Webworm with David Farrier

Mar 27 2025 27 ep. 20 mins 270

Webworm with David Farrier Podcast artwork

Join journalist and documentary filmmaker David Farrier as he explores various rabbit holes, trying to make sense of the increasingly mad world around him.

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The Browns Bay Bird Poisoner

Mar 27 2025 6 mins

Something is killing the birds in a sleepy Auckland suburb. The locals are on a witch hunt. Alexandria Edwards was playing Pokemon Go in her car when she saw the sparrows. Dozens of them were strewn in various states of stupor on the grass nearby. Some had passed out. Others were struggling and failing to fly. Magpies were swooping at the ones who couldn’t get away. She got out t

A Palate Cleanser

Mar 17 2025 6 mins

Today's guest essay is from Kath: It’s a tough time for librarians at the moment. Here in Aotearoa we’ve just recently seen an Auckland library hosting a science performance (about the weather of all things) by a drag king stormed by black shirted thugs instructed by their leader to “shut it down”. The United States is currently facing the highest rate of attempted book ban

The Child Psychologist Who Loved Compliance

Mar 04 2025 14 mins

Today on Webworm I wanted you to share a conversation between two New Zealanders raised by parents who embraced Focus on the Family. Because Focus on the Family travelled far beyond America. It went global — and during the 80s and 90s in particular, millions of kids were raised in the ways of Dr James Dobson. Michael Frost and Shane Meyer-Holt are my friends, and run a podcast ca

I’ve Seen Enough: Donald Trump is the Antichrist

Feb 17 2025 6 mins

An essay from Hayden Donnell arguing that according to the Bible, Donald Trump is definitely the antichrist. Hayden urges us to engage in some heavy duty Hail Marys, because if recent events have taught us anything, it’s that being an irredeemable moron with a repellant personality and the countenance of a salamander wearing human skin is, if anything, an asset when it comes to i

My Unaired Interview with a Hero

Feb 11 2025 28 mins

I was still working for TV3 news and living in New Zealand, but had found myself in LA, working on the final stages of Tickled. I knew Cornell had an upcoming solo show back in New Zealand, so I’d reached out to the music label to see if could get an interview. He said yes. And on a Sunday morning in 2015, on a day off, Chris Cornell drove across town to my hotel and sat down for

Fake Seizure Guy Has Been Arrested

Feb 05 2025 30 mins

Webworm can report that a man has been charged with “sexual assault by compelling sexual touching” and “public nuisance” in Melbourne, Australia. The charges were laid on Monday. Webworm has been in touch with the latest victim, who outlined an M.O. that sounded all too familiar: A man fell down in front of him, appeared to be having spasms, then asked to be sat on and rest

American Carnage

Jan 11 2025 7 mins

A short film from documentary maker Giorgio Angelini. It’s about Luigi Mangione — but it’s also, really, about everything in America right now."I finished making this video essay a couple of days before the fires took over wide swaths of Los Angeles, where I live. And while it might not seem directly connected—the assassination of a healthcare CEO and wildfires ravaging LA

Painting of NZ PM Chris Luxon Deemed “Risky for Buyers”

Oct 01 2024 12 mins

My friend loaded about a year’s worth of our text history into Google’s AI (privacy, what privacy?) — and instructed the AI to create a podcast about me based on those texts. That’s what today’s podcast is — just a couple of AI people talking to each other about me, based on nothing but a text thread between me and my friend. It’s truly awful and I told Aaron as much.

A World Full of Potential Cult Leaders

Sep 23 2024 42 mins

A conversation with someone I find endlessly fascinating to talk to — one of my favourite authors, Jason Pargin. He’s perhaps most well known for writing John Dies At The End, or a host of other books that all have amazing titles including This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It, What the Hell Did I Just Read, and If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wro

I Went to a Creed Concert

Sep 04 2024 9 mins

When I was 14 I was obsessed with a band called Creed. I’d come home from school, and the first thing I’d do is go to my room, shut my door, get out my discman, and put on Creed’s 1997 album My Own Prison. Now, 27 years later I attend my first Creed show... where I find a lot of support for Donald Trump. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subsc