Joe Rogan Experience #1207 - Jeff Ross & Dave Attell

Joe Rogan 0:00 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 0:02 (laughs)

Dave Attell 0:02 It's like old school, Russian.

Joe Rogan 0:04 Three, two... There's something I like about the fact that you can smoke in here.

Dave Attell 0:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:10 I like that people can be relaxed, you know.

Dave Attell 0:12 Thank you.

Jeff Ross 0:13 I had to find a comedy club to shoot our special where, th- where Dave could smoke. (laughs)

Dave Attell 0:17 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:17 Where, where, where would you go?

Jeff Ross 0:18 Comedy Cellar.

Dave Attell 0:19 The Underground, yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:21 The Underground, they let you smoke?

Dave Attell 0:22 Well, but now- (laughs)

Jeff Ross 0:23 No, but they let him smoke. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:24 ... I think there's, like, a rule where if you're a performer, you can get away with it-

Jeff Ross 0:29 Right.

Joe Rogan 0:29 ... 'cause it's a part of your routine.

Jeff Ross 0:31 (laughs)

Dave Attell 0:31 The, like a cabaret-

Joe Rogan 0:32 Yeah.

Dave Attell 0:32 ... old, like on the, still on the books?

Joe Rogan 0:34 T- don't take my word for that. I bel- I believe I learned that from Dice while he was on stage.

Dave Attell 0:39 Yes.

Jeff Ross 0:39 I think you read that in the Dice Chappelle manual.

Dave Attell 0:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:43 Yeah. Well, they just can get away with it, right? Yeah, Dave's always smoking on stage.

Dave Attell 0:47 No, I, I d- I don't smoke anymore, but, uh, I'll tell you one thing that, that year in between, like, where you're not allowed to smoke on stage, that was a tough year 'cause you're used to, like, smoking and the crowd smoking-

Joe Rogan 0:57 Right.

Dave Attell 0:57 ... and, you know, it was, like-

Joe Rogan 0:58 It was-

Dave Attell 0:58 ... kind of a fun thing.

Joe Rogan 0:59 A punchline enhancer too, right?

Dave Attell 1:01 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 1:01 Dave's, you do smoke on stage.

Dave Attell 1:03 Not all the time.

Joe Rogan 1:04 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 1:05 Like, towards the end of it, maybe.

Dave Attell 1:06 Not only that, but when we're, we're on the road and we do, like, an hour and a half, he'll pretend he's getting a phone call or something.

Joe Rogan 1:12 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 1:12 He'll go smoke and leave me on stage by myself.

Joe Rogan 1:15 Really?

Dave Attell 1:16 Yeah, but it gives you a chance to, like, open up a long form bit.

Jeff Ross 1:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:19 Oh, nice.

Dave Attell 1:20 Now you're hearing it, Joe.

Jeff Ross 1:21 You're-

Joe Rogan 1:21 Nice.

Dave Attell 1:21 Now you're really hearing the whole story behind the bumping mic.

Jeff Ross 1:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:23 When you w-

Dave Attell 1:24 Behind the bumping mic.

Joe Rogan 1:26 What do you get out of smoking on stage? It just fulfills the nicotine fix, or does it actually give you something? 'Cause they say it, I've, I've smoked a cig, I smoked one of Tony Hinchcliffe cigarettes a couple of times before I went on stage.

Dave Attell 1:37 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 1:38 And you get, like, a, a pick me up. There's a little something, you get, like, a, an enhancement.

Dave Attell 1:43 I, it's, yeah, I don't, I, I, I'll say right now, it definitely is a weakness that, like, you know, now I don't drink, don't do anything, but, like, coffee and cigarettes, it's like-

Joe Rogan 1:52 Yeah.

Dave Attell 1:52 ... it's breathing for me. But, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:54 (laughs)

Dave Attell 1:54 ... on stage, it does focus, it helps focus you.

Joe Rogan 1:57 They say it's a, l- legitimately, they say n- nicotine is actually a good nootropic, which is a-

Dave Attell 2:02 Oh, is it?

Joe Rogan 2:02 Yeah, it actually enhances cognitive function. Like, if you do a test without nicotine, then do a test with nicotine-

Dave Attell 2:07 Really?

Joe Rogan 2:08 ... with non-users.

Dave Attell 2:09 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:09 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 2:09 It makes me nauseous. If I accidentally smoke a blunt, and not just straight weed or something-

Joe Rogan 2:14 Oh, really?

Jeff Ross 2:14 ... but just tobacco, like, Snoop handed me something the other day, and I thought it was all pop, but there was tobacco in there.

Joe Rogan 2:20 These things are the shit.

Dave Attell 2:22 What is it?

Joe Rogan 2:22 These blunts. There's a Backwoods.

Jeff Ross 2:23 I can deal with it on the, on the paper.

Joe Rogan 2:25 Jamie, where'd you get these? Where were they at?

Jeff Ross 2:27 Uh, th- this company, Hollywood's, Fort, I don't know, the store is, like, case all over it.

Joe Rogan 2:30 These are the shit. These, these are my favorite.

Jeff Ross 2:33 I'll have to check them out.

Dave Attell 2:35 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:35 Yeah. It's, uh, Charlie Murphy got me into these things back in the day, uh, because he would roll them himself. He would get those swisher sweets and he would tear them apart, and then he'd put the weed inside of it and roll it up.

Jeff Ross 2:45 Oh.

Joe Rogan 2:46 Yeah, old school. And then, uh, Chappelle got me into it again, because I smoked one with him one day, uh, at the back of The Comedy Store, I was like, "Damn, this is a weird high." You get high-

Dave Attell 2:56 Yeah, what is it like?

Joe Rogan 2:57 ... but you get a buzz. It's like you're a little bit high, but you're also a little bit buzzy from the-

Dave Attell 3:02 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 3:02 ... from the tobacco.

Dave Attell 3:04 Well, yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:04 I like it. I'm a fan.

Jeff Ross 3:05 Whatever it takes to make the jokes fly, bro.

Dave Attell 3:08 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 3:08 Y- whatever they were smoking-

Dave Attell 3:09 Stay off the sherm, though.

Joe Rogan 3:10 ... when they made your jacket.

Dave Attell 3:13 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 3:13 Dave will smoke, Dave will smoke a cigarette right before we go on-

Dave Attell 3:15 Come on, Joe.

Jeff Ross 3:16 ... and I'll, and I'll take, like, one hit of weed right before we go on, and we meet in the middle.

Joe Rogan 3:20 Yeah, one hit's good.

Jeff Ross 3:21 One hit before.

Joe Rogan 3:22 Yeah, not too much.

Dave Attell 3:23 Right.

Jeff Ross 3:23 No.

Dave Attell 3:23 Okay.

Joe Rogan 3:23 Yeah. Have you've gone too much before?

Jeff Ross 3:25 No.

Dave Attell 3:25 This guy?

Jeff Ross 3:26 Not ever? Not in a long, long, long, long time.

Joe Rogan 3:28 Yeah. You feel like, ah, I'd like one more, but ooh, that's a dangerous, dangerous decision.

Jeff Ross 3:33 Yeah, you wanna stay a little quick. Coffee, though. I need coffee before I go on.

Dave Attell 3:36 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 3:37 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 3:37 Red Bull will make me too, like, jumpy and nervous, but coffee will get my brain working just a little bit quicker than the audience's.

Joe Rogan 3:44 Did you guys do this one time as a goof and then start touring with it? Or did you just put the idea together? Like, how, wha- what made you decide to work together like this?

Dave Attell 3:54 You know, it, it all started out just late night at The Comedy Cellar, where, you know, I'd be on stage and I would just see Jeff in the room, and I would bring him up, and then we would just, you know, like, f- throw down basically-

Joe Rogan 4:04 Right, right.

Dave Attell 4:05 ... and have a great time. And, you know, we kept doing it and doing it, and people actually would, you know, like, they wanted to see it. It became, like, this kind of, like, "Are you guys gonna go up together?" They would always ask us, "Are you guys going up together?" So we could get the next mic going, you know-

Jeff Ross 4:17 Yeah.

Dave Attell 4:17 ... that kind of thing.

Jeff Ross 4:17 How it really w- when I started living in LA, or not even when I started, but in the last few years, I'd come back to New York, I have an apartment in Greenwich Village near The Comedy Cellar, and, you know, it's like Cheers, everyone knows your name. You, you land, you're, you go, instead of going to my empty apartment, I'll go, "Let's see who's at The Cellar, get something to eat," and I'd b- I'd start booking my flights where I'd land around midnight. Dave would i- would inevitably have the 1:00 AM spot, and I wouldn't, I just wanted to get my ya-yas out, and he would just bring me up. And he'd sit by the piano and I would goof off, or I'd sit by the piano and he would tell jokes, and we started s- setting each other up, and then organically, our friends started popping up with us, or people from the audience, or whatever, bachelorette party-

Dave Attell 4:59 Yeah, we-

Jeff Ross 4:59 ... and we just started making an act out of it without even realizing it.

Dave Attell 5:03 Yeah, it w- it w- it was like, uh, it w- it was a lot of fun, like, in the beginning especially, 'cause it was like, you know, he really kept me on my toes. Like, listening is, like, the hardest thing, listening on stage.

Jeff Ross 5:13 Right.

Joe Rogan 5:13 Right.

Dave Attell 5:13 You know? Uh, 'cause once you're up there alone, locked in, you know, like, you control all, like, facets of, of the performance, but when there's another person up there, especially... Jeff and I, we, we have so many different skill sets, so, like, it was really cool to, like, work off of him. It brought up my game a bit. It definitely made me quicker and faster and funnier to have to, like, you know, really p- pretty much roll with it, you know? And I, I think that the crowd dug that too. It was, like, a different energy than just straight up, like, a showcase, you know?

Jeff Ross 5:43 The one thing that you would do on a podcast that you wouldn't normally do on stage, which is look at someone else.

Joe Rogan 5:48 Right.

Jeff Ross 5:48 And it took me a long time, and I, I think-

Dave Attell 5:51 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 5:51 ... I could speak for Dave too. (laughs)

Dave Attell 5:52 Yeah, we had a million arguments on looking at each other-

Jeff Ross 5:54 Whether or not-

Dave Attell 5:54 ... like a couple.

Jeff Ross 5:55 ... it's like sports. If you look at somebody-

Dave Attell 5:57 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 5:57 ... you, you're never gonna not catch that ball.... but when you're wondering what the other guy's doing-

Dave Attell 6:02 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 6:02 ... and you're kinda going like this. But when I, it's like, it's like, we're, we connect now. And instead of doing, like, in tandem one-at-a-time jokes, we do jokes together.

Dave Attell 6:10 That's hard.

Joe Rogan 6:11 Yeah. Wha- what, uh, like, that's a weird thing, where, like-

Jeff Ross 6:13 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:13 ... you see twins, where twins will do an act, and one guy will do the setup-

Jeff Ross 6:16 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:16 ... and the other guy will do the punchline.

Jeff Ross 6:18 Yes.

Dave Attell 6:18 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:18 And then they bo- do a double punchline together.

Jeff Ross 6:21 We're hoping for that one day. (laughs)

Dave Attell 6:23 Mm-hmm. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:23 I feel like-

Dave Attell 6:24 Too coordinated.

Jeff Ross 6:25 I feel like it's one plus one equals three. You know, two headliners get together by choice, (can opening) not by necessity.

Dave Attell 6:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:32 Yeah. Yeah.

Dave Attell 6:33 But then-

Jeff Ross 6:33 And then, and then Dave, you know, I, I, it took a lot. Dave did not wanna go to Montreal. We went up to The Comedy Festival, and I basically begged him.

Dave Attell 6:41 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 6:41 And, uh-

Joe Rogan 6:42 To do it together?

Jeff Ross 6:43 Yeah.

Dave Attell 6:43 Yeah, I, I j- I saw it mostly as just, like, a fun thing to do, you know?

Jeff Ross 6:47 It's a hobby.

Joe Rogan 6:47 At the Cellar.

Dave Attell 6:47 You know? Yeah, like it was just, like, a cool, like, you know, basically, like, just let it all hang out. But Jeff saw, like, I guess the next step to it, so.

Jeff Ross 6:55 I always just thought it was something that if the comics wanted to see it that bad, and then more and more comics wanted to come on stage with us, and then more and more... Like, Jim Carrey came to one of our bi- shows in Montreal, and, and, and, and, and all the headliners started popping up with us. And I thought, "Oh, this is more than just us as a hobby. Like, this is something that no one else is really doing."

Dave Attell 7:18 Yeah, I, I-

Jeff Ross 7:19 And I, I got really into it really quick, and I tried to call it Bumping Mics, and Dave was like, "No."

Dave Attell 7:23 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 7:24 And I go, "Why?" He's like, "It's too on the nose."

Dave Attell 7:26 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:26 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 7:26 I go, "Well, that's good for a title. We don't have any other structure to our show."

Dave Attell 7:30 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 7:30 By the way, we don't rehearse. He has a flip phone. I can't even talk to him before the show. We don't have any plan whatsoever.

Dave Attell 7:38 It's pretty stressful, Jeff.

Joe Rogan 7:39 Why do you have a flip phone?

Dave Attell 7:40 Why? I'm trying to stay off the grid, dude.

Joe Rogan 7:42 Yeah?

Dave Attell 7:43 You saw me with the sword in front of the flag.

Joe Rogan 7:44 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 7:45 (laughs)

Dave Attell 7:46 I'm ready to go. I'm ready, I'm ready to be activated.

