Joe Rogan Experience #1898 - Neal Brennan

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

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

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (heavier rock music) Can you handle this? (laughs)

   4. NBNeal Brennan0:12

      Right. That's not, that's not physical. It's like, can you handle being in a incredibly abstract place and your brain doing shit it's never done before?

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:23

      Yeah, that seems to be what happens when people can't handle it, is the, uh, just the resistance of it. Just like, "No, no, no." And then that's the bad trip.

   6. NBNeal Brennan0:34

      Yeah, they say, like, surrender, and I've had ... I've had, you know, journeys, job. When you're in the medicine game as long as I've been in it-

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:45

      The, the medicine game.

   8. NBNeal Brennan0:45

      ... you can call it medicine, um-

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:47

      Plant medicine.

   10. NBNeal Brennan0:48

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       Don't you im- Doesn't immediately red flags go up and you go-

   12. NBNeal Brennan0:50

       I wanna punch myself in the face. Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       ... "Oh my God, don't say plant medicine"?

   14. NBNeal Brennan0:52

       Yeah, can't not say it. It's, uh, I- I'm wearing a fucking ayahuasca anklet as we speak, and I wanna-

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       (laughs)

   16. NBNeal Brennan0:59

       I wanna punch myself in the f- in the other side of the face.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:03

       There's so much jargon and lingo that goes with, like, psychedelic talk that leads to, like, cults. (laughs)

   18. NBNeal Brennan1:09

       Yeah, it's not different at all. Did you watch the, um, the Orgasm, Inc. documentary on Netflix yet?

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:18

       No.

   20. NBNeal Brennan1:18

       It's about that one touch ... It's, uh, it's really funny, 'cause it's-

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:23

       I heard it's great.

   22. NBNeal Brennan1:24

       It's great. It's just, it all ... The same shit happens, it doesn't matter where. It's that ... I did a joke one time that, uh, every cult, at some point, the rel- the leader of every religious cult says, "Hey, God, uh, spoke to me, and he says I gotta fuck all your wives." (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:43

       Yeah.

   24. NBNeal Brennan1:44

       Without fail.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:45

       Every one of them.

   26. NBNeal Brennan1:45

       Every thi- every single-

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       Waco.

   28. NBNeal Brennan1:47

       ... across the board.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       All of them.

   30. NBNeal Brennan1:47

       Wait, all of them.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   R- I mean, that…

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      open." And everyone's like, "You're crazy. Everyone's gonna die." And it turns out no. Turns out they were right. And the c- the economy there didn't suffer. In fact, real estate went through the roof.

   2. NBNeal Brennan15:12

      R- I mean, that was everywhere.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:13

      A lot of people moved there. Yeah.

   4. NBNeal Brennan15:13

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:13

      Well, there in particular, because a lot of people moved there. I mean, their economy did well, you know? Same thing with Texas. They, they didn't shut down. I mean, well, they shut down for a little bit, and then they were like, "You know, we're gonna open up and we're gonna be cautious, and you should be careful of your own health, and if you're a person who's vulnerable, take care of yourself. Do whatever you wanna do."

   6. NBNeal Brennan15:32

      Yeah. Yeah, I guess it's just the downstream effects of that. And that's, you know ...

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:36

      You just can't shut the whole country down and expect that everything's gonna be fine when you start it back up again. You, you've disastrous results. And whenever the economy crashes like, like it did with that, you have all these other unforeseen, uh, side effects of that. And, you know, a big one is people's mental health and anxiety, and, like, how's that gonna affect the rest of their life? When someone works for 20, 30 years on a business, and you have a business-

   8. NBNeal Brennan16:04

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JRJoe Rogan16:04

      ... and it's up and running and it's getting by and you're, you're making a profit, and, and then all of a sudden the government comes along and says, "You have to shut this business down," and maybe you've already had COVID, and maybe you've got, maybe you were one of the lucky ones where it wasn't that big of a deal and you got over it and you're like, "Okay, I got antibodies now. I'm not worried," and now the government tells you you can't work, you cannot, it's against the law, if you do, you'll be arrested, it's madness.

   10. NBNeal Brennan16:29

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan16:29

       It's unprecedented. Never happened before.

