Twins Brett Conner and Royce Conner were chatting over glasses of Chardonnay in Napa one day when a stranger approached them.
“You know, you two should really start your own podcast,” the woman said.
The pair filed away the comment, until another stranger offered them the same advice. The brothers deliberated over the suggestion. Perhaps strangers ought to stop tuning into others’ conversations, they thought. Or perhaps they had an idea they shouldn’t ignore.
They chose the latter interpretation, and last fall the Richmond residents launched their first podcast, “The Best We Can Do,” a production that they say aims to spread joy to their listeners as well as each other throughout tumultuous times.
“When there’s random people coming up to you in public and saying, ‘You should have a podcast,’ I mean the people are demanding it,” Brett Conner said.
Meet Your Neighbors: Twin podcasters
Who: Brett Conner and Royce Conner
Neighborhood: Brett Conner lives in East Richmond Heights and Royce Conner lives in Point Richmond.
Richmond residents for: Brett Conner moved to Richmond in 2007; Royce Conner came in 2015. They are originally from Bloomsburg, PA.
Brett Conner said: “I love Richmond. I love the people in the city. This (podcast) is a platform for those stories too, for the people in this town, and hopefully something to give a little hometown pride to.”
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The Conner brothers have released five episodes since the podcast’s premier in October and earned more than 500 streams right out of the gate, delving into topics ranging from the morale of Christmastime to growing up in a taxidermy-filled household. Their father, a hunter, decided to decorate their home with deer heads, antlers, hooves and a stuffed turkey posed like it was swooping down from the ceiling like a fighter jet.
In an episode called “Mr. Fancy Pants,” the brothers banter about luxury and comfort, recalling times in which their preferences diverged in situations ranging from graduation dinners to plane trips.
Laughter meets tenderness in “Twinterview” as the Conners divulge into the unbreakable, unequivocable bond between twins.
And they travel back in time in “Twinster Wonderland” and “Bursting Your Bubble,” where the twins discuss memorable moments from the past — huddled around a Christmas tree or inside a tiny bar in Pennsylvania — to uncover the joys of connecting with friends, old and new.
Though the twins have embraced eclectic subject matter, the Conners underscored an underlying theme they hope to capture in each release: Showcasing and welcoming their opposing perspectives on nearly everything.
They look similar but don’t think similarly, they said
The Conner brothers, 51, told Richmondside that despite their similar looks and voices, their personalities and opinions could not be more different.
Brett Conner, a grant manager for the San Francisco Department of Youth, Children and Their Families, said he’s always been a natural extrovert.
“Brett is the kind of person who would happily go to a party where he knows absolutely nobody there except the person who invited him,” Royce Conner said. “I wouldn’t even consider it.”
Royce Conner said he’s an introvert and shies away from attention. Despite his discomfort when his brother approached him about a joint podcast, he agreed to jump into the spotlight.
“It was easy to agree to do it because it makes him so happy, and it’s such a great opportunity to connect with him, connect with the people in our circle and with some new people as well,” Royce Conner said.
Preparations for the podcast began last March and continued into the fall, as the brothers collaborated with graphic designers, website designers and composers to bring their vision to life. Their theme song is an original composition by Brett Conner’s college roommate and New York-based musician Seth Weinstein.
In July, the Conners ordered two microphones from Amazon and set up their recording space on the second floor of Royce Conner’s home in Point Richmond.
Unscripted conversations led to newfound vulnerability amid cancer diagnoses
Each episode is unscripted, the brothers said, as they want them to feel as natural and conversational as possible. As a result, there are moments caught on the mic that catch them off guard.
In the first episode, the Conners begin by prompting each other to give a compliment and a “merciless growth opportunity.” Royce Conner shared that his brother is a wonderful father, a comment Brett Conner was not expecting.
“It was a beautiful moment,” Brett Conner said. “It’s so nice to have a beautiful moment like that caught on the mic.”
The Conners said that despite the uneasiness they may feel being publicly vulnerable, they embrace the opportunity to spend time and grow together.
“I’m sure a lot of these folks who pick up a microphone and just start talking, I would imagine their endgame, or some version of it is ‘I want to be famous.’ We could not care less about that,” Royce Conner said. “We very much care about spending time, wonderful, creative time with each other and reminding ourselves in every episode how much we love each other.”
Both twins are fighting prostate cancer, with each at a different stage — Royce Conner’s is at Stage II and Brett Conner’s is more advanced, at Stage IV — but they deliberately decided against making a podcast focused on their health.
“We didn’t want to spend all of our time talking about it because we don’t spend all of our lives thinking about it,” Brett Conner said.
However, they briefly discussed their experiences with the illness in the first two episodes and intend to address it in the future to remind their audience that it’s possible to have fun and find joy even in tough times, they said.
“I think putting an example out there of ‘Yes, you can be going through something horrific right now, and you can take the time to both experience and share joy in the world,’ I hope that can be inspirational to folks who might have some trouble finding some joy in their own life experiences right now,” Royce Conner said.
The Conners hope the show personally resonates with their Richmond audience and represents an unfiltered, real experience of brothers who they might encounter around town.
“We’re not doing it from the studio in Los Angeles. We’re not live from New York on Saturday night. We live a few blocks from you. We take the same BART trains you are on, and we are experiencing a life similar to yours,” Royce Conner said. “I hope that makes you feel not just like you are a member of our audience, but you are a treasured neighbor, as well. Let’s just enjoy this experience together, because we’re experiencing similar things, and we live in the same beautiful community.”
You can listen to the Conners’ podcast on Spotify or on their website. The brothers release episodes every two weeks.
