Flightless Bird

• Gallagher

  In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob are joined by Gareth Reynold’s from “The Dollop” and “We’re Here To Help” podcasts. Gareth tells them about the story of Gallagher, an American comedian who pioneered the "Sledge-O-Matic" - and got into a bitter feud with his younger brother Ron. Along the way they talk infomercials, Carrot Top, and the dangers of impersonating someone else. LINKS: Mental Floss story: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/gallagher-vs-gallagher-ii | Pop culture hyperfixations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCbYP2mzFhQ The Dollop podcast: https://www.dolloppodcast.com/podcast We’re Here To Help podcast: https://www.heretohelppod.com/

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• Kanye's Squatter

  This week, David meets the man who squatted in Kanye West’s Simi Valley house, sleeping in Kanye’s bed, eating Kanye’s pasta, and shitting in Kanye’s backyard. While there, John wrote a book called “Squat” which is, in this podcast’s opinion, fantastic. David then has an update about Melbourne’s Fake Seizure Guy, and reads listeners emails about other local legends around America, Canada, and the world. NOTE: While this episode about Kanye may seem incredibly timely, we actually recorded the studio part of this episode a day before Kanye’s latest X/Twitter tirade, which saw him saying a bunch of mindnumbily dumb, stupid, and offensive stuff. He was racist, extremely anti-semitic, and sent out porn. In a way it doesn't really change anything because we already knew all this about Kanye West - he’s done all this before - but in the chaos of keeping up with everything that’s going on in the world right now, some of that felt a million years ago. I guess I could sum up my feelings by what I texted Rob just now - “I wish we’d gone a little harder here”. Links: - John Safran’s book, Squat: https://www.amazon.com/Squat-John-Safran/dp/1760890170 - Beware the Serial Squatter of Malibu’s Point Dume: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/serial-squatter-malibu-point-dume - Update on Fake Seizure Guy’s Arrest: https://www.webworm.co/p/fakeseizureguy2

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• Australia: Fake Seizure Guy

  "In this week’s Flightless Bird, David continues his series in Australia. This week, he arrives in Melbourne to try and solve the mystery of “Fake Seizure Guy”, a local man who appears to fake having a seizure so locals can sit on him. Why does he want people to sit on him, and how long has this been going on? Do you have more information? Email us: [email protected] Links: - Webworm article on Fake Seizure Guy: https://www.webworm.co/p/fakeseizureguy - Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast - Carrot Man: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/12/melbourne-fitzroy-carrot-man & https://www.instagram.com/whereiscarrotman/ "

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  1:16:44
• Inauguration Week

  In this week’s episode, David and Rob take a pause on regular programming to try and make sense of what’s happened since the inauguration of Donald Trump. From social media chaos, Elon Musk’s “hand gesture” and mass deportations, to the new D.O.G.E logo and presidential pardons - we are all just trying to make sense of this together. Email us: [email protected] Find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast Show Links: - David Farrier’s Webworm piece on inauguration: https://www.webworm.co/p/welcome-to-american-hell - The Present Age with Parker Molloy: https://www.readtpa.com/p/news-organizations-are-tiptoeing - Ezra Klein: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-trump-inauguration.html - Presidential Pardons: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-proud-boys-tarrio-rhodes-release-pardon-b2683691.html - Officer beaten by mob works 14 hour day at Trump’s inauguration. Comes home to pardons: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/us/politics/officer-jan-6-trump-protection.html - “Trump pardons Silk Road dark web market creator Ross Ulbricht”: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o - “Trump pardons two police officers convicted in murder of Black man in Washington”: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-pardons-two-police-officers-convicted-murder-black-man-washington-2025-01-23/ -The Bishop who angered Trump: https://time.com/7209222/bishop-mariann-budde-trump/ - How We Learn To Be Brave book: https://www.amazon.com/How-We-Learn-Be-Brave/dp/0593539214/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid= - “Only two genders”: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/trump-executive-order-fetal-personhood - Royalty Family YouTube video on LA fires: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7K1FKOV9ns - The Shit You Should Care About newsletter: https://shityoushouldcareabout.substack.com/

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  1:21:39
• LA Wildfires

  In this week’s Flightless Bird, David and Rob reflect on the California wildfires, talking to a variety of people affected both directly and indirectly. We hear from one of the team from Watch Duty (the app downloaded by over 2 million people in the last week) about how it works and how it’s saved lives, before talking to one of the people organising at Mutual Aid LA. We then hear from Flightless Bird listeners about various aspects of American wildfires - and what makes this wildfire different. HOW TO HELP: -Lydia & Ryan's GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/fa89b9fc -Mike Rothschild’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MikeRothschild -GoFundMe main list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/10gvOxituYvxxknoY9IQa-YEqfK8WvCjcLBcg4hsmME4/htmlview?ref=theconsciouscitizens.org -Where to volunteer: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eaSXTYlLY_spJ-_w43ac55qu6X4YtgApgRGfads3cM4/htmlview -Mutual Aid LA - what is needed and how you can help: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KMk34XY5dsvVJjAoD2mQUVHYU_Ib6COz6jcGH5uJWDY/htmlview?gid=439359427#gid=439359427 ARTICLE MENTIONED IN EPISODE -What Happens When a Plastic City Burns https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2025/01/los-angeles-fire-smoke-plastic-toxic/681318/ -David Chamberlin - Creed-tastic cover of our theme song: www.RecordLA.com -Lingering Effects of the wildfire: https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/01/indirect-death-toll-from-the-l-a-fires-may-end-up-in-the-thousands/ -Gunman at the LADWP building: https://www.foxla.com/news/ladwp-headquarter-center-heavy-police-presence -Incarcerated firefighters: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/wildfire-camp-incarcerated-teens -Thread from former inmate who fought fires: https://www.threads.net/@5456236980/post/DEkYYlPv4H1 CONTACT US: -Email Flightless Bird: [email protected] -Watch Flightless Bird on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flightlessbirdpodcast

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