Joe Rogan Experience #1493 - Steve Schirripa & Michael Imperioli

Joe Rogan 0:00 ... one. Steve!

Steve Schirripa 0:02 Yes, sir.

Joe Rogan 0:03 My man.

Steve Schirripa 0:03 Good to see you, buddy.

Joe Rogan 0:04 Good to see you, brother. Michael here.

Steve Schirripa 0:04 Really good.

Joe Rogan 0:05 Pleasure to meet you, man.

Michael Imperioli 0:06 Thanks for having us today.

Steve Schirripa 0:07 Uh, s- yeah, really, thanks. Uh, it's been a while. I saw you, uh-

Joe Rogan 0:11 The last time I saw you was at the old studio.

Steve Schirripa 0:13 Three years ago.

Joe Rogan 0:13 Yeah, we're-

Steve Schirripa 0:13 But it looks exact- it's eerie. This is exactly the same place.

Joe Rogan 0:16 Yeah, I'm gonna re- I'm gonna do it again the next place I move. I'm gonna re- rebuild this whole thing again. That's my move, just make it s- look like this.

Steve Schirripa 0:22 Just make it, uh, comfortable, you know?

Joe Rogan 0:24 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 0:24 You like what you like.

Joe Rogan 0:25 It looks like the same thing.

Steve Schirripa 0:26 Yeah, that way you don't get confused.

Joe Rogan 0:28 Same desk, everything's pretty much the same.

Steve Schirripa 0:29 Yeah, this is great. Good to see you.

Joe Rogan 0:31 Good to see you too, brother. I'm bummed out, though, about your sauce.

Steve Schirripa 0:35 Yeah, yeah, well, it was- we grew too fast.

Joe Rogan 0:36 I was just bragging to somebody about it the other day.

Steve Schirripa 0:38 We grew too fast, but you have two of the last ones left.

Michael Imperioli 0:41 I know, what to do? Is it like wine?

Steve Schirripa 0:41 That are inexistent. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 0:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:43 Do I have to, like, like, let it sit on the shelf forever?

Steve Schirripa 0:45 No, no, no.

Joe Rogan 0:47 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 0:47 Listen, the sauce was good. Uh-

Michael Imperioli 0:49 It's all natural and organic and...

Steve Schirripa 0:51 It was all good, just unfortunately, uh, it grew too fast, and my partner, uh, you know, we had enough. He lost a lot of money, but-

Joe Rogan 0:59 Oh, no.

Steve Schirripa 1:00 ... not for a lack of trying. All the product-

Joe Rogan 1:02 No, the product's excellent.

Steve Schirripa 1:03 Let me tell you the biggest fucking thieves.

Joe Rogan 1:05 Okay.

Steve Schirripa 1:05 Bigger than the mob, bigger than any thief, these stores that you do business with, okay? And the distributors, and then you have all these people with their hand in the pie. So we buy the sauce, it's our recipe, that guy makes it. Now we gotta give it to a distributor. You can't go direct to, like, Whole Foods and shit, so there's other hands in the pie. Now you give them a bill for 20 grand of sauce that you gave them, and they send you back a check for three grand. And they go, "Well, there was breakage," and there was this and there was that, and you have to pay more money in the store to have it in the front and have it stacked.

Joe Rogan 1:46 Oh, really? You pay more?

Steve Schirripa 1:48 You are fucked. You are fucked. Just like a book, you know? I've had books... I don't know if you have... I, I have books out at Barnes & Noble. To say Barnes & Noble... You had a book out, right? You have a book out. Barnes & Noble favorite, you gotta pay more for that. To have the book on the shelf turned this way, you gotta pay more for that. They nickel and dime you-

Joe Rogan 2:09 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 2:09 ... and they fucking kill you. They are the real mob.

Michael Imperioli 2:12 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 2:12 I'm telling you.

Joe Rogan 2:12 Are they worse than funeral homes, though?

Steve Schirripa 2:15 Uh-

Joe Rogan 2:15 No, no one's worse than funeral homes.

Steve Schirripa 2:17 Well, they, they tug on your, uh-

Joe Rogan 2:19 Heartstrings.

Steve Schirripa 2:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:20 You know?

Steve Schirripa 2:20 "Come on, he was a great guy. Aren't you gonna have the nice box?" And, uh...

Joe Rogan 2:24 Did you start out doing this just through the internet, though?

Steve Schirripa 2:27 You know, we started in the stores. We didn't really, you know... We, we came to Amazon later. My partner-

Michael Imperioli 2:34 The trade shows too, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 2:35 Joe Scarp, Joe Scarpino, great guy, he was here last time. He's my partner, he put up the money, he's a builder.

Joe Rogan 2:42 See-

Steve Schirripa 2:42 He said, "We're gonna make $50 million."

Joe Rogan 2:45 Oh, man.

Steve Schirripa 2:45 "Ph- we're gonna sell the company!" (laughs) And he's got $50 million, he doesn't need another 50. And, uh...

Joe Rogan 2:51 Got a little greedy.

Steve Schirripa 2:52 Uh, no, he wanted to go... Listen, he's not a small time guy, it's all or nothing.

Joe Rogan 2:57 Right, right.

Steve Schirripa 2:57 So I, I give him credit for that, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:58 It's such a good sauce, though. It kinda seems like you should just do it online.

Steve Schirripa 3:02 Eh, maybe the brand make a comeback, you know? And like I said, if we would've stayed small delis, you know-

Joe Rogan 3:07 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 3:08 It was doing great. Staten Island, you know, the biggest Italian area, you know?

Joe Rogan 3:13 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 3:13 The Guinea Gang playing there. All them Italians ate y'all's sauce. Even they won't admit it, they fucking like that sauce.

Joe Rogan 3:20 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 3:20 Right?

Michael Imperioli 3:21 It's a good sauce, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 3:22 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 3:22 It's natural, it doesn't have that, uh, acidity thing that a lot of jarred sauces have, you know?

Joe Rogan 3:28 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 3:29 You know, and then, uh, you know, I did all the press, we did all the shit. I said if I would've... Instead of being a partner, I should've made $20 an hour, I would've did well. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 3:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:40 (laughs) So you guys are doing a podcast now?

Steve Schirripa 3:42 We're doing a podcast, Rewatch.

Michael Imperioli 3:45 Yeah, heard.

Joe Rogan 3:45 Yeah, Sussman clued me into it.

Steve Schirripa 3:48 Yeah, it's called-

Michael Imperioli 3:49 We got approached by a bunch of different producers towards the end of last year about doing... It wasn't our idea. And, uh, we thought about it. We had done a show, like, on stage in conversation, like inside the Actor's Studio, and we did all over the country, did Australia last year. And then a couple of producers said, you know, "Do you wanna do a podcast?" And, uh, we worked... Jeff was the best of the producers, so we, uh, figured out a way to do it. We were gonna do it in the studio live like this at the end of March in New York and...

Joe Rogan 4:20 The COVID hit.

Michael Imperioli 4:21 Everything hit, so we weren't gonna do it at all. We were gonna put it off 'cause we were depressed and we were like, "Who needs a podcast in the midst of all this stuff?"

Joe Rogan 4:29 What is New York like right now?

Steve Schirripa 4:31 You know, uh, I've been there... I left... I've been here a month now, you know? I have a place down in Orange County. And, uh, New York was all fucked up and it's all boarded up and, uh-

Joe Rogan 4:44 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 4:44 My, my daughter's there. I live downtown, uh, way downtown, and, uh, I was going out, like, an hour a day, you know? That's it. I just went out an hour a day. I would g- take a walk and, uh, it was... The streets were empty.

Joe Rogan 4:59 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 4:59 The streets were empty at night. Now after the looting, they destroyed SoHo.

Joe Rogan 5:04 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 5:05 You know, it's just destroyed, you know? And the cops are very timid and, and it's all fucked up. I mean, it's all fucked up. I, I, I don't, I don't know what happens there. I mean, I don't know, you know, I-

Joe Rogan 5:15 I don't know how it happened. Like-

Steve Schirripa 5:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:17 ... s- seeing the cops just standing around while they were looting the art galleries in SoHo, while they were smashing Fifth Avenue, it was like-

Steve Schirripa 5:25 I, I don't know.

Joe Rogan 5:25 ... "What the fuck is this?"

Steve Schirripa 5:27 I, I don't know. I mean-

Joe Rogan 5:27 It's like the end of the world.

Michael Imperioli 5:29 Yeah, it was sorta scary and depressing.

Steve Schirripa 5:31 You know, uh, de Blasio's the worst fucking... I'm not a political guy at all, Joe, like not at all, but he's the worst fucking human that maybe walks the face of the Earth, I kid you not. And, you know, I owned an apartment in Manhattan for like nine years, and when he became the mayor, within a, a year, you saw... Even six months, right? You saw, like, these fucking changes. I'm going, "I'm out. I'm selling my fucking place," and I sold my place.

Joe Rogan 5:56 What changes?

Steve Schirripa 5:57 ... uh, all kinds of shit. Uh, the cops, th- they basically have one hand tied behind their back. He changed all these laws, stop and frisk, da, da, da. Some needed to be changed, some not. Uh, just the homeless is everywhere all of a sudden.

Joe Rogan 6:12 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 6:12 The trains are impossible. There's all kinds of shit going on, you know, and I have to blame the mayor. I mean, there's, you know, uh, where I live downtown, there's, th- listen, I'm, I'm compassionate to the homeless. I don't know the answer, which is why I'm not the fucking mayor, but they're everywhere.

Joe Rogan 6:29 Same thing here.

Steve Schirripa 6:30 You know?

Joe Rogan 6:30 Yeah. Our, our governor was the mayor of San Francisco, which is the craziest fucking place you've ever seen in your life when it comes to homeless people. It's cr-

Michael Imperioli 6:38 A problem now.

Joe Rogan 6:39 And now after COVID, it's like, ramped up 40%. Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 6:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:42 The, the homeless situation there is... It doesn't even make sense. Like, you're seeing these beautiful homes and there's campsites in front of them. And these people have to come out of their houses and, you know, tiptoe around needles and broken bottles and, and people's shit.

Michael Imperioli 6:56 This might get worse though, right?

Joe Rogan 6:57 It could get-

Michael Imperioli 6:58 After COVID with the economy, you know, collapsing as it did.

Joe Rogan 7:01 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 7:01 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 7:01 You know?

Steve Schirripa 7:01 Well, that's what, that's what was happening with the COVID too in New York because... Listen, these guys are standing on the corner there panhandling. There's no one, there was no one-

Joe Rogan 7:10 Right.

Steve Schirripa 7:10 ... to get money from.

Joe Rogan 7:12 Right.

Steve Schirripa 7:12 I mean, there was no one to panhandle. The streets were completely empty. Broadway, downtown, you could shoot a cannon through it. Not a car.

Joe Rogan 7:21 Yeah. Mark Normand. You know the comic, Mark Normand, at home?

Michael Imperioli 7:24 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 7:24 Hilarious guy. Filmed a bunch of shit with him just running around New York City-

Steve Schirripa 7:28 Th-

Joe Rogan 7:28 ... with empty streets.

Steve Schirripa 7:30 Nobody around.

Joe Rogan 7:30 Just how weird it looked.

Steve Schirripa 7:31 Wall Street is empty. All these places that are packed were empty. I don't know the answer. Uh, a- and with the cops, I, I don't know. I mean, I, I just don't know. I mean, uh-

Joe Rogan 7:41 It's all so bizarre, and I think so many people are e- either gonna resign from the force, or... But definitely not join the force. There's a lot of guys that were thinking about joining the force-

Steve Schirripa 7:49 A- that's a tough job, man. F- for very little pay, and you're putting your life at stake.

Joe Rogan 7:54 And just public opinion of the force is down so low.

Steve Schirripa 7:58 I don't get it. Listen, I know, uh... If God forbid I had trouble, I'd call a cop.

Joe Rogan 8:04 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 8:04 I'm pro-cop. You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 8:05 I'm pro-cop as well.

Steve Schirripa 8:06 I play a cop now, you know? I've been on Blue Bloods for five years. I play a detective.

Joe Rogan 8:11 (laughs) Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 8:11 I'm pro-cop. Y- you play cops, you're just playing a detective.

Michael Imperioli 8:15 Playing a homicide detective.

Steve Schirripa 8:16 Yeah. We went from wise guys to detectives. There's a fine line.

Joe Rogan 8:21 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 8:21 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 8:21 Isn't there a fine line there? (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 8:25 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 8:25 But... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:26 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 8:27 But I agree. Uh, New York is, uh... My daughter had just gone back and it, it, really depressing, man. You know, you haven't been, right?

Michael Imperioli 8:36 No, I've been in California since March 1st. I was in New York before that and, uh, so yeah, I got, couldn't go back really. But I live here and there, both places.

Joe Rogan 8:46 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 8:46 But it was a little easier here up in, uh, Santa Barbara area.

Joe Rogan 8:51 I love it up there.

Michael Imperioli 8:52 Yeah. A lot easier to be quarantined there-

Joe Rogan 8:54 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 8:54 ... because you can go outside and backyard and stuff like that, so...

