Flightless Bird

In this weeks episode, David goes for a ride on the Goodyear Blimp in an attempt to learn more about this iconic piece of America, celebrating its 100th birthday this year. He is shocked to find out that it's not even a blimp! Get tickets to our live shows: - Portland on April 13: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/80185968/flightless-bird-with-david-farrier-portland-revolution-hall - San Fransisco on April 18: https://www.ticketmaster.com/flightless-bird-live-with-david-farrier-san-francisco-california-04-18-2025/event/1C0062589BAC1D9F - Flights of Fancy Submissions: https://bit.ly/fbfancy Links: - Plugged in - Focus on the Family’s stupid reviews: https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/wolf-of-wall-street - Helium Shortage: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/helium-shortage-doctors-are-worried-running-element-threaten-mris-rcna52978 - New Blimp for travel: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/24/the-flying-bum-uk-firm-airships-airlander-hav Contact us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

In this week’s Flightless bird, David looks at the American prison system, attempting to understand why the US has the largest prison population in the world - with around 1.9 million people incarcerated here. He interviews Bianca Tylek of national advocacy group “Worth Rises” about problems in the prison system, and meets Robert Craig, associate director at Abolish Private Prisons. He then travels to San Diego to meet Alana McMains, an attorney who mainly focuses on federal criminal defense. Farrier also talks to Jared Klickstein about his book “Crooked Smile”, as well as Rob’s dad! LIVE SHOWS: -Portland on April 13: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/80185968/flightless-bird-with-david-farrier-portland-revolution-hall -San Fransisco on April 18: https://www.ticketmaster.com/flightless-bird-live-with-david-farrier-san-francisco-california-04-18-2025/event/1C0062589BAC1D9F Links: Worth Rises: https://worthrises.org/ Abolish Private Prisons: https://www.abolishprivateprisons.org/ Jared Klickstein and his book: https://www.jaredklickstein.com/ Feedback and suggestions: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

This week on Flightless Bird, David looks at Dr James Dobson and Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs based fundamentalist Christian group formed in the 70s. Using his status as a child psychologist, Dobson wrote over 30 parenting books, creating a media empire that changed how many parents raised their kids. With a very strong focus on discipline and breaking the will of the child, Dobson’s ideas travelled far and wide, ending up in places like New Zealand. With hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, Dobson turned his focus to lobbying, extremely angry that females and gay people were getting a voice in society. David talks to people raised by adherents of Focus on the Family, before talking to DL Mayfield of the “Strongwilled” podcast about Dobson’s problematic roots and ideas. He then tracks the influence of Focus on the Family in New Zealand, talking to Michael Frost and Shane Meyer-Holt of the “In The Shift” podcast. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com “In The Shift” Podcast: https://intheshift.com/ “Strongwilled” newsletter and podcast: https://strongwilled.substack.com/ 4/13 Tickets for Portland: https://bit.ly/lostkiwiPDX 4/18 Tickets for San Francisco: https://bit.ly/lostkiwiSF

