Joe Rogan Experience #1647 - Dave Chappelle

1. 0:00 – 1:36

   Mask riffing, studio vibes, and Chappelle’s rights win

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

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

   2. DCDave Chappelle0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Oh, hello, David.

   4. DCDave Chappelle0:16

      Hello, Joe. How are you?

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      What's going on with your mask, man?

   6. DCDave Chappelle0:18

      Nah, nah, I was fucking with you. I just wanted to see-

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:20

      (laughs)

   8. DCDave Chappelle0:20

      ... (laughs) I just wanted to see how you would react.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:23

      (laughs)

   10. DCDave Chappelle0:23

       All this 'rona talk.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:25

       All this 'rona talk.

   12. DCDave Chappelle0:26

       Sick of it.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       Yeah.

   14. DCDave Chappelle0:28

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:29

       Headphones or no headphones? What do you want to do?

   16. DCDave Chappelle0:31

       Oh, I'm gonna, I'll do, I'll do the phones.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:31

       Okay, there you go. I just don't want to be the only one.

   18. DCDave Chappelle0:34

       Nah, nah, it's all good. Here, I turn them up right here?

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       Yeah.

   20. DCDave Chappelle0:37

       Check, check, check. Here we go. What's up, Fingers?

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:40

       (laughs)

   22. DCDave Chappelle0:41

       (laughs) He's over there typing, and every few minutes, he goes like this, "Let's go."

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       (laughs)

   24. DCDave Chappelle0:45

       "Let's do this shit."

   25. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       So first of all, man, congratulations. You're the first guy to beat the system. You're the first guy to get fucked over by the system, go public with it, and then get your money. I've never heard it happen before. I don't think it's ever happened before.

   26. DCDave Chappelle1:00

       Bro, bro, I, I still can't wrap my mind around it. But I do have to shout out, uh, Chris McCarthy over at CBS Viacom. That, that guy, you know, when we were working this out, uh, his approach was someone who was actually trying to resolve something.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:16

       Came through.

   28. DCDave Chappelle1:17

       It was amazing, man. Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:18

       It's amazing. It's a, it's a happy ending.

   30. DCDave Chappelle1:20

       (clears throat)
2. 1:36 – 4:49

   Bitterness, public opinion, and why he walked away from Chappelle’s Show

   1. DCDave Chappelle1:36

      Well, I can say, I can say, uh, with a, with a high degree of honesty, not to say I was never angry about it, but I don't think I was ever, like, bitter. I mean, eh, by this point in my life, I wasn't bitter.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:48

      Yeah, you were, you would joke about it. You were angry about it, but you, not to the point where it fucked with your head, but you would joke about it.

   3. DCDave Chappelle1:57

      Well, I mean, you know, you know the bottom line is no matter what happens to you, you gotta keep going.

   4. JRJoe Rogan2:02

      You gotta keep going.

   5. DCDave Chappelle2:03

      And, and bitterness is quite cumbersome.

   6. JRJoe Rogan2:05

      Yeah. It's bad for you.

   7. DCDave Chappelle2:06

      Right. So you know, jokes is a way of, of shaking that off.

   8. JRJoe Rogan2:09

      Mm-hmm.

   9. DCDave Chappelle2:09

      Or, or processing something with the alchemy of levity.

   10. JRJoe Rogan2:12

       Yeah. Holding grudges, bitterness, shit's very bad for you. It doesn't ever help.

   11. DCDave Chappelle2:17

       No. A- and now we're getting on in age. You know what I mean? When we were younger, it's, it was fine to hold a grudge.

   12. JRJoe Rogan2:21

       Mm-hmm.

   13. DCDave Chappelle2:22

       Y- you didn't realize how, you know...

   14. JRJoe Rogan2:24

       You didn't realize it was fucking with you. What is that, uh, expression? That's, it's about, oh, it's about jealousy. That jealousy is the only poison that, that affects the container that's holding it.

   15. DCDave Chappelle2:32

       Right. That's exactly right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan2:34

       Yeah. Yeah.

