Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

DOPEYCON TICKETS: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507SAVE MONEY on DOPEYCON TICKETS with PATREON! www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastSummary:On this haunting Dopey Total Replay, Dave revisits the second half of Chris and Dave's original conversation with Nick Reiner. Before the replay, Dave responds to listeners struggling with the episode in light of everything that happened afterward, reflects on Chris's instinct for keeping the show on track, and explains why hearing both Chris and Nick together now feels like opening a bizarre and painful time capsule.In the original conversation, Nick describes shooting cocaine for the first time in a McDonald's bathroom after getting kicked out of sober living, while Dave and Chris trade their own stories about cocaine, meth, speedballs and the terrifying paranoia that followed. Nick traces his first heroin use back to people he met in adolescent treatment, raising difficult questions about sending young people into rehab before they are ready to stop.The conversation moves through Skid Row, fake movie money, complicated relationships with dealers, privilege, family expectations and the pain of watching parents enter a world they never imagined for their children. Nick talks about growing up in the Reiner family, his father visiting him in jail immediately after attending his sister's Harvard graduation, and his desire to escape the identity attached to wealth and Hollywood.The episode closes with a disturbing listener story about sexual exploitation by a rehab counselor, followed by an unusually revealing debate between Dave, Chris and Nick about abstinence, controlled use and whether recovery would eventually become necessary. Looking back, Chris's final prediction—“more will be revealed”—lands very differently today. Five ad-break markersThese all land at clean subject changes:00:14:28 — Immediately before the original Nick Reiner replay00:23:43 — After the cocaine/meth paranoia section00:35:06 — Before the Permanent Midnight discussion00:46:41 — Before Nick's Gawker/Malibu rehab story00:58:14 — After the listener email and before the closing recovery debate My opinion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507No ADS for $8 a month! Save $15 on Tickets at: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastEpisode Summary:This week on the 600th episode of Dopey! Dave celebrates the show's unofficial 600th Friday episode from the increasingly unreliable Dopey studio at his father's house—and considers either dismantling the whole operation or hiring Ray as the new engineer.The episode begins with recovery anniversaries from the Dopey Nation. Mr. Jason celebrates one year sober and reflects on repeatedly returning after relapse, while Haley marks five years free from drugs after beginning at age 12. Hippie Earl delivers a classic Dopey voicemail about shooting heroin for the first time after having his wisdom teeth removed, mixing it with Percocet, Klonopin and alcohol, destroying his car and waking up with no memory of being arrested. Seventeen years later, he is celebrating a year completely sober.Dave also launches the latest Dopey versus Phish beef, announces that Hamilton Morris is officially coming to DopeyCon, discusses the DopeyCon theme-song challenge and reads listener reactions to last week's Jeff Garlin interview—including stories about food addiction, recovery and Dave's allegedly improved listening skills.Then Dave sits down with Garrett McClendon for one of the wildest and most complete meth stories ever told on Dopey.Garrett grew up in California's Antelope Valley with a mother addicted to methamphetamine. By his early teens, he was smoking and selling speed, dropping out of school and getting high alongside his mother. Together, they stole three enormous pigs, loaded them into Garrett's 1977 Toyota Celica and sold them at auction—only for his mother to short him on his share of the money.From there, Garrett's life descends into stolen cars, homemade meth pipes, purple crank, mobile meth labs, prison riots and increasingly elaborate criminal schemes. He trades half a gram of meth for a Toyota, steals an enormous boulder for a drug connection, receives 168 traffic tickets and eventually organizes drug drops into prison using runners, duffel bags, trash cans and body-cavity “plugs.”In prison, Garrett injects meth for the first time. Once released, he combines meth and heroin in goofball shots and becomes trapped in a cycle of addiction, homelessness, incarceration and treatment. Everything finally begins to change when his friend Levi—nine months sober—embraces him inside a treatment facility and tells him, “I really hope you stay.”Garrett did stay. Thirteen years later, he has rebuilt his relationships, established a career in construction, helped create Mindset Recovery and become the present father his daughter always deserved. His story culminates in an emotional moment when his daughter asks him to continue their tradition and buy the dress she will wear to her college graduation.It's an outrageous, cinematic and ultimately beautiful episode about addiction, belonging, incarceration, fatherhood, service and the possibility of building an entirely new life.All that and much ore on this brand spanking new episode of the good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode summary:NOTE: Bill Blabber past away 11/11/23 We love him and dedicate this show to him and Chirs and everyone else we've lost!Dopeycon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507SAVE $15 on Tickets at: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastThis week on Dopey's Greatest Hits! Dave revisits the emotional, hilarious and completely chaotic first-ever DopeyCon.Before the replay, Dave talks DopeyCon 2026, his growing number of public encounters with Dopey Nation, listener comments, the Beatles and the limited-edition Iron Maiden Dopey shirt. Adam Byrd of Wreckage Disciple delivers an instant-classic voicemail about getting shot through the foot during a drive-by—then returning to his motel to smoke crack instead of going to the hospital.Then it's back to the original DopeyCon, recorded shortly after Chris died. Dave's father Alan delivers Jewish guilt, Bill Blaber recounts a terrifying meth-psychosis odyssey involving Satan, an escape from court and an attempted stabbing, and Ray shares a beautiful story about a homeless man who helped her during one of her lowest moments.Namaste at Home brings an incredible PCP-at-a-baby-shower story, Ray Brown performs the original Dopey song, and acclaimed author Nick Flynn reads poems about addiction, hidden Vicodin and the darkest corners of recovery. Chris's sister Arden O'Connor remembers trying to rescue her brother from a Harlem drug dealer and reflects on the hope created by the Dopey community.Finally, Dave explains the accidental formula behind Dopey's success—the “rope-a-dope”—before remembering Todd and Chris, telling the legendary Mexican-food seizure story and closing the first DopeyCon with “Forever in Debt.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507Save $15 on Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastEpisode summaryThis week on the Wednesday Dose! Jason Biggs returns to Dopey for a funny, unusually vulnerable conversation about recovery, fatherhood, separation and learning to surrender control. Jason discusses the pressure of making his directorial debut, Untitled Home Invasion Romance, and why directing sober was one of the most stressful experiences of his life.He retraces the relapses that preceded his nearly nine years of sobriety—including secretly drinking, a major cocaine relapse and the final bottle of wine he chugged shortly after bringing his second child home from the hospital. The following morning, a chance encounter with Michael Alago helped bring him back to AA.Jason and Dave also get into Dave's relentless pursuit of celebrity guests, Jason Mewes asking Dave to stop texting him, Steve-O, Marc Maron, pink cocaine, Quaaludes, ecstasy, underground sex parties, gambling addiction and the indignities of trying to exercise in middle age.The conversation becomes especially personal when Jason talks about navigating separation while protecting his children and remaining sober. He explains why his meeting attendance has declined, how sober friends have supported him and why accepting that he is not in control remains central to his spirituality. They finish with an honest discussion about ketamine and psychedelics in recovery, prescription painkillers, Brad Pitt's return to drinking, Shannon Elizabeth's OnlyFans and whether Jason might appear at DopeyCon.All that and a tiny bit more on this week's wednesday dose of dopey! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FULL EPISODE: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastDopeycon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507Episode summaryHeart Attack Doug returns after a mysterious seven-week absence—and the tension is immediately back where it belongs. Before revealing what actually happened between them, Dave and Doug discuss Doug's injuries, relentless tinnitus, possible neck surgery, anesthesia and the strange appeal of receiving drugs legitimately in sobriety.Doug challenges members of Dopey Nation to explain what they do for recovery beyond Dopey Zoom, offering free mugs for five short video submissions. Dave then subjects him to Patreon comments celebrating his disappearance, which leads into stories involving psychedelics, Marilyn Manson, hobosexuality, bell ringers, Captagon, haggling and Doug's alleged resemblance to several terrible people.Finally, Dave confronts Doug about the incident that kept him away from the show—and Doug prepares to tell his side. