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00:00:03:10 – 00:00:31:10
Elliott Wald
Hello, I’m Elliot Ward. Addiction specialist. And welcome to another episode of Coming Clean with me. Today my guest is Andrew Barr. Andrew is a rising star in the Canadian comedy scene, who turned his struggles from cocaine and alcohol addiction into a powerful and relatable act. In 2022, Andrew got clean and sober and returned to stand up.

00:00:31:12 – 00:00:41:03
Elliott Wald
And rather than shying away from these experiences, he chose to weave them into his act, turning his darkest moments into comedy gold. So welcome, Andrew. How are you doing?

00:00:41:06 – 00:00:42:20
Andrew Barr
I’m good. How are you?

00:00:42:22 – 00:00:58:02
Elliott Wald
I’m good. I’m good. It’s a little bit of a reception in Canada. A little bit of a pixel, screen thing, but it’s okay. yeah. Yeah. So tell me, Andrew, tell me about how life started with your. With your use of cocaine. How did how did it evolve?

00:00:58:04 – 00:01:18:00
Andrew Barr
so cocaine probably started in my mid 20s. so I’m 31 now. I started doing comedy when I was 18 and like, addiction kind of started around that time too, right? Because like, you’re doing shows every day. So you’re in a bar every day, and, you know, so it’s easy for the drinking to ramp up. And there’s always people partying and stuff like that.

00:01:18:00 – 00:01:19:17
Andrew Barr
So I was like, no, no.

00:01:19:17 – 00:01:29:17
Elliott Wald
And I know with a comedian it’s like, because you’re you’re doing comedy in a bar, everyone wants to buy you a drink, and anyone wants to be your friend. So that must really be tough, right?

00:01:29:19 – 00:01:44:12
Andrew Barr
Yeah, for sure. And it’s easy to find an excuse to drink like, especially, you know, first of all, you’re in your 20s, right? So you think that, like, this is just what I’m supposed to be doing? I’m in my 20s. This is when you drink and party and have a good time. and, you know, it was a good time for a while.

00:01:44:14 – 00:02:07:16
Andrew Barr
and, you know, when you’re doing a show, like, it’s easy to find a reason if the show goes well, you drink to celebrate. Hey, what a great show. If the show goes bad and you bomb, you’re like, okay, I think I need a fucking drink. After that. yeah. So. And, like, I was a pretty dedicated performer, so I wanted to perform every day, but I was always drinking when I was performing, which meant all of a sudden I was drinking every day.

00:02:07:18 – 00:02:20:03
Andrew Barr
which is not great. so for a while, it was just booze, probably for a few years. And cocaine. I, started to find in my mid 20s, when someone brought me to an after hours. I don’t know if you guys have.

00:02:20:03 – 00:02:23:08
Elliott Wald
Yeah, yeah, I know it. After hour after hour party. Yeah, yeah. Got that. Yeah.

00:02:23:08 – 00:02:24:17
Andrew Barr
You know, like a place used to.

00:02:24:18 – 00:02:28:13
Elliott Wald
Write in my day. Andy used to rave in my day. Andrew. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.

00:02:28:15 – 00:02:47:11
Andrew Barr
Got kind of like that, you know? Place to still open after the bar, closes, you know, and, Yeah. So I went to those one of those ones with somebody, and, you know, obviously they sell cocaine to those places. And I was drunk, so I was like, oh, I’ll try it. it turns out I liked it a lot, even though really bad coke.

00:02:47:11 – 00:02:52:01
Andrew Barr
Actually, I don’t think I ever bought Coke from an after hours, but it’s always like, basically meth.

00:02:52:03 – 00:02:54:06
Elliott Wald
Yes, Cup shots of shit, right?

00:02:54:08 – 00:03:04:00
Andrew Barr
Yeah. So stepped on really, really bad coke. But, so yeah, that of is sort of where it originated for me. Just like doing shows and being around like bar culture.

00:03:04:04 – 00:03:12:09
Elliott Wald
How, how quickly from first trying Coke, did it escalate to a frequent usage?

00:03:12:11 – 00:03:35:04
Andrew Barr
I would say it took a little while. I think that’s like the sneaky thing about addiction is a disease, right? Is that it ramps up kind of slowly and you just, like, gradually every day for a long time. So in your mind, nothing is changing, but you’re slowly getting worse and worse. And like, you know, after a couple of years, all of a sudden you don’t recognize yourself and it happens so slowly that you don’t see it until it’s too late.

00:03:35:06 – 00:03:40:16
Andrew Barr
so, like I would say for a while, I was, you know, once a month, cocaine.

00:03:40:18 – 00:03:41:19
Elliott Wald
once a month. Okay.

00:03:41:23 – 00:04:14:18
Andrew Barr
Once a month, maybe a couple times a month. And all of a sudden it was, you know, every couple weeks and then, you know, oh, it’s Friday, let’s get to it. It was like, every, every week, you know, and then, yeah, probably a couple years later, I would be like, just getting super fucked up by myself on a Tuesday, you know, I got to I definitely got to a point where I started to isolate as well, which is bad with addiction like I am, I no longer needed people around to use like I would go out and I would have some drinks and do some coke at the bar, and I would be looking

00:04:14:18 – 00:04:30:16
Andrew Barr
forward to when the bar closed, and then I could go home and just do coke by myself like a lunatic until like 10:00 in the morning. Just like doing coke by myself, playing online poker on my phone, like doing nothing.

00:04:30:18 – 00:04:40:00
Elliott Wald
Your usage of cocaine led to online gambling, but did you did you online gamble when you didn’t do coke?

00:04:40:01 – 00:04:53:22
Andrew Barr
now and then. Gambling was never, like, a huge. Like I didn’t burn through a bunch of money gambling. The evil of the poker app I was using was like, you know, very minimal money spent, but it was just something to, like, I would use occupy. Yeah. Sorry.

00:04:54:00 – 00:04:56:03
Elliott Wald
Occupy you. Essentially. Occupy you. Yeah. Yeah.

00:04:56:06 – 00:05:02:19
Andrew Barr
Doing that. You know, you’re doing coke from three till ten in the morning. Everyone else is asleep. Right. So you’ve got to talk to.

00:05:02:21 – 00:05:14:15
Elliott Wald
you, you’re doing 1 or 2 things when you’re doing coke from three in the morning to at three in the afternoon till ten in the morning, you’re either making sex that you regret the next day. Yeah. Or you or you’re doing something to occupy you where you’re not becoming a nuisance.

00:05:14:17 – 00:05:21:12
Andrew Barr
Yeah, absolutely. And that’s how I, you know, I started playing poker to try to stop myself from messaging women so much in the middle of the night.

00:05:21:14 – 00:05:24:18
Elliott Wald
I was coming in the morning. You’re like, fuck, what did I do that for?

00:05:24:20 – 00:05:41:18
Andrew Barr
Oh, dude, I used to have to get drunk to get the courage to look at my phone. because I would wake up and I have all these notifications that I’d be like, oh, my God, what the fuck did you do? so then I would, like, go to the bar, have three pints to be like, okay, maybe it’s not that bad.

