When both his popular culture podcast and long-term relationship come to an end, journalist Brendan Francis Newnam 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. iHeart Media is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.
Brendan receives a postcard from the only registered US historical landmark outside America and then talks with the great essayist, novelist and occasional world-class complainer, Geoff Dyer about travels to…
Brendan receives a postcard from the only registered US historical landmark outside America and then talks with the great essayist, novelist and occasional world-class complainer, Geoff Dyer about travels to…
Brendan speaks with Kristin Newman, author of “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir,” about falling in love in a different language, plus she provides travel tips…
Brendan visits Japan on a trip that puts the “junk” in junket. Then he speaks with Marius Kociejowski, author of The Serpent Coiled in Naples, an immersive plunge into the…
Brendan talks with Jessica Nabongo, the author of “The Catch Me if You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World” about the mysterious community of “country counters”…
New York Magazine described “Not Lost” as having the “slight energy of Andrew Sean Greer’s Less” so Brendan calls the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the comic, road trip novels “Less”…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
Brendan, a self-avowed “Great Indoorsman,” approaches Montana’s outdoor recreation opportunities with trepidation. Meanwhile, his friend Danielle, who once lived in Alaska, rediscovers a part of herself she left behind when…
Brendan and his friend Danielle 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…
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…
Brendan Francis Newnam created and co-hosted the nationally syndicated radio show and podcast The Dinner Party Download for ten years where he interviewed some of the biggest stars and thinkers of our…
