Joe Rogan Experience #1530 - Duncan Trussell

1. 0:00 – 2:35

   Catching up during the LA exodus: pandemic, leaving town, and a changing comedy scene

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (drum music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:03

      The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (energetic music) Hello, Duncan.

   3. DTDuncan Trussell0:15

      Hello, Joe. How are you, my friend? I'm great, man. I'm psyched to be here.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      Cheers, sir.

   5. DTDuncan Trussell0:19

      Cheers, brother.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:20

      So good to see you.

   7. DTDuncan Trussell0:21

      Hare Krishna.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:21

      Hare Krishna.

   9. DTDuncan Trussell0:22

      Great to see you. Mm. Mm.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:24

       Always.

   11. DTDuncan Trussell0:26

       That's good.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       My friend, it's a strange time and uh, we're both departing this land.

   13. DTDuncan Trussell0:33

       I know.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       For greener pastures.

   15. DTDuncan Trussell0:35

       I keep thinking back to when we first became friends and the strange path since from there to here. And all our predictions and all the things that we... W- we never would have imagined this. You know, specifically, like, that there would be this fucking global pandemic that we would suddenly be, like...

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       (coughs)

   17. DTDuncan Trussell1:01

       ... some kind of, like... Refugee is way too dramatic a word for it. But suddenly-

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:06

       (coughs)

   19. DTDuncan Trussell1:06

       ... just part of this diaspora of comedians pouring out of LA.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       Yeah.

   21. DTDuncan Trussell1:11

       Like, and not just comedians, but just people lea- leaving, man.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       Well, (coughs) um, I talked to Joey today from New Jersey. Called, you know, I called him. He's in New Jersey and it's just such, so strange. I'm like, "You're in Jersey?" He's like, "That's right, motherfucker."

   23. DTDuncan Trussell1:26

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:27

       You know, he's, he's all happy in Jersey.

   25. DTDuncan Trussell1:29

       You know, he was the last. Like, you leaving was intense, but I was still like, "You know, maybe we'll stick around and see what happens." And then, like, I'd been getting all these... You know, the problem with me is, like, I get weird vibes all the time. And, uh, not... Like, the last time I was on here, I legitimately thought a meteor was gonna hit the earth. I mean, I got-

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       (laughs)

   27. DTDuncan Trussell1:48

       I really thought that. So, I r- I worked very hard on not listening to that part of me most of the time. But I was getting this real weird vibe from LA and I'm like, "Come on, man. You're just, like, superstitious." It's, it's probably nothing." And then, then my wife would say like, "I'm getting a really weird vibe. Like we... May- maybe, I don't know if we should stay here renting or if we should stay in the place." And I didn't wanna tell her, "Oh, I've been getting a weird vibe too," 'cause I didn't wanna amplify it, whatever that was. And then I got on the phone with Diaz and he's like, "Yeah, I'm leaving. Getting the fuck out of here." And that was it. That's-

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:22

       'Cause Diaz was telling me Burbank was sketchy, where he lives in Burbank. He says, "My neighborhood turned to shit, like instantly."

   29. DTDuncan Trussell2:29

       Dude, it's like... Yeah, it's, it's, it's not, and it's not just any one thing, you know?

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:34

       No.

2. 2:35 – 5:59

   Homeless encampments, drug policy, and public safety: Echo Park on the edge

   1. DTDuncan Trussell2:35

      It's like, not just like... Some of the stuff I get, stuff had to get shut down. And because stuff was shut down, it got a little more weathered than usual. And it's like, the, you know, the homeless encampments. I was in Echo Park, man. And like, I really feel like, you know, like the red state people, one of the things they love to tweet is like, "Don't bring your liberal bullshit here." Right? And they're like-

   2. JRJoe Rogan2:56

      They're right.

   3. DTDuncan Trussell2:57

      Well, this, that's where I'm eating shit a little bit-

   4. JRJoe Rogan2:59

      Yeah.

   5. DTDuncan Trussell2:59

      ... because, you know, I am, I do still believe that we need to, uh, decriminalize drugs. That the-

   6. JRJoe Rogan3:06

      Yes.

