Let's all take Blindboy seriously now...

Without referring specifically to Blindboy who I only have a slightly above average knowledge about and have no interest in specifically defending as if he needed any defending - I have to say the general notion that you do not want to be recognized means you think you will be "bombarded with fans" in shops is a completely nonsense one. Just hyperbole dressed up as a criticism.

If you have social anxiety then even a handful of encounters over a year can be quite the turmoil. Not just the encounters themselves but the adjacent anxiety that such an encounter could come at any moment in non social or professional contexts. If on top of that you have conditions that are generally associated with social issues and interpersonal issues - like autism - then the reasons to wish to hold on to anonymity become even more understandable.

To take that desire and simply invent the concept that such a person is walking around with notions about themselves bumping into fans everywhere is really just desperation to manufacture something to complain about. A clear case of disliking the person first and seeking reasons for that dislike second rather than the other way around.

Hell I have absolutely no fame or notoriety myself. But on three separate occasions walking around Maynooth/Kilcock someone has realized who I was based on my posts here on Boards and approached me to talk. Mainly because of a certain quite noticeable pet imported member of the Canine species.

I have absolutely no social anxiety or any mental conditions I have been diagnosed with and I felt rather on the spot and uncomfortable in that situation. Especially the feeling that I had zero idea who each person was but they knew a good bit about me - which instantly put me on the back foot and off kilter. To the point I have cut back a lot on talking about readily identifiable things here on Boards. That's not me walking around thinking my boards posts have a multitude of fans who are just dying to meet me. Come off it.

So someone who has actual mental conditions and social anxiety - is someone I can certainly put myself into the shoes of. And if they have a career in the arts industry and entertainment industry and can maintain any level of anonymity I can see why they would do it.

Why do you listen to informative podcasts and expect to be amused ?

Whatever one thinks of him, he absolutely should not be allowed appear on the national broadcaster covering his identity with a plastic bag on his head. Only in Ireland!!!

He should only be allowed on the week of Halloween.

My mates performed with them in the Academy in 2017. I met them. The accent he uses in interviews and on the podcast is most definitely not his accent. It is 100% put on.

It's insanely exaggerated and fashionable these days for folks in the public eye to ham up this "social anxiety" nonsense.

They are born entertainers who actually love the limelight and its attention, and then pretend they're all shy and nervous. I don't buy it at all.

Has it not always been like that though. People get into this type of business to mask as perceived inadequacy of some sort. Spoke Milligan or Bobo the Clown were some of the saddest golf ever, yet were hilarious comedians. I think Blindboy typifies this masking, literally and psychologically.

I do not know how fashionable it is to be honest or how often it happens. Mainly because I am not really the "Public Eye" and am not in touch with much from the entertainment industry. I do not own a television and only watch a handful of movies. So I can not say I have seen anything to support your claim here that it is fashionable and exaggerated. I can say I doubt the claim though. So I will hold off until I find something which supports it. Unfortunately it being common - which it may in fact be - is not the same thing as it being fashionable or exaggerated. The image of the tortured artist is not a new or recent one I think.

That said though - just because some people do something and are not genuine - that does not mean that everyone doing that something are not genuine. I would take it on a case by case basis. Having social anxiety and discussing the effects of it, and how he deals with it, has been something Blindboy has been discussing for quite a long time now with some consistency. I see no reason at all at this point to consider it not genuine.

As a general point however: As I said to Whetherfleet above - being a "born entertainer" and having social or interpersonal issues are not actually mutually exclusive things. You can absolutely be both. It just requires that your drive to step into the limelight be sufficient to overcome the drive not to. Nothing more.

Further though - what I should also have said to Whetherfleet but I failed to - is that not all social situations are the same. If you have extreme social anxiety in one context that does not mean you have it in all contexts. I can absolutely see how and why someone might be in fact perfectly fine getting up on a stage in front of a lot of people but absolutely dread bumping into a stranger or a fan in the supermarket. Some people can absolutely have extreme social anxiety face to face - and have absolutely none in front of a TV camera.

I got to meet Tommy Tiernan once back stage after one of his shows. Quite a few years ago now though. He was surprisingly quiet, shy and reserved and seemed to genuinely struggle to talk with me and others I saw him talking with while I waited my turn. Clearly very different to how he is on stage. And actually listening to a lot of comedians talk on podcasts as I have - quite a few of them have said the same thing about themselves or other comedians. That the persona they have on stage truely hides the very socially awkward people they are off it.

And not just comedians. A lot of entertainers and artists talk openly about how driven they are by their feelings of extreme self doubt, imposter syndrome, inadequacy, anxiety and self hatred. In fact coincidentally I just listened to a recent interview with Steve-O during my morning run today and he was saying exactly that. He is riddled with all kinds of self doubt and anxiety and more. He believes he would not be the person he is without it.

So yea I struggle to buy the arm chair psychology in a few posts here which presume to tell us how socially awkward or anxious people should be acting or feeling or being. Or that if you over come it that just means you never had it in the first place. I doubt you or Whetherfleet know any better than I do (which is to say, bugger all) what such people go through in and out of their particular lime lights. All I can say for sure is that in all the psychology and psychiatry literature I have read (which is not small for various reasons) I have personally never seen any text supporting the notions on the thread. Yet. I remain open to the concept. Perhaps the next thing I read will support it. Or the next. Or perhaps you guys have some.

He's a posho fraud

His devin Townsend interview is excellent, and his interview with limmy is breathtakingly good

After seeing an interview with him in the Irish Times I played some of the Rubberbandits songs and prank calls on Youtube, brilliant stuff. The tough Limerick City accent and the vocabulary were used brilliantly.

It's kind of a pity Blind Boy has gone doing somewhat more serious stuff, he was brilliant at that early stage of his career.