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Badass of the Week

Badass of the Week

By: Badass History - High Five Content & Seven Bucks Productions
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About this listen

Throughout the course of human history certain individuals have stood out as being completely f***ing awesome. From ninjas and gunfighters to pirates and Vikings, to explorers, scientists and great leaders, these people - true badasses - completely obliterated anything that stood in their path, routinely overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and ultimately altered the course of history through their actions. Be it glory, conquest, or survival, these hardcore men and women all had one specific goal in life - and they didn’t let anything stand between themselves and their mission. They refused to back down even when the odds seemed hopelessly stacked against them, they came back from the brink of failure to achieve ultimate success, and they beat the hell out of anyone stupid enough to have stood in their way.

Welcome to Badass of the Week hosted by Ben Thompson. The weekly (duh) podcast, that dives into depths history to tell new stories of badasses every week.

Badass of the Week is Produced by High Five Content and Seven Bucks Productions.

Executive Producers are Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Dany Garcia, Andrew Jacobs, Ben Thompson, Hiram Garcia,Brian Gewirtz and Frankie Chiapperino.

You can support more Badass story telling by joining our patreon here:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/badassoftheweek

2024 High Five Content © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from High Five Content
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Episodes
  • St. Moses the Black: From Outlaw to Saint
    Dec 23 2025

    History doesn’t usually leave room for men like St. Moses the Black - a violent outlaw, gang leader, and feared killer who somehow became one of the most respected monks of the early Christian world. His life wasn’t a gentle conversion story. It was brutal, uncomfortable, and earned the hard way through discipline, humility, and blood-soaked consequences.

    Joining the show is Matti Leshem, co-creator of Fox Nation's The Saints, to break down why Moses’s transformation still matters and why this might be the most intense Christmas story you’ve never heard. This is a holiday episode about redemption that doesn’t come wrapped in a bow — it comes with scars.

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • The Trưng Sisters: When Sisters Ruled an Empire
    Dec 17 2025

    History doesn’t usually begin with two sisters on war elephants — but this one does. In 40 AD, the Trưng Sisters ignited a violent break from Han Dynasty rule, led armies commanded by women, seized more than sixty citadels, and ruled Vietnam as queens for three hard-fought years.

    In today's episode Ben is joined by Dr. Pat Larish to chart the rise, rule, and last stand of the women who turned occupation into identity — and became the blueprint for two thousand years of Vietnamese resistance.

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    49 mins
  • The Taiping Rebellion: The Cult Leader Who Nearly Toppled an Empire
    Dec 11 2025

    A failed civil-service exam. A month-long fever dream. And a man who woke up convinced he was Jesus Christ’s Chinese younger brother... This week, Ben teams up with historian and History on Fire host Daniele Bolelli to tell one of the wildest, bloodiest, most unbelievable stories in human history: the Taiping Rebellion, the second-deadliest war the world has ever seen.

    What begins as one man’s psychotic break spirals into a doomsday-level holy war that engulfs 17 provinces, kills tens of millions, topples cities, shatters dynasties, draws in Western empires, and sets China on a collision course with its modern future.

    Strap in — this one goes way off the rails.

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    1 hr and 16 mins
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