   7. DTDuncan Trussell3:06

      ... drug policy's bullshit. The way we're handling, it's all wrong. But they, there u- used to be a way that they could get people who were like camping out on the streets and a lot of the times that was possession of, like, illegal drugs. And because that, that stuff got removed, uh, suddenly, you were witnessing like... Holy shit, man. There's people who are making like real, uh, like, s- r- rational decision from the perspective of a heroin addict, which is they love heroin so much. You know that Doug Stanhope joke, "Some things are better than life."

   8. JRJoe Rogan3:41

      Mm-hmm.

   9. DTDuncan Trussell3:42

      Like, they love heroin so much. They're addicted to it, they love it and the shelters that are apparently available won't let them do drugs in the shelters.

   10. JRJoe Rogan3:52

       They want you to kick it.

   11. DTDuncan Trussell3:53

       Y- yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan3:54

       Yeah.

   13. DTDuncan Trussell3:54

       And so, that's ridiculous. But now, I could be wrong about that, but that is what I've heard is one of the reasons these people are staying out in the street, is not 'cause they don't wanna be in a shelter, it's because they don't want to be prevented from getting high.

   14. JRJoe Rogan4:06

       Yeah.

   15. DTDuncan Trussell4:06

       And so, this has produced this like situation in a lot of the big cities which is, we're seeing like massive tent cities. And by the way, the tent city thing, aesthetically i- it's not a, it's not the best look. But the stuff that I began to experience in Echo Park, man, I took, I r- I took my kid to the playground, right? And there's like a dude that looks like he emerged from a time portal from an apocalypse.

   16. JRJoe Rogan4:34

       (laughs)

   17. DTDuncan Trussell4:34

       You know what I mean? I'm not talking about like run-of-the-mill, like, somebody who's a junkie who's like... I'm talking, like, covered in, like, soot, like-

   18. JRJoe Rogan4:45

       Mm.

   19. DTDuncan Trussell4:46

       ... pure dilated eyes, not wearing like, you know, the disheveled clothes you might expect from someone who's been addicted to heroin for a long time. But like wearing like, like, he broke into wherever the costumes from Mad Max were. Like some kind of weird leather vest thing and like, like creepy fucking cutoff shorts and he had a, a machete.

   20. JRJoe Rogan5:10

       Oh, Jesus Christ.

   21. DTDuncan Trussell5:11

       And he's throwing it into the ground of the playground and pulling it out, like he's practicing throwing a machete. I'm with my fucking toddler, man.

   22. JRJoe Rogan5:20

       (sighs)

   23. DTDuncan Trussell5:20

       And, you know, it's like, and so obviously we didn't go to the playground, but that was, you know, my w- you know, it was not uncommon in that area to see completely naked people just... Not that that's bad, but not naked like the way I-

   24. JRJoe Rogan5:34

       Covered in dirt, wandering aimlessly.

   25. DTDuncan Trussell5:37

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan5:37

       Yeah.

   27. DTDuncan Trussell5:37

       Well, even worse than wandering aimlessly, wandering with what seems to be a purpose in their eyes. Some of them seeming like they're late. Where the fuck are you going naked that you're late for?

   28. JRJoe Rogan5:49

       (laughs)

   29. DTDuncan Trussell5:50

       (laughs) Like, are you being summoned?

   30. JRJoe Rogan5:52

       Oh.
3. 5:59 – 8:25

   Big-city fragility: loss of community, crime, and why megacities feel unsustainable

   1. JRJoe Rogan5:59

      Dude, I don't think this is sustainable, living in giant groups of people. I think it's, when it's, when it works, great.... it was wonderful.

   2. DTDuncan Trussell6:06

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:07

      When, when LA was, was working well, it was fantastic. When the Comedy Store was packed and restaurants were doing well and the economy was doing well-

   4. DTDuncan Trussell6:14

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:14

      ... and the w- the crime wasn't high, it's great. But when things go bad, there's no sense of community.

   6. DTDuncan Trussell6:20

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:20

      So then there's a sense of, like, people capitalizing on other people who either own stores or who aren't home or whatever, people who are desperate. There's to- there's too many people.

