We're Out of Time - Jimmy Shin How Comedy Saved My Life And Gave Me Purpose

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Comedian Jimmy Shin shares how comedy saved his life and gave him purpose. Watch as he opens up about his journey to recovery and sobriety on the We're Out Of Time podcast with Ricahrd Taite. For all things Richard Taite, the We're Out Of Time podcast, and Carrara Treatment Wellness & Spa: https://linktr.ee/richardtaite For 1 Call Placement:https://www.1callplacement.org/ For more on Jimmy Shin: https://www.instagram.com/iamjimmyshinKey moments from this conversation with Jimmy Shin & Richard Taite. Intro 00:00 How may have Jimmy's parents' expectations of him as a child played into his addiction? 00:51 Can the worst things that happen to you become the best things that happen to you? 02:30 Why is solely being sober not enough to lead a prosperous life? 08:30 Why is the saying "more money, more problems" a fact? 08:37 Why is relapse a part of Jimmy's recovery journey and why is he grateful he never became a lawyer? 12:05 Does addiction and recovery run in Jimmy's family? 15:44 Is it more difficult for the ultra-wealthy to get sober? 24:58How does Jimmy handle fans offering him drinks? 30:20How was the support of others vital to Jimmy's recovery? 40:10

And part of it, man, it was like an out-of-body experience. Like, I kind of blacked out. But all I remember is just hearing that laugh and that affirmation that I've always wanted from my parents that I never got. That's right. I think in the same way, we do that with drugs and alcohol. My parents are so proud. And my dad finally figured out Facebook. And he writes on my wall, still in broken English, by the way.

Like, you are number one comedian in the world, very handsome man, with law degree, with all these crazy emojis, these hearts, eggplants, and peaches. Getting up in the morning, I couldn't even, like, function because I was so depressed. And I'd take a bong yet, just to get out of the bed. One week with my parents,

I feel like I'm 12 again. Or sleeping your old bedroom. Yeah, I can do that anymore. I have to have boundaries. Jimmy Shinn. Thanks for coming, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's good to be here. So, you're a lawyer. Not a lawyer. I did graduate from law school. Kind of an interesting story by, you know,

traditional Asian parents wanted me to go to law school, you know, conditioned as a child. They had a vision board on my wall that said Jimmy Shin attorney at law. So they knew what they were doing. They brainwashed me into thinking I wanted to be a lawyer. Right. But, you know, I was miserable because it really wasn't my calling. I was doing it because my parents wanted me to. It's the Asian families parallel to Jewish families. Yes. If you're going, you know, we're either doctors or lawyers. Yeah.

And otherwise, we're nobody. Exactly. That was my exact scenario. That's right. And yeah, man. And that was a, you know, budding drug addict and drug dealer when I went to law school. And by the time I went to law school, I was selling 100 pounds of weed, which back then was very illegal. Right.

even in the state of California. Sure. And yeah, man, I ended up getting busted, you know, because I was acting out, selling drugs and partying. And I was going to school in San Diego and hanging out with more of the surfer and and still. You were arrested? I was arrested.

A lot of Koreans in jail, are there? No, none. Uh-huh. None. And so we actually have to go with like the Mexicans. Right. Make friends with the boxers. Well, you just tell them you're Mexican.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm a Mexican on weed, Vato. So, yeah, so long, hard road to get to sobriety and to get to my calling, which I finally found stand-up comedy while I was on probation, which is interesting. So I always tell people, man, you know, hang on because some of the worst things that happened to you can become the best things that happen to you. Well, they're the funniest things that happen to you as long as they're not happening to you in the moment.

Exactly. Oh, yeah. It was miserable in the moment. I thought it was, you know, ruined my life. but it actually, you know, sent me on a good path. Dude, I don't even know how to how I would explain this to my grandmother. Like, I don't even know. Like, yeah, I'm a lawyer, but, you know, I'm going to be a comedian.

Like, how to, like, I'd be afraid to say that. Yeah. Yeah, no, I had to lie to them. They thought I was still doing real estate when I first moved down to L.A. to pursue stand-up. And for years, they did not know that I was actually doing stand-up. Probably for the best. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then finally, you know, a couple years ago now, I was doing a show in my hometown of Tacoma, Washington. And basically, my parents had never seen me perform live because of, let's call it what it is, all the abuse. And, you know, myself falling off the path that they wanted me to. Sure. And I didn't want my dad to judge me on another thing, right? Right. And so, but right at that time, a friend of mine's mom had passed away. And she said she'd give anything to hear her mom nag on her one more time. And so this really got me. My parents are getting older. I wanted them to see what I do, you know, who I really am, right? So I invited them to the show. And on the show night, they brought 10 of their friends. Oh, my God. None of them spoke English. Oh, my God. And later on, I brought those 10 friends because they thought nobody else is going to be there. Right. And here's the kicker.