Jeff Ross 7:48 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:49 (laughs)

Dave Attell 7:49 No, I'll tell you this.

Jeff Ross 7:50 (laughs)

Dave Attell 7:50 Bumping Mics is the best title for it. He, Jeff is really a good producer, and all those different things, all the s- skillsets I don't have. Like, he's a producer, he knows showbiz, he's, all those different things. But, like, I, uh, I was like, we should have, like, really, like, workshopped some other names, like, uh, like Two Costellos Looking for an Abbott, you know?

Jeff Ross 8:09 (laughs)

Dave Attell 8:09 Like, (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:11 (laughs)

Dave Attell 8:12 Nickels and May I.

Joe Rogan 8:13 Oh.

Dave Attell 8:13 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 8:15 Right.

Dave Attell 8:15 But there's other teams out there. I'm not gonna say there aren't, but the thing is that, like, we're not really a team. Like, we both have our separate stuff, but when we get together, it's like this kind of, like, almost like, um, you know, like, within 48 hours, we're a team again, you know?

Jeff Ross 8:28 Right.

Dave Attell 8:29 So it's really difficult. But I think we rock out in certain situations. Like, I wanna go through it with you, because you've done every venue now. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 8:35 You've done outdoor, you've done theater, you've done casino. I think we are one of the best casino acts, I'll say right now.

Dave Attell 8:40 Casino acts.

Joe Rogan 8:41 Why?

Jeff Ross 8:41 I think we really are. Why? I think in a casino, we take it to the level that needs to be... Especially in a D-level casino, I'm talking, like-

Dave Attell 8:48 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:48 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 8:48 Like, you're like, hoping-

Joe Rogan 8:49 Pechanga?

Jeff Ross 8:50 Yeah, yeah, exactly. They're hoping for-

Joe Rogan 8:52 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 8:52 ... like, uh, uh, you know, like one of those electric poker things.

Joe Rogan 8:55 Ah.

Dave Attell 8:55 Right.

Jeff Ross 8:55 Electronic poker. Like, that kinda, that's us.

Joe Rogan 8:57 Foxwoods.

Jeff Ross 8:58 Yeah. Well, Fox, w- we do rock there.

Joe Rogan 8:59 Foxwoods is nice.

Jeff Ross 8:59 Dave likes the casinos, 'cause-

Dave Attell 9:01 I get to smoke.

Jeff Ross 9:01 ... yeah, they let him smoke. (laughs)

Dave Attell 9:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:03 Oh.

Jeff Ross 9:03 In the elevator, everywhere.

Dave Attell 9:04 My people, those are my people.

Joe Rogan 9:05 Right, that's true about casinos, right?

Jeff Ross 9:07 But it's also a very bawdy audience, and you can say anything, and you don't have to hold back at all.

Dave Attell 9:13 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 9:13 And, you know, we, uh, we-

Dave Attell 9:14 Jeff is fearless. I'm, I have a filter up, but he is fearless. He really is.

Joe Rogan 9:17 Actually, Pechanga's that place in Temecula, right?

Jeff Ross 9:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:20 That place is actually nice. What am I thinking of?

Dave Attell 9:23 It's better than that.

Joe Rogan 9:23 I'm thinking of, uh, what's that one on the 5?

Dave Attell 9:26 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 9:26 We'll play it.

Joe Rogan 9:26 What's that fucking place on the 5?

Dave Attell 9:28 Uh, the P- the Playboy one, maybe?

Joe Rogan 9:29 Rudy Moreno used to... Oh, The Hustler, 'cause he, that's what, uh...

Dave Attell 9:32 Yeah. That would be great.

Jeff Ross 9:32 We just did, we just did one-

Joe Rogan 9:34 You should do that.

Jeff Ross 9:34 ... like-

Dave Attell 9:35 Bethlehem, PA, that's our best one, dude.

Jeff Ross 9:37 I love that.

Joe Rogan 9:37 Which one?

Dave Attell 9:38 You know the one, it's an old steel mill, but now it's a casino, in Bethlehem?

Jeff Ross 9:40 In Pennsylvania?

Joe Rogan 9:41 Oh.

Dave Attell 9:41 Yeah, Lehigh, I think it is, Bethlehem.

Jeff Ross 9:43 We always have our best shows there, for some reason.

Dave Attell 9:44 Yeah, we really do. The crowd is so excited to see us.

Joe Rogan 9:48 That's what I mean, they're happy you're fucking there, man.

Jeff Ross 9:48 (laughs)

Dave Attell 9:48 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 9:48 That was our first road show ever.

Joe Rogan 9:49 Those weird, Wilkes-Barre.

Jeff Ross 9:50 Yeah.

Dave Attell 9:50 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 9:51 Those weird road gigs.

Jeff Ross 9:52 And then when we were gonna cancel, but we never canceled in, like, Utah or something?

Dave Attell 9:57 Uh, we did the Oklahoma run.

Jeff Ross 9:58 That one, Oklahoma.

Dave Attell 9:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:59 You guys did an Oklahoma run?

Dave Attell 10:01 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 10:01 No, he did. I did one.

Dave Attell 10:02 I did, uh, one casino, and then I drove through, like, this crazy storm to the next one. Oklahoma, man, you can drive as fast as you want. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 10:08 They don't give a fuck?

Dave Attell 10:09 They don't care.

Jeff Ross 10:10 Nothing to hit.

Joe Rogan 10:10 Montana didn't even have drive... They didn't even have speed limits.

Dave Attell 10:12 Isn't that cool?

Joe Rogan 10:13 They just had to impose speed limits within the last decade or two because of the federal government. They said, "Look, we're not gonna fix your fucking roads-"

Dave Attell 10:20 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:20 "... unless you tell people they can't go 150 miles an hour." (laughs)

Dave Attell 10:23 I love it.

Jeff Ross 10:24 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 10:24 That's Montana, though, you know? B- Burr says that Oklahoma's fucking amazing.

Jeff Ross 10:29 Yeah, we had a show there.

Joe Rogan 10:29 He said Tulsa was fantastic.

Dave Attell 10:30 Yeah, I want, I w- I wanna play there for sure, but I was playing the casinos, and then I met Jeff at this one, it's like right on the border of Texas. And, uh, you know, Seinfeld plays there.

Jeff Ross 10:39 Thackerville.

Dave Attell 10:40 Yeah. Seinfeld plays there.

Joe Rogan 10:41 Thackerville, Oklahoma.

Jeff Ross 10:42 That's the town it's in, yeah.

Dave Attell 10:43 And it was, like, a rough, one of those rough weeks.

Joe Rogan 10:44 Seinfeld goes to Thackerville?

Jeff Ross 10:45 Yeah.

Dave Attell 10:46 But, you know-

Joe Rogan 10:46 Literally?

Jeff Ross 10:47 Yeah.

Dave Attell 10:47 ... he, he's got it down to a science, man. You know, fly in, fly out, that kinda thing. You know, we're embedded.

Joe Rogan 10:52 Fly in that night, fly out that night.

Dave Attell 10:52 We're embedded there. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 10:53 I don't guess, I guess if you have a nice life and a nice house, but I like going and looking around the local-

Dave Attell 10:58 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 10:59 ... places and-

Joe Rogan 11:00 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 11:00 ... eating the local fare. I still kinda love that.

Dave Attell 11:03 Well-

Joe Rogan 11:03 Well, he's in that weird place too, where I don't think he can go places.

Dave Attell 11:06 Yeah, that's true. He can't really hang around.

Joe Rogan 11:07 If he's walking down the street, you're like, "Holy shit, it's Seinfeld."

Jeff Ross 11:10 It's mayhem.

Joe Rogan 11:10 Yeah.

Dave Attell 11:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:11 It's gotta be weird.

Dave Attell 11:12 Joe, that's what we do after the show, 'cause we're both a little older now, we, we really eat, that's what we do. We really, like, enjoy it.

Joe Rogan 11:18 I love eating.

Dave Attell 11:18 What's your, like, do you like steaks and stuff?

Joe Rogan 11:20 Yeah.

Dave Attell 11:21 Oh, dude, you should hang with us, 'cause we really go-

Jeff Ross 11:23 But he doesn't eat cow steaks. He eats, like, weird-

Joe Rogan 11:24 I eat cow steaks too.

Jeff Ross 11:25 He eats, like, wolf steak and shit.

Dave Attell 11:28 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 11:28 I would eat a wolf steak, but I'm afraid of a wolf.

Dave Attell 11:29 Like Game of Thrones stuff.

Jeff Ross 11:29 That's why this lady was giving kids their elk breakfast.

Dave Attell 11:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 11:33 My kids eat elk, they really do.

Jeff Ross 11:36 (laughs)

Dave Attell 11:36 Well, we'll eat it.

Joe Rogan 11:36 It's delicious. I wish I... Uh, I need to set up a kitchen here and cook for you guys.

Dave Attell 11:40 Oh, that would be great.

Joe Rogan 11:41 It's fucking fantastic. You, you eat it.

Jeff Ross 11:41 Kids, eat your elk-eos for breakfast.

Dave Attell 11:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 11:45 Elk-eos. If you ate it, you'd wanna get it more.

Jeff Ross 11:48 Really?

Joe Rogan 11:48 Yeah. Yeah.

Dave Attell 11:48 What does it taste like in, in the meat scale?

Joe Rogan 11:50 Like, uh, a bison.

Jeff Ross 11:53 No.

Joe Rogan 11:53 Like, in, a little bit more, uh, unusual.

Dave Attell 11:56 Mm.

Joe Rogan 11:57 Better than venison.

Dave Attell 11:58 How do you cook it?

Joe Rogan 11:59 Better, better than, like, deer venison. Slowly, on a pellet grill, and then I sear it on the outside at the end.

Dave Attell 12:04 Wow.

Joe Rogan 12:05 Yeah.

Dave Attell 12:05 So, your Thanksgiving must be out of control, huh?

Jeff Ross 12:08 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 12:08 Well, this year, no.

Dave Attell 12:09 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 12:09 This year, we just did the normal turkey thing.

Dave Attell 12:11 Oh.

Joe Rogan 12:11 Put a turkey in a deep, uh-

Jeff Ross 12:12 But he caught it with his own hands-

Dave Attell 12:14 That's true.

Jeff Ross 12:15 ... from the roof of the studio. (laughs)

Dave Attell 12:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 12:19 Uh, we did the peanut oil thing, where you deep fry it in peanut oil.

Dave Attell 12:22 Oh.

Joe Rogan 12:22 It makes it better.

Dave Attell 12:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:23 Yeah, but it's like, it's a scam. It's a scam.

Dave Attell 12:24 How did you learn to do all this stuff?

Jeff Ross 12:26 What do you mean?

Dave Attell 12:26 Like, every time I meet you, you have, like, two other skills. Like, how do you do this stuff? You're pretty busy.

Joe Rogan 12:30 I need things to f- occupy my brain.

Dave Attell 12:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:33 I, I just have one of those brains. The only way I'm at peace is if I have a bunch of difficult shit that I do all the time. I have to-

Dave Attell 12:38 Constantly challenging yourself.

Joe Rogan 12:39 Yeah, I, I have to.

Dave Attell 12:40 Wow.

Joe Rogan 12:40 That's how my brain works.

Dave Attell 12:42 Wow.

Joe Rogan 12:42 You know, everybody has their own weird kink.

Dave Attell 12:44 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 12:45 My kink is I need to be exhausted.

Jeff Ross 12:48 (laughs)

Dave Attell 12:48 Wow.

Joe Rogan 12:49 I-

Dave Attell 12:49 Like, just for your brain itself-

Joe Rogan 12:50 Yeah.

Dave Attell 12:50 ... it needs to be fed?

Joe Rogan 12:51 But my brain f- needs shit to do. It needs things to concentrate on. If I, if I don't have things to concentrate on or things that are really difficult, I, uh, I start playing tricks on myself.

Dave Attell 13:01 You mean mental or physical?

Joe Rogan 13:02 Both. Both mental and physical, yeah.

Dave Attell 13:04 You get like depressive-

Jeff Ross 13:05 How do you handle stress?

Joe Rogan 13:05 I have to have both.

Jeff Ross 13:06 How do you handle the time management with family and career and touring?

Joe Rogan 13:10 Get up early.

Jeff Ross 13:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:10 Get up early, so like this morning, I was up at 6:30. Kids go to school, they're, they're leaving the house by 7:00. I take the dog running, I'm gone for two hours, and then I (clears throat) come back, get a bunch of shit done at the house, then come over here.

Dave Attell 13:22 Wow.

Joe Rogan 13:23 And then, you know, hang out with you guys for a few hours, then I'm gonna lift, and then I'm gonna go to the store, and, uh, do a couple sets, have a good time.

Dave Attell 13:31 So, that's like, you're doing, like, a 16-hour day there, right?

Joe Rogan 13:34 Well, yeah, but the thing is, like, the way it works really good with me with family is that most of the stuff I'm doing either while my kids are at school or while my kids are asleep. So, by the time I leave, I have a 10:00 spot at the store, they're already asleep.

Jeff Ross 13:46 Right.

Joe Rogan 13:46 They go to bed at, like, 8:30.

Dave Attell 13:48 How old are they now?

Joe Rogan 13:49 The, the youngest ones are eight and 10.

Dave Attell 13:51 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 13:51 Yeah, so it's, they're, it's, uh, they go to bed, you know, they get up at, like, 6:30. They go to bed at, like, 8:30.

Jeff Ross 13:58 Mm.

