EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,081 words- 0:00 – 15:00
(drum music) Joe Rogan podcast,…
- JRJoe Rogan
(drum music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
- DCDavid Choe
The Joe Rogan Experience.
- JRJoe Rogan
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (energetic music) (laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
Hey.
- JRJoe Rogan
What's happening?
- DCDavid Choe
Can I give you a real hug? Like, I wanna get with you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, you can give me a real hug. Sure.
- DCDavid Choe
Oh, I missed you. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
What's happening? I miss you too. What's going on? It's great to see you.
- DCDavid Choe
Yeah. And, uh, I always like to give you a gift. Um, so this is my, like, shroom mates, you know, our connection through psychedelics.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's beautiful.
- DCDavid Choe
And, uh, and I added this one, train all day-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
... JRE all night. And then I got the-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- DCDavid Choe
... I got the mushroom guy. I got a mushroom playing a mushroom drum set with, like, some guy dunking on, you know...
- JRJoe Rogan
Nice.
- DCDavid Choe
I wanted to model it for you, but I wanna give it to you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, thank you very much.
- DCDavid Choe
I don't know if it'll fit, but...
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm sure it'll fit.
- DCDavid Choe
There you go.
- JRJoe Rogan
Thank you.
- DCDavid Choe
Yeah. There you go.
- JRJoe Rogan
And what is this fucking costume you're wearing underneath this? Jesus Christ.
- DCDavid Choe
Ah. Joe, um, I've been cruising Austin. All right, where do I begin with this?
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
Okay. Where, where do I begin with this?
- JRJoe Rogan
Where do you begin with this?
- DCDavid Choe
I touched down Austin yesterday. All right. This is what I... This... They're like-
- 15:00 – 30:00
Mm-hmm. …
- DCDavid Choe
Tanzania, which are, like, two completely (laughs) different, you know... Um, I remember when I went to the Congo the first time, I was 19, 18, in 1995. That was when you filmed that thing for VICE where you were looking for dinosaurs? No, the, the first time I went is when I went to look for the dinosaur f- by myself, and then VICE saw that I wrote a article about that, and they sent me back, like, 10 years later when I was 20, 25 or something. Really? But I remember f- finding a missionary deep, deep, deep in the jungle, and he's like, "Bro, you think you're the first one?" And I was like, "What do you mean?" He's like, "You think you're the first, like, lost soul that's come here looking for dinosaurs?" And I'm like, I'm like, "I'm not," and he's like, he's like, "I've been here for 20 years, like, living with these people. Like, every five years, a weirdo like you comes through." (laughs) "And do you think you're really looking for the dinosaur?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm looking for a dinosaur." He's like, "No, you're looking for something else. You're either running from something else or you're looking for some kind of meaning in your life that you can't find, so this is... You've pushed yourself to, to this, you know?" And I'm like, "Fuck, dude. You trying to get deep with me, bro?" (laughs) So, um, so yeah, I mean, I, I go back to Africa, and, like... It's hard for me to talk about this stuff without, like, sounding cringe or, um, people, um... I don't know. It's like, let's look at life, um, as a video game, right? Like, as someone who was, like, heavily, heavily addicted to video games and, like, born s- in- into a super, super Christian kind of background, right? Like... Or if, if you are in any kind of, like, strict, uh, religi- organized religion growing up, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, whatever, um, it's kinda like being born into a video game 'cause it's like th- it's, it's very binary, right? There's heaven and hell, especially if it's Christian. And so you have to live a certain way, you gotta get a certain amount of points to have everlasting love, you know, peace, joy, and then if you don't, wah-wah-wah-wah. Yeah. (laughs) Like, you're fucked. And you're, "Okay, for how long? How much before I can re- Forever. S- like, forever, and you're like, "Wait, that's a long, that's a long time," you know? And I'm like, "Fuck, man." Um, and so I, I don't, I don't subscribe to any organized religion. I, I consider