Joe Rogan 8:57 Yeah, the beach. It's like, Santa Barbara's the perfect size.

Steve Schirripa 9:00 But I, I mean, I was in New York th- we, they shut us down March 13th, uh, with two and a half episodes to go. We just got shut down and then they, you know, then you couldn't even go out of the house two days later. I mean, I wasn't aware of anything. I mean, the trains were packed. I was taking the train and, and shit, and I went to a concert a few days before.

Joe Rogan 9:21 Wow.

Steve Schirripa 9:22 At the Beacon. You know, Dave Matthews and Jackson Browne. There was a fucking concert, but nobody said anything. You know? And, uh-

Michael Imperioli 9:30 Jackson Browne got sick, didn't he?

Steve Schirripa 9:32 Yeah, he got sick.

Michael Imperioli 9:32 He didn't get COVID.

Steve Schirripa 9:33 Yeah, yeah.

Michael Imperioli 9:34 Maybe at that concert, who knows? (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 9:36 You know, maybe. But, uh, then it was just, I was there for two months and it was gloom. And I'm in a building-

Joe Rogan 9:42 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 9:42 So you gotta watch the elevator-

Joe Rogan 9:44 Right.

Steve Schirripa 9:44 ... the fucking doorman, the thing, you know, order food in, you know?

Joe Rogan 9:47 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 9:47 It's just cra- makes you crazy. Wipe off the package, don't wipe off the package. Wear gloves, don't wear gloves.

Joe Rogan 9:54 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 9:54 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 9:54 What the fuck? (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 9:55 Nobody knows. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:56 It's a very, very confusing time.

Michael Imperioli 9:58 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:58 Yeah, nobody knows what the fuck is going on. So we-

Michael Imperioli 10:01 But, doing a podcast was a good thing to do in the midst of all this-

Joe Rogan 10:04 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 10:04 ... because we figured out a way to do it at home, so we didn't have to, you know, be in a studio. Um, set up a little studio in the house and you know, figured out a way to do it. Um, he was in New York and I was in California, and we, that's how we started.

Joe Rogan 10:19 Yeah, it can be done, you know? It's... And there's so many people listening to this shit now.

Steve Schirripa 10:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:23 But the thing is, consumery, consumers are up in, in terms of like, watchers, viewers of shows, listeners of podcasts.

Michael Imperioli 10:30 Right.

Joe Rogan 10:30 It's all up because people were just sitting around doing nothing for months at a time.

Michael Imperioli 10:35 Right, and it was kind of particularly good timing for us because the sh- Sopranos was being binge watched in-

Joe Rogan 10:40 Mm.

Michael Imperioli 10:40 ... by people in quarantine, like, rediscovering it, young people who had never seen it. It was e- I think it was HBO's number two series.

Joe Rogan 10:47 Wow.

Michael Imperioli 10:47 And that includes all their new stuff, like Game of Thrones and everything. And Sopranos. I think it was Westworld and the Sopranos were their biggest shows during quarantine. The show's been off the air for 13 years.

Joe Rogan 10:56 Well, listen, it's one of the best fucking shows of all time. It really is.

Steve Schirripa 11:01 You know-

Joe Rogan 11:01 I mean, you guys were on, without a doubt, when, when the history is written, it is one of the best shows ever.

Steve Schirripa 11:06 Yeah. No, no, and you know what's amazing? Neither one of us watched it in 20 years. I mean, I don't watch the show. I mean, I watched it one time-

Joe Rogan 11:14 Right.

Steve Schirripa 11:14 ... when it came out years ago. And, uh, and we weren't even g- we, we were kind of depressed and, and we're going, "Who the fuck cares about a TV show now?" Because the world was coming to an end, especially at the beginning, you know?

Joe Rogan 11:25 Right.

Steve Schirripa 11:25 Joe, I mean... And we had gotten offered shit and, and Jeff helped us. We were giving Jeff, like, contracts. Is this a good deal? Is this a good deal? Finally, he said, "Listen, I'll fucking help you with that." That's-

Joe Rogan 11:37 We should tell everybody Jeff's my manager. Jeff Sussman-

Steve Schirripa 11:39 Yeah, Jeff Sussman. So he helped us and, uh, we started doing the re-watch, which is obviously bittersweet because of Jim. You know, you're watching Jim-

Joe Rogan 11:50 Right.

Steve Schirripa 11:50 ... and he's young and, and, and I came on the second season, you know, the second episode. But the show holds up every fucking, uh-... like it was shot yesterday. Besides the phones and the computers, everything else is like it was done yesterday. It, it's not dated at all, the show.

Michael Imperioli 12:08 And we weren't gonna ... W- you know, we were gonna wait till things got back to normal so we could be in a studio like this and be face-to-face, but we got so much, uh, communication from fans, like on social media, saying, "Hey, we heard you're doing a podcast. Where is it? We're binge watching the show in quarantine." Like, tons of, you know, tons of that. So, we figured out a way to do it.

Steve Schirripa 12:29 So, you know, we, we watched the episode. We were up to episode, uh, 12 now. You know, it's on YouTube and wherever you get the podcasts. And then, uh, we run down the episode. H- he wrote five of them, so he knows every, every ... He knows a lot more than me. I watch it more like a regular viewer. We tell stories, behind the scenes shit, stuff that went on, stuff we remember. We've had guests. We've got Edie Falco next week. We've had the casting people. We've had, uh, the two kids-

Michael Imperioli 12:59 Director.

Steve Schirripa 12:59 Robert Iler, director.

Joe Rogan 13:01 One of the directors.

Steve Schirripa 13:01 You know, whoever made the show a success, so.

Michael Imperioli 13:03 Costume designer, yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:04 Well, it's a great thing to do, to go back and review it, just to kinda give the people that are fans, uh, this, this sense of, you know, what it was like for you guys and what it's like to see it again. And, and just to put it into context and history. When that's the show that started off these kind of shows. When you think about the shows that you have today, like the Ozarks and al- all these d- different, like, really kinda wild shows where you have to follow one episode to the next-

Steve Schirripa 13:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:30 ... and y- you have to know what just happened to pay attention to the new episode.

Michael Imperioli 13:34 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 13:34 The Sopranos started that shit.

Michael Imperioli 13:36 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 13:37 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 13:37 That was ... And it was also the first show where there was a real antihero.

Steve Schirripa 13:40 Antihero.

Michael Imperioli 13:41 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 13:41 Absolutely.

Michael Imperioli 13:42 And it was also bringing a cinematic quality to television-

Joe Rogan 13:45 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 13:45 ... that people would traditionally go to the movies for.

Joe Rogan 13:47 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 13:48 Or even a novelistic quality to television.

Joe Rogan 13:50 Well, in a sense, better-

Michael Imperioli 13:51 In a sense, better.

Joe Rogan 13:51 ... because you could do it over the course of many hours. You weren't limited by an hour and a half, two-hour timeframe.

Michael Imperioli 13:57 Right.

Joe Rogan 13:57 You could do it over the course of multiple hours.

Michael Imperioli 14:00 Right, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 14:00 And he wasn't ... You know, listen, he was a, uh, overweight, balding guy. He wasn't your typical leading man. Like, uh-

Joe Rogan 14:07 But he was sexy. Chicks liked him. (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 14:09 But they loved him. I told you. We used to say, uh, "TV doesn't put fif-" ... Uh, what, what did ... He used to say all the time. Uh, you know, they used to say, "TV puts 10 pounds o- on you." I say it, it takes 50 pounds off you.

Michael Imperioli 14:22 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 14:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 14:24 (laughs) Well, there was something about his character. I mean, he ... First of all, he was a phenomenal actor, like always, always was. I mean, he was fucking insane in everything he did. True Romance, I mean, e-

Michael Imperioli 14:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:34 You just go back through his whole, uh, history of his career. But that show, doing Tony Soprano just (snaps fingers) fucking synced.

Steve Schirripa 14:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:44 Whatever it was.

Michael Imperioli 14:46 Yeah, one of the-

Joe Rogan 14:46 His look.

Michael Imperioli 14:47 ... those moments when the actor and the role really come toge-

Joe Rogan 14:49 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 14:49 A great actor and a great role really come together, 'cause they don't always.

Joe Rogan 14:52 They don't always.

Michael Imperioli 14:53 You know?

Joe Rogan 14:53 He was fucking perfect for that role.

Steve Schirripa 14:56 And, you know, you see him, like, there's scenes ... A- and now I look at it kinda differently, obviously, than back then, you know. Back then, I was just trying not to get fucking killed, you know. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 15:07 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 15:07 But now, (laughs) now you're, you're watching it, and in, in one scene, right, there's some incredible scenes where he's happy, mad, furious. In, in one three-minute scene he goes through four different emotions. It's-

Joe Rogan 15:21 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 15:22 He's amazing in it, you know. And I, I don't know if you remember this, but when I first got the job, uh, I had to go ... I, I got the job. I auditioned, I got the job, I had to go to a read-through. And I happened to see you. I think you were working in Vegas at the Riv. And I said, "Joe, what ..." I asked you and another comic, I think Bill Kurkenbauer. I said, "What, what, what goes on in a read-through?" 'Cause even though I had worked-

Joe Rogan 15:48 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 15:48 ... I didn't know.

Joe Rogan 15:49 Right, right.

Steve Schirripa 15:49 And I said, "Do you do it, like, 100%?" And you told me, "You know, like, you know, 85, 90%. Like, don't go all in." You actually told me that. And-

Michael Imperioli 15:59 For an audition or a re- read-through?

Steve Schirripa 16:01 For the audition.

Michael Imperioli 16:01 Oh, okay.

Steve Schirripa 16:01 Uh, for the, for the read-through.

Michael Imperioli 16:03 Read-through. Oh, read-through. Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 16:04 I mean, do you fucking-

Joe Rogan 16:05 When you got the part.

Steve Schirripa 16:05 You know, you're around the table. I didn't quite know if you go all, you know, fucking start acting, you know. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 16:11 Oh, right.

Steve Schirripa 16:11 Or you just read the lines, which some people do just flat, which is terrible.

Michael Imperioli 16:17 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 16:17 I mean, that's not the answer. There's people that actually get fired during the read-through.

Joe Rogan 16:21 Right, right. Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 16:22 After a read-through.

Michael Imperioli 16:23 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 16:23 There's actually ... You know that, right? (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 16:25 'Cause they're so flat.

Steve Schirripa 16:27 I didn't know. I didn't ... I honestly ... If I would've known that-

Michael Imperioli 16:29 Well, they shouldn't really be there then. They should've known that already. On an audition.

Steve Schirripa 16:31 Yeah, but if I would've known that you could get fired after the read-through, I would've been shitting my pants. I was so naive-

Joe Rogan 16:36 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 16:37 ... that I didn't even realize that.

Joe Rogan 16:39 Well, that's the interesting thing. When I tell people that I knew you from the Riv, um, they go, "What did he do there?" I go, "He was the talent coordinator." They go, "Shut the fuck up." I go, "Yeah, I worked for him. I got booked by Steve Schirripa at the Riviera."

Steve Schirripa 16:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:50 It was one of the first times I ever worked in Vegas.

Steve Schirripa 16:52 It was great. I did-

Joe Rogan 16:53 And you had gotten some gigs through Drew Carey. You had done the Drew Carey Show.

Steve Schirripa 16:56 I did Drew Carey Show, Bruce Baum helped me, Kevin Pollak, those guys at the beginning, absolutely. I did Drew's special.

Michael Imperioli 17:03 What was the first acting you did, actually?

Steve Schirripa 17:06 First acting I did was Bruce Baum, uh, on the golf course. We did a thing. Then Lenny Clark. Uh, I played a prison guard.

Michael Imperioli 17:15 What, in a special? A comedy special?

Steve Schirripa 17:16 Yeah, he had, like, these, uh ... Remember Friday Night Comics?

Michael Imperioli 17:19 Uh-huh.

Steve Schirripa 17:19 Remember that show on Fox?

Michael Imperioli 17:21 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 17:21 Yeah, they were, like, little sketches, five-minute sketches. And we, we had Lenny Clark in the, uh, we had ... Uh, he was in the chair, electric chair.

Michael Imperioli 17:30 Was he Eng- from England, Lenny Clark?

Steve Schirripa 17:32 No, he's from Boston.

Michael Imperioli 17:33 He's from ... Oh, no.

Steve Schirripa 17:34 Boston.

Michael Imperioli 17:34 I don't know. I don't know.

Steve Schirripa 17:35 And he ... And I pulled the switch. I swear to you, I looked right into the camera, right into the fucking cam- (wheezes) . I didn't know what I was doing. That was the second thing I did. Then Kevin Pollak put me in his special. I played his bodyguard. And then Drew and, you know, a little shit, little shit, you know? Crazy.

Michael Imperioli 17:53 Did you start as an actor or comedian first?

Steve Schirripa 17:54 Comedian.

Michael Imperioli 17:55 A comedian.

Joe Rogan 17:55 Yeah. I only acted for a little while. I just did news radio.

Steve Schirripa 17:58 Did you like it?

