Not my Dad obviously. Jamie Morton’s Dad…
For even casual podcast listeners, My Dad Wrote a Porno will probably be something you have heard of before. If you come to this website for exploratory insight or to discover hidden gems, then you have obviously stumbled drunk and scared into the wrong place. No, this entry is for those people who are new to the podcast game who are still finding their feet in this relatively new format.
My Dad Wrote A Porno is pretty much what the title suggests. Presenter Jamie Morton is joined by James Cooper and Alice Levine as they dissect the preposterous erotic fiction ‘novel’ written by Morton’s father. The book in question is wonderfully entitled Belinda Blinked and it sees the titular character Belinda Blumenthal traversing the cut-throat world of high powered business and by high powered business I mean commercial pots and pans.
The crucial element here is that all the presenters of the podcast are British which means the trashy eroticism of the source material clashes excruciatingly with the shared embarrassment of the hosts, particularly as writer Rocky Flintstone (surprisingly a pen name) is the father of Morton. The more that Flintstone’s dark fantasies are laid bare, the more difficult it is for the presenters to continue, which makes for great listening for the rest of us.
I was worried going into this podcast that the one note premise of My Dad Wrote A Porno would soon wear thin but the sheer outrageousness of Belinda Blinked coupled with the unpredictable plot and array of odd characters ensures that this unconventional literary review remains fresh throughout.
The very best podcasts force you to think and help to altar your outlook on a particular subject and I will be exploring some podcasts like that in the coming weeks. My Dad Wrote a Porno isn’t that. That doesn’t mean however that there isn’t room for something more light and mischievous in the podcast canon. Sometimes thinking becomes hard work and in order to switch off one needs to take in the insane ramblings of Rocky Flintstone to hit the spiritual plateau that can only be reached alongside Belinda and her menagerie of fully erect business associates.