#2412 - Adam Carolla

[00:01] Joe Rogan podcast, check it out! The Joe Rogan experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day! [00:13] Good to see you brother. What's happening? Oh man, everything. It's been a few years man. Yeah. The last time I saw you. [00:21] I think I saw you outside of the ice house. Oh, yeah. Coming in doing a set. You got a land cruiser or something. LS swap engine. Yeah, that's right. And you showed it to me. And I think I was thinking about it. I went to your house to do the podcast early in the day. Early. Yeah. Up deep valley, up the hill. And then I think you got your place sort of down the hill. [00:49] strip mall kind of place down in the flatlands of the valley. Yeah. Woodland Hills. Yeah. And I think that, I mean, it's been a million years. Yeah. It's been a while. Time flies, buddy. I know. It's so sad. You know what? You know what's sad? Yeah. [01:05] It goes so slow when you're young and miserable. You know what I mean? Now I'm old and happy and rich, and it just flies by. You know what I mean? Like all the stuff you want to do, and it just goes right by you. And then when I was like 13, I just sat in a class and stared at the clock and just went, [01:23] God damn. You know why that is? It's relative. It's a percentage of your life. [01:28] So when you're 10, a year is 10% of your life. Right. You know, when you're 55, a year is really quick.

[01:36] I know it just sucks that, like, I remember going back to school in September and going, when's Christmas vacation? And they'd go, two months. And I'd go, oh, man, no way. That's too long. And now it's just... [01:50] goes flying by, but now it's good, and you want it to slow down. Yeah, I always think of life as sort of like... [01:58] driving to San Francisco from L.A. The first time you do it, it takes a long time. And the 50th time you do it, it's like nothing. [02:07] And that's the relative part. You get used to it. Yeah. Yeah. [02:11] Yeah, it's, I don't know, just got to live in the moment and enjoy it while it's here. [02:16] hope [02:18] Hope it works out. Hope something's next. Or not. I guess, yeah. That moment, you know, that thing. [02:27] You know, it's like that thing where people have a near-death experience and then they swear they're going to change their ways and they're going to appreciate everything and they're going to do all that. I don't think it works. It works on some people. [02:40] I've met people that have had near-death experiences and completely changed who they are. I wonder if it's worth trying to have a near-death experience. The problem is it's... [02:50] Too close to death. Well, it's really what kind of a person are you? Are you a reflective person? Are you an introspective person? Do you think about the way you think and the way you live? And do you analyze it and decide whether or not this is a good way to proceed or whether or not you need to make adjustments? Some people don't. They don't self-analyze. They don't course correct. They just don't. And so something comes along, I'm changing everything. But you never changed anything in your whole fucking life. You've never done that. You've never exhibited that kind of will.

[03:20] You never had that kind of discipline. So, like, how are you going to change now? You're not. You're going to say you're going to change. Then you're going to go right back. [03:26] Yeah, I think I went to high school with all those guys. Me too. It's crazy, right? Most people don't know how to live. Yeah. They don't understand that you are in control of the way you think about things. It's one of the only things you're in control of. Well, change is like one of the greatest gifts we have. Like it really, if you think about perks of being a human being versus being a hyena or any other creature, [03:56] to change. And then so many people just squander that gift, which is the greatest gift. And they just go, I'm not, and then you're sort of no different than any other animal if you just sort of, [04:09] Stay the course, you know, and the ability to grow and change and transform is such a gift that. [04:18] That people completely squander. Well, it's hard because you have to change the way you think. You have to decide that you've been doing things wrong. And people don't like to do that. They don't like to admit fault. They don't like to look at themselves in a negative way and analyze what they've done wrong and be critical of themselves. They don't like that feeling. Everyone is a crazy externalizer now. And young people have it. [04:46] more than our generation. You can't tell them stuff. They just push back on everything. It's encouraged to think that everyone else is the reason why you are not happy. Yeah, I get it.

[04:58] But I think growing up, and maybe it's just being coached a lot, you know, like you got coached a lot. I got coached a lot. It's just dudes telling you you're doing something wrong all day, every day. Yeah. [05:13] I believe they did it because they cared, because they wanted you to get better, because they wanted you to succeed. They wanted to win, you know, and I just got used to being coached. You know, I just got used to people just yelling at you. Hey, dummy, you're fucking up. Fix it. Do it right. And it never felt like criticism. [05:31] to me well even if it is criticism it doesn't matter it's like if coaching is good like if you can be coachable that's like one of the best indicators that you're going to do well in life if you could take direction and instruction from someone who knows what they're talking about yeah if you want to learn something like say if you want to learn jujitsu you have to listen you have to really listen and the people that don't listen they don't get better [05:53] Yeah, and I shouldn't [05:55] I shouldn't have said... [05:56] criticism. It was criticism, but that's fine. It's just how you digest it. You know what I mean? It's criticism. They go constructive criticism or criticism. It's just criticism. You're doing something wrong. That's fine. Now, [06:10] How do you perceive it? How do you ingest that? Well, also, how do you look at yourself? Do you look at yourself as like – do you think of yourself as only being valuable if you're good at a thing, right? And if you're not good at that thing, do you take it as a slight against you?

[06:29] Or do you just understand that you are a person, this is you, and this thing you're doing is something you don't know how to do as well as this person who's teaching you? And if you can do that, then you can get better. And then getting better at anything that you are trying to do that's difficult, any discipline, that discipline becomes a vehicle for developing your human potential. If you can figure out how to get good at that by listening to this person and then proceeding and seeing the steps of improvement, you can apply that to everything in life. [06:59] do that [06:59] You're going to get stuck. You know what I've been thinking about? I've been thinking about how insecure a lot of people are and how they really react when you tell them something, criticism or coach them. But I think it's their insecurity that's reacting. And then I sort of realized, like, you have a skill set. You have multiple skill sets, right? And you take just martial arts. You know, okay, you know it. You're comfortable with it. [07:29] real secure about it. You know your abilities. And you know your abilities as a comedian. And you know your abilities as an archer. And stuff like that. So you have a [07:39] bunch of stuff that you know you own. And for me, like, I'm a builder, so I have a skill, so I have a trade, you know, and so [07:49] I don't feel insecure. I feel like there's stuff I know, and then there's other things I do know. But I don't walk around with that insecurity that I realize, like, a lot of people, they don't have a trade. They don't have a skill. They don't have really anything who they could call expertise. Like, you would go, you know, what are you an expert at? Well, you would go, I can –

[08:13] teach UFC, mixed martial arts, jujitsu. I can do that. I can do this podcasting, standup comedy, like there's fields of expertise, speaking another language, mastering an instrument, you know, things like that. And I realized so many people just are, there's just nothing. They never found a thing that they don't find a thing. And they're so insecure and they walk [08:43] them somewhere at an airport or a Starbucks or something, and they start ripping off, you know, throwing furniture. And it's like, why are you in this state all the time? And I realize it's an insecurity. Yeah. [08:57] And how would it feel? Like, how would Joe Rogan feel walking around not having a black belt, not being successful at stand-up, like, not having any expertise? Like, it would be a really vulnerable feeling. Yeah. Yeah. [09:12] And I think... [09:13] This summer, the Cup is taking over the U.S., and only DraftKings has you covered every step of the way. Follow every group stage upset, every knockout round thriller, every stoppage time moment that flips the whole tournament. Sweat all the big matches you love in real time with a seamless experience built for the world's biggest stage. No matter where you're watching, you're always connected and in the game with one app. [09:43] with code rogan spend five bucks to get 200 in rewards within 21 days that's code rogan in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours gambling problem call 877-8-hope-and-wire text hope and why 467-369 21 and over new york only eligibility restrictions apply bonus bets expire seven days after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources cdkng.co slash audio limited time offer

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[11:58] with code rogan spend five bucks to get 200 in rewards within 21 days that's code rogan in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours gambling problem call 877-8-hope-and-wire text hope and why 467-369 21 and over new york only eligibility restrictions apply bonus bets expire seven days after issuance for additional terms and responsible gaming resources cdkng.co slash audio limited time offer [12:24] That's a lot of it. It's most people. Yes. Yeah, most people just get jobs, and they never really find a thing where they can throw themselves into it and watch the improvement and understand that, oh, I know that I started this out as a beginner, and now I'm really good because I put in so much time and so much effort, so I know that I have that in me. [12:44] I know I have that willpower. [12:45] It's also like some people just don't have good brains. That's just a fact. You know, it's like some people are born with big ears. Some people have small ears. Some people have shitty brains. And that's just true. I've met a lot of people. They're just dull. They're just dull minded and dull witted. And even if they threw themselves into something, they don't have the horsepower. They have a nine volt brain. It sucks. No, I know. But that's just reality. I know. And it's hard not to look at them through your lens because you go, come on, man. [13:15] sun shining. Let's make some hay. Let's go. There's so much to do. And they're like, huh? And you're like, come on. The saddest thing for me is when I talk to [13:26] anybody but especially a young person I go what do you like what do you do what's your thing and I go

[13:31] I don't know. I like video games. I go, no, no, but what's your passion? What do you want to get into? And they go... [13:39] I'm watching a lot of Netflix. I go, no, man, like, what is your thing? What do you want to get your hands on? And they just go. [13:48] I don't know. Well, they've probably never been introduced to something like that. The problem with video games is it'll steal your thing. Yes. Video games, if there was a thing maybe that you – maybe you were into golf or maybe you're into something, video games will steal your time. They'll steal your desire because they're so fun. Yes. I think there's a problem with like satiation. Like you'll feel satiated. Like you'll say, I did something. Right. It's like you didn't do anything. [14:18] related. [14:19] doing something. Unless you're a professional video game player and then you can make a lot of money. So it is weird. Because they used to tell you playing video games, you're wasting your time. But then you find out that some people playing professional video games are making a lot of money. [14:33] Like those StarCraft guys? What does a good StarCraft, like the best StarCraft player make? Like they have sponsorships and stuff like that, but they're making millions of dollars, right? It is weird that you could no longer tell your kids that's a crazy idea that'll never work. How about those Twitch guys? That's what I'm saying. Those guys that play video games all day on Twitch, they make a ton of money. I know. You couldn't, I mean, there was a time when we started, someone said, [14:57] Young said, I want to do a podcast. You'll go, come on, you got to get a real job. That's not going to work. Yeah, like Howard Stern.

[15:04] So this guy, Saral, his name is Juna Sotala. He's from Finland and he made $1.8 million. [15:13] Total earnings. So yeah, South Korea, 1.3 million. Cho Sung Chu, Park Young Woo made 1.19 million. Yeah, so they're making money. [15:27] But this is like only the top five. So top five, you get to the bottom of the top five, it's 1 million, 1.1. [15:34] Okay. Yeah, I can't do it. I bought a video game once and it was a World War II one and I thought I was going to go to the deck of the ship and shoot at some zeros who are dive bombing our ship. But the video game started below in the barracks. We're in our bunks and a torpedo hit. [15:55] And I could never get to the deck. I couldn't get out of the bunk. I kept burning up in a fire in the bunk. And after 20 times of trying to get to the deck, I just abandoned it. [16:09] There's just a bunch of shit I'm not good at, and I don't care to even try. I think there's another part of life where you have to kind of go – [16:18] What are you good at? What are you not good at? And [16:22] When you're not good at something, you should just pay somebody to do that. And that's where I'm at. Pay somebody to play video games for you? Well, I mean like type. Right. Of course. Yeah. I hear you. Yeah. I hear you. Yeah. You don't – yeah. You're not going to want to do everything. And things that some people enjoy, like whether it's golfing or video games or whatever it is, like you got to find out what you like.

[16:48] Yeah, and hopefully it's a bunch of stuff. It's one of the things that's missing in school, is introducing people to the possibility of things they might like. [16:55] Instead, what do they do? They just teach you stuff. You know? Yeah, it didn't work. [17:00] For me. No. It was not good for them. Didn't work for me either. Yeah. Well, look at you now. You landed on your feet. I know, but that's a weird thing. It's like there's no... [17:10] There's no consideration of alternatives. There's no like, hey, you're kind of a wise-ass. Have you ever thought about being a comedian? You can make a lot of money doing comedy. Nobody ever says that to you. [17:20] No, I never had that. It was a weird thing because it was always a sort of... [17:26] Shut up. So it was the opposite of encouragement, which is be quiet, be quiet. You're disruptive. So by nature, comedic nature is to sit in the back of the class and pop off and try to entertain an audience, which is sort of built in, which is the classroom. But it is interesting that they then. [17:47] offer an award called Class Clown. Did they offer an award for Class Clown? My high school, I was Class Clown. [17:56] So I got the class clown designation, but all through high school I was told to shut up by every teacher, which is a weird... [18:05] It's a backhanded compliment, but it's a weird message to send to the clown, which is shut up, shut up, shut up. Here's your award at the end for talking. Yeah, that is weird. I would get rid of the award or stop telling everyone to shut up all the time. Well, you know, it's under motivated teachers that are underpaid. Well, who attracts, you know, I was thinking about like who's attracted to that profession. Right.

[18:35] out of the private sector. They're just like, I want... [18:38] consistency. I don't care if I'm underpaid as long as I never stop getting paid and I can retire early and I have a place to go. And it's a kind of a version of life where you're not telling people to chase their dreams and explore the possibilities because you don't. [18:56] You're in this place right now where you... [18:59] didn't chase your dreams. You're just here. You know, I mean, save that. [19:03] 10% who love kids or just want to work with kids. But most of my teachers were miserable. Most. [19:11] Yeah. [19:12] miserable and very uninspiring and this made you I used to have nightmares after I left high school that I failed and I had to go back [19:21] I used to have nightmares. Yeah. That I didn't get my diploma. Oh, yeah. [19:25] It's funny. I wanted to go back because I wanted to play football. I didn't want to go to class, but I would have dreams about going back to play one more year of football. Oh, that's funny. Because it's all I wanted to do, and it was the only thing I was good at back then. And once I got out of high school, it was just construction sites, garbage. Yeah, me too. I just didn't know what to do. I mean, I was fighting at the time, but I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. [19:55] you [19:56] Like, [19:57] I never had anyone go, hey, you should do comedy. Like that seems to be your thing or it seems to be what you're interested in or where your proclivities are. I never had that. I didn't have anyone in my family say it. I didn't have any of my friends say it. I never had a teacher say it. I never had a guidance counselor say it. It never came up in my life.

[20:16] Did it come up for you? With me, it was guys that I would go to tournaments with. So we would all be scared because we'd be on a bus or something traveling out of state to go to some tournament. And everybody would be like real nervous because there's a real good chance you might get kicked in the head and knocked unconscious. And I would be the guy that broke the ice. I would be making fun of everything and making everybody laugh. And my friend Steve, who's Steve Graham, who's a good friend of mine still to this day, he was older than me at the time. I think I was like 16. [20:46] He was probably 30, 31, something like that. He's an ophthalmologist. And he's like, you should be a comedian. [20:53] And I was like, you think I'm funny because you like me. I'm like, other people are going to think I'm just an asshole. And he's like, I think you could do it. I think you could do it. You should just go to an open mic night and check it out. And I went to an open mic night, and that's when I understood that, oh, everybody starts out as a beginning and you're terrible. When I thought of comedians, I thought – [21:12] Jerry Seinfeld was Jerry Seinfeld from the jump. He's just really good and really funny and great jokes. And Richard Pryor, same thing. I didn't realize, like, it's a thing that you get better at. And then when I watched people do it, I was like, oh, these people are terrible. I can do this. It's one of the things Jenny, Richard Jenny said. He goes, terrible comedians are great because they inspire people to try it. Yeah, exactly. [21:35] Yeah, I agree with you in that sense. Like, [21:38] I remember, like I always go, oh, this guy's excellence inspires, you know, Michael Jordan inspires. And I'm like, no, he's too good. You know what I mean? Right. He, those, like I remember being young and watching like Dennis Miller do a special and I'd go, I could never do that. Right. That's too much. Where are all these words coming from? Right. How do you remember them all? How does he even know what they mean? Like, no way am I pulling that off.

[22:08] of [22:09] truck, you know, to the construction side every day, I would listen to morning radio in LA. And I'd listen to these morning teams and I'd go... [22:19] shit, I can do that. Like, like I was inspired by their inability to be consistently funny. Right. And it is a weird thing where people do that. They always think the best is going to bring it out in you. But it's intimidating. Sometimes you have to see people that are mediocre at their job for you to think, oh, hell, I can do that. Certainly at the beginning, you know, like if you walked right into a gym and as you like Terrence Crawford T-shirt I'm [22:49] Crawford's working out. It's the first time he ever worked out. And someone says, do you want to spar with Terrence Crawford? You're like, no. Yeah. What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not. I can't spar with him. No. Yes. Because he's too good. But if you see someone who's like at your level and he's hitting mitts the way you're hitting mitts and like, okay, I'll try that. This episode is brought to you by Happy Dad Hard Seltzer. A nice cold happy dad is low carbonation, gluten free, and is easy to drink. No bloating. No nonsense. [23:19] or you're golfing, watching a fight with your boys, or out on the lake, these moments call for a cold Happy Dad. People are drinking all these seltzers and skinny cans that are loaded with sugar, but Happy Dad only has one gram of sugar in a normal-sized can. You can buy Happy Dad on the GoPuff app and your local liquor and grocery store, including Walmart, Kroger, Total Wine, and Circle K. And you can't decide on a flavor? Grab a variety pack, lemon, lime, watermelon, pineapple, and wild cherry.

