Live Wire with Luke Burbank

Episode: Lauren Fleshman, Joey Clift, and Who Is She? (Rebroadcast)
Date: August 22, 2025
Host: Luke Burbank
Announcer: Elena Passarello
Podcast by PRX

Overview

This Live Wire episode blends thoughtful conversation, sharp humor, and lively music, featuring three compelling segments:

1. Lauren Fleshman: Decorated runner and author discusses her memoir/manifesto "Good for a Girl," addressing the treatment of women in sports.
2. Joey Clift: Native American comedy writer talks about his Comedy Central series Gone Native, which tackles microaggressions and stereotypes.
3. Who Is She?: Seattle indie supergroup shares the song (and story) that got them "banned" from Seattle's Amazon-named arena after mentioning Jeff Bezos.

As always, host Luke Burbank is joined by announcer Elena Passarello and the house band, creating an energetic, radio-style variety show that’s heartfelt and entertaining.

Key Discussions & Insights

1. Good News of the Week (03:38–08:07)

• Elena’s Story: A fifth-grader named Liam in Virginia found a textbook error about rocks, corrected it, and was recognized by the publisher and superintendent.
  • "She was making some of the most amazing fact checker students on the planet." (04:54, Elena)
• Luke’s Story: Woman in California celebrates a quinceañera at 60 after missing hers at 15—complete with Disney princess costumes for her court.
  • “Don’t be embarrassed. People are going to talk, but it's okay to have a good time.” (08:06, Liviere Reynoso, via Luke)

2. Interview: Lauren Fleshman on “Good for a Girl”

[Main interview: 09:22–26:42]

Background & Early Experiences

• Lauren grew up loving running for the sense of “freedom, friendship, and being in [her] body.” (11:20)
• Early signs of talent, but later, a significant performance plateau, especially after puberty (10:12–12:09).

Key Issues in Women’s Sports

• Puberty and Performance: Explains how sports systems are built around "male body and male performance norms," which don’t account for women’s natural developmental plateau/dip during puberty (12:09–13:12).
  • "For female-bodied people, when we go through puberty and our bodies change, we have a different normal, and it involves a plateau and…a dip before we can start rising again." (12:09, Lauren Fleshman)
• Misguided Pressure: Coaches and parents often frame this as a mental or motivational issue, leading to disordered eating and mental health problems (13:12–14:25).
  • “We have this very mistakenly narrow view of what success can look like…which leads to a whole outbreak of eating disorders and mental health problems.” (13:32, Lauren Fleshman)

Body Image & Health

• Female athletes are pressured to be lighter, often at the expense of health, with a disrupted menstrual cycle severely impacting performance and recovery (16:40–17:40).
  • “Most coaches can’t even say the word period without a euphemism, much less know all the things that it does.” (16:40, Lauren Fleshman)
• Over half of NCAA female athletes feel they need to lose weight—on average, 13.5 pounds—while already being some of the fittest people in the country (20:07).

Proposed Changes

• More education and mandatory certifications for coaches of female-bodied athletes.
• Institutional intervention protocols for eating disorders, similar to concussion policies (17:54–19:43).

Memorable Quote

• “If people being healthier just meant we're just not going to run as fast because we don't want to die, would that be an okay outcome?... Honestly? Yes, absolutely. 100%.” (21:06, Lauren Fleshman)

Personal Reflections

• Pro running felt solitary; team environment was foundational (22:06).
• Writing a book was more lonely than running a 5K: "It's like a little bit of like an icicle in the eyeball for 15 straight minutes." (25:26)

Legacy & Next Generation

• Lauren hopes her advocacy will make sports safer for her daughter and the next generation of athletes (25:55–26:35).

3. Listener Responses: Records You’d Like to Break (28:15–30:39)

• Fastest TSA Traveler: “My dad... never stopped walking once you get out of your car, you walk through TSA, you walk through the thing, you walk through the line, and you walk onto the plane.” (28:46, Elena)
• Person Who Makes My Wife Laugh the Most: "That's a relationship that's going to do just fine." (29:19, Luke)
• Escape the ‘Pina Colada Song’ by Rupert Holmes: Comedic riff on its bizarre plot twist (30:03).

