Canada

0:00Oh my god, Hayden, you're calling me. I've tried you a couple of times now and you just ignored the call. I mean, I didn't hear it, but I was also in the toilet. Ha ha ha. Before we sort of get into things, I understand that New Zealand is having its annual bird of the year competition. Voting closes Sunday the 20th of September. Oh my dear. From what I understand, you're wrapping one bird quite heavily, and I think it is a flightless bird. I don't understand this. OK, I am now becoming associated with the carcapal. And this is only because I have credited to them on their best ever fuck season. And so now I'm being sucked down a carcapal wormhole. Basically, it's the world's fattest parrot. It has a really stupid convoluted breeding process, where it only breeds once every two to four years when a particular tree produces a massed season of berries, which are fleshy and red, and nourishing and they can be eaten by the rats, and then the carcapal can breed. Anyway, it's all like this and they, it's stupid.

1:00Our birds are stupid. They are not designed to live, or they're not designed to live with humans. That's for sure. Anyway, they did really well to see how they produced 90 new birds. Now there's 325 of them, which is still not very many. And I credited them with a person on the medical. Now I'm the carcapal guy, and I am endorsing them for bird of the year. This episode of Flightless Bird is about Canada. Do you have any thoughts on Canada, Hayden? Yeah, man. I love Canada. It's the New Zealand to America's Australia. It is. It is. I actually named an album, Newfoundland, because I quite like the name, Just Newfoundland. Of course, your former band, Great North, I'm a big fan, disbanded a number of years ago. Yeah, disbanded. That's right. And I love just like kind of massive wild wilderness, the sense of mystery of that kind of like space. Then the sort of, what is it, North East of the country?

2:02It's sort of like appealing to me. It feels like an ending made like Nova Scotia. What the hell is that about? I read any proxies shipping news, and there's this set on Newfoundland. And they just, and I love the idea of just like doing the shipping news and the local newspaper on an island in the middle of nowhere, where it's freezing. And I love Toronto. I went to Toronto. I loved it. I saw Bruce Springsteen and Hamilton on Tario. I've been to Montreal. I'm never been to Vancouver. I hear it's terrible and shit there. And I'd think that if you're from Vancouver, fuck you. I don't know what I'm doing. Well, you'll be glad to know that for most of this episode, I spinned. She's going to annoy a lot of Canadians. I spend most of my time in Vancouver. Oh, no. I was going to well, and then something overtook me. I'm David Ferrier, New Zealander accidentally marooned in America. And I want to figure out what makes this country tick. And as I record the center on the studio, I realize I wasn't in Vancouver. I was in Toronto, which shows how much I've learned about Canada

3:02in this episode, strapping. If you're a listener to our bonus picture on episodes, you'll know that recently, both me and Rob have been outside of the United States to a fabled place called Canada. Rob was there on a holiday. I was there to see my friend, Rosa Bell put on a dance show with that in mind. It seems appropriate to do an episode on Canada. A country is frankly quite sick of America by now. And fair enough. Trump's trade war and weird threats to take over Canada and rename late Ontario to Lake America. It's rattled Canada's nerves. They're sick of it. So mount your nearest Mounty and put some maple syrup on your pancakes because this is the Canada episode. Flag this. Flag this. Flag this bird. It's down in America. I'm flag this bird.

4:03It's down in America. So David, you were in Vancouver? No. I was in Toronto. And I realized, as I listened to that phone call with Hayden, that I know probably even less about Canada than I did going in. Because I thought I was in Vancouver and it just occurred to me that I was in Toronto. Which very different places. Very far apart too. I don't want to start this episode by like bagging Canada because I love Canada. Yeah. But I also realized that I don't know. I don't know anything about it. So Toronto is central. Yeah. It's kind of between New York and Chicago. Yes, I was there. Yes. I remember seeing New York from across Niagara Falls. Yes. And then even east of that, you got Montreal. Okay. They speak French there. Beautiful city. Free to the show Liz Planck. Yes. She is from Montreal. And then all the way on the west side.

5:05Okay. Just above Seattle is Vancouver. I feel like different from Toronto. When we were talking about Canada a while ago, I kind of mentioned in passing and I made it sound like Toronto and Vancouver were very close to each other and I listened to a road and quite annoyed at that. And I realized all the noise in them even more by now. Well, weirdly, I'm going to be in Vancouver next week. Oh my god. Can you show? Okay. You wrote me a small thing. I'll bring us back information about Vancouver's like because I don't know if I can go there. I'm spending more and more. I love Canada. You love it. We both love it. Yeah. I went there. It's the first. The only ferry family trip was to Canada when I was eight years old. We went to I think Vancouver and Toronto because I saw Niagara Falls in our eight and that is in Toronto. So we're learning. I have yet to go to Vancouver. So I am looking forward to see you. Actually, you can bring back some learnings from that part of Canada. Yes. Maybe.

6:05I don't know what I'm going to have time for, but it's very quick in and out. You can do some, you can research the food, you can eat. You can maybe have a little drink of a non-Ukholek local beer and maybe a local candy. Those would be the three things I would do there. I mean, two of those three are probably not for you. Not going to do. Oh my god. Well, I'll let you invent what you want to do. I want to explain my flusteredness a little bit before we get into the dark and Canada and everything over there and about Canada. On Saturday, I was at my local cafe in Griffith Park with Moby, right? Moby, he was there having his coffee on his little park bench that he loves to use. What's the actual ball dough? No, it wasn't there this particular day. But he is there often. Yeah. It is Moby's local. And I just want to go and rub his little ball head. Yeah. I was only out for my coffee. Pitbull, French Bulldog.

7:05We don't quite know what it is. Bolsaid past me and then this 10 year old kid runs after it. And he's like, did a dog go this way? Like, can you help? And I was several and there, you know, sort of that sort of 9am. That's sort of waking up in LA. They usually, I mean, that's an early start for most people in LA. I took chase. I grabbed this dog. And the kid said that him and his mum said that half an hour earlier, a banded pulled up a guy who looked, they described him as being a beard and pretty out of it. Whatever that meant. Through the dog out and drove off. So it'd been dumped. So you were supposed to say then the kid said, that was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do. Well, you said that as well as I grabbed the dog. Yeah, no. Everyone was being braved and everyone was cheering. This is exactly. It's already there. I mean, there is a lot of it on the news. Yeah. They were covering the local news. They were local local men. I mean, I am what can I say? I mean, here I, I grabbed the dog and cut a long story short.

