The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #1472 - Michael Yo
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,035 words- 0:01 – 3:14
Michael Yo’s COVID timeline: nonstop travel, stress, and the first fever
- JRJoe Rogan
Michael Yeoh.
- MYMichael Yo
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Back from the brink.
- MYMichael Yo
(sighs) It- it's crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
You are the first guy that I've ... Well, my friend Sturgill got it, and I talked to him, but he didn't get it real bad.
- MYMichael Yo
Like how bad is not real bad?
- JRJoe Rogan
He didn't get it bad. He-
- MYMichael Yo
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
He was like a little fatigued.
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. So tell-
- MYMichael Yo
It-
- JRJoe Rogan
So give me the full rundown. For people who don't know what we're talking about, you got coronavirus. You were one of the first to get it, uh, that I know. You got it right after you were on this podcast. You were on this podcast.
- MYMichael Yo
I-
- JRJoe Rogan
You flew to New York.
- MYMichael Yo
Did Gotham for four shows.
- JRJoe Rogan
Little rundown.
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah. Little rundown. As soon as I landed, I did Wendy Williams on Monday, and then I flew back and went to Vegas for a day, soon as I got back, and then had three auditions. So I was run down. And that weekend-
- JRJoe Rogan
Were you feeling sick already?
- MYMichael Yo
No. No.
- JRJoe Rogan
Just tired?
- MYMichael Yo
Just tired. Tired. But, I mean, we're always tired, really.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
The road. The road gets you.
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah. And- and I was- I was moving all the time, and very stressful. You know, you're- you're trying to perform. You're trying to learn lines for an audition.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MYMichael Yo
So I was- I was very stressed out. I was traveling a lot. And that was like my third weekend in a row. So it was-
- JRJoe Rogan
You get sleep? Much sleep or no?
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah. I- I get great sleep, but you know, with two kids, like they're both at the age where, you know-
- 3:14 – 4:55
At-home deterioration: fever spikes, headaches, and the Advil/Tylenol confusion
- MYMichael Yo
And then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, audition. Then Saturday, I was like, "Ugh. Okay. I- this is my rest day." And then I woke up and something just didn't feel right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- MYMichael Yo
So I was going, "Okay, it's probably the road." You know, I- what- I'm- I'm stressed, road. So it's about- during the day, I hang out, I isolate myself, but I'm between 100 and 101. Second day, I'm like 101, 102. But I'm still like, "Look, I'ma- I'ma beat this thing." They say stay at home. Because at that time-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MYMichael Yo
... they said, "If you have symptoms, stay at home," because they're taking the more serious cases.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
So the Sunday- Sunday came around. I kind of went down a little. I was taking aspirin, a lot of aspirin, because one doctor at the time said take it every four hours. And I was also taking, um, aspirin and something else to bring your temperature down. I forgot what it was. But- oh, Ty- um, aspirin and ...
- JRJoe Rogan
But you said when you started taking ibuprofen, that's when it fucked you up.
- MYMichael Yo
That's when I felt it did. So Sunday, I started getting this massive headache. So that's when I really started popping the aspirin, three every three hours.
- JRJoe Rogan
But aspirin or ibuprofen?
- MYMichael Yo
Uh, it was ibuprofen.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a big difference between aspirin and ibuprofen. Ibuprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.
- MYMichael Yo
Okay. Well, okay. I was taking- I was taking Advil. Whatever Advil was.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes. That is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.
- MYMichael Yo
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
Th- this is what I keep hearing. I don't know if this has been substantiated, that you shouldn't take, um, ibuprofen while you have this.
- MYMichael Yo
Okay. Well-
- JRJoe Rogan
For whatever reason. I don't know what that is.
- MYMichael Yo
I don't know. I don't know if that's been discredited or it's that- it's that real.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I don't know either. I don't know either.
