Joe Rogan Experience #1249 - Donnell Rawlings

Donnell Rawlings 0:00 Oh, shit. (paper rustling) Fuck.

Joe Rogan 0:01 That thing fall off? Those pieces of shit.

Donnell Rawlings 0:04 See, this is when you're too fancy, bro.

Joe Rogan 0:05 Yeah, they don't really... Yeah, they get too fancy. Yeah, whatever.

Donnell Rawlings 0:09 Oof.

Joe Rogan 0:09 This one, we got another one.

Donnell Rawlings 0:11 Oh, wow.

Joe Rogan 0:11 We're live already? (laughs) Yeah. I hit it when you said go.

Donnell Rawlings 0:14 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 0:14 Whoops. Sorry. Uh, cheers, sir.

Donnell Rawlings 0:17 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 0:18 My pleasure. My pleasure. Hmm. (liquid pouring) Don't know, we were talking about, uh, the different kinds of comedians that there really are. Like, meme comedians, they're, they're comedians. They have a s- a special skill set. It's a different thing.

Donnell Rawlings 0:31 They have a, they have a special skill set. In fact, one of my closest friends, Bearded Humor, he's like, um, I would say if he was a standup comic, he would probably be, be in my s- top five in terms of creativity, in terms of, uh, uh, talking about things in the moment and just all-out funny. You know, the skill set for a standup man, it used to be... (coughs) I started 25 years ago. It used to be the only way you proved yourself as a person with any type of comedic integrity while I was on stage standing flat-footed in front of an audience that you probably n- n- n- don't want you to be funny or know have, have no idea you're gonna be funny. But these meme, these meme people in Photoshop, especially 'cause our attention is so quick and so drawn to social med- media, people... I don't even know if people are as excited about standup as they used to be, and now it's excitement about what's gonna be the newest thing, what's gonna be the, what's gonna be the hottest photo to Photoshop and what's gonna be the hottest image.

Joe Rogan 1:27 Well, that's the easiest to get, right? It's easier to get it on your phone. You get those images, the Photoshops and the memes that are funny that hit you immediately. But I think-

Donnell Rawlings 1:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:35 ... right now, I mean, it, especially when you go to The Store, don't you think there's, like, more people interested in standup now than ever?

Donnell Rawlings 1:41 Yeah. But it's so... We, we in a, we in a t- in a tricky place. Now, people are interested in it, but people are so... They're more critical of standup now more than ever, ever. There used to be a time when you could just say, uh, what you wanted and people say they, that person was outspoken, outrageous, but they were themselves. But now you tell one joke, uh, one blogger, one troller dissects your jokes and prints your jokes. Don't do the setup.

Joe Rogan 2:10 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 2:10 Don't do the callback. Don't do the tag. And next thing you know, you offended somebody.

Joe Rogan 2:14 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 2:15 But I think with a lot of events that happen today, uh, that are happening now, comedy's gonna start taking a, a shift back to people with honest voices.

Joe Rogan 2:25 I think so, too. I think there's a direct backlash to, like, political correct thinking and the, the type of, uh, policing that you're seeing. You're seeing, like, police-

Donnell Rawlings 2:35 And you're being policed. I mean, you're p- I under- I understand police and stuff in a Catholic church, police, p- police and stuff in a regular church. But you go to a comedy club to police, you're in the wrong place.

Joe Rogan 2:46 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 2:46 And nine times out of ten, people that go to a comedy show that walk out and protest, v- their mindset was to protest before they even went there.

Joe Rogan 2:55 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 2:55 They're just waiting for the trigger word just to be like, "Well, I never," and they leave.

Joe Rogan 2:59 Well, it's a way to get a lot of attention. You know, being outraged at something, especially if you kinda have a point. Like, if you could, you could ar- articulate that point.

Donnell Rawlings 3:06 Right.

Joe Rogan 3:07 It's a great way to get attention. You know?

Donnell Rawlings 3:08 With the people that are, the trollers and the people that-

Joe Rogan 3:10 Yeah, I mean, there's a, there's a j- giant market for that. Like, if you think of, like, if you're a comic and you're a famous comic and you're outspoken, you know, and someone could take your bit and, and take it apart like they've done with Chappelle.

Donnell Rawlings 3:22 Right.

Joe Rogan 3:22 Many times, right?

Donnell Rawlings 3:23 Oh, Chappelle owns it so much.

Joe Rogan 3:24 He owns it.

Donnell Rawlings 3:25 I was just with him... And you, I've, I've never seen a guy that flips our sets over. Like, he just writes another five-minute bit.

Joe Rogan 3:31 That's weird, right?

Donnell Rawlings 3:32 But the thing, but the thing is now, I've watched some of his new stuff and things he's doing now. He's gonna lead the charge for comedians having a voice. I did a show with him at The Store recently. And at the end of it, he said, "Comedians, now more than ever, you need to grab your balls because it's our job to talk about the things that are bad in this world."

Joe Rogan 3:52 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 3:53 "And we are the best people for it."

Joe Rogan 3:54 Well, it's the last line of free speech. It's the last real line of free speech because you don't have a real boss.

Donnell Rawlings 4:02 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:02 Like, when you go on stage, it's... No one's, no one gives you a single word of direction.

Donnell Rawlings 4:07 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:08 You know, that's, that's a very unusual place to be in in terms of entertainment. And it's something that reaches, especially with someone like Dave, millions and millions and millions of people. Every time he does a Netflix special, every time somebody... He does anything that's filmed, it's gonna hit millions of people.

Donnell Rawlings 4:22 Yep.

Joe Rogan 4:23 To have no one telling you what to do. No one, no one giving you any input.

Donnell Rawlings 4:26 And then when they try to tell you what to do, you, you resisted and then you do what you wanna do.

Joe Rogan 4:31 (sighs) He's a real comic.

Donnell Rawlings 4:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:33 He's a real comic.

Donnell Rawlings 4:33 But you have that... I've been following you for a while. I've been in Comedy Store for years and I'm always in the cut. And I've seen you do some material, like, "How the fuck does he get away with this?"

Joe Rogan 4:43 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 4:43 (laughs) And I'm like, "I know how. Because he fucking owns it." And that's the whole thing-

Joe Rogan 4:47 Well, I really believe what I'm saying in a lot of ways. Like, in other things, it's obvious that I don't really believe it, but I'm saying it 'cause I think it's funny.

Donnell Rawlings 4:54 And the thing about the comedy is-

Joe Rogan 4:55 Like, you know what I'm doing.

Donnell Rawlings 4:56 ... for us, as much as people are like, "Oh, I need that la-" I think for comedians, it's therapeutic for us, too.

Joe Rogan 5:01 Yeah, it is 100%.

Donnell Rawlings 5:02 Can you imagine a situation, you have an argument with your wife or somebody and you can't go on stage that night just to talk about how pissed off she made you?

Joe Rogan 5:10 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 5:10 That's our outlet.

Joe Rogan 5:11 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 5:12 So as much as people get stuff out of us, when you come to a show, we getting out our, our psychiatric exam right on the spot.

Joe Rogan 5:20 Yeah. Also, like, you could complain about some shit, right? You can complain about someone saying something or if something happe- or you could turn it into a bit and you can get hundreds of people just dying laughing.

Donnell Rawlings 5:31 Right.

Joe Rogan 5:32 Like, I've had some, I had some conflicts online. One of them with, uh, a bunch of vegans. They, they-

Donnell Rawlings 5:36 Conflicts so you entertain somebody. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:39 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 5:39 You try to be... You're like, "I don't got time for that. I'm not gonna entertain." But every once in a while, you just wanna punch a troll in the face.

Joe Rogan 5:45 Well-

Donnell Rawlings 5:45 Just hit them with a couple-

Joe Rogan 5:45 I wouldn't read the comments. That was the problem, was that occasionally you'd read the comments and you're like, "Holy shit."

Donnell Rawlings 5:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:50 Like, people just want you dead because... Uh, you know, anyway, I had this whole, uh, thing in my act about, uh, uh, chasing down the #vegancat.Somebody wrote some mean shit to me, and it had this hashtag vegan cat. I was like, "What the fuck is that?" I went there and there's a whole community of people-

Donnell Rawlings 6:06 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:06 ... feeding their cats vegetables. And, but, but in, in, in doing this and, like, tracking this down, and cha-

Donnell Rawlings 6:13 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 6:13 And like, it, it makes you realize, like, "Okay, I gotta write a bit about this," 'cause I could just get mad.

Donnell Rawlings 6:16 It's easy, it writes itself.

Joe Rogan 6:17 Yeah. It writes itself. I could just get mad and be upset that someone's being mean to me.

Donnell Rawlings 6:20 Right.

Joe Rogan 6:20 Or I could turn this shit into fuel.

Donnell Rawlings 6:22 Or you could just go fucking just destroy the whole vegan community.

Joe Rogan 6:25 What's, there's nothing-

Donnell Rawlings 6:26 You can do-

Joe Rogan 6:26 ... it's not the v-... it's nothing wrong with vegans, it's just that the protest is the same shit-

Donnell Rawlings 6:30 No, they haven't, they have something wrong with vegans.

Joe Rogan 6:30 ... as every other group.

Donnell Rawlings 6:31 I don't really know too many vegans that aren't assholes, bro.

Joe Rogan 6:34 I know some vegans that aren't assholes.

Donnell Rawlings 6:35 I don't know-

Joe Rogan 6:36 My fr-... Rich Roll, he's a great guy.

Donnell Rawlings 6:37 My friend-

Joe Rogan 6:38 John Joseph, he's a great guy.

Donnell Rawlings 6:39 Neal Brennan, he's a vegan, he's an asshole.

Joe Rogan 6:41 Yeah. (laughs) He's a little bit of an asshole. (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 6:42 You know, it's... Oh, man, Neal Brennan is a motherfucking prick. What are you talking about?

Joe Rogan 6:46 He's so funny, man. He's so funny.

Donnell Rawlings 6:47 And you can tell when people are turning to ass-... when they, the asshole is embodying them.

Joe Rogan 6:50 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 6:51 The... Especially people who wear glasses, 'cause they wear, they have, like, million different frames.

Joe Rogan 6:55 Ooh.

Donnell Rawlings 6:55 That's when you're at the next level of being an asshole, when you switch your glasses up. But Neal Brennan is a vegan and he's one of those... F-... I don't think vegans should be allowed to go to a barbecue.

Joe Rogan 7:05 (laughs) And complain?

Donnell Rawlings 7:06 And complain.

Joe Rogan 7:07 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 7:07 They all come to a fucking barbecue, they got their patties, they're upset if you've been cooking meat on a grill that was designed to cook dead animals.

Joe Rogan 7:20 Yeah, that's what it's there for.

Donnell Rawlings 7:20 And they get a-... and they get upset. So all vegans are assholes, I'm sorry.

Joe Rogan 7:24 It's not all of them. But I see what you're saying.

Donnell Rawlings 7:27 All the ones that I know.

Joe Rogan 7:28 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 7:29 And then it... Because, 'cause when they make their-

Joe Rogan 7:31 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 7:31 When they make their transition, they can't just become vegans, they gotta l-... they just gotta let you know, "I'm vegan now."

Joe Rogan 7:38 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 7:38 They can't wait till you say, "Dinner, is it vegan options? It's vegan, vegan." They, they just can't do it, they gotta make an announcement and they gotta let everybody know that, "I'm a vegan now and I'm an asshole."

Joe Rogan 7:48 They think they're saving the world.

Donnell Rawlings 7:50 Yep. And the worst is a vegan that always gets colds.

Joe Rogan 7:55 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 7:55 Yo, whenever I see Neal Brennan coughing (laughs) ...

Narrator 7:59 (laughing)

7:59 Oh, god!

Joe Rogan 7:59 Aah!

Donnell Rawlings 8:00 Whenever I see him coughing, I say, "So how is that vegan life going you fucking flu-having-ass motherfucker?"

Joe Rogan 8:06 I always say that to Ian Edwards. I'm like, "Dude, you look tired. You look exhausted."