8:08I now have what appears to be a large, large, no, he's large. No, no, he is. No, that's what I want to clear up. He looks like a French bulldog that I'd say sort of, they're smallish. This is more pit bull size, I would say. Yeah, he's big. Wow, yeah. All the photos are doing just very little. He's in my apartment. He's up for adoption. Put up a photo. He's a photo. If you're watching on YouTube or Spotify, here's a photo of this beautiful dog. I've called him Alan. He's the most mellow, well-behaved dog I've ever met. He loves children. He loves other dogs. He sat on my floor the first night, but that's just because he didn't know where he was. And if you want to adopt him, because he's doing my head in, he's a lot because he's so loving. And I just don't, I can't take all this dog in my life. Yeah, I mean, you tend to reject love.

9:09I find it, I don't reject love. I reject something clinging on to me 24-7, which is sometimes associated with love. Right, right. But this dog is so affectionate. He doesn't never not want to be touching me. Like as we record this, he's at home just whining his head off. Well, that's been me not the best thing in your sales pitch. I want to be honest. I don't want, I want to sell it, you know, you know what you're getting. Yeah. If you are in LA and you want a beautiful dog, flight this bird chat at gmail.com, only if you're serious. The number of people that are reaching out, inquiries only, serious only. How old is, we's one and a half years old, the vet said because his teeth are very white. There's no tighter buildup. Mm-hmm. You've been brushing them. Yeah, I'm brushing them every night. He's going to get neutered this week. What else about him? You're neutering him. The vet's neutering him. I'm not taking a care of it.

10:11So, a tree that would be terrifying. Yeah. Although my dad was a veterinarian, he could maybe talk me through it on the phone. Is that typically something that you're supposed to do if you find a dog is get it neutered? Is that help? Yeah, in the selling point. I don't know if I'm using the right term. He's a male dog. Yeah. And you generally, if they keep, if you keep their testicles from what I know, they tend to piss on everything. And they're also a bit more aggressive. So they're marked wherever they go. Right, I guess it does, did they recommend you do that because someone's more likely to adopt him if he's neutered? Or you would just... Generally like a dog safety thing. It's like, it means you won't breed and have more puppies everywhere. And it means you'll be less sort of, I guess, sort of manly and like pissy and stuff. Right, right, right. I'm just wondering why you're taking other responsibility of neutering him. Oh, so I mean, there's so much more story around this. So I got this dog,

11:12I got, called my friend who rescues Huskies. They came to the cafe and met me. And they said, we need to hook you up with animal rescue. So they took me down to a local pet store. There's a rescue called Los Feliz, animal rescue. And they basically checked to see if he's chipped. He wasn't chipped. So he's just a complete mystery dog. They posted all over the internet on next door and read it saying, have you lost this dog? In case he'd been stolen at some point, they chipped him. I signed up to foster him and they find him a home and I'm helping them. I didn't quite know how much it was to take on to foster a dog in a small apartment when you live on your own. And it's just sort of you trying to manage this creature. Yep. But you have a dog. I guess they are. They are. They are for loan, right? Yeah. I sort of have never had a dog in such a large dose. But he is lovely and chill. And like, I would say too loving.

12:12Like he's just attached to 24-7. Maybe some trauma from being dumped out of a van. I think so. It's owner. Yeah, it's pretty rough. Yeah. So you're doing all the van things and basically the whole idea of the animal shelter. And maybe this is a whole other episode. The animal rescue is just to get them healthy, vaccinated, ready to be in a home where they're not going to just go out and like, fuck things up. Got it. Yeah, yeah. I was wondering if that's just a standard practice or you feel very strongly that all male dogs should be neutered. No, you are doing it. No, I don't have a strong opinion. I'm basically just following the guidance of their recommendation just sort of being told what to do. Yeah. Because yeah, dogs are a whole new world. It's crazy. The weight on me is basically like giving it a home and making sure it's going to be happy and healthy. That's my role. How do you feel about dog etiquette interacting with someone's dog?

13:12If you noticed people that I've seen multiple versions of this, Mari, there's always dogs and lions and things like that. So many dogs. So I see the people that like come up to the dogs and just start petting it without saying anything. I see the people that ask. I see the dog that is jumping on someone and the other person does, and they do not want the dog to be jumping on them and the owner is not paying attention. No, absolutely not. Not on a leash or not paying attention to the other dog that's in the room that is getting aggressive because you're not holding it tight enough. No, there's so much etiquette. And all I'll say is I've learned in the last three days is from my perspective, if you're approaching another dog, you make eye contact with a person and you're like, you say, my dog's friendly. Is your dog okay? You have a conversation and then you let them sniff each other's butts if you're both happy. But the idea of a dog being off a leash or a dog owner letting a dog jump on someone and not noticing is like you shouldn't have a dog.

14:14How do you feel about a rogue person without a dog? Yeah. Coming up and petting Alan without asking you. Talking about me? No, no, no. I've learned this myself because I at times have forgotten to get permission and I have approached a dog. Yeah, you just start talking to the dog and they can know the owner. Ignore the owner. And you know, a dog can look friendly when you walk up to it, but then a dog can like, so not be friendly. And I've had a dog sort of yap at me. I've had an owner be visibly like, I'd be like, probably to protect me. Like, don't pet my dog. Yeah, don't touch my dog. You don't. So no, you don't. Is a stranger? Don't. I would say like never approach a dog. It's like deal with the human first. Well, it's like when you're driving a car and you're not sure who's going to go, like you can make eye contact with a driver and just kind of be like, hey, man. As opposed to in this situation, the metaphor would be you talk to the car instead of the human. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know what I mean? How like some people in cars, they pretend that there's no one in the car.

15:17But you can make eye contact with the driver and kind of be like, can I go here or give them a little wave? Like, there's like an unspoken kind of a look. Yeah. And I'm like sort of a communication relationship between two cars. I would liken it to between two dog owners. Slightly clunky metaphor, but I think you know what I mean. Yeah. There is some of that I witness often I won't say where, but does not have boundaries when I see a dog. So it's not someone I know well. Yeah. And we'll just go up to every single dog and like sit next to it and start playing with it without saying anything to the owner. Has it ever blown back in their face? Have they? I've noticed owners get annoyed. Yeah, for sure. And like, what is happening right now? Why is this person? interacting with my dog. I don't want. I don't want. Yeah, I don't want this to happen. Yeah. Has it ever sort of, has anyone given them a bit of a word?

16:17Like, maybe you shouldn't do this? No. No. They're very nice and dogs like them. Yeah. But no, always check with the owner. Very often. As it can go wrong. Yeah. My dogs go, I mean, that's a weird thing about when you're approaching other dogs. Like, you don't know whether they're going to, what they're going to do. Yeah. You don't know. Yeah. I had a friend. It's an awful story. And I sort of a bit terrible. But my friend was walking a foster dog in New York City. And it was like a big crazy kind of a breed. They didn't know what this dog's behavior was. They're walking past this tiny little dog. And this dog just grabbed the little dog and killed it on the street in New York. Yeah. And my friend who just was mortified. And that was a case of two owners. Someone like didn't communicate. Yeah. And that's like the worst possible outcome. I have a friend in Chicago that almost the exact same thing happened. They're a dog. Man. And I think it was the other dogs fault. But yeah. But it comes back on.

