The Josh Innes Show - Five Beer Courage

Episode Date: December 10, 2025

I went to the IHeart Radio Jingle Ball last night. I was at a client party and was feeling kind of awkward. This is an issue I've been having lately. I just assume everyone hates me. It's weird. Anywho, I drink a few beers and I become the life of the party. How can I replicate this feat without booze? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right. So this morning I got up, not hung over because I don't get hung over. I may have still been intoxicated from last night because we had the jingle ball show with Nelly and Shinedown. A regret I have is that I didn't see Shinedown earlier this year when I could have because Shinedown crushes. They only did like four songs at this. I'm standing right there next to the stage, All Access Pass, watching Shinedown. And my God, Shinedown is good. Nellie is good. It's all fun stuff, man. And I got to. intoxicated at this thing let me play a couple of commercials I want to get into something as it relates to intoxication and different things like that at Fandual Casino you get even more ways to play

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gambling or the gambling of someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. I think we've talked about this before, but like there's got to be something. There's got to be some sort of medication or something that can help you recreate the way you feel mentally and how free you feel mentally after like five beers. Not like balls out drunk or anything like that. Not like, oh, look, I'm blackout drunk or I've had 15 beers. But here's the thing about me. I talked about this a little bit on the radio show today. So one thing about me is that like I've become sort of an introvert over the last couple of years.

And I think part of it stems from the fact that I, that I've worked in places that have kind of beaten me down and made me think that like people just like don't really like. like me. I think it really kind of started in Philly, but really kind of hit in Houston the second time is where you just kind of got this vibe that people just like don't like you, right? And maybe not everybody deals with that, but it's just something I deal with. I just assume that people don't like me. And maybe it's a defense mechanism. I don't know. Maybe if I create a world where I think and tell myself that people hate me, then maybe, you know, it makes it easier for me to blow up a situation. I'm sure that's part of it. But like, I've convinced myself that people just don't like me, right? So I become very kind of introverted. And I get to

that, to the point where a lot of times, like, I have like an anxiety around people because I just assume that they don't want to be around me or they don't want to talk with me and I don't know what to say. Like, it's so weird because I've never had to deal with that before. But it's something I kind of deal with now. And I don't know if it's just the culture of the world, the way the world is now. And you constantly worry about what people are thinking about you or what you could say that could get you canceled or what you could say that you know you say something to the wrong person is a joke and it becomes you know whatever like I think like I go back to when me and Jim or even me and Ben used to just walk around the radio station in Houston we would just say a

bunch of dumb shit and people knew it was dumb shit and we'd have a good time and like people laugh like I genuinely felt people liked us like we would walk around and people would be amused by our stupidity and we were outgoing gregarious whatever like that shit that I would never do now. The shit that I used to do just walk around and walk into people's offices, try to make them laugh. I'm just not comfortable doing that anymore. But last night, we're having a pre-party for this jingle ball show here at the radio station. We have a pre-party with clients and stuff like that. And they've got beer. Sam Adams, Winter Ale, I think it was. It was actually very good. And I drink a couple of beers. Like, when I got there, I was like, not nervous,

but just uncomfortable. Like, I just was uncomfortable around these people. I feel like I'm out of place. I feel like none of these people want to be around me, all this stuff. And I'm just kind of closed off and like I can see where I'm not a very likable person. I don't know how this happened. I drink a couple of beers. And I get it. Obviously, Josh. Oh, wow. You just discovered that if you drink beer, you're more outgoing. Well, I get it. No shit. I get it. But I have about three or four beers. And I'm the life of the party. I'm fun. I'm having conversations with clients. I would have never actually had conversations with before, if I was just, you know, uncomfortable.

Because when I first got there, they had me talking to some guy that worked at a car dealership or ran a car dealership. And I had like three words to say. I had nothing to say. I was uncomfortable. I was nervous. By the time this party's halfway done and we're about to leave to go to the event, I'm sitting there talking to this gal that owns a car dealership and runs a car dealership.

And I'm like having deep conversations going in depth on the Kia sportage. And we're talking about selling cars. We're talking about radio. and like I'm out going, we're doing shots, we're having a great time, we're on a party bus together, going over to the big event. And like, I'm just a different dude. And I get it. You have a couple of beers, and it changes things. I get that.

I'm well aware of how alcohol works. But, man, I go to the show. I'm talking to everybody. I'm walking up to celebrities and taking pictures. Like, oh, look, there's Nelly. Let me take a picture with Nellie. If I were sober, I'd never walk up to Nellie and ask for a picture. I wouldn't walk up to shine down and ask for a picture.

I wouldn't walk up to this Conan Gray and ask for a picture. But I was just buzzed enough to do it. And like, I'm enjoying the show and I'm fist pumping. I come to find out people were filming me during this because, like, I'm just into it and I'm singing and I'm having a good time. It was a fun time from what I recall of it. I get to the station today and the big morning host on the pop station comes over and he goes, let me tell you, man. My wife just loves you. And I've met his wife.

I've talked with it, but I've never had like an in-depth conversation or anything. I go, why is that? Why does your wife love me? and he goes, she just looked at you and you were in the moment and you were having a good time and she admired that you were just in the moment. And I'm like, I'm never in the moment, but only when I have that certain level of booze, that certain amount of booze that takes me to that level, like where I'm just in the moment and enjoying it and having fun and talking with anybody who will talk and having a fun time and having conversations. Like, what is it? First of all, I have to have, I must have developed some sort of social anxiety over the last couple of years. That has to be it, right?

