Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks

Monsters of God - An Interview with Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride about the Shadowy World of Reptile Smuggling

August 24, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

When Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride first set out to make a documentary about the reptile world, they had no idea it would take over a decade to finish—or that they would get sidetracked by tigers and chimpanzees along the way. “This was the first thing that we set out to do over fourteen years ago,” Goode explains. The result, Monsters of God, is the project that started it all: a deep dive into the shadowy world of reptile smuggling, the people who drive it, and the unintended consequences of trying to stop it.

The Smuggling Economy and the Value of "Nature with Handles"

Unlike the big-cat trade driven by ego or the chimpanzee trade driven by anthropomorphic attachment, the reptile smuggling world is fueled by a potent mix of extreme collector culture and a sophisticated black-market economy. “There's a real smuggling economy within it that kind of operates beneath this,” Goode says. The animals themselves are uniquely suited to trafficking. “We reference them as nature with handles,” McBride notes. “People can put them in their carry-ons, feed them very little, they can withstand long travel and it's not like noise.”

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What you'll learn

1 Monsters of God - An Interview with Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride
2 (00:12) **Introduction & Guest Background** - Wes and Jeff welcome back Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride, the director and executive producer behind the HBO documentary series *Monsters of God*, which explores the world of exotic reptile keeping and smuggling
3 (05:05) **The Collector Pathology** - The hosts and guests discuss the psychological appeal of reptile collecting and how it differs from other exotic animal obsessions
4 (07:35) **Portability Enables Smuggling** - Why reptiles are uniquely suited for the illegal wildlife trade
5 (08:20) **Al Killian and the "Hot Snake" Bunker** - The series opens with a memorable character who lives in a windowless bunker full of venomous snakes
6 (10:04) **The Wild West Before Regulation** - The first two episodes show how reptile trafficking operated before and after the Endangered Species Act
7 (11:18) **Unintended Consequences of Laws** - Both guests explain how regulation can paradoxically increase demand

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Friends of the show Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride join the guys to talk about their new HBO documentary series Monsters of God, all about the seedy origins of the illegal reptile trade in the United States and beyond. Then they're forced to play along with the usual T&C games in the back half of the episode.

Watch this epiosode here: https://youtu.be/4AqyG7N-5TU

Resources referenced:

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