17:18Yeah. And I think they had to put their dog down as a result of it. So two dogs are gone. Yeah. You know, I couldn't think of anything. Many things more modifying. Yeah. So yeah, if you were an LA and you absolutely a series, you want this beautiful dog. There's photos of them all over my Instagram. It's in this episode. FlightlessBroadchat.gmail. Let's just give out your number. You want your phone number? No. It's okay. Let's go. Just the flightlessBroadchat.gmail.com. Am I in your phone? I don't know how to find your phone number. That seems like I'm not in there. I guess not. Interesting. Can I just talk about one other thing quickly as I avoid trying to talk about Canada because I know very little. Yeah. I was walking along today with Alan, the dog. Do you know what this is? Is that a for Joe? This is a for Joe. There is a Fijiwa tree about 50 meters from my house. It is coming into bloom with fruit. Wow. And by God. Smells so good. It's Canada. Canada. Canada. What do you know about Canada?

18:20Canada to me, I agree with what Hayden said earlier that I liken New Zealand to Canada. Whereas we are little and shy. New Zealand is overshadowed by Australia. It's huge. They're louder, they're more confident. And Canada has America. I will say Canada is fairly large and vast though too. If you're just talking. Yes, I'm talking more. I know. I'm talking more spiritually than landmess. Because Canada is, I think that. Canada is huge. Yeah. It's massive. I mean, it is an interesting time to be doing this episode because we were both in Toronto over the summer. Yeah. And things have started to get contentious between our leader and Canada. I didn't like seeing that. I know. It's a killer. I know. It's a killer. Our leader. It's embarrassing. Well, no, I mean, when I was in Toronto with Roosevelt, we drove to Niagara Falls. And Niagara Falls that goes out into Lake Ontario.

19:22And the week after I got back, Trump renamed it Lake America. Yeah. So renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America. Which Google maps and Apple maps, I think both followed through it. If you're in the States, it comes up as Lake America. The time also renaming New Mexico as well. It's, um, but did you see what South Park is doing? No, no, I've tuned out of that again. Um, they've renamed their show South America. It's really good. For the new season. They're always doing good. They're on point. I forget how quickly they animate that show to have it out. Yeah, it's coming out in like a week. It's crazy. Yeah, they were right. I bumped into through another friend. I bumped into one of the animators on South Park who's been doing it forever. And he said that he said to mention something I had sort of noticed before. And that's that the characters are obviously all crude cutouts, right?

20:24Yeah. And they're they're animating. But he said it's actually like. They still have rules. So they have a difficulty sometimes because they don't have arms. They just have like their hands attached to their bodies almost. And if a character has to get something off a high shelf, it's not as simple as just their arm reaching up and grabbing it. They've got to be honest to the character. So they have to like make sure there's a couch there that the character can jump on to get to the thing. Yeah. And he was just saying like it looks so crude. But it's actually a lot of specific South Park physics that go into it, which I found. Well, this is fitting because South Park also has a specific thing it does with Canadians on the show too. Or they're I think they're drawn in a certain style with their heads. And yeah, they look more simplistic than the already simple get-simple character sets that are going to show. I mean, growing up and I mentioned this in the dark, growing up like South Park was one of my first genuinely was one of the first times I'd really thought about what Canada was

21:25because that character I think Ike the kid was so specific. Yeah. And I was and I sort of my background was, oh, our Canadians a bit simple. Like is it sort of like a bit of a basic place? This is my 13 year old sort of perception. And now you are liking it to New Zealand. No, it's not. Because I've now learned the Canadians smart, intelligent, beautiful, chill, lovely people. Mallow much mallowed in your typical American, I would say. Yeah, yeah. And I think they they have a reputation of being very nice. So nice. That nice to the point of being almost annoying. Yeah. You'll be a bit say what you mean, which I would also say about Kiwis and myself as well. Say what you mean. Yeah. Canada, Canadians, they'll apologise in the sleep of things. They don't want to impose. Is that fair? I can't speak for Canada. I can.

22:25Yeah. And I will. Do you want to hear my cool documentary that I made? I would love to. So this is my, everything you will ever want to know about Canada is in this from New Zealand, Canada, who goes to Toronto for a couple of days. For a couple of days, such a short amount of time he forgets a month later and thinks you went to Vancouver. What better way to learn about what makes a Canadian tick than to go into the home of a Canadian flightless bird listener? That extended the invite. And I said yes. My name is Freddie Revis. Canada is home for me, born in Toronto and grew up in Toronto and a little bit of the suburbs and then came back to Toronto on the 18th. What does it mean to be a Canadian? What makes a Canadian a Canadian do you think? Okay, well that question because I feel like it's loaded. For me, being a Canadian is being apologetic and a little bit insecure.

23:26He could just as easily be talking about my own kind, New Zealanders. But I want to know what makes Canada, Canada. I mean, I think we're pretty closely associated with hockey. Hockey's a big Canadian thing. Winters for the most part. Other places get winter, but I think Canada is definitely we're on the podium of like you think winter, you think snow, you think Canada. What's your standout sort of animal wildlife situation? Do you have any specifically Canadian things wandering around? For sure. So if you're in Toronto, you definitely know we have raccoons. We have these sort of more iconic Canadian animals like beavers and moose. On our money we have the loon. Our dollar is called the loony. Those are like the big Canadian animals. Those are the animals, but what about the people? What do Canadians do? Well, Friddy is a comedian, but works in a very specific part of comedy. Clowning. How do you differentiate that from your typical standout or your other comedy?

24:27For me, it really boils down to like being present and your comedy coming through honesty and physical humor. I think clowns a lot of things. It's also a dismissive term. It's a horror trope. It's become so many different things. And when you say clown to someone, it's like they're auto populated with their own idea of it. But essentially in relation to comedy, I feel like there's some amount of physicality and expression of humor through physicality. The fact Friddy studied clowning reminded me that conno-story from horned up hockey show heated rivalry also went to clown school. Friddy's in good company. But what I'm really fascinated by is what Friddy ended up doing with his skills. If I tell someone that I'm a therapeutic clown, they might say like, wow, I didn't know that exists. Or they might say, oh, I've heard of that like patch atoms. And I'm like, you know what? Yes. Like it is such a crude comparison. But I'm like, that is, if you've seen patch atoms, it's obviously I'm not Robin Williams.