Joe Rogan 13:59 You know, so that's perfect time for me. Then they leave.

Dave Attell 14:01 Yeah, now you got your own. Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 14:03 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 14:03 When's the last time you just quit something in the middle and was like, "Fuck it, I can't figure this out"?

Joe Rogan 14:07 Like what?

Jeff Ross 14:07 A bit, a, a, a routine.

Joe Rogan 14:10 Oh. Sometimes bits, you just gotta abandon them and come back to them in a couple of weeks or a couple months or a year.

Dave Attell 14:14 A couple of years.

Joe Rogan 14:15 Sometimes, yeah.

Jeff Ross 14:16 (clears throat)

Dave Attell 14:16 Everybody has that one, like, great beginning of a bit.

Joe Rogan 14:19 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 14:19 And they're like, "Where does this go?"

Joe Rogan 14:21 Yeah.

Dave Attell 14:21 And then you just keep throwing it out, throwing it out, throwing it out.

Jeff Ross 14:24 (sighs)

Dave Attell 14:24 That's the cool thing with Jeff is that, like, um, you know, we both bring material up on stage. But at the end of the day, it's the stuff that just comes to us, like that, you know, in the moment stuff, especially with the audience. That's the stuff that I really think, uh, you know, we should give a shout-out to Andrew, the director-

Jeff Ross 14:39 Of course.

Dave Attell 14:39 ... for capturing all that. Uh, Jeff's friend who is now-

Jeff Ross 14:42 Andrew Jarecki.

Dave Attell 14:43 ... uh, one of the best directors out there, man. He really, uh, he really, you know ... Once again, it was Jeff's choice, and he did the job and then some. I mean, it's so good the way he put it all together, you know?

Joe Rogan 14:53 And you guys have ... It's more than just you guys going on stage. There's a bunch of other stuff happening.

Jeff Ross 14:58 There's a bunch of people that drop by. Uh-

Dave Attell 14:59 It's a three ep- three-episode series.

Joe Rogan 15:01 Oh, really?

Dave Attell 15:03 Docuseries. So, I don't know if you saw The Jinx on HBO about, uh, Robert Durst, the legend murderer.

Joe Rogan 15:09 No, I never watched that. I, I-

Dave Attell 15:09 It's a phenomenal documentary.

Joe Rogan 15:11 I've heard.

Dave Attell 15:11 And my buddy, Andrew Jarecki, directed that. He also directed Capturing the Friedmans years ago. It was an Oscar-nominated documentary.

Joe Rogan 15:18 What was that about?

Dave Attell 15:19 That was about a, a family of convicted, actually, child molester math, science teachers in Long Island.

Joe Rogan 15:27 Oh.

Dave Attell 15:27 Father, son.

Joe Rogan 15:28 I remember the ...

Dave Attell 15:29 Based on a, a short that he did about a party clown whose family wound up being implicated in this crazy controversy.

Joe Rogan 15:37 Oh, that's right. That's right. Oh, that was him, huh?

Dave Attell 15:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:40 Wow.

Jeff Ross 15:40 And I, I, Andrew and I are tight, and Dave and I were sort of going back and forth on who could sort of direct us, who would know our moves but yet have the experience, and-

Dave Attell 15:50 Right.

Jeff Ross 15:50 ... Dave doesn't like anybody that's too hip.

Joe Rogan 15:52 (laughs)

Dave Attell 15:52 I, I just wanted, I wanted, I like it straight ahead.

Jeff Ross 15:55 That's why I thought of Andrew. (laughs)

Dave Attell 15:55 I liked it straight ahead, and I, and I also think some of these comedy specials are over-directed.

Jeff Ross 16:00 Right.

Dave Attell 16:00 So, I didn't want to fall into this whole, like, you know, instead of, like, lighting the stage, you guys hold lanterns, you know.

Jeff Ross 16:06 Oh.

Joe Rogan 16:06 (laughs)

Dave Attell 16:06 Like that kind of thing.

Jeff Ross 16:07 Jesus Christ.

Dave Attell 16:07 You know, you bump lanterns, and then we'll have-

Jeff Ross 16:09 Oh, God.

Dave Attell 16:09 ... you know, like, that kind of a thing. Like, you know, that'll be the essence of the humor.

Joe Rogan 16:12 That could happen too, right?

Dave Attell 16:13 Yeah, exactly, so...

Joe Rogan 16:15 Yeah.

Dave Attell 16:15 But, uh, he really, he really was cool and he really was patient, and he really, like, brought a lot of things outside of I know my wheelhouse. You know, it's a collaboration, which is another thing you're not used to doing when you do your own special. Like, you know, you're like, "Hey, I wanna do it this way. I've been doing it this way, and I want it that way." But when you have other voices in the room, and, uh, you know, other ideas, then, you know, you gotta, like, pretty much mesh it together into something that, you know, pretty much, I guess, captures the spirit of it, and also, like, hopefully the funny of it, you know?

Joe Rogan 16:44 Well, if you got that guy as your director, I mean, that's fucking incredible.

Jeff Ross 16:48 It looks cool, and he also understood our personalities and our friendship.

Dave Attell 16:52 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 16:52 You know, I've been chasing Dave my whole career. I always (clears throat) ... Uh, does an open mic, or I would go watch Dave, or, you know, I always thought, like, if, no one's gonna make it in our crew until Dave makes it. Dave was always the one-

Dave Attell 17:04 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 17:04 ... that everybody came to watch. Even when Ray Romano was popping on TV, he would go down to watch Dave and tell, you know, Riff. And, you know, my first TV spot was a seven-hour train ride with Dave to, like, Canada, you know, when we were really young. And, and-

Dave Attell 17:22 I've heard three versions of this story, Joe.

Jeff Ross 17:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 17:24 What's the first version?

Dave Attell 17:25 No, it's like, it's like Canada or Syracuse.

Jeff Ross 17:27 (laughs)

Dave Attell 17:27 I think ...

Joe Rogan 17:28 Seven hours?

Jeff Ross 17:28 No, it was Can- it was, it was, uh, uh-

Dave Attell 17:31 Hamilton?

Jeff Ross 17:32 ... Hamilton, Hamilton, Canada, whatever we took a train from New York.

Dave Attell 17:34 (laughs) On Toronto-

Jeff Ross 17:34 Anyway, I'm just saying, Hamilton, it's called.

Dave Attell 17:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 17:37 Isn't that in Ontario?

Jeff Ross 17:38 I guess so.

Joe Rogan 17:39 Is it?

Jeff Ross 17:40 But, uh, I'm just saying, I've been ... Dave, Dave is my favorite comic.

Dave Attell 17:44 Yeah, I didn't know that until we really started working together.

Jeff Ross 17:46 (clears throat) ............................

Dave Attell 17:48 I consider him contemporary, you know.

Joe Rogan 17:50 Does he weird you out? He's like, you're his favorite comic?

Dave Attell 17:52 Um, a little bit.

Jeff Ross 17:53 (laughs)

Dave Attell 17:53 You know, to be honest, yeah. (laughs) But no, I, I see, I see Jeff as, like, beyond unique. Like, there's nobody like him, and what he does and what he is able to do is really, it's really ... It's not only fun to watch, but it's really, like, you know, you're a self-starter, he's a self-starter. Like, it's great to see self-starters who find success because it really is difficult to, like, take something and, like, make it not only, uh, financially successful, but also, like, something that, that we all respect and love, you know? And that's, you know, I'd say the roasting thing, that Jeff really pretty much has rebranded into, like, you know, every, ev- every possible way you can do it is always good because he's behind it, you know?

Joe Rogan 18:32 It is interesting that-

Dave Attell 18:33 When it's not, when it's not really with him, then it, you're like, "I'm not so sure."

Joe Rogan 18:36 Yeah.

Dave Attell 18:36 'Cause other people are really good at it too, but I'm just saying that, like, you know, that is when, you know, uh, we're on the road and people will scream out the car door-It's the roast master. I mean, like, you know, I had my insomniac time, but he, like, 20, 30 times that in terms of, like, recognition. I mean, it's just amazing.

Joe Rogan 18:54 It is weird that you're-

Jeff Ross 18:55 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 18:55 ... you're synonymous with roasts.

Jeff Ross 18:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:58 You know? I mean, like, when people say roast, they think Jeff Ross.

Jeff Ross 19:01 I earned it because when people laughed at me and thought, "Oh, that's a dead art, it's a lost art, it's antiquated, it's corny-"

Joe Rogan 19:07 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 19:07 "... it's old guys," I stuck by it and said, "No, it's alternative comedy. No one's doing it." I get to- I get to hang with legends like Buddy Hackett and Milton Berle, you know, and- and I stuck to it because... And there was a wh- there was a- there- there was a time where I was, like, embarrassed, like, "Oh, I'm gonna be pigeonholed as the roast guy."

Joe Rogan 19:27 Were you embarrassed?

Jeff Ross 19:28 Not em- Uh, I don't know if embarrassed is the right word, but-

Joe Rogan 19:30 Uncomfortable?

Jeff Ross 19:31 Yeah. 'Cause you're like, "Well, I wanna be more than that," you know?

Joe Rogan 19:33 When- when was this around?

Jeff Ross 19:35 This was probably 10 years ago, and I was in Vegas. Chappelle again, words of wisdom, he's like, "Dude, that's your lane, make that a five-lane highway-

Joe Rogan 19:45 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 19:46 ... and ride it." And that's kinda what we started- what I started doing, started really owning it and loving it. And, to the credit of the world, as we became more pussies in the world, like-

Dave Attell 19:58 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 19:58 ... roasting became more and more potent and important.

Dave Attell 20:01 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 20:02 And the world needs to develop thick skin, and I think roasting honors people and it's done with love, but it also kinda toughens us up a little bit.

Dave Attell 20:11 Well-

Jeff Ross 20:12 I think it's of the time.

Joe Rogan 20:13 When I came back to The Comedy Store, first thing I came back to watch was Roast Battle.

Jeff Ross 20:18 Yeah.

Dave Attell 20:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:18 And, uh, I hadn't really know- I- or- I'd heard, but I didn't really know where it was.

Jeff Ross 20:23 Right. I remember that night.

Joe Rogan 20:24 And then w- I remember that night really well 'cause I remember thinking, "Holy shit, this is so mean-"

Jeff Ross 20:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 20:29 "... but, like, so funny."

Dave Attell 20:31 It is. I- I- sometimes I'm like, "Whoa."

Jeff Ross 20:33 You-

Joe Rogan 20:33 But-

Dave Attell 20:33 You guys go deep.

Joe Rogan 20:33 But really good.

Jeff Ross 20:35 We were at the other club-

Joe Rogan 20:36 That's weird.

Jeff Ross 20:36 ... The Improv. Sure. Thanks.

Joe Rogan 20:38 That's, uh, that's got tobacco though.

Jeff Ross 20:39 I'll take a-

Joe Rogan 20:40 A little bit.

Dave Attell 20:41 Oh, really?

Joe Rogan 20:41 Yeah, on the side.

Jeff Ross 20:41 All right, I'll take a real small-

Joe Rogan 20:42 Tobacco leaf.

Jeff Ross 20:43 ... a- the leaf I can deal with.

Joe Rogan 20:44 All right, deal with it. All right.

Dave Attell 20:45 How about-

Joe Rogan 20:45 It doesn't have any inside.

Jeff Ross 20:46 Is my company gonna crumble because of this?

Joe Rogan 20:48 Your compa-

Jeff Ross 20:48 Am I gonna get audited by NASA?

Dave Attell 20:49 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 20:49 It's- it- it pumped him up. He went down, but then he went back up. Tesla went down, and then it went up.

Jeff Ross 20:55 Really?

Joe Rogan 20:56 Went down 6%, then it went up nine.

Jeff Ross 20:57 The studio still smells a little musky.

Joe Rogan 21:00 Ah. But that night, when I walked in there, I remember thinking, "This is a joke-writing thing. This isn't just, uh, as simple as, um..."

Jeff Ross 21:08 The art of the insult.

Joe Rogan 21:09 Yeah, it's- but it's- it's- it's joke writing.

Jeff Ross 21:12 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:12 And one of the things I love about Roast Battle is how Moses makes everybody hug-

Jeff Ross 21:16 Right.

Joe Rogan 21:16 ... at the end of it. It's- it's very cool. It's-

Jeff Ross 21:20 Well, I started judging it, and people were pushing each other and screaming at each other, and I wrote the rules of Roast Battle. Original material only, um, no physical contact.

Joe Rogan 21:32 Yeah, that's scary.

Jeff Ross 21:33 And every battle ends with a hug.

Joe Rogan 21:34 I've seen that with, um, rap battles, where guys punch each other in the face. Rap battles are, like, the way more mean version of Roast Battle. Like-

Jeff Ross 21:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:41 ... th- those fucking guys. I've seen some just horrible, horrible shit people say to each other.

Jeff Ross 21:47 And Moses, like, he owns that- that- that- that circus.

Joe Rogan 21:52 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 21:52 And you gotta admire the fact that he can, week after week, make that work. You know-

Joe Rogan 21:57 You know, one of the reasons why it works? He's so likable. Like, Brian is such a nice guy.

Jeff Ross 22:02 The best.

Joe Rogan 22:03 He's such-

Jeff Ross 22:03 The best.

Joe Rogan 22:03 ... he's such a good-

Jeff Ross 22:04 (sniffs) .

Joe Rogan 22:05 ... good-hearted, sweet person, you know?

