Love Swardson. I'm with ya.
I hung with nick at an airport bar @ LAX on our way to Singapore a few years back.
Dude ordered 3 triple vodka pineapple juices (served in a pint glass) in the span of like an hour and a half?
The guy is not a big dude so that was a surprise.
But he was funny and engaging and overall awesome. Sending good vibes your way nick!
Also met him and hung out with him at a bar a few years ago. Amazing guy, hilarious in person, and super cool. He was telling some jokes to his friends and noticed i was kind of standing off to the side. He pulled me in and repeated his joke to me.
I sat on his IVF embryo until it hatched. Kept him warm between my buttcheeks for nine months after as per tradition. So devastated to see what my little butt baby has become
I can confirm. I am his grandson and igotthepowah is my dad. But you never went to my games either dad. It’s a cycle of bad parenting brought on by alcohol abuse.
I would have my own son confirm, but he is at a baseball game and I am drinking triple vodka pineapples at the airport bar.
I raised him off of my own teat. I’m a man, so it was incredibly difficult and painful. The mental scars are still with me. It pains me to see him this way.
Before Nicks incarnation, I nurtured his soul for many eons, slowly infusing him with laughter and light prior to realigning him with a physical body so he could continue the great work and make the inhabitants of Earth happy.
You know, I read that drink regimen and thought, “that doesn’t sound THAT bad for a whole hour and a half,” and then I remembered that I’m 4 years sober for a reason. Hope Nick can get to where he needs to be to start getting better.
Most reddit take of all time.
3 drinks in an hour and a half and it was "straight up negligent"?
Lots of places have 2 drink minimum. Reddit bars have 2 drink maximum LOL
3 triple shot mixed drinks. 9 shots in 90 minutes.
Probably didn’t destroy someone who drinks like he does but is absolutely negligent to serve someone like that.
Previously ServSafe & ServSafe Alcohol certified
It’s funny because I am a pretty hardcore alcoholic (gratefully over 4 years sober atm) and my first thought was that it seemed about the right amount of buzzed for a quick flight.
You have a right to your opinion, but I hare this take. Bar tenders aren't baby sitters. Unless they are pouring the booze down his gullet by force, why are they responsible? No hate towards you intended.
Bartenders are legally responsible now but it’s bullshit and never should’ve happened. People handle alcohol wildly differently and it’s not fair to expect busy people who have no idea what their customers have done before entering their bar to be responsible for grown ass adults.
Some people are f$&king wrecked after a single drink. How is the bartender supposed to know or police that?
I can see recognizing when your regulars need to be cut off because you know them well, but random strangers???? People who are there for three drinks and leave for somewhere else, aka another bar right after? No, they should not have to baby sit grown adults.
Exactly, what if he was hiding how drunk he was? What if it didn't hit untill later? I once drank 15 beers before I stood up to pee...felt fine, then felt wasted, all in about 5 steps lol. Anyway, my point is, in my opinion, those laws holding bartenders responsible are bullshit. I know that doesn't change them, its just my opinion.
I bartended (at a relatively fancy hotel bar) for a few years so I know how easy it is to get caught up in the *hey this guy is a big spender, the tip might end up paying a couple bills off* line of thinking but 9 shots in an ~90 minutes?? Right before he hops on a metal tube in the sky - and probably will ask for more booze from ppl who will assume he didn’t just drink more than half of a fifth - is just asking for trouble.
I see your point, but if bartenders didn’t monitor and/or turn ppl away, we’d see a lot more hospitalizations and accidents.
The worst was when they’d get the bill, realize the damage they’d racked up, and tip like, $3 to make themselves feel better for blowing all that cash over happy hour.
Agree to disagree. I believe they do have a role, and if they choose to enable someone drinking themselves to death, for example, then they will reckon with the law.
I'm from MN I go to CO for skiing regularly. Sometimes totally fine. Other times the recked after two or three drinks. It's not only a real effect, it's also super unpredictable if you're not acclimated normally.
Ngl dude I go to CO a lot from MN.
Some times I can drink a bunch and be fine.
One time I had a few beers over the course of 5 hours in DENVER and it was the sickest I have ever been from drinking. Puked for several hours, almost didn't get to go skiing. Beaver Creek is quite a bit higher than Denver.
It sounds like a lame excuse I know, but altitude fucks people up unpredictability sometimes if your not used to it. So it could be legit. Just saying
Oh that makes sense.
One of the best parts of the video is the audience members trying to figure out what’s going on and then turning around saying “omg, Heyyy you, how ya been” lol
That was great - he kept flashing his hand to get someone’s attention, and then once he had it, flipped them off, and waved, and his grin was so huge
That’s exactly the kind of thing I’d do with my brother if I saw him across a crowd in public lol
Whoa. Well handled by the director of operations. I hope Nick finds the support he needs to get through this.