00:05:41:18 – 00:06:07:20
Andrew Barr
You check your phone, but of course it was that bad. You know, I was living in Women’s Day. I just I was really, really bad for that. Just messaging women at all hours of the night. one of the worst things in the world is that Facebook Messenger will tell you that someone is online. So I would oh, I would think I would think these people were awake because it said online and I’d be like, oh, maybe there are crazy coke addicts like I am, and I’d hit them up.

00:06:07:20 – 00:06:16:04
Andrew Barr
And then it turns out they were asleep, obviously. and then in the morning you’re like, who is this lunatic messaging me at 5:00?

00:06:16:06 – 00:06:29:04
Elliott Wald
Yeah, yeah. Really bad. And I, by the time it got to, 20, 22, you stop by, let’s say 2021, the high, like 22. What what was how often was your usage?

00:06:29:06 – 00:06:48:04
Andrew Barr
Oh, I’d say 3 to 5 times a week, probably for 12. And then still booze every day, like, realistically, I would have done coke every day if I could afford that. But, you know, I do make a living in Canadian comedy, so it’s, things are a bit tighter than that. okay. But, yeah, 3 to 5 times a week, basically, as you.

00:06:48:06 – 00:06:51:18
Elliott Wald
Say, she was basically your your earning capacity.

00:06:51:20 – 00:06:55:13
Andrew Barr
Yeah, exactly. I would like to be doing it more if I could have probably.

00:06:55:15 – 00:07:24:08
Elliott Wald
yeah. I mean, it’s a very interesting thing that you started with because I think that journey of when you first use are then it can take a long period of time. It sneaks up when you do it becoming a two times a week, a three times a week, a four times a week. And then what’s really interesting is this drug that you took, which was sociable, very sociable, became so anti-social that you just want to get home, be on your own, racking it up, doing shit.

00:07:24:10 – 00:07:43:14
Andrew Barr
Yeah, for sure. And, you know, they say like addiction with you and then kills you, right? definitely. And it is like, yeah, it does become anti-social because you start to do it. You like, do it so much that like, you’re visibly high on Coke, like, yeah. You know, at first I’d be having a couple bumps and mostly drinks that I feel like people couldn’t really notice.

00:07:43:14 – 00:07:56:16
Andrew Barr
But, you know, you get to a point where you need enough cocaine to get that high that you want, that your face is like fucked up. And people go, yeah, yeah. So you’re like, I got to go home and be by myself so I can get high enough to get that feeling that I want.

00:07:56:18 – 00:08:03:11
Elliott Wald
Yeah. You were functioning initially, though, until we got to a point where you were using a higher quantity.

00:08:03:13 – 00:08:20:21
Andrew Barr
Oh, yeah. For sure. It’s, I, you know, I did I prided myself, which feels sad to say, but I was, I like I was proud of how fucked up I could get and still, functioning in my day to day life. There was a point where I had, you know, three jobs. I was doing shows every day.

00:08:20:21 – 00:08:41:15
Andrew Barr
I had a relationship. I was balancing all of this stuff, and I was like, drunk and high the entire time and blacking out constantly. but it’s not sustainable. I had, you know, I had a decent run of, like, keeping all the balls in the air, and, and I was able to do everything. And then, you know, gradually everything falls apart.

00:08:41:17 – 00:08:53:07
Elliott Wald
Yeah. so tell me about 2022 when you got sober, because, my researchers gave me a very interesting story about you had this intervention from eight close friends. Tell me about that.

00:08:53:09 – 00:09:00:20
Andrew Barr
Yeah. so, yeah. So I guess I’ll start with. So I’ve been I’ve had two interventions technically.

00:09:00:22 – 00:09:01:23
Elliott Wald
Okay, cool.

00:09:02:01 – 00:09:14:10
Andrew Barr
Yeah. So the first intervention, I would say is what was like a soft intervention. It was just three friends, and they didn’t tell me to outright stop. They were like, you need you need to slow down. They were like.

00:09:14:10 – 00:09:19:12
Elliott Wald
Let’s just break this down. Did they come to you all together or separately?

00:09:19:14 – 00:09:30:00
Andrew Barr
all together. So I’m at home. I didn’t see it coming. I so I’ll say this. I got blindsided by both my interventions. I didn’t see either of them coming. okay.

00:09:30:00 – 00:09:30:20
Elliott Wald
Talk me through it.

00:09:31:01 – 00:09:38:06
Andrew Barr
The for the first one, I’m, like, embarrassed now that I didn’t see it coming because, like, you know, for an intervention, they have to make sure that you’re going to be home, right?

00:09:38:09 – 00:09:43:18
Elliott Wald
So no right home, no idea this is going to happen. And three of your friends roll up on you.

00:09:43:19 – 00:10:04:10
Andrew Barr
Well, one of them was my roommate. So my roommate, my roommate wanted to make sure that I was home for this. So he was like, can you be home at 7 p.m. on Wednesday? I’m having a table delivered, and I need help bringing it upstairs. And like an idiot, I was like, oh, yeah, sure. No problem. Not even thinking like, who the fuck at the table delivered.

00:10:04:10 – 00:10:21:11
Andrew Barr
It’s 7 p.m. and like, where was it going to go? Our apartment didn’t need a table like we had. It was fully furnished. So, but, you know, I’m an addictions. I’m an idiot at the time. I don’t see it coming. I get blindsided. but this good arrangement is, like I said, kind of soft. It was three.

00:10:21:15 – 00:10:42:18
Andrew Barr
Three. My roommate, two guys, and I was like, you need to slow down. You’re doing too much coke. You’re drinking too much. It’s noticeable, you know, you think when you’re at shows, it’s like party time, but this this is like, technically a professional environment. It’s work. Everyone around you is not as fucked up as you are. You’re being really brazen about your drug use.

00:10:42:20 – 00:10:50:03
Elliott Wald
Can I ask you a question? Those three friends of yours that came for the intervention did they use did they use, not coke.

00:10:50:03 – 00:11:02:01
Andrew Barr
They’re they’re drinkers. Oh, wait, no, one of them is. One of them is totally sober. and the other two drink. Okay, but but there are people that can have alcohol in their lives, and they’re, you know, it’s it’s not an issue. Okay.

00:11:02:03 – 00:11:04:23
Elliott Wald
And were you still in denial with this first intervention?

00:11:05:01 – 00:11:22:20
Andrew Barr
No. like, I definitely knew that I was I was getting too fucked up and all the time, and I was receptive to it. I was like, okay, you guys are right. I’m going to try to save coke. Like, that’s the thing. They were like, maybe just do coke on your birthday or on New Year’s, you know, don’t do it.

00:11:22:23 – 00:11:23:08
Elliott Wald
Every.

00:11:23:08 – 00:11:31:09
Andrew Barr
Week, right? they were hoping that I could still find some balance, I think. I don’t think they understood the severity of the issue yet, either.

00:11:31:11 – 00:11:37:02
Elliott Wald
I think once you’re an all or nothing person, you can’t go back to just being an occasional user.

00:11:37:04 – 00:12:00:20
Andrew Barr
Yeah, moderation for people. Like if you’re the sort of the highest order of addict like moderation just isn’t possible, right? so I was like, okay, I’m going to try that. And I did cut back for a little bit. But, you know, that’s the thing. You cut back, it works for a couple months. And then, you know, you ramp it up a bit more again and you ramp it up a bit more again, and then all of a sudden you’re back, to where you started, which is what happened.

