EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,004 words- 0:00 – 1:14
Grazer’s two books and the origin of his “curiosity conversations”
- JRJoe Rogan
Three, two... All right, here we go. What's up, Brian? How are you?
- BGBrian Grazer
Hey, good.
- JRJoe Rogan
Thanks for being here, man. Appreciate it.
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs) Yeah, I'm p- I'm psyched about it.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm psyched about having you.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, I'm get... now adjusting to the sound, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, in your ears?
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, my ears, and is it muffled? And how's it all sounding?
- JRJoe Rogan
No, perfect.
- BGBrian Grazer
All right, good.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sounds perfect.
- BGBrian Grazer
All right, cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
So we were just talking about your books, and I tr- I said, "Let's save it. Let's save it for the podcast," 'cause I, I wanted it to sound fresh.
- BGBrian Grazer
Okay, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't want you to re-say it. So tell me about... You, you wrote two books?
- BGBrian Grazer
I wrote two books. And, you know, as you know, I'm a, you know, movie writer and a movie and television producer and stuff.
- JRJoe Rogan
To say it mildly. I mean-
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... you've made some fucking amazing movies.
- BGBrian Grazer
Wow, thanks. Thanks, Joe.
- JRJoe Rogan
My pleasure.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, and, um, uh, in all this, I, I, I think m- you know, uh, my whole life and whatever those stories are, the movies are, and the successes, I kinda think anyone that's really focused can, can do what I do. So that was kinda the end product of the first book, which was, it was called A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. And, um, that book is really about... I mean, how much do you wanna know about it? (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Everything.
- BGBrian Grazer
Everything.
- JRJoe Rogan
Whatever you wanna tell me.
- 1:14 – 3:02
Growing up with acute dyslexia: shame, coping, and learning by watching people
- BGBrian Grazer
Okay, so basically, I couldn't read at all in elementary school, and it caused a lot of tr- a lot of shame and then a lot of trauma.
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you have dyslexia or...
- BGBrian Grazer
I had dyslexia, very, ver- quite acute dyslexia.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
And I think we're out in Woodland Hills, which was the fancy part of the valley. I grew up in the flats of Sherman Oaks, uh, actually as a, as a little kid going to Riverside Drive Elementary School and then later to Nobel Junior High and then later Chatsworth High School. And in elementary school, I couldn't read at all, and they didn't classify it as dyslexia. They- it was just you're slow. You're dumb. You, uh, why can't you answer this? Uh, and then you'd say, "I can't read," and then that didn't make sense. It just didn't c- none of those things computed really that somebody couldn't actually read a word, and I really couldn't read a word. So when you can't read a word, then you find ways to, uh, survive, cope, um, and not have the teacher look you in the eyes and say, "Okay, Brian, come to the board and answer this question." Because you're never g- it's just gonna produce more shame 'cause you're not-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
You don't know the answer. It's not-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- BGBrian Grazer
... possible. So I found that, um, as that went on m- for a little wh- for quite a while, around the fourth, fifth, sixth grade, I really looked at people, I really looked them in the eyes to learn. And I found that by looking somebody in the eyes, you could engage, I didn't know this then, but you engaged their heart. If you're really doing it with sincerity and interest, you can engage people and move them and evangelize things, you know, get people to,
- 3:02 – 4:46
Mentorship and “think big”: the grandmother who reinforced belief
- BGBrian Grazer
like, play on your team and- or you play on their team. They pick you and stuff (laughs) good things happen, um, except the reading part. Um, but it, it enabled me to learn a lot just by looking at people and talking to people. And my gr- I had this one mentor, this little grandmother. Uh, her name was Sonia. And little Sonia, she's like f- like four 10, I guess, you know? And she would always say to me- she'd see me once a week minimally, always once a week, and she'd say, "You're going all the way. You're gonna make it big. Think big, be big." And she had all these isms because half... my mom's side of the family was Jewish. My dad's side of the family is Catholic. The Jewish side, the grandmother was my mentor and the person that really was the single person that I could kinda count on in life, and she'd constantly tell me how, how things I'd go great. "You have a gift for gab," she'd say. And, and every time she said, "You're gonna go all the way," I'm thinking there's, like, absolutely no empirical evidence I'm going all the way anywhere, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- BGBrian Grazer
Except my parents were always arguing, "Let's put him back." The, the teacher, Miss Stigg, said, "Let's put him back." So I just wasn't going anywhere, I didn't think. So, so that gave rise to me r- uh, gave rise to the fact that I thought the way I can really learn a lot is have these kinda curiosity conversations. And once I graduated college, I did this on a weekly basis and I still do it to this day once a week. Sometimes once every two weeks, but never more than once every two weeks. I never... I'm pretty militant. I'm extremely militant about it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, how do you do it? Like, what do you mean?