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507Join Patreon and Save $15 on Tickets: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastSummary:This Week on the Total Replay! Nick Reiner's first appearance with Dave and Chris in 2016. Nick is currently incarcerated and has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of killing his parents, filmmaker Rob Reiner and photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner. Dave addresses the criticism he received after previously replaying Nick's appearances and explains why omitting this episode would violate the purpose of replaying the entire Dopey archive in order.Dave reads a deeply compassionate letter from listener Leah, who identifies with Nick's history of mental illness and treatment failure. She mourns Rob and Michele while wondering whether the Dopey Nation could somehow let Nick know that he isn't completely alone.In the original interview, Nick discusses growing up as Rob Reiner's son, writing Being Charlie and appearing with his father on Howard Stern. The conversation quickly develops into a passionate debate about AA, the commercial treatment industry, abstinence, harm reduction and whether different people require different definitions of recovery.Nick argues that fear and all-or-nothing thinking can make relapse more dangerous, while Dave and Chris explain why attempts at moderation repeatedly led them back to heroin and other destructive behavior. The three discuss Bill Wilson's experiments with LSD, Suboxone, psychedelics, Rat Park, genetic addiction and whether mindset can influence a person's relationship with drugs.Eventually, Nick reveals that he has attended approximately 17 or 18 rehabs. This leads Dave and Nick into stories about Alina Lodge. Dave recounts manufacturing alcohol inside the program, escaping into the woods and eventually shooting crack in Harlem. He then describes drinking GHB from a Blue Mountain Blast Powerade bottle, waking up in a hospital under the name “Charles McCullough” and discovering that the hospital had left the remaining GHB beside his bed.Nick follows with an Alina Lodge story involving an older woman, cocaine, an unfortunate shower encounter and the later discovery that she had died by suicide. The episode ends just as the three decide that Nick's appearance needs to be divided into two parts.It's a rough new/old episode of that good ol dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tickets for Dopeycon: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905PAtreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastEpisode summaryTHIS WEEK ON DOPEY! Actor, comedian, director and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Jeff Garlin joins Dopey for an unusually candid conversation about comedy, compulsive eating, mental illness, addiction and the breakdown that nearly killed him.Jeff explains why he believes his morally questionable Curb character is nothing like the person he tries to be. He talks about gratitude, refusing to indulge in self-pity and the early comedy lesson that taught him never to make an audience feel sorry for him.The conversation then moves into Jeff's lifelong relationship with food. He describes compulsively eating sugar as a child, hiding food, binging on the road and eventually developing diabetes. Even a stroke and the loss of part of his toe couldn't make him stop. Although alcohol and marijuana were also part of his story, Jeff says food was the addiction that brought him to his knees.Jeff opens up about working on The Goldbergs while struggling with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, severe ADHD, resentment and increasingly erratic behavior. After his departure from the show became public, shame and fear pushed him toward suicide. He called two people and told them that he intended to be dead by noon. His family and friends intervened, and Jeff entered treatment in Cincinnati, where DBT helped him understand his emotions and behavior. After returning home, a friend brought him to an AA meeting and gave him the beginning of a new life.Jeff also discusses transcendental meditation, clairvoyant experiences, his friendship with Larry David and how a lunch conversation became the original HBO special that evolved into Curb Your Enthusiasm. He reflects on the show's improvisational process, Bill Buckner's redemptive appearance and the extraordinary creative mind of Larry David.Before the interview, Dave shares listener stories involving grief, Suboxone, meth, crack, a police raid, cocaine psychosis, boofing drugs and leading a recovery meeting while hallucinating animals underneath the bed.PLUS MORE! ON A BRAND NEW EXCITING EPISODE OF YE GOODE OLDE DOPEY SHOW... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DOPEYCON Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507SAVE 15$ on PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastEpisode summaryThis week on Dopey's Greatest Hits! Dopey legend Jessa Reed returns for one of the strangest, funniest and most honest conversations in the archive. Jessa talks about becoming uncomfortable with public attention, feeling trapped by other people's versions of her and disappearing from podcasting after years of sharing her life.She describes contracting Lyme disease at the beginning of the pandemic, losing much of her memory and vocabulary, contemplating suicide and eventually recovering through an unconventional treatment involving Antabuse. She and Dave explore nervous-system regulation, people-pleasing, boundaries and rebuilding an identity after your mind and body fundamentally change.Then Jessa revisits her unbelievable meth years: growing up around addiction, discovering crank, doing stand-up while high, nearly dying, communicating with aliens, drinking meth pee and manufacturing her own fake teeth. She explains how a Christmas visit with her recovering father helped her recognize that meth had finally become “stale.”The conversation eventually turns toward her complicated relationship with twelve-step recovery. Jessa explains why she stopped identifying as an addict, cautiously returned to psychedelics and feared that telling the truth about her experience could give someone else permission to relapse. Dave and Jessa discuss recovery dogma, California sobriety, acceptance, gratitude, consciousness, manifestation and whether dreams—or aliens—might be trying to tell us something.Before the interview, Dave reads an anonymous listener's powerful account of a one-night relapse and explains how sharing the truth can transform shame into connection.Plus more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast SAVE $15 per ticket on patreonSummaryThis week on the Wednesday Dose! Close Friend of the show, legendary tattoo artist, punk-rock outlaw, former bank robber and federal prisoner Shane Enholm returns to Dopey with a frightening update: after surviving hepatitis C and end-stage liver disease decades ago, he has been diagnosed with cirrhosis again.Shane retraces a life built around heroin, prison, tattooing and survival—from having an ounce of fentanyl inside federal prison in 1990 to being forced onto methadone after his release. He talks about becoming a prison pull-up champion, the FBI operation that ended his smuggling connection, the shame directed at people receiving medication-assisted treatment and why service—not recovery righteousness—ultimately helped him stay off heroin for 22 years.The conversation turns emotional as Shane remembers musician Bruce “Spider” Middleman, his close friend and former partner of Katey Sagal. Shane recalls reviving Spider after one overdose, watching him immediately ask to get high again and discovering his body after the fatal overdose that followed.Plus: getting kicked off Instagram over a message to a teenage tattoo apprentice, quitting unfiltered cigarettes after 46 years, the dangers of today's fentanyl and tranquilizer supply, pain treatment, drug legalization, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor and whether Shane may eventually need a liver transplant.The episode opens with a wild collection of listener stories involving a stolen handgun used in a convenience-store robbery, smoking crack during an unexpected 69 and getting robbed at gunpoint by a dealer named Dead Man. PLUS A GIANT WEIRD LOOKING PENIS ON FIRE ISLAND! and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507Save Money with PAtreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastSummaryDave recounts a family expedition through the Balloon Museum, Little Italy, and the black-market handbag scene on Canal Street before reading an incredible listener story from the early-'90s Grateful Dead tour.Despite barely caring about the band, Tom follows the tour for its parking-lot wonderland of drugs, hippies, and chaos. Completely broke, he finances the trip by repackaging truck-stop speed and selling it as ecstasy. Along the way, he encounters Persian heroin, a motel-wide fireworks war, a filthy grilled-cheese dealer carrying bundles of New York heroin taped to his stomach, and an extraordinarily forgiving Nebraska police officer.All that and still more on a tiny teaser of the tuesday show - listen to the full ep only on PATREON! www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507Patreon Membership Saves $15 on Dopeycon www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastEpisode summaryDave celebrates Labor Day with a replay of one of the most polarizing early Dopey episodes: “The Structured Episode.” Before the classic show, Dave runs through the growing DopeyCon lineup—including Hank Azaria, Brandon Novak, Hamilton Morris and possible appearances from Joey Diaz, Jeff Ross and Artie Lange—and shares a spectacular listener voicemail involving blue ketamine, Stinky Pete and an alarming box of dildos.Then Dave and Chris attempt to impose actual structure on Dopey using handwritten topics, Siri and a series of timers. It immediately collapses into exactly the kind of rambling that made the show what it was. They investigate drug songs, play everything from the Velvet Underground to James Brown, revisit Chris's teenage DXM obsession, compare nitrous stories, discuss inhalants and eventually stumble into an unexpectedly meaningful conversation about AA, growing in recovery and what might happen if Dopey ever became successful.All that and MORE! On a heart felt brand new yet 10 year old episode of that good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507PAtreon save $15 at www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastEpisode summaryLeah Martin—farmer, Deadhead, Phish fan and recovering addict—joins Dopey for a story that begins with the Beatles, weed and an acid trip at a Tool concert before descending into Perc 30s, heroin, crack, fentanyl and absolute chaos.Leah recalls failing out of college, selling drugs, taking half-gram lines of cocaine while driving and joining a crew of “magnificent hippies” who followed Furthur across the country. She lived in Golden Gate Park, trimmed weed in California and supported herself on tour by selling water—only to return home between runs and fall deeper into opioid addiction.After getting sober for four years, Leah met Brian through the recovery and jam-band community. They fell in love, moved to the Atlantic City area and eventually relapsed together during COVID. What followed included pressed fentanyl pills, crack runs, repeated overdoses, approximately ten Narcan reversals apiece and an unbelievable arrest in which Leah slipped out of her handcuffs, stole her confiscated crack from the police evidence bag and fought the cops—earning seven felonies and eight misdemeanors.The story turns heartbreaking when Leah recounts waking up after her own overdose and finding Brian dead in their living room. She talks honestly about grief, trauma treatment, another relapse, more overdose deaths and finally building a sober life through therapy, community, farming and helping others process loss.Plus: a dog eats weed-infused chocolate espresso beans, Lauren explains bell ringers and “dragon's breath,” Zach shares a powerful recovery message, Dave reacts to the Hunter Biden episode comments and more more more on a brand new yet seriously old school new episode of that good old Dopey Show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 PAtreon and save $15: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast She Shot Heroin in Her Neck and Overdosed on the Phone: The Call That Saved Kimber's Life This week on Dopey's Greatest Hits! A woman named Kimber leaves rehab, returns home alone and prepares to inject what she believes is heroin—probably fentanyl—into her neck. Knowing her tolerance has disappeared, she calls the Never Use Alone hotline. Nurse Jessie stays on the phone, urges Kimber to use less and collects her location. Moments after injecting, Kimber stops responding. Jessie calls for help, and paramedic Stephen Murray arrives in time to revive her with Narcan. The episode expands the extraordinary story first told on This American Life. Stephen describes his own addiction, recovery and unlikely path from finance and drug use to firefighting, emergency medicine and harm-reduction work. He explains how the Massachusetts Overdose Prevention Hotline became the country's first government-funded overdose hotline and why it offers anonymous, judgment-free support to anyone using drugs alone. Kimber then tells her side of the call: getting expelled from rehab, shooting cocaine all night, buying heroin after 40 abstinent days and waking up surrounded by emergency workers. The overdose did not immediately stop her addiction—she returned to treatment, entered a rehab romance and continued using for another two years. Now twenty months sober, she works for the same hotline that saved her, answering calls from people using alone and giving them the connection, companionship and protection she once needed. Truly one of our all timers! And More! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 PATREON SAVES on DOPEYCON TICKETS: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on the Dopey Dose! Dave opens the Wednesday Dose of Dopey with gratitude, recovery reflections and a reminder that it is possible to restart your day at any moment. A Canadian listener recounts ceremonially burying—and urinating on—his remaining cocaine while tripping on acid, while Northeast Ohio Bob remembers the drug-fueled chaos of Nelson Ledges Quarry Park. Then Stephanie Wittels Wachs joins Dave to discuss her new book, Last Day, and the death of her brother, beloved Parks and Recreation writer and comedian Harris Wittels. Stephanie remembers growing up and experimenting with weed, mushrooms, acid and whippets alongside Harris, his obsessive love of Phish and the moment his casual drug use became an urgent dependence on pills and heroin. Harris admitted spending $4,000 a month on pills while his career was exploding, entered treatment twice and died from an overdose shortly afterward. Stephanie explains how losing Harris transformed her into an advocate for harm reduction, overdose prevention and drug-policy reform. She and Dave discuss SafeSpot, Kimber and Stephen Murray, supervised consumption sites, the shame that forces people to use alone and the importance of keeping people alive without demanding that they become sober on someone else's timetable. The conversation closes with an honest discussion of grief, therapy, purpose and gratitude. Stephanie describes how writing and caring for her daughter gradually helped her build a larger life around the permanent loss of Harris. All that and more on the brand new Wednesday Dose of Dopey! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 Disount $15 at Patreon! : www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast On the teaser! Dave celebrates eleven years of recovery, asks whether Dopey qualifies as art and reminds everyone that DopeyCon is coming October 3. He reads a listener's Rolling Stones dream, considers the impossible mission of getting Mick Jagger or Keith Richards on Dopey and discusses potential episodes involving Anthony Bourdain, Mark Lanegan and legendary rock journalist Nick Kent. Dave also reads the overwhelming response to the recent Patreon episode about his own history and the possible Dopey documentary. Finally, he previews his intense Los Angeles conversation with Christopher, who describes growing up as one of eleven brothers amid abandonment, violence and abuse—before sharing his larger story of addiction, sex work and redemption exclusively on Patreon. All that and somehow still - MORE! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 PAtreon can save $15 on tickets: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode summary: This week on Dopey Total Replay! Dave circles back to Dopey Episode 42—the first appearance of his lifelong friend Devan. Before the replay, Dave celebrates eleven years in recovery, reflects on acceptance, gratitude and friendship, makes amends for sharing too much about a sponsee, and responds to listeners inspired by the Hunter Biden interview. Then Dave, Chris and Devan revisit their teenage years in New York City, including Dave and Devin's first acid trip at a Grateful Dead show, the pug that looked like an alien, a disastrous baby-powder fight and their organized campaign to steal CDs from HMV. Chris remembers Surfer Mike, addiction before the drugs and his dangerous childhood experiments with model rockets. Finally, an Australian listener tells the insane story of an overdosed friend who was dumped in a phone booth—only to wake up hours later and call the people who left him there. All that and MORE on the total replay episode of the good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets:https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 PAtreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode summary Hunter Biden joins Dopey for an unusually raw conversation about trauma, grief, addiction and recovery. He explains why alcohol initially worked for him, how drinking progressed from manageable binges to vodka hidden around the house, and how the death of his brother Beau preceded his descent into crack addiction. Before Hunter arrives, Dave contemplates his recent resentment problem after an argument over Susan's ice cream, reads a letter from a listener currently using cocaine and vodka, and shares stories involving LSD dropped into someone's eyes, a handful of Xanax swallowed during an arrest and a first meth experience that turns into full-blown DEA psychosis. Following the interview, Dave reveals that the Santa Monica studio looked like an “OnlyFans crack den.” After listening to the conversation, the studio operator disclosed that he was only five days free from crack and alcohol. Hunter embraced him in what everyone recognized as a genuine recovery god shot. All that plus much much much more!!!!!! https://www.workithealth.com/dopey/ https://substack.com/@hunterbiden Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dopeycon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 Patreon Saves $15: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary Dopey Greatest Hits: Actor and storyteller Ned Van Zandt returns to promote his one-man show, Lost in Dell Valley, and revisit his astonishing life in addiction and recovery. Ned describes being recognized in jail by the leader of the Texas Aryan Brotherhood, who traded him protection and OxyContin for acting lessons using scenes from Lost and Prison Break. The episode then replays Ned's original Dopey appearance: doing heroin with Andy Warhol's circle, living at the Chelsea Hotel alongside Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, eating Burger King with Sid on the day Nancy died, and being in their room hours before her murder. Ned explains why he believes Sid was innocent and identifies the drug dealer he suspected may have been involved. Ned also recounts driving a cab while addicted to heroin, getting slashed during a robbery, buying drugs on the devastated Lower East Side, descending into meth addiction in Long Beach, and knowing dealers who smuggled exotic birds. After nearly 13 years clean, one glass of wine led to a cocaine overdose four days later and another seven-year run. His final arrest, time in jail, and a trip to treatment in Hawaii ultimately gave him another chance—although he arrived with Valium, Vicodin and OxyContin sewn into his clothes. Today, Ned has nearly 20 years clean, works at Transcend NYC, and performs all 19 characters in Lost in Dell Valley. Way More on the New Episode! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary / show notes This week on Dopey Wednesday! We open the Wednesday show with DopeyCon updates, listener comments and a voicemail from Oskar in Sweden. After leaving rehab with no intention of staying clean, Oskar returns home to ten grams of heroin, begins injecting with a friend and saves that friend from a potentially fatal overdose using naloxone. Poet/writer/'clinician' addict Zach Frank returns to discuss anxious attachment, fear, resentment and the difficulty of responding thoughtfully when emotions take over. He remembers passing out on heroin while running a bath, flooding his mother's house and destroying his brother's Xbox before the damaged ceiling collapsed in front of his grandmother. Zach then takes Dave inside the jam-band drug scene. On his way to a Dominican Republic festival, he convinces a cab driver to find cocaine, stops at a pharmacy for a huge box of Xanax, absorbs liquid LSD through his palm, urinates in the ocean fully clothed and later smokes a “silly stick”—a joint containing marijuana and DMT—during a Disco Biscuits set. He also describes his final festival before recovery: obtaining cocaine and Xanax, taking ketamine and powerful MDMA pills, and eventually reaching complete spiritual exhaustion. He calls his mother crying, returns to New York and enters treatment. Dave and Zach discuss the painful gap between becoming abstinent and genuinely feeling well, the first moments of peace that make recovery worthwhile, and why addicts sometimes need to hold on through weeks or months of discomfort. They celebrate Dave's 11 years sober and compare the Knicks' championship comeback to the seemingly impossible transformations found in recovery. The episode closes with listener comments and Dave's heartfelt—and musically questionable—tribute to Dolly Parton. All that and MORE! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Full Episode only on: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Tickets: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 Summary / show notes Dave reveals that filmmaker Jason Cabello is making a documentary about Dopey—and recently followed him to California for a still-secret mission. Jason also sits down with longtime friends Brad and Jeremy to investigate the real history of Dave's addiction and the creation of Dopey. Before the documentary preview, Dave remembers musician Mark Hudson, announces the DopeyCon Theme Song Challenge, runs through the growing DopeyCon lineup, reads listener updates, celebrates recovery anniversaries, and receives an exceptionally detailed complaint about his disgusting habit of eating into the microphone. The teaser ends with Brad boldly claiming that Dopey wouldn't exist without him—and Dave promising Patreon listeners the resentment-filled story behind it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast save $15 on Dopey con tix Dopeycon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 Summary:  Episode summary Dave checks in from California with Jeremy for a conversation about modern weed, absurdly powerful dispensary products, Jeremy's torn Achilles, the Knicks championship and Dave's potentially revolutionary Katz's “Karubin.” Then Dopey replays Episode 43 with author and Refuge Recovery founder Noah Levine. Noah talks about growing up around Buddhism, trauma and drugs; taking mushrooms at ten; becoming addicted as a teenager; attempting suicide in juvenile hall; and discovering meditation while locked inside a padded cell. Chris wrestles with psychedelics in sobriety, prepares for a ten-day silent meditation retreat and asks whether it's possible to mindfully shoot heroin. Noah also delivers an all-time Dopey story involving cocaine, stolen Rolexes, a brakeless car, an e-brake turn in the rain and a burning getaway vehicle. Afterward, Dave and Chris discuss fallen spiritual teachers, sex, hypocrisy and abusing positions of power. They finish with a listener's insane story about introducing a Chinese exchange student to the “American tradition” of buying heroin—and accidentally abandoning him at Outback Steakhouse. AND MORE!!!!! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast DOPEYCON TICKETS: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 This week on Dopey! Viral comedian and school custodian Jimmy Cash joins Dopey to tell a funny, painful, and unmistakably Dopey recovery story. Jimmy grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts, surrounded by addiction and Alcoholics Anonymous. His father—a high-school janitor—died from an overdose when Jimmy was nine, while his mother cycled through addiction, recovery, and relationships with other janitors. After watching The Basketball Diaries as a child, Jimmy became obsessed with getting high before he had even tried a real drug. By his teens, Jimmy was smoking weed, drinking, taking psychedelics, using cocaine and ketamine, getting arrested, and fighting with police. He recalls punching a cop who was kindly driving him home, attacking the weak knee of a college RA—or at least being accused of it—and causing a coked-out disaster at an IHOP that ended with him breaking the handle off a police car and being beaten in custody. Court-ordered AA eventually became genuine recovery. Jimmy got sober in 2003, built a family, became a custodian, and pursued his lifelong dream of stand-up comedy. His janitor videos went viral, leading to national attention and an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. But after more than 20 years without drinking or using, divorce, career pressure, grief, isolation, and insomnia left Jimmy sleeping on his younger sister's couch. He began “nibbling” cannabis edibles, quickly recognized that he was getting high, and made the humbling decision to return to AA and pick up a new 24-hour chip. Plus: a listener steals a car and escapes police through a freezing pond, questions about the experimental opioid compound SR-17018, a precipitated-withdrawal horror story, spicy reactions to the Roy Donk episode, drugged dogs, dead parrots, Phish fans, and DopeyCon business. All that and more on this weeks new MASS edition of Dopey!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast  Get DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 Summary: On this Dopey Greatest Hits, Dave revisits one of the wildest, funniest and most vulnerable conversations in the show's history with filmmaker, actor and recovery advocate Brian Whisenant. Before the interview, listener Nick tells an insane angel-dust story involving a police checkpoint, the Seven Dwarfs, friends slapping each other unconscious, urinating in a fish tank—and later, shitting his pants while driving a taxi before immediately returning to work. Then Brian opens up about growing up gay in Mississippi, being groomed and sexually assaulted at 15, coming out to his deeply religious mother and turning to cocaine and crystal meth. His addiction eventually leads to homelessness, chemsex, predatory dealers, being filmed while high, a sex sling, IV meth use and a terrifying seven-day psychosis that ends with him restrained in a hospital. Brian explains the complicated relationship between sex, technology and meth addiction—and why returning to a healthy sex life can be one of the hardest parts of recovery. He also describes the unlikely moment involving Taco Bell, Johnnie Walker and a bottle of wine when he finally realized he was a drug addict and asked for help. Years later, Brian returned to the same hospital where he had once been restrained—this time as a treatment professional helping others. He also discusses finding recovery in Narcotics Anonymous and transforming his experiences into the short film Wrath Mercy. All that plus waaaaaay more on a brand new old school greatest hits listen!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 Get Discounts and Good Stuff on PAtreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary Interventionist, social worker, author and longtime Dopey favorite Joe Schrank returns to record with Dave in person for the first time since the early days with Chris. Joe explains why he believes the traditional rehab industry often confuses compliance with actual healing—and why recovery should be measured by improvement, reduced harm and staying alive, not only perfect abstinence. Dave and Joe dig into Brad Pitt's decision to drink moderately after years of sobriety, whether alcoholics can ever successfully return to controlled drinking, and why celebrities speaking publicly about recovery matters. They also discuss kratom and 7-OH addiction, medication-assisted treatment, cannabis in recovery, mental health care and the danger of treating relapse as a moral failure. Joe shares memories of employing Chris, how he responded to Chris's relapses and the shame Chris carried afterward. Plus: a drug-addled FedEx driver steals a customer's mailbox, Dave's painfully awkward encounter with Seth Rogen, Joe's upcoming book and screenplay, DopeyCon, Andy Cohen, baseball and the possible return of Rehab Confidential. ALL THAT AND MORE!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get Discounted Dopeycon tickets @ www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Or Buy them full price @ https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2345507 Summary / show notes On this Dopey Tuesday Teaser, Dave records alone while his family is away, cooks what he declares may be history's greatest air-fried chicken thighs and gives the Dopey Nation his complete 420-degree recovery meal recipe. Then Snake from the UK delivers a classic festival disaster. On the way into Bang Face, a rave filled with hardcore electronic music and drugs, Snake removes an enormous assortment of ketamine, MDMA, cocaine, weed, 2C-B and acid from his pants so he can urinate. He fails to put everything back properly—and the entire stash falls onto the ground directly in front of security. After the bouncers confiscate both his drugs and his friend Damon's supply, the pair drink a bottle of Kraken rum and quickly replace everything inside the festival. Loaded on speed, acid and alcohol, Snake gets grabbed by security again. Convinced they're returning to steal his soul, he climbs through a tiny bathroom window “like a spider monkey” and runs across the festival. By the end of the weekend, he and Damon become famous as the guys who continually get their drugs confiscated. Dave then reads listener reactions to the Jason Mewes interview—including theories about why celebrity guests avoid him, whether Mewes thought Dave was named Mark and the audience's collective childhood crush on Jay. Finally, Handsome Evan returns to discuss fatherhood, paternity leave and working inside a state psychiatric facility. The full SHOW —including psych-ward chaos, a crack-and-shit voicemail and much more—is available only on Patreon.     Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast DopeyCon Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 Summary: On this Dopey Total Replay, Dave revisits episode 41—the first episode he and Chris recorded with an actual microphone and one of the earliest shows to explore bipolar disorder, mania, drug-induced psychosis and mental illness. First, Jason tells a mile-a-minute story about visiting an escort in a boarded-up Seattle trap house after relapsing on meth. After smoking crack for the first time, he returns from the bathroom to discover that the escort has taken his phone, wallet and keys. She demands $400—including a mandatory $50 tip—and summons a huge man armed with a nine iron. Held hostage and threatened with death, Jason secretly texts his roommate, who sends the police crashing through the door. Then Dave and Chris return in 2016 with their brand-new Yeti microphone. They debate potential sponsors, remember Leonardo DiCaprio completely ignoring Dave, and discuss the grim reality of losing friends to overdoses. Chris tells the story of a longtime friend whose drug use triggered manic and psychotic episodes. After hearing Dave describe Leonardo DiCaprio as “Teflon,” the friend is approached by police while behaving erratically, tears off his shirt and repeatedly screams, “I'm Leonardo DiCaprio!” The conversation expands into bipolar disorder, substance-induced mania, grandiosity, Jesus delusions and the difficulty of getting someone appropriate psychiatric care when they can appear normal for an hour. Dave's friend John then calls with recordings of his frightening former roommate. John survived the living situation by recording every confrontation with his phone—including an incredible argument in which the roommate becomes convinced that John bought a scratched, secondhand toilet seat online. The episode finishes with early Dopey shenanigans: Chris's abandoned mindfulness calendar, Dave receiving weed as a Secret Santa gift immediately after getting sober, and a mysterious half-ounce of marijuana left underneath a table at Katz's. All that and lots more on this new but also old episode of dopey. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

