Andrew Barr Returns | Sobriety, Stand-Up, & a 100km Treadmill Challenge

Can running 12 hours on a treadmill mirror the trap of active substance dependency? Andrew Barr shares his powerful journey to long-term sobriety. 

Find mental health and addiction treatment near you: https://recovery.com/

In this deeply inspiring episode of Recoverycast, Canadian stand-up comedian Andrew Barr returns to discuss his powerful recovery journey after navigating 12 years of alcohol dependency and substance misuse. Celebrating over three and a half years of freedom, Andrew opens up about the life-saving intervention staged by his family and friends, which ultimately led him to a barebones treatment center that changed his entire perspective on healing. 

Andrew explores how he built the mental fortitude to overcome severe stage anxiety and self-doubt without relying on substances to connect with his audience. He shares the creative evolution behind his upcoming comedy special, Goes Nowhere, releasing on Monday, June 29th. To film the special, Andrew pushed his body through a grueling 100-kilometer ultra-endurance treadmill challenge over 12 hours to raise thousands of dollars for rehab and harm reduction. He brilliantly contrasts the grueling endurance run with the exhaustion of active substance use disorder—reminding us that while dependency consumes immense energy while keeping you stuck in place, choosing to step off the machine opens up a beautiful path to community and self-belief. 

Whether you are seeking real relapse prevention strategies, exploring the sober curious lifestyle, or looking to overcome the internal shame associated with choosing treatment, Andrew's vulnerable and humorous storytelling offers a profound beacon of hope. By speaking directly from his scars rather than his open wounds, he demonstrates that a life completely transformed by mental health healing is entirely possible. 

Subscribe to Recoverycast for more transformative sobriety stories, leave a comment with your thoughts or where you're listening from, and share this episode to help break the stigma surrounding substance recovery today! 

⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

05:16 – Welcome Andrew Barr

06:25 – The 12-Hour Treadmill Metaphor

11:08 – Training for an Ultra-Endurance Challenge

13:30 – Giving Back to Treatment Centers

16:08 – Sharing from Scars vs. Open Wounds

18:05 – Overcoming Stage Anxiety Safely

22:23 – Finding Comfort in Who You Are

25:00 – Using Comedy to Break the Stigma

28:23 – Overcoming the Shame of Rehab

❓ Questions the Video Answers:

1. How can physical fitness and ultra-endurance help in substance use disorder recovery?
2. What does an intervention look like for a loved one with alcohol dependency?
3. How can you overcome the fear of not being funny or social without alcohol?
4. What is the difference between speaking from your scars versus your wounds in recovery?
5. How do you deal with the intense feelings of shame when entering a rehab facility?
6. Can a barebones or affordable treatment center still be highly effective for sobriety?
7. What are practical relapse prevention strategies for long-term sobriety maintenance?
8. How does a person in recovery rebuild family trust after a history of substance misuse?
9. What does it mean to safely navigate the sober curious movement in high-stress industries?
10. How can setting healthy physical goals improve overall mental health healing?
11. Why does active substance dependency feel like running on a treadmill that goes nowhere?
12. How do peer support networks and giving back aid in personal healing journeys?

#SobrietyStories #AddictionRecovery #MentalHealthHealing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I decided I wanted to raise some money for the rehab center that I went to would be a fun idea. And I was like, what if I ran for 12 hours on a treadmill and tried to run 100 kilometers? If I just told people, oh, you know, I'm running a marathon to raise money for the rehab that I went to, people would be like, oh, that's cool. But I wanted people to go like, you're doing what? Uh-huh. Can we swear on this? I can't remember. You can. Okay, that's great. I wanted people to go, you're in the head.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Hey everyone, and welcome to today's episode of Recovery Cast. I'm Brittany Bainard.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

And I'm Sam Roberts. Uh, and we are so excited to have you here today.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Brittany. Yeah. So excited about today's returning guest.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Yeah, Andrew Barr. Andrew Barr. Yeah, super hilarious comedian from Canada. Yeah. Really enjoyed getting to chat with him again. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

He's amazing. Okay. Uh, as always, uh, two quick things. Everybody, I've already told you this, but just gonna keep saying it. There are timestamps below. If you want to skip ahead to any section of the podcast, if you want to skip past this section, maybe you already have. Maybe, maybe I should have said it quicker. You wouldn't. Nobody ever would, you wouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

You know, why would you do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Um, comment. What can we have them comment to know if they they watched this part?