Donnell Rawlings 8:09 Oh, yeah?

Joe Rogan 8:09 I take pictures of Ian. Every time we fly together and he falls asleep, I take pictures of me and him just sitting there. I'm like, "Look at Ian."

Donnell Rawlings 8:15 (laughs) He needs some motherfucking protein, man.

Joe Rogan 8:16 "Get, get some goddamn B12 in your diet."

Donnell Rawlings 8:18 Get a steak in your motherfucking diet.

Joe Rogan 8:20 He said he would eat meat, but he would only eat elk that I killed. He said he would eat some, uh, some elk meat, so I'm gonna cook him some elk meat. We're gonna... we should film it. He'll probably, like, bounce around like super person. Like, he's been eating nothing but lentils for the last 20 years.

Donnell Rawlings 8:34 Elk. How do f-... where does one go to even shoot a elk?

Joe Rogan 8:38 Utah. Um, Colorado has a lot of them. There's some of them in California.

Donnell Rawlings 8:42 Now, how do you do that? How do you, how do you transport... Is there a laws? Can you transport your kill, or do you have to break it down wherever, wherever you kill it?

Joe Rogan 8:51 You, uh, you have to have, uh, first of all, you have a tag. And then when you, when you have a tag, you're allowed to get a certain kind of animal. So say if it's like a... you have a, a buck deer tag, that means you can kill a male deer. And then once you kill it, then you break it down, and you either bring it to a butcher shop and they turn it into cuts for you, or you could do it yourself and wrap it up. But you have to have a tag, you have to register that you killed that animal, and you have to keep that, that res-... that... with you, that paperwork with you. So if you transport the, the meat across state lines and some game warden pulled you over and said, "Do you have a deer in your car?" And you go, "Yes, I do, sir," he's gotta see that you have the paperwork for it.

Donnell Rawlings 9:33 I don't wanna sound, um, racist at all.

Joe Rogan 9:36 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 9:37 But I don't know a Black person that could (laughs) tell that story that you just told-

Joe Rogan 9:41 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 9:41 ... about killing, butchering up-

Joe Rogan 9:45 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 9:45 ... and transporting a dead animal.

Joe Rogan 9:46 Yeah, that's what you have to do, that's how you do it. You, you gotta put him on ice. I mean, you have to, you have an obligation to try to save the meat, you know? You, you, when you, uh, have an animal and it's down, you wanna get it into, like, f-... a, a packaged form as quick as possible and you wanna break it down.

Donnell Rawlings 10:02 Periods.

Joe Rogan 10:02 Sometimes it's just... Dude, sometimes people hang things. They hang things in their garage-

Donnell Rawlings 10:06 It's very... that sh-

Joe Rogan 10:06 ... in the cold.

Donnell Rawlings 10:07 (laughs) Too soon. You when-... you mention the word hang and all I think about-

Joe Rogan 10:10 Oh.

Donnell Rawlings 10:11 ... is Jesse Sum-... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:13 Oh.

Donnell Rawlings 10:13 Sumrall. Oh my God! Crazy story. Talk about setting a whole bunch of people back in one interview.

Joe Rogan 10:20 Crazy story.

Donnell Rawlings 10:21 Interesting.

Joe Rogan 10:22 Such a mess.

Donnell Rawlings 10:23 It's a mess, and I think what's really awful about it, because his story, it was, it was, like, good and bad of it. The good of it was when people thought that he was violated and he was a victim of a hate crime. It wasn't just gay people that was, uh, rushing to support him, it was, like, thug dudes. You know what I'm saying? It was, like, some real motherfuckers that was like... I mean, I saw Xzibit make a comment. It was a community of people away from the LBG community that thought it was really fucked up.

Joe Rogan 10:57 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 10:58 And that's, that was the beauty of the incident, because it kind of brought people together. And, but the fucked thing about it, it was just a lie. And it's so fucking unfortunate. It's so unfortunate somebody would play on people's emotions-

Joe Rogan 11:15 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 11:16 ... for... or to benefit themselves. It's, it's awful.

Joe Rogan 11:21 Well, there's a certain narcissism that exists in show business that I think you and I both know very well. You know, we- we've all seen it, and thankfully the people that seem to be the best, for whatever reason, they have the, some of the best handles on it. Like, Dave doesn't show any of that.

Donnell Rawlings 11:36 Right.

Joe Rogan 11:37 But there's some people that do. And that narcissism is weird, that, that wanting it to be all about them.

Donnell Rawlings 11:41 Right.

Joe Rogan 11:41 And they'll cat-... they'll, they'll do sneaky shit, like fake an attack. Like, that's, that's a symptom of that same kind of thinking, it just, it just got desperate and went in some crazy way.

Donnell Rawlings 11:51 It was awful for some reason, because you have people, like, when that f- first went down, you had people that normally... people that you would look at, "Okay, that's my friend," or whoever you started having side eyes, and that's just, it's just-It's so messed up. And the thing also is messed up, as much as people rode for him when they thought that it was an injustice and everything, nobody's really talking about it. Nobody's adjusting it. Like, you know, this is our movement. These are things we- we're trying to progress toward, but this was an isolated incident and just... say how awful it was. You know?

Joe Rogan 12:21 Yeah. You know, the beautiful thing is that people are way more tolerant than they ever have been before. The also beautiful thing is the attack didn't happen, right?

Donnell Rawlings 12:29 Right.

Joe Rogan 12:29 So we don't have to think of one more atrocious thing that people have done to another person for no reason.

Donnell Rawlings 12:33 Right.

Joe Rogan 12:34 So that's good. And it's also good that you get to see where that kind of stuff heads, where you're always looking to be a victim, to the point where you realize there's like some sort of a currency in being a victim. So people fake being a victim-

Donnell Rawlings 12:45 Right.

Joe Rogan 12:45 ... so they can get all this fucking attention. It's good for us. It's good for us to see, 'cause you see that, now next time a story comes around that's just a little fishy-

Donnell Rawlings 12:53 You gonna start guessing.

Joe Rogan 12:54 ... you gonna go, "Huh?" Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 12:54 Exactly. It's like the boy who cried wolf. And that's what's unfortunate about it because anytime someone says that they were a- a victim of such heinous crime like that, you wanna believe them. You want to believe them the minute they say it.

Joe Rogan 13:05 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 13:05 But with this incident, it makes you start second guessing thing-

Joe Rogan 13:09 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 13:09 ... and that's another thing that was awful about the whole thing.

Joe Rogan 13:12 When you-

Donnell Rawlings 13:12 And all the smoke he's getting right now and that he deserve, 'cause I've been tearing his ass up on Instagram.

Joe Rogan 13:16 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 13:16 On everything. He de- he deserves every bit of it.

Joe Rogan 13:18 He knows he deserves it. Everybody knows he deserves it.

Donnell Rawlings 13:21 Yep.

Joe Rogan 13:21 I read... I r- I read a story once about this dude who said that he punished his daughter by making her sit in the backyard by a tree and then he went out there an hour later and she was gone, and he suspected that coyotes got her. And I remember thinking that story going, "Man, that just does not sound real." That does not sound real. It just seems weird.

Donnell Rawlings 13:41 Yeah, you- you-

Joe Rogan 13:41 This guy left a baby in the backyard and coyotes got it? Like really?

Donnell Rawlings 13:45 Well, it was like a new, like a, like a not- not walking or anything? Like a-

Joe Rogan 13:48 Well, he left the baby, like to punish the baby, like a two-year-old.

Donnell Rawlings 13:51 Oh.

Joe Rogan 13:51 Left it in the ya- ... Well, it turns out he really didn't do that. The kid died and he, he'd stuffed it in some drainage ditch somewhere. So this, uh, I don't remember how the kid died and what was the- the reason for it, but it was one of those stories where you hear the story like, "Jesus, this doesn't sound real." Sometimes stories don't sound real.

Donnell Rawlings 14:07 Yeah. N- the next thing we- we're gonna be second guessing everything.

Joe Rogan 14:10 Eh, I hope not.

Donnell Rawlings 14:12 But when it first went down, I thought it was a, I thought it was a situation where Lee Daniels and, and Jesse sat down in a writer's room and Lee Daniels say, "Anybody got any ideas for any new episodes?"

Joe Rogan 14:24 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 14:25 And Jesse's like, "I got one. Nobody's ever gonna believe it. Look, I'm gonna be hungry as shit, right? I'm gonna go to Subway to get a 12-inch footlong." And Lee Daniels was like, "I believe that."

Joe Rogan 14:36 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 14:36 (laughs) "I believe that part." And then he went through the whole story and Lee Daniels said to him, "Nobody's gonna believe it." Jesse got upset and told the- told Lee Daniels, "We'll see, I'm gonna shoot him myself." And he walked himself into that- that whole scenario and it's just awful.

Joe Rogan 14:53 That's entirely possible. That's what it sounds like.

Donnell Rawlings 14:55 It sound like it. Now you're gonna say... Now anybody that was a fan of Empire, which I know a lot of people that's listening were, being very sarcastic when I say that, they're gonna be like second guessing the storyline of so many of those shows, the storylines of everybody who ever said that they were done wrong or anything. You... The awful thing about this is now people are gonna be ready and quick to just second guess anything that you say.

Joe Rogan 15:18 Yeah. That's- that's a fact. Til we can read each other's minds, til we can find out for sure. That's gonna change the whole game.

Donnell Rawlings 15:25 Be in everybody's mind?

Joe Rogan 15:26 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 15:27 That's definitely gonna eliminate a lot of street fights.

Joe Rogan 15:30 Pfft. Most of them.

Donnell Rawlings 15:31 I mean, you talk about your-

Joe Rogan 15:32 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 15:32 ... your imminent danger senses are gonna be up 100%-

Joe Rogan 15:35 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 15:35 ... if you could read somebody's mind.

Joe Rogan 15:37 Yeah. Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 15:39 I don't know if I would wanna do that.

Joe Rogan 15:40 I do. I'm in.

Donnell Rawlings 15:41 I like having secrets.

Joe Rogan 15:42 I'm all in. I like having secrets too, but I like going all in. I think all in. I think, I think it's just inevitable. We were talking about it in the last podcast about there's something they're gonna be able to shoot into your neck. Uh, what did he say? The way he described it?

Guest 15:54 Yeah, like an injection that will take over, sort of.

Joe Rogan 15:57 Well, t- but what, the way it interacts with your brain cells.

Guest 15:59 It's a thread.

Joe Rogan 16:00 Yeah.

Guest 16:00 It's okay.

Joe Rogan 16:01 Thread itself into your brain cells. So literally like having ... I think we're gonna have built in wifi internet systems where we're connected to each other's heads.

Donnell Rawlings 16:09 So this what people request or it's like a s- a study they wanna try out on people? Or you could just go to your doctor and say, "Shoot me with the brain shit."

Joe Rogan 16:17 I think eventually it's gonna be shoot me with the brain shit. First you gotta get it on a clinical trial. (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 16:21 Right. (laughs)

Guest 16:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 16:21 First you gotta be able to be a gu- be a gu-

Donnell Rawlings 16:22 But who do you get for that? Like heroin addicts or crackheads?

Joe Rogan 16:25 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 16:25 Who do you get for that? Like, who is close to no brain cells and shit and that's the one we try it on?

Joe Rogan 16:30 What- what was that movie? There was a movie where a dude got shot and they put some chip in his back.

Guest 16:36 Yeah, Up- Upgrade I believe, yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:38 Upgrade, yeah. And it did that to him. It turned him, he like had access to all the information, he knew martial arts, he knew how to move, and everything was happening like the... It was basically like a super computer inside of a person.

Donnell Rawlings 16:50 Wow.

Joe Rogan 16:50 That could do everything. This, this-

Donnell Rawlings 16:51 Artificial intelligence is right down the line.

Joe Rogan 16:53 Dude, they're talking about this shit, shooting it into your brain. We're gonna share a network. We're all gonna be on a network together.

Donnell Rawlings 16:59 Well, there's gonna be a lot of white people joining that effort because Black people don't fuck with needles, bruh.

