The Drunkalogues

Guests share their often hilarious stories of addiction and recovery - how it was, what happened, and how it is now - followed by a 30 minute interview with the host - film producer, writer and comedian - Nick Morton.

Episode 88 - Frank Conniff 11/12/2024

Episode 88 - Frank Conniff Frank Conniff has been a stand up and writer and producer for many tv shows like Sabrina the teenage witch but he’s probably best know for his role as TV’s Frank on the Peabody Award winning cult hit Mystery Science Theater 3000 where he also served as a writer. I discovered Frank as one of the many members of my extended clan of Murray-McDonnell cousins. When I started doing standup, everyone in my family asked me if we had met each other so I started following him on Twitter and discovered he was, in fact, sober. I had his email address from a family group email and here we are... /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/33860637

Rerun - Jamie Niven 11/05/2024

Rerun - Jamie Niven My original notes... Jamie Niven is the son of international movie star and academy award winner for best actor, David Niven. But I really knew him from my parents crowd of waspy New Yorkers spending the summers out on Long Island where he was always the life of the party and where growing up I had rarely seen any of his set get sober. He had a career in finance before becoming an entrepreneur and then spent 20 years at Sothebys where he eventually rose to the position of Chairman of the Americas. He has a long career in philanthropy and currently chairs the Partnership to End Addiction. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/33788882

RERUN - Clancy Martin 10/22/2024

RERUN - Clancy Martin Reposting this as it again proves sadly timely in my community, and Clancy Martin's book is an invaluable resource for suicide prevention. Clancy Martin is the author of the recently published, highly acclaimed memoire - HOW NOT TO KILL YOURSELF - which is also an enlightened and practical guide to suicide prevention. Clancy speaks from experience as he is the survivor of at least ten attempts to take his own life. And as a recovering alcoholic, he looks at suicide - at least in part - through the lens of addiction. I found the book revelatory and - as someone who regularly contemplates taking his own life - wildly helpful. And I also think the wisdom Clancy shares in this conversation alone could save lives. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/33569457

Episode 87 - John Machado 10/10/2024

Episode 87 - John Machado John Machado struggled wiht addictoin for years before a doctor's visit necessseitate a meeting with an addiction specilist who helped get him into rehab to begin a long process to recovery.. They say relapse is a part of the process of recovery but this convesation made me think that maybe the road to recovery is paved with all kinds of experiences some of which form the building blocks of a healthy life. John has published several books including his most recent works BRONZE JAZZ and JOHNNY BLUE AND THE RIGHTEOUS SPIN. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/33412347

Episode 86 - John Giordano 09/18/2024

Episode 86 - John Giordano John Giordano grew up in the Bronx, a child of organized crime and despite joining his first gang at the age of ten managed to save himself from that fate thru his dedication to the discipline of competitive martial arts. But when his recreational drug use spiraled out of control in his twenties, he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of an intervention organized by the same criminals who raised him but also loved him. He made it out the other side, but it was not easy. And he went on to build a small and innovative business empire in the world of rehab and recovery. He has a new book out called The Kid From the South Bronx Who Never Gave Up. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/33102967

Rerun - Episode 31 - Eric Hahn 07/26/2024

Rerun - Episode 31 - Eric Hahn Keep seeing Eric in my social media feed, and he is always just so frikken funny, innovative and original. Impecable delivery. Check him out! He talks here a lot here about what it was like to grow up as a gay man in the mid-west! Eric Hahn is a stand up comedian who grew up in a steel town in Ohio where he started drinking at age 12. He narrowly escaped a career as a butcher before finding his way to Los Angeles via a lucrative career in the restaurant business which was upended when his employers saw his first stand up set on YouTube. I realized Eric was sober via his hilarious twitter feed, and he shared with me here some frank and very very funny stories about coming of age as a gay man in the mid-west. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/32305167

Episode 85 - David Styne 07/09/2024

Episode 85 - David Styne I first met David when he was an agent at CAA repping the likes of Oliver Stone and other high profile filmmakers and writers. He was part of a powerful club I only got glimpses of and boy did it look fun. But it was also addictive, and he shares here the journey to a more measured form of contententmen. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/32052447

Episode 84 - Nick Jonsson 06/25/2024

Episode 84 - Nick Jonsson Nick Jonsson grew up in Sweden where drinking beer was kind of a way of life. His drinking escalated when he moved to Australia for college and then got out of control when he started working in advertising and PR in Southeast Asia where the ex-pat community thrived in a lively and inexpensive bar scene. His life was turned upside down after a couple job losses and he soon found himself drinking just to make it through the day. Eventually, he was hospitalized and managed through phamaceutical intervention and twelve steps to get sober. When a friend and colleague lost his life to suicide, a message Nick posted on line went viral, and he now divides his time between his work running an executive peer support group and his work as a writer and speaker. He has a new book out, Executive Loneliness, that is available everyhwere. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/31884947

