The Comedy Addiction Tour is hitting the road after a debut in New Orleans, with a team of four comedians seeking the lighter side of addiction and recovery.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported July 31 that the tour is fronted by Mark Lundholm, who sees it as an extension of his one-man show, "Addicted: A Comedy of Substance," which just completed a four-year run. Lundgren said humor "was a good tool to stop the beatings" he experienced as a child and "was a shield in jail or on the street."

But his problems with marijuana, cocaine, heroin and alcohol contributed to his criminal background and led to a suicide attempt in 1988. "I put a gun in my mouth, pulled the trigger and it didn't go off. I felt truly unsuccessful. I was destroyed by that -- that I had to live another day," he said. "I don't remember getting to detox; I remember waking up there. I never looked back."

Lundholm is grateful for his recovery, but pulls few punches in his act, joking in a bit about a methamphetamine-smoking couple that their kindergartner had an AA sponsor and five years of sobriety.

Fellow tour comedians Billy Robinson, Kurtis Matthews and Jesse Joyce also have experience with addiction and recovery, said Lundholm. "It's one story told in four sessions. They really have all the same story," he said. "There really is only one theme ever -- redemption -- in theater, movies, whatever."

Lundholm said he has no concerns about hard-drinking New Orleans crowds coming to the show. "If people want to go to the bar and drink alcohol, God bless 'em," he said. "I've never thought booze was the enemy. I was the enemy.

"I've never been to New Orleans," he added. "I don't know too many cities that dedicate a week to debauchery and raising the alcohol level in your blood. I could not function in that environment for a few hours without being locked up, locked down or knocked out."