Podcast
Recovery Rocks
Hosted by Recovery Rocks · EN
Ever wonder what it's like to go on your first sober date? Or survive a wedding without liquid courage? How about dancing stone-cold sober or dealing with your first breakup without wine?
If so, you're in luck because you can join bestselling authors and longtime sober friends Lisa Smith and Anna David as they talk to guests—and each other—about addiction and recovery, including all the “firsts” that come with sober living. From awkward to amazing, cringe-worthy to surprisingly poignant, they’re discussing what it’s like to experience life without substances.
Lisa is the author of the award-winning memoir Girl Walks Out of a Bar, while Anna wrote Party Girl, a comic novel about addiction and recovery in the vein of Rachel's Holiday and Postcards From the Edge. Together, they explore the real-life moments behind the kinds of stories that shape how people understand recovery.
Whether you're newly sober, sober-curious or just want to hear some honest stories about recovery, Recovery Rocks is here for all of it.
Because as it turns out, when you can remember everything that happened, life gets a lot more interesting.
New episodes weekly. Real stories, real recovery, real talk.
47episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Wait...Am I Still Sober? (Sober Firsts)
5d ago00:21:02Tap to summarizeNobody tells you this when you get sober, but eventually a doctor is going to hand you a prescription for the very kind of drug you spent years trying to avoid.So...now what?Anna and Lisa compare notes on anesthesia, Valium and pain medication, and discover they couldn't have more different reactions. One wakes up from a procedure wondering why anyone would voluntarily do that again. The other is mostly annoyed that the drugs work while she's unconscious, which hardly seems fair.They also talk about why medically necessary medication can still stir up fear, how recovery has changed the conversation around antidepressants and pain meds and why honesty—not heroics—is what actually protects sobriety.And in Petty Resentments, they have a bone to pick with people who whisper, "Don't tell anyone..." before revealing information that absolutely nobody was planning to repeat.In this episode:· The recovery question nobody warns you about· Why Anna and Lisa have completely opposite reactions to anesthesia· The surprising debate around medication in early recovery· What to do when fear shows up in the doctor's office· Why recovery isn't about proving how tough you are
Transcribe →Throwback Thursday: Jemima Kirke on Rehab, Shame and Being “Too Much”
6d ago00:27:49Tap to summarizeBefore Recovery Rocks, Anna’s Recover Girl podcast featured conversations about addiction and recovery that were messy, funny and deeply honest. In this Thursday Throwback, Girls star Jemima Kirke talks openly about getting sober young, bouncing between rehabs and feeling constantly pushed into the role of “the problem.”She shares what it was like navigating treatment centers that often felt more shaming than healing, why she resisted being treated like a patient instead of a person and how she ended up trauma-bonding with the man who became her husband.This conversation gets into the weirdness of getting sober young while still being messy, defensive, confused and very much not “fixed.”
Transcribe →How Do You Say, "I'm Just Not That Into You"?
2w ago00:22:49Tap to summarizeGetting rejected is awful. But as Anna and Lisa discovered, rejecting someone isn't exactly a joy, either.Lisa talks about the first time she had to fire an employee, why she called her sponsor before and after the conversation and the Disney version of "you're fired." Anna shares the story of breaking up with a guy who responded by writing about her in Elle magazine—which, in hindsight, made it abundantly clear she'd made the right decision.What starts as a conversation about rejection turns into something much bigger: the realization that not everyone is your fit. Whether it's a relationship, a job, a sponsor or a sponsee, trying to force something that's wrong usually hurts a lot more than letting it go.And in Petty Resentments, Anna has a message for people who somehow manage to occupy three parking spaces with one car.In this episode:· Why Lisa called her sponsor before firing someone· The breakup that became an Elle magazine article· What Disney employees hear instead of "you're fired"· Why "rejection is God's protection" isn't just a cliché· How recovery changes the way we think about saying goodbye
Transcribe →Throwback Thursday: The Night Ally Weinhold Brought a Homeless Man Home
2w ago00:11:59Tap to summarizeBefore Recovery Rocks, Anna hosted Recover Girl, a podcast built around people sharing their darkest stories in the funniest and most human ways possible. This Thursday Throwback features comedian Ally Weinhold, whose story somehow manages to be hilarious, uncomfortable and heartbreaking all at once.Ally talks about addiction, identity crises, rehab, “Crazy Ally” lore and the chaos of her drinking days before telling the unforgettable story of the night she brought a homeless man home for dinner.It’s the kind of recovery storytelling that reminds you how thin the line can be between comedy and pain — and why telling the truth about both matters.