Joe Rogan 17:04 (laughs)

Guest 17:05 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 17:05 We don't do none of that. Unless it's heroin, we don't take out needles like that, bruh. I know-

Joe Rogan 17:09 I'm telling you, you say that, but how many, how many athletes are on steroids?

Donnell Rawlings 17:14 Yeah, but that's a different, that- that's a different animal. I'm talking about the average Black dude.

Joe Rogan 17:17 I know. That's true.

Donnell Rawlings 17:18 Brooklyn, Brownsville or-

Joe Rogan 17:19 Okay, okay.

Donnell Rawlings 17:19 ... or Watts or something like that. "Yo, I got this new brain shit we injected through a needle."

Joe Rogan 17:23 Ugh.

Donnell Rawlings 17:24 They gonna fuck you up. They don't wanna hear that shit.

Joe Rogan 17:26 That's f- hilarious and it's probably true. I mean, how many people are gonna try that? Like who's gonna be the earliest adopter of getting a- a shot in your neck that- that lets you read everybody's mind? (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 17:36 ... uh, and then what are you gonna do with i- i- it's an interesting thing.

Joe Rogan 17:39 (laughs) It's gonna fuck our job up, man, because, like, half of what we do is say shocking shit that people know is kinda true, but you can't believe you're saying it.

Donnell Rawlings 17:46 And then you'll have people in the audience like, "Oh, not the old winter subway joke coming up."

Joe Rogan 17:50 (laughs) .

Guest 17:51 (Laughs) .

Donnell Rawlings 17:51 You co- def- if you could do that, that'd be the ultimate fucking joke hater right there. "Oh, yeah! Two guys walk in a bar. You don't got anything other than that?" (laughs)

Joe Rogan 18:00 S- yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 18:00 Nah, I think, I think I'll have to pass on that. Keep it, bro.

Joe Rogan 18:02 Yeah, it's gonna be weird.

Guest 18:04 When would you get it? Like, you wouldn't... Would you want to be the first comedian to have it?

Donnell Rawlings 18:07 No.

Joe Rogan 18:08 You almost wanna be a fool who doesn't have it-

Guest 18:10 And be last?

Joe Rogan 18:10 ... if you wanna be a comedian. Yeah, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 18:12 I wanna watch other motherfuckers do it first.

Joe Rogan 18:14 Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 18:15 I'll sit in the back.

Joe Rogan 18:15 But the problem is, they're gonna fucking take over, like, finances, like instantly. They're gonna... As soon as they, they upload their brand, they're like, "Oh, I'm just gonna get all this money. I'm gonna figure out a way to get all this fucking money." And then by the time you shoot it into your head, they've already got the system locked down.

Donnell Rawlings 18:28 But see, that's... You have different level of people that you hang out with 'cause the, your level-

Joe Rogan 18:31 (laughs)

Guest 18:31 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 18:31 Your level would be like, "Well, how are we gonna get the money?" But my level would be like, "Yo, we got this brand new shit. How we gonna get some ass off of this, dog?"

Guest 18:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 18:37 You can get it. You'll be more clever.

Donnell Rawlings 18:38 If you could read a broad mind, you'll get all the ass you want.

Joe Rogan 18:40 All of it, yeah, you would know. But then it wouldn't be fun. Like, half the fun is not knowing if somebody likes you, right?

Donnell Rawlings 18:45 Right.

Joe Rogan 18:46 You don't know, wh- what's gonna happen here? Is this gonna work out?

Guest 18:48 How was that movie with Mel Gibson, where he could, he could read women's minds? What, What, uh, Women Want?

Joe Rogan 18:53 Wow (laughs) .

Guest 18:53 And they re- they remade it right now. It's coming out. I've seen the-

Joe Rogan 18:55 Really?

Guest 18:55 ... I've seen the billboard with, uh-

Joe Rogan 18:56 That's hilarious.

Guest 18:57 ... Taraji P. Henson and, uh, Tracy Morgan.

Joe Rogan 18:59 That's hilarious. I had a-

Donnell Rawlings 19:00 Tracy Morgan.

Joe Rogan 19:01 I had a conversation with Mel Gibson the other day on the phone. It was one of the weirdest things in my life.

Donnell Rawlings 19:05 I'm just happy to know I have friends that could s- say that... See, you have a lot of sentences my friends can't use (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 19:11 (laughs)

Guest 19:12 Is that conversation-

Donnell Rawlings 19:12 Yeah, you know how you kill a, you know how you kill a elk? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 19:15 (laughs)

Guest 19:15 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 19:15 All right, here's the difference between a buck and so and so, you gotta trigger him one time.

Joe Rogan 19:19 (wheel spinning)

Guest 19:19 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 19:19 And then it's like, oh, and it comes, yeah, so I'm on the phone with Mel Gibson the other day.

Joe Rogan 19:24 He said, b-

Donnell Rawlings 19:24 I was on the phone with Ray Ray the other day, bro.

Joe Rogan 19:26 (laughs) 'Cause, well, I'd rather be on the phone with Ray Ray.

Donnell Rawlings 19:28 More interesting?

Joe Rogan 19:28 But it's not, it's not bad to talk to Mel Gibson, it's just, it's like, okay.

Donnell Rawlings 19:32 Right.

Joe Rogan 19:32 'Cause, uh, he's a regular... He's a dude, he's a guy. He's Mel Gibson, and-

Donnell Rawlings 19:36 He's Mel Gibson.

Joe Rogan 19:37 But, you go like, "Fucking for real?" Like, you're talking to me like, "For real? It's a real conversation with Mel Gibson?"

Donnell Rawlings 19:41 Yeah, that would be, that would be very interesting. And I've never run into him.

Joe Rogan 19:45 He's a super nice guy. He did a podcast to talk about the stem cell doctor that helped his dad.

Donnell Rawlings 19:51 Oh, yeah?

Joe Rogan 19:51 He came on for Dr. Neil Riordan, he's this guy in Dallas that, uh, treats people down in Panama. He's got this radical stem cell s- therapy that you can't get in America, and it fixed... Mel Gibson's dad was 92 and he was in a wheelchair, and b- now he's 100 and he's walking around. Like, he's-

Donnell Rawlings 20:07 What's the issue with stem cells situation in, in America? 'Cause I don't hear too much... The last time, uh, I- I'm not probably as knowledge as you are, but wasn't, um, Christopher Reeves t- trying to, um, promote st- more stem cell research?

Joe Rogan 20:21 I'm sure he was. Yeah, he had that spinal cord injury from the-

Donnell Rawlings 20:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:24 ... horse r- horse accident.

Donnell Rawlings 20:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:25 He was doing those horse jumps. Yeah.

Guest 20:28 That South Park thing, remember?

Donnell Rawlings 20:30 I don't remember.

Joe Rogan 20:31 You just, for next level specific?

Donnell Rawlings 20:32 You did South Park stuff where they're like eating dead babies to, like, get the stem cells?

Joe Rogan 20:35 (laughs) .

Guest 20:35 Like 12 years old, really? Oh, Jesus Christ (laughs) .

Donnell Rawlings 20:36 As soon as you said South Park when I was a kid, this is gonna take a bad turn.

Joe Rogan 20:39 Take a bad (laughs) ...

Guest 20:40 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 20:40 Yeah, yeah, remember the episode-

Guest 20:41 Hard.

Donnell Rawlings 20:41 ... about rape on South Park? They don't give a fuck.

Joe Rogan 20:44 They don't give a fuck. They are the best.

Donnell Rawlings 20:45 They don't give a shit about nothing.

Joe Rogan 20:46 They're a- they're, they're also pushing the boundaries. Like, they-

Donnell Rawlings 20:48 Unfiltered.

Joe Rogan 20:49 They're the ones out there that are promoting, like, ridiculous, preposterous comedy that's completely offensive, but brilliant.

Donnell Rawlings 20:55 That's one of the things that, when we were doing the Chappelle Show, the, one of the things I appreciate more than anything about that show was how it brought people of all races, all backgrounds-

Joe Rogan 21:07 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 21:07 ... together to do the thing that we all should have in common, and that's to laugh. And also, to not push the button, but touch on racial stuff without having a angry undertone. And that's what's so fucked up about America now. Whenever you talk about race, it feels like one side of somebody has to ten- be tense.

Joe Rogan 21:27 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 21:27 You know what I'm saying? It's never like a comfortable state, it's never like... And I know things are intense, but we, we have to be able to laugh first. Once you get people to laugh, you can talk about whatever you want. And then even if a person is not in agreement or have the same thoughts, at the end of the day, you should be able to respect that person, and I think those same people should be able to share a laugh.

Joe Rogan 21:47 Yeah. And there was a, a, a fun, silly, non-aggressive quality to the way you guys put together sketches that got the point across, and everybody laughed.

Donnell Rawlings 21:57 Everybody laughed.

Joe Rogan 21:58 He-

Donnell Rawlings 21:58 From that joke to this, to this day, when I travel and I do my audiences, it's interesting because of course you would think that I'm gonna draw a certain audience because I'm Black, which I, you know, which I am and I do. But it's weird, I could go to places and it's straight up, like Dave call them the, the, the muddy boot motherfuckers. You know what I'm saying?

Joe Rogan 22:14 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 22:14 Like, the muddy boot motherfuckers. The muddy boots, the J- they got John Deere.

Joe Rogan 22:18 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 22:18 You know what I'm saying? They know all that elk shit you talking about.

Joe Rogan 22:21 Yeah (laughs) .

Guest 22:22 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 22:22 You know them John Deeres know all that shit.

Joe Rogan 22:25 John Deeres (laughs) .

Donnell Rawlings 22:25 They'd probably call right now and say, "No, Joe, I think you got that wrong. You gotta cut the heart from the ins-"

Joe Rogan 22:29 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 22:29 You know you gotta go left to right. You know what I'm saying?

Joe Rogan 22:32 Mm-hmm.

Donnell Rawlings 22:32 And I've noticed, I have those people and then I have the hood people. But it's just, it's just when you can look out... And this is what that show did, when you can look out in the audience and you say, "You have all of America there."

Joe Rogan 22:43 It was the best sketch comedy show in the history of television, I think. I think In Living Color is very, very, very overlooked. People forget how goddamn groundbreaking-

Donnell Rawlings 22:52 It was hilarious.

Joe Rogan 22:53 ... and groundbreaking. And they-

Donnell Rawlings 22:54 It was right... And both of them, like, it's... Wherever I go, people always... They always bring it up. It was a big p- point in my career. But I was like, ev- as... I, I don't know if it happens every 10 years, every 15 years. It comes a time where, uh, the audience wants something different.

Joe Rogan 23:08 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 23:08 They's sick of shit watered down.

Joe Rogan 23:10 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 23:11 Same way when In Living Color, same way when Def Comedy Jam came out. You know, you, you didn't see a lot of, uh, uh, Black stand-ups on TV. But they had this underground circuit that was bubbling, that was bubbling and it was, it was the right time. When they pulled it out was the right time. In Living Color comes around, it's the right time.

Joe Rogan 23:27 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 23:28 The Dave Chappelle Show comes around, it's the right time. The Richard Pryor Show, even though that only lasted three or four episode, it was the right time and it caught on at the right time.

Joe Rogan 23:35 Yeah. Um, i- in terms of, like, groundbreaking sketch comedy shows though, like that, that, that KKK bit...... where he had the, uh, the blind-

Donnell Rawlings 23:45 Bro, do you-

Narrator 23:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:46 ... let me tell you something. (slaps table) Do you understand, in the history of sketch, nobody has premiered a sketch show and came off so hardcore the first night- As hard as it-

Narrator 23:58 As Chappelle Show.

Joe Rogan 23:58 ... as hard as it comes.

Donnell Rawlings 23:59 When they ended that shit, when, when we asked, "Why?" (laughs)

Narrator 24:06 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 24:06 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 24:06 "Why, after all these years, would you still..." So he was like, "Because she's a nigger lover."

