Lost in America

Apologies on the bad sound this episode. Turner thought his mic was plugged in the whole time and apparently it wasn't, so this is the best we could do to recapture the conversation. Next week everything will be back to normal. On with the show... Fabrizio Copano is a Chilean superstar comedian who also happens to be friends with the new president of Chile, Gabriel Boric. They are of similar a...

Ukrainian comedian Anton Tymoshenko tells us what life is like in his country now that Vladimir Putin has amassed 175,000 Russian troops at Ukraine's border and is preparing for a winter attack. Follow him on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/anton_tymoshenko Lost In America is hosted by us AKA  Turner Sparks  and  Michael Ira Kaplan . This Episode is brought to you by all of our Patreon s...

The Sudanese Military took over the country and put the Prime Minister on house arrest last month. This past week they let him out of house arrest and made him Prime Minister again, but the PM's supporters aren't happy. What happened? South Sudanese comedian Akau Jambo is here to sort it all out for us, and answer questions like "What's it like to live under Sharia Law?", "...

Libyan Comedian Mohanad Elshieky tells us the fascinating story of how he went from being a child in Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, to a political radio host in Benghazi during Gaddafi's fall, to a man being hunted for the jokes he made on the radio and finally to a political refugee granted asylum in the United States of America. Mohanad has appeared on CONAN and currently tours the US doing co...

Senator/ Boxer Manny Pacquiao is running for the President of The Philippines against a team of Sara Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Junior aka Bong Bong Marcos. If those names sound familiar it's because Manny Pacquiao is one of the best boxers in world history, Sara Duterte is the daughter of current President/ madman Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is the son of former Philippine dict...

Spanish comedian  Danny Boy-Rivera  joins us from his home in Madrid to answer every question we have on Spain's Running of The Bulls. How did it start? Why is it legal? Should we (Kaplan and Turner) do it? Lost In America is hosted by us AKA  Turner Sparks  and  Michael Ira Kaplan . This Episode is brought to you by Dennis Owens and his favorite restaurant The Mack at 4615 Mackland Ave, Saint...

With North Korea firing off test-missiles again this week, South Korean comedian Sang Don Park joins the show to tell us what it's like to live so close to a dictator that is constantly threatening to blow up your country. Does everyone sleep in bomb shelters? Do they have nuke drills at school? We ask it all. Oh also, Sang served for two years as a beatboxers in the Korean Military, so that c...

Under dire stress, two months ago Belarusian comedian  Misha Kalhin fled his homeland of Belarus and relocated to Kiev, Ukraine. He is now safe, happy and here to tell the story of how he and his family escaped Belarus' ruthless dictatorship and oppressive government and made it to freedom in Kiev. Follow Misha Kalhin at  http://mishakalhin.com/ . Lost In America is hosted by us AKA  Turner Sp...

On September 7, 2021 El Salvador made Bitcoin its official currency. Yeah, wild, we know. Today Gabi Rivera, a Salvadoran comedian based in San Salvador, joins us to tell us what it's been like to live in a bitcoin world for the past month. How do people get it? What if it drops suddenly? How will grandma's figure it out? She has all, ok some of the answers. Check out Gabi at http://gabiri...

Pete Stegemeyer is a New York City comedian/ author and a former US Military member who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan working alongside the Afghan Military. On today's podcast he uses his personal experiences to answer the question "Why did the Afghan Military fall so quickly?". Preorder Pete's new book "Heist" here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/HEIST/Pe...

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for an election last month, two years ahead of schedule, because he was ahead in the polls and you can do stuff like that in Canada. Now with the election one week away there is a good chance he will lose to the conservative Erin O'Toole, thus ending his reign two years early, and by his own doing. Here to explain how someone can just CALL for an e...

German comedian Sonja Pikart joins us from her home in Vienna, Austria to explain why all three major candidates in Germany's upcoming election are tragically flawed. From a painfully boring center-left dude, to the Green Party candidate who is a known plagiarist, to the heir apparent to Angela Merkel who laughs at tragedies on TV, nobody is looking good. Find out more about Sonja at her websi...

