Sober Awkward

How bad is alcohol, really? Is a weekend binge cancelled out by a few sober days and what exactly is happening in our brains during hangxiety? Vic is joined by world renowned psychiatrist and neuroscientist Professor David Nutt, who has spent more than 40 years studying how alcohol and other drugs affect our brains, bodies and behaviour. They explore the moment an evening treat becomes something w...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - A Drinking Career - By Kimberley Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the w...

In this episode, Gorillaz bassist Seye Adelekan joins Vic for a wonderfully honest conversation about belonging, family, fame and finding his place in the music world. Seye talks about moving around the world as a child, the family who shaped him, his love of music, touring, the forgotten gigs and the long period he spent in rehab. Now over seven years sober, he shares how recovery changed his lif...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - I didn’t realise it was a funeral - By Sarah A huge congratulations to Sarah who was one of this years winners!! Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopef...

Yes, the World Cup is on, everyone is drinking to celebrate and commiserate, so welcome to your safe little corner of the internet, where Vic promises to mention the legend Jude Bellingham only once… and then get back to what really matters, talking about sobriety and not trying to explain the offside rule. So apart from the Spain win, the other news is....You don’t have to wait until Day One to s...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - I scream... and she lets go - By Lisa  Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all...

Want to give up drinking but have no idea where to start? You're in the right place! Everyone tells you sobriety starts on day one. It doesn't. It actually starts before that, in the boring, unglamorous groundwork nobody really talks about. The stuff that happens quietly in the weeks before you ever have a proper "sober day." In this episode, I sit down with Jean McCarthy to talk about that exact...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - Bodies Change - By Erin Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the world who...

For many LGBTQ+ people, the pub wasn’t just somewhere to grab a drink—it was one of the few places where they could safely be themselves. For decades, bars and clubs became places of acceptance, community and belonging. But when alcohol becomes woven into your identity and social life, what happens when you decide to stop drinking? For many people, giving up alcohol means changing what they drink....

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - Finally Meeting Myself - By Allyson Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over th...

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic chats to Ben Gibbs from The Sober Boozers Club about the rapidly changing world of alcohol-free beer and whether pub culture can survive a generation that’s drinking less, drinking differently, or not drinking at all. Because let’s face it, Vic used to be the kind of customer pubs loved. These days Vic walks into a pub, orders one alcohol-free beer, has a lovely cha...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - Alcohol, Motherhood and Me - By Emily Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over...

As a special treat to celebrate the final episode of Series 13, I’m delighted to welcome Hamish back to the podcast for a proper catch-up. Yes, he’s still sober. Yes, he’s still awkward. And yes, he’s still as funny as ever. We chat about what life has looked like since leaving the show, how sobriety is going, and what he’s learned along the way. Hamish is proof that you don’t have to be a stereot...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - No More Numbing Out - By Aliz, Texas Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over t...

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic steps away from alcohol to explore another addiction that is quietly growing across Australia: Nangs. Nitrous oxide, often sold legally and delivered to your door within minutes, is commonly seen as harmless party fun. But for Sam Bramman, what started as a few nangs at a house party quickly spiralled into a devastating addiction that led to psychosis, hospitalisati...

This week in the Share Shed, one listener wakes up to discover he’d apparently spent 40 minutes running barefoot on a treadmill at 3am… after swimming in a stranger’s pool and blacking out at a party. The only problem? He remembers none of it. A hilarious story with a surprisingly thoughtful twist about sobriety, fitness, and what happens when one obsession gets replaced by another. The Share Shed...

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic sits down with TJ Power, a well-known neuroscientist, author of the Sunday Times bestseller The DOSE Effect , and the founder of the DOSE Lab. He is a leading voice in demystifying brain chemistry, focusing on helping people manage digital burnout, phone addiction, and overstimulation in the modern world. TJ shares his own story of changing his relationship with alc...

Today on the Share Shed we have one confession and one question. First up, a listener wakes up in Las Vegas with more than just a hangover… let’s just say Elvis may have been involved and somebody accidentally got married. Then we tackle a question many people quietly ask themselves: if your hands shake the morning after drinking, is that a sign you’re an alcoholic? The answer might surprise you....

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic chats to James Swanwick about high-functioning drinking, success, pressure and the growing movement of people choosing to live alcohol free — not because they’ve completely fallen apart, but because they simply feel better without it. James is an Australian stop drinking expert, author, investor, entrepreneur and former SportsCenter anchor on ESPN. He is the creator...

This week on the Share Shed we’re talking drunk online shopping… you know, those slightly terrifying mystery parcels that arrive two days after a blackout. From sequinned capes and stuffed frogs in hats… to accidentally booking holidays to Spain you have absolutely no memory of organising. Basically: If you’ve ever opened your front door hungover and thought, “What in the name of Christ have I bou...

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic chats to Hattie Underwood, the London-based mum of two behind Sober Happy Free, who has recently been speaking out across the UK media about the worrying rise of alcohol delivery services. After loads of Sober Awkward listeners tagged Vic in clips saying, “You HAVE to get her on the podcast!”… here she is. Now five years sober, Hattie openly shares the raw reality o...

Not really a Share Shed today… But there was a story from this week’s podcast that absolutely refused to be squeezed into a normal segment. It needed its own space. Its own moment. Its own… spotlight. We had the incredible Shanna Whan on Sober Awkward this week, founder of Sober in the Country and creator of the brilliant #OK2SAYNO campaign… and somewhere in the middle of talking about life in rur...

It feels like this conversation has been a long time coming. Vic is genuinely honoured to have Shanna Whan AM on the podcast this week. Shanna is the founder and CEO of Sober in the Country, a national grassroots charity that’s been driving radical social impact and real change across rural and remote Australia over the past decade. Through laser-focused bush advocacy, peer-to-peer support, and a...

This week on the Share Shed we’re talking boundaries. Vic chats about caring from afar, therapy and emotional carnage with a side of bad decisions. Classic Share Shed. The Share Shed is where listeners send in their funniest, cringiest and most unbelievable drinking stories. It’s not about judgement, it’s about recognising how wild things could get when alcohol was in charge, and laughing about it...

This week Vic is joined by journalist and podcaster Katie Herzog to talk about the winding, messy road many of us take trying to figure out our relationship with alcohol. Katie shares what her drinking looked like during Covid, how it quietly ramped up behind closed doors, and the strange mental gymnastics of hiding drinking from partners and pretending your fine and dandy, when really... it's all...