   17. DCDave Chappelle2:34

       B- But bitterness, the same thing.

   18. JRJoe Rogan2:35

       Same thing.

   19. DCDave Chappelle2:36

       Yeah, it's not good.

   20. JRJoe Rogan2:37

       Yeah. It's just not good for you. You gotta be able to let shit go.

   21. DCDave Chappelle2:41

       Yeah. I mean, uh...

   22. JRJoe Rogan2:43

       But in your case, you made a ploy. Like, you, you, you said what happened, how you felt about it, and they were like, "He's right."

   23. DCDave Chappelle2:53

       I think, yeah. It, it-

   24. JRJoe Rogan2:54

       "Let's give him the money."

   25. DCDave Chappelle2:55

       It wasn't, it wasn't a, a court of law. I don't believe I would've got anything...

   26. JRJoe Rogan3:00

       It's kind of amazing.

   27. DCDave Chappelle3:00

       ... in a court, in a court of law. I think in a court of public opinion, it was a good time for me to...

   28. JRJoe Rogan3:05

       Yeah.

   29. DCDave Chappelle3:05

       ... to say my piece.

   30. JRJoe Rogan3:06

       'Cause-
3. 4:49 – 10:47

   Expensive knowledge: travel, firsthand experience, and rebuilding perspective

   1. DCDave Chappelle4:49

      Something about, you know, I was geared a certain way growing up 'cause I wanted to make it in show business and, and, and boy, that shit fell all the, all the way apart. A- and as far as I knew, my career was over. So where do you go from there?

   2. JRJoe Rogan5:02

      Yeah, but your career wasn't over. You just decided...

   3. DCDave Chappelle5:05

      In-

   4. JRJoe Rogan5:05

      ... you were gonna just sorta lay back for a while.

   5. DCDave Chappelle5:08

      In hindsight, yeah. But i- when it was happening...

   6. JRJoe Rogan5:11

      You really felt like it was over.

   7. DCDave Chappelle5:13

      I never seen these things before.

   8. JRJoe Rogan5:15

      Right.

   9. DCDave Chappelle5:15

      I didn't see anyone else do this and, and, and get back up. I didn't see, uh, you know, and, and the drumbeat is, "He's crazy. He smokes crack. He's this. He's that."

   10. JRJoe Rogan5:22

       Yeah.

   11. DCDave Chappelle5:22

       It was, it was a wild, it was a wild experience. The way people close to you react to it, like you, like I had failed or I ruined my life.

   12. JRJoe Rogan5:30

       Hmm.

   13. DCDave Chappelle5:31

       You know? Uh, and then, and then, you know, when you're cold, th- that phone don't ring that often.

   14. JRJoe Rogan5:37

       Right.

   15. DCDave Chappelle5:38

       And then I, and then I had, uh, over a decade of, of sitting in that choice, but I didn't languish in just that experience. I started doing standup for, for much better reasons than making it. I still enjoyed it. I, I, I started seeing the places while I was performing. Normally, when you're like "successful" in comedy, you know, you get off the plane or the bus, you hit, you do the hit, you go back to the hotel, you get back on the bus. You don't really see anything. You don't really...

   16. JRJoe Rogan6:05

       Yeah.

   17. DCDave Chappelle6:05

       Like even now, like this, this last run we did here in Austin, and we was here for weeks. And then I got to see Austin. I got to find restaurants I like. I met people that I probably called 'cause I'm in town, stuff like that.... and, and it was like that all over the world, not just the country. I w- I started going around just seeing the world. I got overwhelmed with this idea that none of my, uh, information was firsthand. I just read it in books or heard it from friends, and, and I was eager to just, just see something for myself. And, and, and I kind of entrenched this philosophy that my memories are, are some of the most valuable things that I have.

   18. JRJoe Rogan6:43

       Mm-hmm.

   19. DCDave Chappelle6:43

       These firsthand experiences. This-

   20. JRJoe Rogan6:44

       Yeah.

   21. DCDave Chappelle6:45

       ... can't take that away from if I, if I reminisce on a nice day then, you know, it feeds you. Remembering something is neurologically almost identical, I've read, to experiencing it.