myself a spiritual person. But, like, without making light or, or trying to be disrespectful, like, if... The things that I tried to f- um, figure out like a, like a game, like a video game, was sex, money, power, right? Like, as an artist, I had subscribed to the starving artist, like, type, right? I was like, Top Ramen, you know, holes in your clothes, like, like, homeless, like... (laughs) I was like, "That is what a real artist is," until I met a successful artist, until I, I was like, "Oh, shit," like? "You can have a manager and an agent and an office, and, like, you can, like, not starve and..." And I remember at that point I was in my early 20s. I was like, "Man, people sure, like, talk about money a lot, right?" Like, it seems to be, like, this thing that causes a lot of problems in marriages and business, and I go-... it doesn't seem that hard to me, as some- and I'm saying this as a guy in my 20s that's poor. I'm like, "What if I just, like, try to be as rich as possible for the next 10 years, or five years? Like, what if that's my singular focus?" And so, I did it and it, you know, it was a lot of work but, like, the video game for, of money is over for me now, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- DCDavid Choe
Like, I, like, at every industry, gambling, the stock market, um, like even, like, people go, "Oh, that's like this Korean Forrest Gump and he just, he was like this, um, like this, uh, homeless guy that, (laughs) like, that got lucky with Facebook." I'm like, "That was, like, a lot of work to make that happen," you know? Um, and I was already w- kind of wealthy when I, when I made that deal, but people like to tell that story. So, I made millions of dollars gambling, I made millions of dollars with my art, I made millions of dollars with Facebook and it, it was a lot of hard work but I'm like, it's kinda, if I wanted to... You tell me how cringe I'm, I s- I sound (laughs) and I'll just stop, but I'm like, it's not gonna be that hard for me to become a billionaire at a certain level, right? Like, I've amassed hundreds of millions, I'm like, if that's my goal now, if that's my video game. And then, I know billionaires, I mean, Sean Parker and Mark being the most... But I know tons of, like, secret billionaires, right? And I go, "I don't want any of their lives. (laughs) I don't want-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- DCDavid Choe
... "I don't want any of, like, I like-"
- JRJoe Rogan
But it's just money. You don't have to have their life-
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... to, to have money.
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you don't have to think about money if you have it.
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Th- the problem with money is pe- people become obsessed with it because it's so difficult to attain (clears throat) and there's so much societal value-
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... put on being wealthy-
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that it becomes the thing, instead of a thing.
- DCDavid Choe
I mean, I have, I have a friend that has like, hundreds of billions of dollars and (laughs) -
- JRJoe Rogan
Hundreds of billions?
- DCDavid Choe
Hundreds of billions. Like, one of the, you know...
- JRJoe Rogan
I have one too.
- DCDavid Choe
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
Yeah. And you, you know how weird those guys are, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
They're weird guys. (laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
And, and I'm pretty close with him. He's not just like a, you know. And I said, we were having dinner and I was like, "I'm feeling confident." I was like, "Give me one." He's like, "What?" I was like, "Give me one." So-
- JRJoe Rogan
One billion?
- DCDavid Choe
And he's like, "I don't understand." (laughs) Yeah. I was like, "Gimme 1 billion."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
And he's like... I was like, "Motherfucker, you know I don't need it. Like, you know I'm not gonna go buy cars and houses." He's like, "What do you wanna, what do you wanna do with that?" He's like, "Dave, I don't know if you know how money works. You don't just go up to someone and ask them for a billion." I go, "Motherfucker, I just did." And he's like, "Well, do you have a plan? Are you gonna show me charts and graphs?" And I was like, "No. It's all gonna be instinct. I will take that one billion..." And he's like, "Dude, you gotta come to me with, like... I'm not saying no, but you gotta have a better, you know?"
- JRJoe Rogan
A plan?
