The Josh Innes Show - Beer Cures Social Anxiety

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

I know this is an obvious statement. But, beer makes me a more likable guy. I was at a baseball game yesterday, in a suite with some folks I just met. I had a few beers and was a great time to hang with. But, if I didn't have those beers, I'd have felt nervous. What's the deal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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by the whole process that goes into it. Like I was talking with another radio guy yesterday. I was at the ball game. I was the Detroit game, Tigers. Great day game. Weather was great. I was up in like this club level where everything was free. Look, I had no intentions of drinking alcohol the rest of the week after Monday.

Like Monday, I know I was going to have some beers because it's, like, Labor Day and football was on TV that night. But after that, I had no intentions. Then I'm invited to the baseball game Tuesday, so I'm not not going to drink delicious draft beer on Tuesday. Then I get invited to the game again on Wednesday, a day game in a club level where everything is included. So I'm walking around and like, oh, wow, they've got steak.

They've got steak tenderloin medallions up here. Well, I guess I'm going to score some of those. And then like, oh, wow, over here's a nacho bar. Well, I guess I'm going to have some of those. And over there's sushi. They had sushi. Generally speaking, I'm vehemently opposed to ballpark sushi, yet it was in a club, so I ate some ballpark sushi. And then they had Coors and Coors lied on draft. Bang, bang, bang, chug a lug, make you want to holler, howdy ho. Then there's a dessert bar with ice cream and cookies and everything else.

Then in the fifth inning, they just bring out Little Caesar's pizza for everyone. Like, what was I supposed to do? My intentions were never at any point to consume any booze during the week. weekday boozer unless it is a special occasion. I understand that many of you listen to me and you go, wait a minute, this guy is a booze hound. This guy drinks too much. Maybe you have a problem.

I do not have a problem. I do not desire alcohol like I don't fiend for it. Like I might have a gambling problem. That's true. If you say, Josh, you might have a problem. I'd say, yeah, that tracks. I don't have a boozing problem because I don't drink outside of the weekends. Like I'm a weekend drinker.

Weekend drinker. That's what I do. But if you're going to give me something to drink and it's free, I'm not going to turn it down. And if we're being fair, and I don't think I'm alone in this here, but like I was meeting some people I had never met before yesterday. Like, my boss was with me, but I also had a radio guy that's a guy that's been on the radio here for a long time. And I admire the guy, and he had a huge morning show here. So I was meeting him for the first time. His name is Drew Lane, and he has a very good podcast.

I honestly think you guys would enjoy his podcast. And, I mean, they go all out on it. It's called The Drew Lane Show. And they talk about the kind of stuff that we talk about on here as it relates to, you know, like pop culture stuff and those kind of stories, like anti-woke stories and all that. They talk about that a lot. So you'd probably like the Drew Lane podcast, and they have video on YouTube and stuff. So I think you'd enjoy it. So go search it to seek it out.

he's an older. I say he's an older dude. I mean, like, I'm 39. He's got to be in his late 60s, I guess, mid-60s, late 60s. But very sharp dude. Funny stuff. They make fun of shit. Like, it's a good podcast. But I was meeting him for the first time. And I was meeting a guy that is a big radio station client at one of the car dealerships. And I could have met them for the first time without a couple of beers. But when I got up there, I didn't see them. So I just went up to the bar and drink here, drink there, and all of a sudden I'm not drunk at all, but I'm loose enough to just have a good conversation. What does that mean?

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hey, if I can get a beer or two, all of a sudden I'm a chatty guy and I don't know if you'd call what I have, I don't know, generalized anxiety about talking with people or if it's just a general disinterest in other people? I don't know what it is. But I'm sure that WebMD and I'm sure that chat GPT would tell me that it's some form of problem. Now I'm genuinely curious. What does it mean that I need a beer or two to talk with people? Let's see what AI says. To need alcohol to feel comfortable talking to people often points to using as a social lubricant to manage social anxiety. This reliance can become a risky coping mechanism that temporary lowers inhibitions but may create a cycle of dependence and worsen anxiety in the long term.

