Joe Rogan Experience #1971 - Howie Mandel

1. 0:00 – 4:32

   Warm reunion + Howie praises Rogan’s “Austin comedy” innovation

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music)

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:12

      Hey, what up?

   3. HMHowie Mandel0:13

      Can you hear me?

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      I hear you perfect.

   5. HMHowie Mandel0:14

      Okay.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      Hello, Howie Mandel.

   7. HMHowie Mandel0:16

      Hi, Joe Rogan.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      Good to see you, my friend.

   9. HMHowie Mandel0:17

      I know.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:18

       Very good to see you.

   11. HMHowie Mandel0:19

       I know. And a- and amazing to see you. Before you start anything, I've gotta tell you how exci- are you ... uh, uh, uh, uh, did we start?

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:26

       No. Yeah, we're starting.

   13. HMHowie Mandel0:27

       Okay.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       Yeah.

   15. HMHowie Mandel0:28

       Uh, I gotta tell you how excited I am to see you. I am the biggest fan. If, if there's one thing that I'm a fan of, it's innovation.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       Mm.

   17. HMHowie Mandel0:37

       And I think that you have become the comedy innovator. And, and, um, uh, I'm blowing smoke up your ass r- right at the beginning of this. And I, I gotta say, what I've seen from the outside, you know? In 1978, I came down to The Comedy Store, and I, I got up on a lark. Mike Binder got me up there on a lark. I, I, I was not pursuing it. I had gone on at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, and I fell in love with this. Mitzi gave me my biggest break. Um, and there was a guy by the name of George Foster who was in the audience that night that said, "Hey, do you wanna do TV?" And I said, "Yeah." And then he hired me to do Make Me Laugh, which I did with Binder and a bunch of other-

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:18

       Wow.

   19. HMHowie Mandel1:18

       ... people. And with no intent of making this a, um, a, a career, you know? I, I didn't, I didn't pursue comedy. I knew nothing about comedy. I was a fan of comedy. I watched comedy, stand-up. I, even when I went to Yuk Yuk's, I had never, you know... I don't know. Uh, uh, let me get back to you, and then I'll talk about, I'll talk about me. But-

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:42

       (laughs)

   21. HMHowie Mandel1:42

       ... the, the thing is that I'm aware of the history of comedy. And when I was a kid, it was in New York. Everybody went to New York. That's where Lenny Bruce was working. You just showed me a picture of Lenny Bruce. And then when Carson made his way out to California, there was a shift where everybody had to come to California, you know? And you had to get on at The Comedy Store or maybe the Improv with the intent of maybe, if you were lucky, getting a spot on The Tonight Show.

   22. JRJoe Rogan2:10

       Mm.

   23. HMHowie Mandel2:11

       Right?

   24. JRJoe Rogan2:11

       Yeah.

   25. HMHowie Mandel2:11

       And I, I don't know. How old are you?

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:13

       55.

   27. HMHowie Mandel2:14

       55, you're a kid.

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:15

       How old are you?

   29. HMHowie Mandel2:16

       (laughs) I'll be 68 this year.

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:17

       You look fucking great.
2. 4:32 – 6:19

   Mitzi Shore, The Comedy Store origin story, and why it became comedy’s launching pad

   1. HMHowie Mandel4:32

      It is a great painting. But the thing about Mitzi, if you don't know the, the beginnings of that, you know, it was Sammy Shore's club.

   2. JRJoe Rogan4:38

      Yes.

   3. HMHowie Mandel4:38

      It was her husband's club-

   4. JRJoe Rogan4:39

      Yeah.

   5. HMHowie Mandel4:39

      ... who was the opening act for Elvis Presley, you know?

   6. JRJoe Rogan4:41

      Right, which is hilarious that she took in a divorce and she's not a comic. (laughs)

   7. HMHowie Mandel4:45

      Well, you, 'cause you take shit-

   8. JRJoe Rogan4:47

      Yes. (laughs)

   9. HMHowie Mandel4:47

      That's like you take-

   10. JRJoe Rogan4:47

       Exactly.

   11. HMHowie Mandel4:47

       ... uh, you take custody of a child and you're not a parent.

   12. JRJoe Rogan4:50

       Sugar Shane Mosley, the boxer, his ex-wife took one of his championship belts.

   13. HMHowie Mandel4:56

       But it looks nice with certain tops.

   14. JRJoe Rogan4:57

       Do you know how goddamn crazy that story is?

   15. HMHowie Mandel5:00

       No.

   16. JRJoe Rogan5:00

       That guy went to war with his hands. He was throwing knuckles at another skilled man and won a world title.

   17. HMHowie Mandel5:08

       (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan5:08

       Got this beautiful belt strap. The whole crowd cheers, and she's like, "No, it's mine."

   19. HMHowie Mandel5:13

       Okay.

   20. JRJoe Rogan5:13

       And she took it. (laughs)

   21. HMHowie Mandel5:14

       So Sammy Shore was telling jokes for people, audiences that weren't his. They were Elvis'.

   22. JRJoe Rogan5:19

       Yes. Right.

   23. HMHowie Mandel5:19

       And he opened up a building for his friends to work out, and Mitzi went, "No, it's mine."

   24. JRJoe Rogan5:24

       (laughs)

   25. HMHowie Mandel5:24

       And then he told everybody that was in the business not to work there, right? So she got all these kids. All us kids-

   26. JRJoe Rogan5:32

       Oh.

   27. HMHowie Mandel5:32

       ... would show up and work because we wanted stage time. And that's how people started blasting off.

   28. JRJoe Rogan5:37

       Oh.

   29. HMHowie Mandel5:37

       You know, Jimmy JJ Walker-

   30. JRJoe Rogan5:39

       Wow.
3. 6:19 – 7:58

   Joe’s early Comedy Store obsession and the old “Mecca” status of stage time

   1. HMHowie Mandel6:19

      That was, there was a, a select few when I was young. You know, I, I was talking to you outside. I used to go... What year did you start at The Comedy Store? I remember seeing you a lot.

