ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) On a recent episode of the WTF With Marc Maron podcast, Last Man Standing star Tim Allen opened up about his troubled youth, which led to a 2-year stint in federal prison on drug charges.
“I was an F-up,” the 67-year-old admitted, telling fellow stand-up vet Maron that his troubles began when he started drinking in his youth, which got worse when his father was killed in a drunk driving accident in Colorado back in 1964.
Allen was 11 at the time.
“After my old man died, I really just played games with people and told adults what they wanted to hear and then stole their booze,” Allen explained.
He likened his younger self to that secret troublemaker on Leave It To Beaver. “Really I was Eddie Haskell: ‘Yes, Mrs. Cleaver. No, Mrs. Cleaver,’ Allen said. “I knew exactly what adults wanted — make your bed, be polite, use a napkin — and then I’d go steal everything in the house.”
Allen was arrested at 23 in 1978, in possession of more than a pound of cocaine in his luggage at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in his native Michigan.
The comic, who is now 23 years sober, said prison reformed him.
“I just shut up and did what I was told. It was the first time ever I did what I was told and played the game. I learned literally how to live day by day. And I learned how to shut up. You definitely want to learn how to shut up.”
By Stephen Iervolino
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