   8. DTDuncan Trussell6:31

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:31

      If you're in a community that's a small town and something goes wrong, you can kind of bunch up together and help each other-

   10. DTDuncan Trussell6:38

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan6:38

       ... 'cause you feel like you need each other and you feel like you're, you're a part of something.

   12. DTDuncan Trussell6:42

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan6:42

       People don't feel like they're a part of something here.

   14. DTDuncan Trussell6:43

       Right.

   15. JRJoe Rogan6:43

       They're all transient. Everybody's moved here from someone else-

   16. DTDuncan Trussell6:46

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan6:46

       ... from somewhere else. Everybody thinks they can go somewhere else, and they can, and they probably will. I mean, I, you know, we all came from d- You were North Carolina, I came from, uh, New York at the time. We all, uh, everybody who comes to LA in show business, God, what are the percentage of like, uh, uh, how many do we know that are just straight LA? Like, Christina Pazsitzky, she's straight LA.

   18. DTDuncan Trussell7:07

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan7:07

       Who else?

   20. DTDuncan Trussell7:08

       Um ...

   21. JRJoe Rogan7:10

       Sebastian came from Chicago. Theo came from Nashville. Did he? Nashville is where he came from?

   22. NANarrator7:16

       No. Louisiana.

   23. JRJoe Rogan7:18

       No. Louisiana, that's right. I mean, Joey, obviously Jersey.

   24. DTDuncan Trussell7:21

       Yeah. Well, and it's a gypsy town.

   25. JRJoe Rogan7:22

       And all over the place.

   26. DTDuncan Trussell7:23

       It's a gypsy town.

   27. JRJoe Rogan7:24

       Gypsy town. Gypsy town.

   28. DTDuncan Trussell7:24

       Which is something I've always loved about it. I've loved that element of, like, just this wild vortex-

   29. JRJoe Rogan7:29

       Yeah.

   30. DTDuncan Trussell7:30

       ... of artists and narcissists and people who've just gone insane. And, like, it's a, a, a lot of, uh, the sparks fly in, in that kind of insane cauldron of identity. All that stuff is super cool. It's, it's beautiful.
4. 8:25 – 17:34

   Progressive values vs. law-and-order reality: Seattle’s CHOP and the limits of idealism

   1. JRJoe Rogan8:25

      It's not ... The problem is not the city. This is the, there's ... I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and here's an issue. Um, I am progressive on just about every issue across the board.

   2. DTDuncan Trussell8:36

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan8:36

      Uh, gay rights, civil rights, women's rights, whatever, women's right to choose, f- fill in the blank. Pro-Medicaid, pro-universal basic income, um, I'm pro so many things. But there's a thing that happens in large cities, where large cities are always blue. And I'm trying to figure this out 'cause, like, New York is al- And I used to think it's, oh, it's 'cause they're educated, you know? And educated people are more likely to be compassionate, and compassionate people are more likely-

   4. DTDuncan Trussell9:03

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan9:03

      ... to be Democrats. (sighs) But there's a balance that has to be achieved. And when the shit hits the fan, you need law and order. And I think that some people who are Democrats, who are pro- progressive people, they don't understand that aspect of human nature. Or they wanna deny that aspect of human nature. Like when the mayor of Seattle was dealing with that whole six area lockdown-

   6. DTDuncan Trussell9:27

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan9:27

      ... little, small little country that they had put up barriers and shit. And, and then, like, literally were, had armed guards there that, uh ... What was it called again?

   8. NANarrator9:37

      CHOP.

   9. JRJoe Rogan9:38

      CHOP. CHOP or CHAS, right? The, the mayor said, "Maybe this is our summer of love." Well, there's no, it's not the summer of love. Some people took over other people's businesses with force. Like, just because they think the way you think or they subscribe to liberal ideas like you, like, you're a liberal too. So these, this is, like, your gang of thugs you have to support when they take over other people's businesses? No, we have to be able to call out everybody. And just because somebody is on your side, you can't let them take over city blocks and just institute their own government and then say it's the summer of love. This is crazy talk. And this is how, uh, this is gets, gets cities destroyed. And this is what gets the police defunded. And this what, what gets people j- saying crazy things, like, "We, we need to disband, uh, release everyone from prison," and, "No more prisons," and, "No more laws," and, "No more police." I'm like, "N- no." The way things go well is you have to be safe. The only way you're safe is if you have a strong military and a strong police force. And there's something about liberals that don't wanna believe that. They see the bad cops, they see these videos, and we all agree, we gotta get rid of bad cops. They gotta reform the police. They have to. But those are not all the cops. That's crazy. You're just only seeing the bad ... No one's t- no one's filming excellent interactions with friendly cops and compliant, uh, people. That's not what you're filming. You're, you're-

   10. DTDuncan Trussell10:59

       Not gonna get a lot of YouTube downloads.

