EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,045 words- 0:00 – 0:27
Idiocracy revisited: why it still works in 2022
- MJMike Judge
(drumming) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.
- JRJoe Rogan
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) So, uh, first of all, thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Thanks. Great to see you again.
- MJMike Judge
Thanks for having me, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
My pleasure.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
I watched Idiocracy this morning. (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
Oh, boy. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Dude-
- MJMike Judge
Uh-oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
... it fucking holds up.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
It holds up.
- MJMike Judge
Does it? Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, my God, it's funny.
- MJMike Judge
It's nice to hear.
- 0:27 – 3:17
A ‘cursed’ production: drought scenes, rainstorms, and post-budget cuts
- JRJoe Rogan
I never saw the whole thing before. It was one of those movies that I just, for whatever reason, I just never saw the whole thing. It was just-
- MJMike Judge
Well, it kind of... yeah, it didn't have much of a release, so... (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
It didn't?
- MJMike Judge
No, it d- they... It was, um... I mean, to be fair, like, it was a weird movie. It was hard to market.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's a funny fucking movie, man.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) Oh, thanks.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's funny. I mean, I, I watched it in the gym while I was working out. I was cracking up.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, nice to hear.
- JRJoe Rogan
It was re- it was really good. It was, like, surprisingly funny. There was some great stuff about it. When (laughs) when it shows the very smart couple that's holding off on having children-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... and then the dumb people keep fucking. (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) Yeah, that was, uh... I feel like I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Ugh.
- MJMike Judge
... really made the whole movie just to make that sequence.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) That was one of those rare time... Patrick and, uh, Darlene, the two actors that... It's the only time I think this ever happened. They... I think they were auditioning them in pairs, and they auditioned, and I kinda looked at, like, two or three more people and then said, "Okay, le- let's just cast them." It's (laughs) never gonna get better.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's perfect. (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
That guy was so good. Patrick Fischer, yeah. Um...
- JRJoe Rogan
It's... it was such a good movie, man. And it's just like-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, thanks. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
And it's so interesting, like, looking at the world in 2022. It's like, the only thing you missed was social media. You know?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, I mean, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
I keep thinking about all the stuff I missed. I, I... Yeah, I feel... That movie was... I feel like it was cursed to begin with. Um, everything that went wrong, went wr- everything that could go wrong, went wrong, like... And it was... So many things, like... Like, we shot it here in Austin. It's supposed to take place in a drought, and it was the, like the rainiest summer. We had to keep killing grass, which feels really awful to do. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, God.
- MJMike Judge
But, but we, um-
- JRJoe Rogan
How do you do that?
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah. You put a, like a giant piece of, like tarp, cardboard over it for, like two nights or something.
- JRJoe Rogan
Ah.
- MJMike Judge
And then... But then sometimes they have to put gasoline on it or something. (laughs)
- 3:17 – 6:36
Crocs in the future: the accidental prophecy of ugly shoes
- MJMike Judge
you know, she had a limited budget also. And for the shoes... So, this w- we shot it in 2004. She goes... She tells me, "Okay, there's this startup." And it was Crocs, but they weren't out in the world yet. But it was a small company and she goes, "Look at these," at these horrible plastic shoes (laughs) with the holes in them.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
She said, "We could really save a lot of money, just put everyone in these things." And then I said, "Well, what if... But what if... By the time the movie comes out, what if everyone's... What if these become popular and people are wearing them?" She said, "Oh, these are never going to become popular." (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
"She's... No one would ever wear these things, they're horrible." And then (laughs) there you go.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
And then... But then it took two years for the movie to come out, then everyone's... But then people were gonna be like, "Oh, that's pretty funny that you put everyone in Crocs." (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
They did kinda-
- MJMike Judge
But, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
... become popular, right?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, and then n- They're, they're not around much anymore, but they, they were really popular. I don't know what the hell is. No, they're really popular right now. They came back. Oh, they're back? They, they came back in the last- (laughs) ... like two years all of a sudden.
- JRJoe Rogan
What do you mean? Who's wearing them?
- MJMike Judge
Uh, w- Post Malone had a s- like a deal with them. I think Justin Bieber did too.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really? (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
People are putting, like, pins on 'em and stuff. They're very popular right now.
- JRJoe Rogan
Pins?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- MJMike Judge
... little... They're d- uh... Like, literally, like, pins, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, like shirt pins? Like-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Huh.