[23:49] They also have a great flavor in collaboration with Death Row Records and Snoop Dogg. They have their new lemonade coming out as well. Visit happydad.com for a limited time offer and use code ROGAN to buy one Happy Dad trucker hat and get one free. Enjoy a cold Happy Dad. Must be of legal drinking age. Please drink responsibly. Happy Dad Hard Seltzer Tea and Lemonade is a malt alcohol located in Orange County, California. [24:19] And they go, you want to spar with that guy over there. And then you go, who is that guy? And they go, I don't know. It's just some gym guy. And it's Terrence Crawford. And then you really get demoralized because you don't even know who he is. And sometimes you'll run into those guys early on. [24:36] before they are who they are. And you realize, oh, I got my ass kicked by this guy. He turned out to be a champion. But at the time, I just thought something was wrong with me. Yeah. [24:47] Well, and then you just realize like some people have a giant head start, you know, whatever it is. Maybe they started earlier in life. Maybe they have family members that are really good at whatever it is, boxing or whatever it is. Maybe they got really good coaching early on. Maybe they have great genetics. Maybe they're just naturally fast. [25:03] Maybe they just have a mind for the game. [25:07] Yeah, I mean, I think it's kind of the fast twitch stuff and the rhythm stuff. Like some guys have the rhythmic, you know, you can watch them skip a rope. There's that, but there's also like the most important things, understanding the skills, understanding technique. And some people just get bad coaching.

[25:27] And if you get bad coaching, you get like a kind of coach that just wants you to brawl all the time when you're sparring. And you never really learn the finer points. Yeah. They don't stop you and say, look, you got to stop that jab here and then counter, you know. Well, I found at least when I taught boxing that most of the coaches were boxers. Like my gym was Mike Weaver, ex-heavyweight. I remember Mike Weaver. He was a brick shithouse. [25:57] tank. Oh my god, he looked like a bodybuilder. It was crazy. Even when I worked with him when he was 48 or something, he still looked like that. So, Weaver and then his half-triplet [26:09] Brothers, the fighting triplets, Troy, Floyd, and Lloyd, by the way. They're all fighters, right? And I realized... [26:19] They were good fighters, but they didn't know how to teach fighting. [26:22] Because they couldn't verbalize it and they couldn't intellectualize it. They just did it. [26:28] you know, and it's not always the guy. So a lot of time that got X fighters, this guy's an X champ. He's an X this and X that. That doesn't mean you're good at teaching it. That just means you did it and we're good at it. But you can't always articulate it and describe it. And like my thing was, I wasn't an X champ, but I knew how to articulate it better than these guys. And I could use these metaphors and examples and stuff like that. I would, I would, [26:55] end up being a good boxing coach, not because I had all this ring experience. It's because I understood it sort of intellectually. Yeah. Like some of the greatest boxing coaches of all time weren't good fighters or were okay fighters like Freddie Roach. Perfect example is a journeyman fighter, but one of the best boxing coaches ever. Emmanuel Stewart. Same, same deal. You know, weren't world champions. I always liked Emmanuel Stewart because he, he coached,

[27:24] Vladimir Klitschko, but he couldn't say the word Vladimir. He'd just go, Latimer, Latimer. And it's like, his name is Vladimir. It doesn't start with an L, it starts with a V. [27:34] You listen to him talking to Vladimir Klitschko. He just called him Latimer. And I've interviewed – I ain't – [27:41] I interviewed Vladimir Klitsch, and I said, he called you Latimer your whole career. And he went, yeah, that's the way he pronounced it. I'm like, it's a name, and it starts with a different letter. He just called him Latimer the whole time. He gave up. He gave up. But Emmanuel Stewart was the first guy to figure out that training in the heat. Can I get a shout out? Yeah, yeah. Get in there. Yeah. That training in the heat was great for your cardiovascular system. Oh, really? Cronk Gym. They used to crank it up. Cronk Gym was like 100 degrees in there. Yeah. [28:11] Yeah, and they put the, was it Abilene they called it? Mm-hmm. Sweat stuff on, and then they put you in a garbage bag. Yeah, all that. Goddamn. Yeah, they would always put Abilene on you before you worked out. I always thought that was weird. [28:26] Like to get your sweat going. I was like, I'm kind of sweat. It's weird. It was a part of the boxing world. Like when you get Ringside Magazine, they would sell Abilene, like these big fucking jars of it. [28:35] As far as I could tell, it was pretty much just Vaseline. I don't know what was different about it. Some slippery oil, that's for sure. [28:45] Which it's interesting because in MMA, that stuff is like – [28:49] That's shunned. Because you get in trouble if you grease yourself up. Because there's guys that grease. And what they do to cheat is they'll put baby oil on the night before. And they'll literally soak in baby oil. And then they'll take a shower. And so when they show up to fight, their skin is dry. And so they don't have baby oil. But as soon as they start sweating, that baby oil comes out of their pores. And they are slick like a fucking trout. Like you can't get a grip on them.

[29:19] I bet you could probably convince someone to drink baby oil. You told them when you started sweating, you'll just sweat baby oil. I just love that whatever the sport, whether it's MMA or F1, there's always someone trying to shave a tenth. Just trying to figure out some way around just to pick up a little advantage. Yep. It's so human. It's so human. Victor Conte just died recently. He's the Balco guy. [29:49] him on the podcast back in the day he was the guy that got barry bonds and on that stuff called the clear so they figured out a steroid they would evade testing and it was something that you just wipe on yourself and it was oh really yeah yeah highly effective and it's just people looking to skirt around the rules and find something that that works that they can't detect it's such i mean it's [30:14] It's what happens when you are attracted to, [30:18] to competition, I think. So the people who aren't attracted to competition sit around and go, why would you do that? Or how dare you do that? Or this guy's wrong for doing it. But you don't run an F1 team. [30:30] But if you're attracted to a job that makes you a trainer in UFC or running an F1 team, you'll probably be a person who's attracted to competition, thus attracted to winning. [30:45] Your livelihood will depend on it, and you'll try to do everything you can do. Yeah. It's interesting with steroids, though, with baseball in particular. There's never been a sport that rejected steroids as hard as baseball did. Like, you remember the McGuire, Sammy Sosa era? Sure. Like, when we found out those guys were juicing, and we kind of all knew they were juicing. But once we found out they were juicing, everybody was so mad at them.

[31:15] national pastime, which is baseball. I don't get it. You cheated at baseball. [31:21] I love it when [31:23] I don't know [31:24] Bob Costas gets all... [31:27] and Billy Crystal get all upset about the majesty of baseball and how you've ruined the sanctity of it and stuff like that. Baseball was always kind of a pussy sport for me. Like I thought if you're a real dude, you play football and then maybe box or wrestle or something like that. But baseball was kind of fun. Like I played baseball and baseball – [31:49] At baseball practice, you got to play baseball. You got to hit. You got to field. You essentially played baseball. You didn't have a game, but you'd be out in the field hitting the cutoff or up at bat, batting practice, where you literally played baseball. In football... [32:05] I never touched a football. You're just pushing a sled and getting in some tackling drill, running laps. They just torture you. But you don't play football. I played football for 10 years and never touched a football. I played linebacker and guard, and there was no football. There was just me blocking guys who were touching a football or trying to tackle a guy who touched football. Football practice is the worst. Football practice is torture. Did you wrestle? [32:35] my high school really i didn't have like [32:38] It was, you know, I did a little more East Coast, I think, like lacrosse. And certain things are kind of regional. We didn't really. I grew up in North Hollywood. Like, they didn't have hockey. They didn't have lacrosse. They didn't have wrestling. Crazy they didn't have wrestling. Oh, God. I think wrestling was one of the most important lessons and hard work that I ever got. Oh, for sure. Like running bleachers and cutting weight and all that stuff. Carrying people around. Yeah. I had a brutal coach, too. Our coach was brutal. Yeah. It was awesome.

[33:08] Wrestling practice and football practice are not dissimilar. It's just torture young people, essentially, and kind of try to break them a little bit. And wrestling is probably more torturous than football, but football is hot because it's the San Fernando Valley or wherever, Florida, and you're outside, and you're in a uniform, and you're just baking in the sun. [33:38] They thought it was bad for you, but really thinking back on it. How dumb that is. Well, it wasn't. I think they didn't want to do it because they thought it would make you soft. They thought you would get cramped up. That's what people used to think. They would say, yeah, they'd say you're going to cramp up. But there's another underlying point, which is you would enjoy it. [33:58] And they didn't want to do anything that you enjoyed. Like, the whole thing was, we're going to torture you. And if you want water, then you're not getting water. Want to hear something crazy? When I was a kid, when I was fighting, I didn't like that I wanted sex. Yeah. [34:15] Okay. [34:15] I didn't like that I desired pleasure. [34:20] Because I thought it was weak. [34:22] Because I thought that anything soft and sensual, anything that feels good is going to make you weak. Right. Because all I was thinking about was competing. And I was just thinking about keeping an edge on everybody. And that sex was like, damn it. Like, I didn't like that I liked it. I thought it was a weakness. Did you have a...

[34:43] Did you have like a pillow on your bed? No, I had a girlfriend. Like where does this end? I had a girlfriend who was really horny. I didn't mean a pillow to hump. I just meant you'd be more comfortable with that pillow and you wanted the eye of the tiger. No, it didn't. I mean, it didn't stop me from having sex with my girlfriend, but it did make me feel like that was a weakness. But don't you feel... [35:03] I feel like I fall back on my misery and, [35:06] those two-a-day practices in the San Fernando Valley and getting yelled at by coaches and being on a construction site and sort of getting yelled at by a foreman and like just doing sort of miserable donkey work all day. As I get older, I realize, oh, everything seems pretty simple and pretty easy compared to that. And I realize I talked to a lot of people that never went through that. And so I [35:33] They don't really have... [35:34] they're not calibrated. Like, sometimes, like, ever since I got... [35:38] out of construction and into comedy. I've never looked at comedy as work, you know, and then sometimes they'll go, oh, they want to add a second show or whatever. And I go, yeah, go ahead. And someone will go, you really want to work that much? I go, it's not, it's not, it's, it's air conditioned. Right. No one's yelling at you. It's fun. Free beer. It's fun. People like you. What do you mean? And they'll go, yeah. [35:59] You want to work that hard on the weekend? You know, and I go, what work? It's not work compared to the work I knew from back in the day. But then I realized I do deal with a lot of people that never had that baseline. And so they never had that misery and they never had that experience. And so for them, their baseline is sort of air conditioning and a 401k and a coffee maker.

[36:29] and eating lunch on a pile of plywood and eating off a lunch truck and all that kind of stuff. Right. [36:34] drinking off a hose, no air conditioning, like that world. So they don't have a base. They're not like calibrated. And so for them, a second show is a lot of work. [36:45] Or working on a weekend or doing whatever. It's that old expression, the worst thing that's ever happened to you is the worst thing that's ever happened to you, no matter what it is. So if you've lived an incredibly sheltered life and the worst thing that ever happens is you get in a mild fender bender. Right. And you can't believe it. And your world has ended. And you're just sobbing and weeping. Or if you're a guy who's lived a fucking difficult, hard life and then you get in a fender bender, you're like, ah, they'll fix that. We'll fix that. No worries. And then it's gone. You don't think about it at all. [37:15] car now. No big deal. Yeah, I've always... [37:17] fought [37:18] that... [37:20] you know when it came to [37:21] boxing or a sport like that, that... [37:25] People go, oh, you know how to box, so you could use your hands... [37:29] and then you have an advantage, you know, some drunk guy comes at you or something, like you can use your hands, so you know what you're doing. But I always thought the real advantage is... [37:38] being used to having someone punch at you all the time. That was sort of the real advantage of not freaking out if somebody threw a punch. If you just get used to people throwing punches, then you know how to react. And that was the advantage. It was more like being used to being knocked around and punched and having people throw stuff at you versus you knowing how to throw back. The real advantage was not being phased, like when stuff was coming at you.

[38:08] And I think that's analogous to sort of this, like the advantage to our past misery is... [38:16] how relatively easy everything seems now. If you have a group of brothers and they all start competing and fighting, [38:24] The toughest one's the youngest one, always. Oh, really? Almost always. Almost always, because that's the one that's been fucked with by everybody else, by the middle brother, by the older brother. The youngest brother, I always look to him like that's the savage. Just watch it. That kid can make it through. He will be the one. He will be the one. So let's see. Is that Stephen Baldwin? Which Baldwin is that? Yeah, that would be Stephen. [38:48] I think. Right? [38:51] Alex the older. That I know. I got the top. That's a different thing. I don't think they're beating each other up. I'm making a joke. But they probably did kick each other's ass a few times. Probably, I would imagine. Yeah, I would imagine. [39:04] This episode is brought to you by Roka, my favorite sunglasses. They're made right here in Austin, Texas, and they are the best sunglasses I've ever found for outdoor stuff. You can run around in them. I could do stuff. They never fall off your head. They fit tight, but they're very comfortable. And before I tell you more, I want to start off with a little secret. They have some great deals right now for Black Friday. Roka works with scientists and high-performance athletes to build the best, most comfortable, most capable eyewear out there. [39:34] the second you put them on. They don't slip, even when you're sweaty. Gym, kettlebells, chasing the dog, whatever. They stay locked in, but comfortable. And now, temps are dropping and snow has fallen, so if you're headed to the mountains, check out Roka's brand new snow goggles, engineered to adapt to weather and light at altitude. They are sick. Also, Roka has brought back their home tryout program. You can literally test their glasses in real life for five days, moving, sweating,

[40:04] And if you need prescription glasses or you're just looking for killer sunglasses, check them out. Go to Roka.com and take advantage of their limited time offers. That's R-O-K-A dot com. [40:17] You know, one of the things I like about you is, I know he stuck with me, years ago when I interviewed you, I said... [40:25] Your biological dad. [40:27] Do you ever have a desire to get back in touch with him or reconnect or whatever that was? And I think he went, no, screw him. Like, I don't, I never knew him. So I don't need to. [40:40] redo something that never was done. And I like that. I mean, I respect it. I feel like there's... [40:48] people do too much like come on he's your blood I'm like if you don't know him you don't know him. [40:53] Like, I always, I don't know what stuck with me. [40:57] Well, I think family's nice if they're nice. [41:02] If they're great people and you want to be in touch with them, but I don't think you should spend any time with people that you don't like. I agree. If they're your family or not, I don't think it matters. I think my life was sort of saved by friends, just having really good friends all the time. And I sort of realized my family wasn't going to provide what my friends would provide, and I just hung out. [41:28] With my friends. Well, that's also why people join gangs. [41:31] Yeah. Yeah. [41:32] I mean, that becomes their family because everybody has a desire to be a part of a tribe and everybody has a desire to have a good team and people that care about you. That's a big motivating factor for human beings. Thank God North Hollywood didn't have a strong crip or blood connection back in the day because I probably would have joined up. Sure. It's probably exciting.

[41:53] It's probably exciting, especially if you get away with a few things. [41:55] I get it. I mean, it's tried and it's true. Like, it works. It's been around for a long time. It's the reason why the gang's in New York. Look, it goes all the way back then. Yeah, it goes, I'm sure, throughout... [42:07] the dawn of humanity and history. But yeah, and I mean, we've formed our own gang with just a bunch of dudes who did stupid stuff, you know, but it wasn't... [42:17] drive-bys and that shit. It was just a group. It was a tribe. Not necessarily a gang. Yeah. [42:23] Yeah, we did things... [42:25] Yeah. [42:26] We would do stuff to each other, but not to society. Yeah. Like, that was kind of our code. Like, we would torture each other and do unthinkable things to each other, but you couldn't go mess with civilians. Yeah. That was crossing the line. That's fun, too. [42:42] Um, [42:43] I've been paying attention to a lot of your stuff covering the Palisades fire and all that stuff. And I think – [42:50] I'm really glad that there's someone like you out there that gets to shine light on these things and show people how fucked up this whole thing was. You know, we talked about on the podcast that you immediately, once the fire happened, you were like, no one's rebuilding. Like, you don't understand the Coastal Commission. You don't understand the permitting process. This is going to be like this forever. Yeah. And you're right. Look at it. Here we are. It's almost a year later, right? How many months later is it? Ten, eleven? Ten and change. Yeah. Okay. No one's rebuilt the house. No. [43:20] There's a little bit of building going on in the Palisades, but there's zero in Malibu. Yeah, there's no coastal anything. And I've been monitoring it. How much is growing on in the Palisades? How many houses have been rebuilt? I would say, you know, less than 5%. That's crazy. But it's scattered. Like, I toured one that was being framed for the latest vlog, the fire vlogs I've been doing. Even if you do rebuild, what is surrounding you? Just wreckage.

[43:50] Yeah. Do you imagine you're on a hill and you just the husks of burnt down houses are your view now? [43:58] Yeah. Fun. Yeah. Basically, you're living in an ashtray. Yeah. You put a double wide in an ashtray. Who knows what the fuck is in that ground? Well, you know, no, it's all bad burning and melting and all the chemicals and electric cars and all that shit has gotten into the water table. It's all in the ground. Yeah. Well, some of it's in the bay because it rained and it just flowed into the sea. I mean, it's a it's a. [44:26] It's a mire of muck. And yeah, it's hard. Is it still bad? [44:32] No, it's okay. [44:33] It's sort of filtered out. You're talking about the ocean? Yeah, I mean, it's livable. [44:41] I don't know if your doctor would recommend it, but it's livable. But the thing that I've always known is I've always known how burdensome regulation is in Los Angeles. And it's invisible. And that's why we don't have housing. And that's why houses are too expensive. And that's why there's no homeless shelters and housing. [45:11] And I knew this is what was coming, but other people didn't really know it because they've not dealt with the city, plan check, regulations, plan approval, engineering. Like, this is stuff I've been doing my whole life. So I knew early on that this wasn't going to happen. And I think...