- MYMichael Yo
So I- I was taking a lot of Advil.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- 4:55 – 6:37
911 call and ER admission: gasping for air, oxygen support, and a grim prognosis
- MYMichael Yo
A lot of Advil and, uh, Tylenol to bring the fever down. So I got it down on Sunday, but then I had a massive headache. So then they said, "Well, your temperature's going down." This was our doctor friend. "Your temperature's going down. Just hit the Advil." So I hit the Advil. Monday at noon, I couldn't breathe. Like gasping for air r- and my wife had to call 911-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- MYMichael Yo
... to the house to come get me. So I'm gasping for air, 911 shows up. They bring me outside. They throw me on this huge- this oxygen machine right away. It's like-
- JRJoe Rogan
What- what kind of an oxygen? A ventilator?
- MYMichael Yo
I- uh, not a ventilator. No. Just a- just a normal oxygen mach- but they say, "We got to get oxygen in you."
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- MYMichael Yo
And it- it was almost like a movie. I'm- the neighbors are all out. Ambulance is overlooking me. You know, the ambulance is there. All the neighbors are looking. I can't breathe. My son is in the window. This is the worst. My son is in the window. He doesn't know what's going on, but he knows it's not good. And he's only three, and he's crying.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- MYMichael Yo
Uh, and I'm watching him cry, and I can't do anything. I can't breathe. And literally, when they pick me up to carry me to the ambulance, 'cause they needed to get me to the hospital right away, it was the whole window thing. He put his hand up, "Oh."
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, Jesus.
- MYMichael Yo
It- it- it-... it, it really hurt me really bad. So I get a- into the ambulance and they take me ... As soon as I get to the hospital, the doctor goes, "You got corona." So they take the first-
- JRJoe Rogan
How ... But did they do a test or did they just know?
- MYMichael Yo
Yes. The first thing they do is they do a chest X-ray.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MYMichael Yo
And they go, "You got double pneumonia and corona."
- JRJoe Rogan
What's double pneumonia?
- MYMichael Yo
When it's on, in both lungs.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- MYMichael Yo
So, "Double pneumonia and you have corona, we believe, but we gotta test you." So they, you know, swabbed me and stuff.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- 6:37 – 9:33
ICU suffering and isolation: extreme pain, fear of dying alone, and family messaging
- MYMichael Yo
But they took all the precautions like I had corona. I was the first corona patient at this hospital. This is how early it was, you know. So, um, they took me to ICU, uh, and the doctor came in and I go, "Hey, this is escalating real quick." And I'm ... still can't breathe. I go, "Am I gonna make it?" And he goes, "We'll know in two days. It's gonna go really good or really bad, and we'll know in two days." And every nurse or doctor that came in, when they can't tell you if you're gonna make it or not, you know, they try to comfort you, but they can't really say you're gonna make it. And it ... And I was in the worst pain I've ever felt in my life too.
- JRJoe Rogan
W- w- where?
- MYMichael Yo
Head. I mean, just think about the worst migraine you've ever had times 100. My body was hot and cold. It would get so hot, my temperature got up to 103.8 and they had to bring it down, and then it would go up to 103.8 again. Uh, I couldn't move. My body was aching. Literally the second night I was there, and I a- and I know this is a wrong thing to think, but if they had a eject button on life, I may have hit it, I was in that much pain. Like, that ... I couldn't even think clearly. It ... I- I can't put into words how bad it was for me.
- JRJoe Rogan
So your head, your body, everything?
- MYMichael Yo
Everything.
- JRJoe Rogan
Every-
- MYMichael Yo
Where you just want it to be over.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MYMichael Yo
It's either you're gonna make it, you're like ... And it was so bad where you wanna think about your family, but I was in so much pain. You know, I thought about them, but it was, "I can't make it. This is, this is the end," and I can't see my family because they already told me that no one can come into the hospital.