Joe Rogan 18:00 I like stand-up better. Yeah.... the acting problem is actors. You have to hang out with actors.

Michael Imperioli 18:06 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 18:06 That's the problem with acting.

Michael Imperioli 18:07 Yeah, but you would sit-

Steve Schirripa 18:08 The sitcom-

Joe Rogan 18:08 It's like everything is so sensitive and just... It's just... They're... You know, some of them are great. The news radio people were great. There wasn't a problem. The problem was when I'd run into other actors, you meet them. There's just this, this boundary of bullshit-

Michael Imperioli 18:21 Yeah, of course.

Joe Rogan 18:21 ... you have to go through to get to the actual person.

Michael Imperioli 18:23 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 18:24 Whereas comics are right there. They're right there for you. You meet a comic on the road or like a comic I don't know, I meet him like, "Hey, what the fuck are you doing?" "Oh, I'm working for this guy and that guy, huh." He's right there. They're right there. (snaps fingers) You meet them instantly.

Michael Imperioli 18:34 See, I find it the opposite.

Joe Rogan 18:35 Really? How so?

Michael Imperioli 18:36 The actors I find... Like what you're saying about comics, I find that about actors and I find the opposite about comedians.

Joe Rogan 18:42 You know what maybe that is?

Michael Imperioli 18:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 18:44 It's that-

Michael Imperioli 18:44 'Cause that's where you're coming from.

Joe Rogan 18:45 ... they're your people, right?

Michael Imperioli 18:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:46 They know, "Oh, it's Michael." It's-

Michael Imperioli 18:48 I'm not saying that just to be contrary.

Joe Rogan 18:49 No, no, no, I believe you.

Michael Imperioli 18:50 I just, I literally, literally mean it.

Joe Rogan 18:51 Yeah. But also there's a difference between New York actors and LA actors.

Michael Imperioli 18:55 That is true.

Joe Rogan 18:56 That's a big difference between these TV actors and... Because there's something about that they can almost fucking taste it. It's like the actors that aren't quite there yet, they can, they can almost taste it. They're kinda working, but they're not secure.

Michael Imperioli 19:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:09 They're kind... They're getting auditions and maybe they might book something, but maybe they won't.

Steve Schirripa 19:12 Do you remember when we auditioned for, uh... We auditioned-

Joe Rogan 19:17 Look at you.

Steve Schirripa 19:18 Oh, yeah. (laughs) Look. That's my first thing-

Michael Imperioli 19:20 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 19:20 ... I ever did. Sheer man. We shot it out here. Look.

Joe Rogan 19:25 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 19:26 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 19:26 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 19:26 That's the tuxedo from the riff.

Joe Rogan 19:28 Is it really? (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 19:30 Oh, that's hilarious.

Steve Schirripa 19:30 Did you show this to David Chase to get The Sopranos. Is that... Is this what got you the- You can see I'm not a golfer, obviously.

Joe Rogan 19:35 When you got The Sopranos, I was like, "Holy shit." And it was... For me, it was a thing that I would tell people is like, "Listen, there's certain things that a person could just do." You can't just go on stage and do stand up. It takes too long.

Michael Imperioli 19:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:48 You can't just learn guitar, but some people can fucking act. And you were really good.

Michael Imperioli 19:55 Not in theater though, in film and television.

Joe Rogan 19:57 It's different in theater.

Michael Imperioli 19:58 Oh, God, yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:59 You know?

Michael Imperioli 19:59 You can't just... You can get somebody who's never acted and if you're a good director or something, get them in front of a camera, make them feel comfortable, give them stuff to do, but, uh, you can't put them on a stage, though.

Joe Rogan 20:08 It's 'cause of the crowd?

Michael Imperioli 20:09 They'll just freeze.

Joe Rogan 20:09 'Cause of the crowd?

Michael Imperioli 20:10 It's like doing s... You know.

Joe Rogan 20:11 Right.

Michael Imperioli 20:11 Like you said, with stand up.

Joe Rogan 20:12 Yeah, makes sense.

Michael Imperioli 20:12 Where you have a crowd, you're on stage, you have to fe... Yo- you know, you... There's no second take, you have to, you have to-

Joe Rogan 20:17 Right.

Michael Imperioli 20:17 ... create these moments for, for two hours straight and sustain it.

Joe Rogan 20:20 Mm-hmm.

Michael Imperioli 20:20 It's not just getting a couple of lines.

Joe Rogan 20:22 Right.

Steve Schirripa 20:23 Yeah, but you know, there's actors... Like, uh, you can't just learn stand up. It's a very underrated art form, okay? Absolutely, to me.

Michael Imperioli 20:31 You have to do it and do it and do it-

Steve Schirripa 20:32 You're by yourself, you're out there.

Michael Imperioli 20:35 Of course.

Steve Schirripa 20:35 There's actors, like f... What's his fucking name? Piven, that little fuck, uh.

Joe Rogan 20:40 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 20:40 Jeremy Piven. He's a stand-up comic now. Now, how'd that happen? Is he a stand-up comic?

Michael Imperioli 20:45 I heard he's very good, though.

Steve Schirripa 20:46 Or is he acting as a stand-up comic?

Michael Imperioli 20:47 Did you see his standup?

Steve Schirripa 20:49 I have not seen it.

Joe Rogan 20:50 He... What he's basically doing is what he can do. I mean, I don't... I think because of all that shit that happened with him-

Steve Schirripa 20:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:56 ... and the Me Too movement.

Steve Schirripa 20:57 Yeah, yeah, survival.

Joe Rogan 20:58 It's nothing else he can do.

Steve Schirripa 20:59 But, but do you know what I'm saying? I mean, I've seen comics... Listen, I was around comics from 1986. I started at The Riviera.

Joe Rogan 21:05 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 21:06 All right? It's, it's very difficult. It takes guys years and years and years and years to find their voice, their rhythm.

Joe Rogan 21:12 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 21:12 E- even if a comic, if you don't like their material, not every comic's for every guy, you know the guy's a pro.

Joe Rogan 21:20 Right.

Steve Schirripa 21:20 He's really good. It's subjective.

Joe Rogan 21:22 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 21:22 Hey-

Steve Schirripa 21:22 "Hey, don't make me laugh. Hey, this guy I think is hilarious." But you know when a guy just don't have it. I mean-

Michael Imperioli 21:28 Right.

Steve Schirripa 21:28 ... this guy's... you know. And there's a lot... There's numerous actors that... Or w- humorists, whatever they are, that started doing standup without putting all the work in.

Joe Rogan 21:39 Yeah, I think what happens is the income opportunities get smaller.

Steve Schirripa 21:44 Yeah, sure.

Joe Rogan 21:44 And then they look at standup and then someone says, "Listen, we can schedule a tour for you. You know, you do this size of place, you can make-"

Steve Schirripa 21:51 I don't blame them for doing it.

Joe Rogan 21:52 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 21:53 I, I'm just saying, I mean-

Joe Rogan 21:54 It's a different thing.

Steve Schirripa 21:55 I don't blame them, but it's a different thing. Hey, listen, the fact-

Michael Imperioli 21:58 I heard he's good, though, Piven is act-

Steve Schirripa 22:00 Is he?

Michael Imperioli 22:00 I just... I've read reviews that said it was actually that people were-

Steve Schirripa 22:02 I had no idea. I just find it hard to believe.

Michael Imperioli 22:04 People were very surprised actually-

Steve Schirripa 22:06 Oh, really?

Michael Imperioli 22:06 ... that he was good at it.

Steve Schirripa 22:07 I still don't like the fuck.

Michael Imperioli 22:08 Because they expected him (laughs) , they expected him not to be good because-

Steve Schirripa 22:11 He's a fucking rude fuck. Uh, but me and you audition, I think you got the role. We didn't audition for the same role, but it was a Bob Simons movie.

Joe Rogan 22:23 What movie is that? I didn't get it, definitely, because I didn't do any... The only movies I've ever done is Kevin James movies.

Steve Schirripa 22:29 Really?

Joe Rogan 22:29 Yeah, yeah. I did, uh, Zookeeper.

Steve Schirripa 22:30 'Cause we auditioned and Pee-wee Herman came out.

Joe Rogan 22:33 Really?

Steve Schirripa 22:33 He was... Yes. We auditioned Dave Sheridan.

Joe Rogan 22:36 What year is this?

Steve Schirripa 22:37 We're going way back. I, I was on The Sopranos already, but probably early 2000s. We were there. Dave Sheridan.

Joe Rogan 22:44 Oh, I know what you're talking about.

Steve Schirripa 22:46 He was the star of the movie.

Joe Rogan 22:47 Yes, I did get in that movie.

Steve Schirripa 22:47 We didn't know who he was.

Joe Rogan 22:48 That's right. I did that fucking movie.

Steve Schirripa 22:49 That's right.

Joe Rogan 22:49 I forgot I did that movie.

Michael Imperioli 22:50 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 22:50 And I said to you, "Who's this fucking guy?" Or something.

Joe Rogan 22:54 That's right.

Steve Schirripa 22:54 And, and you said, "I don't kno..." And he... I think he overheard us. He was the star of the movie.

Michael Imperioli 22:59 What movie?

Steve Schirripa 23:00 Uh, I forget the name of it, but he's a good guy, Dave Sheridan.

Michael Imperioli 23:02 Yeah, very good guy.

Steve Schirripa 23:04 A really good guy.

Michael Imperioli 23:05 Very funny, very funny guy.

Steve Schirripa 23:05 But I didn't... I, you know, I said, (laughs) "Who's he?" (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:10 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 23:10 Did you say me?

Steve Schirripa 23:11 I think you overheard us.

Michael Imperioli 23:12 Who, who's Dave Sheridan?

Steve Schirripa 23:13 Uh, he's a c- comic actor.

Joe Rogan 23:15 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 23:15 You know. And, and a funny guy and Paul Reubens came out and he said, "It's a great room, guys." And we would just sit there.

Joe Rogan 23:23 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 23:24 And I didn't get it. You got it. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 23:28 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:28 Yeah, that was, uh, an interesting take because, um, that guy was a, a... He was a young guy and he had never been the star of a movie before and they were making this movie and because they, they... you know, they put money into this. The executives were giving him line readings. There was a guy who was wearing cuff links-

Steve Schirripa 23:47 Oh, really?

Joe Rogan 23:47 ... an expensive watch and this really nice tailored suit. And he was saying... He was telling him how to be funny. And he was like-

Steve Schirripa 23:52 That was Bob Simons, that was probably the producer.

Joe Rogan 23:55 I don't know who it was.

Steve Schirripa 23:55 Because I worked... I did a movie with him, See Spot Run. And this was after that, that's who it was.

Michael Imperioli 24:01 Did he need line readings-

Steve Schirripa 24:02 No!

Michael Imperioli 24:02 ... or the guy was just being an asshole?

Steve Schirripa 24:04 He was just being a fucking-

Michael Imperioli 24:05 He can get smacked.

Steve Schirripa 24:06 ... guy with money.

Michael Imperioli 24:06 And he's lucky he didn't get smacked or something like that.

Joe Rogan 24:08 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 24:09 Rob Simons. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 24:09 Certain situations, you don't do that. That's bad.

Joe Rogan 24:10 Well, I think, you know-... the guy wanted to do the movie. What it was, he was happy to be the star of the movie and he just took it.

Michael Imperioli 24:17 Remember when they gave Dominic a line reading, he fl- I mean Dominic's the most calm... Dominic Chianese, he played Uncle Junior-

Joe Rogan 24:23 Mm-hmm.

Michael Imperioli 24:23 ... the most calm guy, just sweetheart, and somebody gave him line readings and he flipped out, man.

Steve Schirripa 24:28 I was, uh, I was in the car. We were in the- the camera car, and I was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike. You know, they were towing the car but the, you know, the- the camera-

Joe Rogan 24:38 Right.

Steve Schirripa 24:38 ... was there and, uh, I was stuck. I couldn't get out, and the director came over and Dominic was going, "Don't tell me how to do it! Just tell me what you want!" And this is the nicest man-

Joe Rogan 24:50 Wow.

Steve Schirripa 24:50 ... in the history, right? And he was going, "Don't tell me how to do it! Just tell me what you want!"

Joe Rogan 24:56 What is the thing about actors with line readings?

Michael Imperioli 24:59 Because then you get, y- y- y- you're now, you're not discovering it. You're not, you're not creating the moment, you're just imitating it.

Joe Rogan 25:06 Right.

Michael Imperioli 25:06 So, it's not organic and it's not, might not be as interesting as what you're gonna come up with as an actor.

Steve Schirripa 25:11 But it doesn't bo- it doesn't bother me so much.

Michael Imperioli 25:13 A lot of directors don't know how to deal with actors, so they think that that's helpful, but it's-

Joe Rogan 25:17 Mm-hmm.

Michael Imperioli 25:17 ... it's actually the opposite. It's not helpful because-

Joe Rogan 25:20 When like when they give you a line reading, they would actually say the line the way they want-

Steve Schirripa 25:25 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 25:25 Sometimes they will.

