Let's Get Real - A Talk Show for Guys

Michael Sharkey
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Mental Health
  • Weekly

Let’s Get Real is a weekly live call-in talk show for men dealing with addiction and recovery, divorce, fatherhood, grief, anxiety, and the pressure to keep it all together. This podcast brings you the best segments: real guys calling in with real stories, and honest answers with no judgment. Hosted by Michael Sharkey (“Shark”) and “Spanish”, the show covers everything from sobriety and relapse to marriage, parenting, work stress, mindfulness, and spirituality.  Michael brings over 7,000 hours of coaching experience and 25 years in talk radio. Together they talk about what most guys have trouble saying out loud, and what getting better actually looks like. If you’re stuck, struggling, or just want to hear that you’re not alone, start with any episode. Want to be part of the show? Call 1-800-771-1025 during the live broadcast. Currently airing Thursday nights at 10p ET and Friday nights at 9p ET. Let’s Get Real airs live on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay and streams at www.theboneonline.com.

  1. 4d ago

    Grieving My Dad: Alcoholism, Faith and Feeling Him Close

    I didn’t get close to my dad until after he died. My dad quit drinking when I was one or two years old. He had a short temper and a lot of inappropriate jokes... and we were close, but not super close. I figured his death would feel like just another day. He was sick, and we all knew it was coming. It didn’t. I grieved. And I’ve felt him near me ever since. The first Día de Muertos after he passed, I was in Oaxaca, Mexico... where families clean the graves, light candles, and sing to the people they’ve lost. It got me thinking about my dad. About what a show like Let’s Get Real might have meant to him 50 years ago, if he’d had somewhere to talk. Would he have become an alcoholic? Maybe. I’ll never know. Even at 88, he understood what this show was about. He owned a little weekly newspaper in High Springs, Florida, and sold the ads himself. He picked up the phone and called people who didn’t know him... and that’s how he kept food on our table. Now I’m trying to grow Let’s Get Real, and I’m not a salesman. In my morning prayer, I say good morning, God... good morning, universe... and good morning, Dad. And I ask him for help. I believe he answers. This one’s for him. Chapters/timestamps (auto-generated) 0:00 A year ago in Oaxaca 1:21 Two years without my dad 1:31 Growing up with an alcoholic dad 2:31 Getting close after he died 3:42 “Good morning, Dad” 3:49 The day I told him about this show 5:12 What if he’d had somewhere to talk? 5:52 The newspaper salesman 7:27 “I’m not a salesman” 8:43 My number one sales advisor 9:05 Thanks, Dad #Grief #LosingADad #Sobriety #DiaDeMuertos #LetsGetReal ❤️ Follow Let's Get Real everywhere! 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to Let's Get Real for Updates and Surprises ✅ Instagram:  @soul_spanish ✅ Instagram:  @iammichaelsharkey ✅ TikTok:  @iammichaelsharkey Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

  2. Oct 22

    Andrew Huberman on Surrender: Why Giving It Up to a Higher Power ALWAYS Works

    Shark played an amazing clip from Andrew Huberman about "Giving It Up To God". Huberman is a Stanford neuroscientist. He says something strange. Some people can’t change a thought or a habit, no matter how much they know or how much support they have. Then they give it over to a higher power, or to God, and somehow they do it. He says it makes no sense based on how we understand the brain’s control of impulses... and he’s never seen it fail. Shark has the word “surrender” tattooed on his wrist. He had his daughter do it. And he’s honest: he still struggles to take his hands off the throttle. He talks about his biggest demon, the fear of never having enough, and why letting go is the best feeling in the world. He also shares what his friend Jonathan, a devout Christian who’s in church every Sunday, said when he called the show. He knows it’s true... and it’s still not easy. Spanish explains how you can accept the story in your head and the reality in front of you as both true, and stop letting them fight for control. If you’ve been gripping the wheel so tight your hands hurt... this one’s for you. Clip credit: Andrew Huberman in conversation with Jay Shetty on On Purpose with Jay Shetty, “Andrew Huberman: The Simple Habits That Will Transform Your Health.” Full video episodes are on Netflix and Spotify. Key Takeaways Huberman says that when willpower fails, giving the process over to a higher power can work, and he’s never seen it fail. Surrender isn’t easy. Shark has the word tattooed on his wrist and still struggles to let go. Spanish’s take: accept the story in your head and the reality in front of you as both true, and stop letting them compete. “It’s not supposed to be easy.” Timestamps (auto-generated) 00:00 Shark sets up the Huberman clip 00:33 Huberman: when people can’t change, giving it to a higher power 01:20 “How true is that?” 01:48 “I had my daughter tattoo ‘surrender’ on my wrist” 02:24 “I still struggle to take my hands off the throttle” 02:40 Jonathan calls the show 03:12 “It’s not supposed to be easy” 03:49 Shark’s biggest demon: scarcity 04:11 “The best feeling in the world” 05:03 Spanish on Huberman and the science 05:31 Holding two truths at once 06:47 Spanish’s example: fighting reality vs. accepting it 07:20 “Very beautiful and very advanced” #Surrender #HigherPower #AndrewHuberman #MensMentalHealth #LetsGetReal ❤️ Follow Let's Get Real everywhere! 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to Let's Get Real for Updates and Surprises ✅ Instagram:  @soul_spanish ✅ Instagram:  @iammichaelsharkey ✅ TikTok:  @iammichaelsharkey Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

