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Joe Rogan Experience #1243 - Rafinha Bastos

Rafinha Bastos is a Brazilian comedian, actor, journalist and television personality.

Rafinha BastosguestJoe Roganhost
Feb 12, 20192h 7mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 2:14

    Stand-up comedy arrives in Brazil: from Seinfeld to Brazilian pioneers

    1. RB

      I'm gonna wait for the green sign before I point.

    2. JR

      Okay. Boom? Good? Okay. We had some tech-

    3. RB

      Yeah.

    4. JR

      ... technical difficulties.

    5. RB

      No problem, brother. Sorry.

    6. JR

      Let's try it again.

    7. RB

      Okay.

    8. JR

      So, anyway, brother, welcome. Thanks for coming here.

    9. RB

      Thanks, my friend. Thanks. Thanks for having me.

    10. JR

      So, what we were saying before... uh, we actually said this already, but let's say it again-

    11. RB

      Okay.

    12. JR

      ... because the people didn't hear it. You-

    13. RB

      Don't worry.

    14. JR

      ... you were one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy in Brazil.

    15. RB

      Yeah. Yeah, it was, uh, I started with, like, four or five guys. We started doing, like, psh- 16, 17 years ago. And, uh, nobody knew about standup. It was something that I found out when I came here to live and play basketball. I had a scholarship to play basketball, and I watched Jim Gaffigan.

    16. JR

      Oh, wow.

    17. RB

      And Brian Regan.

    18. JR

      Ah, I know those guys. (laughs)

    19. RB

      And I thought it was so weird, because those guys were, like, that's- I was questioning, "Is- is his, uh, does he call- is his name Brian Regan? Does he- is that actually him?" Because we used to have characters and impersonators. So, it was, uh, kinda weird, but at the same time, it was interesting, because I'm not a guy who does characters. And I do observations, and I write. I was a journalist. I'm- I'm- have a degree in journalism, so it was interesting for me to see those guys doing comedy, and I thought we could do the same in my country.

    20. JR

      It's so crazy that it took that long for it to get to Brazil.

    21. RB

      Yeah.

    22. JR

      You would think that- because everything else, I mean, you guys have movies-

    23. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    24. JR

      ... and, you know, uh, I mean, City of God, you have action movies, you have all these- you have so much that's so similar. The fact that standup comedy made it there is so unusual.

    25. RB

      It took, uh, it took a long time, and it was, (sighs) I don't know why, but the image of a comedian speaking, like, with a blazer or f- a- like, a suit or something was-

    26. JR

      Like Jerry Seinfeld.

    27. RB

      Yeah, it was-

    28. JR

      Yeah.

    29. RB

      ... very American, you know?

    30. JR

      Oh.

  2. 2:14 – 3:01

    Character comedy vs. stand-up, and how the internet changed Brazilian comedy

    1. JR

      So, comedy in Brazil, they would basically be, like, uh, like say if I was a Brazilian comedian-

    2. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    3. JR

      ... I would come up with a fake name.

    4. RB

      You would. (laughs)

    5. JR

      And- and I would do a character.

    6. RB

      I- a wig, probably.

    7. JR

      A wig.

    8. RB

      A wig.

    9. JR

      A certain outfit.

    10. RB

      Outfit, like, uh, very over the top, screaming, and, uh-

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. RB

      And that still, uh, it- it still exists in Brazil. This is, like, a popular for the- the people.

    13. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    14. RB

      Standup, I'm not saying that it's for everyone. Now, I have my Netflix special. We- it's becoming huge, because, uh, we have some other options right now. With internet, everything changed. The game changed completely. So, we have, uh, what is good has its own space right now. It's not only what the TV wants you to watch it. So, the game changed a little for e- for all of us.

  3. 3:01 – 3:56

    First gigs in unexpected places: the BDSM club origin story

    1. JR

      So, how did you start out? Did you start out by going to music clubs, or... ?

    2. RB

      It was- I actually started in a (laughs) a BDSM club.

    3. JR

      A- a sadomasochist club?

    4. RB

      Yes.

    5. JR

      Really? (laughs)

    6. RB

      (laughs) I remember that there was, like, pictures of-

    7. JR

      (laughs)

    8. RB

      ... cocks in the bathroom.

