Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

5h ago

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast listen without ads! This week on Dopey! Christmastime is here again and we read emails from Dopes who motly comment on Nick Reiner, read Spotify reviews about it and try and celebrate the holidays and spread some good cheer! The centerpiece is a long, candid interview with Alec Baldwin , recorded just before Thanksgiving. Alec discusses growing up on Long Island, early drinking and cocaine use, working in New York television, moving to Los Angeles, fame, excess, driving intoxicated, overdosing in a hotel room in Oregon, and ultimately getting sober in 1985. He describes how AA became his entire social world, how spirituality helped keep him sober, and how his faith and family carried him through later life crises — including public scrutiny, divorce, legal battles, and depression. Alec speaks openly about wanting to “just not kill myself tomorrow” during his darkest moments and how sobriety principles guided him through. After the interview, Dave plays more holiday messages from the Dopey Nation and then has a long, emotional phone call with his father, Alan Manheim. They process the Nick Reiner tragedy, public backlash, antisemitic comments, criticism of old Dopey clips resurfacing online, and the strange irony of Dopey being thrust into the media spotlight through tragedy. They discuss parenting addicts, mental illness, fame, synchronicity, and how Dopey interviews became central to news coverage. The episode closes with reflections on resilience, staying connected, asking for help, and honoring Chris, followed by Dave playing his song “Good So Bad.” SEO / SEARCHABLE KEYWORDS (CUT & PASTE) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

1d ago

Listen without ads on www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on Dopey we go down memory lane and listen to me and Chris plant the dopey flag and start the show. First - Chris tells the story of his first time using and I tell a story of seizing off of benzos. If you wanna make a comment - comment on spotify or on patreon or write us at dopeypodcast@gmail.com Wishing everyone peace and love! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

1d ago

Ad Free Dopey: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast In this crucial emergency episode , Dave is joined by longtime friend and recovery legend Bob Forrest to process the shock, grief, and fallout surrounding the Nick Reiner tragedy and the public backlash aimed at Dopey . Bob speaks from decades of experience in addiction treatment, psychiatry-adjacent crisis work, and firsthand encounters with drug-induced psychosis, violence, and untreated mental illness . He explains why modern drugs—especially meth and stimulants—are producing homicidal and suicidal behavior , and why families often have no remaining safety net when things spiral. They discuss: Why parents can love their children and still need boundaries, charges, or intervention How decriminalization + lack of psychiatric resources leaves families helpless Why people project their own trauma and rage onto public figures and podcasts The danger of separating “mental health” from active addiction Celebrity kids, resentment, identity, and why some survive while others don’t Why Dopey is being scapegoated—and why that logic doesn’t hold up The conversation moves through music, recovery, punk rock, famous addiction stories, Christmas memories, suicidal ideation, parenting, and connection , ultimately landing on Bob’s central belief: connection, love, truth, and honesty are what keep people alive . The episode ends with Bob defending Dopey’s right to tell the whole truth about addiction—ugly, funny, painful, and real—and offering a blunt but heartfelt holiday message to Dopey Nation . All that and more on this brand new Wednesday episode of the good old Dopey show. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2d ago

Hear the rest at www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on Dopey Tuesday with returning friend, writer, and “elite ex-equestrian” Erin Carr. They joke about their disorganization, their family-like bond, and the chaos of planning episodes. Erin updates Dave on her recent election win to the NYC Education Council and what serving on it has been like—contentious but meaningful work centered on education policy and generational differences. The conversation shifts into generational talk (Gen X, Gen Z, Gen Alpha), early internet days, and feeling grateful they grew up before social media. Erin then describes learning—through an ex—that Dopey was suddenly in the news because Dave was doing media interviews about the breaking Nick Reiner case. Dave recounts going on ABC News unprepared, explains his new plan to publish a show every day, and details the backlash he received for releasing a Dopey Emergency Episode compiling all of Nick Reiner’s past appearances. Erin gives thoughtful criticism: the issue isn’t releasing the audio, but centering Nick rather than the murdered victims. They discuss responsibility, ethics, addiction stigma, and the complexity of public consumption of tragedy. Dave explains why he released the compilation, his intentions, the bizarre Dopey connection to the story, and his concern over tone. Erin helps him rework the title toward something victim-centered (“The Reiner Family Tragedy”). They unpack addiction narratives, mental illness stigma, and how easily public discussion slips into blaming or sensationalizing. The two close on themes of empathy, horror at the details emerging about the Reiner murders, the emotional weight of family devastation, and the moral questions around covering breaking tragedy in recovery media. The teaser ends with Dave redirecting listeners to Patreon for the rest of the conversation before running off to Susan’s Nutcracker performance. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