- 4:46 – 6:41
How dyslexia works (for him) and the discipline of learning to read
- BGBrian Grazer
Um, well, what I do is I think about... It's often... And I, I, I know you do something possibly similar to this and, and, and... but my system would be I bombard myself with... Now I can read, of course (laughs) , um, and I was able to start to read, like, in high school.
- JRJoe Rogan
Can you tell me how they fixed that? Like, how-
- BGBrian Grazer
They couldn't fix it. It's not-
- JRJoe Rogan
So how do you learn-
- BGBrian Grazer
It wasn't fixable.
- JRJoe Rogan
... how to... Dyslexia reverses words on you, right?
- BGBrian Grazer
Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
It reverses the way you view letters and-
- BGBrian Grazer
Y- yeah. Well, it scr- initially-
- JRJoe Rogan
Scrambles?
- BGBrian Grazer
... as a kid, it scrambles the letters. Then when it gets better, it reverses the words. And to this day, I still start on the right and go to the left. So it takes, like, really thoughtful discipline to make sure I'm always starting on, on the left.
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you mean with sentences or with words?
- BGBrian Grazer
With the sentences. With the sentences.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really? So you'll start at the right end of a... You should read Hebrew or something. Isn't that-
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Isn't it go right to left?
- BGBrian Grazer
Chinese or something-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
... I guess.
- JRJoe Rogan
Different languages do that, right?
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, I guess they do. Um, but incidentally, when you have dyslexia, it's very hard to learn other languages.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm. I would imagine.
- BGBrian Grazer
So very, very hard. So, um, but I can read and I bombard myself on-
- JRJoe Rogan
So how do you switch it around?Like when-
- BGBrian Grazer
Well-
- JRJoe Rogan
... when your- your brain is making you read right to left-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes. Um, I- I- I started to lear- just create, like, just, like, an exercise, a discipline, where I could m- like, in co- as in college, I was able to read... I could force myself to start on the left and go to the right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Is there a certain mechanism that's causing you to do right to left? Like, do they know what the cause of this is?
- BGBrian Grazer
(smacks lips) Not that I know of.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- 6:41 – 14:18
The weekly one-on-one ‘curiosity conversation’ system (a private podcast)
- JRJoe Rogan
So you learned how to read, you learned how to figure it out, and then you said you- you have these conversations at least once every two weeks.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
So, how do you do this? Like, what do you... Do you organize them? They're structured?
- BGBrian Grazer
They're structured. They- they s- they're- they see... There's a randomness to them, because often you have to... I- I have to... It's not like getting on your show, where everybody wants to be on the show. (laughs) Uh, I say that with a compliment, of course. But I- I'm begging people, because even though-
- JRJoe Rogan
To sit down with you.
- BGBrian Grazer
I'm begging them to sit down with me, and I'm groveling, and, uh, I'm calling assistants directly. I still... I have three assistants, but I make all of my own ph- phone calls, always. You know why? Because I have this discipline of getting to know assistants and going-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... "Hey, it's Brian. Is Richard around?" Or... And I just, like... I do that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, that's so refreshing from a guy-
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... who is as successful as you are-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... because so many times when people get that successful, you insulate yourself with a bunch of other people who do all the calls for you and open all the doors for you, and you just kinda... You stay insulated and m- more aloof.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. Tha- Well, thank you. Thanks. Well, I... Yeah. They d- People do... I mean, look, there are producers that are sort of... that are s- you know, let's say we're in the same category or same ilk-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... um, that just do it differently. I- I made v- a lot of deliberate choices through trial and error. I saw... I went through the '80s, where power guys had desks above the s- other chairs that are on the other side. I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- BGBrian Grazer
The power guys always had black lacquer f- furniture. Uh, they did all these power things.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- BGBrian Grazer
And I thought, "I want to re- I want artists to like me, relate to me," and I always did everything to create a democratic environment. Because not that I was such a cool guy, but more like you just get so much more out of a creative person-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... by not intimidating them.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sure. Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
And I just saw, you know, my peers, and sometimes- often, you know, someone maybe a decade ahead of me, you know... I- I don't want to s- I'm so close to saying names, but- but just those sort of tough guys, you know.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
Um, (smacks lips) and I- I didn't think that was, uh, effective. I just didn't think it was effective. And I wasn't making these really hardcore action movies. I was doing movies that were... They were designed to emite- i- ignite emotion-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... and feeling. In fact, even when I, uh, do public speaking, I say, "Oh, uh, they know Brian Grazer's there," or whatever they might say, but I go s- I'm- I always say, "I'm in the feelings business." I'm not a movie producer to... I'm just a... I'm in the feelings business, because I feel like that's what we want out of a cinematic experience for- for me-
- JRJoe Rogan
Sure.
