The Glenn Beck Program - Ep 198 | An Addict's Redemption Story the World NEEDS to Hear | Jeff Allen | The Glenn Beck Podcast

Episode Date: October 14, 2023

Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, Jeff Allen has become a master at clean comedy — no crudeness, no swearing, no political incorrectness … just jokes. And amid the recent terror attack in Israel, crashing economies around the world, and a tension between Republicans and Democrats in America that grows daily, every single person could benefit from listening to Jeff Allen's unique humor. But Allen’s life wasn’t always about good timing and funny stories. He sits down with Glenn in this episode of “The Glenn Beck Podcast” to tell his full story. His book, “Are We There Yet: My Journey from a Messed-Up to Meaningful Life,” details everything from addiction and his rock bottom to the moment that changed everything and turned him fully toward Christ. He tells Glenn about his nonchalant marriage proposal at an airport baggage claim in Cleveland, Ohio, a hilarious incident on a ski lift, and how performing with Dry Bar Comedy helped “change [his] life.” But ultimately, this conversation provides what most of us need after being bombarded with devastating news around the world day after day: a good cry and a good laugh.   SPONSORS: My Patriot Supply is the nation’s largest preparedness company. Go to https://mypatriotsupply.com and when you buy their three-month emergency food kit, which lasts up to 25 years in storage, you’re going to get a bonus package of crucial survival gear – worth over $200 – for free!   Home Title Lock. Home title fraud is growing 2.5x faster than credit card fraud. You could be a victim and not even know it. Visit https://HomeTitleLock.com and use the promo code BECK to get 30 days of free protection.   When you buy socks from https://grip6.com/BECK, you’re supporting American ranchers and American manufacturers. You’re also getting a pair of socks that keep your feet warm in the winter and cool in the summer.   Right now, you can save $200 on an EdenPURE Thunderstorm Air Purifier 3-pack for whole-home protection. You’ll get three units for under $200. That's a fraction of the cost compared to other air purifiers that can go for over $600. Just go to http://edenpuredeals.com and enter discount code GLENN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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to the world entire. Trouve of little enterprises like on our own.com. There is an important ratio in the world of comedy. The more offensive a joke is, the funnier it becomes, for all kinds of reasons,

cultural reasons, psychological, religious, social, political, you name it. but you better not take that risk with your audience and flop. So the more offensive a joke is, the funnier it has to be. On the flip side of this is the clean comedy, clean comedians, stand-ups like Jim Gaffigan, Jerry Seinfeld. Even the most offensive comedians will tell you,

a clean comedy routine is much harder than the offensive to funny ratio. because while offensive comedy allows the comic to see just how far they can take it, clean comedy, requires the comic to let the joke loose by raining it in. Today's guest is a clean comedian. He has been performing since 1978. He most likely coined the terms happy wife, happy life. And would you rather be right or would you rather be happy? Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, he has become a master at clean comedy.

But he's also a clean comedian, clean as in clean and sober. It wasn't always that way. In fact, he had some real demons to wrestle with. Now in his book, Are We There Yet? My Journey from a messed up to a meaningful life, he's telling the entire story, including some of the darkest moments of his life, his rock bottom as he fought addiction to alcohol and cocaine. He has an amazing life and an amazing journey

that I think you might be able to relate to in some way or another, but also learn from. Please welcome, my friend, Jeff Allen. Did you know that we actually see with our brains and not our eyes? Your brain constantly senses what's happening around you, fills in so much. How and what we see not only depends on the strength of our own eyes, but it also helps the brain make optimal decisions.

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Biometric intelligence glasses with artificial intelligence from rodentstock at Better Spectacle. You will have seamless vision no matter where you look in your glasses. Schedule your teleoptical appointment and get your glasses for 61% off now at Better Spectacles.com slash back. That's Better Spectacles.com slash back. Hello, Jeff. Hello, Mr. Beck. It's good. Good to have you here.

Yeah, it's nice to be here. It's been a while since you've been here. Yeah, you finally dropped the charges and you let me come back. I was hanging around so much. I think I became a nuisance. You are, you're doing fabulous, fabulous stuff right now. At this point in my life, which is great, because when it ends, I can just retire. I told Tammy, I said, you know, if I hit this at 35 and it runs for five years, I got a lot of years to try to figure out how to get it back.

Is success, do you think... sweeter at your age now? It's, I don't know if it would be sweeter. It's just nice, again, it's a good run. I'm 67, so if I can make it to 70, you know.

And you, man, you look a thousand years younger than Joe Biden. Yeah, well, I have a lot less stress, you know. I'm not trying to hide in 16 offshore accounts. Holy cow. I have one bank account. Yeah. You've written a new book, and it's called Are We There Yet? Yes. And I've read it, and I want you to take us through the story. And are we there yet actually comes from something. I'm an alcoholic, you're an alcoholic. It's a recovery. Yeah, we're a couple of recovered dirtbags. Where does are we there yet come from?

It's the journey. I had this image of when I, started recovery of being like a child I walk into those rooms I had no idea what it meant where I was going and I was not in charge of anything I did what I was told to do they told me to pray I didn't believe in God I said all right I'll pray so it's interesting I did the serenity prayer and I did the third step prayer for years not even knowing what they meant you know especially the third step prayer which is what my life is today you know remove me from the bondage of self so that I may better do thy will take away my difficulty so that victory over them others may bear witness to thy strength thy power and their way of life so i did what i was told like a child so when i was putting

a book together i started thinking you know it's really is a journey and you are like in your parents car in the back seat yeah and recovery's like they leave you at a rest area with the keys and say yeah have a nice life yeah and you have no idea what direction to go where to go and you make mistakes along the way and and i'm in the impatience i don't know of other people people in recovery, but I had, I went to therapy and my first question was, how long know I got to do this? I don't want to come to you the rest of my life. I know. And she said, fortunately, God gave me a wonderful therapist. She said, my goal is to get you to fire me as soon as possible. That's great. You know, when you can be your own therapist, you don't need me. So I know

that one of my problems was I started drinking, same age as you, 13. And, um, uh, and, um, uh, but I was successful early on and for whatever that means. And my, am I there yet, was different. Mine was, I'm supposed to be happy now. Right. No, I've accomplished this. So it must be, it must be that over there that I need. And you never, ever hit that.

Does that make sense to you? Yes, it's about 100%. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I remember early knowing it was, wouldn't be money. I was drinking and, and, and, um, I remember telling everybody when I got into comedy, I quit a job making $300 a week. So I'm 22 years old and I said, if I can make $300 a week telling jokes, man.

So I hit that pretty quick. Then it was $500. Then it was $750,000. I got up to like $2,000 maybe in the clubs a week. That was money. Pissing it away. Yeah, it was just spending it on coke and drugs and whatever, you know. So I knew in my heart of hearts, no matter how much money I made, I remember saying if I hit the lottery, when the Illinois lottery came in, my response was, I'm going to buy a silo full of cocaine.