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Something wild.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Just comment. Can't believe you left that part in. So if like 15 people comment that, that would just be great because I want people that we work with to be like, oh my gosh, what did they put in the episode? Yeah. And then go watch, and then it's just this stupid thing. Anyway, okay. This first comment comes uh from this was a comment on Lacey's episode. Lacey, all timer. Wow, really moving. And Britney, you did a wonderful job holding space for this intense and powerful and inspiring story. Lacey, wow, thank you for sharing your story. Part of me wanted to make you read that comment and be like, Brittany, that's kind of indulgent to pull that comment. Yeah, we didn't do that. Um you did do an amazing job. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

I appreciate that. Yeah, the guests really help out, make it easy, but yeah, it was an incredible story and it got heavy at times. Yeah. It's just that it's a lot. But yeah, I really enjoyed her being able to share all of that. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Thank you so much for leaving that really nice comment. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yes. And thank you again, Lacey, um, for being you and for coming on the podcast. Another comment. Lacey Three Wise is known even in Kuwait, and we are so proud of her. Shout out Kuwait. Shout out to the country of Kuwait.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

We've got listeners in Kuwait. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yeah, listeners in Kuwait. That is so cool. Shout out, shout out to all of you listeners, and shout out to comment where you where you live.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Yeah, comment where you listen to. Where are you listening to this from?

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I guess I could just check like the analytics on these videos, but it's way more fun if you just comment. I can't. So tell me where you're for Britney's sake, comment, comment uh where you are, where you're where you're writing in from.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

So you can tell where it's being shot by our accents.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

As always, you can write into recoverycast at recovery.com with any uh thoughts or questions that you have. Leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or comment on YouTube, Spotify, uh, Instaphone, uh, the other, you know, ones, MySpace, et cetera. Britney, what can we expect from today's re-conversation with Andrew Bar?

SPEAKER_02 2:57

You're gonna chuckle, your eyebrows are gonna be raised because there's just some craziness. You can expect to be kind of shocked because he's gonna be telling us about his new comedy special that also it was an intense uh what was it, nine or twelve hours of running prior. Um he he'll tell you more about it in the episode. But yeah, Andrew, amazing guy. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah, very excited for you to hear it. Uh, I loved that we got to have him back because just very, very quick inside baseball, very early on. Uh, we had him on episode four of the podcast, like Britney said. And being uh in the back behind the camera, uh, I was dying laughing the entire time and loving uh watching Britney's face be like, I know that she thought that was funny too, and is actively trying to decide if it's appropriate to laugh at or not, you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

It was like early on, yeah, episode four. So I'm just like we were getting our sea legs still. Yeah, I'm like, can I laugh at this right now? Like that was, but yeah, he's hilarious. Yeah. Honestly, just okay. So super funny though. Last time he was here, we uh sent a driver to the hotel to go pick him up. And they're like, he's not here. Yeah, uh, not to the hotel, to the airport. Yeah. And they're like, he's not here. And we're like, really? Because he confirmed he landed, all this stuff. It's like an hour and a half later, but he says he's on his way. Anyways, he comes straight from the airport to our studio, which is normally about a 20-minute drive. Right. It's an hour and a half walk, yeah, which is what he chose to do. Rocky walked right past the driver at the airport and was just like, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna just walk.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Which is hilarious because like Madison, Wisconsin, super walkable.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Like you're super pedestrian. He literally says on the podcast, he's like, not a very pedestrian-friendly.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

No, I think we've been like voted things like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah, but it's a very pedestrian-friendly city.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

But not that specifically. Not from the airport. Like airplanes are always in like no one's walking there. So uh it was it was funny. He got in the car this time, though.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Yeah, he got in the car.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

He humbled himself, he got in the car.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Yeah, he's walked enough miles or uh kilometers for our Canadian listeners.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

Yeah. Be prepared to do some math in this episode if that's what you asked before. What can you look forward to? Math.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Yeah, yeah. Unless you don't like math, in which case there's no math in this episode.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

But okay. Well, with that, let's get into the episode. Welcome to today's episode of Recovery Cast. Today we are joined by Andrew Barr. Andrew, welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

It's good to be here.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

Yeah, so pumped to have you back. Uh, it's been about a year, maybe a little bit over a year, since last time you were here, and super excited to catch up with things. Before you do, tell anybody who has missed that episode. It's episode four, by the way. So go back and check that one out. It's absolutely hilarious. Um, tell them who you are and how you got here.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Uh, I am a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. I'm three and a half years sober. Uh, I was in active addiction for around 12 years. I had a full, really dramatic intervention, went to rehab, have been sober ever since. Uh, I do stand-up comedy, I do a lot of sobriety content online, and I wear tiny shirts.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

