Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

In this Patreon teaser, Dave shares a clip from his deeply honest and hilarious conversation with Martin Johnson, frontman of Boys Like Girls. Martin opens up about fear, fame, and the moment in a sauna that changed his life — when a stranger challenged him to define anxiety.

Martin talks about:

Why he hates the word "anxiety"

Staging a self-intervention while still on meds

His crushing fear of not being good enough — as a person, as a singer, as a frontman

The performative madness of early fame

Taking 12–14 Xanax bars a day while chasing success

Losing huge chunks of time in a benzo fog

The overwhelming desire to be seen — even if it meant eating ants or wearing crazy outfits

Dave opens the teaser with some classic Dopey flavor — spring break parenting chaos, Katz’s Deli updates (including a pastrami smoothie?), and a weirdly triggering doctor visit that brought back memories of detox.

Also in this episode:

Dopeywood news! Tickets available now — free for patrons!

Upcoming music & wellness events

The Dopey Fitness Challenge returns

Shoutouts to the $100-tier dopes and all our loyal patrons

And, of course, “Fucking Toodles for Chris.”

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🔥 Dopey 526: Andy Roy, Angelo, Bobby & Tuan

🎉 Andy Roy celebrates 5 years clean and brings along Angelo and Bobby from New Origins—the sober living home that’s keeping them grounded and inspired.

🛹 Hear wild tales from the past (jerk-off contests??), what makes recovery actually work, and why the crew plans to stick around and give back.

💥 “The love is real, bro.” This one’s about brotherhood, resilience, and turning chaos into a calling.

💬 Then Dave dives in deep with Dopey spiritual consigliere Tuan from Mountainside 🧘‍♂️ on:

The trap of workaholism in recovery

Why it's so hard to just sit still

What happens when you lose your sponsor (RIP)

🧠 Can you be too spiritual to need a sponsor?

And why love, presence, and stillness are the medicine

🎧 Plus: Dopey poet Ian drops a killer verse, and Dave gives a shoutout to Safe Spot and CustomStickers.com (use code Dopey20 to get 20% off your own stickers!).

💌 Got a thought on Andy or New Origins? Write in: [email protected]

🧦 Want a sticker? Hit us up. Or join us on Patreon for tons of bonus content + goodies: 👉 patreon.com/dopeypodcast

❤️ Stay strong, Dopey Nation 🖕 Fucking toodles for Chris

🚨 NEW PATREON EPISODE OUT NOW! 🚨
It's a stroll down Dopey memory lane with my old friend Sloppy Jones (Garrett)—we're talking:

First time doing heroin in our Purchase suite 😳

Selling LSD by the sheet

Wild nights with Joey D’s basement weed club

And… how the new White Lotus season totally sucks (IMO) 🍍

Also… 💔 huge apology to Dopey OG James DeHart—I messed up the merch thing and I’m sending something special your way. If you're still waiting on merch, please hit me up: [email protected]

👉 Join the Dopey Patreon for the madness: patreon.com/dopeypodcast

Stay strong, Dopey Nation.
🖤 fucking toodles for Chris

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Live from Joe’s Pub!

Ray Brown performs Dopey Love

Chloe LaBranche’s killer stand-up set

Stash Word madness with Brace, Abby, Carl + audience

Panel with Margaret Cho, Brace, Nzinga Harrison, and Erin Carr

Voicemail from Toko in Finland 🇫🇮

RIP Onyx and the cats of Happy Cat Sanctuary 🐾

Louis Mandrapilias tells insane heroin smuggling story

Talk of sexsomnia, self-pleasure, and how to work through codependency

Good So Bad performed live by Dave and Doug

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Gaytreon

STREP THROAT!

Ricky Powell

Beastie Boys

Seinfeld

LSD

SSDN FTFC!

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🏈 Damon’s early life as a quarterback at North Texas

💨 First time trying meth — and losing control instantly

🏚️ Running burglaries out of trap houses across Dallas

🤯 Meth-induced delusions, paranoia, and total madness

🚔 Getting busted in front of his parents

⚖️ Sentenced to 65 years in a Texas prison

⛓️ Life behind bars — navigating gangs and survival

☕ The coffee bean story that changed everything

🧠 Finding faith, structure, and recovery

📚 Rebuilding his life and helping others

🎤 From inmate to speaker and author

🧃 Bonus: Damon’s take on prison hooch and microwaved food

❤️ Classic Dopey themes: addiction, consequences, redemption, and dark comedy

www.damonwest.org

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast

🖤 Fucking toodles for Chris.

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THESE ARE NOTES ON THE EPISODE - NOT THE TEASER!

🧠 Childhood Chaos

Born in NYC, nearly died of a staph infection

Fell off a table and cracked his skull at 8 months old

Walked home alone at 3 years old 💥

Deep TV addiction starts young (shoutout to MTV, Different Strokes & Give Me a Break)

🎭 Early Identity Stuff

Shirt chewing, sugar binging, and fake depression for attention

Didn’t want a bar mitzvah: “It’s not your party, it’s my party.”

