Trouble sleeping? Marco Timpano’s The Insomnia Project will help you drift off to dreamland

During this time of self-isolation and social distancing, I’ve attached myself to an auditory tonic: Marco Timpano’s The Insomnia Podcast. It has an especially topical premise – devoted listeners around the globe tune in to hear this award-winning actor, writer, and comedian chat with guests about topics that are mundane enough to induce sleep. The series has been nominated for a Canadian Podcast Award, and began its fourth season last week. 

Pre-pandemic, I selected some episodes on topics I was interested in. Thrift shops, hot sauce, pickles, and Dolly Parton piqued my interest. I started to listen, then Timpano and I exchanged emails. And then COVID-19 tilted our world on its axis. As sweeping closures took hold and communal fear began to run rampant, I kept listening. And I found Timpano’s podcast an unexpected tonic. What began as research became a sonic haven.

In fact, I need to make a confession: I have been listening to additional episodes when I should have been writing this piece. 

So let’s start with the most fundamental questions: why do we need a podcast intended to put people to sleep, and how did it come about in the first place? Timpano calls the journey to The Insomnia Project as a “fascinating one” which stems from a discussion with his friend Nidhi Khanna about their insomnia. Both knew what did not work for them, like “being told to breathe or do yoga or any of those ‘relaxing’ things people say to do when someone can’t sleep”.  When Timpano has insomnia, his mind races. He doesn’t know why he can’t sleep, just that “sleep is not happening”.  

So Timpano looked for sleepcasts. He found a few, but they didn’t work for him. On top of that, none were Canadian. So he created the podcast that he himself needed. And clearly, The Insomnia Project has provided something that was missing for many others. The response has been “overwhelming”: “we currently have just under a million listens, and I get correspondence daily explaining how the podcast has changed people’s lives, and how their loved ones can’t believe the difference they see in our listeners.” Timpano also gets emails from anxiety sufferers, who talk about how the podcast helps them – something “that was never even on my radar when I started!” He is “just thrilled” that people are using The Insomnia Project as a tool to find their way to sleep, especially given his personal experience of how debilitating insomnia can be. 

So what makes The Insomnia Project so efficacious? For people like Timpano, mundane distraction is the key to sleep. “Those of us with this type of insomnia need to get our minds off of the fact that we can’t sleep. [We need] a distraction that is not so interesting that we need to focus or stay up for it.” Talking in calm voices for 26 minutes about mundane and predictable topics allows people to relax. They can doze off happily, not worrying about missing anything exciting. Before The Insomnia Project got off the ground as a podcast, Timpano and Khanna pitched the idea to the Nuit Blanche Festival, where their podcast became a live, interactive art installation. Festivalgoers fell asleep while enjoying the art that they provided. “In a way, the sleep became the art,” notes Timpano.  

To date, the guests on the podcast are primarily Timpano’s friends and people he knows through the world of comedy, including actors Amanda Barker, Dov Mickelson, Mark Andrada, Ron Pederson, Aurora Browne, and Native Earth Performing Arts’ AD Keith Barker. Timpano’s process begins with a little chat with the guest. He asks what their hobbies and interests are. If the hobbies are too exciting, as with Tim Walker, whose hobby is hockey, he breaks the topic down in order to identify aspects of it that are less enthralling: “Usually I just do a specific dive deep into one area and in this case, it was ‘the humble ice skate’ which led to ‘the best hockey laces’, ‘how much wax is needed’, and ‘how to best lace them to provide the ultimate support’.” The hardest part? “I can still get excited, and I have to check my excitement”. In fact, he smiles, “You can hear me get excited, and then pace myself during earlier episodes.” For instance, he recalls getting “really riled up” on one episode talking about cutlery, and which spoon to use for which dish. “It was a real nail-biter,” he deadpans. 

A repeat guest is Timpano’s father-in-law, Daniel Barker, a former drummer and boat aficionado. Timpano’s first episode with Barker was recorded during a visit to Florida. The response to this episode was “huge”, with a ton of emails asking when Barker would be on again. “I don’t know if it is his Bostonian accent, his tone, or his pace, but people really enjoy those episodes,” Timpano confesses. “I love them because I learn so much from him and about him. We did an episode about his life as a drummer, and he worked with so many great artists. I was just in awe.” 

Looking to the future, Timpano would love to speak with world leaders. He is amused at prospect of forcing them to talk about mundane things: “Imagine talking to Barack Obama about keys and keyrings, or Angela Merkel talking about what’s the best thing to pack on a hike, and what ointments are best to avoid blisters. I think that would be wild.” 

Four successful seasons of The Insomnia Project have made Timpano aware of two facts that have worked in his favour. First,  the podcasting landscape is vast and varied. Second, “Canadians make great content”. He has chosen to celebrate, rather than mask, his identity as a Canadian podcaster working in Toronto. Initially, he feared this might limit his audience. The opposite has proven true. The podcast attracts more and more listeners outside the country, and they want more Canadian topics. For example, a recent listener from the UK asked for an episode on Halifax because he has never been there and wanted to hear about it. Other international listeners have adopted Canadian-isms, such as calling their winter hats “toques.” “That makes me really happy,” smiles Timpano. 

His biggest learning, however, is more universal: simply that “not being perfect is perfectly great”.  In the beginning, he sweated the details: “I’m not an audio engineer. What if my audio sounds bad? I’m not an editor. What if I can’t edit the show right?  What if I make a mistake, and it’s not perfect? I had to get over that real quick because – guess what? – I made mistakes, and I learned from them.” And made great digital content while learning. To bring things full circle, his resilience and celebration of imperfection have led to his latest project: “a book about all that I have learned in my journey as a podcaster”.

Asked for any final thoughts, Timpano encapsulates his mission: “I say this on the podcast, and I truly mean it: The Insomnia Project is the only podcast where I hope our listeners never hear the end. If you haven’t, then we know it has worked.” 

Whew. So I needn’t fear making a second confession . . .

News You Can Use

What: theinsomniaproject.com, hosted by Marco Timpano and Nidhi Khanna | produced by Marco Timpano

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2020