   2. JRJoe Rogan6:27

      I started at The Comedy Store in '94.

   3. HMHowie Mandel6:29

      '94.

   4. JRJoe Rogan6:29

      Yeah.

   5. HMHowie Mandel6:29

      And you got news radio out of there, right?

   6. JRJoe Rogan6:31

      I was already on news radio.

   7. HMHowie Mandel6:33

      When you started doing-

   8. JRJoe Rogan6:34

      Yeah.

   9. HMHowie Mandel6:34

      I know a lot of people that you know-

   10. JRJoe Rogan6:35

       I was actually on another show. I was on... I think I'd got passed, like, in between shows. I got passed right when, uh, the show I was on called Hardball fell apart.

   11. HMHowie Mandel6:44

       I don't know Hardball.

   12. JRJoe Rogan6:45

       It wa- it was canceled very quickly. It was like six episodes on Fox. It was a baseball show. And, uh, while I was on TV, that wasn't... My, my main goal was I'd had to be a paid regular. I had to get to be a paid regular at the Store. Dude, when I was a kid, like in '88 when I was 21 years old, people would talk about The Comedy Store like with hushed tones, like it was Mecca. "That's where Kinison came from."

   13. HMHowie Mandel7:09

       Right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan7:10

       It was like, "Whoa, Richard Pryor used to work out there. Whoa."

   15. HMHowie Mandel7:13

       Right. I was there every night, watched that.

   16. JRJoe Rogan7:15

       Yeah, I was there. Yeah. You would, you would hear about, "Bill Hicks used to be a door guy." Holy shit.

   17. HMHowie Mandel7:19

       Right.

   18. JRJoe Rogan7:20

       He... It was Mecca. Everybody knew you had to get to The Store.

   19. HMHowie Mandel7:22

       Right.

   20. JRJoe Rogan7:22

       So when I came to LA, that's like the first thing I did, man. Like the very first thing I did when I came out here, I came and watched a show, and sat in the back room. It was a terrible show. It was like, Bodaks were on stage. It was awful. (laughs) It was like-

   21. HMHowie Mandel7:33

       Really? I used to sit in the back. I used to sit in the back and, and, you know, Letterman was the host, you know, who was this weather man that came out from Indianapolis-

   22. JRJoe Rogan7:43

       Yes.

   23. HMHowie Mandel7:43

       ... you know-

   24. JRJoe Rogan7:43

       Yeah.

   25. HMHowie Mandel7:43

       ... and, uh, he was just pretty casual about... He didn't think... I thought he was hysterical.

   26. JRJoe Rogan7:49

       Yeah.

   27. HMHowie Mandel7:50

       But... And, and you'd watch, you know, Jeff Altman and Billy Crystal and Robin who was on fire 'cause he just started Mork & Mindy.

   28. JRJoe Rogan7:58

       Mm-hmm.

4. 7:58 – 12:08

   Richard Pryor up close: raw experimentation, danger, and emotional comedy

   1. HMHowie Mandel7:58

      And then every night I would watch, um, Richard Pryor. He, uh, come out and he was putting together what became Live on the Sunset Strip.

   2. JRJoe Rogan8:09

      Wow.

   3. HMHowie Mandel8:09

      And he would get up every fucking night and like... Some... People would be packed down the street to see him. But I remember standing at the back. He had just gotten out of the hospital from freebasing.

   4. JRJoe Rogan8:22

      Mm.

   5. HMHowie Mandel8:23

      He still had bandages on his neck from, uh, for those that don't remember, you know, he got... He almost died. I think he-

   6. JRJoe Rogan8:30

      Lit himself on fire.

   7. HMHowie Mandel8:30

      Lit himself on fire.

   8. JRJoe Rogan8:32

      Yeah.

   9. HMHowie Mandel8:32

      And there was a joke which he started. I saw him do it at The Comedy Store. He used to light a match and, and go like this. He goes, "What's this? This is me running down the street." And then that became like a-

   10. JRJoe Rogan8:41

       Yeah.

   11. HMHowie Mandel8:42

       ... a j- a joke.

   12. JRJoe Rogan8:43

       Yeah.

   13. HMHowie Mandel8:43

       But he perpetrated that joke.

   14. JRJoe Rogan8:45

       Yeah.

   15. HMHowie Mandel8:45

       And at the time, it's hard to put this in context, it didn't get a big laugh. People's jaw dropped. Like you don't talk about your near-death experience, you know? And he would always, like, push the envelope and I was just in awe. I never saw a comic do this in, in my life. That he didn't have jokes per se where he would just talk about his life, or he would experiment.

   16. JRJoe Rogan9:06

       Mm.

   17. HMHowie Mandel9:07

       I talked about one particular night on... I did, uh, Binder's... Did you see, uh, The Comedy Store?

   18. JRJoe Rogan9:12

       Yes.

   19. HMHowie Mandel9:12

       I think you're in it.

   20. JRJoe Rogan9:13

       Yes.

   21. HMHowie Mandel9:13

       Yeah. Y- Uh, I talked about the one night, I'll, I'll never forget. He just walks in. The crowd goes fucking nuts for him, you know? And he turns around and he go... And he, he starts doing... I can't do him justice, but he says, you know, "I'm the fucking Lord. I'm the Lord." And everybody's laughing. And, "I'm just here to pick up my son. I got... I'm, I'm here to pick up my son." You might've seen him. He's a kind of a skinny kid with a beard and a, and a robe, a long robe, goes by the name Jesus. Does anybody see my son? Where's my son?" And people are laughing but it's getting, uh, kinda uncomfortable and he goes, "I, I need my t... Well, uh, where is my son?" And then he leans down as if somebody in the front row is talking to him and he goes, "What? What? What the fuck did you do to... What? Where is my fuck... What did you..." And he just starts screaming, "My son, my boy, my baby. What did... What the fuck did you do to my son?"