We get back together with the  World's Smartest Podcast Network  gang of Andrew Heaton and Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy for another roundtable. This week we discuss the possibility of less traffic due to permanent remote working, the extension of the child tax credit, rich people islands and exploding Russian space dogs. Oh also, Kaplan is drunk and high during the intro. Get tickets to see Turner Sp...

After having multiple lockdowns, shutting off the country to foreigners and restricting travel between states, Australians have done everything possible to stop COVID and yet they are now experiencing their biggest outbreak ever. Faced with another winter of harsh lockdowns, Australians are beginning to protest and everyone in wondering if it's all even been worth it. Australian comedian Andy...

The Malaysian Prime Minister has stepped down and comedian Kavin Jay joins us today from his home in Kuala Lumpur to tell us why it happened and who might take over next. Along the way he catches us up on the key figures in Malaysian politics including Najib Razak, a former Prime Minister who is currently facing 14 years in prison but is still a member of Parliament, Anwar Ibrahim, a Prime Ministe...

Francisco Ramos from Last Comic Standing, the animated film Rio and SHAMELESS on Netflix joins us to talk about his home country of Venezuela. After two decades of Hugo Chavez and now eight years of President/ Dictator Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela is beaten down economically and socially, and desperate for some kind of change. We talk about how to country got to this point and what the upcoming Mexic...

On July 7th the President of Haiti was assassinated by a group of 20+ mercenaries while sleeping inside his home. The killers managed to get into his gated community, past his bodyguards and into his home without any resistance, and curiously none of his bodyguards were injured. Who were these men? Who was behind the killing? Who is in charge of the country now? Haitian comedian Tanael Joachim (TJ...

On July 11 Cubans took to the streets in over 50 towns and cities to protest their oppressive government. Fed up with a lack of food, poor health care, a growing Covid pandemic and more, people are risking their lives to speak up in the hopes that something will change. Almost immediately protestors were beaten, arrested and made to disappear while a disinformation campaign was launched to convinc...

For their week off Kap and Turner release a recent episode from their full-throttle comedy podcast "Live From the Bunker", available at www.patreon.com/LostInAmerica . In this episode, Turner gets lost in Brooklyn's Hasidic Jewish neighborhood and Kaplan happily answers every question that came out of Turner's adventure. Lost In America is hosted by us AKA  Turner Sparks  and  Mich...

Ten churches in Canada were burned down on July 1 of this year, purposefully coinciding with the yearly celebration of Canada Day. The arson was meant to call attention to the thousands of unmarked graves of First Nations (Canada's Native Americans) children that have been found outside of Canada's notorious residential schools for indigenous children. Here to connect the dots and help us...

Japanese comedian Saku Yanagawa joins Lost In America to explain to us why 80% of Japanese people don't want the Olympics to happen in their country this summer, and the fifteen billion reasons why they are going to happen anyway. Saku Yanagawa was named Comedian of the Year in Japan for 2017 and 2018. He is now based in Chicago, Illinois. Check him out here: http://sakuyanagawa.com/ Lost In A...

Two years ago Ukraine elected comedian Volodymyr Zelensky to be President of their country. With zero experience in politics Zelensky immediately had to deal with war threats from Putin in Russia, oligarchs in his own country vying for his attention and of course the infamous call with Trump. Today we check in with another Ukrainian comedian, Anton Tymoshenko, to get an honest assessment of how Ze...

Benjamin Netanyahu is out, a new coalition government of moderates, far right wing types and Arab Israelis is in. What does this mean for the Arab world? How do these factions work together? How long will it last? Daniel Pomerantz from Honest Reporting in Tel Aviv, Israel joins us this week with all of the answers. Follow Daniel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielspeaksup Lost In America is hos...

Nationwide protests broke out in Colombia on April 28, 2021 and still have not stopped. A combination of the government's bad pandemic response, a poor healthcare system and an untimely tax hike sent opponents of President Ivan Duque Marquez to the streets. Here to explain why the protests are still happening and what might happen next is Colombian comedian Oscar Montoya. Check out his podcast...

South Africa's legendary comedian David Kau joins the guy to explain the corruption charges against former South African President Jacob Zuma, and along the way catch them up on his country's history since apartheid ended in 1994. David Kau was a pioneering black comedian in South Africa when he started his career in the mid-1990s and is listed as an inspiration for every major comedian th...