Comedian, and lawyer, Charles Star comes to Chicago and tells the story about totaling his car, after leaving a winery, during his honeymoon- even though he was stone sober. Charles joins CJ and Sean to talk about what its like to be a lawyer, when every drunk you meet has a thousand questions for you. Charles also talks about some times when he was younger and his friends drove drunk which leads to a conversation on DUIs. CJ and Sean share statistics on how its thankfully declining in recent years. We talk about how much more common it used to be along with some stories from back home about half-baked plans for avoiding DUIs and one guy, from Sean's home town, who had 20 DUIs.

An episode devoted to the ups-and-downs, risks-and-rewards of Holiday Parties. CJ and Sean discuss some historically-famous holiday parties, like the First Ward Ball in Chicago, a corrupt, drunken political party thrown every Christmas time; the classic tradition of Saturnalias, which are winter parties with debauched drinking that a Lord of Misrule heads. We share some of our own stories, including office and apartment holiday parties gone awry, including the time a tree was destroyed at the bottom of a high rise. Sean gives some hilarious details on the classic holiday party treat (from years gone by) of mince meat pies, which were laden with so much booze everyone went to sleep with nightmares.

An episode on one of our favorite kinds of, highly-successful, functioning ne'er-do-wells: drunk coaches. Sean remembers Kevin Mackey, a visionary basketball coach who had been sober for 40 years before dying, but was an old fashion hell-raiser in Cleveland prior to getting sober. We also talk about some of our favorite drunk-coaching disasters from Alabama to Iowa State and Louisville and how drunk coaches always have some assistant that is willing to take the fall for them. Finally we discuss one of our favorite sports cons from the last few years- Bishop Sycamore which was not only a fake school and a fake football program but also a fake Bishop.

Comedian Cameron Gillette shares a story recorded at our live show, where he had to leave a music festival, drunk and high out of his mine, shotgun in an ambulance after his girlfriend passed out in the heat. Cameron meets his girlfriend's mom for the first time at the hospital but isn't sure if he fooled her, or hospital staff, into thinking he was sober. This leads to a theme on how hard it is to fool people when drunk. CJ and Sean share their own stories of times they attempted to fool people when drunk, only for it always fall apart and we detail some studies that prove why drunks can not fool sober people.

Check out Cameron's hilarious album for free on youtube- THE BEST SET I WILL EVER HAVE and follow him on IG.

An episode on one of our favorite kind of national news stories: cop embellishments. The FBI arrested NBA coaches plus "Italian Mobsters" this week, making some ridiculous claims on how these groups schemed to cheat poker players. We talk about this story along with some of our favorite examples of cop embellishments over the years like the time The Chicago Police accused jack ass home brewers of terrorism, when Boston PD shutdown the entire city over a Cartoon Network advertisement, or the time, out by Sean, where a cop tried to get out of a DUI by calling in fake bar fight.

Remember to checkout the live show each Friday in Chicago and CJ Sullivan's other podcast, BOTTOM LINE BOMBS on SGN. And look for the podcast to return to weekly releases now that the crew is done filming our TV pilot.

Nate Craig, one of our favorite comedians and a long time friend, joins us in the studio to promote his latest album, "MARRIED TO IT". Nate's album is out starting today online! We play a clip from the album and Nate talks about how the recording went and what it was like to celebrate afterwards after not drinking for a nearly a full year. We further talk about reunions, as having Nate as a guest is a reunion of our old podcast, The Visitors Locker Room. We talk about how most reunions are a disaster, but none more so than rock band reunions or men getting back together for fantasy football drafts. We list some of our favorite rock band reunion debacles and CJ details the debacle that was his fantasy football draft.

Semi-autobiographical podcast on drinking and the Catholic Church, inspired by the new Chicago-raised pope! CJ and Sean tell stories about growing up in the Catholic Church and how common drinking was at all religious ceremonies. Comedian Joe Kilgallon, one of our regulars at the live show, joins us in studio to also share some of his own stories about attending a Catholic, all-boys highschool. In recent news, and still on the subject of religion, Sean talks about the historical importance of Jimmy Swaggart, a grifting preacher who died this week. And, most importantly, the new Big Man Himself, 'Da Chicago Pope calls into the studio to answer some questions and give The Blackout Diaries an official blessing.

Checkout Joe's latest comedy album, "Life & Death", on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNVc-f4Z3KM

'Da Chicago Pope can be followed on Instagram via our buddy Mick Betancourt's profile: https://www.instagram.com/mickbetancourt/?hl=en Mick is a hilarious writer and performer from Chicago.

Comedian Carolyn Dickey shares a few hilarious stories at our live show, each showing how much her sister defends her when they party together. Carolyn's sister always has her back. Carolyn joins CJ and Sean in the studio and discuss what its like to drink, eat and live with sisters and brothers. This leads to a theme on siblings. We share some funny stories about our siblings either partying too hard, and us having to monitor them, and a few with the reverse happening. We also share some studies on the effect siblings have on your drinking and a couple funny news stories about drunk siblings.

Check out Carolyn's weekly comedy show, every Thursday in Chicago at My Buddy's

Summer block buster / Fourth of July Episode where we talk about how people spend the holiday week. Sean recaps seeing the newest Tom Cruise movie, where an old couple was more entertaining than the movie itself. CJ and Sean discuss fireworks, the fourth of July and the hilariously unsafe rules most lakes have around boating, where the consensus seems to be : if rich people want to kill themselves, so be it. CJ talks about how he might grade a hot dog eating contest and how, in general, those contests have become to specialized and commercial.

Comedian Manny Petty makes his debut at our live show and tells the hilarious story of when he accidentally took his parents to a nude gay play, a week after coming out to them. Manny then joins CJ and Sean in the studio and we talk about the play and how people used to attend more blind features -- where you know nothing about the play or bar back then. This is also Pride month so we talk about the Chicago Pride Parade, which is one of the best in the country and which Manny has marched in several time. CJ and Sean tell some of their favorite stories around Pride month, including the time CJ and a drinking buddy won a couple contests because so loving couple will ever know trivial details about each other, as well as drinking buddies know each other.

If you are in Chicago- make sure to get to Zanies on Thursday June 26th to see Manny Petty do his first headling set there as well.