Episode 64 · The GaS Digital / Ray Kump Era
Freedom and Fentanyl
Oct 1, 2017 · 1:06:11 · 21 segments, 136 moments indexed
- 1 min
Cold Open: The Bethany McLean Interview That Wasn't
#Tim and Ray open the show explaining that a planned interview with journalist and author Bethany McLean fell through due to a bad Skype connection.
2moments
- 0:14Tim welcomes Ray Kump as co-host and announces they're broadcasting live from his apartment.
- 0:26They had attempted to do an interview earlier in the week that didn't work out.
- 1 min
Missing Out on Media Legitimacy
#Tim and Ray riff on how the botched Bethany McLean interview was supposed to be their ticket into mainstream media respectability, imagining someone telling them to stop talking about kids and pedophile cults and put a blazer on.
2moments
- 0:32Tim introduces Bethany McLean, author of books on Enron and the housing crisis.
- 1:12Tim describes the failed interview as their moment to get co-opted by the mainstream media.
- 2 min
Ray's Sweet 16 Photographer Days
#Ray recounts his old job as a Long Island sweet 16 party photographer, doing sweaty, creepy poses and instructing girls on how to stand for pictures.
5moments
- 1:41Tim used to wear mustard-yellow Salvation Army blazers to sweet 16s to creep people out.
- 2:08Parents would often ask their wives 'who hired him?' partway through the event.
- 2:20His boss told him clients loved seeing him sweat heavily while working, evidence of hard effort.
- 2:38The sweet 16 girls were visibly uncomfortable with his portrait direction and positioning.
- 2:58He'd tell clients the pose 'accentuates the chest' and encourage them to use his services however they wanted.
- 1 min
The Freedom Kids Campaign Song
#Tim introduces a bizarre, violent-sounding pro-Trump children's campaign song called the Freedom Kids that they're about to play.
2moments
- 3:18Tim discovers a Trump campaign video featuring young girls singing a surprisingly violent song.
- 3:30The lyrics progressively get more violent, giving the whole thing a Hitler Youth aesthetic.
Trump kidsHitler Youth
- 2 min
The Freedom Kids Song and NFL Chant Fantasy
#They play and mock the Freedom Kids song's oddly violent lyrics, then riff on Puerto Rico debt comments, and Tim fantasizes about a coordinated NFL stadium chant protest before Ray recounts failing to start a union meeting chant against his CEO.
5moments
- 3:54Freedom Kids song features lyrics about killing homeless people and conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton and the DNC.
- 4:46Tim marvels at the song's insanity and the subdued reaction from people in the background.
- 5:18Tim proposes a fantasy protest scenario where an entire NFL stadium chants something subversive together, but admits nobody has the balls to actually do it.
- 5:44He describes attempting to start a chant against his CEO at a union meeting and being completely ignored.
- 6:07Tim insists he could rally people up for a popular uprising, though he's skeptical it will actually happen.
- 5 min
Heroin(e) Documentary and West Virginia Overdose Culture
#Tim describes the Netflix documentary Heroin(e) about drug court and overdose response in Huntington, West Virginia, riffing on relapse hearings, bodies found in mini-marts, and joking about Ray trying to buy cigarettes during an overdose.
10moments
- 6:19Documentary "Heroin(e)" focuses on three women in Huntington, West Virginia, the overdose capital of the country with a rate 10 times the national average.
- 7:23Drug court system in Huntington lets defendants out of jail on probation, requiring weekly appearances before a judge who threatens immediate re-incarceration.
- 8:28When participants do well in drug court, judges bring in their families to celebrate their progress.
- 8:42Half the documentary shows responders picking up overdose bodies from the floors of mini-marts and gas stations across West Virginia.
- 9:01Tim imagines Ray at a mini-mart trying to buy cigarettes while a woman overdoses in the bathroom.
- 9:17From his work as a funeral home employee, Tim cleaned foam from the mouths of overdose victims—a red, slushy-like ooze.
- 9:36Tim says he's grateful heroin wasn't available during his drug use in the early 2000s, unsure if he would have shot up rather than snorted.
- 10:03To audience members struggling with heroin addiction: this show cannot help you, seek professional programs and institutional support instead.
- 10:29Tim warns that listeners seeking help here will only get more problems, not answers.
- 10:46Getting off drugs requires commitment to an institution and a strategy built on daily progress.
