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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

Joe Rogan Experience #1549 - Tom Papa

Comedian and writer Tom Papa is the host of the popular podcast "Breaking Bread with Tom Papa" and the author of two books, the latest of which is "You're Doing Great! ... and Other Reasons to Stay Alive." In addition, Papa is also the co-host, along with Fortune Feimster, of the Netflix radio program "What a Joke with Papa and Fortune." It can be heard daily on Sirius XM. @TomPapaComedy

Tom PapaguestJoe Roganhost
Oct 14, 20203h 0mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:020:56

    Austin vs. LA vibes: dining out, masks, and the ‘anxiety gap’

    1. NA

      (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

    2. TP

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

    3. JR

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music) Tom Papa, welcome to Real America. I'm glad you've gotten out of your liberal hidey-hole.

    4. TP

      (laughs)

    5. JR

      You, you come here where you can eat at a real restaurant.

    6. TP

      It feels the same.

    7. JR

      Does it?

    8. TP

      It's ... Yeah.

    9. JR

      What do you mean it feels the same?

    10. TP

      Uh, it feels the same. I went to a restaurant and, uh, uh, you know. Is that what real life is now?

    11. JR

      It feels the same-

    12. TP

      Restaurant or not a restaurant?

    13. JR

      Feels the same where?

    14. TP

      (laughs)

    15. JR

      As in, as it does in LA?

    16. TP

      Just walking around.

    17. JR

      LA feels the same as this place?

    18. TP

      Uh, kinda.

    19. JR

      That's not what you were just saying before we got on the air? What are you, a fucking propaganda?

    20. TP

      (laughs)

    21. JR

      This guy comes here-

    22. TP

      No, I'll tell you what the difference is.

    23. JR

      ... he's so different off air.

    24. TP

      I'll tell you what the difference is.

    25. JR

      He was saying y'all and all kinds of shit.

    26. TP

      (laughs)

    27. NA

      Don't you hide your guns.

    28. JR

      (laughs)

  2. 0:562:40

    Trump’s COVID treatment and the “VIP medicine” conversation

    1. TP

      Eh. No, you know what I've found? I c- I'm here to eat with you by way of Denver.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. TP

      And then, uh, and then to here, and they're all doing the same things, pretty much. You have a little more indoor, but everyone's masked up, everyone's doing thing, but there's less anxiety in these places.

    4. JR

      Right.

    5. TP

      There's, in LA-

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. TP

      ... there's, they keep the pressure turned up to scare you to get you to behave, so you do walk around feeling more trapped and more nervous.

    8. JR

      Yeah, but it's, it's not based on reality. It's not, it's not wise, it's not healthy.

    9. TP

      Well, the reality-

    10. JR

      Trump's 74 and he's fat and he kicked it in four days.

    11. TP

      (laughs) Yeah, but-

    12. JR

      I don't give a fuck what anybody says.

    13. TP

      What did they give that guy? They gave him everything.

    14. JR

      Why-

    15. TP

      He's the President of the United States.

    16. JR

      But, but it works. They have a thing, if you give him everything-

    17. TP

      Yeah.

    18. JR

      ... it works.

    19. TP

      Sure, but-

    20. JR

      It works for fat, old guys.

    21. TP

      (laughs) Yeah, but he's getting stuff that's very different from what you would get just walking into urgent care in Encino.

    22. JR

      Don't go to urgent care in Encino.

    23. TP

      (laughs) Yeah.

    24. JR

      Go to Cedars-Sinai. They'll hook you up with whatever he's got.

    25. TP

      Yeah.

    26. JR

      Do you think they, like, what, uh, is he getting things that you can't get?

    27. TP

      Yes.

    28. JR

      In all seriousness?

    29. TP

      Uh, yeah. Yeah.

    30. JR

      Are you sure? How do you know that?

  3. 2:406:32

    Election-year information chaos: fear narratives, global trends, and Sweden comparisons

    1. TP

      I literally, last night, because I literally was, like-

    2. JR

      (laughs)

    3. TP

      ... there is definitely so much confusion because the, that side is ramping up the fear, 100%.

    4. JR

      Uh-huh. 100%.

