7 Years 98 days - Fucked Up Fridays7 Years 98 days - Fucked Up Fridays
I'm Quitting Alcohol
Comedian David Boyle reads a listener’s wild backpacking and punk gig booze story, blending crude humour with candid reflections on shame and long-term sobriety. The episode mixes medical mishaps, mosh pits and hangovers to show how chaotic drinking lives can quietly lead into alcohol-free years.
10:42•21 Aug 2026
Backpacking, Punk Gigs and the Hangover That Pushed a Drinker Towards Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Heavy drinking in midlife can lead to shame-filled, cringe memories that linger long after the hangover fades.
- Short breaks from alcohol, like Lent, often expose how quickly "one cheat day" can spiral into a full binge.
- Being older in young party scenes can highlight how out-of-place and uncomfortable heavy drinking eventually feels.
- Humorous, honest storytelling about past chaos can make sobriety feel more relatable and less isolating.
- Long-term sobriety may grow from many messy nights, even if no single event feels like a dramatic rock bottom.
“"Sorry, I was drunk, that old chestnut."”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This short, punchy episode of "I'm Quitting Alcohol" drops you straight back into comedian David Boyle’s chaotic, unfiltered take on sobriety, life, and all the weird stuff in between.
Fresh off a rough fortnight involving oxycodone withdrawal and a mysterious chest "air pocket", Boyle catches listeners up on his current state: gigs in Cork, feeling slightly less like a human balloon, and still grinding away at stand-up while staying off the booze. The tone is classic Boyle – blunt, sweary, and brutally honest about both his body and his brain.
The heart of this "Fucked Up Friday" is a listener story from "John Smith", a 39-year-old Aussie who decided to go backpacking through Southeast Asia after skipping it in his youth. What starts as a Lent experiment in staying off booze morphs into a heavy drinking session in Malaysia, complete with 10% Belgian beers, a punk/metal gig, wild mosh pits, broken slip-ons and a bathroom sink full of vomit.
The story gets funnier and more cringe as John describes shouting on stage, being that "fat old white cunt" in a room full of young punks, and then awkwardly running into the same gig organisers in a completely different city the next day. His line – "Sorry, I was drunk, that old chestnut" – sums up the old routine many people in addiction know too well.
John shares that he’s now been off the booze for about five and a half years, and credits Boyle’s podcast for making him laugh through the darker early days. Boyle jokes that he’s "back to being a depressed cunt", but the episode gently shows how humour, honesty and shared shame-filled memories can make sobriety feel less lonely. If you like recovery stories that are rough around the edges, funny, and very human, this one might hit the spot.
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