During my set, my dad stands up and he starts filming me with one of those old school camp orders. Oh, my God. I didn't know if it was VHS or beta. How did you not start crime? Seriously. Yeah, it was just a really touching moment. And it was really a miracle.

And I attributed to sobriety and doing the four step and then doing the amends to my parents. because if I hadn't done, you know, the financial amends, the, you know, the amends to them and them knowing that I'm sober and on a good path, that moment would have never happened, you know, that my dad finally was proud that I was, you know, a comedian. Dude, I got to tell you, honestly, that is so beautiful, right? Because as children, we seek our parents' approval. And then you're not a father yet. But at a certain point when you become a father, you start messing with your mind, right?

Or at least I do. And I was like, you know, whenever I see myself seeking my dad's approval, even today, I, you know, I wake myself up and I say, hey, buddy, you're the dad now. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And but it still creeps in. Yeah. Because we're hardwired that way.

Oh, yeah. One week with my parents, I'm, you know, feel like I'm 12 again. Go sleep in your, go sleep in your old bedroom. Yeah. Oh, I don't do that anymore. I have to have boundaries. I'll come see you guys, but I'm staying at a hotel or a friend's house. Right.

You know, a few hours with my dad. I know, I know. We start going at it. You know, my dad's the alcoholic. Right. And, you know, we both are kind of a lot of life. Wait, your dad's an alcoholic now? My dad's an out.

Well, he was an alcoholic. He got sober, actually. through a spiritual experience and through the church. Really? Which you can do. You know, there's other ways you can do it. That's the one problem I have with AA is if you get sober in AA, you think that's the only way to get sober. Yeah.

And you have to believe that because your life depends on it. Exactly. But there are other ways that people get sober. Everybody's different. Yeah. No, I know people that have gotten sober through ayahuasca. Sure. I don't recommend that path, but I know people that have.

And so that's for people that I've never done mushrooms and acid. And then they go, ooh, yeah, yeah, no. Yeah, I could see the other side, right? Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that wasn't my way. That definitely. And I tried with some DMT before.

You did it with AA, right? Yeah, I did it with AA. Any therapy? I've done it with therapy. And I always tell people, you know, try everything, man. You know, see what works for you. That's right. And what work like a bomb for me is meditation.

Right. therapy. I did years of that. And then the 12 steps, man, really healed my life. Yeah. You're waking up and moving your body and eating right. Yeah. I know you ain't smoking. Well, that kind of stuff kind of follows suit, man. When you clean up the inside, you clean up the outside, right? Sure. And, you know, I've got this place, Carrera, right? This new treatment center that we opened. And we've been open now a year, 13 months. And people thought it was a vanity play. because I've got an actual spa, like a real world hotel spa in the center, right? And they thought, ew, that's a vanity play.

That's not sobriety. And the reason I did it was because self-care turns into self-esteem, which turns into self-love. Yes. Now let me ask you a question. Yes. Have you ever met an alcoholic ever that truly love themselves trying to kill? themselves with drugs and alcohol. No. It doesn't exist. No. Right. That's why I did it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, that's beautiful, man. Yeah, I think holistic healing is where we're going to because we realize that the purpose of sobriety isn't just to be sober, miserable. Oh my God. And unhealthy. It is to be happy, joyous, and free. And that also means healthy and whole to me. Do you know, I, that's, Thank you for saying that because when people say sobriety is its own gift. Yeah. I want to light myself on fire. Yeah. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life.

And I just had, with one of our therapists, she had a problem with what I said. And what I said was, you can't stay sober unless you replace what you held as most valuable with something of equal or greater. value. Yes. That's it. The end. Yeah. Okay. Start telling the truth. Well, let me take that a step further. I think to have, you know, true recovery. It's also helps. I know people that still stay sober, but to be happy, joyous and free, I think one must find their passion. They must find their calling. And that is what kind of my message is always in recovery is, you know, find your purpose, man. Find out what gets you up in the morning and that you're passionate about because that way you'll never want to go back to drugs and

alcohol. I tell every you're exactly right. I tell everybody we've only got one go around here. You know, I'm 58 years old. Nobody in my family lives past 77. I got 19 years. Yeah. Right. And it went by like that. Yes. You know, it's like you got. You got. to have a joy of living. You have to have it. And the problem with people like us is we don't know how to have a joy of living. We don't. Yeah, all we had was drugs and alcohol. That was our life, right? Everything's surrounded of how can I get my drug of choice. How can I keep this going? Yeah, a lot of times, and I didn't know, dude, I found stand-up comedy in my 30s. You know what I mean? I didn't know that I had a passion for that.