Transcribe →Road Recovery with Gene Bowen
3w ago00:35:20Tap to summarizeLisa talks with Gene Bowen, co-founder of Road Recovery, the music industry-driven non-profit that helps young people as they battle addiction and other adversities. Come for Gene’s inspiring story and the life-saving work Road Recovery does, stay for the coffee collaboration with Fred Schneider of the B-52s. Pick up a bag of Outer Space Blend here.
Transcribe →Throwback Thursday: Greg Behrendt on Why Sobriety Is So Damn Loud
3w ago00:14:09Tap to summarizeLong before Recovery Rocks, Anna’s Recover Girl podcast featured raw live storytelling from comedians and recovering addicts. This Thursday Throwback brings back Greg Behrendt — comedian, bestselling author of He’s Just Not That Into You and one of Anna’s favorite guests ever.Greg talks about the strange grief of getting sober: realizing music is too loud, dates are terrifying and reality is way more intense than expected. He also hilariously dismantles some of recovery’s most beloved clichés, including the idea that sober people somehow “have more fun.”It’s brutally honest, deeply funny and painfully relatable for anyone who’s ever realized that numbing out was, at least partially, an attempt to survive being so sensitive.
Transcribe →Dad, Have You Been in Prison? (An Interview with Gregg Champion)
4w ago00:40:21Tap to summarizeMost parents don't expect their kid to ask them that question.Gregg Champion is not most parents but someone who’s spent years helping people rebuild their lives through recovery—until the 2025 Pacific Palisades fires destroyed both his home and business and he found himself needing literal help rebuilding his own life.In this episode, Gregg talks about loss, grief, resilience and the uncomfortable reality that recovery doesn't make anyone exempt from life's hardest moments. We also get into why he believes vaping and gambling are quietly becoming two of the biggest addiction threats facing families today.It's a conversation about rebuilding when everything falls apart—and why recovery is about a lot more than not picking up a drink. (It's also about Gregg charming Anna's mom.)
Transcribe →Throwback Thursday: Eddie Pepitone Thinks We’re All Doomed
4w ago00:24:04Tap to summarizeBefore Recovery Rocks existed, Anna hosted Recover Girl, where comedians, writers and addicts told stories that were dark, hilarious and weirdly healing. This throwback features legendary comedian Eddie Pepitone in peak form.Known as “The Bitter Buddha,” Eddie riffs on sobriety, panic disorder, apocalypse anxiety, addiction, coffee during panic attacks, adult coloring books and the sheer discomfort of being alive. Somewhere between stand-up set and existential breakdown, he delivers one of the funniest and most painfully honest recovery stories we’ve ever heard.If you’ve ever felt simultaneously grateful to be sober and absolutely horrified to be conscious, this one’s for you.
Transcribe →We Talked to the Guy Who Was Talking Recovery Before It Was Trendy (Shane Ramer)
Jun 2600:35:14Tap to summarizeLong before celebrities were launching sobriety brands and influencers were posting mocktails on Instagram, Shane Ramer was talking publicly about recovery into a microphone with no guarantee anyone would listen.As the founder and host of That Sober Guy Podcast, Shane has spent more than a decade having honest conversations about addiction, recovery, fatherhood, masculinity and what it actually takes to change your life.We talk about what recovery looked like before it became culturally acceptable, how the conversation has changed and why some of the most important things about sobriety haven't changed at all.
Transcribe →Throwback Thursday: Laura House and the Naked Houseboat Disaster
Jun 2500:22:19Tap to summarizeBefore she became a successful TV writer and meditation teacher, Laura House was getting drunk on a barely floating houseboat filled with naked Texans, animal-print speedos and enough beer to sink the thing entirely.In this Thursday Throwback from Anna’s original Recover Girl podcast, Laura tells the unbelievable true story of a Fourth of July weekend spent partying on “Naked Island,” a floating hillbilly paradise created by one of her most gloriously chaotic friends. The story involves houseboat debauchery, accidental nudity, Texas-sized drinking and eventually…court.Laura is one of the funniest people alive and this episode is a perfect reminder of why these old Recover Girl stories deserved a second life.
Transcribe →