- BGBrian Grazer
... for- from the movies, uh, I'm interested in doing, or TV shows. Is that... Uh, so, um, because I- I- I- I grew up loving those movies of the '70s, and I'm captivated by things that move me emotionally and elevate me emotionally.
- 14:18 – 16:32
Chasing obsession and excellence: Nobel laureates to Uber drivers
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes. Exactly. And, and, um, and maybe you do this too, but I, I've found ... I mean, I do meet a lot of people. I, I reach out to meet people that are, you know, expert, um, at s- many different things that I, that I don't do, of course. But sometimes I just, I become really motivated just to meet somebody because they're so uniquely committed to something.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Like, they're so obsessed.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- BGBrian Grazer
Um, and I've even found that ... I've learned a lot from Uber drivers and baristas and stuff, where, uh, I, I, um, y- so I, I, I ... But I do reach out to meet, you know, people that have really had a very intense, committed to a really intense journey-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... and often have triumphed in it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that's very contagious-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, it is.
- JRJoe Rogan
... like, the kind of energy that those people exude.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. It, it is. It's, uh, inspirational too, isn't it?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes. Yeah, yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Because like, even, uh, who was it? Josh ... You might know this guy. Josh Waitnick.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Okay. The guy that was the subject of Searching for Bobby Fischer.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, the chess master.
- BGBrian Grazer
The chess master-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Who now is like a martial art-
- JRJoe Rogan
Jujitsu martial. Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Exactly.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
And he was able to like succeed in both templates or formats, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Did we say his last name right?
- BGBrian Grazer
Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Waitkins? Is that it? How do you say it?
- BGBrian Grazer
I thought it was Wait ... I don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, it's, uh-
- BGBrian Grazer
Waitnick?
- JRJoe Rogan
Wait- he's, uh, he's a student under Marcelo Garcia, who's-
- 16:32 – 20:27
Jay-Z’s work ethic and turning a festival into a story about genius
- BGBrian Grazer
'Cause I don't really think of it, you know, that, you know, these sort of creative puzzles that way. I, you know, a creative puzzle would be like, uh, you know, a movie, or a TV show, or a documentary, and you know, I could, I could go on. And, but you're ... Okay, well, uh, Jay-Z asked me, um, 'cause I knew Jay-Z because he wa- was very obsessed with wanting to do the soundtrack to a movie called American Gangster, which I produced.
- JRJoe Rogan
Great movie. Love that movie.
- BGBrian Grazer
Did you? Thanks.
- JRJoe Rogan
Loved it.
- BGBrian Grazer
Oh great, thanks. I, I like that one a lot too, but ... So um, and I said, a- as much, you know, a- a- as, as impressed as I am with Jay-Z and his level of, you know, mastery himself, I said, "Look, we've already done the entire score. I mean, you can't do it. It's been done." He said, "Well look, I, I feel a kinship to, uh, Frank Lucas," who was played by Denzel Washington, who's a d- ends up being a drug dealer, like the biggest heroin dealer in, in America at the time (laughs) , um, and head of like his own mafia that he creates. And so anyway, the bottom line is, he feels this kinship to him, he wants to do this, he's very dedicated. I say, "It's already done. As much as, you know, superstar you are and how great you are." And he said, "Look, I will do a second album. I don't have to be the primary album that's on the screen. I'll do a second album." And I said, "But I only have three weeks." He goes, "I will do the whole thing in three weeks." And he did it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Whoa.
- BGBrian Grazer
And I went and saw him. He did the singing, he did the writing, he did ... he en- engineered it. He did every single thing. So the guy that's the king of hip hop, he goes to work. And I was really blown away because, uh, he still, you know, ha- he has that grit in him. And ...... and it turned out to be, like, for real hip hop lovers, they really liked this album. I guess it was, um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Everybody loves everything he does, though.