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. RB

      And- and, like, vaginas, like, huge vaginas, and we had a-

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. RB

      And we had a show, and it was- it wasn't good, but it- it was an experience for all of us-

    13. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    14. RB

      ... to go on stage and try to- to- to show them, uh, our opinions and, uh, our jokes and some irony and sarcasm, whi- which was something that people wasn't watching, uh, uh... But then, it becomes- it becomes something huge, and we got chances to go to TV and everything else. But at first, it was difficult, because people could not understand, "Is he a character? Is he playing a part?"

    15. JR

      Right.

  4. 3:56 – 6:39

    From underground success to TV backlash: fame before the culture was ready

    1. RB

      So, that's why I had s- and I still have a lot of problems with the law, because, like, I did a rape joke, which I'm not proud of.

    2. JR

      (laughs)

    3. RB

      (laughs) I'm saying. It's not something, "Oh, I'm so over the- all over the line," and- but, uh, it was like, "Does he- does this guy wants people to be raped? What- what is- what is he thinking? What is..." Because with all those jokes was taken out of context and put-

    4. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    5. RB

      ... it on newspapers-

    6. JR

      Oh.

    7. RB

      ... and kinda killed, uh... It kinda killed, uh- uh, my desire to do comedy over that, as well.

    8. JR

      Really?

    9. RB

      Yeah. It was- it was difficult, man, because it was like journalists, uh, uh, journalists, uh, uh, in the audience waiting for me to say some shit-

    10. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    11. RB

      ... to put out of context, and then got, like, uh, fucking, like, billions of clicks on their websites-

    12. JR

      Right. Of course.

    13. RB

      ... because of a joke I did.

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. RB

      That- that's how we- the controversy was starting over that. I don't know if it's the same thing here.

    16. JR

      So, they knew that this was a new thing.

    17. RB

      Yeah.

    18. JR

      They, and then so they would come to see it, and then were- were- were they criticizing it before this?

    19. RB

      It was- it was huge. Everybody loved it at first.

    20. JR

      Really?

    21. RB

      But when we- when- when- when, man, when we started to have money and, uh, TV shows, and we kind of, uh, r- ran away out- out of the underground, I was doing shows at midnight, like, packing a three- 300 seat theater at midnight in Brazil. That was my thing. Underground in Sao Paolo in the middle of nowhere.

    22. JR

      Right.

    23. RB

      But then, people, "Oh, this guy's talented. Let me give him a chance." So, they put me on TV, and out of nowhere, I was on TV doing the same thing.

    24. JR

      Wow.

    25. RB

      So, the- th- they- the country was not that prepared for what I wa- I was doing at the time.

    26. JR

      What kind of laws do you have in Brazil in terms of, like, the language you're allowed to use on television?

    27. RB

      Uh, you know, the- I'm not saying there's, like, a, uh, a government censorship about what you can say, what you cannot say, but, uh-... the sponsors and, and even TV stations and, uh, the media is very sensitive about everything-

    28. JR

      Mm.

    29. RB

      ... because it's still a poor country, it's still a- Brazil's still a third-world country. So we are, we are like- we have a lot of people that don't understand the, the, "Oh, this is comedy." What, well, what's, what's comedy? So-

    30. JR

      Right.

  5. 6:39 – 10:32

    Language, taboo words, and American racial context (N-word discussion)

    1. JR

      Brazilian Portuguese is such a beautiful language.

    2. RB

      You think that?

    3. JR

      I love it. I love it. It's like a song. It's like it sings song.

    4. RB

      Do you really think that?

    5. JR

      Uh, well, I've been doing jujitsu for-

    6. RB

      That's good. (laughs) Of course.

    7. JR

      ... 23 years. So it's like, to me, that sound is like- it's such a cool sound.

    8. RB

      What do- what does Brazilians say in, in jujitsu? Is that a word or something that they're still repeating that you know?

    9. JR

      Well, I mean, you know, porra.

    10. RB

      Porra.

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. RB

      (laughs) Which is come.

    13. JR

      Yeah. Is that fuck or come? Which one is it?

    14. RB

      It's come.

    15. JR

      But sometimes it's fuck too.