And then on probation, you know, felony probation, when people were, you know, looking down on me and I was already a loser and had nothing to lose, I tried stand up for the first time just for fun. What a God shot. And it was like it was literally a spiritual experience for me because I couldn't sleep that night. I was like, I found something that I want to do. And this is it. And I never explored anything else because I was on. us one way path to becoming a lawyer. How'd you do that first night?

First night, I killed it, man. You just out of the gate. And I just wrote down, you know, all the jokes I've ever told people at parties and and into my friends and then just did it up there. And part of it, man, it was like an out of body experience. Like I kind of blacked out. You know what I mean? But all I remember is just hearing that laugh and that affirmation that I've always

wanted from my parents that I never got. That's right. And it was, you know, and I think in the same way, we do that with drugs and alcohol. Absolutely. You know, we feel that warm, fuzzy feeling of acceptance and, and love that we wanted, but we're going the wrong way with it. It's not true love, right? It's not true, true passion. How, when you got sober, how was your act? Man, the good news is when I found stand-up comedy, I was sober at that time. because I was trying to stay sober to get into the bar association. And what, you know, and I ended up relapse as a part of my story, I ended up relapsing because I went in front of the bar association to see if I was fit enough.

You know, they call it, they have a character and fitness committee that determines whether or not you're fit to sit for the bar. But doesn't that have something to do with moral turpitude or is that something different? That's exactly what it is. Okay. So basically when you get in trouble with some moral turpitude, you have to go in front of the Bar Association. It's a member of, it's like a court, 12 people of other lawyers.

Right. They don't want a bunch of drug dealers in their profession. Yeah, yeah. But I was so resentful, man. I was like, you know, you're going to say no. How'd you do for pot? And I know there's people that smoke pot, do cocaine. I've done coke with half of you, you know, half of the lawyers.

You know what I mean? Did they? How did it work? And they said, no, that I was not fit, you know. And really, they were just saying, hey, go and, do some more rehabilitation. That's right. Come back.

But I heard it as you're not good enough. Yeah. You're less than us. Well, that's how we hear it. That's how we hear it. And so I ended up going out, man, for another three years because of that rejection. That was the best thing that ever happened to you. You have a bang in life.

Oh, yeah. I know that now. Oh, man. I know I always tell people they're like, why are you always like in a good mood and positive? And I'm like, I know how it could be. Right. You know, because I was literally, I remember going to law school, getting up in the morning, I couldn't even, like, function because I was so depressed. And I'd take a bong hit just to get out of bed. And that's where the life. And then you have to go read these boring books and that you're not interested in and go play this part, this role that I wasn't wanting to do. It was literally a nightmare. every single day. Now, it's literally a dream. I work with the biggest comedians in the world, the biggest places in the world. I just toured Europe. I mean, it's just a, you know,

I just know how it could be. You see what I'm saying? That's so good. Yeah. You know, I failed out of law school too. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, I mean, and it literally was the worst day of my life. And it turned out to be the best day. Yeah. Yeah. Look at you now. I mean, I'm just thrilled. If I would have lived a life like, first of all, if I would have lived a life like that, okay, I'd be disbarred already. Yeah. I mean, that's fact. Yeah. Yeah.

I practiced law for 13 years without a law license, but it was workers' compensation. Wow. Yeah. Okay. How do you think I paid for all the rehabs? Yeah, I always say if I became a lawyer, I'd probably blow my head off at some point on cocaine because I would be just so miserable. I'd probably be in Seattle, you know, because my parents would want me to move back home, right? Right.

But I found, you know, boundaries and I found freedom and recovery to where I tell them no now. That's so funny what you said. Do you even realize what you just said? You said that if I was a lawyer, my mother, my parents would want me to move back to Seattle. Yes. But they don't want you moving back to Seattle today. Yeah, no. That's so awesome.

So the recorder was just a moment of clarity. Yeah. It was that moment. where, yeah, shifted. How do they feel about you now? Oh, man, my parents are so proud of me. My dad finally figured out Facebook, a little late to the party. When I first moved to L.A. to pursue my dreams.