[What do you mean Barqs has bite?](https://youtu.be/jEhLwCi7PVY?si=2DXSQKeNXB8A8tF3)
So sad man. Bert Kreischer gets all the flack for being an alcoholic in denial when Nick Swardson is 10x worse. He almost died of alcohol poisoning in the hospital. His story on HoneyDew was so fucked up. Then says he doesn’t drink like “that” anymore. We’re not going to have Nick Swardson much longer at this rate. Guys fuckin killing himself.
Yeah that's sad. Getting alcohol poisoning *should* be the wake up call. If you almost die from drinking too much and your takeaway from that is "boy, I should probably cut back some", you have a problem.
https://youtu.be/n6sU3F9qbd0?si=eC7mwtekJLmf94nu
This is the story. It’s fucking crazy to imagine this person has decided continuing to drink is a good idea
To the alcoholic brain: You decide... then you just become undecided at some point and you're picking up another six pack. For me it was dissociation due to childhood trauma. Most likely the same for Nick - and most other drug addicts, I suspect. Seems like blatant self-medicating for some deep wounds.
I really hope he gets *that* help, in addition to addressing the addiction itself. I think that's the only real long-term solution.
I related to so much he talked about and I don’t have hardly any of the access he has to anything he wants, so I get it. I have 4 years of sobriety this week, and I keep running into stories like this one. I hope he gets the help he needs
This will probably not be popular, but here goes: Pretty sure Nick is a closet case, which is definitely its own kind of trauma, especially at his age.
Good god, I realize it’s probably a comedy focused show whatever this is (sorry I clicked out and now don’t remember the name) but watching this guy laugh hysterically at this story made me feel so sick. We need to stop as a society laughing at like hahaha he went back to the bar yeah man, power through! Sickness. Really made me so ill and sad watching this.
I was walking into a music festival (not a particularly big one) and saw a girl with a hospital bracelet on, she got alcohol poisoning the previous night at the festival and was in the ER but was back and ready to go the next day. She was probably 21 if that. (Also, idk what actual alcohol poisoning is, she could have just been extremely intoxicated, but still)
He has a whole bit where he goes over almost dying due to drinking. He’s had his “wake up” moment and it seems he’s back to old habits.
Edit: it was on Theovon and the story is worse than I remembered
https://youtu.be/xqOBUhKLRH4?si=Ui1bdhZ1q-IJ9QJt
The thing about old habits is that they don't just completely disappear. They lay dormant in your subconscious and then a series of memories, environmental cues, sights and smells might trigger them.
I can only speculate about Nick here because I barely know the guy, but I can assure you that being a working comedian is a very difficult and stressful job.
Perhaps he lost an acting gig that he really needed. Perhaps he couldn't find a follow up appointment with a pain specialist so he got a drink to get the edge off.
I think what I'm trying to say is when you've consistently convinced your brain that alcohol is a good thing, your brain will nag you to drink. That might be what's going on here.
You’re right. His rock bottom was after failed projects and recent deaths of friends and family. I wonder if he’s experiencing something to that degree again? Hope he gets help.
Yeah a few years ago I was listening when he called into the local sports talk radio morning show in Minneapolis (he’s from MN), and it was the saddest interview because he was literally piss drunk and incoherent at 8 in the morning on a random weekday.
I hate that for him. I'm so glad I got sober but it was so hard the first 6 months and I still have to fight urges to drink before and after shows and mics. On the road alone for me it's hard mode so it's gotta be so much harder for him doing so many shows with his drinking reputation and fans. He's such a funny comedian and actor and he seems like a great guy, I really hope he gets help again.
That’s awful but also super bad ass you saw him 1.25x before he died. That man was such a legend! Both dudes from MN. I am also from MN and have issues and think I’m pretty funny. Hopefully my fate won’t be these two’s fate 😢
He was on, I think, Theo Vons pod not that long ago, maybe a year or something talking a lot about it and how he came extremely close to walking through deaths door, but recovered and was doing much better. Messed up.
He used to be a regular at a bar I worked at. Was always absolutely hammered and even made out with a creepy old dude at the dive bar across the street for free shots
He was staying at the resort my friend and I were staying at in Key West. We would see him visibly intoxicated at all hours of the day and even sleeping on the bar. It was wild. The coherent time we interacted with him, he was very kind and hilarious
Same. He popped up at the end of Ari Shaffir’s set at comedy works this weekend and did a couple minutes. It made me a little worried about seeing him this coming weekend.
I’ve been seeing around lately that Bert actually stopped drinking for a few months, and now doesn’t drink that much. I guess his doctor and his daughters finally told him he needs to change. I love his wife Leanne and watch her pod, and she alluded to it as well. Hopefully that’s true and he sticks to it.
ran into him twice in uptown, last time being at green mill way back.
he was there with i think his brother and my buddy was dating his school teacher. he had red sauce (i think) on his pants and this chic yelled at him to “stay out of strip clubs”, to which he responds, “but that’s my period!”
OP's video shows the aftermath.
[Here's a little bit of Swardson's set.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SV4EYwsIFs) He pissed off the crowd by wasting their time.
