Flightless Bird

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David looks into the state of trash in the USA, through the eyes of a New Yorker who’s made it her mission to clean up all the trash on the Brooklyn bridge. New Yorkers produce more than 14 million tons of waste every year, with 44 million pounds of trash flung onto the curb every day. Begging the question: What’s it like in the rest of the country? Join us for bonu...

In this month’s Nest Session, David and Rob sit down with musician Matthew Logan Vasquez, best-known as the co-founder and frontman for Delta Spirit. Vasquez has a rich history with Flightless Bird, scoring the early episodes and opening up a few of their live shows! Vasquez tells Rob and David about his run-ins with the US healthcare system while he navigated a botched vasectomy. When all the gen...

This week’s Flightless Bird comes to you live from Austin, where David and Rob explore the city before interviewing a range of guests to dig deeper into what Austin, TX is all about! They meet Merlin Tuttle, the legend responsible for the bats under the bridge, and who helped change Austin’s (and America’s) perception of this misunderstood animal. They’re also joined by Erik Sprague AKA the Lizard...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob have the pleasure of being joined on the couch by actor Rachel Bilson, to talk about the American juggernaut of pop-culture: The OC. Feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.comWatch on Spotify. Spotify subscribers get fewer ads on our episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David travels to New York to the debut live show of America’s newest boyband, Boy Throb. Formed in October of last year, the three American members of Boy Throb are attempting to get an 01 visa for their fourth member Darshan, who’s in India. Begging the question: What is Boy Throb, exactly? David attends a packed Bowery Ballroom show in an attempt to find out. Feed...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David looks into a small but dedicated group of Americans who are still obsessed with the (alleged) sinking of the Titanic. They find it terrifying, they find it moving, they find it all quite hard to believe. In fact - did the Titanic even sink, or was it the sister ship, the Olympic? Farrier wants to understand why this tragedy is still felt so strongly, so many y...

In this month’s Nest Session, David and Rob sit down with Tim Kasher, the frontman of Cursive. Hailing from Omaha, Nebraska, Tim and his wife are borderline obsessed with American gameshows. Not only have they both appeared on major gameshows, Tim also hosts his own! Tim shares his insights into gameshow culture, before playing some stripped back songs in the Flightless Bird studio. You can find T...

In this week’s episode of Flightless Bird, David looks into the bonkers world of the Human Potential Movement and Large Group Awareness Training - viewed through the lens of a child whose mother got sucked into the Lifespring cult in the 80s. Founded in 1974 by three people, Lifespring members found out that it was incredibly hard to leave, as their brains were systematically broken down and disma...

Flightless Bird comes to you live from Salt Lake City, Utah. In a jam packed show, Rob and David share their experiences visiting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Gilgal Sculpture Garden, before being joined on stage by Brandon Fugal (the owner of the mysterious Skinwalker Ranch), Brandon Kowalis (an extreme caver who part of the ill-fated Nutty Putty cave rescue attempt) an...

David and Rob are joined in the studio by Anna Konkle, the co-creator and star of PEN15, one of their favourite shows of all time - looking at the trials and tribulations of being a seventh grader in the United States. Anna has a new book out - The Sane One - looking back at her real life, and real parents, that were part of the inspiration for her show. Feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.comAnna’...

In this week’s episode, as part of his “Wisconsin” series, David investigates the world of Supper Clubs in Madison. What the hell is a supper club, and why is this state obsessed with them? What is a Friday Fish Fry, and how creamy is a grasshopper? David attempts to find out. Feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this month’s Nest Session, David and Rob are joined in the studio by musician Nick Thorburn (Islands, the Unicorns, Mister Heavenly, The Creem) to discuss his love of underground comics and fulfilling his dream of publishing his own comic with legendary publisher Fantagraphics. Nick - originally from Canada - shares his thoughts on the US, and his music with bands like The Unicorns and Islands,...

In this week’s episode, David and Rob head to the Adelanto ICE Detention Centre in which is imprisoning New Zealand woman Everlee Wihongi, who holds a valid green card. Rob goes inside and spends an hour with Everlee, discussing what conditions are like, and why the New Zealand government refuses to offer any help. Meanwhile, David calls Everlee’s mother Betty at her home in Wisconsin, to talk abo...