- 30:00 – 45:00
(laughs) …
- DCDavid Choe
that we talked about before we start recording that we can't, and then there will be shit (laughs) that we talk about later. And, and we live in this world now where it's like, it's a crazy world, right? And the answer is love. And everyone says it, and it's in movies, and it's in books, but i- it's, what does that path look like? And so, uh, I go towards where I feel that, and I feel that in Africa. When I go to Africa, I feel that like in my soul to my bones, and...... you know, I, I look like this in Austin, and no one judges me. Like, you would think going to Africa, the places I go where there's no Asians, that they would say shit, but they don't. They just accept me, they call me brother, they take me in, they show me their lives, and they're like, "J- you're just part of our tribe now." And I'm like... It makes me want to cry, you know? So... And the fact that, you know, I have this beautiful relationship with you, and, you know, you let me talk about this stuff, and then those words get to, you know... Like, I don't know Logan Paul. That guy calls me up right after a show.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
He's like, "Take me to Africa, bro. Take me." I'm like, "Uh, okay." You know? Like, and, and it's just a, it's just a tremendous thing. And then, you know, we, we made this film, and it's, uh, you know, it's, it's like the best documentary I've ever seen. So if anyone, like, uh, wants to see a trailer or... It's We Are Hadza, The Moleca Foundation, uh, we-
- JRJoe Rogan
Is it available, the whole thing?
- DCDavid Choe
Like... Here's my... It's done. Like, it's done. It's like, I'll send you a link if you wanna watch it. Like, it's amazing. But I, I'm, I'm... It's like, um, last, last time I came on here, I had made a TV show. Like I do everything backwards, right? Like, like some, someone, um... Like the normal way to get a show on th- and this is, I definitely wanna ask you about this. The normal way you get a show on TV is you pitch it, right? You come up with an idea. But like, sh- things don't cost that much anymore. I mean, I'm speaking from a rich guy-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- DCDavid Choe
... so I know what that sounds like. But compared to what it used to cost-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- DCDavid Choe
Like you don't... If you have a nice camera, and you got a good-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- DCDavid Choe
... editing thing, like...
- JRJoe Rogan
Much cheaper.
- DCDavid Choe
Like the, the movie that just won the Oscar, Everything Everywhere All at Once is like my favorite movie, it had like six guys doing the, the special effects. And then you have, you know, Top Gun, uh, not Top Gun, but like all these other movies that have like, when you see the credits at the end, it's like thousands of like Korean names. (laughs) And you're like... So you can do things relatively cheaply compared. Right? So I made this show on, uh, FX called The Cho Show, and I made it exactly the way I want. And, and, um, you know, like some, you know, whatever, something got cut, there was some notes. And that's where I get stuck a lot of times, right? Because no one tells me what to do when I paint. I can do whatever the fuck I want. But when it comes to media, there's a bigger audience, people are more sensitive, people can get triggered, this and that. So a lot of decisions made in Hollywood are fear-based decisions, and I don't-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- DCDavid Choe
... I don't live my life that way.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, i- well, they're platform-based decisions, right?
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
So the problem is you're an artist, but the people that distribute the stuff are not artists.
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
They're executives and money people.
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
And all those money people, they look at you, and they go, "Well, David Choe's very popular."
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
"He's very eccentric. He might, this might work. We might be able to make money." And then they start thinking about new cars they're gonna buy-
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and new houses they're gonna buy. They, they don't think about it the way you think about it. So the problem with being in business with people like that is business. That's the problem.
- DCDavid Choe
Right, right.
- JRJoe Rogan
You're just trying to create something cool.
- DCDavid Choe
Yeah, you're like, 'cause there is really, like Atlanta's a great show. Ramy's a great show. There's great shows-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, there's great shows. But-
- 45:00 – 1:00:00
Wow. …
- DCDavid Choe
kill a squirrel with his, like, rip his head off and eat it. But he's the only one that went to law school.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- DCDavid Choe
So he speaks Swahili, Hadzabe, um, English, right? So he can wear, like, a suit and tie, and then still have, like the Hadza headband. And he's the-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- DCDavid Choe
... only one that, um, has ever, as far as I know, that was able to get all the proper paperwork to, to leave to come to the US. So he stayed at my house when he came, and I got him a shrimp c- I, I took him to, like, every, like, insane restaurant. He'd never been in a swimming pool. He-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- DCDavid Choe
He swam in my pool for, like, seven hours.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
(laughs) He was, like, trying to drink the chlorine. I was like, "Dude, don't drink that."
