Joe Rogan Experience #1586 - Tony Hinchcliffe

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drum roll) Joe Rogan Podcast,…

   1. NANarrator0:02

      (drum roll) Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. (energetic music) Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to right now is my guest. He is the one of the hottest up and coming standup comics in the world. You might know him from the Kill Tony Podcast or numerous other things. Please welcome Tony Hinchcliffe.

   3. THTony Hinchcliffe0:28

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:29

      That's my attempt at, uh, an intro.

   5. THTony Hinchcliffe0:31

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:31

      I'm gonna do that for every episode, just introduce the people while they're right there so they have to look at me-

   7. THTony Hinchcliffe0:35

      (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:35

      ... and make a weird, uncomfortable moment.

   9. NANarrator0:37

      You can do the radio voice and I just leave the logo on.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:39

       Hey, I can. Very nice. All right.

   11. NANarrator0:43

       Ladies and gentlemen.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Yes. Radio voice.

   13. THTony Hinchcliffe0:47

       Do you guys have sound in your headphones?

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:49

       You don't hear anything?

   15. NANarrator0:50

       Is it on for you?

   16. THTony Hinchcliffe0:50

       Not really.

   17. NANarrator0:51

       Oh, I turned yours down.

   18. THTony Hinchcliffe0:51

       It's like-

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       Oh, crank the volume up. See the volume?

   20. THTony Hinchcliffe0:53

       Two, two, two, two, two. Okay, there it is.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:55

       All the way.

   22. THTony Hinchcliffe0:55

       Yeah.

   23. NANarrator0:56

       There you go.

   24. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       Yeah, there was some weird crackling, so we had to ... Jamie had to monkey with some things, make it happen. Hey, buddy, how you doing?

   25. THTony Hinchcliffe1:04

       Hey, good to be here. Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       Welcome to Texas. You're here. Dude, we need to have a celebratory adult beverage.

   27. THTony Hinchcliffe1:08

       Okay.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:09

       You're, uh ... You said, you said okay like you're about to get punched in the arm. (laughs)

   29. THTony Hinchcliffe1:13

       Texas whiskey. Here we go again. (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:16

       Come on, bro. This is your ... You live here now.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Hm. …

   1. THTony Hinchcliffe15:00

      you know, him and Angelo Bowers, who was killed in a car accident a couple years into our sh- careers. Um, but those two guys, and I'm sure you had this probably when you started, it's like, those were the two guys that would kill the next day with new stuff that they didn't have the day before. We all knew what each other was writing and working on-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:22

      Hm.

   3. THTony Hinchcliffe15:22

      ... and everything, 'cause we were all so different. And we would see each other, 'cause we were stuck performing in front of each other. That's how it starts. And, uh, he was so, so brilliant. It's interesting that, you know, I don't know, these, these, these guys like getting into other things. I just can't imagine it.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:40

      Well, it's, sometimes the thing that v- makes them brilliant is, like, they're brilliant because they have am- amazing amounts of enthusiasm about something that's new, and so then they, that something that's new is not new anymore. Then it's something they've become accustomed to. It's, uh... You know, standup comedy is a weird art form, is that you really don't get good for, like, 10 years.

   5. THTony Hinchcliffe16:02

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan16:02

      You know, 10 years in is like when you really start getting good, you know. I mean, you, you can be funny, like, two years in, three years in. You, you can be funny. But, I mean, to have a real, like, crafted set, a, a solid set, it takes a long fucking time. And some people don't enjoy the grind of it, and then they'll do other things, like Jar- you know... Jarrod's very talented, very smart. Like, he can do a lot of different things if he chooses to, so I think he probably got interested in other things.

   7. THTony Hinchcliffe16:31

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan16:31

      You know? I mean, I know, I know he's doing television and film and he's just, probably just interested in just different ways to express creativity. Like, 'cause sometime- some people just get, they don't like one way, like, they'll just start painting. "You know, I don't want, I don't wanna do this anymore. I wanna play music. I wanna fucking make sculpture." Like, people are, and, you know, there's a purity in that, right? Like, w- you don't just wanna do what's getting you the most attention or what's getting you the most, uh, positive reinforcement. You really wanna do what you feel like doing.

   9. THTony Hinchcliffe17:02

      Right.

   10. JRJoe Rogan17:02

       That's, like, real artistic expression. But most of us, when you find something that you start getting some success at, es- especially something like standup comedy that's so difficult to get good at, then once you start getting good at it, you just say, "This is what I do. I'm just gonna keep doing this." Like, I, I, I don't draw at all anymore.

