Joe Rogan Experience #1237 - Sebastian Maniscalco

Joe Rogan 0:01 Here we go. Four, three, two, one. (slaps table) And we're live, you fucking handsome bastard. Look at ya.

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:10 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:10 Look at ya.

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:11 Stunning.

Joe Rogan 0:12 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:13 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:14 What's going on, man?

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:15 What's going on? Um, every... Well, I've done this once before, and I've watched you, you know, throughout the years. And when I come in here, I get a little, um, nervous.

Joe Rogan 0:32 Why?

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:35 You're a guy who knows a lot about everything, and I don't know a lotta, like-

Joe Rogan 0:42 I don't know a lot about everything. I know enough to make it seem like I know a lot about everything.

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:47 Whatever you're doing, it, it's, y- y- y- you know more than I do, right?

Joe Rogan 0:51 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:51 Like, like we were on your treadmill out there.

Joe Rogan 0:54 Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 0:54 And you go, "It's 13%..." What did you say? I, I-

Joe Rogan 0:59 13% more difficult than regular running.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:01 Okay. Like, I forgot the fact, what you just said from the time we walked in-

Joe Rogan 1:09 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:09 ... I, I, I lost it. So I don't, I don't have the retention-

Joe Rogan 1:12 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:13 ... that, that I wish I had, so-

Joe Rogan 1:15 I gotta get you some Alpha Brain.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:17 I need something.

Joe Rogan 1:18 Do we have any here?

Narrator 1:19 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:19 Is that what I'm missing in my, my, my diet?

Narrator 1:22 No.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:22 Alpha Brain?

Joe Rogan 1:23 I don't know. I mean, uh-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:24 ... it's, uh, what's interesting though is that people come up to me with shit that happened just a few years ago, and I'm like, "I don't remember that at all." Like, I think you have a certain amount of room in your brain. And, uh, my brain is always deleting stuff that it doesn't think it needs anymore and then shoving in new things. Like sometimes someone will tell me about something, I'm like, "What are you talking about?" And they're like, "You don't remember? There was the guy with no arms who drove us around." I went, "What?" And then I have to go, "Oh, yeah." And it's like I find the folder in my head, and like-

Narrator 1:54 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:54 ... "Oh, there it is." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we went to the pool hall and da-da-da-da-da." And then I'll remember. Gotcha.

Joe Rogan 1:59 But, but if... Yeah. It's just, uh, for whatever reason, this, uh, I can only, I only keep things that I'm interested in.

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:09 Gotcha.

Joe Rogan 2:10 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:11 I just wish I could retain a lot of the things I either see or hear to then recall it in a conversation.

Joe Rogan 2:18 You can, but you gotta write things down, and you gotta, like, wanna recall things.

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:21 Yeah. That's a problem. I don't do a lot of writing as far as like a notepad or anything to just take notes, um.

Joe Rogan 2:27 Do you, when you write your act, do you write it in your head or do you write it on paper or on a computer?

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:32 It's audio. Just audio. I'll go up to the comedy store, I record it, and I listen to it on the way home.

Joe Rogan 2:37 Really?

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:37 And then I'll like go, "Oh, maybe I'll do this next time. Maybe I'll do that. I'll take that out, this out."

Joe Rogan 2:43 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:43 And then, uh, so there's no writing. My act is more recalling stories than sitting in a room going, "Oh, I think this is funny."

Joe Rogan 2:51 Right. Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 2:52 So that's kinda how I work. But, uh, yeah, the reason I say that to start off is just, like, I, I, I see you go down a lot of different paths w- on the podcast, and I often go, "Man, if I was sitting in that chair, could I add to the conversation?" And a lot of times it's, "No." (laughs) I c- I can't.

Joe Rogan 3:12 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:12 Just because, for whatever the reason, I, uh, I just feel like I need to be a little bit more, um, well-read.

Joe Rogan 3:19 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:20 And-

Joe Rogan 3:20 How often do you read?

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:21 Uh, like I read the Goggins book.

Joe Rogan 3:24 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:24 And that-

Joe Rogan 3:24 Great fucking book.

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:25 Yeah. And that-

Joe Rogan 3:26 Sad life that dude had, huh?

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:28 It's a sad life, but then on-

Joe Rogan 3:29 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:29 ... on the flip side, inspiring to, you know, a, a guy like myself where, you know, I'm running, I'm running, say I'm working out, and I, I, I thought of this guy. I go, "You know what? Let's, let's put another mile into this."

Joe Rogan 3:41 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 3:42 So, uh, yeah. I mean, I'm just now starting to get into a little bit more books than I have in the, in the past. 'Cause in the past, to be honest with you, I haven't really, I haven't really read much.

Joe Rogan 3:54 I, I try to read, uh, one new thing a week. And the way I try to do it is, uh, I have, uh, uh, I use a lot of audiobooks.

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:02 But I also read books, so I go back and forth in between them, in between reading and audiobooks. But I find for whatever reason I retain more with audiobooks than I do with reading. I, I, maybe it's my ADD or something like that. 'Cause when I'm reading, I kinda have to back up sometimes. Like, I'll go through a whole paragraph where I'm thinking about some other shit while I'm reading.

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:22 And then I gotta go, "Okay, asshole. Back up, reread that, go over it again." You know?

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:27 That's what I find. I, I, my mind wanders, like-

Joe Rogan 4:30 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:30 ... kind of like you're saying. Uh, the audiobook definitely is a better option.

Joe Rogan 4:33 Yeah, I think all standup comedians, uh, have scatterbrains, at least in some, in some way.

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:38 Like all of us are a little fucked up.

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:41 I think we have to be.

Joe Rogan 4:42 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:42 I think, uh, I think the, the mind works in a weird way in a comedian's head. Uh, I think it has to be a little bit fragmented and, uh, thinking a lot of different things at once in order to-

Joe Rogan 4:52 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 4:52 ... operate. Uh, I mean, you're doing it on stage, I think. You know, you're doing, uh, you're doing your comedy and, uh, I'm self-evaluating, going, "Is this working right now? Should I go off into another bit? Should I talk about my family? I see they're liking family stuff." So I think-

Joe Rogan 5:07 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 5:08 ... that's what we're doing, uh, when we're performing, and then sometimes I think that bleeds to everyday life.

Joe Rogan 5:14 Yeah. For sure. Yeah. When you're doing a bit, are you thinking about what you're... Like, are you like, do you have a bit on deck? Like while you're in the middle of the bit, do you, like, go from there? "I'm gonna talk about, you know, the gym or the, you know, the this or the that?"

Sebastian Maniscalco 5:28 Uh, it's funny. Uh, and I don't know if you go through this. Do you ever go through, um... Well, first of all, when you're doing comedy, do you have a beginning, middle, and end, and do you know where you're going throughout that whole set? Or do you in the moment go, "You know what? I'm gonna do the bit about da, da, da"? Or is it set?

Joe Rogan 5:47 It's not... It's both. It depends when. Like right now, uh, I don't have a lot of material because, uh, my Netflix special came out in, uh, October. So November, December, January, I have basically three months worth of new shit, which is about 40 minutes of all told material.

Sebastian Maniscalco 6:05 Mm.

Joe Rogan 6:05 And then I have 20 other minutes that are...... in the-- they're in, like, the baking stage. Like, I'm not ready to take them out of the oven. They're-- I fuck around with them, I'll shove them in the middle a bit some- sometimes, but they're not-- they're not 100% legit. They need to be fleshed out. But one of those became, like, one of my best bits now. It's weird how that works. Like, sometimes you'll just find this one part of it that makes it work, and boom, all of a sudden the bit's turbocharged.

Sebastian Maniscalco 6:34 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:34 Um, so, uh, b- because of that, I usually-- I decide that day usually what I'm gonna open with, and then, um, I leave the middle part up to my imagination, and then I'll decide what I'm gonna close with.

Sebastian Maniscalco 6:49 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:49 But when I'm d- ready to do a Netflix special, I basically have it all mapped out. I basically have a starting point and I have an end point.

Sebastian Maniscalco 6:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:56 But even, like, when I'm filming, I still fuck around and ad lib, 'cause I don't think... Uh, 'cause every show I do, I don't- I don't have, like, I'm gonna say it verbatim this way every time. I always fuck around, because I always feel like I could find a new way that's better if I just stay loose. And so even when I'm filming, I do it that way, 'cause I f- I want this to be like a real show.

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:17 And if it's a real show-- and I always film four shows. So I'm like, "If it's a real show, I'll fuck around." And, and so I- I've been filming before where I fuck around and I'll go down a dark road and there's no one there. I'm like, "All right, turn around." (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:29 Like, like, thank God for editing. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:33 (laughs) Yeah, I think, I think that's the way to do it, though, to be kind of in the moment-

Joe Rogan 7:36 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:36 ... and go with how you're feeling when you're filming something, just because that's-

Joe Rogan 7:41 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:41 ... the way you would be anyway.

Joe Rogan 7:43 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:43 Right? But sometimes, I've- I've- I've learned in the past, when I'm filming something, I feel like, "Man, I'd like to get everything that I want out on this special, and I don't wanna forget ev- uh, anything."

Joe Rogan 7:55 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 7:55 'Cause there'll be nights where I'm- I'm performing and I- I- I forgot a bit. I'm like, I'll be searching in my head for the bit, and I'm like, "I know there's another... something that-"

Joe Rogan 8:05 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 8:05 "... goes along this." But then I- I just jump off it and go into a- a- an- another routine. So, for me, I don't know, I like to keep it different every night, just try and-

Joe Rogan 8:16 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 8:16 ... play around. And, uh, it- it's weird now that a Netflix special, uh, I just, uh, one came out, and I don't really subscribe to... Um, if- if I have a Netflix special out and you come to a live show, you're going to see some of those bits that I did in the Netflix special. I don't, like, retire the- the act. I know some guys go, "Okay, it's out there. I'm not doing this on my live show." Myself, I still like to do some of that material 'cause I enjoy doing it. And, uh, I also have some new stuff. So, I kinda... A- and I don't know how long that lasts. I don't know, like... I- I know some- some people were like, "Oh, I saw that on the Netflix. Why am I gonna pay to see it live if I could see it at home?" But there's something about going out, I believe, to a live show and seeing a- a live performance. There's different nuances that you might see in a bit or an add-on. Like, the- sometimes I add onto the joke-

Joe Rogan 9:19 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 9:19 ... that I... Uh, my jokes are sometimes never finished, so I keep adding on. So, um, that's the way I've kinda worked at my entire career.

Joe Rogan 9:28 Yeah, um, Gaffigan does it that way, um, uh, a- a lot of... Brian Regan does it that way, where g- guys will call out bits. Like, they will, they... Like, if you go to see Gaffigan and he doesn't do Hot Pockets, you're gonna get fucking mad.