   12. NBNeal Brennan16:31

       I agree. I don't think it's, well, it hasn't happened, it hasn't happened in, probably since the flu.

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:36

       That was the problem. That was the, that was the problem, is, was shutting things down and telling people what they can't do. And, and, and also having this, like, blanket solution for people, whether they're 80 and fat or whether they're 20 and fit, which is nuts.

   14. NBNeal Brennan16:51

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:51

       Like, you, you can't treat all bodies like they're exactly the same thing. That makes zero sense.

   16. NBNeal Brennan16:57

       It's, I, it's, as a leader, you kinda have to, though.

   17. JRJoe Rogan17:02

       Mm-hmm.

   18. NBNeal Brennan17:02

       Right? You know what I mean? Y- y- you kind of ha- it does have to be one-size-fits-all somewhat.

   19. JRJoe Rogan17:07

       Yeah, but you don't, uh, you don't have to impose restrictions. You can impo- you could tell people that these are the best suggestions in terms-

   20. NBNeal Brennan17:17

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan17:17

       ... of what we should do to preserve health, but the reality of respiratory viruses is you cannot contain them. They've never been contained. No one has ever successfully contained a respiratory virus. If people are allowed to walk and they're allowed to talk and they're allowed to eat, they're gonna fucking spread it. No matter what draconian rules they put down in Australia or in China, it fucking spreads. It burns through the people, and then, I mean, and a lot of vi- virologists and people that are, um, experts in respiratory diseases were saying this at the very beginning of the pandemic. They were saying, "Listen, this, this has gotta burn through the population," and most people didn't wanna accept that. They were like, "That's, no, there's gotta be a better way." No, there's no better way. When you have a virus that spreads through people breathing on each other, it just burns through people. You know, if you have the option to be on a ranch, if you, if you got a ranch in Texas and you got all your food out there and water and, and you could just fucking stay by yourself for two years, yeah, you'll be okay.

   22. NBNeal Brennan18:22

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan18:23

       And that's kinda what Howard Stern did, right? Didn't he, like, just-

   24. NBNeal Brennan18:25

       I don't even know. Does anybody know?

   25. JRJoe Rogan18:26

       Went to The Hamptons and just stayed put.

   26. NBNeal Brennan18:28

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan18:29

       Built a studio out there, did his show from out there.

   28. NBNeal Brennan18:32

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:32

       Never ... I mean, there was a photo of him at a restaurant, like, recently. It was, like, the first time he's out in two years.

   30. NBNeal Brennan18:38

       Yeah. Yeah, I just didn't ... It was, I, I f- not like I felt bad for the... I just don't know what ... I don't know who did it well, do you know what I mean? Like, I don't know what country did it well, whenever I go Sweden, and then you ... All these things, when you do, when you start clicking links, you're like, "Ah, it seems inconclusive or contradictory or..." It always struck me as just we don't have the infrastructure for that many sick people.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   And it was- it's…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      uh, he, uh, sort of put it aside, and started doing standup again, and wrote a whole new act. And then, you know, I talked to him, and I was like, "Dude, why are- you gotta put that out." Like, it was so good 'cause he had it so tight.

   2. NBNeal Brennan30:14

      And it was- it's cool 'cause it's kinda evergreen, right?

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:18

      Mm-hmm.

   4. NBNeal Brennan30:18

      It's not- it's just I grew up orthodox-

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:20

      Yeah.

   6. NBNeal Brennan30:20

      ... and it was fucking weird.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:22

      Yeah, and it's, it's better now 'cause it's like- 'cause he's- like, as time goes on, you- the more you can sort of sit with a subject that's very personal to you, and then- you know, sometimes it's good to just put it aside and not even look at it for a while-

   8. NBNeal Brennan30:37

      That's kinda what happened with my show.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:39

      ... and then go back to it. Mm-hmm.

   10. NBNeal Brennan30:39

       I, I did it in New York for-... like four or five mon- four months every night-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       So, you did it as, like, a one-man show?

   12. NBNeal Brennan30:45

       ... as a off-- yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:47

       Now, when you do that, do you have a guy warming up the crowd?

   14. NBNeal Brennan30:49

       No.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:49

       Or do you just go out there cold?