Jeff Ross 22:08 We were at The Improv that night. You hadn't been at The Comic Store in years and years and years and years. And I don't know all the details, and it never really was part of-

Jamie Vernon 22:15 (clears throat)

Jeff Ross 22:15 ... part of my... And y- you were asking me about Roast Battle, or somebody started asking me about it in front of you.

Joe Rogan 22:23 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 22:23 And I saw you getting curious, and you were getting more curious. And you were maybe a little homesick for The Comedy Store. Who knows? And I said, "Come on, let's go. Jump in my car."

Joe Rogan 22:31 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 22:31 And you're like, "I'll meet you there."

Dave Attell 22:32 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 22:33 And you sat up on the balcony where the judges sit, and you hadn't been in the Belly Room in five years maybe, who knows? And-

Joe Rogan 22:41 Seven.

Jeff Ross 22:42 Seven years. And you're sitting there, and Moses does a double take, and he's too afraid. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't really know you. You haven't been back there. You haven't been in the store. And finally, I- I say, "Comedy Store legend back after a long time. Say hi to Joe Rog-" Real low-key intro. And I've been in that room a lot for Roast Battle. I'd never heard anything-

Dave Attell 23:02 Mm.

Jeff Ross 23:02 ... like... (laughs) This place reverberated. Like, I thought we were gonna fall into the main room. And it was it. That was it. You've- you've been back every day since.

Joe Rogan 23:11 Well, I had to go back too because Ari was filming his Comedy Central special the next night.

Jeff Ross 23:15 Right.

Dave Attell 23:15 Yes.

Jeff Ross 23:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 23:16 It's one of the reasons why I had to go to Roast Battle- (clears throat)

Jeff Ross 23:18 I love him.

Joe Rogan 23:19 ... is because-

Dave Attell 23:19 I love him. I really do.

Joe Rogan 23:19 ... I love him, uh, there was no way I was gonna miss his special. I was like, "I have to go there. I don't wanna go there the night of his special. Let me just go there a day early."

Jeff Ross 23:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:27 So I went there a day early.

Jeff Ross 23:28 And you, uh, you wound up judging Roast Battle on Comedy Central-

Joe Rogan 23:32 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 23:32 ... and doing all... Uh, y- you're a part of our... Uh, you're- you're royalty over there.

Dave Attell 23:36 Can I say-

Joe Rogan 23:36 That was when Earl Skakel came out shirtless (laughs) with a fucking gold chain-

Dave Attell 23:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:40 ... with a fur coat on.

Dave Attell 23:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:42 To this day, that was one of the greatest entrances I've ever seen-

Dave Attell 23:45 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:45 ... anybody take on stage, and he fucking murdered too.

Dave Attell 23:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:49 I mean, he was on fire that night.

Jeff Ross 23:51 Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 23:51 On fire.

Dave Attell 23:54 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 23:54 It's like the art of the insult. You might not be the strongest headlining act, but if you can put five jokes together-

Joe Rogan 24:00 Right. But-

Jeff Ross 24:00 ... you can take somebody down.

Joe Rogan 24:01 But here's the question: Why is it that so many people excel at that, like especially young comics, but they can't seem to figure out a way to generate that kinda energy during a regular set?

Jeff Ross 24:12 Oh.

Dave Attell 24:12 It's different.

Joe Rogan 24:12 It is.

Dave Attell 24:12 I think they don't get stage time. I think that's really what it is.

Joe Rogan 24:15 There's a lot of that, for sure.

Dave Attell 24:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 24:17 Right?

Dave Attell 24:17 That this is their moment, so they throw all in.

Joe Rogan 24:19 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 24:20 But can I say, as an outsider, since I never was really a West Coast, you know, comic like you guys, uh, is that The Comedy Store, from back in the day, to before the roast battling, to- to the roast battling, like, an amazing difference.

Joe Rogan 24:33 Yeah.

Dave Attell 24:33 I remember walking in there, and it was like- it was like a haunted house, you know?

Joe Rogan 24:36 Yep.

Dave Attell 24:36 You're like, "Where is everybody? What's going on? Sam Kinison played here." You know? And then, like, you know, you go on stage, and it was like, you know, 12 tourists in the room, and then a bunch of comics in the back. And then, after the roast battle, like, the energy, you could just see it just went out, like, through the roof of just, like, it was the place to hang, and like, you know, became, like, when you're in town, you wanna go by this store and just check it out and, like, go on stage and, you know... The crowds there became way better, and I think that you were part of that, of, like, really help reenergizing that club, you know?

Joe Rogan 25:04 100%. That's what I felt.

Dave Attell 25:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:06 That's what I felt when I went back. I was like, "This is a different place."

Jeff Ross 25:09 Even L- Lil Rel Howery said, "There's no other s-"... comedy competition where other comics come to watch.

Joe Rogan 25:15 Yeah, true. 100%.

Jeff Ross 25:16 And, and cheer on their friends, or-

Joe Rogan 25:18 (coughs)

Jeff Ross 25:18 ... or kinda roll their eyes at the ones that they don't want to win, and there's a fraternity there. I feel like comedians... And I feel like we're a cult, in a weird way. Sometimes I feel like I'm a comedian before I'm even an American. Like, I meet comedians from all over the world, and I feel like I know them my whole life.

Joe Rogan 25:34 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 25:35 And Roast Battle is now international.

Joe Rogan 25:37 (coughs)

Dave Attell 25:38 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 25:38 So-

Dave Attell 25:39 That's a great story, yeah.

Jeff Ross 25:39 ... it really is a movement like that, where it was sort of a corny thing that nobody really understood, the roasting... I couldn't even try out roast jokes when I first started. It was, like, so mean if I would stand there with a piece of paper and read 10 William Shatner jokes.

Dave Attell 25:53 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 25:53 People would be like, "Oh, he's so m- that's so mean."

Joe Rogan 25:56 You were doing that one night at the Improv. I'm trying to remember who you were practicing for.

Jeff Ross 26:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:01 You were r- but, uh, and people were like, "Oh."

Jeff Ross 26:04 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:04 "Oh."

Dave Attell 26:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:05 The same people that would be at the roast-

Jeff Ross 26:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:07 ... they'd be dying.

Jeff Ross 26:08 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:09 It's hard to put yourself in that roast mindset. Like, when you go to see the roast mindset, it's like going to see a fight.

Dave Attell 26:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:14 So if you went to see a fight, and you knew you were gonna go see a fight, you could handle the fact that a fight was going on.

Jeff Ross 26:20 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:20 But if you just show up at the movies and two people start head kicking each other-

Jeff Ross 26:23 (laughs)

Dave Attell 26:23 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:24 ... you're like, "Holy shit. What the fuck are you doing?"

Jeff Ross 26:27 (laughs)

Dave Attell 26:27 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:27 "Stop." It's like, we can agree to, to horrific shit-

Dave Attell 26:32 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 26:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:33 ... if we just know it's gonna take place in advance.

Jeff Ross 26:35 I guess there's part of that. And it, and it is a sport. Roasting ha- is- is- is a sport.

Joe Rogan 26:40 100%. It's definitely a game, 'cause there's strategy involved. It's not just jokes. It's like you're trying to disarm someone's material towards you, maybe. Like, sometimes guys will go at themselves first.

Jeff Ross 26:52 Right. Right.

Joe Rogan 26:53 And then go at their, their opponent, like, in the same joke.

Jeff Ross 26:57 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:57 But they go... They're already sort of... They're d- t- t-... It's very smart. People are being clever with it, 'cause they've been doing it for a few years now.

Jeff Ross 27:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:03 So they've seen people bomb, they've seen people murder.

Jeff Ross 27:06 Uh, there's strategy-

Joe Rogan 27:07 Fuck, yeah.

Jeff Ross 27:07 ... like any other sport.

Joe Rogan 27:08 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 27:08 And you punch back, and you have your-

Joe Rogan 27:10 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 27:10 ... you have your, uh, retort ready, and-

Joe Rogan 27:13 Yes.

Jeff Ross 27:13 ... and, you know, there's all kinds of other little things, like, you know, maybe don't mention the obvious thing till the end, and then you're gonna (imitates explosion) .

Joe Rogan 27:21 Sure.

Jeff Ross 27:21 You know?

Joe Rogan 27:21 Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Ross 27:22 I don't wanna give too many secrets away, but-

Dave Attell 27:24 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 27:24 ... the better roast battles, battlers, will study the game tape, if you will-

Joe Rogan 27:28 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 27:28 ... and figure all this stuff out. And, you know, five jokes, I mean, you, y- y- it's not easy.

Joe Rogan 27:34 No, it's not easy.

Jeff Ross 27:35 Y- if you trip or stumble, can you recover?

Joe Rogan 27:39 Tony Hinchcliffe's a goddamn assassin at that shit.

Jeff Ross 27:41 Yeah.

Dave Attell 27:41 The best.

Joe Rogan 27:42 That motherfucker.

Jeff Ross 27:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:43 He's an assassin at roasts. He's got a evil little black spot in his heart-

Jeff Ross 27:48 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:49 ... that he likes to open up (groans) whenever those roasts come out.

Jeff Ross 27:53 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:53 Whoo! Those jokes are vicious and clean and tight.

Dave Attell 27:57 But I, I've generationally-

Jeff Ross 27:58 And he works at it.

Joe Rogan 27:59 Mm-hmm, and he works hard.

Jeff Ross 27:59 It doesn't... It's not something we do off the top of our head. I mean, there... If you can do that also-

Joe Rogan 28:03 Yup.

Jeff Ross 28:04 ... but Tony takes it seriously. A- a- and it's like, like I say, the... It's an art.

Joe Rogan 28:08 Yes.

Dave Attell 28:09 That's also the skill of joke writing, which is like, in today's world of more storytelling and all that kinda stuff, that y- it's f- it's, it's few and far between where you actually see, like, someone who could put together a couple o' jokes in a row.

Joe Rogan 28:21 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 28:21 And you're like, "Wow, that was a great run." You know?

Joe Rogan 28:23 Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Ross 28:23 Yeah, yeah.

Dave Attell 28:23 Like, everybody has one good joke, and then, like, you know, maybe a couple o' tags. But, like, to actually have a, a great run, you know, that's the thing that always excites me about comedy. And when... He'll tell you, like, when we work together, he'll go, "What new stuff do you have?" And, like, we'll just throw it up there, and, like, I'll try and, um, you know, basically work it out on stage. 'Cause I know it's not, like, one of my own bits, like a formed bit yet.

Joe Rogan 28:44 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 28:45 It's like something that I can work with him, and that's fun too. That also, like, opens your mind to a whole other world of, like, joke writing, you know?

Joe Rogan 28:51 Sure, especially you're doing it right next to another comic.

Dave Attell 28:54 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 28:54 That's how we start.

Joe Rogan 28:55 I mean, that's-

Jeff Ross 28:55 We, we wrote-

Joe Rogan 28:55 That's amazing.

Dave Attell 28:56 It's difficult.

Jeff Ross 28:56 We always start by talking about each other. Dave looks like an umpire during a rain delay.

Dave Attell 29:01 I'm actually wearing the same stuff-

Jeff Ross 29:03 (laughs)

Dave Attell 29:03 ... right now on special, so...

Joe Rogan 29:05 (laughs)

Dave Attell 29:05 Jeff mixes it up a bit.

Joe Rogan 29:06 Well, this is a-

Dave Attell 29:06 It's easier for me.

Jeff Ross 29:07 Dave, that outfit makes a statement.

Dave Attell 29:08 What is it?

Joe Rogan 29:09 That's a very clear-

Dave Attell 29:10 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 29:10 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:10 ... Dave Attell outfit.

Dave Attell 29:11 This is it, man.

Joe Rogan 29:12 Low-key.

Jeff Ross 29:12 That's the- makes a statement.

Joe Rogan 29:13 Flip phone.

Dave Attell 29:14 What i- what's i- what is it?

Jeff Ross 29:15 I know how to delete a hard drive.

Dave Attell 29:18 I do, I do creep it up.

Jeff Ross 29:20 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:20 Why do you just have a f- you still didn't answer about the flip phone. Why do you have a flip phone?

Dave Attell 29:24 Well, I like the flip phone. Y- like, you don't get distracted with the web, 'cause it s- takes forever to get the-

Joe Rogan 29:29 Right.

Dave Attell 29:29 ... web on there. But, uh, it's just... I don't know. I don't really like technology. I don't like the web. I feel like, um, you know, there's something about the virtual experience and the live experience that, like, we're, we're really in that world now of, like, coming to see someone live is getting harder and harder. But, like, they'll know all your clips on the, on YouTube-

Joe Rogan 29:48 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 29:48 ... you know? So, I, I don't know. I, I-

Joe Rogan 29:50 But don't you think more people are going to see people live than ever before?

Dave Attell 29:53 Well, Joe, not me. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 29:56 (laughs)

Dave Attell 29:56 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:56 I think the r- if there's any reason for that at all, it's definitely not y- your, your act, 'cause you're fucking-

Dave Attell 30:01 It's gotta be content.

Joe Rogan 30:02 ... brilliant.

Dave Attell 30:02 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 30:02 No, it's, it's your lack of connection with the internet.

Dave Attell 30:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:06 I think if you were connected more with the internet, more people would be going to see you.

Jeff Ross 30:09 Hmm.

Dave Attell 30:09 I'm not a good promoter, I know that.

Joe Rogan 30:10 I, I, I 100% believe that. I 100% believe that.

Jeff Ross 30:12 I can see that.

Joe Rogan 30:12 'Cause you're, you're... It's hard to talk complimentary about someone when they're right in front of you. You're, you're brilliant as a joke writer. You're one of the most prolific I know-

Dave Attell 30:21 Oh, thank you.

