Flightless Bird

David Farrier heads to Missouri two days out from the execution of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams. He embeds with “Missourians To Abolish the Death Penalty” who are desperately trying to petition Missouri Governor Mike Parson for a stay. Along the way he meets locals who feel passionately about the death penalty, before traveling to Bonne Terre - and the prison where Missouri carries out all its executions. Farrier questions why 27 US States still insist on killing certain prisoners, and why this is a practice that continues to this day - and why statistically you’re more likely to be killed by the state if you’re black. Show Links: Donate to Missourians To Abolish the Death Penalty (MADP): https://madp.salsalabs.org/donationform/index.html Donate to The Innocence Project: https://innocenceproject.org/ways-to-give/ Robert Roberson could be the first person in the US to executed based on the discredited “shaken baby syndrome” hypothesis: https://innocenceproject.org/petitions/call-on-gov-abbott-to-stop-robert-robersons-execution/ A selection of Marcellus Williams’ poetry: https://innocenceproject.org/marcellus-williams-on-death-row-poetry-is-a-lifeline/ https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2024/09/25/66f488bfe4b0b663235f1864.pdf David Farrier’s photos from St Louis / Bonne Terre: https://www.webworm.co/p/marcellus Capital Punishment statistics: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/ https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/pdf/FactSheet.pdf John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on death row drugs issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOn3wba8c-Y Tickets for Webworm’s Tickled + Q&A screenings in Sydney and Melbourne: https://www.webworm.co/p/australia Cruise Ship documentary - Meet the Happiest Guy in the World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcBzOesw7sc

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier takes a darker, weirder deep dive into America with a story that is very specific, niche, and dangerous. This is a story about two Americans who were strangers to each other, until they decided to move in together. One man was in his 30s, the other rapidly approaching 80. One man was called Noah, and the other we’ll call “Spaceman Barry”. This is their story - and how it went wrong. LINKS: "Spaceman Barry" - photos and more information and discussion: https://www.webworm.co/p/spacemanbarrypod "Gary" - the story of a man whose housemate killed the neighbor: https://www.webworm.co/p/garypodcast

In this week’s episode, David Farrier investigates the rise and fall - and rise again - of American band Creed. Once the highest selling rock band of the late 90s, Creed disappeared for a period before reappearing again in American pop culture. David heads to a Creed concert in San Bernardino, California, to meet the fans and rediscover Creed. What he finds is a confusing mix of music, Christianity, patriotism and Trump. David must reckon with his 15 year old self (a Creed fan) to find out where his fandom sits in 2024 America.

In this episode, David and Rob sit down with Ant Starr - the New Zealand actor who plays deranged, narcissistic superhero “Homelander” on Amazon’s The Boys. Seen by many as a caricature of Donald Trump, Starr discusses what it’s like to play a superhero who’s viewed by many as a villain… and by some as a patriotic, American hero. Links: Outrageous Fortune scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMYkUJLhsI4 The Boys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mixlZE7ol1s More on Ant Starr: https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/antony-starr/biography

In this episode David Farrier sets out to investigate the 7th Day Adventism, a type of Christianity that kicked off in upstate New York in the 1840s. It was a 7th Day Adventist who invented the humble cornflake, a food so bland it was meant to stop boys masturbating - and today the religion boasts 22 million baptized members worldwide. David meets up with Sam Neves, the Associate Director of Communication at General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, before talking to an ex-member who clears up whether it’s a cult or not. In the mailbox segment, David and Rob discuss feedback to the dolphins episode, paying tribute to the Russian Spy beluga whale that passed away, before talking about the US Navy experimenting with sharks as a weapon. Links: https://www.onewhale.org/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/02/russian-spy-whale-beluga-dead-norway https://undark.org/2016/08/11/sharks-explosives-world-war-ii-mary-roach-what-i-left-out/

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier dives deep into the US Navy’s Marine Mammal program. He talks with three former trainers for the program, leaning about how both seals and dolphins are trained to protect American waters from what lurks beneath. David looks at rumors armed dolphins escaped during Hurricane Katrina, and he and Rob Holysz discuss the ethical implications of a dolphin’s horny nature. Links: US Navy’s Marine Mammal programme: https://www.niwcpacific.navy.mil/About/Departments/Intelligence-Surveillance-and-Reconnaissance/Marine-Mammal-Program/ Seaquest DSV: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaQuest_DSV Wet Goddess book interview with Farrier: https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/13-03-2018/david-farrier-talks-with-his-old-friend-who-had-sex-with-a-dolphin

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier sets out to understand OnlyFans, which while based in the UK boasts a mostly US based audience. David talks to Sara (@pockowokosara) who we first met on Flights of Fancy, an OnlyFans creator based in the USA. She talks about her experiences making content and what it’s like managing and catering to a paying audience. David then explores the world of male only fans creators, talking to Jakk Maddox about some of his stranger experiences on the platform. David ends his journey by talking to someone who used to work for creators as an OnlyFans “chatter,” essentially pretending to be someone else!

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier discovers that Rhode Island is not in fact an island. If not an island - what is it? Farrier talks to linguist Kate who has a true love for Rhode Island - and she educates David about the vampire buried there, the food Rhode Island loves, and its place in pop culture. Along the way Farrier discovers Rhode Island has a lot in common with his favourite place, New Zealand - which, arguable, is an island.

