It is easy to stumble upon this podcast and end up wondering where its name originated from. The sole host, Carl Aquino, said in his prologue episode of The Banyo Podcast Reflushed that he started recording his podcasts with his phone in his toilet, hence the name. He also said that the name alludes to how the bathroom serves as a personal space, emphasizing on how people usually practice singing in their bathrooms.
Obviously, instead of singing, Aquino has taken it to sharing snippets of life and affairs fit for his podcast. You can click here to get a 47 second glimpse of what the podcast is about from the host himself.
Aquino’s venture started out in 2016 when the podcast was titled “The Banyo Podcast”. It was only earlier this year that he got back from a long hiatus, then renaming it to what it is called now. “When I got back to podcasting earlier this year, I was still alone until I met other people, got more involved in the community, and finally made new friends online.”
Aquino is in charge of running the entire podcast, from researching, recording, editing, distributing, to marketing it. When asked what it talks about, he would always tell people that the show is about useless trivia or random wacky facts that don’t have any actual use in life, which he describes as apt for icebreakers. For example, one episode discusses the stigmatization of the number four in multiple Asian countries. Another episode sheds light on the opposite—what is considered lucky, the number 11. That’s how random the podcast is, but the host himself did tell us that each episode’s title is a reference to a song or its title. In fact, Carl had made a Spotify playlist including all his past and planned episodes in the future, so his listeners can take a guess of what he’ll be talking about in the podcast’s upcoming episodes.
What Aquino prides himself on is how the podcast presents the facts just like how someone would conduct small talk. No matter how random Aquino’s array of topics are, it’s his style of speech that is sure to keep his listeners entertained. He occasionally switches from Filipino to English or vice-versa from time to time, accentuating the casual tone of his episodes, while adding some profanity only to reinforce his sentiments on the things he shares.
Aquino could surmise just about anything, fit for anyone keen in enlightening themselves with everyday trivia. Despite sharing useless info—as Aquino himself puts it—from all around the spectrum of what’s there to know, it’s Aquino’s flair and devotion to his topics and audience that really characterizes the podcast, or what Aquino would say, “My kwentos will be as banyo-worthy as they get”, without compromising quality of course. He captures the theme of bathrooms serving more than just as utilitarian spaces in our homes; the narratives or habits we form and enact in these safe, private spaces more often than not spice up our daily lives. That’s why there’s the term “shower thoughts”, or the habit of singing in the shower, etc.
Aquino was also inspired by his friends who were into podcasting, and admitted that it was something he could not discard as he himself also regularly tunes into other podcasts. In his own words, “I started podcasting because I heard a few podcasts, got curious, and thought to myself that if they can do it, so can I.” It was his friends who got Aquino to love podcasting again, and they always gave him feedback on how to improve the podcast.
Those of you who prefer listening to short podcasts will find that what awaits you in The Banyo (Productions) is your perfect match; the average episode spans about 15 minutes as of this writing.
Next time you’re in the banyo, you know who you should be tuning into
To become Aquino’s mga kabanyo, you may listen to the Banyo Podcast Reflushed on a number of platforms: Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and their Facebook page among others. Aquino also has Ko-Fi for those willing to pitch in to support the podcast. Lastly, Aquino published a zine entitled “Anecdotes from Another World”, and is now for sale in his Gumroad page.
To contact Carl Aquino, you may be reach him via email: storiesandpodcasts@gmail.com
Visual by: Chloe Gaw
Written by: Ervin Delas Peñas