Steve Schirripa 25:26 And you know what? That doesn't bother me. I mean, I, I, it-

Michael Imperioli 25:28 It bothers me. I flip out.

Joe Rogan 25:29 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 25:29 It hasn't happened much.

Michael Imperioli 25:30 I've, I've gone off on directors for that.

Steve Schirripa 25:32 Yeah. Hey, listen, especially with a sitcom-

Michael Imperioli 25:33 I don't take that shit.

Steve Schirripa 25:33 ... which I find very difficult. I find one-hour dramas, I- I- I, I like that so much more. Sitcom's a different rhythm, a different beat. I don't think I'm very good at it, and I've done quite a bit of 'em. Uh, you know, the guy's giving me a no to give me... I said, "Just tell me h- tell me what you want, man. How do you say it? Tell me how to say it." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 25:54 Right.

Steve Schirripa 25:54 "I'll fucking do what you want 'cause obviously I'm not getting what you want." I, I wanna make the director happy. I wanna do a good job. Tell me. It doesn't bother me that much, you know. I, I have had directors... Uh, I did a movie with a, a young kid, uh, it was a really good role, a younger kid, and after every take, he came over to talk to me. Finally, I went, like, "Just let me fucking do my thing. I'll figure it out. Just stay away, man."

Joe Rogan 26:20 Yeah, they are appreciative of the fact that you've gotta think about what you're doing, and if you, they're yapping at you, then you're thinking about them and it interrupts this whole process.

Steve Schirripa 26:29 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 26:30 You freak out though, Michael.

Michael Imperioli 26:31 Yeah, because as an actor, you have to, you're playing the scene, the reality of the scene, whatever it is. This guy's saying something and it pisses you off, so-

Steve Schirripa 26:38 Right.

Michael Imperioli 26:38 ... that's what you're trying to create, that's what you're trying to do. If someone tells you, "Say the line like this," well then I'm not in the moment, I'm not dealing with this. I'm just thinking about imitating this douchebag who just told me to say something a certain way.

Joe Rogan 26:50 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 26:51 You know what I mean? I had a director who said to me, uh, "Make a comical face." And I said, "I don't know what that means. Do you want me to be happy? Do you want me to be ecstatic, over the top, really excited?" "Make a funny face." And then I said, "Uh, I don't know what that means, uh, I mean-"

Steve Schirripa 27:06 I think he said, "Be more cartoonish." (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 27:07 And then he said, uh, he said, "Well, I'm not really good at, uh..." (laughs) I swear to God, he said, "I'm not really good at giving direction." I said, "That's your job! That's actually-"

Steve Schirripa 27:16 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 27:16 "... the title of the job is direction."

Steve Schirripa 27:20 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:20 Well, uh, is, do you feel like as an actor it's a, it's a strange thing to do because you're creating something, but it's also this collaborative effort. You're working with the other actors, but you're also working with the director. There's the script that you're supposed to be following, and maybe there's s- some changes to the script, and there's so much going on to try to create your version of it, that the more that people are fucking with you, the more that's gonna just throw you off the rails.

Michael Imperioli 27:46 It does, and I've, what I've found is the best people, the best director, best actors and writers, make it so you feel very comfortable and that you are free to create and that you're not being dominated-

Joe Rogan 27:59 Mm-hmm.

Michael Imperioli 27:59 ... and dictated to and stuff like that.

Joe Rogan 28:00 Dr-

Michael Imperioli 28:00 Like, for instance, the best example is Martin Scorsese, who I, I only worked with once in a movie. I felt like I could do no wrong. He creates that environment where you feel completely creative and free, and that-

Joe Rogan 28:13 No, it's good.

Michael Imperioli 28:13 ... it doesn't get better than him, you know.

Joe Rogan 28:15 Doesn't get better. I would imagine that that's a, that's a real skill that you hone to be able to look at it from the, the artist's perspective, from the, the actor's perspective and just to, to, to, just to figure out how to be the least annoying, the most supportive, and then just sort of convey what you're trying to get done in the scene.

Michael Imperioli 28:31 100%. I mean, both ways, you know. As an actor too, you gotta learn, uh, y- you know, you learn how to deal with different types of directors and give, give them what they want and give, and satisfy yourself at the same time.

Joe Rogan 28:42 Mm-hmm.

Michael Imperioli 28:42 When you're not as skilled, when you're learning, it's harder to do that, you know.

Joe Rogan 28:46 Mm-hmm.

Michael Imperioli 28:46 I got fired from my very first professional job. I was 21, I had been studying for a long time, I'd been auditioning, never got anything. I get a play and I was a lead in a play, off-Broadway, but it got a lot of attention 'cause it was based on a true story and, uh, I got fired after the opening weekend because I didn't respect the director. I thought he, I, I didn't think he knew what he was doing and I didn't know how to give him what he needed and still do my own thing. I wasn't skilled enough yet, so they fired me.

Joe Rogan 29:17 Oof.

Michael Imperioli 29:18 It was devastating.

Steve Schirripa 29:19 But you know a lot of-

Michael Imperioli 29:20 First job.

Steve Schirripa 29:20 But, but a lot of... Like I worked with Clint Eastwood a few times, uh, and it's with the casting. He's relying on you, that's why he cast you, so a lot of, a lot of, a lot of directors, even big ones, they don't even give you any direction.

Michael Imperioli 29:35 Yeah, and that's okay.

Steve Schirripa 29:36 They hired you, you did your thing-

Michael Imperioli 29:38 Yeah, I don't mind that.

Steve Schirripa 29:38 Yeah, absolutely. You did your thing and now go ahead, take it away. I mean-

Michael Imperioli 29:42 Right.

Steve Schirripa 29:42 ... you know-

Michael Imperioli 29:43 They trust you.

Steve Schirripa 29:43 ... and, and it's, uh, a lot with, like he believes it's a lot with the casting. Uh, Michael directed me in a movie that he wrote. It couldn't have been better. Couldn't have been-

Joe Rogan 29:52 What movie is this?

Michael Imperioli 29:53 Called The Hungry Ghost. A very l- low, indie, very indie movie we did in New York in 2008, and Steve was one of the leads.

Steve Schirripa 30:02 And it was, it was great. I mean, you know, it was-

Joe Rogan 30:03 What was it about?

Steve Schirripa 30:03 ... all New York actors and, uh... What's that?

Joe Rogan 30:07 What was it about?

Steve Schirripa 30:08 Uh, you know, a-... five people that'll fucking lost, their life is lost. I, I, I, I played a guy that, uh, was a radio DJ-

Michael Imperioli 30:15 Late night radio host.

Joe Rogan 30:16 Oh.

Steve Schirripa 30:16 ... that, that's a coke eye and drunk.

Joe Rogan 30:19 You could be a great radio DJ with that voice.

Steve Schirripa 30:20 Proble- problem with his kids.

Joe Rogan 30:22 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 30:22 But, uh, it was great. We rehearsed at his, at the time he had a, a theater. We rehearsed 'cause we didn't have a lot of money at, at times. We rehearsed, we got out on the street, we did it. Uh, Michael was terrific. He knows what he wants. I mean, that, that's the biggest mistake a director could make. If they're hesitant, you know, they gotta know what they want before they come over and talk to you.

Joe Rogan 30:45 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 30:46 You know what I mean? There's a guy hemming and whoring, you know, it's like what the fuck? But talking about line reading, there was a, an actor, a Broadway guy, that did the Sopranos. A small role. Uh, and I was, it was a scene with me and, and Uncle Junior, and, uh, and this guy. And they were actually giving him line readings. He was a Broadway actor, and he wasn't getting it. And they wind up dubbing his voice.

Joe Rogan 31:10 Ugh.

Steve Schirripa 31:11 They dubbed his voice.

Michael Imperioli 31:12 Did they really?

Joe Rogan 31:12 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 31:13 Yes. I forget the guy's name. When we get to the episode, I'll tell you. But-

Joe Rogan 31:16 That's insane.

Steve Schirripa 31:17 Yeah. But you know what else happened on the show numerous times? Like I did, uh, I did a scene with the rapper Fabolous, and he was great. It was a scene where I shot the guy in the ass. I don't know if you remember that.

Joe Rogan 31:30 Oh, I remember that. (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 31:31 Yeah. All right, uh, I'm supposed to shoot him in the thigh 'cause I'm a marksman and I get money from him, and I shoot him in the ass by mistake. But I shot it with Fabolous, and then a few weeks later they said, "Listen, you gotta re-shoot that scene." So right away I go, "What? What, I fucked up?" No. They changed Fabolous to Treach. Treach?

Joe Rogan 31:54 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 31:54 Naughty by Nature.

Joe Rogan 31:55 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 31:56 Good guy. They, they said he looked too young. They just replaced him.

Michael Imperioli 32:00 Hmm.

Steve Schirripa 32:01 They just, they had the, the budget and the time, and they just got, brought in another actor. And they would rewrite scenes. If they didn't like the scene after they saw it, they would rewrite it, and, and, uh, numerous times they brought in other actors. There's two different FBI agents. Uh, Fairuza Balk, you know that actress?

Joe Rogan 32:21 Mm-hmm, yeah.

Michael Imperioli 32:21 Oh, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 32:22 She was at the end of episode ... Season three or something. She never came back. Not only did they... They took her off the DVD. So unless you taped it, you know, like if you taped it back then-

Michael Imperioli 32:36 What, they re-shot her scenes or what?

Steve Schirripa 32:37 They re-shot her scenes even for the DVD.

Joe Rogan 32:40 Wow.

Steve Schirripa 32:40 So she, unless she has a VHS (laughs) of it somewhere-

Joe Rogan 32:44 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 32:44 ... she's non-existent.

Joe Rogan 32:45 That's crazy 'cause she's a really good actress too.

Steve Schirripa 32:47 No, it wasn't, it probably wasn't anything to do with that. It was they didn't make a deal with her. Maybe she was busy making a movie. I'm not saying it was like-

Joe Rogan 32:55 She's got a huge mouth.

Steve Schirripa 32:57 Yeah. She was- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:58 Like when she smiles, she has this huge, huge teeth.

Steve Schirripa 32:59 She was in Waterboy. Waterboy.

Joe Rogan 33:01 Yeah, that's right.

Steve Schirripa 33:02 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:02 She was great in that.

Michael Imperioli 33:03 Really?

Joe Rogan 33:04 I just watched that.

Steve Schirripa 33:05 (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 33:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:06 Me and my family went on a ... When, 'cause we were, you know, stayed at home for the COVID thing. We had movie night every night. We went on an Adam Sandler binge.

Steve Schirripa 33:12 It's funny.

Joe Rogan 33:12 We watched everything. Underrated fucking funny movies, man.

Steve Schirripa 33:15 That's a funny movie. The Wedding Singer's a funny movie.

Joe Rogan 33:18 The Zohan is hilarious.

Michael Imperioli 33:19 That, that's funny.

Steve Schirripa 33:20 That's, that's a funny to me.

Joe Rogan 33:21 That is a great movie. (laughs) It's so-

Michael Imperioli 33:22 Brushing your teeth with hummus and some-

Steve Schirripa 33:24 Lanny Kazan. He's banging Lanny Kazan. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 33:27 That's a really funny movie. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:28 It's a very funny movie, man.

Michael Imperioli 33:29 And naked co- cooking and-

Steve Schirripa 33:30 Oh, yeah. (laughs)

Michael Imperioli 33:30 ... barbecuing naked and stuff.

Joe Rogan 33:31 Yes, with the fish.

Steve Schirripa 33:32 And Nick is very funny.

Joe Rogan 33:34 Oh, yeah. He's great.

Steve Schirripa 33:35 Nick Swardson.

Michael Imperioli 33:35 I don't even know what's going on.

Joe Rogan 33:36 Oh, Nick is awesome. I love Nick.

Steve Schirripa 33:38 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:38 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 33:39 Who was the comics that w- that inspired you to be a comedian?

Joe Rogan 33:42 (inhales deeply) Uh, Prior first.

Michael Imperioli 33:45 Or it was?

Joe Rogan 33:45 Uh, my parents took me to see Live in the Sunset Strip in the movie theater when I was like 15.

Michael Imperioli 33:50 He was brilliant.

Joe Rogan 33:50 Oh.

Michael Imperioli 33:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:51 Beyond.

Steve Schirripa 33:52 You never met him?

Joe Rogan 33:53 Yeah, I did. I worked with him. I worked with him five weeks in a row actually.

Michael Imperioli 33:56 Wow.

Joe Rogan 33:56 Towards the end of his life. It was, uh, it was very odd for me because that was the r- that was what really got me interested in standup. 'Cause in that movie theater thinking I'd never really seen standup before, I don't think. You know, maybe I'd seen it on t- The Tonight Show or something like that, but I'd never really seen that. And in this movie theater, here I am crying laughing at this guy that was just talking. And I was like, "I can't believe that he's just talking." Because every mo- you know, if, if I had seen a, a funny movie, it was funny, but it was never that funny. I remember you said something about Something About Mary. We, uh, you had just seen Something About Mary, and we were talking, and you go, "It's like a comic killing." I'll never forget you said that. You're like, "It's so funny. It was like a comic killing."

