Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

Join the team on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast
This week on Dopey Total Replay! Dave and Chris return with a classic early episode featuring a cigarette dispute outside Katz’s, a dope-sick heroin run in a ridiculous wig, and a police officer who ate confiscated weed brownies and called 911 because he thought he was dead.
Dave loses his shit when Ezra—the neighborhood character he’s supplied with countless cigarettes—refuses to run to the store for him. There are threats, wounded pride, and an incredibly petty half-cigarette power move. Chris attempts to broker peace.
Then listener Tracy delivers an incredible story about buying heroin in a terrible black wig, getting pulled over with the drugs in the glove compartment, and a driver who decides this is the perfect moment to flirt with the cop. Plus, Chris remembers drinking with people on the street in Boston, surviving on stolen beef jerky and tallboys, and his family dog stealing somebody’s sandwich.
We also get into how Dave and Chris met at Mountainside, how their friendship changed in recovery, Bob Marley–induced weed cravings, eighteen hours of “Natural Mystic,” and the difference between missing getting high and being able to go back.
PLUS! In a new introduction, Dave remembers Bobby R., a beloved member of his recovery community, launches the Dopey Worst Recovery Texts Contest, reads your comments, and explains why this episode remains one of his favorites.
All that and More on a brand new version of a super classic old 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.

Listen without ads on patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast
This week on Dopey! Betty Guadagno brings a completely fucking staggering story of drugs, family trauma, sex work, and finding recovery after an overdose that she describes as a trip to the other side. Raised by drug-addicted, hustling parents who stole Christmas presents and fled to Las Vegas, Betty discovered meth at fifteen—and things only got crazier from there.
Betty opens up about losing both parents to suicide, moving back to New York to retrace their love story, selling drugs behind the bar, and turning to sex work to pay the rent. We get into heroin, crack, methadone, a $20,000 marriage, getting arrested during the Hurricane Sandy blackout, and a meth relapse that sent her into a world of paranoia, imagined bugs, and exploiting other women to support her addiction.
Then comes the bathroom-floor overdose, the life review, and the spiritual experience Betty believes changed everything. We talk about hearing her father’s voice, drug dealers finding Jesus, following a stranger on the J train to a meeting, and the woman whose hug finally helped her surrender. Plus: tiny men mowing her brain out of heroin withdrawal, Gabby Bernstein, A Course in Miracles, UFOs, and Dave trying to get a sign from his mother.
PLUS! Squirrel’s spectacular GHB-and-ketamine mistaken-identity voicemail, sex addiction, kratom and 7-OH, a listener’s 22-day meth run, DopeyCon feedback, and the ongoing debate over recording at Alan’s apartment versus a fancy studio.
All that and much more on a deeply dark, strangely funny, and very spiritual new 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.

This week on Dopey’s Greatest Hits! Cro-Mags frontman, author, and hardcore legend John Joseph returns in his unforgettable first appearance on the show. From a brutal childhood in foster care to surviving on the streets of New York, John brings an avalanche of insane Dopey: stealing his mother’s Valium, running heroin, selling fake acid outside Madison Square Garden, getting chased with a hunting knife on his first real acid trip, dealing drugs in the Navy, and going AWOL—with Henry Rollins helping hide him along the way.
Then things get even crazier: freebasing, robbing drug dealers, a crack-fueled run through Los Angeles, and a flight back to New York where John is snorting cocaine while lecturing the other passengers about eating meat. Plus, evading the police at JFK, hitting bottom in Alphabet City, and finding a way back through Hare Krishna, hardcore music, service, and eventually Ironman triathlons.
We also get into Bad Brains, positive mental attitude, childhood trauma, forgiveness, and building a life you actually want to wake up for. PLUS! Dave reads listener comments about Mrs. Robinson, celebrates a listener’s nine months off kratom, remembers his early COVID experience, and wonders whether he was trying to sound tough when he first interviewed John. All that and much more on this brand new version of this classic episode of Dopey!


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LISTEN AD-FREE on PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast
This week on Dopey! LJ Ruggiero, host of Nothing’s Off the Table and son of New York television personality Rosanna Scotto, returns for a brutally honest conversation about compulsive gambling. At 15, LJ turned $200 into $9,000 at a blackjack table and decided he’d found his future. What followed was stolen family jewelry, drugs, treatment, an extraordinary ticket business, and a gambling habit that could swallow almost any amount of money.
LJ describes going from $22 in his checking account to a $380,000 payday selling Coachella artist passes, building a business that eventually earned him more than a million dollars a year, and losing staggering amounts in casinos and with bookies. One Vegas trip saw him turn $10,000 into roughly $500,000—then lose all of it and another $100,000 before leaving.
Even after stopping drugs and alcohol, the gambling continued. LJ bet from the hospital the night his son was born, borrowed money when his wife couldn’t buy diapers, and found himself about a million dollars in debt. A confrontation with an old friend finally broke through the lies, leading him into Gamblers Anonymous, financial accountability, and a long repayment plan.
We also get into the difference between drug recovery and rebuilding a relationship with money, casino perks, family bailouts, shame, and why LJ regrets trying to police other people’s sobriety.
PLUS! Rachel Angel’s DopeyCon theme-song entry, Dave’s Step Ten intentions, Margaret Cho listener comments, and a wild voicemail about vodka at Red Lobster, a smashed mailbox, a $200 payoff, driving on a sparking rim, and hitchhiking to Newburgh after a DWI. Stay strong Dopey Nation and toodles for Chris!
Plus way way more on a new wednesday episode of that 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.

Listen to the whole thing at: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast.
This week on the Tuesday teaser! Heart Attack Doug returns, convinced he’s indestructible despite mounting evidence to the contrary. A $10,000 landscaping quote inspires two weeks of backyard punishment, followed by another frightening hospital trip, morphine, and an argument about whether Dave is actually his sponsor.
Meanwhile, Dave remembers his summer working on New York’s World Yacht, buying a Fender Rhodes for $300, eventually selling it for heroin, and the lingering humiliation of coworkers calling him Screech. PLUS! Cormac was robbed, Cece compliments Linda and demolishes Dave, Doug claims spiritual superiority, and Dave admits that joking about inheriting Doug’s guitar turned into a sincere prayer that his friend wouldn’t die.
What keeps Doug pushing himself to the edge—and will he ever listen? The conversation continues on Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast.
Stay strong Dopey Nation and toodles for Chris!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.