[45:32] people who live in Los Angeles are sort of naive. Like they just think the Coastal Commission and the City Council and Plan Check and Building and Safety, like they're there just to facilitate this stuff. They're not there to facilitate any of it. They're there to deter it. They want you to go away is basically what it is. So I knew none of this was going to happen. And I [45:57] But also there's a thing that I don't think anyone really is aware of, which is... [46:02] They are so overregulated that they make it so difficult to build that people can't afford it. And they're then stymied by it and they tend to just get discouraged and they go away. They don't do it. So what they do is like I was friends with Suzanne Somers. [46:25] and Alan Hamill and they lived in Malibu and they loved Malibu and then their home burnt down years ago. This was another fire and then they wanted to rebuild the home. But the Coastal Commission made it so difficult that after five years of trying, they just went fuck it and they moved out. [46:43] They moved to Palm Springs. [46:45] But they wanted to live in Malibu, but they couldn't. And it is... [46:51] So... [46:52] regulated and so difficult and the hoops they make you go through and the engineering is insane there is one place that they're building on on Pacific Coast Highway and I've been down to the construction site I've looked at it they're sinking six foot.

[47:11] Six-story caisson, so 60-foot caisson cage. You have to drill. So a caisson, you just drill into the earth and use a huge agar bit. [47:21] and the hole's like 30 inches around, and you go down six stories, and then you drop a rebar cage into it, and then you pump concrete into it, and that's your caisson. There's a... [47:36] house and it's a small lot. [47:38] They're going to have 60 of these things into the ground before they can start building. Is this because of the instability of the ground, like landslides and stuff like that? They get a lot of that in Malibu, right? Right. So here's what California does. They go, we're an earthquake country. [47:52] whatever they do but I've lived in houses in California that were built in 1923 and 1929 when they had none of this stuff and they had none of the technology and they saw their way through many earthquakes and they're just there. So they blame stuff like earthquake or coastal or whatever it is and then they make you go 2,000 times further than you needed to go and [48:18] I was talking to the guy, I said, how much into this foundation before you can start building? [48:23] He said... [48:24] $2.5 million into the ground. That's the ground. That's before the first... And is this a new standard? Well, what they do is they just add new ones every year. So it just keeps getting more and more and more. And then eventually... [48:40] that house becomes...

[48:42] It becomes impractical to build there because it costs too much money, and then you don't have houses. So that's what we do with all housing in Los Angeles, and that's why the city council is like, we need more housing. And it's like, well, you're not going to get more housing, bitch, because you're overregulated, and no one can reach that standard, and it's too expensive. Well, and it's also – then it's not consistent with the houses that are already okay. [49:12] Just poles stuck into the ground, like half the house is hanging over the hill. Oh, well, the thing about Malibu is the Malibu Pier is 125 years old, and that's just telephone poles going into the ground. Yeah. I mean, all they did back then is take a pile driver and just mash a telephone pole into the ground, and then they'd build... [49:35] Many of the houses that burnt down were on those because they were from the 40s and the 50s. So the foundation was fine. It was the fire that got the house. Is anybody developing a legitimate fireproof house? Yes. Yeah? What's that like? Cement outside? Yeah. I mean, basically what they're doing is they're doing a... [49:57] Cement. Yeah. So it's like... [50:01] The walls are like modular and it's filled with like foam and like sort of a wire cage. And then the outside they spray on gunite, which is like lightweight cement, just like trowel it on. So the inside and the outside is essentially cement. But, you know, a stucco house is basically cement, too. Like really what they're doing now is they're saying we're going to frame the houses the way we always frame the houses with wood.

[50:27] Because I think a lot of people go, well, why aren't they using steel or metal studs or concrete? Why are they using... [50:35] Why aren't they using non-combustible materials? And what they're doing essentially, because I just walked one of these houses in the Palisades, they're building it in a traditional way using wood, but they're making the outside fireproof. They're not going to have the eaves, the rafter tails hanging out, the wooden rafter tails hanging out. They're not going to have the vents to vent the attic where the embers can get into the attic and then get to the wood and cause. [51:05] attic, and then the house ignited sort of from the inside out. Right. So if you do a flat roof, a metal roof, and you do a stucco, glass, aluminum, and you don't do the rafter tails or the eaves, and you don't have any way, then essentially you have this... [51:21] Thank you. [51:22] combustible house with a hard candy shell around it with nothing combustible on that. And so the fire can't [51:32] get started essentially. And how many houses have that? Because you would imagine a lot of houses have been built in the Palisades since like the 2018 fire. There was fires before that. I remember there was a fire in the 90s because this is a funny story. Uh, uh, [51:49] So me and JB Smooth were doing a show in New Jersey, and this was probably like 92, something like that, and some college in the middle of New Jersey. And it was hard to get, and there was no navigation back then, so it was hard to get to. And so you had to follow right on this road, left, and you had a piece of paper you followed. And so I got there. I left early. JB wasn't there yet. I was supposed to headline. And they were like, well, we're going to wait for JB to start the show. I said, okay.

[52:19] watching this documentary on the Malibu fires. So whatever Malibu fires this was back then. And this guy was, they were calling, this kid was calling for his dog. And it was, this guy was crying. He was a fireman. He was just weeping. Oh, and I was like, so depressed. And then they go, look, JB's not coming. He's, he hasn't been here yet. We can't reach him. So we're just going to have you go up. I'm like, [52:38] Okay. [52:40] Wiping the tears away. I went on stage and fucking flat out bombed. I just bombed. And then he came in. He finally figured out how to get there. So I brought him up and he killed. Well, you had the heavy burden of the guy who lost this dog. It was a very valuable lesson. Do not watch anything depressing right before you go on stage. Or listen to anyone that's depressing. Like if people start saying depressing shit to me in the green room, I'll just go stop. [53:07] I can't do this right now. I've got to go on stage. I'm a compartmentalizer. Really? I could watch a documentary on the Holocaust and then walk out on stage and go right in. Let's talk about Service Titan. Over 10,000 contractors already run their businesses on Service Titan. Now they're building an AI trained on real trades workflows. This isn't generic AI. This is AI built specifically for contracting work. [53:37] and more. It's booking calls, helping run your back office, and growing your revenue automatically. Every other industry is still trying to figure out AI. The trades are about to lead from the front. Service Titan, the AI for the trades. Learn more at servicetitan.ai. This episode is brought to you by Traeger Grills. If you enjoy food, and I mean really good food, Traeger is a game changer.

[54:07] way to cook outdoors, delivering unbeatable wood-fired flavor thanks to the all-natural hardwood pellets that fuel everything you grill, smoke, or bake. That's it. Just wood and fire and flavor. And what's truly wild is how easy it is. Just set the temp, load the grill, and let Traeger handle the rest. Grill steak, smoked ribs, even baked pizza, all on one grill. [54:37] out Traeger Grills. [54:39] I can't do that. That's not me. Yeah, I can't do that. I get too empathetic. I just start thinking, what would I do? What would I do if I was them? Fuck, I can't believe this, but... [54:54] Point is – [54:55] Those fires had always been there. Like, didn't Flea lose his house up there? I know a lot of people have lost their house up there. Yeah, a lot. Listen, when I was a carpenter... [55:05] I think it was probably the later 80s. I built a house. I mean, it wasn't my house, but I worked... [55:13] On a house, like I was doing finish work. So I was like hanging doors and doing base and case and stair railings. And like I was doing the finish. I was like the finish guy. And I showed up on one of our jobs. You know, we had a few jobs going on. I worked for this outfit. But I worked there for like six months just doing all the stair railings and the doors and everything. And that house burned to the ground. [55:36] Like I went up there...

[55:38] Some years later, there was just a foundation there. And I remember, but to speak of me being able to watch a doc on the Holocaust and then go out and do comedy, I was sitting outside. I was with somebody, and all it was was the foundation, the whole place. And I said, man, I remember being here, like shaping the oak and making the railings and turning the oak and getting my router out and putting the finish on and everything. Yeah. [56:04] It's all gone. And somebody went, [56:07] Wow, how does it make you feel? And I went, I got paid. I'm cool. Now let's go watch a Holocaust movie. It's not your house. Yeah. But you lost your house in this fire, right? No. You didn't? I lost everything in front of my house and most everything behind my house and like almost everything to the right and the left. Wow. Literally, yeah. How did you make? Just luck? Yeah. Wow. I wish it was... [56:34] I wish I did something. I wish I could claim something. I couldn't. I didn't do anything. There was burnt stuff on the roof of my house. I could see where it kind of got started. But [56:47] Everything in front of me is gone. [56:49] And a lot of stuff behind me and probably 50, 60 percent. Like I was an outlier for sure. Like how many houses in your neighborhood burnt down? [56:59] Most of them? Oh, yeah. Half of them? Oh, yeah. Most of them. Most. Well, so, PCH, everything is gone.

[57:08] Yeah, I would say – [57:10] I'm in the 10 percentile or something. Wow. Like, it was really, the odds were not good. And you're still living in that house? [57:18] Yeah, after many months of being out. Yeah, but I'm not allowed to go back to your house. Yeah, yeah. It was had to flee that night. [57:29] had to go... [57:30] stayed at a hotel in Burbank or something, and then basically just watched the news, and I could see... [57:37] Once in a while in the news, they'd cut to a spot where you'd go, oh, that's the restaurant in front of – and it was ablaze. Like everything – [57:45] Every time they cut to something around my house, it was all on fire. So I was like in Burbank, and I was sitting in a hotel room, and I was like, well... [57:57] It's gone. It's gone for sure. And that's when the following day I did my podcast from the Burbank hotel room because the winds were so strong that the power was out to my studio. But the power was on at this hotel I was in. So I just sort of set up in the living room of the hotel. [58:27] It was like the opposite of whatever Winston Churchill would have done. I would have done the opposite. Like, don't even try to build. The city's going to fuck you up. It's never going to work. And that was like eight hours after the fire. I was like, you're not getting a permit and you're not rebuilding. You were right. In the 2008 fire, 2018 fire, rather, when I was living in Bell Canyon, three houses in front of me burnt to the ground. Like, I would say, like, maybe 20% of the neighborhood burnt down.

[58:57] It wasn't quite as bad as Malibu, but it was three houses right in front of our house. It was just dumb luck that our house didn't catch fire. And some things did catch fire. Our fence caught fire. We had that shitty equestrian fencing, the shitty kind that's made out of plastic. That stuff just fucking caught fire. But we didn't have anything close enough to the house that it carried over and burnt the house down. We were lucky. [59:20] Yeah, I was totally lucky, too, and I had no idea that the place was intact. I just assumed it wasn't because everything around it went. Did you take much when you left? No, just pretty much. [59:35] you know, a pillow and a blanket and like, just like underpants, like just kind of, just kind of got out. It was kind of the middle of the night. I didn't even take underwear. I had to go buy underwear. That's when I realized like some underwear is better. I had been me undies. I've been a sponsor and I was only wearing me undies. And then I went and bought some cotton underwear and this stuff fucking sucks. Yeah. It was terrible. I didn't have, I didn't bring any [1:00:05] important photos or something like that like we didn't bring much and then just went to a hotel in Beverly Hills and just the sky was filled with fucking smoke everywhere you look you know that was again folks this is the 2018 fire LA burns all the fucking time yeah all the fucking time yes and the fact that it burns all the fucking time and they had a giant reservoir that was just sitting there

[1:00:30] Empty yes in the middle of fire season and no one was addressing it. No one's pointing out. This is a real critical thing We got to get on top of that right away. We're gonna fill that fucking reservoir. I [1:00:40] Yeah, well, we don't... See, L.A., [1:00:43] Sort of has processed people, but they don't have get shit done people. They just have people that talk about stuff and then have a committee and we got to talk about the homeless and everyone needs a seat at the table and no one's illegal and all this kind of stuff. And then they go, all right, let's eat. And they just leave. They don't really do the nuts and the bolts. So like I realized, you know, like Trump is a builder, so he is a. [1:01:07] commercial builder. So his world is hurry, hurry, get it done. What's going on? What's the hold up? Why aren't we building? And so everything, when you're a commercial builder is... [1:01:18] well, where's the foundation guy? Foundation's done. Where are the framing guys? Framing's done. Where are the drywall guys? Where's the HVAC guys? Where's the plumbing guys? What's taking so long? You know what I mean? Hurry. And [1:01:30] L.A. has a bunch of procedural people like they just sit around and talk about stuff. They don't want to get stuff done. And like when you had Karen Bass, mayor, and you had Trump at that presser like a few days later, Trump was going, let's go. Let's go. Clean your own lots. We don't. And Karen Bass was like, slow your roll, man.

[1:02:00] the sort of [1:02:02] tyranny of safety. They don't really realize how much safety fucks people up. I mean, that's what happened with COVID. Like, safety, say, we're just going to shut the schools. Like, [1:02:12] Yeah, you're just going to ruin civilization because you said it was safe. And no one argues with you when you go safety, safety, safety. But safety can be debilitating. I mean, you can stop progress. You can ruin young lives. Like too much safety stops a society. And they're all safety oriented and they're process people. So they're like, slow it down. [1:02:37] Slow it down. And Trump's like speed it up. And that's what you have in L.A. You have just sort of safety process, mostly women just kind of running the thing going. If one child gets covid, that's one shot. No, no, no, bitch. We got to open shit up and we got to get moving. You know, that's basically what happened with covid. The thing about. [1:03:00] The fires is like, you know, Gavin Newsom's like, oh, climate change. You just blame everything. That was hilarious, which is insane. Hilarious. But it's like, look. [1:03:10] New Orleans is below C-12. [1:03:14] Below sea level. They're down. [1:03:16] And so they have seawalls. [1:03:19] So man intervenes and gets involved with nature and says, we'll make it safe. [1:03:25] Plenty of people live in Nevada now. They have air conditioning. Somebody figured out air conditioning, and now there's casinos in Nevada, where it used to be unlivable because of the heat. Earthquake. You know, you take L.A., and I used to do earthquake rehab.

[1:03:41] In Los Angeles. You take a 7.3 earthquake in Los Angeles and almost nothing happens. There's no death. [1:03:49] It's a couple apartment buildings and receipt of fall off or whatever. It's really, it's almost nothing in L.A., like a 7.3. 7.3 in Guatemala. [1:03:59] Place is leveled, right? So what's the difference? Well, we have a bunch of codes, an earthquake, reinforced concrete. We build four earthquakes. And so when an earthquake hits, almost nothing happens. So you can mitigate any of this stuff. Like you're talking about climate change. Well, earthquake is sort of the ultimate climate change, if you think about it. It's like it's going to shake the earth. You're making an argument for those giant pylons. Ah, right. [1:04:28] I'm making an argument for some caissons, but not 65 of them six stories deep. That's right. That's the point. There should be some. Right. Once you keep going, that's where it gets real burdensome and real expensive. [1:04:46] Car should have a crumple zone and an airbag, but it doesn't need a full roll cage and a fuel cell, and you don't need to wear a helmet. [1:04:56] when you're driving. It would be safer, but it would cost so much more to manufacture that car that most people couldn't afford the car. So you can make cars with a fire suppression system [1:05:10] Like, my race cars have...

[1:05:11] systems for fire suppression, but it would add 15 grand to the price of every car and it's not, so you have to kind of pick your battles. So we... [1:05:22] Did not prepare for the fires. We didn't clear the brush. We didn't fill the reservoirs. We didn't do all the stuff. All things that could be done. And Newsom goes climate change. And my thing is, yeah, climate change. Fine. Let's make your argument. Climate change. Now do something. [1:05:39] But it's not climate change. It isn't. It's not because L.A.'s had the same climate forever. There's been fires that happened through L.A. where L.A. burns half to the ground. I mean, while I was doing Fear Factor, there was a crazy fire that as I was driving home, that was the time where a guy died on the highway. I didn't see him get hit, but this guy got hit trying to make it across the highway when everybody was panicking. [1:06:09] the rings. This is always, and this is like early 2000s. So it's LA's always caught fire. It doesn't rain there. It doesn't rain there ever. And it's been like that forever. That's why they film movies there. It's not climate change, you fucking asshole. It's a lack of preparation. [1:06:27] The only time it ever rains is three days after the fire, so we can have a mudslide. Nice, yeah. And so, you know, we can have a sort of end of days type Sodom and Gomorrah situation. So that is the only time it rains is just to cause the mudslide after the fire. But...

[1:06:45] To prove your point with climate change, they're always talking about rising sea levels, right? [1:06:52] All the houses that burned to the ground... [1:06:56] are on the ocean. [1:06:58] And the ocean didn't get them. It was the fire that got them. The ocean. [1:07:03] The places on PCH, many of those places have been there since the 30s and 40s. The ocean's in the same place. It hasn't moved at all. Exactly. [1:07:15] six or eight feet below PCH. It's not even that low. It's never on PCH. It never makes it to PCH. And [1:07:24] To show, it's a weird thing because people in California talk about climate change, but the lots that are on the ocean side of PCH are 10 million bucks more than the ones that are up the hill that would be safe from the ocean that was rising. Yeah, the ocean is not rising. It hasn't risen at all. It's all bullshit. In fact, there was some crazy thing that I was reading about. God, I don't want to say whether it's Iceland or what. I think I put it on my Twitter. [1:07:54] did. So I'll send it to you, Jamie. [1:07:57] Yeah. [1:07:57] It's from Reuters, and it's about Iceland. Iceland has declared a threat to the Atlantic Ocean current, a national security risk, potential collapse of which could trigger a modern-day ice age. [1:08:09] with winter temperatures across northern Europe plummeting to new cold extremes. This is Reuters, and this is a new thing.