David and Rob take Flightless Bird to Seattle, doing a live episode to a sold out crowd at the Neptune Theatre. They interview a former homicide detective who penned a book on Seattle’s forgotten serial killer Gary Gene Grant, before turning their attention to the Rain City Jacks - a “jackoff club” preparing to celebrate its 20th year. What makes a group of over a 100 men come together to masturbate, and why? Rob and David also share what they love about the city, before David goes back into old interviews and finds one with grunge legend Chris Cornell. Links: - David’s full 30 minutes with Chris Cornell: https://www.webworm.co/p/chriscornell - Chris Cornell tribute by Frank Guan: https://www.vulture.com/2017/05/chris-cornell-lyrics.html A giant thanks to: - Real Don Music for performing an amazing opening set, and live theme song (https://linktr.ee/realdonmusic) - Paul Rosenberg of the Rain City Jacks (NSFW: https://www.raincityjacks.org/) - Cloyd Steiger, author of “Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer: Gary Gene Grant” (https://www.amazon.com/Seattles-Forgotten-Serial-Killer-Grant/dp/1467143626) - Sydney Paulsen for her amazing photography - Betty Putnam for her taxidermy to dress our set (https://www.eputnamstudio.com) - Matt & Kate for stage managing - The staff at the Neptune! - All those in the audience who came to our first live show - stay tuned for me. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob are joined by Gareth Reynold’s from “The Dollop” and “We’re Here To Help” podcasts. Gareth tells them about the story of Gallagher, an American comedian who pioneered the "Sledge-O-Matic" - and got into a bitter feud with his younger brother Ron. Along the way they talk infomercials, Carrot Top, and the dangers of impersonating someone else. LINKS: Mental Floss story: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/gallagher-vs-gallagher-ii | Pop culture hyperfixations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCbYP2mzFhQ The Dollop podcast: https://www.dolloppodcast.com/podcast We’re Here To Help podcast: https://www.heretohelppod.com/

This week, David meets the man who squatted in Kanye West’s Simi Valley house, sleeping in Kanye’s bed, eating Kanye’s pasta, and shitting in Kanye’s backyard. While there, John wrote a book called “Squat” which is, in this podcast’s opinion, fantastic. David then has an update about Melbourne’s Fake Seizure Guy, and reads listeners emails about other local legends around America, Canada, and the world. NOTE: While this episode about Kanye may seem incredibly timely, we actually recorded the studio part of this episode a day before Kanye’s latest X/Twitter tirade, which saw him saying a bunch of mindnumbily dumb, stupid, and offensive stuff. He was racist, extremely anti-semitic, and sent out porn. In a way it doesn't really change anything because we already knew all this about Kanye West - he’s done all this before - but in the chaos of keeping up with everything that’s going on in the world right now, some of that felt a million years ago. I guess I could sum up my feelings by what I texted Rob just now - “I wish we’d gone a little harder here”. Links: - John Safran’s book, Squat: https://www.amazon.com/Squat-John-Safran/dp/1760890170 - Beware the Serial Squatter of Malibu’s Point Dume: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/serial-squatter-malibu-point-dume - Update on Fake Seizure Guy’s Arrest: https://www.webworm.co/p/fakeseizureguy2

"In this week’s Flightless Bird, David continues his series in Australia. This week, he arrives in Melbourne to try and solve the mystery of “Fake Seizure Guy”, a local man who appears to fake having a seizure so locals can sit on him. Why does he want people to sit on him, and how long has this been going on? Do you have more information? Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Links: - Webworm article on Fake Seizure Guy: https://www.webworm.co/p/fakeseizureguy - Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast - Carrot Man: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/12/melbourne-fitzroy-carrot-man & https://www.instagram.com/whereiscarrotman/ "

In this week’s episode, David and Rob take a pause on regular programming to try and make sense of what’s happened since the inauguration of Donald Trump. From social media chaos, Elon Musk’s “hand gesture” and mass deportations, to the new D.O.G.E logo and presidential pardons - we are all just trying to make sense of this together. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Show Links: - David Farrier’s Webworm piece on inauguration: https://www.webworm.co/p/welcome-to-american-hell - The Present Age with Parker Molloy: https://www.readtpa.com/p/news-organizations-are-tiptoeing - Ezra Klein: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-trump-inauguration.html - Presidential Pardons: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-proud-boys-tarrio-rhodes-release-pardon-b2683691.html - Officer beaten by mob works 14 hour day at Trump’s inauguration. Comes home to pardons: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/officer-jan-6-trump-protection.html - “Trump pardons Silk Road dark web market creator Ross Ulbricht”: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o - “Trump pardons two police officers convicted in murder of Black man in Washington”: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-pardons-two-police-officers-convicted-murder-black-man-washington-2025-01-23/ -The Bishop who angered Trump: https://time.com/7209222/bishop-mariann-budde-trump/ - How We Learn To Be Brave book: https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Learn-Be-Brave/dp/0593539214/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid= - “Only two genders”: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/trump-executive-order-fetal-personhood - Royalty Family YouTube video on LA fires: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7K1FKOV9ns - The Shit You Should Care About newsletter: https://shityoushouldcareabout.substack.com/

