EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,020 words- 0:00 – 1:23
Bud Light backlash and the absurdity of culture-war boycotts
- NANarrator
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
- JRJoe Rogan
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) What's happening, baby?
- ZBZach Bryan
How you doing, Joe?
- JRJoe Rogan
Good to see you, brother.
- ZBZach Bryan
How you doin'?
- JRJoe Rogan
And we're drinking Bud Light, ladies and gentlemen.
- ZBZach Bryan
Sorry, guys. (smacks lips)
- JRJoe Rogan
Sorry.
- ZBZach Bryan
We're fucked.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's nothing wrong with it.
- ZBZach Bryan
Mm-mm. Mm.
- JRJoe Rogan
People are so... Cheers, sir.
- ZBZach Bryan
Cheers, brother.
- JRJoe Rogan
People are so silly. We were just talking about how silly it is. One person made a really stupid decision, and now everybody's decided that Bud Light is the enemy. But that's, like, this thing that people do in America, where they just decide, "Now I hate thes- these people, these people are the enemy." And, you know-
- ZBZach Bryan
And it's over.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, and it's over.
- ZBZach Bryan
The reason ... (sighs) I've drinking Bud Light and Budweiser, like, my entire adult life. And then on, on Twitter, I defended my, my sister's spouse, and people were like ... People were pissed. And I was like, "I'm so ... I didn't mean to do this." It was crazy. Then Travis Tritt came after me, and I was like ... He didn't come after me. Travis Tritt is so respectable, and he's, like, a good guy. And I met him at the Two Step Inn, where you were. And it was just, it was cool to get to talk to him about it and see, like, two different views. And it was-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
It was cool, sitting in the room with him and hearing it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, you know, people d- just the culture war in this country is so goofy. It's so overblown. And a lot of it is people just not talking to each other. It's people talking through social media and talking through narratives. And it's just ...
- 1:23 – 2:18
Public life, self-censorship, and speaking honestly under mass scrutiny
- ZBZach Bryan
It freaks me out.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah?
- ZBZach Bryan
It freaks me out. And being so public, you too a- as well, it's so scary. I feel like it keeps people from being who they actually are-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... which is terrifying 'cause every time I get anywhere, I'm like, "Shit, man, I can't say or do this." And then when you do, it's fucking ... It's crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
It's psychotic.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's a lot of self-censoring.
- ZBZach Bryan
I know.
- JRJoe Rogan
But I think it's important to speak your mind.
- ZBZach Bryan
I think it's getting better.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it's just more people have to do it, and then more people ... Y- y- you know, people are worried about the repercussions, but you have to understand that when you're a person like yourself or a person like me, you're communicating to millions of people. And so you're going to have a certain percentage of them that are upset at everything you say, whether you say you like to eat meat, or whether you say you think R- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s a good guy, or whether you think that ... You know, whatever the fuck you think.
- ZBZach Bryan
And you only have one, you only have one life, man.
- JRJoe Rogan
Allegedly.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah, I guess. I'm not sure about that.
- NANarrator
Whoa.
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm not sure about that.
- ZBZach Bryan
I, uh ... (laughs)
- 2:18 – 3:40
Infinity, déjà vu, and why Black Mirror hits so hard
- JRJoe Rogan
You ever have a feeling you've been here before?
- ZBZach Bryan
No. I, uh, I saw your podcast, like, two years ago, two years ago about the infinity thing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
And I kept telling people about it, like, in Oklahoma and stuff. And they're like, "What the ... What are you-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Isn't it weird that that freaks people out? Like, it freaks people out. Like, I love life. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my job. I love existing. I enjoy it very much. But if I had to do this over and over again forever, for, for infinity, it's a, a weird feeling. It freaks people out.
- ZBZach Bryan
Have you seen that Black Mirror episode?
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- ZBZach Bryan
Not to be that guy.
- JRJoe Rogan
No. No, no, I've seen a bunch of them, but ...
- ZBZach Bryan
There's a Black Mirror ep- there's a Black Mirror episode where they're in a cabin, and this guy's in prison for infinity, and he's talking to this guy over and over and over again.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ZBZach Bryan
And there's the new one, the new season came out, and same thing, they're in space, and they're, like, coming down. I'm not gonna ruin it.
- JRJoe Rogan
No, no worries.
- ZBZach Bryan
It's crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's an amazing show.