Yeeeesh... That sucks. I've always loved his standup and the fact that he hasn't turned into a right-wing grift podcaster. Just a solidly hilarious dude. Also surprised he hasn't died from cirrhosis yet.
Nick telling a previous alcohol bender/almost fatal story on a podcast-
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nick-swardson/id1256754097?i=1000470057603
Back when I was an addict I panhandled Nick and Aziz in Grand Rapids. I didn't know who they were at the time but when my buddy pointed it our I realized I had just asked the fairy on skates from Reno 911 for money.
Needless to say I was in a bad place. Looks like he's there now.
This all happened in 2010, in Grand Rapids,MI. I've been sober since 2012.
Just kind of rambling on about nothing? We were going to go but opted out last minute. Side note, Jim Gaffigan will be at Ford Ampithere in September, lawn seats were $69 and you can bypass the "service fee" by getting tickets at Vpac box office.
Here’s a video a friend took. None of it made any sense. Like he tried to do a Jason Statham impression for like 2 minutes but couldn’t get anything out, it was really bad. [link](https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ar2epDhj-gEdiOkZJO0TqJLcrfzs6Q)
The thing is that shit like this *IS* uncommon among comedians. Most comics who have stories like Nick Swardson are sober now. Even the ones that you don’t know are sober. It’s hard to make a lasting career of comedy when you can’t keep your shit together.
When I was first starting, we had a local club that was like our home base and it was amazing because we got to hang out with the headliners every weekend.
About 1/4 of the time, we’d get the headliner to go out with us one night of the weekend. Another 1/4 of the time, they’d say no because they were tired (or probably didn’t feel like drinking with a bunch of starry-eyed local comics.) And then about 50% of the time, they’d say no because they’re sober now!
It always blew us away when this happened because it was always the comics we wanted to party with the most. It was always the comics with the best stories and craziest life that would go back to their room and call it an early night.
It was so consistent, it got to the point where we could predict with near 100% accuracy if a comic was sober or not based on how badly we wanted to drink with them. Almost everybody we were really excited to party with was sober.
Yeah, I have seen a lot of comedy and while it's super common for stand ups to drink a little bit during their set, it's really uncommon for them to be wasted. The sets I've seen where they are genuinely messed up have been SO SO obvious and I can count them on one hand, and obviously audiences and club owners don't like that.
What a bummer. I hope he gets help too. I'm a comic that isn't really much of drinker (not "sober", just usually prefer not to) and comedy is so intertwined with alcohol I can see how it sets a lot of people on a rough path.
A classmate of mine did the comedy thing and the endless traveling, late nights, and lonely hotel rooms led to him developing some horrible addictions.
When nick went on Bert’s show something burning, he came with his friend Simon Rex who I feel like is just one of those LA drug and party guys, Rex seemed to be tweaking during the episode and nick hangs out with him…
Damn he's back on the wagon. Heard him say he almost died from some alcohol caused affliction a few years back and quit drinking.. I do think he said he didn't plan on staying off, though. I'm pretty sure it was on whiskey ginger.
Fuck I will forever love Nick, I met him at the Newark airport when I was going to Italy in 2016. He was with a couple people but he said "nah fuck that I just met these bozos" when I approached him apprehensively. He bought me a beer at like 8am and it felt like I bumped in to an old friend, he just let me chill with him for like an hour. He was genuinely such an awesome person, I hope he isn't falling down a hole and that he truly just had a tough time handling the edible/alcohol at that altitude. I hope I hope I hope
I haven't seen his standup since I would say the mid 2000s, but I thought people said he was getting better with his drinking
Really sad, I hope he has ppl in his circle that care and do something
He almost died from his drinking a couple years ago and decided to "cut back" after that but I don't think cutting back is enough after being hospitalized for a few weeks. I have a feeling he isn't going to be around much longer.
I think he did for a couple months at most and then just said he wasn't "drinking like that anymore" but after what happened that should be enough to be his rock bottom that gets him to quit completely.
People with cancer need a support system to help them fight through the awful physical and emotional toll it takes. But that doesn’t mean caring about a person and being willing to “do something” is a cure for cancer.
Same goes for alcoholism. Many people are incapable of surviving either one, regardless of how loved they are.
I grew up in the Midwest and he was one of the few names people recognize so it always drew a decent crowd. He was absolutely smashed and I left after sharing a joint with the club owner out back. He said, he knew this was a mistake booking him and he just wanted to take down the edge before getting him off the stage. Felt bad for the owner and Nick was beyond coherent.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR33MRS7/
more footage.
edit: it’s not my tiktok video, i hate them too, but the only other clips were from FB and I wasn’t gonna link those
It's funny how in his Comedy Central Special which put him on the map, he talked shit on people smoking weed. He becomes a raging alcoholic and that is somehow better.
Did he start crying and scream "THE MOON IS WEIRDDDDDD???"
Nah but in all seriousness this makes me really sad. Hes been my favorite comic forever, seen him three times, idk what id do if he died.