- MJMike Judge
I should stop- Sh- I don't know. ... stop talking shit about it. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
I know people wear 'em... A lot of guys wear 'em, like, in camps. You bring 'em to camp, like their camp shoes.
- MJMike Judge
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
And what, they wear Crocs around camp 'cause they're light. You know, if you're wearing, like, hiking boots all day and then you're camping-
- MJMike Judge
You just-
- JRJoe Rogan
... you wear Crocs at night when you're hanging around the campfire.
- MJMike Judge
And they got all these goofy pins on 'em. Don't you get Lyme's disease or something?
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, so this is a new thing?
- 6:36 – 9:27
What Idiocracy missed (phones) and what it nailed (culture + incentives)
- MJMike Judge
Well, like, like you said, I probably, probably would've had more staring at phones and stuff. I mean, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Nobody saw that coming, though.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. Um, well, there's also-
- JRJoe Rogan
Which is wild, right?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause you, you filmed it. It was released in what, 2005?
- MJMike Judge
2006.
- JRJoe Rogan
Six?
- MJMike Judge
Filmed it in 2004, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So if you think about, like, phones back then, it was all flip phones.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, they were starting to come out with the Nokia. Um, but yeah, the iPhone I don't think was there yet.
- JRJoe Rogan
That was seven.
- MJMike Judge
It was, it was, yeah, it was about to come out.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. And, but, and even then, like, everybody thought that was kinda like a novelty. Nobody ever thought it would be, like, a req- almost a requirement for life.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, and also I wrote it in two thou- I started writing it in 2001. And then, uh, this writer, Etan Cohen, I wrote a draft with him. I wrote a outline and then ... So that was like 2002, I think, or 2003 that we wrote it. So it was like pretty far away from all this stuff happening.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's the only thing you missed though. (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean that-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, that even like I, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
... the dumbing down of people you nailed.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, I was, I was sort of ... I was thinking of it like ... So I had, I had the idea in the '90s, but I remember, um, when, uh, in 2001 in the summer, um, I was with, uh ... Well, it was, it was the year 2001. I'd seen the movie in 2001 again and thought, "Wouldn't that be, wouldn't that, that have been funny if that movie, instead of everything being pristine, advanced civilization, it was like giant Walmarts and the Jerry Springer Show? And, like, what if, what if that movie made in the '70s (laughs) was actually that accurate?" And I just kinda thought of a graph of like everything from, from whenever that movie was made, like '71, to the year that it was, 2001, if you just kept that progression going. And just like more crass, foul language in the mainstream. More like just everybody getting dumber and dumber and just advertising everywhere. I don't know. It was just, it was just sort of a ... I also wrote it. I owed Fox a screenplay, and I pitched two or three different things. And they said, "Oh, that's the commercial one. That's the one you should make." And, um, I didn't think they would make it. I just ... It was fun to write.
- JRJoe Rogan
Why didn't you think they would make it?
- MJMike Judge
It just seemed too weird. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
I kinda ... But, uh, you know, they saw it. Uh, I, you know, anything in the future sounds fun and (laughs) like a big broad comedy. Um, but, uh, yeah. Then they, uh, it just ... It was more fun to write than it was to make. I mean, nothing against anybody involved. It was just like a very difficult schedule, and a lot of stuff went wrong. Had 65 speaking parts in it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MJMike Judge
Which y- you don't even ... When you're writing just, "Oh, and then there's this," and it's like, oh yeah, you have to cast every one of those people.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Well, it's still funny. It's still funny. It really, it really holds up. It's excellent.
- MJMike Judge
Well, thanks.
- 9:27 – 13:46
Joe’s MTV era memories: Beavis tapes, cheap pilots, and star-making economics
- JRJoe Rogan
I remember moving to LA, uh, in 1994. And, uh, I got a ... I think someone I knew at MTV hooked me up and they gave me a VHS tape of all the Beavis and Butt-Head episodes. And I didn't have cable hooked up yet.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) Oh, wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
So I was ... My TV was hooked up, but cable wasn't hooked up yet. And so I was watching VHS tapes of Beavis and Butt-Head. And I remember me and this girl that I was dating at the time laughing our fucking ass off. I didn't even have a furniture.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, nice. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
I just had a big TV. And we were sitting on the carpeted floor just crying laughing at Cornholio.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, okay. So you got to the good ones then?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes. (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, by that season it was, we started to find our stride. Yeah, that was, that was fun to do. That was, uh ... Wait, were you doing a ... Did you have a gig at MTV or...
