in episode 7, the narrator Nocera says “Like, isn’t capitalism built on greed? Isn’t that the impulse, the motor that powers the whole system? People wanna make money, right?” No, capitalism is not simply built on greed. Sometimes people just want to create something that they also make a living at but you are a journalist Mr Nocerna (are you making $$ off this show?and maybe you don’t understand the power of words.

Well done show on an interesting guy. I had previously never heard of Victor.

loved it

I couldn’t listen past the second episode as the hosts’ frequent interjections and commentary threw me off. Need a better podcaster for crime stories.. Someone who can keep the audiences mind focussed on the story.

A very interesting story at its core, but every five seconds there’s a new buzzy side effect, or the very annoying narrator interrupts with stupid jokes. It’s like they don’t think we’ll be able to pay attention without them— like the jokes and side effects help. Sad waste of a great story/

Fascinating and intelligent. Another con man tale for the ages. Sequel please

Show was basic and the ending very unsatisfying. They never really answered question of what happened to money. And Joe kept interjecting the most asinine commentary that insulted the audience’s intelligence and his own dignity.

Firstly, probably some good journalism and an interesting subject but as others have noted, the primary narrator and his script completely ruin the story and earnest research that went into it. Why do Americans insist on sounding sarcastic and ignorant regarding the rest of the world, as though it’s a form of patriotism? It played like it was the first time the narrator has ever heard the name of another country or the historical facts about how the (not-America) world functions and then speaks to the listener like we’re brainwashed children. I’m an American btw. The “jokes” about foreign names fall flat - I want to remind the production company that if you make a podcast about foreign countries and ppl, you should probably consider the tone you take about those countries, even if you’re desperately trying for humor. There are xenophobic and misogynistic undertones throughout the first 4 eps which became increasingly more obvious, frankly it’s boring, lazy, and hurt my eyes from all the rolling. As much as I wanted to hear the rest of the story, I couldn’t stand the narration. Did anyone in production even listen to this before release? And who was your target audience with the choices you made?

Joe was a delight, a true pro. Peter as well. And the production was excellent. Great story.

I love everything about this show, the way it was told, the narrator’s voice, the music - intro, during the narration & the outro and ESPECIALLY the INSANE story itself. Well done. 🙌🏽

If nothing else, very interesting. From the reviews sounds like the narrator has ruffled some feathers. Hmmm.

Great story, but the overproduction and host ruin it. Truly unlistenable

Loved it , fun and interesting , keeps you engaged

This is a text book example of how terrible narrative makes a listener want to not listen an interesting story. Joe Nocera’s style is like explaining everything over and over again like he would explain to a five year old. His jokes are terribly corny and bad. Everything that happens in the narrative ends with a bad joke. I mean everything. On top of them Joe is a perfect example how “an American who doesn’t know anything about the world stereotype” is formed. He cannot pronounce any foreign word and on top makes fun of their pronunciation. Irritating. I say Joe Nocera should stick to podcasts telling American kids cute stories. He will be great at it. Just don’t use foreign words. It might blow their mind! The story and the journalism is great. Hence the three stars.

Fantastic and interesting account of the story’s protagonist but, as others have noted in their reviews, the narrator is just the worst I have ever heard. His jokes fall flat and the way he presents the story is condescending to listeners, presuming we do not know the basics. Story is 5 stars, narration is 1 star. I imagine I’ll be saying NO to any future podcasts narrated by Joe Nocera…

Story is good enough to listen to, but the host Noah is not funny and has an odd sense of humor/narration.

Interesting from A to Z. Great host, narrator. And loved the music too!

Great show, but fellas, we have got to work on the pronunciation of Azerbaijan... it's definitely not pronounced Ajabajan.

As other reviewers have said, this podcast started with a compelling story, but the hosts narrative style (constantly asking questions and repeating themselves in an over-the-top tone, akin to a children’s tv host). Completely unnecessary and ruins the listening experience. Such a shame.

Couldn’t make it past the second episode. Host’s commentary is over the top and unnecessary. The story was great on its own without his exclamations interrupting its flow.

To stretch a 4-episode podcast into 8 episodes, the writers seem to have decided to condescend to the listener. They took a pretty fascinating story and told it as the audience was all 5th graders. It’s maddening.

This is a really great story but over-produced in a way that detracts from the storytelling. The “host” tries to be conversational but it sounds so scripted and hokey. Additionally, major, important story points are simply conveyed with no explanation or reasoning making one wonder “why” it happened. Would recommend it for the fascinating story but it was a chore to listen to because of the production.

From start to finish I couldn’t stop listening. 10/10 experience; highly recommend.

I absolutely loved the way the narrators spoke and interjected humor into this fascinating story. Great pacing and storytelling!