My dad was the worst thorn in my side. You know, he's OCD now because, let's face it, our addiction is an OCD. It's an obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is. That manifests in alcoholism, right? But now that he's sort of sober, he made his focus on me and he was obsessive about me. And he'd call me every day, you're not going to make it. Asian man cannot be comedian, right?

And I'm like, what about Margaret Cho? She's a woman. And so you couldn't win, right? And he'd just call me every day obsessively telling me to move back home. Like, why are you no married? Why are you no kids? You gay? And he knew I wasn't gay.

He was just trying to manipulate me into getting married to prove I'm not. gay, right? So he had his manipulations. But now he figured out Facebook and he writes on my wall, still in broken English, by the way, like, you are number one comedian in the world, very handsome man with law degree, with all these crazy emojis, these heart, eggplants, and peaches. I don't have the heart to tell him what the eggplants and he's mean, but don't do it. But the point is, he's proud of me, man. And it's almost overwhelming. And I delete the, uh, the, uh, the, the, the, because he writes on my wall, again, obsessively every day. And my friends all know it.

They go, oh, your dad's posting on my wall, too. You know, because very handsome man, because they know they do comedy with me. And so they know that this is a fact. And I delete it now, but I also save it because someday I'm going to probably want to look at that, you know, when they passed. Do you know what? Do you know what I never did when my grandparents passed that I wish I would have done? Ask them everything about their early childhood and about, you know, just their struggles and how they came out the other side and what it was like. Because, you know, when we're young, we're so narcissistic, right?

Yeah. That's just what happens. Yeah. No, that's kind of what I did to find forgiveness and healing is I started investigating my dad's childhood. That's so good. And because I was just so resentful against him because he used to be. beat me, man. And the fact is, he didn't even just because he loved me. Yeah, yeah, exactly. The fact is he did love me. That's right. And back in our day, that's how you did it. That's how you did it.

You disciplined your kids, right? Nowadays, it's, you know, it's child abuse, right? But back then, this is before they invented child abuse. So, yeah, so basically I investigated my dad, you know, like almost like a detective and putting pieces together from his brother and, you know, my mom and and my, you know, nephews and you know what I mean. And basically my dad didn't have a dad. You know, growing up, he had nine brothers and sisters during the Korean War. And so they would fight for food. And Korea during his childhood was the poorest country in the world.

Were you guys in North or South Korea? South Korea, man. He was after the Korean War. And thankfully for Korea. you know, U.S. sort of occupied South Korea and freed them. Otherwise, we'd be part of the North Korea and China probably by now. Right. Right. And so long story short, he grew up in a time where you literally was, everybody was poor, every single person. And yeah, they fought for food and he didn't have a dad. So he didn't know how to be a dad. There's no handbook for this stuff. So he was being

the dad that he thought he should have or that he should be. And that was a disciplinarian. He didn't want me to fall into the same things that he did. And by doing that, I fell into the same things he did. I'm so, you know what, I look at this with a completely different view. Yeah. I think that that was probably for the best. And in the moment, it doesn't feel good. But the proof's in the pudding. Yeah. And I'm the blame the best. parent guy. So I don't like, when somebody is uber successful at something and they're doing really well in the world and they're talking smack about their parents, I'm like, dude, if I had good parents, I'd be the president. Yeah. Okay. I mean, look at you. Yeah. Your parents were

fine. Yeah. One of my favorite quotes is hard times create strong people. Strong people create good times. Good times create weak people and the cycle goes all over again. I mean, it says it all, right? These kids end on that. Too easy, you know? How do we not end on that? We're not doing it. Okay? But that was just perfect. I think part of it is that really talented people have a tendency to be addicted to substances, right? I mean, with the Sam Kinnisans. We're excellent people. Jim, you know, the Richer Pryors, right? And it kind of goes hand in hand. And I think some of that comes with the trauma.

You know, I don't haven't met many really good comedians that don't have a ton of trauma. Like Richard Pryor was raised in a whorehouse. Was he really? Admittedly, yeah, he was raised in a whorehouse. Rain, you never told me that. Go on. And yeah, so he had a ton of trauma, you know. I mean, imagine what you see growing up that.

way, right? And so we deal with trauma in the way that us addicts deal with it is you find, you know, chemicals. And in the beginning, it's our medicine, you know, because without that, we'd be dead, right? People don't understand that. Elaborate on that because people don't get it. Yeah, yeah. See, I always say that alcoholism actually stops when you stop drinking and using. And what I mean by that is that it's, it centers in our mind. It's our trauma. It's. It's our, you know, our pain that we're actually trying to cover up with this medicine. You know, we're self-medicating with alcohol and drugs. And so if you see a heroin addict, man, 10 out of 10 times, they've experienced some deep emotional loss, pain.

