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Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction — Alternative Health
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

Dopey Podcast is the world’s greatest podcast on drugs, addiction and dumb shit. Chris and I were two IV heroin addicts who loved to talk about all the coke we smoked, snorted and shot, all the pills we ate, smoked, all the weed we smoked and ate, all the booze we consumed and all the consequences we suffered. After making the show for 2 and a half years, Chris tragically relapsed and died from a fentanyl overdose. Dopey continued on, at first to mourn the horrible loss of Chris, but then to continue our mission – which was at its core, to keep addicts and alcoholics company. Whether to laugh at our time in rehab, or cry at the worst missteps we made, Dopey tells the truth about drugs, addiction and recovery. We continually mine the universe for stories rife with debauchery and highlight serious drug taking and alcoholism. We also examine different paths toward addiction recovery. We shine a light on harm reduction and medication assisted treatment. We talk with celebrities and nobodies and stockpile stories to be the greatest one stop shop podcast on all things drugs, addiction, recovery and comedy pathfinding the route to the heart of the opioid epidemic.

Copyright: © Copyright 2016 All rights reserved.

Latest Episodes:

Dopey 606 - Joe B 'The Trainer' $2,000-a-Day Pill Habit, Junky Love, Surviving Grief, a Double Overdose Oct 23, 2026

Show notes

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This week on Dopey! My trainer Joe Belmonte comes over, and what starts with complaints about Howie’s camera angles and Joe’s horrible taste in music turns into an incredibly moving story of drugs, addiction, grief, and recovery.

Growing up on Long Island, Joe went from Catholic school, ecstasy at Webster Hall, and cocaine-fueled construction shifts to a massive blues habit with his girlfriend. Together, they stole and sold electronics across Long Island to support a pill habit that Joe says reached $1,500–$2,000 a day. Then came heroin, needles, speedballs, homelessness, and a relationship built around loving each other and getting high.

After their first trip to treatment, they returned home and used together again. Both overdosed. Joe woke up days later in the hospital, unable to walk, and learned that his pregnant girlfriend had died. He shares the devastating aftermath, learning to accept help, rebuilding in Florida, relapsing after nearly three years, and eventually finding his way back to recovery.

Today, Joe is a father, a business owner, and the guy responsible for listening to me complain through every fucking workout. We talk about anger, music, surviving grief, and why I have absolutely no desire to overcome a squat rack. Plus! Mandy’s acid trip at a Tool concert takes an unwanted turn, Harold remembers shooting meth while dope sick in Anchorage, the Betty episode divides Dopey Nation, and we launch a new Dopey Fitness Challenge!

All that and much more on a brand-new fitness intensive episode of Dopey that Good Old Dopey Show!

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Coke + Heroin = Speedballs! Methadone! Acid on the Roof of JFK! A $30 Million Gold Scheme & the Mob Ride That Almost Killed Him | Dopey Greatest Hits 254: The Legend of Smiling Joe! Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

Listen without ads: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast

This week on Dopey’s Greatest Hits! Long Island recovery legend Smiling Joe takes us through four decades of drugs, crime, chaos, and finding a way out. From drinking and sniffing glue as a kid in Queens to taking acid on the roof of JFK Airport, shooting heroin, stealing diamond rings, and plotting a $30 million gold theft on Wall Street—Joe’s story is absolutely fucking unbelievable.

We hear about getting arrested over a stolen girdle, kicking heroin in jail, surviving Rikers Island, and dating a mob-connected man’s daughter. Her father first chased Joe with a gun, then became his friend—and later decided against bringing Joe on a ride that ended with the man being killed. Somehow, Joe also went from Rikers to St. John’s University, became an A student, and reinvented himself as Disco Joe before heroin and cocaine took over again.

But the heart of this episode is how “Methadone Joe” became Smiling Joe. After years of rehabs, relentless using, and going to meetings high, Joe finally found a recovery he could live in. We talk about powerlessness, surrender, borrowing a loving God, and replacing the feeling in the needle with connection, service, and real love. Plus, Dave shares how Joe helped him feel welcome in recovery after Chris died.

PLUS! Austin’s Rainbow Gathering voicemail involves boofing LSD, a blackout, and a search for his missing pants. Listener reactions to John Joseph, a Dopey studio update, and much more!

All that and more on the Dopey Smiling Joe Greatest Hits Episode!

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Scoring Heroin at Katz’s, Tripping Acid with Jerry Garcia & Praying for Trey | Keith Fierman - Dopey Wednesday Oct 21, 2026

Show notes

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This week on Dopey! Interventionist Keith Fierman brings a lifetime of unbelievable drug stories, rock-and-roll adventures, and hard-earned recovery. From taking acid with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Owsley Stanley to secretly flying from Alabama to New York, stuffing his socks with heroin, and getting home like he’d spent the day at work—Keith lived two very different lives. And when he finally asked for help, he spent five days wandering a treatment center before staff admitted they hadn’t actually checked him in.