    16. RB

      Porra is come.

    17. JR

      Ah, porra though.

    18. RB

      Por-

    19. JR

      Sometimes you say it like damn.

    20. RB

      Yeah, but it's come.

    21. JR

      It's come.

    22. RB

      It's come, yeah.

    23. JR

      But so that's funny 'cause, like, that's like the word shit.

    24. RB

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      Like, shit could be, like, you could look at something and go, "Shit."

    26. RB

      Yeah, merda.

    27. JR

      Like, that's good.

    28. RB

      In Portuguese it's merda.

    29. JR

      Merda.

    30. RB

      Merda.

  6. 10:32 – 13:40

    Racism in Brazil vs. the U.S.: categories, politics, and daily life

    1. RB

      ... uh, I was never so aware of racists like I am now living in this country.

    2. JR

      Yeah, Brazil is no- racism is n-

    3. RB

      It's...

    4. JR

      ... very mild-

    5. RB

      I- it's...

    6. JR

      ... very different.

    7. RB

      There is racism. I cannot say that there is not racism. Of course there is. But here it's like, uh, when there's election, they even say how the white voted and how the Black voted.

    8. JR

      Yeah.

    9. RB

      That's kind of weird because for me that's racism. You're-

    10. JR

      Yeah.

    11. RB

      ... you're, like, dividing people in races-

    12. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    13. RB

      ... and it's clear on TV.

    14. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    15. RB

      And sometimes you don't even stop thinking about it. It's like- it's part of the, the, the whole thing.

    16. JR

      Well, it's because the Black community doesn't feel like they're represented, and they felt like they were represented finally-

    17. RB

      Of course.

    18. JR

      ... when Obama became president because finally we had a Black president.

    19. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    20. JR

      But other than that, you know, there's a real distinction. Like, o- with Obama, it was like almost universal he was going to get, air quotes, "the Black vote."

    21. RB

      Okay.

    22. JR

      You know, but with Trump, I mean, it's- or with anybody else, it's, it's very tricky. It's very d- it's a very different thing. They want to make sure that their community is being represented and that their needs are being represented.

    23. RB

      I completely understand and I agree that there's an ack- some acknowledgment to make about-

    24. JR

      Yeah.

    25. RB

      ... the history, but at the same time, acknowledging, uh, make- divide-

    26. JR

      Yeah.

    27. RB

      It kind of divides you a little bit-

    28. JR

      Yes.

    29. RB

      ... as well.

    30. JR

      Yes, it does. And it's also used as a weapon by some people that, you know, are, are not...... they're not being honest.

  7. 13:40 – 17:22

    Building a Brazilian stand-up industry: references, joke ownership, and translation

    1. JR

      When did you learn English?

    2. RB

      I played basketball here.

    3. JR

      Oh, so you learned to-

    4. RB

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      ... s- in order to play?

    6. RB

      It was ... Yeah, I, I, I-

    7. JR

      How old were you at the time?

    8. RB

      I was s- 1999. I was 23 at the time, I'm 42.

    9. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    10. RB

      So, uh, it was 1999. I played basketball here and I learned English, and that's when I got a ... The first time I saw stand-up, I was like, "Fucking that's, that's so easy."

    11. JR

      Wow.

    12. RB

      That was 1999.

    13. JR

      So, when you brought it over to Brazil-

    14. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    15. JR

      ... when you brought over stand-up, did you guys get together and say, "Hey, let's try to do this over here. Where can we do it?"

    16. RB

      Uh, w- that I had three friends that knew about it. It was kind of a (laughs) a cult, a secret cult of people who knew about stand-up. And, uh, we were like, "Let's try it." But the only, the only image that we have was Seinfeld at the end of every e- every episode.

    17. JR

      (laughs)

    18. RB

      That was the, that was the thing for us. That's the-

    19. JR

      Wow.