Using alcohol as a social lubricant lowers inhibitors, alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that slows down brain fun. In small to moderate doses, this can reduce self-consciousness and make people feel more relaxed, outgoing, and willing to take social risks. That's me. Reduces stress and nerves. Like, that's me. Boost mood and bonding. Same with me. So, now, the underlying issue is I probably have social anxiety, which it says can range from mild shyness to a more severe disorder that significantly impacts a person's life.

That's not me. Like, I just, like, there's a difference between me with two beers and a difference between, you know, me. and having no beers and I'm not going to take like I guess I could take some sort of like medication to be less I don't even want to say nervous because I have no issues talking with people right but I become a more likable guy if I have a couple of beers I don't think that's a problem what's the difference between having to drink a few beers to become a more likable guy and popping some prescribed medication right and I don't do it every day because I don't need to be around people every day but like like I was there was a client

there yesterday and it's a like I'd like to get this client on the radio station on the radio show car dealership all that I'd love to have this person on the show if I don't consume a couple of drinks and loosen up and get a little bit funnier I just end up kind of being almost standoffish like people think I'm kind of standoffish people think I don't say a lot I get a couple of beers in me we're shooting the shit we're having a good time we're laughing I'm a more likable guy what does that say about me what does that mean about me again do I probably have some sort of social anxiety, probably. But I think everybody has some form of social anxiety now because I think the world has created people having social anxiety. The world has

made it as such that we're so worried about everything we say. We're so worried about offending people. We're so concerned that we say the wrong thing and this person takes it the wrong way. And before you know it, this person's telling other people that you said something that offended them. And before you know what, you're being called to HR. And they're like, hey, when you met this client at the ball game the other night, did you say blank? Like, that is my social anxiety. I never used to have that fear at all. When I was in Houston, 23, 24 years of age, I had zero fears. And I think some fears are okay to have, you know, because like workplace dynamics have changed so you can't make certain jokes around certain people like

you used to. Some people just don't know how to take it. Like you get a younger person in there that doesn't get that you're telling a joke. Look, I grew up working around a lot of older people that made a lot of off-color comments. And a lot of people just accepted the off-color comments because it was a different world, right? I think of the shit that we used to do at the radio station in Houston bits that we used to do. I've told you this before. There's shit that I would not replay on here. Not that I think it's offensive, but people that have no idea what context is and know how to

understand the joke would find it offensive. And I sure shit ain't going to play it on the podcast and ain't going to play it anywhere else because I don't want to fucking deal with the potential of a backlash or the potential of someone saying, whoa, that was super offensive. I don't want to deal with that. That's not something that interests me. So I'm just not going to screw around with it and run the risk, right? But I think that's the same thing that can be said in social situations.

It's the same reason why guys are afraid to talk to chicks. Like, it's okay to go up to a chick, hit on a chick and strike out and, you know, lick your wounds. But is it in 2025? Because now the crime is the hitting on someone. The crime isn't the real crimes. The crime isn't the, you know, stalking someone like real shit. It's not sexually assaulting someone like real shit. The crime is even being interested in wanting to fuck somebody.

Like somehow that makes you the creep It makes you the creep that you're at a bar Looking for ass and you go up to someone You go I think you're cute You want to dance and like oh my God, no, you're threatening me Like dudes are probably scared shitless Right People are afraid to say anything in the workplace

They don't want to offend anybody They don't want to like And you don't really know you're doing it Because not everybody will tell you And then you have to hear it secondhand That somebody was offended by something you did And you're like What the fuck were they offended by?

What did I do? You know? Like, that's why I think it's just very easy to get into a social situation and be nervous. Now, this group of people wasn't really a nerve-wracking group, although, like, I was kind of nervous to talk to the radio guy because he's been here a long time and, like, I don't know if he's going to like me. Because he has a podcast where they make fun of a lot of shit. And, like, they have the who are these podcast guys on their show and they make fun of other podcasts. So you're like, this guy might think I'm a dips shit and, you know, who knows? And maybe he's going to go to his podcast and tell people I'm a dip shit.