Too insecure to get lifted in the chair at his own bar mitzvah 😬

Played harmonica in a ska band called The Percolators

🍹 First Drug Stories

First drunk = 16 screwdrivers at summer camp → blackout, vomit, shame

Never got into booze, but took acid at a Dead show before ever trying weed

Eventually... heroin, methadone, weed, and the long road home

🎨 Art, Fear & Flow

MTV intern in high school, obsessed with music and creativity

Paralyzed by fear, self-doubt, and a deep need to be authentic

Big art nerd: Kandinsky, Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, Bob Dylan, Richard Pousette-Dart 🎨

🌞 Spirituality, Recovery & the Dopey DNA

Wanted spirituality before he had it

“The Sunlight of the Spirit” and the resentment trap

Early recovery = doing it because he had to

Found real connection through service, comedy, and storytelling

🎙️ The Real Dopey

It’s not just about drugs — it’s love, dumb shit, and keeping people company

Letting your freak flag fly, creating community, and making people laugh

Dave’s dream: Dopey TV show, doc series, global recovery adventures, Keith Richards in a chair at DopeyCon 🤘

“I just want to make something worth putting in your ears.”

💔 Final Thoughts

On grief, fatherhood, fear, flow, and evolution

Bukaty calls Dave out on blind spots

Dave: “I like the idea of displacing my father and taking over the apartment.” 😂

Tribute to Annie Ellie and the Dopey Nation: “It feeds the show. It is the show.”

💌 Got thoughts? Send 'em: [email protected]
👕 Rep the show: dopeypodcast.com
📞 Leave a voicemail, join a Zoom, get involved
🧸 Stay Strong Dopey Nation
💀 And fucking toodles for Chris

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💥

• 🎥 Support Nzinga’s documentary “Born Friday” – the story of her brother’s wrongful conviction and the fight for justice: bornfridayfilm.com
• 🧦 Want Dopey socks? Join the Dopey Patreon and get all the goodies (and Wednesday Zoom access!)
• 💌 Send in your voicemails and emails! [email protected]
• 🧘 Need help while using? Call Safe Spot at 1-800-972-0590. They’ll sit with you on the phone and make sure you stay alive.
• 🌿 Kratom, Ozempic, Suboxone, weed… we get into it all with Dr. Harrison.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Want to support clemency efforts or help fund the doc? Visit bornfridayfilm.com or email Dave.
• 🛏️ Pajama pants in public? Dr. Harrison says maybe. Nora says no.
• 📺 White Lotus? Not so much. Jim Morrison alive in upstate NY? Definitely not.

“Maybe they killed me that day, and this is some demented afterlife.” – Kofi “Debo” Harrison
“Recovery is not the point. Life is the point.” – Dr. Nzinga Harrison
“Once a stoner, always a stoner.” – Dave
“The Dopey Nation just feels like my people.” – Dr. Harrison

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🚨 NEW PATREON EPISODE – REDDIT CONSPIRACIES & CONTROVERSY 🚨

If you’re not subscribed to the Dopey Patreon, are you even a real fan? 🤔

This week, it’s a Reddit Roundup, and things got heated:
🔥 A wild conspiracy theory about me and Chris 
🦋 Someone out there injected butterflies (seriously, what the fuck?)
📢 Dopey randomly mentioned in The Wall Street Journal
🐳 A debate over the Dopey mascot: Mopey Dick
🎥 Updates on the Dopey Documentary & Dopeywood

Also, a voicemail from New Zealand where a listener confesses she was never Team Chris… but always Team Dave 🤯

All this and more for literally 20 cents a day—plus ad-free episodes, extra content, and weird-ass Zooms.

🔗 Listen now: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast

Stay strong & fucking toodles for Chris.

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This Week on Dopey! I'm super excited to have had the chance to interview PAtrick J. Pespas and Sam Lipman-Stern from The Telemarketers!  A junky/true crime/scam busting documentary series on HBO! AI wrote all the juicy nuggets below - PLUS Dove updates us! Weighing heroin bags, and Siggy's 7 years!!!! All that and more on a brand spanking new episode of the good old Dopey Show!

more dopey at: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast

🎙 Guest: Pat Pespas & Sam Lipman-Stern (The Telemarketers, HBO)
📅 Recorded: March 14, 2025

🔥 In This Episode:

• Pat Pespas, the ultimate junkie telemarketer, takes us through his insane journey—from selling fake police stickers while nodding out to blowing the lid off a billion-dollar scam.
• How a scumbag telemarketing company (CDG) scammed millions from well-meaning Americans under the guise of helping cops, firefighters, and sick kids.
• Pat’s life in full chaos mode: Heroin, drive-up dope spots, wild scams, and barely staying employed.
• How Sam (a high school dropout & graffiti writer) started filming at 14 and turned this madness into an Emmy-nominated HBO series.
• Going undercover to expose police corruption—and how they almost got arrested at an FOP convention.
• Pat’s mysterious disappearance & the hunt to find him before HBO lost their minds.
• How politicians & the system FAILED to stop the scams (but Twitter had their back).
• The Emmy snub (damn you, Beckham!) & why Pat walked away from $250K in media deals.

📺 Watch Telemarketers on HBO & Max
💰 Support Dopey on Patreon for video & exclusive content: patreon.com/dopeypodcast
👕 Merch Drop! Get your Dopey gear: dopeypodcast.com
📩 Send in voicemails & emails: [email protected]

🎶 Outro: A killer banjo cover of Good So Bad by listener Jake 🎵

🖤 Stay strong, Dopey Nation—Toodles for Chris!

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