And they're just trying to medicate themselves, man. That's what it is. It's a pain med. Do you know what I tell people? Yeah. Pain medication opioids works better on emotional pain than it does on physical pain. Yes. You know, for me, I take four Advil and two extra strength Tylenol. And for me, that's prescription strength medication.

Oh, yeah. Right? And it does. It does work better on emotional pain than physical pain because think of it. See, these people get all bent out of shape with their studies and their academia. but it's really this simple, isn't it? It really is. Our head is chewing on us all day, all day, just beating the hell out of us nonstop.

If we had somebody speak to us the way we speak to ourselves, we'd fight. Yeah. Or kick their ass. Or get your ass kicked if it's me. Okay. But it does. It works better because it quiets the mind and now you're feeling good. And if that does that to a person like us, we're doing that till the wheels fall off.

Yeah. Because we're not suffering anymore. Yeah. The public doesn't understand that. Yeah. Yeah. And so back to the comedians thing, I think a lot of them were suffering. Yeah.

You know, from emotional pain. Look at Robin Williams. Look at even Jim Carrey. You know, the guy, you know, I think he might be back, but he quit acting for a while. Jim Carrey? Yeah. Jim Carrey. He always says, my favorite Jim Carrey quote is how I hope everyone makes all the money and achieves everything they ever wanted in life so they can realize that's not the answer. He's really, he's really right. He's really right. And I sold Cliffside. I was scared of it. Yeah. I was scared of it. I help people for a living. What the hell do I know about investing and holding on to a big bag? I don't understand.

that. Well, that and it can, if you don't have good recovery, money can be rocket fuel for your addiction. And that's why those celebrities die. You know, they never make it to recovery because they have so much money and celebrity that people keep enabling them, right? And their money keeps enabling them. Yeah. I have a friend who's a, you know, billionaire and, you know, from a very rich family. And he can't get sober. He's always finding another way. He basically had seven heart attacks. And finally, he has so much money, he flew to a place where he could get stem cells. And he basically got a second chance of life by getting a new heart by putting stem cells into it. And he was revitalized. And he's still using. He's still using. He doesn't want to get well?

He wants to get well, but I don't think he needs to because he can still, he can just keep getting stem cells or there's always another, you know, eventually, you know, I'm afraid that he's going to just die, right? Well, he either went to Germany or Panama because those are the only two places that do it talk about. He went to Panama, right? He went to Panama, exactly. And so he got a second chance of life and he used it as a second chance to party. And that's how cunning is baffling. He's like 58. He's my age. Yeah. So he's still going because he keeps putting money into it. So like a normal guy, man, you're not going to get a new heart. by getting these expensive stem cells and going to Panama.

You know what I mean? Well, I am. Okay. But what I'm saying is, you know, you got options when you have money and therefore, it's harder to get sober. And even when you are sober, when you get, you know, run into a, you know, a crazy amount of money, it gets you thinking, this time maybe I could do it right. You know, that's the great obsession, right?

This time I have money. I can get the better Coke. I can get the better. That's not what it is. Every drug addict's dream is to be able to diluted so they don't have to raise their hand again and get sober again because that's a hassle. And that's what that is. And I know because I had that dream and it was wrecked when I had my daughter because it's not exactly, you know, that's not father behavior. So I never, she saved me there.

The reason I think it's evolving is enough of us comedians have seen people die. We've seen people completely wreck their lives with drugs and alcohol. And these are the successful ones, right? And if you're not successful, you're dying without even notice, right? Actually, recently, which is about a year ago, three comedians died. Who died? A fentanyl overdose. Who died?

