OUR RATING:
Where Comedy and Homicide Share a Zip Code
In the vast and seemingly endless wasteland of true crime podcasts where hosts whisper dramatically about killers having “troubled childhoods,” Small Town Murder stands apart like a neon billboard in a cemetery. Comedians James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman have somehow cracked the code on making horrific murders in obscure American towns both respectful to victims and funny enough to give you some serious chuckles.
Each episode begins with what can only be described as a sadistic real estate tour of whatever forgotten hamlet they’re covering. You’ll learn absolutely useless information about the town’s median income, racial demographics, and number of Applebee’s restaurants, all delivered with the enthusiasm of a man who just won the lottery but can only spend it on encyclopedias. By the time they actually get to the murder, you’ll feel like you’ve lived in Bumble-Nowhere, Nebraska your entire life.
The hosts have a brilliant disclaimer that they “only make fun of murderers and the town,” which is basically their license to ruthlessly mock everything else. And mock they do. From incompetent police work that would make the Keystone Cops look like CSI, to defendants whose excuses are so ridiculous they’d be rejected from a daytime soap opera for being “too unrealistic,” nothing is sacred except the victims themselves.
James plays the role of meticulous researcher, often launching into historical tangents, while Jimmie serves as the audience surrogate who asks the questions we’re all thinking, like “What the hell is wrong with people?” and “Can we please talk about the murder now?” What I’ve enjoyed most about this podcast is how they handle the actual crime details. Just when you think they’ve gone too dark with murder specifics, one of them drops a joke so unexpected that you’ll feel guilty for laughing, and then immediately laugh harder. It’s the sort of emotional whiplash that has become relatively common as an art form.
The research is so thorough you’ll wonder if James has somehow gained access to every small-town newspaper archive in America. They uncover details so obscure that even the people who lived through these cases probably don’t remember them. Each episode feels like they’ve excavated an entire town’s dirty laundry, hung it on a clothesline, and then provided snarky commentary about everyone’s underwear choices.
Perhaps most remarkably, they’ve created a show where horrible tragedies somehow don’t leave you feeling depressed. Instead, you’ll find yourself googling property values in places you’d previously never heard of, just to confirm that yes, you could indeed buy a four-bedroom house there for the price of a decent sandwich in Los Angeles. The podcast has single-handedly convinced thousands of listeners never to move to a small town, making it perhaps the most effective anti-rural propaganda since “Deliverance.”
By the end of each episode, which typically runs longer than some minor European wars, you’ll have experienced the full spectrum of human emotion: fascination, horror, amusement, and the distinct feeling that you should probably check the backgrounds of your neighbours more carefully. Small Town Murder isn’t just a podcast. It’s a reminder that behind every quaint Main Street and charming town square in America, there’s at least one person who thought murder was a reasonable solution to their problems. And somehow, we all want to listen to that tale.
Where to listen to Small Town Murder
Episodes.fm | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Pocket Casts | Castro
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