Joe Rogan Experience #1662 - Tom Papa

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays)

   3. TPTom Papa0:13

      ... Frost was interviewing Nixon, so he made that movie about it.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      Oh, yeah?

   5. TPTom Papa0:16

      It was, like, the big thing for David Frost. He got Nixon to, like, to actually break about Watergate. And the way Nixon tried to, uh, the way that Nixon tried (laughs) to throw him before the interview, they're just getting ready and all the cameras and the stuff. He goes, "Did you fornicate last night?" (laughs) David Frost was like, "Why is the president," (laughs) , "the former president of the United States..." He's like, "N- no." (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:39

      So he tried to rattle him before the interview?

   7. TPTom Papa0:41

      He tried to rattle him before the interview. He was so, Nixon was so skillful and, "Did you fornicate last night?" (laughs) What?

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:48

      Is that skillful though?

   9. TPTom Papa0:49

      (laughs) It kind of fucked him up a little bit. (laughs) He was like...

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:52

       It seems like a Hail Mary.

   11. TPTom Papa0:53

       Yeah, well it didn't... Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       Yeah.

   13. TPTom Papa0:54

       He was, he was at the end of his game.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       Did you ever hear the time when, uh, Nixon was, uh, riding... They got a ride. Hunter S. Thompson took a ride with Nixon to, I believe, to the airport in his limo.

   15. TPTom Papa1:06

       (laughs) Uh-huh.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:06

       "As long as you don't talk politics."

   17. TPTom Papa1:08

       (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:09

       He's like... So they just talked about football the whole way.

   19. TPTom Papa1:11

       Was he president at the time?

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:13

       Yeah. He was president.

   21. TPTom Papa1:14

       Oh my God.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       I know. That's how weird the world was back then.

   23. TPTom Papa1:17

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:17

       A fucking wackadoo like Hunter Thompson could get-

   25. TPTom Papa1:20

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       ... (laughs) in a limousine with the President of the United States and, uh-

   27. TPTom Papa1:24

       Hitch a ride.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       Well, I think Nixon respected his football knowledge. 'Cause Hunter was a football fanatic.

   29. TPTom Papa1:30

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       And so he said Nixon was the real deal. He said Nixon knew about all these, like, uh, draft picks from colleges and-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Hmm. Right. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:01

      "Which are the protective measures anyone should take against the new virus? Do masks work?" He said, "The vast majority of people outside China do not need to wear a mask. Read the Fauci-approved response. A mask is more appropriate for someone who is infected than for people trying to protect against infection."

   2. TPTom Papa15:16

      Hmm. Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:18

      Well-

   4. TPTom Papa15:19

      I mean, what's b- like, what's ... My whole thing with all of this is it's been very confusing. We're all ... Every governor's making decisions. Everybody's, around the world, is trying to figure shit out and calling a lockdown or calling not a lockdown. Everyone's like ... Unlimited information trying to make the best decisions that they can.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:36

      Yeah.

   6. TPTom Papa15:36

      Like, I don't think that as a governor of a state you're making a decision to screw up the economy on purpose. I don't think that, I don't think that Fauci is talking about masks to, like, harm people. You know what I mean?

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:49

      No.

   8. TPTom Papa15:49

      Like, I, I just feel like-

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:50

      No, that's not the problem.

   10. TPTom Papa15:50

       I feel like they're just have limited information and are trying to muddle their way through the best that they can. Like, what-

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       That's not the real problem, is the mask thing. That's a small problem. The real problem is this gain-of-function research shit. This is the, the very research that they were doing where they were juicing up the-

   12. TPTom Papa16:06

       What is gain of function, you said?

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:07

       They were juicing up these viruses to make them more infectious, and they were practicing ...

   14. TPTom Papa16:11

       Uh-huh.

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:12

       ... like, trying to use, uh, I think they used human lung tissue and tried to get the virus to be more ... The, the, the idea is with ... I mean, I'm gonna butcher this for sure.

   16. TPTom Papa16:22

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:22

       But I think the idea is when they're doing this research, they want to find out what makes these viruses more infectious.

   18. TPTom Papa16:29

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:29

       And they were doing it on the original SARS as well.

   20. TPTom Papa16:32

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:32

       Which has, like, a 10% fatality rate.

   22. TPTom Papa16:36

       Wow.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:36

       Which is very scary.