Michael Imperioli 34:34 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:35 That, that was the feeling that I got watching Prior. I was like, "I can't believe how funny this guy is just talking." Like I'd never ... I didn't know you could do that. I mean-

Steve Schirripa 34:44 And you worked with him at the Comedy Store?

Joe Rogan 34:45 I worked with him at the Comedy Store towards the end of his life where he was really sick. And they used to have to crank the volume up on the microphone going (imitates mic feedback) like really loud. And he would get on stage, and he was on all kinds of medication 'cause, you know, he was sick. And, uh, he had to sit down 'cause he couldn't, literally couldn't stand up. They used to carry him to the stage.

Steve Schirripa 35:04 Oh.

Joe Rogan 35:04 So they'd introduce him, and they'd walk him through the crowd. And I'd, I worked with him for five weeks. I, I was on after him every night.

Steve Schirripa 35:11 Wow.

Joe Rogan 35:11 Like every night, it was Prior, then me. 'Cause, uh, Mitzi Shore who, uh, owned the Comedy Store, when she had a young comic that she liked, she would shove you after anybody who was any good. So if Martin Lawrence was on, I was on after him. If Richard Prior was on, I was on after him. Everybody who was any-

Steve Schirripa 35:27 So you auditioned. Did you audition for the Improv and, and Comedy Store or just the Improv?

Joe Rogan 35:31 No, I didn't have to, didn't have to audition for the Improv. The auditi- the Improv, you know, you just, if you had TV credits and stuff like that, they'd give you spots.

Steve Schirripa 35:38 But that was later on.

Joe Rogan 35:39 Y- though th- when I got out here-

Steve Schirripa 35:40 But at the beginning when you first got to LA.

Joe Rogan 35:42 No, when I first got out here, I had a TV show. I was on, I was on a show called Hardball in '94.

Steve Schirripa 35:46 Oh, that's right. That's right. With Mike Starr. Mike Starr.

Joe Rogan 35:48 Exactly, Mike Starr.

Steve Schirripa 35:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:49 Shout out to Mike. And that got canceled, and then I got on News Radio right afterwards. So the whole time that I was out here-

Steve Schirripa 35:55 Ah, okay.

Joe Rogan 35:55 ... I was on a sitcom. And so the Improv I could just get spots, but I wanted to be at the Store. The Store was Mecca.

Steve Schirripa 36:01 That was the place.

Michael Imperioli 36:01 Did you ever see that movie Some Kind of Hero with Richard Prior?

Joe Rogan 36:04 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 36:05 And he plays like a Viet- I think it's about a Vietnam vet or something.

Joe Rogan 36:08 I think, I haven't seen it in decades.

Michael Imperioli 36:08 And it's kind of a drama. I think it's a drama and he's, he's great. He was a great actor, man.

Joe Rogan 36:13 Oh, he was great in everything. He was-

Michael Imperioli 36:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:14 ... he was great in that, what was that movie that they did about his life story where he played-

Steve Schirripa 36:18 Jo Jo Dancer.

Michael Imperioli 36:19 Jo Jo Dancer. Oh, right. That was really good.

Joe Rogan 36:21 Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that was basically a drama.

Michael Imperioli 36:23 That was, that's right.

Joe Rogan 36:23 He's s-

Michael Imperioli 36:23 And that was good.

Joe Rogan 36:24 He's the GOAT.... my opinion. I mean, there's like, Lenny Bruce who started it all off and then there's Kinison, who was probably, like, the funniest of all time for, like, two years before he burnt out. But then Pryor is the guy, you know, when you look at, like, the guy who changed comedy. He made comedy a personal thing. He made comedy, uh, uh, like an honest, personal thing.

Steve Schirripa 36:44 He was the first one, you think? Joe Rogan: Well-

Joe Rogan 36:45 Yeah, he was... He took what Lenny Bruce was doing and he just did it a little bit better. You know, Lenny Bruce opened the door. Though, Lenny Bruce was the guy who got arrested for it. Lenny Bruce was the guy who really changed perceptions in the... You know, when... In the '50s and the '60s, what he was doing was revolutionary.

Guest 37:00 Right.

Joe Rogan 37:00 There was no one that was doing anything like that bar.

Guest 37:02 Pushing the... All those boundaries, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:03 Yeah, everyone else was telling jokes, like, "Two Jews walk into a bar. They buy it." (snaps fingers) Ba-dum-bum-tss.

Steve Schirripa 37:08 Well, sure that was what, uh-

Joe Rogan 37:09 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 37:09 They all shared each other's jokes. It was-

Joe Rogan 37:11 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 37:11 ... Catskill Comics and-

Joe Rogan 37:12 Exactly.

Steve Schirripa 37:13 ... Ed Sullivan and that's-

Guest 37:14 Exactly.

Steve Schirripa 37:14 ... what all that was.

Guest 37:15 But he was pointing out hypocrisy in society-

Joe Rogan 37:17 Yes, yeah.

Guest 37:18 ... and political things and-

Joe Rogan 37:19 He's talking about-

Guest 37:19 ... a lot of things about language and-

Joe Rogan 37:20 Yes, language. Yeah, but it was a-

Steve Schirripa 37:21 But even he started out as an impressionist.

Joe Rogan 37:23 Yes, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 37:24 You know?

Joe Rogan 37:24 Yeah. He, he, he just decided to expand the medium and then he got more and more famous from doing that. And then it more became, uh, social commentary that was actually funny, rather than just what we had thought of as a standup comedian before that. And then, of course, Carlin took it from there and then I think Pryor did it better than anybody else. He, he really opened the door for so many other comedians.

Guest 37:48 And he made it personal, right?

Joe Rogan 37:49 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Guest 37:49 And he... Like, almost confessional and introspective and-

Joe Rogan 37:52 Yep, and vulnerable.

Guest 37:53 ... and vulnerable. As an actor, he brought that too.

Joe Rogan 37:55 That was a, that was... Yeah, yeah.

Guest 37:56 Vulnerable.

Joe Rogan 37:57 In everything he did. I mean, he was, uh, his fuck...

Steve Schirripa 38:00 They destroyed Lenny Bruce.

Joe Rogan 38:01 Totally.

Steve Schirripa 38:01 They just destroyed him.

Joe Rogan 38:02 Yep.

Steve Schirripa 38:02 You know, the, uh-

Joe Rogan 38:03 The lawsuits and the-

Steve Schirripa 38:04 The lawsuits at the end. That's when he was actually reading onstage.

Guest 38:08 He, he had, he had big problems with withdrawal and-

Steve Schirripa 38:09 Well, he was a heroin addict.

Guest 38:10 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 38:10 But, I mean... But they just destroyed him on top of it.

Guest 38:13 Yeah, they did.

Steve Schirripa 38:13 I mean, I mean, they were arresting him for cursing.

Guest 38:16 Yeah, they did.

Joe Rogan 38:17 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 38:17 I mean, just-

Guest 38:17 Isn't that amazing?

Steve Schirripa 38:17 If you think about that now-

Guest 38:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:19 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 38:20 You know, I mean, it's-

Joe Rogan 38:20 Have you seen, uh, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the Amazon series?

Steve Schirripa 38:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:23 It's really good, especially the-

Steve Schirripa 38:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the guy that plays Lenny Bruce is good.

Joe Rogan 38:26 He's really good.

Guest 38:27 Who is it? Who's in it?

Steve Schirripa 38:28 I don't know the actor's name. He's really good.

Joe Rogan 38:30 Jamie, Jamie... I'll find out. Um, but the, the way they portray him is very close to how he really was.

Steve Schirripa 38:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:36 And then he, he was very loved by people that would come to see him and then the cops would literally drag him offstage.

Guest 38:41 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 38:41 What do you think of her standup on the show?

Joe Rogan 38:44 Um, well, in the beginning, I think it was pretty good. It, it, it wa... It seemed like a funny broad who was kinda drunk who went onstage who was hilarious and, and, and got laughs. It's just hard to recreate standup if you don't do standup.

Steve Schirripa 38:57 Yeah, that's what I...

Joe Rogan 38:59 It's, it's very hard.

Steve Schirripa 38:59 But that's what I was talking about-

Joe Rogan 39:01 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 39:01 ... as a comedic actor, you know?

Joe Rogan 39:03 There he is.

Steve Schirripa 39:03 He's very gerby-

Joe Rogan 39:04 Luke Kirby.

Steve Schirripa 39:04 Very good. He even looks like him there.

Joe Rogan 39:06 Yeah, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 39:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:07 He's very good.

Guest 39:07 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 39:07 He was also on The Deuce. He played a good role on The Deuce.

Joe Rogan 39:10 Mm, I don't know why that-

Steve Schirripa 39:11 On HBO, on the... Uh, the one thing about Mrs. Maisel, uh, everything is, uh, uh... She's, like, on all the time.

Joe Rogan 39:21 Yeah, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 39:22 That's the one thing. It's, like, always a funny... You never saw the show?

Guest 39:24 No, I haven't seen it.

Steve Schirripa 39:25 It's a good show, but it's always, like, a funny quip every day.

Joe Rogan 39:28 Right.

Steve Schirripa 39:28 You ask her if she wants coffee, it's a funny joke. (mimics high-heeled shoes)

Joe Rogan 39:31 Yeah, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 39:31 It's like ano... Like, like a comic that's always on, right?

Joe Rogan 39:34 It's annoying.

Steve Schirripa 39:35 You got those fucking comics? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 39:36 Yeah. I got to the third season. The third season, it seemed like it, it was a little manufactured. Like, there's this big scene where she's in front of, uh, a USO tour-

Steve Schirripa 39:44 Yep.

Joe Rogan 39:45 ... overseas and these guys are laughing and she's just murdering laugh at everything and it's like...

Steve Schirripa 39:51 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 39:51 (inhales through teeth) So as a comic, I'm like, "This is not... This isn't real. This isn't real." This isn't real. This is like a kung fu scene where a guy's kicking guys through windows. You know, "Wah!"

Guest 39:59 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 39:59 You know, it's like there's something about it where I, I can't, I can't relate to this anymore. You've, you've taken this into fiction.

Guest 40:05 Uh.

Joe Rogan 40:05 But I think the beginning of it was really good.

Steve Schirripa 40:07 Uh, Joe, have you, uh, ever just ate it onstage?

Joe Rogan 40:12 Oh, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 40:12 I don't mean at the beginning.

Joe Rogan 40:13 Oh, I ate shit, yeah. Oh, of course. Well, this is one thing. I write a new act every two years. So I do a Netflix special or a Comedy Central special. I throw all that stuff out and I start all over again. And you're gonna have some rough sets. Yeah, I ate shit. And then, you know, maybe you have a heckler, you get mad at the heckler-

Guest 40:31 Fuck.

Joe Rogan 40:31 ... and you eat shit. (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 40:32 (laughs)

Guest 40:33 Do you have go-to heckler... You know, shut up heckler lines?

Joe Rogan 40:36 I mean, you can do that, but really, it's all in what's happening in the moment. They're, they're so different, you know, that it's like, do you have a go-to spice for your food? Well-

Guest 40:47 You might.

Joe Rogan 40:47 It really depends on what you're eating.

Guest 40:49 Really what you're doing. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:49 I mean, it... It's really... There's... With hecklers-

Steve Schirripa 40:54 Uh, Belzer worked at-

Guest 40:55 (laughs) Yeah, he had good heckling skills.

Steve Schirripa 40:55 Belzer worked at the Riv-

Guest 40:56 I know what you're gonna say. (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 40:57 ... for me. And a lady was heckling him and he says, "Lady, the only time you should open your mouth is to switch sticks." (laughs)

Guest 41:07 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:07 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 41:07 Then... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:08 That's a classic.

Steve Schirripa 41:08 Do you remember the comic, uh, Rick Reynolds?

Joe Rogan 41:12 No.

Steve Schirripa 41:13 Rick Reynolds was a hot stuff. Uh, he had a one-man show. He was the beginning of that, played the improvs. Like, I'm going in the '90s. And he had this... Uh, I forget the name of it. Maybe... I don't know what the name of it is. Rick Reynolds, he was a San Francisco guy and he was working-

Guest 41:30 There he is.

Steve Schirripa 41:30 Yeah. And he had... He was... He had a development deal and I think even a sitcom for a short time. And he had an act and the act was kinda like, you know, he would... Uh, he, he kinda came off like a studious guy. And then he would say, uh, "Would you, uh, sleep with me for a dollar?" You know, he'd tell a girl, you know. "How about for five dollars?" Then, then of course, "For a million dollars, would you go home with me?" And of course she says yes. "You're a whore. You're a whore."

Guest 41:59 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 42:00 So he tells-

Guest 42:03 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 42:03 (laughs) So he tells the g... He does the joke, he gets offstage. A guy f... Her boyfriend comes back and punches him in the back of the head.

Guest 42:13 Oh.

Steve Schirripa 42:13 Right at the Riviera, right? And then two nights later, a guy's heckling him. He tells the guy, "If you don't shut up, I'm gonna leave." That's what he tells the guy. That's how he dealt with the heckling. The fucking guy kept heckling and he walked off the stage.Hmm. Yeah. And I was fucking pissed off at him. I mean-

Joe Rogan 42:33 That seems like a very odd approach.