Fuquan, Rico, and I forgot the third person's name. But basically, they were partying here in Santa Monica. Well, it was a big news story. I'm surprised you didn't hear it. Did they die together? They died together. It was the same batch. And one girl, I'm not going to name her name, but one girl survived who was also a comedian. And everyone blamed her because she lived. Basically, they, you know, had to find, you know, the person responsible. And, you know, they blamed it on her, said that she gave them the Coke. They weren't even trying to do heroin or fentanyl. They were trying to actually just, party on a weekend and they're not even like addicts. They were like weekend warriors and they were trying to just do some cocaine and it was poisoned with fentanyl. These days it's poison. And so because of

this new environment that we live in where any drug can be laced with fentanyl now, whether it's percassettes, whether it's cocaine. Well back in the day, I always joke around about this is, you know, back in the day, if I did some bad coke that was cut with shit, I would just get my pants. Right. That's right. Nowadays, you literally die. You know, but back then it was just cut with baby laxative. Remember those days? That's right. You have to take it immediately, right? When you did a bump. Nowadays, you die. You don't get another opportunity. And so it is scary out there. And because of those situations and seeing other friends of ours die and the great comedy legends die, we're like maybe there's another way to handle our distress, our trauma.

And more and more comedians, at least the ones that I hang out with are meditating. They're in 12-step programs. They're in therapy. You know, back in the day, if you tried to get Richard Pryor to go to therapy, even like, get the out of here, motherfucker. I'm going to smoke me some crack. Right? Sorry, that's a bad.

Cut that part out. No, no, we don't need to. It's a bad representation. Oh, we'll cut out anything you want. Yeah. No, actually keep it in. That was funny. Yeah, yeah.

And so, yeah, nowadays, people are, you know, finding recovery. They're finding other ways to cope with their trauma and distress. And it's a stressful business, too. You're on the road a lot by yourself. People want to party with you all the time. When you want to stop. Right. There's always somebody who magically has cocaine.

And then you're like, where were you? you when I wanted to do the cocaine. Now I'm trying to be sober and now you want, you know what I mean? Always the two, you know, model chicks that you would have never had while you were using. When you try to get sober, you're going to get somebody testing you, right? All the time. And so, yeah. So, you know, you got those challenges that other people don't have, right?

I think people would just want to, like, I like comedians. Like, basically the people who have done this so far are comedians and under ground rappers. I've had a couple of doctors and more serious stuff, but I like talking to comedians, right? And it would feel to, it seems to me that, you know, you get done with a set and you're the most popular guy in the room, right? Everybody wants to hang out with you. And so they're trying to gain favor, right? Oh, yeah. And, you know, I think that if you're the, if you're, in my mind, if you're the head guy there and they're all clamoring to you, right, it would seem like it would be easy. It's like, no, man, I don't do that anymore. I'm sober. It's really not that

easy. Give me the, give me the example. Go through it with me. Hey, I'm sober. I'm not into it. Go on. So most of it is, you know, well-intentioned. They just want to party with you because you were the headliner. You were up there. You're funny. They think you're funny. They would just want a story. They want to be friends. They want to be friends. So they want to buy you a shot. Come here. Come on. And then if they're drunk and persistent, they're being aggressive about it. Like, come on, bro. You've got to just have one. And I don't want to go into a whole soliloquy of how, you know, you know.

But usually I'll joke around. And that'll be enough where I'll say, you know what? If I drink, my face plate breaks out in cocaine. And they laugh or breaks out in handcuffs, which is both, true, by the way. Every time I drink, I do cocaine and sometimes end up in jail. So long story short, I'll joke it off and usually that's enough. But there's been times, not too many times, but a couple times where they still go for it. They still, hey, come on. And one time I had to take a $50 shot of patrol and just spill it behind me when they're, and they were so drunk that they didn't see that I just went like that and spilled it. So I just spilled it rather than keep fighting with this guy, why I don't. And now most of the time, man, you know, I'll just kind of leave, you know,

right. I'll just leave, you know, but, but yeah, so you find yourself in situations that average or normal people don't really have to deal with. Tell me about the close friends that you've had or the people that you know well that died of fentanyl. Tell me about them. Well, the most recent case that I can think of right now that comes to mind is my friend Nick. And when I was up in Seattle doing a show about six months ago, we had just talked about his son, who was a heroin addict and how he had revived his son a couple times already, you know, using an arcad. and he was just saying how concerned he was and how he was worried that one day he was going to find him dead. And then a month ago, he messaged me and said, I thought you should know.

My son, Nick was found dead. And I found him on Saturday or whatever. And yeah, yeah, it was just so painful. I mean, I didn't know him personally. he actually came to one of my shows when I did one in town, so met him briefly. But just knowing how much pain, my friend, who's the father. How many kids does he have? He's got three kids.

How many boys? He's got two boys. Yeah. How old was this suddenly he asked? I think he was like 20. Yeah, 20. So just getting started, man. Oh, my God.

