Brandi Carlile Reveals Why She Doesn't Drink Before Shows Anymore — Including the Joke That 'Didn't Go Over' on Stage
Brandi Carlile Reveals Why She Doesn't Drink Before Shows Anymore — Including the Joke That 'Didn't Go Over' on Stage
Daniela AvilaTue, March 31, 2026 at 9:40 PM UTC
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Brandi Carlile told a story on the Good Hang podcast about the reason why she doesn't drink before shows anymore
Carlile said she once drank before a show and told a joke on stage that her audience didn't get
At the time, she referenced Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
Brandi Carlile's onstage drinking days are long behind her.
On Tuesday, March 31, Carlile stopped by Good Hang with Amy Poehler and opened up about why she no longer drinks before or during shows.
The conversation started with the host asking how she relaxes before shows — and Carlile said she "used to drink a little bit" but has since stopped.
"It's the spiral afterwards. That's the thing I can't deal with," Carlile, 44, said. "And then pretend the spiral just happened in front of a few thousand people and then pretend that whatever you say you have to stand by the next day."
Brandi Carlile in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026Credit: Lionel Hahn/Getty
Carlile then launched into a hilarious story about a time when she drank and she made a joke on stage that the audience didn't quite get.
"I thought everyone had seen The Pick of Destiny. And I don't mean to be offensive but not everyone has seen the The Pick of Destiny," she said, referencing the 2006 film with Jack Black and Kyle Gass. "It's a cult classic but it was my favorite movie and I had memorized every line."
Then, Carlile detailed the portion of the film where the characters have to perform two moves — the "rock slide" and the "cock push-up" — and how that popped into her mind at a show in Las Vegas.
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"My audience didn't see The Pick of Destiny but I believed everyone had seen The Pick of Destiny so I was in Las Vegas and I was on stage and I was having a couple of drinks and I decided to jump off the drum riser and my knees just didn't hold," she recalled. "They buckled. So I went on my knees and I styled it."
Carlile continued, "After the song I stood up and — this is why I'm afraid of the 15 seconds between the songs. I said to the audience, 'Well, now that you've seen my rock slide, now it's time for my cock pushup.' And that didn't go over. Nobody knew why Brandi was telling a couple thousand middle-aged lesbians that she was going to do a cock pushup."
"So I don't drink anymore... I'm done drinking and working," she concluded.
Brandi Carlile in West Hollywood on March 10, 2026Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty
In February, Carlile performed a moving rendition of "America the Beautiful" at Super Bowl LX. Ahead of the game, she sat down with Nic Harcourt on The SoCal Sound to talk about the performance — and she said she had "a lot of big feelings about it."
"No. 1, when you’re born and raised in this country, it’s like you use the Super Bowl as a barometer to gauge when something’s huge. So, you’re like, oh my God, this thing is so big. It could be the Super Bowl. You know, it is actually the definition of massive," she said.
"That's not a crystal ball that queer people get to touch very often more and more now. It's something that's never lost on me," she added.
Carlile released her latest album, Returning to Myself, in October of last year.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
