Bill S. Age. 61 Sober since: 11/19/95

Bill S. Age. 61 Sober since: 11/19/95

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? Comedy writer and comedian Bill S., sober since 1995, shares his story with a mix of sharp humour and hard-earned wisdom that many will recognise from their own experiences.

You’ll hear Bill talk about growing up in a large Jewish family with alcoholism at home, a sister who got clean but “still behaves like a junkie”, and the way booze promised confidence and charm but actually left him lonely, blacking out, and convinced something was wrong with him. He jokes that he spent 20 years in “research and development”, hunting for the good times that never really came. AA meetings at first felt like they were for other people.

Bill describes sitting in rooms thinking, “Isn’t it just my luck that I’m not an alcoholic?” even while he related to every story and laughed at all the “sick and twisted” jokes. That laughter, he says, was the tipping point that showed him he belonged. A big thread here is connection. Bill’s late wife got sober two years before him, her “instant” change pulling him towards recovery.

He talks movingly about losing her and being physically surrounded by AA friends within half an hour: “I’ve been carried by AA since.” He also describes the magic of someone simply saying “I get it” instead of trying to fix him when he feels like a fraud.

For those already sober, Bill offers very practical pointers: do the fourth step because “the fourth step is the end of victimisation”, use sponsorship properly, keep up simple rituals like morning meetings and short phone calls, and remember that service and faith add up to humility.

As he puts it, “If you get sober, if you stay sober long enough, you’re going to get all the good people back in your life if you want them.” If you’ve ever laughed at an AA joke and thought “uh oh, this might be me”, this conversation might feel uncomfortably familiar in the best possible way.