In this week’s Flightless Bird we tell the story of Everlee Wihongi, a 36-year-old New Zealander on a green card, snatched by ICE at LAX airport. We talk to her mother Betty, trying to figure out why her daughter got kidnapped, and how to get her out again. Email us your feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmal.com LINKS: - GoFundMe for Everlee’s legal fees: https://gofund.me/c9217e4f1 - Original Webworm...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier travels to Madison, Wisconsin, to investigate the World Championship Cheese Contest. With 3375 entries and 150 classes, we are talking a lot of cheese. Hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, the comp has been running since 1957 - and this year was bigger than ever. Why is cheese so big in this part of the US, and what exactly is a cheesehea...

On this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob discover that doing jigsaw puzzles is not just a hobby - it’s a sport! They talk to US speed puzzler Karen Kavett - AKA Karen Puzzles - who’s about to head off to the 2026 USA Jigsaw Nationals. How big is the scene and what does it take to get to the worlds? What is the secret to doing puzzles very, very fast? David also reveals that he’s being sued in...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, we return to Nick from last year’s Parasocial Listener Episode. Nick had been diagnosed with a rare kind of brain tumor - rare in that you can remove it, but it keeps coming back. In today’s episode, Nick has taken a leap of faith and arrived in New Zealand, to eat meat pies, surf, and visit Hobbiton. We catch up with Nick as he meets some fellow Flightless Bird lis...

In this week’s Nest Session, David and Rob are joined by Genevieve Schatz, frontperson of Chicago indie band Company of Thieves. Schatz has been on quite the journey since fronting that band - which includes delving into a new type of field: being a clairvoyant! What does this mean exactly, and what’s the boundary between woo and reality? Genevieve also performs in the Flightless Bird studio, show...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob talk iconic series Goosebumps - discussing their favourite books in the series, the joy of the Scholastic Book Fair, and how Goosebumps have managed to sell over 400 million copies around the world. David then interviews the man himself - R.L. Stine - who has just finished writing his latest book: A book for adults. Join us for bonus episodes on Patreo...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob have Korean-American chef Roy Choi in the studio to talk food trucks. The creator of legendary Korean-Mexican taco truck “Kogi”, Roy talks about his influences growing up, launching a game-changing food truck, and what makes food trucks so important in America’s DNA.LINKS:Upcoming Flightless Bird live shows:3/29 in Salt Lake City at the Depot https://b...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David talks to a woman who’s been working at a law firm for over a decade that represents motorists who get hit by trains. How is this a full time job? Well, there are around 1300 train derailments in the US every year - 3.5 per day. Since 1975, those derailments have killed 467 people, 12,500 people maimed along the way. Then there are all the incidents of trains h...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David talks to two former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion in the USA, to find out what it’s really like inside. Can members really not pledge their allegiance to the American flag? Are they really not allowed to have blood transfusions? Are they not allowed to be gay? Is there anything JW’s *are* allowed to do, besides door knock? David tries to find out...

In this month's Nest Session, David and Rob are joined on the couch by The Format's Nate Ruess and Sam Means, who met as teenagers at a Weezer concert while Sam was running the band's fan club. The two reflect on what it was like growing up in the scorching sprawl of the Arizona desert, and Nate shares his uncanny claim of remembering the exact moment he was born. They bring along an iced peanut b...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David talks to someone who has schizophrenia. Christopher Grant talks about what it was like to grow up seeing the world a little differently than others, his growing struggles with mental health, and finally being diagnosed and treated. Chris now creates “schizophrenias simulation videos” which are watched by million of people. They are his attempt to let us see th...

In this weeks Flightless Bird, David and Rob talk to Mara Wilson about being a child star in films like Mrs Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street and - of course - the titular character in Matilda. Wilson has had time to reflect on those years, both the good and the bad - and explains what she’s found out. Mara - a podcaster, actor and author also appeared in the HBO documentary Showbiz Kids, so she’s...