Steve Schirripa 42:34 Yeah. (laughs)

Guest 42:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:35 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 42:35 And he said-

Joe Rogan 42:36 Exciting.

Steve Schirripa 42:36 ... "One more time, and I swear I'm outta here." (laughs)

Guest 42:38 You're basically giving up all your power-

Joe Rogan 42:40 (laughs)

Guest 42:40 ... to the heckler.

Joe Rogan 42:42 Yeah. That's, uh, that's-

Steve Schirripa 42:43 (laughs)

Guest 42:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:43 That's probably why he's not around anymore.

Steve Schirripa 42:45 Yeah, but he was-

Joe Rogan 42:46 Bad strategy.

Steve Schirripa 42:47 He... In the '90s, he had this one-man show, maybe late '80s.

Joe Rogan 42:50 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 42:51 Development deal, big management, you know.

Joe Rogan 42:54 Do you remember that guy who had a deve- he ha- he had a show called Defending the Caveman?

Steve Schirripa 42:58 Oh, yeah, Rick or Rob Becker.

Guest 43:00 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:00 Yeah. I never saw it, but a l- a lot of people did see it and they told me that he did it for a while and then he sold the show and someone else was doing it.

Steve Schirripa 43:09 Oh, yeah, numerous people. He did-

Joe Rogan 43:10 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 43:10 ... in Vegas. There was a guy who did it for years.

Joe Rogan 43:12 I think the guy... What the fuck's his name? The, the bald guy who was in The Thing. He was on The Shield.

Steve Schirripa 43:19 Oh, Michael, uh-

Joe Rogan 43:21 Mi-

Guest 43:21 Chiklis?

Steve Schirripa 43:21 ... Chiklis.

Joe Rogan 43:22 Chiklis, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 43:22 He did-

Guest 43:23 He did it for a while.

Joe Rogan 43:24 He did it for a while.

Steve Schirripa 43:24 Yeah, that's right.

Guest 43:24 As a one-man show?

Steve Schirripa 43:25 Yeah.

Guest 43:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:26 I was like, "That's so weird."

Guest 43:27 That's great.

Steve Schirripa 43:27 It was about women and men.

Guest 43:28 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 43:29 It went to Broadway.

Joe Rogan 43:30 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 43:30 He made a fortune.

Joe Rogan 43:32 It was basically, though, like, stock premises of stand-up.

Steve Schirripa 43:36 I, I didn't see it. I didn't see it.

Joe Rogan 43:37 Yeah. That's what it was explained to me. Someone said, "This is the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life."

Steve Schirripa 43:40 But it became a-

Joe Rogan 43:41 This guy's making millions.

Steve Schirripa 43:42 All over the world.

Joe Rogan 43:43 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 43:43 All over the world.

Joe Rogan 43:44 And it's basically, like, you know, standard premises. Men are like this but women are like that.

Guest 43:49 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 43:49 Da-da, da-da, da-da, da-da.

Joe Rogan 43:51 Like real standard shit that if you saw Rodak doing-

Steve Schirripa 43:54 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 43:54 ... you would go, "Oh, this guy's kind of a hack." But then meanwhile, this guy is doing it as a one-man show and it's a theatrical production, so it's huge. I don't know if that's an accurate assessment of it. That's what it was explained to me-

Guest 44:06 Wow.

Steve Schirripa 44:06 By Good Tom. But he also hired... So he was kind of a, you know, not fat but kind of a, you know, chunky kinda guy. And, uh, the other guys that filled in were all like that, body size.

Joe Rogan 44:20 How is that though?

Guest 44:20 That's wild.

Joe Rogan 44:21 Someone's doing an act.

Steve Schirripa 44:21 Like, the same body. It wasn't a skinny, good-looking guy. They were all, like, kinda the same.

Joe Rogan 44:25 Imagine if Dom Irrera did that, like, if you have some guy playing Dom Irrera.

Guest 44:28 (laughs) Well, didn't Gallagher do it?

Joe Rogan 44:30 Gallagher did it with his twin brother, though.

Steve Schirripa 44:31 And then he sued the brother, right?

Joe Rogan 44:33 Yeah. Well, maybe not his twin, but it's his brother.

Steve Schirripa 44:35 And they look alike.

Joe Rogan 44:36 Yes. V- Who's Gallagher 2.0.

Guest 44:38 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:38 And then after a while he got tired of Gallagher 2.0 doing his act and was like, "Hey give me my fucking act back." "Fuck you."

Steve Schirripa 44:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:44 And so then they were fighting. (laughs)

Guest 44:46 I never knew that.

Joe Rogan 44:46 Yes. Gallagher 2.1

Guest 44:47 And he was touring and doing-

Steve Schirripa 44:48 Oh, yeah. He looked like Gallagher.

Guest 44:50 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 44:50 You couldn't really tell.

Joe Rogan 44:50 He looked like a cloned Gallagher but something went wrong in the process, like something was, like, slightly off. Like if, you know, you were married to him-

Guest 44:58 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:58 ... and you came home one day and you're like, "Hey, are you okay? What's going on?" He'd be like, "You're not my husband. What is happening here?"

Steve Schirripa 45:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:05 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 45:05 Dom Irrera 2.0.

Guest 45:06 That is wild.

Steve Schirripa 45:07 There should be Dom Irreras all over the country. We'll send him out.

Joe Rogan 45:10 Yes.

Steve Schirripa 45:10 Headline everywhere.

Joe Rogan 45:11 Yeah. There's Gallagher 2.0.

Steve Schirripa 45:12 Look, which one's which?

Joe Rogan 45:13 I don't know which one's which.

Steve Schirripa 45:15 I'd s- I'd say on the right.

Joe Rogan 45:16 I think that's... On the right is 2.0.

Guest 45:18 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 45:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:18 So the guy on the right, he had to grow his fucking hair the same way and wear the same clothes and do the same thing.

Guest 45:23 What, was he... Was one better than the other? Or was basically the same thing?

Steve Schirripa 45:26 I never saw it. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:27 I'd like to see a review of his performances.

Steve Schirripa 45:28 Have you had Gallagher on the show?

Joe Rogan 45:29 No, I haven't. No. He's a, he... I've heard him on Stern before though. He's an interesting guy.

Steve Schirripa 45:34 Uh-

Joe Rogan 45:34 Very opinionated.

Steve Schirripa 45:35 ... hey. (laughs)

Guest 45:37 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 45:37 But I gotta tell ya, he took that prop thing to another level.

Guest 45:41 That's true. Yeah, he did.

Steve Schirripa 45:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:42 Well, him, him... Between, like... Carrot Top, I say, just... He ru- he... I don't wanna say ruined the genre of prop comics, but he defined it to the point where no one else could be a prop comic anymore. When I was starting out in '88, there was prop comics. There was all these guys. Like, some guys would have music. Some guys would have props. There was... Some guys have, uh, had a puppet, you know?

Steve Schirripa 46:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:02 They'd go on stage with a puppet. It was a normal thing. But there's no fucking prop comics anymore.

Steve Schirripa 46:07 Oh, no?

Joe Rogan 46:07 Go down to The Comedy Store on a Monday night. You don't see a single prop comic. They don't exist.

Steve Schirripa 46:11 No more ventriloquists?

Joe Rogan 46:13 That's rare too. I mean, I don't know who... I guess it was, uh, what's his name?

Steve Schirripa 46:17 Jeff Dunham.

Joe Rogan 46:17 Jeff Dunham. Jeff Dunham is like the premier-

Steve Schirripa 46:20 He's still-

Joe Rogan 46:20 ... puppet guy.

Steve Schirripa 46:20 ... He's a, uh, Hall of Famer.

Joe Rogan 46:23 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 46:23 He's a Hall of Famer.

Joe Rogan 46:23 He's a Hall of Famer puppet guy.

Steve Schirripa 46:24 He used to work for me at The Riv.

Joe Rogan 46:26 Did you ever have Otto and George in?

Steve Schirripa 46:27 Sure.

Joe Rogan 46:28 He's the best.

Steve Schirripa 46:28 He was the... He was a great guy, but-

Guest 46:30 He was y- ve- uh, puppet act, ventriloquist?

Joe Rogan 46:32 He, he had the dirtiest puppet. The puppet would say the most fucked up shit-

Guest 46:36 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 46:36 Ah.

Joe Rogan 46:36 ... and then he would go, "How can you say that?"

Steve Schirripa 46:38 It was horrifying.

Guest 46:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:41 He would turn into the puppet. (laughs)

Guest 46:41 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 46:41 And he worked for me a lot. Remember we used to... The show you did at The Riv?

Joe Rogan 46:44 Yeah, The Dirty Show.

Steve Schirripa 46:45 It was the Extreme Comedy XXX.

Joe Rogan 46:48 Yes.

Steve Schirripa 46:48 So I had all these filthy guys. Matter of fact, I was talking to Nick DiPaolo. Nick did it. You know?

Joe Rogan 46:53 There he is. There's Otto and George.

Steve Schirripa 46:54 There's Otto and George.

Joe Rogan 46:56 Yes.

Steve Schirripa 46:56 It's so crazy. It's, it's so funny.

Joe Rogan 46:58 Someone actually ran on stage at the, uh, at Dangerfield's and stabbed the com- the, uh, puppet one time.

Guest 47:04 (laughs) Yeah? Really?

Steve Schirripa 47:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:05 They were so mad. Yeah, they were so mad at the puppet.

Steve Schirripa 47:06 And it's so horrifying.

Guest 47:08 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 47:08 Look how scary that is.

Joe Rogan 47:09 Yeah, crazy eyebrows.

Guest 47:10 That's great.

Steve Schirripa 47:10 But-

Joe Rogan 47:10 And when he would, he would... Fucking, the eyebrows would go up when he was hitting his punchlines.

Guest 47:15 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 47:15 And it's Otto and George, and you'd think that the, the puppet's name would be Otto, but that's George. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:22 Yeah. The puppet is George.

Steve Schirripa 47:23 But Otto, uh, he worked for me a bunch of times and he had problems, and he would disappear.

Joe Rogan 47:29 Oh, he was crazy.

Steve Schirripa 47:29 I couldn't find him. He was on the west-

Guest 47:31 Oh, it's obvious he has problems.

Steve Schirripa 47:32 He was on the west side of town.

Guest 47:34 He lives in an alley. He lives in... (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 47:34 And, and he died young.

Guest 47:35 He lives in an alley now. He died young, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 47:37 But he's... He did Letterman. You know, he started finally after so many years getting some recognition and-

Joe Rogan 47:42 I wish he was around now so we could introduce him through podcasts. I think, I think if he was around now, you know, if I c- if I, like, get him on a podcast and show people who... Much like Joey Diaz, much like a lot of these guys, you... They're... You're not gonna understand who they are through a traditional format, like a regular television format. You didn't get a, a h- a shadow of what they really are. You gotta see... Like, Otto was a wild guy who did these crazy fucking en-

Guest 48:10 Crazy.

Joe Rogan 48:10 These crazy roadshows. We did, uh, we did those Bob Gonzo gigs together in Jersey, and we did, uh, we did Dangerfield's for those... We did, we did prom shows. Prom shows are the fucking worst thing a comic could ever do, because what they do is they take these 17 and 18-year-old kids, they're at their prom.

Guest 48:27 Yeah, I went to one.

Joe Rogan 48:28 You went to one?

Guest 48:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 48:29 They don't change the audience.

Guest 48:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:31 So the audience, they just keep shoving new kids in there and hope the older kids live. Leave rather. So you'll start working, you might have a 7:00 show, and you don't get out of there until, like, 2:00, 3:00 in the morning. Sometimes you get out of there, it's just starting to turn d- daylight. And they're just pumping kids in. So they would tell you-... don't change your act. We want them to be bored-

Steve Schirripa 48:51 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 48:51 ... of your act so that they leave and we can get new kids in.

Steve Schirripa 48:53 Who was that, that Australian guy? Tony? What was the big guy?

Joe Rogan 48:56 Um, it was the, the B- well, I- he was Scottish. He was-

Steve Schirripa 48:59 A Scottish guy?

Joe Rogan 49:00 Yeah. Fuck, what was his name?

Steve Schirripa 49:02 Not Tony.

Joe Rogan 49:03 God dammit, it wasn't Tony.

Steve Schirripa 49:04 Tony was Rodney's partner.

Joe Rogan 49:06 He was funnier than most of the comedians. The, the, the big Scottish power lifter guy.

Steve Schirripa 49:09 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:10 He would, uh, he, he would lift weights with... He would take cement buckets, like a b- uh, like a bucket and fill it with cement. And he would do a lot of his workouts just lifting these buckets filled with cement. One of the strongest fucking guys I've ever seen in my life. He was-

Steve Schirripa 49:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:26 ... like, built like a bowling ball with a head on top of it.

Steve Schirripa 49:28 He was the manager?

Joe Rogan 49:29 No, he was more like a doorman/maitre d/bouncer.

