{"id":263064,"date":"2026-01-25T10:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263064\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:03:07","slug":"ive-been-called-a-prk-every-day-for-20-years-by-a-stranger-it-chips-away-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263064\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019ve been called a pr**k every day for 20 years by a stranger. It chips away\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blindboy Boatclub<\/a> is sequestered in his podcast studio in Limerick, plastic bag on his head, eyes visible through the gaps, black hoodie on, smig on show \u2013 \u201cas you get older a bit of stubble is always a good idea\u201d \u2013 and ready to answer questions over Google Meet that he already knows the answers to, because he already knows the questions I\u2019m about to ask.<\/p>\n

Limerick\u2019s<\/a> most famous podcaster asked to have questions sent to him before the interview. It\u2019s an unusual request, and one that goes against The Irish Times\u2019 normal approach, but he cites his autism<\/a> diagnosis as the reason. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also unusual for an interview that an artist is giving, particularly because we\u2019re not strangers. <\/p>\n

The first time I met Blindboy without the bag on his head was more than a decade ago. I\u2019ve interviewed him on stage and on radio since then, and commissioned his writing for newspapers, most recently a freewheeling, thought-provoking essay<\/a> on the \u201cnovel honk\u201d of starling crap on Bedford Row in Limerick, and its connection with climate change, that appeared in The Irish Times in March 2025.<\/p>\n

Charismatic, intense and funny, Blindboy is an original, entertaining thinker, happily rooting around in the dustbin of history and popular culture to emerge with delicious scraps of knowledge for his hundreds of thousands of followers. <\/p>\n

He has been box office in Ireland for 20 years, releasing weekly podcasts as well as delivering three collections of short stories, plus hit records as part of The Rubberbandits.<\/p>\n

But his autism<\/a> diagnosis four years ago, when he was 36, has gradually changed his understanding of the toll an interview takes on him. He wants to minimise the stress that stems from the rat-tat-tat of the question machine gun. \u201cI\u2019ve been learning as an autistic person what allows my nervous system to feel safe,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Blindboy has a new podcast tour coming up, with a date at Vicar Street<\/a> in early February, and he\u2019s struggling, he says, with \u201cautistic burnout\u201d. <\/p>\n

Autism manifests differently in everyone. In Blindboy\u2019s case, small talk and low-key interactions threaten to overwhelm him. At a gig, he reckons, he might make small talk with 16 people. \u201cI can do it, and I can do it really well. But it\u2019s overstimulating.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Blindboy in Vicar Street: There is a plenty of charm but the show needs elevatingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Over time, it\u2019s a form of masking that depletes his social battery. Burnout means he struggles with his \u201cexecutive functioning\u201d. On a daily basis, he says, he\u2019ll become \u201chugely forgetful\u201d. He\u2019ll have difficulty recognising his emotions. \u201cReading clocks becomes difficult for me. Responding to emails, texts, planning my day.\u201d <\/p>\n

He originally asked to do this interview by email. On Google Meet he minimises my face on his screen so that he can\u2019t see me. It\u2019s a relief for him. He struggles with the overwhelm of facial expressions. <\/p>\n

\u201cYour face was a distraction to my thoughts,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s not on you. Not being distracted by having to read a human face, my way of thinking and speaking improves drastically.\u201d <\/p>\n

Accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative mimics a trajectory Blindboy has been on all his life: minimising his face to maximise his impact.<\/p>\n

The plastic bag first made an appearance in public life when The Rubberbandits burst on to the scene. Blindboy and Mr Chrome grabbed attention in Ireland and beyond for their chaotic comedy skits and songs, reaching a high point with Horse Outside, in 2010, the video for which has been watched on YouTube more than 24 million times.<\/p>\n

Blindboy began his podcast in 2017, initially as a way of promoting his first collection of short stories, which Conor Nagle of Gill Books had commissioned after an interview on The Late Late Show<\/a> in 2016 in which Blindboy spoke about his generation being unable to afford houses. \u201cI said, \u2018They\u2019re either jumping on planes or in rivers.\u2019\u201d Nagle emailed to ask if he\u2019d ever considered writing a book.<\/p>\n

