LSD in a Fresh Tattoo, a Ball Pit of Crack Pipes & Twelve Norcos Before Jail, the tattoo episode — with Ryan Roi | Dopey Total Replay: 47LSD in a Fresh Tattoo, a Ball Pit of Crack Pipes & Twelve Norcos Before Jail, the tattoo episode — with Ryan Roi | Dopey Total Replay: 47
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
Timestamps The replay begins at 00:12:31. These chapter notes use the supplied transcript markers; some topics begin within the marked section. Time Topic 00:00:15 Post-DopeyCon blues, a packed house, and thank-yous 00:02:18 Papa Smurf shout-out; Betty Ford James’s email about AA 00:04:43 A welcoming meeting host, a sponsor who disappears, and Recovery Dharma 00:07:05 Sponsor stories, October merch, and Britta’s DopeyCon drive 00:09:28 Listener comments: recovery-house acid, Caitlin’s laugh, and past guests 00:11:33 Final comments and introducing episode 47 00:12:31 Replay begins: Dave, Chris, and tattoo artist Ryan Roi 00:14:28 Ryan’s studio and Chris’s jail tattoo 00:16:51 The Orange County tattoo and attempted removal 00:18:49 Tattoo touch-up and a secondhand mushroom-tattoo story 00:20:58 Getting tattooed on LSD and rubbing acid into the fresh tattoo 00:23:17 Chris calls Ryan looking for LSD—then sees him at a meeting 00:25:36 Psychedelic recovery, higher powers, and sober IKEA furniture 00:27:34 Deleted early episodes, déjà vu, and “vuja de” 00:29:44 An explicit lower-back tattoo request 00:32:04 Tattoo pricing and overnight Christopher Street shifts 00:34:21 A hormone deal becomes an ecstasy-fueled tattoo session 00:36:30 A basement full of crack pipes; leaving a shop to get sober 00:38:49 Working sober and Dave’s octopus tattoo idea 00:40:59 Eyelid tattoos and a crab fisherman’s “pay here” palm 00:43:21 Getting women’s names tattooed as a pickup move 00:45:39 Ryan’s hidden signature; Chris begins the Melissa story 00:48:04 Knockout’s motel tattoo, twelve Norcos, and the arrest 00:50:24 Cocaine, whiskey, constant weed, and why moderation didn’t work 00:52:49 Wanting to grow mushrooms; Chris’s ounce-of-mushrooms Phish trip 00:55:10 Dave’s Fourth of July acid story 00:57:22 Orange-juice bong hits at the Woodstock site; Ryan’s “fired” story 00:59:32 Ryan recalls his boss’s advances and being fired 01:01:35 The “fired” tattoo, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and “rubba dub” 01:03:55 A tattooed meth recipe and “something original” 01:05:54 “Lust,” handcuffs, and the original Dopey tattoo offer 01:08:13 Forehead tattoo money and a secondhand nodding-out tattoo story 01:10:39 Facial tattoos, responsibility, and becoming a better artist in recovery 01:12:57 Expensive tattoos, Dopey branding, and audience predictions 01:15:03 Instagram, the goodbye, and closing music
1:17:22•5 Oct 2026
Tattoos, LSD, Crack Pipes and the Surprising Trip of Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Some AA spaces can feel unwelcoming to people who identify as addicts, but there are also hosts and groups who actively make mixed‑addiction members feel included.
- Sponsorship is framed as a valuable "tether to the ground" in recovery, even though it isn’t described as mandatory.
- Alternative paths like Recovery Dharma and long‑term therapy can form a solid recovery framework for some people.
- Working in tattoo shops heavily tied to drugs and alcohol can make sobriety difficult, sometimes requiring major changes such as leaving a workplace.
- Ordinary sober life – doing laundry, building furniture, working clean – is described as more "psychedelic" than past experiences with heavy hallucinogens.
“Sobriety is by far trippier than anything I've ever experienced.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? This replay from Dopey mixes outrageous drug tales with hard-won sobriety, giving you chaos and clarity in the same breath. The episode starts with Dave talking about the "post DopeyCon blues" and reading a raw email from listener Betty Ford James, who shares being shunned by old‑timer AA members, finding a kind meeting host, then being ghosted by a would‑be sponsor.
Her line, "My first attempt at getting a sponsor and I got ghosted," hits hard, especially as she explains building her own mix of Recovery Dharma, therapy, and Dopey as part of her support system. Dave responds by stressing how "every tether to the ground is pretty useful in recovery," offering a grounded reminder of why sponsors and community still matter.
Ryan tells how he once walked into a shop on acid asking for a tattoo to "represent my love of LSD," later biting into a sugar cube dosed with acid and rubbing it into the fresh ink, saying it felt like "every cell in my body was having sex with the cell next to it." You’ll also hear about a jailhouse Orange County tattoo done with shampoo, graphite and a staple, a shop basement "like a McDonald's ball pit of crack pipes," and customers who ask for everything from cartoonish dicks to Iron Crosses on their faces.
Then the throwback kicks in: an early Dopey session with hosts Dave and Chris joined by Brooklyn tattoo artist and long‑time drug user, Ryan Roi. Through the absurdity, Ryan is clear that "sobriety is by far trippier than anything I've ever experienced," especially when he talks about doing ordinary life sober and using recovery to become a better, safer tattoo artist.
If you like your recovery stories with dark humour, messy honesty, and zero sugar-coating, this one might be worth your time—what would you say is the wildest thing you did in the name of getting high?
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