Twitch streamer Limmy has been captivating people online with his unique brand of Euro Truck Simulator 2, philosophy and accidental ASMR.
“Right, Troops. Fancy a wee bitta truckin’?”
“Fancy a wee bitta nighttime truckin tae send yous aff tae sleep, aye?” asks Glaswegian Twitch streamer Limmy of his loyal and devoted audience in his trademark timbre.
The answer is a resounding yes.
It always is.
And, just like that, we all become Limmy’s captivated passengers in his virtual articulated Scania truck.
We strap in for the ride on the open road, along with the cargo he must deliver to some far away location where pixelated people impatiently await our arrival.
Think what it must be like to be a lost hitchhiker on the side of a motorway.
Then imagine being picked up by a self-absorbed, yet charming raconteur who entertains you with monologues bordering on insanity.
Picture this and you have pretty much got the idea.
To those who are veterans of the cult comedian Brian Limond’s (a.k.a. Limmy) legendary live streams that often include epic odysseys courtesy of a favourite game amongst his fans – Euro Truck Simulator 2 – setting this scene has probably already elicited a warm familiarity.
Limmy from mad to mellow
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For those who are not so experienced, what follows on these journeys can often be helter-skelter, and even entail much carnage and collisions.
One spectacular classic incident involves Limmy speeding up to a caravan as both vehicles approach a toll bridge.
Limmy is irritated due to the caravanning family’s “weans playing in the back” and “playing a wee game a Ludo’’, which he claims is a dangerous thing to do on the road.
To rectify the situation and ensure road safety is restored, he assures us that he will “Just gee it (the caravan) a wee nudge” to let them know it is a dangerous game for kids to play in transit.
“Just a wee nudge. Just a wee fright”, he promises.
A sensible course of action to take under the circumstances, no?
Well, of course, it doesn’t end up going according to plan.
Limmy rams into the back of the caravan and it catapults into the verdant off-road landscape.
A genuine mistake, insists a penitent Limmy – “Aw naw, I just meant to gee’em a wee nudge.”
It is in these impulsive moments of misjudgement that it becomes patently obvious that Limmy never learned to drive in real life.
However, rare occurrences aside, what is most surprising about the majority of Limmy’s trucking streams is the soothing state of drowsiness that many viewers claim them to induce.
I should know, I am one such viewer.
Yes, a grown adult of 45 years of age and father of one, gripping a plastic pretend steering wheel, while telling the tale of where he was and what he did on New Year’s Eve at the turn of the millennium helps me get off to sleep.
So what?
It’s better than taking sleeping pills or getting blind drunk, isn’t it?
Limmy’s ASMR Voice
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But what exactly drives this phenomenon?
Why is it that a restless shelf-stacker, for example, coming home from a night shift relies on Limmy’s trucking streams to help them nod off?
Maybe one explanation is that there is some kind of somnolent stardust sprinkled over his streams.
Some kind of magic we can never fully know about.
Maybe another explanation is that there is something pacifying and calming in Limmy’s mellifluous tones.
With his family in bed, Limmy is forced to keep his voice down and this creates one of the key factors in the unintentional ASMR of his late-night trucking streams.
There is a mellow, musical quality to Limmy’s hushed monologues.
There is a sense of being gathered round the campfire when you listen along with your eyes shut as Limmy delves into an anecdote dredged from his deepest memories.
This always reminds me of the sensation of being driven home by a good friend when you are too shattered to add anything to the conversation yourself.
In this way, his Euro Truck Simulator 2 streams are not dissimilar to those Headspace sleep meditations or apps featuring bedtime stories for stressed out adults.
Limmy’s ASMR Anecdotes
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But, for me, the key ingredient is when Limmy gets philosophical.
When faced with accusations of “talking shite”, Limmy likes to retort “I am actually a very deep thinker actually.”
I am here to defend this statement to the hilt.
Limmy is a very deep thinker.
Not just a deep thinker but a free and perceptive one, too.
The truth is that Limmy notices things about the world that ordinary people simply fail to recognise.
He has an unerring ability to pluck out and distil aspects of human experience that remain a mystery to those unequipped with his capacity for introspection.
In short, Limmy sees the world in a unique way.
Limmy is a philosopher.
He reminisces over the wheel about times when his sexual life was a mess, his struggles with alcohol and his suicide attempts, or how the world is stuck together with Blu-Tack and sellotape.
I will never forget the time he argued at length that, despite appearing competent, “naebody really has a clue whit they’re daein. So, sneak in.”
This remains some of the most inspirational life advice I have ever heard.
Limmy the Philosopher of Sleep
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Each anecdote contains an honesty and an insightfulness that is unavailable anywhere else.
Hold on, though.
How does this end up sending you to sleep?
Surely, listening to all that wisdom being imparted is just so engaging that it leaves you wide awake?
Wrong.
Limmy’s thoughts are cosmic to the point that you feel you’ve escaped all your earthly troubles and cares altogether.
Basically, he helps you get out of your own head and this, for me, is the sleepy secret.
After clearing your head, Limmy makes you feel ready for bed.
Intentional or unintentional ASMR?
Limmy’s unintentional ASMR is now embedded in the lifestyles of a large number of members of his Twitch community.
He knows this.
What’s more, he knows you won’t get it anywhere else.
He has even lampooned this fact by jokingly scratching his beard on the top of his microphone and making other strange noises.
This is another testament to his self-awareness.
But, I will always maintain that the secret lies in his anecdotes and how he tells them.
Limmy is such a lateral thinker that he hardly finishes even half of the anecdotes he starts.
Maybe, it’s the ones he doesn’t finish telling that we dream about…
What do you make of this article?
Are you a fan of Twitch streamer Limmy?
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