’t actually reformed, and those who saw him for what he really was got shouted down or slandered.

** The Mark David Chapman episodes see Marcus deliver multiple potshots the darker aspects of the Baby Boomer generation, including the hypocrisy of 60's hippie culture and the selfishness of those in power. Henry jokingly asks him at one point if [[SingleTear he's crying]].

** Starting from Herbet Mullin Part I, “Get the net!” has been used whenever Marcus’ rants or jokes get a little out of hand,

* {{Narcissist}}: Aspects of the narcissistic personality type are discussed in relation to how certain killers/cult leaders act, aside from the ItsAllAboutMe aspect:
** With Mark David Chapman and Jim Jones, their narcissism came about from an abusive or negligent household. Both their mothers, feeling trapped and disappointed with their lives, placed elaborate fantasies on their children, who grew up either longing to fulfil these fantasies by any means necessary (Jim Jones) or frustrated that the world didn't just hand them greatness (Chapman).
** Casey Antony and Jodie Arias display another narcissistic trait - the tendency for lying and trying to present a front of normalcy. By stubbornly sticking to their version of reality, they essentially force others to go along with the lie out of fear of retribution, because they cannot handle their world view being challenged. Henry compares this to trying to obtain a culture victory in VideoGame/CivilizationVI.

%%* {{Narcissist}}: Narcissistic personality types are often discussed, including Mark David Chapman, Jim Jones, Casey Antony and Jodie Arias.

** The first 13 Episodes had a different theme song (suspenseful horror film music). Episode 14 is when the familiar theme with the {{Sampling}} debuts. The switch happens during the 2 Part "Chasing The Bogeyman" Episodes ([[https://youtu.be/DlL-ptqA8lw Ep. 13]] & [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B_Grq9xKik Ep.14]]). The early version of the present current theme music is a much longer version with even more samples (the version we hear now is actually a shorter mix).

** The first 13 Episodes had a different theme song (suspenseful horror film music). Episode 14 is when the familiar theme with the {{Sampling}} debuts. The switch happens during the 2 Part "Chasing The Bogeyman" Episodes ([[https://youtu.be/DlL-ptqA8lw Ep. 13]] & [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B_Grq9xKik Ep.14]]).

*** Henry also mimics a heavy metal guitar lick whenever anything "metal" comes up.

* CutenessProximity: In the "Dennis Nilsen" episodes, the guys get all like this whenever [[https://www.murdermiletours.com/blog/the-last-victim-of-the-serial-killer-dennis-nilsen Bleep]], Nilsen's adorable, black & white Border Collie is mentioned.

-->'''Ben [In Part 2]:''' "Bleep is the [[Franchise/StarWars '[=BB-8=]' ]] of this whole thing!"

* CutenessProximity: In the "Dennis Nilsen" episodes, the guys get all like this whenever Bleep, Nilsen's black & white Border Collie is mentioned.

-->'''Ben [In Part 2]:''' "Bleep is the '[[Francise/StarWars BB-8]]' of this whole thing!"

** On several occasions, Henry has been put in "free speech jail" for particularly outrageous comments.

* AccidentalMisnaming: In Mormonism part 3, Marcus describes how a man left the LDS Church because one of Joseph Smith's revelations, meant ''specifically'' for him, spelled his name wrong. Symonds thought that, out of anything, God should be able to spell. Henry notes that the name's proper spelling was the non-intuitive "Symonds Ryder". Ben posits that, between this and the Manson Family's inability to spell "Helter Skelter", perhaps God really can't spell.
* AdmiringTheAbomination: Invoked and discussed in the "Carl Panzram" three-parter, wherein Marcus says that true-crime authors ''love'' Panzram (a serial rapist and mass murderer from the early 1900s) due to his AffablyEvil tendencies and well-written confessions. By the end of the series, Henry decides that Panzram is his favorite Heavy Hitter.

%%* BloodyHilarious

* CheckPlease: Parodied in the series on Jonestown, where it's joked that if you're in a cult, your can save yourself by yelling "Check, please!", at which point there cult is obliged to let you leave. It sees use again in the show's next cult series on the Order of the Solar Temple.
* ChristmasSpecial: Episode 205 "The Detective Popcorn Christmas Special".