- JRJoe Rogan
No. Well, I did. At one point in time I did MTV Half-Hour Comedy Hour, and then I, um, auditioned for another show at MTV. And the negotiations of that actually wound me getting up on, uh, a Fox show called Hardball, which got canceled, then I got NewsRadio.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
So that was, that was how I moved to LA.
- MJMike Judge
I thought I remembered that.
- JRJoe Rogan
But I was still in contact with someone at MTV, and they hooked me up.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, I thought I remembered some MTV association with you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that was what it was.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It was like, uh, they were trying to do a thing with me, but MTV was like insanely cheap back then.
- MJMike Judge
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
I think they wanted to give me-
- MJMike Judge
Oh my God, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... $500 for a pilot.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
And, uh, if the, if the pilot went, I would be exclusive to them for several years.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So like they, they would own me for several years-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... exclusively for $500, which is hilarious.
- MJMike Judge
Well, I think the way Dan Cortese got out of his deal ... I don't know this for sure but-
- JRJoe Rogan
Whatever happened to that guy?
- MJMike Judge
I don't know, but he, but they had a deal with him that actually violated labor laws. It was so ... Like, it might, might've been the same thing you're talking about where it's actually ... It might've even been slavery laws that had violated. (laughs)
- 13:46 – 17:58
How Beavis and Butt-Head got made: home animation → Liquid Television → selling too early
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, but, um, so how did you guys wind up with Beavis and Butt-Head there?
- MJMike Judge
Um, so I had (clears throat) I was making these animated shorts in my house and, uh, just mailing out VHS tapes of them. And, uh, there was a show called Liquid Television. Well, I'd gotten, I'd gotten, um, I made three shorts before. Beavis and Butt-Head was the fourth one I'd made and the first three had gotten ... Like, the first one I made was on the show on Comedy s- it was called The Comedy Channel. Um, uh, Night After Night with Allan Havey. Um-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, I remember Allan Havey.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. And so ... And then I'd gotten in some animation festivals and so people were starting ... There was a show called Liquid Television on MTV that, um, was on Sunday nights. And, uh, they would license animated shorts. So, I got, uh, I got like three or four of mine on there. It all happened very quickly. Like I had ... They were gonna ... They, they asked me to send my first three and I said, "I have a new one," and it was Beavis and Butt-Head. And, um, and then it ... So it got on that show and then there was a long, weird, cryptic negotiation where they said they wanna buy it. And I said, "What for?" And (laughs) like, and then I negotiated with ... It was Colossal Pictures, Liq- did Liquid w- Liquid Television. And then finally they said, "It's over." Oh, it was a long, ugly thing and then finally MTV came to me directly. I still didn't know what they were gonna do with it. I thought those little station IDs or something.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- MJMike Judge
And I was elated. I was like, "This is amazing. I'm just making these things in my house outside of Dallas and it's gonna be on MTV. That's amazing." And then I sold it. (laughs) I sold the whole thing to them for something like $18,000.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really? (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
The whole property? Everything?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, I mean, I retained something that you'd never see any money from, but I was able to get it back later, years later, but, but-
- JRJoe Rogan
How'd you do that?
- MJMike Judge
Just 'cause they needed me to do it and I just, you know ... But it was (laughs) yeah, I sold it, uh, but I ... This was after months of negotiating and I'm like, "Well, I ... It takes me s- ... It would t- ... I was animating everything by myself. It would take me like six to eight weeks to make two minutes and after two Beavis and Butt-Head shorts I was kind of out of ideas anyway. (laughs) So I thought like, "Okay, I'll just ... This will be my, you know, admission fee to show business. I'll just sell this off just to meet people and, and have them know about me." And, and I ... You know, after ... Like I, I went to different lawyers and they're ... Like there was a, this mob lawyer in Dallas who was just like, "Don't sign it." And I said, "Well, then I just don't do this?" Like, I mean, I don't regret it, 'cause I've, I think they were ready to walk away. Um, it'd been months, you know, like five or six months, which I guess in show business isn't that long of a negotiation all the time. But yeah, then they, and then they flew me up there and then they started talking about we're going to do 65 episodes and (laughs) I was saying, "Okay, am I gonna be involved?" I don't ... Like, I didn't ... And they said, "Of course, it's your baby," and you know, um, but they didn't say any of that until they already owned it. (laughs) They didn't wanna ... Maybe it was part of the, you know, the whole Pauly Shore of it all and those people that had gotten out of there. But they did, they did ... Their lawyer had all the bad intentions of a good lawyer, but she wasn't all that great and didn't know animation, so there was some big, uh, holes in the contract that I was able to-
- JRJoe Rogan
Exploit?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, exploit later.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, she thought that I was gonna be doing the entire, all the animation myself, so there was like a per minute fee that was like (laughs) three seasons in my ... I got Mic- still my manager, Michael Rotenberg, who's also a lawyer, said, "Hey, uh, this thing says they owe you a ton of money." (laughs) So yeah, we had ... We were able to ... I was able to get it back and now I own it like 50/50 with them, so ...
