Joe Rogan Experience #1704 - C.K. Chin

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Happy birthday, my friend.

   3. CCC.K. Chin0:13

      (laughs) Thank you.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      I did-

   5. CCC.K. Chin0:15

      Appreciate that.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      ... not know it was your birthday when we scheduled this.

   7. CCC.K. Chin0:17

      Yeah, it's, uh-

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      So it's exciting.

   9. CCC.K. Chin0:18

      ... uh, you know, my, uh, my sister's birthday is today's as well. She's ... we're five years apart, exactly, to the day.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:24

       What?

   11. CCC.K. Chin0:24

       Yeah. To the day.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:25

       How weird.

   13. CCC.K. Chin0:26

       Yeah. My mom had great timing. (clears throat)

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       That's amazing timing.

   15. CCC.K. Chin0:29

       And so, yeah, so forever ... probably since I was, like, 10, it's been her birthday. Like, I wake up and say happy birthday.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       That's crazy odds.

   17. CCC.K. Chin0:35

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:35

       Like, what are the odds? Like, five years apart on the same day.

   19. CCC.K. Chin0:39

       Yeah. I guess I thought about that before. I mean, I guess the odds are just one out of 365. I mean, at the end of the day, that's ... it doesn't matter.

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Are they really?

   21. CCC.K. Chin0:46

       Because 25 years apart, and 10 ... It's still ... We only have 365 days a year, so it has to be one of those days.

   22. JRJoe Rogan0:53

       I guess.

   23. CCC.K. Chin0:55

       Mathematically speaking (laughs) , I think.

   24. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       I feel like there's something missing in that equation.

   25. CCC.K. Chin0:59

       (laughs) Right.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       You know what I mean? It's like one of them trick problems.

   27. CCC.K. Chin1:02

       Right, right, right, right.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:04

       What ... Uh ...

   29. CCC.K. Chin1:05

       Right.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       ... about that?
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   The whole hostel thing,…

   1. CCC.K. Chin15:00

      And we're just like, "Yo, like this is... This is not gonna work." This is, this, this (laughs) th- the dynamic isn't, isn't what we're trying to do. So-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      The whole hostel thing, like you just think immediately about foreign countries. You don't think about America when you think of hostels.

   3. CCC.K. Chin15:11

      Right. But it's... You know, we took it and kind of turned it on its head and at one point pre- pre-pandemic, we were doing very well because I think there was... It was a nicer option. It wasn't the cot and you bought... you paid for a blanket for a dollar, that type of... It wasn't for economic purposes, it was really for the-

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:29

      Social purposes?

   5. CCC.K. Chin15:29

      ... the social purposes.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:30

      Mm-hmm.

   7. CCC.K. Chin15:30

      The idea that you're traveling by yourself in a city you don't know and then it's possible that you'll end up, you know, um, staying in a room with some really interesting people, or some people who are also traveling by themselves and have nothing to do. So, there's a bar right outside the... So, the hostel, the Native was... is also a bar and we'd have a DJ on a Friday night and so you just go, "Hey, you wanna go and grab a drink?" kind of thing. It's the kind of en- forced interaction that I think if you're traveling in a... and especially if you're traveling, it's... it helps kind of lubricate that, that trip rather-

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:58

      Mm-hmm.

   9. CCC.K. Chin15:58

      ... than forcing you to go out to a bar and then e- and walk into it, and that kind of stuff. It's just really irking me just to think about it.

   10. JRJoe Rogan16:03

       Ho- so like when you come up with an idea like that, like how does that ever go from the meeting to fruition? 'Cause that seems like a... like, to get... just to get other people on board with that.

   11. CCC.K. Chin16:14

       Uh, so, this one I actually joined on as a partner after the conception-

   12. JRJoe Rogan16:18

       Oh.

