The Blackout Diaries – Details, episodes & analysis

Chicago bartender and musician Christian McGann explains the differences between the Front Of The House and The Blackout Of The House, to our live audience at The Blackout Diaries. Christian tells some stories about bartending in Chicago and concludes with a hilarious song about what it's like to hear the drink orders of customers all night long. Christian joins CJ and Sean in the studio and we discuss the demands of bartending, along with Christian's other tavern-based job- he is one half of a dueling piano duo. CJ and Sean discuss some stats about bartending and how much the service industry drinks, along with how some bars have adjusted to bad internet reviews in hilarious, albeit confrontational ways. Remember to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review- plus follow Christian to checkout more great piano tunes and live apperances.

Legendary Chicago comedian Joey Villagomez tells a couple of stories at the live show, about the time he got high at work during a polar vortex and then about the time in highschool when his buddy drank too much and had to be hosed down. Joey then joins CJ and Sean in the studio and shares some crazy stories about working for the city of Chicago, along with other drinking buddy tales. This leads to a theme on drinking buddies. We discuss the science of how drinking buddies impact our alcohol consumption, share some stories, and extend an open invite to a FL lawyer who got separated from his drinking buddies and entered the wrong car, naked.

Comedian Matty Ryan tells the (hilarious) story of how he got stung by a jelly fish while taking a dip in the ocean in what was intended to be a quick frolic into the water while stuck in traffic. Matty then consults with an increasingly large number of people and experts to get advice on the pain, all of which just seem to laugh. Matty joins CJ and Sean in the studio and we talk about the story, and most importantly the urban legend that they only way to fix a jelly fish sting is to urinate on it. This leads to a theme on 'urban legends', in particular urban legends that drunks believe, like sucking on a penny to get out of DUI or eating the right foods to become sober.

Comedian, radio broadcaster and pro wrestling personality Kevin Kellam tells a story about the time his mom picked him up from a train stop while he was drunk and she started doing tricks in the car to tease him. Kevin then comes into the studio with CJ and Sean and they discuss this story plus some of Kevin's favorite wrestling stories. We discuss how parents always know you are drunk, wether they choose to confront you or not. CJ and Sean talk about failed attempts to hide drinking from their parents along with rushed cleanup jobs after parties. We also discuss Rick Flair's recent twitter spat with a FL pizza place along with the science of why your parents will probably always know you are drunk.

Comedian Lyssa Laird makes her (HILARIOUS) debut on the Blackout Diaries. She tells the story of dating a city boy in high school where her and her best friend from the south suburbs had a terrible night in the city after meeting him to drink an alley. Lyssa joins CJ and Sean from her kitchen while she preps food for her birthday party. We talk about Lyssa's past in the air force and what she learned about drinking in highschool. This leads to an overall theme on alleys, in particularly Chicago's sometimes love affair with partying in an alley. We end the show on a story from Chicago writer Raf Miastkowski -- a documented lover of alley drinking -- who tells the story about his roommate's fascination with alley amore.

Comedian Daniel Bergamini performs at our live show and tells about the time he and his girlfriend narrowly avoided a hospital trip after loosing a sex toy. Daniel then joins us in the studio to talk about the whole, Odyssean night, which began with a near trip to the hospital, then a night out that ended with a party where everyone was drugged. This leads to CJ and Sean sharing their own stories of drinking Odysseys. Sean shares a story about how a massive beer purchase lead to a three day lost trip and we share the science of why groups of drunks are more likely to get sloppy then loan drinkers, which can lead to more chaotic Odysseys.

Chicago is stuck in a polar vortex so CJ and Sean talk about drinking in cold weather. We share stories about football games in subarctic temperatures and how bars change their rules when it gets super cold, almost like they are welcoming weary travelers. We also talk about the science of why drunks don't feel cold but are actually more in danger of it than sober people.

Comedian Mary Kelly tells the story of when she went on a Corned Beef Sandwich Crawl for St Patrick's Day. Mary hits just about every Irish pub and sandwich shop in Milwaukee before finally have one-too-many shots of whiskey and it all comes out while the band is playing. Mary joins CJ and Sean in the studio and they share some more St Patrick's Day stories. We talk about how much Americans spend binge drinking on St Patrick's Day alone, why Chicago had to move it to a weekend holiday because of the chaos and how LA is so healthy- they ru a marathon on the day.

Legendary Chicago comedian Dwayne Kennedy tells the story about when he was so drunk at a club, he left to sleep on the hood of a parked car but still had the wherewithal to prepare his wallet and ID for when the police eventually woke him up (which they did). Dwayne also talks about why he quit drinking and then joins CJ and Sean in the studio to share more drinking stories and hilarious standup stories from his Emmy-winning career, like the time he promoted a nonexistent album on Jimmy Kimmel. Dwayne's story leads to other stories on the theme of falling sleep while drunk. We discuss why your body becomes so sleepy when drunk and also share stories about falling asleep on city streets along with famous cases of people sleeping in the wrong house drunk.

Adam Burke, one of our favorite comedians and drinking buddies, stops by to promote his amazing new album, "Weaponized Empathy". We share a clip from the new album then talk with Adam for almost the entire episode. Adam explains how he recorded the album, then moves on to hilarious drinking stories from his various ports of call, throughout his life- Western Australia, Northern Ireland, London, Chicago and (in one we still can't believe) Dallas. Adam's stories about drunk red necks that split time between the outback and beaches of AU always put us on the floor laughing. Checkout his new album- available everywhere online.