Add Category
Updated
When Jamie Morton's father sent him chapters of a book to read, he was shocked to find his father had written a porno.
It turned out to be hilarious.
Now, the spectacularly awkward erotic novel is the subject of the podcast, My Dad Wrote a Porno, which has been downloaded more than 50 million times.
In the podcast, Jamie and his friends read aloud his father's book (written under the nom du plume Rocky Flintstone) and all its bizarre references to the anatomy — think breasts being compared to pomegranates.
Morton spoke to Lateline about the strange journey that his father's new found hobby as a writer has taken his family on:
It's a book about nothing
"There is no story. There's barely characters."
"I would say it's about a woman in the pots and pans industry called Belinda Blumenthal who basically tries to secure business deals by sleeping with as many people as is humanly possible.
"[Dad] struggles with grammar, spelling is a challenge, bless him. It is an unorthodox book in many ways. It is barely written to be honest.
"The minute I started reading it I just realised how funny it was. I thought the world deserved to hear this genius writing."
A feminist mother and a father who writes porn?
"My mum has gone on a journey with these books. Fair to say, initially I think she was very much 'what, why, please don't.'
"But now she's kind of got to the point where she is like, 'Do you know what? If you want to write the books, write them.' She's got so many things going on in her life.
"She said, 'I have never allowed your father to tell me how to live my life so I can't tell him how to live his.'
"They have a strong relationship. I wouldn't say she is a fan of the books, but she is accepting."
Rocky Flintstone has many fans
"The response to the podcast had been overwhelmingly positive, which has been surprising, because [Dad] is a 60-year-old man who writes in a very kind of dated style.
"We thought there might be some blow-back. The main kind of criticism that we've had is that people don't like the fact that I'm mocking my Dad.
"They take it on themselves to fight the fight for my Dad, as if he couldn't himself. As if he is cowering in the corner somewhere. He is complicit. I asked his permission to do the podcast. He is a huge fan."
It's helped people lose their virginity
"People have lost their virginity because of the podcast.
"They were so scared of losing their virginity, they were terrified of sex.
"Listening to the podcast they discovered it can be funny and it shouldn't be stressful. It is amazing — bizarre but amazing."
Strangely, it's brought the family together
"On paper this should be something that has torn us apart forever more."
"Your father writes pornography... but working together has been amazing. It's been nice to show my Dad the side of my life, the media side of the world, and doing a podcast, he'd never heard of them before. Now he is a huge fan."
Topics: pornography, community-and-society, comedy-humour, arts-and-entertainment, united-kingdom
First posted