By Philippa Baines

The Blindboy Podcast

Blindboy wears a plastic bag on his head and his eyes are pinky. He hosts the number one podcast in Ireland and talks about comedy and depression. He’s now my number one mindful meditation before I fall asleep.  Here I want to outline why you, kind reader, should listen to him too.

1. He’s got a very calming voice

Blindboy is from Limerick, a town on the west coast of Ireland. His voice is like watching a cat being stroked. It’s soft, solid and assured. He sometimes talks about quite scary subjects, but you’re never uncomfortable and I think Blindboy’s magical voice has something to do with it.

2. He’s very clever

Blindboy is very well read. Having suffered from depression and anxiety as a child, he ploughed himself into literature about the conditions. He talks about Freud and how he argued that human’s innate evil desire is kept in check by society. Another psychoanalyst, Carl Rogers, contended all humans want human approval and love from the people around us. We enjoy giving compassion to others as opposed to fighting them. So we’re innately good.

Both philosophies work as yin and yang forces. It’s interesting then to know how you see the world, the nihilistic view of Freud or the more optimist view of Rogers. Blindboy prefers Rogers; his idea that people try to be the best they can, and this motivation as the ‘actualising’ tendency. The drive to fulfil your greatest potential.

This is but one example of the topics Blindboy talks about. He also draws on his past; he took on social media company Bebo when they brought in an option to make your profile views public. Life then becomes a battle to get more profile views with more attractive, popular kids in schools naturally getting more than others. Blindboy fought against Bebo about the option, when he was a teenager, citing the mental health problems it could cause. He got his own profile removed which wasn’t great for his comedy career at the time. However, he did get the option removed which was a victory.

3. He’s very funny

Blindboy is a modern day court jester, he takes the mickey out of people with power with comedy, dancing around so they can’t punch him back. For example, he takes ‘podcast ad breaks’ and plays an ocarina flute instead. It’s very strange. I can’t predict what’s going to happen. 

4. He plays lovely music in the background

Blindboy plays lovely melodic piano music across his podcast. It’s so relaxing and helps me get to sleep when my mind is whirring at the end of the day. It’s repetitive and is kind of unnoticeable but is very comforting.

Blindboy’s goal is to be able to live off his podcast. I hope he succeeds. I’ve now donated as his output is varied and entertaining. I’d thoroughly recommend anyone at least try listening to it. It’s a dark podcast but very funny, and certainly will appeal to those who are interested in mental health. Otherwise, it’s just good background noise for falling asleep.