September 5, 2025 • 11 mins
On this episode of The Thought Shower, Intern John talks about his week, and how to know if someone is fake smart!
Intern John's new comedy album, "Chuy Forever: The Album" is available for preorder now! Proceeds benefit the Warrior Canine Connection. You can order the album HERE
Every week Intern John discusses adulting, dating, radio life, and more! You can follow Intern John on social media: @InternJohnRadio. You can listen to past episodes at TheThoughtShower.com
Intern John's new comedy album, "Chuy Forever: The Album" is available for preorder now! Proceeds benefit the Warrior Canine Connection. You can order the album HERE
Every week Intern John discusses adulting, dating, radio life, and more! You can follow Intern John on social media: @InternJohnRadio. You can listen to past episodes at TheThoughtShower.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In a Happy Friday friend. Welcome to the Thought Shower interns.
Gena's my name. It's been a week. Been a good week,
though busy week.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good week.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We did some TV stuff. We were on Fox on Wednesday.
We were on Fox yesterday. Did some golfing on Wednesday
as well, did pretty well, hit two pars and you know,
golf is to me again, I'm still having fun with it,
and like I'm very much trying to protect that because
I said before the second I take it seriously, it's
(00:31):
gonna be ruined. It'll be ruined forever. It's gonna be
uh yeah, like you just ruin it for me. So
I'm having fun with that. It's been an emotional week.
You know. We announced the Chewy Forever album, and part
of announcing the album, of course, is doing promotion for
the album and doing your TV shows and and other things,
(00:52):
and been posting videos of those shows.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And I'm not gonna lie. It's hard.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's difficult, and it's a weird spot to be in
where I think, you know, in life, like you move
on sometimes not really move on, but you know, life does.
Time goes on, it just physically does. And you look
back on things and it's weird to see yourself in
that spot.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I posted a video on my Instagram at intern Genre
Radio of the Chewy Forever song, And you know that
song was written all right seven years ago and my
friend Andrew Day, and I'm my best friend. I was like, hey,
it'd be great to write a song, you know about Chewy,
so I have it one day. And I wrote it
because I knew one day i'd be here and he
(01:37):
wouldn't be. I wanted to have something to remember him by.
And then of Corus when Skittles joined the family, that
we added the Skittles version. And now if you go
to my Instagram at intern Genre Radio posted the twenty
twenty five version of it, and it's a it's emotional.
I can't lie to you, you know. I practice it
so many times to try to figure out ways to
(01:59):
control the emotion. You can hear my voice certainly, but
it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I have a tattoo on my wrists from that song.
If you get a chance to see it at Internjohn
Radio on Instagram, if you just like comment whatever, it
helps grow the video and it helps get the word
out again. The pre orders are available right now internsgoncomedy
dot com. And if I'm being completely honest, that's what
helps the album grow up the charts. If we get
(02:26):
a good number of pre orders. When the album actually
comes out September twenty fifth, there's a good chance it
goes number one, which would be special to do that
and to raise money for War Canine Connection, the fantastic
charity that trains puppies be service dogs. If you get
chance today would mean the world to me. Internsjooncomedy dot com.
(02:47):
The preorder, let's get to this for your Friday. How
to tell somebody is faking being super smart Where they
are doing things, They are saying things so that they
can come across as very intelligent, and maybe they are
somewhat intelligent, but they're trying to flex, if you will,
(03:08):
that they are much smarter than they really are, starting
with using or rather over using complex vocabulary. If someone's
been around big words, it don't quite fit the conversation.
This is their way of paring smart with that understanding context.
You know, it's funny. I've read a lot of marketing books,
marketing major and they have said that the smartest people
(03:31):
essentially don't use the big words that only a few
people know. They use the words everybody knows so that
their message gets across, you know, Like that's it, you know.
I remember for ever reason, like I remember weird things
in grade school or from high school. Like we had
a vocab test in freshman year and one of the
(03:51):
words was incessant. I remember my mom's saying, like our
dogs incessant barking. But it's like a smart person or
somebody's trying to sound super smart, but like, oh, they're
incestant question asking instead of they're constant. Well, everybody knows
what consonant is, you know what I mean. I think
that's huge. You're just trying to sound smart. And also,
by the way, I think people say that hoping that
(04:13):
somebody goes, what does that mean, so then they can
explain how smart they are.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that's annoying. That's annoying.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
A name dropping experts in books, if someone's constantly mentioning
famous experts or books and conversations instead of diving into
the substance of the topic, maybe leaning on those names
to boost their credibility. I do think that this comes
as like people will use that as like the I
get jail free car bads like boom.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I know this card here we go.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I know this Where it's like if you disagree with somebody,
they'll quote the book to make it seem like they
know more than you do. Happens all the time avoiding
direct questions. Is someone you know often dodges direct questions
with vague answers, that's a sign and not as informed
as they want you to believe. Again, I think this
(05:02):
happens where it's like the one friend who like listen
to a podcast or thought they read something, then acts
like they are knowledgeable on it, but it's like they didn't.