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, okay.
- MJMike Judge
That was after the movie and they wanted a sequel and all that stuff.
- 17:58 – 23:40
Building the new Beavis movie in lockdown—and what happened to MTV
- JRJoe Rogan
And so this movie that you got coming out, when did this start getting developed?
- MJMike Judge
Um, let's see. I had the idea for it a long time ago. It was really about three years ago and then, um, right before the lockdown, 'cause it was Friday the 13th, March 2020, I had lunch with, uh (clears throat) ...... the, um, Chris McCarthy and, uh, Kais Hilig, or at the Paramount+ guys and, and just sealed the deal right then. And then made the entire movie with everyone on Zoom and Evercast. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
So when you pitch a movie, like a Beavis and Butt-Head movie, are you pitching, uh, a p- are you just saying, "Look, I wanna do a Beavis and Butt-Head movie?" Are you saying this is what happens with Beavis and Butt-Head? Like what's the process?
- MJMike Judge
Oh. Well, with this one, with the sequel-
- NANarrator
(clears throat)
- MJMike Judge
... they've been wanting a sequel for years, and I've pitched different- usually-
- JRJoe Rogan
When did you make the first one?
- MJMike Judge
First one came out in '96, which was-
- JRJoe Rogan
So it was, like, a couple year, was it like-
- MJMike Judge
So the show, the short first aired on, in '92. (clears throat) The series ai- started in March of '93. So the show had been on a while before the movie came out, like three years.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MJMike Judge
They wanted it sooner, but-
- JRJoe Rogan
And when did they stop, when'd you stop doing the, the television show?
- MJMike Judge
Um, fall of '98. (clears throat)
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- MJMike Judge
So, so it was off for a while. But yeah, I just, I, I usually write an outline. Uh, I think that's ... I, I pitched, I don't think I pitched either of 'em, um ... I think I just started writing outlines for, well, for the first one and for this one too. And there was almost a sequel in 90- or I mean, sorry, in 2001. And then they violated another contract with me and I got really pissed and said, "No movie." And (laughs) -
- JRJoe Rogan
Jesus.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. There were, there are, I mean, there are-
- NANarrator
(clears throat)
- MJMike Judge
Now I don't know what, I don't know what MTV even is. And they've sort of been absorbed-
- JRJoe Rogan
Is it still there?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, the beginning of the movie, they have a whole thing with the astronaut and the flag.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, they're (laughs) ...
- JRJoe Rogan
So MTV is now-
- MJMike Judge
I don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
... mostly that, like, Rob Dyrdek show, right? That's basically the whole channel.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, is, I don't even ... Like every now and then a show comes along w- that's a hit. Like it was like, after Beavis, I don't know, it was like Tom Green then Jackass-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
Then Jersey Shore.
- 23:40 – 32:05
Finishing a film feels ‘icky’: withdrawal, doubt, and losing your comedy compass
- JRJoe Rogan
When you, uh, when you make a movie like that and y- and you're done, like, what is the feeling like? Is it, uh, is it like-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, that's a ...
- JRJoe Rogan
... uh, is it like, "Did we do enough? Is it what you wanted?" 'Cause it, like, I've got to imagine like vision and then execution and then when it's over, like, what does it feel like?
