Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

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This week on Dopey!  Lots of good stuff with TRANS, CRUST PUNK, AlCOHOLIC SUPERSTAR - EARLY BRUNNER! We play a voicemail about someone burying a dead lizard with meth and later digging it up to do lines on the coffin!

Spotify Comments! Someone questions my ibogaine/sublicad/vivtrol experience!

Then we are joined by Early Brunner! Early describes growing up in Wisconsin feeling socially different and isolated, later identifying as autistic and queer. They begin using substances at a young age, first alcohol and cigarettes, then marijuana, finding that drugs helped them connect with others.

In high school and early adulthood, their use escalates. After moving to Milwaukee for college, they drop out, develop a heavy alcohol problem, and become addicted to nitrous oxide. They attempt to stop drinking briefly but quickly relapse.

They move to Austin, where their drinking worsens and leads to alcohol-induced psychosis, compounded by lack of sleep and unstable work. After a breakdown, they leave and move to Florida, where their drug use expands and their life becomes increasingly unstable and survival-focused.

Early becomes fully immersed in a punk/crust lifestyle tied to substance use and identity. Over time, they begin recognizing the negative impact of addiction but continue using.

Later, they become an EMT and witness deaths related to inhalant abuse, which they say is rarely discussed and carries significant shame.

The episode ends with Early discussing their current recovery and work with “Recovery Demystified,” followed by Dave reflecting on the interview, addressing a critical listener comment, and closing with gratitude and show announcements.

All that PLUS TONS MORE on this weeks new episode of the brand new Friday episode of the good old Dopey Show!

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This week on Dopey's Greatest Hits - The Patrons voted for Artie Lange! In one of my most proud moments - we had the honor of havingArtie Lange on the show. It happened two weeks before Chris died and was loaded with all kinds of crazy emotions.

We talk about everything: Artie’s rise from Mad TV to the Howard Stern Show, how heroin took over his life, the insanity of fame, gambling, strippers, and self-destruction at the highest level. He tells stories that are as funny as they are fucked — Santa Claus shitting his pants, buying coke before Dirty Work, and getting high while becoming one of the biggest voices in radio.

I cannot believe this even happened!

Please send comments to [email protected]

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This week on Wednesday!

We talk music and memories, Doug is improving, a mess of KRATOM comments on Spotify - Wendy's Meth scissors and a great walk down dopey memory lane.

The main interview is with Zac Clark, who talks about Release Recovery, Chris’s old sober living days, clinicians relapsing, the line between treatment work and actual personal recovery, and why people who work in recovery still need their own meetings “for fun and for free.” Zac also talks about going to Onsite when he lost his joy, what it gave him, how therapy and recovery fit together, why he runs, what MAT means to him, and how a bank teller basically saved his life when he was at the end of his run. By the end, Dave and Zach get into competition, gratitude, social media, reality TV, running the marathon, fruit, and the Dopey Fitness Challenge, before Dave closes with updates on his own walking, pushups, Couch to 5K, and Dopeywood in LA.

All that and more! On the latest Wednesday of that old school Dopey Show.

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This week on the Dopey Tuesday teaser with Aurora! 

Heart Attack Doug is in the hospital for an angioplasty and asks for prayers, leading to a conversation about group prayer, aging, and mortality. Aurora shares a story about a friend dying from undetected lung cancer, which spirals into both of them admitting they lied to doctors about smoking history out of paranoia and defiance.

They shift into classic Dopey banter — procrastination, avoidance, working out, and life admin — before reading Spotify comments. Then the episode turns into a deeper recovery moment: Aurora admits she had her first real “I want to drink wine in Europe” thought in years while planning a trip to France. Dave relates with thoughts of smoking weed in Humboldt County, and they unpack FOMO in long-term sobriety.

The conversation drifts into replacing addiction with other behaviors (shopping, work, exercise), purpose, and how recovery evolves over time. The teaser ends with a Patreon plug teasing two topics: Aurora pulling back from meetings and Dave having a strong emotional reaction to a listener.

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This week on the Total Replay we replay -  Dopey Episode 19: “Smoking on Plane”, the first appearance of his childhood friend Jeremy! Before the replay, we explain Jeremy’s history - from smoking weed and doing psychedelics together as kids in Manhattan to later doing heroin with Todd. We also talk about the Dopey Fitness Challenge, and plays a voicemail from Dade about underage drinking, Spiritualized, getting stung by a bee, vomiting on the side of the road, and getting arrested in North Carolina for driving after having consumed alcohol within 24 hours.

In the replayed episode itself, Dave, Chris, and Jeremy joke around about Jeremy being late, EZ Pass disasters, old LA stories, blood in bathrooms from shooting dope, Todd escaping out a window to avoid Jeremy’s parents, and Jeremy’s drug history. Jeremy talks about how he did plenty of drugs but was able to stop when heroin started interfering with his acting work and life, while Dave and Chris frame that as the difference between an addict and someone who isn’t afflicted the same way. The centerpiece is Jeremy’s insane “smoking weed on a plane” story, where he rolls a joint, sneaks into the airplane bathroom before takeoff on a flight from London to New York, smokes it, gets caught by a flight attendant, lies and says it was a cigarette, then somehow gets away with it. After the replay, Dave reflects on how early Dopey was more about comedy and chaos than feelings, plugs Save Spot, stickers, Patreon, Dopeywood, and teases future merch and a possible guest named Cece.

All that and more???? On the latest dopey total replay! Write us at [email protected]

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