You know, you're doing a group project and some of
the project didn't do the work, but they're just kind
of like going off what they heard. You can just
kind of tell you, oh, you don't. You have no
idea what's going on. If they emphasize their opinions, if
(05:26):
there's somebody in your circle who insists their perspective is
the only valid one, this over emphasis on their opinions
can be a sign of masking insecurity. People who are
genuinely intelligent are usually open to other viewpoints and willing
to adjust their beliefs. I have done this in practice.
I don't quite know when I started, but I will
(05:47):
just sit back in a conversation and listen, and you
can kind of tell in a group of people who
the insecure one is because.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
They are always talking.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
They are and they're always naked about that, and they're
always giving their opinion on every little thing, which is
also like, if you give your opinion on everything, I
do think that diminishes the value of your opinion because
then it's like, if you give your opinion only on
a few things, that means that I've given your opinion
(06:18):
on you actually care about, You actually have strong convictions.
It's not like if I get angry at every little thing,
it's not a big deal anymore. But something happens at work,
I get angry about it, it's a big deal because
I don't flip over the smallest things. If that makes sense,
I think that's beyond true. If they rely on cliches,
(06:40):
they say, have you ever had a conversation where someone
peppers their speech with overrushed, overused phrases. Lean heavily on cliches?
Is indication not as informed as it might seem. But
that's usually the what do I know?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It is? What it is.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
You can think that way where you can't even like
argue that it's almost like you've you've given up, like
the chance for the conversation, which I don't think those
people will anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I think a lot of times this like over use
and over confidence, fake confidence is because they don't want
a conversation. It's almost like peacocking so that you don't
challenge the viewpoint, which is also odd. You know, think
of how many conversations you have a day, a week,
a year. Do you have a running scoreboard of how
many times you are right versus somebody else? I don't,
(07:33):
although for me it's all time, rarely wrong, you know,
interrupting others constantly. Do you know somebodey who often cuts
in or talks over others during discussions? This can signal
insecurity rather than intelligence. Yeah, again, I'll go back to
I really think if you really pause and think about it,
(07:53):
if there's that person in the group that always talks
over everybody, always gives their opinion, or you know, does
the actually daida.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You don't look at that.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Person and think, oh, they're the smart and form one,
you know what I mean, They're just not you know, oh Okay,
they have to get their opinion and everything. And also,
I really don't think you value their opinion as much
because again it's like they give their opinion on everything,
So why would I worry about this one?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Overreacting to criticism?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yes, ever met someone who becomes overly defensive when their
ideas are challenged. This overreaction is tied to insecurity about their knowledge.
This psychologist has researched this. She says that those of
the fixed mindset often see criticism as a threat rather
than an opportunity for growth.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I have said this too.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
In a group setting, you can't get super attached to
your ideas, you know what I mean? If you take
your ideas as a reflection on you personally, that's not good.
I would also say this is that if you treat
other people's ideas as an extension to them personally, that's
(09:04):
not good either. Like to me, the best ideas for
the show, or for the comedy, or for whatever happens
is when a bunch of people are sharing ideas knowing
that of the ideas we're gonna share, ninety percent of
them won't be good or won't be what we're looking for.
And that's okay, because that means ten percent are gonna
be good. But we won't get those ten percent if
we're always trying to break somebody down or break ourselves
(09:27):
down when we're offering up new stuff, you know. And
so me like, I am open to criticism absolutely for
anything or at least getting ideas. I think if you
shut down instantly, you know. Now, let me put to
you this way though, too, Like I'll take in advice
from people. It doesn't mean I follow it right, but
(09:50):
it's good to hear why somebody might think a certain
way about something. Then maybe I can just a little bit.
But I don't think it means you have to necessarily
follow it step by step instantly shut down somebody offers
to help, especially if somebody you trust right, like somebody
that wants to see you do well. Yeah, that to
me is a sign and it all goes back to insecurity,
(10:11):
like we're all afraid of being seen as as less.
Then again, I think if you worry out your friends
that way, they're probably not your friends.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
If you get a chance, speaking of being friends, it
would mean the world to me if you could pre
order the Chewy Forever album. I can't even I get
choked up thinking about the daily album comes out, which
is September twenty fifth. If it happens to a number one,
what that would mean. Yeah, I want to make this
(10:42):
an emotional end.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
But the album six bucks.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
If you get a chance, please Internsoncomedy dot com benefits
the Warrior Knine Connection Internsjoncomedy dot com My Chewy Forever album. Also,
by the way, if you are in the Bethesda area
next Thursday, September eleventh, We're doing a Tuesday dog adoption
event at Caddies on Cordell So Caddies and Bethesda next Thursday,
(11:08):
five to seven pm. A Tuesday dog adoption having some
great dogs looking for homes and raising money for the
dog shelter as well.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Have a fantastic weekend. It's Thought Shower
In a Happy Friday friend. Welcome to the Thought Shower interns.
Gena's my name. It's been a week. Been a good week,
though busy week.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good week.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We did some TV stuff. We were on Fox on Wednesday.
We were on Fox yesterday. Did some golfing on Wednesday
as well, did pretty well, hit two pars and you know,
golf is to me again, I'm still having fun with it,
and like I'm very much trying to protect that because
I said before the second I take it seriously, it's
(00:31):
gonna be ruined. It'll be ruined forever. It's gonna be
uh yeah, like you just ruin it for me. So
I'm having fun with that. It's been an emotional week.
You know. We announced the Chewy Forever album, and part
of announcing the album, of course, is doing promotion for
the album and doing your TV shows and and other things,
(00:52):
and been posting videos of those shows.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And I'm not gonna lie. It's hard.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
It's difficult, and it's a weird spot to be in
where I think, you know, in life, like you move
on sometimes not really move on, but you know, life does.
Time goes on, it just physically does. And you look
back on things and it's weird to see yourself in
that spot.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You know.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I posted a video on my Instagram at intern Genre
Radio of the Chewy Forever song, And you know that
song was written all right seven years ago and my
friend Andrew Day, and I'm my best friend. I was like, hey,
it'd be great to write a song, you know about Chewy,
so I have it one day. And I wrote it
because I knew one day i'd be here and he
(01:37):
wouldn't be. I wanted to have something to remember him by.
And then of Corus when Skittles joined the family, that
we added the Skittles version. And now if you go
to my Instagram at intern Genre Radio posted the twenty
twenty five version of it, and it's a it's emotional.
I can't lie to you, you know. I practice it
so many times to try to figure out ways to
(01:59):
control the emotion. You can hear my voice certainly, but
it's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I have a tattoo on my wrists from that song.
If you get a chance to see it at Internjohn
Radio on Instagram, if you just like comment whatever, it
helps grow the video and it helps get the word
out again. The pre orders are available right now internsgoncomedy
dot com. And if I'm being completely honest, that's what
helps the album grow up the charts. If we get
(02:26):
a good number of pre orders. When the album actually
comes out September twenty fifth, there's a good chance it
goes number one, which would be special to do that
and to raise money for War Canine Connection, the fantastic
charity that trains puppies be service dogs. If you get
chance today would mean the world to me. Internsjooncomedy dot com.
(02:47):
The preorder, let's get to this for your Friday. How
to tell somebody is faking being super smart Where they
are doing things, They are saying things so that they
can come across as very intelligent, and maybe they are
somewhat intelligent, but they're trying to flex, if you will,
(03:08):
that they are much smarter than they really are, starting
with using or rather over using complex vocabulary. If someone's
been around big words, it don't quite fit the conversation.
This is their way of paring smart with that understanding context.
You know, it's funny. I've read a lot of marketing books,
marketing major and they have said that the smartest people
(03:31):
essentially don't use the big words that only a few
people know. They use the words everybody knows so that
their message gets across, you know, Like that's it, you know.
I remember for ever reason, like I remember weird things
in grade school or from high school. Like we had
a vocab test in freshman year and one of the
(03:51):
words was incessant. I remember my mom's saying, like our
dogs incessant barking. But it's like a smart person or
somebody's trying to sound super smart, but like, oh, they're
incestant question asking instead of they're constant. Well, everybody knows
what consonant is, you know what I mean. I think
that's huge. You're just trying to sound smart. And also,
by the way, I think people say that hoping that
(04:13):
somebody goes, what does that mean, so then they can
explain how smart they are.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that's annoying. That's annoying.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
A name dropping experts in books, if someone's constantly mentioning
famous experts or books and conversations instead of diving into
the substance of the topic, maybe leaning on those names
to boost their credibility. I do think that this comes
as like people will use that as like the I
get jail free car bads like boom.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
I know this card here we go.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I know this Where it's like if you disagree with somebody,
they'll quote the book to make it seem like they
know more than you do. Happens all the time avoiding
direct questions. Is someone you know often dodges direct questions
with vague answers, that's a sign and not as informed
as they want you to believe. Again, I think this
(05:02):
happens where it's like the one friend who like listen
to a podcast or thought they read something, then acts
like they are knowledgeable on it, but it's like they didn't.
You know, you're doing a group project and some of
the project didn't do the work, but they're just kind
of like going off what they heard. You can just
kind of tell you, oh, you don't. You have no
idea what's going on. If they emphasize their opinions, if
(05:26):
there's somebody in your circle who insists their perspective is
the only valid one, this over emphasis on their opinions
can be a sign of masking insecurity. People who are
genuinely intelligent are usually open to other viewpoints and willing
to adjust their beliefs. I have done this in practice.
I don't quite know when I started, but I will
(05:47):
just sit back in a conversation and listen, and you
can kind of tell in a group of people who
the insecure one is because.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
They are always talking.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
They are and they're always naked about that, and they're
always giving their opinion on every little thing, which is
also like, if you give your opinion on everything, I
do think that diminishes the value of your opinion because
then it's like, if you give your opinion only on
a few things, that means that I've given your opinion
(06:18):
on you actually care about, You actually have strong convictions.
It's not like if I get angry at every little thing,
it's not a big deal anymore. But something happens at work,
I get angry about it, it's a big deal because
I don't flip over the smallest things. If that makes sense,
I think that's beyond true. If they rely on cliches,
(06:40):
they say, have you ever had a conversation where someone
peppers their speech with overrushed, overused phrases. Lean heavily on cliches?
Is indication not as informed as it might seem. But
that's usually the what do I know?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It is? What it is.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
You can think that way where you can't even like
argue that it's almost like you've you've given up, like
the chance for the conversation, which I don't think those
people will anyway.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I think a lot of times this like over use
and over confidence, fake confidence is because they don't want
a conversation. It's almost like peacocking so that you don't
challenge the viewpoint, which is also odd. You know, think
of how many conversations you have a day, a week,
a year. Do you have a running scoreboard of how
many times you are right versus somebody else? I don't,
(07:33):
although for me it's all time, rarely wrong, you know,
interrupting others constantly. Do you know somebodey who often cuts
in or talks over others during discussions? This can signal
insecurity rather than intelligence. Yeah, again, I'll go back to
I really think if you really pause and think about it,
(07:53):
if there's that person in the group that always talks
over everybody, always gives their opinion, or you know, does
the actually daida.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
You don't look at that.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Person and think, oh, they're the smart and form one,
you know what I mean, They're just not you know, oh Okay,
they have to get their opinion and everything. And also,
I really don't think you value their opinion as much
because again it's like they give their opinion on everything,
So why would I worry about this one?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Overreacting to criticism?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yes, ever met someone who becomes overly defensive when their
ideas are challenged. This overreaction is tied to insecurity about their knowledge.
This psychologist has researched this. She says that those of
the fixed mindset often see criticism as a threat rather
than an opportunity for growth.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I have said this too.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
In a group setting, you can't get super attached to
your ideas, you know what I mean? If you take
your ideas as a reflection on you personally, that's not good.
I would also say this is that if you treat
other people's ideas as an extension to them personally, that's
(09:04):
not good either. Like to me, the best ideas for
the show, or for the comedy, or for whatever happens
is when a bunch of people are sharing ideas knowing
that of the ideas we're gonna share, ninety percent of
them won't be good or won't be what we're looking for.
And that's okay, because that means ten percent are gonna
be good. But we won't get those ten percent if
we're always trying to break somebody down or break ourselves
(09:27):
down when we're offering up new stuff, you know. And
so me like, I am open to criticism absolutely for
anything or at least getting ideas. I think if you
shut down instantly, you know. Now, let me put to
you this way though, too, Like I'll take in advice
from people. It doesn't mean I follow it right, but
(09:50):
it's good to hear why somebody might think a certain
way about something. Then maybe I can just a little bit.
But I don't think it means you have to necessarily
follow it step by step instantly shut down somebody offers
to help, especially if somebody you trust right, like somebody
that wants to see you do well. Yeah, that to
me is a sign and it all goes back to insecurity,
(10:11):
like we're all afraid of being seen as as less.
Then again, I think if you worry out your friends
that way, they're probably not your friends.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
You know.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
If you get a chance, speaking of being friends, it
would mean the world to me if you could pre
order the Chewy Forever album. I can't even I get
choked up thinking about the daily album comes out, which
is September twenty fifth. If it happens to a number one,
what that would mean. Yeah, I want to make this
(10:42):
an emotional end.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
But the album six bucks.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
If you get a chance, please Internsoncomedy dot com benefits
the Warrior Knine Connection Internsjoncomedy dot com My Chewy Forever album. Also,
by the way, if you are in the Bethesda area
next Thursday, September eleventh, We're doing a Tuesday dog adoption
event at Caddies on Cordell So Caddies and Bethesda next Thursday,
(11:08):
five to seven pm. A Tuesday dog adoption having some
great dogs looking for homes and raising money for the
dog shelter as well.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Have a fantastic weekend. It's Thought Shower
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