May 6, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min · 17 segments
Kevin Allison, creator of the RISK! podcast, recounts a high school prank at an all-boys Jesuit school in 1986. After a crush teased him by repeatedly spitting on him, Kevin later mailed him a sealed…
Kevin AllisonGuestJason WerbeloffHost
Mark OppenheimerHost
So when I was in-- I think I was a sophomore in high school, and I-- there was a fella that I had a huge crush on.
It was an all-boys school, Jesuit high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a very, like, conservative town, very Catholic.
And there was just this one fella who I, I, I had such a crush on that I, I kind of couldn't hide it.
Now I know that, you know, I have problems with, you know, filtering and, and these sorts of things and, and, and, I guess have a tendency to, like, act out, I don't know, push boundaries in some ways.
He was quite short, and he just looked like a-- almost like a cartoon character with how cute he was.
We were learning about mucus or something like that, and when you spit it up, it's called sputum.
So, uh, I started calling him, David, th-this kid I had such a crush on, I ca- I started calling him sputum.
[laughing] And just being very odd for, you know, in this all-boys school, you know, where being called a faggot or whatever was just all over the place.
And I was just kind of like really bursting at the seams to be kind of fucking with the boundaries around that kind of thing.
And one day at lunch, 'cause we were the theater kids, and one day at lunch, everyone's gathered around.
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.
So when I was in-- I think I was a sophomore in high school, and I-- there was a fella that I had a huge crush on.
It was an all-boys school, Jesuit high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a very, like, conservative town, very Catholic.
And there was just this one fella who I, I, I had such a crush on that I, I kind of couldn't hide it.
Now I know that, you know, I have problems with, you know, filtering and, and these sorts of things and, and, and, I guess have a tendency to, like, act out, I don't know, push boundaries in some ways.
He was quite short, and he just looked like a-- almost like a cartoon character with how cute he was.
We were learning about mucus or something like that, and when you spit it up, it's called sputum.
So, uh, I started calling him, David, th-this kid I had such a crush on, I ca- I started calling him sputum.
[laughing] And just being very odd for, you know, in this all-boys school, you know, where being called a faggot or whatever was just all over the place.
And I was just kind of like really bursting at the seams to be kind of fucking with the boundaries around that kind of thing.
And one day at lunch, 'cause we were the theater kids, and one day at lunch, everyone's gathered around.