Joe Rogan 24:13 (laughs)

Narrator 24:13 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 24:13 I was like, I was like, that was one of them, that was one of them joints. I'm like, "Wake up, everybody, no more sleeping in bed."

Joe Rogan 24:23 (laughs)

Narrator 24:23 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 24:23 I knew from that moment that this show was gonna be on the next level of shows.

Joe Rogan 24:29 Yeah, well, it was f- he was free, you know.

Donnell Rawlings 24:31 It was, it was so many mo... When we did... Funny thing, a lot of things I used to do, I was a warm up comedian for Chappelle Show. So whenever you saw a Chappelle Show episode, and if you noticed that whenever I came on screen, and I'm not being cocky, people would go nuts. They'd be like, "Oh, shit." And the reason was because I was the guy that warmed up the audience before Dave came out.

Joe Rogan 24:53 Oh, okay.

Donnell Rawlings 24:54 So, I knew if I go gut the room out at the beginning, people don't e- people don't even... They didn't, nobody knew who I was or anything. If i ripped that at the beginning, and then when they see me on the screen, it's gonna be like... It's gonna be big, you know.

Joe Rogan 25:07 Of course, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 25:08 And that, and that, and that show, man, it was just like... It was just... A lot of, a lot of things happened on that show. People like the, uh, Rick James sketch. The day we played that during the wrap arounds, man, that shit hit so hard. I was like, "This shit is cr- is fucking retarded."

Joe Rogan 25:26 Crazy, crazy.

Donnell Rawlings 25:26 Funny thing people don't know is that Comedy Central did not like that sketch.

Joe Rogan 25:30 (laughs)

Narrator 25:32 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 25:32 Comedy Central, here's the deal, it's funny.

Joe Rogan 25:35 Oh.

Donnell Rawlings 25:36 Comedy Central didn't like the sketch, and Comedy Central didn't think Charlie Murphy was funny in it. And I watched...

Joe Rogan 25:43 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 25:43 We ran that shit six... Just to let you know the direction people think. I watched that shit six times, and every time... Man, every time you heard Dave say, "I'm Rick James, bitch."

Joe Rogan 25:54 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 25:55 It was guts, son. It was guts, son. Yo, what did the five fingers say to the face? Blaow.

Joe Rogan 26:03 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 26:03 When's the last time you had a sketch was getting kids suspended in school?

Joe Rogan 26:07 Right, right.

Donnell Rawlings 26:07 People was going to school to tell teachers, "What did the five fingers say?" Say, "Blaoow, I'm Rick James, bitch."

Joe Rogan 26:11 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 26:11 All right, Tom, you're suspended for a week. You and Dave Chappelle go to the fucking timeout room.

Joe Rogan 26:16 It's one of the most iconic sketches of all time. How wrong was Comedy Central? I mean, not just a little wrong.

Donnell Rawlings 26:22 A lo- a, a, a long wrong.

Joe Rogan 26:23 All the way wrong.

Donnell Rawlings 26:24 All the way wrong.

Joe Rogan 26:25 Like, b- almost like suicidal.

Donnell Rawlings 26:27 It was like, hmm, but then it goes to show like-

Joe Rogan 26:29 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 26:29 ... it goes to show, you know how you have a vision with something, you see it.

Joe Rogan 26:33 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 26:33 Everybody may not see it.

Joe Rogan 26:34 Well, that's the problem with working with executives too, right? It's like their vision is different than your vision.

Donnell Rawlings 26:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:39 They like to sh- shape you in a certain way. And, you know, and I know Dave ran into problems with them wanting them to change language-

Donnell Rawlings 26:45 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 26:46 ... so they could get more sponsors.

Donnell Rawlings 26:48 Yeah, I'm, I think, I think that that wasn't an issue. And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what happened. Everything is speculation.

Joe Rogan 26:59 You never talked to him about it?

Donnell Rawlings 26:59 Never talked to him about it, because the reason why I never talked to him about it, 'cause I didn't need to talk to him about it. You know what I'm saying? Um, that show was great for me. It was a great, great platform for me. And then I w... It was more important, my friendship and how he felt away from that was more important than, "So, why'd you leave?"

Joe Rogan 27:20 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 27:21 "Where'd you go?"

Joe Rogan 27:21 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 27:21 You know, the first time I saw him, I'm like, "As long as you're okay." 'Cause it's gonna be scary for anybody, one of your closest friends, somebody you work with, all of a sudden just goes to another country, you don't hear from 'em, you know.

Joe Rogan 27:30 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 27:30 But when I first saw him after that, like, I was excited and I was just like, you know, whate- whatever it was, we had a moment, we made history, and people go on, people going to do other things and just keep it moving.

Joe Rogan 27:42 Well-

Donnell Rawlings 27:42 But that show was really... People always say, "Donnell, if it wasn't for the Chappelle Show this and that..." Uh, Chappelle Show gave me a platform for people to see what I've been doing for years. And, you know, you see talents in the club now, you see them off with this good as shit, good as shit, but will they get the right platform for the world to see them?

Joe Rogan 28:02 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 28:02 You know what I'm saying? And that's kind of separate, um, you see one person go from one level to the next level. Who has the right platform to showcase their talent? And that sh- show did that for me. And with that said, I gave that show everything. Every time I had a second on camera, every time... Like, if you look at two and a half years on that show, if you had an editor break down how many times I spoke, it would probably be a total of four minutes. I'll get a word here, I'll get a phrase here, but I told myself, "Whenever they turn that motherfucking camera on, I'm going for it." Like, even if I'm not talking, I'm gonna make my body so expressive that your eyeball draws to with no... I remember Neil told me one time, he said... 'Cause I always was, I always get a mic 'cause I'll come up with a line or something to throw in. And we were doing a Rick James sketch and I didn't have a mic. I was like, "Yo, uh, Sam." And Neil said, "You're not gonna get a mic, bro." I said, "I might, I, I might..." I was like, "I might say something." (laughs) He's like, "You're not gonna say anything." I was like, "Fuck." So I told myself, "When he smacks this motherfucker..." Because if you look at that scene, when he smacks him, I said, "What the f-..." I was like a m- like a, uh, uh, Washington Square Park mime.

Joe Rogan 29:16 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 29:17 I, I pushed that... I said, "What the fuck?"

Joe Rogan 29:20 (laughs)

Narrator 29:21 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 29:21 I made my face. He didn't give me a mic, but I said, "What the fuck" with my face. And I always... As... People always ask me about that show and they ask me about young actors and stuff like that, they talk to me, "What do you need to do?" I'm like, "With anything, the best thing to do is figure out a way to get on a set." You get on a set, you, you do background, you learn, you get opportunities, you gotta be around it. You gotta get a skill set. But when it's time to show up, you gotta show up.You have to show up. Motherfuckers talk a lot of shit, "I want to do this, I want to do that," and then when they say, "Action," motherfuckers ain't ready to show up. And every time motherfuckers say, "Action" in a situation, you gotta show up.

Joe Rogan 30:04 Well, you have a, a great ability to express yourself on stage and on, and on, on TV. Some people feel uncomfortable, they just like to be cool while they're telling the jokes.

Donnell Rawlings 30:14 Right.

Joe Rogan 30:14 Like, some people have that style. Like, your style is big, you know? And I, I appreciate... You know, have, you ever see Jim Breuer?

Donnell Rawlings 30:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:22 I saw Jim Breuer, like, the first time I saw him, we were real young.

Donnell Rawlings 30:25 Young Jim Breuer?

Joe Rogan 30:26 Yeah, we were real young.

Donnell Rawlings 30:27 And my manager, Jason Steinberg, says what's up too.

Joe Rogan 30:29 Oh, tell him I said, "What's up?"

Donnell Rawlings 30:30 No doubt.

Joe Rogan 30:31 When I, when I first saw Breuer, he's so physical.

Donnell Rawlings 30:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:33 And I remember seeing, I remember thinking-

Donnell Rawlings 30:34 You get tired watching him.

Joe Rogan 30:35 (laughs)

Narrator 30:36 I know. (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 30:36 You're like... I remember, I remember Jim Breuer at like Boston Comedy Club days.

Joe Rogan 30:39 Yes.

Narrator 30:40 Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 30:40 I mean, when you... I mean, that's why when you mentioned-

Joe Rogan 30:42 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 30:42 ... his name, I was like-

Joe Rogan 30:43 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 30:43 ... "Which J- Jim Breuer are we speaking of?" (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:46 Which J- your Jim Breuer.

Donnell Rawlings 30:47 Your dad Jim Breuer.

Joe Rogan 30:47 I mean, even today, our dad, Jim Breuer, today-

Donnell Rawlings 30:50 Right.

Joe Rogan 30:50 ... I mean, he's still real energetic, man.

Donnell Rawlings 30:52 But I'm telling you, when I tell you, I used to s-... I saw him in his super prime.

Joe Rogan 30:57 He was a murderer.

Donnell Rawlings 30:58 And he was... He destroyed shit, bro.

Joe Rogan 31:01 Destroyed.

Donnell Rawlings 31:02 Like, shut the light... Like, who's gonna do anything after that, you know?

Joe Rogan 31:07 Who? Dude, I ate shit following him once.

Donnell Rawlings 31:09 Right.

Joe Rogan 31:09 One of the worst bombings of my entire career.

Donnell Rawlings 31:12 Of Jim?

Joe Rogan 31:12 I was, I was headlining and Jim was middling. We were working together and we did four-

Donnell Rawlings 31:15 And you know middling is a prime spot to fuck somebody up. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:18 Ooh, prime spot.

Donnell Rawlings 31:19 That's a prime spot. 20, 25?

Joe Rogan 31:21 We had a... We had a good MC too, so the MC was like... got the crowd really popping.

Donnell Rawlings 31:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:25 Then the middle came on and Jim just ripped the place apart.

Donnell Rawlings 31:29 Right.

Joe Rogan 31:29 He ripped it apart and I was scared.

Donnell Rawlings 31:32 Right.

Joe Rogan 31:32 And I had a blown out ACL at the time, and I was wearing Cavariccis. I was wearing like, uh, sexy pants.

Donnell Rawlings 31:37 What's a Cava-... Oh, shit.

Joe Rogan 31:37 Like, like, if you're try- (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 31:38 That thought... (laughs) I don't even want to think of that thought.

Joe Rogan 31:40 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 31:40 I'm like, "Too much information. Pause, son."

Joe Rogan 31:42 They were these stupid pants that people wore in the '80s, man.

Donnell Rawlings 31:45 Oh.

Joe Rogan 31:45 They were like, they were tight at the top and they flared out a little on the legs.

Donnell Rawlings 31:48 Like MC Hammer pants?

Joe Rogan 31:49 Almost, like a little bit. They were pathetic.

Donnell Rawlings 31:51 That thought-

Joe Rogan 31:52 I can't believe I ever owned them, but they were in style and I had like a-

Donnell Rawlings 31:54 I don't even believe I had that... That's what I, I, I have that image in my head.

Joe Rogan 31:57 That's what they look like.

Donnell Rawlings 31:58 Oh, man.

Joe Rogan 31:58 Yeah, look at that, bro. Seriously. That's legit.

Donnell Rawlings 31:59 You're not shooting no elk in them motherfuckers. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:01 No, you're not.

Donnell Rawlings 32:02 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:02 I think mine were probably jeans.

Donnell Rawlings 32:04 That's awful.

Joe Rogan 32:05 The jeans ones, like that. Like see the far left in the blue? Right there, bam. Yeah, mines were like those.

Donnell Rawlings 32:09 That's awful, bro.

Joe Rogan 32:10 Terrible.

Donnell Rawlings 32:11 That's awful.

Joe Rogan 32:11 How can I wear those and have a straight face? And then I had like some nice dress-up shirt on, and I just ate plates of shit. But it made me rethink my whole act.

Donnell Rawlings 32:20 Yeah?

Joe Rogan 32:20 Because it was s- it was so... such a humiliating bombing. And I... 'Cause I knew that they... the audience was right. I wasn't being funny, I was nervous and scared.

