Guisepe Verdi said, you can keep the universe, just give me Italy and if you’ve ever been, you know instantly what he means. Italy seems to have it all. The madness and romance of Rome. The pristine, perfectly colour coded class and style of Milan. The rugged and rich and endlessly tasty islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Cliché wise, Italy is a glaringly obvious choice for one of our MisInfoNation episodes. The whole world thinks it knows exactly what Italy is like. But those clichés can’t all be ...
Nov 17, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Portugal’s Douro Valley is one of the toughest places on the planet to grow wine. Steep, terraced hills, treacherous river rapids, and blistering hot summers are a sharp contrast to the rolling hills of Spain’s Rioja or the Cypress-lined country roads of Tuscany. And yet, the Douro is actually the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. And even though a vine plague in the 1800s nearly wiped out every vineyard in the region, the Douro survived. That’s because the people here are famed for th...
Nov 10, 2020•45 min•Season 1Ep. 30
The 2020 US presidential election is probably the most important in a century. Everything is at stake: from the health of the world’s most powerful nation to the very nature of truth in the modern world. It’s been a frantic race, with many despairing at the divisiveness of modern US politics. But elections don’t always have to be doom and gloom. This week on Passport we take a look at two elections from around the world which tell us a lot about each country and prove the true power of democracy...
Nov 03, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 29
45 years later, the effect of The Shining on pop culture is undeniable. From writers, to musicians to filmmakers, comedy, and every facet of the artistic world. It’s been praised, parodied, sequeled and more. So in this, the concluding episode of our two-part Halloween stay at the Overlook Hotel, we look at just how far it has gone. The frontmen of Muder By Death and Devotchka tell us about their surprising musical connection to the novel and the hotel. Historian of hauntings, Rebbeca Pittman, r...
Oct 29, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 28
In 2006, Passport host Neil Innes found himself outside the house of Stephen King in Bangor Maine. He didn’t get to meet King that day… but it didn’t change how he felt about his work. A lifelong fan of King and Kubrick, The Shining has always held a special place in his heart. And so this Halloween, Passpor t traces the legacy of a single nightmare - one that still echoes 45 years later - all the way back to the place it all began: The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Stephen and Tabitha ...
Oct 27, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 27
On this episode of Passport, we go to Oaxaca, the heart of Mexico, to find out what the Day of the Dead really is. It’s history, it’s present and it’s future. We’ll sit at the dinner table with spirits. We’ll dive into folklore, fables and rituals to see how this celebration has lasted so many life times, through so much hardship, and repression. We’ll hear the stories of the people closest to the festival and discover the power of storytelling, and reinvention of stories in Mexico, that have ke...
Oct 20, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Vienna is a city of Old World baroque charm, cafés, and waltzes. It consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the world. It’s the city of Mozart, Freud, Klimt, and Strauss. Except this story is less Blue Danube, more Orange Sunshine. This week, Andrés and guest producer Aisha Prigann plunge into a 1970s acid flashback and return with a tale of mind-expansion, revolutionary politics, and the dangers of meeting your idols. It’s the story of a group of accidental filmmakers getting ca...
Oct 13, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 25
On the southernmost tip of Texas, where the US and Mexican borders meet the sea, sits the tiny town of Boca Chica. Surrounded by nothing but wild open scrub land, eight miles of virgin beach and a rich array of wildlife, the twenty-something residents of Boca Chica live in peace and disconnection. Away from the noise of the modern World. It was that peace and disconnection that Maria Pointer, AKA Boca Chica Maria, and husband Ray sought when they made their plans to settle down and retire in Boc...
Oct 06, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Super Skyscrapers, Lamborghini police cars, streets where it rains 24/7 in the middle of desert… Welcome to Dubai, the UAE’s most populous city and one of the richest and most absurdly ostentatious places in the world. Those stories of diamond encrusted Hummers? They’re all true. It’s the epitome of luxury. And nowhere is this more true than in the city’s islands. Well, artificial islands to be exact. Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, loves them, and in the mid 2000s he built his most ambitious to...
Sep 29, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Peru has everything. Dense jungles, imposing mountains, and a long coastline. A rich history that combines breathtaking Incan archeological sites with the original seats of colonial power on the southern continent. But people also treasure Peru for something else: UFOs. To those in the know, Peru is the Mecca for unidentified flying objects. Peru’s capital, Lima, even has its very own X Files-style UFO investigations office -- an official department in the Peruvian air force. Recently the Pentag...
