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Flightless Bird

Wisconsin: Supper Clubs

12 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

4.992 - 8.157 David Farrier

And... Hi Hayden, my beautiful Snorlax. How are you?

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8.177 - 22.157 Hayden Donnell

Oh, that's good. Thank you. Thank you. You took my notes about personalizing it. Did you like it? You did. Yeah, I did because I do feel like Snorlax a lot of the time. Just a big boy who wants to lie down and sleep.

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23.015 - 33.947 David Farrier

Today's episode is about supper clubs. And I'm wondering when I say the two words, supper clubs, what comes to mind? What do you think, Hayden Donnell?

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34.408 - 55.715 Hayden Donnell

Oh, that is, it's been a long time since you've completely stumped me with one, honestly. I thought that all aspects of America would travel to me. But for some reason, not a supper club. For some reason, I think it might be like Toastmasters or something, where people stand up and give speeches. Or supper. What do you do at supper?

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55.875 - 70.774 Hayden Donnell

You have a little nightcap, maybe a little amaro, and talk to another gentleman in a top hat. What do you do at supper club? Well... Are you going to tell me? Do I have to listen to this stupid podcast to find out?

Chapter 2: What are supper clubs and why are they significant in Wisconsin?

70.895 - 92.143 David Farrier

Yeah. Here's a transition. Here's your answer. Starting now. I'm David Farrier in New Zealand, accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Now, for a while, we've gotten emails to flightlessbirdchat at gmail.com wanting me to go to a supper club, which like Hayden, I had never heard of until the email started flowing in.

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92.604 - 113.383 David Farrier

Part of the issue is that where Rob and I live in LA, supper clubs aren't really a thing. Am I wrong on that, Rob? I'm not really sure what we're doing. What the hell are we doing? But then I ended up in Wisconsin at a giant cheese competition, and it seemed criminal not to poke my nose into the world of the Subba Club, which primarily exists in upper Midwestern states like Iowa.

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113.363 - 134.373 David Farrier

Michigan, which I always want to say is Michigan, apparently it's Michigan, and Wisconsin. They have their origin in the prohibition in the 20s and the 30s when alcohol was deemed very naughty. People looking for other ways to entertain themselves without getting arrested. By the 50s and 60s, supper clubs were basically a thing that everyone knew about, a place to hunker down and hang out.

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134.773 - 143.185 David Farrier

And today in the Midwest, it seems like they're as big as ever. Begging the question still, what the fuck is a supper club? So...

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143.165 - 165.696 Jazz

Make like Hayden and put on your top hat, because this is the Supper Club episode.

167.701 - 190.524 David Farrier

Okay, so this episode about supper clubs is part of our infamous Wisconsin series. Yeah, we started a month ago. We started a month ago. So it started with an episode on cheese and cheese heads. I went to a giant cheese competition. I saw giant wheels of cheese. I ate cheese. Incredibly cheesy. Hayden, if you recall, talked about his love of night cheese, as did you.

190.544 - 215.663 David Farrier

We all love night cheese before bed. Then informally, the series got much longer. then it's intended two parts because we were dealing with Everly Wahongi, who is a New Zealander. A Wisconsinite now. A Wisconsinite. Her family is in Wisconsin. She is in a nice attention facility. So that sort of informally stretched out the two-part Wisconsin series into a four-parter. Did you get my pun there?

216.144 - 219.189 David Farrier

I saw you looking happy and I didn't know why.

219.229 - 226.473 Unknown

Do it again. Oh, the Wisconsinite. Wisconsinite? A Wisconsinite. She's a welder.

Chapter 3: How did the history of prohibition influence supper clubs?

378.266 - 383.113 David Farrier

And all the swimming pools are connected to each other via underground tunnels. Is it kind of like that?