Episode 83 - Powerful Eric 06/18/2024

Episode 83 - Powerful Eric This episode is largely about addiction to pornography as Powerful Eric struggled for years to overcome his own pornography addiction. Ultimately, he stumbled on a shift in perspective that helped him get well, and he has built on that shift to create a program for other addicts that shares some of the tools I employ as well. While this podcast is largely about drug and alcohol addiction, addictive behaviors share so many similarities and sometimes it just gets harder once alcohol has been removed from the equation! /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/31790072

Episode 82 - Tom Vaughan 04/23/2024

Episode 82 - Tom Vaughan I came across Tom Vaughan on twitter and started following him for his helpful screenwriting tips, and then one day he tweeted something about his sobriety and I reached out to see if we would be interested in coming on the pod. He graciously agreed, and I imagined some sort of quasi-scholarly discussion about story structure and sobriety. Little did I realize, Tom and I had crossed paths in my most formative Hollywood years and shared so much in common... not least of all being our penchant for pre-pubescent car theft! You can tune into his many screenwriting resources at storyandplot.com /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/30913348

Rerun - Episode 64 - Nena Woolworth 03/01/2024

Rerun - Episode 64 - Nena Woolworth I interviewed Nena about two years ago...tho it feels like a lifetime. We were just coming out of covid and it was one of the first times I'd been back in the room with a guest. I would say that in the interim, interest in hallucingens has only grown as mushrooms seem to have quickly become both the medicine of choice and the party drug of choice.... here are the original notes! I've been wanting to do this interview for years.... Nena is a scion of one of America's most famous families and grew up in the rarefied air of upper east side NYC where that legacy was mostly confounding. She initially started out as an interior designer, and we met in LA in the aughts when she was exploring the entertainment biz and we were both aimlessly navigating the cocktail scene, here. We lost touch when I had kids and she was nearly killed by a series of flesh eating bacterial infections. And when we reconnected - both now sober - I asked her if she was still decorating, and she said, "No, I'm a shaman." I love second acts, and this one - that takes us into the world of sacred rituals and medicines (yes, we're talking hallucinogens) is fascinating. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/30191603

RERUN - Episode 52 - Jenny Aurthur 02/08/2024

RERUN - Episode 52 - Jenny Aurthur Sometimes I do a podcast and by the end of the conversation my guest and I are friends for lise. Such was the case with Jenny Aurthur! Original notes: Jenny Aurthur grew up in a somewhat nomadic family - traveling in a large bus to organize neighborhoods for the Communist Labor Party, and while her parents never married, they maintained a strong family dynamic. So it was especially traumatic when she lost two members of her family to suicide and then - in sobriety - grieved as her closest friend also took his own life. Despite all that her joy remains in tact and reverberates thru this convo. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/29856608

Episode 81 - Ryan King 01/23/2024

Episode 81 - Ryan King Ryan King moved to Los Angeles as a toddler when his father, Commodores co-founder William King, moved here for work. He was a pretty straight arrow through high school earning himself a coveted spot in the highly competive baseball program at Long Beach State. But booze became his way of belonging and soon his undoing as his alcoholo habit compounded a case of the "yips" that kept him from throwing the ball to first base! Things got slowly worse from there, and he skidded along the bottom without ever hitting it until a relapse on his honeymoon changed everything forever. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/29580688

Episode 80 - Paul Summers 12/07/2023

Episode 80 - Paul Summers Paul Summers grew up in Las Vegas Nevada where he had a “eureka” moment at an early age which made him realize that all he wanted to do with his life was play guitar, write music and perform for live audience, and for a while…. That’s exactly what he did. But booze and meth and oxy led him off his path, and it was only when his ex-wife disappeared with his toddler daughter that he realized everything had to change. He has now written a new memoire HIDE and SEEK a Dad’s journey from soulless addiction to sole custody that chronicles his efforts to clean up and regain custody, and we talk here about his journey back to music and the challenge of putting your so-called faith into action /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/28973993

Episode 79 - Clancy Martin 11/07/2023

Episode 79 - Clancy Martin Clancy Martin is the author of the recently published, highly acclaimed memoire - HOW NOT TO KILL YOURSELF - which is also an enlightened and practical guide to suicide prevention. Clancy speaks from experience as he is the survivor of at least ten attempts to take his own life. And as a recovering alcoholic, he looks at suicide - at least in part - through the lens of addiction. I found the book revelatory and - as someone who regularly contemplates taking his own life - wildly helpful. And I also think the wisdom Clancy shares in this conversation alone could save lives. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/28537931