Sebastian Maniscalco 9:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 9:41 That's- there's a lot of people like that. I retire my material, but, uh, I have brought stuff out before if people asked. Like, someone asked me to bring up, uh, explaining Kim Kardashians to the aliens the other night, and I- I was amazed that I could remember it, but I remembered it. Uh, but for the most part, I retire shit, because I feel like, in my mind, if I don't retire things, I'm not going to work on new things as much-

Sebastian Maniscalco 10:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:06 ... and it'll limit myself. And then I always feel like my newest bits are better than my older bits, because even though I've been doing standup for 30 years, I- I still think I get better at it. I think it's a constant state of self-evaluation and self, uh, analysis and going over the material and then reali- You know, you have enough good sets and bad sets and great sets. You have enough that you kind of recognize the characteristics of each one and where they go wrong-

Sebastian Maniscalco 10:33 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:34 ... and then you get better at having less bad sets and even less good sets and more great sets.

Sebastian Maniscalco 10:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:39 And, y- you know, and I think that, for me, uh, one big part of that is constantly writing. I write right. I sit down and I write right. And, uh, I write, uh, one hour every night after shows. That's one big one. I write during the day, but the big one for me seems to be at night when I come home from the store and I'm jazzed up. And also it's great too because everyone's asleep. It's just me and the dog, and I just fucking sit at that desk and I- I'll just work until my eyes start f- blinking and I start getting really tired. And some of my best shit I've ever come up with is that way.

Sebastian Maniscalco 11:16 Wow.

Joe Rogan 11:16 After shows, 'cause I'm all- I'm juiced up, and then I also have a- a process of listening to the show, um, in the car. 'Cause, you know, that's one of the coolest things about, um, Bluetooth audio, that you get your phone, you record it on your phone, and then in the car home you can listen. And then you can go, "Ah, I fucked that up," or, "Oh, I shoulda done it this way," or maybe if I do that... Or you have an idea, like, I'll pause it, I'll go, "Oh, I got another idea."

Sebastian Maniscalco 11:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:41 And then I'll make a new voice note, and then I'll go home and I'll listen to it again. I'll listen to my set again and I'll pause it, uh, and then start working on stuff, and that's how I've been able to expand all these bits pretty quickly.

Sebastian Maniscalco 11:53 Mm-hmm. That's interesting. I, uh, I find my best bits come out of just living my life and, um, you know, I have a daughter and we went to the zoo, and the nuances at the zoo that I, uh-

Joe Rogan 12:05 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:05 ... picked up on, and I w- just go o- either tell... I- I'll call my mother and I'll tell her a story, and that's kinda my barometer of whether or not this thing is gonna work on stage, and then I'll go to the comedy store and kinda flush it out there. But, uh, yeah, I mean, I just never been the guy who w-... writes. Um, I, I just, uh, I don't know. I don't know-

Joe Rogan 12:26 Well, you don't have to.

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:27 No, I, yeah. It's, it's-

Joe Rogan 12:28 I mean, obviously it's working for you. There's a lot of guys who don't do it that way. Bill Burr doesn't do it that way; he's one of the best ever.

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:33 A lot of guys who just don't write. Um, for me, I feel like it's all about how much time and, and energy I put on things. And if I put more time and energy i- in this working on my act because I'm writing, then it's gonna be better.

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 12:46 That's just how I look at it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:48 Yeah. Um, yeah, everybody's got their own process-

Joe Rogan 12:50 Yeah, it's-

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:51 ... and, uh, and I, I'm fascinated to, to hear, uh, guys like yourself of... Seinfeld's another guy that, uh, every word is planned out.

Joe Rogan 12:58 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 12:59 And, and, and it-

Joe Rogan 12:59 And you can hear it with him, too.

Sebastian Maniscalco 13:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:01 You really hear it. His act is like a scalpel, you know? It's just, he's slicing the perfect slice and he's just, "He knows exactly how to say it."

Sebastian Maniscalco 13:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:10 He's got perfect timing. He's got... You know, his use of words is... You know, whether or not you, you know... U- mean, any, any comic can appreciate that. Any comic can appreciate the way he does that. You know, there's a lot of guys who are like that, who just have that... Did you ever watch Jenny at all?

Sebastian Maniscalco 13:27 I have, and, uh, you know, his timing I think was, uh... I think timing in comedy is something, uh, a bit of a lost art. I don't think a lotta comedians are really taking to timing-

Joe Rogan 13:42 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 13:42 ... like they have in the past. And I don't know if they're scared of the silence? 'Cause, uh, 'cause a lotta timing is silent, and a lotta guys and, and women tend to not relish in those moments of silence-

Joe Rogan 13:56 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 13:56 ... where sometimes it's, it's comedy gold. A lot of people run through the material, and for me as an audience member, I like someone who kinda gives you as an audience member a little t- little beat, or maybe-

Joe Rogan 14:10 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 14:10 ... maybe some time to kinda marinate in the joke a little bit opposed to kinda blowing through the material.

Joe Rogan 14:16 Don't you feel that, like, when you're in a large audience, that's even more critical? Because y- you have, like... There's thousands of people, and it seems like a big pause, like, in between punchlines, or you give a person a chance, give this whole group of people a chance to think about how ridiculous what you just said was.

Sebastian Maniscalco 14:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:34 It, it enhances it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 14:36 Oh, absolutely. I mean, especially, like you said, in a large audience, which is even more fearful for a comedian to let the joke breathe-

Joe Rogan 14:44 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 14:44 ... because God knows, you know, if y- you got 1,000 people and then you got 20,000 people? I mean, uh, you know, 19 more thousand people (laughs) could yell or scream or say something.

Joe Rogan 14:57 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 14:57 So...

Joe Rogan 14:58 Anything could go wrong.

Sebastian Maniscalco 14:59 Yeah, but man, to stop and just let that joke breathe a little bit and just, and then maybe have it percolate. There's times where I'm on stage and, and I'll go a little bit longer than I thought I was gonna go without talking, but maybe give it, like, a facial expression or whatnot, just to see if I could eke out another crescendo of laughter.

Joe Rogan 15:20 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 15:21 And, um, those are the moments I really relish in because sometimes the silence is even better than saying anything.

Joe Rogan 15:27 Yeah, and you also realize that you're not, like, rushing anything.

Sebastian Maniscalco 15:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:32 You know, you, you got ahold of it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 15:34 Yeah, at least for myself, my act is more like a, um... It needs to, it needs to kinda sit.

Joe Rogan 15:41 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 15:41 I don't really do well on, like, five-minute talk shows doing, like, you know, the, uh, doing a four and a half minute set on Fallon. I need to, like, go out there. I- it takes me two minutes to, to, to get warm-

Joe Rogan 15:56 Yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 15:56 ... you know what I'm saying? Like, uh, uh, to get into a joke right away, eh, to me, I just, I need time. I need, I need to let it breathe.

Joe Rogan 16:04 Yeah, no, I feel the same way. I've, I've always felt those late-night talk show sets are so strange. Not only that, but you're basically opening for yourself. I mean-

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:13 ... 'cause there's, no one has done standup yet, except a monologue-

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 16:17 ... which is kinda standup, but kinda not because it's all, like, what's happening today, and everybody knows that it's been written. It's, it's weird.

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:25 And then you go out and do a standup set, and oftentimes you see guys go out and they'll do a standup set and they don't even have a microphone. You know? They're doing a standup set and they, they don't know what the fuck to do with their hands.

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:34 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 16:34 You know? It's odd.

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:35 The first time I did a, uh, standup set on, uh, on TV, I said, "I need the microphone."

Joe Rogan 16:42 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:42 I can't go out there... I've been doing comedy for what? F- 12 years it had b- been, and then I got, like, a Leno. I go, "I need-"

Joe Rogan 16:50 A physical microphone.

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:51 ... microphone. Yeah, I'm used to this.

Joe Rogan 16:52 Yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:52 I don't, I'm not gonna go out there all of a sudden now and, uh, like you said, "What am I gonna do with my hands?"

Joe Rogan 16:56 Yeah (laughs) .

Sebastian Maniscalco 16:57 So, uh, every time (laughs) I do a late-night set, I need a microphone, um-

Joe Rogan 17:00 D- How often... Do you still do those?

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:02 Um, no, not anymore. I, I, I like to do... It's like comedy on the couch now.

Joe Rogan 17:08 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:08 You know, it's, it's like you go on Fallon or what have you, and it's all premeditated and whatever.

Joe Rogan 17:12 Burr is the master at that.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:13 Oh, he's so good.

Joe Rogan 17:14 He's the master. He's the best at sitting down there and saying something fucked up and then just like, "You know? You know what I'm saying?" (laughs) He's got, he's just got a, a great way of, uh, handling the couch.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:25 Yeah, he makes it sound like just two guys talking-

Joe Rogan 17:28 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:28 ... and then there's cameras filming it.

Joe Rogan 17:30 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:30 Uh, sometimes it could look like, "Oh, okay. You ask the question, I give the answer," but for whatever the reason, it's so natural for him, it's like, "This guy looks like he's talking in a, uh, uh, at a diner."

Joe Rogan 17:42 Yeah, exactly, yeah. No, he's, uh, he's mastered the art of not giving a fuck.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:46 Yeah (sighs) .

Joe Rogan 17:47 He's very comfortable. And if you... You know, like, but that's who he is all day.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:52 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 17:52 You know, he just ramps it up a couple extra clicks when he goes on stage.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:56 Th- that's... When you're hanging out with him, that's Burr.

Sebastian Maniscalco 17:59 Yeah, it's not a far departure from-

Joe Rogan 18:00 No.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:01 ... from what we're seeing.

Joe Rogan 18:01 The f- he's got one thing down too; that guy does not fuck with social media. He's not doing nothing.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:06 Oh, he's not even on it.

Joe Rogan 18:07 I mean, he l- like, kinda, I guess he posts stuff.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:10 Well, you know, I, I follow him on Instagram, and every once in a while I'll see something.

Joe Rogan 18:15 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:15 Um, which, you know, for me, I've kind of weaned off the social media a little bit. Um, I know a lot of guys live on it, and they, uh, take you into their lives, and here's... You know? Like, uh, here, I follow Bert Kreischer, right?

Joe Rogan 18:29 I knew you were gonna say Bert Kreischer. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:31 So, everybody... I, I'm wondering-

Joe Rogan 18:33 Uh...

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:33 ... if the people around Bert Kreischer-... are, are, are going to him, "All right, Bert, you wanna lose the phone?"

Joe Rogan 18:39 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:39 You know, like, we're all- we're having dinner here.

Joe Rogan 18:41 Oh, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:42 Um, because, man, he really gives you a bird's eye view into not only his family life, but he's on a ski lift and he's got the, you know, skis and this-

Joe Rogan 18:52 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 18:52 ... and that, so, uh, which I- I appreciate, it's just for me, I don't know, is there some... I mean, uh, little sense of privacy-

Joe Rogan 19:00 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:00 ... uh, every once in a while, you know?

Joe Rogan 19:02 Well, in Bert's defense, what Bert did was he had a legit TV gig.

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:07 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 19:08 He was doing Bert the Conqueror and what was the- the other one, the other one, uh, where he was traveling around? Trip, Flip?