   13. CCC.K. Chin16:18

       ... of it all. Um, but, you know, in our conversation of it, it, it was a cultural thing. It was the idea that we should take this ide- this culture of, of the kind of person that likes to travel that way, that likes to m- meet random people or to, you know, to just kind of roll the dice on that. You know, there is true. I mean, there's a couple people for e- for whatever reason, if you have that mentality to be able to say that the odds are that somebody else is in this room is... has this exact same mentality, you're kind of ahead of the game. These are people... These are six people that probably have similar situations than you, as opposed to at a hotel where you... who f- who knows why somebody's there. But here, the, the odds are you're saying, "Look, it's not... I'm not super concerned about my privacy (laughs) as staying in my own little private room. I'm a social kind of cat because I picked this one place that has, you know, a bar in it and doing concerts or DJs, whatever like that," that kind of... that, that kind of energy. Um, "I'm also looking to, you know, experience Austin in this kind of way, which being on the East Side," like a lot of... little checkboxes that check off to say that this is a kind of person that I am. So, um, you know-

   14. JRJoe Rogan17:29

       Especially the East Side, right?

   15. CCC.K. Chin17:31

       Yeah. And then you-

   16. JRJoe Rogan17:31

       The East Side is filled with, like, very odd characters.

   17. CCC.K. Chin17:34

       Yeah. It's a very... it's a watering... It's like an oasis. I'd describe it as like it's an oasis of where, you know, you'll see a rhino and a zebra and then they, they're all just there.

   18. JRJoe Rogan17:43

       Yeah.

   19. CCC.K. Chin17:43

       There's no reason why we're all there, just, we just happen to all gather there. But that was the kind of concept, was saying that, "All right, we like that aspect of the culture, but we also don't like the idea that this is a place where you're trying to s- have somebody save money." So just like you're going for a $19 bed, so you try to save money while you're backpacking through Europe and that kind of experience is a totally different n- need for a hostel, as opposed to... This one, it just says, you know, we're paying $40 a bed, $50 a bed, but there's four beds, six beds in that room. But if you... let's say it was... a lot of people were groups of four that would rent a room with four beds in it and you're getting a downtown-... a hotel for, you know, $160 bucks, and it's on the east side right there as opposed to, you know, $400 at the Four Seasons or something.

   20. JRJoe Rogan18:27

       Well, if you have a group of people and you travel together and you can all rent the room together, that's a great deal.

   21. CCC.K. Chin18:31

       You can do that too.

   22. JRJoe Rogan18:32

       Yeah.

   23. CCC.K. Chin18:33

       Right? So there's, there was that little mix. So it was fun. It was great. It was starting to come into its own and, and really kinda doing that, and then the whole world blew up.

   24. JRJoe Rogan18:39

       Well, one of the things that I liked about doing, uh, Stubb's when we, uh, were doing shows there was, uh, you would always come by with all kinds of different food from different restaurants.

   25. CCC.K. Chin18:52

       Right.

   26. JRJoe Rogan18:53

       You really celebrate all the local places and establishments, and it seemed like you would really take pride in bringing us, like, these burgers from this one local spot or pizza from another local spot or that kind of stuff.

   27. CCC.K. Chin19:08

       Yeah, that's how it got started. I mean, I met Dave years ago. Um, got introduced to him through, uh, Questlove, Ahmir, who is a friend of mine who is also a foodie. And that's... We met through food as well. And, um, I just remember he was coming here and, and, you know, no, no shade on corporate-type restaurants, but it was like one of the conversations we have, especially for people who are on tour, it's like you can... A lot of times that kind of experience is comforting, like, it's like, but people eat McDonald's on the road because it always tastes exactly the same or whatever it is. But at the same time, I'm like, if you had somebody to just guide you through whatever city you're in, like why wouldn't you? Like why, why would you go to Philly and not have a Tony Luke's or something like that? Why would you go-

   28. JRJoe Rogan19:51

       What's Tony Luke's?