- MJMike Judge
It's a very strange f- mixed feeling. It's, it's like, you know, like, the, uh, the first one I did was a Beavis and Butt-Head movie and I, I remember, uh ... (clears throat) It's a, when your whole life, like however many hours a day is just fucking with it and editing it and-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
... making, and the sound mix and everything, and I think the last final thing was the final mix. And I remember walking out of that place just-... I should feel happy it's finally done, but it just said like icky, like, "Oh, shit, I've, I've missed something," or it's a really weird feeling and sometimes it's, (sniffs) sometimes it's better than others. Um, sometimes it's sick to your stomach. (laughs) But, uh, yeah. It's always, it's always, uh, you want... And that's the other reason I think I don't always like to watch something after it's done 'cause I'm gonna go, "Oh, shit, I should've changed that-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
... "or done that better." Um, but yeah, it's a very odd feeling. I mean, it's good to be done, but (sniffs) so many, it's just, like, icky. (clears throat)
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it just seems like it's such an enormous amount of time of your life gets put into it, and it's gotta be hard to see what it actually looks like.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Because you're, you're going over the minutia of it. You're editing it. You're, you're con-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You, you wrote the lines. You edited them.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You watch people do it. "Cut. Let's take two. Take three."
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, you've seen-
- JRJoe Rogan
You've seen so many versions.
- MJMike Judge
... a hundred people audition for each part.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
You've s- you've heard the dialogue over and over again. You don't know if it's funny anymore. You can't tell. You can't s- and, and also, you're, all those hours you're spending on it are to change things. That's all. You're just constantly tweaking and-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MJMike Judge
... and so to, to say it's done, you get a, it's a, it's, what it is, it's like a feeling of withdrawal, really. Like, it's sort of a, even if you're really happy with it, it's like, (sniffs) it's sorta like you're just so used to doing that and to stop suddenly is just a, you kinda wanna do it more. You just wanna go back and (laughs) keep editing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Keep going on it.
- MJMike Judge
I mean, I like editing and it's fun to do. Um, (clears throat) but yeah. That-
- JRJoe Rogan
But finishing editing is the hard part.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, when you're, to just let it go and, you know, not know if... If you have a good test screening, that helps, but you don't always do that. Like, with a TV show, you don't just, like, whoever's in the room, if the sound-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
... if the sound mixers don't think it's funny, if (laughs) people working on it aren't laughing. And with animation, like, especially when I was doing the shorts, like, the first short I did, (sniffs) I recor- you record the sound first and I remember thinking, "Okay, that's a pretty funny take. I think I got it, something good here." And then, but then you have to t- I, the way I read the track, you'd, you had, with a stopwatch, you'd find every syllable and put it on exposure sheets so you're listening to it about two or three times as many syllables as there are (laughs) in it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- MJMike Judge
Just before you even start drawing. And so you, by the time you're done, you have no idea if it's funny or, you know, and you, I would just have to keep remembering there was a time when I knew this was funny and just keep going back to that.
- 32:05 – 33:46
Cult classics: Idiocracy and Office Space finding their audience late
- MJMike Judge
Oh, that's nice to hear. We had a-
- JRJoe Rogan
It was very, very funny.
- MJMike Judge
... a 10-year anniversary in 2016. Um, there were a few screenings, and, uh, I still, I watched pieces of it. Um, but, uh, but, yeah, I mean, I'd, I could, I, I was standing outside the theater at a couple of them and I could hear people laughing, people seemed to... I mean, they sold out, whatever these, the two ones that I went to, so that was nice.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's gotta be a good feeling to ju- sit there and watch after all that work, after all the editing and all the weirdness of-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... trying to figure out if it's still good, to watch people li- that have never seen it before, have no idea what's coming, laugh hysterically.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, it's a really g- I, I mean, especially something like that that was... Both that and Office Space were so difficult to, to make and didn't do well right away, you know? So, it's just like, "Oh, God." Like, "All that work, and it didn't-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Office Space didn't do well right away either?
- MJMike Judge
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow, that's crazy.
- MJMike Judge
I gotta, I need to... Well, the Beavis and Butt-Head movie was a hit right away, but...
- JRJoe Rogan
How the fuck was Office Space not a hit right away?
- MJMike Judge
I mean, it was low budget, but it didn't... It kinda basically m- made back its $10 million over its time in the theater, but, yeah, it was... It came in, like, eighth place opening weekend.
- JRJoe Rogan
Was that in the same time period? When was Office Space released?
- MJMike Judge
'99, it came out. (clears throat)
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, interesting. Okay.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So it was earlier.
- MJMike Judge
But then two years after, it was, it was in... Back when they did Blockbuster home video charts, it was, like, in the top 10 around Christmas. It was in the top 20 for... Off and on for a while, which was really nice.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's a great fucking movie.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, thanks.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's a great, it's a great fucking movie. I love how you use a lot of the same people over and over again too.