    20. RB

      ... the only reference. I still remember that the first video they were, like, talking about what we were doing, we were like, "Oh, so th- uh, this is stand-up. Uh, w- do you, did you ever see every episode of Seinfeld at the end he does, like, a little-

    21. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    22. RB

      ... routine? Oh, this is what they're gonna do on the theater right now." So, that's when we wanted to do it. And, uh, and it took some time because we started in 2002, 2003, and YouTube just came on 2005. But when YouTube came, there was, like, a lot of people posting stand-up and little, like, 30 minutes Comedy Central specials, and then-

    23. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    24. RB

      ... we could see. And that ... And it was difficult at first because of, uh, everything that I was writing I could see people doing on TV. My jokes, it was hard for me to explain to people, "Okay, th- this is my joke. I-

    25. JR

      Like someone stole your joke?

    26. RB

      Yeah, it was not even like stealing because-

    27. JR

      They didn't know.

    28. RB

      ... i- it's just joke.

    29. JR

      Right, right, right.

    30. RB

      It's just a joke. How can I explain to people, "Okay, this is what I wrote. I'm not gonna do jokes that other people wrote."

  8. 17:22 – 22:24

    Performing in English: clubs, culture shock, and running a São Paulo comedy club

    1. JR

      Have you s- have ... Do you do much stand-up in English?

    2. RB

      Yeah, I have been doing stand-up here-

    3. JR

      Yeah.

    4. RB

      ... for, for eight months, like, all the clubs, and in d- Improv, and, uh-

    5. JR

      Wow.

    6. RB

      ... La Factory, and, uh, and, uh ... But here, I do it in English. The, the, I do it in ... What I do on stage now is something that I wrote living here.

    7. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    8. RB

      Like, 80%, and 20% I translated for my act in Portuguese.

    9. JR

      Wow.

    10. RB

      And some of those jokes don't work when I translate-

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. RB

      ... and it's always a surprise.

    13. JR

      Yeah, wow.

    14. RB

      It's always a surprise.

    15. JR

      'Cause the culture's so different, right?

    16. RB

      Yeah, yeah.

    17. JR

      It's like, what people think is funny and what they find ironic.

    18. RB

      But Joe, uh, a joke is a joke, man.

    19. JR

      Yeah.

    20. RB

      If it, if it has a timing, if you, if I ... Now I'm able to do it the same pace that I do in Portuguese-

    21. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    22. RB

      ... I feel comfortable doing it in English. So, I feel the same thing.And it's easier for me because I actually write jokes.

    23. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    24. RB

      I have some friends that just, like, uh, have some crowd work and interact with the audience, and there's a lot of physical comedy in it. So, to translate that to English is difficult.

    25. JR

      Yeah.

    26. RB

      I write jokes.

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. RB

      So, if, if I translate in a right way, if he ha- if, if people understand the context, and people understand what I'm talking about, like, uh, the pregnancy of my wife-

    29. JR

      Right.

    30. RB

      ... and, and marriage, and, I don't know, being single and everything, or maybe that... It can work.

  9. 22:24 – 26:52

    Lawsuits over jokes: the TV scandal that derailed his Brazilian career

    1. JR

      Oh, okay. Cool. So, now w- when you were doing standup and you started to get in some trouble-

    2. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    3. JR

      ... for, for bits.

    4. RB

      A lot of troubles, yeah.

    5. JR

      A lot of trouble. How, how much trouble?

    6. RB

      Yeah, a lot of money. I spent a lot of money.

    7. JR

      Really?

    8. RB

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      What happened?

    10. RB

      It's like I lost a lot of suits, suits. Uh, I lost a lot of lawsuits because of jokes, yeah.

    11. JR

      Really?

    12. RB

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      Lawsuits?

    14. RB

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      So like, who was suing you?

    16. RB

      Uh, the people who felt offended.

    17. JR

      So, people in the audience?

    18. RB

      Artists. When I make fun of a celebrity-

    19. JR

      They would sue you?

    20. RB

      Yeah. They can s- they can sue you. They can get money out of you.

    21. JR

      Really?

    22. RB

      Politicians, they can get money. Yeah.

    23. JR

      Oh. Politicians?

    24. RB

      Yeah, yeah.

    25. JR

      So who sued you?

    26. RB

      You know, I got this, uh, this lawsuit that really, uh, put me in trouble. It was because of a singer. It was... She was a singer, and, uh, kind of, uh, almost killed my career.

    27. JR

      Really?