   22. JRJoe Rogan10:06

       (laughs) .

   23. HMHowie Mandel10:06

       "What the fuck did you do..." And he said, like screaming, "What the fuck did you do to my son?" And he go... And I can't remember the... Because I don't remember the, the order. He wants to talk to an apostle. And it wa- and then he realized, "What the fuck did you do to him?" And then he goes, "Bring me Martin Luther King. Bring me Martin Luther King. Where the fuck is Martin Luther King?" And then he gets that info.

   24. JRJoe Rogan10:26

       Wow.

   25. HMHowie Mandel10:26

       And he goes, "Where's Kennedy? I wanna talk to Kennedy." And he goes, "Where the f- fuck! Fuck!" And he's screaming and he's got tears coming down his eyes. The, the, the, the room is just sitting there in awe. And then he turns around and he points at the entire room and he goes, "You're on your own." And he walked out.

   26. JRJoe Rogan10:41

       Oh my God. (laughs)

   27. HMHowie Mandel10:43

       And... (laughs) I know.

   28. JRJoe Rogan10:43

       Oh my God.

   29. HMHowie Mandel10:43

       And I thought, "Fuck! Fuck."

   30. JRJoe Rogan10:46

       Oh my God.
5. 12:08 – 17:20

   Howie’s accidental start: panic as a “bit,” rubber gloves, and authenticity

   1. HMHowie Mandel12:08

      But, it really is, and this is what I identified with. If you look at old YouTube, uh, videos of me, when I, when I first peaked, uh, ooh, and, uh, I went on stage on a dare, you know? And the dare was, I didn't wanna be a comic, I just thought if somebody goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, Howie..." And I said, "Okay." And, and if somebody goes, "Ladies and gentlemen, Howie Mandel," that'll be a joke, right? 'Cause there's no reason for Howie Mandel to be on the fucking stage. And I went on the stage, and, um, then I realized, "Oh, shit, people are looking at me. I, th- this is the most embarrassing, this is the most humiliating, this is the most terrifying moment for me, in this moment." So I started to panic. And in my panic, I started going, if you look at old YouTube videos of me, my act is me panicking, and it's me going, "Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Oh, okay. (laughs) Ar-" And then they start laughing at me panicking, and I go, "What? What? What?"

   2. JRJoe Rogan13:04

      Yeah.

   3. HMHowie Mandel13:05

      And that's... And th- and then I didn't know what the fuck to do, and I put my hands in my pocket. And because, we've talked about it, I, I have OCD. You know, I carried rubber gloves with me always, and because I, if I was out in public, I was gonna go to a public restroom, and I didn't wanna touch anything. And I had gloves, and I didn't know what to do. I t- I had the glove came out of my pocket, 'cause my hands were in my pocket. So I pulled it over my head-

   4. JRJoe Rogan13:25

      (laughs)

   5. HMHowie Mandel13:25

      ... I pulled it over my head and I just started breathing, and the fingers are going up and down. The crowd's going crazy! And I blow up the glove, and I pop it off, and they roar, and I had enough sense to go, "Good night!" And I walked off. And Mark Breslin. Did you ever work at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto?

   6. JRJoe Rogan13:39

      Uh, I, yeah, I've been at Yuk Yuk's in Vancouver.

   7. HMHowie Mandel13:42

      Yeah, so Mark, the owner, said-

   8. JRJoe Rogan13:43

      I've been to the Toronto.

   9. HMHowie Mandel13:43

      ... "You've gotta come back tomorrow." And I said, "For what?" He goes, "To do it again." I go, "Do what?" He goes, "Do what you fucking did." And that became my thing.

   10. JRJoe Rogan13:52

       Wow!

   11. HMHowie Mandel13:52

       I never wrote anything. I didn't have anything. I was just... And then when I watched Richard Pryor, I went, "You know what? You gotta be lucky if you're talking about your life." If you're talking about real, relatable, or acting out authenticity? People seem to be, to gravitate toward authenticity, toward real, toward who you are, even more than... Though I did love the guys who did jokes. I loved Rodney Dangerfield, and I loved, you know, George Carlin. But even in his later years, he just started talking about his philosophies, which I-

   12. JRJoe Rogan14:26

       Yeah.

   13. HMHowie Mandel14:26

       ... actually loved even more.

   14. JRJoe Rogan14:28

       Yeah.

   15. HMHowie Mandel14:28

       You know? But that's who I kind of look up to.

   16. JRJoe Rogan14:33

       Well, the beautiful thing is there's no one way to do it, you know? There's so many different ways. That's one of the weird things about comedy is that it's something that everybody enjoys, but there's no real school for it. Like, you could go to school and learn how to play guitar. There's some amazing guitar instructors, amazing people that could teach you how to write music. But you... There's nothing for you other than paying attention and trying to figure it out. And if you had told me, like, if I didn't know you, and you said, "Oh, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go on stage. I don't have anything prepared. I'm just gonna, like, fumble through it. And I got some rubber gloves in case shit goes sideways." I'd be like, "Oh my God, I'm gonna watch a spectacular bombing." I would sit in the back of the room like, "This guy's gonna eat shit." But no, because whatever it is that you have, this weird, intangible thing that you can't write down, that you can do that, and it's hilarious. My friend, Demetri, rest in peace, he, uh, sent me, w- he, he gave me one of your CDs when we were both like... I guess I was like 21 or 22. When did you do your first CD?