I love those tiny shirts.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

I also love my tiny shirts.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

They're my favorite. So, Andrew, last time you were here, you were navigating the early chapters of sobriety and comedy. Um, and you didn't just tape the special. Since then, you survived a 12-hour physical gauntlet, which is insane. I was watching that on Insta. Um, can you tell us about your upcoming special? Yeah, I'm excited to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Yeah, so it's a bit of an unconventional comedy special. I uh most people just obviously do stand-up comedy for their special. I immediately before my show ran for 12 straight hours on a treadmill.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

The idea sort of um snowballed over time. Um, at the start of last year, I was feeling pretty comfortable in my sobriety, you know, like it had been three years uh and I was feeling good. Uh, and I decided that I wanted to do something to kind of give back if I could. So I decided I wanted to raise some money for the rehab center that I went to would be a fun idea. And I was like, okay, well, how can I do that? What are the skills that I have at my disposal? And since sobriety, I've gotten pretty fit. I'm I'm one of those gym rat guys now that's all obsessed with that. Um, so I thought, oh, you know, I could run a marathon maybe and collect donations, but I had run a marathon before and I sort of wanted something that I had never done. Uh, and I thought, what if I ran for 12 hours on a treadmill and tried to run 100 kilometers? I liked the idea of a hundred was a nice, like round, advertisable number. 12 hours, 100 kilometers.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

Like those are good numbers on an ad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah. Like I figured if I just told people, oh, you know, I'm running a marathon to raise money for the rehab that I went to, people would be like, oh, that's cool. But I wanted people to go, like, you're doing what? Uh-huh. What the fuck are you doing? Can we swear on this? I can't remember. We can. Okay, that's great. I wanted people to go, you're fucked in the head for doing that.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Uh so And was that the consensus? Because I mean, everyone that I told about it the whole time. I trained for nine straight months. Everybody that I told about it did not think it was a good idea. People were supportive. Like, no one was outright like, don't do that, but people were like, okay, good luck. So I had this idea that I wanted to run on a treadmill for 12 hours uh and raise money for the rehab center. And at first I was looking into doing it in like a public park or something because I was like, oh, there'll be people around and it'll be easier to like get donations and stuff. And then I found out it's not as easy as I thought it is to just do an event in a public park. Yeah, there was all this red tape and I was all stressed out. And then my buddy runs a comedy club in Toronto. And I was like, I wonder if he would just let me do it there on the stage.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

And then I was like, well, as long as I'm there, we might as well do a show right after. And so that's when the it sort of first hit me like, yeah, what if I ran on a treadmill for 12 hours and then I did a show right after that? And I started to build this little story in my brain, uh, like about how the whole day could be a metaphor for addiction. Because like being on a treadmill is kind of like being stuck in addiction. Like, you know, you're just stuck in one place. Yeah, you're not going anywhere. But you're exerting all the other, but you're not going anywhere. And you know, maybe at first you're kind of like having fun, but then you know, but you're still then you're still going and you're like, okay, now I'm getting a little tired. Okay. And then you're still going and you're like, I'm in a lot of pain now. And then you're still going, and you're like, I don't know how much I have left in the tank.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

That's an incredible analogy.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

And at some point in time, you have to just like admit, I can't beat this machine that I'm stuck on. Like it can just it can just keep going. And I can't. I have to stop. Yeah. I have to, I have to get off this thing. So that was kind of the metaphor is that like all day running was like me being stuck in active addiction. And then about 11 and a half hours into the run, we open the doors uh for the comedy club and the audience.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Set your prime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah. When I'm like about to puke, we let the audience in. Uh and like that uh in a way felt like addiction too, like people showing up and seeing you kind of at your worst. Yeah. And you're like, oh, maybe I do need to stop because everyone's like looking at you.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

But did it invigorate you at all?