[1:08:16] I have brought in climate change people, a lot of them who are scientists and skeptics. You found it, Jamie. I've talked to. This is it. So this is fucking bananas. So this is the exact opposite of what they've been telling you about – [1:08:33] The ice, the ice is going to melt. The ocean is going to rise. And they're saying, no, actually, we might get plunge into a new fucking ice age in Europe. Well, I mean, if you really think about it, I mean, these people were the ones who were talking about the food pyramid 20 minutes ago. You know what I mean? They're wrong about everything. Almost everything. And they're so wrong that they had to switch it. Like it used to be global warming. Before that, it was the ice age. [1:09:03] Now they just go climate change because that basically covers them being wrong about everything. They're depressing the shit out of young people. Scaring the fuck out of them. Climate change fear is one of the biggest anxieties that young people have. They don't believe the world will be there for them in the future if we don't act now. That's the Greta Thunberg. [1:09:21] dare you right but then why you know and the whole point is like why do anything at that point why procreate why study why get a degree why learn a trade a skill why learn how to play the clarinet yeah if everything's going to be underwater or on fire whatever that is like it's really debilitating to young people and it's weird because [1:09:44] It's weird that these people...

[1:09:47] try to depress the shit out of young people. It's kind of weird. It's kind of interesting that all the white people, all the young white people, they sell climate change to. And then the young black people, they sell systemic racism to, because they're not really into the climate change, but they're like, Hey, everyone, you got to be miserable. That's our, our whole point. So it's like Greta Thunberg talks to all the white kids and goes, [1:10:12] climate change and then Obama talks all the young black kids and go systemic racism but either way [1:10:19] Let's not enjoy ourselves. Yeah. There's also a thing that you come to realize as you're an adult. If there is ever a public narrative where they're protecting you and protecting the future and trying to help and save people, that's a lie. [1:10:37] Right. Almost always. It's about money. Yeah. It's almost always about somebody profiting from some green energy initiative or some other bullshit. They're trying to push through some vegan meat, whatever the fuck it is. Stop eating beef. The cows are ruining the climate. It's all it's all lies. There's no fucking real statistics that can point to that in any way, shape or form. And yet they spit it out on TV all the time, pretending that they care about you. [1:11:07] always about how am I making money by scaring you about public health and safety, whether it's climate change or whether it's COVID, whether it's take the vaccine or whether it's stop using gas powered vehicles. It's someone making money. I agree. The scary part is our sort of infinite, infinite

[1:11:28] ability to absorb the next one that comes down the pike and run with it. Right. Without any cynicism. I don't mean you or me, but I just mean as a society, they'll just go, [1:11:39] What's next? And they'll start pitching the next Ukraine. Right. Whatever, whatever their pitch, they'll imbibe it and they'll digest it. And by the way, then they become sort of carriers. They just go out and report on it and then tell you, you know, they somehow become ambassadors of bullshit. They're like bullshit ambassadors. [1:12:09] because COVID wouldn't have worked if we didn't have a bunch of dumb, scared people running around. Like Gavin Newsom can shut the beaches all he wants. But if everyone just declared a beach day, then we'd be fine. Everyone just show up. They can't police it. You know what I mean? They... [1:12:27] are sort of... [1:12:28] limited in terms of what they can do in terms of policing it, but they deputize all these dumb ambassadors to go out and enforce it for them. And then that's the scary part. Right. [1:12:41] Right. It's the people doing the man's work for the man. Yeah. Like nobody in a uniform ever told me to put a mask on. It was all middle aged women. There was nobody of any who had any authority or a badge or a gun. It was all the idiots that had been weaponized in the society. Yeah. And it was also a thing where they had the opportunity to yell at you and you just had to take it.

[1:13:06] Yes. They were on the right side. Put a fucking mask on. Like, whoa, who are you talking to, bitch? Why are you talking to me like that? Everybody had to just eat it. I think all roads lead to narcissism. Like, they felt like they go, I have a son who has asthma. Do you think it's okay? Me. Everything was I, me, I. I have an elderly parent. I'm a caregiver. I, me. You killed my granny. Me. Yes, that was all... [1:13:32] God, that was all, that's all it was. But also, but no anger towards the people that created the disease. [1:13:39] Once the information came out, and literally Newsweek was, I think, the first place that broke on the front cover, the lab leak hypothesis. And they were saying it seems like that is actually the case. Nobody got angry. [1:13:55] You were angry at people that didn't want to get vaccinated and you didn't get angry at the person who used science to create a horrible disease that was complete. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. When you're looking to hire, you consider someone's skills, experience, availability. But even more important than that is someone's enthusiasm. They should want to be there. Finding the right kind of motivation isn't as tough as you think. You just need ZipRecruiter. [1:14:25] Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash Rogan. ZipRecruiter connects you with qualified candidates instantly, and their latest feature puts the most interested ones at the top of your list, so you can make sure you're speaking with the right people at the start. Use ZipRecruiter and find enthusiastic talent fast. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day.

[1:14:55] can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash Rogan. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash Rogan. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Summer means fun and making memories, but it can also feel like you're in survivor mode with packed schedules, keeping the kids entertained, and chaotic routines. That's not so fun. You got to make [1:15:25] from setting boundaries to making a space to recharge. It can help make your summer more balanced and enjoyable. With BetterHelp, you can connect with a licensed therapist online. You'll be matched based on your needs and can switch any time if it's not the right fit. With millions of clients worldwide, people are finding the support they need with BetterHelp. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find guidance in therapy. [1:15:55] BetterHelp.com to get started. That's BetterHelp.com. Completely avoidable. And that killed who knows how many people. That didn't make you mad? Well, I think what was going on, because you and I, and I've talked to a lot of people about this, like where's the anger over finding out that it was made in China at a lab and so on and so forth.

[1:16:25] And I realized... [1:16:27] They don't want to say anything because they're ashamed because they were the ones who bought it and enforced it and got really militant about it and started screaming at anyone who suggested it came from a lab or suggested the shot wasn't good or going to work or spread or natural immunity. They went after everyone so hard that now it's a lesson in embarrassment and humiliation for them to go, oh, Mia Kobol, like, okay, I get it. [1:16:57] I was wrong. I think the people that were a little more neutral about it can definitely process it. Everyone else is sort of... [1:17:07] reporting that they're idiots if they do this and they're gullible. And it also leaves them vulnerable for the next one, meaning, [1:17:17] If you go, hey, man, I was 100% wrong about all things COVID. I thought it came from a pangolin and a wet market. I thought getting triple vax would save the day. I thought ivermectin was the horse paste or whatever. Like, I went all in. I was 100% wrong. If you do that. [1:17:35] Well, eventually there's going to be another thing that comes along. And it doesn't have to be a pandemic. It can just be whatever. [1:17:42] climate change. And then you go... [1:17:45] Well, you know how wrong you were about everything COVID? Perhaps you're wrong about... [1:17:51] climate change or this next thing or who you voted for. Right. And they don't want to open that.

[1:17:56] window, that possibility. Well, that's unfortunate because what you're saying is actually a formula for figuring out how to better navigate the world. Because if you do say, hey, I was wrong. I really believed all that stuff they were saying. And now I get it. And I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that I called you a plague rat because you didn't get the vaccine. I'm sorry. I thought it was a good idea to mask children and vaccinate children. I'm sorry. [1:18:23] Maybe then the next time something comes along, you'll say, OK, wait a minute. What is the public narrative that's being forced down my throat that I'm a bad person if I don't believe? And let me analyze this and let me see, are there any dissenting opinions that are from Stanford and MIT, which there certainly was during COVID, and those all got silenced? [1:18:41] Is there anybody else out there that makes a very good point that maybe this is bullshit? And is there a financial incentive as to why they're pushing this narrative? [1:18:51] Go through something where you are totally wrong and you're adamant about enforcing this wrong opinion and then you have to realize it. And if you can come to grips with the idea that your ideas are not you, you are just a person and your ideas are just some things that you have that you carry with you. But they are not you. And they will become you if you get married to them and defend them even if you know that they're wrong. Then they'll be like a child and you're hiding a body for them.

[1:19:21] oh, this is why that idea worked on me. Now I reckon, you know, it's like if someone cheats on you or if someone like, if you have a business manager who steals money, next guy you're going to, [1:19:32] Check the fucking books. You know what I mean? If you're working with a guy and you think he might be showing up at the job drunk, the next person you hire, you're going to go, you have a drunk drinking problem. You're going to be a little bit more ready for it. That's a thing that could be happening here as well. Like if you just admitted that you were wrong and then just came clean with it, you'd feel better about yourself. People would feel better about your opinions because they know they can trust you to say when you were wrong. [1:20:02] shoved down your throat and go, hold on, before we jump right in this and blow up all the gas-powered cars, before we kill all the cows, let's look at this. You are right, but we're sort of getting back to a sort of insecurity thing. You are good at enough stuff and successful enough that you can [1:20:32] For them, so much of their worth is tied up in this. You know what I mean? I don't know. I don't think you know any guys that really are good at stuff, really mastered something. Could be an instrument. Could be mixed martial arts. Could be Master Carpenter. They don't walk around with that.

[1:20:54] so insecure, they don't fight so hard. I remember when I was a kid, [1:21:02] I would argue real hard because I guess I was insecure. Like, I'm right. You're wrong. You know, like remember your kid, you get so caught up in stuff, you know, like, oh, who would win in a fight? Godzilla or King Kong. And you'd start getting like really fired up and stuff. And then I got older and then I got successful and I learned a trade and I knew some stuff. [1:21:25] And I had some race cars and did some stuff, and I kind of went, yeah, okay, I can be wrong, because I'm still going to be this person. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's like... [1:21:36] You own the building we're sitting in. So you can be wrong. It's your building. It's still going to be your building. You know what I mean? But if it's not your building and you're just sort of temporary and you don't own anything and you don't master anything and nothing has your name on it. [1:21:54] Well, then you're fighting for that. Well, you're fighting for your very identity. Yeah, that becomes part of your identity. Whereas, like, COVID, being right or being wrong, wasn't really... [1:22:06] I wasn't that wrapped up in it. I had other things that was going on. So I think we're dealing with a deficit of expertise, and these people are fighting hard. Like for me, a lot of it. [1:22:19] Thank you. [1:22:20] toggling in between the blue collar world and the sort of ideas world of, you know, air conditioning and cubicles and thoughts and ideas and stuff. And then being on a job site, the job site guys are the most even guys I've ever hung out with. By the way, COVID, neither here nor there.

[1:22:41] To the workers, to the dudes putting on the tool bags and swinging the hammer. I spent a lot of time with these guys. I would go from the job site, blue-collar, regular dudes, and then I'd go into the white-collar world, and it's triple mask, and everyone's distancing and dumping Perel on their head. And I was like, what is so different about these two? Yeah. [1:23:04] The ones... [1:23:05] They're up in their head. They intellectualize everything. And the other guys are tactile. And they have a relationship with danger. Everything on that job site could cut your hand off. There's belt sanders and band saws. Routers are really dangerous. They have carbide bits on them that will gouge you and fuck you up badly. And you've got to know what you're doing. And a router is not the same as a hypoid saw, and that's not the same as a framing gun. [1:23:35] sort of no, and there is no such thing as... [1:23:38] Well, that's dangerous. Don't use... [1:23:41] Don't use the power saw. It's too dangerous. Like, well, we got to build a house. [1:23:45] Well, it's too dangerous. Right. Well, we've got to speed it up, meaning, like, you've got to get up on scaffolding. [1:23:52] Or you've got to get on a ladder. [1:23:54] But you have to do it. And you have to weigh it. You know, you have to kind of go, well... [1:24:00] It's going to take a long time to put scaffolding all the way around this house. How about I just put a ladder? [1:24:06] And you go, well, that's not as safe as scaffolding. Yeah, I know, but we've got to do this thing. And so it's a constant...

[1:24:12] weighing of danger. Like pros, cons, what could happen. Because everything could kill you in that [1:24:20] situation, but you have to get the job done. And so those guys are calibrated. And so like COVID felt like something to them, but they calibrated the danger. [1:24:33] and realized, yes, it's a thing, but I also have to go to work, and schools need to be open, and it doesn't really affect kids. Let's protect the old people. Like, they had to make those decisions. And the white-collar college crowd – [1:24:50] What? [1:24:51] Cannot calibrate. And they don't know what to do with danger. They don't know how to deal with it. And they've been off the farm for so long and in the air conditioning that it's gone. Right. You grow up on a farm, and that's part of your life, and that used to be part of everyone's life. You were just going to a factory, working a stamp or in a press. Whatever it is, it could take your hand off. And then you're on a farm, and it's the same thing. [1:25:21] can happen. You're constantly sort of [1:25:23] calibrate it for danger, and then you move everyone out [1:25:28] of the farm and off the factory and out of the construction site, and you put them in an air-conditioned cubicle, and you slather them up with Purell, and they lose all their calibration. So when something like COVID comes along, they go, oh, [1:25:42] Oh, shit. Close everything.

[1:25:44] Get a distance. Put a mask on. Even if you're going to swim practice, you've got to wear the mask in the pool. It's 100% safety Uber Alice because no one was calibrated. And it was all... [1:26:00] of the administrators and the teachers and all the academics and all the people that ran college, they were making all – they were the ones that were doing all the process for this. They were making all the rules. It wasn't the blue-collar guys making the rules. It was all the white-collar college-educated people. Terrified people. Terrified because they don't – [1:26:22] They don't have a relationship to danger. They don't have that. I think you just laid it out. That was brilliant. It's true. It's absolutely true. It's not a normal way to live. You know, it's not natural. Well, being as safe as humanly possible all the time is not good. And they look at it as good. So, again, we can put five caissons in the ground and that'll be enough for the next 200 years. Yeah, but why not do 500 caissons? Wouldn't that be better? [1:26:52] It's too expensive. It's not feasible. It's not going to work. And so like saying protecting old people would be a good idea. Shutting down schools would be a bad idea. And their whole thing is. [1:27:02] We're shutting everything because we're going full safety all the time. And it is a big problem. There's also no diversity of thought. Right. Because it's a giant liberal bubble. Right. [1:27:12] It's a big echo chamber. And so all the crazy ideas get supported by other people that think these crazy ideas are rational. And there's not enough balance. There's not enough. The fact that they did it, I mean, all those people with children, right, they must have known this is bad for their child's development. They must have known the kid didn't need a vaccine. They must have known that COVID, if you look at the statistics, it's very insignificant for kids. It's not even like the flu.

[1:27:39] That's how it was with my kids. That's how it was with most of my friends' kids. It was nothing. But yet they allowed those motherfuckers to keep them out of school for a year and a half. They told them to wear masks when it didn't make any sense, when there was no studies whatsoever that masks did any good. In fact, not only that, but there's some real indicators that masks, like carrying on a dirty fucking mask and breathing into it all day, probably increases the amount of bacteria you're taking in. Oh, yeah. It's terrible. [1:28:09] high school at the time. [1:28:10] If you come back from school and tell me that no one told you to put a mask up at least 15 times, I will disown you. I want that fucking mask around your nutsack like the entire time. I want it to be a constant correction. Put the mask. When they're done telling you to put the mask up and they walk away, put it back down again. So stupid. I will be so proud of you if you get suspended for this. I was in Catalina. [1:28:33] And I was outdoors in Catalina during COVID, which is an island, which is an island, folks. And I was trying to exchange a ticket for a ferry ride in a outdoor kiosk in Catalina. And I was standing on one side outside and the woman was inside the kiosk behind the glass. And I go, look, I just got to trade this two o'clock ticket in for like a five o'clock ticket. And she goes, you got to put a mask on and we can't do anything. [1:29:01] I said, I'm out here. You're in there. I'm outdoors. [1:29:06] There's glass between us. She's like, you got to put a mask on or we cannot do this transaction. And I was like, I don't have a mask. And she's like, you got to put. And I looked around. Could you do this?

[1:29:19] Do the shirt. Yeah. Isn't it the same thing? I don't know. I've tried it for farting for years, and it's not proven to be effective. But you could do it with a bandana. What's a bandana? She goes, you need a mask. And I said, okay. And I looked around, and someone else's mask was blowing down the sidewalk. And you went and chased it? I went and got the stupid mask, and I put somebody else's dirty mask from the ground on my face. And I went, okay, you satisfied we got a mask? And she goes, all right, here's your ticket. [1:29:49] away. I did that way more than once. I did that walking into LAX, right? I never had a mask. It was so insane to me that I wouldn't even think about it, but I would find myself walking into an airport going, oh shit, I don't think, and I'd see one on the ground, and I'd just pull it up and put it on. Have you ever seen those landfills filled with masks? Oh god. How many masks turned into just landfill? We're so dumb. [1:30:19] It's so dumb. It was an environmental disaster. There was millions, hundreds of millions of those fucking things just in this country. [1:30:27] Just in this country. Not to mention gloves. I mean, people are putting gloves on. I didn't wear any gloves, but I wore masks. So I think about it all the times I wore a mask. I'm one person. I probably wore 30 or 40 different masks over the course of however long it took. Maybe 100. Who knows? I was a mask recycler because I'd get my shit off the ground. [1:30:47] When I first moved here, that was one of the things that I was shocked by. People weren't wearing masks. I was like, they're living in a totally different reality. This is nuts.

[1:30:57] crazy is the first time we heard the phrase mask up in between bites, like on an airplane, they'd yell at you to wear the mask the whole time, right? And then at some point they'd hand you the hummus box and they'd go in between bites. I was like, we all should have went, okay, this doesn't exist. [1:31:16] masking up in between bites like i yelled i was talking to dr drew and i said mask up in between bites that's that's zero that means zero mask right i mean it wouldn't work at all right he goes no it's nothing and i said if i ran a highway safety campaign that said belt up in between lights it would make more sense yeah than mask up in between bites oh that actually would make sense [1:31:46] If you could get it on in time for when the green light goes, yeah, it would totally make sense. Unless somebody rear-ends you while you park. Well, I would recommend just keeping the seatbelt on all the time, but masking up in between bites makes zero. Zero. And the weird thing is, it's like people... [1:32:04] The scary part is people weren't skeptical at all. Like they should have heard mask up in between bites and went. [1:32:13] oh, okay, so this is all theater. This is bullshit. Like, I'm not going along with this. Or half the people that lectured me on wearing a mask were wearing theirs down around under their nose, you know, or the one I like. My favorite one was when the flight attendant would go, you're going to have to get that mask on. Because for me, it was a constant. I'm a mouth breather. I'm like, this is driving me nuts, you know. I'm being like waterboarded with my own saliva here. And they'd always come.

