The Founder returns! At long last, the highly anticipated event of the holiday season is here!!

After a year of living in New York City, our OG co-host — Makana Gellatly — is back with a new aura of NY elitism to share with the fans. We hear about living in a shoebox, moving to midtown Manhattan, and how it only took him 1 month of living in NYC to yell at tourists to get out of the way on crowded sidewalks. Makana & I wrestle with the conclusion that we aren’t (and will never be) as talented at trading stocks as our elected representatives in Congress. Pelosi’s knowledge is unmatched, we are just surprised that BlackRock hasn’t come calling for her services. 

Makana shares how his grandma got interested in Tarot card readings during the 2024 presidential election & how heartbroken she was at the result. The cards misled her into believing it would be a Kamala landslide, how could the spirit realm possibly be wrong?!?

As always, we hear some bold public-policy solutions proposed by Makana: a ‘Casey Anthony’ button for airline travel, a firm anti-parade stance in cities, and he speculates on the “Free-Play” segment of the Biden administration. Don’t miss out on some spicy bartending stories near the end of the episode, Makana didn’t almost get stabbed for nothin’!

 

FO & BW

We’re calling you out, grocery prices!! That’s right, two returning guests join us for a record-beating episode. Longest one yet & chocked full of riffs, stories, and pontifications on this bloated corpse we call America. 

 

Grayson Schrom (@gs.was.here) & Patrick Trujillo (@Patrick_Trujillo_Comedy) are Denver-based Stand-Up comedians — Follow them on socials & see them all around town making crowds laugh!

 

If you’re looking to laugh this week, Sean will be performing on Grayson’s monthly show at Tekka Asian Cuisine on Friday December 20th. Come out & see us!

Get Tickets @ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/christmas-comedy-show-tickets-1094829467409?aff=erelexpmlt

 

We discuss recent shows and our joint exploration to find a spot to host a regular open-mic, we learn how obese a city can become when Grayson tells us about his time in Houston, and we wonder how the price of a meal went from $10 to $15 to now upwards of $20. Expensive just to stay alive, let alone to thrive! Grayson is here, so Patrick and Sean had to talk about red tape & backdoor dealings. The inordinate amount of school shooting in Colorado, Ms. Rachel is CNN for toddlers, and the IRS having to create new classifications for new lines of work — Ep. 144 has it all, so dig deep into the pod-slop. 

 

Thanks to my guests for making me laugh & for being the kind, funny dudes that they are. I am grateful they are out there spreading joy in this world. 

 

FO & BW

Our guest is filmmaker, photographer, roast-battler, and stand-up comedian: Jeff Stonic. Jeff is raising funds for his latest project — Bad Indian — a short film that begins with Josh Emerson's journey to produce Netflix's first all-native lineup in Los Angeles while spreading his mom's ashes, yet ends with rediscovering a lost path toward the meaning of life. A small step for America, but a giant leap for your friendly neighborhood Navajo comedian.

 

Please consider donating to his work @ https://seedandspark.com/fund/bad-indian#story 

 

Follow Jeff @studiostonic on Instagram — He’s a good midwestern man, who grew up attending a rural Wells-Lutheran school outside Kenosha WI. We discussed Jeff’s passions in his life, his arc through stand-up, how he picked up photography in the first place, and we even had the joy of sharing a classic bit of our show; Eric Adams teaching us all how to search a child’s room for contraband. Sean asks Jeff about his own journey in faith & Sean looks for unattainable answers about the class divide from someone who shouldn’t be expected to have any.

 

It’s a Paul Ryan love story, folks. You won’t want to miss a single drop of this one — good ‘till the last sip. Please go check out Bad Indian & support Jeff reaching his fundraising goal!!

 

I am appreciative of Jeff for sharing his time & perspective with us. Hope he comes back soon to share the great news that he met the fundraising goal and the film gets greenlit!!

 

FO & BW

My guest is Denver stand-up comedian Mitch Jones — finally a guest who can reach above the top shelf, a guest that sees the world like me, but mostly the top of the fridge like I do.  He hails from Louisville, Colorado & started performing stand-up comedy in 2010 after graduating from UNC in Greeley, Colorado.  Follow him @comicmitchjones on Instagram & go see him do stand-up!

