‘I know I’m one of the lucky ones’: Limmy on new autobiography and returning to his online comedy roots

Life is good right now for cult comedian Limmy.

He’s just released his third book, which looks likely to follow his first two in becoming a bestseller, and a return to his online comedy roots is paying off handsomely.

The 44-year-old, aka Brian Limond, says he’s in an ideal position.

He has thousands of fans paying a subscription to streaming service Twitch, where he tells stories directly to camera, reportedly making him thousands of pounds a week.

“I’ve got myself into a life where I don’t really need to do anything, I don’t need to go out of my house,” admitted Limmy.

“If I had to go back to a real job, and deal with normal people as a normal person, remembering things, then I would be reminded of how much of an oddity I am.

“I shouldn’t say that – maybe it’s a neurological thing.

“I’ve been to the doctor to check if I had ADHD and it was 50-50. He said he could send me to an expert if I wanted. I thought I had done that already by going to see him, so I said, ‘I’ll just leave it’.

“If I’m absent-minded or don’t fit in, it’s almost expected of me now, but I couldn’t get away with that in a real job. If you have all this nonsense in your head when you’re in a job somewhere, I would have people shaking their heads at me.

“I know I’m one of the lucky ones. It all worked out.”

Limmy had been designing websites when he decided to start up his own, which led to a podcast and self-shot videos on YouTube which became popular enough for BBC Scotland to get in touch. He made three series of Limmy’s Show for the broadcaster and is hopeful of working with them again.

His writing career was similarly organic in how it developed.

“I started writing short stories in 2013 or 2014,” he continued. “I tried to write sitcoms but there wasn’t a lot of opportunities.

“I’d done Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe, and the odd wee thing on the BBC iPlayer and Sky On Demand, but the TV stuff wasn’t looking too good.

“I just so happened to be writing these daft wee stories, 300-worders I would type up at bedtime and put them on Facebook and my blog. An editor got in touch with my agent and asked if I would be interested in writing a book of them.”

That’s Yer Lot and Daft Wee Stories were as irreverent and off the wall as his TV sketches and became hits.

When it came to his third book, his editor asked if he would write a non-fiction book about mental health, a subject Limmy has been searingly honest about over the years. “I said I didn’t think I would be able to do that, so I suggested an autobiography instead, with that stuff included.

“I’m a motormouth, so talking about all the mental health stuff comes easy.

“Sometimes when I’ve talked about it before, people would say it was brave of me. But I don’t see it that way, I’m not scared about talking about it.

“I never had to overcome the fear of talking about myself. For other people who are more private, I can see why it would be brave.

“People have told me it does help to hear other people talking about mental health, even though I don’t give out advice on how to sort it out.

“Just knowing other people have gone through something similar or think in a similar way, that helps.

“Having bad mental health is one thing, but it’s another if people feel no one understands. It’s good to know others feel that way.

“The only material in the book I was a bit concerned about was some of the criminal stuff. I thought it might come back and bite me, people saying they don’t like me anymore because of it.

“But these things happened, so that’s that, there’s no way to hide it.

“In terms of other material in the book, I checked with my girlfriend and she asked to keep our private stuff out but said she wanted to read about the rest of the details.”

While he’s hopeful of getting a short series of Limmy’s Homemade Show produced for BBC Scotland, he’s also delighted with how his Twitch channel is going.

“I’m really happy with that, with all the people supporting me,” he added.

“It’s the perfect job for me since I’m a hermit-type of person. I’m happy sitting in a room for 12 hours.

“It’s the ideal way of communicating with people, as far as I’m concerned.”

Limmy is currently on a national book tour, where he’ll read excerpts from the book and answer audience questions.

He’s at Oran Mor, Glasgow, tonight and Monday, Eden Court Theatre in Inverness on Tuesday, and Aberdeen Arts Centre on Thursday and Friday

Surprisingly Down To Earth, And Very Funny by Limmy, HarperCollins, £14.99