25:32I've never seen that movie. But I know that is sort of weird, right? Like you're like, pause there. Why haven't you watched that? For the record, it's fucking insane that he's never watched patch atoms. What is your typical day kind of consistent? Do you have a list of clients? Do you know who you're seeing? Do you cater your performance to who you're seeing? How does it work? Every day is a little bit different, but I feel like you sort of nailed it. So we come in, we have a list of consults or referrals. But like one thing that I love to do is I first meet a kid there's that novelty. We're starting the social relationship that starts from a different place than the heavy majority of interactions are having in the hospital. I am very much like an adult, but I'm also like not. I'm sort of this magical thing. I have a costume, I have a red nose. He says a big part of his job is letting the kids be in charge of what they want. He doesn't just take over. So much in a hospital is out of a kid's control. This is one area where they can call the shots.

26:33Now Canada has a number of clown programs in various hospitals, and their entire academic papers about the power of clowning in hospital settings. In the life enhancing clown towards a model of therapeutic clowning, Donna Colour writes about clown historian John Talzen, who suggests that the clown's ability to evoke feelings of superiority in the spectator plays a hidden role in all clowning. The clown is the embodiment of hope and the face of hopelessness, and possibility in the face of the impossible. Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Support for Flightless Bird comes from Cozy Earth. I'm very excited about this new sponsor for the show because they came on board just in time because I needed some new luxurious sheets because I just realized I was lying in my bed one night, and I don't like these sheets. I need good sheets. And if we know anything about you, you love a luxury hotel experience.

27:34I do. I want to live in luxury all the time. And they've transformed your bed and mine into a five-star resort. I'm so happy. You know that feeling, do you do this, or is it just a New Zealand thing? Where sometimes you get in bed, you can be in naked or just underwear, but your legs are out, and you just sort of rub your legs against each other, and then it gets the sheets, and it's like a full body. So good. That's what I'm doing in my Cozy Earth sheets. I mean, my favorite thing is getting into a bed that's cold. Oh, just feeling those cold sheets, which heart summer night, like we have right now in LA climbing in order to the covers. These Cozy Earth sheets are perfect. Yeah, they are breathable, and they naturally look away the moisture so you don't wake up feeling clammy. There's nowhere's feeling waking up, and the alarm goes off when your dog Ellen starts barking, and you're all sweating a bit gross. That's not going to happen in Cozy Earth sheets. You also get a 100-night sleep trial. You can try them for yourself. Returns are really, really easy if you don't like them for some reason. But you will trust me. Once you feel them, you won't want to let them go.

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29:37I think a big goal for me is to start a therapeutic relationship. So I find out what makes this kid tick or what is giving them comfort or companionship. And then the idea is to sort of as much as possible, be the ideal playmate and scale up. And also we're a part of the care team. So I know to a certain extent what they're going through. So that's an opportunity for me to say like, okay, you know, they just got out of surgery. This is going to be really, really gentle time for them. Or maybe they're rehabs going good and they're recovering. And like I'll work with a physio or with an OT or another profession to help. As well as lifting kids spirits, clowns are also a way to get the younger kids doing stuff. After surgery, it might be difficult and painful to get them walking again. But a clown can turn it into a game and make it fun. Walking down a corridor is dead boring. But what if that corridor is part of a ghost to it? Then suddenly it's fun.

30:38This isn't to say that the job isn't incredibly difficult and challenging. You know, no one wants to see a kid in pain. It's like the one thing that's just horrific. And you're around a lot of that. It's not like these happy kids who are you know, like cute at the end of a movie. You know, when they're all healed, you're seeing kids at their lowest in pain. How is that for you? Because that's, I don't want to be in a room with a kid who's in pain. It's horrible. Yeah, it can be horrible. It can be absolutely devastating. There's times when I've been so overwhelmed, especially with my background. You're very unfamiliar to the hospital, culture, hospital scenarios. So yeah, it's really delicate. And one thing I observed a lot from other professionals, it's actually an honor. It's a privilege to be there for some of this really difficult stuff and to bear witness to it. So I think as far as like breaking down or being like really upset, there's a little bit of like I'm at work and I'm watching nurses do really hard stuff. I'm watching their family. And I'm watching them do really hard stuff. I feel like there's this strength you get from like, wow, you're going through this. And this is your attitude,

31:39whether they're sad or in pain, or maybe you would assume that they're in a bad mood. They're going through really, really hard stuff. And they're not. They're laughing. They're curious. They have questions. They're very much still kids. Some of the stuff that has hit me the hardest is I put my adult lens on what is going on with a family and caretakers and kids. And I'm almost shocked by how resilient they are. Now apart from the fact Friddy has never seen Patch Adams, I have to say I quite like him. And I'm not the only one that likes him because Friddy is married. The therapeutic clown married a drama therapist. She's often found working with kids after they've experienced the medical system, helping them on the other side with their psychotherapy skills. And Caitlin, I am an American who has come to Canada. That's right. Shakara Friddy's wife is an American. I was born in Atlanta and then I was raised all over the place.

32:42Dad was a civil engineer. So we would move to where airports were being built or lots of different contracts. So living outside Baltimore, and then I had a lot of my childhood was in South Carolina. And growing up, what were your thoughts on Canada in your mind? Zero thoughts. It was almost like it was just a completely different place that never entered your consciousness. What's the John Candy movie? Canadian Bacon? Yes. I watched that in high school with some friends. And we were like, Canada. And South Park. That was also my knowledge of Canada. Ready, I kick the baby! Don't kick the goddamn baby! Ike was the Ike, the kid from Canada. That is the area that animated a bit more badly than the others. Exactly. So I didn't really have a thought about it. A lot of people would come here to drink before. They would graduate high school. The drinking age is different. It's different. Yeah, so in the states it's 21. And then here in Montreal in Quebec it's 18.

33:43And then the rest of Canada is 19. People, Americans, come here to party. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did grad school in Montreal and Crescent Street. It's all the high schoolers from upstate New York in Vermont that flood the bars. And then from grad school and the bars to clown school in Northern Ontario, we're one clown in particular caught her eye. I met this man. I met Freddie at clown school. And then what was your first impression of this man at clown school? German, but the entrance into the room? I do. At the time he had long hair. And he wore his socks on the outside of his pants. So I'm sure. Like at the ankle. And I remember thinking like, what is his deal? Like I was so intrigued. What was your deal? It was sensory. I never hemmed my pants. No, I'm going to be tucked. You want to be tucked. I want to be like sort of a tucked and fitted. And then I understood that it looked a little bit weird. And I just didn't really care.