From self-promotional beginnings, The Blindboy Podcast<\/a> became his primary mode of public expression. The rustle of the plastic bag against the microphone was part of the individualistic charm; even his introductions to his monologues were heavily stylised (\u201cunhinge your chins, you whispering Vincents\u201d). <\/p>\n

Blindboy found an international audience with guests such as Spike Lee, Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Connor<\/a> \u2013 \u201cthe proudest interview on my entire podcast\u201d \u2013 and Johnny Marr. The headline on a New York Times profile<\/a> summed up his appeal: \u201cAn outsider takes on Ireland, from inside a plastic bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was one-third writer, one-third rapper, one-third hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland, a curl of his vape drifting into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

The guests he has on his live podcasts aren\u2019t always well known. \u201cI\u2019ll either speak to Cillian Murphy<\/a> or an interesting butcher,\u201d he says. The point is his curiosity: Blindboy can monologue around his guests, riffing smoothly and seductively, each podcast about an hour long but the product of three days\u2019 work.<\/p>\n

That sleight of hand was improved on by his decision to rent a space in a \u201ccorporate office\u201d-type building in Limerick, where his radio-grade desk and sound panels mean he can leave at 5pm halfway through a sentence, then pick it up the next day at 9am to finish the clause \u2013 and the listener won\u2019t notice a thing.<\/p>\n

On a recent episode with my colleague Patrick Freyne<\/a>, Blindboy lamented his delay in putting the podcast up: it had been recorded at Dalkey Book Festival in 2023. He had, he said, been interrupting Freyne too much, with the result that he was embarrassed about showcasing the podcast. <\/p>\n

Journalism is a cornerstone of democracy \u2013 I love journalists \u2013 but I\u2019m critical of the business model of traditional media<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Blindboy<\/p>\n

His diagnosis explained to him why he behaved the way he did: one sign of neurodivergence is an inability to listen in conversation without interrupting. Blindboy has other characteristics, too, including a tendency towards stimming, which is to say self-soothing repetitive behaviour \u2013 he wears a hole in the office carpet from pacing, and he flicks his fingers when people can\u2019t see him. <\/p>\n

He also listens to music repetitively. When I tell him I sometimes do this with songs, he says, \u201cThat\u2019s a tick on the autism box right there.\u201d <\/p>\n

I can\u2019t see Blindboy\u2019s eyes \u2013 his camera has malfunctioned, he says, sounding pleased \u2013 but his tone suggests he\u2019s suddenly more comfortable.<\/p>\n

He tells me about \u201cdouble empathy\u201d \u2013 the theory that people of neurotypical and neurodiverse backgrounds struggle with each other when interacting.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor people who are trying to understand, the way I look at autism is that I\u2019ve been given a new word to describe how I\u2019ve been my whole life. My whole life has been making accommodations for myself. The bag has very little to do with my career. The bag isn\u2019t that relevant to what I\u2019m doing \u2013 I\u2019m a podcaster and writer; I do the odd bit of television \u2013 but it allows me to have privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the benefit of hindsight, there were plenty of signs that he was on the spectrum. At Salesian Primary School in Limerick, he says, he floundered. \u201cMy first day, I cried so much I vomited.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Blindboy:Blindboy: ‘My whole life has been making accommodations for myself.’ Photograph: Karen Cox\/New York Times <\/p>\n

The young David Chambers could learn at home when he wasn\u2019t wearing \u201citchy clothes, and had my music\u201d, but not when he was surrounded by other students. At Ardscoil R\u00eds he failed his Leaving Cert, even though he was smart. \u201cMy da was great. He used to say, \u2018He\u2019s one of these mad artists.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Blindboy: \u2018I left my first day of school feeling great shame. The pain of that still rises up in me\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