   24. TPTom Papa16:37

       Wow, that is scary.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:37

       You know, this stuff is less than 1%.

   26. TPTom Papa16:38

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:39

       But that stuff is way worse.

   28. TPTom Papa16:41

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:41

       And by doing this gain-of-function research, they run the risk of people getting sick. We just found out a couple of weeks ago that in November of 2019, three workers from the lab in Wuhan got sent home and, uh, sent to the hospital rather, really ill, with coronavirus-like symptoms. And this was before they had COVID-19 tests, right?

   30. TPTom Papa17:04

       Uh-huh. This is way back.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   So how did it…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      that the researchers at Plum Island had engineered a new sickness, one that now affects more than 30,000 Americans per year." Yeah, it probably did.

   2. TPTom Papa30:07

      So how did it get-

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:08

      So, I don't know.

   4. TPTom Papa30:08

      So why is it predominantly in-

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:10

      Because it's right next to that-

   6. TPTom Papa30:11

      ... deer.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      ... fucking place.

   8. TPTom Papa30:12

      No, like deer, like-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:13

      Because the deer get infected by the ticks.

   10. TPTom Papa30:15

       So they've got the, so the ticks-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:16

       They carry the ticks, the ticks carry the disease. Wherever the deer are, the ticks live, the ticks get onto people, people get the disease.

   12. TPTom Papa30:24

       You know, I just wanna walk down the Appalachian Trail-

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:27

       (laughs)

   14. TPTom Papa30:28

       ... roast some marshmallows with my family. (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:30

       Well, don't get bit by a tick, bro.

   16. TPTom Papa30:32

       I know, right? Oh, my God, we could-

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:35

       So that's the, that's the theory, and apparently there's some merit to it. I've talked to people that are-... y- like, in intelligence agencies. And they think there might be some merit to that.

   18. TPTom Papa30:44

       Now let me ask you this. General question.

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:46

       General.

   20. TPTom Papa30:48

       Like that, that creates like some sense of calm almost because you know, like you get an idea like, "Oh, that came from Plum Island from those weirdos and they did the thing." With all of these theories of like where the stuff came from and all, is it just, does it calm us down to have a, a story rather than live with the reality that we live on this crazy, germ-filled, virus-filled planet that we have no control over and no real narrative? Like there, we're basically living in chaos. Is that why people crave these stories?

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:23

       Do they crave these stories? Well, here's the thing. Uh, for sure, we live on this crazy germ-filled, predator-filled, dangerous planet.

   22. TPTom Papa31:32

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:32

       That's, that's a fact, right?

   24. TPTom Papa31:34

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:34

       And there's for sure a bunch of diseases and a bunch of poisons and toxins and things that can kill us, for sure.

   26. TPTom Papa31:39

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:39

       But I don't know why it would give you calm to think some fucking spooks-

   28. TPTom Papa31:43

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:43

       ... some crazy CIA freaks invented some goddamn weaponized disease that infected bugs and then they released it, and then it accidentally got to Lyme, Connecticut and started fucking up kids' lives. How, I don't know why that would make you calm. The same reason I don't know why like coronavirus coming from a lab would be better. Like, "Oh, it's better! It's better that it came from a lab."

   30. TPTom Papa32:06

       Because you could be like, because you could go, "Oh, it was that guy. That guy, those, those creeps on Plum Island did it."
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Are they b- are…

   1. TPTom Papa45:00

      that was, like, the thing that was hard for me to (laughs) cut out.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      Are they b- are they bad for you, cheeses?

   3. TPTom Papa45:05

      Yeah, I guess.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      Who tells you that?

   5. TPTom Papa45:08

      The internet.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:10

      (laughs) I think, uh, raw cheese is not bad for you.

   7. TPTom Papa45:13

      'Cause it's ... Isn't that a processed food?

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:15

      Well, I mean, a lot of things are processed. Just processed doesn't necessarily mean bad, right?

   9. TPTom Papa45:19

      Mm-hmm.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:19

       Like, what means bad is preservatives.

   11. TPTom Papa45:22

       Mm-hmm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:22

       Preservatives are a real issue.

   13. TPTom Papa45:24

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:24

       I don't think processed ... Like, a lot of, uh, healthy foods are processed, you know?

   15. TPTom Papa45:28

       But if you eat a lot of cheese, is it ... Aren't you, aren't you gonna be a little...?

