The Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1123 - Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith is a filmmaker, actor, comedian, public speaker, comic book writer, author, and podcaster.

Joe RoganhostKevin Smithguest

May 30, 20183h 12mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Kevin Smith Survives Heart Attack, Rethinks Life On Joe Rogan

Kevin Smith joins Joe Rogan to catch up on life, podcasting, health scares, drugs, and death, weaving humor through some very heavy topics.
They trace the early days and business evolution of podcasting, discuss creative careers without hard drugs, and compare very different lifestyles—Rogan’s physical, outdoors life versus Smith’s writing and fandom.
Smith details his near‑fatal “widowmaker” heart attack, the emergency procedure that saved him, and how it changed his views on diet, mortality, and what matters.
The conversation spirals through culture-war stories like Roseanne’s Ambien tweet, AI and automation, ancient civilizations, supervolcanoes, animal attacks, and what might happen after we die.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Podcasting can be a viable, democratized career path if you’re genuinely interesting.

Rogan and Smith both started podcasting early and built careers largely “with their mouths,” arguing that there’s room for many voices, especially if you’re consistent, authentic, and niche-specific.

Avoid glamorizing hard drugs; know your own risk profile.

Both admit they avoided cocaine partly because they suspected they’d like it too much and that it could amplify bad traits like overconfidence and compulsion—an important self-awareness check for entertainers.

Ambien and similar drugs can radically alter behavior and memory, but don’t erase accountability.

They discuss Ambien stories (sleep-cooking, driving) and Roseanne’s tweet, acknowledging strange side effects while still concluding that public figures must treat social media as a loaded weapon when medicated.

Massive health scares can reframe your relationship to food and time—if you let them.

Smith’s 100% LAD blockage (the “widowmaker”) pushed him into a strict plant-based diet, radical caloric control (one meal a day, fasting), and a more deliberate sense that every post-attack day is “house money.”

Vegan or plant-based diets can rapidly improve cardiac risk markers, but are hard to sustain without planning.

Smith’s “potato-only” phase dropped 19 pounds in two weeks and halved his Lipitor dose, but he admits he hates most vegetables, relying on beans, chickpeas, and vegan comfort food to make it livable.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

You did this with your mouth. You talked yourself into this.

— Kevin Smith (to Joe Rogan about his studio and career)

If anybody’s watching or listening at home, teetering on the verge of like, ‘I wonder if I should do a podcast,’ send them a snapshot of that room… They’ll start talking.

— Kevin Smith

I really believe that within a few decades, racism can be almost completely eradicated.

— Joe Rogan

They call that artery the widowmaker. In 80% of cases of 100% occlusion, the patient dies. But you’re gonna be in the 20% ’cause I’m really good at my job.

— Kevin Smith (quoting his cardiologist during his heart attack)

You get what everybody gets. You got a lifetime.

— Kevin Smith (quoting Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to describe accepting death)

Podcasting’s early days, business models, and creative freedomDrugs, addiction, Ambien, and how substances affect behaviorRoseanne Barr controversy, racism, and cultural zero-toleranceKevin Smith’s heart attack, medical details, and lifestyle overhaulVeganism, extreme dieting (potato diet), weight loss, and healthDogs, cats, big predators, and human–animal relationshipsMortality, near-death experiences, religion, and the fear of dyingAncient civilizations, pyramids, supervolcanoes, and existential risk

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