Live Wire with Luke Burbank – Episode Summary
Aubrey Gordon, Jean Grae, and Rogê
Aired: August 29, 2025

Episode Overview

In this lively late-night-for-radio episode of Live Wire, host Luke Burbank guides us through a multi-segment show featuring conversations with acclaimed writer and podcaster Aubrey Gordon (Maintenance Phase), multi-talented artist and memoirist Jean Grae, and a musical performance by Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian singer Rogê (Hoshe). The episode centers on busting myths in health and wellness, reclaiming authenticity in life and death, and connecting with culture through music.

Key Segments & Discussion Highlights

1. “Best News We Heard All Week”

[03:20–08:25]

Hosts: Luke Burbank, Elena Passarello, Jean Grae

• Grace Chambers, the 97-year-old park runner ([03:50])

  • Celebrated for completing her 250th 5K parkrun in Belfast, starting at age 88 post-surgery. Her resilience (“You got me this new valve. I guess I gotta go test it out.”) and the dedication of a bench in her honor were highlighted.

• The Dad Letter Project ([06:14])

  • Rosie Pollock revived her father Buzz’s hobby of letter-writing, spawning a viral letter-writing campaign where Buzz and other volunteers pen heartfelt, personalized notes to strangers (“He claims that he never gets tired of writing, but if he's sort of getting burnt out...he will get up the next day and pick the letter up where he left off because he's not phoning...he's really giving these things his best shot.” – [08:25], Luke Burbank).

2. Aubrey Gordon: Debunking Wellness Myths

[09:45–27:28]

Guest: Aubrey Gordon

Podcast Origins and Mission ([10:29–14:30])

• Maintenance Phase is about “debunking junk science claims...in the name of weight loss, wellness writ large, and sometimes public health.” ([10:29], Aubrey Gordon)
• The show’s origin story included a pandemic-formed partnership between Gordon and journalist Michael Hobbs, both holding "low tolerance for nonsense" as their prime qualification. ([11:26])
• The necessity of fact-checking in health and wellness media, which is often missing compared to political or breaking news.
  • “Health and wellness, along with historically women's media, is often a place where fact-checking takes a real backseat...most of our 'science' comes from advertising.” ([12:31], Aubrey Gordon)

The Deep Dives ([16:23–17:18])

• Gordon describes immersive research for episodes: “This will have been a month on full-time research on Bulletproof Coffee...I wouldn't have thought that there was four weeks worth of research to do.”

GLP-1 Drugs & Wellness Fads ([17:18–22:25])

• On drugs like Ozempic/sema-glutide:
  • “The biggest issue is...there is infinitely more demand than supply for the actual molecule that is Ozempic. Novo Nordisk owns that molecule...So lots of places are saying that they're selling compounded semaglutide. Baby. We don't know what that is, but it's not Semaglutide.” ([18:37], Aubrey Gordon)
  • Critique of media and pharmaceutical hype, lack of access for diabetic patients, and dubious compounded substitutes.
  • Raises body image and fatphobia issues: “We don't actually care how much people weigh. We care about watching fat people suffer.” ([20:56], Aubrey Gordon)
  • Notes shifting goalposts around “acceptable” weight loss and societal schadenfreude around fat bodies.

Blue Zones Debunked ([23:03–25:58])

• Gordon on “Blue Zones”:
  • "The idea was to map out all the places...where people were living past 100 years," but some zones were debunked, with instances of pension fraud.
  • “...a lot of these places had relatively low life expectancies and were pretty poor areas...it just is a really tricky thing where you can go, sure, we can look at centenarians...or we can look at the massive body of research that we have on how to increase life expectancies overall.” ([24:38], Aubrey Gordon)

Gordon’s Personal “North Star” ([25:58–27:19])

• “Focus on the joy of taking care of yourself…” and avoid health misinformation by “paying for every ad-free option—because that's where just an overwhelming volume of garbage is...Ad-free YouTube, baby. It's the way to go.” ([26:53], Aubrey Gordon)

3. Audience Participation: “How Would You Like to Be Celebrated After Your Death?”

[28:50–31:04]

Notable responses:

• “I want to be Weekend at Bernie’s to a Mariners game...prop me up, put some sunglasses on me, and let's see if we can fool the Jumbotron.” ([29:02], Jean Grae/Listener Brian)
• "All my loved ones have to adopt a pet from the animal shelter and name it after me." ([29:48], Jean Grae/Listener Danielle)
• “I want everyone to take a book off of my bookshelf and read it and hopefully keep it...” ([30:37], Jean Grae/Listener Anne)

4. Jean Grae: “In My Remaining Years”

[32:25–43:58]

Guest: Jean Grae

• From her unpredictable childhood as a musician's daughter in the Chelsea Hotel (“It's your home no matter what it is...it gives you an understanding of how to deal with darkness real quick, that it doesn't have to be ever consuming, and that death is kind of a part...an inevitable part of life.” [36:02])
• Journey to hip-hop: originally focusing on production; rapping came after competitive encouragement—“My friend was like, you can definitely do it better than that. ...It was kind of a middle finger to all of that.” ([37:14], Jean Grae)
• The art of audiobook narration: “I had to write the book so that I could narrate the book...the audiobook narrating it was one of my greatest joys.” ([39:07], Jean Grae)
• The “Church of the Infinite You”: a self-empowerment project encouraging people to "find their superhero self...I hope that you come...that you don't come back...we are all here to save ourselves first and that is how we build bigger community.” ([39:52], Jean Grae)
• On her funeral wishes (from the book’s finale):
  • “No beatboxing and no gum chewing” (the former to be policed by “sharpshooters”), because “gum chewing could be mistaken for the beatboxing...the funeral should really be about me and not things that other people have ever wanted for me.” ([41:47]–[43:09], Jean Grae)
  • Vulnerability around death is “how we get to the real living of the life.”

Memorable Quotes

• “You know what it looks like to eat well...focus on the joy of taking care of yourself.” ([26:14], Aubrey Gordon)
• “That funeral should really be about me...especially on what I think is my most special day. I have had two weddings. They were not my most special days. But my funeral should really be about me.” ([42:16], Jean Grae)

5. Rogê (Hoshe): Musical Performance

[46:39–51:19]

• Rogê discusses his passion for Bahia, Brazil, and introduces “Alienda do Abayetea,” a song about a mystical lake in Bahia, originally by Dorival Caymmi. ([46:42])
• Performance captures the mysticism and warmth of Bahian culture: “Abayete is a black lake with white sand around.”
• Energetic live set, highlighting his ongoing efforts to celebrate and modernize Brazilian cultural sounds.

Notable Moments

• Aubrey Gordon’s “Beanfluencer” Keychain ([23:12]): “I love beans. I have a keychain that says Beanfluencer on it.”
• The perils of media advertising as a primary source of health info ([12:31], Aubrey Gordon).
• Jean Grae’s irreverent approach to memoir, audio, and self-determined ritual.
• Livewire’s welcoming, freewheeling audience rapport—laughter, real talk, and community.

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 03:20 — Best News: Parkrun & Dad Letter Project
• 09:45 — Aubrey Gordon interview begins
• 17:18 — Deep dive on weight loss drugs
• 23:03 — Blue Zones myth-busting
• 25:58 — Gordon on living well amid misinformation
• 28:50 — Audience question: posthumous celebration
• 32:25 — Jean Grae interview begins
• 37:14 — Grae’s music & production journey
• 39:52 — Church of the Infinite You
• 41:47 — Funeral instructions & meaning
• 46:39 — Rogê introduces/plays “Alienda do Abayetea”

Tone & Takeaways

Live Wire’s tone is urbane, witty, and dryly compassionate—skewering diet culture and empty platitudes, while elevating joy, delight in music and beans, and the imperative to live truthfully. With sharp commentary and doses of absurd humor, the episode demystifies wellness fads, welcomes authentic self-celebration in life and death, and offers cultural connection through international music.

For Further Listening & Reading

• Aubrey Gordon's podcast: Maintenance Phase
• Jean Grae’s memoir: In My Remaining Years
• Rogê’s music: Album Curryman 2

Selected Quotes

• “We don’t actually care how much people weigh. We care about watching fat people suffer.” —Aubrey Gordon ([20:56])
• “My funeral should really be about me...and not things that other people have ever wanted for me.” —Jean Grae ([42:16])
• “Focus on the joy of taking care of yourself.” —Aubrey Gordon ([26:14])

(Ads, show credits, and sponsor messages have been omitted for clarity as requested.)