   22. JRJoe Rogan6:57

       Yeah, I think that there's a real value in having experiences where you, you do it on purpose. Like, you go some place to have experiences and, and think about having those experiences. Because most of the time, y- you know, like, when we, like you were saying, if we do shows, you just kinda show up, you do the show, and then you go home. But if you, like, set aside some days to do things, like, that's very valuable for your perspective, which is ultimately valuable for your act. It's valuable for everything 'cause you're, you're choosing to take in more information and data specifically to enhance your perspective on life.

   23. DCDave Chappelle7:32

       Right, you learn things.

   24. JRJoe Rogan7:34

       Yeah.

   25. DCDave Chappelle7:34

       You, you, you gain perspective, which is very valuable for a comedian-

   26. JRJoe Rogan7:38

       Yeah.

   27. DCDave Chappelle7:38

       ... and, and a person. And, uh, it's humbling and it's empowering at the same time.

   28. JRJoe Rogan7:44

       Yeah, 'cause we know comics, like, that was a big theme during, like, the '90s, right, where comics would all tell the same stories about being on the road. They were all the jokes were about airplane travel and-

   29. DCDave Chappelle7:53

       Airline jokes.

   30. JRJoe Rogan7:54

       ... hotel food-
4. 10:47 – 17:58

   Internet accountability, “Yelped personalities,” and legacy takedowns (Gandhi/monuments)

   1. DCDave Chappelle10:47

      Man, look, uh, first of all, we gotta get into this music business thing in a second, but I was looking on the internet. Uh, it was a bunch of waitresses talking about what celebrities did or didn't tip them.

   2. JRJoe Rogan10:57

      Mm-hmm.

   3. DCDave Chappelle10:57

      Nobody can fuck up anymore.

   4. JRJoe Rogan10:59

      That's true, yeah.

   5. DCDave Chappelle11:00

      You know? Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan11:00

      Yeah, they got a whole website-

   7. DCDave Chappelle11:01

      It's a new-

   8. JRJoe Rogan11:02

      ... dedicated to bad tippers.

   9. DCDave Chappelle11:03

      Yeah. All of a sudden, breaking news, Ellen DeGeneres is a bitch. What? (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan11:08

       (laughs)

   11. DCDave Chappelle11:09

       What? You know, who knows. By the way, I, I like Ellen a lot, I'm just saying it's, this is what we're faced with.

   12. JRJoe Rogan11:17

       Yeah. I, I, I don't know-

   13. DCDave Chappelle11:18

       Our, our personalities get Yelped.

   14. JRJoe Rogan11:20

       Yeah. Oh, but the thing is, like, if you talk to enough people, you're gonna have disagreements with people. And if someone cumulates, if they curate only those disagreements and only take it from the perspective of those people that you had problems with, they could paint you out to be a piece of shit. Even if you're a really nice person who just doesn't take any nonsense from people. If you talk to enough nonsense people, you're gonna have enough conflicts. If they only curate those conflicts and make, like, a compilation, like, "Dave talked to this guy and told him to eat shit." And-

   15. DCDave Chappelle11:50

       Well, that's why I usually don't do interviews.

   16. JRJoe Rogan11:53

       Mm-hmm.

   17. DCDave Chappelle11:53

       Because I feel like this about fame in general, uh, and I see you go through similar shit. It's like they blow you up like a balloon and twist you in all these wild shapes like a balloon animal.

   18. JRJoe Rogan12:03

       Yeah.

   19. DCDave Chappelle12:04

       'Cause once, once you're in that thing, they can control the perception of it. Uh, and so why fuck with it?

   20. JRJoe Rogan12:09

       Gaslighting.

   21. DCDave Chappelle12:11

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan12:11

       Yeah, they gaslight people.

   23. DCDave Chappelle12:13

       And, and, you know, again, the, the people play incentives. I'll give you an example. Uh, you know, I'm not-Years ago, not that long ago, you remember when all those writings of Gandhi came out? They're, like, all this really racist shit. Did you ever read this?