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:14 Trip, Flip.

Joe Rogan 19:15 Trip, Flip.

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:15 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:15 And, uh, you know, he was doing really well. But he was gone for long stretches of time. He- a- away from his family and he wasn't getting to do much standup. And he and I had a conversation about it. And I said, "Dude," I go, "You're too funny to be just working for a television show."

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:31 Anybody can do a television show, but not everybody can do standup the way you did standup. And, um, he, somewhere along the line, decided, "All right. Fuck this TV shit," and, uh, "I'm just gonna- just gonna concentrate on standup." And a big part of that was social media.

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:45 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 19:45 So a big part of it for him was, you know, every year we have this, uh, Sober October Crew.

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:51 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 19:51 It's Ari, Tom Segura, me, and Bert, and we do a one-month challenge.

Sebastian Maniscalco 19:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:57 Like it was l- last year was a fitness challenge, and before that it was a hot yoga challenge, and before that, um, they had us lose weight. So that when we s- we've only done it twice. But it's a big thing social media wise. A bunch of people hop on board with it, a bunch of people join in and they- they take a month off boozing, too. And- and for Bert, that's fucking hard. That guy goes hard-

Sebastian Maniscalco 20:19 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:19 ... in the paint with the booze.

Sebastian Maniscalco 20:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:21 So for him, that- that- the Sober October stuff and the weight loss stuff p- propelled his career. I mean, everything started taking off. The Netflix special started taking off, his standup shows were sold out everywhere. He- people know him, they know he takes off his shirt when he goes on stage. Now it's a totally different thing. So I get it with him 'cause- did- that's what brought him to the dance, social media.

Sebastian Maniscalco 20:41 Absolutely. And that guy's figured it out. I'm just using Bert as an example of a guy who's on social media a ton-

Joe Rogan 20:49 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 20:49 ... and has figured out a way to weave that into his kind of aura and what he does professionally. But for me, I feel I get a little... I feel like everything I do on social media has to be funny.

Joe Rogan 21:06 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 21:06 Like if I do a post, I feel like it has to be funny. I- I feel, uh, a little bit intimidated to put something out that's just, uh, me doing X, Y, and Z.

Joe Rogan 21:17 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 21:18 And that's where I feel I fail at social media and I feel like I've kind of weaned off it. And sometimes I look at my Instagram or my Twitter, it looks like a, um, "I'm gonna be here. I'm gonna be here. Here's my shows." There's no real kind of substance-

Joe Rogan 21:32 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 21:32 ... to it at all.

Joe Rogan 21:33 Yeah, that bothers some people. But the good thing is, I mean, I get where people go, "All you do is promote your shows." Yeah, but I'm promoting my shows. You know? This is where I am.

Sebastian Maniscalco 21:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 21:41 If you like my shows, that's where I'm gonna be. I get it. But, uh, uh, I see what you're saying as a comic, 'cause Ari Shaffir said that too, like, he doesn't wanna put anything on Instagram or Twitter unless it's funny. You know, that's what he concentrates on. And he tries... He was of- even saying that he was gonna mock people that are comedians that say things that aren't funny.

Sebastian Maniscalco 21:59 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:59 I'm like, "Well, then you're gonna be mocking me. I say a lot of shit that's not funny." He's like, "Yeah, but you do other things." Which is weird 'cause I do do other things, whether it's podcasting all the time or doing the UFC commentary. Like, you know, if I'm- if I watch some fights and I start posting about MMA, I'm not trying to be funny. It's just-

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:16 ... s- just what it is.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:17 You know?

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:17 Well, yeah. You're- you're- you're living in a lot of different worlds. But e- e- and- and- and I look at your, uh, Instagram, you're cooking meat, right?

Joe Rogan 22:24 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:25 But for me, I'm thinking, "How the hell does he get the meat, uh, s- like from- from top to bottom, like medium rare throughout?" You know?

Joe Rogan 22:34 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:34 Like, that- that's, uh, for me, that's more of a learn- a le- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:37 I can teach you, Sebastian. I could teach you.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:40 So-

Joe Rogan 22:40 You know what the key is? Cooking it slowly.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:44 Okay.

Joe Rogan 22:44 That's the key.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:44 So you got like this grill-

Joe Rogan 22:46 Yes.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:46 ... uh, or whatever the-

Joe Rogan 22:47 It's a Traeger.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:48 Yes.

Joe Rogan 22:48 It's a pellet grill.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:49 Pellet grill is another-

Joe Rogan 22:50 I'll get you one. You want one?

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:51 (laughs) If it gets my meat the way it gets your meat-

Joe Rogan 22:54 I'll get you one. Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:54 ... I would love one.

Joe Rogan 22:55 I'll- I'll have them send you one, 100%.

Sebastian Maniscalco 22:56 Perfect. Um, but yeah, it- so-

Joe Rogan 22:59 You know what one of those are?

Sebastian Maniscalco 23:00 Y-

Joe Rogan 23:00 Do you know how they work?

Sebastian Maniscalco 23:01 No.

Joe Rogan 23:01 Oh, it's fucking fantastic. It's- it's, uh, the- like say if someone wants to make a desk like this outta hardwood, like this oak. The sawdust, they take the sawdust from s- from sawmills and they compress it and they make these little tiny pellets. And so there's no chemicals, no nothing. It's just wood. And then the- the way a pellet grill works, there's a bunch of really good companies that make 'em. Uh, I use a Traeger, but I've used a Yoder, that's a great one too, and Green Mountain Grills, that's a great one. This, uh, they have... They all work the same way. They have a heating element and a worm drive. So you got this big bucket of these pellets, and then the worm drive feeds the pellets into this heating element. And the heating element makes the pellets catch fire. So once they catch fire, it's a matter of how much pellets and how much fan to keep the- to- that's what it looks like up there. So then-

Sebastian Maniscalco 23:51 See, look at this, Joe.

Joe Rogan 23:52 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 23:52 You know, I'm looking at this and I'm like, that- that looks like a- that looks like a lot of work.

Joe Rogan 23:57 It's not.

Sebastian Maniscalco 23:58 'Cause you, first of all, you gotta get a pe- a side pellet, uh, catch-all.

Joe Rogan 24:02 But it's there, comes with the whole thing.

Sebastian Maniscalco 24:03 Yeah. But then you gotta go buy-

Joe Rogan 24:04 All comes together.

Sebastian Maniscalco 24:04 ... the pellets. It's just... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 24:06 Listen, I'll have it delivered to you.

Sebastian Maniscalco 24:08 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 24:08 I'll have it delivered. I'm trying to get more people to cook like this-

Sebastian Maniscalco 24:10 I-

Joe Rogan 24:10 ... because it's just wood and fire. It's the best. There's no chemicals. There's no bullshit, no lighter fluid, no gas, no nothing.

Sebastian Maniscalco 24:18 So your entire meat-

Joe Rogan 24:19 Wood and fire.

Sebastian Maniscalco 24:19 Your entire meat process is on this grill?

Joe Rogan 24:22 Uh, except the end. At the end, this is a different grill than I have, 'cause this one has a thing on the side. If you see that thing on the- on the right-hand side, is like a- like, that looks like a- like a direct flame thing. Looks like it's got gas as well, right?... the one that I have doesn't have that. But at the end, I, I sear it at the very end on a cast iron frying pan. So, I cook it from between 225 to 275 degrees, which is pretty low, and I'll cook it until it hits an internal temperature, depending upon what I'm cooking, somewhere around 120 to the maximum, like 130-ish. Then I take it out and then I have a cast iron frying pan that's hot as a motherfucker, and I use either beef tallow or grass-fed butter. And then I sear the shit outta that with some garlic and I throw some thyme in there and fucking flip it over and get that good sear. And then I let it sit for a minimum of 10 minutes. (whispers) And then you slice that motherfucker.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:18 Nice.

Joe Rogan 25:18 (imitates food sizzling) Oh, oh ...

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:19 (laughs) Okay. So, your, your meat is unbelievable. I've seen it on the, uh-

Joe Rogan 25:24 Thank you.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 25:25 Be careful when you say that.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:26 ... the Instagram.

Joe Rogan 25:27 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:27 So, I do something similar, but I do it in the oven. I don't do it-

Joe Rogan 25:30 It's good too.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:30 ... in the grill.

Joe Rogan 25:30 That'll work.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:31 I, I do a slow cook in the oven-

Joe Rogan 25:32 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:32 ... and then I take it out, I let it rest for, I think, 15 minutes, and then I do a sear job.

Joe Rogan 25:36 Oh, okay.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:36 But I'm always looking for better ways, uh, to, to cook meat. And, uh, if, if you're saying that this pellet thing, uh, does it add any flavor or-

Joe Rogan 25:47 Yes.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:47 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 25:48 That's what's-

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:48 That's what it is.

Joe Rogan 25:48 ... good about it because it's smoky hardwood.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:51 Gotcha.

Joe Rogan 25:51 So, you're, it's all smoke. You lift the thing up, smoke's coming out of it and everything. It's a nice, uh, aromatic smoke.

Sebastian Maniscalco 25:57 All right. That's what I need.

Joe Rogan 25:58 You know? It's like cherry smoke or oak or, you know, hickory or maple, all these different hardwoods. You could choose a bunch of different kinds.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:06 Oh, perfect. Okay, so you're not getting that in the, in the oven?

Joe Rogan 26:08 No.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:09 I, I need the, I need the pellets.

Joe Rogan 26:09 No, no, no, it's different. And there's also a setting on a Traeger called Super Smoke, where you hit it at, it goes to, it can't be over 225, but that's what I like anyway. And you put it on 225 and it just constantly fans hard and pushes all this smoke. So, it just gets this deep, rich, smoky flavor in the meat. (clicks tongue) Nice.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:27 Bellissima.

Joe Rogan 26:28 Nice.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:29 But, uh, I like, if you're not into that too, I like a regular Weber grill, like one of those little fucking Weber, uh, the, you know the little ...

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:37 Hibachi?

Joe Rogan 26:38 Yeah. What are those things called that you get? What would you call them? The, like a drum, looks like a half a drum.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:43 Like a barreled fucking thing.

Narrator 26:45 A grill? I don't know.

Joe Rogan 26:46 Yeah, but what are those, the way it looks like, it looks like a cup.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:49 It's like a black, uh-

Joe Rogan 26:50 Yeah, the black ones.

Sebastian Maniscalco 26:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:51 The, they're like steel. Those, but I like those with, uh, just lump charcoal. That, that puts a nice flavor on it too. The key is, don't fuck around with, uh, chemicals. When you start using lighter fluid and shit ...

Sebastian Maniscalco 27:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:04 ... that, that, that adds weird taste to your food.

Sebastian Maniscalco 27:07 It does. It does.

Joe Rogan 27:08 Yeah. And even if you buy that lump charcoal, the, those charcoal briquettes rather, the charcoal briquettes, there's a, there's something in them that makes them that shape. They have to, and then they, they, you know, oh, they light fast. Yeah, 'cause there's fucking gasoline in them.

