Joe Rogan Experience #1087 - Sturgill Simpson

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   How long is it…

   1. SSSturgill Simpson0:00

      How long is it going to take me to get to LAX and what time should I be there?

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:03

      If you leave at 2:00, you have no problems at all.

   3. SSSturgill Simpson0:06

      Okay.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      No problems.

   5. SSSturgill Simpson0:07

      Cool.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      So if you leave at 2:00, you're just gonna coast in. Are we live? We're trying to figure out LA traffic, ladies and gentlemen. You gotta plan for that shit. Like-

   7. SSSturgill Simpson0:15

      You do, man.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      ... like a natural disaster.

   9. SSSturgill Simpson0:17

      (laughs) In many ways, they're very similar.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:20

       When I moved to Colorado for just a few months and then came back here, it was instantaneous, like the recognition of like what effect it has on me. You know, like ev- there's so many people. You're driving and it's like ... When you go somewhere where there's very few people, you have, there's a, a real feeling of relaxation.

   11. SSSturgill Simpson0:39

       Yes.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:39

       Like it's legitimate. It's real.

   13. SSSturgill Simpson0:40

       Yes.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       Yeah, it's almost like if you could buy that, like, uh, "Yeah, man, I'm taking this gum that puts you in like a small town feel, like woodsy Colorado feel, going through evergreen, looking at the mountains."

   15. SSSturgill Simpson0:54

       But you can, you can buy that. You just have to get out of, out of California, you know.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:58

       Yeah, no, for sure. But I was just thinking if you had a pill, a pill that did that, that would be a really expensive pill or a patch or some gum, you know, like nicotine gum, some, some, you know, peace and quiet gum.

   17. SSSturgill Simpson1:09

       Transports you to the wilderness.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       (laughs) How much would people pay for that, right? Like think about the people that buy Xanax and shit and just anything to just take a little bit of the edge off. Just take, take this edge off.

   19. SSSturgill Simpson1:22

       I don't know. I would, uh, I'd probably just buy it and smoke it.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:26

       Yeah, I'd smoke the shit out of that.

   21. SSSturgill Simpson1:27

       Right.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:28

       But then, but you'd be happy like living in downtown LA in some graffiti covered building.

   23. SSSturgill Simpson1:32

       No, no.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:33

       Hearing the horns go off.

   25. SSSturgill Simpson1:34

       I love the weather here. I do. I think that's why I have to come out for work or anything else, I never mind because every day it's perfect except I've been here for like four days and it's rained most of the time, so that's my luck, but uh...

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       LA's got beautiful-

   27. SSSturgill Simpson1:47

       The traffic, man, you just basically, I think you just sort of accept that you're gonna live in your car, right?

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:53

       You're gonna be in your car a lot.

   29. SSSturgill Simpson1:54

       You're gonna be in your car. So everybody has nice cars, that's why everybody drives nice cars in LA.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:58

       It's also because we're all really, really shallow.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   (laughs) …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      It could be me. Right?

   2. SSSturgill Simpson15:02

      (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:02

      It could be me.

   4. SSSturgill Simpson15:03

      It definitely-

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      Why am I laughing?

   6. SSSturgill Simpson15:04

      It was almost me this morning.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:05

      Yeah.

   8. SSSturgill Simpson15:06

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      I'm an asshole. I'm sorry. I apologize. But I thought it was pretty funny, this idea that, uh, there's an uptick in people just walking out into cars, (slaps hands) getting hit by cars 'cause they're just spacing out 'cause they're high.

   10. SSSturgill Simpson15:18

       I, I think it should be legal just because I'm from Kentucky and if they gave all those farmers and, and, uh, you know, ex-coal industry employees an, an industry that would really thrive since it grows extremely well in Kentucky, uh, you know, instead of soybeans and tobacco, those guys could actually generate an income-

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:37

       What do you think's holding it back?

   12. SSSturgill Simpson15:38

       ... for their family and community. Politics. Actually, that's not true. Mitch McConnell out there, or somebody, someone, like, really staunch right-wing guy in Kentucky came out and was even pushing for legislation towards at least the hemp industry, which would be incredible.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:49

       Yeah.