  3. Oct 19

    Drunk in Front of Your Daughter? A Story of Forgiveness

    Shark wanted to tell a story with a happy ending... but it starts with one of his most embarrassing nights. Years ago he got way too drunk at home. His teenage daughter needed a walk home from her shift at a market in St. Pete, and he could see how embarrassed she was. Then he tripped, fell on his face, and bled all over the house while his whole family freaked out. The next morning he had to face her. It was the last time she ever saw him like that. About ten years later, his wife pulled up to the house and his daughter got out of the truck. She had flown in from New York City to surprise him for his birthday. Spanish shares his own story about the night he punched his younger brother while drunk, and how it feels to be forgiven. Then Troy calls in. He did 21 years in prison, got out, and ended up drinking 15 to 20 beers a day. One night his daughter got in his face and said, “Daddy, you need to stop now.” He dumped out the beer. Twelve years later, he owns his house, has a great job, and says she saved his life. If you’ve ever done something you’re ashamed of in front of your kids, this one’s for you. Key Takeaways Your worst night doesn’t have to be the last word.  Shark’s daughter flew in to surprise him ten years after he got drunk in front of her. The look on your kid’s face can be the turning point. Shark and Troy both said they’ll never forget it. Being forgiven makes it easier to forgive. Spanish says his brother’s forgiveness reminds him he can forgive too. Troy, 12 years out of prison: “Anybody can do it. It just takes that one first step.” Timestamps (auto-generated) 00:00 Shark’s story with a happy ending 00:36 The night he got way too drunk 01:13 Walking his daughter home, and the look on her face 02:36 Birthday morning: “my wife had to run to the store” 03:06 His daughter flies in from New York 04:28 “Somebody did something maybe even worse than that” 05:28 Spanish punches his brother on his birthday 06:50 Troy calls in 07:29 “Daddy, you need to stop now” 08:55 “The look in her eyes” 09:30 Shark: “You will never see me like that again” 11:15 “She saved my life” 12:23 Troy on what put him in prison at 17 #Fatherhood #Forgiveness #MensMentalHealth #Alcohol #LetsGetReal ❤️ Follow Let's Get Real everywhere! 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to Let's Get Real for Updates and Surprises ✅ Instagram:  @soul_spanish ✅ Instagram:  @iammichaelsharkey ✅ TikTok:  @iammichaelsharkey Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

  4. Oct 16

    Spiritual Awakening: He Asked God To Shake His House

    Nick called the show with a story he says changed his life. After an 18-hour workday and years of going down rabbit holes about good and evil, a lightning storm rolled in over his house.  Standing in his kitchen, he told God that if it was really him, to shake the house. He says it happened, again and again. Then a friend named David, who has since passed away, prayed with him over the phone, and Nick describes his body giving out, followed by four hours of joy unlike anything he’d felt, including on drugs.  He talks about what changed afterward: wanting to be a better father and a better man, and why he quietly helps people to keep that feeling alive. Michael opens by asking what shaped his conviction. Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

  5. Oct 13

    Alcohol Recovery: "I Drank Right In Front Of My Son"

    “My last relapse, I drank right in front of my son.” Andy called the show at nine months sober, 41 years old, with his six-year-old in the car on the way to the fair.  He talks about three DWIs by age 25, the moment he admitted his love for his kids couldn’t beat his addiction, detox and treatment, and why getting honest changed everything. Michael opens the segment with a Sober October conversation about recovery and why picking up the phone can be the first step.  Andy’s takeaway: “The only way to keep it is to give it away.” Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

  6. Oct 10

    Functional Alcoholic: "I Hate Drinking. I Want To Quit."

    A caller who works six days a week and agrees he’s basically a functional alcoholic says what a lot of guys never say out loud: “I hate drinking. I want to quit.”  He’s a veteran, and he’s been trying to manage it by drinking later in the evening instead of stopping. Michael doesn’t lecture him. He points out that picking up the phone was already a first step, talks about why recovery is a lifetime of thinking about it and not doing it, and calls out the rationalizations we use to keep drinking. Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