- 4 min
Fentanyl, Carfentanil, and the Moscow Theater Siege
#The conversation shifts into fentanyl and carfentanil, the potency escalation of opioids, and the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis where Russian forces used a fentanyl-based gas that killed many hostages.
9moments
- 10:54Tim has family members and friends struggling with fentanyl addiction.
- 11:15Heroin swept through Long Island with people dying from fentanyl-laced doses.
- 11:40The documented shift from prescription Oxycontin to heroin as pills run out and insurance lapses.
- 12:11Public officials warn of a new spike moving from heroin to carfentanyl, a Chinese synthetic opioid.
- 12:28Tim questions why drug manufacturers keep making fentanyl more potent when existing versions already work.
- 12:58Russian mob was cutting fentanyl patches and selling them, including lollipop formulations meant for terminal cancer patients being abused recreationally.
- 13:41The 1998 Moscow theater hostage siege: Russian SWAT teams gassed the building with carfentanil to subdue the terrorists.
- 14:04Carfentanil found in the victims' bloodstreams caused respiratory failure, but CPR could have saved them had anyone known what was used.
- 14:23The rescue operation failed because mouth-to-mouth resuscitation wasn't administered to those incapacitated by the gas.
carfentanilfentanylOxyContinRussiaLong Island
- 2 min
Freedom Kids on Carfentanil and Sandwich Charity for Sex Workers
#Tim jokes the Freedom Kids singers must be drugged, then pivots to a woman in the documentary who hands out sandwiches to sex workers, riffing crudely on the indignity of the exchange.
5moments
- 14:40Tim claims the Freedom Kids are all on Carfentanil and were sold into a trafficking ring while singing.
- 15:01Trump's response to what happened to the Freedom Kids: 'They're where they need to be.'
- 15:33None of the sex workers asked what kind of sandwich it was, which surprised Tim.
- 15:49Tim argues that after enough Carfentanil use, you stop being picky about food and condiments.
- 16:05Despite making a lot of money from sex work, the woman can't afford to buy a buttered roll.
Donald TrumpFreedom Kids
- 2 min
The Underground Economy and No Way Back In
#A darker riff on how people trapped in addiction and sex work have few legitimate paths back into society, discussing felony records blocking reentry and rehab facilities teaching resume-building to people mid-withdrawal.
4moments
- 17:07The catch-22 of survival: when you're in that position, you have to make money however you can.
- 17:28Tim explains the impossibility of reentry: felons can't get legitimate jobs like Geico customer service, so there's no pathway back.
- 18:04After years in the underground economy with pimps, thieves, and drug users, there's no legitimate source of joy to replace the drug.
- 18:43Tim describes being sent to outpatient rehab at 15, where they taught withdrawing addicts how to make resumes—completely missing the point.
- 3 min
Racial Double Standards in the Opioid Crisis
#Tim and Ray discuss how heroin is treated with compassion now that it affects white suburban kids, contrasting it with the criminalization of crack, and referencing the movie Traffic's message about drugs only mattering once they hit your own family.
7moments
- 19:30Tim wishes for a more compassionate society that treated drug users as victims rather than criminals.
- 19:57His friend's daughter is on heroin, stole from him, held a knife to his throat—but the suggestion is a halfway house and hiking.
- 20:11If drugs don't affect you personally, it's hard to care about the war on them.
- 20:28Tim references the movie Traffic and its premise about fighting a war on drugs when the victims are your own family.
- 21:05People treat meth as something happening on a different planet, disconnected from their own world.
- 21:22Heroin is now a suburban white kid problem, so suddenly everyone is paying attention to it.
- 21:32Tim knows kids who snort heroin and ended up fine after a couple rough years.
- 4 min
Tim's Own Drug History and Long Island Heroin Culture
#Tim recalls not hearing the word heroin until college, discusses the Afghanistan opium pipeline theory, his own pill and Vicodin use, and riffs on the specific miserable culture of heroin use on Long Island.