   11. JRJoe Rogan11:01

       ... something that gets views. But that's the majority of these interactions. But we have this distorted perception based on what we're exposed to, which is viral videos of cops being cunts, 'cause there are cops that are cunts, because there's people that are cunts. And there's who knows how many fucking hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cops there are. The odds that they're not hundreds and thousands of cunts is, is outrageous.

   12. DTDuncan Trussell11:21

       Well, you know what I've been doing with this whole fucking thing, man? Uh, because if I get, uh, 'cause, because you know me, the way my mind goes is not gonna be, like, a red state consciousness when it comes to that shit-

   13. JRJoe Rogan11:33

       No.

   14. DTDuncan Trussell11:33

       ... 'cause when I saw that autonomous zone pop up, I'm like, "Let's do it, baby!"

   15. JRJoe Rogan11:38

       (laughs)

   16. DTDuncan Trussell11:38

       "Spread it out! Come on!" (claps hands)

   17. JRJoe Rogan11:41

       But what did you think would be good? What could, good could have h- come of that?

   18. DTDuncan Trussell11:44

       Well, I mean, the history of America is, is, it is, it's ins- beautiful yet somewhat, like, uh, there's a, there's a mania, a utopian mania in the heart of, uh, I think, of the American spirit-

   19. JRJoe Rogan11:57

       Mm-hmm.

   20. DTDuncan Trussell11:57

       ... which is like Americans-... identify with this. It's, you know, George Carlin did a great job of designating it by saying, "It's called the American Dream because you got to be asleep to believe it." I love that joke.

   21. JRJoe Rogan12:08

       Yeah.

   22. DTDuncan Trussell12:08

       But I love the American Dream and the, what's so beautiful about it is it's this idea of, like, I think together, we can do something new that's going to be better than anything that happened before. And from that spirit, you get all great innovation that cuts... goes across all political-

   23. JRJoe Rogan12:26

       Right.

   24. DTDuncan Trussell12:26

       ... ideologies, right? So, to me, you know, and they always call it, I've always loved that they call it the American Experiment.

   25. JRJoe Rogan12:32

       Yeah.

   26. DTDuncan Trussell12:32

       Fucking love that, man-

   27. JRJoe Rogan12:33

       Yeah.

   28. DTDuncan Trussell12:33

       ... 'cause it's an experiment. It's like let's see what we can do here together. And for an experiment to work, we need to be able to look at what didn't work in the experiment and improve upon it. Now, that being said, it's like, for me, I've been trying to, like, pull myself out of the, even though I- I identify as a progressive, I'm gonna vote Democrat. I'm, that's just what I'm gonna do. But that being said, I try to pull myself out of that 'cause I don't wanna be cubbyholed, man. And I have a lot of friends who are, like, hardcore conservatives. And I know that there is this idea, and I think a lot of the, uh, the idea gets perpetrated by people who are into tribalism, blue/red.

   29. JRJoe Rogan13:12

       Mm-hmm.

   30. DTDuncan Trussell13:12

       And so the- the blue people, they propagate a conceptualization of the red people, which is kind of what you said there. "Well, they're not compassionate."
5. 17:34 – 21:46

   Escaping tribalism: how news media scripts identity and weaponizes hero instincts

   1. DTDuncan Trussell17:34

      And, and, you know, the, and again, man, it's like I keep trying to, uh, get out of the, like, I- I keep trying to get out of... 'Cause I, I, this is what I've realized 'cause I love flipping through. I go from, I will jump back and forth from, like, Fox News to CNN-

   2. JRJoe Rogan17:52

      Me too.