That's not going to be the case. but like you think those things right and you're like I want this guy's audience to think I'm good because they're here in Detroit mostly and maybe they listen to me like so you think those things not that I'm using him for that but like you're looking at the possibilities of what comes from you know knowing this guy and if he thinks you're a pud if he thinks you're any good if he likes you so like you think of those things but you stop thinking of those things when you have a couple of beers again would you what is better or worse popping some sort of medication for social anxiety it's a legit question I'm going to ask that. Well, but the internet will probably tell me that pills are fine. I try to take as few pills as possible. Now, I know you're also saying, Josh, you put Manjaro in your body. People have no idea what this does, but you're just going to throw it in your body, yes. But I don't like to take mind-altering shit that can fuck with you in that way.

I don't want to take a lot of anxiety pills or Xanax or clonopens or any of these fucking things. That doesn't interest me. so maybe if I did it would balance me out a little bit and I wouldn't be thinking in the way that like oh I have this social anxiety around people but I do because you don't know what offends people anymore and you don't know what they're going to go back and tell other people you don't know who you can trust that's my biggest thing is I don't know who you can trust like Jim Mud I like Jim Mud I'm talking friend circle not like family but like friend circle I can trust Jim Mud I can say something to Jim Mud and I'm not concerned that Jim Mud's going to tell anybody or the Jim Mudd Mud's going to judge or whatever. I can trust Jim. Now, if I said I committed a double murder that's different, but just the kind of off-color jokes or whatever, Jim, it is good to have someone that you can trust. I can trust my two best friends from high school, I can trust. I can trust, like Mike Meltzer, I can trust, Bootsie, I can trust. Like, there are people I can trust to make dumb jokes, say off-color shit, a lot of that. But like, you get into the

workplace, you don't know who's offended by what, and you don't know who finds what you say to be offensive. You don't know who finds what you say to be funny. You don't know, they don't know you. So like, yeah, I had, you know, I drank two beers or something. Like I go out there and go bang, bang with a couple beers. I'm loosened up. Then I can kind of babysit a beer for a while and feel good. But I get loose in it and I feel good. And then I become a chatty guy. And before you know what, I got two new friends. Had great conversations with these guys about radio and sports and baseball and shit. And I love it. Otherwise, I would just sat there and been kind of nervous.

And I don't blame myself. I blame the world. I think the world has created nervous people. The world has created people that have anxiety over social situations. Again, imagine being a dude and you go to a bar. It is understood since caveman times that you go out and you're looking to get laid. And the only way you're going to get laid is if you ask if you can get laid. But asking if you can get laid is threatening now.

There should be no crime and say, like, hey, Would you like to go home with me? Oh, God, no. Okay, cool. I'm glad I asked, and thank you for your honesty. But instead, you go, hey, you want to go home? Oh, my God, they get a rape whistle and start blowing the shit. I'm like, I'm just asking.

I'm not going to folly. I'm not a creep. I am looking to get laid. I have bluest of balls. I just want to have sex with you. No, okay. But a woman could do that. A woman could come up.

There's a song called, Excuse Me, You Look Like You Love Me, I think is the name of it. It's Ella Langley and some guy. I find her to be cute. But the whole gist of the song is like she's just some horny chick and she's out at the bar and she sees this good looking guy and she just walks up to him and is, hey, let's fuck basically. Like, women could do that. Men can't. Men do it.

They're fucking sexual predators. Women do it. And it's cute. You know, a man cheats on a woman. He's a piece of shit. A woman cheats on a man. Like, you know, a man cheats. She can destroy the shit out of his car.

If she cheats, it's like, eh. Sorry. I cheated. There's double standards, kids. Anyway, I tell you all that to tell you this. Don't take mind-altering drugs. Just go drink two or three Coors' Lights or Coors' Yellowbellies and go make new friends. That's the lesson you can learn from Uncle Josh today.