  7. Sep 14

    "I Was a Cranky Moody Bitch" — Guys, Here's How to Let Go of Anger

    Spanish used to be, in his own words, "a cranky moody bitch." Then sometime around the start of the year, something shifted...and Shark wanted to know exactly how. Not the highlight reel version. The real one, with the boring, hard days included. Spanish breaks it down step by step. He made a decision to embody unconditional love, then treated every uncomfortable emotion as a doorway instead of a problem to push down. Angry? That usually meant a boundary he wasn't enforcing...with an ex, with old jobs, with himself. Sad? That was just a nudge to go do something. The work wasn't complicated once he stopped trying to outthink his body and started listening to it. Shark connects it to something bigger than one guy's mood: love, money, success...anything you want but don't have yet. It's easy to decide you're just never going to get it and settle into the loop. Spanish's answer to that loop is simple but not soft: some days the old version of you wins, and that's allowed. "Today was an angry day. Tomorrow doesn't have to be." The conversation ends on money, and how what Spanish actually wanted was never the money itself, it was the freedom and safety he thought money would buy. Once he named that, he stopped chasing and started building. If you've ever told yourself you'll never get what you want, this one's worth the nine minutes. Key Takeaways Anger is often an unenforced boundary in disguise, not a personality flaw Treat emotions as doorways — follow them inward instead of arguing yourself out of them You can be your old self and your new self at the same time; you're just shifting which one wins more often What you think you're chasing (money, love, success) is usually a stand-in for something more specific (freedom, safety, connection) A bad day doesn't erase the growth — give yourself the 90 seconds Timestamps 00:00 — Shark asks Spanish what actually changed 00:49 — The decision to embody unconditional love, and the Alan Watts framing 01:37 — Emotions as doorways: anger = unenforced boundaries 04:41 — "Today was an angry day. Tomorrow doesn't have to be." 04:54 — Shark ties it to money, success, love, and the amygdala 06:11 — The tool: "when you see it, you don't have to be it" 06:43 — Being both good and bad at once, the 90-second rule 07:37 — What money actually symbolized: freedom and safety 08:33 — Trusting the how to the universe 09:00 — Reframing your life story as just yours, not a tragedy #LetsGetReal #Boundaries #AngerManagement #UnconditionalLove #EmotionalIntelligence #MensMentalHealth #PersonalGrowth #InnerWork #SelfAwareness #Mindset #Healing #Relationships #MentalHealthForMen #GrowthMindset #Manifestation #SelfImprovement #RealTalk #MaleFriendship ❤️ Follow Let's Get Real everywhere! 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to Let's Get Real for Updates and Surprises ✅ Instagram:  @soul_spanish ✅ Instagram:  @iammichaelsharkey ✅ TikTok:  @iammichaelsharkey  Welcome Let's Get Real Community! Thanks for checking out this episode! Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

    "I Was a Cranky Moody Bitch" — Guys, Here's How to Let Go of Anger

  8. Aug 27

    When Anger Is Actually a Sign You're Ready for More | Let's Get Real

    Can anger or frustration actually be a positive sign? Shark shares a moment of frustration that sparks a bigger conversation about freedom, self-worth, purpose, and knowing when life is trying to push you in a new direction. Is anger always something to avoid—or can it reveal what you're truly capable of creating? This is Segment 5 from our live 8/21/26 show. 📞 Join us live Fridays at 7pm ET on 102.5 The Bone 🎙️ Let's Get Real with Shark & Spanish 📺 Subscribe for more conversations that matter #LetsGetReal #PersonalGrowth #MensMentalHealth #SelfWorth #Purpose #Entrepreneurship #Mindset #SelfDevelopment #SharkAndSpanish #MenHelpingMen  ❤️ Follow Let's Get Real everywhere! 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to Let's Get Real for Updates and Surprises ✅ Instagram:  @soul_spanish ✅ Instagram:  @iammichaelsharkey ✅ TikTok:  @iammichaelsharkey  Welcome Let's Get Real Community! Thanks for checking out this episode! Welcome to "Let's Get Real" - And interactive, live talk show for guys on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay. This is where guys talk through the stuff they don’t talk about anywhere else. Drinking. Marriage. Kids. Work. Whatever you’re carrying, call 1-800-771-1025.  Live Fridays at 9p ET and Thursdays at 10p ET. Stream live at www.theboneonline.com or on your favorite streaming radio app, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or iHeart Radio. We also post segments from every show on our YouTube channel. Click here to subscribe and get new content! Please give Let's Get Real a 5-star rating and a written review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover this show, and tell a friend to tell a friend about Let’s Get Real! Thanks for listening!

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About

Let’s Get Real is a weekly live call-in talk show for men dealing with addiction and recovery, divorce, fatherhood, grief, anxiety, and the pressure to keep it all together. This podcast brings you the best segments: real guys calling in with real stories, and honest answers with no judgment. Hosted by Michael Sharkey (“Shark”) and “Spanish”, the show covers everything from sobriety and relapse to marriage, parenting, work stress, mindfulness, and spirituality.  Michael brings over 7,000 hours of coaching experience and 25 years in talk radio. Together they talk about what most guys have trouble saying out loud, and what getting better actually looks like. If you’re stuck, struggling, or just want to hear that you’re not alone, start with any episode. Want to be part of the show? Call 1-800-771-1025 during the live broadcast. Currently airing Thursday nights at 10p ET and Friday nights at 9p ET. Let’s Get Real airs live on 102.5 The Bone in Tampa Bay and streams at www.theboneonline.com.

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