Up Top! with Matt Morain

17-year-long friend, former college roommate, and beloved code monkey Andy Merrill revives the Up Top Cast for a special birthday episode. We develop a Shania Twain-based exchange rate, retell the story of how we met our freshman year of undergrad, dig into fatherhood, and invent a new startup. Andy puts his German studies to work and turns the table on me for the Up Top Quiz: Pittsburgh Edition, before we wrap up with some hard hitting questions for Teens(TM).

Back again after a 3-year hiatus: My parents! For the new listeners, we learn some biographical basics about my parents, from each other. They suss out what they think the rest of my life might be like, the finer points of Two and A Half Men, and dodge the question of who’s the favorite child. We learn about mom’s Irish heritage, how dad got sued for $20 million while mayor, and the roots of my compulsion. Our promotional sponsor almost makes the folks quit the podcast before taking on The Up Top! Quiz: “Real or Fake--Things Matt Did Before He Was 18.” *Programming note: My father recorded the intro song--Ray Charles’s “Mess Around”--on my newly acquired and out-of-tune piano with 20 minutes’ prep time. **Double programming note: Stick around for the hidden track–a piano-off between father and son. This episode is not brought to you by Handel’s Messiah.