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:34

       (laughs) I saw a study recently that connected cheese with, uh, lower instances of Alzheimer's.

   17. TPTom Papa45:40

       Really?

   18. JRJoe Rogan45:41

       Uh-huh.

   19. TPTom Papa45:42

       Look-

   20. JRJoe Rogan45:42

       What the fuck does that mean, though?

   21. TPTom Papa45:43

       There is, (laughs) there is nothing-

   22. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       You know.

   23. TPTom Papa45:44

       I just accept it. There is nothing greater to me than wine, cheese, and bread. (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       Yeah.

   25. TPTom Papa45:53

       And throw in some-

   26. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       Yeah.

   27. TPTom Papa45:54

       ... pepperoni or-

   28. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       Right, right.

   29. TPTom Papa45:56

       ... prosciutto. Like, that-

   30. JRJoe Rogan45:57

       Charcuterie.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:11:06

   (laughs) …

   1. TPTom Papa1:00:00

      it's so great. It's so great. It's so great that you're talking about it all these weeks later.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      (laughs)

   3. TPTom Papa1:00:05

      You're like, "Oh my God, that peanut butter and jelly sandwich was so good."

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

      And if you try to have that, y- like, f- fake stuff.

   5. TPTom Papa1:00:13

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:14

      Like, you know?

   7. TPTom Papa1:00:15

      I know.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:15

      Like keto desserts, those are all dog shit.

   9. TPTom Papa1:00:17

      Substitute, I know. You can lie to yourself all you want.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:20

       Yeah, stop lying.

   11. TPTom Papa1:00:21

       But sometimes you gotta dial it in. Sometimes you gotta take care of yourself, you know, and that's okay. And you just have to be ... Just gotta pick your, your times of when you're gonna let yourself go off.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:32

       What did you do unusual during this pandemic? Did you do anything where you like made a shift in your, your daily routine?

   13. TPTom Papa1:00:42

       Uh, yeah, it was the creation of a routine-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:45

       Yeah.

   15. TPTom Papa1:00:45

       ... was kind of the thing. It was like the cr- like the r- this creating structure where there was no structure.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:51

       Hmm.

   17. TPTom Papa1:00:51

       I found that that was so important, like to have that plan every day, like I wasn't waking up in this weird haze of, "What's happening?" Like, I got really dialed into...... how I was gonna go after each day. And I had the radio show that I do with Fortune. (smacks lips) So that was two hours of my day, Monday through Thursday. And then from that, I built out. So I would, I ha- You want me to go through it? (laughs) Of like-

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:23

       Sure.

   19. TPTom Papa1:01:23

       ... what a day was? Like, I would wake up, uh, a little earlier so I could get the first meditation in, bef- before the day started, 'cause I do that twice a day. So I would do that for 20 minutes, then I would do the research and whatever I had to do for the show, do the radio show. That brought me to noon, and then I would work out immediately after that. Regardless of how I felt, I would have to work out i- immediately. And then the afternoon was kinda loose, was kinda structure-free 'cause you're dealing with the family, whatever. And then at night, when I was normally going out and doing standup, that's where I was working on the writing. 'Cause I'm working on the, the next book. And I was like, "Where is that gonna fit? It's hard to fit it in before the day." So when I would normally go out and do spots at night, from, like, 8 o'clock to 10:00, that's when I would do the writing.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:02:25

       So, it gave you... (clears throat) So even though you're not doing the normal stuff, like standup, it gave you, like, a real strict sorta schedule to look forward to every day?

   21. TPTom Papa1:02:33

       Totally. And the writing was, like, the-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:02:36

       (clears throat)

   23. TPTom Papa1:02:36

       ... the creative kinda thing, like, where I wasn't getting the, everything that you got from performing, like the adrenaline and all that kind of, like, great stuff. I was sitting with my comedic thoughts and, and-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:48

       But at least you were creating.

   25. TPTom Papa1:02:50

       Creating.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:50

       Yeah.

   27. TPTom Papa1:02:51

       And I, I'm sorry, I would do the... The second meditation was, like, at the end of the day. Like, that's usually around 4:00. And that gives you a little more, uh, energy to go and do that writing or that spot, like, late at night.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:03:02

       So you do two, two a day? Two-

   29. TPTom Papa1:03:04

       Two a day.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:03:04

       ... 20-minute ones a day? How many minutes?

Episode duration: 2:47:27