Sebastian Maniscalco 27:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:23 Like, but lump charcoal, meaning they just take hardwood and then they burn that shit down to, to, you know, that clunky looking lump charcoal.

Sebastian Maniscalco 27:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:32 Just get that stuff and then take some newspaper and roll the newspaper up in one of those ... You ever use one of those little, uh, um, those chimneys? Do you know what those things are?

Sebastian Maniscalco 27:42 No.

Joe Rogan 27:43 It's a barbecue chimney. It's like, uh, you pour the charcoal in this tube and at the bottom of the tube you take, like, pieces of paper and you crumple them up in balls. And then you light the balls on fire, and the fire rises up from the paper to the charcoal, and it lights the charcoal on fire. Then you dump the charcoal out into the grill. And that, that puts a nice flavor on it too. That's just a, but it's again, the same kind of feeling. It's like wood, just this wood flavor on the meat and it's nice.

Sebastian Maniscalco 28:10 All right, I'm sold.

Joe Rogan 28:11 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 28:12 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 28:13 Yeah. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a big fan of cooking. I love it. I went to this, uh, restaurant the other night, to APL Restaurant.

Sebastian Maniscalco 28:19 Yeah, I saw that on your Instagram. Good meat?

Joe Rogan 28:21 D- I ate a 380-day dry-aged steak.

Sebastian Maniscalco 28:26 Geez.

Joe Rogan 28:27 This guy, I'm gonna get him on here, uh, he's a chef.

Sebastian Maniscalco 28:29 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 28:29 His name's Adam Perry Lang, and he's the guy who runs the place. And, uh, I've never even heard of someone doing something like that. Like, you, you hear, like, dry-aged steak is like 30 days.

Sebastian Maniscalco 28:39 Yes.

Joe Rogan 28:39 Right? He's, he's taken it to some weird crazy place where he's got these, these steaks in his gigantic, like, walk-in freezer area where everything is dry aging. Um, they have certain microbes they put in the air, and then they have fans. So, it's like, it's a certain type of bacteria that they want that covers over the meat, a certain type of mold.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:03 Oh, wow.

Joe Rogan 29:04 So, it delivers this very strange taste. It's not like any steak that I've ever had in my life. It's very weird. It's delicious. That's what it looks like.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:13 Oh, wow.

Joe Rogan 29:13 Yeah. That's 380-day dry-aged steak. It's, see, he says it smells like foie gras. It does. It, it smells very strange. It's very different.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:24 Yeah. And I've heard about this place, um-

Joe Rogan 29:26 It's phenomenal.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:27 And I haven't been there yet. Is this in Hollywood, right?

Joe Rogan 29:29 I'll take you. We'll go together. Come on.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:32 Man, I'm ...

Joe Rogan 29:32 After a show.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:33 I'm ready to go, man.

Joe Rogan 29:34 It's, uh, it's on Vine in Hollywood.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:37 On Vine, all right.

Joe Rogan 29:37 Yeah. It's phenomenal. But it's, it's not for everybody. Like that fl- like, my wife is not into it. She likes regular steak. She's not into... She's like, she's like, "Uh, yeah." She's, it's-

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:47 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 29:48 ... it's, it's strong flavor.

Sebastian Maniscalco 29:49 All right. Let me-

Joe Rogan 29:50 It's a different flavor, like it doesn't taste like anything you've ever had before. Like, it doesn't taste like venison. It doesn't taste like bison. It doesn't take a, taste like a rib eye that you'd get from Fleming's or something like that. It tastes very, very different.

Sebastian Maniscalco 30:01 Oh, I love foie gras. If it tastes like that, then I'm in.

Joe Rogan 30:03 It sort of does, but not really. It smells like foie gras. It's, it tastes like itself. It doesn't taste like anything I've ever had. But it's, uh, you know, that's when you're, you're fucking geeking out hard. There's this show that I, I binge-watch on YouTube, it's called The Meat Show. Um, uh, I think the YouTube channel is called Eater, and then the show is called The Meat Show.

Sebastian Maniscalco 30:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:24 And this guy just travels around going to all these different super high-end restaurants that serve steak and trying to see what their preparation is and what they do differently. And y- you could fucking lose your mind with that stuff.

Sebastian Maniscalco 30:38 Yeah, you could go down a deep dark hole with me.

Joe Rogan 30:40 Yeah.Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 30:41 But, hey, man, I'm, I'm, I'm willing to try anything. I'm, I'm more like, uh, experimental as far as when it comes to food. My wife not so much. She's (inhales deeply) very picky, but, uh...

Joe Rogan 30:49 Do you use recipes? Do you use cookbooks?

Sebastian Maniscalco 30:52 Um, oh, I have used cookbooks in the past. Um, but I do a majority of the cooking in, in my house. Uh, I come from, you know, my mom used to cook a lot, and, uh, and my father used to do a lot of fish. So, I don't do a lot of recipes. It's more like, "Dad, how do you make the, um, the mussel, um, for the mussel sauce?" And then he'll, you know, take me through it.

Joe Rogan 31:14 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:14 So nothing's written down. It's just like-

Joe Rogan 31:16 All right. It's just like your act. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:18 (laughs) A lot of improvising.

Joe Rogan 31:21 I like it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:22 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:22 So...

Joe Rogan 31:22 Yeah, yeah. What do you do? Like, what, what are you into? Are you like, like linguine with clams? Like, what kind of stuff do you cook?

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:27 You know what? I, I, (sighs) I like a- I like a lot of pasta. Um, I like a nice Bolognese sauce. However, I'm trying to stay away from those types of meals-

Joe Rogan 31:37 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:37 ... because in the past I ballooned up to, you know, 205, 207-

Joe Rogan 31:42 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:42 ... not giving a-

Joe Rogan 31:43 Oof.

Sebastian Maniscalco 31:44 ... uh, crap about my, my health or, or, or anything. And recently, I've lost some weight due to the fact that, um, been watching, um, My Diet. 'Cause you know, I mean, I don't know. I mean, you're, you're in shape, so you, you, you seem a lot more disciplined than a lot of comedians when it comes to-

Joe Rogan 32:01 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 32:01 ... (laughs) to health. But, uh, for myself, I have, you know, taken on a regimen of, um, not drinking, uh, wine. I used to have like a little wine after, uh, the meal or during the meal. So I've eliminated that, and, uh, I've been doing some, uh, Pilates.

Joe Rogan 32:19 Pilates?

Sebastian Maniscalco 32:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:20 Nice.

Sebastian Maniscalco 32:20 Which has helped my, uh, my, um, balance and my core, and, and-

Joe Rogan 32:26 Underrated exercise. Very underrated.

Sebastian Maniscalco 32:29 I gotta tell you, Joe. This Pilates is really changed the way I look at, uh, physical fitness.

Joe Rogan 32:35 You know who's really into Pilates? Sergey Kovalev.

Sebastian Maniscalco 32:39 (clicks tongue) Really?

Joe Rogan 32:39 Yeah. He just re- regained the U-- uh, the, um, WBC or WB... I forgot which, which light heavyweight championship on, uh, Saturday night. He's the Crusher. He's this badass Russian motherfucker. And, uh, he just, um, just, I mean, at 35, I think he is, just regained his title. And his routine's very unusual. And one of the things that he does for his exercise is Pilates. And, you know, people make fun of it, but the guy has got strength in all these weird places.

Sebastian Maniscalco 33:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:07 And the f- full range of motion and flexibility and...

Sebastian Maniscalco 33:10 Well, that's what I have.

Joe Rogan 33:11 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 33:12 I'm 45 so my range of motion, my, my shoulders screwed up, my legs, my knee, and this has given me an exercise where I could, uh, not only improve my flexibility, but man, I mean, you walk out, I'm drenched.

Joe Rogan 33:26 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 33:27 And, uh, so yeah, I'm getting back on the physical fitness thing 'cause I've been on the road so, so much that, uh, I kinda let that slip a little. But I wanna get, uh, I wanna get back into it.

Joe Rogan 33:38 Yeah. You know, some guys are real good about working out on the road. Like, Bryan Callen goes, everywhere he goes, he'll go to a gym, and he's real good at that. Like, he'll go and, uh, go work out with kickboxers, work out with jujitsu guys. Bryan does a lot of boxing.

Sebastian Maniscalco 33:51 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:52 So he'll find like a local boxing gym and have a guy hold the pads for him, maybe do even a little light sparring. He gets really into it on the road. But that, I think that's the key is like to force yourself to not stay in your hotel and wait till the show goes. You just gotta force yourself to get out and go do something.

Sebastian Maniscalco 34:07 Yeah. I, I wish I was a self-motivated guy, but I need help. So I've taken, uh ... My buddy, John Petrelli is personal trainer, so he comes on the road with me and, uh, you know, moti- motivates me to-

Joe Rogan 34:21 Oh, that's great.

Sebastian Maniscalco 34:21 ... to, to get up and go. We do swimming. We do a lot of different thing. This guy's ... I, I, I liken him to you 'cause he's into, uh, mixed martial arts. He's into hunting. He's one of these guys that, uh, is a great motivator and really helped me, uh, get my life back together when it comes to, to physical fitness 'cause again, you know, I was lifting weights. My, my sh- everything was falling apart.

Joe Rogan 34:45 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 34:45 And now with the swimming and Pilates, I feel like, uh, I have something to look forward to when it comes to, uh, to, to working out because I, I ... To go to the gym for me wasn't fun anymore.

Joe Rogan 34:55 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 34:55 It's like, "What am I gonna do? Biceps and chest?" It's over.

Joe Rogan 35:00 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:00 You know? I ain't (laughs) I ain't doing 225 ever again, you know?

Joe Rogan 35:05 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:05 That's, that was my workout since I was like 18. I'd go in-

Joe Rogan 35:08 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:09 ... nothing, nothing changed. It was 225s-

Joe Rogan 35:11 Yep. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:12 ... and then let's do some curls, and, uh, you know, neglect the abs-

Joe Rogan 35:16 Yep.

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:16 ... and go home.

Joe Rogan 35:17 Yep.

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:18 Uh ...

Joe Rogan 35:18 Neglect the legs. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:19 (laughs) Yeah. No legs, although I did have, uh ... I played soccer growing up, so I did have those, uh, you know, those, the soccer legs. I got like Earl Campbell thighs.

Joe Rogan 35:29 Yeah. Soccer is one of the best exercises ever.

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:32 I mean, it's also a great way to blow your ACL out.

Sebastian Maniscalco 35:34 Totally.

Joe Rogan 35:35 Yeah. Everybody's ... You know, it's shifting left and right and all that. There's a fucking picture. You know Big Boi, the, uh, the, uh, the DJ?

Narrator 35:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:43 His fucking son. There's a video. He retweeted it. His son is, uh, a football player, and there's, uh, there's a video of his son where, you know, someone's trying to tackle him, and he moves like a fucking ghost. It's incredible. You watch him do ... Like, it was one, one of those rare things where you see something and you're like legitimately impressed, like, "Holy shit." I watched it like five times in a row. This kid's footwork is incredible.