- JRJoe Rogan
Ugh.
- DCDavid Choe
I took him to Fogo de Chao, and he was like, "Leave the sword," you know? (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
They brought out the shrimp crocktail, and he was like, "Oh, you guys eat scorpion?" I'm like, "Bro, that's not scor-" It was like, everything, everywhere I took him, he would eat it with his hands, like, at these, like, gourmet restaurants, and he's like (chews) , and, like, grease is just going down his arm, and i- it was like ... He, he had, like, the best time. But he's like, "I'm so glad I went to law school, so now I have the tools to go fight for my people." And I don't know what the answer is. I, but yeah-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's amazing.
- DCDavid Choe
It's like-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's an amazing story. I want ... How, how alien must it be to a person to see an entire pool filled with water that they can't drink?
- DCDavid Choe
Dude, the, the-
- JRJoe Rogan
But these people are drinking out of puddles in that documentary you showed.
- DCDavid Choe
The escalator? Going up the escalator? (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- DCDavid Choe
Like, yeah. There-
- JRJoe Rogan
But you showed these people drinking out of puddles.
- DCDavid Choe
Yes, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And imagine they're looking at this crystal clear water, and they can't drink it. You're telling them they can't drink it.
- DCDavid Choe
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, what are we doing with chlorine? How bad is that shit for your skin? (laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
Dude, that's the worst, man.
- JRJoe Rogan
It can't be... Is chlorine bad for you, like chlorine from the pool?
- DCDavid Choe
(sighs) I don't, I, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
How could it be good for you?
- 1:00:00 – 1:11:18
Right. …
- DCDavid Choe
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- DCDavid Choe
Um, I don't know. It's pr- like, I'm- I'm feeling it, you know. As long as, like, there's some place where I could get kimchi.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- DCDavid Choe
Like, I'm- I'm- I'm good.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm sure there is.
- DCDavid Choe
Um, dude, I have a question for you that you're the perfect person to ask for this, because, uh, people that don't know this about Joe Rogan, you used to be an actor.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, I've done some acting. I wasn't very good at it. I was good at sitcom acting. I never did, like, real acting.
- DCDavid Choe
No, you went- you went hard, like on- on, uh, News Radio-
- JRJoe Rogan
Ah.
- DCDavid Choe
... and, like, th-
- JRJoe Rogan
But that's... Sitcom acting's not hard, man. It's, like, the hardest shit is, like, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix acting.
- DCDavid Choe
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's hard acting. But, like, just playing a guy and saying a funny line-
- DCDavid Choe
So, you don't act anymore?
- JRJoe Rogan
... it's pretty easy. No, no, no, no, no, no.
- DCDavid Choe
And, like, there's no project that you would come back to?
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm not interested in it. It's just-
- DCDavid Choe
So, like-
- JRJoe Rogan
... like, it's okay.
- DCDavid Choe
... Scorsese or anybody-
- JRJoe Rogan
I love it. It's just not a- it's not a- a negative on acting. I mean, I've appreciate- I love movies, you know. I love great acting. I just don't like to do it.
- DCDavid Choe
All right.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's just too many hours. It takes too long, it's not what I'm interested in. You know? I'm, I'm more interested in podcasts and standup, and I don't have enough time to do anything else, other than UFC commentary.
- DCDavid Choe
So, there's no project you can think of?
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm just not interested.
- DCDavid Choe
If it was, like, a one-day shoot, or something?
- JRJoe Rogan
Eh, it's great.
- DCDavid Choe
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It's, I just, uh, there's other, uh, yeah, I don't wanna play baseball either. It doesn't mean I hate baseball. I'm just not interested.
Episode duration: 3:17:31
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