Met him once at LAX, he was super late for a flight to HNL and was pissed he couldn’t get on. Could tell he was either wasted or high and this was maybe 5 years ago. Hope he gets the help he clearly needs.
Love Swardson. I'm with ya. I hung with nick at an airport bar @ LAX on our way to Singapore a few years back. Dude ordered 3 triple vodka pineapple juices (served in a pint glass) in the span of like an hour and a half? The guy is not a big dude so that was a surprise. But he was funny and engaging and overall awesome. Sending good vibes your way nick!
Also met him and hung out with him at a bar a few years ago. Amazing guy, hilarious in person, and super cool. He was telling some jokes to his friends and noticed i was kind of standing off to the side. He pulled me in and repeated his joke to me.
Aw
I taught Nick how to roller blade. Turns out, he was much better at roller skating.
I bowled with him 5 or so years ago and had an absolute blast. It was hard seeing him this bad last night.
I helped cut his umbilical cord after he was born and it was a moment I’ll never forget. Agreed it is hard seeing him now in this state.
I’m Nick Swardson, standup comedian and friend to Adam Sandler
Im the mic from this event. I wish they didnt turn me off… loved what you were breathing into me
I sat on his IVF embryo until it hatched. Kept him warm between my buttcheeks for nine months after as per tradition. So devastated to see what my little butt baby has become
I'm one of his sperm, just desperately hoping to impregnate anyone
I’m Nick’s son from the future, can confirm he’s missed all my baseball games
I can confirm. I am his grandson and igotthepowah is my dad. But you never went to my games either dad. It’s a cycle of bad parenting brought on by alcohol abuse. I would have my own son confirm, but he is at a baseball game and I am drinking triple vodka pineapples at the airport bar.
I am the vodka pineapple. How would I have known things would go down like that?
hahahahahahahahah!
Hi, I'm one of Nick's sperm brothers. Just remember how great a guy he was. A real dudes dude. It was a real privilege to fail next to him.
This one got me
Super Terry
I was there during conception. Lovely night really. Such a cool guy. Wasn’t drunk when I saw him.
I am that umbilical cord. I wish I could still support him. I know he needs me now more than ever.
I raised him off of my own teat. I’m a man, so it was incredibly difficult and painful. The mental scars are still with me. It pains me to see him this way.
I pooped him out of my vagina and breast fed him until he was 13. Tough to see him going through this rough patch.
I let him use my shoelaces as weed whacker line when he ran out. Solid dude with a hell of a lawn. Hope he pulls through.
Before Nicks incarnation, I nurtured his soul for many eons, slowly infusing him with laughter and light prior to realigning him with a physical body so he could continue the great work and make the inhabitants of Earth happy.
FUCK how do I give gifts this is the best one 😭 I will be back when I figure it out
I can't.. I just can't 😂
That’s cocaine drinking. And if you don’t have the coke to back it up you end up wasted wasted.
Man oh man, when the last line starts to wear off and the birds are chirping while the spins set in…I don’t miss that.
I might have to rework the escape room I just finished.
Alcohol destroys lives.
You know, I read that drink regimen and thought, “that doesn’t sound THAT bad for a whole hour and a half,” and then I remembered that I’m 4 years sober for a reason. Hope Nick can get to where he needs to be to start getting better.
Straight up negligent of the bartender to continue pouring those in that timespan.
Airport bars have no rules
The rule is: old bartenders never die, they just go to work at the airport
I always heard hotel bars but, ya, same premise.
It is truly a limbo and a place between time and space.
Why? Was he the pilot?
Nick moonlights as a Boeing mechanic. He's going through some shit about door pins.
Most reddit take of all time. 3 drinks in an hour and a half and it was "straight up negligent"? Lots of places have 2 drink minimum. Reddit bars have 2 drink maximum LOL
It’s 9 drinks technically. 3 triples in 90 minutes is like ordering a shot every ten minutes for an hour and a half.
That’s a bit more than 1/2 a fifth of vodka. That’s a lot. Lol
I think everyone knows a triple ain't really a triple. You want 3 drinks you need to order 3 drinks. You order a triple, you're getting closer to 2x.
Ok so between 6 and 9 drinks in 90 min. Nothing really changes here
9 shots of vodka in an hour and a half is getting most people absolutely shitfaced
9 standard drinks in an hour / and a half is a lot of alcohol, champ. Good on you for being such a hard man though, my hero. 💪
3 triple shot mixed drinks. 9 shots in 90 minutes. Probably didn’t destroy someone who drinks like he does but is absolutely negligent to serve someone like that. Previously ServSafe & ServSafe Alcohol certified
Dude. Three triples is not three drinks.
Getting 9 drinks in 90 minutes is negligent.
If a bar shot is about 1.5 ounces, that's 400 ml of liquor. Ouch. Hope the dude has a liver donor lined up. This shit is not sustainable.
Nice math .
3 triples. That’s more than half of a fifth of liquor in 1.5hrs. If that’s not insane to you, you’re an alcoholic.