[1:32:43] The flight attendant had their mask with the elastic strap twisted 180, which made it create a huge gap on the side. Like I can see three quarters of an inch of daylight coming in the side of your mask, bitch. And you're giving me a lecture about wearing a mask. We should have known. People should have been skeptical. We should have seen it didn't hurt kids. Like the whole lie was the kids part. [1:33:13] early because... [1:33:16] I realized, well, somebody pointed out to me later why I was skeptical early, which is... [1:33:24] There was a pattern that had broken, which is every time they give you a death, like when you're driving and listening to the radio and they go, an 89-year-old man was struck and killed by a cyclist. And then they go, a 61-year-old mother from Laverne, whatever that thing. [1:33:43] And when I started hearing about COVID deaths... [1:33:46] I didn't get an H. [1:33:47] I just got... [1:33:48] Another person died of COVID. And I was like listening to it. Like this was like five days in this person died of COVID. And I was like, how old was that person? And they never said the age. They just said died of COVID. And I was like, but if you died in a motorcycle accident or a heart attack, they gave an age all throughout history. And I was like, I'm not getting ages. I think these are really old people, but they're not telling us they're really old people because it wouldn't scare us as much.

[1:34:18] year old dies of anything, you just kind of go, all right, had a good run. You know, but if you hear about an 11 year old dying, it's a [1:34:26] big deal. And so I stopped hearing ages and I was like, they're trying to fuck with us now because they don't want to tell us these are elderly people who are dying of COVID. And so I kind of caught on that kids weren't being effective or being affected, I should say, early with COVID. And then they focused all on the kids, but the kids were there to scare us. Because when elderly people die, they're [1:34:53] It's just not a tragedy compared to young people. [1:34:58] dying. And so they left the old people off. They focused real hard on the kids. They shut the schools. And then when we start to catch on and go, I don't think these kids are dying, they go, yeah, but... [1:35:10] they get COVID and they bring it home because they live with Nana and Pappy. [1:35:17] Who lives with their grandparents in Los Angeles in 2021? You know what I mean? Like, it's like Italy, 1930. You know what I mean? Like, I don't live with nobody I know lives with their grandparents. But they were working the kid angle. Yeah. And that was to scare the moms. And then the moms control the house. And that's how it works. The moms are the ones kind of setting the pace for the house. Right. [1:35:47] Everybody's safe. They're going to lean in that direction. And hurting the kids. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Chime. Chime is bringing something fresh to banking. J.D. Power just ranked them the number one choice for new bank accounts in America. And that's not a small thing. That means real people, millions of them, are choosing this over traditional banks. That's because banking at Chime is fee-free.

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[1:37:53] I wonder how many people, if something very similar happened tomorrow, if a new COVID that's just as bad as the last COVID, meaning that it's not really that bad. It's not the bubonic plague. It's something that's going to really mostly be a major problem for old people and for people that are already immune compromised or have many comorbidities, like most of the people that died. Right. [1:38:20] If that came along today, I wonder how quickly people would be willing to accept the rejection of alternative medicines. Like if people found out – like one of the big ones that was really, I thought, insidious was monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies were really effective. And because of that, they made them really hard to get. [1:38:39] Like, there's a conspiracy there. I don't want to connect any dots. I don't know who was involved in it. But I do know that they were making monoclonal antibodies very difficult to get. And when I asked my doctor, I said, why do you think they're doing that? He said, to encourage vaccination 100%. He said, it has nothing to do with the effectiveness of it. It's very effective. Listen, I was always really suspicious how everyone became overnight experts at everything. [1:39:09] You know what I mean? Like, oh, they knew hydroxychloroquine. They couldn't pronounce ivermectin 10 minutes ago, and now they're experts in it. And also, I'll tell you when you should be suspicious. Be suspicious when people aren't sort of agnostic about things. Like if you'd said to me, what about ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine? I'd go...

[1:39:35] Well, I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Why don't you talk to your doctor about it? What am I? Epidemiologist? I'm a comedian. I don't know anything. Everyone on CNN was an expert, and they all knew that it didn't work. And I'm like, how do you guys all know this all at the same time? [1:39:51] How does Rolling Stone magazine? How do you losers all know this thing that you'd never heard of? [1:39:58] before that you couldn't pronounce the day before yesterday. You now all know it doesn't work based on nothing. So now I'm suspicious. Yeah. Because if... [1:40:09] Thank you. [1:40:09] If CNN was just sort of like... [1:40:12] Hey, maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't work. I don't know. You should definitely look into it. [1:40:19] But they all knew it didn't work. And when you know it doesn't work, then you should be suspicious of those people because it's impossible. It's like, well, the whole gamble was hoping you didn't Google search it. Right. They knew it didn't come from a lab. [1:40:35] How is that knowable? Right. How do you know unequivocally that didn't come from a lab where they develop these antibodies? So these not only that racist theory. So right. Right. So here's the whole thing. [1:40:50] If CNN, you know, if somebody said to CNN, "Hey, do you think it came from a wet market or it came from a lab? Do you think ivermectin works or hydroxychloroquine works?" And they just went, [1:41:02] I don't know. [1:41:03] We got to look into it. Maybe it makes sense it came from a lab, but I don't know. We should look into it. But they all knew. Right. And when you know something...

[1:41:13] You don't know, then you're lying. [1:41:15] That's how it works. That's how it works. [1:41:19] And that's what we got. [1:41:20] shoved down our face. The ivermectin thing was fascinating because... [1:41:24] When CNN was saying that I was taking a horse dewormer, which they chose to refer to it as that, I had no idea ivermectin was even remotely controversial when I said that. I didn't know. [1:41:38] I just knew that this was what was recommended along with all that other stuff. But they didn't focus on any of the other things. They couldn't dismiss monoclonal antibodies because everybody knew that that was really effective. IV vitamins, proven effective. But they protested so much. Like, I was yelling like they're going, oh, look at Joe Rogan. I go, is Joe Rogan dead? [1:41:59] Because he seems fine. Not only was I not dead, I got better really quick. And I didn't care about that at all. Right. And I'm not young. You know, at the time I was 53 or 54. [1:42:14] It wasn't what they said it was, and that was what the problem was. When they found a healthy person who takes care of himself, got over it really quickly with these medications, they had to figure out. They turned my face yellow on TV. I know, but it was my whole thing. [1:42:30] Why would you mortgage your integrity? Why would you pay so fast and loose with the only thing you really need to own? Like it's really all you got in terms of...

[1:42:44] you know [1:42:46] My house could have burned down in Malibu, but I can get a new house. And my Paul Newman race car, I could crash in total, but I can get a new one. But when your reputation goes, that's it. Exactly. That's all you got. Especially when it's a provable, easily provable lie. So why were they so fast and loose? [1:43:16] to their reputation. Like if somebody said to me, hey, Rolling Stone magazine, I'd go, fuck off. I'm not going to listen to any of those people. Sanjay Gupta recommends, I'd be like, that asshole? All he does is lie. And I'm not going to... Maybe he's right, by the way. Maybe he's not lying about this thing. I'm just saying I'm not going to listen to him and many other people because of this. And I don't get why you would do that. I mean, for him to say horse pace, like I'd like... [1:43:46] Well, it can be used on a horse. I don't think Sanjay said that, but most of them did. What he did... [1:43:53] is he... [1:43:55] went... [1:43:56] back onto, like, Anderson Cooper's show. Don Lemon. Or Don Lemon. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. To me, they're almost the same guy. They love lying and cock. Those are their things. But you're right. They're different. They're different. So... [1:44:14] He went on Don Lemon and Don Lemon is going, but it is can be used on a horse. He's like, well, it can. I mean, he really should have used that moment to clarify a little bit. But he just sort of passively went along with Don Lemon. I think it's more of just not being a very brave person and being confronted. Well, I agree. Very easy. Also, it was like I think one of the first times he'd ever been attacked by.

[1:44:40] He got attacked publicly after – and he got attacked publicly even more after that. And I actually, like, made a post about it. Just like, he's a good guy. Just – he's a part of a system. You know, I don't think Sanjay's a bad guy at all. I like talking to him. I think he's a very nice guy. No, I agree – [1:44:56] I agree. And I don't I feel that way about most people who were involved with this. Yeah, most not not all, but. [1:45:05] still... [1:45:08] Being a good guy, but sort of peddling misinformation that you know enough. Like, you know. [1:45:15] what the truth is. I think many of them don't. This is a problem with medicine. Like say if I believe Sanjay is a neurosurgeon, is that correct? [1:45:26] I believe that's what he does. He's a practicing doctor. Right. So that involves him being focused on his area of expertise. [1:45:36] all day long and very little time for anything else. You're working long hours. You're doing very complicated surgeries. I don't think you have the time to go look on Reddit and find out conspiracy theories about SB40 and the fucking vaccine, the simian virus 40. Like, what is this? Hold on. What's mRNA? How did they make it? What do the tests actually show? [1:46:06] to go by. If they're saying it's been shown to give you antibodies, it will stop deaths. This works. He's just going to say that he's not the guy that's going to do a bunch of research and go. So when he's saying that, when he's trying to tell people to get vaccinated, it's not because he's a propagandist. It's because he believes the business that he works for, because he's not that guy. He's not like Peter McCullough, who goes digging into all the studies and says, no, this

[1:46:36] who literally owns patents, nine patents on the creation of mRNA vaccine technology, got vaccinated. And that was telling people, don't do it. This is not what they said. It has a terrible reaction to the body. This is why it doesn't stay local. He starts saying all these things, and they're accusing him of spreading misinformation. Like, he literally helped create the fucking thing, and he's telling you to not do it. They would go after anybody who just got outside the narrative. But what I'm saying is Sanjay's not that guy. No, I agree. [1:47:06] But he could have figured out the horse-paced part. I think he probably just wanted to keep that gig at CNN. Yes, I agree. And Don Lemon didn't want to take the L. He didn't want to take an L. Your whole company took an L. And here's the big way they took an L. They are used to doing that to people. [1:47:25] They're used to doing that. They're used to lying about you. They're used to bullshitting and getting away with it because they had a bigger platform. Right. And I don't think they've realized up until that point. I don't think they've realized how big podcasts have gotten. I really don't think they knew. I think they thought, we're CNN. We can get away with anything. There's 100 people working in this building. It's just him and fucking Jamie. This is crazy. We're going to bury this guy. Right. And I think they went for it in that way. Right. [1:47:51] First of all, I easily could have sued him. Oh, yeah. Easily. For sure. I easily could have won a ton of money. Yeah. [1:47:59] But – [1:48:00] My perspective was like, do you think you can just lie? [1:48:06] I can talk. You can't stop me from telling the truth. Mortgaging your integrity is the perfect way to describe it because what a stupid thing to do for the whole network. I wouldn't care if it's the pharmaceutical drug companies or whoever. If I was the head of that network and someone said we're going to just lie about someone and we're going to call a universally accepted effective medicine, we're going to call it horse dewormer, something that's in the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines.

[1:48:36] Yes. Well, the guy who created it won a Nobel Prize. We're going to call that horse dewormer. And we're just going to say that it's killing people. And then we're going to just run with I'd be like, what the fuck are you talking about? We have to stay. CNN has to be here in 2030. CNN has got to be here in 2040. If we kill the reputation in 2020, you're going to fuck it up for the future. This is not worth doing. [1:48:59] They definitely they and by the way, they came right off of Russian collusion of like four years of that. Exactly. Right into covid. Like they were just wrong about everything. But you're right. They got used to it and they got kind of complacent. And I don't think they anticipated what you're talking about, the sort of alternative media and podcasters and just voices coming coming from other places. [1:49:29] Like you were saying things that I was saying, that Glenn Greenwald was saying, that Matt Taibbi was saying. It was like all these different podcasts were all saying this is horse shit. And that voice of this is horse shit was enormous in comparison to CNN. [1:49:48] Right. And, but it's always, it's what happens to all sort of old guard companies or many. I mean, it can be media, but could also just be automotive manufacturers. Like the big three were so big and so dominant for so long in this country that when Toyota and Datsun started showing up in 1969, they're like, pfft.

[1:50:15] Get out of here. He's going to try that little pop gun. No one wants that crap. Come on, man. We make land yachts. And they didn't start changing. It took them a long time because they were like, we're Ford. We're Chrysler. We're GM. We're huge. We do it. We sell cars to the world, and they want our product. And nobody, I mean, it happens countlessly, like in business. Like somebody needs to sound the alarm, but no one says anything, and they just sail off. [1:50:45] And at some point, their market share drops below 20% or whatever, and now it's time for a huge correction, right? And I'm guessing... [1:50:55] legacy media is going through that. They're basically going through what the big three auto manufacturers went through in the early 80s. Like we need to make a more reliable, smaller car that's more fuel efficient. Yeah. [1:51:09] They were Toyota, Nissan, you know, Datsun, whatever. They were way down the road on that, making those cars before Ford and Chrysler and GM and whatever started to begin to think about that. Right. You know, so it's like a it's like an aircraft carrier takes a long time to turn around. And these media companies, at least like traditional legacy stuff, are realizing we got it right now. [1:51:35] the ship and they're doing it but it's it but how are they doing it i don't see any difference in what cnn's doing other than bringing on guys like scott jennings and coleman hughes and more reasonable people it it's like incremental it's slow barry weiss is now

[1:51:54] doing the news division at CBS. So CBS, who's like lying all through 60 minutes and editing and cooking and all that kind of stuff, they found somebody from our sort of media sphere to come in and sort of be a little more middle of the road. And it's going to be tough because you've got a bunch of old guard there who doesn't want to do it. I mean, it's sort of like the first Trump administration. Like he goes, I'm going to come in and I'm going to do a whole bunch of shit that [1:52:24] And it's like not with all these old guard people hanging around going, all right, oh, we'll call you president. But behind your back, we're not going to let you do any of this shit. Well, it's going to take these. [1:52:37] progressive media companies a little while to flush out all of these college grads that have been there for 10 years that have just been used to having their way. Yeah. Parasitic ideologues. Right. Yeah. It's that's news. I mean, half of what you see in the news is essentially propaganda. They're they're pushing a very specific narrative. And it's not an objective [1:53:07] lens. And it's weird that that's been allowed to talk. I mean, it's the same thing. You're mortgaging your reputation. [1:53:15] Just to cut you off. [1:53:17] You don't know it. [1:53:20] Until they start writing about you and talking about you. And that's when you realize, oh, my God, they got everything wrong. Like, forget about this. COVID.

[1:53:31] Just in general, you know what I mean? Like just back in the day when they'd start writing an article about you. I mean, at the beginning of your career or whatever. Like I started noticing it. [1:53:43] when they just write articles about me, not they weren't being negative. I just read the article and go, they got that wrong. They got that wrong. They got that wrong. And I realized that the person next to me who was just reading the newspaper was, [1:53:58] Thought was all that. Right. You know what I mean? And so until they start writing about you, you don't really realize just how far off they are, even without an agenda. Right. And then once they get an agenda, now they're way the fuck off because now it's intentional. Whereas in the past, they're just inaccurate, you know. But it is kind of sobering to read stuff about yourself. And it's always like, oh, they got it wrong. [1:54:28] purpose. That's evil. That's an evil person. And that's a giant chunk of that business. A giant chunk of that business is purposely misrepresenting people because that's going to make for a more salacious story or that's going to push the narrative that you're trying to push. And this BBC thing that they did with Trump, I'm sure you watched that. That's a perfect example that they felt justified in editing something to make it look like he had a completely [1:54:58] about it is whenever they confront the outgoing head who's on the way out they always go yeah we did this but we're not biased at all right and it's like well it's first off it's one or the other bitch like it's so why you are biased and why did you do it why why by the way you didn't get the tape like this you edited the tape like this so that's a calorie burner right there a

[1:55:28] 54 minutes later he says the second part of the sentence. [1:55:31] That's crazy. Yeah, so you're biased and you're cooking it. Yeah. And that means we don't need to listen to the BBC anymore, which is the part about mortgaging your reputation, which people, I think, I've come to sort of learn that it's not always about accuracy. [1:56:01] Joe Rogan or Adam Carolla has to say, and that's fine because it's going to happen. I mean, that's society. That's opinions. That's how it works. But they have to believe you believe it. And if we believe you believe it, and I think a lot of your success is people go, oh, [1:56:22] He 100% believes what he is saying. And even if I disagree with 20% of your 100%, I will listen to you. [1:56:33] Because you believe it. [1:56:36] That's the problem. The problem is when... [1:56:40] you don't believe that person believes what they're saying. Right. So, [1:56:45] You can be inaccurate. I mean... [1:56:48] It's a lot of moving parts, a lot of information, a lot of stuff you never heard of before. You can be, you know, something like COVID-19. [1:56:56] I don't know about ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine. I don't know monoclonal. I don't know any of this stuff. So I'm willing to go, I could make a mistake. I don't know this subject.

[1:57:06] But I am saying what I think. [1:57:09] And I believe. And if you believe that, then we're going to have a relationship. If you start thinking I'm lying... [1:57:17] It's really going to hurt the relationship. Yeah. And if your job is to just lie, if they've given you some sort of a mandate, this is how we're going to frame this. It's not like it was their ideas to all lockstep in uniform, start calling it horse dewormer. Right. And that Rolling Stone article where they pretended that a bunch of people were waiting in line at the emergency room for gunshot wounds. Right. [1:57:40] And not only that, it was a photo of people wearing winter coats because they were lining up for the flu shot. That was the stock photo. And this was Oklahoma in like August. [1:57:52] First off, [1:57:53] I was in Catalina when Rolling Stone ran that. I literally was looking at my phone. Was it the same time when they were telling you to do the mask? Someone was yelling, get your mask. And I was looking at this thing. And it was so weird. I just had a flashback. I was there. Yeah, I did a gig. And, like, I don't know, it was the summer. It was like Catalina. But, yeah, it was the middle of the summer. And everyone was wearing beanies and parkas and scarves and stuff and Rolling Stone. And that's the problem. [1:58:23] Rolling Stone when I was younger and I liked Rolling Stone and I would read their articles and I would believe Rolling Stone. And now I don't believe them anymore. Because of that. Yeah. Right. And the real danger is, is they may be right about something, but I'm still not going to believe it because it's them. Exactly. And you may be wrong about something, but I'll believe that you mean it.