- ZBZach Bryan
It freaks you out. It's my favorite show.
- JRJoe Rogan
And it's s- It's a great show.
- ZBZach Bryan
It's good. It's good.
- JRJoe Rogan
My wife won't watch it with me. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Really?
- JRJoe Rogan
She thinks it's scary. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Really?
- JRJoe Rogan
She gets freaked out by it. Yeah, she doesn't like things that could be real. You know?
- ZBZach Bryan
I get that. I get that. A lot of people, like, when I bring it up, they're like, "I don't know." And I'm like ...
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you ever see Heavy Metal?
- ZBZach Bryan
Uh-unh.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's the one where the robots are chasing this lady.
- ZBZach Bryan
Oh, yeah, the dogs.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. The dog robots.
- ZBZach Bryan
I didn't like that one. I stopped watching it.
- 3:40 – 7:40
Brainwave-monitoring earbuds: workplace surveillance turns into thought policing
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow. It's just, it's so close to real. It's so close to real. There was a World Economic Forum video that they just put out about people going to work and wearing earbuds. Have you seen it, Jamie? Going to work and wearing earbuds that monitor your brain waves, and the brain waves are gonna tell whether or not you're being productive or distracted. And in this video, this woman is kind of fantasizing about a guy she works with and then catches herself doing it. And then some guy gets busted for, like, uh-
- ZBZach Bryan
Is this a sh- What is this?
- JRJoe Rogan
It's just a video explaining how, in the future, you're go- See if you can find it.
- NANarrator
I, uh, I mean, I'm seeing the people talking about it. I'm trying to find it.
- ZBZach Bryan
Dude, you saying this reminds me of yesterday. I was in Walmart, and I was, like, walking around, and I was, like, looking for something to buy. And one of the girls I asked a question to, she had an Airbud in, or an Airpod in.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ZBZach Bryan
And I was like, "Why would you do that?" You're, like, walking around work, and people are asking you for help and stuff. And she's just walking around, like, listening to, she's like talking to people with-
- JRJoe Rogan
And listening to this music.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Kids do that today. My, my kids do that.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
They'll have one ear open. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
I was kind of ... I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to be an ass, but I was like ... I was talking to the guy at the, the ...
- NANarrator
... over the past few hours.
- JRJoe Rogan
Here it is. Yeah, that's it.
- NANarrator
Oh, is that it? Is that it? Okay. All right.
- JRJoe Rogan
Check this out. Yeah, check this video. This is, this is bonkers, dude.
- NANarrator
Let me start it over.
- JRJoe Rogan
This is really-
- NANarrator
... cursor to the left and scroll through your brain data over the past few hours. You can see your stress levels rising-
- ZBZach Bryan
Oh, it's, like, one of those training videos.
- NANarrator
... as the deadline to finish your memo approached.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, and she's wearing these earbuds.
- NANarrator
Causing a peak in your beta brain wave activity right before an alert popped up, telling you to take a brain break. But what's that unusual change in your brain activity-
- JRJoe Rogan
This is not the one I saw.
- NANarrator
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's another one that I saw-
- ZBZach Bryan
I was gonna say, that's-
- JRJoe Rogan
... that's-
- ZBZach Bryan
That's scarier than a Black Mirror episode, though.
- 7:40 – 9:37
Phones, tracking culture, and Dunbar’s number in a global social feed
- ZBZach Bryan
You know what's crazy about that? I feel like the world right now, with all of our phones, is the same way.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's very close.
- ZBZach Bryan
'Cause your phone knows everything about you.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
And people can do that. But it's not the same, but it's like-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's getting there.
- ZBZach Bryan
It feels like it.
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean, the idea of being able to collect data on everywhere you wa-... I remember when I was (sighs) ... I guess it was like... I wanna say it was, like, '99, 2000, was the first GPS thing that I had. And you would load it, I think, with CDs or DVRs.
- ZBZach Bryan
I remember when Garmin's-
- JRJoe Rogan
DVDs.
- ZBZach Bryan
... came out, and my grandpa was going crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
He would put it on the dash of his truck, and he's like, "We're going to Texas, and we know where we're going."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Yeah. You c- you had a map with you all the time. But the one that I had in the early days, you could o-... I only had California, 'cause that's all the data it could fit, and the, the California data was on, like, a CD-ROM or a DVD. I can't remember which one it was. But it w-... You had to load it, I remember, and it was kinda clunky. But I was like, "This is wild."