00:12:00:22 – 00:12:16:22
Elliott Wald
Very, very much. And you, that’s that’s classic, the classic, the classic journey is, well, I’m using five days a week. I’m going to I’m going to take some control and I’m only going to use on a Friday. And you do that for a few weeks and you go, I’m not as bad as I was. I’ll use on a Wednesday now.

00:12:17:00 – 00:12:25:00
Elliott Wald
Well, it’s still only two weeks now, like I was doing five days. And so eventually you’re back to where you were is exactly what you said. So to carry on. What? Carry on. What happened?

00:12:25:02 – 00:12:34:09
Andrew Barr
Yeah. So, things got worse again. It really ramped up. that summer I was in Scotland for a month. I did the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

00:12:34:11 – 00:12:35:04
Elliott Wald
Okay.

00:12:35:06 – 00:12:46:12
Andrew Barr
Which is a horrible place for an addict. It’s a month long party when the bars are open until 5:00. So that that festival took a lot out of me. I got so messed up in Scotland all month.

00:12:46:14 – 00:12:48:18
Elliott Wald
Now you’re using, oh, every day that month.

00:12:48:18 – 00:13:14:09
Andrew Barr
Probably every day that month. All day buying like sketchy MDMA from people I don’t know in another part of the world. Just like there was a couple times in Scotland where I thought I might die. I thought I was like close to overdosing. so yeah, the usage got worse. And then around the end of that year, on the end of 2022, the second intervention habit, which was, yeah, not soft.

00:13:14:11 – 00:13:17:11
Andrew Barr
this one was pretty intense. It was how.

00:13:17:11 – 00:13:19:11
Elliott Wald
Many friends this time?

00:13:19:13 – 00:13:21:21
Andrew Barr
It was 8 or 9. I can’t remember a time.

00:13:21:21 – 00:13:27:07
Elliott Wald
Was it still the three that came previously, including the 8 or 9?

00:13:27:09 – 00:13:49:19
Andrew Barr
the first two of them, yes. My mate at that time was out of country. So he sent in a letter. Okay. which was that they all had letters. it was funny, actually. My roommate, who sent in a letter he wrote like a really mean one, and then he felt bad about it, and he wrote a nicer one, but they accidentally read me the mean one.

00:13:49:22 – 00:13:50:14
Andrew Barr

00:13:50:16 – 00:13:51:15
Elliott Wald
So it. Okay.

00:13:51:21 – 00:13:58:09
Andrew Barr
It fucked me up pretty good. It was harsh, but fair. He wasn’t wrong about anything.

00:13:58:11 – 00:14:03:13
Elliott Wald
but. Yeah. How does that make you feel when you’ve got this second intervention of nine people?

00:14:03:15 – 00:14:26:07
Andrew Barr
it’s really intense, you know, it’s. And immediately it’s embarrassing. You’re like, you realize how many people are there, and you’re like, the amount of organizing and talking about me that must have had to happen for this all to come together. You’re like, shit. I’m really, like, burdening people and like, I can’t believe that, you know, it was necessary to orchestrate all this to talk to me about this thing.

00:14:26:09 – 00:14:41:13
Andrew Barr
So, you know. Yeah. Super embarrassed. Out of the gate, a very somber mood, you know, ever. So the thing was, everybody wrote letters and then read their letters to me. it’s super intense. Everybody cried. it.

00:14:41:13 – 00:14:59:22
Elliott Wald
Was, you know, I’m just going to stop you for a minute because I’m just visualizing this. Right? And I’m thinking, yeah, yeah, it’s super embarrassing. But on the flip side, to have 8 or 9 friends that care so much about you that they’ve gone through the energy and the effort to talk to each other, to say, listen, we love this guy.

00:14:59:22 – 00:15:05:15
Elliott Wald
He’s got a problem to write a letter to get you in that room. That’s that’s fucking that’s power.

00:15:05:17 – 00:15:17:17
Andrew Barr
Yeah. There is a lot of power to that for sure. Like, oh overall it’s a it’s a beautiful thing. Just, you know when when you’re in it in the moment you can’t, you know you don’t feel that. Then at the time you just it’s just hard. Yeah.

00:15:17:17 – 00:15:21:04
Elliott Wald
Well ganging up on you the way you’re looking at it.

00:15:21:06 – 00:15:42:08
Andrew Barr
Well, yeah, but I mean, like, for a good reason. Like. But it was just intense. They all cried. yeah. Like I said, is very gloves off. they really like it. Sucks to have to have people, like, take all of your worst behavior and just kind of rub it directly in your face. but, you know, it was deserved.

00:15:42:10 – 00:16:04:17
Andrew Barr
so basically, they all read their letters and everything of the single one of the letters, the condition for them to continue being in my life was that I had to go to rehab. and, I agreed essentially, like, right away, I didn’t really fight them on it. I was like, okay, well, it seems like you guys are unanimous that I’ve got to go to rehab.

00:16:04:17 – 00:16:06:18
Elliott Wald
So how did you fund that?

00:16:06:20 – 00:16:13:14
Andrew Barr
Well, here’s the thing. I had no idea in this moment, I do not yet know anything about rehab or what it costs.

00:16:13:16 – 00:16:15:19
Elliott Wald
oh. It’s expensive.

00:16:15:23 – 00:16:38:11
Andrew Barr
Yes. So I’m like, okay, you know, I’m so stripped down and that, you know, you feel so undressed and I’m like, okay, yeah, okay. I can I can go to rehab, we can do that. And then they’re like, okay. And so they’ve already been talking to facilities to take me in, right. and my body is like, okay, there’s one in Kingston that’s about a three hour drive from where I am now.

00:16:38:15 – 00:17:02:07
Andrew Barr
He’s like, there’s one in Kingston. They’ll take you tonight. I’ve already talked to them. We can drive you there. Right now it’s $25,000. And I go, oh, right. And I go from being like, oh, okay. To like, what the fuck are you talking about? $25,000. Like, I was thinking like 3 or $4000. 45. I was like, I was like, guys, what the fuck are we talking about?

00:17:02:07 – 00:17:21:11
Andrew Barr
I don’t have $25,000. Like, you’re gonna put me in debt for the rest of my life with that, I can’t like that number. To me, it was, like, incomprehensible. I was like, I don’t have that money. and then they were like, well, we talked to your parents, and I was like, you talk to my fucking parents?

00:17:21:12 – 00:17:27:17
Andrew Barr
There’s no way. No, I’m finding out in this moment that my goddamn parents have been looped in on the conversation.

00:17:27:17 – 00:17:31:19
Elliott Wald
So your parents now know that you’ve got this addiction, which they didn’t know before?

00:17:31:21 – 00:17:36:08
Andrew Barr
Yeah, I was me. They didn’t know that I had, like, a bad coke problem. They knew that I drank pretty heavy, but like.

00:17:36:13 – 00:17:43:10
Elliott Wald
But they didn’t know they didn’t know you were at the position that your friends realize that you needed intervention and help.

00:17:43:12 – 00:18:05:15
Andrew Barr
Absolutely not. No, they didn’t know that. so I’m finding out now that my parents are in the chat. My parents have been looped in on the conversation and I’m like, you guys, I’m so like that. I’m like annoyed about, but, you know, I’m a I’m a lucky dude. I’m luckier than a lot of people. My family is not extremely wealthy, but they do have some money that they’ve worked very hard for.

