Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

Andy Dick experienced a near-fatal overdose from fentanyl disguised as cocaine. The conversation highlights the chaotic nature of addiction and its impact on relationships. David expresses concern for Andy's well-being and encourages him to seek treatment. Andy reflects on his past experiences with sobriety and the challenges of maintaining it. The dialogue reveals the complexities of family dynamics in the context of addiction. Humor is used as a coping mechanism throughout the conversation. David and Andy discuss the concept of stability and whether it truly exists for them. The importance of friends and support systems in the recovery process is emphasized. Andy shares his thoughts on having fun and the role of laughter in his life. The conversation ends with a light-hearted yet serious note about potential interventions for Andy.

Dave drinks Ryze coffee; recording room freezing. Announces 5-episode-per-week December schedule. Community / Milestones Lorne 3 years sober! Matty: 5 years sober! Send your anniversaries/clean time to [email protected] Spotify Comments (Darrell Hammond Episode) Complaints about “This or That.” Defenses of the game. Possum jokes. Psychedelics-in-recovery debates. Questions about Darrell’s sobriety. Praise for interview. Random comments: Lime Drive, Mike’s Amazing Stuff. Sticker requests. Dave reacts to each comment. Voicemail: Henry (LSD Trip) Two hits of acid alone in college. House fumigation tent becomes “circus.” Panic about pesticides mutating him. Aztec gods in ceiling to Butthole Surfers music. Becomes “one with his bike.” Now 15 months sober. Email: Jerry PCP fights with cops. Overdoses, ventilators. Robbing heroin dealers. Discovered Dopey by searching “heroin.” Outraged Dave hasn’t seen Joe Dirt. Hairy Tongue Will: Early Chaos Running with Richie, Mike, Lenny Crack/heroin/coke everywhere House turning into a trap house Lenny passed out after multi-day run “Demons taking over” Work & Addiction Coexistence 16-hour days as electrician Co-workers cheering on his party life DUI → probation → manipulating house arrest Strange stabilizers (electrical job giving structure) Jail Episodes First jail stay → Montauk Lighthouse work crew Felt purpose, respect Ate egg sandwiches, smoked black-and-milds with guards Jail almost felt positive COVID Era + Workaholic Sobriety Heavy work travel Money piles, crypto, closet of cash Reads self-help, becomes rigid but dry Drinks only in Tennessee with new girlfriend Casino Crack Spiral Old fashioned → cocaine → crack in hotel Boss unaware of severity Crack obsession fully reignites Builds crack connections nationwide while traveling Hallucinations, panic, moving hotels Deaths & Trauma Mike dies; father selling sneakers from his dead son’s body Richie dies after 2 years sober Will spirals into resentment, jealousy, wanting to die Collapse at Home 26-day run Antihistamine psychosis cover story Girlfriend stays nine months Selling stories to dealers (“trust fund baby”) Getting shot at by a dealer Chase through Bayshore, wild escape Major Arrest Huge charges (“five decades worth”) Thinks life is over Bail reform → immediate release Uses again for 17 days St. Chris Suicidal Guard outside his room Breakthrough: “You put yourself here” Goes all-in on program Court gives favorable deal Goes home early Mother’s Day Relapse Runs into old acquaintance with pipe Uses, vanishes 3 days Bottom moment: wants to die again Real Recovery Begins Sponsor gives clear direction Sober house, daily groups, nightly meetings Fraudulent urine to enter sober house Works program aggressively 18 months sober (recent flirtation with distraction)

December Dopey Schedule & Retro Replay ConceptDave explains the new 5-day Dopey week: Monday – replay of the Friday interview Tuesday – Patreon teaser Wednesday – new Wednesday Dose (this week: Jason Williamson from Sleaford Mods) Thursday – Retro Replay / Greatest Hits (this week: Chris’s Prison Stories Part 1) Friday – new full episode (coming: “Hall of Fame Dopey Fucko” Harry Tongue Will)He reads recent Spotify comments about Caroline “Mountain Girl” Garcia and requests for more comments in exchange for stickers (and socks). REPLAY Dopey 67- Alan Calls In – Reviews, Turpitude, and Fake JailDave’s dad Alan calls, pissed that Dave didn’t call the house phone and that the