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:08 Really?

Joe Rogan 36:09 Yeah. But footwork, like, that kind of like s- like ... Like, who, who's in better shape than soccer players? They're constantly sprinting.

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:15 Yeah. Up and down.

Joe Rogan 36:16 It's, it's the whole game is like you ha- ... And you have to maintain that stamina. You're constantly sprinting.

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:21 Yeah. There's a lot of mileage, uh, uh, you're putting on in a, in a soccer game. Although, you know what gives me ... And you're, you're, you are probably gonna laugh as well as (laughs) your listeners. Believe me. Pickleball. You ever play that?

Joe Rogan 36:35 Pickleball?

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:36 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:36 What is that?

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:37 B- pickleball.

Joe Rogan 36:37 Pickleball?

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:38 It's like tennis, uh, and ping pong-... and you play it in a gymnasium. So it's like a, it's a net-

Joe Rogan 36:46 Okay.

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:46 ... and it's, you got paddles and talk about moving side-to-side, it's, it's fun and you burn a ton of calories.

Joe Rogan 36:55 And you do it in a gym?

Sebastian Maniscalco 36:56 You do it in, in a gym, in like a, uh, like a basketball court.

Joe Rogan 36:59 So it's like racquetball, but there's a net.

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:01 There's a net, so it's-

Joe Rogan 37:02 So you're not bouncing it off the wall, you're, you playing it like tennis?

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:05 It's a, yeah, it's a court. Small net, and you have, uh, uh-

Joe Rogan 37:09 Jamie's got something for us.

Narrator 37:09 Is, is this what's on the... Like in Venice, those little small courts?

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:12 Is this it? (laughs)

Narrator 37:13 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:13 A lot of old people. (laughs)

Narrator 37:15 Is this it? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:16 Look at these guys. "Hello."

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:17 This is-

Joe Rogan 37:17 "My name is Fred, this is my wife Wendy."

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:19 This is it.

Narrator 37:19 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:19 Listen, you're gonna laugh, all right? There's a lot of old people that play this, but I'm telling you, it's (laughs) this is embarrassing.

Narrator 37:27 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:27 And so you each have your-

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:28 And-

Joe Rogan 37:28 ... is four people?

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:30 Yeah, you could do doubles, but me and my buddy play just one-on-one. And I'm telling you, it's not (laughs)

Narrator 37:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:37 Looks like it's fun.

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:37 It's not only fun, but you, you burn a lot of calories and you don't even know you're doing it because, and I'm diving and-

Joe Rogan 37:45 Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:45 ... it's, uh, it's one of the exercises that we, uh (laughs) we really enjoy.

Joe Rogan 37:50 You have a trainer?

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:51 What's that? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:51 So listen to what he's got you doing. He's got you doing pilates and pickleball. What's next?

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:57 Uh, I have no idea.

Joe Rogan 37:58 Ballet?

Sebastian Maniscalco 37:58 (laughs) Maybe.

Joe Rogan 37:59 He's, he's working his way.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:00 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:00 You know what he's working towards.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:02 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:02 I don't have to tell you.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:04 I'm telling you, I know a lot of 68-year-old people play this-

Joe Rogan 38:08 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:08 ... but, uh, if you're looking for a low, uh, kinda impact, fun-

Joe Rogan 38:12 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:12 ... activity, uh (laughs) pick a ball if you're looking at it and going-

Joe Rogan 38:17 No, it does.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:18 Oh, yeah. This is-

Joe Rogan 38:18 Look, I know tennis is fucking hard.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:20 Tennis, man.

Joe Rogan 38:20 Tennis is-

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:21 That's another thing.

Joe Rogan 38:21 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:21 This is like a, this is like tennis reduced to a smaller court-

Joe Rogan 38:24 Mm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:24 ... basically.

Joe Rogan 38:25 Probably healthier for you.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:27 Not, not as hard on the ankles and the knees.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:29 It's, uh, it's not as hard.

Joe Rogan 38:30 Yeah. That's-

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:30 But, uh, I-

Joe Rogan 38:32 Well-

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:33 We'll, we'll have to go. After we have, have our steak-

Narrator 38:35 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:35 ... we'll go for a game (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:36 Yeah, okay.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:36 ... of pickleball.

Joe Rogan 38:37 Where would one go to play?

Narrator 38:38 They have, they have courts in Venice Beach, that's what I thought it was. I've always seen these small tennis courts there and I'd-

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:42 Yeah.

Narrator 38:42 And I didn't know really what people were playing on the courts.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:44 So they're calling it paddle tennis.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:47 Y- yeah.

Narrator 38:47 Maybe, sure.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:47 Maybe, maybe this... But this is what, this is what it is.

Narrator 38:49 Same thing.

Joe Rogan 38:49 These guys look ridiculous. They should-

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:51 ... just go home.

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:52 This is outrageous. What are you doing, sir?

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:55 (laughs) I'm telling you, put a little English... Listen, I grew up-

Joe Rogan 38:57 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 38:58 ... playing ping pong. I'm really good at ping pong.

Joe Rogan 39:00 Are you really?

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:01 Yeah. So this is like a larger version of ping pong.

Joe Rogan 39:07 Mm. Yeah, it looks like it's fun. All bullshit aside, that looks like a good time.

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:12 It's, it's fun, believe me. I know your listeners are dying laughing-

Joe Rogan 39:15 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:15 ... right now. (laughs) But I'm telling you, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's good. So-

Joe Rogan 39:21 So-

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:22 That's what I'm doing, Joe.

Joe Rogan 39:23 So you take your trainer with you on your road-

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 39:25 ... on the road. That's the move. Where's this guy, where'd you meet this guy?

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:28 I've known him for 20 years.

Joe Rogan 39:29 Oh, okay.

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:29 I met him on the set of Days of Our Lives-

Joe Rogan 39:31 Holy shit.

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:31 ... doing extra work.

Joe Rogan 39:33 Days of Our Lives.

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:34 That, when I first came out to, uh, to LA in 1998, uh, I was the type of guy, I would do these weird, like, mailings to get work, right? So for Days of Our Lives, no, it, it was General Hospital. General Hospital, take a headshot, and then take a Post-It note and I would write on the Post-It note, "Ready to operate."

Joe Rogan 39:57 (laughs)

Narrator 39:58 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 39:59 I stuck it to the headshot and I sent it out.

Narrator 40:02 Ugh.

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:02 So I would do these, like, weird little mailings where, oh, you know, maybe the person opening the mail would go, "Oh," and get a little chuckle and whatnot.

Joe Rogan 40:08 Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:08 So I met him doing extra work, this is what I used to do, uh, for, for some extra cash. And, uh, we became fast friends. He's an Italian kid and, uh, we, uh, similar upbringing, um, middle class. He's from New York, I'm from Chicago. And, uh, just a great, great guy. I, uh, he, uh, he set me up with my wife. I mean, that's how I know my wife, through him. And, uh, he's been a huge, huge help for me.

Joe Rogan 40:32 That's awesome, man. If you can find a guy who actually knows what he's doing, and that, that is so huge because they also know what you need. You know, they're like, "Hey, you know, we need to concentrate more on your rear delts and you, you, the issues you're having with your shoulders-"

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:45 "... or your mobility, so we're gonna work on some band work first."

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 40:48 "And warm you up." And you could fuck yourself up just doing it by yourself.

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:52 I did.

Joe Rogan 40:52 You really could.

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:53 I did. And you're right. He knows, uh, well, what to work on, what to loosen up.

Joe Rogan 40:58 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 40:59 Let's not jump right into the exercise, let's warm it up a little bit. So, yeah, I credit him to kinda get me back on the, on the, on the health and, and fitness. And plus we're taking our own meals. That's another thing. Uh, we were, we pack our own meals. We get like, a service and we bring, uh, breakfast, lunch and dinner on the road and that's our meals. We don't-

Joe Rogan 41:19 Whoa, you're taking it to another level.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:21 Yeah. Well, it's an- well, listen, I was going out having, uh, a dry-aged at midnight.

Joe Rogan 41:26 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:27 You know? I'm, I was eating a full-blown steak, asparagus and baked potato and then I-

Joe Rogan 41:32 After your show?

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:33 ... then I would go to bed.

Joe Rogan 41:34 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:34 And wh- what, you know-

Joe Rogan 41:35 Sounds good.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:35 It's delicious.

Joe Rogan 41:36 I like it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:37 But, uh, you wake up-

Joe Rogan 41:38 I'm, I'm doing that. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:38 ... and your, your blood ain't moving right.

Joe Rogan 41:41 That is true.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:41 But-

Joe Rogan 41:41 You know, sometimes I will come home from the store and I'm hungry and I'll eat late night, and then I'll wake up almost hungover. And I'm like, "What? Did, I didn't even drink... Oh, I ate, I ate like, 1000 calories at 2:30 in the morning."

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:55 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 41:56 Well, last night I, uh, my wife and I had sushi. I woke up and I don't... The sodium was unbelievable. I was like, "Jesus."

Joe Rogan 42:04 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:05 From one thing of sushi, I, I look like, uh, I need to go sweat in your sauna.

Joe Rogan 42:10 Is it sodium in sushi? Like, what's it from the salt?

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:13 It's the, it's the s- um...

Joe Rogan 42:14 In the, uh-

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:14 The soy sauce in, uh, that, that's where at least I'm picking it up from.

Joe Rogan 42:19 Who are all these guys showing up at our door?

Narrator 42:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 42:24 Hmm.

Narrator 42:25 I'll check.

Joe Rogan 42:26 Okay.

Narrator 42:26 How about it?

Joe Rogan 42:27 Um, does... But sodium is n- like, what would it be in? The soy sauce? They have that-

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:32 The soy sauce, right?

Joe Rogan 42:32 Green soy sauce that's like, the low... You know, they always have the low one and the high one? They have the two different kinds of soy sauce?

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:38 Yeah, low sodium and, and-

Joe Rogan 42:39 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:39 ... and high sodium.

Joe Rogan 42:40 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:40 I think last night I had the high sodium and I woke up and, uh, it wasn't good.

Joe Rogan 42:45 How much soy sauce are you using?

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:47 You know what I like?

Joe Rogan 42:48 What do you like?

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:48 I like the soy sauce and then I like the, uh, wasabi.

Joe Rogan 42:51 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:52 I, I, I put a clump of that in.

Joe Rogan 42:54 In the soy sauce and then you mix it up?

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:55 I mix it up.

Joe Rogan 42:56 Make like a slurry?

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:57 Yeah. It gets-

Joe Rogan 42:58 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 42:59 ... it gets, uh, thick.

Joe Rogan 43:00 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:00 So when I eat the sushi, it jus- it burns-

Joe Rogan 43:03 Ooh.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:03 ... my nose.

Joe Rogan 43:04 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:04 That's, that's how I like it.

