Best Podcast Reviews

“The Dirty Bits” Podcast sharing the side of history that our teachers did not

April 13, 2018 7:24 am

Tawny and George Platis, a husband and wife pair, have made a product — and potentially soon two full time careers — out of their bedtime banter: their podcast, The Dirty Bits.

On The Dirty Bits Tawny discusses the more scandalous and salacious stories “that your history teacher more than likely left out of the classroom.” George is responsible for the technical side of the podcast.

“My wife [Tawny] and I would go to bed every night with the same ritual,” said George. “We would bring up topics that interested us either from the news or reddit or the top of our heads and then talk about them.”

George said his studies were focused on philosophy and so he and Tawny would debate topics related to this — her interests lie more in history and the two frequently ended up having discussions about the effects of history on modern life.

“Well, if I remember correctly, one night, after discussing some of the dirtier parts of history, Tawny suggested it as a podcast,” said George. “I don’t think she had even listened to one at the time. I was sure there were already a hundred out there but I checked and though there were many history podcasts, I could not find one focused on sex. I was blown away.”

They had recorded their first episode within a week’s time. Tawny, who is a voice actor by profession (she also coaches and mentors other voice actors), said it seemed like a natural choice for them.

“We had all the equipment and I was already comfortable on the mic and comfortable playing a character,” said Tawny. “We figured it would be a little something extra to showcase our work as a voice talent and editor.”

Tawny retells these dirty bits of history in a character that she said is a caricature of herself– a Southern California girl with a heavy and tells the stories.

And though she’s essentially teaching history, Tawny doesn’t speak in a formal tone to share her the information they’re covering on the podcast. Instead, she hopes she tells it in a comedic way but more importantly in an accessible way.

“I use common language and slang when writing the episodes,” said Tawny.

She didn’t attend college herself, instead, opting to start a business during her senior year of high school. She believes strongly that it’s important to make history attainable for everyone.

“Once I started reading informational texts to educate myself, I would retell them to my husband like I was retelling stories about friends,” said Tawny. “Not only was it fun, I think it’s easier to draw parallels from what was going on in the world then, to what’s going on in the world today. Learning how these great influencers affected history because of their sex lives is so revealing.”

The show also hits on one of the other beliefs she holds close.

“We have a problem normalizing sex in the U.S. We did an episode on Anthony Comstock and they guy was hellbent on making sure that the entire United States population lived in this puritanical, ‘sex is bad,’ bubble,” said Tawny. “I think we’re still feeling those effects today. I think it’s incredibly important to be able to comfortably talk about sex.”

Her favorite part, she said, are the “Lovebugs” — another term that they identify their listeners by. They have a Facebook group in which their listeners gather as a community.

“It makes my week that someone would go out of their way to tell us how much they loved our show or how they laughed so hard they spit their tea out while listening,” said Tawny. “Next to that, I love performing. Every episode is fully scripted and I love getting into character, even if I’m just performing for George in our isolation sound booth.”

Meanwhile, George, on the other end, has a particular love for a certain section of the podcast production process.

“The best part for me is when I have all the bumpers and promos and music lined up perfectly, the volume on each audio file is right where I want it and the fades are all precise,” said George. “Hitting the mix down button is satisfying on a spiritual level.”

So far, the show has been a success.

“We were amazed when it grew to the point that we had to start talking about doing it full time,” said Tawny.

Tawny said they were pleasantly surprised to find such a loving and supportive community in the podcast industry and that it has encouraged them in their desire to start working on the show full time.

While they’re not producing their podcast as a full time occupation yet, they are on their way there. Right now, they both still have day jobs– and the work the podcast demands from the duo is wonderful, but at times can be difficult according to Tawny.

“We’re working on expansion and would love to bring on more team members to help out since it’s really just the two of us for the most part doing all of the script writing, producing, and marketing,” said Tawny. “It’s well over 20 hours a week in addition to our day jobs. We’re in the process of securing capital to grow the show, just like any other business.”

They have a couple sponsorships on the show right now and are on the hunt for more.

“We’re on The Orbital Jigsaw Network and I’m a part of the marketing team there as well. We’re currently revamping the website and are in the process of securing more sponsors,” said Tawny. “It’s an exciting time!”

In terms of doing the podcast as a full time job, Tawny said it wouldn’t take much: if each subscriber donated one dollar per month she said they could do it. They have a Patreon and a PayPal account set up for donations.

“We’ve been so grateful and happy with the growth and it’s fun to track the progress we’re making to reach our goal,” said Tawny.