Lost in America

Belarusian comedian Misha Kalhin joins the show from his possible new home of Yerevan, Armenia to update the guys on the latest madness coming out of his home country. On May 23, Belarus' government sent a MIG Fighter Jet into the air to intercept a Ryanair commercial flight that was passing through Belarus' airspace on its way from Greece to Lithuania. After forcing the flight to land in...

Michael Ira Kaplan and Turner Sparks get together for their monthly  World's Smartest Podcast Network  roundtable with Andrew Heaton and Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy to discuss the 2021 divorce rate drop in China, the unlikely popularity of Vermont's Republican governor, the amount of space dust on earth and new US app that let's you hire a private security firm for the evening. This episode...

The Mongolian People's Party recently ruled, through congressional vote, to change the term limits for Mongolian President from two terms to one. In response, sitting President Battulga, who comes from the opposition Democratic Party, called for the Mongolian People's Party to be dissolved. As both sides wrestle for absolute power, the question becomes can a country that sits between China...

Since we last talked to Russian comedian Oleg Denisov (just eleven weeks ago), Vladimir Putin has done the following: Threatened to invade Ukraine with 100,000 troops Continued to imprison his political opposition Alexi Navalny, even with Navalny on a hunger strike and near death. Been sanctioned by the US for cyber attacks. Formally signed law to allowing him to run for President two more times a...

Peru's presidential race has narrowed down to two candidates, and Peruvian comedian  Jaime Ferraro  is back to tell us why neither is a great choice. On one side there is Keiko Fujimori, an authoritarian leaning daughter of Peru's former dictator Alberto Fujimori. Her father is currently in prison for murder, robbery and corruption. She just got out of prison in May 2020, also for corrupti...

Fidel Castro is dead and Raul Castro is retired, so who is running Cuba? Roseann Lake, The Economist Magazine's Cuba correspondent, is here to tell us all about Cuban President and newly elected first Secretary of the Communist Party, Miguel Diaz-Canel. Where did he come from? What will his policies towards the U.S and economic freedom potentially look like? Roseann Lake is back on the show wi...

Loyalists in Northern Ireland are rioting and Irish-American comedian Des Bishop is here to explain to us why. To explain the present, Des gives us crash course in Irish-UK history that starts in the 1600's, makes pit stops in 1922, the 1960's and 1998 before culminating in a powder keg of tension when Brexit and COVID restrictions both come into effect. Des lived 31 years of his life in I...

Ari Shaffir has spent the last six months living in Ecuador and he joins the show today to report on the insane presidential election race that his adopted country is in the middle of. It's down to a banker named Guillermo Lasso, an indigenous populist named Yaku Perez and a pseudo-populist named Andres Arauz who's campaign promise is to pardon former President Rafael Correa and bring him...

Mexico is legalizing weed! Today we have comedian Mister Marco in Cabo San Lucas back on the show to explain to us how Mexico got to this point, what it means for the average Mexican citizen and what kind of effect it will have on the cartels. Also, Kaplan interrogates Marco about all of the Jewish weddings he has been presiding over recently. Minister Marco tours the world performing comedy and h...

On March 7, 2021 Philippine security forces systematically killed nine political activists who President Duterte accused of being communists. To find out what is so bad about being a communist, we welcome back Filipino comedian Chino Liao to explain the history of the Communist Party of the Philippines and their New People's Army. Yeah, it turns out the Filipino communists have their own gover...

Armenian Comedian Narek Margaryan calls in while driving through Yerevan traffic to explain why the reported "military coup attempt" in Armenia was not a coup attempt at all. After Armenia lost a 44-day war to Azerbaijan in late-2020, the blame for not only the defeat, but also the weak peace deal, fell on the head of Prime Minister Pashinyan. The people have been calling for his resignati...

French comedian Adrien Arnoux joins us from his home in Paris to explain why former French President Nicolas Sarkozy just got convicted of corruption charges, and what this unprecedented ruling means for the rest of his country's politicians. We also find out the difference between Sarkozy and Macron politically (previously we had no idea) and dig into the culture of stand-up comedy in France....