Just getting started. And I didn't have the. words to even. There aren't no words. He's ever going to be the same. It's not something you ever get over. See, you're not a dad yet. So let me just, you're putting your kid down as a baby for hours, for hours. You don't sleep ever. Okay. You've got 20 years into this kid. Oh my God. I love my children more every single day. So he loved his kids more than I even love my kids because they're older. He's destroyed. Does he have a wife? Yeah, he's got a wife, you know, and they're done. They have each other. Done. Yeah, yeah. So. Yeah. Finished. The whole family, the whole family system is

finished. The siblings will never be the same. The parents will never be the same. Yeah. If grandparents are alive, they're in the grave. That put them right in the grave. Yeah. This is, that's horrific. It's horrible. It's just no words, man. 70% of all this stuff on the street now, 70% of it is all laced with fentanyl.

How do you feel about, I'm getting beaten up a lot about having these underground rappers here. And some of them walk in with a joint. Okay. And in this underground rap culture, think of it. They're kids, right? And it's embedded. It's like part of their DNA. Everybody they know does it. It's their so everything revolves around it. So if I'm sitting here and I'm telling some kid, no, you got to be sober. He doesn't have an ear for that. I want to hear that. Yeah. Okay. I'm the old guy screaming, get off my lawn. Right? Yeah. But. But if they're smoking pot here and I can get them to understand, you don't buy anything on the street anymore, you go to the doctor, you get a pharmacy, you go to the dispensary only to get your wheat. It's like, I've been getting beaten up for that, but that's like medically assisted treatment. Yeah. Because some of these guys are going to grow out of this. Right? And so, you know, pot, you know, dying. I don't really think it's a choice. place. Yeah. What do you think? Yeah, my view on that is yes, do whatever works for them. And some people, man, they need something, you know, especially those first few years getting off a hard drug like

heroin. And so if that works for them, hey, man, you know, I'm not one of those, you know, AA Nazis as they say that this is the only way to do it. Again, my dad's, Dad got sober through the church. He's got 35 years. There's other ways to do it. You know what I mean? And my friend got sober through ayahuasca, doing a little, you know,

ayahuasca journey. You know, there's other ways. You know, I'm not God. I'm not, you know, the know-to-know-it-all that thinks that they know everything about drugs and alcohol. Do you know what I hate about that, though? sobriety, you know? Do you know what I hate about that, though?

these kids that we just talked about, they can't go to AA. They can't. Because that message won't be delivered to them. And that's what we were talking about. And you're exactly right. Yeah. There's more than one. And there's now treatment centers and meetings.

Right. Believe it or not. I just spoke at one. Shut up. Yes. And at first, I was taken aback because they didn't tell me the exact circumstances of this rehab center that I went and spoke.

So I basically went to this meeting thinking, you know, because I speak a lot at meetings. And I went to speak at this treatment center. And I smelled pot like right when I walked in. And I was like, well, hey, I thought this was a treatment center. They're smoking pot. He goes, oh, they didn't tell you that we allow, you know, these are like hardcore fentanyl addicts and heroin addicts. And we allow weed here.

Is that going to be okay? And I thought about it. And I was like, you know what? Long as they don't smoke while I'm in the room. Yeah. Okay. I'm good with that. Sure.

Because if this works for these kids, and most of them were kids, by the way, they were like barely 18. Right. And then more power to them. You know what I mean? And they said, oh, good. Because some of the guys that we've brought here or asked and told them about our circumstances that we allow pot, they didn't want to come speak. So the fact that you want to speak, they were super grateful.

Well, you know, in all fairness, they didn't tell you until you got there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They didn't even tell you. I think someone just dropped the ball. You know what I mean? I don't think that, you know. That's not nearly as funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cut that far now. We'll keep them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think, you know, they had enough people maybe reject them. You know what I'm saying? Right. And when they told them about the pot thing, that they kind of did a piece. switch, which us addicts do a lot, right? It did. The truth is overrated. But, you know, the point is,

man, if it worked for them, man, and they've apparently saved some lives, you know, my friend, you know, Nick would have gave anything to have his kid just smoke pot. He'd still be here. Yeah. And so who am I to say that that's not a viable way to recover? So what kept you coming back? back to recovery. Man, honestly, in the beginning, it was the kindness of the people in the program. You know, this was the time when, you know, I didn't have self-esteem or self-love. I didn't look at myself as a good dude. You know, I didn't think I deserved any kindness, right?