I had sort of heard about Victor Kozeny, but this story provides a more comprehensive insight about fraud, foreign corruption, wealth and political influence, and greed.

The crazy tale of bumbling narcissist Viktor Kožený. So good it’ll make you want to pop open a bottle or two of Chateau Petrus with 500 of your closest friends!

The story is interesting, but you would think this is the only time the narrator has ever heard of a scammer/ Imposter before. Inserting his own naivety along with a ridiculous pretentiousness combined with multiple attempts at shaming the very snobbery he clearly endulges in, ruins the bulk of the narrative. Maybe tell a story without inserting your life experience(or lack thereof)at every turn.

Riveting story, Joe Nocera is great!

I’ve always wondered how some people rise to the ultra rich status, and it seems that some schmooz their way to the top. Really interesting story telling—and I love stories about the former Soviet satellites. Loved it.

I cannot listen to all the episodes. Many seem to be forever missing or broken. Thank you

I enjoyed the story, but the narration was a little bit annoying. Certainly not as bad as people say in the reviews though.

The host was so obnoxious I could barely get through this, and I regretted sticking with it because the story didn’t end up being all that interesting.

Seems like a fascinating story, but the narration makes it just awful to listen to. The constant interruptions and quips are annoying enough to leave.

This is probably a fascinating story but I couldn’t make it thru the first episode due to the narration style. Not sure how to describe it - schmaltzy? Sophomoric? Patronizing? Overdone for sure.

Really enjoyed the story. Curious how you found and decided on this topic.

Just learned about this podcast about 10 days ago, and binged it within the past 2 days. Loved the snark and humor, including all of the events presented in it and the mystery of Viktor, himself. I had never heard of Viktor before, so it was a mesmerizing real life story for me. Thanks Peter and Joe! You both rock!! I loved how you bounced off of each other. Once I learned that Joe Nocera was in it (I had already listened to Joe in The Shrink Next Door several years ago when it first came out), I knew it would be good. Loved the music and sounds that were included in this podcast—don’t change anything about it, regardless of what other reviewers wrote! Great job!

I really wanted to hear the story but the narrator is so awful - cliche quips and … what many have already said. I can’t continue this

Awesome

Great story amazing narrator!

Host acts like the listeners can’t figure out basic information….

Great series. Want more. Is there only one season? If a second one is coming When?

Contrary to others, I actually didn’t mind the narration and binged the entire series over a couple of days. Definitely not a super - serious true crime like some other podcasts but the lighthearted nature was a nice break.

Really cool story, seems like they did their research and prepared the episode content in an entertaining and chronological way. But the narration is rough. It sounds like something SNL would enact to parody bad narrating/writing. Imagine these cringe moments about every 1-5 minutes in each episode. Your eyeballs will get a workout from how much you have to roll them. Here’s a quick excerpt: Interviewee: *describing events* Narrator: *describing the same events the interviewee just did* “Victor yelled across the table at [someone important]. The man who could charm the birds off the trees. I mean, are you kidding me? Boy, what I would have given to be a fly on that wall.” Interviewee: we liked to go on walks, they were so fun with him Narrator: wait, what did she just say? *rewinding sound* Interviewee: we liked to go on walks, they were so fun with him Narrator: I don’t think she knows what she’s talking about. Walks? Really? Tons of fun? Geez. But anyways, let’s move past that. So she really enjoyed hanging out with him. Or at least who she thought he was. (Story continues on)

The narrators never ending ‘ya-think’ style dumb jokes and interruptions totally ruins it. It’s every 10 seconds. And the volume of the narrators voice is much, much louder than the other dialogue. Obviously the narrator didn’t do any of the reporting so they splice in his stupid “uh-oh” and word fillers to compensate. It’s a great story. Apple, this is the best you got?

The content and story were interesting, but after the third episode the narration became too much and I had to stop listening. The narrator started to sound like that dog from the show ‘100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd’ and was just as hammy as him, too.

Wow I was really enjoying this podcast until the narrator completely ruined it with joke after joke that just ruined the listening experience for me. The jokes completely detract from the story and are distracting. Multiple times he’ll go ‘stop, what did you say?’ And just replay something someone said from the interview… like when you’re engaged in something it totally takes away from the moment, I’ve never been so irritated with a podcast i just wanted to stop midway through and caused me to physically grimace from cringe.

The narration is awful and the whole series is overproduced (who wants to hear a 45 second intro song every time it goes into a new episode??). It’s a shame, because the story is interesting. I wish Serial productions had gotten their hands on this story first.

probably a good story overall. quit in middle of 2nd episode because I just can’t stand the narration.

Outstanding from start to finish 5 stars all day !!! Entertaining , very well done and very comical at times , the podcast that has it all !!!

The dad jokes were aplenty. Almost made me stop listening. Meh.