Many of the Things We Call Untreated Alcoholism Are Just Being a Human Being – Steve B.

About This Speaker Tape

Steve B. shares at a San Jose convention with 21 years of sobriety, having gotten sober on May 25, 1979. He opens with rapid-fire humor about the Lakers, alienating the crowd, and port-a-johns with circle-and-triangle logos, establishing himself as the self-proclaimed "unwell speaker" who stays sober despite being far from perfect. His comedy is the vehicle for deeply honest observations about ego, self-centeredness, and the alcoholic need to be special.

Steve describes his relationship with the disease through a brilliant extended bit where his fingers become the voice of alcoholism — a pimp who says "get in the car, where's my money?" whether you're headed to Thanksgiving dinner or the hospital. He contrasts the 12 Steps of AA with what he calls the 12 Steps of Alcoholism, a darkly funny inversion where Step 1 becomes "I declared I was in complete control" and Step 12 becomes "having achieved spiritual death, I tried to carry this message and take as many of them with me as I could."

His deeper message centers on the struggle to accept imperfection — in himself, in others, and in Higher Power. He tells the story of Big Jack, a racist old-timer who had helped him enormously, and how learning to let Jack be imperfect without either approving of his racism or cutting him off became one of the hardest spiritual lessons of his sobriety. He connects this to his childhood in an alcoholic home where abandonment taught him that turning his will over to Higher Power felt dangerous.

Steve closes with two powerful pieces: the paradoxical prayer ("I asked for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak that I might humbly learn to obey") and the story of the drunk who meets Higher Power and learns that sobriety costs everything — money, car, job, house, family, life — only to have it all returned as something held in trust for a higher purpose. His message is that the Third Step deal is real, that imperfect people stay sober through imperfect effort, and that the small acts of service matter more than any speaker's talk.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opens with crowd banter about Lakers vs. Kings, jokes about alienating the audience instantly
• 3:00 Reflects on looking out at faces in the crowd and the privilege of connection through AA membership
• 8:00 Extended comedy bit about finding circle-and-triangle symbols on port-a-johns in San Jose
• 14:00 Sobriety date and drunk-a-log: got sober May 25, 1979, 21 years, never close to a drink because he was completely done
• 20:00 Alien abduction fantasy at boring meetings reveals persistent self-centeredness, leads to message about accepting imperfection
• 28:00 Newcomer lies and the 72-day gift gag — messing with newcomers as a privilege of sobriety
• 38:00 The finger puppets: voice of alcoholism as pimp, contrasted with the disease becoming Barry White in early recovery
• 45:00 The 12 Steps of Alcoholism — full darkly comic inversion of all 12 steps
• 55:00 Higher Power confused with parents — abandonment at the pool, fear of turning will over to an unavailable higher power
• 70:00 Big Jack story: learning to let an imperfect, racist old-timer be a teacher, then losing the friendship permanently
• 80:00 Closes with the paradoxical prayer and the story of the drunk who meets Higher Power — sobriety costs everything but gives everything back in trust