Joe Rogan Experience #1950 - Derek Wolfe

1. 0:00 – 1:54

   A champion’s ring, giant hands, and flirting with MMA training

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

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

   2. NANarrator0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) So, uh, first of all, that's a fucking hell of a ring, sir. Look at that, that's the real deal. I always wanted to see what one of those, like... Holy shit, fuck, look at the size of his finger. (laughs)

   3. DWDerek Wolfe0:22

      (laughs) Bro, my thumb slides over that like nothing. (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:25

      That's hilarious. If you don't think Vikings were real.

   5. DWDerek Wolfe0:28

      (laughs) Size 18.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:30

      That's hilarious. That is so fucking big, dude. What's your thumb?

   7. DWDerek Wolfe0:35

      I don't know.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:35

      Your thumb's like a fucking broomstick. That's ridiculous.

   9. DWDerek Wolfe0:39

      Fucking giant thumb.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:40

       (laughs)

   11. DWDerek Wolfe0:40

       (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:42

       How big were you in high school?

   13. DWDerek Wolfe0:43

       Uh, my senior year, I was like 6'5", 280 pounds.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       (laughs)

   15. DWDerek Wolfe0:48

       I wrestled, I was a heavyweight, I wrestled heavyweight, so...

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       Wow. Did you ever think about doing MMA when you-

   17. DWDerek Wolfe0:54

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       Yeah, did you?

   19. DWDerek Wolfe0:55

       Oh, yeah. Well, I, tr- you know, I trained... I started boxing with Henry Hooft down in South Florida-

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:58

       No shit.

   21. DWDerek Wolfe0:59

       ... with the, with the Blackzilians-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       I love those guys.

   23. DWDerek Wolfe1:01

       ... back in 2011, 2012, when I first got into the league. And I was training for the combine, and I was like, "Man, I really like... I'm really into this MMA stuff." And I just started doing it, and, uh, like, sparring with, uh, just, like, wrestling with, uh, Overeem a little bit.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:16

       Oh, wow.

   25. DWDerek Wolfe1:16

       So I would wrestle with him, keep him against the cage and, you know, just hold, you know, drop to a single, bring him down, you know? And he's like-

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       Right.

   27. DWDerek Wolfe1:22

       ... "You wrestle?" You know? I was like, "Yeah, I wrestle, man, I know what I'm doing."

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       (laughs)

   29. DWDerek Wolfe1:25

       Um, and then I, then I, when I moved to Colorado, like fulltime training, 'cause I used to go to South Florida to train, and I stopped that once I got married, (laughs) you know, so I had to st- I had to end that, and I moved to, uh, um, Trevor Wittman's gym.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:38

       Oh, that's a great fucking gym, too.
2. 1:54 – 4:18

   Injuries that ended a career: hip surgeries, paralysis, and a near-fatal seizure

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:54

      Is it not wor- well, did y- like, you know, I know you retired from football, and, um, you're still in the prime of your life. Uh, uh, did you retire 'cause of injuries? Did you d- decide that you had, you had enough? Like... (sighs)

   2. DWDerek Wolfe2:07

      Yeah, it was a combination of all that. So I had, I had, uh, double hip surgeries, I tore the labrums off the bone.

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:12

      Oh, Jesus Christ.

   4. DWDerek Wolfe2:13

      Um, I had been... My NFL, like the injuries I had while I was in the NFL were just out of control, man. Uh, 2013, I bruised my spinal cord, I was paralyzed.

   5. JRJoe Rogan2:21

      (sighs)

   6. DWDerek Wolfe2:21

      Um, for three hours, and then I played two weeks later.

   7. JRJoe Rogan2:24

      Oh my God.

   8. DWDerek Wolfe2:25

      And I played for 12-

   9. JRJoe Rogan2:27

      How do you, how?

   10. DWDerek Wolfe2:27

       It was miserable. Every time I got touched, my arms would go numb, like... And I'm a defensive lineman, so my head's getting hit every play.

   11. JRJoe Rogan2:33

       Holy shit. What was the play that made your spine get bruised?

   12. DWDerek Wolfe2:37

       So I was playing, like, on the end of the line, on the right side, and I was playing a cut block. Somebody tried to cut my legs out. So I'm playing it, like, sprawled out to play the cut block, and then the fullback hit me on top of the head.

   13. JRJoe Rogan2:46

       Oh.

   14. DWDerek Wolfe2:48

       And it did- I was awake, it didn't knock me out, it just like... It felt like, uh, you know when you sit on the shitter for too long? Get up?

   15. JRJoe Rogan2:53

       Yes.

   16. DWDerek Wolfe2:54

       Exactly how my whole body felt, from the nose down.

   17. JRJoe Rogan2:56

       Oh my God, you must've been terrified.

   18. DWDerek Wolfe2:58

       I was scared. But then as soon- when I started f- when I could feel them, like, touching my toes, um, uh, like a couple hours after it happened, I was in the hospital, that's when I- I just started making jokes and stuff, 'cause I knew I was... Something in my head just said, "You're gonna be fine."

   19. JRJoe Rogan3:10

       (sighs)

   20. DWDerek Wolfe3:10

       Like, I just had a feeling. I had no choice, you know? I was a young kid, 22 years old, 23 years old.

   21. JRJoe Rogan3:15

       Wow.

   22. DWDerek Wolfe3:15

       And then, uh, 12 weeks later, I was playing good football still somehow. 12 weeks later, I had a seizure. Like, a bad seizure. It almost killed me. I had to go in- I was in a coma for 36 hours.

   23. NANarrator3:26

       Oop, sorry.