   3. DTDuncan Trussell17:52

      ... to MSNBC.

   4. JRJoe Rogan17:53

      Yeah.

   5. DTDuncan Trussell17:53

      I'll check out some Tucker Carlson, blast over to Rachel Maddow. Find these, like, uh, like m- polar opposites and what I, I feel like what's happening just as a result of the entertainment that is news is that we're getting a very non-nuanced, uh, we're being told what we are basically.

   6. JRJoe Rogan18:11

      Do you, do you listen to the, or watch The Hill?

   7. DTDuncan Trussell18:14

      No.

   8. JRJoe Rogan18:14

      You should watch Rising The Hill. It's, uh, uh, Krystal and Saagar. And Saagar is a Republican and Krystal is a Democrat and... But both of them, super smart and really rational and they're honest.

   9. DTDuncan Trussell18:28

      That's cool.

   10. JRJoe Rogan18:29

       They're honest and they, they're non-partisan and they break things down based on their honest interpretation of what's going on.

   11. DTDuncan Trussell18:36

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan18:36

       And it's so refreshing, these two right here.

   13. DTDuncan Trussell18:38

       That's cool.

   14. JRJoe Rogan18:38

       Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti. They are fucking fantastic and they... I love the fact that they're friends, yet she's left, he's right, and it's not bullshit. They're not frauds and it's-

   15. DTDuncan Trussell18:49

       You think her real name's Krystal Ball?

   16. JRJoe Rogan18:52

       Um, if I ha-... If my last name was Ball, I'd name my daughter Krystal. It's dope.

   17. DTDuncan Trussell18:56

       Come on.

   18. NANarrator18:57

       (laughs)

   19. DTDuncan Trussell18:57

       You would not name your-

   20. JRJoe Rogan18:58

       Yeah. I'd call her Magic Krystal Ball.

   21. DTDuncan Trussell19:00

       (laughs) It's like, I don't know, man.

   22. JRJoe Rogan19:03

       Why not?

   23. DTDuncan Trussell19:04

       Well, 'cause then every... 'Cause you do that and you're gonna, like, uh-

   24. JRJoe Rogan19:09

       I didn't even notice it until now because I'm not name-aphobic.

   25. DTDuncan Trussell19:12

       I'm not name-aph-... It's kr-... My name's Duncan. I, I am name-

   26. JRJoe Rogan19:15

       (laughs)

   27. DTDuncan Trussell19:15

       How do you think I, I, I, just, I'm sensitive to names like that 'cause if their real name is Krystal Ball-

   28. JRJoe Rogan19:21

       Yeah.

   29. DTDuncan Trussell19:21

       ... be a third-grader named Krystal Ball. Have fun-

   30. JRJoe Rogan19:24

       (laughs)
6. 21:46 – 39:15

   Con artists, manipulation, and “hacking the operating system”: from hippie scams to watch theft

   1. DTDuncan Trussell21:46

      themselves in it and if they are starting to, like... It's dawning on them that they succumb to another American tradition.

   2. JRJoe Rogan21:53

      Mm-hmm.

   3. DTDuncan Trussell21:54

      Which is the con artist.

   4. JRJoe Rogan21:55

      (laughs)

   5. DTDuncan Trussell21:55

      This is an American tradition.

   6. JRJoe Rogan21:57

      Yes. Yes.

   7. DTDuncan Trussell21:57

      It's American to be a con artist and it's American to get sucked in by one.

   8. JRJoe Rogan22:01

      Yep.

   9. DTDuncan Trussell22:01

      Happens to the best of us. It's happened to me at a Grateful Dead concert.

   10. JRJoe Rogan22:04

       (laughs)

   11. DTDuncan Trussell22:04

       We wanted to buy 100 hits of fucking acid. This son of a bitch got us a sheet of acid, convinced us to try to sell it to make more money to get more acid. We left there with one mushroom stem on the way back to Hendersonville. I've been conned. I know what it's like. It's a very American thing. But it's like-

   12. JRJoe Rogan22:20

       So there was no acid at all?

   13. DTDuncan Trussell22:21

       Dude, he's... No. He... We got... He took our money to buy acid.