That line still rings truer to Blindboy than many of the box ticks on autism tests do. He\u2019s not even sure if autism is the correct term for what he has. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe psychologist said they could change this [checklist] in five years and [suddenly] you\u2019re not autistic any more,\u201d he says. \u201cMy personal feeling is that there\u2019s not a name for what I have on the spectrum. There\u2019s a lot of autism that doesn\u2019t ring true with me. I\u2019m definitely neurodivergent.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Faulkner\u2019s line \u201cThe past is never dead. It\u2019s not even past\u201d applies to Blindboy. Some of his childhood experiences mean that if he gets a chastising email he has a feeling of being \u201cin trouble\u201d, he says, like the way he would feel when he was a kid. He tells himself, \u201cNo, I\u2019m safe, I\u2019m an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gives himself pep talks. \u201cI don\u2019t have a Leaving Cert, but I\u2019m a f**king published author,\u201d he says, stridency entering his tone. \u201cI have a master\u2019s degree. I\u2019m going to be doing my PhD soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PhD is a route into novel-writing: Blindboy intends to present his debut novel as his doctoral thesis. \u201cIt\u2019s practice-based, so the professional work becomes the thing, and then you have to defend the PhD,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m doing it for the kid who doesn\u2019t have a Leaving Cert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made a documentary in 2015 called The [Rubberbandits] Guide to 1916, and I did that as a practice-based master\u2019s degree in Limerick School of Art and Design. When you\u2019re in an academic setting you have to interrogate your work with a harsher lens, to understand what you\u2019re trying to say and underpin it with theory.\u201d <\/p>\n

It will force Blindboy to face up to his fears of writing a novel. \u201cSomething in me says I\u2019m able to, so I\u2019m going to lean into that. If I\u2019m scared to write a novel, then that\u2019s what the f**k I need to do. You can\u2019t grow in the familiar space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blindboy\u2019s popularity ebbs and flows: there are moments when he seems to hold Ireland in the palm of his hand, as anyone who has watched a crowd surge into a tent at Electric Picnic<\/a> to make it to one of his live shows will attest. He has sold out the Hammersmith Apollo, in London \u2013 \u201cIt was 3,500 people, which I never thought possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Blindboy comes out on his phone at All Together Now 2025: \u2018I\u2019m showing my mum this many people actually showed up\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s had phases, too, when he has hit a natural end point. It happened with The Rubberbandits. \u201cThat was something I was doing in my 20s,\u201d he says. \u201cYou have to grow and change artistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blindboy feels a need to adventure into new territory, even if he mortifies himself doing it. Before an artist is recognised for their work, he says, it\u2019s likely that their friends will \u201ctalk about you behind your back. They\u2019re going to go, \u2018Oh my God, did you see them? This is mortifying.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have the freedom to pursue our goals, but a lot of people don\u2019t because of the fear of failure. When someone you know tries it, it\u2019s, like, \u2018Don\u2019t f**king do that \u2013 you\u2019re reminding me that it\u2019s possible, but I\u2019m scared. I hate you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The next phase means Blindboy will have to risk being terrible \u2013 or being unloved or being shamed. The bag helps with personal privacy, but he\u2019s as vulnerable to social-media<\/a> commentary as anyone with a profile page. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen this article goes out, the amount of people in the comments who are going to say, \u2018This f**king eejit with the bag on his head again.\u2019 I don\u2019t care,\u201d he says. \u201cYou must be cringe, especially in the early stages of anyone\u2019s career. Especially if you want to be a poet, a writer, a singer.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a Chinese adage: seek people\u2019s approval and become their slave. Blindboy is as leery of critical garlands as he is of scathing commentary, in part because both encourage a kind of self-consciousness that isn\u2019t helpful to the creation of art.<\/p>\n