   11. THTony Hinchcliffe17:21

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan17:21

       You know? And I used to draw all the time. I, I very rarely draw. But when I was a kid, it was my life. Like, I was always drawing. You know, I don't have other real artistic expressions.

   13. THTony Hinchcliffe17:34

       Right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan17:35

       You know, just standup and that's it.

   15. THTony Hinchcliffe17:37

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan17:39

       But for a guy like Jarrod, maybe not good enough.

   17. THTony Hinchcliffe17:42

       Huh.

   18. JRJoe Rogan17:43

       Like, Bobcat Goldthwait started directing movies.

   19. THTony Hinchcliffe17:46

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan17:46

       You ever see Willow Creek?

   21. THTony Hinchcliffe17:48

       No.

   22. JRJoe Rogan17:48

       Dude. Willow Creek is probably the best Bigfoot movie ever made.

   23. THTony Hinchcliffe17:52

       Wow.

   24. JRJoe Rogan17:53

       And it's a Bobcat Goldthwait movie.

   25. THTony Hinchcliffe17:54

       You know what else he directed? My favorite comedy movie of all time, Windy City Heat.

   26. JRJoe Rogan17:59

       Oh, did he direct that?

   27. THTony Hinchcliffe18:00

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan18:01

       You know what else he directed?

   29. THTony Hinchcliffe18:02

       And he stars in it.

   30. JRJoe Rogan18:03

       Shakes the Clown, the alcoholic clown movie.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Wow. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      done it to me. They, one of my holes is still active.

   2. THTony Hinchcliffe30:03

      Wow.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      Hmm. That's an interesting thing to-

   4. THTony Hinchcliffe30:05

      Oh.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:05

      Take that snip. Jamie's got a picture.

   6. THTony Hinchcliffe30:07

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:08

      (clears throat) Look at that.

   8. THTony Hinchcliffe30:09

      Wow.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      Very embarrassing.

   10. THTony Hinchcliffe30:11

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:13

       But that is what it is.

   12. THTony Hinchcliffe30:15

       (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:16

       That is, (laughs) that's, uh, I think I'm 21 there, or 22 maybe? 22? Well, it says Jeff Sussman on it, so I'm probably 23. Maybe 24.... ain't that it? '23 or '24. (book slams)

   14. THTony Hinchcliffe30:29

       Look at that fucking guy.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:30

       Fucking earring. (clears throat)

   16. THTony Hinchcliffe30:31

       Look at that. You have more of a Tony Hinchcliffe-shaped skull in that picture than, uh-

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:37

       (laughs)

   18. THTony Hinchcliffe30:37

       ... than you currently do.

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       Th- I think you'd like to believe that.

   20. THTony Hinchcliffe30:41

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       (laughs) You like to believe that there was a time where my skull was shaped like yours?

   22. THTony Hinchcliffe30:45

       Sort of. You got a little bit of it.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:47

       You wanna get it thicker? You wanna get it wider?

   24. THTony Hinchcliffe30:48

       Yeah, I do.

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:49

       Y- a bunch of things you gotta do.

   26. THTony Hinchcliffe30:50

       How do I do it?

   27. JRJoe Rogan30:51

       Testosterone, growth hormone, and deadlifts. You gotta do a lot of heavy lifting.

   28. THTony Hinchcliffe30:55

       Okay.

   29. JRJoe Rogan30:55

       Yeah. You gotta literally change your bone structure. (metal clanks) You can get your face a little thicker.

   30. THTony Hinchcliffe31:00

       Let's do it.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   And for a lot…

   1. THTony Hinchcliffe45:00

      ... And it costs a lot of money.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      And for a lot of restaurant owners, it almost is like an art form, like, uh, or almost like a source of entertainment too, because you're not just providing a, a, a delicious meal. You're also giving them a nice environment, you're welcoming them. It's ... Hospitality is a big part of it.

   3. THTony Hinchcliffe45:16

      Yeah. In so many of these places, you know? We found this one place driving around one night. Um, we drove by this, uh, Italian restaur- you know, we were starving and, like, everything was closed, closed, closed, closed, closed. It was like a Wednesday at 9:00, right? It was a long shot, and we drove by this one place and we ended up ... The kid who worked there was the grandson. The grandfather's the owner. The grandma's inside answering the phone, unloading wine or whatever. Like, you would see her if you used the restroom. My point is, like, they were, they had ... He was honest, you know? He was just ... They're just open people. Like, "Yeah, we bought these heat lamps. Uh, you know, th- this is crazy. What do we have to do?" It's like an a- it was an alleyway. And I know for a fact, even though he didn't say it, that they're n- they weren't, they just weren't having a good year, to say the least. Um, and, uh, and it's just frightening to think that all these places with all these good people in LA aren't going to have a chance at opening up after they spend money on the heat lamps, after they completely reorganize their entire structure.