   29. CCC.K. Chin19:52

       It's a cheesesteak spot, or Max's or anything, you know, any of the local-

   30. JRJoe Rogan19:55

       Mm-hmm.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      out what's the best way. And they said, like, with blind taste tests, everyone said offset smoker.

   2. CCC.K. Chin30:05

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      Every time they tested it, like, people were like, "This one's better."

   4. CCC.K. Chin30:08

      Yeah. Just because of the way that the smoke has to cool down.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      Mm-hmm.

   6. CCC.K. Chin30:11

      And there's some science behind that, that-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:12

      Yeah.

   8. CCC.K. Chin30:13

      And, but that's, that was it, which saying that what, what I was going with just saying with that time, you don't know you, you don't know you messed up-... until-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:22

      Until it's o- over.

   10. CCC.K. Chin30:23

       ... a day later.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:23

       Right.

   12. CCC.K. Chin30:24

       You know, half a day. So tho- those type of cooking experiences, I don't even understand how people, um, origi-

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       How do you get there?

   14. CCC.K. Chin30:31

       How you get good at that.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:32

       Right.

   16. CCC.K. Chin30:32

       Right? Because I, I remember I, I opened up a sushi bar years ago. And when we were doing taste testing for, um, the rice and the chef was, you know, cook a batch of rice with some kombu and little this and a little that and that. But every batch took an hour or so. And the batch had to come up, we had to let it cool, we had to cut the vinegar in there and cut the uh, and then taste it and go, "Nah, that's too sweet." And so we'd have to start our whole process over again. So to taste four batches of rice took us seven hours, or whatever it was-

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:07

       Mm-hmm.

   18. CCC.K. Chin31:07

       ... just waiting for the rice to get done. And so it's like these type of things like this really a, a, a, you know, a lesson in patience because that's the thing. It's like you're trying to do brisket, I don't know, until the next morning and then you come back saying, "Oh."

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:22

       Right.

   20. CCC.K. Chin31:22

       "The fire was too hot. I cooked it too much."

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:24

       Well, the good news is today with YouTube there's plenty of tutorials.

   22. CCC.K. Chin31:27

       Yeah. (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:27

       Where you can learn how-

   24. CCC.K. Chin31:28

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:28

       ... to do it correctly.

   26. CCC.K. Chin31:29

       For sure.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:29

       And everybody's, everybody's more than willing to show you the right rubs and how to spray it down and, you know, whether you use aluminum foil or whether you use-

   28. CCC.K. Chin31:39

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:39

       ... butcher paper.

   30. CCC.K. Chin31:40

       There's, there's a ... but there is something at the end of the day there's the skill that there is some level of ... that there's some talent that whatever it is, the adjustment of recognizing when something-
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah, for sure. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      food.

   2. CCC.K. Chin45:00

      Yeah, for sure.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      So, if I'm going to the salad bar, I'm, I'm looking for stuff that looks delicious.

   4. CCC.K. Chin45:04

      Yeah, for sure.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      I'm looking for olives and cheese and-

   6. CCC.K. Chin45:06

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      ... peppers, you know?

   8. CCC.K. Chin45:08

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:09

      I'm looking for-

   10. CCC.K. Chin45:09

       And, I mean, and th- and the, the, the skill that they do with the different, the picanha and the different s-

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:15

       Mm-hmm.

   12. CCC.K. Chin45:15

       And it's, and it's rare that you get to do this Pepsi challenge with nine different cuts of meat.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:20

       Right, right, right.

   14. CCC.K. Chin45:21

       You know, I think that, you know, it's like I love watching, you know, when you sit there, and you're cooking this elk, and you knock it out perfectly. But, it's like, you are probably one of the few people that had the experience to sit there, and when you have ... You can taste different parts of the same animal.

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:33

       Mm-hmm.