Steve Schirripa 49:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:34 So if anybody did anything wrong, he was the guy that came in and pi-... I saw him pick a kid up by his neck, literally grab him by his neck and lift him up in the air. And the kid's feet were dangling and he's-

Steve Schirripa 49:44 Wow.

Joe Rogan 49:44 ... just trying to like, "Aah."

Steve Schirripa 49:45 Wow.

Joe Rogan 49:46 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 49:47 Uh, Dangerfield's, uh, I went there many years ago in the '70s and I saw David Fry. You know David Fry?

Joe Rogan 49:54 No.

Steve Schirripa 49:55 He used to do Nixon. He was 5'3" and he would do fucking Nixon. He headlined Caesars Palace.

Joe Rogan 50:01 Really?

Steve Schirripa 50:02 Look him up.

Joe Rogan 50:02 Okay.

Steve Schirripa 50:02 David Fry. And, uh, he wound up moving to Vegas and he was Sullivan all the time, and, and he did Nixon. He, he was great. Really short, uh, uh, right? And, uh, he was, uh, always lonely. And he was with Randy Credico. You know Randy Credico?

Joe Rogan 50:22 Ah, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 50:23 So Randy Credico was an impressionist, the two of them. And- Wait, Ra- the guy with Roger Stone? That guy? Yeah. Randy used to work for me at The Riv. He was a- He was a comedian? He was a standup impressionist. He did Johnny Carson. I saw him on Carson. There's David Fry.

Joe Rogan 50:37 Oh.

Steve Schirripa 50:37 He's 5'3". They go over, they're down in Times Square. It's 4:00 in the morning, 4:30 in the morning. There's a hooker on the corner. They pull up, they said, "How much, uh, for a blow job?" The girl d- is looking in, she's looking in the car. "How much to fuck you?" She went, "I don't fuck midgets." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:00 Boom! He was lost for the night. He was depressed for two fucking months, David Fry. (laughs) He was a bad alcoholic.

Steve Schirripa 51:07 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:08 And he worked at The Riv when we first o- (laughs) when we first opened.

Steve Schirripa 51:13 Ugh. Right? Uh, he worked... It was like his big comeback because he was living in Vegas. He used to come around the club. And he did the first show, wore a tuxedo. Uh, and between shows he got bombed and, uh, Bud, Bud Freeman said, "Go and get him." You know, we gave him a chance and he just couldn't even work. He was-

Joe Rogan 51:35 Aw.

Steve Schirripa 51:35 ... a poor guy. And he passed away a few years ago.

Joe Rogan 51:38 Mm.

Steve Schirripa 51:38 But yeah, he was... Headlined Caesars Palace, a real comic.

Joe Rogan 51:42 Wow.

Steve Schirripa 51:42 But very depressed, never married or... He would say, "Life is hard. Life is hard. Life is hard."

Joe Rogan 51:47 There's a lot of those stereotype comics. And you would hear about them more back in the day than now, that were never happy. They w- they would go on stage, they would get laughs from the crowd, and then they'd be depressed for the rest of the night.

Steve Schirripa 51:58 Hey, uh, you know, that, that kind of ba-dump-up comic, I mean, there was a lot more work then, I think.

Joe Rogan 52:05 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 52:05 I don't know. You know?

Joe Rogan 52:06 There's a lot of work now.

Steve Schirripa 52:07 I mean, you had Catskills, you had nightclubs in New York, Chicago, you know. I mean, there was a lot... TV paid more money then, you didn't get scale. I think if you did, uh, a variety show then, you got real money. You know? Like Flip Wilson Show or Sonny & Cher and there was a Comic-Con.

Joe Rogan 52:25 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 52:25 I think there was, you know-

Joe Rogan 52:27 Flip Wilson Show.

Steve Schirripa 52:28 Remember, remember Flip Wilson?

Joe Rogan 52:29 Boy... (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 52:29 Look, I'm old! I told you I was old. I'm an old man.

Joe Rogan 52:33 Flip Wilson, Sonny & Cher. Wow.

Steve Schirripa 52:36 I loved those shows.

Joe Rogan 52:37 I remember those shows. Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 52:38 You know, all those variety shows in the, uh, you know, in the '70s. I mean, that was good stuff.

Joe Rogan 52:43 Yeah. What happened to variety shows?

Steve Schirripa 52:45 I don't think people like them anymore. I don't know. They- I don't know.

Michael Imperioli 52:48 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 52:48 Short attention spans.

Joe Rogan 52:50 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 52:50 I guess that's the new American Idol and The Voice and shit that's-

Joe Rogan 52:54 Sorta? But the variety shows would have, like, legitimate famous acts come on.

Steve Schirripa 53:01 Yeah. Singers.

Joe Rogan 53:02 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 53:03 Singers, comics.

Joe Rogan 53:04 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 53:04 Then they had the guy with the plates-

Michael Imperioli 53:05 Magicians.

Steve Schirripa 53:06 ... with the plates. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:07 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 53:07 Magicians.

Joe Rogan 53:07 Yeah, they would do things.

Steve Schirripa 53:09 Puppet, uh, you know-

Joe Rogan 53:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 53:10 ... ventriloquists.

Joe Rogan 53:11 Yeah. (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 53:12 (laughs) Joe Roe, Joe... That's what you got to do, Joe.

Joe Rogan 53:15 It's variety.

Michael Imperioli 53:16 I know.

Steve Schirripa 53:16 That's the next thing.

Joe Rogan 53:18 I can't. I do en- I do enough.

Steve Schirripa 53:20 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:20 This is it.

Steve Schirripa 53:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:23 Th- this can't be a short attention span because if that was the case, then podcasts wouldn't work, 'cause podcasts require the most attention span.

Steve Schirripa 53:29 Now, do you th- do you... That's the one thing with our podcast too, a lot of younger people are discovering The Sopranos.

Joe Rogan 53:37 Mm.

Steve Schirripa 53:37 And that was part of the reason we wanted to do one. There's kids that are in their late teens, early 20s.

Joe Rogan 53:43 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 53:43 You know, like that age.

Joe Rogan 53:44 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 53:44 And they're the podcast world.

Michael Imperioli 53:45 Yeah, and they were too young-

Joe Rogan 53:47 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 53:47 ... when the show was on originally but that, that's pretty cool because-

Joe Rogan 53:51 Oh, yeah.

Michael Imperioli 53:51 ... a lot of shows don't get that kind of resurgence and new generation discovering it.

Joe Rogan 53:55 Well, it's the beautiful thing about our era that you can stream shows and binge them.

Michael Imperioli 53:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:59 You can do that. With... Back in our day, like, if you wanted to watch old episodes of fucking Starsky & Hutch, good luck.

Steve Schirripa 54:05 Sure, absolutely.

Michael Imperioli 54:06 Where are you going to find them?

Steve Schirripa 54:07 Right.

Joe Rogan 54:07 Where, where are you going to find Dragnet? You had to wait for it to be on-

Michael Imperioli 54:09 Right.

Joe Rogan 54:09 ... television. If you wanted to watch an older show, you had to wait for it or you had to find it somewhere. Now, if someone tells you about The Sopranos, I, I... Is it on Netflix?

Steve Schirripa 54:19 No, it's on, uh...

Joe Rogan 54:20 HBO Max? HBO Go?

Michael Imperioli 54:21 It's on HBO and-

Steve Schirripa 54:22 HBO.

Michael Imperioli 54:22 ... and Hulu too, I think.

Steve Schirripa 54:23 Oh, and-

Joe Rogan 54:23 And probably i- Apple TV as well?

Steve Schirripa 54:26 Yeah, something like that.

Joe Rogan 54:26 Yeah, you could probably buy it on Apple TV.

Michael Imperioli 54:28 Amazon. Amazon.

Joe Rogan 54:29 Amazon. Cool. Amazon.

Michael Imperioli 54:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:29 So, but-... you just (snaps fingers) go right to that. Boom, you, you get started. I mean, and it instantly starts playing. I mean, it's, it's amazing if you're a kid and you wanna discover great old shows or great old films. I mean, you have instant access to them. You don't have to go any-

Steve Schirripa 54:43 Absolutely, you know. But h- back then only 11 million people had HBO.

Joe Rogan 54:47 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 54:47 Which is nothing. There's probably more people now watching the show.

Joe Rogan 54:50 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 54:50 You know, people get together on Sunday nights, right? They have their parties-

Joe Rogan 54:54 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 54:54 ... and all that. And, you know-

Joe Rogan 54:56 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 54:57 ... they would cook and have parties and dress up like the characters and-

Joe Rogan 55:01 It's just, i- it was harder to watch things. You had to go out and get a physical ver- a physical copy of it. Like, I remember, uh, I moved into this house in 2002 and it had a theater. And I c- I was like, "Oh my God, I made it. I got a fucking theater in my house. This is the shit." And I watched Apocalypse Now part ... the, uh, the, the newly remac- uh, remastered version of Apocalypse Now.

Michael Imperioli 55:24 Oh, the one with the added scenes-

Joe Rogan 55:26 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 55:26 ... that weren't in-

Joe Rogan 55:26 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 55:27 ... in the French plantation home?

Joe Rogan 55:28 Fuck.

Michael Imperioli 55:28 Yeah, that was really cool.

Joe Rogan 55:30 I was just sit- sitting back watching this thing going, "This is amazing." That the ... And then, and then y- and you find out the history of the film, and then you find out that, like, literally it took, like, seven years to make that film.

Steve Schirripa 55:39 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 55:39 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 55:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:39 And Laurence Fishburne's a teenager when he's in it.

Michael Imperioli 55:42 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 55:42 Wow.

Joe Rogan 55:42 You know? It's just fuck what a movie that is.

Michael Imperioli 55:45 Yeah, that's a good one.

Steve Schirripa 55:46 Look at his career. I mean, he's, uh-

Michael Imperioli 55:47 Actually, Harvey Keitel was originally the Martin Sheen role, Willard.

Steve Schirripa 55:51 Really?

Michael Imperioli 55:51 And actually shot for a while, uh, and ...

Steve Schirripa 55:55 He got fired?

Michael Imperioli 55:56 Um, I think they felt he brought too much ... Uh, like Martin Sheen was more of a blank slate, like an everyman kind. Harvey had a very strong, like, personality, like New York kind of-

Steve Schirripa 56:06 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 56:06 ... tough guy and a lot more of a quirks to him.

Steve Schirripa 56:10 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 56:10 And Martin, he wanted more of, like ... Martin Sheen was more of, like, a reacting to e- all the other craziness around him like Hopper and Frederic Forrest-

Steve Schirripa 56:18 Right.

Michael Imperioli 56:18 ... and even Fishburne and Brando, and he was kinda the center that just held it. And Harvey was more like a character.

Joe Rogan 56:23 That makes sense. That makes sense.

Michael Imperioli 56:25 That's at least what I heard. But they sh-

Joe Rogan 56:26 It works.

Michael Imperioli 56:26 I think Harvey shot for m- at least a month, maybe more.

Joe Rogan 56:29 Wow.

Steve Schirripa 56:30 Wow.

Joe Rogan 56:30 That makes sense though, 'cause Harvey's such a powerful force.

Michael Imperioli 56:33 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 56:34 Wow.

Joe Rogan 56:34 Like, when I think of Harvey Keitel, I think of Bad Lieutenant.

Michael Imperioli 56:36 Yeah. That's a good one.

Steve Schirripa 56:37 Wow.

Joe Rogan 56:37 That's a fucking movie.

Michael Imperioli 56:38 That's a brilliant movie.

Joe Rogan 56:39 Holy shit.

Steve Schirripa 56:40 Well, he did a series with him.

Joe Rogan 56:42 What did you do with him?

Michael Imperioli 56:42 I did a serie- his ... The only series he ever did called Life on Mars. We did one season for ABC in, in 2009.

Steve Schirripa 56:48 Mm.

Michael Imperioli 56:48 And Harvey was, uh, played the, uh, lieuten- he played lieutenant in that and it was his first TV show. It was-

Steve Schirripa 56:55 Was he good to work with?

Michael Imperioli 56:57 Yeah. I worked with him before. I worked with him on Clockers. I had this, uh, c- couple of scenes with him in that and then we did ... I love Harvey. Harvey is a very hard worker, takes his wor- work really, really seriously, and really good. I mean, Bad Lieutenant, he's incredible in that.

Joe Rogan 57:10 Brilliant.

Michael Imperioli 57:10 I think that might be his best work ever. And, and Dangerous Game, did you ever see that? Th- it's the same director, Abel Ferrara. It's with Madonna and James Russo. Harvey basically plays a version of Abel Ferrara and kind of a version of himself and he's really ... He plays a film director. He's really good.

Joe Rogan 57:27 I don't know if I saw that. I'd have to go look at that again.

Michael Imperioli 57:30 That's a good one.

Joe Rogan 57:30 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 57:31 What did you think of, uh, The Stand-Up Show on, uh, Showtime?

Michael Imperioli 57:36 Which one? What was that called?

Joe Rogan 57:38 What do you mean?

Steve Schirripa 57:39 Uh, it was the Jim Carrey-

Joe Rogan 57:41 Oh, I'm Dying Up Here?