listen without ads and get dopeycon tix discounted at www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary: It's Dopey Day—the annual celebration of Chris O'Connor's birthday, his spirit and the strange, loving community that grew around Dopey. Dave explains the meaning of putting the Dopey logo over your eyes: addiction doesn't have one face, nobody truly knows what another person is going through, and recovery happens through connection. After DopeyCon updates, Scott remembers his weed-loving boxer Bailey, and Morgan tells a frightening story about a friend accidentally snorting an enormous line of 2C-B instead of cocaine and spending four hours reliving combat trauma. Then three longtime dopes return to reflect on how their lives—and their ideas about recovery—have changed. OG Dopey Nation legend Matthew Wiedermeier Carroll explains how he found Dopey while strung out on meth, wrote to Chris from prison, and eventually created the beloved “Waiting for Tonight” posts. He recounts stealing beer kegs and copper for drug money, drinking throughout his early involvement with Dopey, returning to cocaine and meth after his son was born, getting thrown out of his house and finally working the Twelve Steps for the first time. Matt also talks about prayer, fatherhood, DJing and the connection that helped him build a real recovery. Next, B. Getz of The Upful Life looks back at discovering Dopey while isolated on Northern California cannabis farms and trying to quit opioids with kratom. He remembers getting expelled from his first weed farm after having pills mailed to him, returning for another chance, and finding community among the international “trimigrants” of the pre-legalization cannabis world. Now married, off opioids and kratom, and raising a new baby, B. explains how Dopey helped broaden his understanding of recovery beyond rigid labels and taught him the value of service. Finally, Colin—who lived with Chris after Mountainside and now co-runs Berkshire Transition Network—joins Dave for a deeper conversation about grief, overdose and the limits of one-size-fits-all recovery. They question the tendency to explain every death by saying the person “didn't want it enough,” discuss whether addiction is a fixed identity or a culturally constructed label, and explore why listening, patience, trust and individualized support may matter more than forcing everyone down the same path. All that plus extra Chris! and More on an all new dopey day episode of that good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LISTEN WITHOUT ADS on PATREON: Buy discount Tickets to DopeyCon only n Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary On this Dopey Greatest Hits, Dave brings back one of the wildest and most cinematic stories in the show's history: Louie Mandrapilias, author of Flew Too High. First, Dave gives a DopeyCon update and plays a voicemail from Hannah, who manipulated her dog's medical records to build a second Xanax prescription in her pet's name. What began with six bars for an anxious dog eventually became regular prescriptions that Hannah took for herself—until her veterinarian offered to double the dosage and Hannah realized how far the scheme had gone. Then Louie takes us from 1970s New York City to India, Bolivia and Bangkok. A young gay art student arrives in Manhattan, takes MDA, dances at Studio 54, sees Andy Warhol, shoots his first speedball and falls in love with a small-time drug dealer. That relationship sends him to India, where he visits an opium den, joins Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh's ashram and begins an unexpected romance with a German woman. When Louie becomes stranded with an unpaid hotel bill, he tracks down an opium-addicted dealer named Tascar and agrees to smuggle pure heroin back to New York inside a condom wrapped in electrical tape and hidden in his body. At JFK, DEA agents strip-search him but somehow fail to find it. Louie sells half the heroin for $50,000—and quickly becomes addicted to the rest. Next comes a trip to Bolivia for a kilo of pure cocaine. Unable to conceal the package the way he planned, Louie divides it between his cowboy boots and skin-tight jeans. This time, the DEA immediately notices. He is arrested, faces federal charges and avoids prison after his father puts up the family home and helps him receive probation. But even that isn't Louie's bottom. After returning to drugs, he joins an elaborate Bangkok heroin-smuggling operation that hides the shipment inside an airplane lavatory for another courier to retrieve on a domestic leg of the flight. By Christmas 1983, Louie is living in luxury but feels completely dead inside. A seemingly minor argument produces a life-changing realization: “You don't have to live like this.” He returns home, kicks heroin and enters treatment on January 1, 1984. A year later, he tests HIV-positive at a time when the diagnosis was widely considered a death sentence. Louie stays sober, builds a creative life, finds an HIV-positive recovery community in Los Angeles—and remains sober 40 years later. All that and more on this brand new yet old Classic Episode of that good old Dopey Show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Patreon is no ads and discounts for DopeyCon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode summary Dave opens the Wednesday Dose of Dopey by responding to a listener who noticed he seemed a little off. He talks honestly about the pressure of producing five shows a week, his obsessive pursuit of Jason Mewes, the strange sadness that follows surrender, and what's coming together for DopeyCon. Then JD shares a terrifying story from his twenties: three sleepless days inside a Mississippi trailer with an ounce of cocaine, crack, beer, no food and almost no water. After a massive shot leaves him conscious but completely unable to move, his friend helps bring him back—only for JD to immediately smoke the biggest crack hit of his life. Dave remembers Annie Ellie and Brian “Hot Wheels” Connolly through comments from the Dopey Nation before welcoming back Jed Payne of Church & Other Drugs and Rehab Bromance. Approaching one year sober after years of concealed relapse, Jed talks about going from addiction counselor to treatment patient, sharing a room with former clients, working at a coffee shop with teenagers, and accepting the humiliation required to rebuild his life. He explains how CBD and “microdosing” became the beginning of his return to getting high, why clinicians in recovery need somewhere safe to struggle, and how easily helping addicts can replace doing your own recovery work. Then things get properly Dopey: Jed recalls shooting cocaine while a police officer stood beside the car, injecting a bright-blue ecstasy pill in a gas-station bathroom, boofing two more pills before work, rolling with his hands submerged in marinara sauce, and eventually passing out on the prep table. Jed and Dave also discuss 7-OH, smoke-shop opioids, Sublocade, coming off Suboxone, emotional recovery after relapse, staying present, and the small daily actions he is using to become a man of his word again. All that and STILL MORE on the newest Wednesday Dose of Dopey! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LISTEN TO THE FULL (unfull) Jason Mewes interview go to www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode summary On a new Dopey Tuesday Teaser, Dave celebrates Hardcore Dope Eric's four-year sobriety anniversary before explaining the strange history of his long-awaited interview with Jason Mewes—Jay from Jay and Silent Bob and films including Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma. After nearly ten years of trying to book Jason, Dave finally recorded with him—only for Dave's internet to fail around an hour into the conversation. Six months of attempts to schedule the rest of the interview went nowhere, leaving Dave to confront the blurry line between persistence and becoming unbearably annoying. He decides to stop pursuing Jason, make amends in spirit and release the unfinished conversation exclusively on Patreon. Jesse contributes a classic Xanax blackout story: he drives to a gas station, nods out with his foot on the brake and wakes up safely in bed with no idea where his car went. When he reports it missing, the police remind him that they drove him home, helped him climb through his window and parked the car for him. Abby shares her journey from winning a sixth-grade DARE essay contest to alcoholism, a suicide attempt, an out-of-state DUI and eventually nine years of sobriety. The daughter of two addicts who met at an AA barn dance, Abby describes praying for 90 days until her desire to drink finally lifted. Today, she is a mother, business owner and active member of the recovery community. Dave also reads Spotify and Patreon reactions to the Reddit Roundup, including praise for his increasingly elaborate guided meditations, more DopeyCon game-show suggestions, criticism of Heart Attack Doug, a possible reconciliation with Cat Marnell and an idea for episodes built around music from different periods of Dave's addiction. The teaser closes with the beginning of the elusive Jason Mewes interview before the rest disappears behind the Patreon paywall. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LISTEN WITHOUT ADDS AND GET DOPEYCON TIX FOR $15 OFF: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast On this week's Dopey Total Replay, Dave returns to Episode 40—an early Dave-and-Chris show about drug dreams, relapse anxiety, dentists, nitrous oxide and the weird feeling of no longer recognizing the addict you used to be. Before the replay, Dave reads an unbelievable letter from Josh Clark about Django, the family's Parsons Russell Terrier who developed his own meth habit. Django learned to hunt down dropped shards, lick used injection cottons and even hide cottons around the house for later. After Josh entered treatment and Django was forced to kick, the dog continued reacting to needles, alcohol wipes and tattoo equipment like they might lead to one more dose. Then it's back to 2016, where Chris describes dreaming about shooting cocaine but waking up just before the rush hits. Dave remembers wandering through dreams with Todd searching for heroin, finding drugs and never being able to get away from everyone long enough to use them. They talk about relapse dreams, dope-sick nightmares, hiding imaginary relapses from sponsors and family, the shame of appearing high while completely sober and whether addicts can somehow recreate altered states without taking anything. The conversation eventually wanders into Vicodin after dental surgery, nitrous oxide, eating an Italian sub immediately after wisdom-tooth removal, waking up with somebody else's front teeth in your pocket, alcoholic denial, pointless therapy and an awkward call with Ray Brown about how appearing on Dopey changed his life. It's a loose, funny and strangely revealing early episode—classic Dave and Chris turning drug addiction, recovery anxiety and absolutely nothing into an hour of Dopey. and more Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads and buy DOPEYCON TICKETS ONLY ON SALE ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on Dopey! On a sprawling new episode of Dopey, Dave celebrates recovery, remembers members of the Dopey Nation who have died, and welcomes Good Baklava founder Roy Donk for an unbelievably chaotic conversation about drugs, Phish, entrepreneurship and sobriety. The episode begins with Australian Dope Maddie B celebrating one year without alcohol after years of severe alcoholism, seizures, psychosis and repeated attempts to stop. Her message about continuing to try leads into a remembrance of Annie Ellie on the anniversary of her death. Dave plays Annie's old recording about discovering Dopey while she was still using and how Dave, Chris and the Dopey Nation helped make recovery feel possible. Dave also explains Dopey Day, the annual social-media tribute honoring Chris, Todd, Annie, Brian and the other dopes the community has lost. Taylor checks in with a darkly funny voicemail about why Dopey's willingness to laugh at addiction, death and other painful subjects still matters. Dave then reads responses to the Christmas episode with Chris O'Connor's former partner Annie, including messages about grief, relapse, lost loved ones and the idea that grief never disappears—we gradually build a larger life around it. Minnesota Matt contributes the episode's