   16. NBNeal Brennan30:51

       In fact, no, I, you go out there cold, which is interesting 'cause you, your first joke's either gonna work or it isn't.

   17. JRJoe Rogan31:02

       Mm. (laughs)

   18. NBNeal Brennan31:04

       (laughs) So, like, you could... Sometimes, they're primed. Uh, I would say the first joke worked 80% of the time. But sometimes, you'd be like, "Okay." Like, you'd throw a punch and, like, they just stand there and you're like, "All right."

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:16

       Oh. (laughs)

   20. NBNeal Brennan31:17

       Uh, but, there's som- You know, Cosby doesn't have an opener.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:20

       Right.

   22. NBNeal Brennan31:21

       Like, there's a way to do it where there's something about it. I don't... There's something appealing about it where, where if you don't have an opener, you just go like, "Yeah, the first two minutes will be a little bumpy, but, like, whatever."

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:34

       Yeah.

   24. NBNeal Brennan31:34

       It's fine.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:34

       Did you ever see, uh, Richard Pryor live? Um, the one he filmed in Long Beach?

   26. NBNeal Brennan31:39

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:40

       Where he goes on stage and people are still sitting down?

   28. NBNeal Brennan31:43

       Yes.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:43

       They're walking through the crowd sitting down and he's talking shit to them while they're walking and talking. A guy comes up and takes a photo at, like, stands by the stage and takes a photo. He's like-

   30. NBNeal Brennan31:52

       It's so funny.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah. I think there's…

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      They feel like they deserve it.

   2. NBNeal Brennan45:01

      Yeah. I think there's a new law that protects kids.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      Mm.

   4. NBNeal Brennan45:05

      But that's one of those things, you just gotta fucking hope, dude. You gotta hope, uh, eh, which you're...

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:13

      (snoring)

   6. NBNeal Brennan45:13

      You don't... You handle your... You seem to have a l- not a lot of, uh, outside people, or you hide it well. Meaning you don't seem like you don't have a crazy family, you don't have a crazy, like, there's not a lot of people asking you for handouts that I'm aware of, obviously. I'm sure you get plenty of like, "Hey, do you think I could..." But, but it seems like-

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:37

      It's mostly people I don't know well-

   8. NBNeal Brennan45:39

      Right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:39

      ... honestly-

   10. NBNeal Brennan45:40

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:40

       ... that are asking me for stuff.

   12. NBNeal Brennan45:41

       Well, that's when it becomes family or you gotta hope that you, you, uh, you know, that you just are in a good situation. Like I w- I did a thing with that guy Giannis Antetokounmpo, the basketball player. And he's Greek and, like, him and his brothers are all in the NBA. Or like, i- they all are pro basketball players and it's like... And I was talking about it, I was like, "You're very lucky that you're all paid."

   13. JRJoe Rogan46:12

       Mm.

   14. NBNeal Brennan46:12

       You're all... Like, he doesn't have to worry about, um, you know, his bro... And it's like i- he doesn't have to worry about people... That's a real drag, that family stuff, 'cause it's a-

   15. JRJoe Rogan46:25

       It's a real drag, yeah.

   16. NBNeal Brennan46:26

       ... 'cause it's, it can... You feel bad. You feel bad if you don't give it to them and you feel bad if you do give it to them.

   17. JRJoe Rogan46:33

       Well, here's what happens. You never are even anymore. You're never just two people talking.

   18. NBNeal Brennan46:39

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan46:39

       There's always someone who wants something from you.

   20. NBNeal Brennan46:42

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan46:42

       And they're angling towards that, and maybe they're not doing it today, but maybe they were doing it and setting you up for something they wanna do in the future, and you sense it, and you recognize that the conversation is very slanted.

   22. NBNeal Brennan46:55

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan46:55

       It's not a normal conversation. And that becomes really sad for people. And some people-

   24. NBNeal Brennan46:59

       Yeah, it makes you not trust anyone.

   25. JRJoe Rogan47:01

       Yeah. Some people feed off of it though. Some people like it when everybody is like looking for something from them and they, they can complain about it.

   26. NBNeal Brennan47:08

       Uh-huh.

