Garrett Hade is a guy who usually sits behind the scenes. As the right (and left) hand(s) of prominent recovery advocate Ryan Hampton, Garrett is the one by Ryan's side as they travel across the country interviewing people in recovery, visiting jails and in short doing everything they possibly can to change the way addiction is perceived and treated.
Though Garrett and I have become closer over the past year, getting him in front of a camera and mic was a serious treat. In this episode, we talked about the struggle he had about publicly sharing about his addiction and recovery and what he's learned as a result, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Jesse, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today’s episode features a truly unique soul: author Bucky Sinister.
In it, Bucky tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story is about an event not everyone has the opportunity to reminisce about: the 30th anniversary of his first intervention. (Spoiler alert: don't take acid beforehand.)
Bucky is the author of not only the hilarious addiction novel Black Hole but also four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications.
Today's episode features one of my very favorite people I know: comedian and writer Mary Patterson Broome.
In it, MP tells a story from our live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Her story is about something most people in recovery are all too familiar with: those friends from the drinking days who question whether or not she really needs to be sober.
When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, MP is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterParty Magazine and RehabReviews and tours the country performing comedy. She has written for Women's Health and for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco.
What John Clint Mabry has endured would have destroyed most people.
John Clint Mabry is not most people.
During a tragic car accident when he was 18, he lost both a friend and his leg. The former class clown then got addicted to opiates and thought he was living a terribly exciting life—appearing in movies like Superbad and partying at the Playboy Mansion. Then he lost his brother to addiction and spiraled down that road himself...until he couldn't any longer.
Now a sober counselor, motivational speaker and author (lucky for me, I get to be the one helping him bring his story to the world, through my coaching program for writers!), Mabry serves as an example that with the right attitude, we can overcome anything.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features a woman everyone loves: Sara Benincasa.
Benincasa is a screenwriter, recovering stand-up comedian and the author of "Real Artists Have Day Jobs" (William Morrow 2016); "DC Trip" (Adaptive 2015); "Great" (HarperTeen 2014); and "Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom" (William Morrow 2012). She also wrote a very silly joke book called "Tim Kaine Is Your Nice Dad." In 2017, she adapted "DC Trip" as a screenplay with Bona Fide, Gunpowder & Sky, and Adaptive Studios. She also adapted "Agorafabulous" as a pilot for TV with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. Born and raised in New Jersey, she attended Emerson College, graduated from Warren Wilson College, and got a masters degree in teaching from Teachers College at Columbia University. She lives in Los Angeles and she's working on an untitled novel for Adaptive Books.
She told this story at my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
It's about being in high school, going to Europe, getting homesick, having a panic attack and ruining the day for her popular nemesis.
Carly Benson is a sober wundekind. The voice behind the mega popular website Miracles Are Brewing, Benson is a yoga instructor, coach, leader of a monthly group about intentional living, co-founder (with Kelly Fitzgerald) of the Bloom Club, co-host (also with Kelly) of the Regroup podcast, and all around spiritual badass. While she and I had never met before, we'd both admired one another from afar—and now, frankly, I want to do as much as I can with her. In this episode, we discuss realizing everything has to change, what it's like to have a sudden spiritual change and how to make your mess into your message, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today’s episode features an absolute doll of a human being: Greg Behrendt.
In it, Greg tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story veers from a night where he was wasted and suddenly realized he was hanging out with dudes who had submachine guns into the rage he feels over the way people order from Starbucks to a riff on pudding, all while managing to make commentary on what it’s like to be a sober man today.
When he’s not making Hammer(ed) Time audiences nearly pee their pants with laughter, Greg is performing (both as a comedian and musician) or writing (oh yeah; he’s the guy who co-wrote the seminal book He’s Just Not That Into You, among other bestselling books).
For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here. For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here.
Jesse Heffernan, the National Outreach and Empowerment Coordinator at Faces and Voices of Recovery, is a Certified Recovery Coach who's over 16 years sober.
I was lucky enough to speak to him about finding a toxic community based on similar "woundedness," wearing a wire to bust drug dealers, whether or not he's clean cut and if the word "addict" is good or bad, among many other things.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Jesse, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features the person Louis CK named as one of the funniest female comedians of our time: Laura House.
