Comedian Bowen Yang recently opened up on SmartLess about his formative years in Denver, recalling a local theater "called the Bovine Metropolis Theater" where he did improv at age 15. Yang also detailed the heavy emotional drives between Colorado Springs and Denver during his youth, describing how a difficult period of conversion therapy "actually became, like, great bonding time" with his father in the car.
Meanwhile, other hosts are sharing much less sentimental memories of the city. On Bad Friends, comedian Bobby Lee complained about the misery of working a stand-up gig there while sick, lamenting, "then all of a sudden we're in Denver Saturday night" after catching a bug from a coworker. On a lighter performance note, host Jay Allison of The Moth highlighted the city's local storytelling scene, introducing a storyteller who "told this story at an open mic StorySLAM in Denver" in partnership with public radio station KUNC.
The city also surfaced in darker true-crime contexts this week. On Crime Junkie, host Ashley Flowers walked listeners through a critical moment in a kidnapping case, noting that "the first big development comes in, and strangely, it comes to the Denver field office of the FBI" in the form of a ransom call. Whether it is a site for federal investigations, grueling comedy tours, or formative teenage years, Denver remains a frequent and varied crossroads for podcasters.