And I mean, I'm a young adult. I'm not 16. I'm 25 years old going, I'm going to buy a silo. So, you know, thank God I didn't win the lottery. Oh, I know. You know, but that was, so I knew that. So my there was, okay, maybe if I can just get the Tonight Show. And I remember a guy saying to me,

what are you going to do after you get to Tonight Show? Yeah. I don't know. Well, one Tonight Show ain't going to, you know, but back then Johnny gave you the pan in the back, you know. But still, I didn't have a plan. I talk about that in the book. Yeah.

I was a planless, you know. And when I married Tammy, I asked her to marry me at baggage claim. Yeah, well, let's get into that for a second. First, when you just brought up Johnny Carson, um, dry bar is kind of like Johnny Carson today, isn't it? Oh my gosh, changed my life. Yeah. And it was funny because I worked, I was on tour, October of the previous year.

I taped in January of 2019. So October, I get a call for my manager. You're going to do dry bar? I go, what's that? I had no clue what it was. And I was out there with Brad Upton on tour. And Brad says it changed his life. I go, what do mean?

He goes, I got 100 million views. And I go, what? Never even heard of it. So I tell Tammy, my wife, I'm doing dry bar. She goes, oh my gosh, it's in my feet every day. I go, what the heck is? Why did you tell me? No one of I'm such a success.

I don't even know what the biggest. Who's this Carson? Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah. So anyway, I tape in January. And I hired a social media guy immediately that I couldn't afford. It was more than my mortgage.

And we're fine, but we're broke. You know, we're living okay. So I can't pay the guy, but I tell my manager I'm going to hire this guy. and get things in place in case my dry bar connects. So I get there January, and I said, when are you going to release this? He says, six months. They go, I can't pay this guy for six months. So anyway, as God would have it, two weeks later, they call and go, this is really good.

We're going to release it like in two weeks. So that's March. They release it. And every day, Tammy, I walk out. She's going, we're up to 20 million views. We're up to 40 million views. to 70 million views. I had called my financial guy and said,

I'm going to need money in the summer. I'm going to have to pull out of my IRA to get through the summer. Wow. My calendar was empty from June to August. And by the end of April, we return and work down. And it was like, holy cow. I'll tell you what, the funniest story, my manager, I got a rule.

I don't work outside. That goes back to, you know, I was doing a show and had a hot air balloon 50 feet from me. Oh, he's good for comedy. Right. And right before I'm leaving the staff, okay, I've adjusted to the hot air. Some guy comes by at a bullhorn. The hot dogs are ready, kids.

The hot dogs are ready. So my manager was with me, and I said, that's it. No more outdoor. And so anyway, he calls me up. And he says, I got some good news and bad news. And I said, what's the bad news? He says, you're working somebody's backyard in Long Island for their husband's 65th birthday. Oh, my gosh.

Oh, Lenny. He goes, I saw it. What's the good news? He goes, it's 10 grand. I go, what? He goes, she didn't even blink. I go, what? I'm there.

Yeah, well, yeah. I'm coming in my hot air balloon. An example of the poor like nature of my existence. I learned early on in my life. I'm for a cause until it inconveniences me. This goes back to Tammy's pregnancy. Yeah. So let me, so let's go back.

You're 10 years into your stand-up. Your dad gives you your first mention of your stand-up. Ten years you're doing stand-up. He first says something to you. But the one thing you relate to your dad on is Cosby and comedy albums. Tell me about your dad. Hard man to get close to. I think there was some severe damage done maybe at church because of his reaction.

to anything church really told me when I was 14 to stay away from Christians. His father was a pastor. His brother was a pastor. Here's a story. My uncle Ken, my dad's brother, much younger than my dad was an accident. I always wanted to share the gospel with my dad, right? So anyway, my father was just intimidating to everybody. So my mother's passing away from ovarian cancer.

My uncle gets called to Arizona, and he thinks God's calling him to share the gospel with my dad. So my mother goes to bed. She's tired. She's doing chemo and stuff, and she goes to bed. Now it's my dad and his brother in this front room watching TV, and it gets really quiet. And Kenny goes, you know, Jack? And my father goes, cram it, Kenny. So the mere mention of anything.

He was a difficult guy. He had very talented, man. Could have went to Juilliard. I was told this. Again, this is anecdotal. I kind of related to Elizabeth Warren when she said, well, that's what I was told. Right. Me too.

You know, yeah. You can only go with the family. Yeah. His sister told me, my aunt said that your father was invited to Juilliard out of the army to play music. And he wanted to paint. My father was a, I'd love to show you. I got a Louis Armstrong painting. My father painted.

That was when he died. My sister said he didn't leave us much. money. I said you can have all the money. I just want the Louis Armstrong painting. Wow. It was a, I just bought a huge piece of art in Idaho. I saw it. I had to have it. It was one of Louis songs. Somebody put into a big piece of metal. We're going to put on the wall. I mean, every time I hear Louie, I think of my father. But never painted at home. My mom said he sent paintings off to Europe and they got destroyed. They fell in somewhere and he burned everything. He had beautiful portraits of my mother, she said.

In the end of his life, he started painting again. He would go around Arizona and take pictures of weathered Native Americans and stuff. He didn't want to buy a picture of somebody and paint it. He wanted to, and that's why he was convicted on the first, he was the first road rage. What? This is, again, antidote, I understand that my father wanted to get a picture of a hawk. Again, he doesn't want to buy a picture of a hawk and paint. He wanted to shoot a picture of a walk.

Couldn't get one. So one day he's at a red light. And there's a hawk on some roadkill. They always had his camera next to him. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, he gets out of the car. And he's, you gotta know my dad. He's got arthritis.

He can't move. So he's crawling on the ground. And he's getting the camera, and the light turns green. And the woman behind him honks. And the hawk flies away. Well, he lays into her. I mean, you, F and, you know. Oh.

So anyway, she takes his license plate down. So my mother's telling me this story because dad's in jail. So anyway, she says the state trooper came in and she said, all he had to say was, you know, I lost, I got a little out of control. The guy would let him go. Your father had to reenact the whole thing. I mean, all the way down to, he's flanging his arms. He's cussing.

They lived in a trailer park, so people are coming out of their trailer parks to look at him. I mean, he could have been a great actor. Anyway, the guy cuffed him and hauled him away. So your dad, you think there was. maybe some abuse, church. I also think bipolar. Okay. My dad also abused, and it was fused with church.

Didn't happen with a pastor or anything, but it was fused with a church. Had the same kind of experience, and my dad was abused by his father. And my father told me this. Maybe when I turned about 50, I think. and nobody knew and I'm the only one he told and I think

in reading the book I'm thinking gosh you're sharing some really you know not so great things and I thought but you know what I know I've

told my children especially my son about my father and his father and now i'm the father and he's the first generation that could be free right of all of that because it's a generational thing well i told both my boys on their wedding day i sat him down and i said i've saddled you with things that you are completely unaware of you were too young to know but your wife will draw them out of you you're going to act in a way as a husband or a man that you find unbecoming to who you think you are.

Come talk to me. And my oldest son went to Iraq. He came home. We had PTSD and some TBI. We were at our granddaughter's fourth. She's four years old, and she's doing a little dance thing. And we come out to the garage, and my son is in the process of ripping the door off his minivan.