In it, Laura tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Her story covers a 4th of July party she once attended that actually lasted three days and included lots of beer, nudity and an eventual police bust. Bonus: it also teaches you how to make a "hillbilly hot tub"!
When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, Laura is writing on TV shows (including Mom and Samantha Who), teaching meditation or performing in her one-woman show, How to Hate Yourself.
Kenny Pomerance and Ron Tannebaum, or Mr. Clean and RT, are the recovery titans behind the Facebook-for-recovery website InTheRooms. The two longtime friends—who first met when they were in college—launched their site in 2008, when they were both nearly three decades sober. Since then, the site has blossomed—with hundreds of thousands of members attending on-line meetings, watching lectures, using the ITR apps and bonding in ways they never could otherwise.
I've been lucky enough to know these guys since the launch of ITR and they've never been anything but generous, kind and compassionate. This has a great deal to do with how they've been able to thrive—with an astounding 400,000+ members that have a combined million+ years of sobriety.
In this episode, we discuss how many people told them that a Facebook for recovery idea was never going to work, why they don't look at anyone as competition and having a song written for them by Aerosmith, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Dawn, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today’s episode features a truly unique soul: author Bucky Sinister.
In it, Bucky tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story is about a friend of his who happened to be "the most batshit crazy person" he knew, the sort of person who'd ask, if you told him your mother had breast cancer, "how nice her tits were." He also explains how much this friend of his taught him about how to be a sober man.
When he's not bringing urns onto a stage (yep—if you listen to the episode, it will all make sense), Bucky is writing. He's the author of not only the hilarious addiction novel Black Hole but also four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications.
Dawn Nickel is a legend in the recovery world. The womab behind SheRecovers, Nickel was in recovery a long time and a self-proclaimed workaholic looking for a change when she realized, while sitting on the beach in Mexico, that what she really wanted to do: help people in recovery. And so she launched a Facebook page. Despite being something of a social media novice, the page took off—attracting hundreds of thousands of Likes as it established itself as the place for women in recovery (from anything) to gather together for inspiration and connection. Now SheRecovers is a business which includes retreats, events and coaching.
In this episode, Nickel and I discuss how she was able to corner the market on women recovering, whether or not the word "addict' is stigmatizing and how she makes sure she doesn't sway back into workaholism (hint: it has to do with going on the SheRecovers retreats).
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Dawn, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
oday's episode features one of my very favorite people I know: comedian and writer Mary Patterson Broome.
In it, MP tells a story from our live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Her story answers the question many among us may have craved an answer to: what kind of crazy activities go on at comedy festivals? Well, in this one, we learn about "mirror moments," deciding to hook up, how to handle it when the dude who just drove you home pukes all over himself and what to do when a drunk stranger needs to sleep it off when you're sharing a room.
When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, MP is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterParty Magazine and RehabReviews and tours the country performing comedy. She has written for Women's Health and for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco.
Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.)
The story I tell here is about the three cocaine dealers I had during my using days, the different signature moves they had and how I ended up in rehab with one of them.
In this episode, Anna David speaks about how discovering the fact that recovery had its own language inspired her to focus her own work on the topic.
Recover Girl takes to the stage again, as I'm giving you another episode featuring a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time—which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
This episode features previous podcast guest Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a wondrous sprite who graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy and has been published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned, was praised as “a well-versed primer” by The New Yorker and “likely to become a trivia-lover’s bible” by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show Public School.
In this story, she asks the question many may have pondered: what happens if you're "sober" but take Ambien? (Hint: it may involve texting your boss that you bet he looks good naked.)
Kelly Fitzgerald is probably the most successful sober blogger in the world. The voice behind The Sober Senorita, Fitzgerald launched to internet fame when she wrote a post about being sober a year, which The Huffington Post picked up and posted on its home page. Cut to the post going viral, being published in multiple languages and placing Fitzgerald in a position of authority on recovery. She's now been published on sites like Elite Daily, Ravishly and Thought Catalog, hosts her own podcast and offers a virtual coaching program.
