Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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

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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.

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