SHAIR 107: "From Chrystal Meth to Comedy" Mike Lindsey shares his battle with addiction!SHAIR 107: "From Chrystal Meth to Comedy" Mike Lindsey shares his battle with addiction!
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Mike Lindsey recounts his journey from homeless crystal meth addiction and multiple cross-addictions to a life built around recovery, work, and comedy. He and Omar Pinto talk through the pain, the "God shots", and the creative projects that now help others find some hope and laughter in sobriety.
2:00:11•28 Feb 2017
From Crystal Meth to Comedy: Mike Lindsey’s Wild Ride into Recovery
Episode Overview
- Changing playmates, playgrounds and play things is highlighted as crucial for building solid recovery.
- Small daily actions towards change are often met "halfway" by opportunities, reinforcing the value of consistent effort.
- Humour and stand-up comedy can act as powerful self-therapy, helping to process pain and reduce stigma around addiction.
- Service projects like AIR Wear and Unloaded Comedy turn personal recovery into a way to support others and spark conversations.
- Rebuilding family relationships after addiction takes time, patience and ongoing amends, without any sense of entitlement to quick forgiveness.
“As we wrapped up our conversation, he reached into his pocket, closed his fist around my hand and said, "This is your last chance... my prayer for you is that you will never have to see what that last chance looks like."”
Curious about how others manage their sobriety journey? This long, gripping conversation follows Mike Lindsey from being a homeless crystal meth addict to rebuilding a life that now includes recovery-themed fashion and stand-up comedy. Omar Pinto chats with Mike about what day-to-day recovery actually looks like: early mornings with his dogs, a steady job as a cost estimator, constant connection to recovery, and his clothing brand AIR Wear (Addicts In Recovery), which he uses to support recovery programmes.
Mike shares how people use his gear as an icebreaker to talk about sobriety, turning casual street encounters into chances to connect with someone who might be struggling. The episode really hits home when Mike talks about Unloaded Comedy, his "laugh yourself clean" stand-up showcase. Comics in recovery share their experience, strength and hope through jokes, shining some light on topics most people usually whisper about.
He explains how comedy became a kind of therapy for him, especially when he was encouraged to talk frankly on stage about having been a homeless meth addict while weighing 350 pounds. Mike’s story is packed with raw detail: growing up with a hoarder pastor father and a bipolar mother, early shame, overeating, porn and sex addiction, gambling, and years of switching addictions whenever one got too hot.
He describes losing everything to meth, flying a sign for money, and nearly dying on the streets before a chain of “God shots” led him to detox, an Oxford House, and a new start. He doesn’t sugar-coat the damage, especially around his children, or how slow rebuilding trust can be.
But through meetings, service, humour and relentless honesty, Mike shows that sobriety can mean more than just staying clean – it can mean finding a purpose that makes other people’s recovery a little bit easier. Could laughter be part of your toolkit too?
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