7 Best Dictators Podcasts to Listen to (2026)

Real Dictators is the award-winning podcast that explores the hidden lives of history's tyrants. Hosted by Paul McGann, with contributions from eyewitnesses and expert historians. New episodes available a week early for Noiser+ subscribers. You'll also get ad-free listening, early access and exclusive content on shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started or head to noiser.com/subscriptions For advertising enquiries, email ****@adelicious.fm No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception. more

There's a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater's insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein's side career as a trashy romance novelist. more

A comprehensive, long-form history podcast about Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot Regime. 

Kim Jong-nam should be the ruler of North Korea. Instead, he was the victim of the 21st century's most bizarre assassination plot. A deep look inside a decades-long saga broiling with deceit, palace gossip, and political backstabbing—shedding light on the machinations of the most secretive nation on the planet. more

Welcome to Secret Police! A history podcast about the world's most infamous secret police forces. We take a detailed look at the deception and the brutality secret police impose upon their own people to further the goals of totalitarian depravity. more

Liberty Dies With Thunderous Applause is a history podcast obsessed with history's greatest dictators. The hosts have created a knockout competition to determine the single greatest dictator of all time. Each episode features a match-up of two dictators where the hosts discuss the life and times of each leader. The loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament and each winner remains in the contest to be named history's greatest dictator. more

The Dissident's Mic is a two-person interview series featuring timely, in-depth conversations about authoritarianism around the world. Hosted by Casey Michel, director of HRF's Combatting Kleptocracy program and a proud member of Putin's 'blacklist,' and Chelsea Hedquist, head of communications strategy at HRF. Each episode is driven by a central compelling question and grounded in the firsthand experiences of dissidents resisting authoritarian power. more