SPEAKER_00 10:25

No, I was so tired. I was in so much pain. Wow. So that yeah, the audience arriving, I treated almost like intervention, like pe people, you know, coming to see me to be like, hey, we're here like for that.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Put together a table.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

We're we're here, you know, to see the talent that you have. You don't have to do this weird thing you're doing. And then me sort of like hitting stop and getting off the treadmill and going out to perform for the audience is kind of like a return to community.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

You know, so is uh I thought it was a cool metaphor.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

That's an incredible metaphor.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

It you know, it cost me a lot. I I have a toe that looks different now. Oh wow end of sentence.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

You literally gave your blood, sweat, and tears.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah, it was the training was so much. Like I started, it was nine months of training and I was already in shape, but I don't know if you can guess how you train to run for 12 hours on a treadmill, but you run on a treadmill. Wow a lot. So I was like, really whatnot Yeah, a lot for nine straight months. And it's pretty like isolating, actually, and difficult just anytime you have a few spare hours getting on the treadmill, putting in kilometer after kilometer, constantly like chafed, bleeding nipples all the time.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

I've heard of that, and I only recently saw what that actually looks like. It seems painful.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

It's rough. Yeah. I definitely like eventually bought like products that you know you lube yourself up and stuff like that. But it's just it's really hard on your body. And I'm not an athlete, I don't have trainers or anything like that. It was just me at my gym running on a treadmill and everyone at my gym thinking that I'm insane.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

With some weights, dude. No.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Yeah. Well, just everyone's like, what's up with that guy? Because it's not normal to go to the gym and run on a treadmill for four to six hours.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

They want to like introduce you to the outdoors and like you could let loose out here.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Yeah. Or like, what are you going through over there? Like, they don't know, I don't know anyone at my gym. They don't know that I'm training for something. They're just like, this guy's odd.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

But did you find yourself working through some things? Like, I'd imagine because you have to build up the like the mental strength to be able to train for something like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah, there's a lot of mental fortitude for sure that goes into running, especially once he's the at the point where you're running for hours. It's just like you have to push through a lot of physical pain for sure. But yeah, mentally it's really tough too, like having no change of scenery. At my gym, it's just like there's a mirror across from the treadmills. So you're just like staring at yourself for hours. Yeah. Which is uh, especially in early sobriety, I found that running with a mirror in front of you was a good like mental health exercise. Like I find if you can like stare yourself down in the mirror for an hour and you're not like saying anything negative to yourself or being mean, yeah, it's easy to kind of start being mean to yourself almost because your body's just like, get off the treadmill. Like it just wants you to torture yourself. It's getting tired. So it's just like now it's being mean to you to just be like, hey, stop it. So yeah, I would sometimes use the treadmill as like a mental health thing to be like, okay, if I'm if I can stare myself down for an hour and I'm still like being positive, then I know that like my brain is in a good place.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Um, so you raised a massive amount of money for uh Renaissance. Is that how you yeah, it was Renaissance. And I think that's so cool. That's the place where you went and got treatment. Um, how did that feel to be someone that was like eating crusty soup to now handing over like a check?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah. I I hope that they put that money to some good use in that place. God damn it.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Buy some good soup. Yeah, don't burn it.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah, for anyone who didn't see our the first episode of the podcast, so the rehab center that I went to, they do awesome work, but it's not one of the bougier ones. Yeah. Uh it was the cheapest one we could find on the market. So when I was there, it was pretty much like me and guys on parole. But I also think my mentality is like, I don't know, should rehab be that nice? Because I I know people that have gone to ones that were like $10,000 more than the one I went to and they relapsed like right away. And theirs had like volleyball. And when there's that many distractions, how focused are you on you know the task at hand? Whereas the rehab that I went to, there was not a lot to do. A lot of time to look at it. Think about the fact that you fucked up, you know. So there it's a great rehab center and they they have a good success rate. Um, so I was I was so happy to be able to help them out. Uh, and we sent some money also to end overdose here in uh America because my Instagram following is pretty split between America and Canada. So I just I felt like I wanted to send you guys some money down here too. Uh no problem. Um End Overdose is also a really cool company. They do a lot of awesome like harm reduction stuff. But yeah, we we raised, you know, not a crazy amount, but in one day we raised like $9,000. That's awesome. And uh I gotta give a lot of props to like as much as there was a pretty Herculean effort on my uh part. So many people went into the success of the day because we live streamed the entire 12 hours that I was on the treadmill, uh, which sounds incredibly boring when you hear that. And I knew that it would be. So we also uh put a couch next to the treadmill, and I had two comedians per hour for 12 hours come in, just friends of mine and stuff like that. Everybody agreed to come in at weird hours of the day and essentially just like podcast and entertain the live stream because I was not super chatty. I was doing something while I was in the middle of running 100 kilometers. I was actually in a bit of a bad mood at times, if you can believe that. Yeah. Oh man, I was having a rough go at certain times of day. So yeah, I managed to get 24 different buddies in there to uh, you know, be the entertainment throughout the day and keep the donations coming. And they all did an awesome job. I'm really grateful for that.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Um, you shared a really beautiful quote last time. It was right from your scars, not from your wounds. Was there any part of this special that you feel like maybe waited until this time because it would have been a wound instead of a scar?