   14. JRJoe Rogan22:26

       (laughs)

   15. DTDuncan Trussell22:26

       And then he's like, "We could sell this acid and buy more acid." And then-

   16. JRJoe Rogan22:30

       Oh.

   17. DTDuncan Trussell22:30

       ... you know, we're like, "Yeah, let's do it." And then he sold the acid, I guess, and then we were gonna buy more a-... The point is, like-

   18. JRJoe Rogan22:36

       He started a business.

   19. DTDuncan Trussell22:37

       Well, he... My friend almost gave him his fucking car.

   20. JRJoe Rogan22:40

       Whoa.

   21. DTDuncan Trussell22:40

       Like, this was a very charismatic hippie. He was, like, looked exactly the way you'd expect him. A f- fucking hippie bandana, big hippie beard, long-

   22. JRJoe Rogan22:48

       Dude, some people are good at that and it's weird.

   23. DTDuncan Trussell22:50

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan22:50

       And they do weird things, like they talk a little too close to you, they make you uncomfortable.

   25. DTDuncan Trussell22:55

       Yeah, they use the... What's it? Neuro-linguistic programming. They, like... They, like...

   26. JRJoe Rogan22:59

       Yeah.

   27. DTDuncan Trussell22:59

       They just get you and, and-

   28. JRJoe Rogan23:00

       They know how to talk. You know, when I used to work at Newport Creamery, uh, some-... I'd work the register sometimes and we had lessons on how to deal with flim-flam artists. That's what they called 'em, flim-flam artists.

   29. DTDuncan Trussell23:10

       Oh, yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan23:10

       So they would teach you. So we had to, uh, sit there and be taught, like how someone will fuck you up, like they'll... Something that costs three bucks and they'll give you a 20 and they'll say, "Hey, uh, can you give me a 10 and a five, and then the rest in quarters?" And you're like, "What?"
7. 39:15 – 56:26

   Conspiracies, Bohemian Grove, and separating ritual from real harm

   1. JRJoe Rogan39:15

      I've seen the Bohemian Grove video.

   2. DTDuncan Trussell39:17

      Is that Moloch?

   3. JRJoe Rogan39:18

      Yes. That's Moloch, the Owl God. When Alex Jones and-

   4. DTDuncan Trussell39:20

      Isn't it just an owl?

   5. JRJoe Rogan39:21

      ... Jon Ronson s- no. It's Moloch. They w- they were talking about him.

   6. DTDuncan Trussell39:25

      Is it Moloch? Is that how you pronounce it?

   7. JRJoe Rogan39:26

      Moloch the Owl, Owl God, according to Alex. Uh, Jon Ronson and Alex Jones, they snuck into Bohemian Grove. This was when everybody was saying it was all bullshit. And I, I'd say this many times, and I'll say it some more. Give me that lighter.

   8. DTDuncan Trussell39:38

      You got it, friend.

   9. JRJoe Rogan39:39

      Look, Alex Jones, he's, he's made some mistakes and some big ones, but he's also actually exposed some real shit. And he owns up to the mistakes he's made. They're not good. He doesn't think they're good. Th- there's a thing about finding conspiracies everywhere that's not good for your brain. I really believe this. I think that if you go looking for those things and that's all you look for and you look for them all the time, you can get real paranoid and real crazy. And then, uh, there's also a bunch of people that are trying to stop you from doing that, because you do expose some crazy shit.

   10. DTDuncan Trussell40:09

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan40:10

       You know, he was talking about Epstein a long time ago.

   12. DTDuncan Trussell40:12

       I know.

   13. JRJoe Rogan40:13

       A long time ago. He was saying there is a fucking island and, and they take all these rich politicians and, and some celebrities and they bang these kids. And I was like, "Come on." He was telling me this a long time ago. So he's also the one who told me about B- Bohemian Grove. Well, I actually watched it for... That's... Like, I think this tape was actually made before I met him. So he went and snuck in to this place where like former presidents go.