   24. JRJoe Rogan12:30

       I did, yeah.

   25. DCDave Chappelle12:32

       And, and, you know the context of that. At the time he wrote those things, he was an attorney in South Africa. And South Africa had a racist legal system. And in order to be successful, you had to be a good racist.

   26. JRJoe Rogan12:46

       (laughs)

   27. DCDave Chappelle12:46

       And he was just succeeding. I'm, I'm sure he wasn't s- writing all this nigga shit in, in India. I shouldn't have said that, but, you know.

   28. JRJoe Rogan12:55

       (laughs)

   29. DCDave Chappelle12:55

       (laughs) Forgot I was on...

   30. JRJoe Rogan12:57

       We're on the internet.
5. 17:58 – 26:22

   COVID’s cultural stress test: trust collapse, city trauma, and moving away from LA

   1. DCDave Chappelle17:58

      That's crazy. I think that, uh... I don't know, man. I don't know where this culture is headed. I don't know what the fuck everybody's doing anymore. It, it's COVID year. Like, I'm, I'm a little... I'm a little packed away. You know, I've been out.

   2. JRJoe Rogan18:15

      Yeah.

   3. DCDave Chappelle18:16

      This is doing something to us collectively. Like, we talked about this the last time I was here, and I told you I was gonna come to the show. I wasn't bullshitting. Remember that day I said, "I'll come after the inauguration."

   4. JRJoe Rogan18:25

      Yeah.

   5. DCDave Chappelle18:25

      'Cause we all smelled that coming.

   6. JRJoe Rogan18:27

      Yeah.

   7. DCDave Chappelle18:28

      It's, it's a tough one.

   8. JRJoe Rogan18:30

      It's a weird one. We're being tested. It's testing the foundations of our culture, the foundations of our civilizations, testing how well, w- well we can be peaceful with each other, and make sense, and get along, and how much we value getting along with each other, and how much there's just so much divisiveness because we've never been... There's never been a time in history where the whole economy and the whole society basically just got frozen for a year and stuck in some weird, w- weird sort of side patch where we had to figure things out fresh. And people lost, like how many people lost their jobs? How many people lost their lives? How many people lost their grandparents or-

   9. DCDave Chappelle19:08

      Their loved ones, that's right.

   10. JRJoe Rogan19:09

       Yeah. It's, it was a weird fucking year, and everybody's very sensitive. And everybody's quick to pull the trigger. And then you got everybody who's, there's so many people that have just been online all day long this whole year, and that's not good for you.

   11. DCDave Chappelle19:23

       I still think at the core of all of this, uh, this what you call weirdness, is, is these profound trust issues. You know, it's like I said on Letterman, that these people that, that hoarded toilet paper and-

   12. JRJoe Rogan19:36

       Yeah.

   13. DCDave Chappelle19:36

       ... and hoarded and, and, you know, went and bought bullets out, and-

   14. JRJoe Rogan19:40

       Mm-hmm.

   15. DCDave Chappelle19:42

       You know, this, none of these things are, are good signs. I think that something about the nature of COVID punched a square in our American identity. We're individualists. We, you know, the, the, the mask and all these things that aren't actually, I don't think are actually oppressive, but I can see why Americans would feel they are.

   16. JRJoe Rogan20:00

       Yeah.

   17. DCDave Chappelle20:00

       Because they just don't trust the messenger anymore.

   18. JRJoe Rogan20:03

       There's too many mixed signals. It's hard. In the beginning when Fauci was saying, "You don't have to wear a mask," and then eventually they were saying, "You gotta wear one. You should wear two."

   19. DCDave Chappelle20:09

       That was a huge mistake. I agree.

   20. JRJoe Rogan20:12

       Huge mistake.

   21. DCDave Chappelle20:12

       Yeah, if, if you tell, if you give people information that, that may, may not be true, even if you have the intention of having them behave in a way that's beneficial for everybody, there's misinformation. The way you achieve these things, the separation from ends and means can be a profound problem if you're managing something like a nation of 300-plus million people. Uh, you need, we need to be able to trust the institution. So now y- you'll hear Americans say shit like, "They should fix this. They should fix that."

