Episode Details

Jack stayed sober for 90 days because someone at his first AA meeting joked that he would save enough money for a good drunk, but the deeper turning point came two years later when an old-timer told him he was still only a "two-stepper."

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Jack shares a funny, blunt AA talk that begins with Tennessee homebrew, Navy court-martials, wartime drinking, a growing business, a frightened family, and Petey, the bourbon-drinking parakeet who became his unlikely drinking partner. He first entered Alcoholics Anonymous on March 17, 1957, stayed dry for 90 days through sheer willpower, and drank again on the 91st day after deciding he had proved he was not an alcoholic. When he returned to AA in March 1958, Jack threw himself into meetings and Twelve Step calls, gathering up alcoholics wherever he found them and mistaking frantic activity for the whole program. At two years sober, a hard-talking old-timer finally told him that he was working only part of Step One and part of Step Twelve. That conversation sent Jack into the Big Book, where he began confronting pride, powerlessness, self-honesty, inventory, amends, prayer, meditation, and the spiritual principles behind lasting sobriety. With humor and hard-earned clarity, he explains why the Fourth Step liberates an alcoholic from himself, why willpower disappears in alcohol, and why the essence of the AA program is ultimately love and service.

Jack H. speaking at the Saturday Night Live Friday Night Speaker Meeting - November 20th 1981

Music: Deep by KaizanBlu