Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

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This week on Dopey! We check in after Dopeywood! And talks about going back to meetings, realizing they don’t need to be brilliant to be good.

Dave shares a story about going to a Howard Stern vinyl party, meeting Baba Booey and Chuck D, and telling his Stern story while playing Neil Young. He reflects on being relentless in both recovery and building Dopey.

The episode features Sarah Clark, a lawyer in recovery, who shares her story. She grew up with a drug-addicted father and started using as a teenager. Her addiction escalated from alcohol and Xanax to pills and eventually IV heroin. Within months, she was shooting in her neck and forehead and living a chaotic life of hustling, stealing, and bouncing between rehabs.

After developing a severe abscess that led to losing part of her butt, she still couldn’t stop. She went to treatment multiple times before finally committing. She got sober, worked the steps, and rebuilt her life.

Today, Sarah is a lawyer, married, raising her stepchildren, and has adopted her husband’s daughter, breaking the cycle of addiction in her family.

ALl that and MORE, MORE, MORE, MORE on a super duper Dopey show!

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SUMMARY:

This Week on Dopey's Greatest Hits!

Dave records from his dad’s overheated apartment and opens with a long, chaotic conversation about Dopeywood at The Comedy Store. His dad gives a detailed, meandering recap of the trip, the show, and his mixed reactions to the comedians, praising the turnout but criticizing some of the material as confusing and overly raunchy.

 

They argue about politics, language on the show, and listener feedback, including a back-and-forth with a fan upset about violent rhetoric. Dave reflects on tone, community, and the balance between humor and responsibility.

 

The episode includes emails and voicemails about poppy seed tea addiction, with detailed stories about making opioid-like substances from seeds and pods, building tolerance, and the extreme lengths people went to stay well.

 

The second half features a replay of Dave’s interview with Steve Earle. Steve talks about growing up surrounded by recovery, with addiction deeply embedded in his family, including relatives who were part of early AA. He says he avoided recovery at first despite seeing that it worked.

 

Steve describes getting high for the first time at age 11 and explains that music and addiction developed side by side but weren’t directly connected. He talks about learning guitar from his uncle, discovering Dylan and the Beatles, and becoming obsessed with songwriting and storytelling.

 

He reflects on his career as a musician, the pressure of performing, and how much he depends on audience feedback to feel okay. He also talks about the realities of the music business, losing his band, shifting to solo work, and writing for theater.

 

Throughout the conversation, Steve is blunt about addiction, family history, and the long-term impact of substance use, while also showing humor, insight, and a deep connection to music as both a craft and a survival tool.

ALL THAT AND MUCH MUCH MORE! On an old classic episode with my Dad in it TWICE!

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This week on Wednesday! Still coming down from the Dopeywood high and talk about productivity, procrastination, and trying to get back on track with the Dopey fitness challenge. Getting older, body image, and whether drastic measures like Ozempic are worth it.

We read a wild listener email about someone accidentally receiving a kilo of black tar heroin in the mail and dumping it around Alphabet City, and react to what we would have done in that situation. Then  play a voicemail from a listener who shares a brutal story about accidentally burning his dick with farming chemicals while high,. And a bit of DTF St. Louis.

We go through Spotify comments, connect with the Dopey Nation, and shout out listeners before bringing on comedian Allie Macofsky.

With Ali, we get into nicotine addiction, vaping vs cigarettes, and the weird logic of quitting one thing by picking up another. We talk about early sobriety, relationships, and what it’s like to be young in recovery. Ali shares how her drinking escalated quickly in her late teens, including blackouts, risky behavior, and crashing her car, and how she first went to AA just to get her family off her back.

We hear how she realized she couldn’t control her drinking, got sober at 20, and what it was like working the steps early on. We also talk about stepping away from recovery, becoming depressed, getting on medication, and eventually returning to meetings and finding relief again.

The conversation touches on thoughts about drinking again, curiosity around psychedelics, and what it means to stay sober long-term while building a life and career.

All that and a little bit more on this classically alcoholic new episode of dopey!

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🔥 DOPEY SHOW NOTES

Dave is in Los Angeles with childhood friend Jeremy, breaking down a lifetime of friendship, addiction, resentment, and survival.

Jeremy tells the story of tearing his Achilles and relives Dopeywood chaos—including abandoning stage manager duties for his girlfriend’s birthday, which led to a six-month silent treatment from Dave.

 

From first grade friendship, comic books, Hebrew school harmonies, and acid trips on NYC rooftops… the episode dives deep into their evolution into drugs—weed, acid, and SPOTIFY COMMENTS!

And to listen to the rest - join patreon!

 

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This Week on the greatest Hits!

We did Dopeywood at The Comedy Store We Sold it out.! Was pretty, pretty good!

We Read a cool dopeywood review,

Read commentts from Patreon and Spotify - and play an old voicemail from a kid who got sober at 15 after puking all over a girl in science class and sitting in it all day so his mom wouldn’t find out.

Then the rplay! Chris eats a heroic dose of mushrooms, decides he’s Jesus, and instead of going to the bathroom just pisses the bed because… why not, he’s Jesus.

Almost tells his parents he’s Jesus but decides they’ll just think he’s high. 

Plus loads of other stuff - and a little bit more!

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