   4. JRJoe Rogan46:20

      Has there, has there been any big cities that decided to try to stay open most of the pandemic? I don't think so, right? I don't think there's any big cities that are run by Republicans, are there?

   5. THTony Hinchcliffe46:34

      Uh, big cities run by Republicans.

   6. JRJoe Rogan46:38

      That are, that just left everything open, basically.

   7. THTony Hinchcliffe46:40

      Y- you mean like mayors?

   8. JRJoe Rogan46:42

      Yeah. Like, what about Miami?

   9. GUGuest46:44

      I was just Googling ... I mean, I was like f- Miami might be open still, I don't know.

   10. JRJoe Rogan46:49

       Miami, M- well, M- I think Miami, I think Florida as a whole, the governor of Florida has basically said, "Listen, the cure can't be worse than the disease."

   11. THTony Hinchcliffe46:57

       Right.

   12. JRJoe Rogan46:58

       And it's killing our businesses. It's killing our people. It's ... Like, a lot of people are committing suicide. A lot of people are getting addicted to drugs. And, uh, you know, and he took a pragmatic approach. And you could disagree or, or agree, and a lot of people disagree, and I understand it. There, there is an issue, though, that a lot of people who disagree with him being able, h- him being able to do this and opening things up, they're, they're financially capable of surviving a year or even longer without work, and many of them are actually in the middle of work. And, uh, I don't wanna cast any aspers- I don't wanna cast any blame. I don't wanna, I don't wanna point any fingers. That's not what I'm trying to do. But, uh, what I wanna say is that it's really difficult to even imagine, and this is coming from someone who doesn't have to imagine this, so I know how ridiculous this sounds. But it's difficult to imagine the mindset of someone who's losing everything if you're not losing anything, if your life is basically the same. And this is the problem with some of the politicians. They, they didn't get punished financially for their city shutting down. They, they didn't get punished financially for 40% of the businesses going under. I mean, sure, it's gonna be tough for them to get reelected, but they can say, "Listen, we were in a pandemic. We did what we could. We saved lives." That'll be the, that'll be the, the propaganda. That'll be what they put, the pitch, that they saved lives by doing this. But they don't, they don't act the way a person would act if their entire life's work was on the line, like your dad and his restaurant. They don't act like that person where they find a way to keep things open and keep things reasonably safe, where they find a way, "Look, there's a, there's a better solution here. What we gotta do is, like, keep people healthier and that'll lower the numbers of cases, and then it'll also lower the severity of cases, and that'll allow us to open places up to a reasonable extent." You know? "How about we do this? How about we do that? How about ... What, what ... Is there a better way to protect people than fucking handkerchiefs?" Like, what's better, handkerchiefs or N95 masks? Can we just get everybody an N95 mask? It seems like that's a better way to go. Those fucking things, like, nothing gets through those. But handkerchiefs, you could blow ... You ever see those demonstrations people do with a handkerchief and a mask?

   13. THTony Hinchcliffe49:11

       Mm-mm.

   14. JRJoe Rogan49:12

       As a mask, rather, and they, they light a, a lighter and go (blows) and blow the lighter out? And then they do the same thing with like a cloth mask, a little more difficult. Then they go to an N95 mask and nothing happens.

   15. THTony Hinchcliffe49:23

       Right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan49:23

       Nothing. It doesn't get out.So that thing acts as, supposedly, some sort of a filter to keep most of the viral load or whatever. I don't, I'm, I don't know. I don't know how it works. But when you look at the effectiveness of that mask, let's say that if everybody had to wear an N95 mask, it cut infections down X amount percent. Let's do that. Let's do that. And if you, if you're talking about coronavirus, uh, uh, like, in LA they were saying 3%. I think it was 3.1% was coming from restaurants. What if those people were wearing N95 masks? Would that drop that 3.1 down to nothing? Would it be one? Like is one acceptable? Where people can keep their fucking living? Like you gotta look at these people... You got... First of all, you gotta look, government's never been able to tell you you can't work. This is unprecedented. This is completely new shit. Government has never been able to tell l- it... Like, everyone in an industry. I'm in the indoor dining industry. Everyone in your industry can't work. Government has never had that kind of power. Government has never, ever in the history of the United States of America had the power to shut all the gyms down. So you can't s-... Hey, all you healthy studs-