Just had a fit ripping. I mean, just. And his wife, what a saint. She stood by, watched the whole thing, you know. And he finished. I just, I felt, because I used to have fits like that, you know. That was one of those things. But she let him do it, rips it off.

And then he sits there, he's exhausted, embarrassed and shamed. She walks over and says, Aaron, why don't you go down, you know, take a seat, we'll get the door on and we'll go home. I got in the car, I told Tammy, thank God she married him. That's the way to handle it. So many would get in there and go, what are you an idiot? And the next thing, the second door is getting ripped off.

And the third door, you're smashed, you know. But that was one of those moments that I said to him. I said, that's, I used to, you know, throw fits, you know, and out of nowhere, you know. I mean, I write about one in the book where I was pounding on a heavy bag. I had installed a 50-pound heavy bag to hit when the rage come up, so I didn't smash dishes. So I was out there pounding one day. And Tammy and I got into an argument.

I just went out. And years later, she told me, she goes, you know, I never said this to you. But when you hit that bag, I thought you were hitting me. Wow. Yeah. Can you imagine? I said, God, no. Maybe I was just hidden.

Just hidden. This bile, you know. So I'm pounding it falls off and I'm picking it up. And I'm throwing it against the cinder block fence. Just exhausted, screaming at the heavens. Why? You know, why? I mean, I, again, just, it's as if, you know.

Where did it come from? I don't know. You know, my father, the men in her family were, you know, and that's when we were, you know, we're backing up out of the story out of the sequence, but we had filled out of divorce papers. and we're filing them. And 10 minutes from the courthouse, Tammy changed her mind and said,

let's pull over. And she says, let's go home. I said, you're out. She said, what do you mean? I said, Tammy, I love you. But I'm damaged goods. I don't know if I'm ever going to change. You know, I'd go long stretches without,

but eventually I would snap and smash things. And, you know, she grew up in a home where if someone lost their temper, she got hit. The therapist told me that. She goes, every time you raise your voice. voice, it triggers all that stuff in your wife, and she just coweres. You know, so I, you know, but I told her I'm damaged, you know, she said, let's go home. I said, we go home, divorces off the table. You know what you got now, you know, when we got

married, we didn't know each other, you know, it was just two broken people that God put together, you know, and tried to figure all of that out. I never had a relationship over a week until I got married. Let me go back to your dad for a second, and we're going to jump to your marriage. Your brother won, I think it was a little league championship. I did. You did. That was mine.

You, okay. And dad came in. Yeah, it was funny. My father, because I was pretty good athlete, actually really good. And my father told me years later, he goes, you know, I didn't want, I was proud of you, but I didn't want to tell you that because I didn't want you to get a big head. And I said, it worked. Yeah.

I have no steam at all. Thank you. Yeah, when he told me I was a good comic, I crawled in about, I was 30-some years old. He says, you're really a good comic. And I crawled in and told Tammy, I said, well, I got it. She was, what, approval from the old man? She was, are you a whole now?

I go, nah, no. It's about 33 years to think. So, but your dad came in and told you, God doesn't exist. Right. And he chose the highest, I know. The highest point of my young life. The proudest moment of my life.

I won MVP at an all-star baseball tournament. I was sitting there with the trophy, and he said, you're gonna, if you travel, you know, we talked about playing professional sports. You know, so if you'd manage to defeat all the odds and become a professional, someone's gonna come to you and tell you that that talent you have is God-given, and this is what you tell them, kiss your ass.

There is no God. And then he went in to just, telling me, you know, his views on metaphysics and, and Christians are the worst. I can just, you know, there's a thing, I was talking to somebody whose parent is getting old, and they're like, you know, before I go, I should tell you, and you're like, no, don't tell me that. I don't want to know that. There's some things. Tell me you love me.

Yeah, things that parents do, you're like, there's no reason to tell me that. Yeah, the worst thing apparent, when they tell me that. It's for your own good. I did that for you. Yeah. I didn't want you to get a big head. Yeah. You know.

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Enter the discount code Glenn. That's Edenpuredeals.com. Discount code, Glenn. Okay, so now you meet Tammy. You're how old? 29. You're 29. 30.

30. So you're... 29. You're still thinking of the silo of cocaine? Oh, I'm using. Yeah, you know. Yeah, but I, you know. But you're...

Yeah, I'm headlining clubs. And I've been at it. for seven, eight years now. Okay. And going to a club. And I do this in the, you know, I fell in love with her laugh. Smoker, you know, 37 years. You know, all that gagging, gasping, wheezing that annoys the general population.

Right. When you hear that as a comic. Yeah. You love it. Yeah. So I heard this symphony of joy coming from the back of the road. Yeah. You know.

And I run back after the show. You make her sound so beautiful. And she is. She is gorgeous. She is beautiful. You just make her. So anyway, I run back off this because I'm, you know, I got to meet her. I mean, obviously she digs me because she's laughing so hard.

And anyway, she's gone. I go, just she die? I mean, did they haul her away? They go, she was changing clothes. She walks out, just short leather skirt, white blouse and perms, you know, 80s. Just that was it, you know. It's funny years later. My son goes so, you know, you and mom, I see.

said, yeah, I met her at a club. I followed her around two days before she even noticed me. So you stalked her. I go, that would be today's terms. That'd be what they call it today. Back then, it's only if you were creepy, and I hadn't hit the creep stage yet. Single mom, she had a two-year-old. And I'm working two jobs.

So that impressed me because I could barely do one. Right. And did you like kids? No. Yeah. No, I told her. And it's, you know, she, it's interesting. She read the final draft.

I told her, you got to read the, and be okay with my version of what we went through. And she read like the first two chapters and put it down. And we were horrible people. And she worries because the few interviews she done, they really look at her and go, why'd you stay with them? You know, I mean, it's a legitimate question. So security, that's one of her answers. I wouldn't answer for her.

I don't want to answer for her. But I told her at one point, keep him away from me. I don't like kids. Oh, my gosh. You know, and like she said, she goes, the woman I am today wouldn't even step foot in the room with you, who you were. And I go, I don't know if I date you, the man I am today.

I certainly wouldn't date a smoker. I mean, you don't have to put up with that for, she used to light up in bed at 2 a.m. Does this bother you? No, I've always slept in pool hall. This is great. She's cowering in the corner because you're breaking stuff and you're like, and smoking.

My favorite would she quit. I used to see junkies coming off of heroin in better shape. So I walk in one day. She's like two days without a cigarette. And she's frantically running around, I mean, and screaming at me. And I said, what is your problem? She says, I can't find the keys.

And she's waving them at me. I can't find my keys. and I said, they're in your hand. And she looks, and she had hard candy that she would suck on, right? And I said, if you're waiting for me, the drug addict, to tell you to go have a pack of cigarettes because you're having a bad day. She throws the whole hard bag candy, goes up to fly and Jay comes back going, I'm okay now. So I never thought she'd quit, but those grandkids, the granddaughter, or the daughter-in-laws,

said that they would not bring the kids by if she's. She was smoking. That will change things. It did. Emensely. She started vaping and then now she's been off cigarettes for quite a while. So you were at the airport when you asked her to marry. I met her in November, January.