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob reflect on the California wildfires, talking to a variety of people affected both directly and indirectly. We hear from one of the team from Watch Duty (the app downloaded by over 2 million people in the last week) about how it works and how it’s saved lives, before talking to one of the people organising at Mutual Aid LA. We then hear from Flightless Bird listeners about various aspects of American wildfires - and what makes this wildfire different. HOW TO HELP: -Lydia & Ryan's GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/fa89b9fc -Mike Rothschild’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MikeRothschild -GoFundMe main list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/10gvOxituYvxxknoY9IQa-YEqfK8WvCjcLBcg4hsmME4/htmlview?ref=theconsciouscitizens.org -Where to volunteer: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eaSXTYlLY_spJ-_w43ac55qu6X4YtgApgRGfads3cM4/htmlview -Mutual Aid LA - what is needed and how you can help: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KMk34XY5dsvVJjAoD2mQUVHYU_Ib6COz6jcGH5uJWDY/htmlview?gid=439359427#gid=439359427 ARTICLE MENTIONED IN EPISODE -What Happens When a Plastic City Burns https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/01/los-angeles-fire-smoke-plastic-toxic/681318/ -David Chamberlin - Creed-tastic cover of our theme song: www.RecordLA.com -Lingering Effects of the wildfire: https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/01/indirect-death-toll-from-the-l-a-fires-may-end-up-in-the-thousands/ -Gunman at the LADWP building: https://www.foxla.com/news/ladwp-headquarter-center-heavy-police-presence -Incarcerated firefighters: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/wildfire-camp-incarcerated-teens -Thread from former inmate who fought fires: https://www.threads.net/@5456236980/post/DEkYYlPv4H1 CONTACT US: -Email Flightless Bird: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com -Watch Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

In this week’s Flightless Bird David is on the ground in Australia, looking at topics that are distinctly… Australian. Australia has, relatively speaking, a lot of shark attacks. So many there’s a whole Wikipedia page called “Shark attacks in Australia”. Of the 69 “unprovoked shark bites” around the world in 2023, 22% of them happened in Australia. David meets with two men who survived shark attacks - who share their motivational stories of recovery, and talk about an elite members club called “The Bite Club”. Rob and David also discuss the LA fires. Links: -Flightless Bird is looking for first hand stories from Californians affected by the fires. First responders, or those who’ve had their lives changed by these fires. Please send your voice memos to: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com -MALAN Fire & Wind Storm Resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KMk34XY5dsvVJjAoD2mQUVHYU_Ib6COz6jcGH5uJWDY/htmlview?gid=439359427#gid=439359427 / Displaced Black Families GoFund Me Directory: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pK5omSsD4KGhjEHCVgcVw-rd4FZP9haoijEx1mSAm5c/htmlview -Brett Connellan - shark attack survivor and motivational speaker : https://www.saxton.com.au/speakers/brett-connellan -Reach the Bite Club’s Dave Pearson (shark attack victims only!): dave.pearson1963@gmail.com -Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

In this week’s episode, David talks with author Jason Pargin (John Dies At The End & I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom) about what TikTok and the modern internet is doing to our brains. David and Rob also discuss their New Years’ (David saw Creed in Las Vegas, Rob ate a yummy meal and went to sleep), the Cyber Truck explosion outside Trump’s hotel, and how much a blimp costs. Links: -Email Flightless Bird: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com -YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast -Jason Pargin on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jasonkpargin?lang=en -Jason's Novel, ""I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom: A Novel"": https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Worry-About-This-Black/dp/B0CT43CN6B -Tropicana hotel destroyed: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/10/09/tropicana-hotel-casino-implosion-las-vegas/75347373007/ -Cyber Truck blown up: https://apnews.com/article/trump-hotel-explosion-tesla-cybertruck-5c5a8fd13a50e2bcde46370ae926d427