34:45That was cool. You know what I mean? That was really cool. Caitlin thought it was pretty cool too. And they began to fall in love. Surprise to find out the Canadian and the American actually had a lot in common. I was actually struck by comment we had in common, which was really interesting to me. We would sit in the trunk of this car on drives to the lake. And we would be listening to our iPods. You know, like our iPod shuffles back in the day. And we were like, all listening to the same music. And I was like, wow, like you like good indie music too. Canadians aren't these different beings. They're similar. Just like you. They're just like us. Because we're at the center of the world. It's so embarrassing to admit that. But that was my arc, which is, wow, they're just like me. And then their sense of humor and camaraderie and their love and appreciation of nature and wilderness. It was 2008. And I was going into my last year of university. I lived in Charleston, South Carolina. And I had a house full of girls.

35:47It was five of us living in the house together. And I came home and I told them that I found myself a mountain. And they couldn't believe it. And my parents were terrified. They were like, you flew to a remote island and met a man at clown school in Canada. And you're going to date him. She dated him. And then she moved in with him. Then she married him. Culture shock her on every turn. Canada didn't have Netflix when I moved here. And I was American and I was like, what? You don't have Netflix. Negotiating contracts for cell phones was really tricky. Because there's a cell phone monopoly in Canada. There's only Rogers and Bell. And I found myself a lot louder. I remember feeling very self-conscious. You see, you felt your American loudness coming through for the first time. Oh yeah, it was the first time that I was like, oh, I'm obnoxious.

36:48Canada also had its hidden delights. Things should never thought about before. I had never seen an electric kettle. And I lived with Freddy and his mom when I first moved here. They had an electric kettle. They fucking good. They're amazing. I can see one sitting in your kitchen from where we're sitting. The Convert. Do you have an American passport and a Canadian passport? Yeah, I have both. And do you get an American passport? I certainly do not. It was at this point that something quite unusual happened. They offered me a drink. But not just any drink. A glass of milk. And suddenly an urban method heard about Canadians and their milk all came flooding back to me. People are you telling me about the milk you have here? You get milk in bags. Yeah, you want to see it? If you got it, you can wait. Take me to your fridge. I haven't actually witnessed this yet. Right now you've got a little plastic jug that you're born and sitting inside that jug is a blue plastic bag of milk. Yeah. So this plastic vessel is specific for the milk.

37:50I think so. Like, things could go bad if you didn't have this plastic container. When you buy the milk, is it in a bag on the shelf? Check this out. It's three bags in a bigger bag. And it's like laying down. It doesn't stand upright. It's got to be laying down on top of each other. And they're falling onto each other. And it's a bunch of loose bags in a bigger bag. So to clarify, people in parts of Canada buy their milk in bags, which is three bags in another bag. And when you take the three bags out of the big bag, you have a separate plastic jug that one of the bags goes in. Because they can't just have a bag of milk flopping around in the fridge. I think it leads to your insecurity as Canadians. It makes no sense. I feel like we have like an abundance of milk or like a shortage of carton material. It's like it out that balance. One of those things. Caitlin points out that allegedly, bags of milk are not found everywhere in Canada. Specifically, Ontario, I feel like.

38:50Not all parts of Canada have this. I was good in a coffee and a guy was having had like the bagged milk he's about to make my latte. And he looked at me and he was like, sorry, I'm not going to pouring these. I'm not used to them because they're not practical. Because you pour in the bag flops and then the milk goes everywhere. In the kitchen, she shows me how it's poured. And what I can tell it's all about the size and precision of the cut. Some people like two holes. So the pressure balances out as it pours. My mom growing up, she would have a magnet with a little exacto knifey things for the milk specifically. Sitting down at the call glass of milk, I think about how these two comedy nerds have ended up working in the Canadian health care system. Working with kids to make their lives better. And while they tell me their health care system is far from perfect, they take it over the American health care system any day of the week. We live longer and it's cheaper so it's kind of just a better system. I had so much health care, so much good health care here.

39:52So it came to the baby and it was free. I had a midwife that was covered by health care. And I had a year and a half of maternity leave. And I'm in private practice. I run my own business. I'm not getting health care from my job. And I could pay into a government program that gives me parental leave. Which was such a privilege and not lost on me. And there's a final detail in what she just said that I don't want to breeze over. She and Freddie have had a baby. An American and a Canadian have created some kind of hybrid. A hybrid that's apparently thriving. You have a baby now that is half American, half Canadian. Are you going to sort of raise some more Canadian more American? Do you have any sort of thoughts on that? That's a great question because her folks moved to a place called Lewiston, New York. Which if you're in Toronto, there's physically not a closer place in the United States. It's interesting because we're always like, oh, you'll be half American.

40:54But really, I'm like, what will he get from that? I don't know how he'll understand that or see it. Or what differences there will be between him and my side of the family. Yeah, we're trying to make sure like every time he says sorry, like if he says it again, we'll just be like, okay, just say sorry once. And then the second time take something. Be loud and then say I'm sorry. Be really loud and I'm not just going to be like, sorry, sorry. A. The day I visit Caitlin's American parents are babysitting. So I can't meet this US Canadian love child in person. And as I say goodbye, I tell them that they should use this child-free evening wisely. That they should watch patch Adams. And late that night, I get a voicemail, a review of patch Adams. The Freddie Revis therapeutic clown review on patch Adams. Just off the top, I have to say that it's deeply sad and beautiful to watch a

41:57movie with Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoppen both in it. And you see a movie like this and it's got it all. It's beautiful. It's annoying at times. He's just taking absurd swings and fabricating bits out of absolute thin air. And oh, how did it go? It's absolutely cold and it's incredible. He was just a remarkable talent. It's so awesome that he played this character. Really so much of what he does in this movie is just preposterous and unsafe. Think about my own work. We do a lot of gentle play. And the way he just busts in a room with an absolute disregard for like whether things could blow up and go terribly wrong is fun to watch, honestly. I think clowns, when they're doing the best in a hospital setting or like I guess in general, are a good reflection of humanity and you see that in this movie. I'll also add that the love story arc does not age well because he's straight up harassing

43:03this one for the majority of the movie. And back to the origins of therapeutic hunting in North America and the real patch out of who's alive. So trying to build his hospital. A really big takeaway for me is the balance of using clown to transform the hospital experience and really be something unique and different and almost reject this idea of what healthcare is and defy it. And then also there's this idea of trying to integrate, which I think I'm more on an integrate side. But the uniqueness and the novelty of clown does occupy both of those spaces. So yeah, shout out to Patch Adams. Shout out to Therapeutic Clowning. This is wonderful. Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the business platform that helps sellers become

44:07neighborhood favorites. If you've been into a store in the last month, you'll probably come across a lot of square stuff and they're making incredibly easy to both buy things and to sell things. I'm such a huge fan of Square on our Flightless Bird tours. We use Square to sell our merch and makes everything so so easy. Yeah, I mean every morning, every time I'm at Maru, I'm using Square Mix, it's very easy. I've got my phone. I just tap it and pay for my marcher that way. Same thing in my local. I'm just tapping it. It's wonderful. Yeah, Square Brings, payments, POS, inventory, staffing, and on-lensails together in one system. So business owners don't have to juggle a bunch of different tools. They're hardware and software is designed to be easy to use so they, they operations feel simpler. And Square works whether you're just setting out or growing from one location to many. You can sell online and store or you can do both and customize your setup as your business evolves and changes. And Square now offers three clear plans, free plus and premium so you can pick the tools you need and grow into more when you're ready. They offer