   24. JRJoe Rogan3:27

       (laughs)

   25. DWDerek Wolfe3:27

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan3:28

       So what, uh, what, uh, uh, did the seizure come out of a play, or did it-

   27. DWDerek Wolfe3:33

       No, it's because I wasn't getting fresh blood to my brain. Because there was a bruise on that spinal, right at the base of my brainstem, and it never healed. I didn't let it heal. Two weeks isn't gonna heal a bruise, you know?

   28. JRJoe Rogan3:43

       Holy shit.

   29. DWDerek Wolfe3:44

       It never healed. So I wasn't getting fresh blood to my brain, so I was running on just, like, pure adrenaline, and...

   30. JRJoe Rogan3:49

       How did they clear you to play two weeks later?
3. 4:18 – 6:26

   Team doctors, the business of football, and survival-mode mentality

   1. JRJoe Rogan4:18

      So did y- how much time did you get to train before you went and played two weeks later? Like, how much...

   2. DWDerek Wolfe4:24

      I just went straight into practice as soon- the next week.

   3. JRJoe Rogan4:26

      Wow. Right- the next week?

   4. DWDerek Wolfe4:28

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan4:29

      So one week after you're paralyzed, you're in practice?

   6. DWDerek Wolfe4:31

      Yeah. So they tried to keep me in the hospital after that, after, like, after the game. And I was like, "When's the plane leaving?" And they were like, "They're getting ready to go to the plane right now, it's a preseason game." And I was like, "Okay, well, I'm getting on that plane then." So I had them take me from the hospital to the plane, got a, had a big neck brace on, and-

   7. JRJoe Rogan4:46

      So the doctors wanted to keep you in the hospital?

   8. DWDerek Wolfe4:48

      Yeah, doctors wanted me to stay, but the team doctors were like, "You're good, we can go."

   9. JRJoe Rogan4:52

      (laughs) Team doctors are savages. Oh my God.

   10. DWDerek Wolfe4:57

       Well, they did the X-rays and the MRIs right away, you know, and...

   11. JRJoe Rogan5:00

       Right.

   12. DWDerek Wolfe5:01

       So that, like, we went straight to the, the ER. I was on a, on a stretcher, you know?

   13. JRJoe Rogan5:05

       (sighs)

   14. DWDerek Wolfe5:05

       Into an ambulance, they had to bring the ambulance on the field, I couldn't move. I was just stuck in the ground. It was like, it was like I was melted, you know? I couldn't move at all, and every- all of my muscles were just... It was the weirdest feeling, man. But it, like I said, it started f- I was feeling better, but I think I just tricked my brain into thinking, like... I was in survival mode. I'd been in survival mode since the day I came out of the womb, man. I just... Like, always surviving, you know? Just trying to survive through whatever it is that's going on. It's like I disassociate from it, and (laughs) I can just make it through.

   15. JRJoe Rogan5:34

       That's a great skill to have if you wanna play professional football, right?

   16. DWDerek Wolfe5:37

       Well, I don't know if you saw what Deion Sanders just said about, um, what he's looking for in a quarterback. He wants two-parent home, um, (laughs) it's a two-parent home, a 3.5 GPA, and he wants the complete opposite for a defensive lineman.

   17. JRJoe Rogan5:50

       Really?

   18. DWDerek Wolfe5:50

       Yeah. He's like, I want... It's either football or prison, pretty much-

   19. JRJoe Rogan5:54

       (laughs)

   20. DWDerek Wolfe5:54

       ... type of motherfucker, is what he wants.

   21. JRJoe Rogan5:57

       But if you think about the position, and you think about what you guys have to do, it kind of makes sense, you-

   22. DWDerek Wolfe6:02

       Oh, it's-

   23. JRJoe Rogan6:02

       ... you have to be fucking barbaric.

   24. DWDerek Wolfe6:04

       Yeah. It is a fucking war in there.

   25. JRJoe Rogan6:07

       (sighs)

   26. DWDerek Wolfe6:07

       You got two s- I mean, the way, the, the size of these offensive linemen now, I mean, they're fucking 350 pounds, and there's two of them.

   27. JRJoe Rogan6:15

       (laughs)

   28. DWDerek Wolfe6:15

       And they're trying to move you every fucking play.

   29. JRJoe Rogan6:17

       Oh my God.

   30. DWDerek Wolfe6:17

       And you better...If you play pussy, you're gonna get fucked. That's what I used...
4. 6:26 – 11:02

   Why great D-linemen are ‘different’: aggression, psychology, and the short NFL window

   1. JRJoe Rogan6:26

      What is the average lifetime of a career, like, uh, in the NFL from-

   2. DWDerek Wolfe6:30

      Uh, two and a half years.

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:32

      Wow.

   4. DWDerek Wolfe6:32

      'Cause at that third year, you get vested. So vested means you get pension and, uh, all the benefits that come with that.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:40

      And most guys don't get there.

   6. DWDerek Wolfe6:41

      And most guys don't get there.

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:43

      You know, we, we talk about it with fighting all the time, that a, a, a real elite athlete in his prime has, like, nine years. You got, like... That's, that's the consensus is there's, like, nine years at peak performance-

   8. DWDerek Wolfe6:55

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:55

      ... and then it's just too much. The wheels fall off. The injuries stack up, you know, the, the time in train... And then sometimes it's the enthusiasm, too. Guys lose that, that fire that made them a savage in the beginning. But football is even worse. I mean, it's even shorter time.

   10. DWDerek Wolfe7:13

       Well, it's shorter, but y- your earnings, right? Your, your earnings, you don't get to that... You're on a rookie contract for your first four years. So you get drafted, and you're on that rookie contract. You make, pretty much slotted out the money. You don't... If you're not a top 10 pick in the, in the draft, then you're not really making life-changing money, you know. Um, I had $7 when I got drafted though. I didn't even have a bank account.