   17. HMHowie Mandel15:34

       (clears throat) Uh, I did an album in '84.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:39

       Okay. So somewhere around then, a little bit after that, he gives me the CD. And it was a lot of that, but it was so funny. It was so rid- We were like crying laughing, like me and him. He's like this fucking hulking, national Tae Kwon Do champion dude, this bi- enormous heavyweight guy. And he's like dying laughing, just dying laughing, with two of us in my car, just laughing our asses off.

   19. HMHowie Mandel16:05

       'Cause I'm just silly, uh-

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:06

       You know, but it was so good, dude. It was so fun, and it was one of those-

   21. HMHowie Mandel16:10

       Thank you.

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:10

       ... things where you can't, you can't, like, figure out why that's funny. Like s- that's not even-

   23. HMHowie Mandel16:16

       Because it's funny, you know?

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:17

       Right.

   25. HMHowie Mandel16:17

       This sense of humor. I think most people don't have a sense of humor. I always say this. And a sense of humor is to find humor where other people don't find it. Richard Pryor found it in a very dark, bleak, historical upbringing-

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:29

       Yes.

   27. HMHowie Mandel16:30

       ... you know, and, and characters that were probably scary, probably fucked up. And when he imitated them and told you these stories, we laughed really hard. You know, that's why the, the tragedy and the comedy masks are very close together. They're, they r- they are close together.

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:45

       Yeah.

   29. HMHowie Mandel16:45

       And if you could find the humor in those moments, then that's what it is. The humor for me is, I was drowning in public-

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:53

       (laughs)
6. 17:20 – 20:36

   Building an act in real time + a detour into art, the green room, and the Mothership vibe

   1. JRJoe Rogan17:20

      Well, well what was it like? 'Cause you had to develop an act, right? 'Cause then you went on to do these huge places, and you're doing an hour. Like, you had an act. So how did you-

   2. HMHowie Mandel17:29

      It came.

   3. JRJoe Rogan17:29

      ... did you just piece it together with all the different performances?

   4. HMHowie Mandel17:33

      Yes.

   5. JRJoe Rogan17:33

      Oh.

   6. HMHowie Mandel17:33

      So what I do, and still do now, is I go- I put together an act. I put together... Like, if something funny happens, I realized, well then, you could just talk about it.

   7. JRJoe Rogan17:44

      Right.

   8. HMHowie Mandel17:44

      And you can just talk about it. And if you real- if you really talk about it, then it becomes something funny. And you could even talk about how I'm putting together an act. You know, I was talking about how, um, in my act, you know, I'm, um, I'm here playing in town. I wanna come over to-

   9. JRJoe Rogan17:58

      Come over.

   10. HMHowie Mandel17:59

       Can I play here for-

   11. JRJoe Rogan18:00

       Two shows tonight. Yeah.

   12. HMHowie Mandel18:01

       I would, I would love to drop in and-

   13. JRJoe Rogan18:02

       Come on down. Jim Breuer's gonna be there.

   14. HMHowie Mandel18:04

       I love Jim Breuer.

   15. JRJoe Rogan18:04

       I love Jim Breuer.

   16. HMHowie Mandel18:05

       And the club looks amazing.

   17. JRJoe Rogan18:06

       It's pretty dope.

   18. HMHowie Mandel18:07

       I've been watching it online and I saw Chappelle. Everybody who's anybody comes by, I would like to. I'm playing the, also the Paramount Theater tonight, but, uh-

   19. JRJoe Rogan18:13

       Ron White's coming by tonight as well.

   20. HMHowie Mandel18:15

       I would love to come by.

   21. JRJoe Rogan18:16

       You gotta come by.

   22. HMHowie Mandel18:17

       I would, I would definitely come by.

   23. JRJoe Rogan18:18

       This is a seven and a 10.

   24. HMHowie Mandel18:19

       G- if nothing else, just to see the table in the green room.

   25. JRJoe Rogan18:21

       Dude, you're coming on stage.

   26. HMHowie Mandel18:22

       Tha- that table-

   27. JRJoe Rogan18:23

       That table's amazing, isn't it?

   28. HMHowie Mandel18:23

       Is that a real thing? Is that a-

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:25

       I- no, it's carved. It's all carved out of wood.

   30. HMHowie Mandel18:27

       It looks like a crocodile or a snake or-
7. 20:36 – 22:52

   Family, kids growing up, and the joy of sharing comedy at home

   1. HMHowie Mandel20:36

      How old are your kids now?

   2. JRJoe Rogan20:38

      Well, I have, uh, a 10-year-old that, that we moved out here, she was 10, now she's 12, and we... A 12-year-old that's now 14. So they're-

   3. HMHowie Mandel20:45

      They go every year. They... Don't you find they get older?

   4. JRJoe Rogan20:48

      I think that's what happens.

   5. HMHowie Mandel20:48

      The last time I saw you, you were in Calabasas, California-

   6. JRJoe Rogan20:51

      Yeah.

   7. HMHowie Mandel20:51

      ... on your way to a father-daughter dance-

   8. JRJoe Rogan20:53

      Oh, yeah. (laughs)

   9. HMHowie Mandel20:54

      ... at Round Meadow or something, or... Yes.

   10. JRJoe Rogan20:56

       Ugh. Yeah, those are fun. Those are fun, man.

   11. HMHowie Mandel20:58

       Father-daughter dances?

   12. JRJoe Rogan20:59

       Dance with... Yeah, dance with l- your kids. It's so interesting. So interesting watching them... I just introduced my 12-year-old to South Park. For all-

   13. HMHowie Mandel21:09

       Does she have that sense of humor?

   14. JRJoe Rogan21:10

       ... my God. When you have not... She's almost 13. It's... You have not heard like, o- the whales of hilarity. Just the ah! Like, she could not believe what they were getting away with. She couldn't believe it. I go, "Honey, you can watch the..." She likes to binge-watch shows, like she's into The Walking Dead.

   15. HMHowie Mandel21:29

       Right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan21:29

       I'm like, "You could binge-watch this till the end of time." They have like a million (laughs) episodes and they're all funny.

