Not Lost Chat: Paradise City (Pico Iyer & Reggie Watts)
No piña coladas were consumed during travel writer Pico Iyer’s quest for paradise. Instead he found himself communing with guides and locals in thorny parts of the globe: Iran, Kashmir,…
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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.
Most Recent Episode
Not Lost Chat: Paradise City (Pico Iyer & Reggie Watts)
No piña coladas were consumed during travel writer Pico Iyer’s quest for paradise. Instead he found himself communing with guides and locals in thorny parts of the globe: Iran, Kashmir,…
Not Lost Chat: Wild Sugar (Cheryl Strayed)
Brendan finds the perfect Not Lost Chat guest in author Cheryl Strayed, who not only wrote the bestselling travel memoir “Wild,” but is also a renowned advice columnist. First, they…
Not Lost Chat: Traveler Not Tourist (Geoff Dyer & Colman Domingo)
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…
Not Lost Chat: How Do You Say “Love”? (Kristin Newman & Paul Feig)
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…
Not Lost Chat: Further Than They Appear (Marius Kociejowski & Jessi Klein)
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…
Not Lost Chat: Where Am I? (Jessica Nabongo & Tegan and Sara)
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”…
Not Lost Chat: Road Work (Andrew Sean Greer & Jay Pharoah)
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”…
Postcard from Portugal
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…
The Final Destination: Season 1 Finale
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…
Big Sur: In the Soup
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,…
Las Vegas: Mother Cabrini
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…
Mexico City: Mi Casa, Mi Casa
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.…
New Orleans: Anybody’s Gumbo
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…
Portland: Pizza Party
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…
Bozeman: Big Medicine
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…
Montréal: Voyage Voyage
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…
Introducing: 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…
The Host
Brendan Francis Newnam
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…
