Episode 1123: AA Convention & The Humor of Chris S.

Episode 1123: AA Convention & The Humor of Chris S.

What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? This broadcast from Take 12 Recovery Radio centres on a live Alcoholics Anonymous convention talk from Chris S., introduced by long-time friend and host Monty Dale Meyer. If you appreciate humour mixed with raw honesty about alcoholism, you'll find plenty to connect with here. Chris takes the audience through his drinking history with sharp wit and vivid storytelling.

From his first blackout at age 11 (“I drank all of my glass, the rest of their glass, the rest of the bottle and I went into my first blackout”) to disastrous DUIs, purple vomiting in strangers’ gardens, and chaotic days as a “bad electrician”, his tales are outrageous yet painfully familiar for anyone who’s lived with addiction.

Underneath the laughs, he keeps returning to a serious point: alcohol felt like the solution to intense anxiety, shame and fear, but the real problem was alcoholism itself. He explains how being sober without recovery left him “burning with resentment” and spiritually sick, and how simply going to meetings wasn’t enough. Working the Twelve Steps from the Big Book, inspired by Joe and Charlie’s workshop, became the turning point.

Chris shares how doing the steps thoroughly—with inventory, amends and ongoing service—transformed his life from blackout chaos to genuine stability, responsibility and gratitude. He contrasts “mere abstinence” with true recovery: “recovery is a fundamental spiritual transformational change in the way you think, in the way you act.” Monty frames the talk as “one of the funniest and most powerful shares” he’s ever heard, highlighting Chris as his 12-step mentor for over 17 years.

If you’re wrestling with the idea that meetings alone aren’t fixing the inner turmoil, this episode might prompt you to ask: what could change if you really committed to a programme of recovery?