My guest is a fellow door-guy at Comedy Works, a veteran of both the downtown & South clubs (because he actually fits in both places, unlike me). Country roads took him from Charleston, West Virginia, through four colleges & a chemistry degree, to a fresh start in Colorado, where he just hit seven years sober and is as funny as ever. He’s survived the Dollar Tree on Colfax, a streaking arrest in Morgantown, & recently hit 4:20.69 at the Gong Show at the Lion’s Lair. We’ve got Mountain Dew on ice for a late weeknight episode, so pump up the hype & join me in welcoming to our humble Top Shelf Studios: Stephen Heywood!

Follow Stephen @stephenthinkshesfunny on Instagram & YouTube!

We discussed Stephen growing up on the country roads from the song, how West Virginia is ‘cost of living’ mogging over other states, how different kids today will be as adults after growing up surrounded by AI tools, & whether West Virginia is secretly the best place to start a family. Sean presents his college thesis on happiness economics, but mostly uses it to defend the checkout line. We hear Stephen’s road from rehab to the Dollar Tree warehouse (PSA: do not eat the food at Dollar Tree), the 72-hour hold he earned by telling a cop about ‘Dexter’ for 30 minutes, & four naked laps around the block in Morgantown before the cops crested the hill. From Futurama & AI solving math that doctors in mathematics have dedicated their career towards, to Plato’s Cave & Counter-Strike conga lines.

Stick around for the ‘After-Hours’ where Stephen brings an offering: a rubber duck, just like the ones mysteriously showing up all over both Comedy Works. Who keeps planting them?!

EATIN’ (the full uncut hang featuring smoked chicken wings) is on Patreon for our supporters.

A chicken-wing economics lesson in diminishing returns (graph included), ‘Frozen’ semantic gymnastics example, Sean’s first memory being 9/11 (yes, that one.), & a Tim-Dillon-esque one-man show nobody asked for.

Why not join the ’Patch?

Join us on Patreon.com/InTALLerable — First-Run tier only $2/month!

Please join, I won’t have my day job soon (not a joke).

Thank you to our supporters. You make it possible, we make it InTALLerable.

FO & BW

0:00 — Guest Intro

1:59 — Country Roads: West Virginia

3:14 — Kids Growing Up With AI

4:54 — Self-Checkout vs. Robots

5:58 — Starting a Family in West Virginia?

11:24 — Futurama & AI Math

14:43 — Real Talk: Mental Health

20:25 — Canada’s MAID Program

22:00 — Dexter Talk with a Cop

23:57 — Seven Years a Sober

28:21 — Dollar Tree on Colfax

31:46 — Gong Show: 4:20.69

33:44 — Shopping Cart Tug-of-War

35:11 — Four Colleges

36:38 — Colorado Fresh Start

41:20 — Plato’s Cave

46:52 — “Are You ‘bout It?”

48:20 — Arrested for Streaking

52:18 — Counter-Strike Conga Lines

57:02 — Comedy on Pandora

58:18 — First Shift: Jim Norton

1:00:48 — EATIN’ — Patreon.com/InTALLerable

1:01:26 — After-Hours

1:02:28 — Wing Review!

1:03:37 — Fly Boys: Wing-Smoking Pilots

1:06:46 — “Best Wings in Denver”

1:10:42 — Stephen’s Hopeful Dad

1:15:08 — ‘Heighting’

1:17:14 — Plugs!

1:20:07 — The Comedy Works Duck Bandit

1:20:56 — FO & BW