   11. JRJoe Rogan7:36

       (sighs)

   12. DWDerek Wolfe7:36

       I didn't have shit. (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan7:37

       Wow.

   14. DWDerek Wolfe7:37

       I was just a fucking poor-ass kid from Ohio. I went to Cincinnati, and I lived with Travis and Jason Kelce. Uh, we all lived in the same house. Um, I don't know if you know who those guys are, but, uh, Travis is, like, best tight end in the history (hands clap) of the NFL now. Jason's gonna be the best center, both Hall of Famers. Just played against each other in a Super Bowl. And then our quarterback went up to Canada, won two Grey Cups. So we got four Super Bowls and two Grey Cups-

   15. JRJoe Rogan8:03

       Wow.

   16. DWDerek Wolfe8:04

       ... in that house.

   17. JRJoe Rogan8:05

       That's-

   18. DWDerek Wolfe8:05

       And we were fuck-ups.

   19. JRJoe Rogan8:06

       (laughs)

   20. DWDerek Wolfe8:08

       We were fucking idiots.

   21. JRJoe Rogan8:09

       (laughs) But again, don't you kind of want that from f- I want football players to be a little reckless.

   22. DWDerek Wolfe8:14

       You have to be.

   23. JRJoe Rogan8:15

       That's-

   24. DWDerek Wolfe8:16

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan8:16

       They v-

   26. DWDerek Wolfe8:16

       Same with fighters.

   27. JRJoe Rogan8:16

       I don't want a fucking Boy Scout. Exactly. When, when Jon Jones kept getting into trouble, and people are like, "Can you believe what Jon Jones did?" I'm like, "Jon Jones is a wild motherfucker, that's why he's the greatest of all time."

   28. DWDerek Wolfe8:27

       Yup.

   29. JRJoe Rogan8:27

       Like, you, you need an element of psycho in there.

   30. DWDerek Wolfe8:30

       You have to be fucked up.
5. 11:02 – 13:32

   Training with Trevor Wittman: footwork, angles, and boxing skills that improved pass rushing

   1. DWDerek Wolfe11:02

      Oh, it's so much... I... He took my pass rush game to another level.

   2. JRJoe Rogan11:05

      Yeah?

   3. DWDerek Wolfe11:05

      Like-

   4. JRJoe Rogan11:05

      Really?

   5. DWDerek Wolfe11:05

      ... yeah, 'cause I was good at figuring out angles from wrestling-

   6. JRJoe Rogan11:08

      Mm-hmm.

   7. DWDerek Wolfe11:08

      ... on people, but he took it to another level of, like, levels. Like, taking my levels down. Like, I could bring my level up and get it back down, and come out of there with power. So I was just, like, creating angles on guys that they'd... And doing shit they'd never seen. Um-

   8. JRJoe Rogan11:21

      And is that from footwork drills? Like-

   9. DWDerek Wolfe11:22

      Yeah, doing footwork. It was all footwork.

   10. JRJoe Rogan11:24

       Hmm.

   11. DWDerek Wolfe11:25

       Everything is footwork. It starts with your foot... Your feet, your feet first and your hands will follow. And he would... I mean, he would have me doing, like, switch jabs and shit like that, and I would use that shit on the field. I would switch my feet last second, cross, uh, and then cross body.

   12. JRJoe Rogan11:38

       Ah.

   13. DWDerek Wolfe11:38

       And then, and then be able to lower my level and be able to accelerate out of that. And it just, like, took my fucking pass rush to another level.

   14. JRJoe Rogan11:45

       That makes sense. You know, like, if you learn new skills like that, like... Y- you know Vasily Lomachenko?

   15. DWDerek Wolfe11:51

       Yes.

   16. JRJoe Rogan11:51

       The, the boxer?

   17. DWDerek Wolfe11:52

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan11:52

       His dad made him do Ukrainian dance for two years, made him stop boxing. He's like, "Look, you're, you're gonna be an amazing boxer, but what I really want you to concentrate on is your feet." And now if you watch him fight... Have you ever seen him fight?

   19. DWDerek Wolfe12:06

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan12:06

       See, see if you can find a L- Lomachenko highlight.

   21. DWDerek Wolfe12:08

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan12:08

       His footwork is insane. Like, he's standing in front of a v- of a guy, and then he'll, like, switch and throw a jab, and circle off to his left, and catch him again, then circle off to his right. The guy does not know where the fuck he is.

   23. DWDerek Wolfe12:21

       Yeah. And (laughs) how are you-

   24. JRJoe Rogan12:22

       He's just such a-

   25. DWDerek Wolfe12:23

       How are you supposed to ch- play chess against that? You know what I mean? 'Cause it's a dance out there.

   26. JRJoe Rogan12:26

       Oh, he's such a wizard, man. And that-

   27. DWDerek Wolfe12:28

       Look at him. Oh.

   28. JRJoe Rogan12:29

       Like, his, his footwork came about from-

   29. DWDerek Wolfe12:31

       Hmm.

   30. JRJoe Rogan12:31

       ... you know, all the stepping. Like, it's like-
6. 13:32 – 17:12

   Contract-year disaster: the elbow dislocation, money lost, and ‘special sauce’ game prep

   1. DWDerek Wolfe13:32

      And then when it came to, to stop... to be stopping with the NFL, like when I was like, "I'm done," um, I played eight years in Denver, which was awesome, um, but then I dislocated my elbow bad going into a contract year, in 2019. I was having my best season in my career. Year eight, balling out, about to get another payday. And, uh, it was like a dead play, so the whistle didn't get blown, couple guys jumped off sides, and the whistle gets blown halfway through the play. So half the all-... half the fucking field is moving at full speed and half the field's not.