Like, this has to be some form of social anxiety that I'm dealing with, and I'm uncomfortable around people, not necessarily uncomfortable around people, just like, in my mind, I don't think they want to be around me or talk with me. So I've programmed myself to believe that they just have no interest in me, which everybody tells me is not true, and maybe it isn't true. But in my mind, it is. but then I drink a couple of beers and I'm fully aware of what this sounds like like no shit Josh you've just described every human on the planet you're kind of introverted

and then you have a couple of beers and all the sudden boom 10 rounds with Jose Cuervo and you're here for the party I get it right tequila makes her clothes fall off I get it but I want that feeling all the time what do you do and how do you get it

like I think I'd be unstoppable if I liked myself all the time as much as I like myself when I've had four or five beers and I'm singing shine down at the concert. You're like, how do you get to that level? I'm sure other people deal with this, right? Like, everybody, like, I'm sure there's a bunch of people

that listen to this and are like, holy shit, I'm the same way. I'm not telling you I want to be an alcoholic or anything like that, but is it pot? Is it some sort of medication? Is it something that balance it? Like, I don't know. Because I don't have like anxiety to the, like, to the extent that my dad would or something and I end up in the ER, you know, because I'm having a panic attack.

It's just I have this, I'm uncomfortable talking with people, but then I have a couple beers and I got people coming in telling me how much fun I am. No one ever tells me how much fun I am. No one. Because generally speaking, I'm just a negative, snarky asshole that keeps to myself. But I go out and have, you know, five beers before this concert and I'm the most fun dude on the planet and people's wives are like, this guy's great and he's in the moment. How do I achieve that all the time? I mean, I could just drink five beers every day before I come to work. That would be one solution, I guess. But like, how do you get there? What is the medication?

What is the supplement? What is the drug? What is it that puts you in that frame of mind where you just don't give a fuck? Like, you're not out of it, but your inhibition is low. You're not nervous around people. In your mind, you're the coolest guy on the planet and you're dancing and you're having fun and you're just in the moment you're dancing like no one's watching how do you get to that point what is that like how do you get there what is the medication like let me google that

this is going to be a weird thing to google it's going to sound damn near depressing but what can i take to make me feel as confident and self-assured as i am when i have a few beers let's see All right, AI, to build lasting self-assurance without relying on alcohol, you should focus on a combination of psychological techniques, lifestyle changes, and potentially supportive supplements. Fine, what are the supportive supplements? Alcohol provides temporary relief by lowering inhibitions and reducing social anxiety, but true confidence is a skill built over time. I don't want true confidence. I don't need that. All I want is to feel the way I feel when I have five beers.

Oh, this sucks. Challenge negative thoughts, gradual. exposure, improve body language. Fuck that. What are the supplements? While not a direct replacement for psychological work, certain supplements may help reduce baseline anxiety when used as a start of holistic approach. Always consult a health care provider before starting a new supplement regimen

to ensure proper dosage and check the interactions with other medications. Elthanine, an amino acid found in green tea that can promote a state of calm alertness and reduce mental fatigue without drowsiness. Okay. B vitamins, ashwagata is an aptogenic herb, adaptogenic herb that may help the body manage stress and balance brain chemicals. Magnesium, a common deficiency linked to anxiety supplementing with magnesium glycinate may help relax muscles and support nerve function. Okay, I'm just asking you, how? Anyway, here's a story from 2002. confident without alcohol, the liquid courage. Okay, will

you explain it and not just like, hey, be more confident? Tell me what I can take that's not going to kill me that will give me that vibe because I think I'm unstoppable if I'm the, when I'm in that zone, I am unstoppable and people come up to me and they like me. It is fascinating.

Okay, someone asked this question 10 years ago. Let's see, when I started at university, I drank lots. I had finished high school, moved away, blah, blah, blah, blah. Someone tell him what to take. So, anyway, that's what I need to find. I need to find the solution. I need to go out and I need to find something that makes me feel as free.

Because something's holding me back. There is an anxiety, a social anxiety that I've developed. And I think a lot of kids deal with, I say kids, I'm not a kid. But I think that's what's going to happen with kids throughout time now, is social media and everything is going to create a lot of kids that have social anxiety. The Internet, being in front of the world all the time because the Internet puts you there, social media, Facebook, Twitter, all that shit. And I think you're going to have more and more kids who develop social anxiety and just uncomfortable around people. And a lot of them

are just never going to be around people. I think that's something. And I think that's kind of what's caused this in me a little bit. You know, you're on social media and people talk about you. And then you're like, when I go to a new place, I assume that people Google me. And then when you Google me, it's nothing but bad. So in my mind, like, people have already, and maybe they don't. But like, you get a job somewhere. Everybody's curious about the guy they hired. They start to look it up and they start to read that Josh Ennis fired in Philadelphia for this. Josh Ennis and radio war here. And you just assume that these people all think you're a scumbag and then it puts you in a shell and you just kind of clam up. And that's what

I've done. And I hate that. But how do I get to the point where I feel like I've had five beers and I'm ready to rock? That is the question. Can we make it happen? More to come.