Flightless Bird Update + AMA

A few updates about my weekly podcast, and an AMA!

Hi,

I just wanted to give you a brief update on the weekly podcast that I make, Flightless Bird, which sees me examining parts of American culture I find strange, amusing, and sometimes terrifying.

(If you don’t care about Flightless Bird that is totally fine — I will keep making weird podcast episodes like “Gary” and “Spaceman Barry” here on Webworm, always!)

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To cut a long story short, today was my last day of making Flightless Bird with the Armchair Expert umbrella.

From this point on, I will be making Flightless Bird separately from them — the show now dropping every Tuesday on its own specific feed. That feed is found wherever you listen to your podcasts — and I’ve listed where to find it on all the major podcast platforms here. Thanks to those who have already found it, subscribed, and rated it!

The new Flightless Bird feed… everywhere you listen to podcasts.

I’m super grateful to have been a part of the Armchair Expert fold — I first met them over Zoom when I was in New Zealand making Mister Organ, appearing as a guest back in 2020.

I think Dax liked my conspiracy writing (archived here on Webworm), and so I started making a monthly show with them called Armchaired and Dangerous — all about conspiracy theory culture.

When I got stranded in America in 2021 (New Zealand closed the borders to keep Covid out), they kept me on. We ended up touring Armchaired & Dangerous around America and I started making a new weekly show with them, about me being marooned and trying to figure out American culture. Monica Padman was the co-host and a great foil to my thoughts on things.

Flightless Bird turned into my one US gig that helped pay my rent here in America, and gave me a sense of stability. 

Me vs Kea (don’t do this).

Anyway, when I was in New Zealand in July attempting to pat a kea, I read a headline on Deadline:

The story said that Armchair Expert had been sold to Wondery for about $80 million. On the one hand, that seemed exciting. Flightless Bird could get more resources to make it cooler. On the other, I had no idea where my podcast fitted into the new deal.

As it turns out, it doesn’t.

At a meeting two-and-a-half weeks ago I was told that as of next month, Flightless Bird will no longer be part of the Armchair Expert network.

This felt scary, as it’s my job here. The glass half full side of the situation though is that Dax said I could take the IP, and the back catalogue, and do what I wanted with it.

This was really cool — he didn’t have to do this.

It was also a relatively short runway to come up with a plan: I had to figure out if it was possible to keep making this show in 3 weeks’ time when it was cut off from Armchair Expert.

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The idea of ending Flightless Bird was scary as fuck. It would mean losing this thing I loved making, as well as losing a huge source of income. There was a big part of me that wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep making it.

I had to figure out where I would record it, who would edit it, how we could sell ads, who I would co-host it with, and where it would live. Each episode involves producing an audio documentary that needs to be researched, recorded, scripted, voiced, edited and scored. 

After a lot of phone calls, lack of sleep, and planning — I arrived at a destination: I am going to keep making Flightless Bird with producer Rob Holysz. 

He’s a seasoned podcast producer (I love the Lonely Island and Always Sunny podcasts) with an amazing creative brain, coupled with a shit-tonne of technical know-how. He has good ideas, and a studio space we can record in. He’s also been there from the beginning of Flightless Bird — and we are friends! 

He will produce and co-host, as he did in the Ren Faire episode of Flightless Bird. Its success will depend on whether people listen on the new feed, as that will determine whether we can sell ads to cover production costs (to pay our wonderful editors, scorers, that sort of thing).

Me and Rob being tourists.

Rob and I came up with the basic idea of what would end up being Flightless Bird on a road trip three years ago. We came up with the name a bit later on — a fucking confusing, dumb name to be honest but look some New Zealand birds are flightless and I am a Kiwi who got stuck in America because I literally could not fly home it’s a metaphor alrightttttt — and now here we are.

We look forward to continuing to take wonderful little dives into American culture every week.

An upcoming episode on gay rodeos (photo: Aimee Nash)

Reflecting on these last few weeks — I guess the whole episode has felt very… American?

To be clear, I had zero stake in that $80 million dollar deal, and that’s OK.

