InTALLerable

Ep. 73: Mr. Future King of NYC (Ft. Makana)

Makana joins me for a short and sweet episode where we discuss his future endeavours, mainly an upcoming move to the big apple — New York City. He hopes this move will kick him out of any lingering complacency, putting him in a fast-paced environment with endless opportunities for personal growth. I am truly sad to see him leave the front range, but I know he will be reinvigorated in his creativity in a new home. 

My bet? He'll be back in CO before end of 2025. Heard it here first. 

Jokes aside, Makana has brought so much joy into my life. He is a treasured friend and someone I would drop everything to help. I hope he will still drop in on an episode if he comes to visit, or perhaps I'll need to take the pod on the road to NYC. 

FO & BW

Ep. 72: Out-Angled (Ft. Evan Anderson)

Evan Anderson a graduate of C.U. Boulder, an experienced financial auditor, and someone who “Works to live, not live to work.” He grew up with Sean outside of Boulder. In high school, Evan started to lift weights and in college, competed in powerlifting, quickly rising to national-level competitions. He even broke a World Record, benching 385 weighing only 185. Regardless of how much he tries to brush it off, I’m going to give him his flowers. His love for lifting and routine has led him to become a regimented man with the frame of a superhero. If they make “The Accountant 2”, I recommend recasting Evan in place of Ben Affleck. 

We discuss recovering from surgery, diving into Evan’s knee and calf surgeries which left him reliant on his wife and family for support. Evan tells how difficult it was to be at a stage where we needed help for self-care. Sean recently recovered from a spinal fusion surgery and was challenged in recovery, so he asked about Evan’s journey. Evan talked about pushing back into doing the things you were doing before surgery, because if you don’t start doing the things you were doing before, you will never get back to doing them regularly. 

Additionally, Evan speaks to his evolution of confidence & happiness. He found relief from anxiety & depression after quitting nicotine. We discuss how coping mechanisms are often doing the opposite to us than we think, perpetuating a problem that is better remindied through behavioral changes. Evan reads fiction and is a fan of Stephen King novels. He’s gotta be Stephen King’s “yugest” fan by mass. 

I was so excited to catch up with my old friend. Evan’s subtle wisdom is beyond his years, his actions and decisions have built what sounds like a full, happy life. We could all learn something from Evan. If he ever starts a religion (which he won’t) I know I’ll be part of his congregation. Huge thank you to Evan for coming on the show and for being who his is: a high-quality dude. 

FO & BW

Ep. 70: Alec Flynn Returns (and Departs)

Alec Flynn is a stand-up comedian from Boston who has recently moved from Denver to L.A. as he continues honing his craft. He has been featured on Don’t Tell Comedy and OnlyFans specials, so go check those out to see him in action. Besides his love for stand-up, Alec is a thoughtful dude. A hardworking and driven man who somehow manages to carry around an absolute dump truck. 

We discuss his specials, in particular how he has struggled to maintain content creation as the latest and greatest OnlyFans model. Alec lets the audience into his OnlyFans DM’s, giving us a glimpse into what people will pay to send his way. Oh you thought the DM’s were just open?? Not for a man of Alec’s caliber. Spoiler, it sounds like mostly dudes are after his dump truck, but I can’t say I blame ‘em. Moving to L.A. will put Alec into a “sink or swim,” situation as he called it, one where complacency or comfort simply cannot creep in; the grind must be fully embraced for him to make the necessary leaps he hopes to make over the next few years. 

As always, Alec gives me some much needed fire. He gave me coaching on the writing process, walking me through how he applies it to some of his material. We talk about relative analysis, writing from micro then to macro, and why doing stand-up in the Metaverse sounds worse than bombing to real people. Since we recorded this, I am writing more and even got a job closer to comedy. Safe to say Alec’s “kick in the shorts” has served me well. I will sincerely miss seeing his sets at Sunday Funday, but I know our paths will cross again. 

P.S. The JRE smelling salts don’t work on seasoned hockey players. Note taken.

