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Blackout Diaries is back with a special World Cup episode. We talk about how US towns are being drunk-dry of beer from international fans and how Trump got a red card reversed, causing a lot of first-time US soccer fans to realize how corrupt FIFA is. This leads to a general corruption theme where we talk about FIFA bribes and other hilarious grifters including biohacker Bryan Johnson who claims he will live forever online but was just diagnoses with an incurable disease.

Sammy Hardwood shares some stories about what it's like to be a male stripper before our live audience in Chicago. Sammy then joins CJ and Sean in the studio to tell a few more stories and detail all the questions you get when you work as a male stripper. CJ and Sean share their own stories about strippers and strip clubs, like the time a stripper used her implants to nearly concuss a man a breakfast. And we share some crazy national stories including a town where the mayor led a mob to burn down a strip club and a LA strip club whose sign keeps landing them in trouble.

CJ and Sean talk about the recently-departed Ted Turner, an old-school billionaire who seemed like he'd be fun to have a beer with. We laugh about how he ran the Braves as almost a barnstorming gag team in the early 1980s and his confidence that the American public did not have sophisticated taste in television. CJ shares some stories about Derek Stevens, the official billionaire of The Blackout Diaries- a good-timing, vintage Casino owner that CJ knows from his sports gambling world. We also share some of the details emerging from the Sam Altman / Elon Musk trial, and how Altman seems to be a hilarious liar. And in Sean's neck of the woods, there is a Wisconsin business magnate who keeps promising his brewery will giveaway free beer the day Trump dies.

Nick Vatterott, one of our favorite comedians, joins us for the whole hour and we mostly talk about robots. CJ, Sean and Nick joke about recent news where robots broke two bus shelters in Chicago, a robot police officer was attacked in California, and some cities are banning food-delivery robots on sidewalks. We also talk about robot taxis, which Nick and CJ ride in LA and Nick's new, award-winning movie about life as a hoarder.

Comedian Jayson Cross tells the story about the time he went out clubbing with a pinched sciatic nerve in his back, one of the myriad struggles of drinking in old age. Jayson joins CJ and Sean in the studio and tells an additional, crazy story about the time he stopped a hate crime while walking the streets of New York City. Jayson's night out with sciatica inspires of a theme of drunken injuries. We talk about the science behind why you get injured more often when drinking, along with some crazy past injuries, drinking related or not, like the park ranger who had the world record for surviving direct-hit lighting strikes.

A special St Patrick's Day episode! Recorded on the weekend where Chicago dyes the river Green, CJ and Sean discuss some of their favorite St Patrick's Day traditions, including The almost-hilariously-dangerous Cheltenham Horse-Racing Festival which is held in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. That is compared to other, wildly dangerous horse races throughout the world before CJ and Sean re-read their favorite annual work of journalism- the transcription of all of the arrests made during last year's St Patrick's Day parade as heard over the Chicago police radio.

Comedian Nick Cartwright tells our live audience about the time he and a buddy did acid only for his friend to think Nick was controlling his brain to make him covet Nick, eventually leading to a half destroyed house and visit from the police. It's a great Blackout Diaries story in that its equal parts (like all perfect cocktails) scary and funny. Nick joins CJ and Sean in the studio to share more details on the story, along with more general talk on bad trips. CJ and Sean share some stories from bad trips, be it figurative, transcendent drug-induced trips, or traveling adventures, i.e. trips, that went bad. We detail how and why drugs make us falsely confident that we are having profound thoughts. Checkout Nick online at nikcartwrightcomedy for more hilarious comedy plus the odd piece of advice on cards and gambling.

Sean is frozen inside his house so CJ and Sean do an episode about the cold weather. We talk about the first-ever warning for exploding trees and how its so cold bars often take pity upon weary drunks, thirsty enough to brave the elements. CJ talks about how stadium security in Chicago, in this weather, lets you bring almost anything into the game. We discuss the legendarily cold Chiefs playoff game where fans listened to booze over doctors and had to get some of their fingers amputated. We also share the story of the Titanic chef who survived below-freezing water while drunk. Sean shares a story about the time he had a drunken injury in freezing cold Cleveland weather, surrounded by warm weather people.