[1:58:47] And that's all you need. Well, if I am wrong about something and I find out I'm wrong about something, I'll tell you I was wrong about something. And I'll tell you why I thought differently and what I learned. I don't think you should be married to ideas. I think they should bounce around inside your head and you should cling on to them if they're rational and they make sense and if they've been challenged. But if you don't want your ideas ever challenged, then they're not ideas. You're basically in a religion. [1:59:17] Thank you. [1:59:17] as we go down and talk about this, this sort of... [1:59:22] posture that you have that I have in terms of your ideas where [1:59:30] I realized that having like a building background... [1:59:34] My process is constantly saying to people, here's my idea. Here's what I want to do with this deck. [1:59:41] Right. Now tell me why I'm wrong or tell me how to make it better or give me a better idea. Right. And oftentimes people go, yeah, why don't you just do it this way instead of that way? And I'll go. [1:59:53] Oh, that's a good. Okay, I'll do it. And you know, from training and training with people and being in that world, it's constantly going, is there a better way to do this? And someone goes, you're doing this, but you should be doing that. And this is a better way. And you're receptive to it, because you want to get better. You want to get faster. You want... [2:00:15] I was always like, I'm going to live in this house, so I'll take any idea anyone has that makes it better.

[2:00:21] because I own it. You know what I mean? And so... [2:00:25] Your posture is always tell me what I'm doing wrong. Tell me why I'm wrong. Prove me wrong. Tell me a way to do it better. Even in comedy, sometimes people go, you know, you could do it this way or you could kind of flip it and start it with this premise and then make this the button. And you go. [2:00:43] Oh, yeah, thanks. Yeah. That's a better way to deliver it. So you're in a dry sponge kind of receptive mode all the time. [2:00:53] But if all you had was your ideas and you had no other expertise or anything you could call your own, then those ideas – [2:01:04] you would be very protective of. And they're constantly like circling the wagons, protecting their ideas. Whereas... [2:01:14] You're saying, give me a better idea and tell me why I'm wrong so I can flourish. Well, this is also the jiu-jitsu philosophy. [2:01:24] But when you learn jujitsu, one thing that you learn is if you are doing something incorrect that leaves you vulnerable, you're going to get caught because other people are going to know that. And so someone has to show you, hey, when you're doing that, you're reaching with this arm. When you reach with this arm, the guy's going to get head and arm on you. And you're like, okay, how should I do this? Keep your arm tucked to your chest and use the proper technique. If you don't, if you don't listen, if you say this is the way I do it, I'm going to try to do it. You're just going to keep getting caught over and over again, and you're not going to advance.

[2:01:54] reality to positions and technique. It's a reality. And then sometimes new realities get exposed. So sometimes people have been taking the back, getting back mount a very specific way, but then someone comes up with some new move that gets you in a leg lock when you go to take mount. And they're like, oh, fuck. Okay, well, now you can't go that way anymore. And then we have to break it down. And [2:02:17] And that thing of not being married to any ideas is a giant part of the philosophy of jiu-jitsu because all of a sudden there's heel hooks. Oh, I didn't think of that. You can't stand that way because then the guy can get you in the heel hook. Oh, Jesus. Right. All right, let's break down the guard pass now. We're going to have to do it a different way. And this is a constant cycle in jiu-jitsu because jiu-jitsu is never ending. There's new techniques in jiu-jitsu that are invented every day. [2:02:47] national scene. Some guy will have some new way of doing a choke or some new way of getting a heel hook and everybody's going to adopt it. And then everybody has to figure out the counters to it. And then it's sort of this is endless process. So I apply that to everything. Yeah, it's either works or it doesn't work. It's real or it's not real. And then the weird ambiguous stuff like how you feel and how you behave, you have to take into account who you're talking to.

[2:03:17] Is it going to be the barometer that everybody – or are we going to say, hey, get it together and join us? You're going to have to deal with microaggressions. You're going to have to deal with – you're going to have to deal with those. People deal with those. They're not that big of a deal. [2:03:35] It's sort of microaggression is sort of like mask up in between bites. If you put the word micro in front of aggression, there's no aggression. It's everything. It's looks. The way you look at me could be a microaggression. It's like it's the dumbest fucking idea ever. Right. You're too sensitive. Making everyone safer is hurting them. Yes. Like wiping. I was always against the sterilizing everything, like wiping everything down, Purell. Yeah. I never used Purell. [2:04:05] never indulge in any of that stuff. I like barely use soap. Like I was always really, I always sort of worked in the dirt. Like I was just in the dirt all the time. I was in football. You're like in the dirt on your belly all the time. Like the field's all fucked up and it's half of its dirt. And you're just on your belly, just breathing dirt. And then in construction, I was like in the, in the dirt all the time. And I started noticing, um, [2:04:34] Everyone was getting sick and having food allergies and allergic to peanuts and all this kind of stuff. And none of the in the dirt guys were ever allergic. Like I'd go on so many food runs for the crew.

[2:04:48] And a construction crew, you just go, I'm going on a lunch run. And they go, thanks. And you just leave. [2:04:55] They don't say, I'm lactose intolerant or I have a gluten situation. I can't use tree nuts. You just go. And you bring home a shitload of Taco Bell or whatever it is, and you just throw it at them. And they go, thanks, FAA. And they just eat. Because their immune system is fine. They don't have any of this stuff. They're not wiping everything down. And I think... [2:05:18] Everyone has a gut issue now. Like everyone I know is like, I can't do that. There's too much acid in that piece of sauce. You know what I mean? I go, I'll eat it all. Give me the shit you can't eat. I'll eat it, you know? And everyone I know has got some sort of gut thing, some sort of head thing, some sort of bowel thing. And I realized they grew up. [2:05:39] being sterile and taking antibiotics and wiping everything down and killing all the bacteria. And their immune system needs something to push back against. Like your immune system's got to work out a little bit. It's got to fight something. It's got to get worked out. And you are, you know, they do those studies where like Amish kids don't have hay fever and they don't have peanut allergies because they're outside. Also, they're not vaccinated. And they're not vaccinated. [2:06:09] outside dogs who come in are exposed to more stuff and they get sick much less than just indoor dog people. And so their immune system is not working out. Like your immune system needs to work out like you need to work out. Like it needs something to do. And you are,

[2:06:30] Taking away all the gravity gives it no workout. It's like being in the space shuttle just floating around. You lose your muscle mass and you lose bone density. And I think your ideas are the same way, like with microaggressions and stuff like that. You need some calluses. You need a little something built up, you know what I mean? Like a little intestinal fortitude, a little keep walking, a little just mind your P's and Q's. You need a little of that. [2:07:00] so vulnerable all the time. Like, literally... [2:07:04] your gut and your biome and your bacteria need a workout, but your brain needs a little workout, like a little controversy, a little pushback, a little somebody disagreeing with you. And if it's all bubble wrap and Purell and microaggressions, [2:07:21] You have no system. You have no way to protect yourself. It's a really good point about the diseases, about getting sick, about just your health in general. Like being sterile and living on a street all the time, like stepping on concrete, never being exposed to nature at all. If you're a total city person. [2:07:40] You're probably lacking in a very crucial vitamin to being a human being, which is our exposure to some kind of nature. Well, and it's always Madison Avenue who's trying to sell it to the housewives, right? Because they show them wiping everything down, right? That's what a loving mom would do. She would take Lysol, spray it all over the place, and it's always them wiping it down. And then disease is some kind of weird green animation that's evil.

[2:08:10] Wipes it down and cleans. She's always slathering the kid with something. And it's all the shampoo and all the soaps and all the antibacterials. Like this huge business of trying to scare the moms into buying all this shit to prove they love their children and they love themselves. And they've coached everyone up. Like if I say to people, like I'll go, I don't really use soap that much. They go, oh, gross. Oh, dude. Yuck. [2:08:40] And I go, I just rinse off in the shower and then I go about my business. And I go, oh, and I'll go like, sometimes I won't shower for like three days. And I'll go, whoa, gross. So gross. Like it's a campaign. It's not that different than COVID. Like if you go, I don't want to wear a mask. They all – [2:08:58] Turn on you because they've all been sort of programmed. But I'm also the one who never gets sick. And you're the one who's always taking all your Tums and all your Milanta and all your stomach shit and all that. You're the one who's taking all that. I never take any of that. Do you work out and then take a shower after a workout? I do the... [2:09:19] I do the [2:09:20] Oh, I try. Well, I try to do the cold plunge, but after the fire, the cold plunge and it's a it's a long story. So I do the freezing shower move. I just go in there and do it. Yeah. Like I don't I want to be gamey. You know what I mean? Like I'll I'll put on some deodorant and, you know, that kind of stuff. Like I'm not looking to offend people on the subway, but you don't use soap after a hard workout.

[2:09:44] I'm not. No, never use shampoo. Never use soap. If you bought me a bottle of shampoo, it would last like 28 years. Oh, man. [2:09:54] Well, I got in the habit of always showering and washing my skin because of jujitsu. You get a lot of different infections. Yeah. You can get, like, I've got staph a couple times. I got ringworm a couple times. Yeah, I get, I'm not saying outlaw soap. I'm saying too many people are too sterile. Yes. [2:10:24] system by being so protective. What I was going to say is, so I use special soap. So I use a soap called Defense Soap. And Defense Soap is like designed for grapplers. And what it does is it kills bad bacteria, but it promotes healthy skin flora. It's all like eucalyptus oil. Oh, really? Healthy stuff where it smells good, but it's good for skin health. So it doesn't torch your skin. So one of the dumbest things that I know grapplers have done, they get some sort of an infection. [2:10:54] Soap right well you are just torching all of the healthy bacteria around your skin and you're just putting poison all over your skin, which is an organ. It's a fucking terrible move. Yes, and that when that when guys do that I've seen it spread. I've seen them get like ringworm that spreads all over their chest. It's fucking horrible. Well, I mean if you think about

[2:11:16] how many people [2:11:18] have peanut allergies now versus what we grew up with because I've never heard of a [2:11:24] anyone being allergic to peanut butter when I was a kid. No, I never heard of that. And now 30% of kids are allergic to peanuts, and it's because they're not exposing them to it. It's because we're removing the peanuts from the house and the airplanes and everything else. They need to be exposed as infants, and now the studies are coming out, which is they need exposure to peanuts, not removal of peanuts. One of the funniest... Kind of nuts that peanuts became toxic. [2:11:52] I mean, if you want to show an example of how kooky we've made the world. Peanuts used to be everywhere. It's funny that peanut butter is like the only universal food when you're trying to trap any critter. Like you just go, we got a raccoon in our backyard. Get some peanut butter. We got a rat. We got a mouse. Whatever. A lizard. You just go, get some peanut butter. And now humans are the only creatures that can't eat peanut butter. The animal kingdom. [2:12:22] You can catch a buffalo with peanut butter. Every animal on the planet agrees on peanut butter, but we're removing it from the classroom. That's so funny. And it's so true. Remember they used to hand out peanuts in airplanes and they stopped doing it because people got so bad with peanut allergies that the peanut dust was dangerous. Right. And so what is going on in the last 20 minutes?

[2:12:52] 40 years that everyone is allergic to peanuts like you are removing them we're not building a tolerance to anything our systems are weakened because you've sterilized everything in our world everything is sterilized now and now we're vulnerable because we didn't build up any immunity [2:13:15] to anything. But I really don't, I do, like, when you go to space, they got a big problem, no gravity. Right. And their bodies wither. Yep. [2:13:25] And they need to figure out, like they agree, you need gravity. You need gravity. [2:13:33] In the world... [2:13:35] of ideas and you need gravity in the world of your microbiome and your gut. Like we just, as human beings, we just need gravity everywhere. Right. It's not some kind of resistance. Yeah. You need somebody pushing against weights. Like, [2:13:49] You need gravity for your quads, and you need them for your ideas, and you need them for your immune system. Maybe that's the problem with dumb people. Maybe they're just out of shape. [2:13:57] Just brain-wise. Like they've never – they're just like a couch potato for the brain. They just never tried to get it moving. Maybe it's not even that they're that dumb, that they just have the dumb patterns. Well, I mean – Obviously, I don't think everyone's a blank slate. I think some people definitely have intellectual advantages at a young age. But I think the amount of people that just kind of give up and never put forth any effort at all, it's a lot, man. It's a lot.

[2:14:24] Well, it's, you know, I think a lot of it is because I grew up, [2:14:29] in a real downtrodden environment, and you just kind of get broken. Right. I could remember sitting around watching TV. [2:14:39] And it's like, the Brady Bunch are going to Hawaii. And I'd go, like, who goes to Hawaii? How do you even go to Hawaii? Like, how would you get to Hawaii? Right. Who has? And then they check into the hotel and it pulls a credit card out. Like, who's got a credit card? How would you do this? Like, that's for other people. Right. Like, that's how you would look. Almost every commercial... [2:14:59] where you'd see somebody successful or a sitcom or something like that, I would just go, well, that's for other people. That's not... [2:15:07] for us. Right. And so you get really like broken and then you just kind of buy in and then you go, well, this is my lot in life. That's for like other people. And it's it's it's it like infects you and it infects whole communities. You know what I mean? And they just go. [2:15:27] There's nothing better. It's not that we don't know there's credit cards and big homes and nice cars. [2:15:35] I knew about all of it, but it wasn't for me. [2:15:39] or it wasn't for my family, and it wasn't for my friends. And you just buy into a system where you go, well, this is it. [2:15:45] And you do it early and... [2:15:48] It's stifling, I think. It's very difficult to break out unless you find a thing that you do, maybe a sport where you travel and go to different places and meet different people. Something. It has to be something. You get involved in something where you tap into a community of people that think differently. You start a band, you know, whatever it is. Find a thing where there's a bunch of sort of forward-minded people that are, you know, optimistic and have a good work ethic that's contagious.

[2:16:18] But if you're just stuck in your neighborhood with the same people and the same family members that are real negative, it's a giant problem because they program you. Whether you realize it or not, as much as you want to pretend you're wholly and entirely independent, no one is. Everyone is at least partially dependent upon the people they surround themselves with and the energy of the people they surround themselves with. Yeah. It's hard. Yeah, I remember – [2:16:41] I said to my mom when I was like, [2:16:43] eight. I was like, [2:16:45] Why don't you get a job? [2:16:50] Because if you get a job, then maybe we could go to Hawaii with the Bradys. We could have a decent car. We could have stuff. Because I wasn't really thinking about, you know, it's an interesting thing. My whole life, no one ever said the word career. They said job. You've got to get a job. They didn't go career. They go like, what do you want to do? What are you good at? They didn't think in terms of career. You get a job. [2:17:15] got the weekends, you know. But I said to my mom, I go, [2:17:19] Why don't you get a job? [2:17:21] And she goes, I get a job, I'll lose my welfare. [2:17:25] And I was like, [2:17:27] I guess that makes sense. I was eight. I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Then I realized the fact that it made sense to me means I was being sort of indoctrinated into that system. [2:17:41] It's beneficial for really poor people. It's also a trap. [2:17:45] Oh, it's a free stuff is a cage, man. It is. It is bad. We had a free house and welfare and it was stifling.

[2:17:56] Isn't that crazy? Yeah, you're so, like sometimes people go like, [2:18:02] why'd you get into comedy? And I'm like, I wanted some air conditioning. [2:18:08] Really? I go, yeah, it was miserable. It was sucked. I drove a truck. It didn't have air conditioning. I lived in a crappy apartment. It didn't have air conditioning. I went to a job site. There was no air. And I was in the San Fernando Valley. Oh, my God. It was boiling, you know. [2:18:22] So I did it because I wanted air conditioning. But I had to be miserable. [2:18:26] Like I was, I had discomfort. I was not comfortable. I didn't have air. [2:18:31] And I wanted air. And so I knew to get air, I had to get paid. And so I was like motivated to do stuff. [2:18:40] when you're kind of comfortable, you're not really that motivated. Right. And I realize, like, [2:18:46] When you were young, when I was young, we were... [2:18:50] I was probably confused, but I was hungry. I was like, I want to get something done. I want to do something. I want to do something. And I would talk to people like young dudes who work for me or whatever. And I wasn't trying to insult them, but I was kind of curious. I'd be like, you're a 30-year-old dude and you're just not getting it done. I wouldn't say it to him, but I'd be like, what are you into? And I realized that there was no fire in there. [2:19:17] in the belly. You know what I mean? Like when you came up [2:19:21] when you were younger, like when I met [2:19:23] Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy was like 26 when I met him. He was on it. He had a motor. He wanted to do something. I was like, "Good. I want to do something, too. We'll do it together." There's like a fire. I start talking about all these young dudes and I'm like, "What's up?" They're like, "Bah."