    5. TP

      Making it scarier than it is so they can get him in, to be president. And the other side is definitely saying (laughs) , from, from Trump on down, "Don't worry about this thing," so it makes it look like we did a good job and the economy comes back and all that stuff. So I'm like sc- this cognitive dissonance, like, what is real, what ... I watched Tucker Carlson, he made sense for a minute.

    6. JR

      (laughs)

    7. TP

      And then I watched (laughs) I, I watched Anderson, he made sense for a minute, and I was like, let me lift off into the satellite and let me just look at the world.

    8. JR

      Yeah.

    9. TP

      Let me see what's happening in the world.

    10. JR

      Right.

    11. TP

      Just, that's not involved in this election. Spain, France, Moscow, the Netherlands, all opened up a little too much and now are all putting restrictions back. Everything's spiked, coming back.

    12. JR

      Yeah, but if you wanna look at other countries, look at Sweden 'cause they opened up completely and they have less cases and now they're back to normal. They have no masks. You go to a bar, no one's ... Obviously it's a smaller country.

    13. TP

      Smaller country.

    14. JR

      Less-

    15. TP

      I mean, look-

    16. JR

      Less people.

    17. TP

      Yeah.

    18. JR

      They, they live in different sort of circumstances. They have mostly smaller villages.

    19. TP

      Right.

    20. JR

      Other than Stockholm, but-

    21. TP

      Yeah.

    22. JR

      ... they're, they're fine.

    23. TP

      I know, but if you look at Spain and you look at France-

    24. JR

      Right.

    25. TP

      ... and you look at Moscow, I mean, these places, n- there's no political agenda in these places. There's no political agenda. It's just they opened up and they said, "Let's go all open," and the cases skyrocketed and now they have to, like, bring it back a little bit. It's this ... The virus is a real thing eating all these extra humans. And, you know, it's-

    26. JR

      Eating all these extra humans? What the fuck? What are you saying?

    27. TP

      We-

    28. JR

      The virus is a real thing eating all these extra humans?

    29. TP

      Yeah.

    30. JR

      What is that?

  4. 6:327:50

    How long does a pandemic last—and what do lockdowns cost?

    1. JR

      How many businesses are we gonna lose between now and June, though? It, I think-

    2. TP

      I don't know.

    3. JR

      ... that the real, the real issue is people putting restrictions on what people can and can't do. That's the real problem, is you, you're basically giving up your constitutional rights. And there's, there's no real protection for you this way, right? There's no real protection for your business. There's no real protection for your livelihood.

    4. TP

      Well-

    5. JR

      And even because, even with all this-

    6. TP

      Yeah.

    7. JR

      ... you're still dealing with other kinds of horrible deaths and other kinds of horrible things that go along with-

    8. TP

      Sure.

    9. JR

      ... the economic despair.

    10. TP

      Sure.

    11. JR

      Like how many people are gonna die because of drug overdoses? How many people are gonna die-

    12. TP

      Or depression or suicide.

    13. JR

      Yes.

    14. TP

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      So these have to be factored in too.

    16. TP

      They totally do. And I really get the feeling like, but there's a, there's the k- the middle ground.

    17. JR

      Right, but the middle-

    18. TP

      Between the CNN narrative and this Fox narrative, there is the r- there's the truth. And I s- I saw it in Portland, I saw it in Connecticut, I saw it in Salt Lake City.

    19. JR

      What are you seeing?

    20. TP

      I've performed in all these places. And they are all wearing masks, but their businesses are open.

    21. JR

      Yes.

    22. TP

      And they're testing-

    23. JR

      Well, that's what we should have had in LA a long time ago.

    24. TP

      Yes, they're testing, they've got the masks on, they're distancing. Like I ate in restaurants, but, you know, it's-

    25. JR

      Yeah.

    26. TP

      ... limited capacity. I performed in comedy clubs, half capacity. Uh-

    27. JR

      But here's the thing, man.

    28. TP

      Not just because of my comedic draw.

    29. JR

      I don't think-

    30. TP

      (laughs)

  5. 7:5022:33

    Masks, distancing, and airborne spread: what precautions actually matter?