Comedian, and lawyer, Charles Star comes to Chicago and tells the story about totaling his car, after leaving a winery, during his honeymoon- even though he was stone sober. Charles joins CJ and Sean to talk about what its like to be a lawyer, when every drunk you meet has a thousand questions for you. Charles also talks about some times when he was younger and his friends drove drunk which leads to a conversation on DUIs. CJ and Sean share statistics on how its thankfully declining in recent years. We talk about how much more common it used to be along with some stories from back home about half-baked plans for avoiding DUIs and one guy, from Sean's home town, who had 20 DUIs.

An episode devoted to the ups-and-downs, risks-and-rewards of Holiday Parties. CJ and Sean discuss some historically-famous holiday parties, like the First Ward Ball in Chicago, a corrupt, drunken political party thrown every Christmas time; the classic tradition of Saturnalias, which are winter parties with debauched drinking that a Lord of Misrule heads. We share some of our own stories, including office and apartment holiday parties gone awry, including the time a tree was destroyed at the bottom of a high rise. Sean gives some hilarious details on the classic holiday party treat (from years gone by) of mince meat pies, which were laden with so much booze everyone went to sleep with nightmares.

An episode on one of our favorite kinds of, highly-successful, functioning ne'er-do-wells: drunk coaches. Sean remembers Kevin Mackey, a visionary basketball coach who had been sober for 40 years before dying, but was an old fashion hell-raiser in Cleveland prior to getting sober. We also talk about some of our favorite drunk-coaching disasters from Alabama to Iowa State and Louisville and how drunk coaches always have some assistant that is willing to take the fall for them. Finally we discuss one of our favorite sports cons from the last few years- Bishop Sycamore which was not only a fake school and a fake football program but also a fake Bishop.

Comedian Cameron Gillette shares a story recorded at our live show, where he had to leave a music festival, drunk and high out of his mine, shotgun in an ambulance after his girlfriend passed out in the heat. Cameron meets his girlfriend's mom for the first time at the hospital but isn't sure if he fooled her, or hospital staff, into thinking he was sober. This leads to a theme on how hard it is to fool people when drunk. CJ and Sean share their own stories of times they attempted to fool people when drunk, only for it always fall apart and we detail some studies that prove why drunks can not fool sober people. Check out Cameron's hilarious album for free on youtube- THE BEST SET I WILL EVER HAVE and follow him on IG.

An episode on one of our favorite kind of national news stories: cop embellishments. The FBI arrested NBA coaches plus "Italian Mobsters" this week, making some ridiculous claims on how these groups schemed to cheat poker players. We talk about this story along with some of our favorite examples of cop embellishments over the years like the time The Chicago Police accused jack ass home brewers of terrorism, when Boston PD shutdown the entire city over a Cartoon Network advertisement, or the time, out by Sean, where a cop tried to get out of a DUI by calling in fake bar fight. Remember to checkout the live show each Friday in Chicago and CJ Sullivan's other podcast, BOTTOM LINE BOMBS on SGN. And look for the podcast to return to weekly releases now that the crew is done filming our TV pilot.

Nate Craig, one of our favorite comedians and a long time friend, joins us in the studio to promote his latest album, "MARRIED TO IT". Nate's album is out starting today online! We play a clip from the album and Nate talks about how the recording went and what it was like to celebrate afterwards after not drinking for a nearly a full year. We further talk about reunions, as having Nate as a guest is a reunion of our old podcast, The Visitors Locker Room. We talk about how most reunions are a disaster, but none more so than rock band reunions or men getting back together for fantasy football drafts. We list some of our favorite rock band reunion debacles and CJ details the debacle that was his fantasy football draft.

Semi-autobiographical podcast on drinking and the Catholic Church, inspired by the new Chicago-raised pope! CJ and Sean tell stories about growing up in the Catholic Church and how common drinking was at all religious ceremonies. Comedian Joe Kilgallon, one of our regulars at the live show, joins us in studio to also share some of his own stories about attending a Catholic, all-boys highschool. In recent news, and still on the subject of religion, Sean talks about the historical importance of Jimmy Swaggart, a grifting preacher who died this week. And, most importantly, the new Big Man Himself, 'Da Chicago Pope calls into the studio to answer some questions and give The Blackout Diaries an official blessing. Checkout Joe's latest comedy album, "Life & Death", on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNVc-f4Z3KM 'Da Chicago Pope can be followed on Instagram via our buddy Mick Betancourt's profile: https://www.instagram.com/mickbetancourt/?hl=en Mick is a hilarious writer and performer from Chicago.