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

My guests are Denver-based comics, but more important: they’re friends. A couple of walking buddies who are building & improving their stand-up acts one City Park stroll at a time. First, a new face in Top Shelf Studios, I believe one of the best joke-writers in Denver: Jeremy Cash! Jeremy is a New York transplant with 12 years of stand-up experience. His resume includes background work on ‘Billions’ & a surprise stage call-up from Doug Stanhope. Last, my counterpart on the height spectrum, a cat lover & racket-sport assassin, making his return to enjoy our signature smoked chicken wings: Chet Tilly!

Chet works in travel, which means every trip with his fiancée is a ‘honeymoon’ (money moves!) Buy your Jeremy Cash bonds now, before the price goes up; buy low, sell high, and get hyped to welcome: Jeremy Cash & Chet Tilly!

Follow Jeremy @jeremycashcomedy & Chet @chetcomedy on Instagram! Go out to see them perform stand-up, you won’t regret it.

We discuss the 24-hour phone sabbath, AI’s widespread rotting of our collective critical thinking, & Jeremy’s first-ever joke (a haiku, on a rock, through a window). Sean presents the concept of ‘semantic gymnastics’, but struggles to give a decent example. We debate if bad open mics are just as valuable as good ones, & whether stand-up survives AI writing jokes. Stick around to the ‘After-Hours’ where we hear about Jeremy mistakenly taking the A-Team’s van for travel on the set of ‘Billions’. What?! It looked like a bus!! He swears.

EATIN’ (the full hang) is on Patreon this week: wing-side talk on Michael Rapaport’s 26-minute standing ovation, the death of the third meeting place, Plato’s cave, & the Turing test for humanity. Want the vaulted & bonus episodes, the show staying ad-free, & a handmade hat when your support hits the cost of one?

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 Intros

1:39 — Walking Buddies

2:41 — Phone Lockup at the Club

3:41 — 24-Hour Phone Sabbath

6:36 — GPS-Free Living

8:42 — AI vs Critical Thinking

10:16 — Jeremy’s First Joke: Rock Haiku

11:37 — Chet’s Colombia Joke

12:29 — Honeymoon Cheat Code

13:54 — Semantic Gymnastics

15:52 — What Is a Woman?

16:44 — Howard Stern 9/11 broadcast

18:22 — Josh Hawley Clip

20:08 — Wedding in Argentina

21:24 — Wedding Swear Jar

23:13 — Do Opinions Matter?

24:40 — Sean’s Comedy Path

27:39 — Favorite Comedians

29:53 — NYC vs Denver Open Mics

31:35 — Bad Mics Have Value

33:31 — Shotgun Room Cold Open

35:24 — Comedy in 20 Years

36:33 — AI Writing Jokes

38:43 — EATIN’ — Patreon.com/InTALLerable

39:46 — Wing Review!

41:37 — Billions Background Actor

45:07 — “As Seen On”

48:16 — Marketing vs Art

50:02 — Doug Stanhope Shoutout

52:46 — NY to Colorado

54:07 — Pickleball

56:37 — Cat Spills the Coffee

58:02 — Thems

59:16 — Peanut Butter Beef

1:02:11 — Complementary Goods

1:04:13 — Gum Hater

1:06:49 — Whet vs Wet

1:08:53 — Bingo

1:09:57 — Plugs!

1:11:13 — Mixed-Height Division

1:11:48 — FO & BW

My guest is a Detroit-born pajama man & Denver-based stand-up comic, often found slinging drinks behind the bar at the Lion’s Lair. He just shot the first episode of his new rotating-venue variety show called: ‘The Papa JR Show’. Think the Eric Andre Show–meets–Johnny Carson energy, if that helps you get some idea, otherwise you will need to tune in when it gets released! Turn your ‘Stadium Pulse’ all the way up into the red & join me fully hyped to welcoming to our humble Top Shelf Studios: Papa JR!

Everybody gets the EATIN’ for this hang. Typically, our guests get the privacy of enjoying our signature smoked chicken wings behind the safety of the Patreon paywall, but JR & I decided to open with the full EATIN’ hang for free, for all!

Traeger smoked wings, Hennessy on the couch, & Papa JR walking through cutting every rope between you & the promised land of comedy. Then we go deep on permission vs affirmation, unspoken nepotism in the packs, Billy Gardell’s Netflix-worthy hour that the business will bury, and Papa JR presents Boondocks-as-politics. Sean wonders could-50-be-president, we make the case for listening to women, & why influencers bombing on club stages might accidentally save the art form.

A lot more honesty than a pajama set should legally allow, that’s an InTALLerable guarantee.

Want the vaulted & bonus episodes, the show staying ad-free, & a handmade hat when your support hits the cost of one?

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 — EATIN’ Opens Free — Bucket Gift

1:49 — Wrong Spot / Late-Shift GPS Fail

3:13 — Usually This Is Patreon — Wings First

3:54 — Hennessy on the Couch

5:06 — Detroit Homecoming / Never Turn Down Hennessy

6:50 — Sauce vs Wing Purity Test

8:11 — The Papa JR Show Debut

12:00 — Rotating Venues Forever

14:08 — Joseph Papa Jaws Star Ambition

18:01 — Cut the Rope

20:00 — Old Club Path vs New Landscape

24:00 — Comedic Entertainer (Not Just Comedian)

28:00 — Top-Down Entertainment Psyop

30:00 — Unspoken Nepotism in the Packs

34:00 — Don’t Announce “I’m Black” Onstage

36:00 — Permission vs Affirmation

40:00 — Jokes From a Place of Love

44:00 — Crowd Is the Instrument

46:02 — True Guest Intro — Papa JR the Pajama Man

47:02 — Wing Review!

50:05 — Boondocks

52:57 — Howard Stern 9/11 Live Tape

55:00 — Uniparty

58:00 — Black People Were the First Conspiracy Theorists

1:01:00 — Could 50 Cent Be President?

1:04:00 — Face Smells Like Groceries

1:07:00 — Game Comes From Listening to Women

1:10:00 — Porn vs Real Women / Andrew Tate Residue

1:14:00 — Craigslist Roomies & an Open Heart

1:19:00 — Title the Episode “Black Comedian”

1:22:00 — Road Towns That Ain’t Seen Black Folks

1:25:00 — AI Will Push People Back Into Rooms

1:28:00 — Barriers to Stand-Up Never Lower

1:30:00 — Don’t Let the Club Pimp You

1:34:00 — Changed My Mind on Matt Rife

1:38:00 — Master Jedi

1:40:00 — Full Nelson on Colfax

1:41:33 — ‘Heighting’

1:43:18 — Plugs!

1:45:19 — FO & BW