Show Notes
In this episode I talk to comedian Zach Noe Towers, who spent the first five years of his stand-up career doing a shot before his set and a beer during it, convinced it made him calm and in tune with the room. He walks me through his whole magic-medicine-misery arc: the scared gay kid in St. Louis who found that alcohol helped, the 30th birthday where he woke up in a stranger's bed already late for a job he hated, and how he got sober despite worrying he wouldn't like other people in recovery.
Watch Zach's comedy special Twink Death on YouTube.
Follow Zach on IG @ZachNoeTowers
More from Drunk-ish - A Sobriety Podcast
In this second episode with Mia Idrissi, we talk about how fun it is to have feelings now. You know—like sadness, shame, and rage, but without the vodka chaser. Mia drops gems about dating while sober (it’s hard, no notes), learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions, and how grief just kind of shows up like an uninvited guest with dirty shoes. We also talk about how sometimes sobriety isn’t all sunshine and vision boards. Sometimes it’s just surviving another Tuesday without losing your sh*t.
Mia Idrissi joins Drunk-ish to share the kind of story you don’t hear every day—raw, hilarious, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive. With 32 years of sobriety under her belt (her third time getting sober), Mia talks candidly about growing up in a party-heavy home, sneaking cigarettes at age six, and getting drunk for the first time at five. She opens up about the trauma of losing her brother to suicide at 16, her own spiral into addiction, working alongside the Green River Killer, and the near-miss that pushed her toward recovery.
In a first of its kind episode, I talk directly to the listeners about (what I consider) the myth of moderation. Maybe I should have titled this episode the myth of moderation so you know what you're getting into but I didn't. So that no one feels tricked, I am going to discuss my own experience with trying to moderate, some other people's experiences, the thoughts out there on whether it is achievable and I will end with a longer bit on the origin of Moderation Management which was touched upon on yesterday's episode with Suzanne Warye.