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
When was the last time Jay-Z put out something that was shit?
- BGBrian Grazer
Uh, he (laughs) doesn't-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right?
- BGBrian Grazer
... really, yeah. He's kinda brilliant, actually. He's, um, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
So he doesn't-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's amazing.
- BGBrian Grazer
He's a brilliant marketer. He's a f- when he s- he says things that are very insightful. So, he wanted to do, um, after that, he, he, we got to know each other, and then he said, "Hey, I'm gonna do, uh, I wanna, I wanna do a festival. A, a, a festival with 24, 22 different artists, and all different types, and it's gonna be in Love Park, and it's called, we're calling it Made In America. Would you produce it?" And, and I said, "Yeah." And I knew that Ron Howard could get a chance at directing it, and I thought it would be really good for Ron to be around Jay-Z. That's a good thing for him. It's a good, he's got a good aura, and the right one for Ron. And I thought, well, so we joined him. And I said, "What is this about? You know, what's the premise?" And he said, "It's about democratization of, of music itself. There's no record stores anymore. And, and the walls are down. You could, you know, you can get, you know, there's a crossover between hip hop and, uh, y- y- you know, trance music, and all that stuff." So, and I thought that was kinda cool, and then I said, "Have you ever seen this movie called, um ..." Because it didn't have a story, th- this concert. And I said, "Did you ever see Amadeus?" He goes, "I never def- seen Amadeus." And I said, "Well, it's about genius." And, uh, he asked about it and he goes, "That's what the premise of this will be." And he immediately thought, had this idea that it should be every artist, every human being has a little bit of genius in them. And he made, made it very relatable. And that became the thesis of what this documentary became, and he only had that, like, a week before we were shooting.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Wow.
- BGBrian Grazer
So it was kinda remarkable.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's pretty remarkable.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- 20:27 – 21:36
Recording the conversations (sometimes): Admiral McRaven and modern tools
- JRJoe Rogan
So, you've been doing this for 35 years and you haven't recorded any of these, these conversations you've had with people?
- BGBrian Grazer
Okay. You're, you're, I'm gonna be stay, uh ... In the last 10 years, I've s- I've recorded some. And sometimes I do FaceTimes and they allow me to. Like, w- uh, Admiral William McRaven, who I really wanted to meet, you know, that Navy S- the Navy SEAL that, uh, um, created SEAL Team Six-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... and just recently, sort of, sp- o- doesn't speak out publicly but had a point of view about the president and the whole Oval Office and stuff like that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
And, um, and he's a, he's a really amazing guy. But I said, "Can I FaceTime you?" 'Cause that was the only way ... So if somebody can't meet with me, I now say, "Would you Skype with me or FaceTime?" At the time I started, there weren't, that did- the tool didn't exist.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right. So you would fly to them-
- BGBrian Grazer
I'd fly to them.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and just kind of have these conversations?
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's so amazing that you've had this commitment to do this.
- BGBrian Grazer
I have this com- yeah, I do. I feel it's a really im- yeah. I mean, it's important to my life and, um, I just, it's like a, a hobby that you're completely-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- 21:36 – 28:52
Failure as fuel and the craft of staying present under pressure
- BGBrian Grazer
... committed to doing. And it's, it's, for me, eh, I- I'm a person that gets better. I can get better all the time. I'm open every minute of every day for self-improvement. Like, if you said, "Brian, did you think ..." If you gave me a, a, a, a note about this experience or something and you said, "You know, you'd probably be better if you did it this way," I, I'd, if I could integrate it or assimilate it, I would then do it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Good for you. That's a beautiful attitude.
- BGBrian Grazer
Well, I f- I know how fallible I am. I'm just-
- JRJoe Rogan
We all.
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs) Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
All of us, if you're human.
