Light Hustler: Making Your Mess Into Your Message

Writer Alice Carbone has not been afraid to explore the dark side—in her blog, her podcast and her essays for AfterPartyChat. But as her more recent pieces have shown, she explores the lighter side just as poignantly. Carbone's story in brief: after moving to California from her native Italy in 2010, she lost everything and found sobriety—and eventually happiness. The author of The Sex Girl (due out this May, 2015 from Rare Bird Books), Carbone is currently working on her second novel and developing her podcast and blog as a TV show. In this episode, she and AfterParty’s Anna David discuss what Carbone’s bottom looked like, the mentors who have helped her along the way (Leonard Cohen!) and how to tell the difference between serenity and external circumstances going well, among many other topics. Photo courtesy of AliceCarbone  

For reals, what is there to say about Moby that hasn't already been said? (Well, there's one thing that's at least never been in print: How f-ing psyched are you that he agreed to do AfterPartyPod?) The legendary musician, who burst onto the scene with his fifth studio album, Play, is also a DJ, photographer and soon-to-be memoirist (we all know he's a descendant of Herman Melville, right?) And it's not just his own music he's had a hand in; the active animal rights supporter has remixed, co-written and produced music for many of the other greats. But we can find all that out everywhere so let's talk about his sobriety. After a bout with sobriety when he was a Christian, Moby developed this reputation as something of a puritan. But he was actually boozing it up, as well as taking plenty of recreational illegal substances, while he brought the party back to his place. It wasn't until he got to his 40s and the hangovers started to get debilitating that he started to look at the possibility of sobriety. Now he's

Earwolf co-founder Jeff Ullrich is something of a podcast legend—ever since he and Scott Aukerman created the podcast network Earwolf in 2010. Now arguably the biggest network in the game, Earwolf hosts everything from Comedy Bang Bang (since turned into an IFC show), Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Sklarboro Country, Who Charted? and How Did This Get Made? among many others. But Ullrich has actually recently left the company he launched (in his own words, he fired himself). Sober for two years and change, this is a guy who took a somewhat lengthy route to alcoholism: though he drank as a kid, he spent the next decade a teetotaler who lectured other people about partying before joining the heavy drinking brigade in his mid-20s. After a good run, though, it all got unmanageable by his late 30s and now he's navigating the next sober chapter of his life as a father and husband (cute fact: he grew up across the street from his wife). In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David talk about supporting yourself by play

Comedian Mike Gaffney is a bit of an anomaly—a guy who got his start doing recovery-oriented comedy and has been able to build a solid career from there. Sober since 1983, Gaffney was a semi-finalist on Last Comic Standing (not to mention the guy who made judge Wanda Sykes cackle—no easy feat—and was featured in all the promos for the show). Though he'd been cracking people up since he was a kid, he didn't decide he wanted to pursue comedy until 2002; since then has appeared on The Artie Lange Show, Gotham Comedy Live and 30 Rock. He also performs all over the country and (like all of us) has his own podcast. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David talked about his mom coming and yelling at his former drug dealers, why speakers in meetings always tend to look at him when they talk and how he might have won Last Comic if he'd managed to stay in the moment, among many other topics.

Comic, TV writer and podcaster Mick Betancourt is, to put it mildly, a survivor. The host of a popular podcast, Betancourt endured a childhood that might give Oliver Twist a run for his money. The offspring of teenagers, Betancourt went to live with his mom after his father died, where he withstood spirit-breaking abuse, started drinking seriously before he turned 10 and soon found himself taking on the role of designated driver when his mom took him to bars (no matter how wasted he was himself). When his beloved grandfather died and he was shuffled around a bit, he had to resort to panhandling and stealing in order to eat. He nevertheless launched a career as a comic and then managed to get sober a little over 12 years ago. A happily married father of two and TV staff writer (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago Fire, et. al), Betancourt is also one of the cheeriest people alive—and not in one of those I-swear-I'm-cheery ways. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David talk about finding a spi

TV writer and podcaster Caleb Bacon is not only on the writing staff of Vince Vaughn's TBS show Sullivan & Son and the host of the popular Man School podcast. He's also a journalist, sound expert, former weightlifter, San Fernando Valley resident—and many other things you'll discover when you listen to this episode. Oh! He's also sober seven years, after a drinking career that started when he made his first alcoholic concoction from his parents' liquor cabinet in junior high to his last night out there, which involved Special K, bus stop punching, nudity—and a 12-step call from his boss, NYPD Blue and Deadwood creator David Milch. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David discuss being low-achieving drunks, boozing in England, bottoming out in LA and why Disneyland sucks, among many other topics.

Comedian Alonzo Bodden is far more than just the winner of the third season of Last Comic Standing. The former aircraft mechanic had no idea he even wanted to pursue comedy until he got sober over two decades ago and met people in recovery who actually loved what they did for a living who all worked in the entertainment industry. (Also, he'd realized through sharing in the program—and also through teaching aircraft mechanics, arguably the least amusing topic in the world—that he was funny.) And so began a career that first started at the Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, has included appearances on Conan and Leno, acting roles in Scary Movie 4 and Bringing Down The House and hosting duties on 101 Cars You Must Drive and America's Worst Driver. In this episode, he and After Party's Anna David talk about hot women being one of AA's best initial attractions, discovering your dreams in recovery and how he donated his remarkably clean kidney to his brother, among many other topics.