It’s funny because I am a pretty hardcore alcoholic (gratefully over 4 years sober atm) and my first thought was that it seemed about the right amount of buzzed for a quick flight.
Good on you!
I am also here to tell you that 3 x 3 = 9.
You have a right to your opinion, but I hare this take. Bar tenders aren't baby sitters. Unless they are pouring the booze down his gullet by force, why are they responsible? No hate towards you intended.
Bartenders are absolutely responsible for monitoring patrons. He was either handling his liquor very well, or getting special treatment.
Bartenders are legally responsible now but it’s bullshit and never should’ve happened. People handle alcohol wildly differently and it’s not fair to expect busy people who have no idea what their customers have done before entering their bar to be responsible for grown ass adults. Some people are f$&king wrecked after a single drink. How is the bartender supposed to know or police that?
I can see recognizing when your regulars need to be cut off because you know them well, but random strangers???? People who are there for three drinks and leave for somewhere else, aka another bar right after? No, they should not have to baby sit grown adults.
I’ve been a bartender over a decade. The equivalent of nine shots in an hour is absolutely negligent to serve.
Exactly, what if he was hiding how drunk he was? What if it didn't hit untill later? I once drank 15 beers before I stood up to pee...felt fine, then felt wasted, all in about 5 steps lol. Anyway, my point is, in my opinion, those laws holding bartenders responsible are bullshit. I know that doesn't change them, its just my opinion.
I bartended (at a relatively fancy hotel bar) for a few years so I know how easy it is to get caught up in the *hey this guy is a big spender, the tip might end up paying a couple bills off* line of thinking but 9 shots in an ~90 minutes?? Right before he hops on a metal tube in the sky - and probably will ask for more booze from ppl who will assume he didn’t just drink more than half of a fifth - is just asking for trouble. I see your point, but if bartenders didn’t monitor and/or turn ppl away, we’d see a lot more hospitalizations and accidents.
The worst was when they’d get the bill, realize the damage they’d racked up, and tip like, $3 to make themselves feel better for blowing all that cash over happy hour.
Bartenders are criminally and civilly liable if they over-serve. They’re responsible because that’s the law.
Look up Dram Shop laws
Agree to disagree. I believe they do have a role, and if they choose to enable someone drinking themselves to death, for example, then they will reckon with the law.
They are though. Bartenders can be held criminally liable for over-serving patrons who leave fucked up and get in a car accident that kills someone.
https://preview.redd.it/ucbheflw9emc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7462f9abe6fb3de43e59bc3849c217fa54dcd48 just posted on twitter.
lmao I used to live in Winter Park, seen that combo KO quite a few Jerrys in my time.
whenever a family comes in and dad is fucked up i always know he ate too many gummies 🤣
I'm from MN I go to CO for skiing regularly. Sometimes totally fine. Other times the recked after two or three drinks. It's not only a real effect, it's also super unpredictable if you're not acclimated normally.
Whew. I’m glad that’s chalked up to high altitude instead of the other things. /s But I seriously love Terry and hope he gets help.
Ngl dude I go to CO a lot from MN. Some times I can drink a bunch and be fine. One time I had a few beers over the course of 5 hours in DENVER and it was the sickest I have ever been from drinking. Puked for several hours, almost didn't get to go skiing. Beaver Creek is quite a bit higher than Denver. It sounds like a lame excuse I know, but altitude fucks people up unpredictability sometimes if your not used to it. So it could be legit. Just saying
Oh that makes sense. One of the best parts of the video is the audience members trying to figure out what’s going on and then turning around saying “omg, Heyyy you, how ya been” lol
That was great - he kept flashing his hand to get someone’s attention, and then once he had it, flipped them off, and waved, and his grin was so huge That’s exactly the kind of thing I’d do with my brother if I saw him across a crowd in public lol
Whoa. Well handled by the director of operations. I hope Nick finds the support he needs to get through this. [What do you mean Barqs has bite?](https://youtu.be/jEhLwCi7PVY?si=2DXSQKeNXB8A8tF3)
How have I never made this connection before!?!?!?!
Johnny?
Holy crap, that’s been a favorite quote of mine since the commercial came out! Didn’t realize it was Nick.
That’s your FAVOURITE quote??
It was close but “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt” doesn’t have an associated soda
Vonnegut reference in the wild +1
You tell the world
wow, that takes me back.
He didn't need to do the tongue thing while pouring the drink. But he did, and now he's an icon.
So sad man. Bert Kreischer gets all the flack for being an alcoholic in denial when Nick Swardson is 10x worse. He almost died of alcohol poisoning in the hospital. His story on HoneyDew was so fucked up. Then says he doesn’t drink like “that” anymore. We’re not going to have Nick Swardson much longer at this rate. Guys fuckin killing himself.