* ContinuityNod: Occasionally a oneoff gag or character will resurface dozens of episodes later in... surprising contexts.

** The hosts will mock serial killers, cult leaders, and their methods and acts, but they become much more serious when they discuss the victims. In the "Children of God" series, jokes about David Berg being an incestuous DirtyOldMan pedophile fly freely, but hardly a joke is made while discussing Ricky Rodriguez, a young man raised in the cult's sexually abusive environment.

** Henry [[NightmareFetishist isn't fazed by much]], but when Ben tells the story of how a fellow juror in a sexual assault case engaged in blatant [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming Victim Blaming]], he can be heard to yell out "Jesus Christ!" in tangible disgust.

* FreudianTrio: In the Borley Rectory series, the hosts describe the idea of the Freudian Trio in terms of con artistry. The Id is the "Flim-Flam Man" who is the most outwardly emotional to generate interest, the "Nerd" is the Superego who keeps the facts of the con straight, and the Ego, which Henry dubs the "Muad'Dib" in a reference to ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', is a middleman who mediates between the two because the Nerd can not control the Flim-Flam Man. The conversation that results both demonstrates and prompts Marcus to note how the three of them fit into this with Henry as the Id, Marcus the Superego, and Ben the Ego.

'''Ben:''' Oh this is ''Dune'', because I was like "Who the--Who the hell is 'Paul Moe'Deed?'"\\

'''Ben:''' I--I've always said I'm Maud'Dib.

--->'''Marcus''': So Chubb and Hiscox...''[all three hosts burst into laughter]''

* HollywoodVoodoo: Averted in the Adolfo Constanzo episodes, where Marcus and Henry take great pains to discuss Santeria and Palo Mayombe in a respectful manner, and Henry even gets contacted by some practising paleros who provide further information.
** Ironically, Adolfo himself may as well have been doing this, as his version of Palo Mayombe had him doing everything that is taboo to that religion. [[HumanSacrifice Like feeding human flesh to his Nganga.]]

** In the Aum Shinrikyo episode, for example, they give an extremely comical discussion of the utterly goofy "comedy of errors" that was setting up the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_sarin_attack Matsumoto incident]], such as their being delayed because the main planner ''overslept'', the combined weight of their equipment and cultists caused their van to only reach a top speed of 30 mph, they screwed up the chemical reaction to produce the sarin gas which filled their van with highly irritant hydrogen chloride and the wind direction changed at the last second away from their target, and then reveal that the attack ''still'' led to 6 deaths, over 100 injuries and [[TheBadGuyWins Aum succeeded in their goal of getting a lawsuit against them dropped]].

'''Henry:''' ''Yaaaaaaaaaay, he said it!''\\
'''Ben:''' Wow!

* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: The TropeNamer is examined in episodes 331 and 332: "The Donner Party Part I-- 'Salt of the Earth'" and "The Donner Party Part II-- 'The Forlorn Hope'".

** While Henry recites an old news article in Rasputin Part 2, Marcus and Ben could pinpoint exactly where his Russian accent slips into a Scottish one.
** Henry's Australian accent in the Katherine Knight episodes can range from "okay" to "[[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent nigh incomprehensible]]."
** Henry's attempts at a Yorkshire accent were hilariously bad. (Marcus's attempts were closer.

** Peter Kürten and Richard Chase each got the [[RedBaron monikers]] of "The Vampire of Düsseldorf" and "The Vampire of Sacramento" respectively due to their blood-drinking tendencies. Additionally, Chase's schizophrenia lead him to unconsciously emulate classic vampire folklore (such as thinking an open door was an "invitation"), while Kürten's sociopathy and savagery was put forth as an example of how an ''actual'' vampire would behave in real life.

** Whenever the trio note how much work a SerialKiller puts into their murders, they compare them to UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan and joke [[MemeticPsychopath that Jordan himself might be a psychopath]].

* {{Narcissist}}: Narcissistic personality types are often discussed, including Mark David Chapman, Jim Jones, Casey Antony and Jodie Arias.

* Flanderization: The gang will intentionally exaggerate traits of certain people (''especially'' serial killers) to make them more memorable.