Joe Rogan 30:21 ... one of the most clever that I know, but you're also the...

Dave Attell 30:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:25 You have less ego than anyone I've ever met in my life. You're like some weird fucking Tibetan monk dude-

Jeff Ross 30:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:31 ... that's been sitting up in some cave somewhere. I mean, you're one of the best comics ever, in my opinion.

Dave Attell 30:36 Wow.

Joe Rogan 30:36 And you, you, you're so, you're so low-key. It freaks people out sometimes.

Dave Attell 30:41 I, I, I'm all about the... I, I really love to hang. Like he was saying, like, the, the cult of the comics-

Joe Rogan 30:46 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 30:47 ... like us hanging-

Joe Rogan 30:47 Yeah.

Dave Attell 30:47 ... and, like, coming from you, dude, that's, like, extra special, so thank you.

Jeff Ross 30:50 Dave doesn't even like to get recognized when

30:52 I know he doesn't. I can tell.

Dave Attell 30:52 Yeah, I don't like any of that stuff, but-

Joe Rogan 30:54 That's why I think th- I d- I think there's a correlation. You're, you have more bandwidth-

Dave Attell 30:58 It's my own self-hate. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 31:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:00 No, but you also have more bandwidth for what you're doing, your standup. You know?

Dave Attell 31:04 I don't-

Joe Rogan 31:04 You're looking at... It's a, it's a good mixture, because, like, you've obviously, y- y- you've obviously been really successful with, like, staying in this groove, particularly after you stopped drinking and everything too.

Dave Attell 31:15 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:16 Like, you're, you're in this tight groove.

Dave Attell 31:18 I'm present.

Joe Rogan 31:19 Yeah.

Dave Attell 31:19 That's what, that's what I can say, but-

Joe Rogan 31:20 Dude, your set at the Improv that I saw was about, like, six months... We were at the Improv together? Something like that?

Dave Attell 31:25 Yes.

Joe Rogan 31:25 Five or six months?

Dave Attell 31:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:26 Goddamn, that was funny shit. Really fun.

Dave Attell 31:29 But I'll... You know, it's funny, like, when you talk about the... Like, I love...... th- there's no harder fan now than your fans. I mean, like, they know comedy, they know a lot of things, and they totally respect the art form and, like, the craft of it. And that's thanks to you, and you're out there doing it. It's not like, you know... It's like, back in the day I was a comic. You're out there every night doing it, you go on the road. So, it's, it's like, you're talking from now, not from, like, the past. And, y- y- you get it how, like, um... I- I- f- I feel like the web, the web stuff helps and hurts comedy to some degree. But it probably helps more than I'm giving it credit because it really did connect to people-

Joe Rogan 32:05 It's just making a difference.

Dave Attell 32:05 ... it really did connect with more people.

Joe Rogan 32:06 Yeah.

Dave Attell 32:07 You know?

Joe Rogan 32:07 I don't think it helps or hurts. I think there's always been shit comedy, and there's always been-

Dave Attell 32:11 Sure.

Joe Rogan 32:11 ... people that are doing really well.

Dave Attell 32:13 But-

Joe Rogan 32:13 And there's always been inspiring people, and there's always been thieves. There's always been all the bad-

Dave Attell 32:16 Sure.

Joe Rogan 32:17 ... the bad things that exist now.

Dave Attell 32:18 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 32:18 But what now it is, it's like, there... Way more people can find you, and those people, it does translate into clubs-

Dave Attell 32:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 32:26 ... and, and seats. It... They do wanna come out. And the thing about th- the show, the reason why this works is 'cause we can all talk about it in a way that, th- a person who doesn't do it can still understand it.

Dave Attell 32:37 True.

Joe Rogan 32:37 And then go, "Oh, this... These guys..." It's like, this is wha- you know, you could be into whatever the fuck it is. Rebuilding muscle cars, playing chess, whatever the fuck it is that you're into.

Dave Attell 32:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:46 When people get really into something, there's a very similar thing that happens. W- you get together with other people that are also really into it and really good at it, and you go, "Well, how do you... Are you..." I'm always asking, like, "Do you write it out?"

Dave Attell 32:57 Right.

Joe Rogan 32:57 Like, what do you do? Do you just work it out on stage?

Dave Attell 33:00 Right.

Joe Rogan 33:00 Do... How much time do you spend alone with the bit, and how much time do you spend-

Dave Attell 33:04 Process.

Joe Rogan 33:04 ... how much do you l- just... 'Cause a lot of guys don't like to do anything outside of write little tiny bullet points and then let it all express itself naturally on stage. Some of the best guys ever.

Dave Attell 33:14 Right.

Joe Rogan 33:14 So it's hard to say what's right or what's wrong. How- I love that.

Dave Attell 33:16 There's a, there's a lot of work to comedy that people don't get-

Joe Rogan 33:18 Yeah.

Dave Attell 33:18 ... which is the writing, but it's also the listening to yourself-

Joe Rogan 33:21 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 33:21 ... like, uh, taping and listening.

Joe Rogan 33:23 Yeah.

Dave Attell 33:23 That's the thing I have been doing, I have not been doing lately. We worked on this thing, I'm working on other stuff. And it's like, that is the thing where when I go back and go, like, you know, when I was really hardcore into the, into, like, you know, material, turning an hour, that was the thing where it's like, you almost have to, like... Like, you told me you have that tank.

Joe Rogan 33:40 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 33:40 That's where, like, going there with your act, like, especially, like, a hard show on a Friday, like, Late Show-

Joe Rogan 33:45 Mm.

Dave Attell 33:45 ... and, like, listen to it.

Joe Rogan 33:46 Yeah.

Dave Attell 33:46 That to me is like a form of torture-

Joe Rogan 33:47 Oh.

Dave Attell 33:47 ... to hear, like, all the bits that don't work, all the-

Joe Rogan 33:50 Late Shows on Friday, right?

Jeff Ross 33:51 I disagree. I, I, we, we've had this fr-

Dave Attell 33:53 He's very optimistic, I'm very pessimistic.

Jeff Ross 33:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:55 You're optimistic?

Jeff Ross 33:56 We, we always meet in the middle.

Dave Attell 33:56 He really, like, he really is, like, super optimistic.

Jeff Ross 33:59 I love Friday Late Shows.

Dave Attell 34:00 He, he pretty much loves everybody.

Jeff Ross 34:02 I like the rowdy, I like the active audience. I, I, it fuels me, I feel like a lion tamer up there. And when Dave is beside me, I'm, I'm, I'm indestructible.

Joe Rogan 34:10 It's probably a really good kind-

Dave Attell 34:11 I'm a good wing man.

Joe Rogan 34:12 ... of show for people that don't wanna be quiet too.

Jeff Ross 34:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:15 That wanna yell out-

Dave Attell 34:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:16 ... get rowdy.

Jeff Ross 34:16 We drag people on stage.

Joe Rogan 34:18 Oh, sure.

Jeff Ross 34:18 We dice 'em up.

Dave Attell 34:19 We go into the crowd. We do all, all those different things that, like, you know... I- I'll say it, I'll say it, there's a lot of things that we do are, like, old school comedy in terms of, like, old school hockey. Like, it's just no longer done. It's, like, you could say it's, it might be a little cheesy, a little this, a little that. But at the end of the day, it's, it's just inappropriate, fun, silly, like, move to the next bit. Like-

Joe Rogan 34:40 Yeah.

Dave Attell 34:40 ... remember we were looking in the edit, and I go, "Hey, I gotta tell you, there's like 100 punchlines in this thing."

Jeff Ross 34:44 Yeah.

Dave Attell 34:45 So even if, like, you know, the law of average is, like, you know, turtle swimming into the ocean-

Joe Rogan 34:49 (laughs)

Dave Attell 34:49 ... if only, like, seven are great, that's still a lot for, uh, for a Netflix special.

Joe Rogan 34:53 (laughs)

Dave Attell 34:53 I mean, honestly.

Jeff Ross 34:54 By the way, our, our-

Dave Attell 34:55 I'm not, I'm not patting ourselves on the back, but I am.

Jeff Ross 34:57 Oh, sure.

Dave Attell 34:57 I'm just like, "That's pretty good." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:58 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 34:58 Our, our show is... The episodes, there are three episodes. It's Friday... Well, the first one is called Friday. They're Saturday and Sunday, they're three nights.

Joe Rogan 35:05 Oh, wow.

Jeff Ross 35:06 And I love that Friday crowd. We had, like, Nikki Glaser, Amy Schumer, Rachel Feinstein, Michelle Wolf.

Dave Attell 35:13 Yeah, talk about all the people that showed because we really... Like, Jeff called in, these, like, amazing people showed up.

Joe Rogan 35:18 Jamie saying Gilbert was hilarious.

Dave Attell 35:19 Gilbert was... He completed us.

Joe Rogan 35:21 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 35:21 Awesome.

Dave Attell 35:21 You know what I'm talking about? Like, he was the third piece of this, like, ancient, like, scroll.

Joe Rogan 35:27 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 35:27 (laughs)

Dave Attell 35:27 And, like, once we found that, I was like, "Where has he been? Gilbert is the thing." 'Cause both of us, like-

Jeff Ross 35:32 You're gonna love him.

Dave Attell 35:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:32 I'm sure.

Dave Attell 35:32 That is the best one.

Jeff Ross 35:34 Gilbert introduces us, and-

Dave Attell 35:35 That's the episode two.

Joe Rogan 35:35 Gilbert's a savage.

Jeff Ross 35:36 Yeah. I mean, he's...

Dave Attell 35:38 What do you think of Gilbert? Like, if... Okay, like, your kids or whatever. No, I'm trying to think of like... If you were, like, 16 years old, what would you think of Gil... Like, he's so out of their, like, like, wheelhouse in terms of, like, what is that? I mean, I think he's classic. I think he's like...

Joe Rogan 35:53 I think I probably would've liked him-

Dave Attell 35:54 There's nobody-

Joe Rogan 35:54 ... I think I probably would've thought he was really funny when I was 16. But when I was 16, I was really getting into standup.

Jeff Ross 35:59 Yeah.

Dave Attell 35:59 Oh.

Joe Rogan 35:59 You know? My, my parents took me to see Live on the Sunset Strip when I was 14, I guess. It was, uh, out-

Dave Attell 36:04 Wow.

Joe Rogan 36:04 ... at the movie theater.

Jeff Ross 36:05 Well, when I first discovered Gilbert, he was, like, on the MTV Awards imitating Dice.

Joe Rogan 36:10 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 36:11 So to me, he was, like, not the-

Dave Attell 36:14 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 36:14 ... hero comic. He was the guy that made fun of the hero comic.

Joe Rogan 36:17 Right, right.

Jeff Ross 36:17 He had the, you know, he was-

Joe Rogan 36:18 But he was always r- ... Like, people would talk about him in interviews. He was always, like, r- revered by other comedians. You know, he's a guy that's always been, like... He's a wild man, like a legit wild man.

Jeff Ross 36:28 He murdered (laughs) on our show.

Joe Rogan 36:31 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 36:31 Like, he-

Dave Attell 36:31 Standing O, we got a Standing O.

Joe Rogan 36:33 Oh, sure.

Jeff Ross 36:33 So, like, um, um, we, we have, like, friends from our life in the audience. My aunt and his family. And, like, Bruce Willis is there, and he does a bit with us. But I had a... My friend Craig Moss from high school is in the audience with his wife and kids (laughs) , you know. And Dave, like, starts walking around the Village Underground looking for my guest list, Craig Moss. Where's Craig Moss? So finally, like, Dave starts goofing on this guy who's just in the audience, and I-

Dave Attell 36:57 Yeah, it was a long walk for-

Jeff Ross 36:57 ... and I jump in and go... And I, and I jump in and go, "Oh, you know, Craig, when my parents died, Craig was my best friend in a new town. He was..." You know, so I'm explaining to the audience and Dave who this guy is, and how much he did for me as a young man. And, uh, and then Gilbert jumps up out of the audience and just screams, doesn't even need a microphone. He's like, "When my parents were alive, Craig came over and killed them." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:24 (laughs)

Dave Attell 37:24 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 37:24 He just has perfect timing. He never... He, uh-

Dave Attell 37:27 He does, yeah.

Jeff Ross 37:28 He's just... His delivery.

Joe Rogan 37:30 He's an animal.

Dave Attell 37:30 No filter-

Jeff Ross 37:31 None.

Dave Attell 37:31 ... with him.And that's the beauty of him. Like, you know, I'm always like, "Uh, I don't know what, how they're gonna take..." He's like, boom, that's it.

Joe Rogan 37:37 Okay. I think kids would love him.

Dave Attell 37:38 I'm gonna say it even... I'm gonna say it three times, you know?

Jeff Ross 37:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:41 The kids who love comedy would love him.

Jeff Ross 37:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:43 You know?

Jeff Ross 37:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:44 But when I was 16, I mean, I, I, uh, I would listen to everything.

Jeff Ross 37:48 I always like a mix of, like, different types of comics. Like that episode, Bob Saget and Hasan Minhaj are the other guests of-

Dave Attell 37:56 That's right.

Jeff Ross 37:56 At one point, we're all up there together.

Joe Rogan 37:58 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 37:59 And you... These are guys who might not even know each other-

Joe Rogan 38:01 Right.

Jeff Ross 38:01 ... in real life, but the comedy kinda brings it together.

Joe Rogan 38:04 Mm. That's awesome, man.

