Podcaster, presenter and satirist Blindboy Boatclub wants you to read his new book – but he also wants to be able to walk through Aldi without being recognised. 

Blindboy’s latest book Topographia Hibernica is out this weekend, offering a collection of short stories about “the strange unsettlings in the souls of men”. 

The Limerick native rose to fame as part of the hip hop comedy group The Rubberbandits, and the plastic bag he always wears over his face to remain anonymous has ironically become iconic. 

Blindboy told The Anton Savage Show he adjusts the holes in the bag for his eyes and mouth depending on who he’s talking to. 

“If I'm on telly or whatever, I open the eye holes so that I can use my eyebrows,” he said. 

“Then if I'm streaming on Twitch or my podcast, I have a bag made of satin so you can't hear the rustling.” 

Blindboy chose to don the plastic bag to stay anonymous in a tiny country. 

“Ireland’s tiny - you can't be famous in Ireland,” he said. “I want to rummage around Aldi, that’s what I want to do. 

“I want to go to the middle aisle of Aldi and look for lovely outdoor gear and not have someone beside me going, ‘I saw you on The Late Late Show there last night’.” 

Blindboy's 'character'

Despite keeping his name and face anonymous, Blindboy is not as much as a “character” as he was when he started his career, including details of personal experiences from his life in his recent story collection. 

“Back in the days with the early Rubberbandit stuff, I was a comedy character,” he said. 

“But as I get older, I don't do that anymore.” 

He thinks people should be used to the name and plastic bag after over a decade has passed, and they shouldn’t try to find his identity. 

“I have a pen name and a pen face,” he said. “Loads of authors do that. 

“Or if you’re talking to Bono, are you going to start calling him Paul?” 

Gratitude

Nowadays, Blindboy is most known for his self-titled podcast, covering everything from celebrity interviews to deep personal reflections on his life. 

He told the show the main focus of his career is “gratitude”. 

“I'm just so happy and privileged and lucky that my job gets to be to write and make my podcast – I can’t think of anything more I’d want to do,” he said. 

“I never thought this would happen; I thought I was going to be a psychotherapist. 

“I had trained to be a psychotherapist in my early 20s and then my comedy career took off and I left. 

“I was left with a choice: finishing your qualification in psychology or going for TV and become a clown. 

“I went for the clown.” 

Listen back here: