In this season finale of Too Sober For This, Shell and Iain are looking back on the first season of the podcast: what they’ve learned, what surprised them, and the conversations that stayed with them.

From recovery, relationships and body image to self-talk, identity, friendship and finding peace in your own head, this season has been a smorgasbord of incredible conversations. There’s been lot about accountability, changing the way you speak to yourself, and the uncomfortable reality that healing is often your responsibility, even when the damage wasn’t your fault.

Shell and Iain also talk about the pressure to constantly improve yourself, the weirdness of modern wellness culture, sobriety as a long-term relationship with yourself, and why they both feel increasingly suspicious of anything society suddenly decides is “healthy”, “aspirational” or “the right way to be”.

In this episode:

• The reality of building something creative without instant gratification
• How recovery changes your friendships, relationships and sense of self
• The exhausting pressure to constantly optimise, heal or “fix” yourself
• Body image, chronic illness, wellness culture and learning to exist outside trends
• The difference between blaming your past and taking responsibility for your future
• Why the voice in your head matters more than almost anything else
• Why peace and serenity can feel unfamiliar when you’ve spent years surviving chaos
• What they’ve learned from 12 weeks of difficult, funny and unexpectedly honest conversations

As always, there are also sober w4nker wins, podcast statistics, celebrity gossip, gay agendas, emotional support tea cakes, arguments about black pepper, merch dreams, chaotic tangents, and ongoing proof that sobriety does not automatically turn you into a calm or emotionally regulated person.

Thank you for listening to Season One of Too Sober For This. Honestly, we didn’t expect this many people to care and we definitely didn’t expect over 500 downloads, people messaging us about the episodes, or to still be sitting here 12 weeks later with matching mugs!

Listen now on all podcast platforms, and let us know: what conversations from this season stayed with you the most?

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Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

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In this episode of Too Sober For This, Shell and Iain are joined by comedian, musician and latex enthusiast Amelia Bayler for a conversation that starts with comedy and recovery… and somehow ends with dead hamsters, latex bodysuits, AI art, ice cream that looks suspiciously inappropriate, and arguing over who you’d save in a fire.

We talk about what it actually looks like to build a life after drinking, when sobriety stops being your whole identity and starts becoming the thing that quietly gave you your life back. There’s loads in here about comedy, creativity, self-worth, body image, relationships, collaboration, mental health, and learning how to stop talking to yourself like your own worst enemy.

Shell, Iain and Amelia also get into the overlap between humour and pain, using comedy as a defence mechanism, and the difference between laughing at yourself versus genuinely hurting yourself for other people’s entertainment. There’s also a big conversation around AI and creativity, whether art loses something when it’s generated instantly, and why collaboration and community matter so much in recovery and creative work.

In this episode:

• Why sobriety doesn't have to become your whole personality
• Comedy, self-worth and making yourself the butt of the joke
• Body image, confidence and learning to actually like yourself in recovery
• AI art, ChatGPT and whether creativity loses meaning when everything is instant
• Asking for help, collaboration and why recovery teaches people not to do life alone
• Edinburgh Fringe chaos, comedy flyers and sweating inside latex
• Relationships, identity and finding confidence without alcohol
• The continuing debate over whether you save the dog or the human in a fire

As always, there’s also sober overthinking, Glasgow stories, celebrity gossip, emotional support sausage dogs, questionable ice cream descriptions, burgers eaten in PVC outfits, and more proof that sobriety does not automatically turn you into a calm or sensible person.

Listen now on all podcast platforms, and if this episode gets you thinking, send us your thoughts. Have you ever used humour as armour? Do you think AI can ever replace real creativity? And honestly… who are you saving in the fire?

🙌 Links to our guest Amelia Bayler

DJ mix for Belters 4 U: https://on.soundcloud.com/kVoaYEuwbCXtKZi9Vf

Live dates in EDI / LDN / GLA including EDI FRINGE ➡️ https://linktr.ee/ameliabayler

PODCAST FUNNY LOOKS
https://open.spotify.com/show/7IwYaRzeuHk41Y4t7sVYGr?si=EKpKdED_SZGe0Tr-Spxf_A

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Instagram: @ameliabayler

DJING INSTA:@gym_crush_93

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@toosoberforthispodcast

Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com

In this episode of Too Sober For This, Shell and Iain are talking about words: the ones we use, the ones we avoid, the ones that make us flinch, and the ones we maybe need to reclaim.

From “alcoholic” and “addict” to “disabled”, “triggered”, “resilience”, “mindfulness”, “queer”, “c4nt” and “unalived”, this conversation gets into the messy, funny and uncomfortable reality of modern language. Who gets to decide which words are harmful? When does changing language help reduce stigma, and when does it just make things more sanitised, vague or algorithm-friendly?

Shell and Iain also talk about the words they personally struggle with, the labels that have helped them understand themselves, and the ones that still feel loaded. There’s a lot in here about recovery, identity, diagnosis, online censorship, stigma, and why some words are uncomfortable for a reason.

In this episode:

• Why some people identify with words like “addict” or “alcoholic” and others don’t
• The difference between reclaiming language and being defined by it
• How algorithms have changed the way we talk about suicide, abuse and trauma
• Why sanitising difficult words can sometimes dilute serious conversations
• The weaponisation of words like “resilience”, “triggered” and “mindfulness”
• Diagnosis, self-identification, ADHD, autism, OCD and the problem with “everyone’s a little bit…”
• Comedy, offence, intention and where the line actually is
• Why language matters, but so does context, history and who is using it

As always, there are also sober w4nker wins, questionable emoji use, mango-eating dogs, chia seeds, family visits, cruise ship karaoke, and the ongoing evidence that sobriety does not automatically make you a calm, wholesome person!

Listen now on all podcast platforms, and if this episode gets you thinking, send us your thoughts. What words do you hate? What labels have helped you? And are there any words you think we’ve become too scared to say?

Follow, rate, review, share with a friend, send it to your group chat, or shout about it loudly in the street. All of it helps the algorithm believe we are more important than we currently are.

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Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com

In this episode of Too Sober For This, recovery advocate Shell Righini and comedian Iain Anderson ask the question that nearly broke their friendship:

If your house was on fire… are you saving the dog or the human first?

What starts as a very unserious debate about dogs, humans, burning buildings and emotional support Chihuahuas turns into a much deeper conversation about pets, recovery, homelessness, mental health, loneliness, grief, and the kind of unconditional love that can sometimes save your life.

Shell and Iain both share the stories of the animals who arrived in their lives at exactly the right time. Shell talks about Ralph the cat, Milo the dog, and how having something to care for helped her through some of the darkest parts of early recovery. Iain shares how he found Rascal as an abandoned puppy in Barcelona, how they stayed together through homelessness, and why he feels so strongly about the way society often shows more compassion for animals on the street than for the humans beside them.

There is also a very serious discussion about non-alcoholic Guinness, supermarket pizzas, Isle of Wight tomatoes, dogs with better social lives than their owners, and whether Milo is actually a dog… or a lifestyle.

In this episode:

• How pets can support mental health, routine and emotional regulation
• The role animals can play in early sobriety and recovery
• Why caring for something else can help pull us out of ourselves
• The guilt, fear and codependency that can come with pet ownership
• Homelessness, dogs, shelters and judgement
• Why people are often more outraged by animals on the street than humans
• Whether dogs really offer unconditional love
• The grief we anticipate when we love an animal deeply
• Listener responses to the ultimate question: dog or human?

This one is funny, chaotic, emotional and unexpectedly uncomfortable in the best way. It is about dogs, yes. But it is also about compassion, survival, connection, and what it really means to love something that cannot stay forever.

As always, if you enjoy the episode, please follow, rate, review, share it with a friend, send it to the dog person in your life, and help us keep pleasing the algorithm lords.

Connect With Us

@toosoberforthispodcast

Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com

In this episode of Too Sober For This, recovery advocate Shell Righini and comedian Iain Anderson discuss…

What does it actually mean to feel “good” in your body… and why is it still so hard?

From 90s diet culture to Instagram “looksmaxxing,” body image has evolved… but the pressure hasn’t gone anywhere. If anything, it’s louder, more constant, and now coming from every direction.

Shell and Iain explore what it’s like navigating body image in sobriety; when you can’t numb out, distract, or escape the way you used to. They talk about growing up around dieting, disordered eating, and unrealistic standards, and how those patterns don’t just disappear when you get sober.

They also get into the newer wave of body pressure online, from men literally trying to “fix” their faces with hammers to the rise of optimisation culture, and ask whether any of it is actually about confidence… or just another form of self-rejection. Because the truth is you can change your habits, your lifestyle, even your entire life... and still wake up feeling uncomfortable in your own skin.

In this episode:

• Body image in recovery: what changes… and what doesn’t
• Growing up in 90s/2000s diet culture and its long-term impact
• Disordered eating, control, and addiction crossover
• Looksmaxxing, social media, and modern beauty standards
• Masculinity, appearance, and pressure on men
• Fitness, health, and finding a middle ground
• Chronic illness, identity, and feeling disconnected from your body
• The “inner critic” and why it’s so hard to switch off
• Self-worth, comparison, and learning to exist without constant judgement

If you’ve ever felt like your relationship with your body is complicated, exhausting, or constantly shifting then this episode will probably hit.

Expect honesty, uncomfortable self-awareness, dark humour, and a conversation that doesn’t pretend to have a neat answer.

Connect With Us

@toosoberforthispodcast

Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com

In this episode of Too Sober For This, recovery advocate Shell Righini and comedian Iain Anderson are joined by sobriety advocate, beer expert, and Instagram's Sober Boozer, Ben Gibbs to discuss...

What actually changes when you quit drinking… and what doesn’t?

From alcohol-free beer to sober Instagram, recovery has never been more visible. People are building communities, sharing journeys online, and redefining what life without alcohol looks like. But is sobriety really the solution to everything… or just the starting point?

Shell, Iain and Ben explore the reality of getting sober in 2026. They talk about mental health, relationships, personal growth, masculinity, and the unexpected parts of recovery that no one really prepares you for. From building a life online to navigating real-world connection, this conversation goes far beyond just “not drinking.”

They get into what sobriety gives you, what it takes away, and why putting down the drink doesn’t automatically make you a better person.

This episode sits right in the tension between self-improvement and self-awareness, questioning what happens when the coping mechanism disappears and you’re left with… just yourself.

In this episode

• Life after alcohol: what actually changes (and what doesn’t)
• Ben Gibbs’ journey and building The Sober Boozer
• Alcohol-free beer, sober culture, and social life without drinking
• Relationships, breakups, and identity in sobriety
• Money, addiction, and shifting from chaos to stability
• Online sobriety vs real-life community
• Masculinity, the manosphere, and modern male identity
• Why sobriety doesn’t automatically fix your behaviour
• Boundaries, choice, and learning how to leave when you want to

If you’ve ever wondered what life really looks like after quitting alcohol, this episode will give you the honest version… not the Instagram one.

Expect sharp observations, uncomfortable truths, dark humour, and a few moments where you realise sobriety isn’t about becoming perfect… and that is ok!

👤 About our guest: Ben Gibbs

Ben Gibbs, also known as The Sober Boozer, has been a beer commentator and sobriety advocate since quitting alcohol in 2022. He’s sampled over 1000 alcohol-free beers, worked with breweries across the UK, appeared on BBC radio, and became the first person in recovery to win a British Guild of Beer Writers award for his work.

👉 Follow Ben:
Instagram: @ sober_boozers_club

Monthly beer subscription box click here

Connect With Us

@toosoberforthispodcast

Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com

In this episode of Too Sober For This, recovery advocate Shell Righini and comedian Iain Anderson take on a very 2026 problem:

How is AI changing creativity, work, and the way we think?

From ChatGPT to AI design tools, artificial intelligence is everywhere. It’s writing emails, creating content, generating artwork, and helping people build businesses faster than ever. But is AI making life easier… or slowly replacing creativity, confidence, and human connection?

Shell and Iain explore the rise of AI in the creative industries and everyday life. They share their own experiences using AI for business, content creation, and decision-making; from productivity hacks and support with ADHD, to the unexpected downside of relying on it too much.

They get into the real impact of AI on artists, freelancers, and small business owners, and ask whether we’re entering a world of faster innovation or a sea of sameness.

This episode sits right in the tension between convenience and creativity, questioning what happens when everything becomes quicker, cheaper, and automated.

In this episode

• How AI tools like ChatGPT are changing creative work
• The impact of AI on artists, freelancers, and small businesses
• Productivity, ADHD, and using AI for support and structure
• The downside of AI: comparison, self-doubt, and over-reliance
• AI in content creation, design, and podcasting
• The ethics of AI and what “free” really costs
• Creativity vs automation; what happens to original thinking?
• Why everything is getting faster (and whether that’s a problem)
• Building a business in the age of AI

If you’ve ever used AI to write something, design something, or make life easier then this episode will make you think twice about what it’s really doing.

Expect honest conversations, sharp observations, dark humour, and a few moments where you realise… you might be outsourcing more than just your workload 😬.

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE :

AI tool Goblin Tools - https://goblin.tools/

The band Angine De Poitrine - https://www.instagram.com/anginedepoitrine/

Connect With Us

@toosoberforthispodcast

Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com

In this episode of Too Sober For This, recovery advocate Shell Righini and comedian Iain Anderson take on a very 2026 problem:

Why does everyone sound like a therapist now?

From TikTok to group chats, therapy language has gone mainstream. Words like “boundaries”, “triggers”, “narcissist”, and “holding space” are everywhere. But are they helping us understand ourselves… or just helping us win arguments?

Shell and Iain unpack the rise of wellness culture and the explosion of self-help language online. What started as tools for healing are now often used as shields, weapons, and personality traits. They explore how therapy-speak is being misused, overused, and sometimes completely stripped of its meaning. From calling people “toxic” instead of having hard conversations, to diagnosing exes with zero qualifications, to setting “boundaries” that are actually just control.

This episode gets into the grey area between genuine growth and performative self-awareness, and asks whether we’re becoming more emotionally intelligent… or just better at sounding like we are.

In this episode

• Why therapy language is everywhere right now
• The difference between real boundaries and control
• How words like “narcissist” and “triggered” are being misused
• Wellness culture and the business of self-improvement
• Social media, identity, and performative healing
• When self-awareness becomes avoidance
• The fine line between growth and superiority
• Why not everything needs a label
• What actually helps vs what just sounds good

Get ready for uncomfortable truths, sharp observations, dark humour, and at least a few moments where you’ll wonder if you’ve ever said “I’m protecting my energy” and really meant “I don’t want to deal with this.” 😅

Connect With Us

@toosoberforthispodcast

Shell Righini - @shell_righini Iain Anderson - @iainanderson.comedy

Traumedy Show - https://iainandersoncomedy.com/

Listen to Shell’s podcast We Recover Loudly here on Spotify

This Podcast Is Brought to You By We Recover Loudly Merch

Bold recovery slogans and wearable reminders that recovery doesn’t have to be quiet.

Shop here: www.werecoverloudly.com

@werecoverloudly

Mastered and edited by Unmuted Studios. Podcast production, editing, and creative support.

www.unmutedstudios.com