Follow him @bigalflynn on Insta & TikTok

FO & BW

Ep. 69: ’Mo Makana Madness

Makana returns for a short ep, cause nobody can 69 for over an hour apparently (eye roll). I guess this is a return to our roots. Absurd takes, delusional perspectives, and satirically topical jokes; Makana always brings the heat. We show Makana that he permanently resides on the Top Shelf Soundboard, with his patented "Ha-Ha." Apparently, Makana is becoming more republican with every workout, as personal health moves further to the "right" each day. We touch on flat-earth, Ukrainian coup & the Wagner Group, and both political parties attacking freedom of speech. There may be an "in" for Makana, as Lauren Boebert is newly single — lord knows Makana loves to mingle... Friendly reminder that the DoD has never passed an audit. So there's that..

Even if this wasn't a long one, I am glad to catch up with the OG degen, and more importantly my great friend. I appreciate his humor amongst the chaos of the world. 

FO & BW

Ep. 68: Moore Exotics & Moore Abroad

You wanted Moore, so here they are. Only one Moore would be a bore, thankfully both the brothers have returned for an exotic & abroad episode at Top Shelf. We catch up on work & life in a conversation full of passion & laughs. 

Christian has moved to a new role and is now selling exotic cars. His excitement was wonderful to hear, as he shares what led him to this job, how his efforts have compounded to the success he has found, and his prospect of becoming the dealer’s Rolls-Royce specialist. Christian started to make short videos with exotic cars. These give the average person a glimpse into luxury & limited vehicles, while providing specs about the cars at a digestible level. We joke about the worst “daily-driver-depreciation” story he has seen, how rich people view life differently, and balling on the level where you buy your friends exotic cars so you can all roll around in style for the weekend. 

Connor will soon embark abroad, headed to Hungary on a gap year to volunteer his time & learn about new cultures & history. He is traveling through a program with the ELCA. He plans to attend graduate school after completing his volunteer work to pursue a Masters in History before law school. Connor told us a little about what led him to the ELCA and gave us insight into his final year of undergrad, where he lived on a farm in Iowa, eventually adopting a stray barn cat as all good “Iowa transplants” must do as a rite of passage. Connor also told me about his senior research paper. His topic of choice was the decline of empires, a seemingly apt topic for any modern public policy representative. We mostly kept the poly-talk out of this ep, but Connor did remind me that Ukraine is “a must win.” Although I still do not understand what “a win,” looks like for Ukraine. 

A must win for you? Listening to this episode. 

FO & BW

Ep. 67: Maanav Jhatakia - Rank of Master

Maanav recently completed his graduate degree at Delft University of Technology, where he earned a Master's of Science in Engineering & Policy Analysis. His thesis titled: "Evaluating Stability of Adaptive Water Allocation Strategies in the Eastern Nile Basin," looked at Transboundary Water Resources in the Eastern Nile Basin (ENB). His research was geared towards cooperative game theory analysis across the three countries reliant on the Blue Nile, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Ethiopia sees the Blue Nile water as an opportunity for economic growth, recently building the 'Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam' (GERD). 

Using a model developed by his senior peer at Delft, Maanav tested public policy possibilities in a time-series method to determine what policy measures were most likely to be pareto-optimal; which policy choices would be reliable across all three countries. Successful negotiations for water allocations are critical and ideally negotiations should produce agreements with high-stability policies. High stability policies are those where no actor (state, org, etc) has an appealing unilateral gain in utility that would cause them to defect from an agreement. 

I spent a good deal of the episode asking Maanav about his research, which led us to talk about the Colorado River and our own state's demand for water resources. Colorado is one of only 3 headwater states in the U.S. and we historically have needed to support other states with our water, especially the southwest U.S. It was fascinating to pick Maanav's brain about water, both domestically and in the ENB. 

Later in the episode I got the chance to refresh Maanav's memory to tell him about one of my most favorite stories, the time our debate team went to his house for a year-end celebration, only to ultimately discover that "The house just beeps." Let me highly recommend you don't miss out on that story; true top-shelf quality. 