Donnell Rawlings 32:27 But those are the moments... Think about it. Those are the moments that make you.

Joe Rogan 32:31 100%.

Donnell Rawlings 32:32 And like now, I, I, I see a comedy... Like, I go to some clubs, motherfuckers trying to do the lineup kind of soft, like, "Well, we can't put that person in front of that person because they won't be able to follow the..." blah, blah, blah. But there should be a point like when I... when I started, like, the baddest motherfuckers in the game, they went on stage.

Joe Rogan 32:48 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 32:48 And if you was a new jack coming up, how were you gonna have a defining moment in comedy?

Joe Rogan 32:53 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 32:53 You gotta go behind somebody.

Joe Rogan 32:54 You have to go behind somebody.

Donnell Rawlings 32:54 Anybody can do... If you got a s-... a hot room, everybody's doing good, but put that shit behind where you got a motherfucker like a Bill Burr comes in the room-

Joe Rogan 33:03 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 33:03 ... and just goes f-... and fucks it up. What are you gonna do?

Joe Rogan 33:05 Flatlines it, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 33:06 You gonna stand up?

Joe Rogan 33:06 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 33:07 We did... I did a tour with him, Bill, and it's so interesting, 'cause I know they have one of those podcasts where the theme is, "Have you ever had to come behind and destroy?" I forget the podcaster that does it, but Chris D'Elia was-

Joe Rogan 33:19 If you ever had to come behind...

Donnell Rawlings 33:21 Uh, a story of coming behind someone that just demolishes them.

Joe Rogan 33:24 Oh, going on after them.

Donnell Rawlings 33:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:25 Okay, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 33:26 And then Chris D'Elia... I saw Chris D'Elia do it once. He said me in it. But when we were doing Chappelle sh-... after Chappelle Show... f-... uh, the second year of Chappelle Show, we weren't really making a lot of money on the Chappelle Show 'cause the show s-... still hadn't been proven. You know how-

Joe Rogan 33:40 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 33:40 ... something you gotta... if you got a contract, you got a contract, that's it. It just so happened the con-... the, the show blew up before the contract was over, but that don't mean nobody's gonna renegotiate, so we had this popularity, but we weren't making money. And, um, I came up with the idea of doing a tour called the I'm Rich Bitch Tour.

Joe Rogan 33:57 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 33:58 And at the time, at the time, Charlie was, "Charlie Murphy!" Like, anywhere he goes... At the time, Bill Burr was, um, uh, a headliner probably at the time in B-rooms, you know what I'm saying? And this is no disrespect to him, but he was on the come-up.

Joe Rogan 34:13 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 34:13 But when you saw Bill, you knew this motherfucker was gonna be next. You knew he was gonna... he was gonna pop it. But we still wasn't getting no cash. Charlie had never told jokes. And I, I was like, "How the fuck you around all these comedians, you never been on stage?" So, I used to b- bully him. You know, he a tough ass motherfucker, rest in peace, but I was like, "Yeah, you so tough, motherfucker, but not with a microphone in your hand."

Joe Rogan 34:34 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 34:34 And I bullied him so much that he finally went on stage. And Charlie, we... the tour was Charlie would emcee, and all we needed him to do was 10 or 15 minutes. At the time, me and Charlie, outside of Dave, were two popular people on the show. Bill Burr had a couple sketches, but Bill Burr didn't pop off at the show. And I'd... and I was like, "But if we gonna do this, let's have a fire show." You know what I mean? "Don't..."

Joe Rogan 34:57 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 34:57 We could've put somebody weak in the middle. I said, "Let's give them a f-... show that they won't ever forget." And Charlie used to come out and do 10 or 15 minutes. And I tell people, they always like, "Who's the toughest person to follow?" But Charlie would go and do 10, 15 minutes, and Bill Burr would come out and do 20 to 25. And then I came behind Bill. Not one night. For a year.

Joe Rogan 35:21 Phew.

Donnell Rawlings 35:22 A whole year. And Bill Burr is the type of act, you have no days off. You have no, uh, uh, any of that. Any, any little inkling of being off, you was gonna hear, "Yeah, I liked the show, but the white dude was funny as a motherfucker." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:37 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 35:37 You know? And he... And, um, you could tell at that time, that Bill Burr was gonna be a, a star. Whether it would have been movies or television, but as a standup, you know, he was one of the... pound for pound, one of the dopest to do it.

Joe Rogan 35:50 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 35:50 And that tour went on for a fucking year and we had a blast.

Joe Rogan 35:52 Yeah, Bill's brilliant.... uh, I got to work with Charlie for... We did this Maxim Tour, we did, like, 22 dates.

Donnell Rawlings 35:58 Yeah?

Joe Rogan 35:58 Me and him and John Heffron. We traveled all over the place, like-

Donnell Rawlings 36:01 Was it when Charlie was starting to do it, or was he kind of into it?

Joe Rogan 36:03 It's, like, two years in.

Donnell Rawlings 36:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:04 He was two years in at the time.

Donnell Rawlings 36:06 And you know, people joke... People don't understand how tough it is to start as a comedian-

Joe Rogan 36:12 As a famous person.

Donnell Rawlings 36:13 ... as a s- as a comedian that you're... Basically, you're an open-micer that's selling out all across the country.

Joe Rogan 36:18 Yeah, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 36:19 And not only that, but you're Eddie Murphy's brother.

Joe Rogan 36:23 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 36:23 So, you gotta fight past all of that shit, creating your own identity, you know what I'm saying? Like, I, I could not imagine, like, the, the heat he probably had. "Yeah, but he ain't Eddie Murphy."

Joe Rogan 36:34 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 36:34 "He ain't Eddie Murphy." And that's one of the things that when Charlie passed, that I really appreciated about what The Chappelle Show did for him. Because when he passed away, nobody said, "Eddie Murphy's brother died."

Joe Rogan 36:46 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 36:47 Everybody was like, "Charlie Murphy's passed away." So, he had his true identity, and that was Charlie Murphy.

Joe Rogan 36:52 Uh, yeah, and that was one of his bits, you know? That they, you know... Is it, does it piss you off when people yell out, "Charlie Murphy"?

Donnell Rawlings 36:58 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 36:58 He goes, "No, I'm just happy they're not calling me Eddie Murphy's brother anymore."

Donnell Rawlings 37:01 That was funny. I remember that.

Joe Rogan 37:02 Yeah, yeah. (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 37:02 That was like... At that time, that was one... That was a joke that addressed it-

Joe Rogan 37:06 Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 37:06 ... and he was kept from... And he, and he, and he found himself. He got better.

Joe Rogan 37:11 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 37:11 He got better, and then he carved his o- own lane. He carved his o- he carved his own lane.

Joe Rogan 37:16 Dude, I was with, uh, Maurice Smith, who used to be the UFC heavyweight champion, and, uh, Ivan Salivari, who was the guy who fought in the middleweight division of the UFC, and a couple other professional fighters at a table with Charlie Murphy. And Charlie was explaining how none of these motherfuckers know how to do a Chicago ridgehand.

Donnell Rawlings 37:33 What? Like some type of-

Joe Rogan 37:33 And he's talking about some karate shit.

Donnell Rawlings 37:35 Oh, he was big on the karate shits.

Joe Rogan 37:36 Yes. But it's just, like, Charlie Murphy's holding court standing up while all these UFC fighters are standing back. And Charlie Murphy's talking about ridgehand, and he's not talking about-

Donnell Rawlings 37:44 And he knew exactly what he was talking about, right?

Joe Rogan 37:46 Oh, yeah. He knew how to fight, for sure.

Donnell Rawlings 37:48 Uh, he had, he would, he never-

Joe Rogan 37:50 He knew martial arts man.

Donnell Rawlings 37:51 He knew. He was, um, he was big into it years before.

Joe Rogan 37:54 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 37:54 He used, he used to be, um, Eddie's bodyguard when Eddie was, like, right at the height of his stuff. But, um, Charlie was, like, martial arts... But everything that he said, it was the truth. You know?

Joe Rogan 38:04 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 38:04 I mean, you, you didn't feel like, "Oh, this dude is lying." Everything he said, it was the truth. And one of the most genuine people you wanna meet, man.

Joe Rogan 38:12 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 38:12 One of the mo- Just a dope guy.

Joe Rogan 38:14 Yeah, his karate lineage... Like, he has some sort of a connection to some of my friends.

Donnell Rawlings 38:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:18 I'd, I'd have to ask them. But he was, like, a legit martial artist too.

Donnell Rawlings 38:21 I saw one video of him in a, in a martial arts contest and-

Joe Rogan 38:25 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 38:25 ... and it was... (laughs) I don't know what, I don't know... And I always told... I was like, "Yo, you knocked a 14-year-old out," right?

Joe Rogan 38:31 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 38:31 I don't know how he... I don't know if it was the weight or whatever it was. And I was like, "Yo, that was a fucking kid you just knocked out." He was like, "Yo, anybody in the ring could fucking get it."

Joe Rogan 38:40 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 38:40 But he was... Yo, he was gangster stuff.

Joe Rogan 38:42 Why are they putting kids in with him?

Donnell Rawlings 38:43 I don't know. He never... I saw the video, he never wanted me to talk about it or whatever. I used to bust his balls about it all the time.

Joe Rogan 38:50 I could tell, I could tell being around him that he legitimately knew how to fight.

Donnell Rawlings 38:52 Yeah, you could tell.

Joe Rogan 38:53 You could kind of tell. He c- The way he carries himself, he's not scared of people.

Donnell Rawlings 38:55 Yeah, he just had that, that scowl. He just looked like that, motherf-

Joe Rogan 38:58 But, but he was the... One of the nicest guys, man. He was so fun to be around. Like, d- and not knowing him at all, and then traveling with him for 22 days. We had so much fun, man.

Donnell Rawlings 39:09 Oh, man, the stories.

Joe Rogan 39:10 All just laughing and silly, and super friendly, and...

Donnell Rawlings 39:14 And all he wanted to do was, man, just have a, have a good time-

Joe Rogan 39:17 Yep.

Donnell Rawlings 39:18 ... and laugh.

Joe Rogan 39:18 Yep.

Donnell Rawlings 39:19 That's all he wanted to do.

Joe Rogan 39:20 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 39:20 And talk shit.

Joe Rogan 39:21 And-

Donnell Rawlings 39:21 And talk shit to me all the time.

Joe Rogan 39:22 And was so happy to be able to do standup. That was a big thing for him, you know?

Donnell Rawlings 39:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:26 That he could do standup and, and travel around.

Donnell Rawlings 39:28 I always tell him, I tell him all the time, I say, "I b- I birthed your career, dude."

Joe Rogan 39:32 He did.

Donnell Rawlings 39:32 Like, I bullied him into this shit.

Joe Rogan 39:34 You did. That's hilarious.

Donnell Rawlings 39:35 But he did it. But you could tell, you could tell... And I've been around him and I've been around his family, and you could tell when he was growing up, he was the guy that always had the center of attention.

Joe Rogan 39:47 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 39:47 You could just tell that.

Joe Rogan 39:48 Yeah, you could tell.

Donnell Rawlings 39:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:49 He knows how to hold a story.

Donnell Rawlings 39:50 Yes, he does.

Joe Rogan 39:53 That was a hard one, man. When he, when he passed, I was like, "Wh-..." I didn't know he was sick. I had no idea.

Donnell Rawlings 39:59 You know, it's interesting that you say that because I had to continue to do shows, do radio interviews and stuff. And the thing that people kept saying was, "He was so young. He was so young." And he was young, but, um, I don't believe that we're all gonna live to be 80, 90-

Joe Rogan 40:20 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 40:20 ... 100. You know? Only thing we all guaranteed when we're born, we have our born date, we have that dash in the middle, and then we have the end. And it comes down to, what the fuck do you do with your dash?

