Whether you first caught him on the Loveline radio show in the mid-’90s with Adam Carolla or you’re a Celebrity Rehab fan, Dr. Drew Pinsky has helped lift the veil on human nature. Catch him at House of Blues with Carolla on March 29, as they team up to share stories and dish out advice. Kiko Miyasato spoke with Pinsky about his career and upcoming show.
Q: By now, have you heard it all?
A:(Laughs). I’ve heard it all, but I’ve heard it all in real time. In other words, it’s nothing that I hear on the radio that’s different then I see in clinical practice. … (I hear) what the trends and changes are as they’re happening, in real time, from hundreds and hundreds of people every week. As things change we’re aware of it. It’s coming right to us, it’s being put on our plate.
Q: Why get into radio in the first place?
A: I was really concerned about AIDS; in fact we weren’t even calling it AIDS yet, we were calling it GRIDS. I was just asked to be on this radio show and then all these amazing questions were coming in and I realized that people didn’t understand this thing was coming. The term “safe sex” hadn’t been coined yet; we hadn’t identified HIV yet; we didn’t know what the cognitive agent was but I was putting people in the ground one after the other. … And, I thought it was important to get out there and talk about it, so that really motivated me to get involved with radio.
Q: Is it different giving advice today, than, say, 20 years ago?
A: Yes, it’s very different. For instance, we just had a guy, 24 years old, his girlfriend is 22, they have four kids and things aren’t working out and he’s not really in love with her anymore. He’s like “how do I break up with her and still be a parent?” I was like wha—what? Back in 1984, it was like “What is this? It hurts when I urinate.” It was very simple infectious diseases and human biology, and maybe some questions about the birth control pill. Now it’s our interpersonal lives that are just a complete wasteland; our families are destroyed.
Q: Have you ever not wanted to answer a question?
A: That’s a fascinating question. My sort of instinct … about that is there are frequently things I don’t want to answer for fear of either giving justification or freedom to behave in ways that are unhealthy. But, I will answer, and I’ll preface it usually and say, “Look, one thing I’ve learned about talking to young people is you have to be 100 percent honest and you have to answer their questions.” So I’ll say, “I hope you won’t consider this an endorsement to go out and do this type of behavior but here’s the answer to your question, and doing X is not as dangerous as you might think.”
Q: How does it feel teaming up with Adam Corolla again?
A: It feels like it always did. We’re doing podcasts twice a week (together) so we’re out there every week. Listen to the podcasts and you’ll hear it’s no different than it ever was. Him and I are just doing what we’ve always done. When we sat down and started doing podcasts together it was like no time had gone by … We’ve been friends the whole time.
Q: Can you tell me about your House of Blues show?
A: (Adam and I) tell stories; we have things that we’ve experienced together and we talk about them. We talk about our history. And, of course, we’ll be answering people’s questions. Answering people’s questions is sort of the linchpin of our show.
Q: After all you’ve heard, do you think there’s any hope for the human race?
A: I’m infinitely hopefully for the human race. … I’m getting a little worried about America. But even that, I’m an infinite optimist. I think we work things through. We get into bad situations and we work it out.
Q: Can you leave us with a bit of advice?
A: When people are trying to make meaning out of life, like say, for instance, AIDS patients, where their life is cut short, they’ll always come to the same conclusion: The important relationships in our lives are what gives life its meaning. … So much of our sense of well-being, sense of ourselves, our ability to regulate our emotions is because of the ability to sit with another human being and be close. To let our bodies communicate and be open. … The human connection is the source.