- JRJoe Rogan
(inhales deeply)
- MYMichael Yo
And I'm texting my wife, lying to her, saying, "Hey, babe, I'm gonna make it through, I'm gonna make it through," where I'm talking to my parents going, "This may not go well." You know? And my parents ... The first thing I texted my parents is, "I'm scared." I've never texted them something like that. And they knew how serious it was. And I- I said, "Look, Claire is ..." My wife, Claire, is at home with the two kids, I can't let her worry about this. You know, she was already stressed out enough. She saw enough, you know. So I'm in there and the doctor says that, "No one can come see you." So I'm going, "If these are the last two days of my life, I'm gonna die alone in this hospital." And- and it just broke me up so bad that ... You know, I've taken care of myself, I've done everything I can, you know, to take care of myself, and why am I lying in this bed right now? You know? And it was a thing where when I did think about my wife, it was, "I will never see my wife and two kids again." You know, that- that's all that went through my mind is like, "I l- ... It ..." (sighs)
- 9:33 – 31:21
Ventilator debate and early-treatment experimentation in a ‘new disease’
- JRJoe Rogan
Did they put you on a ventilator?
- MYMichael Yo
No. My doctor saved my life. My doctor said, "If we put you on a ventilator-" He said that, he says ... 'Cause the nurse brought it up, "Should we put him on a ventilator?" And he goes, "No way. If we put him on a ventilator, he's gonna die, because his body is gonna say, 'Okay, this machine is breathing for us, we don't need to work anymore,' and your body shuts down." If you've heard, in New York, 80% of people put on ventilators die.
- JRJoe Rogan
And that's why, you think?
- MYMichael Yo
I think that's why I survived.
- JRJoe Rogan
I've heard that. I've- I've heard that being speculated by other doctors as well and it's very controversial, because so many doctors put people on ventilators and the last thing they wanna hear is another doctor saying, "You put someone on a ventilator, they'll die." But your doctor said that.
- MYMichael Yo
Well, my doctor said that straight up in the room-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MYMichael Yo
... in front of me-
- JRJoe Rogan
Holy shit.
- MYMichael Yo
... to the nurses. Like, "If we put him on it, he's gonna die." Because his thing was, "It just makes sense why he would, because now this machine is gonna breathe for him, so his body's not gonna ..." It's like working out, you don't work out a muscle, it gets weak.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
This machine is doing all your lifting, so why would we wanna put him on that? Unless it's- it's just, we have to put him on it, you know? But you've heard doctors were putting on people so fast because their oxygen levels were so low.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
They're like, "This isn't ... This is not normal, so we need to do something to get their oxygen level up."
- JRJoe Rogan
I think doctors are like everything else, right? There's really good ones, then there's ones that aren't as good. There's this-
- MYMichael Yo
No. It's true.
- JRJoe Rogan
With everything else, with everything. Carpenters, plumbers, everything.
- MYMichael Yo
Every ... And-
- JRJoe Rogan
Everything.
- MYMichael Yo
And it's really ... I look back, I'm still ... Now I've become very close to him and the dude saved my life. 'Cause if I went on a ventilator, bro, I don't ... I may not be here, because I was so-
- JRJoe Rogan
When you go on a ventilator, they- they kind of-
- MYMichael Yo
Knock you out.
- JRJoe Rogan
... put you out. Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah, you're unconscious. Literally, that machine is doing all your breathing.
- JRJoe Rogan
(exhales) So what did they give you? What kind of medication did they give you while you were out? While- while you were down?
- MYMichael Yo
I'm- I'm healthy, don't drink, don't do drugs. I was the perfect test subject.
- JRJoe Rogan
Maybe that's the problem. (laughs)
- MYMichael Yo
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Your body's not used to fighting off bullshit.
- MYMichael Yo
I know, right? (laughs) That's it.
- 31:21 – 1:12:11
Long recovery and ‘not magically fine’: lingering lung fluid, weakness, and hospital realities
- MYMichael Yo
drug and whatever else they were giving to me. But it was ... It's like I still have fluid in my lungs. They said it would take 12 weeks-
- JRJoe Rogan
Still?
- MYMichael Yo
I... Yeah. Yeah. They said, and I-
- JRJoe Rogan
How many weeks have you been out now?
- MYMichael Yo
Eight.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MYMichael Yo
And I'm so weak. Literally, I just, they just approved ... I am like ... They just approved me to start working out last week. So I did my first Lift Society class online and I could... Like, usually I could do, like, 10 to 15 pull-ups each set. I could do two.