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier investigates why American opossums are so different to New Zealand possums. Speaking of which - why does one have an “O” in front of them? To find answers, David meets up with a possum called Horace, and learns that contrary to popular opinion possums are not related to rats. In fact possums have many amazing traits including being pretty much immune to rabies, being living fossils, and masters at playing dead. While New Zealand possums are terrible for the environment, the possums Farrier discovers in LA are very different beasts.

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier investigates why American chocolate tastes so different to New Zealand chocolate - and more specifically, why Hershey’s chocolate allegedly smells a little bit like vomit. Farrier talks to a former Hershey’s worker to try and get to the truth, learning about various theories and stumbling on an old rivalry between Hershey’s and Mars. David finds himself talking to flavour expert Barb Stuckey, author of TASTE: Surprising Stories & Science About Why Food Tastes Good. Does he find the answer? Perhaps you need to let your tastebuds decide.

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier goes to his first Monster Truck Jam to try and understand why Americans love big vehicles so much. There he meets Krysten Anderson, who drives Grave Digger - and tells David what it’s like to be a female driver in a male-dominated sport. David then joins Dax Shepard who explains why Americans like big wheels and big power, before the two of them watch the Monster Jam World Finals go down. Slowly Farrier begins to understand these oversized vehicles, realizing that to become truly American he must love a 12 thousand pound truck.

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier sets off to understand America's frozen food obsession. Each year Over 80% of American households will eat frozen dinners this year - making the frozen food market worth over $65 billion dollars. Monica Padman takes Farrier frozen food shopping, introducing him to her favorite frozen foods. They then put on a fancy dinner for their friends featuring nothing but frozen foods.

"In this week’s Flightless Bird, Monica, David and Rob discuss their favourite (mostly American) TV shows. Because occasionally on Flightless Bird, we break from the usual format and do something a little bit different. You saw that with Flights of Fancy about a month ago, where we got your expert insights into very American things - and also with American Gods, where we focus on an American legend. And today, we’re doing another new thing that we’ll do from time to time: a Top 10 List. David, Rob and Monica each bring their 3 favourite shows to the table - as well as a runner up (.33). Combined - a magical top 10 list!"

In this week’s Flightless Bird, Farrier sets out to understand why Americans call “Snakes and Ladders” something completely different: “Chutes and Ladders”. Farrier meets with Hasbro’s Brian Baker, senior vice president for board games. Farrier learns the surprising origins of Chutes and Ladders - as well as other popular American board games like Candyland and Monopoly.

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier goes to eat at iconic American restaurant chain the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Back in 1994, Forest Gump was box office gold - the highest grossing film in America that year. Forrest Gump also did something not many films have ever done - something truly magical - it leapt out into real life. Because on any day of the week in America, you can stroll directly into a restaurant that wouldn't exist without Forrest Gump: The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. To learn about all things Gump, Farrier talks with David Chen from decodingeverything.com who breaks down the significance of the film. He then takes producer Rob to dine in style at Bubba Gumps, before talking to the Vice President & COO of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Jenny Scharbrough. That's right, Jenny!

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier throws himself back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth during the 1500s. Why? Because Americans love Renaissance Fairs. The whole idea of the Renaissance Fair started back in 1963 - when teacher Phyllis Patterson held an event for her students in her backyard. A few months later her and her husband Ron put on a bigger one - hosting about 8000 people. It kept growing - and in 1966 the official “Renaissance Pleasure Faire of Southern California” was launched. Farrier decides to head along to that very fair see what all the fuss is about.

We’re trying something a little different today - something we’re calling “Flights of Fancy.” Now awhile back, if you follow David Farrier on Instagram, you would have seen a prompt where he wanted you to pitch a deeply American topic YOU could speak on. Maybe it was a job you had, or some other personal insight you could give into something AMERICAN. Maybe you worked at Buckees, or in the depths of the White House. We heard from so many of you - like hundreds - with so many ideas. Rob made a fancy spreadsheet to collate all your responses, and we picked a bunch we liked. Then we zoomed with those people - getting them to explain their area of expertise. We met a true cross section of America - and some of the topics you’re about to learn about - some of them we’re gonna dive deeper later in the year. But for now, this is Flights of Fancy - where we talk Flightless Bird listeners about the what they want to see on Flightless Bird.

In this week's Flightless Bird, David Farrier talks to the author of 50 Pies 50 States, Stacey Mei Yan Fong. Farrier sets out to discover why Americans love pie so much, declaring January 23rd National Pie Day back in 1986. Farrier and Fong discuss what makes the pie so American, before looking at Stacey’s top 3 American pies - which David, Monica and Rob then sample.

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier looks at the process of gaining American Citizenship, and what it means to become truly American. Why over the last decade did over seven million non-Americans choose to become American? And what does this process look like? David talks to a New Zealander who chose to Naturalise before looking at some Americans who’ve chosen to do the exact opposite. Why would someone choose to become American and why would someone choose to give it up?

In this week's Flightless Bird, David Farrier looks at how America surveils its own citizens and asks why America is a “spying superpower.” In 2022 alone, 145,000 Facebook users and 100,000 Gmail accounts were rifled through by the US government’s spy agencies. How come? Farrier delves into America’s Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and “Section 702" and talks with journalist Byron Tau, author of “Means of Control: How The Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government is Creating a New American Surveillance State.”