   16. CCC.K. Chin45:33

       And, and of literally that same animal.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:35

       So you see-

   18. CCC.K. Chin45:36

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:36

       ... that one animal, what the back strap tastes like, versus what the liver tastes like, versus what the s- shank tastes like, and stuff like that. Whereas when we're buying it from the store, that came from six different cows, probably, and you know ... Yeah. And th- the, that, the other part of it is you know for sure that you're dealing with a healthy animal.

   20. CCC.K. Chin45:53

       That's right.

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       You're not, you're not like ... You know, some animals have abscesses and all sorts of weird-

   22. CCC.K. Chin45:58

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:58

       ... problems, and they, you know, cut that part out.

   24. CCC.K. Chin46:00

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:01

       And, you know, who knows what's-

   26. CCC.K. Chin46:02

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       ... flowing through that animal's body.

   28. CCC.K. Chin46:04

       Yeah. And we were talking about it earlier. I think that there is a level of respect that comes from that. I think there's a lot of people are kind of in denial of the process of hard harvesting-

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:12

       Yeah.

   30. CCC.K. Chin46:12

       ... an animal.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:03:52

   Not ... It was…

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      when did they figure out water filtration?

   2. NANarrator1:00:02

      Not ... It was recent.

   3. CCC.K. Chin1:00:03

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:03

      (laughs) Yeah, recently.

   5. NANarrator1:00:05

      Last hundred years.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      Recently.

   7. CCC.K. Chin1:00:07

      (laughing) Recently.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:07

      I wonder, you know?

   9. CCC.K. Chin1:00:07

      Thursday.

   10. NANarrator1:00:08

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:00:08

       'Cause now, now they got it down to a lot of guys that go camping, they'll bring these, uh, water filter pumps.

   12. CCC.K. Chin1:00:15

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:00:15

       And so they can pull up to a puddle and pump through this filtration pump.

   14. CCC.K. Chin1:00:18

       Yeah. Well, they have that straw. There's that, that LifeStraw-

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:00:21

       Mm-hmm.

   16. CCC.K. Chin1:00:21

       ... that you're supposed to carry around that filters ... It's, it's amazing.

   17. NANarrator1:00:23

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

       I mean-

   19. CCC.K. Chin1:00:24

       You know what's even crazier? The UV wands. So you'll take, like, some water from a puddle like this. Yeah. And you have a UV wand, and you just stir the UV light through the water for- Dang. ... you know, X amount of minutes, and it kills everything. The problem is, it still tastes like cow piss or whatever the fuck you're actually drinking. But you won't die from whatever that is. Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:00:44

       It's a survival thing.

   21. CCC.K. Chin1:00:45

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:00:46

       It'll kill all the parasites.

   23. CCC.K. Chin1:00:48

       I mean, say what you will, I think that's one thing that, uh, this, this whole last couple years put in perspective, is like we really-... you know, we're living in a pretty magical time. Like, it's really still the best it's ever been, you know?

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:00

       Oh, it's incredible. I mean, even with the pandemic. Look, when, when you, we think about how many people got really, really sick during this pandemic and, but survived through the magic of modern medicine, and then learned at the end of it, like, "Wow, how valuable is my health? I'm gonna start doing something, I'm gonna start walking every day. I'm gonna start eating he-" I mean, a lot of people went right back to eating bullshit.

   25. CCC.K. Chin1:01:24

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:24

       A lot of people, a lot of people got real close to death and they were real scared and they went right back to being fucking sloppy. And it's sad, but a lot of people didn't.

   27. CCC.K. Chin1:01:33

       That's right.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:33

       A lot of people just started recognizing, "You know what? I am more robust w- if I'm thinner, if I'm healthier, if I'm eating good food and I'm taking in nutrients and vitamins-"

   29. CCC.K. Chin1:01:42

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:42

       "... and I'm exercising on a regular basis, the quality of my life improves. I'm more resilient." And if something does happen, you bounce back far quicker. And if there's anything that we learned from this pandemic, it's that.

Episode duration: 2:33:09