Joe Rogan Experience #1243 - Rafinha Bastos

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   I'm gonna wait for…

   1. RBRafinha Bastos0:00

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

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:01

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

   3. RBRafinha Bastos0:12

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:12

      ... technical difficulties.

   5. RBRafinha Bastos0:13

      No problem, brother. Sorry.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      Let's try it again.

   7. RBRafinha Bastos0:14

      Okay.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:14

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

   9. RBRafinha Bastos0:16

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

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:17

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

   11. RBRafinha Bastos0:21

       Okay.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:21

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

   13. RBRafinha Bastos0:22

       Don't worry.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:23

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

   15. RBRafinha Bastos0:26

       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. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Oh, wow.

   17. RBRafinha Bastos0:46

       And Brian Regan.

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:47

       Ah, I know those guys. (laughs)

   19. RBRafinha Bastos0:48

       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. JRJoe Rogan1:19

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

   21. RBRafinha Bastos1:23

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:23

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

   23. RBRafinha Bastos1:26

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:27

       ... 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. RBRafinha Bastos1:35

       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. JRJoe Rogan1:44

       Like Jerry Seinfeld.

   27. RBRafinha Bastos1:45

       Yeah, it was-

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:45

       Yeah.

   29. RBRafinha Bastos1:45

       ... very American, you know?

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       Oh.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. RBRafinha Bastos15:00

      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-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:10

      Mm-hmm.

   3. RBRafinha Bastos15:10

      ... 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-

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:25

      Like someone stole your joke?

   5. RBRafinha Bastos15:26

      Yeah, it was not even like stealing because-

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:28

      They didn't know.

   7. RBRafinha Bastos15:29

      ... i- it's just joke.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:30

      Right, right, right.

   9. RBRafinha Bastos15:30

      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."

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:37

       Right.

   11. RBRafinha Bastos15:37

       "Uh, this is, it, it's mine."

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       Yeah.

   13. RBRafinha Bastos15:40

       People thought I was a little crazy.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:43

       Crazy. Oh, that's funny. Wow.

   15. RBRafinha Bastos15:44

       Because, um, you know, I don't know if you have this anecdotes that everybody says.

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:49

       Sure.

   17. RBRafinha Bastos15:49

       You have here in America?

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:51

       Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

   19. RBRafinha Bastos15:51

       Okay. We have stand-up where people write their own stuff-

   20. JRJoe Rogan15:54

       Mm-hmm.

   21. RBRafinha Bastos15:54

       ... and we have anecdotes.

   22. JRJoe Rogan15:56

       Sure.

   23. RBRafinha Bastos15:56

       And that's what we had, like, little books with anecdotes.

   24. JRJoe Rogan15:58

       Mm-hmm.

   25. RBRafinha Bastos15:59

       So, when I say a joke, people think that I was doing from those books.

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:02

       Yeah, there's stand-up comedy and then there's jokes, like, that people tell. We, we call them street jokes.

   27. RBRafinha Bastos16:07

       Street jokes, okay.

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:08

       Like-

   29. RBRafinha Bastos16:08

       Okay.

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:08

       ... like two Jews walk into a bar.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Oh, it's in college?…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      When it- it- ch- children-

   2. RBRafinha Bastos30:01

      Oh, it's in college?

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:01

      Children today-

   4. RBRafinha Bastos30:02

      Uh.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:02

      ... and I'm gonna call them children.

   6. RBRafinha Bastos30:04

      (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      They do not understand the danger in suppressing free speech.

   8. RBRafinha Bastos30:10

      Okay, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:10

      And so, they think that what they're doing is-... by suppressing free speech and changing the way people communicate, what they're doing is making the world a better place. They think they're, they're signaling their virtue and making the world a better place at the same time.

   10. RBRafinha Bastos30:23

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:24

       But it's just ignorance. They just don't understand that you can't, you, you can't necessarily ... You can't control people. And to think that by just getting upset and sh- silencing someone and removing them from the stage, that that ends the conversation, it doesn't. It reinforces their position.

   12. RBRafinha Bastos30:38

       Mm-hmm.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       It says, "Okay, look, I was right about you fucking snowflakes."

   14. RBRafinha Bastos30:41

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:41

       And, "You, you little babies." Like, you, you can't even understand, uh, when, when things are uncomfortable, that it doesn't necessarily mean it's negative. And that, like, you're ... Like, e- ex- try to put yourself in someone's position-

   16. RBRafinha Bastos30:52

       Mm-hmm.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:52

       ... and see what he's saying. And in Nimesh's c- case, it's actually kinda funny. First of all, he's very open-minded guy, very progressive. He's, he's not in any way a racist. And his joke was that people say that being gay is a choice. And he said, "I know it's not a choice, 'cause I have a friend who's Black-"

   18. RBRafinha Bastos31:11

       (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:11

       "... and gay-"

   20. RBRafinha Bastos31:12

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:12

       "... and there's no way he would choose both of those things." (laughs) And it was just-

   22. RBRafinha Bastos31:16

       A double up.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:16

       It was just him being funny. It's a funny joke. And they, they were like, "Cut! Get the fuck off the stage." Like, what? Come on, man, you don't think that's funny?

   24. RBRafinha Bastos31:25

       That's crazy.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:25

       And, and, and it's also coming from an Indian man-

   26. RBRafinha Bastos31:27

       Mm-hmm.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:27

       ... who I'm sure has experienced racism. So the, the whole thing is, it's very fascinating to see young kids who are growing up in this PC culture bubble. And, you know, and sometimes people say on this podcast that we talk about it too much. And maybe they're correct. Maybe sometimes it's annoying if you're listening in your cubicle and you hear me talking too much about this.