Joe Rogan 40:34 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 40:34 How, how hard did you live? What did you go for? What inspired you? What motivated you? What did you do with that dash? Who the fuck gives a fuck about living to 100, and you don't have a passport, you haven't been outside of your block, you haven't been out... You have never been on an airplane? What are you doing with your life? And I know Charlie from the point of being in the Navy to, uh, being with his brother, seeing his brother reach a certain height of success, being interested about it, interested in the business, but, you know, kinda in there, but never really made your mark. And then you get a platform that you become and get your identity and shit. That's the dopest shit. You know?

Joe Rogan 41:15 Yeah. It's, it's, uh, one of the best, kind of, success stories-

Donnell Rawlings 41:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:18 ... 'cause it doesn't happen automatically.

Donnell Rawlings 41:20 It's that Frank Sinatra in I Did It My Way.

Joe Rogan 41:22 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 41:23 And it's like, you know, people say what they wanna say, but he put the work in. That, that... I remember when, um... I think the movie Eddie did called Norbit, right? And it came from a joke Charlie had. The s- start of that movie. And I guess... I think him and Eddie was talking, whatever, and then s-... You know how... "Oh, that could be... Bah, bah, bah. It could be a movie." And my father Charlie called me and said, "Yo, man. I think I got this movie deal." I said, "What you gonna d- What you about to do?" He said, "I'm about to go lock myself in a hotel for 30 days and write this motherfucking movie. They already gave me the money."You know what I'm saying? And I'm talking about, I'm not talking about somebody, "I've been writing this movie for six months," or whatever. It's like, I'm about to go block everything off and write this shit. And no matter what anybody want to say about how good the movie was, what the critics say, f- anybody in this business, if you can do something where it goes from a thought and it goes to paper and you can execute it, how many motherfuckers can do that? They don't do that. People talk shit all the motherfucking time, but then when you say, "How many you got in the can?" "Yo, I write movies." "Give me a script." "Oh, hold on, hold on. I'm almost... I'm f- I'm 30 pages in."

Joe Rogan 42:37 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 42:37 You know what I'm saying?

Joe Rogan 42:37 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 42:38 I'm 30... How many times you hear that story? How certain-

Joe Rogan 42:39 Yeah. Well, there's a lot of that going on.

Donnell Rawlings 42:40 Oh, yeah. I got a, I got a great idea. All right. What is it? Uh, I remember I was... This when Chappelle Show was popping and Ludacris gave me a lesson. Out of nowhere, I saw him in the airport and I was on Ashy Larry hard. I was like, "Rich bitch, man."

Joe Rogan 42:54 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 42:54 So I'm like looking at rappers like, "We're even, right?"

Joe Rogan 42:57 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 42:57 So Ludacris come to the airport. I was like, "Yo, Luda," right? He said, "What's up, Ashley?" I said, I said, "Yo, can a motherfucker get in a movie or something?"

Joe Rogan 43:06 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:06 'Cause I just thought that's what you do.

Joe Rogan 43:08 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 43:08 You just ask a motherfucker to get in a movie.

Joe Rogan 43:10 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:10 I'm like, "Can a motherfucker get in a movie or something?" And he looked at me, Joe, it was so cold. He looked at me right in my face and he said, "We looking for people with ideas." And I looked at him like, "Well, I have none," right?

Joe Rogan 43:22 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:22 So-

Joe Rogan 43:22 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:24 ... um, I guess this is the conversation.

Joe Rogan 43:26 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:27 And it did, and what I'm telling you-

Joe Rogan 43:29 Mm-hmm.

Donnell Rawlings 43:29 ... it was a lesson. How the fuck you going to ask for somebody for something and you don't got shit to give them? You know-

Joe Rogan 43:35 Well, there's a lot of guys in the beginning think that's how you do it.

Donnell Rawlings 43:38 That's how they do it. When I was on HBO's The Wire, this motherfucker told me one time, he said, "Yo, D, can you give me the number to The Wire? I think I could do that shit."

Joe Rogan 43:48 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:48 This motherfucker thought that there was, like, a hotline, like-

Joe Rogan 43:51 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 43:51 ... from anybody from the streets. You ever thought about being an actor?

Joe Rogan 43:55 Oh.

Donnell Rawlings 43:55 You don't want to put those 10 years of getting rejected, just call this number and we'll put you on The Wire.

Joe Rogan 44:01 You know what gets me about acting, though, is when someone who's never acted before goes in there and kills it. You know? Like people who are like, uh, athletes in particular, like rappers have done it. Like a lot of people have done it.

Donnell Rawlings 44:12 But some people-

Joe Rogan 44:12 Singers. A lot of singers.

Donnell Rawlings 44:13 But some people t- I believe that, that you have natural talents.

Joe Rogan 44:17 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 44:18 I think some people have natural talents. That person, like, you have a person that's trained and you have people that just are, are natural.

Joe Rogan 44:25 Yep.

Donnell Rawlings 44:25 And then if, if you think about it, acting is just, uh, it's, uh, playing make believe.

Joe Rogan 44:30 It is just playing make believe.

Donnell Rawlings 44:30 So who can, who can play make believe better? Is it a person that, is it a person that f- for, uh, 12 years they've been studying and they went to the school? Or is it a motherfucker that got that one story, that one character that they can nail? You know?

Joe Rogan 44:44 Right. Or is it a case of there's some people that'll do sto- standup comedy for 30 years and they're never going to be that funny? Or Dave could do it for a year and, and kill you?

Donnell Rawlings 44:54 Like Chappelle?

Joe Rogan 44:54 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 44:55 Oh, yeah. He could kill... Well, he's got, that dude is-

Joe Rogan 44:57 But, uh, but do you know what I'm saying?

Donnell Rawlings 44:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:58 Like there's some people that they're-

Donnell Rawlings 44:59 But he's just a whole different animal. And I, and the reason why I say that, you're a great comic. I consider myself a great comic. You-

Joe Rogan 45:09 I consider you a great comic.

Donnell Rawlings 45:10 I appreciate it. And with that said, like, I... We do have egos. Like as much as people talk about somebody, y- in your smile, you're like, "I'm great too, motherfucker." But, and I was like, and I, one day I was watching Dave on stage and I'm like, "What makes this motherfucker great?" And I think, in my opinion, what makes him great is like, it's not too often that we have our opportunity to have a Muhammad Ali moment. And when I say that, I mean a moment where you got to throw everything on the table. It's your integrity, your moral beliefs. What do I want to stand on? What do I want to stand for? And that's how some people get a- attached. Of course, Muhammad Ali was the greatest, but it wasn't just in the boxing ring what made him great. It's what he stood for. And I think when I look at Dave Chappelle and I look at his standup and I look at his career and I say, "What made him great?" And that's, and that's a person, their stand and they belief is going to give you their unfiltered truth, and they own it. And don't compromise and don't back down to anything.

Joe Rogan 46:10 Well, he unders-

Donnell Rawlings 46:11 You know?

Joe Rogan 46:11 He understands what's important about standup, especially the type of standup that he does. He has to have-

Donnell Rawlings 46:15 Having a voice.

Joe Rogan 46:16 ... full freedom.

Donnell Rawlings 46:17 Yep. That's how you, you... I've s- I've heard you say shit on stage. I'm like, "That white boy must can fight." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:24 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 46:25 Certain white dudes, you be like, "This is... What the fuck just happened, son?" Like, that motherfucker got some suplex or something, you know?

Joe Rogan 46:31 Uh-huh. (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 46:32 He knows how to hit you, like, you know, like in a certain part of your neck and your whole shit is fucked up, you know?

Joe Rogan 46:39 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 46:39 But those are people who own it. Uh, Tony... I was telling you about Tony Hinchcliffe.

Joe Rogan 46:42 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 46:44 He was doing this joke about, uh, what's the card motherfucker? The, um, pedophile dude.

Joe Rogan 46:49 Oh, Jared from Subway.

Donnell Rawlings 46:51 Not Jared from Subway.

Joe Rogan 46:52 He's got a joke about Jared from Subway? (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 46:53 No, he got another, other pedophile motherfucker.

Joe Rogan 46:55 Another one?

Donnell Rawlings 46:56 Uh-

Joe Rogan 46:56 Who's the other pedophile?

Donnell Rawlings 46:57 The other one, he's a big actor. Big time actor. He had a Netflix show.

Joe Rogan 47:01 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Uh, Spacey. Kevin Spacey.

Donnell Rawlings 47:03 The, the whack off at the bar dude.

Joe Rogan 47:05 Kevin Spacey.

Donnell Rawlings 47:06 Yeah. Man, Tony watch this-

Joe Rogan 47:07 Oh my god, that bit is crazy.

Donnell Rawlings 47:08 Man, that bit... And you know what? For me, that bit is so dope. I'm like this, "I'm about to throw up."

Joe Rogan 47:13 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 47:14 I'm like... And he-

Joe Rogan 47:14 So good.

Donnell Rawlings 47:15 It's, it's like this, he won't stop.

Joe Rogan 47:17 Yes. He won't stop.

Donnell Rawlings 47:18 He owns it.

Joe Rogan 47:18 He's owning it.

Donnell Rawlings 47:19 And I told him, and it was just, like I said, I don't know if it's a movement, but I felt like I was recruiting him f- f- t- for a gang right now.

Joe Rogan 47:26 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 47:26 I saw him in the hallway, I was like, "Yeah, me and, uh, Dave Chappelle was just talking about the brand of comedy that you have. Don't lose it."

Joe Rogan 47:33 Ah, don't lose it.

Donnell Rawlings 47:33 You know what I'm saying? Like, stay, stay true to it.

Joe Rogan 47:35 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 47:35 'Cause as much as people fucking with us, didn't want you to say this, want to say that, again, it's a handful of motherfuckers who are gonna stay to, they're gonna stay to their truth and they're going to be rewarded for that shit. Because the other shit is just bullshit, man. Can't nobody tell you what... How the fuck is somebody going to tell you what you think is funny as a comedian?

Joe Rogan 47:54 And, you know, you don't even know if you think it's funny while you're doing it on stage. You're trying to make it funny. So there's a lot of stuff that people hear, maybe they only hear it once.

Donnell Rawlings 48:03 But you know it's funny because-

Joe Rogan 48:04 You know it's funny, you just don't know where the funny is sometimes.

Donnell Rawlings 48:07 You don't know what it... The rhythm of it because-

Joe Rogan 48:08 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 48:09 I know y- I don't know what your writing process is, but-

Joe Rogan 48:12 What's yours?

Donnell Rawlings 48:13 Mine is like... (sighs) It's a, it's regular conversation. Like, I, I have conversations with friends all day. It's-

Joe Rogan 48:19 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 48:19 ... talking about pop, I mean, topical stuff. And it's like, you know, p- people with a sense of humor is like, you see the funny s- side in anything. Like, the, the Jessie, Smollett shit.

Joe Rogan 48:29 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 48:29 Bill Cosby, Smollett, whatever the fuck it is.

Joe Rogan 48:31 Whatever it is.

Donnell Rawlings 48:32 The, all, all that shit. You think something funny, so I never try to sit down like, "I'm gonna write this perfect joke." It's usually something that comes in a casual conversation, and it's those moments, you know, how you talk to somebody and you be like, "Oh, that's funny." Usually, that's where I start my writing.

Joe Rogan 48:45 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 48:46 If something connects with me like that. And I just go and, and beli- and believe in it, and just force that shit to work.

Joe Rogan 48:54 Yeah, once you get on that stage with that idea, and you're, you're in that moment, and you have just like ... Uh, remember, you know, everybody understands the first time you're trying a new bit. That's one of the weirdest moments ever.

Donnell Rawlings 49:05 Everybody don't take the chance. That's one thing I say about you, the times I've watched you, that ... I, I call 'em pussy comics. You know, motherfuckers who just do a set like, "Yo, I'm gonna fuck somebody after this shit."

Joe Rogan 49:15 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 49:15 "I'm just gonna stand outside of here. Good set. Good set, good set." Then you got the motherfuckers like, "No, that was a thought from last week. I got some more shit to talk about. I got some more shit to ..." And you, and you push those, push those bound- boundaries. A lot of people don't do that shit.

Joe Rogan 49:27 You have to, it's part of the business.