- JRJoe Rogan
Two pull-ups?
- MYMichael Yo
And I'm just weak. Like, I still get winded. Like when I talk a lot, I'll get winded and I'll just have to catch my breath.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow, like a old man.
- MYMichael Yo
I'm telling you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MYMichael Yo
Like, it, for me, people win it real bad. It's just not, oh, you're over it and you can move on. You gotta build back into it. It's like rebuilding your body-
- JRJoe Rogan
Jesus.
- MYMichael Yo
... and your mind. You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Did they, um, recommend anything as far as supplements or any- anything along those lines?
- MYMichael Yo
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
No?
- MYMichael Yo
Nothing. He, he says j- it's just rest.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, he's basically done his job, right? He's like-
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... "Motherfucker, you're alive."
- MYMichael Yo
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
"Figure this shit out on your own."
- MYMichael Yo
Right?
- JRJoe Rogan
"Go get strong."
- MYMichael Yo
And literally, I was the first person there, and then by the time I left, eight days later, that place was filled with people. That's how fast it happened.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MYMichael Yo
That's how fast it happened. And I saw people, like, tapping out. You know, I didn't see it, but I saw, you know, the bodies (thumps chest) passed the line and I'm like, "Wow."
- JRJoe Rogan
How many people died while you were there?
- 33:30 – 45:20
Pandemic politics and social tension: masks, protests, racism, and polarization
- MYMichael Yo
And it's a thing where I just want people to know, look, they're opening up the country. And I get it. I get the other side too. That's, that's why ... You know, I get that people gotta work. I g- people gotta get their lives back, you know? But you need to be safe. You need to be safe, because it's a thing like if, if President Trump, say, comes out and goes, "Hey, we're gonna do herd immunity." You know? You're prepared for that. But right now, we don't know what to expect. We've gone from 60,000 deaths, now they're saying it's gonna be 137,000. Like, what's going on? You know, we only know what they tell us.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MYMichael Yo
You know? But I'm finding out there's so much more stuff we don't know because they don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
Now you're finding out that kids, like a, a very small amount of kids, are getting it, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
And w- I don't understand the whole thing about just not being careful or safe, because it's not about you. It's about other people. Like, these f- like, the whole thing about, well, you know, a lot of Blacks and Hispanics are getting it. You know? Yeah, because they're working at all these essential jobs. They're at your grocery stores. They're, they're, they're doing the jobs that a lot of people don't do.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, anybody that's in poverty-
- MYMichael Yo
And, and, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... as well would ... Y- you're working those essential jobs, but on top of that, you're probably not eating well.
- MYMichael Yo
Exactly.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that's a, that's a real problem.
- MYMichael Yo
It goes hand in hand.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
You know? Like, their, their whole thing ... Like, if you can get a whole meal, two burgers and two fries and two Cokes for $3.99-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
... it's a problem with that food.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right. Good point.
- MYMichael Yo
(laughs) Like, it's, it's making you sick.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Good point.
- MYMichael Yo
You know? But that's all you can afford.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MYMichael Yo
You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it is crazy that the cheapest food is the worst for you and the most fattening.
- MYMichael Yo
But that's the one they, you go to-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
... because you can't afford anything else.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- 45:20 – 1:07:41
Religion, taxes, and moral contradictions: faith as comfort vs. hard questions
- MYMichael Yo
Two things on God and religion.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MYMichael Yo
I think religion is looking really bad right now. You know, if you believe, that's great. But it's looking really bad because you're contradicting yourself all over the place.
- JRJoe Rogan
Let me stop you right there.
- MYMichael Yo
Uh-oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
This is the same as you saying white people. When you say religion is looking really bad, that's the same as saying white people look really bad. It's a giant generalization.
- MYMichael Yo
You're true. Very true, and I take that back. Some religious people-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MYMichael Yo
... are looking very bad right now.
- JRJoe Rogan
But do you know why? 'Cause they're scared.
- MYMichael Yo
But how can you ... Look-
- JRJoe Rogan
How are they looking bad? In what way?