I was living in L.A. She was in Ohio. I flew her and a two-year-old out to L.A. Played dad for a week, took the kid to the beach and Disneyland or something. In April, I'm flying on a red eye. Somewhere maybe over Nebraska, maybe my sixth or seventh cocktail. I decided I would ask her to marry me. you know, no ring, no plan.

You know, again, no plan. And I always tell audiences, if there's a young man within the sound of my voice, I don't recommend this. I mean, if you want to do something on impulse, buy a pair of shoes. So I'm at baggage claim, and I just say, I love you. I love Aaron. You want to get married?

And she says, pardon me? I said, do you want to get married? You and I, so she knew who I was talking about. Right. And the bags are coming down on the belly. Right. Right. We're just collecting luggage.

So anyway. Very romantic. Yes. And then she waits and she finally looks at me. And this is a direct quote. Yeah, I guess if that's what you want. It was like I said, yeah, you want to go to McDonald's for breakfast. Yeah, if that's what you want.

I was no different. No different. You're at the baggage claim. Right. I mean, that's kind of the response you would expect. Well, I always say I pay the price for that because every movie we watch where a guy does it right, she cries and sobs. And I go, I'll ask you again, all right, please.

And she says, no. My story's back. That's what I got for a story. Thanks. I did ask you to marry me again in Israel. We went out to Israel with Huckabee. And I told Mike, I said, distract my wife. I'm going to buy her a ring at one of the merchants there.

And I bought a ring. And it was so funny because I was so nervous asking her marry me again. We were married 33 years. I'm up there shaking. And you hear her whisper on the tape, get on one knee. Oh, I forgot. God. Yeah, so I wanted to correct one of the wrongs, you know, that I could.

So anyway. Did she say yes? Yeah, she did actually. Boy, geez. There was, she had to, you know. Yeah, yeah, no. A slight hesitation. It's strange because I did something similar when we were in England recently.

And I had the same kind of nerves. Yeah, the butterflies and the nerves. And I'm like, she ain't going anywhere. You know what I mean? But it's just, it's neat. It's neat. It's neat when you find it. Um, so when you're performing, you're drinking, your drugging, your empty inside.

I think those were your exact words. Yeah, the classic story I write about in the book is I was sitting on a stool in a hockey rink because everybody was doing comedy in the 80s. So I'm sitting in this hockey rink and can't even get a word out. And I finally just go, why are we here? What's the point? Dead sign. I mean, 500 people in this ring.

You can hear a pin drop. And out of the back of the room, some little squeaky woman goes, we just want to hear some jokes. Isn't that great? And I go, that is legit. And I ended up doing my show and finish it. But it was like, that was where I was at.

Agents would call him, you know, my managers at the time and just go, what's the problem with him, man? But it was like, I just didn't know what the point. to all of it was. That's all. I mean, I used to tell people that you, I don't know if you know what it's like to wake up every day your life with just absolutely no idea of what you want to do with your life. You know, I was going through the motions. I mean, I had a, I had a skill set. I had one. You know, I can do comedy. But when that ran out, you know, the veneer ran off of that

pretty quick in the 90s when all of a sudden, you know, your babysitting drunks. You know, the money was going down. I could barely pay the bills, you know, and yeah, I tried to, it was very funny, I tried to do temp work. And they call me and say, it says here you're a comedian. And I said, I am. And they said, well, would you like to seek people for this particular comedian at the theater? Oh my gosh. Yeah. Listen, so anyway, I'm not going to give you the name of the guy, but Tammy heard it. You're not seeking people for that hack. you're a comic fire your agent

god I'm sick of it she's like shaking me she's just this is what you do you're good in what you do just be that you know and anyway I fired my agent he said she was right

he's got you convinced I hired my father for an agent I mean basically had me convinced that I was lucky enough to be making you know it's amazing what the what people

you know Sinatra said just getting kick out of stomping on a dream. Yeah. And it's amazing the damage those people can do to somebody. Well, I had a club owner. I was a year and a half into it.

And he goes, you'll never make a living at this. And I said, thank you. He goes, you're welcome. I said, no, anybody who's ever made anything of their life has had some a hole in the course of their life, tell them they're not going to make anything of your life. You're my a hole. I'm still telling the story. Yeah.

I have that same guy. So when did you sober up during this period? What year was it? it was, I got sober at 25 briefly. I was still doing cocaine, so technically I'm doing. You know, this is hard to drink. He's alcoholic synonymous. All right.

His is cocaine. Completely different. I'm sitting in meetings, you know, going to the bathroom and coming around. You know, so it didn't last long. Let's just put it that way. But I knew if I went back, I'd stay. And the story I write in the book, which is we had a discussion over whether or not I should print this, you know.

but it's already out on the internet. I spank my six-month-old son. No, no. No. Tell the whole story. Okay. Okay. And I want to preface this.

I know you. And the reason why I wanted to do this interview with you is because there are so many dark things that all of us do, one way or another. And there's a lot of people who will listen to this and go, ooh, I've been there, or I am there. Right. And the reason why I wanted to do this interview is because you are not this man anymore. No. You're not this man.

No. Well, I had come home. We were living in Boston, and I'd come home. And as I had been, you know, it was like one or two in the morning. And I'm sitting in my makeshift office, drinking some rum and doing some cocaine, trying to figure out why I've. I'm so miserable where all of this guilt came from. I never had guilt.

I mean, I got arrested, part of being a drunk. You get arrested, you know, all this stuff. So never had guilt about it, you know. It was annoying and it bothered me, but it was never this deep-seated guilt. And I realized it's probably started when I got married. We're not even a year married now. And I come to the conclusion that it's the marriage.

So I need to get out of this marriage. I don't do conflict well. I just don't. Growing up, conflict, you know, if I stood up for myself, I got pitched against the wall. So when we start conflict as a man and wife, my fight or flights kicks in. Hers has to too. Well, she is, hers is, she was beat. So she pushes to stop it.

And this is what the therapist told me. Because I said, why does she keep pushing me when I tell her, just give me five minutes? She has to stop it. She doesn't understand it's counterproductive to keep pushing. So anyway, she's sleeping. It's 2 in the morning. The kids are asleep. And I decide that if I beat her up, she'd leave you.

She'll leave me. And I'm out. I can just send money. So anyway, I work, you know, drinks and whatever. Part of me is like, obviously, this is crazy. But then the other part's going, I got to, I got to. So anyway, I walk in. I finally.

Is it an amazing? I hate to use the word courage. I worked up the courage to do this. I mean, it's not. So anyway, I walk in and I'm standing over in that voice that we all have. C.S. Lewis said it in mere Christianity. I mean, you can deny, but we have a conscience, all of us. We know right or wrong.

So I'm wrestling with that. And then my son starts crying. He's six months old. And I got to go in and quiet him. And he's not quieting. And I, again, start spanking them. Shut up, shut up, shut up. She wakes up.

She comes in. She grabs him from me. She says, who does this? And then she walks in and sits on the head of bed and feeds him. And while he was getting fed, I realized what I had done. I mean, the shame that washed over me. I mean, it was like humiliating. I'm like, oh, my gosh.