[2:19:40] What's the deal? So [2:19:42] You got a car and it's got air conditioning and it runs, and [2:19:46] And you're not really a car guy. Like, I'm a car guy. But when you're poor and you're a car guy, it's super frustrating, right? Because you want something cool. Like, I wanted a cool car, but I had to drive a truck with a lumber rack and a bed box on it because I'm a carpenter. And I can't have a sports car because you can't put plywood in a sports car, you know? So I would talk to these young guys, and I'd go, you a car guy? And they'd go, no, I don't really like it. I'd go, what do you like? Video games? Yeah. [2:20:13] I like pot video games and watching stuff on Netflix. And I go, you got a big TV? They go, yeah, I got a 70-inch TV. I got a Mini Cooper automatic with air, and I like to eat pot. You know, and I'd be like, you have air conditioning? They'd be like, yeah. I'd be like, oh, you don't want anything. [2:20:33] They don't want anything. You don't want anything. Like, I wanted cool cars... [2:20:38] With air conditioning in them. And so I was motivated to do stuff. Don't you think that some people are just internally motivated anyway? Because they become curious about something and they really want to get good at it? Oh, yeah. That's an inherent part of being a person? I do. One of the most interesting things, and I don't know why, it just stuck with me from years ago. But I was watching one of those like 20-20 shows or 48 Hours or something like that.

[2:21:08] Like dogs who... [2:21:11] who sniffed out gunpowder at the airport or contraband or whatever, you know. And I was looking at this. [2:21:19] And I was thinking to myself, I was like, every time there's a dog that does something, sniffs out drugs or explosives or whatever, they're all different breeds of dogs. Right. [2:21:30] Why are they all different breeds of dogs? Like, why isn't there like one dog that does all super good at gunpowder and cocaine and whatever? And in the show, they go, well, we just go down to the pound. We get any dog. [2:21:45] And we can train them. And the guy goes, well, how do you know what dog to get? And they go... [2:21:50] the enthusiastic dog. [2:21:52] Like you go to the pound, some dog's just sleeping. You walk in, it doesn't lift its head. The other dog's jumping up and down, doing backflips, and they go, we'll get that dog. [2:22:01] Because that dog's enthusiastic. Now, he doesn't know anything about gunpowder or cocaine. [2:22:08] But he's got a motor. [2:22:10] And we're going to teach you. And I started thinking, oh, I know a lot of... [2:22:16] people that are like tired pound dogs. Yes. And then I know a lot of people that are yappy pound dogs. And once you take the yappy pound dog, [2:22:26] Like Joe Rogan, you go, we'll go ahead and get into bow hunting. And you go, what does he know about bow hunting? He's like, nothing, but he's going to find out. And he's going to learn and he's going to practice because he's got – [2:22:38] A motor.

[2:22:39] Yeah. And there's a lot of people I know that are just kind of flatliners. [2:22:44] and they don't have that motor. And if you have the motor [2:22:48] You'll be fine. Well, part of the motor is your physical body. [2:22:52] And that's something that a lot of like self-professed intellectuals like to ignore. [2:22:58] The amount of energy that you have to think about things is dependent upon the amount of energy your whole system has. [2:23:03] A giant part of your system is your body. [2:23:06] And it's not just a vanity thing. It's a function of if it works better, you think better. Everything works. I see it on a day-to-day basis. If I have a day where I do not work out, my brain, I don't think as quickly. It doesn't work as well. I'm more irritable. Maybe I don't react the same way that I would if I was more calm and relaxed after a workout. [2:23:36] ability to think. It alleviates anxiety, lets you think more clearly. And one of the things that writers like to say, it's one of the, and I was actually just talking to someone about this yesterday. A comic does this. After you write to go for a walk. [2:23:50] Go for a walk and get your blood pumping. And when you go for a walk, sometimes when you're thinking about those ideas, new ideas will just pop into your head because it's like the seeds are already planted. Now go for a walk. You're watering them. Like it's the whole system works together. And if you want to have energy, if you want to have a motor, well, the best way to have a motor is have a physical body that works well. If your physical body doesn't work well, you're going to you're tired all the fucking time. And you could say it's, oh, I'm getting older. I'm getting this.

[2:24:20] physical body for too long and it atrophies just like your body everything needs gravity well you need fucking gravity you need weights you need to pick things up and move them around because if you don't you can't pick things up and move them around because your body thinks you never have to do that [2:24:35] I agree. [2:24:37] And I also would add... [2:24:39] You need curiosity. Yes. You're a curious person, and all the curious people I know are, [2:24:46] are doing just fine. And then there's people I know, they're just not curious. And that's a weird... [2:24:54] gift, I guess. I don't know how to make someone curious. I think... [2:25:00] As a comedian... [2:25:02] You're sort of curious, you know, and I could remember... [2:25:08] Even when I was young, I'd go, what's the difference between, you know, why they call it a sofa or a couch? What's the difference between a sofa and a couch or curtains and drapes? Is there a difference or we just have a difference? And every one of my friends would go, I don't know. Shut up. Who cares? You know what I mean? And I realized they weren't curious about stuff. Right, right, right. I was constantly being curious. And by the way, your curiosity is annoying to uncurious people, which happens a lot. Oh, yeah. [2:25:38] It's almost it's like what you're saying about your physicality. Like it'll it'll feed you. Yes. You most everything, you know, is started in curiosity, wanting to know about this stuff, you know, and for other people and many people, they lack.

[2:26:00] A curiosity. Do you think that's inherent or do you think that is how they grew up? I'm starting to think of nature more than nurture. Like I used to be more nurture than nature. I have twins and I have boy girl twins. [2:26:18] And they're totally different. [2:26:20] And in one of them is that pound dog jumping up and down and the other's just sort of chillax, you know, and I didn't make them one way or the other. They got raised. I got fed the same thing. They went to the same schools. They breathe the same air. You know what I mean? Like they just sort of were who they who they are. Yeah. And I think you can take something. [2:26:46] Like... [2:26:46] like a motor that's like a little too much, [2:26:50] and guide it and sort of nurture it and figure out an outlet for it, you know, like a sport or something. And there's things you can do, but like – [2:27:00] My sister's totally different than I am, and I didn't get this way or that way. My parents didn't instill anything in me. They didn't guide me. I didn't have conversations with them about things. I wasn't exposed to anything. I was just kind of who I was. [2:27:19] Well, it makes sense that we see it in nature, right? We see it in animals for sure. Like there's a golden retriever, that's what I have, and then there's a Belgian Malinois. They're two very different dogs. One of them is a great family pet and one of them is a meat missile. Right. And that's just how they come out of the box. Right. And the idea that that wouldn't be the case with humans is kind of ridiculous.

[2:27:38] I will. [2:27:39] Yes. Why should we? And I know we do it because we're sort of narcissistic and we have to claim some dominion over things like it's kind of religion. You know what I mean? Like when we had to create it to go, well, grandpa's in a better place now and he's been reunited with his old golden retriever who died eight years earlier. And we're just kind of constructing a thing because we need some control. [2:28:03] Like we need to feel like not having control. [2:28:08] is really threatening to a lot of people. [2:28:13] don't have that problem. Like, I don't mind not having control. I don't... I realized... [2:28:20] I realize when I'm racing a car and the car goes out of control, which has happened a few times, [2:28:27] I sort of just relax. I don't try to... [2:28:30] grab and overcorrect and because you'll get in more trouble like there's a a version of this for sports there's a version for life there's a version for relationships there's a version for driving race cars but to sort of relax like if you can you can see film of me spinning a 935 backwards in a race in the middle of the race and you can see me i'm not doing anything like i will relax in that environment but they're [2:28:58] people need control. I mean, sort of religious control or like, here's the way... [2:29:04] I control my kid. I get him violin lessons, and then I take him to the French tutor, and then I take him to this camp and space camp and that camp, you know, and they're trying to do something.

[2:29:16] You have to just kind of admit they kind of are who they are. [2:29:20] You can't really control it. You can fuck them up. [2:29:24] You can molest them and get them hooked on Vicodin or something when they're 14. But basically, you're there to be there and not fuck them up and to offer things and try to go. If you see your kid banging on pots and pans all day, you go, somebody needs a drum kit. [2:29:46] Because I think this is what your thing is. You know what I mean? And somebody... [2:29:51] Probably should have got a hold of me and went, seems like comedy may be something you'd like. [2:29:57] swinging a hammer, but I figured it out because it was there. Well, nobody could ever really give you that advice, honestly, because the problem is most people that aren't involved in it don't even know where to start, how you would do it, how difficult it would be, how long the process is, what is it like to actually put together an act? No, I don't think... [2:30:18] your mom or your dad can craft a good, tight 20-minute set for you when you're nine. But I'm saying they would never encourage you to do it. Very few parents would encourage their kid to take such a risky approach to life. No, I agree. I think there's a middle ground where they go, you seem to like to talk or you seem to like ideas or you seem to be sort of creative. Ideally. Right? But it depends on the family. Maybe it's a family that doesn't encourage creativity.

[2:30:48] dance maybe the mom is you know who knows but maybe they're just not into risk at all and they just want you to go to school and get a degree and you're just annoying and then they go maybe we should take him to a doctor yeah get him some adderall get him some something he can't concentrate yeah i know i agree i think i think as a parent you're supposed to observe and you're supposed to look and and the kid will guide you they'll they'll have a propensity they'll they'll bang on [2:31:18] is right and then your job is to sort of go that way and help [2:31:22] facilitate. [2:31:24] that, you know, and conversely, like... [2:31:29] I grew up [2:31:30] I started playing Pop Warner football when I was seven. Like, I played tackle football when I was seven. And I played my whole life, or my whole, you know, until I was 19 or something. And I always was like, every good lesson I ever got was on that football field, man. Like, everything I learned, all my, whatever success I have, I owe it to that. Because I got intestinal fortitude. I learned a lot of tough lessons. And now I use that. And so, like, I... [2:31:57] I was like, if my son is going to play football because he's going to learn all those valuable lessons I've learned. My son didn't play any football, didn't really like it, and it wasn't his thing. [2:32:08] And I didn't force him into it at all. I was just like, all the stuff that I was into, football, cars, wrenching on cars, race cars, you know, that kind of stuff, swinging a hammer, building architecture –

[2:32:21] My son's not down with any of it. [2:32:23] And I'm like, fine. [2:32:24] But you've got to find your own thing. But I'm not going to try to stuff you into this thing that's going to make you resent me. [2:32:31] Later. [2:32:32] Yeah, that's not a good move. But a lot of parents fall down that trap, that's for sure. [2:32:37] Yeah, it's just, I mean, if you have a child that wants to be a comedian, it's probably a fucking terrible feeling. Like, oh, my God. Like, what is he trying to do? Like, how do you even start? What do you do? Like, you get a degree. Go get a degree. You're going to get a job. You're going to work in a respectable position somewhere. But did anybody try to talk? See, my thing was no one ever tried to talk me out of anything because they weren't. [2:33:01] trying to talk me into something either. You know, it's like, Adam, you're going to be a physician. There was like, the thing was, you got to leave and get a job. [2:33:09] And then we're done. So I never had anyone say it was a harebrained idea or it's not going to work because they didn't care enough to get that involved. It's not like I was going to go into my dad's unfinished furniture business and open that empire. And I don't imagine you got a lot of that. [2:33:26] either, did you? No. No. But that's the good thing. I got to figure it out on my own. Well, you know, the thing that's kind of cool... [2:33:37] about where you landed is it's organic in the sense that, like, [2:33:43] I ran into someone who I went to high school with, and I asked him what he's doing. And he's doing fine. He goes, I do outdoor signage. I do big vinyl signs. When the Oscars come to town, we print the signs that hang to whatever. And it's his business. It's his dad's business. It's their family business. And I thought...

[2:34:02] Nobody... [2:34:04] when they're 15, says, I'm going to make vinyl signage. [2:34:07] They want to be an astronaut or a baseball player or a comedian or whatever. But you're doing it. [2:34:13] But is this really where you belong, or is it just because your dad did it and it's lucrative and whatever? And the thing... [2:34:22] that I'm happy about at least... [2:34:24] as it pertains to [2:34:26] stand-up or comedy or whatever, cars or whatever I'm into, [2:34:32] It's all organic. Right. There's no dad was a comedian or dad raced cars or dad had a podcast. You're just into cars because you're into cars. Yeah. You're into doing a podcast because you enjoy it. Yeah. Right. [2:34:44] So you know you're where you should be because you didn't get sort of artificially coaxed or pushed into something where it's just kind of like, yeah, I'm a doctor because my dad is a doctor or a lawyer, like whatever that thing is. Like you can own it 100%. And I think it's fine if your dad's a lawyer and you become a lawyer and you take over his practice one day. Like that's good. That's successful. You're paying taxes. Good. [2:35:14] really own it like you can own maybe you couldn't or i couldn't but maybe for some people that's fine you know i don't i don't want to set no it's definitely it's definitely fine and i don't even know if they think about it right you know i know you would but the thing is like you have the very fortunate situation that i have which is we are our own boss and when you are your own boss it's infinitely easier you're responsible for all the stuff you do you you know what to do no one's

[2:35:44] to do it no one's telling you what to say you say what you want to say and that's very rare it's very rare and very fortunate and it also is freeing because like the aforementioned cnn sanjay gupta whatever you're in an apparatus right and it's an apparatus where i don't think [2:36:07] people are actually explicitly told... [2:36:11] lie. Here's what we're saying. But it's sort of like [2:36:16] If you worked at a big company and... [2:36:20] The president was vegan. [2:36:24] You started showing up with a ham sandwich for lunch, and someone's like, I don't think you should eat that in front of Gary. He's vegan. Yeah, okay. Well, he doesn't appreciate. You'd go, oh, okay. And you would start getting the idea that this wasn't a great plan. You know what I mean? And so would everyone who worked at that place, right? And then eventually you'd go, what's for lunch? And they'd go, the veggie lover sub, right? [2:36:50] And you'd go, well, what about the roast beef? And someone goes, listen, man, I'm not telling you you can't eat it. I'm saying it's probably a good idea if you'd like to grow with this company to just eat the fucking veggies up, would you? Especially if Gary comes down here. And so it's not like anyone, it's not like the boss showed up and went, you can't eat chicken anymore. [2:37:10] it's understood what's going on around there. And if you're working for CNN and you just walk in and you go, hey, listen, I don't agree with Trump about everything, but I think he's right about this ivermectin thing.

[2:37:24] People start looking at you sideways, and you get the idea that maybe you weren't long for that job. And that's what you've got to deal with in any time. [2:37:34] environment, you know, and the thing that's nice about creating your own environment is back to [2:37:41] being organic, it's what you believe. [2:37:44] Yeah. I mean, it it may not be 100 percent accurate. It may not be right all the time, but it is authentic. But how crazy is it that authentic is rare, like that we've made it all the way to 2025 with all the communication we have with the Internet and authentic is still rare. That's really weird. Well, so easy to do. I think we're so. [2:38:06] obsessed with not being cast out. [2:38:10] Being cast out is like a major human... [2:38:15] thing, you know, and I've realized like, I remember, I don't know, I always bring it up on my podcast. I don't know why, but I was in Maui. [2:38:24] and, uh, [2:38:26] with the Brady family. I was in Maui, you know, 10 years ago, and I was sitting at a table having brunch with like, [2:38:35] a bunch of nice people we traveled to Maui with, you know, the couples and the kids and go to the resort and it's the dads and the moms and there's like 10 adults and everyone brings their kids and all that. And we're sitting having brunch and we're like enjoying ourselves. [2:38:49] Somehow, someone fired up a leaf blower in the back, you know, some gardener off to the side. It's like, ah, goddamn leaf blower can't...

[2:38:57] enjoy our conversations, too loud or whatever. And I said to the table, I go, you know, [2:39:03] leaf blowers are illegal in Los Angeles. They basically criminalized [2:39:09] leaf blowers in like 96 or 97 or something, but it's not enforced at all. And everyone's like, they're illegal. And I'm like, yeah, the gas powered ones are illegal. And these guys up and down my street all day with these things. I go, yeah, they go, why don't they enforce them? I go, well, because it's all Mexicans who make their living with the leaf blower. And the city council doesn't like the optics of coming down on the poor Mexican gardeners who use their leaf blower. [2:39:39] use it, and they turn the other way. They look the other way because they don't like the op. And everyone looked at me and went like, [2:39:45] Thank you. [2:39:45] That sounds kind of racist or something. I was like, I go, no, it's just what happened. And they're like, I don't agree. You're saying Mexicans shouldn't be whatever. And the whole table like turned on me. And I realized, wait a minute. [2:40:00] None of you assholes know anything about this subject. I know because I read an article on it. There was literally like the Million Man Mexican March. They went down to City Hall. They brought their leaf blowers. And the Lily White City Council was like, we don't like the optics of busting poor, hardworking Mexican gardeners. I remember all this. Right. Because Brian Holtzman had a bit about it. I was telling the table about it. I wish he was with me in Maui. He could have defended me.

[2:40:30] was turning on me because they were like kind of white liberal folks. They're my friends. [2:40:35] They were turning on you. They were turning on me, and I realized, I go, listen. [2:40:40] Maybe you don't like it. Maybe it sounds racist. I don't know what you think. I'm just telling you. [2:40:46] leaf blowers are illegal, but they're used all day, every day, because the city won't enforce the law because they don't like the optics of it. And everyone's like, [2:40:56] having problems with me and then I realized I ruined brunch. I ruined brunch but I was like, I'm not, listen assholes, I'm not backing down, just, I'm not apologizing, I know all this stuff, what do you want me to say? Sorry you don't like it but what I realized is, [2:41:10] Half the people at the table were just going along with the other half. [2:41:14] They didn't know anything. [2:41:16] They didn't know anything about leaf blowers or laws or city council. They just realized that I was the one being thrown out of the tribe. And they wanted to stay in the tribe. So everyone took a subject they didn't know shit about. [2:41:30] and turned on the guy who knew something about it, and said he was bad and should go out to the cornfield, because they were all... And this is socially. It's like no one was going to lose their job. They were just eating brunch. But it all kicked in. And I could see the wives, who had no thoughts about leaf blowers, going, yeah, man, I don't agree. The chairs were scooching away from me and stuff. And I thought, oh, I'm being thrown out of the tribe. And that's when I realized... [2:41:57] That was just about leaf blowers. [2:41:59] And those are my friends. Now we go to COVID.