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Uh yeah, I would say a lot of the addiction material is stuff that needed some time to be processed and stuff like that. Yeah. I definitely waited to record the special, like I said earlier, kind of until I was I was feeling pretty grounded in my sobriety. Uh and like, yeah, like I had my feet firmly planted, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

So it doesn't feel like uh I'm like ranting through something that's still like live and open. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

I didn't want to, yeah, feel like still like I might relapse at any time. I I think that too. I wanted I didn't want to like do a whole special about being sober if I was also like worried that I could still slip at some point or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

But the honesty of those feelings too is kind of it's very relatable.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

It is, yeah. Sometimes you don't want to really put yourself out there as like uh, I don't know, a sobriety advocate or this or that, because then it's like it becomes your sort of reputation. It's a lot of pressure. And it yeah, it can apply some pressure, people kind of look up to you, and then it's like, oh, if I slip, is that gonna result in other people slipping?

SPEAKER_02 17:29

You know, or people discounting recovery at all.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

For sure. For a lot of people, yeah. It's you know, there's slips and a lot of bumps along the way and stuff. And uh, you know, it's just about continuing to try, I guess. Like when I was in rehab, there was guys that were in their like 50s. One guy had been to that same treatment center four times. Uh, and you know, God bless him. Still trying. I was really, I thought that was so admirable. And I was really um, yeah, affected by it. I was like, okay, look at him. He's still, you know, he hasn't given up.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah, that's the thing. You haven't given up. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

And it's beautiful to see that.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Um, you had previously shared the anxiety many artists have like, can I be funny without the drugs, the alcohol? Now that you have even more sobriety under your belt um and a new special coming out. How has your confidence on stage kind of like evolved or compared to those first few like stiffer figuring it out?

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I'm definitely feeling more confident. Yeah. I used to worry like it when you first get sober, it's really weird, like doing things that you used to do, but you were always drunk.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

You know, and just wondering, like, oh, can I still do that? Now I don't even think about it, which is great. For the first probably year or so of recovery, every time I got on stage, it felt kind of weird. Yeah. Uh or like I was thinking about the fact that I didn't have a drink. I thought it was strange to just be sober at all, like around people. I thought people would think I was weird for nothing.

SPEAKER_02 18:57

They can see it on your forehead, like sober.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Yeah, exactly. Like I used to, I always I am a little unusual as a person. And growing up, I found it difficult to connect to people. Yeah. Which I think is how I probably got started in addiction, is that, you know, people are drinking, you drink, you're on the same drug. So it makes you sort of feel the same and feel like you're connecting, which is something that I I struggled with as a kid because I was just, I'm odd. I'm an odd person. So when I was drinking and doing comedy, like it's comedy can be really nerve-wracking because it's like you're meet you're essentially meeting like a let's say a hundred people all at the same time and trying to entertain them and worried about what they're gonna think of you. And typically it's a room full of people drinking and holding a beer. So it would give me confidence that I could relate to them if I was also whole just holding the same thing. You go out, yeah, they have a beer, you go out, you have a beer. They're like, Okay, he's one of us up there. He's got a beer, we have beer. I think I like this guy. Very Canadian sounding of you. Yeah, yeah. Uh, but then you know, you go out and everyone's drinking, and you just got, you know, empty hands. You go, hi, and then there's no, you know, I felt like I was missing that thing that was like a reason for them to like me right away. Yeah. Or or feel like we could relate. But yeah, thankfully, um, I got over that. I don't even know how. I guess just through pure practice. Yeah. Like a lot of stuff, I think, is just repetition. I couldn't really nail down exactly why it doesn't make me nervous anymore or what changed, but I just kept doing it. Just kept doing sets and doing sets and doing sets and not drinking. And yeah, now it doesn't feel strange anymore.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

Just more comfort in who you are. Uh, so we have to ask this one. Like, did the infamous fake table delivery or the burnt soup from your bare bones rehab facility make the final? Like, did you bring up any of those in the special? Because I think that was like some of my favorite stories from last time.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Uh, I definitely talk about rehab in the special. Yeah. What's uh not those, not those things specifically? Next special, please. Maybe next special. The you love the burnt soup.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