- ZBZach Bryan
It-
- JRJoe Rogan
This is, like, very early on with that kind of electronics.
- ZBZach Bryan
Thinking about it now, like, what's freaked me out the most in the last, like, year of my life has been friends of mine and people that I've met and things. I got a flip phone, like, six months ago. I was like, "Man..." I called you on it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
When I first started talking to you, I was on my flip phone. Because I was talking to a friend of mine, and it was like... They were like, "Well, how are you gonna track... H- how are you gonna know where your friends are at?" Like, with the tracking on iPhones and stuff like that-
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh-huh.
- ZBZach Bryan
... with... you can, like, see your friends and things. I'm like, "What do you mean?"
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Right.
- ZBZach Bryan
"I don't think we're supposed to know where we're all at."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
"And it's scary as shit. Why do I want you to know that I'm at my house, or if I'm..."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Even your best friends in the entire world. Our parents never did that.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's weird.
- ZBZach Bryan
You know? It's crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It's weird. And then, some people are gonna wanna know where you are all the time. Why won't you let me know where you are, Zach?
- 9:37 – 10:14
Your 20s are chaos: identity, decisions, and the shock of growing up fast
- ZBZach Bryan
After 25, I was like, "Holy fuck, man. Life is not..."
- JRJoe Rogan
Then, once you're 30, you're like, "Oh, my God. I'm a grownup."
- ZBZach Bryan
I was told at 30, you feel more... I was told at 30, you feel, like, more settled.
- JRJoe Rogan
(inhales deeply) Depends on who you are. Sometimes people aren't happy at 30, and then they start panicking more because they haven't gotten anything done.
- ZBZach Bryan
My fucking... I don't know about your 20s. I don't know what you did in your 20s, but my 20s have been, like, this crazy rollercoaster that have just, like... It hasn't stopped. And I'm like, "Holy shit, this is what they meant by the 20s," or-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... psychotic.
- JRJoe Rogan
I mean, you're just over being 10.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah, literally.
- JRJoe Rogan
You were 10, 17 years ago. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
And you feel like you know everything, man, when you're 22 and 23. It's so scary.
- JRJoe Rogan
Of course.
- ZBZach Bryan
The decisions-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... and shit you make, it's crazy.
- 10:14 – 12:59
From Navy life to viral Twitter songs: Zach’s unlikely path into music
- JRJoe Rogan
You got into... You got into making music. Well, w-... I'll say you were successful making music while you were still in the military, right?
- ZBZach Bryan
Yes, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
How old were you?
- ZBZach Bryan
22 when I started.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ZBZach Bryan
I started putting videos on Twitter, and it was psychotic. It was crazy 'cause I did it for, like... I get all these messages all the time from people who are like, "Hey man, I was around when you released Heading South. I've been here from the beginning." And I'm like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ZBZach Bryan
... "Really? The very beginning?" You know. And, um, I started putting videos on Twitter back in, like, 2017. And then, I just kept doing it and doing it and doing it, 'cause I was in the Navy. I had a lot of shit going on. I had, like... I didn't believe in therapy, 'cause that's crazy in the Navy, you know. And, uh, I started just making music, and I started posting them on Twitter. And peop-... I'd get, like, five or six likes, and I didn't care. It was nice. It was nice to go home... It was nice to go home and feel the way I did, and write, and put music on Twitter. I don't know. It was kinda my validation in the world of... I can write a song, at least.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ZBZach Bryan
And then, man, one... I was at... I was training in Florida, and one day, I put, like, four or five videos up, and they just went, like, crazy viral. And I was like, "Cool. Neat." And then, my life just kept going up and up and up. And I was like, "Oh, this is-"
- JRJoe Rogan
At that time, did you have any... What were your, your aspirations about recording?
- ZBZach Bryan
No. I didn't even know what it was. That's why all my-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Really?
- ZBZach Bryan
Beginning records are shitty.
- JRJoe Rogan
You never thought-
- ZBZach Bryan
They're not shitty, but-
- JRJoe Rogan
I did.
- ZBZach Bryan
See, when I recorded this... When I recorded this, I was about to, like, go inside. I was like, "Whatever, I'll just throw this on the internet." And it was, like, the number one-
- JRJoe Rogan
This is, like, an iPhone.
