Dopey 588: Drinking Pee, Classic Alcoholic, Opanas, Shipwrecked, Mark Lanegan, School Shootings & Sobriety — Musician and Author Mishka ShubalyDopey 588: Drinking Pee, Classic Alcoholic, Opanas, Shipwrecked, Mark Lanegan, School Shootings & Sobriety — Musician and Author Mishka Shubaly
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
Timestamps 2:07 – Oro Recovery sponsorship and Bob Forrest update. 3:37 – Dave talks Dopey origins, Narcan, fentanyl test strips, Patreon and Dopey Zoom. 5:05 – Knicks championship celebration and plans for the ticker tape parade. 6:05 – Winnie the dog bursts through the screen door chasing the Amazon driver. 7:05 – Listener email about shooting heroin with blue toilet water. 8:50 – Dopey Recovery Film Festival update and guest list. 10:00 – Mountainside sponsorship and Chris meeting story. 10:48 – Janine from Chasing Heroin Podcast describes accidentally shooting fabric softener. 14:00 – Brayburn and Reframe & Reclaim documentary series. 15:30 – Patreon comments from the Brandon Novak episode. 17:54 – Dead rat stories and step work updates. 19:00 – Fake acid kidnapping story from England. 21:40 – Workit Health sponsorship. 23:20 – Spotify comments and congratulations to Emily on seven months clean. 26:10 – Dave debates changing Dopey theme songs and launches a music contest. 28:00 – Mishka Shubaly introduction. 29:45 – Mishka talks music and why he never cared about recording gear. 30:30 – Dave admits he was jealous of Mishka's success. 32:00 – Mishka discusses insecurity and self-isolation. 33:00 – Ken Rideout and writing books. 34:30 – Moving from Phoenix to rural Ohio. 36:00 – Dave's "meant to be" feeling after finishing Mishka's book. 39:15 – Helping Mark Lanegan write Sing Backwards and Weep. 41:30 – Calling Mark Lanegan a "diva cunt." 44:00 – Addiction, recovery, and not comparing alcohol to heroin. 45:30 – Mishka's seventeen years sober and views on psychedelics. 48:30 – Childhood, music, and discovering alcohol. 53:00 – Foster brother Chung and his refugee story. 57:15 – Becoming an alcoholic and leaving home. 59:30 – School shooting, parents' divorce, and drinking to numb the pain. 1:01:55 – Simon's Rock and finding misfit community. 1:04:00 – Being bullied and feeling doomed. 1:05:30 – Cough syrup culture and drugstore highs. 1:08:30 – Moving to New York and trying to become a writer. 1:11:00 – Bukowski and wanting the drunken artist lifestyle. 1:13:00 – Mishka's father abandoning the family. 1:15:30 – Discovering his father had been abused by his mother. 1:18:00 – Politics, resentment, and estrangement. 1:22:00 – Dave and Mishka discuss forgiveness and God. 1:27:00 – Getting shipwrecked in the Bahamas. 1:31:00 – Drinking urine from a hard hat while stranded. 1:36:00 – September 11 and working at Don Hill's. 1:39:00 – Discovering opioids and Opana. 1:43:00 – Deciding alcohol was worse than death. 1:46:00 – Quitting alcohol alone without rehab or AA. 1:49:00 – Becoming obsessed with running. 1:52:00 – Percocet, psychedelics, and why alcohol remained the real problem. 1:56:00 – Pink Floyd, atheism, and community. 2:03:00 – Dogs, hunting, and finding spirituality in nature. 2:11:00 – Meeting his wife and learning joy. 2:14:00 – Mark Lanegan book club plans and future collaborations. 2:16:30 – Dave reflects on Mishka and classic alcoholics. 2:18:00 – Dave performs "Good So Bad." SEO Keywords YouTube Title Ideas Drinking Pee to Survive, School Shootings, Alcoholism & Recovery with Mishka Shubaly | Dopey 587 Shipwrecked, Drinking Urine, Mark Lanegan & 17 Years Sober — Mishka Shubaly on Dopey School Shooting Survivor, Bukowski, Booze & Running 100 Miles: Mishka Shubaly | Dopey Podcast Alcohol Nearly Killed Him—Then He Ran Across the Desert: Mishka Shubaly Dopey 587: Shipwrecks, Drinking Pee, Mark Lanegan & Sobriety with Mishka Shubaly
2:23:12•19 Jun 2026
From Drinking Pee to Quitting Booze: Mishka Shubaly on Classic Alcoholism and Getting Sober
Episode Overview
- Alcohol can be more dangerous for some people than drugs, and recognising which substance truly owns you is crucial.
- Stopping without support is possible but brutal; community, whether aa or alternatives, can ease isolation and resentment.
- Exercise, especially running, can become a powerful anchor in recovery, offering both physical relief and mental clarity.
- Family trauma and absent parents can fuel addiction, but understanding their story doesn’t mean tolerating ongoing harm.
- Dark humour and sharing “dumb shit” stories can make hard truths about addiction easier to face and talk about.
“Living as an alcoholic terrified me more than dying.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This Dopey instalment brings musician and author Mishka Shubaly into the mix, and the result is equal parts grim, hilarious, and oddly uplifting. You’ll hear the usual Dopey blend of sponsorship shout-outs, Knicks talk, dog chaos, and utterly disgusting drug stories, including an email about shooting heroin with bright blue toilet water and a voicemail from Janine of the Chasing Heroin podcast about accidentally injecting fabric softener.
These stories set the tone for the show’s trademark dark humour: shocking, but always anchored in honesty about addiction’s madness. The heart of the episode is Mishka’s long-form conversation with Dave. Mishka traces his path from a bullied Canadian kid and early drinker, to shipwreck survivor who literally drank his own urine out of a hard hat, to classic alcoholic who quit booze cold turkey and later became an ultrarunner.
He talks openly about pills, opanas, brief flings with coke and molly, and why he somehow dodged full-blown heroin dependency. As he puts it, “Living as an alcoholic terrified me more than dying.” Their chat also covers broken families, brutal resentments, and shaky ideas about God, with Mishka explaining why he never went to aa yet still considers himself firmly on the side of anyone trying to get sober.
Running, writing, dogs, and time alone in nature become his version of a spiritual programme, even if he refuses that label. Around this, Dave plugs the Dopey Recovery Film Festival, free Dopey Zoom meetings, Narcan and fentanyl test strips, and resources like Oro Recovery, Mountainside, SafeSpot and more, showing how the show mixes comedy with very real support.
If you like your recovery content raw, funny, and unpretentious, this one might leave you asking where your own line is between survival, self-destruction, and change.
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.