And then to think what I could have done. Right. So I walked in and told her, if you don't take me to Alcoholics Anonymous, I won't go. And if I don't go, I don't think we're going to make it. Not even thinking. You know, she already had one child from another guy. And we're not even a year into this one. She's got another child.

And here's her husband. I don't think we're going to make it. Oh, my God. I told a friend months later. He had a small child, and he was an alcoholic. And I said, you're going to come home one night and look at that kid. You're going to do one of two things. You're going to run for the hills.

You're going to get to help you need. And he was in Massachusetts, and I found out he was living in San Francisco. The ocean stopped them. I'm glad I stuck, you know. But she took me, and then they said, pray. I said, to what? And then it started the whole. And when you first started,

you were I mean you're working in a comedy business you're at bars right well I said if you if you like to sleep get a job in a mattress factory is that's right

so you're at bars but you're now trying to stop drinking somebody thinks they're doing you a favor at one point pours vodka in your orange juice right without you knowing yeah and then I spit it across the bar

and then I go to a meeting and go and then I lose my sobriety because all of a sudden I don't know when I quit. You know, I count the years now. I don't count the days. But it's like you go, I don't, but anyway, and some guy goes, what are you doing in a bar?

And I said, I make my living. I'm a comedian. He goes, you have to quit your job. And I said, I didn't come here for career advice. I came here to try to learn to live in a world that has alcohol in it. And if you can't help me, I can save myself six, seven hours a week, but not coming in here, you know. And my sponsor gave me.

me the greatest, he said the greatest thing to me because of my ego and my pride. I was complaining that I couldn't drink like all the other drunks. And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. Who says you can't drink? You're a big boy. Nobody's going to stop you. But think it through, man. You know, it's going to cost you. I'm not talking about the five or six dollars for the drink. You can lose your wife, your kids, all this stuff. So why don't you just say you choose not to drink today. So then it became like, I choose not to try. Right. Right. It's my pride. Right. You know, I could. Yeah. I could if I wanted to. I don't want to. I see those, you know, so anyway, it was really good for me to hear that. I could. And that was the way I phrased it. People go,

you want to drink? I go, nah, not today. You know, I might tomorrow, but not today. Back with Jeff Allen in just a second. First, let me tell you, since the early days of Blaze TV, we have been fortunate enough to work with the team at Relief Factor. They brought this anti-inflammatory to the marketplace. They had tested it in their hometown of Seattle, and it showed remarkable ability to reduce pain for many different types of chronic ailments. At the time they were introduced, I was in terrible pain. I didn't use it because I thought it was like ibuprofen, and ibuprofen never works for me,

ever. My wife, finally, about two years in, said, why? Why don't you try this? And I said, because it's not going to work. Ibuprofen. This isn't ibuprofen. This, the ibuprofen attacks your inflammation one direction. This comes from four different directions.

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But you were still having problems at home. Oh, God. Yeah. Whatever I drank to cover up came off in the form of rage. My father, the worst and most violently ever was is when he quit drinking for two years. My dad had rules. Self. Rules.

If you go into work and fed your family, you can do whatever you want. want as a man. So anyway, he missed work one day because he couldn't get out of bed because he was hung over. And he quit drinking for two years. And, man, he smashed brooks. You know, what a favorite. I laugh.

It's funny. I had a therapist tell me. Every time you tell me something about your dad, you laugh about it. Well, that's the way I grew up. I mean, you know. So anyway, he tossed a spare tire. He couldn't get the lug nuts off.

So he just broke all four or five. Oh, my gosh. And he tosses the tire up the street. Cussing all the way of people coming out of their homes. Oh, it's just Jack. All the way up the street, down the street, you know. And, you know, as a kid, it's, you know, it's your dad. It's kind of embarrassing.

I was never home, you know. I just got to a point where I never, if his car was in a driveway, I turned around and go back to a friend's house. So at this time, you have another fight, and this one really turns you around with Tammy. You have another fight where you fly across the room and. Well, that was upstairs, yeah. We were in the middle of an argument.

And this is, now I'm in therapy. And I don't know if you did therapy. I did. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but you have to, once you cover, once you uncover it, then you're just left with this thing. And you're so afraid to look in it. Right. So afraid to look at it.

But also, it's like, oh, wow. That's true. When you get a therapist. Well, that's it. Yeah. So anyway, I, uh, we're in the middle of an argument, blah, blah, blah. And, uh, she throws a toy at me and hits me in the head. And I fly across.

I get her by it. It's the only time I've ever laid. my hands on her. And I went like that. And I just pulled back and she started pummeling me. Just pummeling me. And I let her. I just, oh my God. So now we sit down and it gets quiet. My youngest boy walks over and he says, look, Daddy. He pulls a book out. Look, Daddy. He's trying to get me to laugh. And I read Bradshaw's book on Family Dynamics. The youngest is the comedian, the good nature. So anyway, I said, that's our comedian. Tammy goes, what are you talking about?

And then a lamp goes down in the living room. Smash. And I said, Aaron did that on purpose. She goes, why would he do that? So we'd stop fighting. I said, today, it's a lamp. Tomorrow, it's drug addiction. It's liquor store.

It's whatever. They're going to get your attention. If we don't take care of us, these kids are going to be destroyed. She says, you're crazy. I said, I'm telling you, Tammy. Everything we're doing, we were programmed to do. We just got to break.

the program. That's hard. Oh my God. Well that was it. I mean I don't know if I can do it because we're sitting but I have a therapist telling me you can't hit anything anymore. You can't punch walls. You can't. So like I go, what do I do with my hands when I feel like doing the she goes put them in your pocket. So Tammy and I are in the middle of an argument. I don't want to think that we argued every you know but yeah yeah yeah. But anyway, these are highlights. Yeah. Well, low lights. Low lights. Yeah. So anyway, I'm in the living room with my hands in my pockets and I'm shaking. Tammy finally goes,

what is with you? I go, I just want to punch something. She goes, my God, what is wrong? But she can't get it. I mean, they don't understand. I mean, anybody who's, unless you've suffered from that kind of anger where something clicks, you're not there anymore. You're not there.

And it has to run its course. Yeah. You know, I mean, I have to, you know, and for me, it's shame. When shame kicks, then you humiliate. And then I'm gone. I am gone. So I got to catch it before I do something that makes me ashamed to myself. Whether I raise my voice and yell or say something,

as long as I don't do that, I'm fine. But when it kicks in and that computer goes, it's like, wow. I mean, again, I'm not, I can't, but you can't excuse it. You know, I'd walk back in and go, I know, I know, you're sorry. I am. I don't have anything else for you. I don't know why I do this, you know. I mean, that's why I'm in the backyard,

throwing a 50-pound bag around yelling at the heavens. Why? Why? Why? So what did you learn in therapy? I learned that we are, as children, anger is a cover emotion for sadness. We're usually deeply sad in this children. And it comes to a point where whatever age you are, you're sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad. And then one day you go, I'm not going to feel.

feel this anymore. So every time sadness kicks, you cover it with the anger. That's what I learned. And the computer starts at a very young age with that. And children can't verbalize their feelings, so they act them out. You know, I always tell this story because to me, we had this Aaron bid, my youngest, my oldest bit. He didn't know how to, we always go, use your words. He'd start to take a hunk out of his brother. Use your words. So anyway, you go to family or to school functions and the whispers would start. That's a kid who took a hunk out of my daughter. They think you discipline that way. You know, they look at you as go, well, you're biting your kids. You know, get over here. We're not. You want to stand up and the stick. No, we're not. We don't, we don't condone this.