    28. RB

      It actually did. That's why I'm here, so... (laughs)

    29. JR

      (laughs)

    30. RB

      No. Uh, yeah, I got in a huge lawsuit, and it looks dumb when you explain, "Oh, he's just a singer," but it becames all this talk about freedom of speech-

  10. 26:52 – 38:48

    Free speech, PC culture, and social media punishment cycles (U.S., Canada, Brazil)

    1. JR

      What is freedom of speech like in Brazil? Is it the same where ... I mean, obviously, we have the First Amendment in the United States.

    2. RB

      You have the First Amendment.

    3. JR

      Do you have something that-

    4. RB

      No, we don't.

    5. JR

      Wow.

    6. RB

      We don't have that.

    7. JR

      We don't ... They don't even have that in Canada.

    8. RB

      We don't have that.

    9. JR

      I had Mike Ward on in Canada. Do you know his story?

    10. RB

      Yeah, I know.

    11. JR

      He, he's the guy who ... He made a joke about, uh, a sick boy, that the boy was still alive years later.

    12. RB

      No, I didn't know. I, I thought it wasn't.

    13. JR

      And, you know, it was just a bad joke-

    14. RB

      Okay.

    15. JR

      ... about this guy still being alive and can he get his money back-

    16. RB

      Uh-huh.

    17. JR

      ... 'cause, (laughs) like, 'cause they donated money. It's-

    18. RB

      Right.

    19. JR

      (laughs) It's just, it's a fucked-up joke. But, uh, it's supposed to be a fucked-up joke. He was doing-

    20. RB

      Okay.

    21. JR

      ... it in a nightclub situation where people are drinking. You say things that are inappropriate, and that's the art form.

    22. RB

      Uh-huh.

    23. JR

      He got sued, and he's still in the process of it right now.

    24. RB

      Uh-huh.

    25. JR

      And there's another case in Vancouver where these women were heckling. Uh, they were yelling things out during the show, and then the comedian went on stage and berated the women, and then the women sued and won 'cause, uh, they were lesbians and he made some lesbian jokes about them at their own expense. And so, then they took him to court and they won, and-

    26. RB

      They won what?

    27. JR

      They won some judgment where he had to pay them ... I wanna ... Joe, Jimmy, how much was it? I wanna say it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000.

    28. RB

      $30,000, yeah.

    29. JR

      Yeah, when ... For, and for this g- gentleman, this comedian, uh, I think that was a lot of money. I don't-

    30. RB

      Mm-hmm.

  11. 38:48 – 42:32

    Why Rafinha moved to the U.S.: second chances, family distance, and safety concerns

    1. RB

      And, uh, and I decided not to come back. So, this is how... This is why this moment for me is very important. Uh, I never thought that I had a... My dream was to play basketball. That's what I was dedicating my life, uh, for. And, uh, I never thought that I would have a second chance in America, and this is... And that's it. That's th- my second chance, and I can mess this up.

    2. JR

      So, what made you come from Brazil to America for standup comedy? Was it b- all the lawsuits?

    3. RB

      It was a little bit of the lawsuits. I'm not saying that it was not, but, m- my friend, it's like, if you wanna play basketball, you wanna play at the NBA.

    4. JR

      Right.

    5. RB

      If you wanna play soccer, you wanna go to Barcelona. Uh, standup's here, man. That's the place that you gotta be. And we never had a Brazilian standup comedian in, in, in here. Just, like, Jay, th- the ones who were born here-

    6. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    7. RB

      ... but not the ones who actually was, like, doing standup in Brazil and coming here, I think was important for me and for all my colleagues and all my, all the comedians in Brazil as well, to start something here. And it has been a very good experience. A little hard-

    8. JR

      Yeah.

    9. RB

      ... but it has been a lot of, a lot of fun as well.

    10. JR

      Now, are you working over here? Did you save up money and you're living off your money from Brazil?

    11. RB

      I still have my comedy club there. I saved-

    12. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    13. RB

      I saved some... I got some money. Yeah.

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. RB

      I lost some of those lawsuits- (laughs)

    16. JR

      (laughs)

    17. RB

      ... but I kept some, Joe. Fuck.

    18. JR

      But I'm saying you're not working here, necessarily.