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46:18And I think it's important because we were talking to a, I got very sidetracked by the fact that he was a comedian and a clown which I loved. His name is Freddie. Freddie got fingered. You mentioned that to me as we were listening back to that dog. Very important. Great. Great film. Tom shapes you. Great as a human. I just, it was big in my, at that time in my life. It was just Freddie got fingered with such a defining role from Tom Green. Nathan Fielder. Canadian as well. Yeah, I mean during your dark I was mostly just writing down things that were Canadian. Yeah, great. Other things. Yeah, to the half listening. What have you come up with? What have we got? Some TV shows. There's a lot of, I think there's a lot of good Canadian TV. The ones that jump out, Letter Kenny, trailer park boys. Have you seen trailer park boys? I've seen trailer park boys and I like it very much. And Crave TV is very Canadian. Don't know what that is. It's brought us heated rivalry.

47:20I see. It's a network. Right. Of Canadian television. We're listening. Lots of good bands from Canada. You got, you got Wolf Parade. We had a big resurgence during heated rivalry. They scored some of that show. There's a song, a song apparently when there's some kissing happening or a lot of kissing. I see him happening. It's one of the two. There's something that I pretend like you haven't watched it. I know. You know. Did you watch with your mum? No, Natalie. Natalie did. Okay. Started watching with the mum. Our kid fire. What was that big? My six is on fire. Is that them? No, that's King's Alliance. Oh, that's King's. It's a bleed together into the same place. It may be Teagan and Sarah. We love him. The stills. And of course, Sanjean. They don't know Sanjean. And Jean? And Jean. Yes, you do. Who's Angine? Crazy Math Rock band that I went and saw. We did a whole Patreon episode on there. I just still don't know how to pronounce Sanjean at all.

48:22Yeah, but that's saying the end of the name because I still get very anxious. Yes. Thinking of how to say it. That's right. We got there as long as we both know what we're talking about. We're fine. Yeah. Any other Canadian bands? That's exhaustive list. Chennai-a-twein? Yes. Chennai-a-twein. We listened to a few Canadian songs as we were driving to Niagara Falls. And Chennai-a-twein was a big hero on that playlist. And yeah, of course, Canadians brought us hockey. You love hockey. I love hockey. Sometimes when we've been on road trips for a while, you're saddened yapping on about hockey. And you are very excited about it. Very. And one day I might go to a game and witness it. I do like that although America has these professional sports that Canada also has teams. They're the only other country that has teams within our sports organizations. You've got the NHL, which has a bunch of Canadian teams.

49:27Interesting. You've got Major League Baseball, has teams. Basketball, the Raptors. That's one bit of a tribute that I know just because it's got a dinosaur attached to it. So it's always stuck in my mind. Calvin, that's Calvin's favorite basketball team and he does not like basketball. Yeah, just because of me and Calvin. We've got the same outlook. What is Dodgy Ground? Because we've got a lot of Canadians listening around, but we also have a lot of Americans listening. How do Canadian sports teams generally fear versus American sport teams? Like, do they compete? Yeah, I don't think there's any real difference. That I've noticed. Canadians, Holy Jays have been good recently. Obviously the Canadian teams for hockey have been very good. Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadians. We love the Maple Leaf.

50:28I wish the Montreal Expos were still a team. That was a baseball team. The Expos? Yeah, the Montreal Expos had just, they went away. What does the Expos even mean? Not quite sure. The Expos? Yeah, that's very funny. They just, they, they, they cease to exist. Yeah, I mean, that happens when sports were teams will get sold, move to another city and they'll change the team name and bring them back. Sure, sometimes. I mean, um, yeah, Montreal Expos seem, yeah, make a comeback. What was their logo? Do you remember? It was an M. Yeah, I mean, it was very iconic. M. Montreal Expos. Oh, I like that logo. Yeah, it was, it was, they were a cool team. We'll see what happens. Yeah, bring it back just for that. Just for that. Doesn't matter who's on the team, just bring back that logo. Okay, so yeah, the Montreal Expos, they were the first major league baseball team located outside of the US. M. From 1969 to 2004. It's a good one. And they relocated and became the Washington Nationals.

51:34Got such a generic name. They went from first Canadian team to then the most patriotic American team. So, where do you want to know like some members on those teams feel about these massive changes? You know, yeah, I have to be on a certain team. Then suddenly you're just like wearing different clothes. I don't think I don't think there's much. They're getting their, they're getting paid so much that I don't think they really care. It is a little bit, I think it's somewhat rare that you end up on like your childhood hometown team and what it happens. A lot of people come behind it, but even yeah, but it's not even within like for the Chicago Blackhawks, the iconic players, Jonathan Taze and Patrick Kane, like Jonathan Taze is from Canada, Patrick Kane from Buffalo. It's not really good to share. No, yeah, but they've made their name on a Chicago hockey team. While you've been yapping about sports, which is an important part of Canadian culture,

52:38yes, yes. I'll be doing some research into why some Canadians buy their milk and bags. Yeah, that's what I have not heard about bagged milk before. It's fucking crazy. Before the New Zealanders start emailing in by the way, plightlessbredcheta.gmail.com, I found out that some parts of New Zealand in the past also had bagged milk, but it was before my day and I think it was possibly down more in the South Island and I was an North Island boy. Sure. Okay, so why bags? That she put to produce and transport, which translates into lower prices for consumers. Blah, blah, blah. So also convenient. The bags are simple to store in their refrigerator. I don't really buy that. How is it bad? It's completely bad. All kinds of bags flopping around in the fridge as opposed to a carton or a bottle. Yeah, especially half-gallon that just fits in the door. Okay, but if a website I got this from is absolutely bad shit, another reason they're easier to pour and handle. You know, they're not. Absolutely not. You don't

53:42want to cut a cutting a bag and pouring it? No. Okay, that's some bullshit. History of milk, packaging in Canada. In the early 20th century, milk was delivered to Canadian households and glass bottles by milkmen. We had the same thing in New Zealand. Yeah, we had milkmen here. They'd reuse the bottles, but they're expensive to transport and store. In the 1960s, officials in Canada recognized that glass bottles were causing considerable waste and they began looking for alternatives around the same time to ponte introduce a new type of strong, lightweight, and flexible plastic. It was perfect for guess what? Milk packaging. Many Canadian diaries began using it to package their milk. I do like that universally. There was this problem of glass not being the most efficient, yes, for the production of milk and that different countries just developed completely different solutions of doing it and have continued those solutions on. Yeah, it says some states like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa have seen a recent surge in the popularity of