   28. RBRafinha Bastos31:46

       Mm-hmm.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:46

       But it's because it's, uh, he, an issue that's very dear to my heart, 'cause I, I understand the dangers of not being able to communicate freely. And I also st- understand what happens when ... If you suppress free communication, the people that you're suppressing, they're going to get more and more angry and radical, and it just makes their position, they, they, they, they feel more justified.

   30. RBRafinha Bastos32:09

       Mm-hmm.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Okay. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      I ... like, say, if I'm doing a joke about, uh, uh, coffee-

   2. RBRafinha Bastos45:03

      Okay.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      ... or whatever. I, I'll, I'll go, "You know, I, I drink too much fucking coffee. I got a real problem. And here's how I know I have a problem." And then I'll go into it, and then I'll start talking about all the different areas, and then I'll listen to the recording, and I go, "That part sucks, I gotta fix this part, and this part's stupid, and this part is sloppy, but that part got a laugh. Okay, but you know what? It'd be even funnier if I said it clearer. Like, maybe I need to say it this way."

   4. RBRafinha Bastos45:26

      Okay.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:27

      You know, and, and then, uh, just ... and then it's this constant process of writing, writing it out, going on stage, lis- recording all sets-

   6. RBRafinha Bastos45:35

      Okay.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:35

      ... listening to the recording, and then writing again.

   8. RBRafinha Bastos45:38

      Do you, uh, when you listen to those sets, do you keep the funny ones? Or is there sometime that you do, like, a funny joke, but you don't like it? Does that happen sometime because-

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:50

      Yeah.

   10. RBRafinha Bastos45:50

       ... it happens to you-

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:50

       Yeah.

   12. RBRafinha Bastos45:50

       ... like I ... I don't ... it's, it's, it, it feels ship. Cheap, cheap.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       Cheap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

   14. RBRafinha Bastos45:56

       But it was funny, but I'm not-

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:57

       Like, it got a laugh, but it, it's not good.

   16. RBRafinha Bastos46:00

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan46:00

       Yeah. That's ... sure, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You gotta be careful of that. You don't, you don't wanna be a hack. You know, that's what, that's what a hack-

   18. RBRafinha Bastos46:06

       What is a hack?

   19. JRJoe Rogan46:06

       A hack is someone who tells, like, obvious, stupid jokes that only make dumb people laugh.

   20. RBRafinha Bastos46:12

       Okay.

   21. JRJoe Rogan46:12

       Or someone who does, um, tired, beaten down material, like, uh, the jokes that you know that other people have done already. You know?

   22. RBRafinha Bastos46:20

       How would you, would you know that?

   23. JRJoe Rogan46:22

       Uh, you just would know based on your ... okay, like, here's a perfect example. It's Stephen Fry. Do you know who Stephen Fry is?

   24. RBRafinha Bastos46:28

       Yes.

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:29

       He's a famous comedian here in the-

   26. RBRafinha Bastos46:30

       Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:30

       He used this recently. He said, uh, something about, uh, "I would, I would love to, uh, come back to life as a drug-sniffing dog." You know, could you imagine being a drug-sniffing dog at the airport just smelling everything?

   28. RBRafinha Bastos46:42

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:42

       Oh, no, getting high. Like, he was saying about how that is such an obvious, stupid joke and so many people have done that. And that's a joke where, man, I bet probably hundreds of comedians-

   30. RBRafinha Bastos46:56

       Okay.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:09:22

   Right. …

   1. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:00

      he was, like, three or four ... It was, like, two, two, two fights after he actually retired, and I asked him, "Why, why you keep doing it? You don't have to. You don't-"

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

      Right.

   3. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:09

      "You don't have to prove anything to no one." And what he said to me I think was so fair. He was like-I fought when this thing wasn't giving me any money.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:18

      Right.

   5. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:19

      So, just give, let me lose the fight or two-

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:22

      (laughs)

   7. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:23

      ... and get some money at the end of my career-

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:25

      Right.

   9. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:25

      ... because I deserve that.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:26

       Right.

   11. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:27

       He w- he wasn't like ... of course, he was going there to win.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:30

       Mm-hmm.

   13. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:30

       But it's like, "I wanna take the risk."

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:32

       Yeah.

   15. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:32

       "Because I was fighting in Japan getting, I don't know, $5,000. And now that the game it's, like, bringing you so much money, I'm gonna retire. Let me just do a couple more."

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:44

       Well, Minotauro w- not w- not only was he a pioneer and one of the great MMA f- heavyweights of all time, but he's so important for MMA because he showed that heavyweights can fight off their back.

   17. RBRafinha Bastos1:00:56

       Mm-hmm.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:57

       And that heavyweights could win by triangle, like when he triangled Mark Coleman-

   19. RBRafinha Bastos1:01:00

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:00

       ... and was tapping guys with arm bars. When he beat Bob Sapp.

   21. RBRafinha Bastos1:01:03

       Yeah, that was huge.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:04

       The Bob Sapp one is fucking crazy. That w- that is one of the greatest MMA fights in the history of the sport.

   23. RBRafinha Bastos1:01:09

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:09

       375-pound Bob Sapp.

   25. RBRafinha Bastos1:01:11

       That's crazy.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:11

       Minotauro only probably weighed 230.

   27. RBRafinha Bastos1:01:13

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:14

       And he wound up tapping him with an arm bar.

   29. RBRafinha Bastos1:01:15

       Yeah, it was cra-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:15

       It was fucking cra- and after he got spiked on his head, which still apparently fucks with him to this day. His neck was fucked up permanently from that.

Episode duration: 2:07:12