site’s review scroll is too fast. He complains his positive call-in reviews never show, defends using the word “turpitude,” and tells a story about being “arrested” for a film school project at Fort Apache—complete with a cop pulling a gun, handcuffing him to a hot pipe, and throwing him in a destroyed cell for 5–10 minutes. Dave and Chris clown him and promise him his own “Alan’s Corner.” Segway to Chris’s Real Prison TimeFrom Alan’s staged “arrest,” Dave pushes Chris to tell his real jail stories. Chris sets up his first bid: 6-month sentence in Orange County Jail after robbing a vet for phenobarbital, fighting cops, and picking up multiple charges (robbery, commercial burglary, four assaults on cops, GBI on an officer, possession). Booking, Beatings & ClassificationAt intake, the guards see “assault on law enforcement” on his file and rough him up during fingerprinting—screaming “stop resisting,” slamming his head into plexiglass, and twisting his fingers. Classification makes him a yellow bander (higher-risk) and sends him into a tougher, all-cell unit with seasoned guys. First Night: Becoming the “Falcon”In his first 4-man cell, the Woods’ shot-caller Justin Krause (swastika tattoo) takes Chris under his wing. A white inmate named Olson is screaming racist slurs on the tier (“fuck the n******, fuck the spics, fuck the red and white”), which could spark a race riot. Because Olson is white, a white guy has to beat him up. Justin turns to the brand-new Chris and says: “You wanna be my falcon?”Chris spends all night terrified, then at chow time runs with Justin into Olson’s cell. Justin wrecks Olson with one shot while Chris sneaks in one weak “girly” punch. The tier still cheers “new fish, new fish” and he accidentally earns early credibility. Politics, Old-Timers & Almost Getting Turned OutChris explains the politics between Woods, Sureños, Norteños, and blacks; how alliances change between county and prison, and how guys with level-4 yard time expect violence and “no hands” policies (stabbing instead of fistfights). He realizes later that an older celly Billy was quietly disrespecting him and that, if this had happened a year later, he probably would have had to fight him to maintain respect. Supermax Glass Cells, Signing, and Staff HustlesChris is later moved to a supermax-style glass cell unit where you can’t mix races in the day room and have to sign through the glass using lightning-fast finger-spelling. He starts writing letters to judges for guys who can’t write, turning literacy into a jailhouse hustle. Pruno, the “Happy Card,” and Shooting Meth with the BinkyNew celly Eddie from Anaheim teaches him how to make pruno in the toilet with pears and hoarded fruit. Then Eddie arranges a “happy card”—a greeting card sprayed/soaked in meth, worth almost an 8-ball. Chris has his girlfriend send money out during visit via written note on the glass, and weeks later the card arrives.They use a homemade syringe (“binky”) built from a pen shaft, afro pick, elastic, sandwich bag, and rubber from a shower sandal—the only real part is the metal tip, which has been up multiple asses to hide it. Chris shoots meth in jail and quickly learns how dangerous that combination is. Staph Infection & The Forbidden ButtonWhile tweaking and covered with spreading staph (up his neck and all over his arms), Chris and Eddie get into a fight after Chris says “on my mother’s life” and triggers Eddie’s trauma over his dead mom. Chris realizes how instantly violence can explode.Meanwhile his staph gets so bad it’s life-threatening. There’s an unwritten rule: you NEVER push the emergency button or you get smashed by guards. Even Eddie is like, “I don’t know, man.” Chris finally hits it anyway. Guards scream at him over the speaker, but when one sees his body, he instantly says they’ll get him to a doctor. They shotgun him with antibiotics, antifungals, and steroids. Chris later hooks up with the woman who visited him and gives her a medication-resistant staph, which lingers for her even after his clears. He feels guilty but admits he was in a totally insane headspace. Jailhouse Dark Comedy: The Button Beating & Steve KotkeChris talks about laughing harder in jail than anywhere else in his life. One mentally ill guy threatens to push the button because he’s hungry. The white shot-caller tells him “go ahead.” The guards yell over