But he just didn't know how to process. Here's a story. Here's a story. I don't know if I put this in the book or not about the Iraq the first Iraq war Aaron gets in a fight at school and I get a call from Tammy Aaron got in a fight and that isn't my son so I get him on the phone

I said Aaron what's going on he goes nothing dad and it took me five minutes to get it out of them you fly in the sky there's bombs in the sky you're going to get blown up and killed and not come home holy cow and I said we have a Mr.

Duke down the street trains pilots over at Litchfield for the Air Force. I said, you go talk to him and I'll call you tomorrow. So I call him the next day. I go, did you talk to Mr. Duke? He goes, yeah, he says we're kicking ass. Didn't that great? But that's the difference between at least understanding that, I mean, if my father would have just said, bam, don't do that, you know.

I don't think, you know, I think we've over-corrected. but in our generation it was shut up, sit down, just do it. Right. Stop your whining. Just do it. I heard a quote from a Japanese businessman.

They said, what would your father say if you told him he loved him? You loved him. He said, I'd been in America too long. You know, so. So what does the phrase you win mean to you?

Daddy, you win. I got into an argument. It sounds like that's all we did for. No, but the good part's coming now. Right. We get into the argument in Jersey. And I end up, what I didn't put, I don't think I put in it, did I put it about the cheese?

It was over a chunk of cheese. Yeah, okay. So, again, when it clicks, you're off and there's no logic. So I go to open up a piece of cheese and I see it's been sitting. I got a phobia of dairy. I mean, I've been going to. the comedy condos for years. I've been sick two or three times on mayo.

And you know how long mayo has to sit before it goes back? A long time. A long time. Yeah. So anyway, I see something. I don't know how long it's been there. I don't want it. And then it starts.

What do you mean you don't want it? I don't want it. And so I end up three minutes later on a stool yelling at her. the top of my lungs, I don't want it. Are you effing deaf? I don't want it. I don't want it. I don't want it. Over and over and over again. She finally falls on her knees and sobs. And now I feel like, you know, the jerk that I am. And I go put my son to bed. And he's six or seven. I don't know. And he says, Daddy, you win. I go, what do you mean? I win. He goes, you yell, Mommy cries. You win. Oh my gosh. And I went downstairs and told Tammy, I'm going to get help. That's when I got

into therapy. I said, I didn't want to be this way. That's the thing. It's hard. It's so simplistic to say change. Okay. You know, I had an ideal of what I wanted to be, but then there's this computer inside me. Yeah. You know? The tapes that run over and over and over.

That's it. The reaction to things. And I'm telling you, if it's true what they say, that alcoholics remain emotionally were they when they started drinking, then it all makes sense to me because I behaved like a 13-year-old. Yeah. That's exactly how I behaved.

I mean, when you think about it. Standing on the chair. Stomping my feet. I don't want it. I didn't get my way. Yeah. You know? And again, not even really caring about the

responsibility of the. You're this kid, Chicago. Dad could have been somebody great. wasn't atheist, angry inside. You want to change, you don't, and then this moment happens. When did you really change? That night I pitched the 50-pound bag. I stood in the yard, exhausted, and I look up,

and my wife and kids are standing at the back door. And I'm telling you, I'm sweating. I'm exhausted. And I walk in, and my five-year-old Ryan comes over and he goes, Daddy, you scare me. And I picked him up and I held him and I said, I scare myself, son. And something washed over me. I believe in my heart as a Christian.

That was when the night the Holy Spirit said, I'm coming. I believe this. I wasn't aware of it. I had no idea. But I looked at Tammy and for the first time I said to her, this will never happen again. And you knew it to be true. I did.

And she goes, bullshit. And I said, if I ever said that to you, she goes, what difference does that make? I said, my father said it to my mother over and over and over again. My brother said it to his wife, always happened. I always knew what would happen. So I didn't want to, I don't want to make promises. I can't keep, knowingly can't keep. Sometimes you make promises and then some things happen.

But I don't know how I know this. I don't know how I know this. But I'm okay. She says, get out of here. You live in hotels anyway, just get out. And I go, babe, I'm telling you, I'm okay. And I believe that that set me up for when I found out about the guy she was seeing in California for that one night. And what happened there?

I get the, you kind of know something's going on. Phone calls are taken in the kitchen. moved to the bedroom and you know so you get this feeling you know that she's seeing something so anyway she goes to california to visit a friend and i just really got a gut feeling so i call american express i call first of i call her friend and she says well she's out shopping so you're like who goes visit a friend and then go shopping so i call american express and it goes my card being used and they said uh yeah it's at a hotel in southern californ or something anyway so i'm I said, can I have the number of the hotel?

Said, yeah. So anyway, call. She picks up. I said, gotcha. Get home. Anyway, long silence. She said, okay. And then two hours later, her friend called me and said,

Tammy's too devastated to come home right now. She'll be home in the morning. And I believe this, Glenn. She'd come home that night. We wouldn't be married today. You know, James, in the book of James, he talks about the human tongue, and he compares it to a rudder on a ship.

It's a small part of a very large vessel, but you can't steer that ship without that piece. And the tongue is the same thing. It's a small part of our body, but you steer this whole thing with the tongue. And God gave me the ability. It's the most dangerous thing. Gave me the ability to bless and curse.

Yeah. And I would have cut her. I know I would have. I was righteously angry for the first time. You know, it's like tell an angry guy that now you can, you can be angry. Everybody understands. That's why, you know,

I don't know if I wrote about much, this in the book, but it's politics for me in the 90s. When you're angry, politics is wonderful because people ask why you're so angry. They look at your beautiful wife. They look at your healthy children. They look at your job you do. And they go, why are you so ticked off? Them. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. The Republicans, the Democrats, the whatever's. You know. So I had a night alone. And every time I'd get righteously angry, that little voice inside of me that I believe now is the Holy Spirit. It says to me,

remember the time in New Jersey when you stood on a stool? And there were dozens of those. Remember the time you threw the, you know, remember this, remember, you know. I mean, but I go, yeah, but I mean, I'm telling you, it's like there's another voice in me going, you know, but yeah, but she's doing, you know,

exhausted. I went from how could she to how could she not by the end of the night? I just, yeah, I picked her up at the airport the next day and she walks out. She's tear-straped and just exhausted. I'm exhausted. Put my arms around or gave her a kiss on the cheek. And she says, that's it.

I go, it's all I got left. We're a mess, you and me. What you want is in California. I'm not going to stand in your way. If you want this to work, then you take 50% of the blame for this mess. I'll take the other 50. If it gets 51, 49, the resentments will kill us.