   22. JRJoe Rogan20:41

       Yeah.

   23. DCDave Chappelle20:41

       But in reality, the idea is we are they.

   24. JRJoe Rogan20:45

       Mm-hmm.

   25. DCDave Chappelle20:46

       Nobody feels that way right now.

   26. JRJoe Rogan20:47

       (clears throat) Well, we did before. I think people had faith in the government in the sense that worst-case scenario, even if they're incompetent, everything will stay together. Now you realize, no, no, it doesn't have to stay together. It can be ir- irreversibly fucked, like I think some of our cities are right now. I think there's some, there's some sections of LA, I don't know how the fuck they're gonna bounce back. You drive down the street and you see everything boarded up and you go, "How does this come back? How long does it take? Does it take a year? Does it take 10 years?" Like what is, what is this?

   27. DCDave Chappelle21:17

       And I have no point of reference to even make an educated guess. I've never seen any of this before.

   28. JRJoe Rogan21:21

       Nobody has.

   29. DCDave Chappelle21:22

       I'll tell you like, okay, so my experience during COVID, I live in Ohio. I don't live in a cough's distance from anyone I don't know. You know what I mean? It's, it's open space. It's... So we were isolated, but it wasn't oppressive. I could go outside. I could take a walk. I could whatever. I go to New York, I was telling you, uh, maybe a couple weeks ago when they opened all the comedy clubs back up, you know, just to show support, uh, for the clubs that nurtured, you know, my career early on. And, and it was, it was a tough one. I had, I had been there before, like, uh, the Saturday Night Live week, but that week was, you know, unseasonably warm. Biden had just won that weekend, so people were celebratory. This time around, I got a sense of the emotional carnage that happened in that city. And it, it was, it was significant. It was palpable. Like you would notice it. I did. And to hear them say it's like, "Whew, things are getting better." And I was like, "Better?" Because I hadn't seen New York since it was like incredibly healthy. You know, in the non-COVID times it's the, the, uh, I've heard a $2 trillion economy just in the five boroughs of New York. I don't know what's going on there now. You know, restaurants opening at limited capacity, people... It takes a, it takes courage just to go to a coffee shop or this, that, or the other, especially with this, this problem of, uh, uh, trust being in deficit.

   30. JRJoe Rogan22:46

       Yeah.
6. 26:22 – 30:18

   Origin stories: early comedy circuits, Boston toughness, and handling success

   1. DCDave Chappelle26:22

      All right. Well, let me say this. First of all, when I remember meeting you in the '90s, this thing never really seemed to affect you. You seemed serious about comedy. I, I, I had heard whispering that you did kung fu.

   2. JRJoe Rogan26:35

      (laughs)

   3. DCDave Chappelle26:36

      (laughs) You know. But you weren't like a... You would... I mean, you were social with all the comedians, but you weren't like the hangout kinda guy. You were always off doing your own thing. And even this podcast, it, it... Even though it grew to be a big thing, when it started, I don't even think you would start it with the intention of, "I'm gonna blow this motherfucker up." You just did it.

   4. JRJoe Rogan26:55

      Yeah, there was never a thought of blowing it up. It was just silly. There's a video, it was a funny video that was in the Comedy Store documentary of Tom Segura leaving my house, uh, talking about leaving my house and talking to Red Band, saying, "What is he doing? Why does he do this?"

   5. DCDave Chappelle27:08

      (laughs) Right.

   6. JRJoe Rogan27:08

      And he's like, "I don't know. He just... He, he wants to do it all the time. He wants to do this stupid fucking podcast that no one's listening to." But-

   7. DCDave Chappelle27:15

      Yeah, it's dope. It's dope. I mean, but... At that time, and even still, the way I remember LA, it's winner's circle.

   8. JRJoe Rogan27:23

      Yeah.

   9. DCDave Chappelle27:24

      And, and earlier in my career, like, if you're doing well in LA... Like, if I... Now, it's fun as fuck out there, you know.