   2. JRJoe Rogan14:04

      Mm.

   3. DWDerek Wolfe14:04

      And it's like fourth and inches play, so I try to make the fucking tackle, and I like slow up, and I end up slipping and falling, and I'm going to get up and our 330-pound nose tackle goes to, like... he's, like, running straight at me and his fucking shin hits me right in the elbow, and it goes to the ground.

   4. JRJoe Rogan14:18

      Oh.

   5. DWDerek Wolfe14:19

      Dislocated all the way to the fucking ground. I fucking... Dude, I was... I'd never been in so much pain. It hurt so fucking... it made me want to throw up. I was throwing up in my mouth, 'cause I was grabbing at it and trying to put it back in-

   6. JRJoe Rogan14:30

      Oh.

   7. DWDerek Wolfe14:30

      ... 'cause I... in 2016, I did that with my right elbow. It came out and I put it right back in. I just kept going. (exhales) I mean, that shit... fucking... that shit... your fingers get popped out all the time, you just put them in and go.

   8. JRJoe Rogan14:42

      Wow.

   9. DWDerek Wolfe14:42

      Like there's no time to fuck around.

   10. JRJoe Rogan14:44

       (exhales)

   11. DWDerek Wolfe14:44

       And I was trying to get it going and I could just feel it grinding on the bone, grinding against each other, and it was like making me fucking ill.

   12. JRJoe Rogan14:52

       Oh.

   13. DWDerek Wolfe14:52

       Then they took me in... they took me in the locker room and I was fucking pissed 'cause I knew it was gonna cost me a bunch of money. That elbow deal was gonna cost me, I knew. It probably cost me 20 million.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:00

       Oh.

   15. DWDerek Wolfe15:02

       Fucking pissed. My own teammate. He didn't mean to, you know, it's not his fault.

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:05

       Yeah.

   17. DWDerek Wolfe15:05

       But it was like, on a dead fucking play, I was losing my shit. I fucking slammed my helmet. I was like, "These motherfuckers." Like I was blaming the refs, blaming everybody.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:12

       (laughs)

   19. DWDerek Wolfe15:13

       Fucking, "Fucking refs. I'm gonna sue the fucking refs."

   20. JRJoe Rogan15:15

       (laughs)

   21. DWDerek Wolfe15:15

       (laughs) I'm like, "What the..." My turn. Or, you know, you gotta think. And then here's the other thing, before games, I was taking microdoses. So I'm microdosed and I'm at like full-

   22. JRJoe Rogan15:25

       You taking mushrooms?

   23. DWDerek Wolfe15:26

       Yes.

   24. JRJoe Rogan15:27

       Yeah.

   25. DWDerek Wolfe15:27

       Yeah. Before games. So I'm taking mushrooms.

   26. JRJoe Rogan15:29

       That's the Viking in you. (laughs)

   27. DWDerek Wolfe15:30

       Yeah. I'm fucking taking mushrooms and fucking Adderall.

   28. JRJoe Rogan15:33

       Wow. (laughs) Oh my God.

   29. DWDerek Wolfe15:35

       Before I play.

   30. JRJoe Rogan15:36

       What a combination.
7. 17:12 – 20:04

   Kid Rock’s “White House,” icons as father figures, and not having traditional role models

   1. DWDerek Wolfe17:12

      Yeah, it's funny, I was actually... before I came here, I was down in Nashville with, uh, with Kid Rock.

   2. JRJoe Rogan17:17

      Oh, no shit.

   3. DWDerek Wolfe17:17

      Staying at, staying at his place. Awesome fucking place.

   4. JRJoe Rogan17:19

      He's a great guy, isn't he?

   5. DWDerek Wolfe17:20

      Dude, he's the best. Like-

   6. JRJoe Rogan17:21

      This place is amazing.

   7. DWDerek Wolfe17:22

      Unreal. His pool hall.

   8. JRJoe Rogan17:23

      It's like the dream place.

   9. DWDerek Wolfe17:24

      He's got a fucking church. (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan17:26

       (laughs) Yeah, he's got a fucking church. It's a... he uses the church-

   11. DWDerek Wolfe17:30

       How about the-

   12. JRJoe Rogan17:30

       ... the White House.

   13. DWDerek Wolfe17:31

       Dude.

   14. JRJoe Rogan17:32

       It's the most wild shit you've ever seen in your life.

   15. DWDerek Wolfe17:34

       The wild, the wildest shit I've ever seen. And then like, I was like, I'm like, "Bob, show me around this fucking place."

   16. JRJoe Rogan17:39

       (laughs)

   17. DWDerek Wolfe17:39

       Like, "What the fuck-"

   18. JRJoe Rogan17:40

       We should explain to people what he did.

   19. DWDerek Wolfe17:41

       It's like 27,000 square feet, fucking-

   20. JRJoe Rogan17:43

       Yeah. He built a White House.

   21. DWDerek Wolfe17:45

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan17:45

       Like it looks exactly like the White House, but it's bigger than the actual White House.

   23. DWDerek Wolfe17:48

       Yeah. It's fucking phenomenal.

   24. JRJoe Rogan17:50

       And it's just a party house. It has one bedroom and one guest bedroom.

   25. DWDerek Wolfe17:54

       (laughs) Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan17:55

       And it's 27,000 feet... Jamie, you gotta go. Next time we're in Nashville, you gotta go. It's the m-... it's the most... he's got a golden shower. So it's a room-

   27. DWDerek Wolfe18:03

       Golden toilet, golden shower.

   28. JRJoe Rogan18:04

       Yeah. (laughs) The room is as big as this studio, and it's all the tile on the wall is gold.