This week on Flightless Bird, David calls his friend Leon Wadham who plays "Kemen" in Amazon's Rings of Power series. Rob and David then look back at one of their favourite Flightless Bird episodes, when David visited Hobbiton. Calvin then reviews the first two Lord of the Rings films, and Rob gifts David a birthday present! Links: -Dave Kloc: https://www.instagram.com/davekloc/ -Flightless Bird Shirts: www.webworm.store -Email us: flightlessdbirdchat@gmail.com

This week on Flightless Bird, Rosabel slips on a leaf and David and Rob look back at one of their favourite episodes and what’s changed since it first aired: Leaf Blowers. They also read feedback on the American Girl episode - and there is a lot of it, including horror stories, and trips to the American Girl doll hospital. David also learns that there is a place you can go where Cabbage Patch Babies are birthed. Links: -Cost to convert entire Greenwich fleet to electric leaf blowers 'shellshocking,' officials say: https://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/greenwich-leaf-blower-electric-cost-19972096.php -The Leaf Blowers Will Not Go Quietly: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-11-08/cities-that-banned-leaf-blowers-are-getting-an-earful-from-landscapers -Town of Huntington to begin banning gas-powered leaf blowers in January: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/huntington-gas-leaf-blower-vaubzdxa -NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-leafblowers/ -Angry Hugh Grant: https://youtu.be/DF-9R_yCUBw?si=ccwRRA-FfRAMwfTx&t=484 -Angry Cate Blanchett: https://www.tiktok.com/@katewheeeler/video/7358794083625717025?lang=en -Flightless Bird Shirts: www.webworm.store -Email us: flightlessdbirdchat@gmail.com

In this week’s episode, David visits the American Girl store in Los Angeles, attempting to learn what is so American about the American Girl doll. There he meets Alyson Campbell, the Senior Events and Marketing Coordinator at American Girl - who explains how the store works. He then gets Jamie Cygielman on the line, senior vice president and GM for American Girl. He discovers the doll is the invention of Pleasant T. Rowland - an American educator, writer, and philanthropist. She spent some time as a TV news reporter - anchoring KGO-TV in San Francisco from 68 to 71. By the mid 80s, Pleasant had saved over a million dollars from selling the textbooks she’d written for students - and started American Girl, hoping to teach kids about American history through the medium of 18 inch dolls. With all this in mind - David heads up to the restaurant to dine with his own American Girl doll, meeting both kids and adults who are fans. LINKS: Flightless Bird Live in Seattle Feb 8: https://www.stgpresents.org/events/flightless-bird/ Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Flightless Bird merch: https://www.webworm.store/merch/flightless-bird Contact Rob and David: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

"In this week’s Flightless Bird, David sits down with Rhys Darby - the New Zealander actor and comedian who’s made America his home. They talk about Darby’s breakout role in Flight of the Conchords - a show some Kiwis out of depth in America. From there, Rhys has cemented himself in what seems to be like every part of American TV and film pop culture - appearing in things like The X-Files, Bob’s Burgers and The Simpson’s - not to mention roles alongside the likes of The Rock and Jim Carrey. David and Rob also note they are doing a live show Feb 8 in Seattle at the Neptune Theatre. Links: Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery’s podcast The World Idea of All Time: https://www.worstideaofalltime.com/ Flightless Bird Live in Seattle: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0F006186C0D63E0E Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Contact David and Rob: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com"