00:18:05:15 – 00:18:26:03
Andrew Barr
And they they confront me that there was in my country where, like, we talked to your dad and your dad said not to worry about the money, that he would help you out. but he just needs to hear it from you. That you want to go. so I had to call my parents, and be like, hey.

00:18:26:03 – 00:18:46:09
Andrew Barr
And they’re like, hi. And like. And I’m like, I’m at my intervention. And they’re like, we know. We waiting for this phone call. so I really didn’t want to go to rehab, but I looked around the room and I was like, okay, well, everyone is saying that they’re not going to be in my life if I don’t do this.

00:18:46:09 – 00:18:51:11
Andrew Barr
And collectively, these people are worth the $25,000 to me, I think over the course of the rest of my life.

00:18:51:11 – 00:18:53:15
Elliott Wald
So how you rationalized it.

00:18:53:17 – 00:19:09:00
Andrew Barr
At the time? Yeah. Like when I went to rehab, I was very much going for them. I wasn’t going for me. I didn’t want to go. I tried to get out of it. My I like I tried to sell them on like, okay, this is a lot of money. How about it was also like Christmas time, right?

00:19:09:00 – 00:19:31:00
Andrew Barr
It’s like December. So I was like, how about instead of going to rehab, I go home, I live with my parents for like two months. I’ll start going to meetings. Meetings are free. I’ll start doing some therapy that’ll basically be like, I’m in rehab, but it’ll be way cheaper. and then I’m done, and then I can be at home with my family instead of locked up.

00:19:31:01 – 00:19:58:17
Andrew Barr
and they said no, they were, like, hard. No, we all agreed before we came here today that you have to go to rehab and that none of us are allowed to bend. And that’s what the rule is. No one’s allowed the waiver here. so we found a facility. Thankfully, that was only $15,000. We shopped around a little bit, this, you know, some of the more expensive ones have shit where I was like, I don’t know if I need that.

00:19:58:17 – 00:20:09:02
Andrew Barr
Like, there was, like, equestrian therapy and shit, and I was like, I don’t think I like, need to hang out with a horse or place or, you know.

00:20:09:04 – 00:20:12:00
Elliott Wald
Like make clay pots. Clay pots.

00:20:12:02 – 00:20:18:03
Andrew Barr
I’m like, I’m just I’m trying to get clean here. I feel like a lot of these bells and whistles, they’re like, you know, I don’t need to pay an extra.

00:20:18:05 – 00:20:22:08
Elliott Wald
Extra money, money, money for it.

00:20:22:10 – 00:20:23:03
Andrew Barr
And I was like.

00:20:23:03 – 00:20:39:05
Elliott Wald
You know, why are they banking on people who whose parents are going to or family’s going to stump up the money? because it’s so important for them to deal with their child or their loved one or their brother, the sister or the family’s going to get that. They can charge serious money.

00:20:39:07 – 00:20:47:10
Andrew Barr
Big amount of. Sure. Yeah. And honestly. So I went to one that was, 15 grand, way fewer bells and whistles.

00:20:47:12 – 00:20:49:18
Elliott Wald
For how long? 15 grand for how long?

00:20:49:20 – 00:20:51:10
Andrew Barr
I was there for 33 days.

00:20:51:15 – 00:20:52:23
Elliott Wald
Okay. 33 days. Okay.

00:20:52:23 – 00:21:12:15
Andrew Barr
Yeah. and I think that was maybe better because there was, you know, there were no distractions. There was no volleyball court, like, there, there there weren’t any of those perks. It was pretty straightforward. It, it was basically like me and then guys on parole who had to go as part of their, like the conditions of their parole.

00:21:12:20 – 00:21:21:22
Andrew Barr
So it’s like a slightly sketchier rehab, and certainly bleak. But, you know, you’re you’re there to work, right? yeah.

00:21:22:00 – 00:21:24:04
Elliott Wald
And how was it for you?

00:21:24:06 – 00:21:46:01
Andrew Barr
I mean, really helpful. I’ll say that, like, I, I think while I was there, I managed to, make it for me and not just something that I was doing for them. My buddy. I have a friend, Christophe. He’s one of the guys at the intervention. He gave me some good advice before I went in. he. Because I had really tried to wriggle out of the net a couple times and I couldn’t figure it out.

00:21:46:01 – 00:22:08:23
Andrew Barr
And so I was going we had already paid the $1,000 deposit, and I was set to leave the next morning. And Christophe was like, listen, man, I know that you don’t want to go. but here’s the thing. You’re going like you are going. So as long as you’re there, drink the fucking cool. Like, listen to what they have to say.

00:22:08:23 – 00:22:09:19
Elliott Wald
Yeah, make them make the.

00:22:09:20 – 00:22:29:09
Andrew Barr
Most of it that you can. Like there’s definitely you’re going to be there for 33 days. So you might as well just listen to everything they have to say. Take in as much as you can and get what you can out of the experience because you’re fucking paying for it. And you know, I really took that to heart and tried to go in like very open mind.

00:22:29:11 – 00:22:38:21
Andrew Barr
and I think that I managed to learn a good amount while I was there. He’s like, I don’t know if you’ve been to rehab before, but I definitely saw some guys like a psychologist.

00:22:38:21 – 00:22:42:22
Elliott Wald
Andrew I tried, yeah. You know, I years a psychologist. So.

00:22:43:00 – 00:22:44:12
Andrew Barr
Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Right.

00:22:44:12 – 00:22:46:17
Elliott Wald
So I know exactly what you’re talking about.

00:22:46:17 – 00:22:59:12
Andrew Barr
And in rehab, you’ll see, like those dudes who are taking it seriously, and you can tell they want to turn it around. And then there’s guys who are running out the clock. Like, you can tell these dudes that are like, I have to be here for 30 days, and I’m going to use as soon as I get out of this fucking place.

00:22:59:14 – 00:23:00:00
Andrew Barr
And they’re like.

00:23:00:00 – 00:23:18:21
Elliott Wald
Barely, you know, listen, I’m a great believer and true that certain things work for certain people and there’s certain things that aren’t right for other people. Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of people that have been through rehab that it’s been beneficial for. I’ve also seen plenty of people who’ve been through rehab. And I think one of the fundamental flaws of it is you’re away from your environment.

00:23:18:21 – 00:23:35:21
Elliott Wald
The problem is the moment you’re back in that environment with the triggers that set you off in the first place. Yeah, having a coping strategy for that, unless you’ve made significant changes in your life, is very difficult to deal with. And I see people that have regressed back to using within a month, two months, three months, four months of coming out of rehab, you know?

00:23:35:21 – 00:23:37:05
Elliott Wald
So I see that.

00:23:37:07 – 00:23:44:05
Andrew Barr
Yeah, for sure. I think this I forget the exact statistic, but it’s something like at least 50% of people relapse in the first six months after rehab.

00:23:44:05 – 00:23:48:02
Elliott Wald
So in the in the United Kingdom it’s 75% 75.

00:23:48:02 – 00:23:49:00
Andrew Barr
Yeah.

00:23:49:02 – 00:23:50:15
Elliott Wald
So it’s phenomenal.

