Episodes

  • Christian Chaos

    Christian Chaos
    Sep 30 2025
    In this week’s episode, David looks at the downfall of one of the world’s biggest Christian stars, Michael Tait. The (now former) frontman of The Newsboys, and former member of DC Talk, Tait led a secret double life that all came crashing down this year. Farrier talks to two journalists who covered the story, Jessica Morris and Josiah Hesse - as well as whistleblowers and victims like Israel Anthem. Farrier discovers a world of coverups and legal action in the world of Christian rock - learning about the sole owner of Newsboys, Wes Campbell, who some refer to as “The Devil”. - This is based on original reporting on Webworm: https://www.webworm.co/thedevil/ - Email David and Rob: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • Christian Music

    Christian Music
    Sep 23 2025
    In this week’s episode David and Rob look at the world of Christian Contemporary Music, or CCM for short. Born out of the 1960s Jesus Movement, CCM was a way for kids to listen to “cool” music without any of the sin, and it became embedded in large parts of American culture. They’re joined in the studio by Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie who knows a thing or two about Christian music - and they talk about everything from Hell Houses to the good and bad of Christian music.Aaron Gillespie: https://www.instagram.com/aaronrgillespie/Underoath: https://www.instagram.com/underoathband/Flightless Bird merch: https://www.flightlessbirdpod.comEmail Rob and David: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • Chipotle

    Chipotle
    Sep 16 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, Rob takes David to his first ever Chipotle Mexican Grill experience, before teaching him about what makes this American food chain so iconic, important and delicious. Founded on July 13, 1993, we learn about its history with McDonalds to its attempt at being sustainable, they try to answer the eternal question: Is Chipotle better than fast food or slightly better than fast food? Flightless Bird merch: https://www.flightlessbirdpod.com/ Email Rob and David: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Tunnel Girl

    Tunnel Girl
    Sep 9 2025
    In this week’s episode, David flies to Washington, DC to meet with Kala - AKA “Tunnel Girl” - a woman digging a tunnel under her suburban home. David descends into Kala’s tunnel, trying to figure out what motivates her to do this. Along the way they talk about her fame on TikTok, the controversies she’s faced, and what you can learn from a tunnel fire. This episode was based on original reporting done for Webworm: https://www.webworm.co/tunnelgirl Flightless Bird merch: https://www.flightlessbirdpod.com/ Email Rob and David: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Kony 2012

    Kony 2012
    Sep 2 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David looks back at Invisible Children’s “Kony 2012” documentary through the eyes of Lilly, an intern at the time - and Jedidiah Jenkins, the director of idea development for Invisible Children in 2012. Lilly and Jed take David inside the viral hit - the first ever video to reach 1 million likes on YouTube, the speediest ever to reach 100 million views. A Pew Research poll at the time indicated more than half of young adult Americans had heard about Kony 2012 in the days following its release. The purpose of Kony 2012 was to make Warlord Joseph Kony “famous”, and raise money for Invisible Children’s cause. And then everything went wrong.Contact David and Rob: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com FB Merch: www.flightlessbirdpod.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Streisand Effect

    Streisand Effect
    Aug 26 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier meets Mike Masnick, the journalist and entrepreneur who came up with the term “The Streisand Effect” 20 years ago. The term has its origins in Barbara Streisland suing someone for $50 million for daring to take a photo of her house - only to have the photo spread to millions of people. Since then the Streisand Effect has been used to describe the effect of the rich and powerful trying to shut down information. Farrier and Mike discuss the legacy of what Barbara did, and its effects on the internet today. LINKS: David Farrier’s Webworm newsletter: www.webworm.co - please support it! TechDirt, Mike’s site: www.techdirt.com Kenneth Adelman’s site: californiacoastline.org Lawsuit details: https://www.californiacoastline.org/streisand/lawsuit.html Contact Flightless Bird: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Cryonics

    Cryonics
    Aug 19 2025
    In this week's Flightless Bird, David Farrier explores cryonics - freezing human corpses in the hope they may one day be resurrected by future humans! We interview James Arrowood, CEO of Alcor, America’s biggest cryonics outfit, to talk about the perception of this practice and what it means for Alcor’s 250 bodies on ice. Email us your feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Links - Death To Dust: What Happens To Dead Bodies? http://www.galenpress.com/extras/extra32.htm - Melbourne Woman On Ice: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-16/second-person-cryogenically-frozen-southern-cryonics/105517102 - A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal” https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/03/13/144721/a-startup-is-pitching-a-mind-uploading-service-that-is-100-percent-fatal/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • Pokemon Cards

    Pokemon Cards
    Aug 12 2025
    In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob discuss Pokemon Trading Cards. They’re joined in the studio by Alex (@chantastic_collection) to get schooled on Pokemon fandom and trading cards (David and Rob open their first deck ever!), before David heads to New York to meet Dave Suchmann, a man who’s combined his love of Pokemon with his computer savvy to try and make a sustainable business trading Pokemon cards. Now of course Pokemon comes from Japan, but when it was introduced to America, and then the world between 1998 and 2000, it went ballistic. It’s generally agreed upon that Pokémon is the world's highest-grossing media franchise ever - leaving Marvel and Disney stuff in its wake. So, strap in and prepare to Catch ‘Em All! Links: - David Farrier’s Webworm update on Fake Seizure Guy: https://www.webworm.co/p/fakeseizureguysentenced - Dave’s Galactic Collectables: https://www.instagram.com/galactictcg/ & https://linktr.ee/galacticcollectibles - Alex’s Pokemon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chantastic_collection Email Flightless Bird with your feedback: flightlessbirdchat@gmail.com Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Flightless Bird merch and links: https://www.flightlessbirdpod.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 26 mins