"Today on Flightless Bird: Imagine if you have fulfilled the American dream of buying your dream home… only to find there’s a problem. A big problem. You can’t see it or taste it - but you can hear it. There’s a mysterious sound and it’s out to ruin your life. That’s what this week’s episode is about. Rob and David also look at feedback to the Death Doulas episode from a few weeks back. Links: Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Contact David and Rob: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Jimmy Fallon and Jon Hamm recreated “With Arms Wide Open”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dku7mCv76cU Susie “I threw my grandma a death part that went viral!” Article: https://torontolife.com/life/threw-grandmother-assisted-suicide-party/ Dr’s Tweets: https://x.com/DavidJuurlink/status/1129811903776198659 UCLA's body donation program: https://www.uclahealth.org/programs/donatedbody How the body of an Arizona great-grandmother ended up as part of a U.S. Army blast test: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodybrokers-industry/ "

In this weeks Flightless Bird, David and Rob discuss their thanksgiving plans, before hearing from indigenous leader Crystal Echo Hawk about the true meaning behind thanksgiving in America. They then use this holiday week to give thanks for two older Flightless Bird episodes, revisiting the Shower Curtains and Porn episodes from many moons ago. David tries to get to the bottom of my America loves shower curtains so much, before visiting the set of a porn film. In the feedback section, David’s mum writes in. Links: Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Crystal Echo Hawk: https://illuminative.org/ Finding out whose land you’re on: www.native-land.ca Peter Singer’s “Consider the Turkey”: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691231686/consider-the-turkey NY TIMES: The Best Shower Curtains: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-shower-curtain/ Pornhub’s election day stats: https://www.pornhub.com/insights/2024-presidential-election Contact David and Rob: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

In this week’s episode, David calls his friend Rosabel to see what she thinks about dying, and learns that Rosabel has put him in her will! Rob and David then attempt to face their own fear of death by looking at death doulas in America - a profession born in the USA in 1998, when a foundation in New York sponsored a conference on end of life care, where a Jewish professor talked about the importance of helping the “seriously ill” during the dying process. David meets several doulas, including Alua Arthur and Kathleen Hasay. David also speaks about his experience attending a death workshop, and asks Rob some questions from the Death Deck of cards - which uses humor to talk about death and dying. Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Flightless Bird t-shirts: https://www.webworm.store/merch/flightless-bird Contact Flightless Bird: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Alua Arthur’s Death Doula School: https://goingwithgrace.com/about/ Alua’s book Briefly Perfectly Human: https://www.aluaarthur.com/ The Death Workshop David attended: https://onedowndog.com/event/workshop-death-awareness-1024/ CA Advance Healthcare Directive: https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Advanced-HealthCare-Directive-Form_031620.pdf The Death Deck: https://thedeathdeck.com/

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look back at the last week since the election, trying to make sense of what happened. Farrier attends a Trump Watch party in Long Beach, California - taking in Trump’s voter base. Hundreds of listeners submitted voice memos documenting their election night thoughts last week, and today a selection get played out. Links: Flightless Bird t-shirts: https://www.webworm.store/ Hayden’s column: It’s OK To Feel Shitty: https://www.webworm.co/p/its-ok-to-feel-shitty Sydney: Tickled at the Orpheum: 7pm, November 27: https://www.orpheum.com.au/movie/tickled-qa-event-with-david-farrier-live-on-stage If you ever want to get in touch with show feedback or ideas, we are flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com

This week on Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at some of the defining conspiracy theories of this election cycle. They’re joined by conspiracy theory experts Mike Rothschild (author of “The Storm is Coming”) and Joseph Uscinski, who literally wrote THE book on conspiracy theories, called “Conspiracy Theories”. Rob and David talk about what they’re expecting November 5 to look like - and the weeks that follow. They then go through feedback to last week’s episode on Catfishing. Email Flightless Bird with your election night recordings: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Links: Matthew Logan Vasquez: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ndN8LWSsLWQqbWVJD8miG?si=EBK0hBnuTC2FII2EeENvCg