00:23:50:17 – 00:24:11:19
Andrew Barr
And I get it like there was guys who were afraid to leave rehab. like there was some dudes who had been through a few times in, like they felt safe in rehab because they’re like, you know. Yeah, environment. And I can’t use. But they were they were nervous to go back out on the street and it. Yeah, I guess it’s nerve wracking either way because either you’re going back to the same environment and you have to figure out how to exist differently inside of it and deal with that temptation.

00:24:12:00 – 00:24:18:03
Andrew Barr
Or you need to completely avoid your previous environment and do something new, which is also scary.

00:24:18:05 – 00:24:36:03
Elliott Wald
That that brings me right up to the next question. because you perform standup, that’s your job. And, and, you know, you regularly tour around comedy clubs. How do you deal with the obvious triggers of working in that environment with people who are going to use people drinking alcohol? But that’s your job. How do you deal with that?

00:24:36:05 – 00:24:54:16
Andrew Barr
it was it was difficult. Like on paper. What I did isn’t a great plan. Like, I got out of rehab and I immediately started doing shows again because I needed to make money. I immediately started hanging around all the same people in the same places. oh. A big a big thing that was helpful for me, I think, was that I was very publicly sober right away.

00:24:54:16 – 00:24:59:14
Andrew Barr
I didn’t hide the fact that I had gone to rehab. I started doing material about it immediately.

00:24:59:16 – 00:25:18:00
Elliott Wald
do you know what? I’m going to pause you there because. Yeah. Sorry. Just for a second. Because I think what you just said is so, so powerful. Because I got a friend of mine in the UK called Dapper Laughs. He’s a huge comedian. Massive. if you go on in his Instagram and he does a lot to do with his sobriety and not using any more, I’ve been quite a few of his podcast.

00:25:18:00 – 00:25:39:00
Elliott Wald
Great guy, and he’s made it very like you just said, everybody knows he’s sober. He’s made it part of his acting corporation. His comedy sketch incorporates in his social media. It’s like, I’m like, here’s my flag. I am sober and clean, right? Yeah. And and now I’ve got accounts ability. I’ve got accountability to the fucking world.

00:25:39:02 – 00:25:56:07
Andrew Barr
Yeah, absolutely. Once you plant that flag, you don’t want to, like, sheepishly unplanted, right? Yeah. So that was a big part of it for me is right of way of doing material. because also like, I was like, I need to monetize this a little bit, right? Like I want to eventually make at least $15,000.

00:25:56:09 – 00:25:56:15
Elliott Wald
Yeah.

00:25:56:15 – 00:26:14:07
Andrew Barr
You got to get your money back. Yeah, yeah, I got to supplement that. but so yeah, right away I was doing material about it publicly sober. So, you know, everyone around me knows I’m not supposed to be drinking. So if I do, it’s, you know, people are going to be looking at me funny, and it’ll be harder to enjoy it because everyone knows that I’m fucking up.

00:26:14:07 – 00:26:29:17
Andrew Barr
If I’m doing it. so yeah, that that was a big part of it right away. Honestly, just like, I thought a lot about how humiliating it would be to accept that money from my family and then go back to using right away. Like.

00:26:29:18 – 00:26:32:10
Elliott Wald
That’s a very powerful motive for you, right?

00:26:32:12 – 00:26:54:18
Andrew Barr
Yeah, I was, because it was, you know, I really didn’t want to have to, you know, and I don’t they don’t look at it as like like I’m a burden. But, you know, it was hard to, like, be like, hi, I’m your kid. I need $15,000 of your hard earned money because I’m an idiot. you know, that’s how you feel in the moment.

00:26:54:20 – 00:27:15:18
Andrew Barr
so I was like, I don’t want to dishonor that, like, powerful gesture on their part, but I immediately like going back to doing the same thing that it’s like I’ve set that money on fire. You know, that could have been a vacation for them. You know, it could have gone and seen the world. But instead they sent me, to a very dingy house in Brooklyn, Ontario.

00:27:15:20 – 00:27:31:22
Andrew Barr
so that that was a good help in the early going, daily routine was important. That’s something I got out of rehab that I did enjoy. And I’ll say that I don’t stick to as strict of a routine today, but I think like early, early recovery, it’s really good. So like.

00:27:31:22 – 00:27:34:14
Elliott Wald
What? What do you what do you mean specific you’re talking about.

00:27:34:18 – 00:27:52:19
Andrew Barr
Yeah. So every day, and this was similar to what we would do in rehab every day. So every day I would wake up, I started the day with, like, a healthy smoothie. And then I would drink my smoothie while doing a journal. And after I did a journal, I would do a gratitude list. And then after my gratitude list, I would meditate for usually just like ten minutes.

00:27:52:19 – 00:28:11:12
Andrew Barr
There’s a lot of really helpful guided ones on YouTube. and then after the meditation, I would go to the gym. and then, you know, after I was done at the gym would be around noon. I’d have like a healthy lunch. Typically, I would give the afternoon to myself to do some writing or, you know, maybe just chill, play video games.

00:28:11:14 – 00:28:27:08
Andrew Barr
and then, yeah, the evening, like do shows or whatever, or go to my kitchen job. I work in a kitchen a couple days a week too. But really that early start of the day, it was kind of like the very structured, you know, I yeah, yeah. It’s not a good way to say if you journal and gratitude list then meditate.

00:28:27:10 – 00:28:29:07
Andrew Barr
your day is off to such a good start.

00:28:29:09 – 00:28:37:23
Elliott Wald
Yeah, definitely. I think I think it’s a very important thing to do. And also picking up on going to the gym. I’m a great advocate. Okay? You’re not against.

00:28:38:00 – 00:28:39:05
Andrew Barr
Guns, my friend.

00:28:39:07 – 00:28:40:07
Elliott Wald
There you go.

00:28:40:09 – 00:28:41:12
Andrew Barr
Yeah.

00:28:41:14 – 00:28:59:06
Elliott Wald
So and I always talk about my clients that I think, you know, I believe in addictive personalities. I know I have an addictive personality. I know when I used to use five, six days a week, I’m very addictive in what I do. And I used to use Coke, and I’m being clean. You know, the gym for me is is my sanctuary.

00:28:59:06 – 00:29:17:11
Elliott Wald
I go there to offload all my problems. I feel good about myself, or at least serotonin. I feel good, I feel healthy, you know, I’m 55 years old and amazing. It sets myself up for the rest of the day. You know, that’s what I do. Yeah. Once I’ve done that and you’ve found that the gym is a really important core part for you, right?

00:29:17:13 – 00:29:28:00
Andrew Barr
Oh, yeah. For sure. I love the gym. I’m, I’m an everyday kind of dude, so. Yeah, like, you know, I have an addictive personality. That’s the thing. If you have an addictive personality, it’s like sort of a superpower. Like.

00:29:28:02 – 00:29:28:07
Elliott Wald
Yeah.

00:29:28:07 – 00:29:55:07
Andrew Barr
Because it’s it’s incredible what you can do with it. Like basically. So in December of 2022, I was probably like near dead, like I was having heart problems. There was that there had been a couple times recently where I thought I was overdosing. I was in like really poor health. I would say that I wouldn’t have lived for another five years if I continued on the path that I was going.