My understanding is that Wondery (owned by Amazon) is paying to own those OG mega-shows — the original Armchair Expert stuff. There’s a reason Armchair Expert is so big: it’s an interview-based show you actually want to listen to, as experts and celebs are made incredibly comfortable. You learn, you laugh, you cry.

That said, I have to be honest: Being adjacent to an $80 million dollar deal did do something quite weird to my brain. I am still reflecting on what this says about me, and my values.

I’ve been posting on the Armchair Expert reddit as I reflect on it all.

At the end of the day, Flightless Bird is a tiny, quirky little show. And it’s now going out on its own, with its own lil’ feed. It’s success literally depends on people hitting “subscribe” and listening. A review or rating doesn’t hurt, either.

I should add — as I type this today — I’m excited to be flying free. I think we can breathe some new life into the show, pushing it into some new weird, fun places.

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I will say, this whole process has made me feel incredibly grateful to have your support here on Webworm.

This is something that is fully mine. There are no advertisers. There is no boss. It’s just supported by you, the reader. It helps make me feel more stable and connected, and less stressed. Making the Spaceman Barry episode was an example of everything I want to be doing.

If you are part of the 10% of readers who choose to pay for Webworm, thank you. It’s the cost of one fancy cup of coffee a month, and it keeps this place going.

It means I can pay guest writers like Hayden and Josh, lawyers to check legally iffy pieces, and audio editors for Webworm podcast episodes. Webworm’s paying subscribers, in general, seem happy:

Lexie: “I support your work because it deals with some quirky AF shit and also exposes tyrants and rascals who would otherwise go unnoticed. The follow up over the following years is also welcome.”

Ann: “I support your work because I think it is important to support real journalists. Sounds cheesy, but I enjoy reading Webworm as it makes me feel less alone in this strange world.

Will: “Keep shining the light into the dark holes.”

L: “I find all of your work very interesting, but I enjoy your writing the most. I think that you are one of the good ones who genuinely reports on things that matter in a way that is ethical and aimed at critiquing those who take advantage of vulnerable groups.”

And as always: If you want to take part in the Webworm community but are financially stretched (perhaps you are a student, on welfare, or on a pension) then just email me and I will sort you out, no questions asked: davidfarrier@protonmail.com.

I’m going to leave you with a comment I thought was really sweet from a New Zealander over on the Armchair Expert reddit when they heard I was exiting:

“Just wanted to say — longtime fan. That ‘emu/emo’ pop culture you did a million years ago on New Zealand TV, and all the interesting oddities that came from that show and afterwards — really inspired me to lean towards the creative and fun side of the arts. Genuinely.

New Zealand was so rigid, especially in the media space.

I had the absolute joy of being in the same suburb as you before you moved to the US. I actually was listening to that first US Armchair Expert interview episode when you walked past me on St B(redacted) St. It was really strange 😅.

You always used to give me weird looks when we’d pass each other — which I figured was either familiarity or because my dog would carry his toys sometimes on walks.

I realise now — it was probably face blindness.

Anyway — ramble — I was never brave enough to say in person the hundred or so times you’ve walked past — but thank you for being you!

It’s a lot easier to create the sometimes niche work that inspires you, in a sometimes rigid/tall poppy climate, when you have someone so undeniably talented (and then many after who have their individual but perhaps related genre pursuits) who helped make the space less daunting. Idk.

As a fellow ADHD, it’s incredibly cool to see the hyperfocus deep dives you go into and the content you make from them.

Thanks for being the best, I hope you’re okay!”

I think I am okay — in a large part thanks to hearing from people like that.

With all that self-indulgent stuff said, I am here in the comments as usual, and wanna treat this as an AMA. It’s been awhile.

David.

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To clarify, an earlier version of this story said:

“The story said the podcast network had been sold to Wondery for about $80 million.”

This was an oversight — it should have read:

“The story said Armchair Expert had been sold to Wondery for about $80 million.”

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PS: If you have friends who like the show, you can share this update: webworm.co/p/flightlessbirdupdate

PPS: Bruno says hi:

Bruno, a good, soft, gentle loaf I had the pleasure of dog-sitting this week. Yes, his nails are painted blue.