   27. JRJoe Rogan47:08

       And they can... You know, they li- they like it also because it puts them in a position where like they're the, the fucking belle of the ball.

   28. NBNeal Brennan47:14

       Paterfamilias, yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan47:16

       Yeah.

   30. NBNeal Brennan47:16

       It's the, yeah, you get to be like the, "Come sit down. What do you need?"
5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

   It's not a good…

   1. NBNeal Brennan1:00:00

      I do not like it"?

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

      It's not a good time to interview people. They make mistakes, 'cause like you just had your brain shut off. Like, some- maybe they think they wanna fight, or maybe they think something... They don't know what the fuck just happened.

   3. NBNeal Brennan1:00:12

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:12

      And it... There's varying degrees of that. Like, you can pretend, "Oh, he knows. He's playing dumb." But you have zero idea what's going on in a person's brain unless you are them and you have been knocked out.

   5. NBNeal Brennan1:00:23

      Do they have a policy of n- like, not doing that anymore, or are you still doing it?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:26

      Well, I said I won't do it, and then I fucked up and did it with, uh, Daniel Cormier. But I was so confused in that fight, because, um, Daniel's a good friend. I love him to death. And Jon Jones had just knocked him out, and I was in this state-

   7. NBNeal Brennan1:00:43

      D- this is not... Is this recent or no?

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:44

      No, this was a few years back.

   9. NBNeal Brennan1:00:45

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:46

       I haven't done any, like, knockouts s- interviews since, but I think I did a couple of TKOs, and I think it's a judgment call. Like, there's sometimes when the guy's getting fucked up, but it's really like he's just beaten, he's getting his legs kicked and punched, and the referee comes and stops the fight, but he's okay. Like, he's n- he just got fucked up. He's not out cold. But sometimes guys get knocked out cold, and when they get knocked out cold, like, ooh, you're, you, you don't really know, 'cause they went away-

   11. NBNeal Brennan1:01:17

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:01:18

       ... and then they come back.

   13. NBNeal Brennan1:01:19

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:19

       And it's f-

   15. NBNeal Brennan1:01:20

       They're in an arena, for some reason.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:21

       Some guys are fine.

   17. NBNeal Brennan1:01:21

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:21

       Some guys are fine, and they handle it with grace and dignity. And, you know, they're amazing at it. And that's also depending upon that knockout versus a different knockout. Like, what happened to you that day? Like, how bad did you get beat up before you got knocked out? Was it just one punch? Was it a kick to the head? Is a kick to the head worse than a punch to the head? Even though both knock you out, the force of a kick is way higher. So, you don't really know. You don't really know until you're talking to them and they... I don't think you really will ever know, 'cause a lot of people can talk on autopilot and then they'll tell you-

   19. NBNeal Brennan1:01:55

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:55

       ... like, they go back to-

   21. NBNeal Brennan1:01:56

       I don't remember talking to you.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:57

       Yeah, they go back to the dressing room. They have no idea they fought, and then they're in the hospital room afterwards, they don't know what happened, and they lose, like, hours of the night. It's really common.

   23. NBNeal Brennan1:02:07

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:08

       So, but to ask them to do-

   25. NBNeal Brennan1:02:09

       But I think you're smart, to get back to the original thing, you're smart to reset your hierarchy.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:18

       Yes.

   27. NBNeal Brennan1:02:18

       Where you're fucking exhausted and you wanna just breathe and get your body back to, like, a reg- but, and you still have all that, like, exercise drain/tingle.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:28

       There's, there's that too. There's like, you, you exhaust yourself, which I think is very good for you.

   29. NBNeal Brennan1:02:32

       My brother Kevin used to-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:02:34

       Because it relieves you of the stress.
6. 1:15:00 – 1:15:12

   Well, that's whenever I'm…

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:15:00

      at, this isn't, of course this isn't a fair fight.

   2. NBNeal Brennan1:15:02

      Well, that's whenever I'm on dating apps, I just go, "Have I ever dated someone who looks like this?"

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:15:06

      (laughs)

   4. NBNeal Brennan1:15:06

      Like in this area of hotness? And if I have, then I'll like 'em.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:15:11

      That's a good move.

Episode duration: 3:17:48