the PA “Do NOT push the button!” as he shuffles toward it. The second he touches it, a side door flies open and the COs beat the shit out of him. Chris also tells stories about Steve Kotke, a twitchy, Jesus-loving wino who cycles in and out of jail. Chris leaves Steve a brown bag outside his cell; Steve thinks it’s commissary food, tells Chris he has “a heart of gold,” then opens it to find nothing but trash and candy wrappers. Using “fishing lines” (bedsheet ropes under the cell doors), Chris passes Steve a note that just says “People are talking.” When Steve panics and asks what that means, Chris sends back “Can’t talk, people are watching,” then cuts the line—leaving Steve to spiral alone all night. Race, Respect, and How He Could’ve Become a MonsterChris gets honest about how the jail environment warped his thinking. He remembers silently thinking “they” about the loud black card players near the bubble in a way that felt racially charged and hateful, and how scary it was to notice that in himself. He explains how, in jail and prison, fear and respect slowly replace love, and how easy it would’ve been to get “turned out” into a full-on white-supremacist prison identity if he’d kept catching time without family support. Wrap-Up: Dave Reflects on Chris & Early DopeyBack in the present, Dave talks about how painful and beautiful it is to hear these stories, how proud Chris was of his prison experience and storytelling, and how much he contributed to what Dopey became. He shouts out the 142 episodes with Chris, reminds listeners that this was super early-recovery Dave saying cringey shit, and closes with love for Chris, the Dopey Nation, and “fucking toodles for Chris.” Searchable Keywords (copy-paste) Dopey podcast, Dopey Retro Replay, Chris’s prison stories, Orange County Jail stories, jail pruno hooch, jailhouse meth binky, happy card meth, jail staph infection, pushing the emergency button jail, Woods and Sureños politics, jail race politics, Fort Apache Bronx story, Alan Manheim turpitude, Dopey greatest hits, Chris relapse and overdose, Dopey Nation stickers socks Patreon

Intro – How Jason got on Dopey A listener tells Dave to get Jason from Sleaford Mods. Dave stalks him on Instagram until he replies. Jason checks in from cold, dark Nottingham. Early life: Grantham, parents, punk, and Top of the Pops Jason grows up in Grantham, a dead-quiet market town. First connection to music: Blondie, ABBA, Adam & The Ants, Dr. Feelgood, Top of the Pops, pop videos and ABBA the Movie. Parents split, he meets his stepbrothers and is introduced to punk at age 10 via the Sex Pistols. Punk trickles slowly to small towns, second-wave bands like The Exploited, GBH, Discharge, English Dogs. Meat factory hell & knowing he didn’t want that life Works 12-hour shifts in a fresh-food / TV dinner factory cutting meat. Describes brutal “initiation” culture—older guys nailing you to the chopping board, wrapping people in pallet wrap, dragging them in front of the women. Realizes, “I did not want to do that for the rest of my life,” but drugs help numb him enough to keep working. Music vs. drugs: Weller, mods, ecstasy and rave/club culture Music comes first: early love of The Jam and Paul Weller; then Stone Roses and the whole late-’80s/early-’90s scene. He resists drinking and weed until around 17, thinking it’s probably not a good idea. Then: booze, weed, speed, LSD and eventually ecstasy. Describes club and rave culture as feeling like infinite possibility—no one wants to fight, football violence fades, it feels like a weird utopia. He gets pulled toward acting and drama school but can’t afford the fees, uses music as the new dream. Public Enemy, electronica, and the birth of Sleaford Mods Sees Public Enemy at Rock City: air-raid sirens, S1W security squad, Chuck D and Flav—“my Sex Pistols moment.” Gets tired of traditional guitar-bass-drums bands and moves into electronic projects. Discovering he can just show up, grab a mic, and someone else handles beats on a computer. Sleaford Mods is born in 2004: he shouts over a looped death-metal sample, has a eureka moment and realizes he’s finally found his own voice and formula. Early Sleaford Mods tracks are built from samples; he later meets Andrew but the core is always Jason’s vocal/lyric style. Cocaine, MCAT, crack, heroin chasing and the porn spiral Tries coke in London