Dopey 587: The Greatest Brandon Novak Episode Ever? with Joe Frantz! On Heroin, Recovery, Bam and the Missing $1,500Dopey 587: The Greatest Brandon Novak Episode Ever? with Joe Frantz! On Heroin, Recovery, Bam and the Missing $1,500
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
Timestamps 0:00 Intro song: "A Podcast Showing A Lot of Love for Recovery" 1:40 Oro Recovery sponsor 3:35 Dave welcomes listeners and complains about installing air conditioners 4:45 Summer bike ride with Heart Attack Doug 5:15 Dead rat discovered in the basement 6:15 Dave crawls under the porch and removes another dead rat 7:20 Narcan, fentanyl test strips, and stickers 7:50 Stress and excitement surrounding the Dopey Short Film Festival 8:15 Susan's escaped corn snake Noodle causes panic 10:00 Mountainside sponsor and Film Festival support 11:00 Voicemail: fake liquid LSD scam turns into sweaty molly disaster 15:20 Dave reflects on fake acid stories and MDMA-assisted therapy 17:35 Brayburn sponsor 18:10 Patreon and Spotify comments from the Kelly P episode 24:40 Workit Health sponsor 25:10 Dave introduces Brandon Novak 37:15 Brandon Novak joins Dopey 39:30 Novak on being "more famous now" because of recovery 41:45 Novak shares a powerful story about his sister and recovery 46:15 Methadone and Xanax memories 50:50 Novak reflects on 11 years sober 53:00 How addiction became his life's purpose 57:45 Divine inconveniences, recovery, and God's will 1:00:00 How Novak finally became teachable 1:04:00 Selling his own books to buy heroin 1:05:30 Joe Frantz joins the show 1:08:00 Dreamseller publishing disaster and ebook negotiations 1:12:00 Stories from Viva La Bam and active addiction 1:14:50 The missing $1,500 check story 1:17:15 The stolen iPhone story 1:20:00 Why Frantz believed Novak could finally recover 1:24:30 How Dreamseller was actually written 1:29:00 The documentary about Novak 1:31:30 Novak reflects on Frantz's role in saving his life 1:36:00 Novak's mother, illness, and funeral plot story 1:45:00 Fantastic Whores 4 and the infamous stunt-cock story 1:49:30 Redemption Treatment Centers and helping addicts recover 1:52:00 Harm reduction versus traditional recovery 1:56:00 Bam Margera and where their relationship stands today 2:01:00 Grateful Dead lot stories and acid dealing 2:05:30 Fitness, Tough Mudders, and recovery 2:08:00 Joe Biden neighborhood stories 2:10:30 Final thoughts with Novak 2:13:45 Michael from Good Kid performs "Good So Bad"
2:16:24•12 Jun 2026
Heroin, Missing Money and a Stunt Cock: Brandon Novak’s Wild Road to Recovery
Episode Overview
- Pain becoming “unbearable” was the real turning point that pushed Brandon to accept help and actually follow through.
- He stresses that the core problem is not the drinking or drug of choice, but the thinking, attitude and behaviour behind it.
- Friends like Joe Franz sometimes lied, withheld money and even stole his phone as desperate harm reduction moves to stop him dying.
- Brandon now runs treatment centres and sober living, saying his life is still filled with drugs and alcohol – just on the recovery side.
- He backs harm reduction and encourages any honest attempt to show up for help, even when people are still using or resistant to 12-step approaches.
““My life is just as consumed, if not more, by drugs and alcohol. The only difference is I don’t use them, and I’m provided a very beautiful life as a direct result.””
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of Dopey brings back fan favourite Brandon Novak, joined by his co-writer and long-time collaborator Joe Franz, for what’s jokingly billed as “the greatest Brandon Novak episode ever.” If you like your recovery talk laced with chaos, dark humour and brutal honesty, this is very much your thing.
Dave steers the chat as Brandon and Joe trade stories from the height of Brandon’s heroin addiction: stealing boxes of his own memoir from a book signing to fund a run to Baltimore, losing a $1,500 acting fee he was sure he’d been paid, and being so high on a porn set they had to bring in a stunt cock for the money shot.
Joe phones in to explain how he once made Brandon sign a receipt for cash he never gave him, just to stop him overdosing, and later confessed years into Brandon’s sobriety.
Underneath the laughs is a clear picture of what addiction really looked like for Brandon and the people around him – a mother who bought him a funeral plot because she expected him to die, friends quietly taking phones and cheques to keep him alive, and a long trail of broken trust.
Now 11 years sober, Brandon talks about running his treatment centres and sober living houses, obsessing about recovery as much as he once loved drugs, and why he’ll “die on the hill of harm reduction”, backing anyone who simply shows up for help.
You’ll hear about AA, higher powers, resentment, and the blunt reality that “it’s not the drinking, it’s the thinking.” If you’ve ever wondered how someone goes from shooting heroin in McDonald’s toilets to helping others into recovery, this conversation offers a raw, funny and very human snapshot of that shift. So where do you recognise your own story here – in the madness, the guilt, or the slow decision to try something different?
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