In this episode, we discuss being uncomfortable outing yourself as sober, what it is about her first blog post about sobriety that hit a nerve, being a member of my coaching program for writers and whether or not everything happens as it's meant to, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Kelly, which means that the audio isn't as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Freddy Negrete is inarguably one of the world's greatest legends in the tattoo world. The former Chicano gang member perfected the art of "prison" black and grey tattoos before going to work for fellow tattoo legends “Good Time” Charlie Cartwright and Jack Rudy in East LA. He logged time working with Ed Hardy (who, for the uninitiated, is a real guy and not just a t-shirt line) and now makes headlines when he tattoos famous folks like Henry Styles. Despite his current celebrity status, Negrete has hardly had an easy life: the son of a Jewish woman and a Mexican father, Negrete was pretty much orphaned when both his parents went to prison. He joined a gang, entered a life of crime, started going in and out of juvie halls and prison and, along the way, became a heroin addict. Now sober over a half decade, Negrete is the co-author of a memoir based on his life, Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs and Tattoos: My Life in Black and Gray. In this episode, we talk about how gangs provided camaraderie, making tattoo guns out of cassette tapes and his sudden spiritual awakening, among many other topics.
Recover Girl takes a turn this time, as I'm going to start releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time. It takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
This episode features previous podcast guest Eddie Pepitone, a national treasure to the part of the nation that knows him. This was the theme of The Bitter Buddha, the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny and many more.
In this story, he talks about "sculpting a winner" and great thinkers who believe we were never born, among other (hilarious) topics.
For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here. For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here.
In this five-minute episode, Anna David talks about how new ideas occur to her every time she thinks she's shared everything she has to say about recovery.
Buddhist meditation teacher Dave Smith has been studying the Dharma since 1993 when a series of traumatic incidents (including the death of his sister and girlfriend) motivated him to seek help. Over the next decade, he lived a double life—going on meditation retreats while also living the high life as a touring musician. Now sober over 14 years, Smith has led retreats, mentored people one-on-one and given numerous Dharma talks (you can listen to some of them here). He’s also become an author, releasing Ethical Mindfulness in 2015 (he’s currently working on a follow up, which we chat about at length in this episode). In this episode, we discuss how to recognize trauma when it comes up, his feelings about no longer being a musician and why his writing career is only just beginning, among many other topics.
In this five-minute episode, Anna David discusses how she gently dipped her toe into the waters of writing about recovery—before ultimately submerging herself.
Writer Jenna Hutt always knew she had a story to tell. The Colorado-dwelling wife and mother of one had an inarguably interesting life and had been through struggles she knew could help other people: in the span of three years, her father committed suicide and her husband had a traumatic brain injury, all while she struggled with alcoholism. Hutt had always been a secret drinker—her very first drink was a bottle she chugged at home alone, when she was 12—and her secrets caught up with her when her husband discovered her suitcase full of empty bottles during a trip to see his family. Now sober over three years, Hutt is writing her story and it is my great pleasure to be able to have a front row seat during the process because she’s doing it in my coaching program. All this means that while we’ve been in email, phone and webinar contact over the past six months, this recording marks our first in-person meeting. In this episode, we discuss where being a control freak meets alcoholism and embracing the little voice inside that tells you to write, among many other topics.
In this special five-minute episode of Recover Girl, Anna David discusses how she wanted to write a book her whole life—but didn't make any progress until she learned that writing worked just like recovery.
It seems crazy that comedian Mary Patterson Broome hasn't been on the podcast before. The Alabama-bred lady has performed stand-up comedy at clubs, colleges and many other places for over 11 years. She's also written for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco and WE TV’s Sex Box.
But most relevantly for me, she's the Editor-in-Chief at RehabReviews.com/AfterParty Magazine. Faithful listeners know this is a website I started and MP helped me run until I left in March (to take the helm at In Recovery Magazine) and MP took over. To say she's been my right hand is an understatement.
MP's journey to sobriety has gone hand-in-hand with her journey to becoming a professional writer—a subject we get into in this episode. Listen and find out how the anonymous "Sarah" came to rule the roost of one of the biggest recovery sites out there.