00:29:55:09 – 00:30:14:11
Andrew Barr
then I got clean, did rehab, started exercising. Ten months later, I ran a marathon. Wow. yeah. And not even in, like, bad time. I did it in just under 3.5 hours, which is actually pretty good. so it’s like crazy how the human body can turn around. We’re really like, oh, like.

00:30:14:13 – 00:30:16:04
Elliott Wald
I put amazing.

00:30:16:06 – 00:30:24:06
Andrew Barr
Years and years of abuse and, like, you know, a few months of good behavior and all of a sudden shit’s like, okay, again,

00:30:24:08 – 00:30:30:08
Elliott Wald
But I think going to the gym gives you a lot of discipline that you can apply to staying strong in your head.

00:30:30:10 – 00:30:42:06
Andrew Barr
For sure. Yeah. And like you said, you know, you get the serotonin, you get some happy chemical out of it. And. Yeah, I just tried, I don’t know, at the gym, if you really push yourself, everything else in the day seems kind of easy.

00:30:42:08 – 00:30:55:12
Elliott Wald
Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. So so here’s a question for you. How do you strike the balance between funny humor in your past struggles and acknowledging the seriousness of addiction in your comedy routine?

00:30:55:14 – 00:30:59:02
Andrew Barr
Oh, that’s a good question. I,

00:30:59:04 – 00:31:07:11
Elliott Wald
I know a little serious side, but there’s also a side that you want to cuz you’re a comedian. You want to entail that into you that people laugh at what you’re saying.

00:31:07:13 – 00:31:28:19
Andrew Barr
Yeah, I think, honestly, I don’t know if my material, really acknowledges the serious side of it that much like I do. I do try to keep it pretty, like, because I don’t want people to feel bad for I find like, okay, anytime I accidentally make it too heavy, the crowd can sometimes start to feel bad for me.

00:31:29:00 – 00:31:48:06
Andrew Barr
And then they’re like, they’re less likely to laugh because they’re a little bit, like, worried about me, you know? but I would say what I like doing, what I like about doing it on stage that I think is good, is that it? Like, hopefully alleviate some of the stigma around being an addict? Like, I think it should be a normal thing to talk about.

00:31:48:06 – 00:32:12:20
Andrew Barr
It’s like, you know, it’s a mental health issue usually, like, you know, there’s should be no reason that it’s uncomfortable to talk about. so I like just talking about it comfortably and like, it’s a normal thing. and I, I hope that that sort of makes people less hesitant to get help or, you know, at least explore the idea of being sober and stuff.

00:32:12:20 – 00:32:20:09
Andrew Barr
I definitely get a lot of messages from people on Instagram that are like, sober, curious, and thinking about it, which is cool. yeah.

00:32:20:13 – 00:32:38:08
Elliott Wald
I think I think there’s a fine line between the those of us who had an addiction. Yeah. And we want to and we want to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we clean, it’s good, and we want to help other people. And not being even jellicle to ram it down other people’s throats like, oh fucking oh, there’s a comedian again.

00:32:38:08 – 00:32:45:12
Elliott Wald
He keeps talking about getting on it and drinking and you know, give it a break. You know you got to draw a fine line haven’t you.

00:32:45:14 – 00:33:05:22
Andrew Barr
Yeah. It’s one of those things you can’t really, even if you can tell someone maybe needs help, you can’t really cram it down people’s throat. Is it? I don’t know, it’s more likely to push them in the other direction. Because the thing is, like, is you have to want to change, right? That’s what I I’ve learned is like no one changes until they want to do it.

00:33:06:00 – 00:33:32:05
Andrew Barr
you like, you can try to change for other reasons, you know, because, you know, it’s hurting your career. Like, I saw guys in rehab who had every reason in the world to change. They’ve got kids, they’ve got a family. And I know that they want to change for all these people that they love. But until you do it for you, because you love yourself and you want a better life for yourself, and it doesn’t work like, everything else is temporary and like, okay, I got to get it together for my wife, my kids.

00:33:32:07 – 00:33:45:16
Andrew Barr
That’s how it works for, you know, a few months, a year, maybe. But until you’re doing it for you, you’re always gonna end up back in the same spot. So really pushing it on people doesn’t make a lot of sense because, like, it’s like, if they’re not ready, then it’s not going to work anyway.

00:33:45:18 – 00:33:57:10
Elliott Wald
Yeah. Yeah. So, so what’s, those nine people that with the intervention, I was a question I was going to ask earlier. Was any of them, did any of them use Coke with you?

00:33:57:12 – 00:34:03:05
Andrew Barr
Yes. to at least two of them for sure.

00:34:03:07 – 00:34:10:10
Elliott Wald
But they used it on a casual, occasional basis. Or did they use it on a once a week basis? More.

00:34:10:12 – 00:34:27:21
Andrew Barr
More casual? Yeah. Like not now and then. I certainly became like, I got a reputation in my community as kind of like the party guy. So I would get a lot of, like, texts and phone calls from people, be like, hey, what are you doing? Do you want to go over a few drinks and I answered that call every time.

00:34:27:23 – 00:34:46:19
Andrew Barr
I was really good at that. No matter how tired I was, how hung over, if someone was like, hey, you want to go over drinks? I was like, yeah, let’s go. so I used with a lot of different people. because I think, you know, what happens is you use with them and they’re casual, right? They’re like, oh, what a crazy night.

00:34:46:21 – 00:34:56:13
Andrew Barr
I need to take, like, a week off of drinking. I’m so hung over. Oh, what a you know, what a bad decision that was. They don’t realize that you’re already out again with somebody else.

00:34:56:15 – 00:34:57:10
Elliott Wald
Yeah, you’ve got in.

00:34:57:11 – 00:34:57:20
Andrew Barr
The same.

00:34:57:20 – 00:35:01:23
Elliott Wald
Groups of people, so nobody knows how bad you really are.

00:35:02:01 – 00:35:08:14
Andrew Barr
Yeah, I would kind of be like with someone different almost every day. so they don’t see altogether how much you’re doing it.

00:35:08:16 – 00:35:24:20
Elliott Wald
yeah. Yeah, I think, I think I think the thing about addiction is, is you lie. You lie to yourself of how your problem is, your frequency, your quantity. You lie to your friends, you lie to your family. You’re in denial. I think that’s a massive thing, you know? Oh, I.

00:35:25:02 – 00:35:38:03
Andrew Barr
See what we did. Yeah, I, I was definitely lying to myself. Or like, yeah, I would lie to people about how much I was using. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I, I, when I was doing it like 3 to 5 times a week, I’d be like, oh, you know, I’m just doing it like 1 or 2 days a week.

00:35:38:03 – 00:35:39:09
Andrew Barr
It’s not that bad.

00:35:39:11 – 00:35:45:06
Elliott Wald
I’m not consciously. Would you use each time?

00:35:45:08 – 00:35:52:23
Andrew Barr
I would say by the end, I mean, I, I wasn’t like one of those eight ball a day guys. but I would say I probably needed a gram.

00:35:53:01 – 00:35:56:00
Elliott Wald
from a grammar day. Yeah. Yeah, that’s a that’s part of night.

