The Brilliant Humans Podcast

The Brilliant Humans Podcast is a show that celebrates extraordinary people, but with a twist...our guests never talk about themselves. Instead, each episode shines a light on a Brilliant Human who inspired them, changed their life, or helped them see the world differently. From everyday heroes and unsung champions to iconic figures and innovators, you’ll hear stories of kindness, courage, creativity, resilience, generosity, and love. These conversations, with host Jonathan Griffiths , are real, uplifting, and full of the lessons that make us more connected and more human. This is not a podcast about success. It’s a podcast about the best of humanity. And in a world that often rewards self-promotion and noise, The Brilliant Humans Podcast creates space for reflection, appreciation, and acknowledgement - for saying thank you to the people who helped make us who we are. If you’re looking for thoughtful, movin

The Brilliant Humans Podcast is a society podcast hosted by Jonathan Griffiths, with 29 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jonathan Griffiths hosts The Brilliant Humans Podcast, a society show with 29 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #26

  Ep 26 | The Woman Who Knew Everyone | With Sam Leyden

  Aug 6, 202637 min

  Before Sam Leyden played his first gig, before the tens of thousands of streams, before the song that stopped someone in their tracks at 3am — there was Betsy. A woman who raised three daughters largely on her own after losing her husband young. A woman who worked every job imaginable without ever making a fuss about it. A woman so well-known and so deeply loved in Liverpool that, as the family saying goes, if her picture appeared next to the Pope's in the newspaper, everyone would ask: who's that man standing next to Betsy Devlin? In this episode, singer-songwriter Sam Leyden takes Jon inside the life of his grandmother — the storyteller at the Sunday roast table, the woman in the comments of every single post, and the quiet force behind some of his most personal music. From the backstreets of Liverpool to open mic nights with four people in the room, Betsy was always there. Sam reflects on how her selflessness, resilience, and unspoken grit shaped not just who he is, but how he writes — and why kindness, not status, turns out to be the thing people remember. Follow Sam on Instagram at @sam_leyden or find his music on Spotify. If you've ever had someone in your corner who never once made it about themselves, this one's for you.

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  Episode #25

  Ep 25 | The anchor who held steady | With Heather Alford

  Jul 30, 202634 min

  What does it look like when someone chooses to stay — not because it's easy, but because they can see the gold beneath the surface? Heather Alford is a legend in the IT channel and founder of Counting Creators ( countingcreators.co.uk ) — a passionate advocate, a powerhouse in a room, and, by her own admission, someone who has spent years masking extraordinary inner turbulence behind extraordinary outer energy. Diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia in the last 18 months, Heather is still unpacking what it means to finally understand herself. But this episode isn't really about Heather. It's about Tony — the Bulgarian man she first noticed buying his cleaning team coffees and holding the door open before he ever sat down himself. The man who, when she handed him every reason to walk away, simply didn't. No games. No ego. No flinching at her walls. The first card she ever bought him had an anchor on it. She didn't know why at the time. She does now. This is a conversation about what genuine steadiness looks like in a person. About the quiet masculinity nobody puts on a pedestal but everyone deserves. About being truly seen — ADHD, anxiety, armour and all — and held anyway. If you've ever had someone who stayed when leaving would have been easier, this one's for you.

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  Episode #24

  Ep 24 | The courage to go rogue | With Jack De Saram

  Jul 23, 202636 min

  What does it look like when someone genuinely doesn't run from discomfort — they run toward it? Mitch MacEachern walked into a stand-up comedy course at Toronto's Second City, threw out his entire prepared set at the showcase, grabbed a bicycle from backstage, and riffed to a room of total silence. He performed open mic nights with a pigeon feather he'd found on the street. He wrote devastatingly sad songs about pigs on their way to slaughterhouses — and sang them, voice cracking, to anyone who'd listen. And then he moved on. Not because he'd conquered anything. Because it wasn't scary anymore. Mitch lives by a quiet but radical principle: discomfort isn't the warning sign. It's the destination. In this episode, mental health counsellor, stand-up comedian and former background Glee cast member Jack De Saram reflects on how watching Mitch model that philosophy — over open mic nights, in a smelly back room in Toronto, and in a basement full of guitars — slowly changed the way Jack moves through his own life. From performing comedy songs quietly to an audience of two, to eventually finding his voice in ways he never expected. You can follow Jack on Instagram at @laughingfreud, and discover Mitch's music — which is genuinely worth your time — on Spotify. If you've ever had someone in your life who made it feel safe to be bad at something new, this one's for you.

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  The Brilliant Humans Podcast

  Ep 23 | The woman who saw what no one else could | With Siobhan Dodd

  Jul 16, 202637 min

  Before the awards. Before the comedy stage. Before the sign language, the podcast, the fearlessness — there was a woman who looked at a child the world had written off and decided to write a different story. Siobhan Dodd is an award-winning comedian, sign language interpreter, and host of the Following Through Podcast. But in this episode, she's not here to talk about herself. She's here to talk about her mum — the woman who fought to keep her in mainstream school when others wanted to send her elsewhere, who drove her to theatre three nights a week just to watch her daughter come alive, and who quietly pointed her toward her life's work. What unfolds is a rare and honest reckoning with how much we take our mothers for granted — and what it means to finally stop and count the cost of everything they gave. Siobhan reflects on growing up neurodiverse, finding her voice on stage, and tracing almost every defining chapter of her life back to a woman who never sought the credit. This one will make you want to pick up the phone. Follow Siobhan on Instagram at @siobhandoddcomedy and find the Following Through Podcast at @followingthroughpod.

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  Episode #22

  Ep 22 | When family finds you across history | With Dan Albaum

  Jul 9, 202631 min

  What if a DNA test didn't just reveal a name — it revealed a woman who had already changed the world without you ever knowing she existed? Five years ago, Dan Albaum received a message that would rewrite his family's story. Through 23andMe, a connection surfaced: Regina Jones, his great-grandfather's daughter, a woman born in wartime South Central LA, raised with little, and driven by something that no circumstance could contain. Regina married at 15, became a mother of five by 21, and was working the switchboard at the LAPD the night the Watts riots ignited in 1965. Instead of stepping back from that fire, she and her husband Ken ran toward it — and from that crucible, SOUL newspaper was born. The first publication of its kind, SOUL told the stories of Black musicians, entertainers, and artists at a time when no one else would. At its peak, 127,000 copies were in circulation. When it ended, and her marriage with it, Regina didn't stop. She built a PR agency. She worked alongside icons. She gave back through children's welfare nonprofit Crystal Stairs. And she did it all while raising her family, refusing every ceiling placed above her. Now, her extraordinary life is the subject of the award-winning documentary Who in the Hell is Regina Jones? Dan joins Jon to celebrate the woman history is finally catching up to.

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