- 33:46 – 36:45
Stephen Root appreciation hour: character acting, NewsRadio, and voice work magic
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. (laughs) Well, you worked with Stephen Root.
- JRJoe Rogan
Smart move.
- MJMike Judge
Like, he's, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, he's the best.
- MJMike Judge
He's incredible, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Stephen Root was a guy that was the only guy on set that was 100% completely different human being than who he was on television.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy when someone... And Stephen Root, like, when he played Milton, just completely different. Like, I've, I've told... I remember, um, I don't know, years, I was talking to Ben Stiller and he said, "Who's, who played Milton?" And I said, "That's Stephen Root." And he was just like, "What?"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MJMike Judge
He'd seen the whole thing and had no idea that was him, and he had met him and everything.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, he does that in every movie he's in. But that, he's a different human hanging out on-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... the set, like, he's a regular guy. And then he'd become Jimmy James, and he would become Jimmy James. I mean, it was a character that he-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... developed.
- MJMike Judge
I j-
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean, Jimmy James had tendencies, he had opinions, he had... Like, he had a whole, like, fucking biography for this guy.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, such a strong character, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
... I, when I, I saw that... You weren't in the pilot, right? You came in the second-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MJMike Judge
... or third episode, or something?
- JRJoe Rogan
I was, uh... Ray Romano was the original me for the pilot.
- MJMike Judge
Oh. Oh, okay. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
From the pilot, rather. And Ray got fired, and then they brought in a second guy, luckily, and then that guy got fired 'cause I didn't wanna take the job from Ray. So I took the job from the job, the guy who took the job from Ray.
- MJMike Judge
Oh. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Which is good.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, okay. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Better.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause Ray was my friend. It would suck.
- 36:45 – 45:23
Westerns and the myth of the Wild West: from Unforgiven to Buster Scruggs
- JRJoe Rogan
... he was great in... Did you see that cowboy movie? I think it was a Coen Brothers film.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah. He's been in-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
It was a weird film, where there was, like, a bunch of different snippets.
- MJMike Judge
Yes. I just- It's... And it's got-
- JRJoe Rogan
What was that called?
- MJMike Judge
... Tim Blake Nelson in it?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes. (gasps)
- MJMike Judge
Um... Oh, he's... Yeah, I saw that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes. What was that called?
- MJMike Judge
I love that movie.
- JRJoe Rogan
It was a great movie.
- MJMike Judge
That movie's, like... It's only one of the Coen Brothers, right? Didn't... Wasn't that the first one that-
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't know. I don't know. It-
- MJMike Judge
But, uh, that's-
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you know, you know what I'm talking about, Jamie? Do you remember the film?
- MJMike Judge
(clears throat)
- JRJoe Rogan
But it was like, uh-
- MJMike Judge
No, it's so good.
- JRJoe Rogan
It was multiple tragedies.
- MJMike Judge
It's, uh... No, he's been in a few-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wasn't No Country For Old Men?
- MJMike Judge
There's this one recently with Tim Blake...
- JRJoe Rogan
No, I typed in Coen Brothers. I'm just trying to... Uh, type in-
- MJMike Judge
You should... It might not be the-
- JRJoe Rogan
... Steven Root, uh, cowboy movie.
- MJMike Judge
I think it's only one of the brothers. I think it's... And Tim Blake Nelson's in it, and it's, uh...
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, Brother Fratto?
- MJMike Judge
No.
- 45:23 – 50:03
Too much to watch: Man vs. Bee, slapstick longevity, and why bodies break
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Do you do much consuming of, uh, films and stuff when you're not making them?
- MJMike Judge
Um, I went through a long phase where I wasn't at all, um, and (clears throat) now I do. Yeah, now I (sniffs) try to watch a lot of stuff, but there's so much stuff I can't keep up. Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it's impossible. People are always telling me about-
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... "Oh, you gotta see Euphoria." I'm like, "How? How do I-"
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
"Where is my time?"
- NANarrator
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
"You tell me how, how I can watch this."
- MJMike Judge
You know the thing that I just saw that made me absolutely want to watch it is, there's an entire series of Rowan Atkinson trying to kill a bee. Have you seen the trailer for this thing? (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
A bee? 1B?
- MJMike Judge
I was laughing so hard at this thing. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
What is it called?
- MJMike Judge
I think it's called Something the Bee or something like that.
- JRJoe Rogan
What?