[2:42:02] And it's a real deal now, that feeling of not wanting to be excommunicated from the tribe. And it's so easy to get everyone to go along with everything because we have that innate, baked-in human quality of not wanting to be ostracized and pushed out of the tribe. And I also started to realize that... [2:42:28] you're good at what you do. [2:42:33] And so you can say... [2:42:36] and do what you want most people are mediocre at what they do and they can't afford to be unpopular and this is something i i sort of i was talking to greg gutfeld about it some years ago i was just doing a podcast [2:42:54] with him and I was interviewing him and it started to kind of dawn on me that like when you're really good, [2:43:01] And you could be a really good carpenter. Like if you're a really master carpenter, you're never out of work. [2:43:07] No one gives a shit what your thoughts are about politics or COVID. You walk around with a MAGA hat on. It doesn't matter. We need you. [2:43:13] Like, you're good. You're skilled. And when you're really good at comedy, or you're good at whatever, you cannot be thrown out. [2:43:22] You can't be squash, you can't be silence, but you've got to be good. If you're sort of in the middle of... [2:43:28] and most people are in the middle, it's a little bit of a popularity contest. You better eat vegan.

[2:43:35] You better say the right things. And you better say the right things. You better put that black square on your Twitter. [2:43:39] Right. Or on your Instagram. Which I did not do. But they told me, you got to do it. I was like, I'm not doing it. It was so nuts. I was watching people do it. But you're good. I was like, what are you doing? Yeah. [2:43:52] I think we're out of coffee. Oh, that's all right. Might be a little bit. Yeah, that's all right. I love coffee. Oh, there's plenty in there. Yeah, that is a thing that a lot of people lack in this life. Well, the problem is, it's like... [2:44:05] If you think you're good and you're not good, you get smacked down. Like you get into trouble, right? So if you're not that good and you go, screw this, I'm not working for CNN anymore. I'm going to go do my own podcast. [2:44:20] and you're not that good. [2:44:21] then you're in trouble. [2:44:23] And if you go, I'm going to blow this taco stand and get out of this business, I'm going to do something, I'm going to open a restaurant. But you're not that good. You'll get into trouble. And most people are sort of... [2:44:35] living in the middle [2:44:37] and kind of fearful. But if you're good, [2:44:41] and you kind of own it, and you're calibrated, and you know you're good, [2:44:45] And you can kind of say what you want. [2:44:48] and you can kind of do what you want but you [2:44:50] you have to be good. And like all the people that were sort of in mainstream media that like broke out and start doing their own thing, [2:45:00] We're good. [2:45:01] I mean, they thought they were good, and they thought they were good enough. When you're in the middle, it's vulnerable. Yeah. You got to kind of watch yourself and mind your P's and Q's. It's also that thing that you were talking about at the dinner table, where all those other people who didn't know anything about it were signaling to the tribe that they didn't want to get cast out. Right. You're one of the good ones. Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's it.

[2:45:27] There are so many cowards that do that. There's so many people that are just terrified and they don't encounter a lot of difficulty in their life, a lot of like real anxiety inducing difficulty. And so when something does come up that's like that, they just fold. They just want to be comfortable again. Like, what do I have to do? [2:45:45] It's so... [2:45:46] sad, and it's also people in dignity, like dignity and character. Like character used to be something we talked about. We don't really talk about character anymore. And it's also... [2:46:01] People, like, they're resting state [2:46:03] A lot of people is weak and kind of like a little disappointing situation. [2:46:09] And it's like I think guys that have – [2:46:14] like high character people and also stoic type people, right? [2:46:21] are kind of really [2:46:23] always disappointed by people. Like, you're probably a pretty stoic guy, and you see how people act, and you go, oh. [2:46:31] Yeah, it's sad. You know what I mean? Like, like, yeah, it's sort of I don't know why it reminded me. But when I lived in [2:46:41] Santa Monica a million years ago. [2:46:45] Got their purse stolen out on the street at night. I was this poor guy living in a rent-control apartment, swinging a hammer, you know, driving a Isuzu Trooper. And I was coming home at night. It was like 9 o'clock at night. I was just with groceries. I walked up to my apartment, and I heard a woman screaming out on the street, He's got my purse. Like, help. Like, just out in the street. I couldn't really see it from where I was. So I just ran out there because a woman was screaming. And I got there, and she said, The guy stole my purse.

[2:47:15] got my stuff, you know, and I just started chasing the guy just sort of instinctively. I didn't really think about it. I was just chasing him. And also, like, I was like, well, I boxed. I played football. Like, I felt good. I was in good shape. I didn't care. I didn't have much to lose. I didn't have anything. So I just started chasing him. And the guy was trying to pick him up in a car because he had, like, a wheel guy. But I was too close to the guy, and he couldn't get in the car. I chased him, like, a couple of blocks. And eventually, he just threw the briefcase or the purse. He just threw it, and he kept running. [2:47:45] And when he threw everything down, [2:47:48] I just stopped. It was all scattered around the sidewalk. And I stopped. I started... [2:47:53] like put it back together and I was like, I'm not going to chase the guy. He dropped all the stuff and then the woman showed up and she started getting her stuff together. [2:48:02] and [2:48:04] At some point, the neighbors started filing out onto the street, and a crowd kind of gathered up. And then a cop pulled up at a certain point, and the cop was like, what went on here? What happened? And I remember the neighbors... [2:48:21] They go... [2:48:22] Well, we heard this woman screaming, so we all ran out and chased the guy. And I was like... [2:48:28] None of you ran out and chased anybody. I ran out and chased the guy. He dropped the stuff. And then 10 minutes later, you guys all came out in your bathrobes. But you didn't chase anybody. But then I realized that's what they want. They wanted to be that person, but they weren't that person. So they created...

[2:48:48] this scenario where they were that person and I would listen to them all like talk to the cops and I just stood there I didn't say anything I wanted to hear what they had to say and they all told the same story like when I heard a woman screaming I I snapped into action and ran out you know it's like none of you did any of this because I was there and and I realized oh people have a real. [2:49:12] They have a version of themselves that's in their head. [2:49:16] And then there's the version of them that's kind of a lazy coward. And they're busy watching that film footage of the hero stuff. And nobody thinks, like no one during COVID said, I'm bad and I'm weak and I'm dumb and that's why I made fun of Joe Rogan or whatever. They just go, I was trying to do the right thing, trying to save people. We didn't know. You know, there's always this sort of hero's reel that's running in their head. It's not the real one. [2:49:46] one you know. It's not the weak, cowardly one. It's the stoic, strong one. It's the one that heard a damsel in distress and snapped into action. Damn the torpedoes. I came running outside to find this guy and chased him. [2:50:01] That's what's in your head. The reality is you were looking out the window and you were scared. [2:50:07] And [2:50:08] Most people don't really have any moments like that in their life where they can go, oh, remember that time that guy had the purse and he ran down the street and we tackled him? Let's do that again. It's happening now. Like most people, that's never going to happen. No. In your safe little life. Yes, but fear is a crusher. Yeah. Man, I mean, a little bit of fear goes a long way. Yeah. Yeah.

[2:50:33] And especially with men, the desire to inflate their participation in any heroic act. Yeah. Men love to pretend they're something they're not. It's amazing. [2:50:46] It's sad, Joe. It definitely is, but it's also a symptom of a lack of being tested. [2:50:52] All the people that I know that... [2:50:55] I always say this about MMA fighters. They're the nicest people you're ever going to run into. Oh, for sure. Because they don't have to test themselves with you. They've been tested constantly. No, there's something about... [2:51:07] the boxer and the fighter and the, those guys that are like so secure in their, uh, [2:51:15] version or vision of themselves that they're never overcompensating with a bunch of other horseshit. And I sort of... [2:51:25] always liked those guys, and I've always found it to be that way, like being in boxing gyms and stuff. Like the movie version of the boxing gym is, hey, tough guy, you know, whatever. The reality is people are like – [2:51:39] I could remember back in the day, the bell, because you were on a bell. The whole gym was on a bell, right? Three minutes and then one minute off or whatever. And sometimes you'd go walking up to a heavy bag because you didn't think the guy was on it. And then some huge dude would come up and go, oh, I'm sorry. I was working on that bag. And I'd go, oh, okay. And he'd go, sorry, you can get in. And it wasn't like, hey, bro. There wasn't any of that.

[2:52:09] and kind of calm. I mean, it was sort of like a big dog versus a yappy little dog. You know what I mean? The big dog sort of knows. And I appreciate it. And I like that. And I definitely like those guys. And I see why... [2:52:26] you like those kind of guys because they're just more attractive. Like they're just better. And [2:52:33] I was going to tell you that [2:52:35] And people are like, there's so many weird, soft sort of dudes like transitioning and all that shit. And then there's these sort of carnivore, meat lovers, MMA guys going on. And I was someone, it was Dr. Drew. Dr. Drew always says to me, where are we going? What's going on? Where are we heading as a society? When are we going to fix this, essentially? And I just said, safe spaces and octagons. He's like, what do you mean? [2:53:05] the fucking safe space people are going to go further that way. And then there's a group of people that are moving to Florida and moving to Texas and they're going the other direction. Like in LA, you, [2:53:18] when they started pushing electric cars, I started seeing tons of Ram dually pickup trucks popping up. Like for every one person you push into an electric car or Prius, another dude buys a Ram and puts a gun rack on it. Like that's what we're doing. And I don't know how it's going to end, but I can tell you we're just going safe spaces in Octagons.

[2:53:42] It's going to be move out to Texas and practice MMA with Joe Rogan, or it's going to be move to Seattle and get your dick cut off. [2:53:52] And there'll be nothing in between. That's the ultimate civil war. Yes. And it's my conclusion that the safe spaces eventually are going to have to come to the octagons and go, we need protection. [2:54:05] We need you. [2:54:07] it's a great way to look at the world right now. And, [2:54:11] It's certainly a symptom of going one way or the other. [2:54:15] And it just but I always wonder, is it the nature of the nurture thing? Like, is there something wrong with not just society, but also the environment that we are creating more biological organisms that are susceptible to weakness? [2:54:30] Not just physical weakness, but emotional and psychological weakness. There's a thing that's going on that's on top of what's going on as far as culture and society, and that's microplastics in people's diets that are just destroying their endocrine systems. That's all trackable. We all got a spork in our brain worth of plastic right now. Dr. Shanna Swan has an amazing book about it. You all should read it because it's terrifying. Well, I think there's a lot of... [2:54:58] practical... [2:55:00] organic stuff like plastics and microplastics and stuff like that. Environmental toxins, what you were talking about before, about living in cities. Yeah. Not being in calorie nature. There's all of that, but there's also why do you need to be able to fight anymore? You don't need it. You know what I mean? Like we don't live. Why do you need to be able to lift heavy things? You know what I mean? Like, hey, man, if you're a coal miner or you work on a farm and there's bales of hay

[2:55:30] can't have a wimpy guy throwing bales of hay up under the loft, you know, but everything is computerized and air conditioned and you're in your cubicle. Like, what do we need you for? [2:55:41] You know, like what's the necessity? Like why wouldn't we get softer and weaker? We're not bailing hay and throwing it up to the barn anymore. We're not mending the fences. Nobody's having to, you know, wrangle the steers. We don't have to make cabins. You don't have to chop a tree down and make a cabin anymore. You go to Ikea. [2:56:02] And there's a cabin there you can buy, you know, made in China. Like, we're not... [2:56:06] Why wouldn't we go this way? Well, it's natural. It's a natural course of progression. When you look at aliens, they're never jacked. [2:56:13] Right. You never see a jacked alien. You see these aliens that have no muscle tone, they have no gender, and that's where we're headed. But that is a great name for an energy drink. Jacked alien? Joe, if you threw your considerable weight behind my new product, jacked alien, monster, Red Bull, kiss my ass. We would kill it. Jacked alien, we'd be sponsoring X Games, fighters. It'd be in every ring. It'd be in every octagon. [2:56:43] podcast for a couple days and get a patent on Jacked Alien. [2:56:47] Oh, yeah. Might have to. Yeah. [2:56:51] You're going to be the face of Jack's Alien, by the way. It's where humanity seems to be heading, some sort of genderless direction. Yeah. Everyone's a giant egghead. [2:56:59] Right. You don't need to fuck and you don't need to fight. So what do we need all this shit for? If the aliens aren't real, I think that's what the architect... There's a Jacked Alien website? What is it? Oh, really? Workout clothes. That's hilarious. And they make workout clothes? I'm suing the shit out of that company, man. That is so funny. That's my IP, man. Jacked Alien, that's hilarious. Well, we just gave him some press. Shout out to Jacked Alien. I hope you got cool shit.

[2:57:29] Um... [2:57:30] But – [2:57:30] When we think about what human beings are eventually going to be, the alien archetype is what makes the most sense, right? Like genderless, not using their mouth to talk anymore, giant fucking heads, no muscle at all. Why do you need big biceps to move a joystick or push a button? And the only reason why it's attractive, if you don't need it, is like a biological reproduction attractiveness, right? [2:58:00] biological reinforcements to get you to breed with good genetic people. But if all that's out the window and all breeding is done through some sort of a computer or something along those lines. But also, why do you need any of it if it's antiquated? You know what I mean? Like if we're just the society of button pushers, what do you need that big V strapping dude with big shoulders? It depends on what's going on in the body. Like are you still – do you still have the same monkey body that you had 10,000 years ago? [2:58:30] if you do, you're going to need to exercise just for sanity and it'll help you to have all those things and things like jujitsu. Yeah, you probably don't need to use jujitsu ever in your life if you're lucky, but it's a good thing to learn because it's really fucking hard to do. [2:58:45] I agree. And I think doing things that are hard to do are good. And I think doing things that scare you are good. And I've had a bunch of situations in my life where people like people would say to me all the time, they go, well,

[2:59:00] what made you decide to do Dancing with the Stars? And I go, I didn't decide to do it. I remember where I was. And my agent called and he said, they want you to do Dancing with the Stars. [2:59:14] And as soon as he said that... [2:59:15] I felt that weird fear. [2:59:18] Like remember when you're in junior high and they're like, Johnny Finnegan wants to meet you by the tunnel after school. And you're like, yeah, that moment, remember that weird fear moment. And they said, do dancing with the stars. And I went, [2:59:31] I felt that weird junior high... [2:59:34] He's going to fight you after school. Like that weird feeling of fear. Right. Of making a fool of myself, you know. And I felt it. [2:59:42] And [2:59:43] I could have went, oh, that's lame, or I wouldn't embarrass myself on that show. But I felt fear. [2:59:50] And as soon as I felt fear, I was like, [2:59:52] I'll do it. [2:59:53] Because I realized that [2:59:55] Everything would be a lie. Like I could go, that's stupid or that's lame or I don't want to do that. But that wouldn't be the reason. The reason is, is I was scared. I felt scared. I can't dance. I'm going to humiliate myself. And you can get like most of the stuff I've done that has been good. [3:00:15] I did a professional Trans Am car race once. [3:00:19] And I was just like... [3:00:20] Someone said, you want to do it. [3:00:23] And I was like... [3:00:24] I'll do it. But it's only because I was scared. I was like, what? I felt this moment. I just went, fuck it, I'll do it.

[3:00:31] Too many people do way too much like, I don't know, I got to talk to a bunch of people about it, or that's not for me, or why should I? But just start saying yes to stuff. You get a lot of experience out of that. Especially while you're young and you don't have any obligations. [3:00:46] Because once those obligations saddle you down, you got a mortgage and you got a family and you got obligations and social commitments. You don't have that kind of ability to just go fuck it. [3:00:57] No, you're right. Like my whole time I was a carpenter, [3:01:00] I remember guys pulling up in new trucks and I'm driving a piece of shit beater and they're like, Adam, why don't you go down to Galpin Ford and get yourself a new truck? And I'm like, because then I'd have payments and then I'd have insurance and then I couldn't go to the groundlings at night and I'd have to take care. [3:01:17] of that, and I couldn't work on this. And I felt the same way with kids and the same way with everything. Like, I got to... [3:01:24] Get this going before I get weighed down with monthly payments and mortgages. Yeah. Miles to feed. Yeah. Yeah, that's a really important message to young people because they think they're going to be young forever. Like, boy. [3:01:39] Before you start a family, get something going. Just take your chances now. When you're young and free, it's like, God, it's an amazing opportunity. The whole world is ahead of you. Things can change so quickly if you work hard and you find a lane and you really throw yourself into it. [3:01:54] But if you don't, [3:01:56] Time goes by quick. [3:01:57] And next thing you know, you're 30. Next thing you know, you're 35. And like, I'm going to get it together this year. And you never do.

[3:02:05] Yeah, you got to make hay while the sun shines. And with that, Adam Carolla, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks, Joe. Thank you, brother. It was fun. Let's do it again. Real soon. All right. Yeah. Bye, everybody. [3:02:31] This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. Lots of places can accidentally expose you to identity theft. Doctors' offices, online retailers, insurance companies, the list goes on. Thankfully, LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity, which is way more than anyone could do on their own. LifeLock keeps an eye on your personal information, credit applications, finances, and more. [3:03:01] suspicious, like new loans or changes to your financial accounts, they'll alert you right away, all through text, phone, email, or the LifeLock app. Even better, alerts are automatically activated the moment you become a LifeLock member. No extra work on your part. Get the alerts that could make all the difference. Don't wait. Join LifeLock now. Visit LifeLock.com slash J-R-E and [3:03:31] slash J-R-E for 30% off. Terms apply. This episode is brought to you by Blue Chew. Listen up. Blue Chew just dropped something wild. They're calling it Blue Chew Gold. And honestly, the name fits. The stuff is setting a whole new standard for performance in the bedroom. It's not your typical blue pill. It combines two ingredients for blood flow with two for mental arousal and connection.

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