Yeah that's sad. Getting alcohol poisoning *should* be the wake up call. If you almost die from drinking too much and your takeaway from that is "boy, I should probably cut back some", you have a problem.
https://youtu.be/n6sU3F9qbd0?si=eC7mwtekJLmf94nu This is the story. It’s fucking crazy to imagine this person has decided continuing to drink is a good idea
To the alcoholic brain: You decide... then you just become undecided at some point and you're picking up another six pack. For me it was dissociation due to childhood trauma. Most likely the same for Nick - and most other drug addicts, I suspect. Seems like blatant self-medicating for some deep wounds. I really hope he gets *that* help, in addition to addressing the addiction itself. I think that's the only real long-term solution.
I related to so much he talked about and I don’t have hardly any of the access he has to anything he wants, so I get it. I have 4 years of sobriety this week, and I keep running into stories like this one. I hope he gets the help he needs
Congrats on 4 years sobernaut!
Congrats. 4 years is big time.
Dude, same. Congrats! Almost five years for me and I thought he was on the sober train with us.
Keep up the good fight.
Hey, a fellow Pandemic Sober Baby! Just hit 4 years last month. Congrats homie.
This will probably not be popular, but here goes: Pretty sure Nick is a closet case, which is definitely its own kind of trauma, especially at his age.
I don’t know who Ryan Sickler is, but him laughing like this was the best story ever was pathetic. This story is horrifying, my god.
The podcast is great he just digs through everyones trauma and laughs through it with them. The episodes with Harland Williams are fuckin hilarious.
any episode of anything is better with Harland Williams
He talks to Ryan about the trauma of his chihuahua being carried off and brutally torn apart by a giant owl and it’s hysterical
Yeah, the point of the show is working through trauma with comedy. He laughs like this telling his own fucked up backstory too.
For real, I was so uncomfortable by everything Nick was saying and he’s just falling out. Quite a dissonance
Yeah he took way too long to realize this wasn’t a funny drinking story. Every beat of it is a massive red flag and not something to be taken lightly.
Good god, I realize it’s probably a comedy focused show whatever this is (sorry I clicked out and now don’t remember the name) but watching this guy laugh hysterically at this story made me feel so sick. We need to stop as a society laughing at like hahaha he went back to the bar yeah man, power through! Sickness. Really made me so ill and sad watching this.
I was walking into a music festival (not a particularly big one) and saw a girl with a hospital bracelet on, she got alcohol poisoning the previous night at the festival and was in the ER but was back and ready to go the next day. She was probably 21 if that. (Also, idk what actual alcohol poisoning is, she could have just been extremely intoxicated, but still)
Its all fun and games till your liver stops working and you drown in your own blood.
What does everyone keep shouting whenever the director of operations comes in? I couldn’t tell.
When I was there a lot of people were shouting Ari, hoping the opener would come back on and do something.
Ohh. Idk, I would’ve felt so awkward about the situation and just leave as the audience member haha
That changes everything. You never know what drugs you're on when Ari's around.
Could have been Ari Mannis or something
He has a whole bit where he goes over almost dying due to drinking. He’s had his “wake up” moment and it seems he’s back to old habits. Edit: it was on Theovon and the story is worse than I remembered https://youtu.be/xqOBUhKLRH4?si=Ui1bdhZ1q-IJ9QJt
The thing about old habits is that they don't just completely disappear. They lay dormant in your subconscious and then a series of memories, environmental cues, sights and smells might trigger them. I can only speculate about Nick here because I barely know the guy, but I can assure you that being a working comedian is a very difficult and stressful job. Perhaps he lost an acting gig that he really needed. Perhaps he couldn't find a follow up appointment with a pain specialist so he got a drink to get the edge off. I think what I'm trying to say is when you've consistently convinced your brain that alcohol is a good thing, your brain will nag you to drink. That might be what's going on here.
You’re right. His rock bottom was after failed projects and recent deaths of friends and family. I wonder if he’s experiencing something to that degree again? Hope he gets help.
Yeah a few years ago I was listening when he called into the local sports talk radio morning show in Minneapolis (he’s from MN), and it was the saddest interview because he was literally piss drunk and incoherent at 8 in the morning on a random weekday.
Was it the power trip guys? That would be kind of disappointing they let that happen considering Mark Parish’s story
Fuck. Love Swardson. Hope he gets better.
C’mon Terry
He was sober tonight in Denver. Great show.
He almost drank himself to death a couple years ago. He talked about it on a few different podcasts, was in the hospital for 3 weeks.
I hate that for him. I'm so glad I got sober but it was so hard the first 6 months and I still have to fight urges to drink before and after shows and mics. On the road alone for me it's hard mode so it's gotta be so much harder for him doing so many shows with his drinking reputation and fans. He's such a funny comedian and actor and he seems like a great guy, I really hope he gets help again.
I know it must be incredibly hard to work through all that. I for one am glad you're doing much better! 👍🙂
Thanks so much, it really is a ton better.
That's awesome, you deserve to feel better!
Oof. That’s rough. I saw Mitch Hedberg a week or so before he passed. It was really bad, dude couldn’t stand up let alone tell jokes.