8moments
- 22:00Shooting up heroin causes far more severe physical withdrawal than snorting, requiring detox to manage flu-like symptoms that make quitting nearly impossible
- 22:29Tim and his friend Shay hung around a house at 13 or 14 where people were doing coke, smoking weed, and possibly crack, but nobody had ever even heard the word heroin
- 23:11They would drive to the Bronx to get cocaine, specifically yellow cocaine, but heroin simply wasn't part of their drug world in 1999
- 23:45The heroin resurgence in recent generations correlates with U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, where poppy production went from 2% to 98% of the world's supply
- 24:22Tim became aware of prescription opioids like Vicodin and OxyContin around 2005-2007 when he was in college, when pills became the dominant drug
- 24:40He took six thousand-milligram Vicetins in one night, became extremely thin, and violently threw up the next day experiencing what he realized was similar to heroin withdrawal
- 25:15There's a misconception that heroin makes you skinny, but Tim noticed a lot of overweight guys doing heroin on Long Island
- 25:45Long Island is so inherently terrible that you can't even successfully lose weight doing drugs there, people are just eating disco fries with their heroin
- 2 min
Advice to Addicts and Drug Court Graduates
#Tim gets more sincere, urging listeners struggling with drugs to get help and referencing a sober comedy gig in Massachusetts, and reflecting on the happy graduates from the drug court documentary.
6moments
- 26:05Tim advises listeners struggling with addiction to get help now, noting that things improve if you make them improve.
- 26:23He clarifies he didn't mean there's genuinely no hope for people in difficult situations like Huntington, West Virginia.
- 26:34Tim recommends stopping drug use before it leads to a criminal record and involvement with the justice system.
- 26:52Tim performed a sober comedy show in Massachusetts at a campground and describes the audience as free and unconcerned with judgment.
- 27:14The people at the sober event are in the fight, sober, and feel better about their lives.
- 27:24He reflects on old acquaintances from his past, some of whom died, acknowledging how difficult it is to turn addiction around.
sobrietyDrug courtHuntington, West VirginiaLord of the Rings
- 5 min
Rehab Friendships and Selling Out for Dope
#Ray and Tim discuss how addicts can't keep their using friends after getting clean, joke about the units and value of heroin versus deli meat, and pivot into why Ray never got into drugs despite growing up around dealing and using.
10moments
- 28:14Rehab counselors tell addicts they'll stay friends with their using buddies, but those are just people in a house getting high together.
- 28:37Tim says addicts would sell each other out for drugs—anyone would betray anyone for a pound of heroin.
- 29:15He'd watch his own mother get beaten to death for two pounds of dope to move on the street.
- 29:34Tim compares drug quantities to deli meat orders: half pound of turkey, half pound of heroin, quarter pound of macaroni salad, pork rinds, a Marlboro.
- 30:06Ray was never a drug addict—he didn't like pot much because it hit him too hard and made him an idiot.
- 30:43Tim credits fear with keeping him alive during his drug use; he was afraid to mix drugs or take too many pills.
- 31:08He was a purist who wouldn't combine substances, unlike people who mix drugs casually.
- 31:23Tim discusses gay men and methamphetamine culture, describing the sexual element of smoking meth together.
- 31:58He never positioned himself to have the kind of fun that would come with drugs and casual sex.
- 32:28His drug stories from Long Island aren't particularly great compared to other people's stories.
- 3 min
Underwhelming Personal Drug Stories
#Tim and Ray compare their own unglamorous, boring drug stories from Long Island, including acid trips at chain restaurants and a Hilton Garden Inn, before Tim compares buying a house drunk on economic optimism right before the 2008 crash.
8moments
- 32:36Tim cruised around a parkway one time—that was it.
- 32:57He took eight Percocet and sat in a drive-through line for two hours while people did acid at Burning Man.
- 33:11Tim took acid at a bar in the Garden City Hotel and argued with someone about whether Rockville Center was wealthy.
- 33:46His other acid story: drove to a movie, friend pulled over, they ended up at a Hilton Garden Inn in Westbury where the friend worked.
- 34:11The first time he smoked pot, he went into a red dragon, ate a Three Musketeers bar, got stoned watching Hostel, then went to a steakhouse.
- 34:40The craziest thing he ever did drunk was buy a house in 2007, a month before the mortgage meltdown.
- 35:05Tim was high on Alan Greenspan's belief in the market—the infusion of capital, implicit guarantees, and endless credit.
- 35:21He imagines sitting in rehab saying he was high on the promise of infusion of capital and TARP money bailing out the system.
Alan Greenspanmortgage meltdownAmerican economyHilton Garden InnHouston'sGarden City hotelRed DragonNew Orleans+4 more
- 2 min
The Friend's Dad Who Drank Forever and Never Fell Apart
#Tim tells the story of his late friend's father, a hard-partying but highly successful medical device CEO whose funeral was attended by his company's Japanese CEO, as an example of someone who beat the odds of alcoholism.