I love it. I love your recounting when I was like reading like your recounting of your first day in rehab, just walking up and being like saying your name, the guy's like, who? And you're like, me. Like, you're supposed to take care of what's happening here.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah. Uh so for anyone that didn't catch the first episode of the of the special, like, yeah, when you go to a more bare bones rehab center, or like the it's like this in probably a lot of them, you know, like the kitchen staff, they were great. They were really lovely people. I believe they were uh sober themselves. Um, but it was very like home style cooking, you know? And sometimes they would like really knock it out of the park and you'd be like, hey, this is good. A lot of times you'd be like, Yeah, this is all right. And then sometimes you'd be like, okay, today they botched it. You know, what are you gonna do? They were and one day, yeah, it was soup. And what are you gonna do? You've they've got, you know, a few gallons of soup that we're supposed to eat. You burn it, there's no backup plan. You know, it's not an actual restaurant. You can't just order something else.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

And like soup's not one of those things. You can be like, we'll just turn it into a hamburger tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Yeah, no, it's you've cooked it.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Like it's it's at its final stake.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

You're not repurposing soup. Just drink it now. Yeah. So and they're like, I don't know, legally, we like have to feed them at this time. This is what we have. This big bucket vat of burnt soup.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

Everyone grab a straw.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Yeah. And then you just sit there and you eat burnt soup with a bunch of people you don't know. And everyone's like, yeah, this is burnt, isn't it? And you're like, yeah. Like that was basically it. Someone would be like, Does it taste burnt to you? And be like, yeah, yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

It tastes like that top layer got scooped and slid to the bottom.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Yeah, definitely. There was some scraping at the bottom of the pot and uh some black flakes floating around that were not pepper.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

This podcast is brought to you by recovery.com. Recovery.com is a place where anyone can find mental health or addiction treatment options specific to them. You can filter by location, price, insurance coverage, therapy type, mental health condition, levels of care, and so much more. Recovery.com is the best place to find mental health or addiction treatment for anyone, anywhere. Your first visit here, everyone go back and listen to that episode four. It's hilarious. I was dying laughing the whole time. I was laughing before you even got here. Just a funny guy. Thank you. Yeah. Uh, so your friends, your parents who staged your intervention are a massive part of why you're here today. Have they seen your news special yet? And what do they think about how everything's going for you?

SPEAKER_00 23:42

I think they're happy. They better be. God damn it. I did that stupid fucking thing they asked.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

They did it. No, all right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

No, I'm so grateful that they uh stepped in when they did. Um, but yeah, we're all on good terms. Uh, my family definitely is very happy. I think a lot, yeah, a lot of them were there on the day of the special. Um, not all of them could be there for the recording, but some of them were uh on the live stream throughout the day. And uh yeah, I actually should go back and watch that because while we were doing the live stream, I think for like the first three to four hours, I was pretty conversational while I was running. I've I learned that I can chat up until about the first marathon. Wow. For like 42 kilometers or like about 25 miles. Thank you. Uh I I was in a pretty chatty mood. And then after that, I had just had headphones in and I was like, I can't bye guys. I can't bear to listen. It turns out running on a treadmill all day and listening to comedians talk is like pure torture. Uh so at a certain point I had to put my headphones in and just listen to music. So I missed a lot of the stuff that my friends were saying while they were there. But I know I had a couple friends on that were at the intervention together, and I know that they talked about it during their hour on the uh on the stream. So I should go back and listen to that because I'm curious what they said.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

But uh, so you mentioned getting like five to ten messages a week from people who are sober curious or struggling or kind of figuring out if they want to start their recovery journey. Has this massive reception to your recovery and content um and your cooking with an addict videos, has that like changed how you view your platform as a comedian?

SPEAKER_00 25:18

A little bit, yeah. I think like when I started doing social media, uh I did it sort of begrudgingly. Um, it's just become necessary in the world of comedy and in many professions uh to have some kind of online presence. If people look you up and they don't see anything, it's weird, I guess. So I didn't really want to start doing it, but um, I was sort of forced into it by the industry. And I find it a difficult thing to navigate because it's so addictive. Yeah. Uh like really insidiously addictive. And so I want to do good on social media, even though I know that overall it is bad for us. Yeah. And uh in like making stuff for social media, I often find that like I end up spending way too much time on it. And it's yeah, it's really difficult to balance. But uh when I decided, okay, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna start doing social media stuff.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