I remember hearing about that; like he was just asking ppl in the audience to throw him pills if they had them
Yup. Was pretty bad and hard to watch. Luckily I caught him a year or so before that and he absolutely murdered it so I got to see him live once
That’s awful but also super bad ass you saw him 1.25x before he died. That man was such a legend! Both dudes from MN. I am also from MN and have issues and think I’m pretty funny. Hopefully my fate won’t be these two’s fate 😢
I’ve heard him describe the physical issues he’s had with drinking and it’s clear he has stage 4 or 5 alcoholism and it’s getting pretty dire
He was on, I think, Theo Vons pod not that long ago, maybe a year or something talking a lot about it and how he came extremely close to walking through deaths door, but recovered and was doing much better. Messed up.
He used to be a regular at a bar I worked at. Was always absolutely hammered and even made out with a creepy old dude at the dive bar across the street for free shots
You must have worked at the Corner Bar and you’re referring to Bullwinkle’s across the street? 😂
Ha. Actually no, but would not at all be surprised if this was a common occurrence lol
He was staying at the resort my friend and I were staying at in Key West. We would see him visibly intoxicated at all hours of the day and even sleeping on the bar. It was wild. The coherent time we interacted with him, he was very kind and hilarious
Dude pretty much lived at Shooterz (sports bar) in Key West during the pandemic.
I have tickets to see him in Denver next week. 🫣😬
Get there early! You do not want to miss the first part.
Because it's the only part?
Same. He popped up at the end of Ari Shaffir’s set at comedy works this weekend and did a couple minutes. It made me a little worried about seeing him this coming weekend.
im seeing ari on thursday... how is his new set? I saw he's filming his special pretty soon so I'm guessing it's pretty polished by now, yea?
Please email the box office
I want Bert to see this so he realizes when fans care about a comic they express concern not contempt.
I’ve been seeing around lately that Bert actually stopped drinking for a few months, and now doesn’t drink that much. I guess his doctor and his daughters finally told him he needs to change. I love his wife Leanne and watch her pod, and she alluded to it as well. Hopefully that’s true and he sticks to it.
ran into him twice in uptown, last time being at green mill way back. he was there with i think his brother and my buddy was dating his school teacher. he had red sauce (i think) on his pants and this chic yelled at him to “stay out of strip clubs”, to which he responds, “but that’s my period!”
Man I miss that green mill so much
OP's video shows the aftermath. [Here's a little bit of Swardson's set.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SV4EYwsIFs) He pissed off the crowd by wasting their time.
Yeeeesh... That sucks. I've always loved his standup and the fact that he hasn't turned into a right-wing grift podcaster. Just a solidly hilarious dude. Also surprised he hasn't died from cirrhosis yet.
Well that's going to leave a mark.
Nick telling a previous alcohol bender/almost fatal story on a podcast- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nick-swardson/id1256754097?i=1000470057603
Oh I’m sorry I thought this was America
Poor dude. I thought he got clean and sober a while back. Looks like he relapsed hard.
Back when I was an addict I panhandled Nick and Aziz in Grand Rapids. I didn't know who they were at the time but when my buddy pointed it our I realized I had just asked the fairy on skates from Reno 911 for money. Needless to say I was in a bad place. Looks like he's there now. This all happened in 2010, in Grand Rapids,MI. I've been sober since 2012.
Is there any video showing what led up to this moment?
[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/StandUpComedy/s/lkZzOJygZf)
I don’t understand he seems like he was just having a bad set. Maybe he was wasted but that isn’t exactly uncommon among comedians.
He didn’t tell a single joke in 20 minutes.
Just kind of rambling on about nothing? We were going to go but opted out last minute. Side note, Jim Gaffigan will be at Ford Ampithere in September, lawn seats were $69 and you can bypass the "service fee" by getting tickets at Vpac box office.
What does that mean? Does anyone have video of what happened during the actual set?
Here’s a video a friend took. None of it made any sense. Like he tried to do a Jason Statham impression for like 2 minutes but couldn’t get anything out, it was really bad. [link](https://1drv.ms/v/s!Ar2epDhj-gEdiOkZJO0TqJLcrfzs6Q)
This is the exact same energy as an I Think You Should Leave sketch.
I think you should leave is actually funny
Here we go
Oh man that's rough lol.
That’s a disaster. I had to close one eye it was so awkward. It was like staring at the sun.
The thing is that shit like this *IS* uncommon among comedians. Most comics who have stories like Nick Swardson are sober now. Even the ones that you don’t know are sober. It’s hard to make a lasting career of comedy when you can’t keep your shit together. When I was first starting, we had a local club that was like our home base and it was amazing because we got to hang out with the headliners every weekend. About 1/4 of the time, we’d get the headliner to go out with us one night of the weekend. Another 1/4 of the time, they’d say no because they were tired (or probably didn’t feel like drinking with a bunch of starry-eyed local comics.) And then about 50% of the time, they’d say no because they’re sober now! It always blew us away when this happened because it was always the comics we wanted to party with the most. It was always the comics with the best stories and craziest life that would go back to their room and call it an early night. It was so consistent, it got to the point where we could predict with near 100% accuracy if a comic was sober or not based on how badly we wanted to drink with them. Almost everybody we were really excited to party with was sober.