Donnell Rawlings 49:28 I can't respect them robot motherfuckers, son.

Joe Rogan 49:31 (screams)

Donnell Rawlings 49:31 Them robot motherfuckers.

Joe Rogan 49:32 Talk to me.

Donnell Rawlings 49:33 Yo, them motherfuckers-

Joe Rogan 49:34 Talk to me.

Donnell Rawlings 49:34 ... that could ... You could go to sleep, and you wake up, and you can end a set?

Joe Rogan 49:38 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 49:38 Get the fuck outta here. We know it work, motherfucker. (banging desk) Oh, no. And here comes my closer.

Joe Rogan 49:45 (screams)

Donnell Rawlings 49:46 Yo, I'm saving my closer. You really wanna test motherfucking nuts? Open with your punk-ass closer, motherfucker.

Joe Rogan 49:53 Mm.

Donnell Rawlings 49:54 Open with your closer-

Joe Rogan 49:55 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 49:56 ... and we'll see how much strength them other motherfucking have to flip that shit up.

Joe Rogan 49:59 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 49:59 Them motherfucker, them ... I call 'em the broom-psh.

Joe Rogan 50:02 Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 50:03 Broom-psh. Go on.

Joe Rogan 50:04 But they, they, they got scared, and then they got better, they got an act, and then they got scared again and never got rid of that act.

Donnell Rawlings 50:11 Right. And then they can't stand for the right motherfucker be in the room.

Joe Rogan 50:14 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 50:15 They can't stand for a mother- like just, "Oh, that's what you did, bro? Guess what I'm doing? I'm gonna flip a whole new set on your mother ass."

Joe Rogan 50:20 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 50:20 Maybe I won't even do a set. Maybe I'll just build some shit from this one motherfucker right here.

Joe Rogan 50:27 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 50:27 Not, not a riff like, "Your pants so tight," but pull something from him and just turn this into a whole shit.

Joe Rogan 50:33 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 50:34 And then that hard drive starts coming, 'cause you know we got millions of jokes that we never use. They just get stored on the hard drive.

Joe Rogan 50:42 Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 50:42 They like this. People are like this, "Is that your first time? When'd you come up with that?" "15 years ago."

Joe Rogan 50:47 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 50:47 But the moment was now.

Joe Rogan 50:50 Yeah, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 50:50 You know? It's gonna go now, you know?

Joe Rogan 50:52 Yeah. So-

Donnell Rawlings 50:53 And that's it. I'm gonna tell you, I've been doing it for 25 years, and after 25 years, I can honestly slay, say, I feel like I get better every year.

Joe Rogan 51:02 Me too.

Donnell Rawlings 51:02 And that's a-

Joe Rogan 51:03 I think the same thing, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 51:03 That's somebody that's a, a purist.

Joe Rogan 51:06 Yeah. Yeah, me too. And I think that, uh, inspi- I mean, good sets and bad sets when you're working on new stuff, but I think overall, when I'm done after two years, each two years is better than the two years before when I'm ready to film.

Donnell Rawlings 51:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:18 I think that's what it's all about. It's, it's fun.

Donnell Rawlings 51:20 Man, if you're not out there, if you're not out there creating the type of material where it's old t- like, the, the ... I'm getting ready to do another special.

Joe Rogan 51:29 Who you doing it for?

Donnell Rawlings 51:31 Here's the tricky part.

Joe Rogan 51:32 Mm-mm.

Donnell Rawlings 51:33 I'm not on ... I might be on Netflix Radar, but I don't have a deal with them, but I'm gonna, not by myself, but Dave Chappelle has gave me a verbal commitment that he's gonna produce my next special.

Joe Rogan 51:52 Oh. Damn.

Donnell Rawlings 51:53 So, with that said ... I don't have a home, but I'm pretty sure the level I've been operating with my standup, you know when you ready, you know what I'm saying? It's like, I just know it, bro. I just know it. I think the energy that I'll bring to a special right now, and then the energy that he would bring to produce them for me, it would just fucking blow up. And this is not something like ... I'm not calling Dave up every day like, "Dude, you gotta do my special." Every time I work with him, he was like, "You gotta let me do your special." I'm like, "Let's go, motherfucker."

Joe Rogan 52:31 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 52:32 So, I feel good about that. I don't, I don't ... I'm not saying that I'm eyeing this place, I'm eyeing that place. First thing I wanna do is drop a, put a hour of material that, when it plays, it can change my life. You know what I'm saying?

Joe Rogan 52:47 Well, I've been seeing you at the store, man. You're locked in.

Donnell Rawlings 52:50 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 52:50 You can tell, you can tell you're doing a lot of sets. You got a lot-

Donnell Rawlings 52:52 I'm doing ... Yo, I'm, yo, I'm, I want reps.

Joe Rogan 52:55 Yeah. That's what's up.

Donnell Rawlings 52:56 How, how ... What do, what, what do you do, bro? I can't fuck-

Joe Rogan 52:58 Reps.

Donnell Rawlings 52:58 ... up and stay home for it.

Joe Rogan 52:59 Gotta have reps, gotta have reps.

Donnell Rawlings 53:00 Reps. Never catch a motherfucker off guard.

Joe Rogan 53:02 Yeah. I, sometimes I'll do four sets in a night in LA.

Donnell Rawlings 53:04 I did, I did, and I was so proud of myself, I got six sets in, in a night in LA.

Joe Rogan 53:11 Wow.

Donnell Rawlings 53:12 And I was so fucking happy, 'cause that's a normal night in New York.

Joe Rogan 53:15 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 53:16 But in LA, you gotta plan that shit.

Joe Rogan 53:18 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 53:19 You gotta hit the, you gotta hit sunset. It's gotta be like, "Boom, I'm out." But you feel like, you feel like you just can do whatever you want, 'cause then you, you know if you starting off with something new, on that first one, you got four more, by the time the night is over, (snaps fingers) you got that motherfucker.

Joe Rogan 53:35 Yeah, it's ... When you're doing reps the same night too, when you hit that third set, it's almost like you're in this weird flow state where there's no resistance between you and the ideas. The material just comes out so loose.

Donnell Rawlings 53:47 And then you know the thing you gotta do is, it, it's, it's one thing to have a joke. Anybody can ... Not anybody, but a motherfucker can write a joke, and that's why you see some motherfuckers, you can, you just tell that they, they're a good writer, but it's-

Joe Rogan 53:58 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 53:58 ... nothing, there's no performance of it. You know what I'm saying? There's no performance of it. They can't-

Joe Rogan 54:01 That brings me back to Brewer.

Donnell Rawlings 54:03 Right.

Joe Rogan 54:04 Brewer wasn't just like funny writing. He would get physical.

Donnell Rawlings 54:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:07 He'd stretch his neck out and spank some motherf-

Donnell Rawlings 54:08 Man, he would do shit-

Joe Rogan 54:10 And you ... (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 54:11 And (laughs) I could see ... I'm tell ... Man, I'm telling you, the Boston Comedy Club years ago, Barry Katz ran and owned it at the time, and that was the premier showcase spot.

Joe Rogan 54:20 Yeah, it's a great place.

Donnell Rawlings 54:21 That was, it was running neck and neck with The Comedy Cellar.... Comedy Cellar had the longest legs, you know, so Tortoise and the Hare.

Joe Rogan 54:27 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 54:27 Comedy Cellar's been here forever, but this spot... And it was, it was Jim Brewer. It was, um, John Br- and a Ro- R- Round Boy Johnny's s-

Joe Rogan 54:35 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 54:35 You know the mother- it was two guys.

Joe Rogan 54:37 What is it... F- and Round Boy something? Fat Johnny and Round Boy, was that it?

Donnell Rawlings 54:41 They would... Yeah, they would demolish it.

Joe Rogan 54:43 Is that how you say it?

Donnell Rawlings 54:43 Yeah, yeah. One of... Something like that. And then you had a motherfucking 17-year-old.

Joe Rogan 54:47 The Round Guy?

Donnell Rawlings 54:48 Jou- one of them. I don't think they're Round Now.

Joe Rogan 54:49 Fat Johnny and the Round Guy?

Donnell Rawlings 54:50 They all dads now.

Joe Rogan 54:52 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 54:52 But, um-

Joe Rogan 54:52 I forget the name.

Donnell Rawlings 54:53 ... that was a time when comedy was on fire. And Jim Brewer would demolish shit. Jay Mohr used to j- demolish shit.

Joe Rogan 55:00 It was a great spot. It was one of those, uh, real small clubs. Like, what did that seat?

Donnell Rawlings 55:06 Probably 125, 130.

Joe Rogan 55:09 (sighs)

Donnell Rawlings 55:09 But it was like... It was old comedy club vibe, brick wall-

Joe Rogan 55:12 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 55:13 ... tightness. You know what I'm saying? That it reminds you of like-

Joe Rogan 55:16 Red Johnny and the Round Guy, right? Is that it?

Donnell Rawlings 55:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:18 Ah, beautiful.

Donnell Rawlings 55:20 It reminds you of the... It reminds you... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:21 Red Johnny. Look at Jon Stewart. Oh, look at those guys. They were on TV. They were a team.

Donnell Rawlings 55:26 They ain't got on the pants you had on or-

Joe Rogan 55:27 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 55:27 Oh, no. I thought it was- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 55:28 No, no, no. Mine were more pathetic. You know who I used to follow-

Donnell Rawlings 55:31 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 55:31 ... at The Comedy Store that, that also changed my life? Martin Lawrence in the '90s.

Donnell Rawlings 55:37 Oh.

Joe Rogan 55:37 People forgot how big-

Donnell Rawlings 55:38 You came by him in the '90s?

Joe Rogan 55:39 (sighs) Dude.

Donnell Rawlings 55:41 Martin Law-

Joe Rogan 55:41 I used to be the f- guy who had to go on after him. Mitzi used to always stick me on after Martin Lawrence.

Donnell Rawlings 55:45 And I know he was an animal then.

Joe Rogan 55:47 (sighs)

Donnell Rawlings 55:47 I'm gonna tell you, the first time I saw Martin Lawrence, and it was kind of maybe f- (pauses) I was interested in comedy. I was in DC. I was laying up in the bed with this chick.

Joe Rogan 55:58 (snorts)

Donnell Rawlings 55:58 And, uh, HBO, HBO (buzzes) . You know when you-

Joe Rogan 56:01 Right. Remember the... (imitates TV static)

Donnell Rawlings 56:01 When we were like... (imitates TV static) Yeah, it was like... (imitates TV static)

Joe Rogan 56:05 Ah.

Donnell Rawlings 56:05 Right? (laughs) Yo, you just had popcorn for... (imitates popcorn crackling)

Joe Rogan 56:09 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 56:09 Right?

Joe Rogan 56:10 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 56:10 So Martin Lawrence came out, yeah. They was like, "Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Martin Lawrence." And you see this little Black dude, big-ass ears, skinny motherfucker with all this energy. And this motherfucker opening line, he said, "Give it up for (smacks lips) a brother making money the right way." He said, "When you making money the right way, you can tell your lady shit like, 'Shut the fuck up.'"

Joe Rogan 56:31 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 56:33 I woke up. I was in the bed like, "Who is this motherfucker?" Right?

Joe Rogan 56:37 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 56:37 He said, he said, uh, "You can tell your lady shit like, 'Shut the fuck up.'" People was like, "Woo, woo, woo." And then he said, and he said... After that, he said, "And she'll shut up too."

Joe Rogan 56:47 (blows raspberry)

Donnell Rawlings 56:48 He said, "She'll be like, 'You so crazy.'"

Joe Rogan 56:52 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 56:52 And like, who has... Come on, son. The first sentence, you like, like, boom.

Joe Rogan 57:00 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 57:00 And he ripped that shit.

Joe Rogan 57:02 Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 57:02 And if you was fucking with that shit, that w- it was like... It was everything Martin did. That was a good time.

Joe Rogan 57:07 He was going on stage with leather jumpsuits on, and I was going on after him. It was devastating.