He recently won a prize for best documentary presenter, at the Grierson Awards in London, for Blindboy: The Land of Slaves and Scholars<\/a>, his RT\u00c9 One programme from 2024 about the legacy of early Irish Christianity. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Blindboy: The Land of Slaves and Scholars review \u2013 Innovative look at the tumultuousness of Irish historyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Winning made him wary. \u201cExternal validation is like a drug,\u201d he said on a podcast. \u201cI have to be cautious that I don\u2019t allow external validation to feed my self-worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 40, emotional regulation is very much Blindboy\u2019s bag. He lives alone in Limerick. He likes going to the gym so that he can be around people but not have to talk to them. He last attended therapy four years ago, and although he\u2019s not against it in principle, he says, he has never taken medication for any condition, such as anxiety or depression, that has stemmed from his autism or neurodiversity, even though he can \u201cget a whack\u201d of them every so often. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time I went to therapy I had the sudden realisation that I\u2019d been online for more than two decades,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been called a pr**k every day for 20 years by a stranger. I reckon this has had an impact on me. It chips away. Some people are mean. Some are psychopaths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of medication or talk therapies, Blindboy deals with symptoms of depression or anxiety with self-analysis gleaned from his reading and from his study of psychoanalysis. <\/p>\n

\u201cI promote the position of adulthood,\u201d he says. \u201cThe cornerstone of adulthood is: when an emotion pops in, whether fear or anger, am I going to react to it or do I sit back and go, \u2018Ah, I noticed the emotion of anxiety. I noticed the emotion of anger. Let\u2019s look at that before I act\u2019? That\u2019s emotional regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s a form of confirmation bias, but Blindboy has seemingly learned to divine neurodiversity where others might miss it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I looked at the lives of early Irish medieval monks, I said to myself, \u2018This sounds highly autistic. They wear a robe every single day. They don\u2019t have to worry about clothes. They get to live in extreme isolation and only focus on the things they\u2019re passionate about. And they would have been viewed as magical people, as opposed to eccentric or weird.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a fellow called Blindboy with a bag on his head. You can\u2019t have an AI that does that<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Blindboy<\/p>\n

People listen to his podcast for nuggets such as these \u2013 because they\u2019ll walk away with a new idea in their brains, or a novel way of thinking, or just a cute high-low culture mash-up. (\u201c\u2018Live, laugh, love\u2019: it\u2019s on pillows, it\u2019s great advice. It actually comes from Finnegans Wake,\u201d he says gleefully of James Joyce<\/a>\u2019s novel.)<\/p>\n

With social-media algorithms magnifying and normalising extremist viewpoints, he wants to maintain the intellectual integrity of his podcast. \u201cI won\u2019t platform people who have harmful views just to get listens. I turned down a large international star because they\u2019d done a fundraiser for the IDF,\u201d he says, referring to the Israel Defense Forces<\/a> and the conflict in Gaza<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve turned down massive politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pressure for clicks is only building in 2026. \u201cJournalism is a cornerstone of democracy \u2013 I love journalists \u2013 but I\u2019m critical of the business model of traditional media, especially in the 2010s, because it had to survive in the algorithm,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve no problem doing this interview with you, but I dread what the headline is going to be. The headline will be put forward because it will generate arguments in the comments.\u201d <\/p>\n

He says this without rancour but with a kind of resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditional media is in a new crisis, and that crisis is AI<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cLiquid news refers to Google\u2019s native AI giving you a synopsis curated specifically for you, so the first result is not going to be a news article any more. It\u2019s a synopsis of what AI does, and that\u2019s the shit you can\u2019t trust. I\u2019m not taking news from Grok, not a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blindboy reckons he has one trick up his sleeve to keep him from being replaced online by an AI-generated podcast. \u201cI\u2019m a fellow called Blindboy with a bag on his head,\u201d he says cheerfully. \u201cYou can\u2019t have an AI that does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blindboy Boatclub\u2019s podcast tour<\/a> is at Vicar Street<\/a>, Dublin, on Wednesday, February 4th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blindboy Boatclub is sequestered in his podcast studio in Limerick, plastic bag on his head, eyes visible through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[218,6128,129981,2920,12421,93,3409,61,60,4267,27195,23061,1396,18097,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-263064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-autism","10":"tag-blindboy","11":"tag-cillian-murphy","12":"tag-electric-picnic","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-gaza-strip","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-israel-defence-forces","18":"tag-james-joyce","19":"tag-late-late-show","20":"tag-limerick","21":"tag-sinead-oconnor","22":"tag-social-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}