but hates how it turns his friends into selfish, dark, quiet arseholes. Coke becomes central later in Nottingham when ecstasy culture fades and bar culture + cocaine take over. He uses speed, then a cheap research-chemical drug MCAT (“like coke, speed and ecstasy mixed”) and occasionally chases heroin; crack never really hits because he’s already full of coke. Describes how addiction and work life feed each other: substances make brutal jobs bearable while killing hope. His real bottom behavior: buying a gram, going home alone, watching pornography all night for days; later doing the same thing isolated in hotel rooms on tour. Porn + coke: “eggs and bacon” and trauma Says cocaine and porn go together for him “like eggs and bacon / cars and diesel.” Explains the appeal: he can’t get an erection anyway, but the visual world and voyeurism are the draw. Builds an insular, secret universe where he controls everything and doesn’t risk being hurt in real-life relationships. Ties it back to not being parented, not being seen, being hurt in relationships, and never being taught how to give or receive love. Talks about PTSD and “euphoric recall” around those binges and how long it takes to emotionally disarm those memories. Childhood trauma: stillbirth, ECT, Valium and the “wife swap” At age two, his mum has a stillbirth; the baby (Nicola) has severe spina bifida. Mum goes into acute depression; treated with electroshock therapy and becomes addicted to Valium. He basically isn’t parented for several years; dad is a womanizer seeking attention elsewhere. Parents end up in a bizarre partner swap: his dad gets with a married woman, his mum gets with that woman’s husband, they literally swap houses on the same estate. He describes his family as stuck in a “misery cycle” that none of them want to break. Nervous breakdowns, Europe, and being “vacant” as a father By the time the band blows up, he’s had multiple nervous breakdowns, lost jobs, and been thrown out of places he rented. His wife Claire is doing both roles, father and mother, while he’s “vacant” and touring. On the road, he mostly isolates in hotel rooms, getting obliterated on drugs and porn instead of partying socially. Success gives him cash—no more dealers texting about debts, merch money in his hands—and everything ramps up. The bottom: wife leaves with the kids & the beer down the drain His wife takes their daughter and newborn son and leaves to a hotel for about a week. Jason comes home after a two- or three-day coke run; the house is empty. A friend stops by with curry and a can of lager. Jason goes outside, looks at the beer, and pours it down the drain. Decides to stop drinking, and because booze was his gateway, he stops cigarettes, weed and cocaine the same day. After a few weeks his wife tells him, “You’ve never been this clean.” He calls it his last chance. Therapy, complex trauma and breaking the cycle Early therapists tell him his main issue is trauma more than pure physical addiction and don’t push 12-step. Meets a trauma psychologist at Nottingham University—after a 10-minute history the guy says, “I’ll see you.” Gets diagnosed with complex trauma: a long chain of circumstantial hits that fed all his erratic, self-destructive behavior. Does years of psychotherapy, then moves to an inner-child therapist who has him talk to himself as a kid. Admits he came to see his first therapist as a father figure. No contact with either parent now; says he wanted to break the family pattern and did, with his wife and kids. Volunteers at a local center that feeds and clothes people, including folks with heavy addiction. Mental health, men, and friendship Talks about how men in particular struggle to talk, keep things solitary, and carry shame. Shares that he doesn’t have many close friends and sometimes beats himself up for not being able to “save” people still using. Believes mental health awareness is here to stay but there’s still a low-level taboo. Nerdy music lightning round Pistols vs. Clash, Iggy vs. Lou, Weller vs. Rod Stewart, Oasis vs. Blur, Stone Roses vs. Blur, Public Enemy vs. Beastie Boys, etc. Lots of British music nerdery and Jason shit-talking his own personal pantheon in a loving way. Ends with Jason promising to hit New York with Sleaford Mods, and Dave offering friendship if he ever needs it.

Tuesday Teaser! Meditation! Cormac Selby