   29. DWDerek Wolfe18:09

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan18:09

       Everything's gold. He's like, "Get it? Golden shower." (laughs)
8. 20:04 – 22:03

   Childhood trauma: addiction, abuse, and learning what love feels like through fatherhood

   1. JRJoe Rogan20:04

      So when you were growing up, w- w- was your mom around?

   2. DWDerek Wolfe20:08

      My mom was an alcoholic and struggled with drugs, and she doesn't know who my dad is, like has no idea. You'd think by now, like, this motherfucker would just pop up, right?

   3. JRJoe Rogan20:18

      Right.

   4. DWDerek Wolfe20:18

      But no. Like, nobody fucking knows who it is. Because she would go on these month-long blackouts.

   5. JRJoe Rogan20:24

      Oh, man.

   6. DWDerek Wolfe20:25

      And just be fucking blacked out for a month and, you know. She was abused as a child, too. You know, she was sexually abused and stuff, so she just kinda d- didn't break that cycle, right? Didn't break the chain. And then my stepdad was abusive. You know, he would fucking, you know, beat the shit out of... He might... You know, that... He would beat the shit out of me, like, for fun. Like, that's what... If he was in a bad mood, and I had my fucking mouth open even looking at him, he'd fucking pop my mouth and fucking throw me on the ground, you know?

   7. JRJoe Rogan20:52

      Wow.

   8. DWDerek Wolfe20:52

      Kick me in the stomach and shit.

   9. JRJoe Rogan20:54

      Oh, man.

   10. DWDerek Wolfe20:54

       Like, "You fucking pussy." You know? "Get up." You know, that's just the way he treated me.

   11. JRJoe Rogan20:58

       (sighs)

   12. DWDerek Wolfe20:58

       But I got to get out of that... I made... I got out of that situation and broke that cycle. But, like, when people are like, "You're fucked up," I'm like, "Well, what do you think?"

   13. JRJoe Rogan21:05

       Yeah.

   14. DWDerek Wolfe21:06

       What do you think is gonna happen when you fucking treat a kid like that? You know? My mother didn't really show me... I don't know what unconditional love felt like until I had a daughter.

   15. JRJoe Rogan21:13

       Wow.

   16. DWDerek Wolfe21:13

       I didn't know what that felt like. And that was like the life-changing, it was so life-changing for me to have a daughter and to feel what that feels like. That unconditional, no matter what, I'll love you. Because I didn't know what that felt like, I never had it. So it was...

   17. JRJoe Rogan21:28

       Wow. Wow.

   18. DWDerek Wolfe21:31

       It was intense, man. My childhood was fucking intense, you know? Like even, you know, being in, in relationships. My wife is so patient with me, because, like, my idea of intimacy was, you know, my mom... I slept in the, in the attic, you know, in this tiny little fucking house and we lived on... All these... I went to seven different elementary schools. We were always getting fucking booted out of the house. But when I was, like, really developing going through puberty, like, what I h- heard was them fistfighting each other, throwing each other through walls, and then fucking 10 minutes later.

   19. JRJoe Rogan21:56

       Ugh.

   20. DWDerek Wolfe21:56

       Like, that's what my idea of intimacy was. So, like, I had to, like, reprogram my brain.

   21. JRJoe Rogan22:01

       How did you do that?

9. 22:03 – 37:46

   EMDR, trance work, and a vivid Viking ‘past life’ experience that changed his identity

   1. DWDerek Wolfe22:03

      Ugh, I did a bunch of treatments, like... You, you ever heard of EMDR?

   2. JRJoe Rogan22:06

      No.

   3. DWDerek Wolfe22:07

      So it's like... You believe in past lives?

   4. JRJoe Rogan22:09

      I don't not believe. Y-... I, I think there's a certain amount of undeniable genetic memory that people have. I think that's probably where things like ophidiophobia, uh, and arachnophobia come from, fear of snakes and spiders, 'cause I think that a lot of that probably comes from... There's a memory of you either watching someone die from it or you getting bit and surviving and it gets through the DNA and it gets to people today.

   5. DWDerek Wolfe22:34

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan22:34

      'Cause there's certain people that they, for no reason, they'll see a snake and they just fucking freeze. Whereas other people see a snake and it's just like, "Oh, we'll stay the fuck away from that." But it doesn't have that same visceral reaction.

   7. DWDerek Wolfe22:45

      The same fear.

   8. JRJoe Rogan22:46

      There's things that people know, like, you know to be scared of big teeth and, and scary things. And I... That's why kids are scared of monsters, right? It's 'cause we grew... We evolved around big cats and things were eating us and wolves.

   9. DWDerek Wolfe22:59

      Yeah, saber-toothed tigers and shit.

   10. JRJoe Rogan23:01

       Yeah, yeah. That's, uh, I think-

   11. DWDerek Wolfe23:02

       Prehistoric animals, man.

   12. JRJoe Rogan23:03

       I think those memories are in our DNA. So I have a feeling we have no idea what kind of information is stored that passes on from your genes.

   13. DWDerek Wolfe23:13

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan23:13

       Like, uh, one of the things that I've noticed about my kids is they have very specific talents that I have, very specific. And, uh, also that, like, some other members of my family have. Like, my uncle's an amazing artist, and I'm always like, "How much of that is genetic?" Like, "Where is that coming from?"

   15. DWDerek Wolfe23:28

       Right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan23:28

       Like, "Where is this abi-"... Like, my, my youngest daughter is fucking incredible. Her artwork's amazing. Like, I watch her draw and I'm like, "Jesus Christ." Like, "She's 12."