3d ago

for shows without inserted ads join: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This two-hour emergency Dopey episode compiles all of Nick Reiner’s appearances — spanning relapse, heart attack, family pressure, recovery attempts, weed/Adderall use, and wild stories. Dave and Chris walk through Nick’s upbringing as the son of Rob Reiner and grandson of Carl Reiner, the contrast between privilege and addiction, and the comedy-tragedy tension that defines Dopey. Nick describes relapsing with an old dealer, falling back into heroin and cocaine, and ultimately having a cocaine-induced heart attack mid-flight. He wakes up in a Boston hospital with Chris at his bedside. Dave and Chris revisit Nick’s movements through detoxes, sober living in Maine, and his premeditated plan to return home so he could smoke weed again without consequences. The episode also includes Nick’s childhood sex-work story (“Cherry Red”), his guest-house meth/coke destruction spree, and his reflections on relapse, weed maintenance, and creative paralysis. Dave and Chris add personal context — the pain of losing friends, the shock of Chris’s death, anger, humor, and the push-pull dynamic they shared trying to support Nick. The final third moves into classic Dopey: a listener email about sexual trauma and a predatory case manager; Dave and Chris reacting with equal parts disbelief and empathy; side rants on AA, weed, Adderall harm reduction, NBA players, LSD myths, and Nick’s writing ambitions. This is a serious American tragedy - please send your thoughts to dopeypodcast@gmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dec 12

NO INSERTED ADS WWW.PATREON.COM/DOPEYPODCAST EMERGENCY ANDY DICK INTERVENTION!!!! Thanks to hard core dope Keaton Hudema - we catch up with Andy Dick to find out all about his recent overdose incident involving fentanyl, We talk a bunch of shit - and i try and 12 step him. All that and more on this Andy Dick Emergency Broadcast of Dopey! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dec 12