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383.093 - 407.16 Unknown

uh not my family my family uh has timeshares you know about timeshares we have that in new zealand but i feel like i'm not familiar with it because i feel like it's a it is more of an american thing expand yeah you like buy into you buy a timeshare and that gives you time that you can share in different locations around the country that they have i'm completely confused now

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407.14 - 431.359 Unknown

it's like a it's like a step up from a hotel it's usually a little bigger but yeah not not as nice of amenities uh-huh and it's very uh like airbnb sort of but i thought wait i thought a timeshare is when you and i together yeah would buy a property and we'd share what time we could spend there

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431.339 - 456.047 Unknown

it's kind of that but okay at a much grander scheme in a like more of a resorty area but the resort is just shitty condos so you've sometimes you'll have hundreds of people going on a timeshare you pay a little bit and you get to spend some time i think the people you're sharing with don't really come into play because it's just a bigger scheme okay

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456.027 - 477.428 Unknown

and notoriously when you go and stay at a timeshare you have to like sit through these meetings where they try to sell you them because you can give it you can let like friends go and stay like we would go and use my parents timeshare yeah and then we my dad would be like well you get like 300 bucks or voucher for meals if you go can you go to this meeting

478.606 - 489.406 Unknown

And it's just a sales guy that tries to sell you more time for two hours of like, well, your parents got it. You guys should buy into this timeshare. This is a whole other world. I didn't realize this.

489.667 - 497.762 David Farrier

Yeah. Um, have you ever considered going in on a time? Absolutely not. You get to what holiday and sort of a shitty kind of a, well,

497.742 - 521.653 Unknown

So that's the other thing. They have like... It's one brand. I think Wyndham is the one my parents have. So you have to look at where the Wyndham locations are. Usually not in every metropolitan area that you want to go visit. It's like... Oh, we want to go to LA. I guess we'll stay in Indio. Because that's where the timeshare is closest to LA.

521.673 - 523.355 David Farrier

You're way out somewhere in the desert.

Chapter 4: What can you expect when dining at a supper club?

2580.62 - 2600.75 David Farrier

So I reached out to an immigration attorney about this and I said, We've got our minister of foreign affairs saying Eveleigh didn't declare when she entered America. And I said, how could she declare? And so this is what the immigration attorney told me. There isn't a way or a requirement for her to have declared her drug conviction.

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2600.83 - 2614.807 David Farrier

And to be honest, she would have been detained anyway, even if she did march up to the CBP officer and declare it, which doesn't make any kind of sense. No idea when she last renewed her green card, but green cards generally are valid for 10 years at a time.

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2615.067 - 2633.46 David Farrier

However, when you fill out an I-90 form, which is the form to replace or renew a green card, if you take a look at it, there's nowhere on the form that you have to disclose arrests, convictions, charges, or anything. Everly should hopefully be released on bond by the next time we hear about her case. So there is no form when you're applying for your green card.

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2633.48 - 2655.105 David Farrier

There is no form when you arrive in the United States when you're on a green card. She went on to say, in regards to Bond, that's currently being denied in 95% of cases. I have a few clients in Adelanto right now as well. They're just doing everything possible to make people just decide to go back to their home country instead of being detained indefinitely.

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2655.586 - 2678.333 David Farrier

But for many people who are detained, this is their home and they're not criminals. That's just the messaging they want Americans to believe to be able to sleep at night about these detention centers. So in summary, Winston Peters and the New Zealand government, you are no words. Okay. Feedback. There was a lot of distress about a comment you made in an episode last week. Yep.

2678.313 - 2697.874 David Farrier

about how we were thinking of ending Flightless Bird, and then we got a Webby Award, and we decided to soldier on. That was a joke. It was a deadpan joke. So I would just like to say, as a listener of Flightless Bird, you just experience what I experience often, which is Rob makes a joke you don't understand is a joke.

2697.894 - 2716.44 David Farrier

You're very confused, and then when you raise it with Rob, he'll laugh and say it was a joke. So you just experience what I experience. We were not sick of the show. It might happen one day. It certainly hasn't happened yet. It's lovely to win a Webby, but we were going to continue.

2716.761 - 2727.059 Unknown

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we've got a packed schedule coming up and lots of stuff in the works and things planned. So yes, we were planning to continue to make this show for as long as we can.

2727.6 - 2730.004 David Farrier

So I just wanted to allay any fears.

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