Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Andy Dick Has Apparently Been Sober For A Year And A Half
It seems like everyone who frequented Hollywood in the last decade has an Andy Dick story—some tale about the comedian doing something weird or inappropriate while drunkenly gallivanting from bar to bar. And maybe that starts out funny to some, but when all is said and done, addiction isn't funny. That's why it's nice to see that Monday, Dick posted an inspirational message about getting sober. In the post, Dick says he's been sober for the past year and a half, and attributed his success to a recovery center in Malibu called SOBA.
To all my friends, family, and friends of friends and family: Do you finally want to get sober? Maybe it's time. You don't have to suffer any more. You can stop right now. I did over a year and a half ago. It took me a long time to realize that being sober is better than being in the hell of my own making. After countless rehabs, I thought that I was a hopeless, helpless case. When I finally reached out this last time to the familiar people and places I went to for help in the past like family, friends, and frequented hospitals, nobody was there anymore. They had heard this boy cry wolf one too many times. They were sick of it. I had exhausted all my resources. I was a man bound to die. Only one man and one facility heard my barely audible faint cry of desperate help. Greg Hannley and his recovery center called SOBA. Twenty one months ago, he and his team at his treatment center took me in when all the other facilities quietly shut their doors or hung up the phone on me. Understandably so, I was more than just a trainwreck at the time. I was a quivering shadow of the person I used to be, and I saw no light at the end of the tunnel, and no reason to live in such unfixable misery. Greg and his team had a solution. Long-term treatment. Slow, simple and effective. I had to change everything. My habits, my thought processes, my surroundings, my friends, my impulses and my attitudes. I had to learn how to enjoy the simple things in life again, the way a child learns to brush his teeth. SOBA has gently steered me into a new direction. One of abstinence, hope, love, family, and community. I've seen hundreds of people here get sober, stay sober, and blossom. I can't underestimate the power of the community of soba. It might be the number one main aspect in my recovery that has kept me sober. The new friends and support team I found here are still here. I rely on them every day. And that is why I am inviting you to join my sober family! Choose to live! People argue whether alcoholism is a disease or not. Either way, I think the cure could be love. They say the opposite of love is fear. I am inviting you to step out of fear and into love. I still live here, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. You have nothing to lose. Call the intake line today, get in here and come visit me. Tell them Andy sent you and get the VIP treatment. It would make my day to see you here. I am just like you. More than you know. To anybody who is struggling, I love you, and I pray you make the bold decision to call. See you soon. Love, Andy SOBA intake line: 1 (866) 948-9014
Dick made a surprising cameo on the Netflix comedy Love, in which he played himself and frankly talked about his drinking.
In the episode titled "Andy," Gillian Jacobs' Mickey, a satellite radio program manager with an admittedly addictive personality, is trying to hammer down a date with an aspiring TV writer she recently met at a gas station. They're trying to do it over texting, and the episode explores how it's not a perfect medium for conveying tone. Mickey ends up running into a drunk Andy Dick and going on an ill-fated adventure in which he terrorizes a taco truck and they both take drugs and go to Andy's "safe place," the L.A. Metro. There, they have a heart to heart. He tells her, "Every bad choice I've made is drinking. Everything I've lost...drinking. I got that Vince Vaughn movie...I was right there. I thought he was sober and then we went out, and he's not, and we drank. And then I blacked out, but I know it wasn't good. I probably got grope-y."
Dick, who has been in and out of rehab many times, has a history of being "grope-y" when drunk, as documented by various legal cases. So, it was weird to see him call out his own behavior on a comedy show—but it isn't as though drinking is an excuse for sexual abuse. Here's hoping this time, sobriety sticks.
If you're not a celebrity and you can't afford a rehab center in Malibu or don't have insurance, here is where you can find treatment in Los Angeles.Here is where to find information on AA meetings in L.A. County.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.

-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?