 

We talked about Mitch’s love for the Insane Clown Posse, he skipped out on his Juggalo face paint this time, but maybe if you ask nicely enough he will wear it for his next appearance.  It runs in his family, though, his dad was in Kiss Nation back in the day.  Mitch tells me about playing football growing up, we pour one out for the lost orange & blue Broncos milk because of school lunch initiatives, and Sean learns the lore of Italian Dunkers. 

 

Mitch offers some ICP concert advice for the common man, we speculate if the working title for the Lion King was ‘Speed Run Jesus’  — What more could you want, Folks, really? 

 

I’m grateful to get this hang with Mitch. Thanks to him for coming on & for giving me the chance to learn from someone as smart, funny, kind and generous this large-hearted human. 

 

FO & BW

Did someone say SeanDabsForTheFans Reboot?! A fellow king joins TTS for a dab-tacular crossover episode with our very funny guest, TikTok sensation, Denver stand-up Comedian, let him hear it through those screens, folks — Jacob Humphries. 

 

Jacob blew up on TikTok after starting in 2018. He shares the meaning behind his unique handle, how the ‘ch’ makes a ‘T’ sound. So don’t mispronounce or misplace his social status like I did; here I was thinking that the English language had rules. 

 

Follow him @ChrashCompactor on Instagram & @Chrash.Compactor on TikTok.

 

Jacob has worked in the service industry since he was 16 years old. Many of those years were spent at barbeque restaurants. What I’m getting at here is he’s more than qualified to give an objective wing rating after eating our signature TSS smoked chicken wings. I just hope his critique doesn’t mean we have to sell the farm. Poor chicken’lls freeze. It’s winter. 

 

Thanks to Jacob for being an easy guest to host & a gracious dude in sharing about his life & perspective about these crazy times in the good ‘ole U.S.A. baby.  

 

FO & BW

That’s right, before anyone knows what will happen, we satirically-speculate at TSS whether this nation and democracy (I’m told) will die.  Two educated gentlemen join the pod for an episode recorded on election night 2024.  Connor Moore returns for his third appearance, bringing his classmate & politically minded man, Michael Self, to enjoy what to some is just another Tuesday, but what Michael calls his Superbowl. 

 

We talk about in-person voting & taking a knee for justice while voting ‘no’ on judges (Height reasons).  Michael shares about growing up in a military family, living abroad, his desire to join the military after high school, and being pushed by dad to go to college.  They can’t possibly be taught U.S. history in German high schools, can they?

 

What is a ‘Gold-standard’ pollster?  Iowa going blue?  Texas going blue?  From troublesome polls to election predictions, strap in for a fun satirical time exercising our civil discourse and disagreeing on lots while not believing the other’s head belongs on a pike.  That’s ‘Murica. 

 

Finally, I get the opportunity to educate these boys (mainly Connor) about the issues that really decide elections.  I can’t imagine anything more exciting than to share live with a guest the news of ‘Peanut the Squirrel’ & NY State.  This rivals our classic Eric Adams searching your child’s room video — TOP TIER stuff, do not miss out if you’re a fan of the show. 

 

Thank you to my guests for making me more educated and engaging in fun debate, as if we have any control whatsoever. Cheers. 

 

FO & BW

My good friend, our faithful live production director, Sam Krason is back!  We were both somewhat uncertain & sad at the state of our Nuggets team when we recorded this episode after an afternoon loss to a Norman Powell led Clippers team.  That’s basketball. But don’t we look foolish now, Joker has started with his best statistical 10 games of his career looking back just a few short weeks later.  Egg on our face for losing any faith in Big Honey’s ability to turn rotational players into key role pieces.  Our sacrifice to the throne of big man basketball will be provided, rest assured.  

 

We discussed lack of shooting on the Nuggets, backdoor government dealings possibly linked to the L.A. Clippers new super premium bar/club within their new Intuit Dome, and how Sam still tears up the court at his local rec center. A return of Pineapple subsidies quickly reduces into an extended satirical bit about the WNBA & our lives.  Not to be missed, trust me.  Our WNBA fanship has run deep since our childhood Gold Crown WNBA games — we know ball. 

 

Sam was living out of Home Depot boxes, so we hear what that’s like.  Pretty cool stuff happening here.  And.. Oh!  How could I forget?  Sam educated me on the newest craze in sport broadcasting, an ultimate fan experience with the “right crowd,” I'm told. 

That’s right.  Marble Racing. 