00:35:56:00 – 00:36:07:00
Andrew Barr
And, like. Yeah, if I had a gram, I might even be a little stressed, like, oh, maybe I should have bought more. You know, like, I feel like I feel like 1.5 is where I felt kind of cozy, like, okay, this will be enough to get me through the night.

00:36:07:02 – 00:36:08:18
Elliott Wald
I got it, I got it, I got it.

00:36:08:20 – 00:36:19:04
Andrew Barr
It is funny too, is addicts like, something we talked about in rehab is like how you don’t even necessarily need to do the drug to feel better just having it.

00:36:19:06 – 00:36:41:10
Elliott Wald
well, you know, that’s that. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you the reason for that. The reason that you don’t necessarily need to do it or or the reason. Let me rephrase, the reason that getting it is the biggest thrill more than using it is this. So we we are conditioned. Right. And there is this thing called Pavlov’s conditioned theory.

00:36:41:12 – 00:37:00:03
Elliott Wald
So Pavlov took a bell, and when he rang the bell, he had a dog that he would give a bowl of food. So he would ring the bell, have a dog give a bowl of food. So after three months of doing this, he could ring the bell, not give the ball, not give the dog a bone of food, but the dog would still salivate and then prospect about to eat.

00:37:00:03 – 00:37:22:09
Elliott Wald
The anticipation of going to get food, right? Yeah, he’d been conditioned scientists then rats. And they had a light bulb and they turned the light bulb on. They would take the rat given injection of dopamine, which is what we’re seeking as users. Right? Yeah. Measured that dopey level which would spike, turn the light on, give the rat an injection dopamine measure.

00:37:22:09 – 00:37:51:08
Elliott Wald
The spike did this for three months. After three months, they could turn the light bulb on, not give the rat an injection dopamine, or measure the dopamine levels and it would still spike. In other words, it was the thought of the anticipation of about to get dopamine, which is one of the biggest rules of people, is either having it drops off or picking up is one of the biggest anticipations of using, you know, and then the first two lines and then after that it’s all fucking downhill.

00:37:51:10 – 00:38:07:10
Andrew Barr
Oh for sure. But yeah, definitely the anticipation is huge. And I think it’s sort of like, you know, a lot of addicts, we use the drugs and alcohol to escape. Right. So it’s like, oh, I have it in as long as I have it in my possession, no matter what happens, I know that I can. Anything can happen.

00:38:07:10 – 00:38:21:04
Andrew Barr
I know that I have this and I can quickly retreat to this if I need it. I’ve got something for me. So if I if I find something interesting, I’ve got a little bag in my pocket and that’s going to make everything okay. It’s there. And that makes me feel safe somehow.

00:38:21:04 – 00:38:39:20
Elliott Wald
Yeah, yeah. Frenzy. Yeah. It’s that escape from a temporary problem that you’re using and that’s what happens. You know, we did it for our emotions. Have a good day. Oh, had a great comedy act. Things went really well. The audience love me. Oh, I’m going to celebrate. I’m going to get on it. Oh, yeah. Just didn’t go right today.

00:38:39:20 – 00:38:55:18
Elliott Wald
Things weren’t good. I didn’t argue with someone. Had a drop. I lost my wallet. You know, I left my phone in the bar, you know. Oh, I’m just going to get. And that’s what happens. So it becomes this emotional response to use any trigger. They’re just out there.

00:38:55:19 – 00:39:13:10
Andrew Barr
Oh yeah. For sure. Any any reason at all. and I feel like it’s almost comforting to be an addiction because like, even though I knew I had a problem, I was like, as long as I’m wrestling with this problem, I don’t have to wrestle with any of the other ones that I have. Okay. Which are probably more complicated and more difficult to solve.

00:39:13:10 – 00:39:23:19
Andrew Barr
Right? Like it’s, sort of easier to do, like, oh, yeah, I got a drinking problem, then be like, oh, I got to start thinking about that stuff that happened to me when I was a kid or whatever, you know, or how do you.

00:39:23:21 – 00:39:28:13
Elliott Wald
How do you now deal with your emotions? What do you do to deal with your emotions now?

00:39:28:15 – 00:39:53:17
Andrew Barr
Oh, I guess the gym probably helps regulate it a lot. I just, you know, accept that I have to just feel things all the time. You just have to feel all of your feelings 100% of the time, which is jarring and like daunting sometimes. And you’d like to just numb the mountain. But I feel like when you stop numbing things and force yourself to deal with it, it ultimately just makes you stronger.

00:39:53:19 – 00:40:10:07
Andrew Barr
and things become easier to deal with over time. But yeah, definitely. I think for me, the gym is a big one. Like if I’m really upset about something or like annoyed about something, I’ll go to the gym and and lift for a bit, and then usually by the end I’ve got some clarity about the issue.

00:40:10:09 – 00:40:11:17
Andrew Barr
and I feel a little bit better.

00:40:11:21 – 00:40:12:18
Elliott Wald
Or I, I.

00:40:12:18 – 00:40:35:01
Andrew Barr
Find, like, I found that if I’m upset, the gym is good or even, like, clean your room, do the dishes, do something productive. I find that sometimes when something is bothering me, what’s really bothering me is like just something else in the back of my head. Like once, once your room is clean and the dishes are done and you’ve had a workout, everything else seems like it matters so much less.

00:40:35:03 – 00:40:55:08
Elliott Wald
Puts things into perspective. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think the gym is a great coping strategy. yeah. I yeah, most definitely. There was some I was going to sounds like you said, I think, I think, I think we also live in a world now where everything is at our fingertips. Right. You know, we can watch Netflix, we can be on the laptop.

00:40:55:08 – 00:41:14:03
Elliott Wald
We can we can go on Instagram, social media. Everything’s now. Everything’s fast. It means immediate. Right? Like if you go back to the to a day when you had to go out and get wood and build your fire and find your food, we didn’t have time to be bored. And I think one of the major reasons that people use is there’s a boredom factor.

00:41:14:06 – 00:41:16:23
Elliott Wald
Did you find that?

00:41:17:00 – 00:41:37:12
Andrew Barr
yeah, definitely. I would used when I was bored, for sure. and I mean, yeah, the day is long. Like, once you, once you sober up, it is like, sort of I would I, you know, I’ve heard that boredom is a big trigger for a lot of people, and I could see it because once you sober up, you’re like, God damn it, there’s a ton of hours in the day.

00:41:37:12 – 00:42:00:00
Andrew Barr
Like, it does become sort of difficult to fill your day up with shit to do. because, you know, for all of the problems, that alcohol creates, I’ll say this. It’s very effective at passing the time. Like, if I just had a beer in my hand, it didn’t really matter what I was doing. That was like, you know, I didn’t feel bored if I was just holding a beer.

00:42:00:00 – 00:42:19:04
Andrew Barr
I was reasonably entertained for some reason. Yeah. And yeah, once you don’t have that, you’re like, okay, I’m going to do these few things. I’m going to go to the gym, all right. For a little bit. you know, I’ll play some video games. Okay? That’s everything I can think of to do today. Okay. There’s still eight hours of the day left.

00:42:19:05 – 00:42:30:15
Andrew Barr
What am I going to. You know, so I know a lot of guys develop hobbies and stuff like that. I’ve got a dartboard in my house that I that managed just to soak up some time. I know, like, people get into knitting and things like that.