Jeff Ross 38:05 It's like a party mixed with a roast, mixed with a... I don't even know, Dave.

Dave Attell 38:10 No, it's really cool, 'cause Jeff's family, like, wherever we would go on the road, Jeff's family, you know, would be like, "Can I get your comps? 'Cause I, you know, I've got, like, three third cousins here."

Joe Rogan 38:19 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 38:19 I didn't know there were Jews in Oklahoma, but evidently there were, you know-

Joe Rogan 38:23 (laughs)

Dave Attell 38:23 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 38:23 ... five distinct, you know, 23andMe people out there for me.

Joe Rogan 38:26 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 38:27 And I, I was like... It was funny to see, 'cause I'm really a lone wolf. Like, I'm on the road alone, you know, I go out there, I do my thing. And Jeff really does, like... He's very inclusive with his family, so he, I, I give him a lot of credit for that. Like, you know, they're all invited, you know-

Joe Rogan 38:39 Right.

Dave Attell 38:40 ... come hang out in the green room and all that kinda stuff. So that, that's cool, and he brought that on stage, like with your aunt. I thought that was, like, one of the best moments of the whole show, you know?

Jeff Ross 38:48 We bring up my aunt as my... The first episode is, is my aunt, Bruce Willis, Michelle Wolf, Amy Schumer, Nikki Glaser, Rachel Fine. So it's like a weird mix of... But you know what? For all, for all... Just to say one more thing about Dave and the flip phone and, like, how the process works. Dave is also the most, like you say, present, but also informed. Like, he knows all the references. He knows what's going on in the world. So he's not like he's living-

Dave Attell 39:14 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 39:14 ... in a caveman under the, under the ground.

Dave Attell 39:16 Yeah. No, I, I, I keep my eye out there.

Joe Rogan 39:18 How do you... So, so what do you do? Do you read newspapers? (laughs)

Dave Attell 39:21 (laughs) I Have a Raven sent me-

Joe Rogan 39:23 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 39:23 (laughs)

Dave Attell 39:23 (laughs) ... sent me the most important news from Westeros. Uh, yeah, no, I, I, uh-

Jeff Ross 39:27 While he's in the back... He's in the back reading and, like, really, like, getting in touch with the world and the audience. And he's the first one to say, "Oh, we're in Vegas. Let's talk about this that's going on in Vegas. Let's talk about that that's going on in Vegas." You know, he'll say it on stage to me. Like, he'll bring up all this relevant stuff, where, like, I'm the son of a caterer. I'm more about this live experience, who's in the audience, who's here.

Dave Attell 39:49 I like keeping it to, like, that's that show. And I think you agree with it. It's like, you'll agree with it too. It's like, each show is its own thing, right?

Jeff Ross 39:56 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 39:56 So it's like, you know, the fact that it's always, like, some guy taping in the back. You're like, "Dude, why are you doing that?"

Jeff Ross 40:01 Right.

Dave Attell 40:01 "Because this is your experience right now." And you know, you know, like Stanhope, who is my favorite comic, Doug Stanhope, is like... He was the first guy that, that, like, we both talked about, like, this whole thing of, like, why do people think that, like, you know, capturing this show is, like, important? And, like, you know, they're all so disposable. It's, like, beautiful, like fireworks, you know?

Jeff Ross 40:20 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 40:20 It's like, it's never gonna... It's never gonna happen again like that, you know? So you might as well just, like, soak it all in instead of trying to capture it. And I, I, I think when, when we talk about, like, topical stuff, I do that for, like, as a joke writing thing, but also as a, like, keeping the act alive. 'Cause I feel like my job in this team is to push it forward. Like, you know, it's like, "Okay, Jeff, what else is happening?" Like, to keep moving it. Otherwise, we, we can, we can always get into a loop of, like, you know, just putting each other down or, like, working the crowd. So I like to move it forward, and I think that the, uh, the cool thing about that is that, like, it does, it does move forward to an end, you know?

Joe Rogan 40:55 When people are making those videos, they're not making those videos to look back on them. They're making those videos so that other people could see it.

Dave Attell 41:01 Right, but-

Joe Rogan 41:01 That's the difference between today and the past.

Dave Attell 41:03 Are you for that?

Joe Rogan 41:04 In the past-

Dave Attell 41:04 Are you, or against it?

Joe Rogan 41:05 Yeah, I c- I'm not... I'm neither. I think your, your personal experience is going to be better if you just watch it.

Dave Attell 41:12 Okay.

Joe Rogan 41:12 But I'm not you.

Dave Attell 41:14 Right.

Joe Rogan 41:14 Maybe you, maybe you just get more of a jolly off of filming a clip and putting that clip on Facebook and it getting a million downloads.

Jeff Ross 41:21 Yeah.

Dave Attell 41:22 I just know that, like, when I go to a place and I'm working on new material-

Joe Rogan 41:24 Yeah.

Dave Attell 41:24 ... I want it to be figured out and then, then put it on the way I want it.

Joe Rogan 41:28 100%.

Dave Attell 41:28 But I totally understand what you're saying, which is like, you know, the, uh, you know, like, it, it's a, it's an open, it's an open world now, and it's just... Like, the idea of controlling is, like, a l- like, an antiquated idea. But I think that, you know, for me at least as the joke writer, it's like, I just want it to where it's, where it's gonna be.

Joe Rogan 41:44 Yeah.

Dave Attell 41:44 And then, then get it out.

Joe Rogan 41:45 No, I totally understand, and I completely agree.

Dave Attell 41:47 You know?

Joe Rogan 41:47 I think we n- if we established an etiquette, you know, and most comedy clubs say you can't film.

Dave Attell 41:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:54 And there's, there's a reason for that.

Dave Attell 41:55 Yeah, that's right.

Joe Rogan 41:55 It's just, well, I don't know what... Like, I have a bit right now that I'm working on, and I've only done it twice, and it's all over the fucking place. And if, if I somehow or another released it, like, if I had to do a Netflix special tomorrow, and I had to do that bit, I'd be fucked. I'd be like, "What is this?"

Dave Attell 42:11 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 42:11 This malformed, gelatinous, preposterous-

Dave Attell 42:16 Yeah, you're working on it.

Joe Rogan 42:17 ... form of a joke. Yeah. But sick-... I know for a fact that six months from now, there's fruit in this. I know the subject is... there's something to it.

Jeff Ross 42:24 Yeah.

Dave Attell 42:25 Right.

Joe Rogan 42:25 I just have to figure out what that something is, and it's gonna take a while, and there's gonna be a lot of missteps, and-

Jeff Ross 42:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:29 There's just no way around it. And so the only way for us to do this is like, uh, w- if you are a musician, I'm sure it feels awesome to practice in front of a crowd, but you can practice at home. Like, you can actually get the band together-

Jeff Ross 42:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:42 ... and play the whole song.

Jeff Ross 42:43 Right.

Joe Rogan 42:44 We can't do that, huh?

Dave Attell 42:44 I'm glad you brought that up, 'cause people always bring music as like, you know, it's kinda like music. I'm like, it's kinda not like music.

Joe Rogan 42:51 We need the audience.

Dave Attell 42:52 It's not like music at all. If anything, I, I really, you know, talk about, like, self-hate. For a long time, I'm like, "How come, like, my bits don't rock, like, within six months?" And I'm like, you know, then, th- then I started, like, like, directors and writers and whatever. So everybody has first drafts. Everybody has it. And, like, the best people have multiple drafts. And it's the same thing with a joke, where it's like, it'll work, and then it won't work, and then you'll change a line, and then it'll work better, and then it won't. And you're feeling it out, you're feeling out the bit. You in your head are filling in the holes that you only can see because it's... you're the creator. And I love that process, but it also is terrifying, you know? It really is. Like, where is it gonna go? But basically saying, "Okay, that's finished now 'cause it got, like, a little laugh," you're like, "I'm not satisfied. There's something more to this."

Jeff Ross 43:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:35 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 43:35 But you have a, you have a, a real issue with this, because Dave will get a joke, you know, and-

Dave Attell 43:41 Yes.

Jeff Ross 43:43 ... sure he's the creator and he knows where the holes of his own material are-

Dave Attell 43:45 And the destroyer. Go ahead. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 43:46 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 43:46 But no one is more connected to him than me watching the process-

Joe Rogan 43:51 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 43:51 ... especially when we're like-

Dave Attell 43:52 He's right.

Jeff Ross 43:52 ... on tour and doing, like, you know, a week of shows.

Dave Attell 43:55 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 43:55 I know, we know each other's moves and we see-

Dave Attell 43:57 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 43:57 ... how it develops. He'll finally get a joke, not where it's killing, where it's like a showstopper.

Dave Attell 44:03 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 44:03 Like, killing.... like, like, "What do we do now?" Where-

Dave Attell 44:06 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 44:06 ... where I run around a circle, like, it... the joke's-

Dave Attell 44:09 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 44:09 ... hitting so hard that we have to do something while they're laughing, you know, take a sip or sometimes-

Dave Attell 44:13 Right.

Jeff Ross 44:14 ... we'll just, like, roll around on the floor.

Dave Attell 44:16 And I'll destroy it.

Jeff Ross 44:17 And then-

Dave Attell 44:17 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 44:17 ... the next night, I'll go, "Dave, what's your workout routine like?"

Dave Attell 44:21 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 44:21 I'll give him a softball layup to go, like, close the show-

Dave Attell 44:24 Yeah, say it again.

Jeff Ross 44:24 ... with this joke and he'll-

Dave Attell 44:26 Nope.

Jeff Ross 44:26 ... look at me like I'm speaking another language.

Dave Attell 44:28 'Cause I'm already-

Jeff Ross 44:28 He'll just be like, in his eyes, "Fuck you, Jeff."

Dave Attell 44:31 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 44:31 "I'm not repeating myself night to night."

Dave Attell 44:33 Yeah. Mm.

Jeff Ross 44:33 And he'll deconstruct and completely-

Dave Attell 44:36 (laughs) Yeah.

Jeff Ross 44:36 ... rearrange the same joke.

Dave Attell 44:38 I will... I will turn that funny into, like, a boring couch.

Jeff Ross 44:41 (laughs)

Dave Attell 44:41 I'll Akira that joke into a snoozefest.

Jeff Ross 44:44 So-

Joe Rogan 44:44 But doesn't... isn't-

Dave Attell 44:45 That's-

Joe Rogan 44:45 ... that also the mindset that keeps you present-

Dave Attell 44:47 Yes.

Joe Rogan 44:47 ... while you're doing the bit?

Dave Attell 44:48 Yep. Yep.

Joe Rogan 44:48 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 44:48 It keeps him present. It keeps me aggravated.

Dave Attell 44:50 Yeah, no, yeah, it's like-

Jeff Ross 44:52 (laughs)

Dave Attell 44:52 ... I really am letting down the team there, you know. It's like, "Feed me, feed me," and I'm like, "Nah." But, uh, I... I think that's the cool of it.

Jeff Ross 44:59 (laughs)

Dave Attell 44:59 I... I also, like, have a problem with if a joke works continuously some way, I'm like, "There's something wrong with that. It's hacked."

Jeff Ross 45:04 Yeah, but then we go to shoot-

Dave Attell 45:05 You know, I know it's wrong, but-

Jeff Ross 45:06 ... we shoot a Netflix special and you're not using your A material. (laughs)

Dave Attell 45:09 No, I am.

Joe Rogan 45:11 (laughs)

Dave Attell 45:11 Dude, I... I... I had to... you know, I think of the jokes as children. I gave up a lot of my, uh, you know, my firstborn there.

Jeff Ross 45:16 Yeah, the ugly ones.

Dave Attell 45:17 That's not true.

Joe Rogan 45:18 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 45:18 It's f-

Dave Attell 45:19 My pharmacist joke, my hummus joke.

Joe Rogan 45:22 It's because you-

Jeff Ross 45:23 (laughs)

Dave Attell 45:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:24 ... you were... like, it's so important to have that mindset to be a great club comic, right? Because every-

Dave Attell 45:30 Yes.

Joe Rogan 45:30 ... show has to be its own thing.

Dave Attell 45:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 45:32 You know, that's... that keeps you, like, you restart-

Jeff Ross 45:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 45:35 ... for every show. You restart.

Dave Attell 45:36 Right.

Jeff Ross 45:36 There's nothing worse.

Joe Rogan 45:37 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 45:37 There's nothing worse than seeing somebody go over and over and over the same thing every year you see them. It's terrible.

Joe Rogan 45:43 That's sad.

Dave Attell 45:44 Well-

Joe Rogan 45:44 Because it could be so much better. That's what you... like, as a person who's a, a comic, you understand what they're doing. They just don't wanna take any chances. But as a person who's, you know, also... you know, uh, how good it feels to write something new and e- eventually get it to the point where you could say it.

Jeff Ross 45:59 Gilbert... Gilbert Live is hilarious, right? So, like... but for years, like, he's gotten out of it now, but for years he wouldn't update his material. And I s- took him... my sister and my brother-in-law and John Stamos, we all went to see McCaroline's one night.

Joe Rogan 46:13 (laughs)

Dave Attell 46:14 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 46:14 And Gilbert's up there, this is like th- three years ago, doing like Calista Flockhart's too skinny jokes.

Joe Rogan 46:20 (laughs)

Dave Attell 46:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:21 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 46:21 No. He's not even updated. And we're just dying. And by the way, like, Stamos is criticizing him. He's like whispering in my ear, "I heard that five years ago. I heard that 10 years..." I go, "You're on Broadway doing Chicago. What are you talking about?"