Sep 22, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 22
On this episode of Passport , we go to the fog of London, and walk the fine line between the glamorous lifestyle of James Bond and the realities of spies sitting on the complicated grey streets of England’s capital. We see this fictional world through the eyes of writers and films, from Bond to Villanelle, a stylish femme fetal character from the new series, “Killing Eve.” We dive into what could possibly have inspired these characters, and the city they all have in common. Our touch of reality ...
Sep 15, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Amsterdam is a city of canals and coffeeshops: of charm and sin. Nowhere is this better encapsulated than in its art scene. The Dutch capital is a hub of both contemporary and classic art - from incredible graffiti to world leading institutions like the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh still holds a lot of sway in the city - he’s the Netherlands’ most famous artistic son, after all. But his work is also under threat from art thieves. In the twentieth century, Amsterdam has been home to two of the world...
Sep 08, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 20
The Bay Area around San Francisco is home to beautiful beaches, gorgeous wineries and the people who are creating the future. Because if you head south from San Fran, you’ll find Silicon Valley, the center of global technology. The place today is filled with artificial intelligence, billionaire tech-bros and people trying to become immortal. Silicon Valley might be the wealthiest town in America, but behind the Teslas and the venture capital is an origin story defined by people who bucked all th...
Sep 01, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 19
This week on MisInfoNation we talk to Ekaterina Markelova about a mystery wrapped inside a riddle inside an enigma - Mother Russia! A smart, funny, double PhD with a rather disarming smile, Ekaterina, takes on some of the craziest questions about her home country! Western views of Russian culture are dominated by drinking, the cold and election hacking right now… But that can’t really be all there is, can it? So this week on Passport we wanted to see just how much of the deep deep Russian stereo...
Aug 25, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 18
The Passport team is off this week, making more shows. But we’ve got a special bonus episode: a fantastic show called The Alarmist. Have you ever wondered who’s to blame for history's greatest tragedies? The Plague. The sinking of The Titanic. The break-up of the Beatles. If you answered yes, then Writer/Comedian Rebecca Delgado-Smith is here for you. Each week she and a special guest (or guests), scrutinize history’s greatest disasters to figure out what went wrong, and most importantly, who’s ...
Aug 18, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 17
| USING ART TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE | In part two of our journey to Jerusalem, we cross the Green Line and talk to some remarkable people. An artist whose family roots in the city go back over 1000 years, but who still doesn’t qualify for a passport. An Amenian Jerusalemite, one of the city’s smallest minorities, whose work has crossed boundaries. And two Israeli entrepreneurs who found a novel way to create a safe space, free of soldiers. Plus, we hear the true story behind the Casino de Paris...
Aug 11, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 16
| How to have fun in Jerusalem | Sha’anan Streett might be Israel’s biggest hip-hop star and he also might own the most important bar in Jerusalem. In a tiny courtyard in the Mahane Yehuda market sits the Casino Du Paris, a little oasis in the bustle of one of the world's craziest markets. What you might not realise, sitting there with a cold one, is that this bar started a movement. In an era filled with conflict, this little bar helped the nightlife of the market explode into a bustling and re...
Aug 04, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 15
This week on MisInfoNation we talk to Sohail Jannessari about what could be the most misunderstood country on the planet. Iran. A political scientist with a cutting sense of humour, Sohail takes on some of the most divisive questions about Iran and Iranians. Today we turn the view of Iran that’s been shaped by Western media upside-down. From the food, to the etiquette, the oppression of women, how to guarantee you’ll get into a fight, who pays the bill and the weight of being from a nation with ...
Jul 28, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Welcome to Taiwan, nicknamed Formosa - or beautiful island. For hundreds of years influences from all over the world have created a fascinatingly rich culture and an equally rich cuisine. The food of Taiwan, and its capital Taipei, is some of the most delicious on planet earth. Recently, a food craze that took root in Taipei has spread across the globe: the plant based diet. Vegan food has a long history in the region, but a particularly interesting story in Taiwan. And as we began to explore th...
Jul 21, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 13
| A Freeform Engagement In the City of Lights and Love | "I’m going to Paris with my boyfriend and I want to ask him to marry me, how should I do it?" Asked by a listener named Monica to find the perfect plan for a proposal in Paris, Neil and Andrés face off in a race to produce an answer. Jazz and wine, architecture and getting lost, chocolate, cabaret and croissants. Neil and Andres scour the city, with the help of some locals, to plan the perfect itinerary and the perfect moment to pop the qu...