    19. RB

      No, no, no. I'm just, like, going and doing standup. I'm focusing on standup. I have my agent and I have manager. Everything is happening. I... Last year, I did JFL. I'm headlining-

    20. JR

      Oh, that's great.

    21. RB

      ... I'm headlining some clubs right now, because in those places, they has, like, a huge Brazilian community.

    22. JR

      Okay.

    23. RB

      I'm doing it in English, but I'm, uh-

    24. JR

      Throw a little Portuguese in there with 'em?

    25. RB

      Yeah, yeah.

    26. JR

      Yeah.

    27. RB

      So, thi- that's, that's new, man. It's... I did everything that I wanted to do in Brazil. I did a t- a talk show. I did movies. I did my own series. I directed a movie, directed a series, and I thought it was like... I'm 42. It's time for me to try something new.

    28. JR

      Right.

    29. RB

      And so that's why I came here. And I miss my son a lot. That's, that's the bad, the bad part, but that's okay.

    30. JR

      Yeah. We were talking about that before. That is a... That's a crazy situation you have.

  12. 42:32 – 49:17

    Comedy craft deep dive: writing process, crowd work in a second language, and avoiding ‘hack’ material

    1. JR

      Now, when you're over here and you're trying to do standup, do ... are you ... do you structure your act out? Do you have, like ... how do you do it? Do you write it out on paper, on a computer? Do you put it up on a ...

    2. RB

      This thing over here.

    3. JR

      Put it on your phone? Oh, right, right. Yeah.

    4. RB

      No, I write everything over here. And then I keep rehearsing and I go on stage and I have to t- and I say it.

    5. JR

      Hmm.

    6. RB

      That's what I do. I memorize everything that I'm gonna say. Not everything, but, uh, it gets natural. It's the way you do it.

    7. JR

      Yeah.

    8. RB

      I just memorize everything that I'm gonna write, because if I mess up a word or two, I can kill a joke, and I want everything to work, uh, flawlessly.

    9. JR

      Right.

    10. RB

      So that's why I memorize. It looks natural, but I memorize everything. But it's very hard for me to interact with the audience.

    11. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    12. RB

      Because every time that someone, like, heckle me, all joke, all jokes comes in Portuguese in my head.

    13. JR

      (laughs)

    14. RB

      And I have to translate.

    15. JR

      Right, right, right.

    16. RB

      Right at the time, and I lose time, and it's very frustrating.

    17. JR

      Oh, yeah. I can imagine.

    18. RB

      Like, uh ... and I even say this on stage. Like, I was doing a show the other day and this guy just scream, "You suck." It was like a bad show. It was a bar show. And what I say to ... when w- when I am stressed out, I just mess up words and that always happen. And he was like, "You s-" I wanted to say, uh, go fuck yourself, and I said, "Gonna fuck myself." That's what I ... (laughs)

    19. JR

      Ah. (laughs)

    20. RB

      He go like ... looking at me like-

    21. JR

      (laughs)

    22. RB

      ... "Go fuck yourself."

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. RB

      It's very hard to interact with the audience.

    25. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    26. RB

      I lose timing, man.

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. RB

      It's difficult-

    29. JR

      Yeah.

    30. RB

      ... to do it in another language. It's not my natural thing.

  13. 49:17 – 53:45

    Weed anxiety story and performance mindset: when substances don’t mix

    1. JR

      (laughs) Yeah.

    2. RB

      And I ... And I'm not gonna be because I, I tried, uh, mari- marijuana? Is it?

    3. JR

      Yeah. Marijuana.

    4. RB

      Weed.

    5. JR

      Weed.

    6. RB

      Weed.

    7. JR

      Weed, yeah.

    8. RB

      Once, two years ago, and I stayed high for, uh, 14 days.

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. RB

      Swear to God, man.

    11. JR

      Did you eat it?

    12. RB

      14 days. No, no, no.

    13. JR

      You smoked it?

    14. RB

      It was in a vaporizer. Is that?

    15. JR

      Yeah, vaporizer.

    16. RB

      Vaporizer, yeah.

    17. JR

      Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    18. RB

      And I stay high for 14 days, and I-

    19. JR

      (laughs) That doesn't make any sense.

    20. RB

      And I thought, uh ... (laughs)

    21. JR

      (laughs)

    22. RB

      It doesn't, right? It doesn't.