   17. DWDerek Wolfe23:37

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan23:38

       I'm like, "How are you so good?" Like, she's... Like, there's, there's something, I think, that kids get from their parents, and maybe that is what past lives are. And maybe when someone has a seance or some shit and, and, you know, they, they... Someone... They tell a story about a past life, maybe that's in there somewhere, like deep, deep in that-

   19. DWDerek Wolfe23:58

       In that DNA code, right?

   20. JRJoe Rogan23:59

       ... file system. Yeah.

   21. DWDerek Wolfe24:00

       It's all... I mean, we could get down the rabbit hole here, but it's... You know?

   22. JRJoe Rogan24:04

       Yeah.

   23. DWDerek Wolfe24:05

       That DNA code.

   24. JRJoe Rogan24:06

       We don't know-

   25. DWDerek Wolfe24:07

       W- we don't know what the fuck.

   26. JRJoe Rogan24:08

       We don't know what's in there. Oh my God.

   27. DWDerek Wolfe24:10

       What is in there?

   28. JRJoe Rogan24:10

       It's in with animals, right? Like, I got a dog. He's a, a golden retriever, sweetest dog in the world. But, like, if that dog sees shit outside, he rolls around in it. Like, he knows to roll around. Like, I don't know what the fuck (laughs) kind of instinct that is. But that's, like, in his system.

   29. DWDerek Wolfe24:25

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan24:25

       It's a very specific thing. You know? If he, if he sees a squirrel, he's... It's, it's on, bitch.
10. 37:46 – 44:18

    Vikings in history: raids, fear, mythology, and what life was really like

    1. JRJoe Rogan37:46

       Could you imagine being alive during the Viking times?

    2. DWDerek Wolfe37:48

       Oh, fucking savage.

    3. JRJoe Rogan37:50

       Could you imagine those-

    4. DWDerek Wolfe37:51

       We're gonna go rape and pillage.

    5. JRJoe Rogan37:53

       We're gonna g- See, that's how you think about it. Like, think about that. We're gonna ... I think, "I'm gonna get raped and pillaged." (laughs)

    6. DWDerek Wolfe37:57

       That's what I think. You're thinking, "Oh, yeah, we're gonna rape and pillage."

    7. JRJoe Rogan38:00

       (laughs)

    8. DWDerek Wolfe38:00

       I'm thinking, "That's not my role in this. My role is running in the mountains."

    9. JRJoe Rogan38:03

       (laughs)

    10. DWDerek Wolfe38:03

        "I have to get the fuck out of here."

    11. JRJoe Rogan38:05

        (laughs)

    12. DWDerek Wolfe38:06

        I see those boats pull up, I'm like, "Oh, shit."

    13. JRJoe Rogan38:08

        Dude, imagine-

    14. DWDerek Wolfe38:09

        "We gotta go."

    15. JRJoe Rogan38:10

        Imagine how fucking scary that was.

    16. DWDerek Wolfe38:11

        Oh, my God. Just a f- just a fucking Viking boat pulls up.

    17. JRJoe Rogan38:15

        And not just one, probably.

    18. DWDerek Wolfe38:16

        Oh, just fucking hundreds-

    19. JRJoe Rogan38:18

        Quite a few.

    20. DWDerek Wolfe38:18

        ... couple hundred of 'em, probably.

    21. JRJoe Rogan38:19

        And they just can't wait to jump off the boat and fucking kill everybody.

    22. DWDerek Wolfe38:22

        Oh.

    23. JRJoe Rogan38:23

        Ooh.

    24. DWDerek Wolfe38:23

        And then, it's ... Ha- have you watched that show Vikings?

    25. JRJoe Rogan38:25

        Yeah. It's a great fucking show.

    26. DWDerek Wolfe38:26

        It's pretty fucking cool.

    27. JRJoe Rogan38:27

        Have you seen the Northman, the movie?

    28. DWDerek Wolfe38:29

        Yeah.

    29. JRJoe Rogan38:29

        Whoo.

    30. DWDerek Wolfe38:30

        Dude, savage.
11. 44:18 – 53:18

    Ancient apocalypse theories: civilization resets, pyramids, and Egypt’s ‘energy’

    1. JRJoe Rogan44:18

       Do you, uh, ever, uh, pay attention to guys like Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson and th- these guys that think that there was a huge reset of civilization?

    2. DWDerek Wolfe44:27

       I've heard about the reset, but I-

    3. JRJoe Rogan44:29

       They've, they've-

    4. DWDerek Wolfe44:29

       But I... Talk more about that 'cause I'm, I'm interested

    5. GUGuest44:31

       Yeah.

    6. JRJoe Rogan44:31

       They think that there was natural disasters, probably comet impacts around 11,800 years ago-

    7. DWDerek Wolfe44:36

       Okay, yep.

    8. JRJoe Rogan44:37

       ... that reset civilization and probably knocked us back into the Stone Age.

    9. DWDerek Wolfe44:40

       Yeah.

    10. JRJoe Rogan44:40

        And that it makes sense if you think about the, like... When you're talking, like, a thousand years ago with the Vikings, and 2,000 years ago with the Romans, and just how savage and barbaric people were. But yet, thousands of years before that, they built the pyramids. Like, how'd they do that? Well, if something happened that, like, wiped everyone out back down to, like, just pure savage people that just scratch and clawing to stay alive, and then they rebuilt civilization, well, you would have the echoes of that barbarism just running through cultures. And that's what we have.

    11. DWDerek Wolfe45:13

        Yep.

    12. JRJoe Rogan45:14

        And that's really... When you see the Vikings, when you, when you, you think about the Mongols, you think about the horrific shit that people did to each other just a couple thousand years ago. And then a few thousand years before that, you have this immensely sophisticated civilization in Africa that's building s- giant stone structures in perfect geometry. Like, what happened?

