Flightless Bird

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier sets out to understand the mysterious world of fantasy football. He joins a group of manly men as they do a fantasy football draft in a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, trying to understand the appeal of a game played by 50 million Americans. David then meets sports reporter and ESPN correspondent Mina Kimes who drills down into the finer details of fantasy football, even offering some expert tips.

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier takes Monica to a haunted house to celebrate Halloween. And not just any haunted house! Each year Universal Studios puts on its Halloween Horror Nights, using its Hollywood tricks to create some of the scariest haunted houses in America. David and Monica meet with John Murdy, the creative director behind the haunted houses. Monica then comes face to face with her ultimate fear: Chucky. And not just one chucky: Hundreds of Chucky’s.

This week on Flightless Bird David Farrier investigates bail bonds in America, and more specifically - the bail bondsman. With 15,000 bail bonds agents in America, it seems to be a thriving private enterprise. In Oklahoma he meets with Ron Eden, a bail bondsman who inherited the business from his mother. What’s it like to deal with people accused of crimes, and the families desperate to get their loved ones out while they await trial? David then brushes up on how you get bail in New Zealand, by talking to criminal lawyer Emma Priest. He then talks to Allie Preston, a senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress. Allie explains why having to pay for bail is a problem and who it discriminates against - and also points out that paying for bail doesn’t necessarily make you more likely to turn up for court!

This week on Flightless Bird David Farrier investigates whether we have America to thank for the modern laundromat. After all, there are over 30,000 laundromats in the US - employing 39,000 people, making $5 billion in revenue each year. To help him in his investigation David meets with Brain Wallace of the Coin Laundry Association to discuss how on April 18th,1934 a Texan named CA Tannahill opened the world's first coin-operated laundromat. David then discovers how laundromats mean different things to different people in America. He then talks with Jason Sowell, who is very enthusiastic about the importance of the American laundromat and runs a non-profit called “Current Initiatives” which helps people do their washing. David also learns why Americans have a phobia of clotheslines.

After two American surgeons told David he needed back surgery, he fled back to his home of New Zealand where healthcare was less scary! What he discovered in New Zealand surprised him. David calls up journalist Luke O’Neil (writer of the Welcome to Hellworld newsletter and new book A Creature Wanting Form) to chat through what he discovered: two very different medical systems with vastly different approaches.

This week on Flightless Bird David Farrier investigates pizza, one of America’s favourite foods. He discovers that around 76,000 pizza joints bring in $44 billion dollars each year in the US - where every day 13% of the population will eat a slice of pizza. David begins his journey in Los Angeles, as Rob takes him and Monica to a fancy pop-up called “Chain”. Here, chefs riff on chain food but with their own upgraded twists - and tonight it’s Pizza Hut! Next David heads to New York to eat a variety of NY pizzas, from the cheap slices of Joe’s, to Pauly Gee’s famous Hellboy pizza. What makes a good pizza? There is no clear answer, but Farrier attempts to find out, before going to one last joint - Ops - an upmarket take on what a pizza should be. Along the way Farrier meets some of those eating the pizza - New Yorkers - who truly love their city.

This week on Flightless Bird David Farrier investigates the incredibly American pastime of storm chasing. There are about 1200 tornados in America each year - for some, they are a source of fear and worry, but for others, they are a challenge to be bested. David travels to tornado alley, visiting Oklahoma in search of answers. There he meets storm chasers Stephanie & Justin Cox (@oklahoma_weather_couple) who talk about falling in love while chasing storms and their shared obsession with finding the next big Twister. David reads that the nearby town of Cole has recently been hit by a tornado (two, in fact) so heads off to investigate, meeting the resilient people there who talk about what it’s like to be hit by a twister. Along the way Farrier talks to storm chaser Jennifer Brindley (faceofastorm.com), and her veteran storm chasing partner Skip Talbot (www.skip.cc), who timed the birth of his children around his storm chasing sensibilities!

This week on Flightless Bird David Farrier investigates America’s obsession with ice. From excessive ice in drinks to the joy of frozen food, Farrier finds that ice is deeply American. Meeting with Reid Mitenbuler, the author of Bourbon Empire, David discovers the story of Frederic “The Ice King” Tudor, who dug up ice from the lakes of New England and got America, and the world, hooked on ice in the 1800s. Farrier then heads to New York to meet writer and academic Heidi Julavits, who muses about the significance of ice in American culture, and tells David about her icy memories from Maine… and 2023’s Coachella. Farrier discovers how the Holiday Inn made ice machines mandatory in American hotels, before he considers the fact Americans want to cryogenically freeze themselves to live forever. There is no denying it: Americans love ice.

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier goes behind the scenes of the food that’s dished up to 30 million American kids at the school cafeteria. Back in New Zealand, they don't have school cafeterias, so all he knows is what he's learned from Euphoria and Saved By The Bell. In Hemet, Farrier meets Kate Kloet, assistant director of nutrition services for Hemet Unified School District. Donning a hairnet, she takes Farrier into the industrial kitchen where food is made for 23,000 kids in the area before the pair drive to a local high school to experience the cafeteria. What do the kids think of the food and what do they think of the American high school experience? Farrier goes back to school to learn all he can about the American high school cafeteria.

An update on Flightless Bird! David explains to Monica and Rob why he’s had to take flight to New Zealand. Defeated by the US healthcare system and his bad health insurance plan, David has temporarily returned to Aotearoa, New Zealand for some minor back surgery! This has disrupted the usual smooth flow of making the show, so for July and August Flightless Bird will arrive fortnightly instead of weekly.