5moments
- 35:41Some people figure out a way to be drunk forever and have a good life.
- 36:04Tim says he could never maintain that—he'd just fall asleep all the time.
- 36:33There's something biological about being able to get drunk, sleep, and wake up ready to work.
- 36:57The friend's dad ran a company that sold medical machines to hospitals—he was a CEO.
- 37:20The CEO of the Japanese parent company flew out to his funeral, proof he never let drinking ruin the business.
- 6 min
Family Parties, Boxing Grandmothers, and Kids Raised in Chaos
#Tim tells long stories about his family's drunken, fistfight-prone Fourth of July parties upstate, his boxer grandmother, an uncle letting air out of tires to stop a drunk driving relative, and reflects on how growing up around that chaos normalized dysfunction for the kids.
10moments
- 37:57A father figure who died in his late 60s after a lifetime of partying; Tim argues the years lost might not be worth the sober alternative.
- 38:47Tim's point: kids get confused when parents lie about vice always being bad, then see successful people making it work.
- 39:22Several of Tim's family members are incredibly successful but love drinking and partying; their children were raised in that environment.
- 39:36Tim and his siblings grew up in Irish Catholic debauchery—drinking, fighting, music, parties until 4 or 5 a.m.—and all reached a breaking point.
- 40:28German family dinners were boring, just tax rates and conversation; the guest's dad yelled at people but never allowed drunken scenes.
- 40:40Tim's uncle parties were chaos—someone called his uncle's wife a Jew and a fistfight broke out.
- 42:05Tim's grandfather let air out of the drunk uncle's tires so he couldn't drive; Tim's grandmother was a legit boxer who laid people out at weddings.
- 42:23A kid at the party saw Tim's grandfather getting ready to box people and told Tim his family was great.
- 42:50Tim used to hold cirrhosis livers at the morgue and they were prickly; he had to flip them on a copy stand to photograph all four sides.
- 43:32The guest asks if Tim was squeezing the cirrhotic liver like a stress ball; Tim admits he was squeezing it because he was stressed.
Keith Richardson
- 3 min
Holding a Cirrhosis Liver at the Morgue
#Ray recounts holding a prickly cirrhotic liver at his old morgue photographer job, joking about using it as a stress ball, before Tim gives a mock PSA to young listeners about avoiding drugs and just trying to get laid instead.
6moments
- 44:09Tim on how growing up in an environment where getting fucked up is the concept of fun normalizes destructive behavior.
- 44:47He admits he has no answers and can't help people live, but advises kids listening to stay healthy, play soccer, and try to meet people instead of chasing drug stories.
- 45:25Tim argues against romanticizing addiction—kids don't need terrible drug stories or sitting in shit-hole apartments dredging up human pain for content.
- 45:51He holds up a listener named John, a finance guy with a nice studio, as the type of life people should aspire to live.
- 46:20Tim moves into a bit where he's holding a liver at the morgue and Ms. Harringer accuses him of using it as a stress ball.
- 46:49He defends himself by describing how prickly and hard the liver is, squeezing it to demonstrate its texture.
- 10 min
Trump as a Cynical Creation of Modern Trends
#A sustained political riff analyzing Donald Trump's lack of empathy and curiosity, referencing Bill Burr's Conan breakdown of Trump as a billionaire out of touch with normal people, his feud with Puerto Rico's mayor, his flip-flop over the Alabama Senate runoff (Luther Strange vs Roy Moore), and whether he's motivated by racism or pure cynical self-interest.
12moments
- 47:10Trump fights with the mayor of Puerto Rico over citizenship and governance.
- 47:36Bill Burr's breakdown of Trump as a billionaire with no empathy, existing in a bubble of money and yes-men.
- 48:36Trump is a pure id character driven by ego, money, and sex with no deeper values.
- 49:01Trump sees middle-class supporters as subjects who believe in him without question, viewing them from a god complex.
- 50:00Trump is a cynical creation of modern trends: celebrity obsession, social media, and unfocused anger converging into one person.
- 51:01Trump was more reasonable and measured in the 1980s before the Obama birtherism shift changed his public trajectory.
- 52:05Successful people Tim has met are operators playing by rules, fudging when possible, lacking the values others would die for.