54:47bagged milk. If you can confirm this, flightlessprocreditimo.com please. So, South Africa is another country where bad milk, bagged milk is widely available. It sold them bags of various sizes ranging from one liter to three liter bags. I feel like the potential for puncture and waste is high, higher than a carton. Yeah, or a box to the supermarket and bought a big bag of milk and threw it in the back of the car. Yeah. I would be worried that that was going to break and leak and leak and one thing you don't want is milk in the car. No, and it was bags within a bigger bag. It's in, yeah, it was through a cardboard. No, there's zero cardboard. Canadians, they don't deal with cardboard. There's no cardboard. They don't have the Amazon boxes that turn off and bags as well. It's fucking crazy. One time is actually when I was in one trip to America a long time ago, my friend Eddie borrowed my

55:51car and sent it on the store. Yeah, and he left a bottle of milk in the back of the car. It exploded and my car never got the stink out. Yeah. And that for me as a father of Canadian, I would be deeply worried about the bag because I think surely there must be a puncture. Yeah. I mean, or they have very durable bags that these are going in, but then that makes it hard to cut open and for that easy pour. I mean, with Freddie and Caitlin, we did a trial pour while those in their kitchen. It's really hickdick pouring out dairy from a plastic bag. And it does it have like the plastic, because boxed wine is a thing where it's in a bag. I love a boxed wine. For you to hit like that. But it's in a cardboard. No, it's got a vessel vessel. So I don't know if you can, but then it has a plastic like nipple that your a nozzle plastic nozzle. It's got to what? Plastic nozzle that you're pouring it out of. Yes. No, it's a structure. Not just a bag

56:52that you're cutting the corner on like you're piping icing. So I don't know if you caught this in the dock, but what they also have. So you buy the bags, but then they also manufacture specifically for these milk bags, a plastic jug. So you put your bag in this jug that is specifically being made to support the plastic bag. So it's like a glass container. Plastic. I know, but it's similar to the classic. It's no, it's just like a little, it's just like a little open top thing you shove the bag in. It's reusable or every time they buy it, they'll throw it out. No, so you get for a household, you get one of these plastic jugs. And that's what you pop your bag to milk in. So it has a sort of a structure to it. But when you pour it, it's still pretty crazy because that plastic is moving around and milk's going everywhere. That's why Canadian stink because they're covered in old dairy. Well, this, this was supposed to be an ode to Canada. We love it. I don't know why you love it.

57:53Getting inside a great time now. Yeah, favorite meal in Toronto. I got mine. Oh my god. You sent me in Roosevelt to an amazing restaurant. What was it called? Katzal. The chef there, he came out. I felt so cool in front of Roosevelt. Thanks to you, we got a reservation. Yeah. We go in there. Roosevelt's all dressed up. She's looking amazing. I'm just sleeping around like I always do, which I think as a guy you get to do and you sort of get away with it, which is a bit shitty, but anyway, the chef there was so nice. He came out and he made me feel like very cool because he was talking to me and as he was talking to me, I could feel other people in the restaurant, including Roosevelt looking up going, why is this guy thinking of what's why he's talking to that man. It was so good, Rob. Thank you. That is, I think the best meal I've had this year was there.

58:55One in Toronto. Katzal's the spot. Right. No, it was also the layout of the restaurant was beautiful. A discovery that we found on our neighborhood was a cafe called Dad's and they just made amazing breakfast sandwiches and the best coffee and their staff were awesome. We made that out a little morning home to get supplies. So I'd say Dad's would be the second. Yes. Well, since I'm going to be in Vancouver, if anyone has recommendations for food in Vancouver, this will be out before I leave. Oh yeah, fly us bridgehead at gmail.com. A couple dinners. If you're writing in about Alan, my dog that you want to adopt, subject line dog. If it's for Rob and Vancouver, just type Vancouver. Vancouver. Food. Don't get the two confused. Well, I think it's fair to say that we have done a, it was sort of covered all of Canada. I think we're reflected all of that culture and landscape and the nature. Yeah, we named a few things. We named a few, I named some animals like raccoons and

1:00:02what's another one? A raccoons are native to only Canada? No, but there are a lot of them. And I will note that in Toronto, a fuck ton of raccoons everywhere. I've never seen a raccoon in the wild here in LA. Really? I saw so many of them in Toronto. Moose. What else do we learn? Milk comes in plastic bags. We learned that Canadians can marry Americans and they can have children. It's possible. We learned that Canadians have great clowning programs and hospitals to help sick kids. We learned that everyone just learned that we don't need those. Keep recap. No, I'm going to recap. I'm going to recap. I'm going to make sure people didn't drift off and realize how many things we learned. Because I think somebody would remember what they learned. We learned that there is a cell phone monopoly in Canada between two main carriers. So you can't negotiate cheaper cell phone bills there. Learned on the Montreal Expos? Yes. We learned another team with the big M logo.

1:01:06That's still the most well-known. That's what they moved to? No, that's their logo. That's them. David didn't quite learn. And we learned that to run to prevent cover at different places. I knew learn that. I was at the end of the year of cheering the documentary. And I think that sums it up. Should we do some feedback? We shouldn't be afraid of AI with your summary ability. I think we should at all. Who needs that? When you've got a little listicle at the end of your episode. Is it driving you mad how much this guy that left the AI company? Is everywhere? I feel like we should discuss this more on a Patreon app to that. But yeah, you go and I'll weigh in. Once I get rambling about this, I'm never gonna stop. Can you summarize what it is? Yeah. Someone left anthropic or one of those companies recently. And I don't even know how high up he was there.

1:02:07You know what he was? He was a AI researcher. Which instantly, like look at AI researcher, fuck off. We just research and you're making a research. What does that mean? Yes. Let's find out what this AI is. And he's claiming that AI is going to kill us all in the next decade. Yeah. No, that's that's it. I am all four people starting to get skeptical of AI and agree and putting guardrails on them. And if this is what does it great. But the fact that this guy is being paraded around like he is yeah, some sort of genius. Yeah. That it drives me wild. It popped up on everything from shit you should care about, which is an amazing channel for sort of breakdown news for another generation to Al Jazeera. Yeah. This guy is everywhere. And essentially it's an ex-employee who was an AI researcher. He looks like sort of an LA hips to tight with the cat. He looks like I'm trying to cap me see here.

