CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 4:43
Back on JRE after years: nerves, vomiting, and fear of being canceled
Joe welcomes David Choe back after a long gap, immediately teasing his anxieties about saying something life-ruining. Choe admits he got so nervous driving over that he pulled over and vomited, then confesses how much he worries about cancellation despite having a quieter life now.
- 4:43 – 7:23
Compliments as a discomfort exercise—and a custom 'Ghosts on the Beach' gift
Choe asks Joe about his comfort level receiving compliments, then delivers an extended, heartfelt set of praises as a therapeutic practice. He follows it with an on-air gift: a shirt he painted inspired by Joe’s ‘ghosts on the beach’ bit.
- 7:23 – 11:27
Quiet new life, social fear, and talking to a sculpture to prepare for podcasting
Choe explains he’s largely stepped away from public life and feels conflicted about being back on-air. He tells a story about rehearsing for the podcast by literally talking to a sculpture in public—then getting caught doing it.
- 11:27 – 17:27
Self-hatred loop: anxiety mornings, ‘I am enough,’ and using suffering to create art
Choe opens up about daily self-criticism, difficulty accepting compliments, and his therapist’s attempts to counteract it with simple practices. The conversation turns to the classic question: does great art require suffering, and what happens when an artist chooses happiness instead?
- 17:27 – 38:07
‘Buck wild’ podcasting: unreleased episodes, roleplay, and glossolalia experiments
Joe praises Choe’s old podcast as riveting because of its raw, humiliating honesty. Choe describes unreleased recordings where he roleplays extreme scenarios, records for hours with absurd constraints, and even experiments with speaking in tongues-like gibberish.
- 38:07 – 43:16
Multiple ‘Daves’ and self-therapy: inner parts, psychodrama, and healing vs monetizing
Choe frames his personality as a bus full of different ‘Daves’—confident, ashamed, cruel, experimental—each taking turns at the wheel. He explains psychodrama therapy and jokes about turning his most chaotic recordings into a Patreon, while insisting his main goal is healing.
- 43:16 – 50:44
Korean pride, Parasite night, and pandemic-era anti-Asian racism at red lights
A story about LA traffic on Oscars night becomes a discussion of racial identity and ‘perpetual foreigner’ framing—people congratulating Choe for Parasite simply because he’s Korean. The mood turns when Choe recounts racist gestures and ‘go back’ remarks during the pandemic, and the fear of escalating to violence.
- 50:44 – 1:08:53
What’s the best response to hate? Joe’s violence-avoidance framework
Joe argues the safest move in real-world confrontations is often to disengage, because you never know who’s armed or unstable. He reframes Choe’s ‘freezing’ as wisdom and explains how hate acts like a contagious mind virus meant to infect you emotionally.
- 1:08:53 – 1:22:21
The ‘invisible’ traveler: hitchhiking, strangers confessing dark secrets, and real danger
Choe reframes being overlooked as an ‘Asian superpower’ that lets him move through the world with less suspicion—often causing strangers to open up. He shares how hitchhiking led to extreme confessions and recounts a deeply unsettling night with a cowboy-hat man in Louisiana.
- 1:22:21 – 1:31:39
Teen expedition to the Congo to find a dinosaur: war zone reality check
Joe recalls discovering Choe through a Vice segment about hunting a brontosaurus-like cryptid. Choe tells the original story: at 18–19, pre-internet, he flies into a civil-war Congo chasing Mokele-mbembe, confronting Ebola fears, violence, and sheer ignorance of conditions.
- 1:31:39 – 1:43:39
Lost in the jungle: near-murder moment, then pygmies ‘from the stars’ rescue
Choe describes getting hopelessly lost in dense jungle with a German companion who becomes antagonistic and selfish with rations. In a breaking point, Choe nearly kills him with a rock—then they’re suddenly found by pygmies who guide them out and interpret Choe as a being ‘from the stars.’
- 1:43:39 – 1:51:21
Returning via Vice and chasing evidence: tracks, photos, and ‘maybe it’s a log’
Choe explains how his writing and art led to Vice inviting him back years later to film. They look at alleged photos and tracks, debate credibility, and consider how hard it would be to fake footprints—while acknowledging alternative explanations.
- 1:51:21 – 2:15:37
Tanzania’s Hadza: living with hunter-gatherers, bow hunting, gut biome, and brutal baboon hunts
Choe describes fleeing to Africa during personal rock bottoms and finding perspective among the Hadza in Tanzania. He recounts their humor, endurance, homemade bows with poison tips, unique microbiomes studied by scientists, and the harsh reality of hunting—especially intense baboon kills with dogs.
- 2:15:37 – 3:51:38
Trying to recruit Joe to Africa—and closing on elephants, hunting ethics, and Neverland Ranch
Choe repeatedly urges Joe (and Jamie) to visit Africa with family, pitching a safer, curated version of the experience. The conversation broadens into hunting ethics (including elephants), then pivots to Choe’s visit to Neverland Ranch and the mistreatment and intelligence of elephants—ending on the surreal idea of elephants painting.
