Sleepy

Otis Gray reads classic literature in a deep baritone voice at a deliberately slow pace, and it works remarkably well as a sleep aid. The catalog draws from fairy tales, Sherlock Holmes stories, mythology like The Gods of Pegana (which apparently inspired Tolkien), and other public domain texts that are well-written enough to be enjoyable but familiar enough not to keep you awake with suspense. Episodes typically run 45 to 60 minutes, which is long enough to outlast most people's time to fall asleep. Gray's reading style is the key ingredient here. He doesn't perform the texts dramatically or add character voices. Instead, he reads at a measured, unhurried pace that sounds like a very literate friend reading to you from across the room. With 498 episodes and a 4.7-star rating from nearly 2,900 reviews, the show has built a loyal following of nightly listeners since it launched. Some people have been using it every night since 2020. New episodes come out weekly, and there's a Patreon for ad-free access. The free episodes have ads mostly at the beginning, so once the reading starts, you're not interrupted. If you grew up falling asleep to someone reading to you, this podcast recreates that experience almost perfectly.