James O’Brien: The Therapy Session That Changed My Life | Mad, Sad & Bad

From speaking to opinionated callers on his radio show, to taking down Nigel Farage live on air, James O’Brien has dealt with his fair share of mad, sad and bad. Me and my Mum are also huge fans of his, so I was super excited to invite him over for a chat. In this episode, we delve deep into James’ early life; from being born to a young single mother and his subsequent adoption, to his experiences of corporal punishment at Catholic school. We discuss how these early experiences shaped him, and how therapy helped him to address some of the coping mechanisms and prejudices he had carried through childhood. He is open, vulnerable, deeply honest, and is the epitome positive masculinity. We also discuss being our therapists’ favourite clients, and James takes the liberty of dishing out some parenting advice to me! This conversation was political, hilarious, and deeply refreshing! #JAMESO'BRIEN #PALOMAFAITH #MADSADBAD 00:00 My Mum can’t wait to meet James 02:12 James comes over 02:56 Is James my Dad!? 03:50 How does James keep his cool? 05:05 “I struggle to know the difference between the conman and the conned” 09:07 “It’s not difficult to debag Farage” 09:59 MAD 10:02 How James holds onto truth 11:29 “As I get older I crave company more and more” 14:41 Do people really care about truth? 15:54 How can the left and right learn to listen to each other? 16:51 Are people driven by morality? 17:43 Why has woke become an insult? 20:11 SAD 20:19 “Boris is brilliant at pretending bad things aren’t happening” 23:20 How James learned to learned to sit with pain 25:03 “If everyone had therapy none of us would have podcasts” 29:04 Learning to be kind to your inner child 30:34 “I’m less combative now” 33:27 My therapist fancied my Mum! 38:17 “You cannot change the way people behave” 38:35 BAD 38:50 “You can win arguments even when you’re wrong” 40:37 How James learned to address his own prejudices? 43:00 What James thinks about marriage now 45:17 GLAD 45:18 “My marriage is a source of never-ending wonder to me” 48:42 Bye James If you enjoyed this episode, please click follow - I have so many great guests like this one, you won't want to miss out! — Instagram:   / madsadbadpodcast   TikTok:   / madsadbadpodcast   YouTube:    / @madsadbadpodcast   — Credits: Producer: Jemima Rathbone Assistant Producer: Magda Cassidy Edit Producer: Pippa Brown Editor: Shane O'Byrne Video: Jake Ji & Grisha Nikolsky Video Editor: Josh Bennett Original music: BUTCH PIXY Social Media: Laura Coughlan Head Marketing: Eleanore Bamber Exec Producer: Jemima Rathbone Exec Producers for Idle Industries: Dave Granger & Will Macdonald Senior Exec Producer: Holly Newson Mad, Sad & Bad is an original podcast from JamPot