Flightless Bird

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...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, Rob schools David on Nickelodeon, the American TV channel launched on April 1, 1979, when David was just three years old. Nickelodeon gave us Rugrats, Doug, and SpongeBob SquarePants - and a bunch of shows David has never heard of like Are You Afraid of the Dark, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Keenan and Kel, and CatDog. What did it means to be a kid in America growi...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, Rosabel muses on the fallout from her episode a few weeks ago, before David and Rob set off for Hooters - absolutely terrified to their core that they will be cancelled in the process by saying the wrong thing or looking in the wrong direction. They hear from a variety of former “Hooters Girls” (their term, not ours) over the last few decades, before talking to curr...

In this week’s Nest Session, we’re joined by Peter Matthew Bauer of The Walkmen, who brings in a fresh Kentucky Southern Casserole for David and Rob to sample. Peter shares some pie, as well as what it was like growing up as part of a meditation cult, the oddness of astronomy to the current moment, and how saying no to your own destruction can be fun. Peter then preforms his songs Doom, Knife Figh...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David meets Doretta, an American who met and fell in love with a New Zealander - a man who happened to be one of NZ’s most well known celebrities: The Milky Bar Kid. Sort of. Back in the late 80s and early 90s the Milky Bar Kid starred in NZ’s biggest commercial. How did he end up in America, and with a woman who also has a past forged in chocolate?- Support Flightl...

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David meets Phil - a man who’s been playing the same Dungeons and Dragons campaign since D&D was first released in 1974. Phil explains what’s so important about the game, and the friends he’s made and lessons learnt along the way. David then talks to the team behind D&D, to discus how the game has transcended generations and continues to grow in relevance after 50+...

On this week's Flightless Bird, David Farrier temporarily halts his New Zealand holiday to bring you the guest to end all guests: Rosabel. If you've listened to Flightless Bird for awhile, you will be familiar with the Rosabel calls that kick many episodes off. You may also recall the time David cracked an egg on Rosabel's head. In this episode, let's learn a little more about Rosabel - and whethe...