Joe Rogan 43:05 I like it that way too.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:07 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 43:07 Sometimes, uh, sushi chefs don't like it when you do that. They, they get offended.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:11 What, disrespecting the fish?

Joe Rogan 43:12 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:13 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:13 It should stand alone. But-

Joe Rogan 43:14 Did you ever see that movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi?

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:17 Oh, is that the guy that's got the, uh, sushi joint at the, uh, in the train station?

Joe Rogan 43:21 Yeah, in Japan.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:23 Yeah. Have you seen that?

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:24 I've seen half of it.

Joe Rogan 43:26 It's really weird, 'cause, uh, it changed my idea of what sushi is. I used to think it's, oh, they're cutting fish up, they slap it on a piece of rice, it's great. It's good, tastes good, clean, easy for you.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:36 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 43:37 Now I realize, like, this guy, it's, is like his life's dedication to putting together the perfect tastes.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:44 Yeah. Like, there was one guy that's been working on this egg plate for a year trying to perfect it, trying to get it right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:51 Similar to like a joke, you know, like trying to make the joke so perfect-

Joe Rogan 43:55 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 43:55 ... this guy's trying to get the dish so perfect. Um, yeah. He-

Joe Rogan 43:58 But I would never have thought that with sushi. With su- I thought, uh, like if someone-

Sebastian Maniscalco 44:01 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:01 ... said a sushi chef, I'd be like, "Oh yeah, right. Okay." Like he's not really a chef, he's just cutting up fish.

Sebastian Maniscalco 44:09 Yeah, but there's something about the way they're preparing these, uh, I mean, uh, yeah, it's one thing if you're getting like, uh, sashimi, just salmon, but if they're putting it together with rice and, you know, it's, uh, it's like a science.

Joe Rogan 44:22 Yeah. No, it's definitely a science. It's also a science because they age the fish, which I didn't know.

Sebastian Maniscalco 44:27 I didn't know that.

Joe Rogan 44:28 Yeah, I was watching this YouTube thing, uh, where these guys were going to this sushi place and they were saying that tuna, they, they will have their tuna in the frigerator for as long as two weeks in preparation for sushi. And just like dry aged steak, the aging of the tuna breaks down the, the, the bacteria breakdown some of the tissue and make it softer and more delicate and change the flavor profile.

Sebastian Maniscalco 44:51 (smacks lips) Yeah, no, I had, had no idea. I thought they caught it, they float-

Joe Rogan 44:55 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 44:55 Don't, don't you freeze fish for it to be sashimi grade? Is, is that the deal?

Joe Rogan 45:01 I don't know. Is that the case?

Sebastian Maniscalco 45:03 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 45:04 Let's find out. What makes something sashimi grade? I saw there was a guy who caught a big ass fucking tuna and they sold it for $3 million. Yes.

Sebastian Maniscalco 45:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:11 That's what I had cued up until you made me ask. Yeah, go back to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What in the fuck is that? $5,000 a pound. Japan's king of tuna. Is that racist? Is that racist?

Sebastian Maniscalco 45:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:23 Uh. (laughs) The way I said it, it seemed racist. Oh, man. Uh, the first tuna auction of the year at Tokyo's new fish market set a record price, more than three million for a giant bluefin tuna, a critically endangered species.

Sebastian Maniscalco 45:35 Wow.

Joe Rogan 45:36 Yeah, see, that's where you gotta go, man, is it critically endangered? And if it's, if it is so, should you really be cutting that fucker up?

Sebastian Maniscalco 45:44 Yeah. I don't know about that.

Joe Rogan 45:46 When I was in, uh, Hawaii, uh, we caught some, uh, yellowtail. My youngest daughter loves fishing, so I went out with her and we, uh, went on this boat and we were actually jigging. There's like this, uh, shelf and this big drop off and these yellowtails hang out there. We caught a gang of them. And one of the things they were saying was that the Big Island had a farm where they were farming yellowtail, like they had this gigantic, like sort of netted in area where the fish couldn't leave.

Sebastian Maniscalco 46:16 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:16 And they were, they were trapped in this area, but then this storm came and broke down all the nets and the fish escaped. And now they're everywhere and you're catching them. We caught like, I don't know, like six or seven of them, and they're fucking big, like ten pounds, and you're fighting them on like a light, uh, spinning rod, so it's like (rod reeling sound) . Like really awesome, awesome time.

Sebastian Maniscalco 46:38 Wow.

Joe Rogan 46:38 But they were unbelievably delicious. But these are non-native. They brought them over there and released them. I'm like, "They better start doing that with other fish."

Sebastian Maniscalco 46:45 Right.

Joe Rogan 46:46 Like, they really should set up these fish farms and just release these motherfuckers out into the ocean, 'cause they're just taking nets and pulling them across the bottom of the floor.

Sebastian Maniscalco 46:54 It's not even, it's like such a, uh, uh, there's something that can be said about going out and catching the fish-

Joe Rogan 47:00 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 47:00 ... like you're saying.

Joe Rogan 47:00 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 47:01 Rather than taking a, a net and just scooping everything up in its path.

Joe Rogan 47:05 Everything. Turtles, dolphins, whatever the fuck is there, everything gets jacked. And the problem is, n- you know, there's, uh, well, who knows how many countries have boats that are doing that.

Sebastian Maniscalco 47:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:15 And they're all operating in international water, and I don't know what the fucking laws are, but they're just pulling what... And they... You know the other thing they do that's fucked up? When they're done, a lot of times they cut the, the net loose and they just leave it in the ocean. They just drop the net to the bottom of the ocean.

Sebastian Maniscalco 47:31 It's funny, they have the regulations for like hunting-

Joe Rogan 47:34 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 47:35 ... but they don't have it like in the ocean, you know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 47:37 It's 'cause nobody owns it. You, you only own like a certain amount of your shore, like out, off, like say from Malibu out. I don't know how much the, the United States owns, but we only own a certain amount and then it becomes international waters. International waters is like kind of anybody could be out there.

Sebastian Maniscalco 47:56 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:57 It's weird. I mean, it makes sense, but there's no, y- I don't think there's any, d- like I think if you have a boat, you can just kind of go anywhere that's international water.

Sebastian Maniscalco 48:08 Just no regulations.

Joe Rogan 48:09 Here, what is, what parts of the ocean are considered international water? Territorial waters or territorial seas defined by a 1982 United Nations convention on the law of the sea. It's a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles from the baseline, usually the mean low water mark of the coastal state. So 12 miles. So 12 miles out or, uh, 13.8 miles? Yeah, nautical miles. Oh, nautical miles is different, huh? Yeah. Hm. Interesting. I don't know. Why is it different? I don't know. How weird is that? Waves. Nautical miles is different than regular miles? The fuck? Get it together.

Sebastian Maniscalco 48:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:44 Don't call it a mile then, you fucks. Here's this issue, man. Imagine, "Hey, buddy, I'll meet you at 12 miles." "All right, 12 nautical miles." And the guy's a mile and a .8 away from you.... although stores use the label "sushi-grade fish," there is no official standards for using this label. The only regulation is that parasitic fish, such as salmon, should be frozen to kill any parasites before being consumed raw. The best ones are assigned grade one, which is usually what would be sold as sushi grade. But what about sashimi grade, is what he said. It's the same thing?

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:12 Yeah. See, that's what I looked up, and that's what popped up.

Joe Rogan 49:14 Yeah, you're not supposed to eat salmon raw, apparently. Salmon is a freshwater fish. And salmon, they, they can fuck you up.

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:20 But you could pull a, a, a tuna out of the-

Joe Rogan 49:22 Right out of the ocean.

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:23 ... water and (whistles)

Joe Rogan 49:23 Yeah. I have a buddy of mine who went, uh, tuna fishing off of San Diego. They caught a tuna, and they sliced it up and ate it right there on the boat.

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:29 Okay.

Joe Rogan 49:29 Like, right as they, right after they pulled it out of the water.

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:32 That I haven't done, but, uh, that, that to me would be the best, eating-

Joe Rogan 49:36 Yeah, it's just-

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:36 ... right, right out of the water.

Joe Rogan 49:37 I mean, the, I just hope they don't wait until there's nothing left before they start doing something to save them.

Sebastian Maniscalco 49:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 49:43 It just doesn't, doesn't seem like the... I mean, if you're taking a fish and you're s- you're buying it for $3 million, that's almost like a scene in a movie, right? That's like the end. "This was, this is one of the last tuna. Look, they bought it for $3 million." And everybody's smiling and they're cutting it up. It's like, ugh. Hunting regulations are, are critical, but you could, you know what the population is. It's very, they, they, they, the Fish and Wildlife Departments have all these different methods they use, whether it's, um, using reports from hunters, whether it's, uh, they, they fly over with, uh, airplanes and helicopters and things along those lines. Whatever they use, they have a bunch of different ways that they can determine what the population is, and then they determine the population of predators, how many animals are lost, how many animals are, are shot during any hunting season, and then they determine how many tags can be divvied out.

Sebastian Maniscalco 50:30 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 50:31 So, like, say if you live in an area, um, there might be, uh, 500 tags available, but there might be like 2,000 hunters that are applying for those tags. So, most people are not gonna get it. It's a, it's a, a very smart way. They've, they've really got it down to a science. And because of that, there's more white-tailed deer in this country than, than even when Columbus landed.

Sebastian Maniscalco 50:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:52 It's, uh, they've, they've got a really good system for-

Sebastian Maniscalco 50:54 Yeah. If they could figure something out for the ocean, then-

Joe Rogan 50:57 The problem is, you'd have to get everybody to cooperate. And some-

Sebastian Maniscalco 51:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:00 Like, they can't even get Japan to stop killing whales. Like, there's, there's certain Japanese folks who, uh, they have this really sneaky thing they do, and there's this, there's this, um, um, conservation group called the Sea Shepherds, and they catch these fucking people all the time. But what they basically do is they say, "We're a research boat," and they use a research boat and go slaughter whales and then sell the whales. But they pretend that it's, that it's research.

Sebastian Maniscalco 51:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 51:26 But if they kill a whale, certain countries still value parts of whales. They make things with it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 51:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:33 Uh, what the fuck do they make with whales? I think they make some perfumes. Like, what... But people are still killing whales. It gets, it gets weird when things are smart. That's when it gets weird.

Sebastian Maniscalco 51:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:46 You know? Something as smart as a fucking whale.

Sebastian Maniscalco 51:48 Yeah. I mean, uh, uh, yeah, and these, in these countries, the- they're using, like you said, parts of the fish for, uh, you know, they, they put it on their mantle. They got like a, uh, I don't know, a tooth.

Joe Rogan 52:03 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:04 Or, or what have you-

Joe Rogan 52:05 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:05 ... from, from a whale or a shark or whatever it is.

Joe Rogan 52:07 Well, that's the big thing with rhinos.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:10 Oh, the big-

Joe Rogan 52:10 These guys cut the rhino horns off, and they drink it, like in a tea, and it's supposed to make your dick hard.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:15 Oh. (laughs) See, this is what I'm talking about. You know these things.