   14. SSSturgill Simpson15:50

       Um-

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       The hemp industry is a no-brainer. The hemp industry would be incredible-

   16. SSSturgill Simpson15:52

       If you can look at the tax numbers alone and the-

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:55

       Yeah. Well, you know, we buy hemp for Onnit and for the longest time, we'd had to buy it in Canada because y- you couldn't get it in the United States 'cause until recently, it wasn't legal to grow. And so to get, like, the best stuff that has the highest protein content, we'd have to fucking ship it in from Canada. You can't even grow it here. Now you can, um, but when, I mean, w- when did we start Onnit? That's not that long ago. I wanna say, like, seven years ago? Something like that? So, we, that was, like, one of the first things that we did is, uh, make a really good help, uh, hemp protein powder and when we were looking into it, we were like, "I can't even believe that you can't grow this." Like, doesn't do anything to your consciousness. Zero. It doesn't affect you at all. Because it's related to pot, it's illegal. It's insane.

   18. SSSturgill Simpson16:38

       The National Hemp Museum is in, uh, Versailles, Kentucky.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:43

       Is it really?

   20. SSSturgill Simpson16:44

       Where I graduated high school though 'cause it's... Woodford County, Kentucky was at one point the, the largest hemp-producing county in the entire nation.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:51

       Whoa.

   22. SSSturgill Simpson16:52

       It just, I don't know. Something about the limestone, the soil conditions, the humidity, sunlight-

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:57

       No shit?

   24. SSSturgill Simpson16:57

       ... pot and hemp grows really, really well.

   25. JRJoe Rogan17:00

       Wow. The first legal 500 acre, acre hemp farm in Kentucky unveiled. So now it's legal?

   26. GUGuest17:07

       In October.

   27. JRJoe Rogan17:08

       Oh, wow. So now y- they can grow it?

   28. SSSturgill Simpson17:11

       Excellent.

   29. JRJoe Rogan17:11

       Beautiful.

   30. SSSturgill Simpson17:12

       I don't live there anymore, so I'm out of touch.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Do you play it?…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      around on my computer. Fuck you, I'm staying.

   2. SSSturgill Simpson30:02

      Do you play it?

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      No.

   4. SSSturgill Simpson30:04

      That shit's terrifying.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:05

      Terrifying.

   6. SSSturgill Simpson30:05

      No way.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      No. Get the fuck outta here with that. I've, I've, I've gained and lost before. I, I was a victim of a pump and dump scheme-

   8. SSSturgill Simpson30:12

      I get, I get nervous at the Wheel of Fortune dollar slots, man, in Vegas. You know what I mean? Much less-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:16

      You should. Those are dangerous.

   10. SSSturgill Simpson30:18

       That's just like... Okay.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:19

       (clears throat) They lure you in.

   12. SSSturgill Simpson30:20

       I'm down 19. I gotta get the fuck outta here, you know? (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:22

       I was a victim of a pump and dump ste- scheme. Um, this dude told me to buy this stock. He's like, "Dude, I'm telling you, this stock's about to blow up." The guy was a coke dealer, so I knew he was honest, trustworthy, easy to listen to. (laughs)

   14. SSSturgill Simpson30:34

       Right.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:34

       I didn't know he was a coke dealer at the time. He... I just thought he was a comic. And so he would tell me about this stock and we bought into it. I don't, I don't think I bought that much, but it was, like, a few thousand dollars, which is not that big of a deal if you're, uh-... you know, you're looking at the greater spectrum of how much money people lose-

   16. SSSturgill Simpson30:50

       Right.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:51

       ... uh, in the stock market. That's a g- I lost nothing. I mean, people lose their whole, v-, their whole life savings, their fortune, their, their, w- what they've inherited. People can lose it like that in the stock market. So we bought in, me and my business manager. (laughs) And it went up for a little while. It went up because more people were telling more people to buy it, and then it just crashed. And when I mean it crashed, it just went through the floor like it didn't exist anymore. It was like, it went from I forget what the number was, but it was, like, in the m- many dollars down to, like, a fraction of a cent. (laughs) Or a cent or three cent or something like that. It went down to virtually worthless, and we were like, "Oh, we got pumped and dumped." Like, that's what they do.

   18. SSSturgill Simpson31:29

       Right.

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:29

       They p- they pump it up. They get a bunch of people to join, and then once a bu- bunch of people are buying this stock, they're like, "Abandon ship!" (laughs) And I got fucked.

   20. SSSturgill Simpson31:38

       I remember Shooter going on about, years ago about the Bitcoin shit, man.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:42

       Yeah.

   22. SSSturgill Simpson31:42

       He, he got, he got hung up on the Bitcoin for a minute. I wish I'd listened.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:44

       Shooter loves it.

   24. SSSturgill Simpson31:45

       I wish I'd listened.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:47

       He loves that shit. He l- he's, um, he's a, a Bitcoin believer.