00:42:30:17 – 00:42:31:12
Elliott Wald
Yeah.

00:42:31:14 – 00:42:36:14
Andrew Barr
They do, but yeah, I think an early recovery, a hobby is really good if you can find. Yeah.

00:42:36:18 – 00:42:39:21
Elliott Wald
Which is cool because then you got a hobby, you’ve got the gym. That’s your hobby.

00:42:39:23 – 00:42:45:08
Andrew Barr
Yeah. Gym. You know, I’m there 2 to 3 hours a day, but even still, that’s like there’s still a lot of day left after that.

00:42:45:10 – 00:42:47:10
Elliott Wald
But,

00:42:47:12 – 00:43:17:17
Andrew Barr
yeah. Or hobbies I think in the early going. All right. I, one thing is I’ve started like cooking and baking more, which I really enjoy and that, stuff like that becomes fun once you realize how much time you were spending just drinking, which is nothing like you’re just sitting there doing nothing. Once you replace that with, like, different little hobbies and you start to get better at stuff, it’s like rewarding, you know, like there’s this place around the corner from me that makes, like, the best butter tarts.

00:43:17:19 – 00:43:26:17
Andrew Barr
and I’ve, like, got in my brain. I was like, I want to figure out how they’re doing that. Those are so good. And I’m like, really close now. I’ve been working on that for like, the past couple weeks, and.

00:43:26:17 – 00:43:31:04
Elliott Wald
Like, it’s going to be Andrew Barr, comedian and butter Cat Baker.

00:43:31:09 – 00:43:46:12
Andrew Barr
Yeah. You bet. And they’re. Yeah. They’re so good. And now mine are pretty fucking good too. I’m closed. and there’s like a reward in that. You’re like, oh, look, I know how to do this thing now. And I didn’t know how to do and now, now I know how to make these few different little desserts really well, and I can bring them places.

00:43:46:12 – 00:44:05:05
Andrew Barr
And people are happy when I do that. And you feel like you’re contributing and doing something good, or as, like previously, I would just have spent that time, like sipping a beer, watching TV, like, not really even paying attention to what I’m watching. And that’s the thing some people talk about sobriety like it’s going to be boring.

00:44:05:05 – 00:44:25:17
Andrew Barr
And I’m like, drinking is boring. Like, if you look at it objectively, it’s like I was just drinking the same drink over and over again, sitting in the same spot, going to the same places. it’s like if you were to watch it on video, you’d be like, there’s nothing more boring than what that man is doing right now.

00:44:25:19 – 00:44:41:18
Elliott Wald
It’s like. It’s like using Coke with other people, and you’re having that same conversation you’ve had 5 or 6 times. It’s like Groundhog Day. It’s just the same thing, the same chat, the same conversation, and you don’t realize when you’re in it.

00:44:41:20 – 00:44:49:22
Andrew Barr
Yeah, totally. But once you’re outside of it, you’re like, yeah, that’s really boring. What? I first got out of rehab, I was I had a bit of like the FOMO, right? Fear of missing.

00:44:49:22 – 00:44:50:16
Elliott Wald
Out. Yeah.

00:44:50:16 – 00:45:06:06
Andrew Barr
Just because I was a shut the bar down guy. I was always at the bar until last call. And then oftentimes I knew the bar staff, so I would stay and have a drink with them afterwards. I never missed anything. I was always there. and when I got out, I was like, well, what am I going to do?

00:45:06:06 – 00:45:25:14
Andrew Barr
Like, I’m that’s that’s how I live. I’m going to miss all of this great stuff because I’m going to be going home earlier and whatnot. And then I hung out in the bar one time sober, past midnight. I was like, no one is fucking saying anything. Like, no one’s saying anything to anyone. This is all meaningless.

00:45:25:14 – 00:45:40:21
Andrew Barr
I can like, you know, whatever. People are having fun. That’s great. But I’m like, I don’t need to be here for this. Like, I can go home and get a reasonable amount of sleep and then get up and go to the gym. and I’m going to feel great. I don’t I don’t need to be here for this stuff.

00:45:40:23 – 00:45:51:05
Elliott Wald
Andrew, let me ask you a question before we before we finish up. yeah. What advice would you give to somebody who’s struggling with addiction?

00:45:51:07 – 00:46:09:05
Andrew Barr
I would say, like, you know, just just accepting that you have the problem is huge, you know, until you’ve accepted it, you can’t deal with it. I would say don’t be afraid or ashamed to get help. In what? In whatever form that takes for you. I, I talk to people all the time on my Instagram.

00:46:09:05 – 00:46:28:15
Andrew Barr
If anybody wants to reach out. not that I’m like, I’m only a year ish sober, so I’m not like, an expert, but I’m always happy to chat with people. if they’re if they need to talk. I think daily routine is is massive and early recovery. Like I said, just give yourself a few healthy things at the start of every day.

00:46:28:17 – 00:46:30:15
Andrew Barr

00:46:30:17 – 00:46:45:13
Elliott Wald
And what advice would you give to somebody who’s let’s take let’s put you in the position of your friends doing the intervention. What what advice would you give to somebody who’s got a friend or a loved one who’s got an addiction?

00:46:45:15 – 00:46:47:10
Andrew Barr
I don’t know, that’s tough. I mean.

00:46:47:10 – 00:46:51:15
Elliott Wald
Yeah, I wanted to mix it up because that’s the position your friends were in.

00:46:51:17 – 00:47:19:12
Andrew Barr
Yeah. And I know, and it was it was really hard for them, I guess. I mean, you can do the intervention. it works for me. I it was hard for them to do it, but it did work. it was intense, but, I guess, you know, don’t be afraid to at least put the thought in your friend’s brain that they might have a problem, even if it feels uncomfortable.

00:47:19:14 – 00:47:45:00
Andrew Barr
Right. It’s ultimately, you could be saving their life versus worrying about having an uncomfortable conversation, I guess. And if you really notice that someone is struggling, it might be good for them to understand that the struggle is visible to other people. because, you know, sometimes you think it’s only affecting you. Like, for a while, I thought that I was really just hurting myself, and I was like, okay with that because I had no self-worth.

00:47:45:00 – 00:48:05:03
Andrew Barr
So I was like, as long as it’s just me in pain, then I’m okay with that, which is bad. But, once I started to understand the effect it was having on people around me, I think that made me take it more seriously. so you know, I think it doesn’t hurt to just, you know, let them know.

00:48:05:03 – 00:48:13:06
Andrew Barr
Hi. People can see that you’re struggling, and we’re here to help. and that, you know, we hope you’re open to that fantastic actress.

00:48:13:06 – 00:48:15:03
Elliott Wald
And, Thank you. Go.

00:48:15:05 – 00:48:18:07
Andrew Barr
Oh, and that that might help them feel a little bit less alone, you know.

00:48:18:09 – 00:48:34:15
Elliott Wald
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much for joining me. It’s an absolute pleasure to have this interview with you. and I wish you the very best. Staying clean, sober, focused. Get in the gym in my friend. Yeah. Yeah. It’s been a pleasure. Yeah, I yeah, it’s been.

00:48:34:20 – 00:48:36:03
Andrew Barr
Thanks so much for having me.

00:48:36:05 – 00:48:36:16
Elliott Wald
Pleasure.