Free State With Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning aims at too many easy targets

Don’t be fooled by the dulcet tones. Joe Brolly – you may know him from his GAA career, his sports journalism and media appearances, or as the husband of podcaster and comedian Laurita Blewitt, depending on your particular proclivities – has some strong opinions, and he’s ready to voice them. But to get there, prepare to to be lulled by the gentle banter between himself and sports journalist and podcaster Dion Fanning, on their new pod Free State With Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. It’s like the kind of mild-mannered but occasionally cutting musings you’d get from two lads in a bar nursing pints on a quiet afternoon. After a drink or two, things can get heated.

In the first five episodes, Brolly and Fanning ramble relatively benignly through subjects as disparate as woo-peddlers, sports psychologists, the evolution of language, RTÉ punditry, racism in Ireland, ayahuasca, Fintan O’Toole, and the IRA. For the most part, they’re in relative agreement: you’ll be familiar with the “discourse has taken a nosedive” school of thought.

The shtick, ultimately, is two men talking, free-wheeling on varied issues, as you can tell from the above. They take dismissive swipes at what they call the gobbledegook of pop psychology: everything from growth mindsets to the so-called optimism muscle comes in for a ribbing. They have a good giggle at the hallucinogenic ayahuasca – maybe an easy target, given the vomiting involved and opportunity for a good “tripping balls” tale, but also one they never really investigate beyond a derision that comes off as age-blinkered and dismissive.

Look. I love a good Goop skewering and, when it comes time to take down a fraudster, I’m fully popcorn emoji. But, while there’s such glee to be had in the very notion of a candle that smells like Gwyneth Paltrow’s vagina, it also seems kinda low-hanging fruit. It’s also one thing to take on a kabillion-dollar “wellness” company wilfully ignoring scientific fact, but there’s some serious broadbrushing going on here.

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Is it really fair to lump charlatans who claim a good attitude can cure stage-four cancer with sports psychologists who posit that mental state can affect performance? At one point, Brolly takes the joke so far as to claim he called experts in muscular physiology from his alma mater, Trinity College, to ask about the “optimism muscle”. That’s that metaphor hammered to literal death so.

Where these two presenters add real value, for this listener, is when they get stuck into politics

There’s a Statler and Waldorf vibe here, betimes, the boos directed at the likely suspects of youth, political correctness and America. They say people don’t say what they mean any more. But could it be that the people in question are saying exactly what they mean, but Brolly and Fanning don’t get it? The two are also concerned that nobody these days will tell wayward youngsters “not to be a dick”. From this reviewer’s perspective, however, it seems right now there’s rather a surfeit of people calling each other dicks in a public and vitriolic manner.

Where these two presenters add real value, for this listener, is when they get stuck into politics: class politics, Northern politics, political punditry, and when Brolly in particular brings his personal context to the conversation. He and Fanning air their differences, and it’s smart and heartfelt and fascinating listening. They up the ante to the point of real difference, and still they keep talking. Nobody cancels anybody else, nobody walks out, nobody stoops to insult or opprobrium. That’s the kind of conversation I can pull up a stool for.