1:03:11And he takes to X and does a series of tweets alleging that we're close to super intelligence. We're about to hit the singularity. And it's just sort of two things like why are we believing this particular person as you said, why are we creating him around? And also LLM is like we're not super intelligence. We're not there. It's like insane fear mongering. And it's also other things like AI, I am scared of it too. And there's so many things that we need to be concerned about, whether it's data centers, water, many things. These idiots that are running things are just making a shit ton of money and hyping everything up. It's like how these different AI companies, we talked about this already, how they're all saying we're being hacked. This is awful. It's like everyone's just trying to shout about this shit and hype it up to a level that's just so frustrating. Well, I mean, I think it's doing a disservice to actually

1:04:11putting it some sort of pages guard rails up about it because I think we're on the same page where we are pretty anti about it. And this guy is seemingly as well, and saying something that we probably don't disagree about AI, not great. Yeah. But just the amount of coverage and fear mongering and focus on this one guy who takes to X. X. He's tweeting. Yeah. And I think it generally doesn't disservice to the real dangers of it. If this is the person representing it and being the whistleblower on it, it blew my mind how widely it spread and how unverified all the claims were. It was just suddenly presented as fact. But also, I guess good that now some people are thinking about it and talking about it and a little concerned. I can't argue with that.

1:05:16Totally. I just wish it was someone smart smarter coming out to talk about it, which I also don't know anything about him. Maybe he is. Maybe he is. We just give him the benefit of the doubt. But I agree the response was unhinge and insane and freaked a lot of people out on a way I don't think they needed to be feedback. Elaine said I wanted to reach out and let you know how much I enjoy the podcast. I listened to every episode and only occasionally I'm able to watch the episode in YouTube. I have to say I really enjoy seeing the various props and toys move around just studio from episode to episode. I especially get a kick out of looking at the Jurassic Park Action figures and seeing what shenanigans they're getting in season two. I'd like to say Elaine Rob is often responsible for their so-called shenanigans. Thank you for noticing. Carefully placed. Yes, thank you for noticing. Often and quite I would argue, lured positions. Yeah, I think that's the point. There's a lot of crazy names coming up for people that rode in and I look, I've got the most generic name we both do. Generic names available.

1:06:22Rob and David, how boring. This gentleman is called Walter. So it's like, routable with the W-O-U-T-E-R. Walter, I'm not knocking it. I've just never heard it before. I went to college at Penn State and we had a really bad drunk pizza joint called Canyon that had dollar slices of pizza. This is in regards to our ranch episode. At the end of the counter, when you get your pizza, there was a giant one gallon bucket of ranch with a ladle. You could add as much ranch as you wanted with the comfort of wondering how long the bucket has been out there, whether any flies have landed in there or if anyone had tainted it. The big joke during COVID was that if you ate from the communal ranch bucket at Canyon Pizza, you didn't really have the right to worry about what was in the vaccine. I really enjoyed the email from Walter. Raven writes in, what a fucking cool name. I'd killed to be called Raven instead of David. As you've always raven, Faria. Can you explain your laughing? Could you Raven? I don't think I can make you.

1:07:25I don't think you as Raven, I could take seriously. Raven, I can take seriously, but you as Raven, I can not. I would dye my hair, Chip Black. I paint my nails black. You would be like the character from the crow. Raven says, I wanted to tell you that in high school, I found out in the worst way possible that I'm allergic to ranch dressing. It sounds abhorrent, but I don't like ranch dressing anyway. I found out by my friends who worked at a DQ, a dairy queen. I'm so glad you had to translate these things that I said at the clock. They made me a milkshake and it had ranch dressing. That was a big gag. Sugar-big chug. A few minutes later, my gums started to swell. Such a horrific concept, the gums swelling. I didn't think gums could swell. She went to the and she ever since has never been able to have ranch, I'm sorry. But those friends felt bad,

1:08:26their prank resulted in a horrific her gums swelling up. Yeah, it's not what you expect when you prank someone with a nasty ranch shake. Chandra writes in, I live in Portland, O-R, Oregon. But I grew up in Eastern Oregon and ranch is alive and well over here. I work at a dye bar and ranch is the number one request when it comes to a dipping sauce. We did get a lot of people commenting their favorite ranch. Ranch. So many ranch. Winged style, I think, was on there often. There was so many local spots as well. It was good to see the passion of ranch out there. And people very passionate about dipping crispy fries and mayonnaise. Yes. Which I can get behind that. Trevor writes in, spout, T-R-E-B-A. I've never heard Trevor spout that way. Trevor, I have to weigh in on the ranch debate. I'm from Michigan. I've lived here my whole life.

1:09:29I can confidently say that all bottled and pre-packaged ranch dressings are trash. The real deal is the ranch made using the packets, specifically the Hidden Valley Restaurant style dressing packet. In a pinch, the standard packet will do, but the restaurant style is superior. You have to mix it with buttermilk and mayo. The mayo can be an olive oil blend or anything. The standard plain mayo is best. All the best restaurants are making their own ranch. Says Trevor. Thank you Trevor. Charlotte wrote in from the UK. Your ranch is not that common here in the UK. In restaurants, takeaways or soup markets. But I read about it during the world cup. And so she has tried ranch in the UK at a place called Petri Express, which apparently has good ranch. Chase. What an American name. Chase. If I wasn't called Raven, I'd want to be called Chase. There's a chase on the white sacks. Is he cool? He's from Southern California and... Is he like a blonde, cool buff with tan California? He sounds great. I like the sound of...

1:10:35Chase, my driver. I mean, I do really like him, but he looks like he would be named Chase. I respect that. Chase says, I just listened to your ranch stressing episode. Am I still saying it but weird? You're getting better. Ranch? I just listened to your ranch stressing episode and I had to write in full disclosure. I hate ranch. Genuinely can't stand the stuff, but I'm not hitty-yuck anyone's yum. If it's your thing, dip away. No judgment from me. Live your truth. But I do have to draw a line. Dipping pizza in a ranch. As a New Yorker, I have questions. Mainly is because the pizza itself isn't very good. A good regular slice should never come into contact with salad dressing, especially ranch. I like the passion in that New Yorker's feedback. If you have feedback, flatlisbrachadetgmail.com. Rob wants restaurant recommendations in Vancouver. I want you to adopt my dog, Alan. Yep. Flatlisbrachadetgmail.com. Don't bullshit us. Great emails

1:11:40only. And for our bonus Patreon episodes every week. Everyweek patreon.com slash flightless bird. We are going to be planning that a little little north of the ring. We're going to be very soon. Figuring out this tattoo. This is all 2026 plans. Yeah, over on Patreon. We basically made so we said we had some goals. Certain levelers, subscribers were doing different things. At the moment, over on Patreon, we're getting a lot of people there submitting the tattoo that Rob and I will get. We will choose from designs inspired from there. There's lots going on over at Patreon. So come over there. Play at the spread chat at gmail.com. So email and we'll see you on Patreon. We'll see you next week. When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lula Lemons fall

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