health

Why Dave Hughes hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since he was 22.

Comedian Dave Hughes has touched on his history with drugs and alcohol in a segment on his new television show, Hughesy, We Have A Problem.

When posing a dilemma to his guests about whether parents should have an open and honest conversation with their children about drugs and alcohol, Hughesy was candid about his experiences with both.

“Drugs are bad, I’m not on drugs anymore,” he joked, going on to explain that he talks to his children about drinking more than anything.

“I tell mine stories of when I used to drink,” the 47-year-old said.

“I haven’t had a drink since I was 22, and they love the stories about me at the top of a Norfolk pine tree, eating Burger Rings.

“And the police turned up, going: ‘Come down!’ But I couldn’t remember getting up there!”

Dave Hughes talks to Mia Freedman about his decision to stay sober.

In an interview with Mia Freedman’s No Filter, the father-of-three spoke of his pledge to give up alcohol at the age of 22.

“I’ve never been to AA, I’ve never been a sponsor for anyone. But I tell anyone life can be just as good.

“Some people have it in their DNA that they just shouldn’t drink.”

He said socially it hasn’t been a problem because while some encourage him to have a “drink or two”, after a while most just forget.

“At the age of 22, [I was] in a country town, in one of the biggest drinking towns in country Victoria… a place called Warrnambool, it’s a big drinking town. But you know what, no one really cares. No one cares what you do. They’ll go: ‘Have a drink, have a drink, have a drink’ and then they’ll go, ‘Eh, he won’t have a drink’. You can sit there with your mineral water and they’ll talk to you, if you want to talk to them. They’ll get over it real quick. Peer pressure is basically all in your head.”