Joe Rogan 52:20 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:21 I mean, I don't know how the hell you remember all this stuff.

Joe Rogan 52:25 I don't know.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:25 I'm gonna f- I've just forgot the mileage off the coast of-

Joe Rogan 52:29 13.8 nautical miles.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:33 (laughs) 13.8 models, miles, 12 nautical miles.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:37 Oh my God.

Joe Rogan 52:37 1.8 difference. 1.8 difference at 12 miles, which is who knows how long when you get to 500 miles out. You gotta do the math.

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:44 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 52:45 It's stupid. Yeah, um, yeah, I don't, I don't know how I remember these things. I got a, I just have, it's a fucking screwy brain. It's not-

Sebastian Maniscalco 52:54 I, I wish I had your memory, Joe. That's what I'm saying.

Joe Rogan 52:57 It's not the best, I'm telling you. It's, it's like, there's still a lot of shit that I don't remember. I just remember things that are interesting, you know? I have, uh, it's, it's an odd, it's an odd sense of memory. But the, uh, the rhino horn thing is kind of sad because it doesn't even work, you know, especially in this day and age where people can get Viagra that works.

Sebastian Maniscalco 53:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:19 But there's something about it, I think, in some Asian cultures where it's considered like a sign of wealth. You drive a Rolls-Royce, you drink rhino tea.

Sebastian Maniscalco 53:28 Oh.

Joe Rogan 53:28 This guy's a baller, you know? He, he doesn't give a fuck. He drinks rhino tea, you know? Like, "Oh man, that guy's drinking rhino tea."

Sebastian Maniscalco 53:36 What a guy.

Joe Rogan 53:37 Yeah. There's, but there's something about that. Like, you know, yeah, I wanna eat an extinct animal. I wanna bring a wooly mammoth back to life and shoot it in the head. Like, there's some people that are like that.

Sebastian Maniscalco 53:46 Really?

Joe Rogan 53:46 Like, they, they wanna be the ultimate conqueror, and you know, "I wanna eat a whale dick." You know what I mean? Like, there's, there's people that are like that.

Sebastian Maniscalco 53:54 I'm just going, looking for a nice steak, Joe.

Joe Rogan 53:56 A nice steak or a good linguine with clam sauce.

Sebastian Maniscalco 53:59 Oh, man.

Joe Rogan 53:59 That place that I saw you at when I was with my kids, uh, Medeo's?

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:02 Medeo's, yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:02 That's a sensational Italian restaurant. That place is legit.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:06 Well, that place moved.

Joe Rogan 54:08 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:08 S- so have you been to the new place-

Joe Rogan 54:10 I have not.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:10 ... in Beverly Hills?

Joe Rogan 54:11 Where did they move?

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:11 Beverly Hills, somewhere.

Joe Rogan 54:12 To Beverly Hills now?

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:12 Yeah. So that place is excellent. I mean-

Joe Rogan 54:14 What's in the old spot?

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:16 They're re- redoing the whole building.

Joe Rogan 54:17 Oh.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:17 That's why they had to move.

Joe Rogan 54:18 Oh.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:19 So I mean, I think that's one of the last times I, I, I've eaten there when I saw you and your kids-

Joe Rogan 54:24 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:24 ... uh, uh, having a, a meal there. Uh, yeah, that place is good. The pastas are fantastic.

Joe Rogan 54:28 S- as good as it gets.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:29 And, uh, it's, it's delicious.

Joe Rogan 54:31 They make the perfect linguine with clams.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:33 They do.

Joe Rogan 54:33 It's like perfect.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:34 It is.

Joe Rogan 54:35 It just does-

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:36 Good.

Joe Rogan 54:36 N- not too soupy. You know, some people get crazy with the, the liquid, and you get in, it's like it's, it's almost like bathing in a, in a soup.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:44 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 54:44 And, but they have, it's nice. It's al dente. It's got some chew to it.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:50 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 54:50 It's, ah!

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:50 And the place is authentic, too.

Joe Rogan 54:52 Th- too, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:52 I mean, they got like guys walking around there from like Sicily and, and Italy.

Joe Rogan 54:56 Yes, yes, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:56 And the owner's a little old man-

Joe Rogan 54:58 Mm-hmm.

Sebastian Maniscalco 54:58 ... that kind of walks around and makes sure everything's okay and he's f- speaking Italian and...

Joe Rogan 55:03 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:04 ... yeah, you feel like you're in, uh, you're in Italy when you're there.

Joe Rogan 55:06 Saw Al Pacino there, so you know it's-

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:07 Oh, you did?

Joe Rogan 55:08 ... legit. Yes, I did.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:09 Wow.

Joe Rogan 55:10 Yes, I did.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:11 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 55:12 You know who I also saw there? Saw there? Shannen Doherty. You remember her? She was like-

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:15 Oh, 90210?

Joe Rogan 55:17 ... the original, the original bad girl.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:19 Yeah, there's a lot of celebrities that popped in there.

Joe Rogan 55:20 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:20 I saw Jay-Z and, uh, Beyonce come in one night.

Joe Rogan 55:23 Oh, shit.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:24 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:26 Shit.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:27 So-

Joe Rogan 55:27 They come in through the back door?

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:28 Yeah. There was like a-

Joe Rogan 55:29 Did they?

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:29 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:29 Oh, it was like a trap.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:30 There was a back-

Joe Rogan 55:31 There's a tunnel under the ground-

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:32 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 55:33 ... to put the celebrities in. Pop 'em up through. Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:37 Oh, man.

Joe Rogan 55:38 So, I, um, what was it like doing Madison Square Garden? You did four shows-

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:44 ... in the Madison Square Garden. And you did it in the round.

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:46 Yeah. So, um-

Joe Rogan 55:48 How many shows have you done in the round before?

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:50 Leading up to then, I'd say probably 15, 16.

Joe Rogan 55:54 Oh, so you've done quite a few in the round?

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:56 Do you like it?

Sebastian Maniscalco 55:57 Um, it's a different animal. And, uh, my act is very physical and expressive, so it kind of works for that type of environment. Uh, although, you have to... L- listen, there's a screen above you, so people are watching screens-

Joe Rogan 56:11 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 56:12 ... uh, when they go to shows anyway. Uh, but the challenge to do it in the round is to hit those people within the first five rows that maybe can't see the screen. 'Cause once you go to the other side of the stage, you got your back to them.

Joe Rogan 56:25 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 56:26 And it's, it's kinda difficult to, uh-

Joe Rogan 56:27 Look at you there.

Sebastian Maniscalco 56:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:29 Wow. That's so crazy.

Sebastian Maniscalco 56:31 It was-

Joe Rogan 56:31 That's 18,000 people?

Sebastian Maniscalco 56:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:33 That's fucking bananas, dude.

Sebastian Maniscalco 56:36 So yeah, it's been, for New York, uh, New York for me has been really, really good to me over the years. Um, obviously I'm Italian, and there's a lot of Italians in the New York City area. But, uh, what I think has happened is I'm talking about, like, family, and I'm talking about, like, the immigrant experience, uh, my father being an immigrant from Sicily. And what I'm seeing at my shows is not only an 88-year-old grandmother, but a 12-year-old kid and kinda everybody in between.

Joe Rogan 57:05 Wow.

Sebastian Maniscalco 57:06 So, uh, it's very broad. It's comedy, and I'm not tooting my own horn here, I'm just saying it's comedy that you could come and not cringe because the material might be a little blue or what have you, and-

Joe Rogan 57:18 Joey Diaz.

Sebastian Maniscalco 57:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:22 (laughs) Imagine if you had Joey Diaz open for you at Madison Square Garden.

Sebastian Maniscalco 57:26 Oh my god.

Joe Rogan 57:26 "Let me tell you, cocksucker, this is how you eat that muffler."

Sebastian Maniscalco 57:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:29 What? What? What?

Sebastian Maniscalco 57:31 Yeah, they'd be a little shocked. Um-

Joe Rogan 57:33 Oh my god.

Sebastian Maniscalco 57:34 So, yeah, I mean that's why I think I was able to do four shows at Madison Square Garden, just because my audience is a large swath of multi-generational, uh, it's multi-generational. There's just a lot of different people at the shows. And, um, to do Madison Square Garden for me, as, as we were talking prior to getting on here, I was saying that I think I took a little too much on my plate. And what I mean by that is, coming up in comedy, I used to say yes to everything.

Joe Rogan 58:05 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 58:05 The phone used to ring and it was my agent, "You wanna do-" "Yeah. Put me down. I'm in."

Joe Rogan 58:10 Right. Well, you were trying to work, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 58:11 Trying to work.

Joe Rogan 58:12 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 58:12 And what has happened, once you get too busy, I think, uh, you need to learn to, you know, press the brakes a little bit. So, uh, I did a l- ton of press when I was in New York. And I had family there, I had friends there. And I think I, I spread myself a little too thin. So when the shows s- uh, came, I don't feel like I was r- operating at an optimal level to, to perform. Yeah, i- i- it was fun. I, I still had a good time. But, you know, the more and more I do standup, the more and more I feel like you really gotta be clear-headed, in the moment, and you can't, you can't overwork yourself. It's just who I am. I, I've always been a worker. I mean, when I wasn't going to college and I had time off in the summer, I was working. Uh, when I... I used to work summers as a janitor, uh, during high school. So all the time was always occupied with work. And I feel if I'm not working, I feel like... Or I'm not doing press or I'm not doing, uh, anything, I, I feel like, um-

Joe Rogan 59:23 You're slacking.

Sebastian Maniscalco 59:23 Yeah. I feel like... 'Cause my father, uh, has always put it in my head, you know, "What do you, what do you, you know, what are you doing?" Like, he'd come home and go, "What'd you do today?"

Joe Rogan 59:32 (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 59:33 You know? I'm like, "I don't know."

Joe Rogan 59:34 All that angry face. (laughs)

Sebastian Maniscalco 59:36 (laughs) Yeah, yeah. It was like, all right, you know, "You're gonna paint the fence this, this week." And I'm, "Eh, I ain't gonna paint the fence." So there was always something to do.

Joe Rogan 59:43 Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 59:43 And that work ethic has bled into my career. And now that I've had some success in my career, I, I think I'm, have to kind of pull it back a little bit and not say yes to an interview that maybe, you know-

Joe Rogan 59:58 Is not gonna help, but is gonna take up a lot of your time.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:00:00 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:00:01 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:00:01 Exactly.

Joe Rogan 1:00:02 Yeah, no, I'm in the same boat. And, uh, I mean, I think sometimes even I do too many podcasts. I think, um... But there's a lot of fucking people I wanna talk to, so it's hard. But I think, um, I've d- I've definitely stopped doing interviews and all those different things for that reason. It's just, there's only a certain amount of time you have. And, you know, uh, like you, I have a family. Like you, I exercise. And I have a lot of hobbies, man. Between archery and martial arts and, and reading and just watching documentaries. And, you know, it's, is it gonna help... Like, I don't wanna be any more famous.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:00:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:38 You know? We, we were talking about this earlier. I don't... It's good. I'm working. It's all I wanna do. What I wanna do now is do my best work.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:00:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:45 That's my number one objective. Whether it's standup, whether it's UFC commentary, whether it's doing a podcast, I wanna do my best work. And I don't think that I can do my best work if I'm scattered. And I often am.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:00:59 I think you put the, hit the nail on the head, doing your best work, whatever you're doing.