Actress Morgan Walsh may look like the very picture of innocence but it took quite a journey for her to earn her sobriety. Now married to Veep star and UCB founder Matt Walsh and the mother of three, Morgan did the full alcoholic dance--drinking, passing out, smoking pot, doing coke, spending time in a psych ward---before eventually quitting drinking and continuing to smoke pot and then, when she got pregnant with her first baby, quitting it all. Despite all those babies, Morgan has appeared in a succession of shows and movies--including Burning Love, Children's Hospital, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Happy Endings. In this episode, she and AfterParty's Anna David talk about bottoming out, quitting drinking but continuing to smoke pot and going from a single lady in Venice to a married mother of three, among many other topics.

Comedian John Heffron may have been introduced to the world at large when he won the second season of Last Comic Standing but he's been in the comedy game since college. Since then, there have been Comedy Central specials, The Tonight Show, Chelsea Lately and numerous VH1 talking head shows, among many other appearances. He's also been Danny Bonaduce's wingman on Detroit's number one radio show, appeared on Courtney Cox's Dirt and done stand up at numerous Fortune 500 companies. But he can also claim a gig that few comics can: an NA convention—an interesting irony because though he's been sober many years, he doesn't continue to go to meetings and disagrees with some 12-step tenets. Though Heffron doesn't recommend the path he's taken to other addicts, he's able to find freedom through a series of brain exercises and philosophies. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David discuss why meetings make him want to drink, temporarily believing a shirt is going to fix things and the assistant we plan to share,

Musician and entrepreneur Amos Pizzey is a one-man powerhouse: the son of women's refuge movement founder Erin Pizzey, Amos ended up joining Culture Club at the age of 14 (!) before then landing his own Virgin Records deal. Over the years, he's worked in various capacities with Madonna, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and George Michael, among many others—in the process becoming perhaps the most fabulous bon vivant in the world. But underneath that drinking, cocaine-using and MDMA-taking persona lurked a man who was desperately seeking the sort of spiritual connection he'd first experienced as a youth. The founder and creative director of Talenthouse—a company which creates content with brand partners such as Rihanna, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and more—Pizzey is passionate about bringing success as well as enlightenment to the masses. In this episode, he and I discuss quitting drugs while continuing to drink, what part the neocortex and limbic brain play in alcohol and drug use and how to get the entire world to em

The co-writer of Dumb and Dumber, Bennett Yellin is far more than a guy who can make the masses giggle until they burst. The writer of a slew of other comedies, Yellin may have gotten on the map when Dumb and Dumber became a sensation but he was actually bottoming out on crystal meth while his comedic talents were entertaining the masses. It wasn't until he got sober, cleaned up his past and started living life on a pink cloud that he got that career back on track. The long-awaited Dumb and Dumber sequel is coming out this fall, while Yellin enjoys his 12th year of sobriety and anticipates "marching forth" (his sober anniversary is March 4th) next year. In this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David discuss why it's not a good idea to date your drug dealer, what it's like to be a lazy meth head and being an Orthodox Jewish addict, among many other topics.

Podcaster, photographer and best observational living comedian who's not a comedian Mike Carano has shared his unique personality with the public in myriad ways: through his photographs of comedians, his five-minute YouTube videos, his Loveline After Disaster show and his podcast, Miscellaneous Adventures From The World of Mike Carano—where listeners can hear him talk to them as he runs errands and drives around. Carano has opened up about his battles with booze and anxiety before but in this episode, he and AfterParty's Anna David get into the minutia of recovery: how they feel about medication, relapse, swearing, going to Disneyland (as Carano had just gone there with Dr. Drew) and much more.

Writer, comedian, podcaster, TV host and all-around delight Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is one of the greatest lessons out of there for those who like to booze to the point of unmanageability and don't see any problem with it. The author of Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay andNaptime Is The New Happy Hour was the role model for partying moms everywhere—until she realized drinking was more than a fun pastime for her. Now sober, the author of several more books, the star of Parental Discretion With Stefanie Wilder-Taylor on Nickelodeon and the co-host of the popular For Crying Out Loud podcast, Wilder-Taylor uses her oh so charming powers of persuasion to show moms (and others) that sobriety is just as cool, if not more so, than being the hip, partying mom. Here, she and AfterParty's Anna David discuss writing books, being outed as an alcoholic by The New York Times, how many times we've each been fired and so much more.