And this guy, I used to go to the log cabin every day at 1 p.m. They used to have a great meeting there. I think they still do. It's a gay meeting. Okay. And you go there every week? every week. And so yeah, I used to go there every day. And this guy comes up to me and says, because he heard my share that I didn't have a car. And he goes, do you need a ride to the meeting every day?

And, you know, I never really had a guy want to pick me up unless he was trying to pick me up. So I was, you know, still come from the streets, you know, a little, you know, shell shocked. I'm like, I don't know, man. Like, he goes, no, it's no trouble at all. It's on my way. And so this guy, it was like clockwork. Every day at 1230, he would be outside of my apartments. Wow. And some nights when I was doing shows and also going out, I wouldn't drink because I didn't want to tell my new friend that I had relapse.

So in the beginning, I kind of stayed sober for him because he was so kind to me. And you know how they say in the program that it's one alcoholic helping another alcoholic? I say it's one alcoholic being kind to another alcoholic. And that's what kept me coming back is, is, you know, all these people, man. You know, and I can tell story after story of people being kind to me. And now I don't, you know, if a newcomer needs a ride, man, I'm there because I knew what that meant to me, you know, in the beginning. Loves the foundation for everything, man, isn't it?

Sure, is. Especially when we come in. We come in so shame-based. Right? and just a waste. Yeah. And people just love us and we're like, what's going on here? Yeah.

And it's just so obviously you're going to come back for the love. Yeah, man. Yeah, they love us before we can love ourselves, right? For sure. For sure. What did I not ask you? What do you want to pitch? What do you want to talk about?

What do you think was left undaid? I think what I want to say to people out there that are struggling with recovery is keep getting up. It doesn't matter how many times you fall long as you get up one more time. But the problem with that approach is that you don't know how many chances you have, right? Like my friend's son maybe thought he could come back and he doesn't have that opportunity, right? So I say to people, man, the best time right is right now to be sober. If you're still alive, you still have a better chance at this, you know, and get up one more time. And then the final thing I want to say is you can raise your bottom.

So the last time I came in, I didn't lose everything. And someone did me a huge favor. They were like, you know what? Why don't you raise your bottom? In other words, you don't have to go back to jail. You don't have to overdose again because I've overdosed those, you know, That's part of my story. You don't have to lose everything and be jobless and everything. And that did me a favor. He goes, raise your bottom. He goes, say, enough is enough. I know where this

story is going. Why don't you make yourself a new story where you succeed, you get sober, and you become, find your passion, and you become an inspiration to people. You know, and that's exactly what I did. I've rewrote my story. to not the chronic relapser that I had labeled myself as, as someone who stays sober, sticks to the deal, recovers, and is able to be an inspiration instead of part of the problem. You're exactly right. True words were never spoken.

Is that a good enough ending for you? Sure. Is there anything else you want to plug before we were done? actually Richard now that you mention it I just released a special on 800 pound gorilla YouTube yeah and it's

just released it two weeks ago and yeah I tell more of these stories that I've told on here is the first time I was like completely vulnerable in my stand-up comedy so find out you know how I made my parents proud some more of the details some more funny stories

on my new special, walk this way, spelled WOK, because I'm Asian. Right. You are? Yeah, which comes as a surprise to any of my friends.

I thought you were Hispanic in prison. Yeah, Hispanic on weed. So, yeah, I got some tour dates coming up. I got San Jose Improv on the 27th. I got San Diego Mike drop on the 20th of this month. I got Portland, Mission Theater coming March 16th, and I got a date March 6 over in Phoenix, actually with Tom Arnold, who's also one of us. So if you can't remember all these dates, get on my website, jimmy shindig.com,

and you can get all the tour dates there. I can't believe you remembered all that. I'm like in shock. I didn't even hear it. I'm just thinking, how the hell this is we did it? I'm telling you, man, my memory is still good after all those years apart. So don't let them tell you that it's going to kill your brain. I won't.

It's next Tuesday. You'll drop it 9 o'clock in the morning. See you next Tuesday. If you were a loved one is struggling, we have a number that you can call and we'll help you find the best treatment that is right for you. Our company, One Call Placement, is dedicated to helping you, and we'll find the best treatment that is right for you. So call now at 888808-608-6159.

Again, that's 888-808-6159. We're out of time. Please subscribe on YouTube, click the thumbs up, and leave a comment. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast and Spotify, and leave a rating and a review. And share the We're Out of Time podcast with others you know who will get value out of it. See you next Tuesday.