   17. HMHowie Mandel21:34

       The biggest joy for me for my children is to find that they have a sense of humor.

   18. JRJoe Rogan21:38

       Oh.

   19. HMHowie Mandel21:38

       That was the most-

   20. JRJoe Rogan21:39

       Yeah.

   21. HMHowie Mandel21:39

       ... important thing for me. Just know what, what is funny.

   22. JRJoe Rogan21:42

       Yes.

   23. HMHowie Mandel21:43

       Just know... Don't take things so seriously.

   24. JRJoe Rogan21:46

       Right.

   25. HMHowie Mandel21:46

       Don't be so dramatic.

   26. JRJoe Rogan21:47

       Yes.

   27. HMHowie Mandel21:48

       Just find, even in something horrible, because that's what's gotten me through life-

   28. JRJoe Rogan21:53

       Mm-hmm.

   29. HMHowie Mandel21:53

       ... is just the ability to laugh at something. So when you introduce something to your kids and they just explode over it, I think that's... Like you're telling me with such joy-

   30. JRJoe Rogan22:03

       She's all in. She got a South Park hat at Spencer Gifts. (laughs)
8. 22:52 – 26:54

   Joe’s early career grind: limo driving, dirty comedy, and resisting the “sitcom path”

   1. JRJoe Rogan22:52

      Oh, he's... He certainly helped me. Yeah, he got me spots, for sure. He, he took care of me. Um, I was a limo driver.

   2. HMHowie Mandel22:58

      Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan22:58

      Yeah.

   4. HMHowie Mandel22:59

      You were a lim-

   5. JRJoe Rogan22:59

      I met my manager... It's a funny story. My manager used to manage Bob Nelson, and him and Bob Nelson were splitting up, and he came to Boston looking for new talent 'cause he felt like he'd seen everybody in New York. And I was, uh, driving limos for 5th Avenue Limousine, and, uh, I had a, a, an idea that came to me. I'm like, "Oh my God, I think this is, I think this is legit." And so I called up Oliver, who was the, uh, manager of the club, and I said, "Hey man, d- can I get a f- like a 10-minute spot tonight?" He goes like, "Yeah, absolutely." And so he hooked me up. I came down, did a guest spot. The bit killed. I had no idea-

   6. HMHowie Mandel23:32

      Do you know what that bit is?

   7. JRJoe Rogan23:33

      I have no idea. No idea what it was. I forgot completely. But it went well, and my manager, who's my manager still, was in the back of the room. I was basically an open mic-er. I was really only like a couple years into comedy. And-

   8. HMHowie Mandel23:45

      Wow.

   9. JRJoe Rogan23:45

      ... I was just starting to get some paid work on the road, like middling for like local acts at like shitty bars in the middle of nowhere. Those kind of gigs. And, uh, he said, "Can I see you tomorrow night?" And the thing about it is, like if I had known he was there, I would not have done that bit, 'cause I do remember the bit was dirty. And back then in the '80s-

   10. HMHowie Mandel24:03

       Yeah, you had to wear clean.

   11. JRJoe Rogan24:04

       ... you had to wear clean. You would never get...... far in the business if you work dirty. And I was like, "Goddammit." Like, but that's what I like. I like Dice Clay, I like Sam Kinison, I like Richard Pryor. And I remember, uh, this guy told me I swear too much, this, uh, host of an open mic night.

   12. HMHowie Mandel24:18

       Fuck him.

   13. JRJoe Rogan24:19

       No, no, no. But it, it just, it was in his mind that you had to get on a sitcom. It was in his mind that you had to get on a-

   14. HMHowie Mandel24:24

       That was the path.

   15. JRJoe Rogan24:25

       Yeah.

   16. HMHowie Mandel24:25

       That's what I was talking about earlier.

   17. JRJoe Rogan24:26

       You see, he was right to give me the advice career-wise, he just didn't understand that I didn't think that way. I just, I wasn't interested.

   18. HMHowie Mandel24:33

       Right.

   19. JRJoe Rogan24:33

       And he was, he, he goes, uh... I go, "But that's what I like. I look like Dice Clay." He goes, "Yeah, but you're not Dice Clay." I go, "Okay, I'm not. But how do I become me if, if I can't do what I like?"

   20. HMHowie Mandel24:44

       Right.

   21. JRJoe Rogan24:44

       And, you know, luckily I didn't listen to him. But-

   22. HMHowie Mandel24:47

       And here you are today.

   23. JRJoe Rogan24:48

       This manager guy, uh, he takes me to a bunch of different places, and then he took me to Fast Eddie's, which is a bar in Huntington, Long Island. And there's this dude named George Gallo who was on stage, he was hilarious, and he had a bit where he would put a banana in his mouth and do a reverse shit. It was so ridiculous.

   24. HMHowie Mandel25:05

       (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan25:05

       He was so ridiculous. But he was really funny, like, real eccentric. And, uh, my manager sees this and he goes, "Listen, I'm gonna get you out of this. You don't have to do this." I mean, it's a dive bar, people are hammered. I go, "No, no, no, no, no, no." I go, "These are my people." (laughs)

   26. HMHowie Mandel25:17

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan25:17

       He goes, "Get me up there." I go, "Trust me." And I just went up there and fucking killed, and it was all dirty, it was all sex stuff. And then he was like, "Okay, I changed my mind. You're gonna, you have to go dirty. It's gonna be hard. You're not gonna get on television, but that's the real you. That's the real you."

   28. HMHowie Mandel25:29

       Well, there was no pathway, that's what I'm talking about.

   29. JRJoe Rogan25:31

       There was no path.

   30. HMHowie Mandel25:32

       You created... And you created a new pathway.
9. 26:54 – 32:03

   Howie’s TV break: Young Comedians Special, being blocked by Carson, and landing St. Elsewhere

   1. HMHowie Mandel26:54

      Uh, so I had finished doing, um, uh, St. Elsewhere in '87.

