Episode 4 of Fool Me Twice dives deep into the messy, uncomfortable, and often humorous reality of lies, particularly in selling. Steve and Brad begin by defining a lie as a deliberate attempt to mislead someone while knowing the truth, that lying is often professionally useful. From there, the conversation moves fluidly between comedy, psychology, ethics, and lived experience.

A major focus of the episode is lying in advertising and marketing. The hosts explore how modern consumers are bombarded with misleading promises. This can be hundreds of times per day, through billboards, television, social media, and influencers. Drawing on Brad's background in observation, they unpack how advertising works not just on logic, but on emotion, social proof, and subconscious triggers. From weight-loss endorsements to celebrity spruiking, they question why large-scale, profitable deception is often tolerated, while small individual lies are punished.

The discussion broadens into influencers and social manipulation, tracing the concept back centuries to paid audience members at operas and plays. Social proof, scarcity tactics, and perceived popularity are shown to be powerful drivers of human behaviour, illustrated through real-world examples such as supermarket pricing tricks and influencer culture during COVID.

The episode then takes a more serious turn. Brad and Steve examine ethical lies in policing and medicine. Steve reflects on his time delivering death notifications as a police officer, explaining why he sometimes lied to spare grieving families unnecessary pain. This opens a nuanced debate, "When does honesty become cruel, and when does lying become compassionate?" Similar ethical grey areas are explored in medical settings, where doctors may withhold certainty, patients lie out of embarrassment or fear, and “service lies” like appointment times quietly shape expectations.

AI generated content, fake imagery, and non-existent online personas are highlighted as the next frontier of deception. Reality is further blurred and raising questions about accountability and harm. Yet despite the gravity of the topic, humour remains constant—used not to trivialise lying, but to expose how deeply woven it is into social life.

The episode concludes with a reminder that while lying is part of human nature, intent, impact, and ethics matter. Steve and Brad invite listeners to reflect on the lies they tell, the lies they accept, and the stories they want to share.

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In this episode of Fool Me Twice, Bradford and Steve take listeners inside the mechanics of lying and explain how easily confidence and charm can mislead us. Steve defines a lie as a deliberate attempt to mislead while knowing the truth, then challenges many popular beliefs about how liars behave. He explains that nervousness, lack of eye contact, or awkward pauses rarely signal deception on their own. People show these behaviours for many innocent reasons, including stress, fear, or simple distraction.

The conversation centres on cognitive load and how lies strain the brain. When people tell the truth, they recall real memories. When they lie, they must invent details, maintain consistency, and respond to follow up questions in real time. This mental effort often leaks through behaviour. Steve describes how trained interviewers and modern technology focus on changes in eye behaviour, response timing, and speech patterns rather than dramatic physical reactions. Heart rate and sweating, for example, often reflect anxiety instead of dishonesty.

Benchmarking plays a major role throughout the episode. Steve stresses that interviewers must first understand how someone behaves when telling the truth. Only then can they spot meaningful changes. Without this baseline, even experienced professionals can miss deception. Charismatic personalities, confident speakers, and attractive people often distract interviewers and influence judgement. The episode highlights how easily appearance and personality can override logic in criminal interviews, workplace situations, and romantic relationships.

The discussion also dives into lying by omission. Steve explains that many people avoid direct lies by leaving out key details. By saying less, they reduce the risk of contradiction. Others overwhelm listeners with excessive information to steer attention away from the real issue. Both tactics appear frequently in interrogations and everyday conversations.

Through case experience, humour, and relatable stories, the episode connects professional interrogation techniques to real life situations like dating and social interactions. The message is clear. Spotting deception requires attention to patterns, context, and behavioural change over time. There is no single behaviour that exposes a lie, and anyone who relies on shortcuts will likely be fooled.

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Learn more about Fool Me Twice by visiting www.foolmetwice.com.au

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In Episode 2 of Fool Me Twice, the conversation moves beyond why people lie and into something far more revealing. What do liars actually do differently from people telling the truth?

The episode opens with a deceptively simple question most of us ask every day. How are you? What appears to be a polite greeting is often an invitation to edit reality rather than reveal it. Social convention encourages people to offer safe answers, and that instinct to manage information sits on the same behavioural spectrum as more serious forms of deception.

Drawing on years of police interview experience, the discussion explores how truthful people communicate in a fundamentally different way. When someone is telling the truth, they naturally include sensory detail, consistent timelines, and personal ownership. They talk about what they saw, heard, felt, and experienced because they lived it. Liars, by contrast, must invent or embellish, which creates cognitive strain. That strain often reveals itself through shifting tense, vague language, evasive answers, or responding to questions with questions.

One of the central insights of the episode is that most people do not start by lying outright. They begin by avoiding, editing, or redirecting information. Only when those strategies fail do they resort to an outright lie. By that point, inconsistencies often begin to appear. This leakage can show up in language, body movement, or vocal delivery, especially when a fabricated story has to be maintained under pressure.

The episode also challenges popular myths about deception. Confident speakers, politicians, and narcissists are not necessarily good liars. In fact, confidence often leads people to expose themselves more. The conversation pushes back against crime television fantasies popularised by shows like CSI, noting that real investigations rely far more on rapport, listening, and behavioural analysis than instant forensic results.

Importantly, the hosts emphasise that deception is not limited to criminals. It appears in everyday life, from social interactions to sport to comedy. Comedy itself is framed as a harmless form of deception, where the audience understands that they are being led in one direction before expectations are subverted for humour rather than harm.

The key takeaway from Episode 2 is simple but powerful. Truth tends to flow, while lies take effort. Detecting deception is not about spotting a single tell. It is about observing patterns, clusters of behaviour, and changes from a person’s normal way of communicating. And in doing so, listeners are encouraged to recognise that deception is not just something other people do. It is something we all engage in, often without realising it.

Book Steve Van Aperen as your next keynote speaker: Click here

Get coached in stand-up comedy with Brad Oakes: Click here

Learn more about Fool Me Twice by visiting www.foolmetwice.com.au

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.