AD FREE DOPEY at www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on Dopey! We start wrapping up 2025 with a candid check-in: feeling under the weather amid a family stomach virus, craving a Sopranos binge, and doubting plans for "Five Days of Dopey" in January (Wednesday/Thursday shows likely intermi...
AD FREE DOPEY at www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast
This week on Dopey! We start wrapping up 2025 with a candid check-in: feeling under the weather amid a family stomach virus, craving a Sopranos binge, and doubting plans for "Five Days of Dopey" in January (Wednesday/Thursday shows likely intermittent—send opinions to [email protected]). We share the ultimate post-Christmas blues remedy: a trip to Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge in Sag Harbor, NY, where chickadees, titmice, and woodpeckers eat seeds straight from your hand in the snowy quiet—described as magical, healing, and the true "opposite of addiction."
Dave addresses backlash from replaying Nick Reiner episodes (including harsh comments like "Narcissist Grifter" and "Exploitative Jew"), explains his intent to share old conversations without commentary, notes new listeners discovered Dopey through them, and mentions turning down media interviews. He plugs ad-free listening on Patreon (patreon.com/dopeypodcast) and urges positive iTunes reviews.
Listener Emails (Oldies Read Aloud)
- Wendy: Proposes a dedicated recovery-focused social media platform to avoid bans for "junky" content.
- James D. Hart: Highlights interracial bands like Prince and the Revolution (inspired by Sly & the Family Stone), Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Smashing Pumpkins.
- Christy Adams: Celebrates 3 years clean, praises an older neuroscience/meth/GLP-1 episode, and misses the original Dave/Chris dynamic.
Stickers or socks for anyone whose email/voicemail gets read—email [email protected].
Main Feature: Classic Darrell Hammond Interview Replay (2017) The legendary SNL cast member (longest-tenured before Keenan) gets raw about:
- SNL highs/lows, iconic impressions (Clinton, Connery), working with Lorne Michaels, and celebrity encounters.
- Childhood trauma and abuse, flashbacks, and blaming himself to protect the idea of parental love.
- Alcoholism starting at 14 (first beers felt like "the world turning from black-and-white to color").
- Self-harm as a "problem solver" and crisis creator during prolific periods.
- Wild Harlem crack house story (mistaken for a cop, defended as "that motherfucker old TV," spotting the St. Francis Prayer on the wall).
- Multiple relapses, including after a sponsor's suicide.
- Stroke-ward epiphany that finally led to lasting sobriety—seeing patients struggle to speak inspired desperation for change.
- Recovery tools: St. Francis (11th Step) Prayer, connection with others, cognitive therapy, yoga, meetings, and the "law of threes" (expect ⅓ great days, ⅓ okay, ⅓ rough).
Wrap-Up Dave re-reads old Spotify comments on the Hammond episode (debates over "This or That," therapy questions, possum facts, etc.) and closes with his heartfelt acoustic cover of "Good So Bad"—the song from the first Dopey episode he heard that inspired him to get clean.
All that and more on this weeks installment of that good old Dopey Replay Show!
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