   2. JRJoe Rogan27:00

      Wow.

   3. HMHowie Mandel27:00

      So I had... I was already done... Like, I get... I was trying to get a sitcom too.

   4. JRJoe Rogan27:04

      I forgot about St. Elsewhere.

   5. HMHowie Mandel27:05

      Oh, I did, uh... The thing that blasted me off, and, and probably my hottest point in my career, was I did a Young Comedians Special. I did the sixth annual Young Comedians Special on HBO.

   6. JRJoe Rogan27:17

      Mm.

   7. HMHowie Mandel27:17

      I got cast by George Carlin's wife, Barbara.

   8. JRJoe Rogan27:20

      Wow.

   9. HMHowie Mandel27:20

      May she rest in peace. And it was me, um... Th- these were the kids that were on it that were unknown. It was me, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Lewis, and Harry Anderson. And it was hosted by The Smothers Brothers. And after that, I could sell 10,000 tickets.

   10. JRJoe Rogan27:35

       Mm.

   11. HMHowie Mandel27:36

       I would do two shows a night in these, uh, you know, outdoor sheds. And then the next... I couldn't get on The Tonight Show, but I could, I could sell tickets. I was on Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas and all those. Johnny didn't like me. Uh, well, the guy that was doing the, the casting didn't like me.

   12. JRJoe Rogan27:52

       Oof.

   13. HMHowie Mandel27:53

       So I went and met... At MTM, I went and met, uh, Mary Tyler Moore. The- they did, you know, on, at Radford?

   14. JRJoe Rogan27:59

       Yeah.

   15. HMHowie Mandel27:59

       I met for a gen-

   16. JRJoe Rogan28:00

       CBS Radford. CBS Radford.

   17. HMHowie Mandel28:02

       CBS Radford. I went and met them at a general meeting to maybe get a development deal and get a sitcom, because they were known at the time, in '82, that's right after I blasted off, they were known as the Sitcom Kings of the world. They had The Newhart Show, they had done Mary Tyler Moore, they had all these other shows.

   18. JRJoe Rogan28:18

       Oh.

   19. HMHowie Mandel28:19

       And M- Molly Lapata, who was the casting lady there, uh, s- I'm sitting in her office. She goes, "Can you act?" I said, (laughs) "I don't know. I don't know. You know, I'm a comic, I don't know." And she goes, "Read this." And I read this bullshit piece of shit. Uh, I don't know what it was, but it... none of it made sense to me. It was, like, all this big terminology. She says, "Come down the hall." I went down the hall and I met, now I know it's with, uh, Mark Tinker and Bruce Paltrow, Gwyneth's dad, and I was... read the same thing, I got halfway through, they went, "Thank you." And I went home, and my wife asked me, like, "How did it go?" And I went, you know, uh, "I didn't get it, whatever it is, but it was the shittiest sitcom..." It... There was nothing funny. I didn't read... I read this medical shit, there's nothing funny.

   20. JRJoe Rogan28:59

       (laughs)

   21. HMHowie Mandel28:59

       And then I get a call an hour later to go down and meet with Brandon Tartikoff, who was the... he ran NBC. He created all the classic shows of-

   22. JRJoe Rogan29:08

       Yeah.

   23. HMHowie Mandel29:08

       ... the time, you know, like Cheers and Taxi and all these shows that were, at one time, you know, huge hits. I went and met him, I went down there, this is on a Friday, and he had me read the same scene again, and they said, "We'll see you Monday," thinking that, "Oh, I'm getting a callback for this shitty sitcom." And they called... My agent called me at home and said, "You got it." I said, "What the fuck did I get?" And I got this thing called St. Elsewhere. And-... apparently it had been shooting for a week, and they wanted to recast some of the parts. I'm recast.

   24. JRJoe Rogan29:39

       Oh, no.

   25. HMHowie Mandel29:39

       And I played this guy Fiscus for six years on this dramatic series. That's where Denzel Washington came out of. We both... That's where he launched. He didn't have... Uh, yeah, there's, there's me-

   26. JRJoe Rogan29:50

       (laughs)

   27. HMHowie Mandel29:50

       ... and Denzel and David Morse.

   28. JRJoe Rogan29:52

       Dude.

   29. HMHowie Mandel29:52

       And, uh, you know, I, I think Tim Robbins and Ray Liotta and all these other people, Kathy Bates did their first guest appearances and acting appearances on this thing.

   30. JRJoe Rogan30:02

       Ah. Mark Harmon.
10. 32:03 – 34:48

    Behind the smiles: depression, OCD realities, and why distraction helps

    1. HMHowie Mandel32:03

       ... that's the scariest thing. Yeah, I'm, I'm... Nobody's more confused than me. And right now as I talk to you, I'm incredibly medicated, and I-

    2. JRJoe Rogan32:11

       (laughs)

    3. HMHowie Mandel32:11

       I am. And-

    4. JRJoe Rogan32:12

       What do they get you on?

    5. HMHowie Mandel32:13

       I'm not talking about what I'm on because people-

    6. JRJoe Rogan32:15

       Okay.

    7. HMHowie Mandel32:16

       ... uh, it may not be good for you.

    8. JRJoe Rogan32:18

       Right.

    9. HMHowie Mandel32:18

       And I don't want people to take-

    10. JRJoe Rogan32:19

        I get it. Well, that's very a- admirable of you.

    11. HMHowie Mandel32:21

        Yeah, but I do, I get help. I'm surrounded by people. The dichotomy between how I feel and what I do is huge, you know?

    12. JRJoe Rogan32:29

        Mm-hmm.