   14. DTDuncan Trussell40:35

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan40:35

       There's a photograph of... It's, uh, Ronald Reagan with Herbert Walker Bush and a couple other people all standing around. And it's like, these are the people that used to hang out at this place and they would put on robes and they would worship an owl go- an owl god, and they would burn an effigy. And they're play- and the... And Alex snuck in and made video footage of this shit. And then no one's denying that it's real. This really did happen. They're... So they're in with these bankers and former presidents and they're dressed like druids.

   16. DTDuncan Trussell41:03

       Yes.

   17. JRJoe Rogan41:04

       And they... And some guy brings over something that it's an effigy that's supposed to be a body, a wrapped up effigy. It's a, it's a bunch of sticks in bl- in a blanket, but it's like shaped like a body.

   18. DTDuncan Trussell41:13

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan41:13

       And they drop it in the fire. And they're all worshiping an owl god.

   20. DTDuncan Trussell41:17

       Why is that bad?

   21. JRJoe Rogan41:18

       Ima- imagine if you saw those... If that's what your business is, just finding those things. How crazy do you think you'd get?

   22. DTDuncan Trussell41:23

       First of all, wait-

   23. JRJoe Rogan41:23

       Then you add in vodka and head wounds.

   24. DTDuncan Trussell41:26

       Wait. Wait, wait. Hold on. Wait. Go to the vodka and head wounds part. What do you mean?

   25. JRJoe Rogan41:29

       That's Alex Jones.

   26. DTDuncan Trussell41:30

       Oh, okay. I got you.

   27. JRJoe Rogan41:30

       He had a lot of vodka and he had a bad head injury when he was younger.

   28. DTDuncan Trussell41:32

       Look, goddammit man, when I was in liberal arts school, man, there was this great teacher who changed my life, Sam Scovill, and he... One of the things he taught was so beautiful. He still teaches there. One of the things he taught was, figure out a way to take in all information and then filter out the shit that's not real and-

   29. JRJoe Rogan41:48

       Yes.

   30. DTDuncan Trussell41:48

       ... keep the real stuff. And like, you know, Alex Jones is like, "Let's..." Yeah. He, uh...
8. 56:26 – 1:01:55

   Censorship, COVID discourse, and the internet as the new fire

   1. JRJoe Rogan56:26

      That's what you're worried about. You're worried it's gonna w-... And that's the weird thing about COVID, because it's the one thing where you're not allowed to do that anymore. Because if you do anything that goes against the government bylines, anything that goes against what the World Health Organization thinks you should do, or CDC thinks you should do, you'll get kicked off of YouTube. You get silenced. Everybody gets removed.

   2. DTDuncan Trussell56:47

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan56:47

      Whether you're right or wrong. It's the one thing where you can't talk crazy. You can talk crazy about the Earth being hollow. You could talk about beings that are made out of light that fly in and out of our consciousness-

   4. DTDuncan Trussell56:58

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan56:59

      ... and that's responsible for all of our ideas.

   6. DTDuncan Trussell57:01

      Yes.

   7. JRJoe Rogan57:01

      And then w-... You could talk about how there's an application that's coming in 2023, it's right now being vetted by the NSA to make sure that we can use it so we can communicate with the aliens. You can have all these k-... wacko videos where you're making shit up and no one cares. But if you say that masks don't help, and what we need to do is, uh, get healthier, they'll remove you from YouTube.

   8. DTDuncan Trussell57:19

      Well, that's the fire in a crowded theater thing.

   9. JRJoe Rogan57:21

      Yeah.

   10. DTDuncan Trussell57:21

       Like, you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, so... So, like, the pro-... Like, look, the problem with it is, to me, i- is I, like, have, like, gone through every single stage of grief over YouTube's history.

   11. JRJoe Rogan57:31

       Mask is a bad, um, analogy. Maybe a better analogy is you can open up businesses, as long as you do it carefully.

   12. DTDuncan Trussell57:38

       I used to love YouTube, man. I used to love it-

   13. JRJoe Rogan57:41

       I still love it.

   14. DTDuncan Trussell57:42

       But what I loved about it in the old days... I still love it. I still go on every day. But what I loved about it in the old days is what you're saying. No one's putting a cork in the champagne bottles.

   15. JRJoe Rogan57:50

       It was wild.

   16. DTDuncan Trussell57:51

       It was... It was a museum of madness.