RERUN - Episode 23 - Lauren Morelli 10/25/2023

RERUN - Episode 23 - Lauren Morelli I loved this episode because I just had no idea what I was getting into, and Lauren was so raw and honest and her story is - in a lot of ways - tough. Especially as a parent! And I loved the way she created a higher power for herself and how it worked! I think about it all the time...... Here are the original notes: Lauren Morelli is a costume designer who grew up in South Florida experimenting in a range of addictive behavior from an early age. At 17 she found herself on lockdown in state run rehab and somehow found a spiritually and sobriety there strong enough she has stayed sober ever since. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/28420472

Rerun - Episode 35 - Kosha Dillz 10/10/2023

Rerun - Episode 35 - Kosha Dillz I recorded this episode at Sundance right before the pandemic. I was feeling pretty blue as sometimes happens there, and I went to an AA meeting where I met Kosha Dillz, and he and I went out on a fun, funny night around Park City and recorded this episode the next day. Here are the original notes... Rami is a rapper who performs under the stage name Kosha Dillz. He grew up in New Jersey and spent some time in and out of jail before getting sober and finding his calling in the world of music. He won the 2009 Hot 97 Rap Battle at Giants Stadium. He has performed with Snoop Dogg, RZA, Matisyahu to name a few and appeared at Sundance and SXSW. Follow him @koshadillz You can support this podcast at my Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/28279451

Episode 78 - Jono Hart 09/18/2023

Episode 78 - Jono Hart I met Jono Hart when we were both climbing the Hollywood ladder in the 90s, and we traded small talk and jokes at innumerable cocktail parties before both getting sober at about the same time. And while I have used the 12 steps as a model, he has largely followed his own heart. Weirldy, both paths share a lot of similarities. We recently re-connected over our shared love of the mountains and he has been invaluable in getting me and my kids back into the wilderness. You can support this podcast at Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/28071903

RERUN - Episode 44 - David G. 08/22/2023

RERUN - Episode 44 - David G. I love this episode b/c David is so damn articulate and wise and he recognizes patterns in his own behavior that prove insturmental in changing it. It's also a great story... Orignal notes: David G was raised in a religious cult where he learned early on to keep his family's membership secret. It was a lesson that would serve him too well as his alcoholism deepened and yet he still managed to keep it from everyone close to him until the burden of his addiction proved too much. He got help and came to understand that his self-worth need not be tied to his failure or accomplishments. You can support this podcast at my Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/27820068

Episode 77 - Sean F. 08/07/2023

Episode 77 - Sean F. Sean grew up in Long Beach where he was the son of a single mom and absentee dad. He discovered crack and meth at an early age, and when he graduate from high school he went off and joined the circus - Bread and Puppet - the experimental theater group based in Glover, VT. The skills he picked up at Bread and Puppet led to a very successful career in light design, but his crack and meth habit gave way to heroin and speedballs. He soon found himself mired in several disfuntional relationships when - almost by chance - he stumbled into a twelve step meeting and just kept coming back. He's so funny and honest and - as I've gotten to know him - full of wisdom. You can support this podcast at Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/27681618

Rerun - Episode 33 - Zander Schloss 07/25/2023

Rerun - Episode 33 - Zander Schloss I loved recording this episode. I didn't have a clue how to record music and I was terrified that I was going to disappoint Zander with my audio and it felt like magic to listen to him play in my daughter's bedroom which seemed like it maybe had the best acoustics in the house. Original notes: This is a very special episode. Zander Schloss - the bass player for the seminal punk band The Circle Jerks - brought his guitar to this session, and he not only tells an amazing story of his career in music, the steep toll of addiction and his hard fought journey thru recovery but he also plays original songs that reflect the long, complex path of his life. This is a story of acceptance and surrender but also of persistence. You can support this podcast at my Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/27567261

Episode 76 - Annie 06/22/2023

Episode 76 - Annie I've fantasized about having every guest back to catch up with them and hear how they've changed and how their recovery has evolved, but it hasn't yet happened... until now! Annie appeared on an early season of the podcast to talk alcohol recovery, and now she is back - 4 and a half years later - to talk about her journey through sex and love addiction. They say if you've been sober long enough and you're not in another 12 step progam, you're just not being honest with yourself. Well, Annie is being very honest with herself and you can learn more about her journey through sex and love addiction on her own podcast SEX AND LOVE IN RECOVERY. You can support this podcast at Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/27237279