Dave Attell 46:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:33 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 46:33 "You're doing a 30 or 40, 50-year-old play. What are you talking about?"

Dave Attell 46:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:37 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 46:38 But... so I defended Gilbert-

Joe Rogan 46:39 That's so true.

Jeff Ross 46:39 ... but I did... like, I did talk to Gilbert and Dara and like, like, "Gilbert, you're too funny to... to not evolve. Like, you're first hitting your prime as a comedian." And now, to his credit, he's, like, on another level. He's just...

Joe Rogan 46:52 That's great, though, that you inspired-

Jeff Ross 46:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:53 ... him to start writing again.

Jeff Ross 46:55 I embarrassed him to start writing again.

Joe Rogan 46:57 That's fucking great.

Dave Attell 46:58 But he... when he's with us, like when... that thing I said to Jeff, I go, "If we ever tour again, we have to bring him on some of these gigs." 'Cause he really does, like... he was the third element of this... this, uh, whatever chemistry of the thing that really did... for me, at least, I always knew that, like, if it wasn't going anything with... wi- with me and Jeff... and that's the truth of it too, and people will see that in the show, that there's... you know, there's a couple of bits that go nowhere, but we left them in to show people that it's real and all that kinda stuff, but-

Joe Rogan 47:25 What about-

Jeff Ross 47:25 Get-

Joe Rogan 47:25 ... Norm? Do you guys do anything with Norm?

Dave Attell 47:27 I wish we could do something with Norm.

Joe Rogan 47:28 He's got a thing on Netflix.

Jeff Ross 47:29 Yeah, but he was in n-... in LA, we were in New York. And I...

Joe Rogan 47:33 He's a... another dude.

Jeff Ross 47:34 He's so funny.

Joe Rogan 47:35 But goddamn, he's good.

Jeff Ross 47:36 I wish he would... I... I-

Joe Rogan 47:37 Did we... if we do this again-

Dave Attell 47:37 Yeah, Norm... there's nobody like him as a standup.

Jeff Ross 47:39 I'm not saying we will, but if we ever do this again, this Bumping Mics day, we should get Norm.

Joe Rogan 47:43 Did you see his-

Dave Attell 47:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:44 ... uh, his tweets, his Thanksgiving tweets?

Dave Attell 47:46 No.

Jeff Ross 47:46 No.

Joe Rogan 47:46 (laughs)

Dave Attell 47:47 Once again, on my flip phone, I'm, uh...

Joe Rogan 47:48 I know one about Friends. I retweeted it. He's just so ridiculous, man. He's so funny.

Dave Attell 47:54 Well, there's something about Norm's just, like, his ability to, uh... you know, I have this thing about timing, w- I don't know what you think about it, but it was like, there's something about the timing that, like... you know, I know in today's world that, like, you know, people don't care about that. It's more about, like, identity and all that stuff. But, like, Norm is a master of timing.

Joe Rogan 48:09 Yeah.

Dave Attell 48:09 He really is, like, a master of, like, timing and this whole thing that he's trying to do where he's finding these classic jokes, I love that.

Joe Rogan 48:15 No, he's genius. He's... he's one of the best.

Dave Attell 48:17 There is no one like him.

Jeff Ross 48:18 My first road gig ever-

Joe Rogan 48:19 Yeah, very unusual.

Jeff Ross 48:19 ... was opening for Norm.

Dave Attell 48:21 Really?

Jeff Ross 48:22 Yeah, it was probably-

Dave Attell 48:22 Oh my God.

Joe Rogan 48:22 Your first road gig ever?

Jeff Ross 48:23 Ever.

Dave Attell 48:24 Oh my God.

Jeff Ross 48:24 1991, maybe.

Dave Attell 48:27 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 48:27 Amazing.

Jeff Ross 48:28 Um, at Catch Princeton, somehow I talked my way into an emcee spot. And Rich Vos was the middle, and Norm was the headliner.

Dave Attell 48:36 I love Rich.

Joe Rogan 48:37 Holy shit.

Jeff Ross 48:37 And Norm... Norm was only famous for doing a few late night shows. Whatever wasn't Letterman at the time, what was the other one? Uh, was it Thick of the Night or something or...

Joe Rogan 48:47 Bob Costas?

Jeff Ross 48:48 No, it was...

Joe Rogan 48:48 Remember, he had Later with Bob Costas?

Jeff Ross 48:50 It was a... it wasn't as cool as that even.

Dave Attell 48:52 Bill Boggs?

Jeff Ross 48:53 It was some-

Dave Attell 48:53 I'm gonna keep you... yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:55 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 48:55 It was some... some show you'll remember in a few minutes and you'll go, "Oh yeah, it was some late night show."

Dave Attell 48:59 Okay.

Joe Rogan 48:59 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 48:59 Like syndicated sh- what... whatever it was. But... but, like... and I meet Norm and he's... Catch Princeton when he'd do an hour... do 45 minutes every show. He either destroyed or he got zero laughs for 45 minutes.

Joe Rogan 49:14 (laughs)

Dave Attell 49:14 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 49:14 And whenever he got zero laughs-

Joe Rogan 49:16 (sighs)

Jeff Ross 49:16 ... he would stand by the door and say goodbye to people as they left.

Dave Attell 49:20 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:21 (laughs)

Dave Attell 49:21 Oh, that's great.

Jeff Ross 49:21 And if he killed, he would go back up to the room with Vos and they would play poker.

Dave Attell 49:26 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:26 That's hilarious.

Jeff Ross 49:26 Like, he was so... he was so anti-

Dave Attell 49:29 I love Vos.

Jeff Ross 49:29 And then... and then while we were there-

Joe Rogan 49:31 Yeah, I love Vos too.

Jeff Ross 49:31 ... he g- he got booked on Letterman for the first time and I had a Jeep. My sister bought me a Jeep with the money she got from a car accident and I drove... and I drove Norm-

Joe Rogan 49:40 Ah! (claps)

Dave Attell 49:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:40 Great sister.

Jeff Ross 49:40 I dr-... the best. Hi, Robin. And I drove... I drove Norm to his Letterman taping, his first Letterman, so...

Joe Rogan 49:46 That's incredible.

Jeff Ross 49:47 It was cool. I learned a lot that week. Every-

Joe Rogan 49:49 That's a... what a great guy to have... as your... the first guy you opened for.

Jeff Ross 49:53 It was so funny.

Joe Rogan 49:54 That's amazing. Todd Barry was so obsessed with Norm, he came out and slept in my bed. (laughs)

Dave Attell 50:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 50:00 (laughs) The first guy I ever opened for was a guy named Warren McDonald, who was a really funny, like, old school veteran Boston comic. But the second guy I opened for was Lenny Clarke.

Jeff Ross 50:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:11 And Lenny Clarke gave me advice that was totally contrary to his brother's advice.

Dave Attell 50:15 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 50:15 What'd he say?

Joe Rogan 50:16 His brother, Mike Clarke, who's the best-

Jeff Ross 50:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:17 ... nicest guy in the world.

Jeff Ross 50:18 I love Mike.

Joe Rogan 50:19 He... he runs Giggles and-

Dave Attell 50:20 Helped me out a lot, yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:21 ... he's... he's fucking awesome. Mike booked me-... back when nobody would book me, when I was just starting out. Um, (laughs) but he, w- I, I, when I opened for Lenny, he goes, d- he goes, "Kid, you're funny, but you're too fucking dirty." (laughs)

Dave Attell 50:34 He said that?

Joe Rogan 50:34 He just, yeah, he just told me, like, like, uh-

Dave Attell 50:36 For Boston?

Joe Rogan 50:37 ... a certain ... Yeah. Too, t- it just, he was like, "Y- y- you gotta clean your act up." And then Lenny Clarke came offstage, he goes, "Whatever you do, don't clean your act up."

Dave Attell 50:45 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 50:45 "Don't listen to him, kid."

Dave Attell 50:47 Wow.

Joe Rogan 50:47 But, uh, he gave me great advice.

Jeff Ross 50:49 That's strong.

Joe Rogan 50:50 Yeah.

Dave Attell 50:50 Well-

Jeff Ross 50:50 I love those two guys.

Joe Rogan 50:51 ... Pfft, the nicest. They're so Boston too.

Jeff Ross 50:54 When I w- I went to BU-

Joe Rogan 50:55 Those guys are Boston to the core.

Jeff Ross 50:56 ... and when I, when I was m- preparing the ... I wa- did a sh- a roast of the Boston cops, and Mike really helped me, like, w- warm up, got me a bunch of local gigs in the Boston flavor-

Joe Rogan 51:08 Oh, beautiful.

Jeff Ross 51:08 ... for the Irish people, the Italian people.

Joe Rogan 51:11 It's a good place to do comedy, man.

Dave Attell 51:13 That is definitely ... Of the two towns I'm thinking right now, Boston and Philly are the two towns that have changed dramatically-

Joe Rogan 51:19 (laughs)

Dave Attell 51:19 ... comedically-

Joe Rogan 51:19 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 51:20 ... and also just in terms of, like, like when you walk around in Boston now, you're not like, "Hey, I'm gonna get jumped, you know, 'cause I'm wearing a Yankee."

Joe Rogan 51:27 (laughs)

Dave Attell 51:27 "I'm wearing a Yankee" You know, if anything, it's like, you know-

Joe Rogan 51:30 Calm down.

Dave Attell 51:30 ... everybody here is so, like, metro and, you know, someone's gonna invite me to, like, a poetry reading at a, at a wine, you know, bar or something like that. It's very metro, and the comedy there is still good, but it- it's funny, that old Boston was such a challenge. It really was like, especially outsiders.

Joe Rogan 51:45 Yeah. What year did you start going- going to Nick's?

Dave Attell 51:47 In the, uh, in their 90s, you know, and I-

Joe Rogan 51:50 That was-

Dave Attell 51:50 ... every time I dreaded it.

Joe Rogan 51:51 Those were savage times.

Dave Attell 51:51 Yeah, they really were.

Joe Rogan 51:52 Savage times.

Dave Attell 51:52 They were- they were battles every time.

Joe Rogan 51:54 And they had local headliners that could-

Dave Attell 51:57 Destroy you.

Joe Rogan 51:57 ... blow the greatest comics ever off-stage.

Dave Attell 52:00 It- it was- it was definitely one of those things, you were terrified where you would hear just, like, "Hey, you know what? Um, uh, uh, gee, I don't- I don't know what to tell you, but, um, Gavin might come down." You're like, "Uh, oh, okay."

Joe Rogan 52:12 Oh. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 52:12 (laughs)

Dave Attell 52:12 "He just wants to do a few minutes."

Joe Rogan 52:14 Yeah. They would go on stage just to fuck with you.

Dave Attell 52:17 Yeah, ex- absolutely. You had to earn it.

Joe Rogan 52:19 100%. Yeah, Gavin's-

Dave Attell 52:19 And I didn't earn him every time.

Jeff Ross 52:20 Comics were mean back then. I don't know if it's still-

Dave Attell 52:21 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 52:21 ... like that for people starting out, but comics were mean.

Dave Attell 52:24 But that was their town and they- and they- and they saw you coming into their town and-

Jeff Ross 52:28 Dude.

Dave Attell 52:28 ... they were like, "You know, you better- you better prove it." You know, it's like before Step Up: Revolution, you had to- you had to own it. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 52:35 I never hold grudges. I don't know why. I never ... People who were douchey to me in the beginning, I'm like, "All right, I wasn't ready for your respect. I'll learn it eventually." And then I meet them-

Dave Attell 52:44 Good for you, man. That's cool.

Jeff Ross 52:45 ... and I- and I hold grudges.

Joe Rogan 52:45 That's a great attitude.

Jeff Ross 52:46 Buddy Hackett said that to me once. He said, "When you're holding a grudge, the other guy's out dancing."

Dave Attell 52:51 Wow.

Joe Rogan 52:51 That's a great piece of advice.

Jeff Ross 52:52 Waste of energy.

Joe Rogan 52:53 You know, the-

Dave Attell 52:53 That was a horrible Hackett, though.

Joe Rogan 52:55 What was going on back then ... (laughs)

Dave Attell 52:56 (laughs)

Jeff Ross 52:56 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:58 Out there.

Dave Attell 52:58 He said it more like a ... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:59 What was going on back then was a famine mentality, and I don't think we have that anymore. I think, uh, that famine mentality is gone-

Dave Attell 53:07 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 53:07 ... because now everybody realizes that with the internet, there's- there's an un- literally an unlimited amount of viewers and-

Dave Attell 53:13 Sure.

Joe Rogan 53:14 ... and people that could come to your gigs. Like, and it- it's way more beneficial for them to know that, like, w- you- if you're talking about someone that's really good, for them to know you have good taste. Like if Dave says, "Oh, you gotta see Jeff Ross is a fucking hilarious comedian." And I go, "Well I love Dave, so he must be right."

Jeff Ross 53:31 Right.

Joe Rogan 53:31 You know what I'm saying? Like, it- it helps-

Jeff Ross 53:32 That's the podcast world.

Joe Rogan 53:33 Yes. And this is-

Jeff Ross 53:35 That's podcasts.

Joe Rogan 53:35 This is- and this is the not having a famine mentality. That's- that's the thing that fucked us back in the early days. Like, in Boston, it was before my time 'cause when I came along, they had already started b- like, Steven Wright had been on- on ... Was he on Letterman?

Dave Attell 53:50 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 53:50 And- and then, you know, like, Jay Leno had already taken off and he was on Letterman all the time.