no inserted ads: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This Week on a super classic episode of Dopey! Dave is visited by local Long Islander - Will P. AKA Hairy Tongue Will. Dave opens the show drinking Ryze mushroom coffee while talking about how cold his recording room is. He announces that Dopey will be releasing five episodes per week throughout December, including replays, Patreon teasers, deep cuts, and new interviews. He gives sobriety shoutouts — notably Lauren’s three-year milestone and Maddie Veitch from Leftover Salmon celebrating her own recovery marker. He encourages listeners to email in clean-time milestones for future episodes. Dave then goes through a lengthy run of Spotify comments left on the Darrell Hammond episode. The comments range from people complaining about the “This or That” game, others defending it, jokes about possums, encouragement about psychedelics, questions about whether Darrell is truly sober, praise for the episode, frustration with the interview pacing, random remarks about Lime Drive and “Mike’s Amazing Stuff,” plus multiple requests for stickers. Dave reads each comment and jokes along, sometimes offering to send merch. Ads for Mountainside and Link Diagnostics follow. Dave talks about how Mountainside is central to the history of Dopey and how Link Diagnostics offers drug testing services that help people “stay positive and test negative.” Dave then plays an LSD voicemail from Henry in San Francisco, who took two hits of acid alone in college. Henry becomes one with his bicycle, panics at a house fumigation tent he interprets as a circus, fears he’ll be mutated by pesticides, runs home, listens to the Butthole Surfers, sees Aztec gods appearing from shifting ceiling patterns, and eventually rides it out. He is now 15 months sober and credits Dopey Nation for support. Next he reads an email from Jerry, who describes crazy addiction history including fighting cops on PCP, overdoses, ventilators, and robbing heroin dealers. Jerry discovered Dopey by typing “heroin” into the podcast search bar while newly out of rehab in 2018. His biggest complaint is that Dave has never watched Joe Dirt .The episode opens with your intro, then the bulk of the show is Hairy Tongue Will’s massive, chaotic, detailed telling of his addiction, near-death runs, arrests, relapse cycles, dead friends, and eventual recovery. Will describes the early Long Island chaos with Richie, Mike, and Lenny—everyone strung out on heroin, crack, coke, and whatever they could get. He recalls the first serious turn: showing up to a house where Lenny was passed out after a three-day crack run, realizing “the demons are taking over.” Mike and Richie spiral deeper, and Will keeps managing to “hold it together” thanks to jobs, work ethic, and a strange electrical-job stabilizer that kept him semi-functional. He details years of DUIs, probation, manipulating drug tests, smoking crack constantly while still working 16-hour electrician shifts, and thriving socially because coworkers lived vicariously through him. He normalized chaos, missing only “one no-call/no-show every two weeks,” which he considered acceptable. Will then dives into his first short attempt at stability, living in a basement apartment. His probation officer surprises him the day after a holiday: the apartment is filled with beer cans, bongs, baggies. He fails the test, is sent back to rehab/jail cycles, and explains why Long Island addicts often choose jail over treatment. He describes his surreal time in jail—being sent to the Montauk Lighthouse on work crews, eating egg sandwiches and black-and-milds with the guards, becoming “the useful guy,” actually feeling respected and purposeful. Back outside, he tries again, fails again, collects DUIs, cycles through companies, loses jobs, hustles side work, and repeatedly relapses. A wedding night leads to another DUI. COVID hits while he’s in jail. He gets out, starts working nonstop, earns money, piles cash in a closet, stacks crypto, reads self-help books, sleeps on a mattress on the floor, becomes obsessed with success and control. Then he meets a girl in Tennessee. He drinks again “successfully” only when he flies there. He builds a double life—working himself numb, drinking out of state, convincing himself he’s different. Eventually, on a work trip, he gambles, wins big, drinks an old fashioned, and secretly cooks his boss’s cocaine into crack. This reignites the obsession. Will starts traveling the Northeast and Midwest, repeatedly pulling crack-seeking missions: gas stations, high-crime neighborhoods, asking strangers, “I’m looking for some hard.” He builds drug contacts in Bridgeport, Dayton, Maine, Virginia, wherever the job sends him. He smokes in hotels, hallucinates blood on floors, changes rooms repeatedly. He recounts the deaths of friends: Mike, whose father turned their home into a sheet-walled trap house with dealers and bikers living inside. How Mike died with his father selling sneakers off his dead son’s body. Richie, who got sober then died of fentanyl after nearly two years clean. Will’s life collapses further—obsession, resentment toward God, jealousy, terminal uniqueness. He becomes a “demon,” wanting to die like his friends. He terrifies his girlfriend with delusional FaceTimes, nine-day runs, psychosis. She moves in without knowing the truth and becomes trapped in codependency. He stays high for 26 straight days, manipulates her with antihistamine allergy episodes to cover his psychosis, hides crack pipes around the house with ring cameras everywhere. He finally admits some truth, gives her $5,000 to escape, but she stays another nine months. He tells insane stories: Pretending he’s a trust-fund baby to get free crack Getting shot at by a dealer after a misunderstanding over “two grams” vs “two ounces” Driving through wooded roads barefoot at gas stations Dealers trying to jump him Becoming a mule for a recently-released dealer (Ace) Near misses, violence, and pure street insanity Eventually, during a pickup, he gets chased, prays for police lights, and his car breaks down. Cops descend. He gets a mountain of charges (“five decades worth”). He thinks he’ll die in prison. Bail reform gets him released. He immediately uses again for 17 more days. A sober lawyer tries pushing him toward St. Christopher’s. Will resists, manipulates LICR, relapses again, cancels his own insurance, tries to die, and after weeks of chaos his mother gets him re-approved. He enters St. Chris, still delusional, still dangerous. There he breaks. He admits suicidal thoughts, gets a guard stationed outside his door, hears the blunt truth— you’re the worst-off guy here and you did this to yourself. It lands. Will begins working the program: spiritual direction, grief groups, codependency, meetings, kitchen duty, everything. He reconnects with his mother in sobriety. He attends court in suits provided by the facility and ultimately receives an unexpectedly generous plea deal. He comes home early, tries to run his own program, stays sober for months, but on Mother’s Day runs into an old acquaintance who shows him a Newport box with a pipe inside. He relapses immediately for three days, misses Mother's Day entirely. That night, suicidal again, he receives a series of calls: first from Jordan, then from his tough sponsor, who gives him clear direction—go to a sober house, go to daily groups, go to nightly meetings, call people, build structure. Will frauds his urine to get in, but once inside, follows every instruction. He stabilizes. He recounts being 18 months sober now, having been at meetings nearly every night, with a recent slip in commitment due to chasing an “intimate partner godshot” that didn’t work out. You reassure him that it’s fine and that balance is part of recovery. More or less thats the whole thing! On a brand new fucko, crackead episode of that good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dec 11

No inserted ads on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This Week on Dopey! Dave kicks off the new Thursday Retro Replay / Greatest Hits concept and explains the new Dopey weekly schedule before throwing back to one of the most beloved early episodes: Chris’s Prison Stories Part One (Dopey 67) . After a classic call from Dave’s dad Alan complaining about the website reviews and telling his own fake “Fort Apache” jail story, Chris dives into his very real first sentence in Orange County Jail. He breaks down race politics, Woods and Sureños, getting classified as a higher-risk inmate, being asked to “be the falcon” and beat up a loud racist white guy, and what it felt like to be totally green in a vicious system. Chris tells gnarly stories about shooting meth in jail with a homemade “binky” syringe that’s been up multiple asses , getting covered in staph infection, breaking the ultimate rule by pushing the emergency button, and accidentally giving his post-release girlfriend medication-resistant staph. He also admits to being a dick to a fragile bunkie named Steve by leaving him a bag of trash and tormenting him over the “fishing line,” then gets honest about how jail culture warped his thinking, almost turning love into fear and respect. Dave closes by talking about how much he misses Chris and how proud Chris was of these wild stories, and dedicates the replay to him. All that and more more more on a brand new replay of a super classic dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.