Author and journalist Mark Ebner puts the F in fearless reporter. Not afraid to get his hands dirty, the guy who took on Scientology has gone on to publish seven books—including the New York Times bestselling Hollywood Interrupted, which he co-wrote with the late Andrew Breitbart. What I didn't know until he told me (during this interview!) is that, after 23 years sober, he made the choice to start smoking pot. This wasn't some sudden brainstorm of course but a decision he came to after a scooter accident left him hooked on painkillers and he used medical marijuana to detox. Though this isn't a common path for anyone who had multiple decades of sobriety (or recommended!), Ebner explains in this interview how he's able to smoke pot non addictively—and I have no reason to doubt him. Not only do he and AfterParty's Anna David unpack that fascinating turn of events here but they also get into Narconon (the Scientology "addiction recovery" program), the ways his sober friends have reacted to his pot smoking, how t

Comedian Craig Gass is known for his ridiculously spot-on celebrity impressions (seriously, his Gene Simmons is so accurate that Gass actually accused Gene Simmons of being the fake on Howard Stern). In addition to numerous Stern appearances, Gass has been on Sex and the City, King of Queens and numerous celebrity roasts. Growing up in all deaf family, Gass honed his skills because he learned to speak from watching TV. Later he became a big time party guy with a penchant for cocaine. Here, he and AfterParty's Anna David talk about those nights Gass turned down ladies at clubs so he could party in back rooms, how good it feels to be sober and paid for your craft and what people who are struggling with addiction can do, among many other topics. Plus: celebrity impressions galore!

Writer Natasha Vargas-Cooper has accomplished more in 30 years than some do in a lifetime. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy, she started being published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned, was praised as "a well-versed primer" by The New Yorker and "likely to become a trivia-lover's bible" by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show Public School. But over the years she was doing all this impressive stuff, her drinking was also increasing and a DUI helped her find recovery. Now sober a couple years, she and AfterParty's Anna David discussed where alcoholism ends and dysfunctional relationships begin, medications to help with depression and other mental disorders and how to end toxic friendships, among many other topics.

The comedian ANT may have legally changed his name from Anthony but that is hardly the most unique fact about him. The veteran of Last Comic Standing (six of the show's seven seasons) is also a TV show host who puts those milquetoast hosts to shame by delivering genuine, laugh-out-loud moments—during his years hosting Celebrity Fit Club, on all of his many TV appearances (on shows as varied as Tyra Banks, Best Week Ever and The Tonight Show) and on Howard Stern (where he's a frequent guest). But his outspoken extroversion kept many from realizing that he had a horrific drug addiction which led to homelessness as well as to members of the Hell's Angels urging him to cut down on his meth use (you'll have to listen to the episode to get that whole story). Here, he and AfterParty's Anna David discuss the time he thought he was being intervened on so he fessed up about his addiction, the methods he uses for staying in the moment in sobriety and how his Greek Orthodox upbringing influences his spirituality today, a

Comedian and TV writer Laura House has starred in MTV's iconic Austin Stories, written on Blue Collar TV, The George Lopez Show, Samantha Who? and Mom and been called one of the funniest female comedians out there by none other than Louis CK. And she's been sober for over six years while also becoming a certified meditation teacher and raw food expert. Yep, her repertoire is vast: this is a girl who knows how to bring the funny to meditation. Other Laura House accomplishments include wowing the crowds at storytelling shows (including Anna David's True Tales of Lust and Love, which she performed in more than any other writer or comedian), publishing essays in several anthologies (including the aforementioned True Tales of Lust and Love book) and being featured on Comedy Central. Here, she and David discuss sending a video of a drunken, slurry set to a big manager, various ways the alcoholic brain doesn't seem to work right and how to work through disappointment in sobriety, among many other topics.

Comedian Amber Tozer is so much more than a comedian. Sure, she's performed stand-up all over the world, been featured on Last Comic Standing and stars in the hit web series nitTWITS but she's also written on the Emmy-award winning show Mad and taken time off from comedy to work with autistic children. Want more? She had an advice columns on Laughspin, has written for HuffPo, has appeared on The Mental Illness Happy Hour and much more. Here, she and AfterParty's Anna David talk about how her moment of clarity involved driving on the Bay Bridge drunk and waking up the next morning fully accepting that she was an alcoholic and needed to do something about it. We also delve into what it was like to grow up with alcoholism (her father and grandgather on her mom's side), drinking before Last Comic Standing and what she's learned in her roughly six years of sobriety, among other topics. 

Nightlife impressario Brent Bolthouse has ruled the LA social landscape for the past few decades, helping to put such classic clubs as the Roxbury, the Opium Den, the Viper Room and Joseph's on the map (the way it works is this: wherever Bolthouse backs, the coolest kids in town follow and lines out the door ensue). In 1999, he opened The Coffee House on Sunset Blvd., immediately attracting a celeb clientele (it was reportedly the first place Robert Downey, Jr. went post jail) but more importantly, creating a 24-hour-a-day gathering place for sober people when he started having open AA meetings in the back room. While The Coffee House closed in 2003, Bolthouse has gone on not only to open a slew of other successful clubs but also to play himself on The Hills, Entourage and a number of other hit shows. And he's been clean since the age of 16, racking up an impressive 27 years of sobriety. His spirituality matters much more to him than all the celebs in his proximity (even the fact that Jay Z immortalized Bolth