    23. JR

      Uh ...

    24. RB

      I wasn't high, right?

    25. JR

      Well-

    26. RB

      I probably wasn't high after the second day, right?

    27. JR

      It doesn't seem like it. (laughs)

    28. RB

      But I thought I was, like, disconnected from reality.

    29. JR

      Well, sometimes that does happen. And I know a story about a guy who is a straight-laced guy who took some marijuana edibles so that he could get to sleep, and he had a real problem. Like, he got suicidal-

    30. RB

      Wow.

  14. 53:45 – 1:04:26

    MMA friendships and aging fighters: CTE, legends, and the cost of wars

    1. RB

      I always wanted to ask you one thing.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. RB

      Uh, it's completely different subject. Can I ask you this about anything?

    4. JR

      Okay, sure. Ask whatever you want.

    5. RB

      Okay. Uh, when you're doing interviews at the end of fights-

    6. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    7. RB

      ... did you ever feel threatened somehow?

    8. JR

      No.

    9. RB

      Like, like at least once and s-

    10. JR

      No. No, no, no. I ... One thing that I hope the fighters realize is that what I'm trying to do is only ...... get them to express themselves.

    11. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    12. JR

      I want them to shine. I really genuinely want them ... They won this big fight.

    13. RB

      Okay.

    14. JR

      I want, I want them to express themselves. I want them to maybe maximize their marketing-

    15. RB

      Perfect.

    16. JR

      ... their marketability, and just, like, tell the world how they feel. Like, that's a incredibly unusual experience to win a big fight in the cage, on pay-per-view-

    17. RB

      Mm-hmm.

    18. JR

      ... in front of millions of people. Uh, my goal is only to try to get them to communicate better, and to let them know that I'm there to support them. That's all I'm ever trying to do.

    19. RB

      Perfect.

    20. JR

      You know?

    21. RB

      Yeah. Uh, I w- like I was saying before, before we started talking there, I have a lot of fri- friends in MMA.

    22. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    23. RB

      Sweetest guys ever.

    24. JR

      Nicest people.

    25. RB

      Yeah.

    26. JR

      I mean, consider what they do for a living. It's crazy.

    27. RB

      Fuck, that's so crazy.

    28. JR

      Yeah.

    29. RB

      Demian, Wanderlei-

    30. JR

      Yeah.

  15. 1:04:26 – 1:09:22

    Social media fame, Brazilian politics, and platform power: Twitter, presidents, and censorship-by-business

    1. RB

      My, I have my, my, my, my channel YouTube got, like, two million subscribers.

    2. JR

      Really?

    3. RB

      I have, like the ... on Twitter, I have 12 million people following me.

    4. JR

      Damn.

    5. RB

      It's a lot, man.

    6. JR

      That's a lot.

    7. RB

      12 million people following me. My Brazilian Instagram, I got, like, 1.5 million people. People, people are very active-

    8. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    9. RB

      ... in social media in Brazil. It just-

    10. JR

      That's good.

    11. RB

      It's something that is from our nature to connect with people, uh, in Brazil.

    12. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    13. RB

      So, that's why social media got huge. And it was, uh, it was like an alternative for the traditional media.

    14. JR

      What is this? "The most influential-"

    15. NA

      From a couple years ago.

    16. JR

      "... person on Twitter."

    17. RB

      Oh, yeah.

    18. JR

      Look at you, motherfucker.

    19. RB

      I got (laughs) , I gotta-

    20. JR

      (laughs)

    21. RB

      ... I got a story on the New York Times saying-

    22. JR

      That's crazy. New York Times Magazine saying you're the most influential person on Twitter. That's incredible. Now, what- why, why are they saying you're the most influential? What, what, what were you doing that was influencing people?

    23. RB

      I have no idea, myself.

    24. JR

      (laughs)

    25. RB

      I was surprised. Monday, I woke up and I was story on the New York Times-

    26. JR

      Wow.

    27. RB

      ... saying that I was the most influential profile on Twitter. And in second place, the Dalai Lama.

    28. JR

      What?

    29. RB

      Take this one, Dalai Lama.

    30. JR

      (laughs)

Episode duration: 2:07:12

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