    13. HMHowie Mandel32:29

        I'm, I'm a fucking mess. And you know, I deal with depression and anxiety and-

    14. JRJoe Rogan32:34

        It's unfortunate because you're such a nice guy. Every encounter I've ever had with you has been so pleasant, so fun, and so nice. I always walk away going, "Howie is like the nicest fucking guy."

    15. HMHowie Mandel32:43

        Thank you.

    16. JRJoe Rogan32:44

        I always feel that way. So when I-

    17. HMHowie Mandel32:45

        Thank you.

    18. JRJoe Rogan32:46

        ... hear about a person like you that doesn't feel well, that's n- that, that gets depressed, I'm like, "Goddamn it, when he's around people, he seems so happy."

    19. HMHowie Mandel32:53

        I'll tell you why. Because like in this moment, I'm talking to you, so w- I'm in this moment, you know? Listening to you, responding to you, um-

    20. JRJoe Rogan33:03

        Right now, you're happy?

    21. HMHowie Mandel33:04

        I'm distracted. (laughs)

    22. JRJoe Rogan33:06

        (laughs)

    23. HMHowie Mandel33:06

        You know? And so I, I am, because the worst thing for me is quiet time, you know?

    24. JRJoe Rogan33:12

        Oh, I see.

    25. HMHowie Mandel33:12

        I don't like, I don't like nighttime.

    26. JRJoe Rogan33:14

        I see.

    27. HMHowie Mandel33:14

        I don't like when-

    28. JRJoe Rogan33:14

        I see.

    29. HMHowie Mandel33:14

        ... I get into my own head. That's why I like standup comedy-

    30. JRJoe Rogan33:18

        Oh.
11. 34:48 – 46:19

    Coping tools: meditation, running as therapy, and the need to stay busy

    1. JRJoe Rogan34:48

       Have you done any, anything that, else that helps other than meditation? Have you tried, um... (clears throat)

    2. HMHowie Mandel34:54

       Psychedelics?

    3. JRJoe Rogan34:54

       Oh, rather, other than medication, have you tried meditation?

    4. HMHowie Mandel34:57

       ... I try to-

    5. JRJoe Rogan34:58

       But don't-

    6. HMHowie Mandel34:58

       ... I, I have tried meditation, and I do meditation.

    7. JRJoe Rogan35:01

       Yeah?

    8. HMHowie Mandel35:01

       I've tried medic- medita- I've tried everything outside of the, uh, and I'm not opposed to it, um, the psychedelics and mushrooms and things like that.

    9. JRJoe Rogan35:09

       I don't know if anybody would recommend that to you.

    10. HMHowie Mandel35:11

        Well, here's the, here's the problem for me. In order to do that-

    11. JRJoe Rogan35:16

        You'd have to get off your medication.

    12. HMHowie Mandel35:17

        Right.

    13. JRJoe Rogan35:17

        Yeah.

    14. HMHowie Mandel35:17

        And to get off my med- I don't know that I can-

    15. JRJoe Rogan35:19

        Yeah.

    16. HMHowie Mandel35:19

        ... survive that bridge-

    17. JRJoe Rogan35:20

        Right.

    18. HMHowie Mandel35:20

        ... from my medication to doing that.

    19. JRJoe Rogan35:22

        Yeah.

    20. HMHowie Mandel35:22

        So, the, the medication is, for me, my, my lifeline, so I-

    21. JRJoe Rogan35:27

        You would have to be, like, very, very closely supervised during that entire time. I wouldn't, uh, I wouldn't know how anyone would approach something like that. 'Cause I think you're, you're dealing with a very specific kind of case. And most of the people that advocate for psychedelics do not adv- advocate it for people that are really struggling.

    22. HMHowie Mandel35:45

        I, I-

    23. JRJoe Rogan35:45

        Like, mentally.

    24. HMHowie Mandel35:46

        It might just-

    25. JRJoe Rogan35:47

        Like, to, just to keep it together right now, you know, and to get off the medication, which is helping you keep it together, it probably doesn't seem wise. But there's ways you can do it without drugs. There's, like, holotropic breathing. There's some people who practice... I, I, I have never experienced this, so this is me talking out of my ass, but I have direct connections to people that have done kundalini yoga. There's a specific style of kundalini yoga, a specific way that you can achieve these bizarre, um, states, altered states, that similar, they're similar to, uh, like mushrooms or a DMT experience. They're similar to psychedelics. According to people that I know that have actually done the psychedelics and have gotten obsessed with kundalini, and they say they can get to that place on their own, which is really fascinating.

    26. HMHowie Mandel36:30

        If you know somebody, then get me a card before I leave here today.

    27. JRJoe Rogan36:33

        There's, there's... I do not know anybody... Well, I, I know a, um, some martial artists that have done it, but they don't teach it. But I do know that there's a great place in LA that teaches kundalini yoga.

    28. HMHowie Mandel36:42

        Well, if anybody's listening to this-

    29. JRJoe Rogan36:44

        It is, it is a famous place.

    30. HMHowie Mandel36:44

        ... and, and you're, uh... I'll read the comments, if you have any recommendations.
12. 46:19 – 57:20

    AI anxiety vs AI optimism: digital gods, emergent behavior, and societal destabilization theories

    1. JRJoe Rogan46:19

       Did you see the shit that Elon Musk was saying that the head of Google wants to do? He wants to create a digital god, and then Elon was worried about the death of species and he called him... The, of- of death of humans rather. And he called Elon a speciesist. Uh, did you see that video?

    2. HMHowie Mandel46:32

       Like a racist for an entire... I didn't see that, but-

    3. JRJoe Rogan46:35

       See if you can find the video, 'cause it's so bonkers. It's Elon talking about how general AI, which is general artificial intelligence, which made-

    4. HMHowie Mandel46:42

       I- I know what that is.

    5. JRJoe Rogan46:43

       It- it was created for everybody else.

    6. HMHowie Mandel46:44

       I saw, I watched your podcast.