- MJMike Judge
We did a Beavis and Butt-head episode where they try to kill a fly. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Mr. Bean-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... Man Versus Bee. Wow-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... look at that car he's got.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) He just gradually fucks everything up more and more just trying to kill this one bee.
- JRJoe Rogan
Is this a British film?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Or it's a Netflix thing?
- MJMike Judge
A Netflix, but it's a (laughs) same thing. There was a- (object crashes)
- JRJoe Rogan
A Netflix series?
- MJMike Judge
(laughs) Yeah.
- NANarrator
I'm Trevor from Housesitters Deluxe.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- 50:03 – 54:27
CTE reality check: MMA, boxing, football, sparring, and even jet skis
- MJMike Judge
I wonder... Well, you know all those... It seems like the UFC guys, the MMA guys don't have that as bad as boxers, or does- or do they? Like, maybe they're-
- JRJoe Rogan
No, they have it bad.
- MJMike Judge
They just haven't-
- JRJoe Rogan
It doesn't-
- MJMike Judge
... gotten old enough yet.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's plenty of guys that have it pretty bad.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. You get, there's guys that get out, and- and in boxing there's guys get out. Like Andre Ward is my favorite example. He's brilliant, eloquent, like, incredibly good at commentary and- and talking and explaining things. And the guy was a two-division world champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and he just decided, "You know what? I'm getting out while the getting's good."
- MJMike Judge
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
"I'm perfect. I'm in my 30s." He was in prime, the prime of his career, world champion. He said, "I think I can serve boxing better as an example of what's possible than as a guy who keeps fighting."
- MJMike Judge
Oh, wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, he's brilliant. Brilliant guy. And one of the best commentators ever. And that's rare, though. You know, for-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, never wants to-
- JRJoe Rogan
... for every guy like that.
- MJMike Judge
... hang on too long.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it's like the thrill of doing that is so much more exciting than the thrill of doing anything else in your life. Imagine if like-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... you- w- you know, you do this one thing that gets you to tens. And you gotta remember, with Andre there was no real agony of defeat. He was an undefeated world champion, an Olympic gold medalist. He looks, he's handsome, so his pristine face didn't get busted up.
- MJMike Judge
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really never got... Other than Kovalev. Kovalev was the only guy that really hurt him in a fight. Never really got hurt bad. And even in that fight he wound up winning, so...
- MJMike Judge
He didn't get knocked out?
- JRJoe Rogan
Nope.
- MJMike Judge
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
No, no, he won every fight. He was undefeated.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, and if he had stayed in, probably would have...
- JRJoe Rogan
Who knows?
- MJMike Judge
I mean, they usually stay in until they get knocked out, don't they? Or-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, until something goes bad.
- MJMike Judge
(coughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Bernard Hopkins was a good example of that, but he was in his 50s when- when he finally started getting really... When he lost to Joe Smith Jr and he fell through the ropes.
- 54:27 – 1:00:24
Archery, feral hogs, and pigs ‘turning wild’ fast
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, so you got into archery, huh? We were talking-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... about you saw the range that we have here.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. Yeah, it's really, it's really addictive. I, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
It is, right?
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. Started doing it in my backyard and... Well, then I have, I have a place outside of town with lots of room. But, um, yeah, I still have never, uh, killed a mammal. But, um-... I figure I eat meat maybe, uh ... Also, there's a really bad hog problem.
- JRJoe Rogan
On your ranch?
- MJMike Judge
Feral, feral hogs.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah?
- MJMike Judge
Everywhere.
- JRJoe Rogan
How bad is your, uh, your ranch?
- MJMike Judge
Well, right now, I mean, I don't know, there's some, some people that, uh, they kinda come and go. So like about 10 years ago some friends of mine went out there and hunted a bunch of them. But, um, I mean, they, they'll come through and ju- it's just like a rototiller. Like, they'll-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
... they'll just rip everything up.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's kinda crazy.
- MJMike Judge
Because a friend of mine said that he was, uh, raising sheep. They killed like 20 lambs, and one night hogs came through and just, just, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that's something that people don't realize. They're predatory.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. Yeah, uh, the first time I saw one it's like big old tusks. Like, they're a cross between, I guess, European wild boars that were brought over and escaped just domestic hogs-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MJMike Judge
... I guess, that the-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MJMike Judge
... Spanish brought over. And they get big, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it's ... They're all the same animal, believe it or not. Pigs are a weird animal. And this is one of the reasons why pigs are weird. When you take a domestic pig, say a male domestic pig, and he's, you know, eating feed and whatever you give him. And then you open the gate and let him loose. Within weeks, he starts to tr-
- MJMike Judge
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
... to change. They change their-
- MJMike Judge
And they'll grow tusks-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MJMike Judge
... and everything just by the conditions that they're put in?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, okay, that makes sense.
