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When both his popular culture podcast and long-term relationship come to an end, journalist Brendan finds he has the time — and freedom — to pursue his dream: a travel podcast where he goes places and learns about them by getting invited to a stranger’s house for dinner. A friend joins him at each destination and they drink, dance, and eat their way from Montréal to Mexico City, often learning as much about themselves as the place they’re visiting. Not Lost is both a delightful travel escape and an insightful look at people — locals and visitors alike — trying to make sense of a constantly changing world.

 

Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Not Lost

Brendan Francis Newnam was the host of a popular radio show, coasting through a happy adulthood when it all came crashing down. And so, like many before him, he decided to hit the road, but not on his own. In Not Lost, Brendan and a friend travel to a new place every week, meeting the locals in hopes of understanding their homes. And angling for an invitation to dinner. As they veer from Montréal to Mexico City, from New Orleans to Bozeman, they discover it's possible to find yourself in places you've never been.
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Not Lost

Brendan and his friend Danielle Henderson seek out the je ne sais quoi of the Québécois. Along the way, they learn about the Quiet Revolution, French-Canadian celebrity mags, and local pastries known as “nun’s farts.” Brendan, determined to make his new travel podcast as creative as possible, seeks help from Leonard Cohen’s ghost, while Danielle hides from Montreal’s sub-zero temperatures in a Nordic Spa, where she discovers a masseuse who puts the therapist in massage therapy.
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Montréal: Voyage Voyage

Brendan, a self-avowed “Great Indoorsman,” approaches Montana’s outdoor recreation opportunities with trepidation. Meanwhile, his friend Danielle Henderson, who once lived in Alaska, rediscovers a part of herself she left behind when she moved to Los Angeles. 
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bozeman: Big Medicine

Brendan has never been to Portland, Maine, but that hasn’t stopped him wanting to live there. This episode he and Danielle Henderson head to Vacationland to see if it can live up to its nickname. Fueled by lobster rolls and salt air, the two visit lighthouses, bookshops and the world’s only known museum of the umbrella cover. And to really get a sense of what it means to be a Mainer, they visit the Vatican for preppies: the headquarters of LL Bean. After conversations with poets, politicians, baristas and business owners in Portland, Brendan is left with one outstanding question: Is Maine too strange? 
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Portland: Pizza Party

Brendan and Danielle Henderson head to the Big Easy and discover that it’s anything but. Carousel bars, gospel choirs, voodoo readings, and a visit to a slavery memorial plunge the duo into conversations about race, art, god, and the good life. They mingle with local luminaries like jazz-great Kermit Ruffins, voodoo priestess Madame Cinnamon Black, and a chef who dreams about gumbo. 
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Orleans: Anybody’s Gumbo

With Not Lost’s executive producers breathing down his neck for an actual dinner party, Brendan and Danielle Henderson head to CDMX to see if mi casa is really su casa. From dance lessons to shamanistic rituals, they strive to understand this vast metropolis… while also finagling an invitación fiesta. Will the masked wrestlers of Lucha Libre bodyslam our duo into understanding the coolest city in North America? Or will Montezuma’s notorious vengeance take them out instead?
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mexico City: Mi Casa, Mi Casa

Against the backdrop of Valentine’s Day weekend, Brendan and his friend Luke Burbank explore the Hoover Dam, Vegas’s Chinatown, and the night sky. (Is that a UFO?) Brendan’s plan to avoid sin in Sin City goes well, but after a visit with a priest and a dreamy encounter with the man who created the slogan “What Happens in Vegas Stays In Vegas,” all bets are off!
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Las Vegas: Mother Cabrini

Two years have passed since Covid brought production of Not Lost to a screeching halt. In that time, Brendan has turned norm-core: he gets a steady job, a live-in partner, a car, and becomes a viewer of prestige cable dramas. But the show must go on, so he and his friend, audio producer John DeLore, head to a place Brendan considers the opposite of the Big Apple — Big Sur, California. A couple days of redwoods and Pacific air give rise to fresh questions: How is traveling different when you have someone waiting for you back at home? And what if you discover your soulmate is an elephant seal named “1885”? 
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Sur: In the Soup

It’s the Saturday before the final episode of Not Lost is due and Brendan still doesn’t know where he is going. Will he escape New York and find the right destination?
 
Not Lost will return in the fall. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you. Send audio postcards to notlost@pushkin.fm.
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios and iHeartMedia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Final Destination: Season 1 Finale

After wrapping up Season 1 of Not Lost, and a few odds & ends at home, Brendan heads to Portugal and experiences an emotion he can’t quite explain... so he asks locals to help him out.
 
“Postcards” are an occasional series of shorter Not Lost episodes that Brendan produces when he travels.
 
 
 
Not Lost is a co-production of Pushkin Industries, Topic Studios, and iHeartMedia

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Final Destination: Season 1 Finale

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