    7. JRJoe Rogan46:45

       For... Just so the people that maybe never heard this before, it's... They think that eventually wha- what's going on with like ChatGPT and all these things, it can answer any question that you have at- at any given time. Like, they can pass the bar better than 98% of the population. They could figure out complex math. Like, ChatGBT does some wild shit by literally scanning the entire internet. Their- their main concern is that, right now, this is just- just gathering information. But if it goes to another place where it becomes conscious and we create a digital life, you're essentially going to have a digital god, because it's gonna be smarter than any person who's ever lived ever by far, and it's almost immediately gonna create a better version of itself. And it's gonna continue to do that until it becomes a god.

    8. HMHowie Mandel47:30

       So isn't that a good thing?

    9. JRJoe Rogan47:31

       ... I don't know.

    10. HMHowie Mandel47:31

        Right now-

    11. JRJoe Rogan47:32

        It... it might be a good thing.

    12. HMHowie Mandel47:32

        ... you can't picture who your god is. The fact that it is, it's really improving itself and we can point to it...

    13. JRJoe Rogan47:38

        Imagine if that is the birth of God, though. If that's how... Uh, there's this, like, perpetual cycle of humans creating God.

    14. HMHowie Mandel47:43

        Are you, uh, anti or pro-AI?

    15. JRJoe Rogan47:46

        I'm... I don't know if it matters if I'm anti or pro. My-

    16. HMHowie Mandel47:49

        Well, did you...

    17. JRJoe Rogan47:50

        My- my opinion is, like, I'm an observer of something insanely chaotic that seems to be sneaking up on people. And I'm one of those people.

    18. HMHowie Mandel47:56

        How did you feel about your... Y- how did you feel about your, uh... It was you, right? Your- your AI?

    19. JRJoe Rogan48:03

        Well, there's a bunch of AIs of me now. Doing fake commercials. There's me having podcasts with Steve Jobs.

    20. HMHowie Mandel48:09

        I saw the podcast. I saw that.

    21. JRJoe Rogan48:09

        And there's p- podcasts with Sam Altman, you know, who's alive and I haven't met. But Steve Jobs is dead, and there's a podcast with me and Steve Jobs. It's insane.

    22. HMHowie Mandel48:17

        Isn't that amazing, though?

    23. JRJoe Rogan48:17

        It's so wild. And it's just the beginning. The- there was a- a Drake song that went viral-

    24. HMHowie Mandel48:24

        Yeah.

    25. JRJoe Rogan48:24

        ... and they pulled it.

    26. HMHowie Mandel48:24

        With- fr- with, uh, The Weeknd.

    27. JRJoe Rogan48:25

        Yeah. Apparently, it went viral and everybody loved it, and they pulled it.

    28. HMHowie Mandel48:29

        I know.

    29. JRJoe Rogan48:29

        People are terrified of this thing.

    30. HMHowie Mandel48:31

        No, people just couldn't figure out how to cash in on this thing.
13. 57:20 – 1:35:14

    Holograms, presence without travel, and the tradeoff: convenience vs surveillance

    1. HMHowie Mandel57:20

       It is. You know, I'm really involved in... Not as involved as you or any of these people that you speak of in technology, you know. I'm, I'm in this, the world of holograms.

    2. JRJoe Rogan57:29

       Mm-hmm.

    3. HMHowie Mandel57:29

       I work with this company. I sit on the board of this, uh, company called Proto Hologram.

    4. JRJoe Rogan57:33

       Ooh.

    5. HMHowie Mandel57:33

       You know. And, and I came to it because I saw it online. You can go see it on... Go on Instagram and look at Proto Hologram.

    6. JRJoe Rogan57:39

       Help me, Obi-Wan.

    7. HMHowie Mandel57:40

       (laughs)

    8. JRJoe Rogan57:40

       You're our only hope.

    9. HMHowie Mandel57:42

       Right, but it-

    10. JRJoe Rogan57:42

        I mean, that's what we thought it was gonna be.

    11. HMHowie Mandel57:44

        Yeah. But I can be anywhere. I don't have to be here.

    12. JRJoe Rogan57:47

        Right.

    13. HMHowie Mandel57:47

        And you could see me in 3D with no latency, and I can interact and see you.

    14. JRJoe Rogan57:51

        Remember when they did that on CNN?

    15. HMHowie Mandel57:53

        Yes. Yes.

    16. JRJoe Rogan57:54

        Why'd they stopped doing that? That was pretty dope.

    17. HMHowie Mandel57:57

        Maybe it cost them money.

    18. JRJoe Rogan57:58

        Hmm.

    19. HMHowie Mandel57:58

        I can do, I can do it now at a price. In fact, you should talk about having one of these in your club, because you can have any comic at any time sit down and do a Q&A-

    20. JRJoe Rogan58:07

        Whoa.

    21. HMHowie Mandel58:07

        ... and have it. We put one in Jimmy Kimmel's club in, in Vegas.

    22. JRJoe Rogan58:10

        Whoa.

    23. HMHowie Mandel58:10

        There, there it is, the Epic. You can be, you can be anywhere.

    24. JRJoe Rogan58:14

        That's incredible.

    25. HMHowie Mandel58:14

        And you don't need special lighting for it. Go to the Instagram and see a, see a, a play of it. So, the... You could kinda say, like, this... W- what is... Based on your philosophy, we'll never go out again. We'll never go anywhere.

    26. JRJoe Rogan58:28

        Mm-hmm.

    27. HMHowie Mandel58:28

        We don't have to travel. We don't have to go anywhere. We can just... I think the-

    28. JRJoe Rogan58:32

        For us, though-

    29. HMHowie Mandel58:33

        Yeah.

    30. JRJoe Rogan58:33

        For us current humans, this model of human that we currently are both, I think that we enjoy actual physical experiences.

Episode duration: 2:23:13