4. Interview: Joey Clift and Comedy as Cultural Intervention

[Main interview: 31:45–41:48]

Pro Wrestling Comedy Crossover

• Joey is training for a pro wrestling "revenge" match as part of a web series: “The Venn diagram of LA comedians to pro wrestlers—there’s a small amount of bleed over.” (33:01)
• Luke jokes: “You could be like Rick Flair for all they know.” (31:59)

Gone Native: Tackling Native Stereotypes

• Inspired by a DNA-test commenter on a Facebook thread about the Washington NFL team name: “I think the team name is fine so everybody lay off.” (34:07)
• Joey’s shorts address microaggressions, such as non-natives using terms like "spirit animal" (35:18).
  • Memorable Title: “Every time you say that something is your spirit animal, you have to give every Native American person you know $25.” (35:18)
• Stephen King calls out: “Instead of using Indian burial grounds in your books, have you thought about using European burial grounds?” (35:51)
• Clift addresses YouTube commenters who miss the joke: “I think that for Native folks… just the idea of Native people still existing… being put into their mindset… they’re just annoyed about and crabby about.” (37:10)

Outcome and Goals

• Clift is less focused on changing minds and more on making people laugh, but is happy that Native kids use his bear-mauled-by-a-bear joke as social ammo (39:06).
  • “If those are the kinds of people that are getting mad at my video, I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job.” (38:43)
• Cat Community Drama: Joey inadvertently started major drama by founding the LA Underground Cat Network—a group now split into three factions (41:48).

5. Musical Guest: Who Is She? and the Kraken Arena Incident

[Main interview & performance: 46:44–52:18]

Origins

• Supergroup with members from Tacocat, Chastity Belt, Lisa Prank—started writing songs inspired by Missed Connections ads.
  • “A lot of them are like, I saw you on the bus and I didn’t say hi because I’m too shy.” (47:12, band member)

Amazon/Bezos Lyric Controversy

• Performed at Seattle Kraken NHL game at the Amazon-named Climate Pledge Arena.
• Adapted the Le Tigre song “My Metro Card” to “My ORCA Card,” but swapped out a Rudy Giuliani diss for a Jeff Bezos diss: “Oh, no. Jeffrey Bezos, he’s such a total jerk. Shut down all the bookstores, Billionaires do not work.” (50:16, performance)
• They were promptly “asked not to come back” (49:25) for the next games but became folk heroes locally.
  • "Please don't fire us." (48:09, band member)

Live Performance: “My ORCA Card”

• Upbeat anthem about Seattle public transit, with lyrics critiquing Jeff Bezos (50:16–52:18).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Sports are built around the male body and male performance norms... For female-bodied people, when we go through puberty and our bodies change, we have a different normal.” – Lauren Fleshman (02:21/12:09)
• "If people being healthier just meant we're just not going to run as fast because we don't want to die, would that be an okay outcome?... Honestly? Yes, absolutely. 100%." –Lauren Fleshman (21:06)
• “Every time you say that something is your spirit animal, you have to give every Native American person you know $25.” –Joey Clift (35:18)
• “I was texting Bri about how we should write a version of Le Tigre’s, like, Seattle-based one... We all ride public transportation a lot. Shout out to ORCA cards.” – Who Is She? (48:21)
• "Oh, no. Jeffrey Bezos, he's such a total jerk. Shut down all the bookstores. Billionaires do not work." – Who Is She? (50:16, song lyric)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Good News Segment: 03:38–08:07
• Lauren Fleshman Interview: 09:22–26:42
• Listener Record Wishes: 28:15–30:39
• Joey Clift Interview: 31:45–41:48
• Who Is She? Interview and Song: 46:44–52:18

Tone & Language

The episode is candid, sharp, and deeply empathetic. Lauren Fleshman is earnest and persuasive, mixing warmth with urgency; Joey Clift is sardonic, witty, and uses humor to tackle serious topics; Who Is She? delivers deadpan fun and anti-corporate sass.

If You Missed the Episode

This Live Wire installment is a dynamic, insightful listen where sports, comedy, and music overlap with activism and social critique. Whether you’re interested in the true stories of women in sports, the fight against microaggressions, or countercultural Seattle anthems, this episode offers wit, depth, and plenty of reasons to think—and laugh.