   10. JRJoe Rogan27:29

       Mm-hmm.

   11. DCDave Chappelle27:29

       Uh, all the ropes open up and, "Oh, Mr. Chappelle," and they, they accommodate you expertly-

   12. JRJoe Rogan27:35

       Yeah.

   13. DCDave Chappelle27:35

       ... 'cause they're so proficient with hospitality.

   14. JRJoe Rogan27:37

       Yeah.

   15. DCDave Chappelle27:38

       But if you're not doing good, uh, they'll remind you just as quick.

   16. JRJoe Rogan27:41

       Yeah, it makes you feel bad.

   17. DCDave Chappelle27:42

       It, it makes you feel bad. It-

   18. JRJoe Rogan27:43

       I've seen people, the look on their face when you pass through the line and they... The security guard goes, "Oh, come on, come on up here." And the other people that are waiting, they watch you walk through, they, they feel terrible.

   19. DCDave Chappelle27:53

       Oh, God, I hope not.

   20. JRJoe Rogan27:55

       (laughs)

   21. DCDave Chappelle27:55

       'Cause I do it all the time. Like, I'm a, I'm a rope-crossing motherfucker.

   22. JRJoe Rogan27:59

       (laughs)

   23. DCDave Chappelle28:00

       No more waiting for me. (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan28:02

       Yeah, but you know what I'm saying? Like, for those people that are in that line, to be that person that gets called to the front of the line and, uh, the doors just open. The, the, they grab that velvet rope, "Oh, Mr. Chappelle."

   25. DCDave Chappelle28:13

       Right. Flagrant elitism.

   26. JRJoe Rogan28:14

       Yeah. They love it. They love it. And they wish it was them.

   27. DCDave Chappelle28:17

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan28:17

       And they wanna be hanging with you. "Maybe if I'm hanging with Dave, I'll get through that rope."

   29. DCDave Chappelle28:21

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan28:21

       Yeah.
7. 30:18 – 45:43

   Fighting mindset: Idris Elba’s Muay Thai bout and Joe’s knockout story

   1. DCDave Chappelle30:18

      Uh, security, Idris Elba, the famous actor used to be a security guard at Caroline's.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:22

      Really?

   3. DCDave Chappelle30:22

      Yeah, yeah. You can ask him. I used to buy weed from him.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:24

      You know, you used to buy weed from Idris Elba?

   5. DCDave Chappelle30:27

      Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I should talk about it, but yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:28

      Yeah, you can talk about it.

   7. DCDave Chappelle30:29

      I did. Yeah, I did.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:30

      It's legal now in New York.

   9. DCDave Chappelle30:31

      Yeah, yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       He... You know, he had a kickboxing fight. He's a-

   11. DCDave Chappelle30:34

       I, uh-

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:34

       ... legitimate Muay Thai fighter.

   13. DCDave Chappelle30:35

       I heard he's nice with it.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:36

       Oh, yeah, he's good. And he fought a good guy. Like, it wasn't a bullshit fight. It was a fight. It wasn't like he went out there and just knocked this guy out with one punch. Like, they got a fight.

   15. DCDave Chappelle30:44

       They, they were scrapping.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       Oh, yeah. It's a good fight. And he trained for a long time. Like, this... Pull up some video footage of Idris Elba hitting a heavy bag.

   17. DCDave Chappelle30:51

       This I gotta see.

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:53

       Idr- Idris Elba's got skills. He trains hard. And he, uh... I think he did it for a television show, so I think they documented his training. And he trained for quite a long time. And, you know, Muay Thai is a... That's a fucking brutal way to fight.... kicking legs and-

   19. DCDave Chappelle31:08

       Is that the shit that they do-

   20. JRJoe Rogan31:10

       ... kneeing the body.

   21. DCDave Chappelle31:10

       ... in Thailand?

   22. JRJoe Rogan31:10

       Look at him. Yeah, that's the shit they do in Thailand.

   23. DCDave Chappelle31:12

       I went to the Muay Thai fights in Tha- oh, look at that.