Donnell Rawlings 57:12 Well, you know you already gonna make it or made it if you going on with leather jumpsuits-

Joe Rogan 57:17 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 57:17 ... and you hitting comedy clubs.

Joe Rogan 57:18 Well, it was just people were getting up in droves. By the time I would go on stage, everybody just wanted out of the building.

Donnell Rawlings 57:23 That was that... That was... And this is what I say. That-

Joe Rogan 57:25 What year was that? '94.

Donnell Rawlings 57:27 '94. That was, that was when?

Joe Rogan 57:29 That would... That's when specials (snaps fingers) were really specials.

Donnell Rawlings 57:32 Right. There was not many of them.

Joe Rogan 57:33 That- that was, that's when it was s- s-... There wasn't that many of it. You had what? No.

Donnell Rawlings 57:37 HBO was it.

Joe Rogan 57:39 Yeah, HBO was it and-

Donnell Rawlings 57:40 And that was one of those specials where, like... And as... That's what I'm saying w- with the next one I do. Y- you never c- can plan stuff like that, but the energy I want to have is the energy he had in that.

Joe Rogan 57:49 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 57:49 It's like, "This is going to change my life."

Joe Rogan 57:52 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 57:52 And that was the energy. And that's why you so crazy. You could just feel it. I can imagine when he was done with that, everybody came to him like this, "You know your life is about to change." You know, like-

Joe Rogan 58:02 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 58:03 ... uh, Bernie Mac-

Joe Rogan 58:04 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 58:05 ... with I Ain't Scared of You Motherfuckers.

Joe Rogan 58:06 Yes. (laughs) Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 58:07 You know the story behind that?

Joe Rogan 58:08 That's an all-time classic. That's an all-time-

Donnell Rawlings 58:09 Do you know the story behind it?

Joe Rogan 58:11 No.

Donnell Rawlings 58:11 The story behind it, it was this comic from DC named Butch Burns. Butch Burns was a DC legend, right? He was a senior guy of all of us in DC, Tony Woods and, and Joe Recker. He was, he was a, he was a senior guy. So when Def Jam... Nobody really knew what Def Jam was gonna be. It was just a new show. So Butch Burns had a set, and he didn't do well. He bombed. Like, throwing chicken bones. I'm not saying this because it was a Black audience. I'm just saying they was throwing bottles on the stage. They booed the shit out of this dude. Martin couldn't contain the audience. Martin couldn't do anything. It was just one of those things. You ever seen a room get so fucked up that can't anybody do anything, and only thing you're saying is something, "Okay, just let me go on." So Butch Burns' career was dead. He's leaving, going off backstage, and he's talking to Bernie Mac. Bernie Mac said, "Listen, hold your head up." He said, "The sun's not shining on you today, but it'll shine on you again. Just hold your head up. You'll be all right." And next on deck was Bernie Mac with a audience that was uncontrollable. Martin couldn't do anything. It was just like this, "Nigga, you on your own," right?

Joe Rogan 59:20 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 59:20 It was one of them moments. And, and that's where the phrase, "I ain't scared of you motherfuckers" came from.

Joe Rogan 59:26 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 59:26 That wasn't in his set. It was a real motherfucking comic figuring out what he's gonna do in this moment. And he, he had to, he had to keep the-

Joe Rogan 59:35 Lemme hear this. Lemme hear this. Give me some volume.

Narrator 59:38 I ain't come here for no foolishness.

Joe Rogan 59:39 No, get it, get it from the beginning.

Narrator 59:40 In New York, God damn- (audio plays) I ain't scared of you motherfuckers.

Donnell Rawlings 59:43 Right off the get.

Joe Rogan 59:44 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 59:44 Rewind it.

Narrator 59:45 I'ma tell you something s-

Donnell Rawlings 59:45 Rewind it. That's what I'm trying to tell you.

Joe Rogan 59:47 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 59:47 I'm telling you the history.

Narrator 59:48 I ain't scared of you motherfuckers.

Joe Rogan 59:50 (laughs) (audience laughing)

Donnell Rawlings 59:50 Rewind it one more time.

Narrator 59:51 I'm gonna t- (audio plays)

Donnell Rawlings 59:51 Okay, all right, stop it. Can you pause it for one second?

Narrator 59:54 I ain't scared-

Donnell Rawlings 59:54 Pa... Now, this is after a motherfucker's career was buried.

Joe Rogan 59:58 (sighs)

Donnell Rawlings 59:58 This is after, uh, uh, Bernie Mac... He came on the year before that, and I think he thought he was dressed too old. He had like a Steve Harvey suit on, so he wanted to appeal to the youth a little bit more. That's why he got the graffiti thing. And he's backstage saying like, "This could change my career." Another motherfucker's career is over, and this is a real comedian, this first line out the motherfucking box.

Narrator 1:00:17 (audience laughing) I ain't scared of you motherfuckers. I'm gonna tell you something straight off the motherfucking press. I ain't come here for no foolishness. And New York, God damn it, y'all motherfucking women look good. Y'all like a bacon and egg sandwich. You look good.... love sex. I love it. Can't do shit no more.

Donnell Rawlings 1:00:35 Look at they face, they bored.

Narrator 1:00:37 And I'm blessed. (audience laughing) (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:00:42 Oh, yeah. We gotta ... Are there ... We're getting kicked off YouTube if we keep playing it?

Donnell Rawlings 1:00:46 Oh, man, th- but the buildup.

Joe Rogan 1:00:49 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 1:00:49 When he first get that- when he first do that ...

Joe Rogan 1:00:53 Yeah. (upbeat music)

Narrator 1:00:54 (audience applauding)

Donnell Rawlings 1:00:54 Yeah, well-

Narrator 1:00:56 You don't understand.

Donnell Rawlings 1:00:57 ... say it. He called back.

Joe Rogan 1:00:58 (laughs)

Narrator 1:00:58 I ain't scared of you motherfuckers.

Joe Rogan 1:01:00 Oh, man.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:01 That, you, you, now, you see the emotion of it.

Joe Rogan 1:01:04 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:04 It was like, that, I, I, I guarantee the energy he wanted to have to rip was there. But the story, the backstory and being in that moment. And at the end of the day, who gonna be prepared for those moments, yo?

Joe Rogan 1:01:17 Right.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:18 They, they, motherfucker's not built for that shit no more.

Joe Rogan 1:01:20 You gotta do reps.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:21 You gotta do reps. They not built for it. They got a motherfucking excuse for everything. You ever go to a motherfucker room and they be talking about, "How's the crowd?" Motherfucker, fuck the crowd. How are you? Oh, the ... Was the crowd lame? No, you were lame, bruh. It ain't they job, it's our motherfucking job.

Joe Rogan 1:01:38 Talkin' about going hard in the paint.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:39 No, I'm just saying, it's our fucking job.

Joe Rogan 1:01:41 You're right.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:41 And I've heard you in your podcast talk about no excuses. And I feel like the things you say about no excuses, yeah, it's easy to make an excuse, but at the end of the day, it's an excuse.

Joe Rogan 1:01:50 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:51 You got two excuses. You got a good excuse and you got a bad excuse.

Joe Rogan 1:01:54 Well, you know what? You could have an explanation for failure with no excuse.

Donnell Rawlings 1:01:58 What do you mean?

Joe Rogan 1:01:59 You could talk about how you failed and-

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:00 ... why you failed. Don't have an excuse, but go, "I fucked up. I came out, I was flat. I didn't concentrate enough."

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:07 I know what it was.

Joe Rogan 1:02:07 Yeah, I know what it was.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:08 And don't-

Joe Rogan 1:02:08 I fucked up.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:09 And don't, and don't use it.

Joe Rogan 1:02:11 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:11 Like I say-

Joe Rogan 1:02:11 This crowd sucked. That's the wrong way to look at it.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:13 Man, any time I hear a comedian-

Joe Rogan 1:02:14 That doesn't help you at all.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:15 ... say, "How were they?" No, I ain't never saying that, "How are you?"

Joe Rogan 1:02:19 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:19 Because, guess what? We don't know what's going to happen, bruh. We don't know if that motherfucker in the front row is thinking about a funeral.

Joe Rogan 1:02:28 Yes.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:28 You, we don't know that. But it's our job to, like, you know, kind of, going back to what you said earlier, in a sense, we do, we read people's mind through their body. You can tell, you can s- watch a show, you can be like, "Oh, she was so upset because I said that." You can just look at the body.

Joe Rogan 1:02:46 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:46 You know, you know the posture, you know everything. And then we feed off of that. But who's gonna be fucking ready for that? And there's so many of these motherfuckers that are ta- and I'm not going off, but it's just ... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:58 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:02:58 It's just frustrating when you see motherfuckers out here making excuses.

Joe Rogan 1:03:03 Well, i- it's not good for everybody that's around them. That's also part of the problem. See, when a guy like you is around me or, uh, you know, a guy like Tony Hinchcliffe or people who are just going for it, who living the comedy life. Like you're writing, you're always writing new material. That's empowering. I wanna be around you guys. I wanna talk.

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:20 I can't be around them motherfuckers and talk about ...

Joe Rogan 1:03:22 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:22 You know these motherfuckers? Yeah. I've been around motherfuckers that got more bomb material than they got real material.

Joe Rogan 1:03:26 Yes. (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:27 You know mothers gotta, "Oh, don't you do. I did my bomb set." And they waiting to ... Just one joke don't work and be like, "Oh." And then they slide into their bombing shit, they bomb set. Don't have no bomb material. Who the fuck writes material-

Joe Rogan 1:03:43 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:43 ... to bomb it? Yo, in case they throw tomatoes, I got the old tomato bit, like ...

Joe Rogan 1:03:48 (laughs)

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:49 My uncle grew tomatoes back, that's why that's not gonna hurt me.

Joe Rogan 1:03:52 Yeah. That's a rid-

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:52 Go hard or go home.

Joe Rogan 1:03:53 Yeah, it's a ridiculous idea to have a set that you do when the audience is shitty.

Donnell Rawlings 1:03:57 I mean, you do, well, you do, you know we got, you got certain shit if something come your way, you can bounce off. But I'm talking about these motherfuckers that actually write.

Joe Rogan 1:04:04 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:04:05 Like-

Joe Rogan 1:04:05 Oh, that's ridiculous.

Donnell Rawlings 1:04:06 ... like, like have th- in the event that I bomb, it's gonna go that way.

Joe Rogan 1:04:10 Pfft.

Donnell Rawlings 1:04:10 Fuck that.

Joe Rogan 1:04:11 They have bombing bits.

Donnell Rawlings 1:04:12 And I, uh, and I, I just ... Like, I'm a person that just loves doing it, love getting better. And I tell people all the time, if you liked any of the things that I've done, whether it was the HBO's The Wire, Chappelle Show and other stuff, if you come see me do standup, you'll become a complete fan, 'cause like you said earlier, that's the one thing that we control. We don't have to have a audition for that shit. We don't have to motherfucking get tested for it. You know what I'm saying? Like, "Oh, I made it to this test step." We don't have to fucking ... We don't have to pitch it and you know it's a good thing and they say, "Fuck you" anyway. You can't fuck with us with that.

Joe Rogan 1:04:53 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:04:53 It's like, that's where we are-

Narrator 1:04:54 Let me tell you something now.

Donnell Rawlings 1:04:54 ... the executive producer, the producer, we the, the, the line producer, we everything. And you can't do it. It's us and the motherfucking mic. And at the end of the day, no matter what success I feel, Joe, we get with this, whatever level, I mean, you're big ass shit, you, you hit it. You know, whether it's TV or, or, or, or movies, nothing is gonna ever be able to take away from you being a flat mother- flat-footed motherfucker that can stand in an audience and you've built your standup name enough where, for the most part, the rest of your life, you'll be able to create a good living off of your name, off of doing standup.

Joe Rogan 1:05:37 Yeah.

Donnell Rawlings 1:05:37 And Hollywood don't have to call you for that.

Joe Rogan 1:05:38 Yeah. That's, that's big too, but if you respect what it is, that you have a relationship with those people, you have to write for them, you have to work on your stuff, you