Thank you to Maanav for coming on the show, for sharing his smart mind with me (and you all), and for allowing me to ask him some questions about something he put so much work into over many months. I hope he sticks around Colorado so we can share more laughs in the coming months, but hey, if he ended up in the Netherlands, well then I have a great reason to come visit. 

FO& BW

Ep. 66: The Sean Spectacular

Sean Kenny is a father, husband, and a quality dude. He has an appreciation for solitude, hard-work, and respect. He offers some perspective after enduring adversity over the last three years. First, Covid hit, he and his family lost their restaurant, then his mom passed, finally and he brought a new child into the world with his wife. Safe to say, it's been a ride recently. 

I got the chance to learn more about his life and his story. He describes the last period of chaos as: "It was like I was drowning and then someone threw me a baby." We talk about keeping resolve through the extreme pain & challenges that life throws our way, whether expected or cast upon us at what can seem like the worst times. Sean Kenny is someone who accepts the negative, but is never ignorant to the power of decisions in shaping our lives. He offers me some advice on the next steps of life in true InTALLerable fashion: weaving jokes and laughter alongside loss and hardship. 

Sean and I were not friends prior to him coming on the show, but I have a great respect for him. After hearing more about his life and his approach to both growth and self empowerment, I can say Sean is quite the easy-going, kind-hearted spirit. I am grateful for his storytelling, his jokes, and for the impact I know he makes on those around him daily. 

Don't miss out on this red-bearded man. You won't find him on social media, so don't bother trying to track him down. He is a man who doesn't suffer bullshit; thank goodness it was only my crap he had to deal with for this episode. 

FO & BW

Ep. 65: Ronan Andrews

Ronan Andrews is a musician, singer, and songwriter. His EP, Quarter Life Crisis, was released in 2022. All the songs from this EP are live-recordings, giving transformative power to his music; taking us all from Top Shelf Studios to a quaint Italian villa in no-time. Ronan talked with us about the origins of his Quarter Life Crisis EP and how he forged new friendships at CU Denver who would become his first musical group: Fresh Fruit.

We discuss the "early days" of creative endeavors, hear Ronan's ideas for improving the Colorado Rockies (pretty sure that's a baseball team, but they're too bad for us to know), and we ponder the possible looming threat of ChatGPT for creative professionals. 

We played 3 of the songs off this EP during this episode:

Dancing Like a Fool

The La La La Song

Solitude 

I would like to thank Ronan for coming on the show and for being him; truly a groovy dude with an amazing voice. We touch on mental health, guilt, facing tough times, and running towards growth instead of away from it. 

Hope you all enjoy | FO & BW

Ep. 64: Love Story: Taylor’s Version (Ft. Heath Bar)

Dive ear-first into an unforgettable episode with Taylor Albrecht, a MoHi legend, and her fiance Greyson, a Smoky Hill High graduate (I was told we don’t like those). Their tales lead us from high school antics to college chapters, to current adult life. Ultimately leading us to the follies of man & TikTok-onomics. Along the way, Taylor and Greyson casually tell the origins of their love, a love born on the HIll of CU Boulder. Cue the cuteness fr fr. (Gosh this internet speak is a pain, huh?)

 

Why is Taylor wearing a Boot on her foot you ask? It’s a fair question. Although I will say, odd you ask considering you can’t see her. Listen to Taylor’s unforgettable Skate City misadventure. To kick off the after-hours portion, Greyson candidly shares about a past mistake turned growth opportunity.

I want to thank them for sharing tales from the vibrant tapestry of their lives. We round off with a spirited celebration of the Denver Nuggets' Championship run (in progress).

So, join us on this rollercoaster ride filled with laughs, insights, and unexpected life lessons in an episode that truly embodies the spirit of Top Shelf Talks.

FO&BW

Ep. 63: New Iowa Friends

Iowa "Nice" sure goes a long way, especially when you realize that four essentially strangers joined us in Top Shelf for an afternoon of laughs & spirited discussion. An extra "Tall" thanks to Isabel, Nash, Jacob, and Hailey for challenging me with their perspectives, while giving me a glimpse into their lives. I wish I had the chance to talk to them each individually, because they all seem like fine Iowa folk. 

God Bless 'Em 

FO&BW