We'll start blaming each other. You take your mess. I'll take mine and we'll see what we can work out. And then going home, she says, how do we get here? And that's, you know, hope to answer in the book. We got there, you know, we walked into it. It was really explained to me pretty cool that when two broken people get married,

you know, my neuroses are maybe round holes. Her neuroses are round pegs. We fit. We have a little dance that we do. And then somebody gets into recovery and all of a sudden isn't reacting certain ways and stuff. And his holes get a little oval. So the pegs just don't, and there's this constant friction until you both get on the same page of healing, you know, and we made it, you know. You know, about a year and a half later, I met a guy who put the Bible in my hands, you know, and ecclesiastes.

I know. And not like a happy part of it. No. Yeah. No, but that was my conclusions. I wrote about the, I did the gerbil and the thing. kind of sitting there, it's funny when you, but it was so profound to me.

Sitting and watching a gerbil go back and forth, you know, and Tammy goes, what's what do you with? In the gerbil. Because I'm looking at it like TV. I was just for like 20 minutes. I'm just sitting there watching this thing. And I said, look, it gets sticks over here, and then he moves them over here and, you know,

and she goes, so what? And I go, yeah, but wait, he moves him back over there, and stacks them up and spins the wheel every now and then when he wants to entertain himself. She goes, so what? I go, it's our life. She goes, what do you mean? I go, I'm projecting 10, 15, 20 years from now.

I mean, we get sticks. They wear out, we take them to the landfill. If I'm lucky, I get a sitcom deal, a movie deal. We get nice sticks. But they all wind up going to the landfill. We're just chasing sticks, stacking them up somewhere. Then we go to Vegas, we take the kids to Disney World, and that's our wheel. She goes, my God, Jeff, what is going on?

I said, Tammy, if that's my life for the next 15, 20 years, I'm checking out. She goes, you checked out years ago. You're not even here now. Half the time when I'm talking to, your head is off somewhere. You know, and she was right. I mean, there were times we would be making love. And I'd look at her. She'd be like this.

And I'd go, what? She goes, I just require you to be here. You know? Where are you at? You're not even here. You know? And you're like, wow, because my brain, well, you know, you got an active brain. Yeah, yeah.

It never stops. But it's hard. It's very hard. It's hard. It's very hard. But when you realize how important it is for someone to hear you, that was a big breakthrough for me was I need to hear her and I have to concentrate. I think most guys do.

Some of us are hard. I mean, it is the hardest thing for me to sit and listen and say nothing. I just had my, my youngest daughter, she came to me and she said, Mom doesn't understand me. I never understand her, you know. and she comes in the couch and I said, just sit down. What's happening?

And she just went and I had to bite my tongue the whole time. Just, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And then repeat back to her what she said. I said nothing, nothing. I didn't give her any advice or something. She's like, Dad, I always just feel so much better when I talk to you. And I'm like, that's right. Right, right.

And remember that. I don't remember that, right. It's just listening. And guys aren't good at that. We're just not good at that. Is it a man thing? Maybe. I think it is.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. But I, I've had a word. Here's a funny story. You'll appreciate this because you're in recovery. So we got in a, we were at a restaurant.

This was a couple years ago, a few years ago. We were a restaurant. And she's on her phone the whole time while I'm eating. So I'm done. And she's, The bike phone. Anyway, I'm watching the whole thing. Not talking to me.

The last bite goes in her mouth. I go, are we done? She throws the fork down. She goes, yeah, she gets up and she walks. So I got to pay the bill. I'm out to get all the way home, quiet. I call my sponsor, and I said, just eating a minute.

He goes, here's what you're going to have to do. You eat fast, don't you? I go, yeah, I eat fast. I eat. I'm there to eat. I want to eat. Same way. So anyway, he says, from tonight,

what are you having for dinner? I said, we're going to have steak for dinner tonight. He goes, when she bites, you bite. You don't bite until she bites. And you don't tell her what you're doing. You're kidding me. Glenn, this is the most arduous painstaking steak I've ever eaten in my own life. And I finally told her afterwards. I said, my sponsor told me to eat. I said, how do you survive? I have those same thing. I've got all my children around the table.

And they're all, I mean, because I get asked. fancy. After I finish, I'm like, I'm just climbing the walls. You know, I love, can we go someplace and do something and talk? Hey, let's go into the living room. Finish your food. But she too. I know. I'm like, I know. I know. I know. I know. Sometimes it seems like there's a running battle between cyber criminals and the government to see who can steal the most money from the largest number of people. And sure, the government wins most of the time, but the competition is fierce. Take home title theft, for instance. It is one of the fastest growing crimes in America right now, and they're very good reason for it. And it turns out that it's because it's simple. Most

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promo code Beck, home titlelock.com. So are you there yet? No, you know what it is? I asked five questions that I had to answer, I think, you know, what to find you. And usually when you ask a man, what defines you. The first thing they say is, I'm a, whatever your job is. It defines me as my relationship with Christ. I'm a child of God. That first and foremost, if I get that right, then I'm a husband to Tammy. I'm a father to Aaron and Ryan. I'm a grandfather to them. And then I'm a comedian. And if I keep those things in the right order, because they'll switch. All of a sudden, I'm working six days a week. And I'm a comedian. I'm not much of a husband to her. And I did tell my managers when this dry bar thing hit,

She said she will determine how much I work. You know, and last year I was doing a movie, and I was on location for two weeks, and we got into a little tizzy on the phone, and I said, what is going on with you? And she says, don't get mad at, don't hate me for missing you. And I go, oh, my God, it's a country lyric. It's a hit. It's a hit. Don't hate me for me.

But I called Lenny, my manager, and I said, stop booking. That was September. He goes, I'm way ahead of you, man. I stopped in August. It's interesting. My staff has always been this way with my wife and I, and it used to be really, really bad. I couldn't go away for more than a day.

And I just, I couldn't be without her. She didn't want to be without me. And it's still the same way. We toss and turn in bed at night if we're not laying next to each other. Well, Tammy's used to it. And it's interesting. I tell people, a lot of men. marriages couldn't live the life we live because I'm gone so much.

Yeah. You know, I remember. In your case, that might be a plus. Well, I think it's kind of saved us early. That's for sure. But there was a, I had an issue with porn years ago. And I told Tammy, you need to put a device on my phone. You need to track my phone.

She goes, I will not be married to a man. I can't trust. Fix it. So I only got the help I needed, you know. But it was like, you know, just one more thing, you know. I just again, are we there? I mean, am I done? Am I done?

My favorite story, I was doing a show for a ministry that was for secular journalists. These were some hardcore, but it was a ministry. And they got them together in Nashville. And the lady who was in charge of it calls me, says, we just want some comedy. We got a guy that's going to do with testimony. So anyway, I do my comedy, and I'm in a bad place, really kind of where the title came from. And I'm on stage, and I'm doing the comedy.

We're going to laugh. And I stop. I'm ready to leave, and I go, you know what, I got to talk to you, guys. I said, you know what? I'm exhausted. I just want to know what I'm done with this whole recovery thing and all of this stuff and God and all that. And I start crying. And these people are like, you talk about uncomfortable.