first major drug story: after spending days smoking crack alone, he wakes up naked, bloodied and bruised beside a broken guitar and realizes he overdosed while playing along with the Allman Brothers. A tape recorder captured the collapse, but after listening to the evidence, he loads another crack pipe and continues smoking. California Miles then sends an update about the end of his 38-year marriage and his attempt to replace self-pity with acceptance and the Serenity Prayer. The featured guest is Roy Donk, founder of Good Baklava and the Knicks fan who became a viral presence outside Madison Square Garden. Roy recounts growing up Orthodox Jewish in New Jersey, smoking K2, stealing cologne, dropping out of high school, working bizarre Hasidic jobs and eventually discovering Phish and psychedelics. His story escalates through cocaine dealing, life in a San Diego drug house, a dog accidentally eating acid, selling drugs on Phish tour and getting arrested at Mohegan Sun after doing ketamine at the slot machines while dressed in a Phish robe. Court-ordered rehab initially fails to convince Roy that he is an addict, and he quickly returns to nitrous, cocaine, ketamine and touring. During the pandemic, he moves to Mexico and maintains a remote marketing career while using heavily. A Tulum work trip becomes a massive binge, culminating in Roy accidentally uploading uncensored photographs of the debauchery to his employer's shared drive. After losing the job, Roy walks into an English-speaking AA meeting in Mexico and begins working with a sponsor. He eventually admits that he cannot control his drug use, returns to Phish tour sober and discovers that recovery doesn't require surrendering the music or community he loves. When he needs a legal way to make money on tour, he buys three containers of grocery-store baklava and sells them at a show. That spontaneous hustle eventually becomes Good Baklava, importing unbaked baklava from Turkey and building a growing business from New Jersey. All that and more, more, more, more on a sweet phishy new dopey episode of that good old dopey show.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen with no ads and get Dopeycon 7 Tickets ONLY ON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode summary This week on Dopey's Greatest Hits! In honor of Ryan Leone's birthday, Dopey returns to one of his most unforgettable appearances—a brutally honest account of creativity, addiction, ambition, relapse, and the struggle to stay alive. Ryan explains how receiving a free gram of cocaine before visiting Tommy Lee's house triggered the worst relapse of his life. Cocaine became crack, depression led him toward self-administered ketamine treatments, and a cycle of steroids, psychedelics, heroin, and fentanyl nearly destroyed his family and career. In the episode's most unbelievable story, Ryan accidentally injects approximately 60 hits of liquid LSD after confusing it with ketamine. He drives through California while hallucinating that his fiancée and children are in the car, encounters a dead body in the road, and eventually wakes up in a teepee-shaped motel room before being hospitalized. Ryan also describes his progression from heroin to fentanyl, multiple overdoses, fighting naked inside a detox, starting methadone, and finally understanding what powerlessness means. Dave and Ryan discuss the dangerous mythology of the drug-addicted artist, Ryan's identification with Hunter S. Thompson, the toll his public persona took on his family, and whether he could remain creative without heroin. A classic Dopey conversation with the late writer, filmmaker, father, and unforgettable friend of the show, Ryan Leone. RIP PALABRA & MORE   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Full Episodes on PAtreon without ADS: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast On this very special Wednesday Dose of Dopey, Dave remembers two beloved members of the Dopey Nation: Annie Ellie and Brian “Hot Wheels” Connolly. First, we revisit Dave's conversation with Annie—a radiant, hilarious force in the community who helped bring people together through Dopey Zoom. Annie shares her journey from England's rave scene and recreational heroin use to opium dens in Laos, backstage chaos with Oasis, years of addiction, and finally finding recovery through NA and the Dopey Nation. Then we return to Brian “Hot Wheels” Connolly's unforgettable appearances with Dave and Chris. Brian tells the devastating story of breaking his neck after diving through a frozen pond, learning to inject heroin despite quadriplegia, and struggling to build a meaningful life in recovery. In an especially painful moment, Brian calls Dopey while craving heroin—and Chris helps talk him through the night. It's an episode about grief, community, relapse, survival, and the people whose lives continue to matter after they are gone. And MORE!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen to The Big Episode at www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on the free Dopey Tuesday teaser, Dave wakes up at 5:41 in the morning feeling restless, spiritually shaky, and completely lost without meaningful Knicks news. After discussing the Allman Brothers, boring NBA rumors, Lena Dunham, and the dangers of listening to books by people he can't get on Dopey, Dave attempts a brand-new guided meditation.   In the first-ever Dopey garbage can meditation, we gather up our regret, inadequacy, self-hatred, financial anxiety, childhood bullshit, belly fat, and fear about the future. We throw it all into a dumpster, strap the dumpster to a rocket ship, and launch the entire fucking thing into the sun.   Then Lauren B. delivers an instant-classic “socks for stories” voicemail. During the early days of COVID, when she and her boyfriend were so broke they were smoking cigarettes off the ground, Lauren spotted what she thought was a receipt beside a puddle. Instead, she found an entire ounce of real heroin in a ripped plastic bag that appeared to have been hidden inside somebody's ass. The heroin kept them from hustling for several days—but after it ran out, Lauren bought something different and suffered her first overdose.   Dave also reads the Spotify and Patreon comments from Heart Attack Doug's birthday episode. The Nation debates whether Doug needs to reveal more of his recovery story, whether his defensive shtick is wearing thin, and why he may still be the perfect Dopey cohost. Plus: gluten-free chicken parmesan, Billy Joe Shaver, James Brown, decriminalization, grief, relapse, losing beloved dogs, and finding a way back when life wears you down. The episode closes with a heartfelt and imperfect cover of “Good So Bad,” a song that helped inspire a Dopey listener to get clean. The full Reddit Roundup with the great Cormac and difficult Selby is available exclusively on Patreon. plus more   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on the replay! Dave revisits Dopey Episode 39, one of the strangest and most influential episodes from the show's early years. Before the replay, he announces his latest attempt at a Dopey Fitness Challenge, shares a DopeyCon update, untangles the increasingly confusing Patreon tiers, reads listener reactions to the infamous Modi episode, and reflects on what this recording revealed about his relationship with Chris. In the original episode, Dave and Chris recover from their disastrous interview with Modi by eating Vietnamese food and chocolate, arguing about whether Dave is a control freak, and repeatedly attempting to sing the Chili's baby-back-ribs jingle. Chris tells the story of traumatizing his epileptic Portuguese water dog, plays an accidentally stolen Howard Stern prank, and recalls buying cocaine from a garbage bag in an abandoned Caribbean house—before lighting his hair on fire. The episode eventually turns toward recovery, connection, and the importance of calling another sober person when things get dark. Then, naturally, Dave and Chris destroy “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” A chaotic early Dopey classic that captures exactly why their partnership worked. All that plus more!     Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Katie starts at 32 minutes in! This week on Dopey! BEFORE KATEY: We help a young philadelphian struggling with substances - and we celebrate the instant-classic Dopey appearance of Ben Croxton; reads Patreon and Spotify reactions; and announces DopeyCon at the SVA Theatre on October 3!  Dave sits down with actor, musician and recovery legend Katey Sagal for an expansive conversation about addiction, show business and nearly four decades of sobriety. Katey traces her story from growing up in Southern California and discovering music as her first escape from social anxiety to being prescribed amphetamine diet pills at 14. What began with pills, weed and alcohol gradually progressed into street speed, cocaine, freebasing, Percocet and a daily need to remain medicated. She remembers singing with Bob Dylan as a teenager, going to dinner with him while he wore no shoes, working with Bette Midler and Etta James, and navigating a music industry where heavy drug use was accepted as long as you made it to the gig. She also discusses her first husband's heroin addiction, experimenting with heroin herself, driving with ounces of cocaine in her trunk and continually placing herself in dangerous situations to stay loaded. Katey explains how she entered AA while searching for a boyfriend named Spider, stayed sober for several months, relapsed while working in New York and finally got sober for good on August 6, 1986. Only months into recovery, she began playing Peg Bundy on Married… with Children. She talks about telling someone on set that she was sober, working the Steps immediately, and maintaining her recovery as the show became a cultural phenomenon. The conversation also covers Futurama, Sons of Anarchy, meeting Kurt Sutter in a Twelve Step meeting, sponsorship, service, gratitude, Al‑Anon and why addiction continues to surface through food, shopping, control and obsessive thinking—even after the drugs are gone. Before Katey joins the show, Dave responds to a 23-year-old listener struggling with pyrazolam, kratom, marijuana and alcohol; celebrates Ben Croxton's . The episode closes with Jake from West Virginia performing a banjo cover of “I Wanna Be Good So Bad,” complete with an original third verse. All that and MORE! on a brand new episode of dopey! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FULL SHOW NO ADS ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode Summary This week on Dopey's Greatest Hits! What may be the greatest Dopey episode of all time: the unbelievable story of tattoo artist, punk-rock survivor, bank robber and Dopey legend Shane Enholm. Before the replay, Dave announces that DopeyCon is officially happening October 3, celebrates the publication of his kratom piece in Rolling Stone, and reads a listener's story about Bristol's open heroin market. Then Shane's story begins. Raised by an addicted mother, arrested alongside her at 12 and homeless as a teenager, Shane hitchhiked across America before finding punk rock in late-1970s Los Angeles. He crossed paths with Darby Crash and the Germs, became involved with Crash's former girlfriend Casey, developed a devastating heroin addiction and began robbing pharmacies. After entering adult prison at 18, Shane escaped a Synanon-style treatment program and returned to heroin, cocaine and crime. When Shane and Casey lost custody of their children, he robbed his first bank with a toy gun. Over the next six months, he became the FBI's “Ponytail Bandit,” robbing 29 banks—including one $36,000 score—while financing an enormous heroin habit. Shane describes robbing banks with his children in getaway cars, a dye pack exploding inside a taxi, his arrest in San Francisco and the eight years and 23 days he subsequently spent in federal prison. Inside, he developed another heroin habit, dealt drugs, swallowed and concealed balloons of heroin, and survived the violent racial politics of high-security federal institutions. After prison, Shane found his daughters living in horrific conditions, regained custody and slowly attempted to rebuild his life. He survived hepatitis C, cirrhosis and bacterial endocarditis, found stability through methadone, recovery, tattooing and art, and eventually became a respected historian of antique tattoo machines. The episode ends with Shane performing “Making Mud Pies,” the heartbreaking song he wrote in prison about Casey, followed by Trinity's cover of “Good So Bad.” Plus more! more! more! on the new old Dopey show!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads at: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast On a brand-new Dopey Wednesday! Dave announces that DopeyCon is officially happening October 3 at the SVA Theatre, presented by Mountainside—and reveals the game-show-inspired concept for the event. Legendary Dopey storyteller Mick Popham calls in from New Zealand with a brutally dopey story about stealing oxycodone, Valium and dihydrocodeine from an elderly cancer survivor—then replacing her pain medication with laxatives. Later, writer and recovering addict Kevin McEnroe returns for a wide-ranging conversation about the Knicks championship, watching his father John McEnroe celebrate with Larry David, and the strange emotional power of finally seeing the Knicks win. Kevin also opens up about growing up with his mother, Tatum O'Neal, during her addiction; addiction and resentment within a famous family; caring for his mother following her stroke; sobriety, forgiveness, service and the possibility of becoming a father himself. He and Dave compare the challenges of traveling sober, attending alcohol-soaked weddings, missing meetings, resentment toward their wives and learning to show up for other people. Plus: Farrah Fawcett in Playboy, Dave's deeply unfortunate first masturbatory experience, teaching tennis as “chop wood, carry water,” Dave's new Rolling Stone kratom piece—and a potentially great new book idea for Kevin. All that and more on the new new new wednesday!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FULL EPISODE ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast EPISODE SUMMARY   On the Teaser! Heart Attack Doug returns to Dopey Tuesday for his 63rd birthday—and immediately lies about his age. Dave and Doug argue about aging, white hair, barbers, gluten sensitivity, recovery meetings and Doug's plan to celebrate with gluten-free chicken parmesan. They remember Dopey legends Ray the Clamour and Crosstalk Larry, read comments from the Dopey Nation and debate whether drugs should be decriminalized and regulated. Dave also recaps the Great South Bay Music Festival, including Little Feat, My Morning Jacket, Sublime and the strange reality of openly buying legal weed at a music festival. After the paywall: more Heart Attack Doug voicemails, the truth about Ray versus Larry, DopeyCon plans, marijuana, recovery and additional birthday insanity. LISTEN TO THE WHOLE THING ONLY ON PATREON! www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without Ads on Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast SUMMARY: This week on the Dopey Total Replay: Dopey goes back ten years to Episode 38, a strange cult-classic featuring Dave, Chris and comedian Modi. Before the replay, Dave remembers recording in his old Lower East Side apartment, reads early listener comments and shares an email from a former member of the Real McKenzies whose life moved from crystal meth and touring to cocaine dealing, opiate addiction and a suicide attempt. Dave also talks about briefly considering buying weed at the Great South Bay Music Festival, announces that DopeyCon is likely happening at SVA on October 3, and revisits listener reactions to the early Chris episodes. Then the original episode begins. Modi immediately destroys Dave's apartment, fish tank, furniture and primitive podcast equipment. He shares his first experiences with marijuana and ecstasy, explains the growing market for kosher Sabbath edibles, and talks about performing at a Caron recovery event and appearing on The Sopranos. Chris tells the story of his father discovering his crack pipe—and then recognizing it while the family watched The Sopranos. The guys discuss Artie Lange, Greg Giraldo, sober comedians, AA, Al-Anon and whether everyone has some form of addiction. A convicted bank robber named Shamrock writes from an illegal marijuana farm in Maine, and Dave finally tells the legendary “blue cheese” story: a misunderstanding involving a Mexican man in detox, John Belushi and speedballs. The episode concludes with an old-school New York weed story involving Sheep Meadow, a paranoid elderly dealer, brown paper, a fake payment and an incredibly unlucky subway encounter.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads on patreon at: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast SUMMARY: This week on Dopey, Dave marks eight years since the death of his original co-host and close friend, Chris O'Connor. After celebrating members of Dopey Nation—including brothers Brian and Matt, Laren, Steve Schneider and Jessica—Dave reflects on recovery, character defects and the strange experience of hearing Chris again every week through the Total Dopey Replay.   The heart of the episode is an intimate conversation with Chris's former fiancée, Annie, who is now a surgeon, a wife and the mother of two young children. Annie looks back on finding Chris after his fatal overdose, the trauma that followed and the years it took before that memory stopped feeling frightening and became simply, painfully sad.   Dave and Annie discuss the life Chris never got to live, whether he wanted children, the secrecy surrounding his relapse and the possibility that nobody close to him knew he was using. Annie explains why she ultimately walked away from a planned career treating substance use disorder and why Dopey may offer comfort to some people while remaining too painful for members of Chris's family.   Annie shares a powerful analogy she received shortly after Chris died: in the beginning, grief is the only room in the house. As life continues, you add new rooms—relationships, children, work, friendship and purpose. The grief room never disappears, but it is no longer the only place you can go. That realization leads Dave and Annie to an unexpected connection: recovery from addiction can also be a form of grief. You may never erase the loss or forget the feeling you once chased, but you can build a life large enough that it no longer consumes everything. PLease listen to this very special ChrisMiss Episode.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary: This week on Dopey Greatest Hits, Dave marks the eighth anniversary of Chris O'Connor's death with a powerful replay about relapse, survival and the people addiction takes from us. Before the original episode, Dave reflects on his own recovery, restraint of pen and tongue, missing meetings and the uncomfortable truth that two things can be true at once. He also reads a brutally honest email from James D. DeHart about coming within seconds of buying meth after three years away from hard drugs. The original episode opens with Dave remembering Chris and listening back to the early years of Dopey—the jokes, interruptions and ordinary moments that preserved their friendship. A clip from Episode 100 becomes painfully prophetic as Dave and Chris casually discuss what their relapses might look like and whether either of them could die. Then Dopey legend DJ recounts the complete anatomy of his relapse after nearly two years sober. A new job and relationship slowly replaced meetings, sponsorship and honesty. Social drinking followed, then a drive past his old Detroit dope house. Within weeks, he was smoking crack and fentanyl daily, hiding drugs from his girlfriend and falling out in bathrooms. After mixing fentanyl, Suboxone, tequila, cannabis gummies and Ativan, DJ entered precipitated withdrawal and landed in a Detroit hospital. He left in undersized hospital scrubs and socks, found his way back to the dope spot and spent the day smoking crack and fentanyl in a blackout. He lost his clothes, wandered barefoot through Detroit, handed his debit card to a stranger and eventually surfaced dirty, disoriented and barely alive. His family found him, and he eventually returned to treatment. The episode also includes a classic exchanges between Dave and Chris, followed by a moving conversation with Chris's former sponsor, Dylan. They discuss sponsorship, psychedelics in recovery, the dangers of building a life and then neglecting the recovery that made it possible—and the authenticity, curiosity and independence that made Chris unforgettable. All that and way more! on this Ghosts of ChrisMiss Past episode! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode summary: This week we continue Allman Brothers Month!Legendary photographer, archivist and Allman Brothers tour manager Kirk West tells the incredible story of his journey from small-town Iowa into the center of American rock-and-roll history. After discovering psychedelics and Chicago blues in the late 1960s, Kirk became an IV meth user and drug dealer. He fled pending charges, landed in the psychedelic communities of Boulder and Northern California, and was eventually identified and arrested while hitchhiking through Nevada with meth and syringes in his backpack. Kirk recounts therapeutic-community rehab, heroin addiction, the murder of his drug-dealing partner, repeated arrests and the camera-store burglary that finally led him back into treatment. He found recovery through one of Florida's earliest Narcotics Anonymous communities—but after five years sober, he attempted to prove that he could drink normally. That experiment ended shortly after John Lennon's murder and ultimately gave Kirk the sobriety date he has maintained ever since. His recovery opened the door to an extraordinary career photographing Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Clash, Jerry Garcia and countless others. Kirk eventually became the Allman Brothers Band's archivist and tour manager, served as Dickey Betts' sponsor and helped preserve the group's history. He shares intimate stories about Gregg Allman, Duane Allman, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, the Big House in Macon—and the night Lowell George offered him cocaine shortly before his death. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Full Show only on Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Episode Teaser Summary: Dave is back in the garage with Heart Attack Doug for a hilarious and chaotic Dopey Tuesday reunion! The episode opens with a fresh Surrealismo remix of the Dopey theme, sparking an immediate debate over Beatles remixes, Rocky Raccoon, and who actually wrote the hits (with Dave campaigning hard for Izzy Stradlin). Doug brings the fire with savage voice memos and an all-time great impression of a whiny, anti-Semitic Dave, while the duo dives headfirst into classic meeting drama — someone stole from the collection basket and now the boys argue about gossip vs. playing cop, benefit of the doubt, and trusted servant votes. Doug drops sensible recovery wisdom, Long Island sprinkler guy corruption stories, and his famous “bragging or complaining” diagnosis. They also tease Dave's vacation stories, Canadian wildfire smoke horror, Kratom opinions (and Dave's upcoming Rolling Stone piece), and read spicy Spotify comments praising Ray Brown while dragging Doug. It all wraps with a raw live musical moment and classic Dopey banter. Pure unfiltered chaos, laughs, and real talk — classic Dave & Doug energy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads on patreon - www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast SUMMARY This week on the Dopey Total Replay, Dave returns from his summer hiatus and previews the family's Pacific Northwest adventure, the upcoming Patreon Zoom, and the big decision facing DopeyCon: Friday night at the SVA Theatre or Saturday at the old church.   Then we travel back to Dopey Episode 37 for a classic conversation with Dave and Chris. They talk about sponsorship, working the steps, honesty, spirituality, and the strange miracle of one addict helping another. Dave tells the story of Jerry Garcia using a radio interview to summon drugs after the Grateful Dead's package went missing in Philadelphia, plus tales of John Lennon's psychedelic excess and Paul McCartney's alleged plan to smuggle Owsley acid inside camera equipment.   Things get progressively dopier as Dave remembers stealing fried chicken and vodka at a company party, while Chris describes shooting cocaine in Anguilla, hallucinating benevolent Rastas hiding in the bushes, chasing an imaginary car around an abandoned house, and eventually being rescued from Saint Martin by his brother.   Finally, Dave recounts smuggling six bundles of heroin into Jamaica, burning through nearly everything, passing out on Valium during a press trip, and repeatedly sneaking into first class while withdrawing on the flight home. Beneath all the insanity, Dave and Chris reflect on the possession of addiction, the freedom of sobriety, and the strange comfort of no longer needing drugs to feel safe.   Stay strong, Dopey Nation, and fucking toodles for Chris.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on Dopey! We open the show with a deep dive into Lou Reed's classic junkie anthem "Waiting for the Man" before reading incredible listener stories involving MDMA-assisted therapy, smashing open a safe with an axe for OxyContin, smoking crack in an airplane bathroom, a horrific flesh-eating abscess, and surviving Antabuse mixed with opioids. Then legendary author Jerry Stahl returns for one of the funniest and deepest conversations Dopey has ever had. Jerry shares never-before-heard stories about writing for Twin Peaks, working with David Lynch and Ben Stiller, learning from Hubert Selby Jr., meeting William Burroughs' son, Oprah admitting she loved crack, surviving heroin addiction, and why kindness matters more than bitterness. The conversation ends with Dave pitching Jerry his outrageous action movie idea: Die Hard... at Katz's Delicatessen. PLUS MORE MORE MORE on a brand new yet timeless episode of that good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without ads at 8$ a month or up on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast SUMMARY This week on Dopey Greatest Hits, Dave officially declares July to be Allman Brothers Month and revisits one of his favorite interviews—with Duane Betts, guitarist, songwriter and son of the legendary Dickey Betts. Before the interview, Dave talks about his lifelong love of “Blue Sky,” reflects on a difficult Patreon Zoom and reminds himself of one of recovery's hardest lessons: restraint of pen and tongue. Papa Smurf contributes an incredible story about selling mushrooms in an Allman Brothers parking lot, getting grabbed by undercover cops and escaping after an oblivious hippie accidentally distracts them. A listener named Jeff also shares a disastrous Phish adventure involving craft beer, moonshine, cocaine, getting lost outside the venue while “Maze” played in the distance, wandering through a locked campground and receiving a possession charge that ultimately introduced him to AA. Then Dave sits down with Duane Betts for an intimate and wide-ranging conversation about growing up inside the Allman Brothers family, touring with his father, living at Cher's Malibu home, learning guitar on the road and finding his own musical identity. Duane opens up about Hodgkin lymphoma, discovering Dilaudid after surgery, the Malibu party scene, Molly, cocaine, crack, black tar heroin and a gram-a-day opiate habit. He recalls smoking heroin-and-cocaine speedballs, flipping a car after scoring drugs, waking up beside a friend who had overdosed and nearly dying after a massive cocaine hit. He also describes arrests, drug court, treatment, Suboxone, relapse, touring with Dawes and eventually finding lasting recovery. Now more than seven years sober, Duane talks about meeting his wife in Jackson Hole, staying grounded through music, hiking, yoga and connection, and continuing the Allman Brothers legacy through his solo work, Palmetto Motel and the Allman Betts Family Revival. It is a story about rock-and-roll history, inherited addiction, devastating loss, recovery and finding a life filled with music, gratitude and purpose. Allman Brothers month continues!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen without Ads for $8 a month on patreon(plus other benefits)! www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on the Wednesday Dose of Dopey, We kick off an unofficial "Allman Brothers Month" with acclaimed music journalist and author Alan Paul, whose books One Way Out, Brothers and Sisters, and Texas Flood have become essential reading for fans of Southern rock and rock history.   Before the interview, Dave plays a hilarious voicemail from Australia about a first DUI, drinking gin while delivering food, accidentally racing an unmarked police car, and finishing the remaining booze in front of the cops. Dave also dives into listener emails about 2C drugs, psychedelic chemistry, his latest obsession with air fryer chicken thighs, and his fantasy "ultimate junkie cocktail"—before quickly reminding everyone how grateful he is to be sober.   Then comes a fascinating deep dive into the lives of Duane Allman, Greg Allman, Dickey Betts, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Crosby, Jerry Garcia, and the complicated relationship between genius, addiction, recovery, and music.   Alan shares remarkable stories about Stevie Ray Vaughan's dedication to Alcoholics Anonymous, how his recovery inspired countless musicians to get sober, the Allman Brothers' heroin use, the infamous Scooter Herring drug trial that nearly destroyed the band, Duane Allman's opposition to shooting heroin despite using it himself, and Greg Allman's controversial testimony that fractured relationships throughout the rock world.   The conversation also explores psychedelic culture, the legendary mushroom logo, Eat a Peach, Dickey Betts' complexity, Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and why some of rock's greatest musicians remain endlessly fascinating decades after their deaths. ALL THAT AND MORE MORE MORE MORE on a new Allman based episode of that good ol dopey podcast!   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

FULL EPISODE ONLY ON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast   STRAIGHT AI SUMMARY: This week on Dopey Tuesday, Dave checks in fresh from another brutally sweaty workout with his new trainer, who thankfully traded emo music for N.W.A. and Biggie. Dave talks about embracing the Dopey fitness challenge, surviving leg day, walking miles in the summer heat, and learning a little humility while trying to get back into shape.   Since he's banking episodes before heading out on vacation, Dave changes things up by reading the Just For Today meditation on humility and reflects on what it means to accept getting older, staying teachable, and laughing at himself.   Then come the classic Dopey stories. James D. Hart sends in an unforgettable tale from his crack-smoking days in Cleveland, where his favorite dealer—nicknamed "400"—fronted him more and more drugs until James eventually disappeared owing him exactly $400, making for one of the funniest addict coincidences imaginable.   Dave follows with a voicemail from longtime Dopey Nation member Amy, who recalls taking what she thought was cocaine after a night of ecstasy at a Lower East Side club, waking up alone after closing time, and walking across Manhattan as the sun rose—one of those strange, lonely New York mornings only addiction can produce.   Finally, Dave teases an exclusive Patreon interview with Workit Health's Max, diving into medication-assisted recovery, recovery stigma, and why the conversation around Suboxone and recovery still needs to evolve.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast On this week's Dopey Total Replay! I recorded before sunrise while his family is on vacation and reflects on how strange it feels to revisit an episode recorded 10 years ago with Chris. He talks about why he still prefers making Dopey close to its release date, the lightning outside our window, early morning workouts, and how stress has him waking up at 4:30 a.m. Dave celebrates the thriving Wednesday Patreon Recovery Zoom, thanks the Dopey Nation for supporting the show, and reads a remarkable email from listener Taylor inspired by Early Brunner's appearance on Dopey. Taylor shares how Recovery Demystified helped shape a recovery program built from multiple pathways before launching into one of the wildest inhalant stories ever read on the show—a multi-day duster binge involving crashes, hotels, jail, NASCAR weekend, and repeated arrests across Alabama. The replay itself returns to Dopey Episode 36, where Dave and Chris are still finding their rhythm. Chris recounts an unbelievable teenage trip to St. Martin that turns into a drunken blackjack winning streak and an unexpected visit to a legal brothel in Anguilla. Dave tells the infamous story of sneaking onto The Howard Stern Show while high by inventing the "Shuffle Entertainer of the Millennium Award," only to have Robin Quivers immediately call him out for being loaded. PLUS MORE! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.