   26. SSSturgill Simpson31:53

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:54

       "I'm a Bitcoin... Hmm."

   28. SSSturgill Simpson31:55

       Hmm.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:56

       "This is me. Hmm."

   30. SSSturgill Simpson31:57

       I'm like, "I don't understand that, and I probably never will, so I'm gonna stay over here."
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   He moved in, yeah.…

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      Johnny Depp moved in for, like, what? Six weeks or some shit.

   2. SSSturgill Simpson45:02

      He moved in, yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      Yeah.

   4. SSSturgill Simpson45:03

      He w-

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      He lived with the dude.

   6. SSSturgill Simpson45:04

      ... he went all the way.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      They went, they went all in.

   8. SSSturgill Simpson45:05

      He sorta had to, though.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:06

      I wonder if he cooked Johnny Depp's brain? I wonder if that's when Johnny Depp started going wacky. Holy shit, it probably is. I'm gonna s- spread a conspiracy theory. Johnny Depp was reasonable and calm and polite and had his shit completely together until he did too much acid with Hunter S. Thompson, and that's why he's wacky now. What do you think?

   10. SSSturgill Simpson45:25

       I don't know.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:25

       It's not outside the realm of possibility.

   12. SSSturgill Simpson45:26

       He, he's from Kentucky too, so I'm not gonna say anything bad about the guy.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:28

       Damn, it's a full Kentucky house.

   14. SSSturgill Simpson45:30

       Yup. W-

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:30

       Did you ever read The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved?

   16. SSSturgill Simpson45:34

       Yeah, ab- absolutely, man.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:35

       Ooh.

   18. SSSturgill Simpson45:35

       That was, uh, that ... And it's, and it still holds true.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       Oh, it's an amazing book.

   20. SSSturgill Simpson45:39

       Um-

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:39

       Or amazing, uh, article, rather.

   22. SSSturgill Simpson45:40

       Well, that, that was where he sorta really found the style. That piece in particular was where-

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:45

       Yeah.

   24. SSSturgill Simpson45:45

       ... he was like, "I'm gonna go over here and do this."

   25. JRJoe Rogan45:48

       Yeah, there was definitely that, and then that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas thing too, where that started out. He was being paid to cover a motorcycle race. (laughs) It became this just fucking crazy screed about drugs and partying and, "We were outside of Barstow when the drugs began to take hold." (laughs) And there's fucking bats in the air and shit. They're driving a convertible Cadillac across the country, headed to Vegas. I mean, it's a fucking amazing, amazing piece of work. And it started out as a Sports Illustrated story. They wanted him to cover a race. (laughs)

   26. SSSturgill Simpson46:18

       And als- and also a very, you know, fitting and beautiful eulogy to the whole '60s flower power shit-

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:24

       Yeah.

   28. SSSturgill Simpson46:24

       ... that just caved on itself.

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:26

       Yeah.

   30. SSSturgill Simpson46:27

       Like, uh ...
5. 1:00:00 – 1:07:41

   Right. Get the fuck…

   1. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:00

      like, "All right, that, fake as fuck."

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:01

      Right. Get the fuck outta here.

   3. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:02

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

      It's fake as fuck. (laughs) Yeah.

   5. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:04

      Yeah. Give me some VHS, you know?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:07

      It's better.

   7. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:07

      Blur the lines a little bit.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:08

      Yeah.

   9. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:09

      Yeah, like digital music, same thing. You hear all that separation and air and, uh, sterilization, I guess, is the best way to put it.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:18

       Yeah. I think it definitely works that way for physical things. Like, it's one of the reasons why the original Alien movie was so terrifying. It was a physical thing.

   11. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:25

       Oh, fucking just (sighs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:26

       That was a... You knew-

   13. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:27

       Or the first Halloween.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:29

       Yeah. Yeah.

   15. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:30

       There's, there's no blood in that film.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:31

       Yeah.

   17. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:31

       It's just tension-

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:32

       Yeah.

   19. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:33

       ... and dread and anxiety.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:00:34

       Real people.

   21. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:35

       Real people.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

       Yeah.

   23. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:35

       And some crazy fuck running around-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:00:37

       Yeah.

   25. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:37

       ... in a William Shatner mask.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:00:40

       Even American Werewolf in London.

   27. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:41

       John Carpenter.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:00:41

       It's just quick scenes.

   29. SSSturgill Simpson1:00:43

       Also from Kentucky.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:00:44

       Was he really?

Episode duration: 2:51:38