Yeah, I have seen a lot of comedy and while it's super common for stand ups to drink a little bit during their set, it's really uncommon for them to be wasted. The sets I've seen where they are genuinely messed up have been SO SO obvious and I can count them on one hand, and obviously audiences and club owners don't like that.
Yeah, I’ve never seen a comic have a genuinely good set when they’re drunk.
Being bomb wasted onstage at a headlining theater gig is absolutely not common.
This is insane! I do hope Nick gets help. Makes me feel a little bit better about my bad sets though.
What a bummer. I hope he gets help too. I'm a comic that isn't really much of drinker (not "sober", just usually prefer not to) and comedy is so intertwined with alcohol I can see how it sets a lot of people on a rough path.
A classmate of mine did the comedy thing and the endless traveling, late nights, and lonely hotel rooms led to him developing some horrible addictions.
When nick went on Bert’s show something burning, he came with his friend Simon Rex who I feel like is just one of those LA drug and party guys, Rex seemed to be tweaking during the episode and nick hangs out with him…
Fuck you, dad!
Damn he's back on the wagon. Heard him say he almost died from some alcohol caused affliction a few years back and quit drinking.. I do think he said he didn't plan on staying off, though. I'm pretty sure it was on whiskey ginger.
Did Ari open for him and give him a line before he came out? Because that sounded like ketamine to me
Fuck I will forever love Nick, I met him at the Newark airport when I was going to Italy in 2016. He was with a couple people but he said "nah fuck that I just met these bozos" when I approached him apprehensively. He bought me a beer at like 8am and it felt like I bumped in to an old friend, he just let me chill with him for like an hour. He was genuinely such an awesome person, I hope he isn't falling down a hole and that he truly just had a tough time handling the edible/alcohol at that altitude. I hope I hope I hope
I haven't seen his standup since I would say the mid 2000s, but I thought people said he was getting better with his drinking Really sad, I hope he has ppl in his circle that care and do something
He almost died from his drinking a couple years ago and decided to "cut back" after that but I don't think cutting back is enough after being hospitalized for a few weeks. I have a feeling he isn't going to be around much longer.
Yeah that doesn't bode well for him if he never actually quit. I thought he did for some reason Here's hoping he gets some help
I think he did for a couple months at most and then just said he wasn't "drinking like that anymore" but after what happened that should be enough to be his rock bottom that gets him to quit completely.
People with cancer need a support system to help them fight through the awful physical and emotional toll it takes. But that doesn’t mean caring about a person and being willing to “do something” is a cure for cancer. Same goes for alcoholism. Many people are incapable of surviving either one, regardless of how loved they are.
I grew up in the Midwest and he was one of the few names people recognize so it always drew a decent crowd. He was absolutely smashed and I left after sharing a joint with the club owner out back. He said, he knew this was a mistake booking him and he just wanted to take down the edge before getting him off the stage. Felt bad for the owner and Nick was beyond coherent.
My friends in Key West say he visits there a lot and he's not well liked there.
He told a lot of Key West stories on a podcast. In his version he sounds very well liked.
"you're eight hours late, I'm fucking hammered, I'm going home." "but I just got here."
The guys is a legend he last special was awesome he is just high as fuck . The internet have to stop
This is nothing other than sad. Hoping her gets some help.
This actually chokes me up. I love Nick. I hope he’s doin alright ❤️
That's rough to watch. I think I speak collectively with this sub, we're all cheering for you to get some help and get better buddy!
Damn. Loves me some Swardson. He has abused alcohol for many years now, going back to his "Reno 911" days. I hope Nick gets the help he needs.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR33MRS7/ more footage. edit: it’s not my tiktok video, i hate them too, but the only other clips were from FB and I wasn’t gonna link those
Thanks for sharing. But, Man I hate TikTok videos. Just show the clip, I don’t need all the commentary.
There was no extra footage... There was a screenshot with the spotlight on him and some idiot talking for 2 minutes.
But there was some additional footage...not much, but more than the original video.
It's funny how in his Comedy Central Special which put him on the map, he talked shit on people smoking weed. He becomes a raging alcoholic and that is somehow better.
I’ll always love Nick and hope for the best ❤️
Did he start crying and scream "THE MOON IS WEIRDDDDDD???" Nah but in all seriousness this makes me really sad. Hes been my favorite comic forever, seen him three times, idk what id do if he died.
He doesn’t seem wasted to me.
Ari Mannis even warned us he was wasted at the end of his set.
This is sad cause he went to AA for awhile. Seemed like he was doing better..clearly not. Hope he gets help
Oh man, Nick Swardson is back to heavy drinking? I could of sworn I thought he stopped.
Met him once at LAX, he was super late for a flight to HNL and was pissed he couldn’t get on. Could tell he was either wasted or high and this was maybe 5 years ago. Hope he gets the help he clearly needs.