   24. JRJoe Rogan31:15

       Yeah, he's, uh, he's getting after it. So he would train at this, like, legit Muay Thai gym, and you watch him. I mean, if I saw him about to fight in the UFC, I'd go, "Uh, fucking, not a good move." Look at, he got dropped there. Like, he's training. He's doing real. I mean, he's getting his legs kicked, the whole deal. And you could tell that this is, uh, you know, they're not cutting any corners. He's doing the hard work, the real hard work.

   25. DCDave Chappelle31:49

       Man, I came across a-

   26. JRJoe Rogan31:49

       So here's his fight.

   27. DCDave Chappelle31:50

       Oh, sh-

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:50

       So he had a, like, a fucking real fight.

   29. DCDave Chappelle31:53

       This is a real shot?

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:53

       Oh, it's a real fight, man, a real Muay Thai fight. I mean, they were getting after it. Does it show in the fight? Yeah. Oh, so there's a whole documentary on it.
8. 45:43 – 58:16

   Money, taxes, and what “success” is actually for

   1. DCDave Chappelle45:43

      It's that, bro. You know, these paths in life, they reveal themselves, and this goes back to what we were saying earlier. If you look at things through the lens of money or monetary gain, you'll miss so much.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:54

      You miss so much.

   3. DCDave Chappelle45:55

      Th- this-

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:55

      Yeah.

   5. DCDave Chappelle45:56

      This thing about y- just following a passion, having a good dinner with somebody, like, "Yeah, I'll do it."

   6. JRJoe Rogan46:02

      Mm-hmm. Yeah.

   7. DCDave Chappelle46:02

      That's usually how the greatest things happen. When I did A Star is Born, I, I don't do movies. I'm so glad I did it. And it was just 'cause I liked Bradley Cooper. I kept meeting him at parties.

   8. JRJoe Rogan46:10

      That's awesome.

   9. DCDave Chappelle46:11

      And I just like-... I just liked the guy.

   10. JRJoe Rogan46:13

       No. Yeah, that's... Being able to just do what you enjoy doing, that's the real success of life. 'Cause if you're making a lot of money, but you hate what you're doing... Like, when I was doing Fear Factor, I, I didn't enjoy the job. I enjoyed the people I was working with. It was fun. They were a good group of people. We had a lot of fun, we had a lot of laughs. But it wasn't what I wanted to do. I was doing it for money.

   11. DCDave Chappelle46:34

       Right.

   12. JRJoe Rogan46:34

       And I made-... I made... But it gave me... The good thing was it gave me fuck you money. So, it gave me money where I had money squirreled away. I was like, "Ooh, I can relax now. Now I just do what I wanna do." And what I wanted to do was, like, do this stupid podcast and then, you know, do the-... eh, these MMA shows, go and do commentary, and I did all that shit. Again, it was all just because it-... I enjoyed it. And then that became my life. My life became only things I enjoy. So, now whether it's a podcast or whether it's standup or whether it's commentary, it's just I enjoy it. I look forward to it.

   13. DCDave Chappelle47:08

       I had a year like that right-... maybe the year before I did Chappelle's Show, where it was just like I was saving up to take a chance.

   14. JRJoe Rogan47:16

       Hmm.

   15. DCDave Chappelle47:16

       You know what I mean?

   16. JRJoe Rogan47:17

       Yeah.

   17. DCDave Chappelle47:17

       So then, when it came time to do Chappelle's Show, you know, the money was terrible, but, but I'd saved up. I could take the shot.

   18. JRJoe Rogan47:23

       Yeah.

   19. DCDave Chappelle47:24

       I could come off the road and, and take the-... and take a real shot, and it made all the difference in the world.

   20. JRJoe Rogan47:30

       The... Real sh-... When you take a chance, it's such a weird feeling. Taking a chance, like doing something, even just moving here, it's so exciting. It's so exciting when you don't know how it's gonna play out.

   21. DCDave Chappelle47:40

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan47:40

       It's so nerve-wracking. Like, it gets you. You're like, "Fuck, is this the right move? Maybe I should just play it safe and stay where I am. I mean, LA's gotta open back up eventually."