Peru has another exciting presidential scandal and here to tell us all about it is Peruvian comedian Jaime Ferraro straight from his home in Lima. This time the scandal involves former President Martin Vizcarra and his cohorts, who all secretly took the covid vaccine five months before it was made available to the public, and long before anyone was known to have access to it. We dive into the corr...

Spanish comedian Danny Boy-Rivera joins us from his home in Madrid to explain Catalonia's quite serious attempt to leave Spain, and their most recent state election where the pro-independence parties won more than 51% of the seats. Before researching this pod not only did we know nothing about Catalonia's secession movement, we didn't even really understand that Catalonia was a place....

Russian comedian Oleg Denisov joins the show from Moscow to report back on the anti-Putin protest he attended in Pushkinskaya Square surrounding Alexi Navalny's arrest. Russians are upset with the treatment of Putin critic and political rival Alexi Navalny, who was not only poisoned by the FSB late last year, but after spending months in a coma in Germany, has now been arrested by Putin's...

German comedian Stefan Danziger joins the show from his home in Berlin to answer every question we have about Angela Merkel, and give his thoughts on which direction the country might head next now that she is stepping down in September. Stefan Danziger is one of the premier comedians in Germany and performs on German television regularly. Check him out at stefan-danziger.de Lost In America is hos...

Indian comedian Daniel Fernandes joins us from his home in Mumbai to explain why India's farmers have been on strike since November, 2020. They have built Burning Man style campsites on the outskirts of New Delhi in protests of Prime Minister Modi's laws to privatize their previously subsidized farming industry. With donations coming in from around the world the farmers have been able to h...

Brazilian comedian Carol Zoccoli joins the guys to answer every question they have regarding her country's loose-cannon of a President, Jair Bolsonaro. Where did he come from? How did he rise to power? What are his craziest ideas? Carol goes through everything with answers that include Steve Bannon, escaped German Nazis, The Hague and a real-life monkey senator. This is a wild one. Check out C...

Michael Ira Kaplan and Turner Sparks get together for their monthly  World's Smartest Podcast Network  roundtable with Andrew Heaton and Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy to discuss the QAnon cult's future, the good/ bad sides of presidential pardons, the vaccine rollout and the appropriate amount of power for a US President to have. This episode is brought to you by Magic Spoon. Go to  MagicSpoon.com...

Malaysian comedian Kavin Jay joins the guys from his home in Kuala Lumpur to recount the wildest story of political corruption that this pod has ever heard. Sit back, relax and enjoy as he lays out the key figures in Malaysian politics that include Mahathir Mohamed, a 95-year old Prime Minister who resigned last year for no known reason, Najib Razak, a former Prime Minister who is currently accuse...

Balkan comedian extraordinaire Pedja Bajovic joins the guys from his home in Croatia to tell them the wild and crazy tale of Kosovo's recent political history over the last year. First the Prime Minister and President both got indicted for war crimes and sent to the Hague. Then the election for a new PM got annulled six months after it took place, with the new PM already in power, because one...

Israel's government has collapsed again, forcing their fourth election in two years, and that's not the crazy part. In the last election neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor challenger Benny Gantz could gain a majority so they decided to split the Prime Minister duties with each serving 18 months, and Netanyahu going first. Now that the government has collapsed, Netanyahu doesn't have to giv...

British comedian Ollie Horn returns to give Turner Sparks and Michael Ira Kaplan a full breakdown of what the UK won and what they lost in their Brexit deal with the European Union. Ollie is a world-touring comedian based in the UK (although currently stuck in Malaysia), he has a law degree from the UK and hosts the Japan By River Cruise podcast: https://japanbyrivercruise.com/ Lost In America is...

Russian hacking group Cozy Bear has executed one of the most widespread hacks of American companies and government organizations in US history. This week Russian comedian Oleg Denisov joins the guys from his home in Moscow to explain the culture of hacking and espionage in Russia. Oleg Denisov tours Europe doing comedy and has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland numerous times,...

Due to climate change, every year 25% of Bangladesh floods. Today comedian Naveed Mahbub joins the show from his home in Dhaka, Bangladesh to discuss the problem and some of the innovative solutions that people have communities have come up with to live with the reality of flooding as opposed to resisting it. Naveed is the host of "The Naveed Mahbub Show', Bangladesh's premier late-nig...