Straight-talking comic entertains, educates Airmen on alcohol abuse

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jake Richmond
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  For about 30 minutes, Bernie McGrenahan's jokes filled the base theater with the raucous laughter of hundreds of young Airmen.

They didn't know what was coming next.

The comedian spent the next 30 minutes telling the audience his sobering real-life tale of alcohol abuse, incarceration and death. The laughter subsided, and rapt attention took its place.

Mr. McGrenahan, a self-professed longtime "high-risk drinker" who's been alcohol-free for 18 years, has taken his comedy act on tour throughout the country and abroad - even performing for American soldiers in 20 foreign countries.

In recent years, he's expanded on his regular act and created his "Happy Hour" educational alcohol-awareness tour, which brought him to D-M Aug. 27 for two separate shows. The tour has also reached hundreds of high schools, colleges and universities, prompting interest from several national media outlets.

Mr. McGrenahan's well received humor took aim at the usual targets: gender differences, bathroom embarrassments and, of course, laughable celebrities.

Without any indication that the comedy routine was over, Mr. McGrenahan smoothly transitioned into the telling of his own life story. Although he sprinkled in a few more jokes intermittently, the mood change was palpable.

Mr. McGrenahan's experience with alcohol started in eighth grade. He and his friends would take the relatively rare opportunities to raid his parents' liquor cabinet. From that point on, his booze consumption steadily increased through high school and college. What started as occasional weekend mischief in junior high eventually became a near-daily infatuation with alcohol.

Slowly but surely, he said, his straight-A report card started showing mostly C's and D's. After a couple of party years in college, his baseball scholarship was gone. He dropped out and had to move back in with his mother and three younger siblings.

Soon after, he hit the proverbial "rock bottom."

At first, Mr. McGrenahan thought it was harmless and normal for his 17-year-old brother, Scott, to be involved with alcohol. He thought the keg parties, the different girls, and the once-in-a-while use of "recreational" drugs was just part of the high school experience.

Then, he started noticing that Scott's lifestyle was starting to resemble his own a little too closely. Realizing that his younger brother was heading down an unenviable path, Mr. McGrenahan decided to speak up and give him some much-needed advice.

Scott didn't want the advice, and what was meant to be a helpful brotherly heart-to-heart ended up a bitter argument. Frustrated, Mr. McGrenahan stormed out of the house and went directly to the local bar to relax and unwind.

A few hours later, Mr. McGrenahan returned home to find his brother dead. Shortly after the argument ended, Scott had taken a shotgun out to the backyard and ended his own life.

From that moment forward, things began to change for Mr. McGrenahan. At first, he fell further back into old habits, trying to find whatever comfort or escape alcohol could provide.

His emphatic question to the audience answered itself: "You think those beers ever brought my brother back?"

One day, he said, he was finally able to look into the mirror and recognize the kind of person he had become. His habits, excuses and justifications became clear. He decided to change.

He thought a good first step was to take responsibility for his actions. After ignoring an order to appear in court for his third driving-under-the-influence charge, he showed up at the courthouse - only a few months late. The unsympathetic judge sentenced him to six months in a county jail.

Eighteen years and zero beers later, he's trying to use his unique combination of life experience and sharp humor to help young people make better decisions.

"I'm not here to preach to you. I don't want you to think I'm trying to tell you what to do," he said. "I'm just telling you what happened to me, and hopefully you don't make the same mistakes."

Mr. McGrenahan's visit was organized by the base Culture of Responsible Choices committee. To help combat underage drinking and alcohol abuse, the CORC frequently plans and conducts alcohol-free activities targeting young Airmen on base.