   17. THTony Hinchcliffe50:33

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan50:33

       ... and studettes and studxes, you, you, you can't go work out. You're... It's not up to you. It's not. The people who own that business, sorry. I know you've worked your whole life, maybe you did construction for 15 years and saved up half your pay and put it all away with this dream of one day opening up this amazing gym and making your living off your own business you created yourself in the community that you live in. But no. No. The government knows better than you, and they get to decide whether or not you can work. They get to decide whether or not you take chances, whether or not you feel like you've adequately protected yourself from the virus, whether you test enough. They get to decide.

   19. THTony Hinchcliffe51:15

       And a curfew. The psychological effect of knowing... And by the way, they're not enforcing it. They're not... The cops aren't pulling you over and going, "What are you doing?" But they don't need to. The fact that you know that you're supposed to have a 10... 10:00 PM?

   20. JRJoe Rogan51:29

       Dude, you know what they should do? They should have a, a loud siren that plays throughout the city at 10:00 PM-

   21. THTony Hinchcliffe51:35

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan51:36

       ... just to freak you out, like War of Worlds style. (siren sounds)

   23. THTony Hinchcliffe51:40

       But I'm telling you, when we went from-

   24. JRJoe Rogan51:42

       (siren sounds) (laughs) Can you imagine?

   25. THTony Hinchcliffe51:45

       There are tornado sirens in Ohio-

   26. JRJoe Rogan51:46

       Yes.

   27. THTony Hinchcliffe51:46

       ... and places where they have that. They could just crank that out.

   28. JRJoe Rogan51:47

       Just like that, like a tornado siren.

   29. THTony Hinchcliffe51:50

       When we went from Texas back to California, it was like, uh, being on vacation and then going to boarding school. Psychologically, it was like that. It didn't f-... You know. There was no one enforcing the rules.

   30. JRJoe Rogan52:01

       Boarding school, it's more like juvenile detention.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:13:29

   (laughs) Yeah. It's amazing.…

   1. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:00

      We're neighbors now.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      (laughs) Yeah. It's amazing.

   3. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:02

      We are literally like across the street neighbors.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      Oh, I love it. I love it.

   5. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:05

      My walk to his place is two minutes.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:08

      Uh, well, he's a part of everything we do out here. If we're gonna do something out here-

   7. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:11

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:11

      ... Ron White's gonna be a part of that, for sure. Um, but, so anyway, he goes up, murders, destroys, and he brings me up. He brings me up, gives me this big giant hug. He's fucking beaming, beaming when he brings me up.

   9. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:23

      Oh, my God.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

       And then I get off stage, and he grabs me by both shoulders and goes, "No matter what we do, we gotta keep this going."

   11. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:30

       (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:30

       "No matter what we do." He was, like, so fired up.

   13. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:33

       I swear to God, one of my favorite-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

       He goes, "We're gonna fucking keep this going."

   15. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:37

       One of my favorite highlights of that night...

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:39

       (laughs)

   17. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:39

       It's funny 'cause I didn't even know that. But one of the highlights of that night to me was a- when he brought you up, he came back up the stairs to the green room, or to the green room area, because I was in the hallway half anyway, and he gave me one of those big hugs-

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:55

       Yes.

   19. THTony Hinchcliffe1:00:55

       ... where the back side of the h- where his hands slap against my back so hard that you could tell he couldn't even control it.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:01

       (laughs)

   21. THTony Hinchcliffe1:01:02

       This wise, grown man could not contain his excitement for something that he hadn't done in months.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

       Almost a year, right?

   23. THTony Hinchcliffe1:01:11

       The longest break of his, I think he said, what, 40-year career? 30 or 40 years-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:17

       Yeah, so-

   25. THTony Hinchcliffe1:01:17

       ... longest break he's had.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:18

       ... eight months. Eight months of no stand-up at all, and then murders. And then, you know, I think... He's a smart guy, right? So, the, the pandemic is raging. He's got a wonderful girlfriend. He's very happy, and he's got a lot of money.

   27. THTony Hinchcliffe1:01:33

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:33

       And so he's like, "Hey man, I'm just gonna fucking hang back."

   29. THTony Hinchcliffe1:01:36

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:36

       "I'm just gonna drink my tequila." He's got a tequila company.

Episode duration: 3:31:39