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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1446 - Bert Kreischer

Bert Kreischer is a stand-up comedian, actor and podcast host. His new special “Hey Big Boy” is now streaming only on Netflix. @bertkreischer

Joe RoganhostBert KreischerguestJamie Vernonguest
Mar 23, 20203h 21mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Rogan and Kreischer Confront Health, Humor, And A World Unraveling

  1. Joe Rogan and Bert Kreischer spend a long-form, freewheeling conversation grappling with the early stages of COVID-19, personal health, and the strange responsibilities of public personas. Rogan updates his views on the virus after friends’ serious cases and medical briefings, while Kreischer admits feeling trapped by his hard-partying image and dependency on alcohol and blood-pressure meds. From there they roam through stand-up culture, cancelability, parenting, guns, dogs, and apocalyptic scenarios, constantly looping back to how crisis exposes character and priorities. Underneath the jokes and stories is a steady drumbeat: this pandemic is a wake-up call to get healthier, take care of your community, and rethink what really matters.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

COVID-19 isn’t just an “old and sick” person’s disease.

Rogan revises his stance after healthy friends like Michael Yo get hospitalized with pneumonia and near-death experiences, and doctors describe young, fit patients on ventilators, suggesting genetic and exposure factors we don’t yet understand.

Your lifestyle might be barely held together by good genetics.

Rogan tells Kreischer that his ability to drink heavily and still run marathons likely reflects “robust” genes—meaning if he stopped abusing his body, he could transform his health quickly instead of relying on pills.

Pandemics demand flexible thinking and willingness to update beliefs.

They highlight how rapidly the situation and scientific understanding change, arguing you must constantly absorb new data, abandon outdated assumptions, and avoid clinging to early, comforting narratives.

Comedians need spaces where risk-taking jokes are understood as play, not doctrine.

Rogan defends the “game” of comedy—saying outrageous things to be funny—contrasting real comics who respect that space with virtue-signaling critics who take lines literally or weaponize outrage.

Your social environment strongly shapes your risk and behavior.

Stories about wild childhood neighborhoods, bad kids, and office politics show how easily people get pulled into dangerous or repressed patterns, whether it’s teen crime or corporate self-censorship.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

“You’re like pouring sugar water into a 68 Charger… if you just cleaned that bitch up, that Hemi will purr.”

Joe Rogan (to Bert Kreischer about his drinking)

“This is the big one of our lifetime, maybe the biggest one ever, because this shit could go on for a long-ass time.”

Joe Rogan

“I should make a video to let everyone know my special’s on Netflix… then I went, ‘Hold on, man. There’s a lot going on in this world, and my special being watched is not the most important thing.’”

Bert Kreischer

“No one should be confident. You’re a jelly bag made out of human skin covering brittle bones, on a planet with no roof.”

Joe Rogan

“If we come out on the other side, I think we’re gonna be stronger… we gotta learn in every way.”

Joe Rogan

COVID-19 seriousness and evolving informationBert Kreischer’s health, drinking, and party personaStand-up comedy culture, offense, and joke boundariesParenting, bad influences, and childhood environmentsExotic pets, animals, and risk (tigers, bears, dogs, cats)Economic fallout, stock market, and helping working peopleGuns, preparedness, and fragility of modern civilization

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