Joe Rogan 1:01:04 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:01:04 So, if, if you're gonna come in here today and do a podcast, whatever you did prior to this cannot really take away from the energy that you need to do this.

Joe Rogan 1:01:13 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:01:13 Same thing with the MMA and then the announcing, and the same thing with the standup comedy. I feel...... that sometimes I jeopardize myself and I take on too much, and I've realized that and I'm going to kinda... 'Cause now, I got a fa- I got another baby coming, so-

Joe Rogan 1:01:30 Congratulations.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:01:30 Fa- thank you. Family's growing. And, you know, I come home and I'm looking at my daughter, she's 20 months. And, I mean, those moments for me are like, "Do I, do I wanna, like, take my daughter out for lunch, or do I wanna do an interview in, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:01:45 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:01:45 ... Idaho?"

Joe Rogan 1:01:46 Right, right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:01:46 You know? I know you gotta sell tickets, that's part of the game. But I think I need to kind of, uh, just ch- choose my, my, my roads a little careful.

Joe Rogan 1:01:57 Well, that's one of the good things about social media is that it allows you these paths, uh, to distribute, y- you know, l- like, flyers and you can put little posters of where you're gonna be and stuff like that.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:02:08 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:02:08 And, and it can reach your f- actual fans as opposed to just, you know, a random person who's listening to the radio or a random person who picks up the newspaper. I think there's-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:02:17 Well, that's, that's what I think, that... But, but I like to reach the person that doesn't know who I am. It's fun to go to your fan base, but, you know, I'm sure a lot of the people that listen to your podcast maybe not know who I am. And it's a joy for me to g- to get someone, "Who is this guy? Lemme check him out," and to get a new fan, opposed to maybe feeding the fan base I, I currently have. I'm always looking for new people, uh, to, to come on board with what I'm doing. So, uh, you know, when I do a radio show in Peoria at 7:00 in the morning, I'm hoping someone's in their car going, "Huh, yeah, check him out."

Joe Rogan 1:03:00 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:01 And even if it was two people that bought the ticket, for me, I would think that it was worth it getting up to get two more fans.

Joe Rogan 1:03:08 Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:09 But some-

Joe Rogan 1:03:09 That makes sense.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:09 Sometimes, though, it's, it, it's, it hurts the end product, and the reason why I'm, I'm here is the standup comedy.

Joe Rogan 1:03:17 Right.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:17 If that starts to slack, then everything else falls apart.

Joe Rogan 1:03:20 Yeah. I, I feel the same way, and I've, I've learned over the years what the, the, what the mistakes are, like where I can screw it up (clears throat) . Like podcasts, for instance, I don't do... Like, uh, I used to do, like, a hot yoga class at 10:30, it gets out at noon, I do a podcast at 1:00. I can't, I don't do that anymore.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:37 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:03:37 Because I found that I was just too fucking worn out.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:39 'Cause I'd do a 90-minute yoga class and I'm, I come in here and I'm still like, "Oh, yeah. What? What are you, what are we talking about?" Like, I'm still spacey.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:03:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:03:47 I need two hours. I need two hours and I need to drink a shitload of water, and then I'm good to go. But I need that extra hour, so now I'll do, like, an 8:30 class or something like that, or maybe even a 6:00 in the morning class. And so when I have a 1:00 PM podcast, I'm fucking completely acclimated.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:04:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:02 A- And, but I had to do that by trial and error.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:04:03 Absolutely. And that's where I'm at. I think I'm trying to figure out what, what the balance is of, of, of creating a life outside of standup, and then giving all I can to standup. And, and even I, I do a podcast, uh, uh, with Pete Correale that, uh, we did a live podcast for the first time. And I don't know if you've seen this, the podcast listener is a different audience than what's arriving at my shows. Two different audiences. There's a, there's a, there's a definite podcast li- listener out there. I mean, people that listen and consume podcasts. And it crosses over, don't get me wrong, but I, I, I went to do the podcast, uh, in Orlando, and totally different, totally different vibe. It's nice to see who the hell is listening to this stuff.

Joe Rogan 1:04:54 Yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:04:54 And we did it with... I don't know if you've ever done a live cast, but I'm sure you're... Y- I- you're, you're like an anomaly. I- you, you got, like, fans from all different walks of life. I mean, you're into standup world, you're in the, uh, mixed martial arts world, you're in the podcast world, so there must be a lot of different people coming to your shows. No?

Joe Rogan 1:05:13 Yeah, there's a lot of weirdos, yeah.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:05:15 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:05:15 I would say if you see a dude with shaved head and tattoos and he's kinda jacked, he, he's pr- he probably knows who I am.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:05:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:05:23 (Laughs) But it's, like, a lot of people that are into the science podcasts or the f- you know, the podcasts with, uh, interesting intellectuals. There's like, there's a lot of... Yeah. But then there's people that don't like the mixed martial art stuff and they d- they like me for other things.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:05:39 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:05:39 You know? It's, it's hard. You, you, you can't please everybody, you know?

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:05:42 No, you can't.

Joe Rogan 1:05:43 It's, it's not really possible.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:05:44 No.

Joe Rogan 1:05:44 And then along the way, you find that out and you piss a bunch of people off, you know? They're like, you know, "I don't like that part of you." Like, "Oh, okay. I don't know what to tell you."

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:05:52 Yeah, you can't make everybody happy.

Joe Rogan 1:05:53 No. But especially if you do a lot of shit. You know? But, uh, I'm lucky with the job with the UFC that they don't really care about the other things that I do. Because if I was working for a more sensitive organization, you know, obviously it's a fucking cage fighting promotion. It's like, how sensitive can you get?

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:06:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:12 But with some social issues, you know, it's like if I was working for the NBA, I'd probably have been fired a decade ago-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:06:18 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:06:18 ... you know?

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:06:19 Yeah, it's-

Joe Rogan 1:06:20 Easily.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:06:20 ... the MMA is definitely a, or the UFC is definitely a, an, an animal in itself. How did, how did you get, uh, into that position? Did you know th- Dana White and you started... H- I, I, for you, I, I, I, I always wanted to ask you this in the, at The Comedy Store, how did you become kinda the voice of, of the UFC?

Joe Rogan 1:06:41 Well, I started, uh, in 1997. I was the post-fight interviewer. That was, uh, it was just a position that was available, and the UFC was very small back then, very few people knew w- what it was. It was off of cable. You couldn't get it on cable, you could only get it on satellite. And, uh, they needed someone to do post-fight interviews. So-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:07:00 But you, you were in that world to begin with?

Joe Rogan 1:07:02 I was in the martial arts world, you know. I, I used to teach martial arts for a living before I became a comedian, I used to fight. Uh, fought in a lot of Taekwondo tournaments and had some kickboxing fights, and I'd always been a martial artist-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:07:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:07:14 ... since I was a kid. And so, um, I just was interested in watching the UFC, and then I started training in jujitsu. And when I was training in jujitsu, I was just a white belt, I was just starting out. That's when, uh, I got hired by the UFC to be a post-fight interviewer. But I only did that for two years and then I quit. It was just too much, and it was actually, like, it was...... I, I was losing money. I would make more money, uh, doing a weekend at a comedy club than I would doing it, doing the UFC.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:07:41 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:07:41 And it just got to a point where it was just, it was too much of a pain in the ass. And so, uh, I still remained a fan, but I backed away. And then the UFC was purchased by this company called Zuffa in 2001 and when that happened, um, they started putting on shows in Vegas and I would go there, uh, with my friends. They got me free tickets. They reached out and they would try to get celebrities to go sit there so that it would, uh, they would... 'Cause they were very small at the time.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:08:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:05 And they were trying... They were hemorrhaging money and they were trying to build it up. And in talking to Dana White one day, he, he... You know, I was talking to him about fights going on in Japan. I'm like, "Have you ever seen Sato fight? Do you know... What, what... Do you, do you know Sakurad? Do you know this guy?" And I, and I was bringing all these names and he was like, "Do you wanna do commentary?"

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:08:22 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:08:22 I'm like, "I don't wanna do commentary, man. I- I'm, I'm here to get drunk and watch people kick the shit out of each other."

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:08:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:27 "I'm not here to work." And he talked me into it for one show. Uh, UFC 37 and a half, it was a, a show that was on, um, one of those, uh, Fox Sports Networks, small- smaller networks, and, um, I think it was The Best Damn Sports Show Period was a part of it. I did that and then the rest is history.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:08:47 Wow.

Joe Rogan 1:08:47 And then I did like 12 of them for free. Like the UFC didn't have any money. Like, well, they were hemorrhaging money. I mean, they had... There were rich people that owned it, but it was not a profitable venture.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:08:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:56 And I said, "Look, just get me there, get me and my friends tickets and I'll do it." And so that's how I operated for like a, like over a year and then I just became the commentator. It's just weird.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:09:08 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 1:09:09 It's just Dana White. He's, he's a crazy man and he's, uh, he's got a, you know, weird way of looking at things that, that's very effective in, in, hi- in his crazy mind. He's like, "Let's take this guy who's never even thought about being a commentator and make him our commentator." I mean, I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I mean, I really didn't... I didn't have any training at all in sports commentary. I just would see what was happening and start talking about it. You know, which is really like the wrong j-... I was more even play-by-play and color. It was like doing both of them at the same time. It was really weird.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:09:42 And as far as you doing that, do you, um, get any notes from anybody going, "Hey Joe, uh, try this, try that." Or you just developed that whole, that voice all on your own? What, what-

Joe Rogan 1:09:53 100% on my own.

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:09:54 So there's-

Joe Rogan 1:09:55 The only thing that, uh, I had was, uh, there's like Marc DellaGrotta who's a good friend of mine. He is, um, he's, uh, one of the top trainers in the world. He's in the truck and, uh, I can communicate with him. There's a button where I can communicate with him and we talk about stuff. Like, I can say, uh, "Does he look like he's limping to you?" And he's like, "Yeah, there's something wrong with his leg." I go, "The left leg, right?" He's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." And then I'll start talking about it. Like I'll, I'll be able to bounce it back and forth-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:10:19 Oh.

Joe Rogan 1:10:19 ... with him. Or sometimes I just... It's obvious and I'll say it myself and I'll k- I'll ask him, like, "I- am I wrong? Is he dropping his hand or is, is this... Is it..." Like, it's a nice, it's a nice thing to have someone to bounce-

Sebastian Maniscalco 1:10:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:30 ... uh, things off. It used to be Eddie Bravo. Eddie Bravo used to do it as well where I would, uh, be able to talk to him about certain positions 'cause he would be