- 53:12Trump's lack of self-control may have started as calculation but became habit—he evolved into a person who effortlessly creates controversy.
- 53:45Trump always takes popular ground with his base, calculating stances like opposing anthem protests to align with his supporters.
- 54:19Trump campaigned for the moderate Luther Strange, then deleted all supporting tweets after Strange lost to Roy Moore.
- 55:05Trump likely loves wealthy white people and has guttural dislike of minorities, but racism may not be his primary motivation.
- 55:57Trump views everything through a cynical lens focused on power, fights, and expansion rather than ideological hatred alone.
Donald TrumpBill BurrLuther StrangeCentral Park FiveRoy MooreDavid Rockefeller
- 2 min
Neoliberal Hypocrisy and What the Next President Should Fix
#Tim argues that criminal justice reform and a new foreign policy doctrine should be the top priorities for the next president, criticizing Hillary Clinton's inconsistency on Saudi Arabia and calling politicians mostly pragmatic operators rather than people of principle.
7moments
- 57:16During his campaign, he criticized predecessors for neglecting inner cities, but hasn't actually addressed them since taking office.
- 57:34Tim describes the administration as the most traditional Republican scene, doubling down on GOP ethos.
- 57:45The U.S. never actually leaves Afghanistan and keeps money flowing there for rare earth minerals.
- 57:57Tim criticizes neoliberal hypocrisy: Hillary Clinton praising Saudi Arabia for letting women drive while the U.S. has supported the tyrannical regime for decades.
- 58:11Tim admits he's evolving toward pragmatism, accepting that large institutions are immovable and won't fundamentally change.
- 58:33Criminal justice reform should be the top priority for the next president—achievable for Democrats and Republicans alike.
- 58:52The second biggest issue should be establishing a completely new foreign policy doctrine for the country.
Saudi ArabiaHillary ClintonCriminal Justice ReformBarack Obama
- 3 min
The Bush Doctrine, 9/11 Trading Documentary, and Being the Weird Guy at Parties
#Tim brings up a documentary about suspicious financial trades around 9/11, riffs on how mentioning it makes you the unwelcome conspiracy guy at parties, and stages a mock scene of a boss telling an employee to turn off a 9/11 documentary at work.
4moments
- 59:05Tim argues the Bush Doctrine was a failed ideology for viewing the world, but notes that trillions of dollars were made in Iraq, so calling it a failure misses the point.
- 59:30He recently watched a documentary about financial transactions on 9/11, describing it as the type of content that gets him and his co-host not invited to parties.
- 1:00:20The documentary covers trades that happened before, during, and immediately after 9/11—something like high-frequency trading—which Tim admits he only half-watched while eating beef and broccoli at work.
- 1:00:33Tim does a bit imagining his boss as a Glengarry Glen Ross-style sales manager demanding he stop watching 9/11 documentaries and focus on real work instead.
- 5 min
Tim and Ray run through upcoming tour dates (Cleveland, Boston, Detroit, the Practical Jokers cruise, Tampa), plug Ray's upcoming shows and Tim's Vice Sports show That Happened, and close asking listeners to subscribe and rate the show.
9moments
- 1:02:04Tim announces the bus tour sign-up for the New York Comedy Festival, with tickets available through timdillacomedy.com.
- 1:02:58Sign up for the mailing list at Tim Dillon Comedy to stay updated on upcoming shows and events.
- 1:03:23Tour dates listed: Cabot Comedy in Boston October 7th, and Hilarities Cleveland October 11th-15th.
- 1:03:37Louis Gomez and Tim are doing shows in Indiana and Detroit on October 21st and 22nd, though the exact venues are still being figured out.
- 1:03:58Practical Jokers cruise in November, New York Comedy Festival, Magooby's in Baltimore in December, and Laugh Boston and Split-siders in Tampa in January.
- 1:04:21Ray and Tim are looking for a venue to do a live podcast soon; fans can follow updates at timdillacomedy.com or on Twitter.
- 1:04:44Ray lists upcoming stand-up dates in October including Joe and Charles, Fun House Comedy, Corporate Club, and shows with Jenny Sutton.
- 1:05:27Ray's Vice Sports show called "That Happened" analyzes strange stories in sports history, with episodes covering Yankees wife swapping and Randy Savage playing baseball.
- 1:06:05Subscribe to Gas Digital, rate and review the podcast on iTunes, and tell your friends about the show.