Behind the backstage passes is a powerful story of childhood abuse, finding safety in heroin, and fighting to build a different life. Keith talks about relentless cravings in early sobriety, telling God “fuck you,” and the bowling trip that finally gave him a little peace. Plus, a runaway doctor demanding a naked woman on a horse, Keith Richards, an unexpected meeting with Ringo Starr in France, and why families shouldn’t have to wait for someone to hit bottom.

PLUS! JD D. Hart finds a bag of drugs at work and turns it in, listener comments on gambling and process addictions, and Dave and Keith get into the ongoing saga of getting Trey Anastasio on Dopey. Is Dopey too dark—or is finding laughter and connection in the darkness exactly the point?

All that and much more on this old school dose of brand new Dopey!

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Snickers Bars up the butt, Pierced Dicks & an LAPD Interrogation | Raytreon Teaser: Oct 20, 2026

Show notes

FULL EPISODE ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast

This week on Dopey Tuesday! Ray returns, the headphones suck, and Dave’s attempt to sell Patreon immediately backfires when Ray reveals he pays two dollars a month and still thinks there are too many ads.

We revisit Ben’s unforgettable Snickers story, autographed candy bars, and the mechanics of a pierced penis before Alan joins us for his official DopeyCon review. Naturally, this becomes an argument about whether he threw away Dave’s framed posters, why photographs of Canadian tunnels get wall space, and why Dave still doesn’t know how to end a show. Plus: Ray’s suspiciously heartfelt stagecraft, Tony O’Neill, fantasy basketball draft disasters, diabolical Seymour, and gambling apps tempting Ray for all the wrong reasons.

THEN! Dave reveals that his Thursday started with questioning by three LAPD detectives and ended at Gary Dell’Abate’s vinyl party. For that story, the Heart Attack Doug comments, and the rest of the stories, join us on Patreon!

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast

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Dopey Total Replay 49: Dave Fights Scary Homeless Man, Buying Heroin in a Wig, Chris implies Dave is a pussy Oct 19, 2026

Show notes

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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,

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Dopey 605: Betty Guadagno — Her Parents Killed Themselves in Suicide Pact, Meth, Sex Work, PCP & Meeting God on the Bathroom Floor Oct 16, 2026

Show notes

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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!

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NYC Hardcore Legend John Joseph — Crack Binges, Fake Acid, Knife Fights & Going AWOL | Dopey Greatest Hits Oct 15, 2026

Show notes

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!

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I lost a Million Dollars Gambling! Casino Comps, Stolen Jewelry & Gamblers Anonymous | Dopey Wednesday with LJ Ruggiero Oct 14, 2026

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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!

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Tuesday Teaser - Heart Attack Doug Back in the Hospital! Near Death! Will he leave me a Les Paul>? Oct 13, 2026

Show notes

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!

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Dopey Total Replay 48: Vipassana, Reddit, Naked at Gunpoint, Cocaine Cravings & Chris’s Silent Retreat Oct 12, 2026

Show notes

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This week on Dopey Total Replay! Dave goes back to classic Dopey 48 with Chris and longtime friend, bandmate, and musical collaborator John. Chris has returned from a ten-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat, and Dave has recruited John to become Dopey’s answer to Fred Norris. What follows is a battle between spiritual enlightenment and a soundboard that won’t shut the fuck up.

Chris describes arriving to a flooded, moldy tent, waking up at four in the morning, sitting through hours of painful meditation, and spending part of the third day planning a joke for when he’s finally allowed to speak. He also gets brutally honest about the intense cocaine cravings that surfaced during the retreat—and imagining he could leave, get high, and come home pretending he’d been meditating the whole time. Meanwhile, Dave worries about Chris promoting Dopey on Reddit’s opiate forum, where drug pictures have started following him into his dreams and waking thoughts.

The guys get into Buddhism, craving, aversion, recovery, and the absurdity of craving a life without cravings. Alex calls in, Chris’s cryptic sponsor prank gets exposed, and a listener letter sparks a conversation about why insane drug stories can help people find recovery—and why being the “best degenerate” eventually stops being enough.

PLUS! In the new opening, Dave gives John overdue credit for his enormous musical contribution to Dopey, recounts a family trip to Kingston and a $30 beard-oil purchase, and plays Michael’s wild Fourth of July heroin story from the Lower East Side in 1995. Bottle rockets, a shotgun, a forced naked strip search, and a dealer who warmly invites him to come back anytime!

All that, terrible freestyle rapping, Dopey tattoos, secret recovery wizards, Sublime, Pusha T, vaping, rehab success-rate bullshit, Dave panicking over publishing an episode while waiting tables, Anthony from the Beach comments, and love for the people who helped make DopeyCon happen. Stay strong Dopey Nation and toodles for Chris!

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