- MYMichael Yo
Well, I'm saying, for instance ... God, I hate to make this political, 'cause I'm not that dude.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MYMichael Yo
I stay away from it, but th-
- JRJoe Rogan
Too late.
- MYMichael Yo
Too late. But Trump, for instance.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- MYMichael Yo
Let's look at his a- let's look at his past. Let's look at ... There's proof of him lying pretty much every day. So for religious groups to support this man, you're contradicting your whole-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I think that falls into what we were talking about earlier, this, this political ideology that, like, he is with us. You know, he is against abortion. He is against certain things. But-
- MYMichael Yo
So w-
- JRJoe Rogan
He's actually pro-gay. You know, Donald Trump is ... The, one of the, one of the weird things about Trump is, before he ran for president, he was universally liked. You know, it was the-
- MYMichael Yo
Oh, rappers used to talk about him in their songs all the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
All the time. Well, he was always on talk shows and, you know, he would go on Letterman and shit. And he would even go o- on those talk shows and, like, talk shit about Rosie O'Donnell and people thought it was funny. And now it's h- horrendous. It's like the same things that he, uh, has always done, now when you're in a position of being the president, you're supposed to be a different person.
- MYMichael Yo
But you don't feel there's a contradiction with churches right now?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, well, certainly with people that are ... Look, there's a lot-
- MYMichael Yo
Some churches. Excuse me. Let me-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
... let me rephrase that. Some people at some churches.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a lot of people that will support values that are contrary to what they supposedly believe in if that aids them politically, if it helps them. For ... L- look, there's a lot of churches that make a lot of money and then they don't pay taxes. That, to me, is one of the most offensive things about religion. The idea that Joel Osteen should have a giant arena and fly around in private jets and live in a castle, live in a mansions, or that ... What's that other guy, the fucking, the, the, uh ... COVID be gone!
- 1:07:41 – 1:57:20
Motivation, discipline, and ‘comfort culture’: Goggins/Jocko and the value of struggle
- MYMichael Yo
Well, I also think that even people like me, I, I'll hear inspiring people and you ... It kinda kick-starts you. It kicks you in the ass and say-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
... "Hey, you need to get it going." Like, I, I, I told you about David Goggins last time I was here.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
I read his book and-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MYMichael Yo
... you know, posted shit on my mirror, you know, and trying to make strides to... But I think, I think we all need that. It's not just lazy people. Even people that are out there hustling-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yes.
- MYMichael Yo
... sometimes you need that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, I need it. I need it all the time.
- MYMichael Yo
You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I'm, I'm very fortunate to know people like David or, uh, my friend Jocko, Jocko Willink, who's very similar as well. Like, he's got a video that he put up today. Um, go to, go to Jocko's Instagram, and he, he puts these up all the time. He gets up at 4:30 in the morning every day.
- MYMichael Yo
It seems that's the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
He takes a picture of his watch. For him, it's the time. Um-
- MYMichael Yo
David Goggins too. 4:30.
- JRJoe Rogan
Does he get up at 4:30 too?
- MYMichael Yo
4:30 every morning, stretches for two hours and then he hits his run.
- JRJoe Rogan
He's an animal. But pre- play this. This is Jocko.
- NANarrator
It's so easy. So easy to put things off.
- JRJoe Rogan
Dripping with sweat.
- NANarrator
So easy to say you're gonna do it tomorrow. Well, I want you to reprogram your brain and tell yourself that tomorrow is not a viable option. Tomorrow doesn't work! You do it today! You get it done today! That's what you do! Have a good Monday, y'all. Go get some! Out.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's all you need. You need people-
- MYMichael Yo
(sighs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... like that in the world.
- MYMichael Yo
I'm gonna follow this dude.
- JRJoe Rogan
You should follow that dude.
- MYMichael Yo
Wait, wait, who is he?
- JRJoe Rogan
That's Jocko Willink.
- MYMichael Yo
Yeah, man.
- JRJoe Rogan
He's a, a former Navy SEAL-
Episode duration: 3:03:05
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