I don’t usually find reason to link to articles in People magazine, but this one seems relevant. It’s about a convo on stage involving not one but three celebrated comics, two of whom are in recovery. At least, so they say.
First up is former SNL cast member and celebrity serial dater Pete Davidson.
Pete Davidson Says He Took Ketamine Regularly for 4 Years Before Going to Rehab This Summer
I found it interesting that three comedians would get together in public to discuss their problems with drugs, and in front of a paying audience. It’s not the sort of behavior you’d have expected from, say, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Richard Pryor, sure. Times change.
Pete claimed that he had recently completed his seventh stay in rehab. That may sound like a lot, but it’s far from the record. I’ve met folks with more than 40 rehab stays in their portfolio. When you called down to Medical Records for the old charts, the clerks would have to bring them on a hand cart, and use the elevator instead of the stairs.
More unusual: the revelation that for the previous four years, Davidson had been maintained on daily doses of ketamine. He admitted that the drug altered his perceptions to a remarkable degree. I bet it did.
Anyway, Davidson claims he’s finally finished with drugs. Turning 30, he says, is the dividing line. “After that, you’re just a drug addict.”
News flash, Pete. You probably qualified long ago. I imagine quite a few people around you knew that, even if you didn’t.
Later, fellow comedian John Mulaney took the stage to describe his own relapse in late 2020, after a period of ‘sobriety’. I’m never quite sure what sobriety means to a celebrity drug user – is it total abstinence from all drugs? Selective abstinence from certain substances, but not others? Abstinence only on selected days of the week? During certain months of the year?
It’s one of those terms that lends itself to multiple meanings, depending on who happens to be using it.
I’m not sure why Jon Stewart was there. Hosting the event, I suppose. Token sane person. Naw, just kidding.
So what happens now? Why, a tour, of course. Of other venues, to appear in front of other audiences.
What else? This is show biz.
