Out of the Fishbowl: The Podcast is about to land.

If all goes well, then my first ever Season of Podcast: Out of the Fishbowl – will be dropping on Monday!

Podcasting is something i have wanted to do for the longest time. Both in terms of listening to them and in terms of recording my own.

i started to try and get into listening to them when the Pandemic Lockdown hit properly last year and i had a lot more time on my hands. And i did manage to listen to a whole lot more than i had ever managed before, but just never found a good rhythm of listening regularly. i also never quite found a Podcast that totally won me over.

i also almost got into Podcasting with my good mate, Wayne, a few years ago and we recorded a few episodes at The Warehouse, but they never quite made it to the editing and being put out there phase, which was a pity as some of those conversations were really good.

My dream Podcast would be with one or possibly two other people and would involve being real on a number of current topics and a lot of fun back-and-forth banter. In fact, i still hope that becomes a thing someday and if Richard Ayoade and Noel Fielding are ever free and up for it, i am down! Maybe one day Dreadlock Mike and myself will try something cos that conversation could be interesting and fun… even if just for us.

About a year ago, i decided to actually start working towards creating a Podcast of my own, and here it very almost is. 

The Process

‘Out of the Fishbowl’ is the name i settled on for my Podcast. i was going to simply call it the Codcast because of Fish + Podcast but sadly that was already taken. The name ‘Out of the Fishbowl’ was actually the title of a column i wrote for a national magazine for a few years and so decided to go with that. It contains the Fish link as well as the idea of thinking outside of the box, or the bowl. As well as heading into spaces that might be less travelled and even perceived as dangerous.

For anyone who knows me well, patience is probably not a characteristic you would associate with me. Especially when it comes to ideas. Normally the time between having an idea and wanting to have it executed and out there is really short. And so in the past, if i had had the idea for a Podcast, the first episode would have been dropped the following Tuesday.

But this time i decided to take my time on it in the hope that it would improve the finished product. And so for a year i worked on the ideas for the seven episodes that i felt Season I would comprise of. i have no idea why i landed on the number 7 and maybe it was just that i jotted down topic ideas and rough outlines and when i hit 7 it felt like that was it.

So i sat with 7 topic ideas and added thoughts and notes to them as i went along. The original idea was to have a theme for each episode and then start with a quote followed by some thoughts and reflections on that theme. Another idea was to have it story based to hopefully make it more iunteresting. So episode one riffs off the idea of my hatred of Pineapple on Pizza in an episode of the same name. People who have followed me on social media for any length of time – especially on the Twitterer – will know about my historic hatred of the P on P. So i take that as a premise for talking about this idea of competition with people who like things we don’t or hate things we enjoy.

The one piece i dropped from the episodes was ending each one with a poem based on the theme. This is where my impatience came in because after a year of prepwork and then finally moving forward to recording and compiling and adding music and figuring out how to distribute them, i hadn’t written a single poem. The idea of delaying the whole series while i write seven poems does not appeal to me. And so that is always something i can add into season 2.

Out of the Fishbowl

Probably the aspect of each episode that i absolutely love already is the titles. One of the quirks i decided on from early on that would be a specific OOTFB thing is that at the beginning of each episode the number and title of the episode will be read by a young kid person. If you listen to the podcast for nothing else, these intros are the absolute best.

i mostly made use of nieces and nephews and a few willing kids of friends. But was very specific about one of my favourite young people in the world, daughter of my birthday twin, Maisha Mashua, starting off the series… And while they are all pretty amazing, my niece Jen will absolutely melt you so make sure you at least stick around for the intro of episode 3: You can’t handle the Truth! 

My friend Nicky Lloyd was responsible for the most fun birthday photoshoot earlier this year and we made sure that we took some themed pics to be able to use around the podcast. So all credit to Nicky Lloyd Photography for the fun we had there.

The episodes for the most part are about 30 minutes long, which is more than enough for a Podcast. Or Codcast. And they run on the idea of looking at an aspect of life that we can reflect on and critically question and hopefully do better.

Will there be a Season II?

As mentioned, my tendency would be to decide “i want to make a Podcast” and have the first one live by the following Tuesday. But this time i waited and i planned and a big part of the plan was finishing a whole season [of 7 episodes] and then releasing it week by week. Which is what i have done.

The question now becomes, “Well, will you do a second Season of Out of the Fishbowl?” and while i would love to, and while some ideas for topics much deeper and more challenging or maybe controversial than season I are already flying around my mind, it probably largely depends on how Season I goes.

i have traditionally not had much success with gathering huge audiences and i am hoping that having taken a bit more time to plan and create this Podcast that it will hopefully do somewhat better. It feels like i have gained a bit of interest on the Twitterer as i have been teasing it and getting closer, but i guess we will see who really shows up. Will it find an audience? And will they be interested in any more?

So that’s where YOU come in… if you made it this far. When episode I drops on Monday i hope that you will give it a listen. And i hope that if you like it that you will let other people know. Give it a review on Spotify or Apple or wherever you manage to find it. Share the links and help me gather an audience. It definitely won’t be for everyone… but i would be happy if i can get 100 or so people listening to the first episode and seeing if it grows from there.

At the very least you really need to hear Jen’s “You can’t handle the Truth” at the start of episode III…

Out of the Fishbowl drops Monday 26th at various spots around the Podcasting world…