Episode 75 - Sonia Kahlon 06/01/2023

Episode 75 - Sonia Kahlon The daughter of Inidan immigrants, Sonia grew up in Toronto and went on with her husband of 18 years to form and expand a multi-location orthodontic practice. But when they realized their dream of selling the business, Sonia had to ask herself: what next. The first thing she did was quit drinking, but when her husband then suddenly left her she had to really re-evaluate who she was and what she wanted from life. She has gone on to form a curated peer support group for people struggling with addiction - EverBlume - and we talk here about what it really means to set your own self-worth. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/27002940

Rerun - Dixie Perkinson 05/18/2023

Rerun - Dixie Perkinson Apologies for another rerun! I've had trouble booking guests so if you have a story you'd like to share or know someone who would... hit a boy up! Dixie Perkinson is an actor who has appeared in commercials for just about everything. She is also a comedian and storyteller whose blog - Eat My Prune - focuses on the kinds of stories people are uncomfortable telling. Her empathy and openness and humor radiate through every anecdote she shares. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/26884236

Rerun - Episode 2 - John Lehr 05/01/2023

Rerun - Episode 2 - John Lehr Apologies for the radio silence. I got busy with work and this little side project took the back seat. Here's a taste from the vault to keep you engaged! John Lehr is an improvisational actor and comedian out of the Chicago Improv scene who has created and starred in a number of TV shows including "Quick Draw" and "10 Items or Less." Here he talks about his unlikely path to sobriety. He's funny. You can support this podcast at my Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/26710305

Episode 74 - Marci Hopkins 03/21/2023

Episode 74 - Marci Hopkins Marci Hopkins grew up in an alcoholic home where she was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of her step-father. While she managed to escape that world and chart a successful path for herself in television, she suffered from a persistent sense of victimhood that she treated with alcohol abuse. When a DUI finally forced her to re-evaluate her choices and get sober, she reinvented herself completely - dispensing with her old notions of perfection and prioritizing fulfillment. She is now the author a recent memoir - Chaos To Clarity: Seeing The Signs and Breaking The Cycles as well as an award winning TV host and Creator of Wake Up With Marci. Won’t you please welcome marci Hopkins. You can support this podcast at Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/26274060

Episode 73 - Adam K. 03/08/2023

Episode 73 - Adam K. I heard Adam K share the tiniest snippet of what it was like to grow up as a child of deaf adults (CODA), and I just wanted to hear more. His parents were not saints: they were all too human, and he struggled from an early age under the weight of the immense responsibility they thrust on him to care for them. Growing up in West Covina as the only jew in an ethnically diverse community, Adam eventually found an escape in pot and rap music and like so many stories in recovery a chance encounter changed everything. You can support this podcast at Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/thedrunkalogues /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/26160156

Rerun - Episode 17 - Adele Hare 02/27/2023

Rerun - Episode 17 - Adele Hare Shaking off some rust here as I get ready to do some new interviews... This is a wild and interesting story told with great humor and zero pity. From stripping to sex work to sobriety. This delights me... Adele Hare is a food service manager here in Los Angeles. She works in the fields of mental health and addiction and is currently studying to get her certificate in substance abuse treatment. Her story takes her to some pretty dark and funny places as she tries to fill that hole in her soul before finally re-connecting with some deeply buried innocence and finding a way to become an adult. /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/26059275

Episode 72 - Patrick McCartney 12/06/2022

Episode 72 - Patrick McCartney Patrick McCartney came of age in the Chicago improv scene in the early nineties where he worked with the likes of Del Close and toured with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey in the Second City Touring Company. But it wasn’t long before his early exploration of drugs and alcohol blossomed into a full blown heroin problem and rules like “I’ll never use before going on stage” became “I’ll never go on stage if I’m not using.” Heroin use eventually gave way to crack addiction, and he found himself alone and suicidal in a heatless cabin in Wyoming. But he got clean and found his way into recovery and is now finding a kind of spiritual practice teaching and performing improv /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/25235373

Episode 71 - Larry Clarke 11/22/2022

Episode 71 - Larry Clarke Larry Clarke is a writer, director and actor whom you have almost certainly seen in one of the many, many roles he has played in mainstream studio tv and films from "Law and Order" to Steven Soderberg’s "The Laundromat." His story is interesting, in part, because he stopped drinking about 5 years before he actually discovered the world of 12 step meetings, but it was really in the rooms of recovery that he found a kind of stability that ultimately led to his successful Hollywood career. We’ve known each other for years but have never really sat down to talk so this light, rollicking conversation covers a lot of ground and feels like a good palate cleanser for the Thanksgiving feast /episode/index/show/thedrunkalogues/id/25091973

The Drunkalogues

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