I'm gonna The man got you.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Yeah, I'm gonna do the thing. Um, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. And then yeah, I kind of settled on the sobriety stuff because it's just like a lot of people don't get help because they feel shame, right? Um you know, a lot of people suffer in silence, and it makes me sad, like that a lot of people probably could get help, but they, you know, they just they're they're too ashamed. And something that I have is I'm I'm I'm hard to shame. I shameless. I'm like, I'm a shameless person. I get up in front of rooms full of people and I say horrible things. Like, you know, I've I've bombed in front of rooms full of people more times than I can count. I've got thick skin. Uh, and I, you know, I can wear it and it doesn't bother me. I can walk around and talk about being sober and the fact that I was an addict and all the terrible things that happened. And uh, it really isn't that hard for me to do it. So I'm like, I should, if it's not that difficult. Uh and you know, hopefully people can see it and it gives them some kind of motivation, you know, to get sober themselves. Um, so I try to wear it whenever I can, even like my cooking with an addict videos. Uh it doesn't really have anything to do with being an addict, it's just a cooking video.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

But it's normalizing. Like I feel like people have this idea of what somebody that's an addict or was an addict looks like, and it's removing that idea of what somebody looks like, and it's like just this guy, unassuming guy. He's doing comedy, he's hilarious, he's cooking, but also like I'm an addict.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

And yeah, you could be too. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 27:51

You damn well might be. Right. You might want to think about that.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Yeah, like is any of this stuff resonating? But also it's like the joys afterwards, too. It's like it's huge for people to see, and not a lot of people it it is hard for a lot of people to get help because there's that stigma, these barriers. But it's like then we've got people like you who are jumping in the deep end of waters that people might be afraid to even attempt looking at.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Yeah. And it helps remove those barriers so that they can also get help. I hope so, because like I was definitely ashamed. It like when I was going to rehab, I thought that my life was over. I was like, this is the most embarrassing thing that can like happen to a person. Uh, I was so ashamed that I had to go. I tried really hard to not go. I tried so hard to talk my friends out of making me go there. Uh, and they weren't having it. God bless them. But yeah, it's that I in reality, like maybe the best thing that's ever happened to me is that I went there. But at the time, you're like, my life is over. Uh, and it feels so embarrassing. And it's like, well, what's more embarrassing? Going to rehab for like 30 days and then living the rest of your life like sober and not stressing out your family and all of your friends are happy for you and your health gets way better, or just like continuing to do drugs until you're dead because you don't want to, you know, go through the embarrassment of getting healthy.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Um, you know, it's kind of ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

It's just, it feels like when you're in that part, you're staring at the hard. Like you're staring at the hard part. It's like, I'm gonna have to stop the things that make my brain kind of function as it is right now. I'm gonna have to like step into work, work on me, work on the relationships in my life. And it's hard to see all of the good that can come out of that work in that moment, but it is there.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

It's there big time, but the addiction doesn't want you to know that. That's the tricky thing. People have different ways of looking at addiction. I always think about it as like literally a different voice in my head, like just this thing that's sort of selfish and bent on bent on my own self-destruction. And addiction will really make you believe that rehab is the worst thing in the world because it knows that it has no power in there, you know? Like when you're out and you're using addiction always kind of has one hand on the wheel. Like even when you're trying to cut back, like addiction will give you that. It'll be like, oh yeah, go ahead, cut back, cut back a little bit, you know, because it knows this now. Yeah, you know, slow down a little bit. Sure, sure. That's a good idea. Because it knows that it's just gonna ramp up again and that it's not totally going away. But when you're in rehab, there's no drugs anywhere. Like you can't, you're you're trapped, you're isolated. There's no way to get drunk, there's no way to get high. And that scares the hell out of your addiction because it's like, okay, then it has no control over you. Um, so it's, I think that's why people are so resistant to going there because it's like the disease inside of you freaking out. Yeah. Because it knows it's you're it's gonna be like that little demon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Um, we had chatted last time about just like this cultural shift in people removing the stigma and sharing their stories. Um, over the last two years, have you noticed like the comedy scene becoming even more accommodating to comedians or people that attend shows that are sober?

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yeah, I would say so. In general, like in bars everywhere, I'm noticing more non-alcoholic options than there used to be, which is encouraging. Some now that don't suck.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Yeah, not just like cranberry and soda water, but like actual like concoctions.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Yeah. Proper, like, yeah, good mocktails and like, or they'll have like a canned mocktail option and or more than one non-alcoholic beer. They'll be like, oh, we've got a lager and we've got, you know, a sour. Uh, and that's great because it used to be very little. Um, and I'm happy to see that. Uh and yeah, I'm noticing it's more common for people to be at the bar not drinking, just having a couple non-alcoholic beers, and uh more common for comedians to be sober in the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

People are doing it for their like health too. Well, yeah, like yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Yeah, those ones. It's frustrating, eh? They don't drink what happens. They never like almost ruined their life or anything. They're just like, yeah, I think it's better for my health. And you're like, yeah, it is. It's good for you. Yes. You figured it out without almost killing yourself. That's good. But yeah, it's a it's encouraging to see that more of my peers now are are sober, which is cool. Uh, it gives, you know, it's nice to hang around people that are having a similar experience and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Although it is funny. Sometimes now I'll see people on stage like doing sobriety material, and I'm like, hey, that's my goddamn it. I was I I had a good niche here for a minute. Now everyone's now I gotta run.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Yeah. Now I have to run on a treadmill for 12 hours to maintain my own little lane to have.