Steve Schirripa 57:41 Yeah. You didn't like it?

Joe Rogan 57:43 No, I thought it was flat.

Steve Schirripa 57:44 Yeah, I kinda liked it. I mean, I liked seeing some of the guys.

Joe Rogan 57:46 I, I liked it 'cause a lot of my good friends were there.

Steve Schirripa 57:47 Yeah, I'm sure.

Joe Rogan 57:48 I liked that. And I liked it because it was basically based on The Store. But, uh-

Steve Schirripa 57:52 Now, Mitzi-

Michael Imperioli 57:53 Was he a standup comedian, Jim Carrey?

Joe Rogan 57:54 Yes.

Michael Imperioli 57:54 He was before-

Joe Rogan 57:55 Yeah.

Michael Imperioli 57:55 ... he started doing, uh, Saturday Night-

Steve Schirripa 57:56 But Mitzi didn't act like that, right?

Joe Rogan 57:59 W- I don't, I don't know. I didn't even get into it enough to-

Steve Schirripa 58:01 Oh, you didn't watch the show?

Joe Rogan 58:01 No.

Steve Schirripa 58:02 Okay.

Joe Rogan 58:02 What d- how did they have her act?

Steve Schirripa 58:03 Eh, you know, like impossible, you know-

Joe Rogan 58:05 She was crazy.

Steve Schirripa 58:06 And, and ...

Joe Rogan 58:06 Yeah, she was impossible.

Steve Schirripa 58:07 Yeah. You know, I met her a few times. She was nice to me because she came out with Paulie. Paulie worked at, at the hotel.

Joe Rogan 58:13 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 58:13 So, I met her a couple times. She was always very nice.

Joe Rogan 58:16 That's her on the wall.

Steve Schirripa 58:17 Oh, is it? When she was younger, yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:18 Yeah, that painting is her. Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 58:19 Yeah. She was always very, very nice to me. But, uh, uh, was she crazy?

Joe Rogan 58:24 Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's why she let The Store become what it is. She basically wanted the lunatics to run the asylum. She wanted them to fight against each other. She also knew, like ... Say if you and Michael had a problem with each other, she'd put you on back to back. She'd have Michael bring you up. (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 58:37 Really?

Joe Rogan 58:38 If ... Yeah, if you were dating, if a comic was dating another comic, she'd have them back to back. If they, if they broke up, back to back.

Steve Schirripa 58:43 And it was all, this was all-

Joe Rogan 58:45 Orchestrated.

Steve Schirripa 58:46 Really?

Joe Rogan 58:47 Yeah. Well, she had a theory about comedy. She wanted people to be put into difficult situations. That's why I told you when I was 27 and, you know, just sort of getting my feet under me, she had me going after Richard Pryor every fucking night and Martin Lawrence. If she liked you, she'd put y- she'd throw you to the wolves.

Steve Schirripa 59:03 Wow.

Joe Rogan 59:04 And she w- she would laugh about it too. Like, later on in life, you know, uh, I had a conversation with her and she was laughing. She goes, "I always knew where to put you." (laughs) She thought it was funny. But that was, it was also how she made you a good comic. She, she f- forced you to adapt to the moment. If you just go on ... If you have a easy opening act who does get some laughs but doesn't kill too hard and, you know, you go on this cushy spot in the middle, everything's soft and easy-

Steve Schirripa 59:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:31 ... you don't get challenged. You don't grow. And she wanted you to grow. She wanted you to, she wanted you to face hardships. She wanted you to fucking sink or swim, bitch. This is The Comedy Store, and th-

Steve Schirripa 59:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:42 ... that's how she treated it.

Steve Schirripa 59:43 You know, but The Store, uh, which was the mecca, of course, and then didn't it tail off a little bit? And then-

Joe Rogan 59:52 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 59:52 ... when you a- a- and Joey Diaz and all you guys started coming back, d- now it's the spot.

Joe Rogan 59:59 Yeah. Well-

Steve Schirripa 59:59 Well, you know, before the pandemic, anyway. That's the spot in the whole United States, right?

Joe Rogan 1:00:04 Yeah. Well, w- when I came back in 2014, we had already been talking about it for so long on the podcast that it kinda had a little bit of a ramp up before then. But then when I came back and we were basically telling everybody, "Hey, I'm at The Store. We're there. We're there, you know, five nights a week."

Steve Schirripa 1:00:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:17 It just became mobbed again. I mean, it was mobbed every fucking night. It was sold out hundreds of days in a row, three shows, one in the ami- uh, one in the original room, big show in the main room, belly room just packed.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:29 Just packed.

Joe Rogan 1:00:29 Every night.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:30 You couldn't get in there.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:31 They had the, uh, you know, they were at the Dunes.

Joe Rogan 1:00:34 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:34 They were before the improv, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:00:36 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:36 And there was, like, five headliners, you know. They would have, like, Dom and, uh, you know, Kinison or Mitchell Walters or ...

Joe Rogan 1:00:44 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:45 You know, and they, they were at the Dunes Hotel in the big room. And Mitz- Mitzi four-walled that.

Joe Rogan 1:00:51 Ah.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:51 So she made all the money.

Joe Rogan 1:00:53 Oh.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:53 And she was very smart. Obviously a smart businesswoman.

Joe Rogan 1:00:55 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 1:00:56 She didn't go for the sh- you know, guaranteed money. She took a shot and for years that was the spot to be, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:01:02 When did that place go under? That was before my time.

Steve Schirripa 1:01:05 And then ...... I wanna say in the '90s, early-

Joe Rogan 1:01:08 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 1:01:08 ... '90s, they, they knocked The Dunes down.

Joe Rogan 1:01:10 Mm.

Steve Schirripa 1:01:11 But I think it started in '84.

Joe Rogan 1:01:13 Ah.

Steve Schirripa 1:01:13 The Improv opened in '86 and they would have five outline- uh, headliners. Johnny Dark, uh, you know, all, all, you know, all the, uh, headliners from The Comedy Store. Jimmy Walker, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:01:26 Mm-hmm. Well, Vegas is making a comeback when it comes to comedy. Like there's clubs-

Steve Schirripa 1:01:29 There's a lot of clubs, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:30 Yeah, there's club... Like Jimmy Kimmel's got a club there now and then there's the-

Steve Schirripa 1:01:34 The, The Comedy Cellar.

Joe Rogan 1:01:35 Mm-hmm.

Steve Schirripa 1:01:35 Uh...

Joe Rogan 1:01:36 Laugh Factory.

Steve Schirripa 1:01:37 Laugh Factory. Brad Garrett has a thing.

Joe Rogan 1:01:39 Yeah. That Brad Garrett place is great. It's like, it's a good place for com... Not just for people that are doing big places, but for comic comics. Guys, road guys, who are just, you know-

Steve Schirripa 1:01:49 Hey, you, you, when you did Dice's show, you saw Rich Little.

Joe Rogan 1:01:55 Yeah, we all went. Um, the c- I was shooting WWE -

Steve Schirripa 1:01:57 Playing in The Laugh Factory.

Joe Rogan 1:02:00 (clears throat) At the Tropicana, right?

Steve Schirripa 1:02:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:02 Yeah. Yeah, Dice does residencies there. Like he'll-

Steve Schirripa 1:02:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:06 He'll be there for months at a time.

Steve Schirripa 1:02:07 At The Laugh Factory.

Joe Rogan 1:02:08 I was just dr... I was just there in Vegas for the UFC, uh, two weeks ago and, uh, you know, they're doing UFC without a crowd. It's very strange. You know? We were at the APEX Center, which is a... It's, it's an arena that the UFC built. It's like-

Steve Schirripa 1:02:20 Where is that?

Joe Rogan 1:02:21 It's, uh, next to the UFC Performance Institute. It's off the strip and, uh, they just... They built this very small arena. So they, they do a s- a series of other shows besides just the big UFC pay-per-views. They do this thing called the Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series where they have like up-and-coming comics, or fighters rather, up-and-coming fighters compete. And then they do it in this small place with a very small crowd and, uh, you know, like 1,000, 1,200 people. But now there's no one, no crowd, because it's the only way you can do the thing. So as I'm driving to the, the APEX Center, I'm passing the Tropicana and they've got Dice up on the billboard for February. So it's like long past shows, March, shit like that. They don't even take it down. They haven't even... Because everything's been shut down. Shut down. All the casinos have been shut down.

Steve Schirripa 1:03:07 Well, now they're, now they're opening and-

Joe Rogan 1:03:09 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 1:03:09 ... so did you have a hotel to stay in?

Joe Rogan 1:03:12 No, I didn't even. I, I flew in the day of the fights, I flew out that night. Yesterday I watched a soccer game. A Ger- the German league and they had no s- fans, but they had a recording of the fans. Oh, that's so weird.

Steve Schirripa 1:03:23 Which is... And you know they sing, the fans in Europe sing chants with the, the theme. They had that going on but there's nobody in the audience.

Joe Rogan 1:03:28 That's so-

Steve Schirripa 1:03:28 Are they gonna do that for UFC?

Joe Rogan 1:03:29 ... strange. No, no, it's just silent.

Steve Schirripa 1:03:32 No fa- no recording of cheers-

Joe Rogan 1:03:34 Yeah, the, the-

Steve Schirripa 1:03:34 ... and all that shit.

Joe Rogan 1:03:34 ... brilliant part about it being silent is that you can hear the people breathing. You can hear them talking shit to each other. Like, "Hey, pussy. Hey, pussy. How you feeling?" Like they, they talk shit to each other-

Steve Schirripa 1:03:44 Oh, sure.

Joe Rogan 1:03:44 ... when they're beating- Right. ... each other up.

Steve Schirripa 1:03:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:45 You can hear the body blows, you can hear the wheezing-

Steve Schirripa 1:03:48 Jesus Christ.

Joe Rogan 1:03:48 ... when they're getting hurt. You can hear them heavy breathing when they're tired.

Steve Schirripa 1:03:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:52 Like, uh, the, there's so much more depth to it when you don't have an audience. There's, there's undeniable that the audience plays a big factor in the energy, but there's something to just being there. Like I was there for, uh, Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje in Florida. We did that in Jacksonville and it was the same thing. No audience. But that was even weirder because it was a 15,000 seat arena-

Steve Schirripa 1:04:14 Wow.

Joe Rogan 1:04:14 ... but there was no crowd. It was just these guys duking it out in this cavernous arena and the octagon set up in the center of the arena. And all you hear is the corner men giving advice and then you, you hear them beating the shit out of each other.

Steve Schirripa 1:04:28 And do you have to adjust anything? You do different or you just stay to your thing?

Joe Rogan 1:04:31 I didn't f... No. No, I didn't adjust. You know? The only difference is the one in Vegas, they wouldn't let me interview the fighters in the ring after the fight. So I couldn't go into the octagon after the fight. I had to do it remotely. So I had a headset on and I'm looking at them through a screen. It was real weird.

Steve Schirripa 1:04:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:47 That was weird.

Steve Schirripa 1:04:47 And do you think the UFC, (clears throat) that's why boxing's not popular anymore?

Joe Rogan 1:04:52 Boxing's pretty popular. Uh, not as-

Steve Schirripa 1:04:55 Not as it-

Joe Rogan 1:04:55 ... not-

Steve Schirripa 1:04:56 ... as it once was.

Joe Rogan 1:04:57 I think MMA is much more exciting, but I think the real big boxing fights are still very exciting. Like, uh, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, that kind of fight. Like th- those are still very exciting. Like any time Canelo Alvarez fights, those are still very exciting fights. It's just, it's, it's not as multidimensional as MMA.

Steve Schirripa 1:05:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:17 When you watch a UFC fight and, you know, you're seeing head kicks and take downs and guys getting strangled-

Steve Schirripa 1:05:22 Fucking too rough for me, man. It's fucking tough.

Joe Rogan 1:05:25 (laughs)

Steve Schirripa 1:05:25 It's tough. Those-

Joe Rogan 1:05:26 Also boxing-

Steve Schirripa 1:05:27 Those are legit-

Joe Rogan 1:05:27 ... started changing too-

Steve Schirripa 1:05:27 ... tough guys.

Joe Rogan 1:05:28 ... too. Wasn't as exci... Even before MMA got popular but like, the heavyweight division which used to be so, for years, so exciting, you know, during-

Steve Schirripa 1:05:36 Well, it comes in waves, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:05:38 Yeah.

Steve Schirripa 1:05:38 Deontay Wilder was just starting to become like the resurgence of the heavyweight division because he was smashing and knocking everybody out. And then they had that epic fight with him (clears throat) and Tyson Fury and he knocked Tyson Fury down twice and almost knocked him out in the twelfth round. But then Tyson came back in that round and then the fight was declared a draw.

Joe Rogan 1:05:56 That was a good one. Yeah, yeah.

Steve Schirripa 1:05:57 And it was, it was a great fight and then Tyson Fury came back and beat the fuck out of him in the rematch. And when that happened everyone was like, "Jesus Christ." Now American heavyweights, like that was a big American heavyweight loss, right? And w- in America there's something about, we don't give a fuck about