Tucker Carlson underwent emergency back surgery Monday and emerged a changed man, Vice reports. Expressing sympathy for addicts in a lengthy and bizarre monologue, he said the feeling of fentanyl and other opioids “explains so much of what we see around us.” According to a recording of a meeting between Carlson and his production staff, the Fox News host called the “untreatable” pain he endured and the subsequent procedure “one of the most traumatic things that’s ever happened to me in my whole life, ever.” He said in the meeting, “I just thought that was the most interesting f--king thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even that I survived it, it wasn’t even about me, it was about what it does to people. It was just like so f--king interesting. And it meets—it explains so much of what we see around us. Just the lack of dignity.” A Fox spokesperson confirmed that Carlson received back surgery, though what brought him to need the procedure is unclear. He broadcast as normal throughout the week.