- BGBrian Grazer
If you think, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It's just, that's part of being us.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
So you embrace that-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
... yourself too. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you have to. Constantly seeking self-improvement.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. The, the, the big pr- the big problem is holding yourself prisoner to the mistakes of the past. Don't do that.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, and just constantly looking to get better at anything you're trying to do.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, uh, I think having these kind of conversations like you're talking about will make you a, a better, more thoughtful person too.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know, 'cause it, it gives you a level of communication with human beings that, it just, it's very rare.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
In this world, very rare that you get to sit down across from someone. And sometimes I have these conversations with people where there's no one around, like, you know, the back bar at The Comedy Store. We-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... sitting there with a buddy and we'll just sit, sit there. No one's around. Just he and I will just shoot the shit for an hour and a half, two hours, no one around, just talking. And, like, those, those are rare moments where you're not distracted, where you can just talk about things and you have ideas, and someone brings something up and you consider it, and then you add your own thing, and then they consider that. And then you just go back and forth and you get a better understanding of each other.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. I, I agree with you. I, I, it's amazing that you're able to do it and get away (laughs) with it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
I mean, see we're both sounds like open-minded to if ... As long as we're kinda disrupting our comfort zone, I think, and, and being open-minded to that, you're, you're then being open-minded to, like, the value of human error. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes, yes. Oh, yeah, the value of human error. That's a great way of putting it. Yeah.
- 28:52 – 55:02
Brian’s daughter’s jiu-jitsu injury and recovery (rear naked choke to strokes)
- BGBrian Grazer
I bet. Yeah. And I'm just imagining it as you say it, uh, because I don't know that much about jujitsu. I've gone to some fight, uh, you know, some fights that, a friend of mine, Ari Emanuel. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah. Okay.
- BGBrian Grazer
Um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Owns the UFC.
- BGBrian Grazer
The UFC guy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. So he's a really good friend and my daughter's obsessed with, uh, she's obsessed with martial arts.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah?
- BGBrian Grazer
Jujitsu. She trains. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm. That's cool.
- BGBrian Grazer
It's not what she does for a living, but she trains and she loves the community of people.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- BGBrian Grazer
She, she got injured, pretty seriously injured and then she, she didn't want to be indulgent, but I said, "Look, just I'll pay for you to start back early and you can just do one-on-ones." Which, 'cause she didn't wanna-
- JRJoe Rogan
W- how'd she injure herself? W-
- BGBrian Grazer
S- she got like (sighs) choked off from the back. I don't know how that-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
And it, um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Her neck?
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. It created a stroke in her.
- JRJoe Rogan
Whoa.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. It, multiple strokes in her brain, but it didn't, um, affect any part of her intellectual capacity. But it, it was really, it was pretty s- (laughs) it was very serious.
- JRJoe Rogan
Did she get... So she got caught in a rear naked choke?
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. That's right. Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. And the choke-
- BGBrian Grazer
Which, again, I don't know-
- JRJoe Rogan
... gave her multiple strokes. I've never-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... even heard of that before.
- BGBrian Grazer
I will t- let you, I will-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's crazy.
- 55:02 – 1:00:29
From A Curious Mind to Face to Face: eye contact as dignity in a lonely digital age
- BGBrian Grazer
So, uh, so there's that, and, uh... (laughs) And so the other book I wrote, because this kind of ties in. You'll... This is kind of interesting, um, 'cause you asked actually. So what happened is, in my house, there was a new person that started working on our, you know, uh, like, our staff at home kind of thing. Um, and, uh, you know, like, you know, working on the house staff kind of thing. I don't have, like, a c- I'm not like butlers. I'm not gonna, I'm not-
- JRJoe Rogan
What, what do you mean by house staff?
- BGBrian Grazer
(clicks tongue) Just like we have a l- we have people that, you know, housekeepers-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
... you know, that either cook, or they clean, or they... But it's a team. I have a team.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- BGBrian Grazer
There's a team. (laughs) Yeah. But I don't want to mislead you and make you think like I'm living in, like... You know, it's not insane.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, this is what I'm picturing. I'm picturing a dude with a, a napkin-
- BGBrian Grazer
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
... over his forearm.
- BGBrian Grazer
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- JRJoe Rogan
"Mr. Grazer."
- BGBrian Grazer
That's what I don't... No, please, don't. Uh, yeah, it's not that. I'm glad that you pointed that out.
- JRJoe Rogan
And then he gives you your top hat.
- BGBrian Grazer
No, no.
- JRJoe Rogan
You put your top hat on. (laughs)
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, yeah, yeah, top hat, and gets my tux ready every night.
- JRJoe Rogan
You get into the Rolls-Royce, and they throw rose petals at your feet.
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs) Yeah, yeah, Thirstin Howl. No. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Hello.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah. No, it's not that. It just, it's just, like, an organized place. So-
- JRJoe Rogan
I get it. You're balling. It's all good.