- 1:00:24 – 1:07:46
Texas food culture: Dai Due, wild game restaurants, and invasive-species lessons
- JRJoe Rogan
... is pork belly, but pork belly isn't bacon. Instead, pork belly is the whole slab cut from the flesh, fleshy underside of a pig. Streaky pork bacon is cut from this slab, and pork belly is unsmoked and uncured. Have you ever gone to, um, uh, Dai Due in town? Have you ever eaten there?
- MJMike Judge
Oh, that sounds familiar. No.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's a fantastic restaurant made by ... It's, uh-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, Dai Due.
- JRJoe Rogan
The head chef is this guy, my friend Jesse Griffiths. And Jessie, uh, who's been a guest on the podcast before too, is, uh ... He runs a school. What is his school called again? He's got like, um ...... it's basically a school where he teaches people from scratch, and takes them. He does it in very limited numbers. The s- new school of traditional cookery. So, he takes-
- MJMike Judge
Oh, wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
... people out from scratch. This is how you shoot a gun. This is how you pull a trigger. This is how you sight a rifle. This is how you kill a pig. This is how you butcher the pig.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
This is how you cook the pig. And he's an u- incredible chef. His restaurant, Dai Due, is one of my absolute favorite places in Austin.
- MJMike Judge
I think I have heard of it. Where-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's amazing.
- MJMike Judge
Where is it? Is it...
- JRJoe Rogan
I wanna say it's on Congress? Where's-
- MJMike Judge
I think I have heard of this. No, the-
- JRJoe Rogan
We'll, we'll pull it up.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, when I saw the...
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, it's... Pull it up just to let him know. What's it on? They're here. Texas is here. Does it say what street's it on? Manna.
- MJMike Judge
Oh, yeah. Over there on... Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's right by... Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, what... Just give me so I can-
- MJMike Judge
That used to be-
- JRJoe Rogan
... read out the-
- MJMike Judge
It's by Hoover's. It's called Manna. It just-... It disappeared when I got close. It's called Manna Road off of-
- JRJoe Rogan
Manna Road.
- MJMike Judge
... just, just east of Texas.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- MJMike Judge
Mann- Maynard?
- JRJoe Rogan
College.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah, that's over, uh... Yeah, by Hoover's. We go to Hoover's all the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, but it's... The, the way you spell it is, uh, D-A-I-D-U-E, right? Is that how you spell it? It's fucking great. He, um... He makes a, uh, ceviche with, uh, antelope, with Texas antelope.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- 1:07:46 – 1:20:19
Hunting media as comedy/horror: feeder ‘harvesting,’ varmint bullets, and .50 cal absurdity
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. I was gonna ... I was working on, like, 20 years ago, uh, it was gonna be like a Caddyshack type movie about hunting guides and just hunting in general.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- MJMike Judge
And started watching hunting videos and it's a funny world. I mean, it's very-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's an interesting world.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. I mean, it's ... (sniffs)
- JRJoe Rogan
There's different worlds though.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. There are-
- JRJoe Rogan
In hunting.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, there's the Texas, um, like, uh-
- MJMike Judge
(clears throat)
- JRJoe Rogan
... people that sit over feeders.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
You know? So this is-
- MJMike Judge
Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
They call it hunting, but it's really just harvesting. You're just shooting.
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know, you just sit in a stand and you wait, and then, uh, the feeders go off and the deer gravitate towards the feeders or the hogs-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... gravitate towards the f-
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
And you just blow them away.
- MJMike Judge
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
So there's that way, and then there's big game hunting in the West, which is like, you really have to be an athlete. Like, 'cause you're-
- MJMike Judge
Yeah. That's when I start, like, some of these ... Like, there's a guy who, y- with a traditional bow kills a bear and the bear almost jumps in the blind with him. I'm like, "Okay, that's actually pretty fair." Like, you're taking a risk there.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sort of. (laughs)
- MJMike Judge
Sort of. (laughs) I mean, sort of.
- JRJoe Rogan
You've taken-
- MJMike Judge
Not completely. A little-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
Episode duration: 1:34:09
Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript
Transcript of episode xqH1N83KE9k