Jul 14, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 12
No matter what we do, we simply can’t fit all the great stuff we find into the show. But we don’t want anyone to miss out! So we pulled together some of the greatest material that never made it into our episodes. The “best of” deleted scenes. First, Duke Haney takes us back to the Manson murders in LA to deliver a couple of theories about what Charles Manson did after the Sharon Tate and Cielo Drive murders, including leaving a very important pair of eyeglasses. Then, Maria Kreutzmann gives us h...
Jul 07, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The world’s biggest island, Greenland, is a harsh and unforgiving place. Think minus fifty temperatures, three-month long nights and deadly storms. To have any semblance of control over this chaotic world, the native Inuits developed a belief system of spirits, monsters and taboos; ways to make sense of the senseless violence inflicted upon them by mother nature. In modern Greenland these same spirits live on today, having survived colonisation, christianity and modernisation. But how? And perha...
Jun 30, 2020•49 min•Season 1Ep. 10
| NO PIZZO, NO PROBLEM | Palermo has the distinction of being the most conquered city in Europe. It’s been invaded, beaten up, and bashed about for two millennia. But all this foreign influence gave Sicily one great gift: truly spectacular food. Pastas, cannolis, pizza, biscotti, rice and fish and meat dishes, all layered with flavors brought from around the world. But Sicily’s modern enemy hasn’t inspired culinary greatness - maybe because this threat is entirely home-grown: La Cosa Nostra. The...
Jun 23, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 9
The Icelandic people are a rare breed. Literally. There are only 360,000 of them, but Passport is lucky to call Björg Valgeirsdóttir a friend of the show. It’s a good thing too, because Neil and Andrés have a lot of questions about the top hits, myths, and truths of one of the most unique places in the world. Polar Bears, volcanoes, igloos? What does the world get wrong about Iceland and more importantly what does it get right? On this MisInfoNation, Björg talks us through being mistaken for Bjö...
Jun 16, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 8
| HELSINKI: THE UPSIDEDOWN | The history of Finland is one filled with war and conflict. And yet, the Finnish people consistently rank as some of the happiest on earth. In this episode of Passport, we head to the capital to dig into the psyche of the happiest nation on earth. And to dig into something else too. Underneath Helsinki is the infrastructure for an entire city - below the surface. Parking, churches, swimming pools, soccer fields, go-kart tracks - all the comforts of above-ground livin...
Jun 09, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 7
| MisInfoNation: What the world gets wrong, and right, about Scotland | There are things we think we know about countries. But viral videos, tiktok and 24 hour news has made everything we understand about other places somewhat misinformed, twisted or just downright incorrect. Today on Passport we take this misinformation and turn it on its head, upside down, the wrong way round and inside out. That’s why we're calling it MisInfoNation . Think of this as a cultural mythbusters. So we’re heading t...
Jun 03, 2020•49 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard about K-pop by now. South Korea's homegrown popular music is huge. Like, really huge - BTS, the world’s most popular K-pop band, are basically the new Beatles. And it’s not just Korean music that’s blowing up - this year a Korean movie won the most exclusive award in film - Best Picture at the Oscars. All this popular pop culture is drawing fans and curious onlookers to Seoul - South Korea's hi-tech capital and Korean culture’s epicent...
May 26, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 5
With the whole world on lockdown and the entire team working hard to launch a new show - this show - we all began to look for stories which made us happy, during a scary time. Stories that helped us feel connected, while we were isolated under quarantine. What resulted was an episode filled with stories from around the world about the one thing that connects us all - love. This may not be what you’re expecting from a travel show, but every single story, no matter where it comes from, feels unive...
May 19, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 4
| JACKSON HOLE, CHINA - BORN IN THE PRC | Nestled between snow-capped mountains there is an American wild west town called Jackson Hole, where the 1% ski in the winter and talk tech in the summer. Gorgeous wooden architecture, decor studded with antlers and leather accents, live “cowboy” shows, even a potato club. But the Jackson Hole we’re talking about isn’t the American wild west... it’s actually in China. Just two hours north of Beijing. What Neil and Andres want to know is WHY??? We’re goin...
May 12, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 3
| CHARLES MANSON'S DREAM | This week Passport takes on a theory of the Charles Manson murders in Los Angeles with some help from a few amazing people, including Hollywood legend Guinevere Turner. How did Charlie forever change the music in the City of Angels? We discovered something that isn’t often discussed about why he was in LA in the first place: Charles Manson wanted to be a rock star. The roller coaster journey leads us to a pivotal question - is it possible a record deal could have diffu...
May 05, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 2