- BGBrian Grazer
It's something. And so she, apparently, she'd worked there. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- BGBrian Grazer
So (laughs) that's funny. So, so apparently, she worked at our house for, like, al- almost three months. And my wife's... She says to my wife, "I really like Brian a lot." And my wife said, "Well, gee, have you talked to him much?" She said, "Well, I haven't talked to him very much, but every time he speaks to me, he always looks me directly in my eyes, and it makes me feel like a human being." And I thought of the simplicity of that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
I thought, "Wow, just by looking at somebody directly in the eyes, with real... Not looking beh- behind them or you're just looking at them, it immediately is an equalizer." It says, "We're both equal." We're, we're th- both species on this planet, the same species on this... And it makes me feel like a human being. Gives me dignity.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- BGBrian Grazer
And then I thought, "That's pretty powerful." I mean, this is only, like, two years ago. And then I retrofitted back all of those conversations I was alluding to, like, 35 years of every week a curiosity conversation. And I thought, "Well, the only reason these conversations were good is I must have been really looking at these people in the eyes, and we were really dialed in. Otherwise, they wouldn't share these private things or these insights. They wouldn't share their heart with me if they didn't feel I was present with them."
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- 1:00:29 – 1:11:57
Phones, attention, Adderall culture—and the weed/edibles detour
- JRJoe Rogan
For sure. I've, um... Uh, the last week, I put a one-hour limit on my phone use.
- BGBrian Grazer
Oh, wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I put a one-hour limit on whether, whether it's apps per day.
- BGBrian Grazer
Per, per day, you mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- BGBrian Grazer
Per day, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Apps, whatever-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... whatever I'm using. And-
- BGBrian Grazer
That's a good idea.
- JRJoe Rogan
... I've thought about using the ph- like, thought about looking at the phone aimlessly-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah, you shou-
- JRJoe Rogan
... and not.
- BGBrian Grazer
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know, I've got this thing now that I'm doing where I just grab my phone. I go, "No, no, no," and then I put it away.
- BGBrian Grazer
Huh.
- JRJoe Rogan
I just... 'Cause people are really, really addicted to phones.
- BGBrian Grazer
They're really addicted.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you don't realize until you look at that f- screen time-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that reading that you get at the end of the day, and you're like, "Five hours?"
- BGBrian Grazer
(laughs) I'm sure I'm in that... (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- BGBrian Grazer
Maybe four. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
A lot of us are.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
But this, that digital connection, the connection to d- you're missing, you're missing this connection to other people, and it also, there's a certain amount of anxiety attached to it where people are constantly checking their social media and checking, checking their-
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... their emails and their mentions and, and going back and forth with this and that and looking at this and that.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- 1:11:57 – 1:27:44
Sober October and building non-wishy-washy discipline (Whoop, sleep apnea, fasting)
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, this is Sober October for me, so I'm not doing anything.
- BGBrian Grazer
Oh.
- NANarrator
Can you do that?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- NANarrator
I guess you can.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, yeah. I'm not, I don't have an, an, an addiction.
- NANarrator
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
But me and my buddies-
- BGBrian Grazer
It's a choice. You dig it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- NANarrator
And it's fun.
- JRJoe Rogan
And we do-
- NANarrator
And you and your buddies are cool with it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, we do Sober October. So-
- NANarrator
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
... the entire month of October every year we do something. Um, like last year we did a fitness challenge.
- BGBrian Grazer
What's that thing? It's like Ramadan. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it's like Ramadan for us. (clears throat) And the year before that we did, uh, hot yoga. We had to do 15 hot yoga sessions over the month.
- BGBrian Grazer
Jeez.
- JRJoe Rogan
And this year we have to do 10 classes of any kind and we have to read 500 pages of any book.
- BGBrian Grazer
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, so we do it. Like to test yourselves and stuff. Yeah, but just, it, and it's fun.
- BGBrian Grazer
In a cool way. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And people join along. And this year we're, we're all wearing these Whoop straps, so everybody-
- BGBrian Grazer
What is a Whoop strap?
- JRJoe Rogan
A Whoop strap is a, it's, it's, uh, a fitness monitor that's, it works with-
- BGBrian Grazer
Mm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... this application that works on your phone that, uh, it monitors heart rate variability. So it, uh, tells you h- first of all it tells you how much you're sleeping, which is very revealing.
- BGBrian Grazer
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It tells you what kind of sleep you're getting, and it j- it gives you like very detailed analytics. It shows it. And-
Episode duration: 2:03:49
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Transcript of episode 6Zo_FTUNDBI
