Épisodes

  • LA Protests

    LA Protests
    Jun 17 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob sit down to record on June 10th - a few days after David got a dose of pepper spray to the face at Sunday’s protests outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre were members of the LAPD and National Guard were posted. David and Rob discuss what the hell is going on as Trump sends 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, along with 700 marines. They talk to a former National Guard member about what they do, before David recounts his experiences Sunday near City Hall, and Monday night in Little Tokyo. Email us feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com LINKS: Guardian opinion piece: We are witnessing the first stages of a Trump police state https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/09/trump-police-state-robert-reich Live show tickets for Denver on July 3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDEN Live show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 14 min
  • Scientology

    Scientology
    Jun 10 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob explore Scientology in LA and beyond. David goes on a mini tour of LA Scientology, attempting to visit the Museum of Psychology, Big Blue and the Celebrity Centre to varying degrees of success. He looks at how this church/cult recruits members, before meeting someone who joined and spent around $50,000 on courses before leaving. He then meets Mike Brown, someone raised in Scientology, eventually joining the Sea Org before managing to escape. He takes David through his experience and his own theories about the church today in 2025. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.comLive show tickets for Denver on July 3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDENLive show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 40 min
  • Sperm Donation

    Sperm Donation
    Jun 3 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at the USA’s very unregulated sperm doner market. Along the way David meets Sheena, who recently met her biological father and discovered over 80 half-siblings… and counting. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Live show tickets for Denver on July 3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDEN Live show tickets for Chicago on July 10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI Links: - Sperm donor who fathered 550 children ordered to stop: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65429936 - Lawsuit alleges ex-Harvard Medical School professor used own sperm to secretly impregnate patient: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lawsuit-alleges-ex-harvard-medical-school-professor-used-sperm-secretl-rcna129696 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 15 min
  • Live in San Francisco: Smart Vibrators, Zizians, & The Room

    Live in San Francisco: Smart Vibrators, Zizians, & The Room
    May 27 2025
    This week’s Flightless Bird is live at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Musician Kelcey Ayer reimagines the FB themesong, before David and Rob share their thoughts on the city and peruse the headlines. Their special guests include Anna Lee of Lioness who has created a smart vibrator, and journalist Io Dodds who has been investigating the Zizian cult. Greg Sestero talks The Room film, and then there’s a Q&A with guests! Contact us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com LINKS: - Io Dodds on the Zizians’ Trial: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/zizians-murder-trial-witness-court-b2736777.html - Anna Lee and Lioness: https://lioness.io/ - Kelcey Ayer: http://instagram.com/kelceyayer - Photos by Jim McCambridge - Flightless Bird Live in Denver on 7/3: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiDEN - Flightless Bird Live in Chicago on 7/10: http://bit.ly/lostkiwiCHI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 44 min
  • Topps Trading Cards

    Topps Trading Cards
    May 20 2025
    On this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at the history and current trajectory of Topps Trading Cards. They talk baseball cards and baseball cards, before looking at all the strange trajectories this bubblegum company went in - including War trading cards, Garbage Pail Kids, and Mars Attacks! cards. They look at the most expensive cards of all time, and the act of wonderment that delving into this topic brings. Rob also calls his dad to find out about their card investment, and David talks about seeing a weird dead deer and the reaction it got from Americans. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Merch and links: www.flightlessbirdpod.com Links: - Swedish Mom Fined for Cracking Egg on Daughter’s Head: https://townflex.com/mom-fined-for-cracking-egg-on-daughters-head-in-viral-tiktok-prank - Why Are the Menendez Brothers on a Basketball Trading Card? https://people.com/the-menendez-brothers-basketball-card-8718273 - American Pope Topps card: https://www.topps.com/products/pope-leo-xiv-2025-topps-now%C2%AE-card-pope Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 24 min
  • Blockbuster

    Blockbuster
    May 13 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob visit the last Blockbuster videostore in the world in Bend, Oregon. On the way they stop off at the Overlook Hotel (sort of) and discuss their love of physical media. This week’s feedback is all very emo (in a good way). Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com LINKS: - Robin Hood change: https://nichegamer.com/robin-hood-film-censored-to-remove-anti-establishment-intro-message/ - The Last Blockbuster in New Zealand? https://web.archive.org/web/20201021165435/https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2020/01/credits-roll-on-nz-s-last-blockbuster-video-store.html - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/small-business/final-credits-dargavilles-blockbuster-dvd-and-video-rental-store-blue-2-video-is-closing/EJVFKWDEV5TONP6VFR2C7CUHAQ/?c_id=3&objectid=12301650 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 23 min
  • Emo Music

    Emo Music
    May 6 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob look at emo music in the United States, from its origins to where it is today. Rob presents David with a lesson in emo bands and reaches out to them to ask whether they consider themselves emo or not. David plays some of his old emo reporting from back in New Zealand in the mid 00s, before attending an infamous Emo Night event in LA where he talks to founders Morgan Freed and T.J. Petracca. They also interview Vic Fuentes from Pierce the Veil and discuss the war between punks and emos that broke out in Mexico City in 2008. Email us: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Merch: www.flightlessbirdpod.com LINKS: Rob’s emo playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7zwXnoiAe2Ja18nhvnSsCY?si=e5c8ca80a9a2434eTheme song performance: Nick Thomas of The Spill Canvas https://www.thespillcanvas.net In regards to last week’s Autism episode, some other spicy writing from David: - Prosopagnosia - face blindness: https://www.webworm.co/p/superrecogniser and https://www.webworm.co/p/prosopagnosia - Aphantasia: https://www.webworm.co/p/aphantasia - Telepathic Children Do Not Exist: https://www.webworm.co/p/telepathytapes - My memory and ADHD: https://www.webworm.co/p/memoryworms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 50 min
  • Autism Reveal Party

    Autism Reveal Party
    Apr 29 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David talks to Lisa Didion, an Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of Kansas. Lisa wrote in after the Fake Seizure Guy episode, saying that Flightless Bird should take a deeper dive into autism in America. With RFK Jr’s recent unhinged comments on autism, it felt like the right time to clear up some misinformation. On top of this - David got invited to an Autism Reveal Party. What is that? Well, listen to find out. - Email us your feedback to: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com- Merch: www.flightlessbirdpod.com - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Links:- RFK Jr. exaggerates share of autistic population with severe limitationshttps://www.politifact.com/article/2025/apr/21/rfk-jr-exaggerates-share-of-autistic-population-wi/ - Kennedy announces new studies to examine environmental factors linked to autismhttps://thehill.com/homenews/5252236-kennedy-announces-new-studies-to-examine-environmental-factors-linked-to-autism/ - Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Autism Research—Even As It Aims to Find the Causehttps://time.com/7279068/trump-administration-autism-research-cuts/ - NIH autism study will pull from private medical recordshttps://www.npr.org/2025/04/23/nx-s1-5372695/autism-nih-rfk-medical-records - The Pitt’s Dr. Mel King Is a Small but Meaningful Step Forward for Neurodivergence Onscreen:https://time.com/7275814/the-pitt-mel-neurodivergence-autism-adhd/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 h et 12 min