    1. JR

      I don't think that that's scientific because there's aerosol. The, the, the virus is carried through the air now.

    2. TP

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      This has pretty much been confirmed.

    4. TP

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      They used to think it carried through droplets.

    6. TP

      Mm-hmm.

    7. JR

      Which is the reason for the whole six foot social distancing space.

    8. TP

      Uh-huh.

    9. JR

      They don't think that's the case anymore. They think it's airborne.

    10. TP

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      So if that's the case, all that social distancing stuff is horse shit, because it's in the air.

    12. TP

      But not if you're social distanced and have a mask on.

    13. JR

      Th- I'm telling you, the social distancing thing doesn't mean anything anymore.

    14. TP

      Gotcha.

    15. JR

      What, what they're saying is-

    16. TP

      So you can be close with a mask?

    17. JR

      You can be-

    18. TP

      But you're still in a mask?

    19. JR

      A lot of these masks have holes in them.

    20. TP

      Well, yeah, but-

    21. JR

      A lot of these masks, like you see these paper masks that people have with the wire? There's an opening in the top, there's openings in the side.

    22. TP

      (laughs) There's a lot of sketchy masks.

    23. JR

      Now listen, I'm not saying it's not a good idea to wear a mask and maybe it reduces some of the droplets that go out.

    24. TP

      100%.

    25. JR

      Maybe. I'm not a scientist and neither are you.

    26. TP

      I am not.

    27. JR

      But what I am saying is, I don't know how much ... I think what you're getting is, you're getting a lot of people that are healthy and they're going out and they don't have it, and they're not giving it to anybody 'cause they don't have it, and you're getting away with it. And everybody's wearing masks and it's good to be cautious. But I don't necessarily know if you were in a room filled with people who had COVID and you ... Un- unless you had an N95 mask-

    28. TP

      Mm-hmm.

    29. JR

      ... un- unless you have a real mask. I don't know if those fucking cloth masks are gonna help you.

    30. TP

      Eh, I think they work. I mean, 'cause look. You, you look at these places.

  6. 22:3329:18

    Travel snapshots and state-by-state policy culture (Newsom, Florida, and comedy shutdowns)

    1. TP

      No, but I was, I was like... But by the way, I leave... Uh, the reason I started, like, even looking at, like, the perception of it all and trying to look at it in a global way is 'cause it is confusing. It's, it's... This whole thing is very confusing. And that we're in the middle of a election makes it so confusing because everyone's using whatever little information they have to their advantage. But there's also the confusion of... I'm in LA. I go to LAX. Joe, I could have gotten there five minutes before my flight.

    2. JR

      Yeah.

    3. TP

      I'm the only guy going through security. I'm... Walk right up to the gate and get on the plane. Like, no wait at... No traffic going down.

    4. JR

      Yeah.

    5. TP

      No wait at all. That's unheard of. And I land in Denver. It's like it's 2018. Packed. You know that big-

    6. JR

      Yeah, that's real America, Tom.

    7. TP

      You, you know-

    8. JR

      That's what I was telling you.

    9. TP

      (laughs) I know.

    10. JR

      You're living in this bullshit, liberal, communist, Marxist-

    11. TP

      (laughs)

    12. JR

      ... phony state. It's a nation-state.

    13. TP

      Yeah.

    14. JR

      And it's controlled by a dictator named Gavin Newsom.

    15. TP

      (laughs)

    16. JR

      And he wants you to be poor.

    17. TP

      Why would he want me to be poor?

    18. JR

      Because he wants more hair. He wants, he wants to use your money to grow his hair thicker.

    19. TP

      You ever see his sexy shot? Have you ever-

    20. JR

      He has a sexy shot?

    21. TP

      Y- You ever saw the sexy shot? Who is the woman that gave the... That he used to date who's now on the Trump, uh... She, she gave-

    22. JR

      Oh, that was his wife.

    23. TP

      Yeah. That was his wife?

    24. JR

      Donald Trump's junior's girlfriend is his ex-wife.

    25. TP

      His... Yeah.

    26. JR

      Yeah.

    27. TP

      Which I had no idea. Did you ever see the sexy shots that they made together?