 

If you like to laugh at physical satire, or you want to support the show.  Buy my book — ‘Things Trump Knows Best’ — by: Sean Connolly on Amazon (website coming).  Funds made go to support our illustrator, the talented Lilah Swanson, as well to support future projects we here at TSS want to bring to you all. Please leave a review if you get a laugh from reading it!   

 

FO & BW

An episode full of learning & laughter, steeped in aluminum foil headwear & historical folly, rolled in a tight tortilla of new friendship — Grayson Schrom didn’t know what he was getting into when he arrived at Top Shelf Studios.  Grayson is a stand-up comedian based in Denver, CO.  Follow him on socials @gs.was.here especially his YouTube where he posts sketch comedy & some of his stand-up sets!

 

We start hot ranting about ‘kids-these-days’ and a renewed anger over friends making their friends pay for a dab.  We hear how Grayson recently tried to do his “good deed for the day,” by helping a girl buy the candy she wanted, only to have his kindness shot back into his face when her dad found out.  In the craziness of election season, I show Grayson my new physical meme.  The book is on sale now, just in time for secret-santa & gift-giving season — ‘Things Trump Knows Best’ 

 

Our presidential debates have been reduced to memes, so real political discourse has naturally moved to… Podcasts?!?  What a time to be alive.  We discuss how difficult it is to make money running a business, share our earliest memories (for me 9/11, for Greyson his guinea pig getting out), and Sean leads Greyson down an educational journey of ‘America’s Teenage Years.’   Don’t skip out early, or you’ll miss hearing about Greyson’s senior year of high school in Northern Idaho & the mountains of Utah — maybe you’ve heard of the Netflix show ‘Hell Camp,’ but I hadn’t, so the idea of 50 troubled teens recovering at a boarding school sounds.. difficult. To say the least. 

 

Thanks to Greyson for bearing the cold to come on the show. See him do stand-up, if you’re around Denver! I’ll be on his show mid-December at Tekka Asian Cuisine, hope to see you there!

 

Sean's Book - 'Things Trump Knows Best'

 

FO & BW

Chet Tilles joins Sean at TSS for an episode full of meat talk. We expected to be roasting one another, so this would be a great chance to learn about each other. Plans changed and I got roasted by another Comedy Works Door Staff, Nick Hahn, but surely Chet & I will find another time to duel it out. Chet is a Stand-up comedian who has performed sets in English and Spanish. Follow him on Instagram @ChetComedy

 

We seek to decipher the age-old question: When food is cooked by-bros, for-bros, which foods are Top-Tier? From Hotpockets to take out, we do our best to cover it all, writing a bit live on air. Enthralled by the smoked chicken, Sean teaches Chet about what led him to smoking chicken wings for his podcast guests. 

 

Chet talks about breaking into the Denver comedy scene as a New Yorker, performing sets in London the day following a terrorist attack in Turkey, we review our screen time usage data live, & Sean is left wondering how Chet managed to cut weight to wrestle at 96 lb. Sean wasn’t allowed to carry the football most years as a kid because he was too heavy so this is all very foreign to him besides trying to cut weight. 

 

Thanks to Chet for coming on & for having me over for another good hang & shvitz since we recorded this episode. 

 

FO & BW

My guest, Patrick Trujillo, is a stand-up comedian, & a graduate of University of Northern Colorado earning his degree in Economics & English.  He is a corn-fed, American-made, Built-Ford-Tough kind of guest.  Thank goodness I sent that DM to the wrong person & we became friends as a result. 

 

We discuss which hills to die on, the freedom of speech not being free from consequence, & we get Patrick’s sneaky pick for the presidential race.  Patrick shares about his family life growing up, why BINGO is way better when you go with your mom, and how quick & painless it is to concede one’s ethics & morality to pay the rent.  Listen folks, it seems (to us at least) that you beat “the game” by being a person in the real world living a real life, not falling for your impending loss of humanity, pushing intentionally toward the imperfect ridges accenting our souls.  The imperfections of our lives that make life full of folly and discovery. 

 

I am educated by Patrick about transfer programs & school lunch through his own life stories of the value they can provide families.  We talk about p-hacking in public policy studies, how money is only real at scale (on either extreme), and Patrick digs deeper into how the heck life even works for Sean. 

 

My book — Things Trump Knows Best — is out now on Amazon! It makes a great holiday gift for your girlfriend’s superior lover.  Want to close the deal?  You need this on your nightstand. 

 

Thanks to Patrick for being a rad dude with a rad ‘tude.

 

FO & BW