Dave Attell 53:55 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 53:55 Those guys had already, like, broken through to TV, but there was this sense that some of them had that like, "Where's mine?" Like, "How come I didn't get it?"

Dave Attell 54:02 Absolutely, yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:02 'Cause it was only-

Dave Attell 54:03 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 54:03 ... a tiny amount of slots.

Dave Attell 54:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 54:04 It's not like Steven Wright couldn't go on Letterman and say, "Hey, you think I'm funny, you gotta see this guy Lenny Clarke," or, "You gotta see this guy Don Gavin."

Jeff Ross 54:12 Right.

Joe Rogan 54:12 Or, "You gotta see Steve Sweeney." All these murderers that he came up with, and they were all like, "Where's mine?" Like, "How-"

Dave Attell 54:19 That's-

Jeff Ross 54:19 "What the fuck?"

Dave Attell 54:20 Tha- uh, you- you're just like, in my head-

Joe Rogan 54:22 Too many spots. Too-

Jeff Ross 54:22 Ta-

Joe Rogan 54:22 Of too few spots.

Jeff Ross 54:24 Well-

Dave Attell 54:24 Mm-hmm.

Jeff Ross 54:24 ... but also, like, we're of the generation and not- not to make this like a whole, like, you know, trip to the Museum of Comedy, but we're of the generation where we actually saw people who crush a room, like, crush a room. Like, today everybody's like, "Oh, you killed it. You crushed it." But, like, seeing Richard Jeni at his height-

Joe Rogan 54:39 Yes.

Dave Attell 54:40 ... like-

Joe Rogan 54:40 Thank you.

Dave Attell 54:40 ... at Caroline's or something like that, crushed that room, people leaving exhausted where it's like, two hours in you're like, "Oh, he hasn't even hit his- this thing yet."

Joe Rogan 54:50 Dude.

Dave Attell 54:50 And he's like, he'll get off the stage and he's like, "Ah, what'd you think of that tag?" I'm like, "Which o-" I'm like, "Dude, you like, had- threw out, like, a million jokes up there." I would watch that, I would be like, "Oh my God, that's- that's, like, terrifying to see." It was like watching a wave come at you, and it was like, what people consider now killing a room or crushing a room, like I- I never got to see Sam Kinison or any of those people live, but I assume that was the same thing of where people could not breathe, they leave the room, like just going like, "Oh man, I'm just exhausted." You know?

Joe Rogan 55:15 I got to see Kinison, but I didn't get to see him until after he had released his HBO special.

Dave Attell 55:19 Ah.

Joe Rogan 55:20 And after he released his HBO special, all that material was gone. Like, what I would've wanted to see was that, because that was like-

Dave Attell 55:26 Yes. The-

Joe Rogan 55:26 ... a culmination of 10 years of doing standup.

Dave Attell 55:29 Right.

Joe Rogan 55:29 And then boom, he does that HBO special-

Jeff Ross 55:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:30 ... and it's just, um, a murderous-

Jeff Ross 55:32 I wonder when I-

Joe Rogan 55:32 ... nuclear missile.

Dave Attell 55:33 That's- Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:33 But I saw him after that and-

Jeff Ross 55:35 So what year was that-

Joe Rogan 55:35 ... it wasn't that-

Jeff Ross 55:36 ... that he did the HBO, 'cause I wonder what year when I saw him.

Joe Rogan 55:38 I think it was either '85 or '86. I think it was '86.

Jeff Ross 55:44 So if I saw him at Rascals at a sold out show and I was in college and I knew how funny he was, he was probably already famous.

Joe Rogan 55:52 Damn, but was he at Rascals? Wouldn't he be doing a bigger venue by then?

Jeff Ross 55:54 I guess you're right.

Joe Rogan 55:56 'Cause he did-

Jeff Ross 55:56 I remember it felt like a special event.

Joe Rogan 55:58 I saw him at theaters. I saw him at a couple of big places. I saw him at one place down the cape. It was- I wanna say it was like, if I had to guess today, I would say it's somewhere around 2000 seats.

Jeff Ross 56:10 Oh, really?

Joe Rogan 56:10 And I saw him at Great Woods, which is considerably-

Jeff Ross 56:13 Right.

Joe Rogan 56:13 ... larger than that.

Jeff Ross 56:14 Right.

Joe Rogan 56:14 And that's right after his HBO special.

Dave Attell 56:16 And this is '80 ...

Joe Rogan 56:17 This is '86, '87.

Dave Attell 56:21 Wow.

Joe Rogan 56:21 It's like-

Jeff Ross 56:21 I used to work at Great Woods College. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:22 Did you? Shut the fuck up.

Jeff Ross 56:24 I was- I worked for WBUR, the colle- the public radio station, and I would record classical music concerts as a d- as a- as an engineer.

Joe Rogan 56:31 That's hilarious. Dude, I- I-

Jeff Ross 56:32 At Great Woods.

Joe Rogan 56:33 I-

Jeff Ross 56:33 They called it Tanglewood or something.

Joe Rogan 56:35 ... what'd they call it?

Jeff Ross 56:36 Great Woods, yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:37 Yeah, well, Great Woods in Mansfield.

Jeff Ross 56:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:39 Y- yeah.

Jeff Ross 56:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:39 I was a security guard there. (laughs)

Jeff Ross 56:41 (laughs)

56:42 Wouldn't that have been weird-

Joe Rogan 56:42 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 56:42 ... if we knew each other? (laughs)

56:44 That's hilarious.

Dave Attell 56:44 This is better than LinkedIn. How did you guys-

Jeff Ross 56:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:46 Yeah, man. I, uh, I was, uh, the reluctant security guard 'cause I would always bring a hoodie with me.

Jeff Ross 56:50 Yeah.

56:50 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 56:50 And if shit went down, I'd cover up my security jacket and get the fuck out of dodge.

Jeff Ross 56:54 Wow.

Dave Attell 56:54 Wow, did you throw in.

Joe Rogan 56:55 I, I brought, I brought a hoodie with me after, like, my first couple of days on the job. The first day on the job, there's a dude named Alley Cat, who's the dude who ran the security. They caught some drunk kid who stole a golf cart, so they chased him down, tackled him, and he was beating him in the face with a walkie-talkie. That was day one.

Dave Attell 57:12 Oh, cool.

Jeff Ross 57:12 Oh.

Joe Rogan 57:13 And I was like, "All righty. It's one of these jobs."

Jeff Ross 57:16 (laughs)

57:17 Wow.

Dave Attell 57:17 All righty.

Joe Rogan 57:17 One of these jobs. And it was ... Uh, and I'm not a big person. I'm five foot eight, so I'm not-

Jeff Ross 57:21 You're still like that now outside the fight looking in. (laughs)

Dave Attell 57:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:25 Y- yes, uh, exactly, right. (laughs) Uh, so and, and back then, I was competing, so I was only, like, 160 pounds. I was really light. And s- I was not getting in any tangles with some big giant drunk dudes.

Jeff Ross 57:37 Right.

Joe Rogan 57:37 I'm like, "Fuck, for what, 20 bucks an hour?"

Jeff Ross 57:38 Right.

Joe Rogan 57:38 "Whatever I'm getting."

Jeff Ross 57:39 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:39 So I would just bring a hoodie with me.

Dave Attell 57:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 57:41 And when shit went down, I would zip up. And one day, shit went down-

Dave Attell 57:45 Wow.

Joe Rogan 57:45 ... at a Neil Young concert, and they had-

Jeff Ross 57:47 What?

Dave Attell 57:47 Wow.

Joe Rogan 57:48 During the Neil Young concert, the back area is all grass, and they started bonfires. These fucking crazy Neil Young fans-

Dave Attell 57:55 Wow.

Joe Rogan 57:55 ... threw a bunch of shit on the ground and just started fires. And then they started trying to break up these fires, and people were pushing f- security guards. And then my friend Larry, who's, like, the nicest guy in the world, punched this guy in the stomach. And I'm like, "Okay, that's it. If Larry's punching people," like, he's the nicest guy ever.

Dave Attell 58:10 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 58:10 Like, these people are drunk and crazy.

Jeff Ross 58:12 << Will I cream myself? >>. (laughs)

Dave Attell 58:14 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 58:14 Dude, I put that fucking hoodie on, whoop, and I'm out. I just walked straight to my car and drove the fuck home. I didn't get-

Dave Attell 58:20 Really?

Joe Rogan 58:20 ... my last paycheck, nothing. I'm like, "I'm out."

Dave Attell 58:23 Wow.

Joe Rogan 58:23 It was a full-blown riot. T- dudes were throwing down in piles of people, beating the shit out of each other. There was fires. They canceled the concert. They shut the concert in the middle of what's happening.

Dave Attell 58:33 For Neil Y- who was the opener? (laughs)

Jeff Ross 58:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 58:35 I don't think that was the problem. It was the, it was, there was two problems. Sometimes when you were in the back area where the grass was, the acoustics weren't so good. So, like, when people went to see comics, it was bad. It's not good. Like, the, the, the f-

Dave Attell 58:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:48 Maybe they fixed the sound, but back then, it was a big issue. You had to be-

Dave Attell 58:52 Wow.

Joe Rogan 58:52 ... inside the canopy to hear what the fuck was going on.

Dave Attell 58:55 What do you think of, uh, Oddball-

Jeff Ross 58:57 Neil Young.

Dave Attell 58:57 ... and, like, outdoor comedy, what do you think of that?

Joe Rogan 58:59 I've done some outdoor things. I did a big outdoor place in Kansas City this year, and it was really fun.

Dave Attell 59:04 Oh, really?

Joe Rogan 59:04 It was fucking awesome. Yeah. But it was a summer night. You know, it was beautiful. We got lucky with the rain. There was no rain or anything.

Dave Attell 59:11 When, uh, Jeff and I did, uh, the Oddball, like, we went on together, that was my most fun doing the Oddball thing. And I always thought it was a great ... Like, Jeff Wells is super cool to comics and everything like that.

Joe Rogan 59:19 Yeah.

Jeff Ross 59:19 Yeah, I love Jeff.

Dave Attell 59:19 But, like, the only guy I've ever seen, like, actually look like he's having a great time was Chappelle doing it.

Joe Rogan 59:24 Yeah.

Dave Attell 59:24 Like, I really, like ... He's, like, so comfortable everywhere, but, like, in the outdoor venue, you know, he's, like, taking his time. And it was like-

Jeff Ross 59:29 He makes it like a n- a club.

Dave Attell 59:31 Yeah. Like, I, I ... It's just amazing to watch him do it. But the outdoor thing with the can never hear, you know, like-

Jeff Ross 59:38 Yes.

Dave Attell 59:38 ... the joke going off into outer space.

Joe Rogan 59:39 Yeah.

Dave Attell 59:40 That definitely is, is, is something that, um ... You know, even the theater in the round, which is when I saw, uh, Rodney Dangerfield there when I was, like, 17.

Joe Rogan 59:47 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 59:47 And that was another situation where this guy's just, like, crushing, crushing, crushing, and the room cannot breathe, that kind of thing. And I was like, "This is in the round," you know. I was like, "Wow, that's weird." You know, I was 17. I was like, "Wow, is this how it goes?" Like, you know, "Why is he circling around like that?" It was that ... Is that part of it? You know.

Jeff Ross 1:00:02 Right.

Dave Attell 1:00:02 I didn't understand that it was in the round, you know. But th- but now I realize that that's another, like, really hard venue to play, is the round, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:00:10 Yeah, I've only done a few of those. I did the, uh, that place in Phoenix. That one's in the round, the Hollywood Theater. That's a, that's a great spot.

Dave Attell 1:00:17 Oh, I, I know what you're talking about. I played there.

Joe Rogan 1:00:18 Because I think Louis did one of his HBO specials there.

Dave Attell 1:00:20 That's right. And 'cause George Carlin did one, right?

Joe Rogan 1:00:22 Mm, I think so.

Dave Attell 1:00:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:24 He did so many of them, so ... That guy did them everywhere. I mean-

Jeff Ross 1:00:26 Every year.

Joe Rogan 1:00:27 That is bananas. That's one of the craziest places ever. And talk about someone who did it totally differently, he would basically write a monologue.

Dave Attell 1:00:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:34 He would write. You know, he'd take his time.

Dave Attell 1:00:36 Not working at all. Not working out.

Joe Rogan 1:00:38 He, well, he'd kind of tighten it up on stage, they would say.

Dave Attell 1:00:40 Oh.

Jeff Ross 1:00:40 Right. Huh.

Joe Rogan 1:00:40 You know, as time ... You know, the bits, as he would just keep doing them and figure out a better way to do them. But basically, he would write it out.

Jeff Ross 1:00:45 But he'd write it out first?

Joe Rogan 1:00:46 He would write the whole thing out.

Dave Attell 1:00:47 Yeah, that's right.

Joe Rogan 1:00:48 Yeah, and he did it every year.

Jeff Ross 1:00:50 Wow.

Dave Attell 1:00:51 That works.

Jeff Ross 1:00:51 Yeah.

Dave Attell 1:00:51 That was, like, at the height of, of that HBO comedy thing, you would, like, tune in specific just to see the special.

Joe Rogan 1:00:55 Mm-hmm.

Dave Attell 1:00:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:56 Well, he was in a d- a different place than anybody else because of how prolific he was. And some w- some would say, like, "Yeah, but s- you know, some of it wasn't my favorite stuff." And, like, listen, it, it, it is impossible to write an hour every fucking year and