    28. JR

      Before he ruined San Francisco-

    29. TP

      (laughs)

    30. JR

      ... they were together.

  7. 29:1837:58

    The Comedy Store documentary: legacy, difficulty, and why it shapes comics

    1. TP

      And, uh, I mean, doing the shows was so great. Oh, The Comedy Store, uh, documentary.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. TP

      I got to see it for my radio show. I got to see all the way through. They s- sent it to me in advance. It's really good.

    4. JR

      It's heavy.

    5. TP

      It's really great. It's... There's a real depth to it. Your part is amazing. And, uh, uh, it's just amazing. Like, what you did for that club was... Yeah, everybody kind of knows, like, how you had such an impact on it. But actually seeing it... You know, we're with you all the time and you see the... But seeing, like, the... In a documentary style, starting with the Mencia of it and getting to now.

    6. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    7. TP

      Man, that made me want to kiss you right on the lips. (laughs)

    8. JR

      (laughs) Is that a threat? He's threatening me now. Jesus, Jamie.

    9. TP

      Really, Joe.

    10. JR

      He's come here.

    11. TP

      It really is such a great thing-

    12. JR

      Oh.

    13. TP

      Because to have such a historic place that was so bright and great and then really decimated and fell on its ass...... and you're really the force that brought it back to this. Was like, oh, it was, it was just great. It was so great. And watching your story was really, really cool.

    14. JR

      Oh, thanks, man.

    15. TP

      Yeah.

    16. JR

      It was, it was heavy. It was weird to make. I cried a bunch of times thinking about Mitzi.

    17. TP

      Yeah.

    18. JR

      You know?

    19. TP

      Yeah, man.

    20. JR

      Thinking about the old days, about what it was like to come there.

    21. TP

      Yeah.

    22. JR

      You know, just to, to be a paid regular there. It's, uh, you know, it's such a polarizing place. So many people have a, a negative impression of it-

    23. TP

      Mm-hmm.

    24. JR

      ... because it's such a difficult club and there's so many killers there, and a lot of people just didn't feel like they got the respect that they deserved there. But it, it's, it's not the case. You just, it's, you needed a higher level.

    25. TP

      It's hard. It's-

    26. JR

      You, you, you're going up, you're on a lineup with 15 murderers-

    27. TP

      Yeah.

    28. JR

      ... and everyone's killing in front of you.

    29. TP

      (laughs)

    30. JR

      And there's a lot of people that would go there and they would have, like, sort of mediocre sets, and they would be upset 'cause they had a career. Like, they'd be on television shows.

  8. 37:5848:44

    Comedy community changes: podcasts, less gatekeeping, and the end of ‘famine mentality’

    1. JR

      And I- I think- I- I attribute that to the internet and I attribute that to podcasts, because I felt like it was a time of bounty.

    2. TP

      Mm-hmm.

    3. JR

      There wa- it wasn't a time of famine. And in the past, it was everyone had this famine mentality.

    4. TP

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      Because, like, if you got a sitcom and I was trying out for the same part, I felt like you took something from you, like-

    6. TP

      Right.

    7. JR

      ... "Fuck, there's only one part in a sitcom and Tom got it." Or if you were trying out for a game show or you're trying out for a talk show-

    8. TP

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      ... and there's, you know, five of us are out for it and one of us gets it, so there's this weird creepy competitiveness.

    10. TP

      Right.

    11. JR

      And if you were on a morning radio show and then there was a guy who's across town that was on the radio the same time, you weren't his buddy.

    12. TP

      Right.

    13. JR

      Like, we're friends-

    14. TP

      Right.

    15. JR

      ... and we also have podcasts.

    16. TP

      Right.

    17. JR

      And I tell people, "Listen to Tom Papa's podcast."

    18. TP

      Right.

    19. JR

      "Listen to Tom Papa's radio show."

    20. TP

      Right.

    21. JR

      "Listen to Fortune Femston and Tom Papa on the- on Sirius."

    22. TP

      Yeah.

    23. JR

      "They're- they're both great."

    24. TP

      There's a camaraderie.

    25. JR

      There's a different thing now.