    13. DWDerek Wolfe45:35

        Yeah.

    14. JRJoe Rogan45:35

        What the fuck happened?

    15. DWDerek Wolfe45:36

        So, yeah, it has to be. It has to be.

    16. JRJoe Rogan45:37

        Makes sense.

    17. DWDerek Wolfe45:37

        I totally believe in that. Uh, this is... What's the documentary called?

    18. JRJoe Rogan45:41

        Um, well, the... Graham Hancock's is called-

    19. GUGuest45:43

        Well, there's a-

    20. JRJoe Rogan45:44

        ... Natural Catastrophes.

    21. DWDerek Wolfe45:45

        Yeah, yeah.

    22. GUGuest45:45

        Ancient Apocalyp-

    23. JRJoe Rogan45:46

        Oh, okay, Ancient Apocalyp-

    24. DWDerek Wolfe45:47

        Ancient, Ancient Apocalypses.

    25. JRJoe Rogan45:48

        (laughs) It's a terrible name.

    26. GUGuest45:49

        Ancient Apocalypses.

    27. DWDerek Wolfe45:49

        He said Natural-

    28. JRJoe Rogan45:50

        Natural Catastrophes. (laughs)

    29. DWDerek Wolfe45:51

        Natural Catastrophes is just Ancient Apocalypses.

    30. JRJoe Rogan45:53

        Ancient Apocalypses. And Graham's, uh, is, is I think, I believe it's seven pieces? Seven? How many parts is it?
12. 53:18 – 57:59

    Volcanoes, Hawaii travel plans, and the fear of sharks in the water

    1. DWDerek Wolfe53:18

       I was, there's an, there's a thing on Netflix about, uh, natural disasters now, and they were talking about a volcano, v- about, like, volcanoes and how people are living closer to volcanoes more and more, and that it's a fucking mistake. I think it's like a-

    2. JRJoe Rogan53:29

       Hmm.

    3. DWDerek Wolfe53:30

       ... I think it's, like, a billion people or something-

    4. JRJoe Rogan53:32

       Live near volcanoes?

    5. DWDerek Wolfe53:32

       ... live near volcanoes on the planet, and, like, all of them are active.

    6. JRJoe Rogan53:35

       (sighs) Well, how about Hawaii? I love the Big Island. But every time I go to the Big Island, last time I left, it was a volcano the next day. I'm like, "Jesus Christ."

    7. DWDerek Wolfe53:44

       Oh. Yeah, dude, I don't want anything to do with that shit. That shit freaks me out.

    8. JRJoe Rogan53:47

       (groans)

    9. DWDerek Wolfe53:47

       They say the steam from that shit will just melt you.

    10. JRJoe Rogan53:50

        (exhales)

    11. DWDerek Wolfe53:51

        It just melts you.

    12. JRJoe Rogan53:52

        There's a great video of, uh, Hawaii. This guy's got his Mustang parked on the street, and the lava just comes down the street and engulfs the Mustang. It destroys it.

    13. DWDerek Wolfe54:01

        (sighs)

    14. JRJoe Rogan54:01

        It was, like, someone's, uh, security camera caught the footage.

    15. DWDerek Wolfe54:04

        Oh, man, I bet that was cool-looking.

    16. JRJoe Rogan54:05

        (exhales)

    17. DWDerek Wolfe54:07

        It just scared the fuck out of you.

    18. JRJoe Rogan54:08

        Well, that lets you know you're not supposed to stop there. (laughs)

    19. DWDerek Wolfe54:10

        No. Don't live here.

    20. JRJoe Rogan54:12

        That's a bad spot. But if you can get away, here it is. Look at it. This guy's car is parked, and it just makes its way across the street. I mean, this is a residential neighborhood with this fucking lava.

    21. DWDerek Wolfe54:23

        Well, if you think about, like, this is how all earth was made, right?

    22. JRJoe Rogan54:26

        Yeah. Look how it's all ground.

    23. DWDerek Wolfe54:27

        It's like dust bowl.

    24. JRJoe Rogan54:28

        Look how amazing that is. It just completely consumes that car. That car doesn't exist anymore.

    25. DWDerek Wolfe54:34

        It just melts everything.

    26. JRJoe Rogan54:36

        I mean, it just looks so out of place. When you see the, the sidewalk or the, the street and then you see the mailbox and you see this lava flow headed towards that car, you're like, "What the fuck is happening?"

    27. DWDerek Wolfe54:48

        Look at that thing go.

    28. JRJoe Rogan54:49

        Dude.

    29. DWDerek Wolfe54:50

        That's amazing.Just destroy anything.

    30. JRJoe Rogan54:55

        And they live there, but beautiful place to live.
13. 57:59 – 59:37

    Bowhunting as purpose: childhood origins and why it feels more intense than football

    1. JRJoe Rogan57:59

       It's the real wild. Yeah. I, I love it. When did you first... You s- you said you started hunting as a kid?

    2. DWDerek Wolfe58:05

       Yeah. My... I killed my first, uh, white tail with a bow when I was th- just about 13.

    3. JRJoe Rogan58:10

       Hmm.

    4. DWDerek Wolfe58:10

       So that's when I f-... And my stepdad would... He was a... He liked to hunt too every now and then, you know, he was into it, but he would just take me in the woods once a year and fucking sit me under a tree and, "Don't fucking move." "All right." And I'd sit there and freeze.

    5. JRJoe Rogan58:21

       (laughs) Yeah.

    6. DWDerek Wolfe58:22

       And he'd go. But I got... You know, just sitting there, you'd see fucking deer come close, and it was... To me, it was really cool to see how close I could get to the deer.