   23. DCDave Chappelle47:49

       No, this was a great move. And I can't imagine what you saved in taxes.

   24. JRJoe Rogan47:53

       I don't know. It's a lot though.

   25. DCDave Chappelle47:54

       It's gotta be.

   26. JRJoe Rogan47:55

       It's... 13% is what Cal-... California state taxes are?

   27. DCDave Chappelle47:59

       Yeah, yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:59

       It's crazy.

   29. DCDave Chappelle48:00

       I'm not-... I'm not even good at math and I know that's $13 million.

   30. JRJoe Rogan48:02

       (laughs)
9. 58:16 – 1:17:59

   Comedy under attack: comment sections, “recreational outrage,” and context collapse

   1. DCDave Chappelle58:16

      ... you know, it's funny that this genre's under attack because, 'cause to me, this is the everything's-gonna-be-okay genre.

   2. JRJoe Rogan58:23

      It's under attack because people have this ability to complain about things now, and then people pile on. It's a new thing, and they realize it's very useful. It's a, it's a good weapon, and if you choose targets, you could take targets out. You can go after 'em, and so it becomes a hobby. It becomes a hobby like if, you know, if you see a window and you got a rock, you feel like throwing that rock. And so a lot of times these targets aren't justified, but you can find a justification. You could say, "Oh, they put these words together in this order," and if you look at it in quotes written down on paper, you go, "Oh, well, this is, uh, ableist or this is this or this is that. This is something we can attack. Let's attack. This is transphobic. This is, this is, uh, homophobic. Attack. Attack." And they, it becomes, it's a recreation. It's recreational outrage.

   3. DCDave Chappelle59:11

      It is exactly... You know, the last time I came on your show when Donnell was here, and I fucked up. I looked at the comments section.

   4. JRJoe Rogan59:17

      (laughs)

   5. DCDave Chappelle59:17

      Ah, never do that shit again.

   6. JRJoe Rogan59:19

      (laughs)

   7. DCDave Chappelle59:20

      I'll never do that shit again. First comment is somebody said, "Dave looks like he stinks." Word?

   8. JRJoe Rogan59:25

      (laughs)

   9. DCDave Chappelle59:26

      Like, word. (laughs) Like, what? What did I do? What'd I ever do to you, brother?

   10. JRJoe Rogan59:30

       When, uh, RZA was on with Donnell, that was the first thing I said to Donnell after the show. I go, "Hey man, that was fun. Don't read the comments."

   11. DCDave Chappelle59:37

       Yeah. (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan59:37

       "Don't read the comments."

   13. DCDave Chappelle59:38

       No, don't.

   14. JRJoe Rogan59:39

       And Donnell just dove right into that comments, and he was on a deep spiral of mental illness for several days.

   15. DCDave Chappelle59:45

       Yeah, he said, "Man, they kept saying I interrupt, son." Yeah. (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan59:47

       (laughs) Yeah, I heard all about it. We was on tour after that. He was, he was-

   17. DCDave Chappelle59:51

       Ah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan59:52

       ... he was traumatized.

   19. DCDave Chappelle59:53

       He got shook.

   20. JRJoe Rogan59:54

       It's-

   21. DCDave Chappelle59:54

       I told him, "Stay out of there. Don't read that shit. You're the same person. You don't wanna be affected by those people." No, you don't.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

       No, because they, they just wanna bring you down to their level. They're miserable.

   23. DCDave Chappelle1:00:03

       No, but whoever wrote that comment that said, "Dave looks like he stinks," is probably gonna watch this and be like, "Nailed it."

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

       (laughs) Got 'em.

   25. DCDave Chappelle1:00:10

       So congratulations, motherfucker.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:00:12

       (laughs)

   27. DCDave Chappelle1:00:12

       And I can't wait to read your comment about me commenting on your comment.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:00:16

       (laughs)

   29. DCDave Chappelle1:00:16

       You're in the big time, bitch.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:00:18

       (laughs)

Episode duration: 3:16:02