    26. TP

      It's very true.

    27. JR

      Like, we support each other.

    28. TP

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      Like, I don't think of you and Fortune as being competitors. I think of you as being my friends.

    30. TP

      Oh, you should.

  9. 48:4459:19

    Sitcom era war stories: pilots, development deals, NewsRadio, and creative control

    1. JR

      Or even Newsradio, like-

    2. TP

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      ... that was a, that was a great show to kinda check your ego, because I was only one of eight people. And the other people, especially Phil Hartman and Dave Foley, were much more famous than me.

    4. TP

      Sure.

    5. JR

      And much more talented.

    6. TP

      Right.

    7. JR

      And it was like, it was in a... It was like I had an opportunity to do, like, an apprenticeship. Like, I had an opportunity to learn what it's like to act. I had, I'd never taken... I took a few acting classes-

    8. TP

      Right.

    9. JR

      ... private lessons, when I had gotten a development deal, but I'd never acted.

    10. TP

      Right. (laughs)

    11. JR

      And then, all of a sudden, a couple of months later, I'm on TV. Like, literally.

    12. TP

      Geez.

    13. JR

      Very little preparation, and I'm sitting there next to Phil Hartman-

    14. TP

      (laughs) It's so crazy.

    15. JR

      ... on a TV show, that if you watch those old Newsradios, it looks like it.

    16. TP

      (laughs)

    17. JR

      Like-

    18. TP

      (laughs)

    19. JR

      ... because my character had to be kind of, like, kinda innocent and stupid-

    20. TP

      Yeah.

    21. JR

      ... and, uh, and, and I was, like, really into conspiracies, which they made-

    22. TP

      (laughs) That's so funny.

    23. JR

      ... because of me-

    24. TP

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      ... 'cause I really was really into conspiracies. They kinda turned my character that way. But while I was there, I was kinda like, "Huh, is this really happening?" Like, even while I was doing it, I was like-

    26. TP

      Well, that's what's wild about it is, a lot of moments in this career-

    27. JR

      Look at me. I'm so cute.

    28. TP

      Oh, adorable.

    29. JR

      Fresh-faced 27-year-old.

    30. TP

      Looking back, 27?

  10. 59:191:09:18

    ‘The Social Dilemma’ and algorithmic polarization: outrage, bubbles, and search manipulation

    1. JR

      Oh, but you know what I did wanna talk to you about?

    2. TP

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      I watched The Social Dilemma.

    4. TP

      Oh, geez.

    5. JR

      Dude.

    6. TP

      You know-

    7. JR

      That's a must-see, kids.

    8. TP

      I heard it's depressing.

    9. JR

      Oh, so is real life.

    10. TP

      Because it's so real.

    11. JR

      Real life's depressing, Tom.

    12. TP

      (laughs)

    13. JR

      What's the use? Everything's gonna be fine. Wear a mask. I live in communist Russia.

    14. TP

      (laughs)

    15. JR

      Wear a mask. Trust me. Gavin Newsom's penis tastes delicious. We're all gonna be fine.

    16. TP

      (laughs)

    17. JR

      (laughs)

    18. TP

      We are gonna be fine. You think we exist on this plane and this plane only?

    19. JR

      Ooh, that's heavy. No. No, because I've done a lot of drugs. I think there's probably something else.

    20. TP

      You've seen.

    21. JR

      I think there's something-

    22. TP

      You know.

    23. JR

      ... I think there's something else out there, but just inaccessible right now.

    24. TP

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      But this Social Dilemma makes me very concerned about the future. Because all of these technologists and all of these people that have invented all this stuff that now are very unhappy-

    26. TP

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      ... it's really fascinating-

    28. TP

      And they're not-

    29. JR

      ... to see them discussing their own creations and then see outsiders who are also technologists who didn't, didn't invent these things, but are seeing the patterns in these things and understand it from, you know, a- a- a really educated perspective. They're- they're saying this could lead to civil war. Like, people are getting more and more divided. And it shows in the film how social media has made people far more polarized, far more divided than ever before. The- the red and the blue and then this and-

    30. TP

      Sure.

Episode duration: 3:00:58

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