   17. JRJoe Rogan57:53

       Yes.

   18. DTDuncan Trussell57:53

       And... You would... And what was even better is the algorithm was working in your favor, so it's like punch in Hollow Earth-

   19. JRJoe Rogan57:59

       Yes.

   20. DTDuncan Trussell57:59

       ... that's gonna take you all the way to, like-

   21. JRJoe Rogan58:01

       Oh, deep.

   22. DTDuncan Trussell58:01

       ... some crazy-

   23. JRJoe Rogan58:03

       Deep, deep, deep.

   24. DTDuncan Trussell58:03

       ... deep shit. And, uh, never once in all of my explorations in, in the early days of YouTube was I like, "This could be real." It was more like, "Wow! Look at how all the different versions of reality that people are processing." And, and it was a joy. But I think what happened probably is, like, people realized, like, "God," Like, "what we've got..." Like, you talk about this sometimes, man. The nightmare when... And it will happen, when primates figure out to, like, use friction to make fire.

   25. JRJoe Rogan58:34

       (laughs)

   26. DTDuncan Trussell58:34

       You talk about this.

   27. JRJoe Rogan58:35

       Yes.

   28. DTDuncan Trussell58:35

       And that's a nightmare-

   29. JRJoe Rogan58:36

       Yeah.

   30. DTDuncan Trussell58:36

       ... for the planet. Like, you think the fucking shit's bad now.
9. 1:01:55 – 1:10:14

   Regulation, vice industries, and unintended harm: cigarettes, vapes, and what we ingest

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:01:55

      Cigarettes, like they know they're killing people.

   2. DTDuncan Trussell1:01:57

      (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:01:57

      Imagine if you had bubble gum that killed a half a million people a year. Just bubble... It's like bubble gum, but it just, people are just dying.

   4. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:02

      Stop selling that shit.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:02:03

      Stop. What the fuck are you doing?

   6. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:04

      What are you doing? You're seeing-

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:02:05

      "Well, people have a right to chew their bubble gum."

   8. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:07

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:02:07

      "A lot of people like bubbles."

   10. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:08

       Yeah, that's right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:02:09

       Imagine if that's all it was. It's like you chewing bubbles makes you happy and everybody's dying of cancer, and this company is making $500 billion a year-

   12. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:16

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:02:17

       ... or something like... How much do they make on cigarettes?

   14. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:19

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:02:19

       How much... Let's, let's guess. Let's guess. What do you... How much, what do you think the ann- By the way, I wanna say it before. This is a box of cigars, okay? Mike Binder gave me that and he gave me that one over there, another box of cigars. I'm not anti-tobacco in any way, shape, or form. I'm a pro-free choice person. You absolutely should be able to s- smoke cigarettes. And I think you absolutely should be able to sell them because I don't wanna roll my own. And if I want a cigarette as a grown fucking man-

   16. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:43

       You can s- you can roll it up.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:02:44

       ... I want to be able to have a cigarette. But cigarettes do kill a half a million people in this country every year.

   18. DTDuncan Trussell1:02:51

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:02:51

       Or, uh, they're gonna die anyway, right? Cigarettes kill them early or they die directly because of diseases that you can get from smoking cigarettes.

   20. DTDuncan Trussell1:03:02

       And their kids get sick.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:03:04

       Dude, the worst, man. Kids that live in h- Greg Fitzsimmons, he has lung problems to this day because his parents chain smoked and they lived in Massachusetts-

   22. DTDuncan Trussell1:03:11

       Did your parents smoke?

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:03:11

       ... where it's cold. My mom did, but she quit when I was real young.

   24. DTDuncan Trussell1:03:14

       Did you ever-

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:03:14

       She quit when I was like six, I think.

   26. DTDuncan Trussell1:03:15

       Were you in the car with her when she smoked?

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:03:17

       I, I must have been if she-

   28. DTDuncan Trussell1:03:19

       With the windows up?

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:03:20

       I don't... Well, we lived in New Jersey, so it was cold in the winter, I'm sure I was. I don't think she smoked in the car with her kids though.

   30. DTDuncan Trussell1:03:26

       Dude, do you mind if I have a little more of this?

Episode duration: 5:19:48