There were few cozier refuges from the world’s troubles on March 29 than the patio of Katana, the sleek Japanese restaurant hidden above the Sunset Strip, where HLN, CNN’s sister network, threw a party for its newest talk-show host. As twilight dimmed to dusk, DRDREW was projected in white stencil font on one side of the building, while the cable network’s logo glowed on the opposite wall like initials from a branding iron.

Drew Pinsky, M.D., is instantly recognizable, with his look of permanent concern, stylish glasses, and short silvery hair that could be called “mentor gray.” He is known as “Dr. Drew”—which is also the name of his new show. On this spring night he chatted with well-wishers as Tom Arnold, Andy Dick, and Gloria Allred each schmoozed their way through the patio’s crowd. Tall and impeccably attired in a dark suit and striped tie, the 52-year-old physician held a tumbler of Diet Coke as other guests sipped cocktails or Hitching Post pinot. » “I’ll have a glass of wine,” he admitted after I asked whether the man TMZ called “the world’s most famous addictions specialist” ever imbibed. “If I have more—” he rolled his eyes and shook, pantomiming someone who’s lost control of his mind and body. It’s the most animated I had seen Pinsky since first meeting him last December. Although his tightly controlled, no-nonsense mien is a critical part of Pinsky’s public image, up close there is nothing about him that seems phony; his affable persona and relaxed body language come off as completely genuine.

USC professor Leo Braudy, in his study of fame and celebrity, The Frenzy of Renown, called Freud’s refusal to be filmed “an almost archaic gesture of sensitivity.” Pinsky is a product of his media-saturated time and the opposite of Freud. He is filmed, taped, or recorded almost every day of the year. The fifth season of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which began airing in June, had just wrapped, and this f...