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Yeah. When people finish watching your new special, what do you hope that they take away from it?

SPEAKER_00 32:46

I hope they take away that they can do anything that they want and to do the crazy thing. Do do whatever fun idea you have and don't think that it's not achievable, even if other people seem to think literally run with it. That it's kind of crazy. Yeah, because again, this was um, it was such a big undertaking. It was the only thing I thought about for like nine straight months. It caused me so much stress. But I also am proud of like the intense belief in myself that was necessary to do it. Because again, no one really cheerleaded for me on it. Like everybody for nine straight months that I told about it was like, okay, yeah, good luck with that. You know, well, it's maybe maybe he can do it. I don't know. But like only I could see the vision, I guess, you know, and I really believed like, I don't know, I think it's gonna be fucking cool. Yeah. If I run for a hundred kilometers and then I do a show, and everyone's like, oh, we're gonna come, but like, I don't know, man. We'll be there. Yeah. Uh and it like it took me forever to like confirm the venue, I think, for that reason. Like, it was hard to I wanted to get like bigger production companies involved, but when I would pitch it to them, uh, you know, and I'm not even mad at them, I understand. It's like somebody comes into your office and they go, Hey, I want to shoot a comedy special with you. I'm gonna run for 12 hours on a treadmill. And they're like, What? And they're like, Okay, you ever done that before? And I'm like, nope. And they're like, No, man. Has anybody ever done that before? I'm like, nope. Checked with goodness, no. They're like, Yeah, they're like, what's that gonna look like? I'm like, I don't know. Uh but I think it's gonna be cool. And they're like, okay, well, do we wanna spend like 40 grand on a camera crew and send them out? And then like this fucking asshole twists his ankle three hours into the run and then he can't even perform. Like it was so I had to bet on myself so hard because so many things could have gone wrong. Like, if I got injured during the day, we were screwed, you know? Like I had to make it to 12 hours and be able to perform. I had to bet on myself so, so hard, but it paid off.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

We did it. Uh, and I am really proud of it. And I'm so happy that I did bet on myself to do the crazy thing. Yes. And I I would like for everybody to have some have some version of that.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

But I I think everyone should have that feeling at some point in time in their life.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

I love that advice. Um, so where and when can we catch this special?

SPEAKER_00 35:17

It has been delayed a little bit because of production, so much has gone wrong on the production side of this.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

That's a lot of uh it's it's okay. Stuff happens.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

Stuff does happen, but it's still coming out. We we're getting to it. It's gonna be June 29th. Okay. Coming soon.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

That is very soon.

SPEAKER_00 35:34

Yes. I'm I'm excited. June 29th, it will be debuting on YouTube. Uh it's gonna be, you can find it on my channel, which is Andrew Bar Comedy, or it's gonna be also cross-posted with the production company involved, Comedy Bar Max, uh, which was the comedy club that was nice enough to give me their venue for about 15 straight hours. That's wild. And I'm really grateful to them for that because it's it's hard to convince a venue to give you the space for an entire day for some event that's never happened before.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

But you bet on yourself, and that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

I bet on myself, and but they had to bet on me a little bit too. Uh thank you for doing that. Thank you to Comedy Bar for that. And uh yeah, the special will be out yeah, Monday, June 29th.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

That's awesome. And where can people follow you in the meantime and afterwards? What are your handles and socials?

SPEAKER_00 36:24

Uh I am Andrew Bar Comedy on Instagram, on TikTok, and on uh what's the other one? YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Okay, that's amazing. Andrew, thank you so much for coming back to Wisconsin. We love having you here.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Always great to be here. Happy to come back anytime.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Good, because I would love to have you back again. Um, I can't wait for your special to come out. Everyone, check it out. Check out Andrew's socials. Um, the special is called.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Uh the special is called Goes Nowhere.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

Andrew Barr goes nowhere.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

All right. Everyone, thank you so much for joining us. We'll catch you on the next episode of Recovery Cast.