Oh, yeah. You cry in front of Christians. They go, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Not in a bar, not a comedy club. Not in a real world. Yeah, right. So it's like, anyway, I get done and Tammy looks at me.

She goes, holy cow, what was that? I don't know, Tammy. I'm just exhausted. And I'm sitting there and I'm embarrassed. I mean, really embarrassed. And right when I'm ready to leave, remember Jennifer O'Neill, the actress? Yeah. Summer of 42.

Yeah. Anyway, she was in the room. She walks over. She puts her arms around. She goes, I know exactly how you feel. And I looked at Tammy, and I go, that's all I needed. Just one person. I get it.

I'm just tired. I'm tired of recovery. I'm tired of not being whatever situation, whatever person I think I should be, you know, but I believe now that the Holy Spirit and my nature are just constantly. And it's just this,

Paul talks about it in the, in Romans. I do the things, my limbs do things I don't want them to do, you know, You're just this side of heaven, you know. That's the. But there's just, there's a piece in the acceptance of the journey.

I mean, and again, I came to that years ago. I just realized, you know, and I'll never be done, you know, and okay, I'm fine with it. Yeah. You know, just, oh boy, you know, just another, you know. It does get, I think when you get, when you get older, I think that, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I don't know why I've been thinking about my life a lot, you know, the end of my life. And, you know, wanting to make sure everything is an order for the kids and everything. And there's more and more times I get up.

And I'm like you just said, I'm tired of the battle. And I used to tell my kids and they hated this. And up until two of them were in their 30s, they still hated it. And then the 30, they got in the 30s. And they're like, you know, Dad, you're right. I said, life is flashes of wonderment. Just flashes of, this is amazing. You have to live and feast on that because most of life is endurance.

Just endure. Just keep working. Just keep moving forward. And it's hard. We were wired for two things, worship and service. and I had a sponsor give me trash bags once and I said, what are these? And he said, when you feel like drinking

or you don't want to go home because you're going to get in an argument with Tammy, you know, pick up trash. And I go, why would I do that? They go, trust me. And here's the hard part. Don't let anybody see you picking up the trash

because your pride will kick in and you'll miss the point. So I had a week or two. Anyway, I always had these trash bags next to me in the car, you know, so I'm coming back and I know I'm going to get in an argument. I just didn't want to go home. stop at a 7-Eleven and I start picking up trash and it worked and you realize it's just one more

thing you're going you know what get off your rear end and serve I don't care if you're unemployed you don't have anything but find somebody that you could help and serve you know Ayn Rand I read a lot of Ayn Rand and it was interesting because she said altruism was selfish it was an act of selfishness and it it is because you feel good but I see I believe the other way God wired us yeah so that we feel good when we serve. Correct. Yeah. You know.

Right. It's like why he wired sex to feel good. Right. So we have babies. Right. So we can keep the species going. Right. And it's,

uh, he wired us to feel good when we serve. And it's, it's so amazing because the things that make us feel good, um, that are also good for us. Yeah. I don't ever want to do.

I like service. I'll be in a bad mood or I'm saying. Right. and service and I'm like, oh, I don't want to do that. And then you do it. Right. And you're coming home and you're like, why don't we do this all the time? Right.

This is the way we should be. Right. You know, from AA when you walk in and they go, pick up the chairs. Well, I don't want to pick up chairs. I want to whine. Yeah. We'll pick them up. Yeah.

And then you get out of your head. And again, you look at something you've done. You've done something, you know. And I just, going back to the five questions, because I, what defines you, what do you value, you know, initially I thought it was things. And when we lost the house, when we sold the home, finally, we got out from under it, the escrow lady told us, the IRS has taken all the profit from your house. And I looked and said, it doesn't matter. The only thing of value is right here.

Right here. And Tammy said, for the first time in our marriage, we were eight years in. she said, I believed you. For the first time, I felt that we were a priority. And who would have guessed, the IRS? Did you a favor? Did me a favor by taking all of that. But it was, so what do you value?

What are your expectations huge? I used to tell Tammy, if you'd lower your expectations of me, you'd be a lot happier. Like picking up underwear. It's so funny about the underwear, because this is, she goes, how do you not see, I said, oh, my wife says this to me all the time about everything. How do you not see this? But I said to her, what you're saying to me is by ignoring it.

You're saying I see it. I say to myself, I could pick it up, but screw it. I'm going to have her pick it up. Right. That's not true. I don't even see it. Right. I just walk away over it.

You know, there's no conscious thing about it. But anyway, so that if you lower the expectations, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm, I'm, I'm going to be your champ. But yeah, what are your expectations? Where does your hope lie? That's huge because I see that in the airports. One of the reasons I wrote the book was for 30 to 40-year-olds because I was at age when I went through all this.

The meaninglessness of life, the, you know, hopelessness. It's like toxic for me. I see it. I want to walk over and just hug these guys and go, man, there's another way. There's another way. but it's so easy to isolate now. That's the disease. It's so easy.

Hopelessness and loneliness. Yeah. And then on a society that's telling you, you're no good, you'll never make it. It's just toxic. Yeah. Just toxic. It is. And it's sad.

It really is. And young men, you know, you look at what they're doing to anybody who tries to get young men esteemed. Jordan Peterson, what he's had to go through. I don't know about Andrew Tate. I don't know. I'm not that deep into that. I just know that his message was to, you know, strengthen up, be a man. And you look at what they did, the promise keepers.

Anytime large groups of men get together and they esteem them, you know, this is your role in life. You need to step up and be a good husband and be a good father, you know, and anything with family. is on their attack. And that's another reason why I hope the book, I hope if, you know, people read it and they're in a situation where they're just ready to give up, you know, hang in there, you know,

at least give it a shot. You know, there's ways out. If there's an effort, if you take divorce off the table, you know. My wife said to me, because I've just gone through divorce, and I had nothing, but I was like pre-nup.

And oh, she was so mad at me. She was like, we are not getting married. We are not getting married. And I'm like, what? I think that's pretty reasonable. She said that we plan our demise? No, no. And she was right.

You just have to take it off the table. It's not an option. Yeah, well, it's interesting. Tammy said, made a joke the other night. She goes, you know, I married your free room. money, right? And security and all of that, you know, I want to spend the rest of my life making her life comfortable.

I want to pay penance for the man I was. I really do. I mean, I haven't. There's times I look at it. I do this in my show, so I know, but it's she'll walk in her. I call him Flint. God takes Flint to your heart. You know, you're sitting there.

and she's walking back and forth and then all of a sudden, look at her, look at her, just look. Right. Remember. Right. And then you go,

but that's, I love you. Yeah, Glenn, thank you so much. You are, I love you because you are a, I like wise people. And you only get wise after you've been through hell and back.

Yeah. Yeah. Wise man. Smart people learn, you know. Yeah. What was the story about the alcoholic, you had a door here and you got a brick wall. Someone goes, why don't you use this? Shut up.

Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, man. Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast and pass this on to a friend so it can be discovered by other people.