    7. JRJoe Rogan58:28

       Yeah.

    8. DWDerek Wolfe58:29

       I didn't really, like, enjoy shooting them with a gun, so I just, like... Once I got a bow in my hand, I was like, oh, a full-blown addict, like, right away.

    9. JRJoe Rogan58:36

       It's such a different experience, isn't it?

    10. DWDerek Wolfe58:38

        Yeah. There's something primal about it.

    11. JRJoe Rogan58:40

        Yeah. It taps into some strange area of your brain. And because it's silent too, like, it's, like, such a... 'Cause you're sneaking up, you have to be quiet. There's no boom.

    12. DWDerek Wolfe58:52

        Yeah.

    13. JRJoe Rogan58:52

        The boom is like... Cam Hanes has always said that, that the boom of the gun just always felt out of place to him.

    14. DWDerek Wolfe58:58

        Yeah.

    15. JRJoe Rogan58:58

        Like, you're in the wilderness, everything's peaceful and beautiful and natural and primal, and then boom.

    16. DWDerek Wolfe59:06

        And I have nothing against rifle hunters, man. Like, I... There's, there's a need for all that shit, but dude, I just... The bow hunting, the snap of the bow.

    17. JRJoe Rogan59:13

        Mm-hmm.

    18. DWDerek Wolfe59:13

        Like that fa. And then you... The whack of the do-... And the pop of the lungs popping.

    19. JRJoe Rogan59:17

        Also, also, the skill involved in archery is so different.

    20. DWDerek Wolfe59:19

        (laughs) You have to practice so much.

    21. JRJoe Rogan59:21

        You have to practice so much. It has to be a part of you. You have to just, like... In your mind, you have to be able to just, like... (exhales)

    22. DWDerek Wolfe59:27

        Yeah, you anchor the...

    23. JRJoe Rogan59:27

        Yeah.

    24. DWDerek Wolfe59:28

        I use a nose button, so when I anchor that nose button, it's like everything is... You know, like that mountain lion hunt, dude, I... That was the... one of the most physically demanding things I've ever done.

    25. JRJoe Rogan59:36

        Really?

    26. DWDerek Wolfe59:37

        It fucked me up.

14. 59:37 – 1:25:47

    The mountain lion hunt: hounds, deep snow, exhaustion, and a massive tom

    1. JRJoe Rogan59:37

       So how did this come about? This is a mountain lion that was killing people's dogs?

    2. DWDerek Wolfe59:40

       Yeah. Well, no, that's the thing. It's not... There was... In that area, dogs get fucking killed by mountain lions all the time.

    3. JRJoe Rogan59:48

       Mm-hmm.

    4. DWDerek Wolfe59:48

       In Colorado in general.

    5. JRJoe Rogan59:49

       Yeah.

    6. DWDerek Wolfe59:49

       Like, it happens all the time. Like, up in Boulder, they took a cat from... They took a lion from Boulder and moved it out to, like, Nederland.

    7. JRJoe Rogan59:55

       Mm-hmm.

    8. DWDerek Wolfe59:55

       You lived up in Boulder, so you know what I'm talking about.

    9. JRJoe Rogan59:56

       Yeah.

    10. DWDerek Wolfe59:56

        The Netherlands area?

    11. JRJoe Rogan59:57

        My dog got killed by a mountain lion in Boulder.

    12. DWDerek Wolfe59:58

        Right. I... Oh, yeah.

    13. JRJoe Rogan59:59

        Yeah.

    14. DWDerek Wolfe59:59

        I heard this story.

    15. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

        Yeah.

    16. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:01

        So they moved this lion. Instead of, like, killing the lion, which is what they should have done, 'cause once it's used to eating that kind of food, it's not going back to chasing deer and shit.

    17. JRJoe Rogan1:00:08

        Mm-hmm.

    18. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:08

        You know, it's gonna go take the easy meal and kill the little dogs.

    19. JRJoe Rogan1:00:11

        Right. Of course.

    20. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:11

        Well, they took that lion and moved it out to Nederland. It killed 15 dogs in 30 days.

    21. JRJoe Rogan1:00:16

        Geez.

    22. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:16

        And then they had to kill it. So you have to manage that population. But what happened was... Alex is out... He's actually sitting out there right now. Alex called me and was like, "Hey, we got a fresh snow. You want to come up and, you know, drive up here and, and hunt a lion?" I said, "Yeah, let's go." Uh, so I grabbed my bow and drove up there, you know, 4:00 in the morning, and we just started driving around trying to cut tracks with, with the hounds.

    23. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

        Wow.

    24. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:35

        So we're... You know, we're driving, driving, just find a couple smaller tracks, and then we find this big track coming across the, across the road, and we're like, "Oh, that's a big fucking lion." Um, so we get out and look at, check it out, and he had a fucking mule deer. Just... He just killed this mule deer. Like, it was, like, steaming still-

    25. JRJoe Rogan1:00:52

        Wow.

    26. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:52

        ... under the tree. He had ripped it... You could see its guts all hanging out because it was eating it and shit. Dude, these fucking things are crazy.

    27. JRJoe Rogan1:00:58

        Yeah.

    28. DWDerek Wolfe1:00:58

        This giant mule deer, four by four, full grown under this tree. And then we look and we see it going back and forth from this porch. So it's going from this guy's porch that we're ... To this, to this kill, going back and forth. That's where it was denned up, was under that fucking porch. We didn't see it under there.

    29. JRJoe Rogan1:01:13

        Oh, my God.

    30. DWDerek Wolfe1:01:14

        But you can see that that's where he was sleeping. Like, that's where he was fucking hanging out because it was easy killing for him, for him. He had dogs and fucking deer and ...

Episode duration: 3:04:17