Behind the Book Cover

Taryn Strong was sitting atop the largest resource for women in recovery and keeping a secret: namely that in between hosting retreats in places like Bali, where she and her mom Dawn Nickel were getting women to open up about their recovery, she was doing coke. She'd been honest about her past up until then—about self-harm, about co-dependency, about a drug phase when she was younger—but coming clean about the fact that she was also an addict required a new level of bravery. In this episode, Taryn talks about the SheRecovers brand—the retreats they host, the malas they sell, the coaches the certify—and so much more. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we 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!)

Lindsay Adams is no joke. Yes, she tells jokes but the seriously funny comic also got sober when she was a teenager after surviving—well, some pretty horrific shit. And she bakes! She has a baking show on something I'm too old to understand called Twitch. In this episode, Lindsay tells a 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. When she's not charming Hammer(ed) Time audiences, Lindsay is performing at the Laugh Factory, Improv and Comedy Store, being featured in the TBS Just for Laughs comedy festival, appearing on Oxygen and Fox or performing with Mortified in LA, Chicago, and San Francisco. She also produces Heat: A Comedy Show and Full Moon: A Gathering of Comedy and the Metaphysical.

Angela Gulner is not your typical actress. For one, the Harvard grad is a multi-talent, having created and starred in the binge-worthy series Binge. Secondly, Binge is about something most people don't talk about—that is, binging and purging. And then there's the fact that Gulner is incredibly open about the fact that this series is based on her life. While I'm not normally a plot summary gal, the plot of the Binge pilot is too hilarious not to spell out. It opens with Gulner waking up hung over in her car and then agreeing to have sex with the guy she clearly hooked up with the night before so long as he gives her his coffee mug. Then we move into a storyline about how she's blackmailed into checking into treatment for her eating disorder by the sex addict she met when blacked out. The episode ends with her destroying her best friend's dinner party for her future mother-in-law by announcing that the man she had sex with that morning for the coffee mug is the future mother-in-law's boyfriend. In this episode, my new girl crush and I discuss just when the roots of her eating disorder started (spoiler alert: the age of six!), what parents can do to prevent their kids from developing issues like this and why she went the indie route when it came to getting Binge made, among many others topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we 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 the very funny Jessica Sele from one of my live  storytelling shows, Hammer(ed) Time. In her own words, Jessica Sele is a "deeply weird human being and stand-up comedian." She's performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and SF Sketchfest and was described by Bitch Magazine as a “hilarious and talented queer woman.” The story she tells is a basic how-to if you want to know how to get wasted and shame everyone in the vicinity.

Therapist Kelley Kitley could have kept quiet about her own past. She had a thriving practice—first in Santa Monica, then in Chicago—and didn't need her clients knowing about her own experiences. Instead she decided to spill all...in her memoir, My Self: A Story of Survival, a memoir which details her experiences being sexually abused, developing an eating disorder and then struggling with addiction (she's now sober four-and-a-half years). In this episode, she talks about how her clients reacted to her own confessions, what happened when she told her father she was being abused and why "Get it Girl" is her motto, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we 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 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 how I went from chain-smoking derelict to sanctimonious ex-smoker who only tried to quit smoking in the first place because a guy I liked went to a certain Nicotine Anonymous meeting. (And if you smoke, just know I'm not talking about you!)

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!)