- ZBZach Bryan
Uh-huh. And it was, like, the number one voted Reddit video in the entire, like, w- world, I think.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
I don't know. But I was, like getting calls from people. I'm like, "What the hell's going on?"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Everyone at work's like, "You're going viral." I was like, "What?" And we're, like, literally-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ZBZach Bryan
... like, learning how to load missiles and shit. I'm like, "Ooh."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
"Sick, man." And, uh-... it's j- it's been crazy. And I never, I never in my life en-envisioned being a musician, ever.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- ZBZach Bryan
Period. No. I thought I was gonna ... My, my old man was in the Navy for 25 years. He was a Master Chief. My mom was in the Navy. My grandpa was in the Navy. Both ... Yeah. Just that, that like, whatever. And I was like, "I'm gonna be in the Navy til the day I die, probably. Until I retire, at least." And that was it. That was gonna be my life. And I was thinking about it yesterday, how crazy my reality is now, like coming back to Oklahoma and being around people, and people like, coming to get me in diners and being like, "Take a picture with me." I'm like, "What is going on, man?"
- 12:59 – 17:02
Writing, vulnerability, and why audiences gravitate toward darker songs
- ZBZach Bryan
No. I just wanted to be a writer. I think writing is like the most beautiful thing in the world. 'Cause I used to read like Steinbeck books and stuff when I was a kid. And, uh, I just thought it was so crazy that someone could take words and put them on a page and it would make you feel something.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- ZBZach Bryan
Not to be deep, either. I mean that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
Like you can be reading a book and feel something like visceral and real, from a page on a book.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
It's just ink and you're looking at it, and I was like, "That's crazy." So I started writing poems and stuff when I was a kid. And, um, those turned into songs 'cause writing poems is lame, right? Not really. Now that I'm 27, I know that it's not. But when I was a kid I thought that. And I was like, "What way can you write poems and it's not weird?" That's why I started playing guitar.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Poems are one of those ones people are embarrassed to say they do.
- ZBZach Bryan
Exactly, yeah. And I never under- ... I don't get that nowadays. But I do if you're 16 or 17.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know why?
- ZBZach Bryan
Why?
- JRJoe Rogan
Because the people that aren't embarrassed when they talk about poetry are annoying.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah, they are.
- JRJoe Rogan
They're annoying.
- ZBZach Bryan
Oh, man. You should be-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's the problem. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
People talk to me about writing, I'm like, "Man, you suck. Dude, please."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
"Please don't. I don't wanna read ... I don't wanna hear it. I don't wanna hear it, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
Some people just wanna unload on you, just blah.
- ZBZach Bryan
'Cause it's almost, it's almost embarrassing to like write vulnerable stuff.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
But it's not at all at the same time. It's like you have one life, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
But it, it connects with people so much. The vulnerable stuff, like it connects with people. Pe- it resonates with people so much.
- ZBZach Bryan
And people act like you should be ashamed of it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it's just ... (sighs) People are ashamed of emotions for some strange reason.
- ZBZach Bryan
It's strange. It's really weird to talk to people about it because-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's very stupid. It's very stupid.
- ZBZach Bryan
But at the same time, so many people are drawn to them. Like, I have so many happy songs and people always love my like darker ones. And I'm like, "This isn't my fault. You guys all lean towards this. It's not ..."
- JRJoe Rogan
I think what it stems from is people criticizing people who lose control of their emotions, like people who are too emotional. So like, it could be any little thing that goes wrong in their life and they break down, start crying, and think the world is out to get them.
- 17:02 – 20:19
The Catastrophe of Success: why struggle is necessary and luxury can ruin you
- ZBZach Bryan
Have you ... Uh, this is weird you're bringing this up 'cause I posted on my Insta- I had to bring it up. But I posted on my Instagram last week this thing called The Catastrophe of Success. Have you ever read that?
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- ZBZach Bryan
By Tennessee Williams.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- ZBZach Bryan
There's this paragraph at the end. He talks about how success just made him like ... You gotta ... Sorry. I messed up my-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Pull it up. Of course.
- ZBZach Bryan
I'm so sorry.
- JRJoe Rogan
No, don't apologize.
- ZBZach Bryan
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
No. I'm gonna ... I wanna read it. I wanna read it.
- ZBZach Bryan
You gotta read the ... You gotta read this. Yeah, yeah. Okay. "You know then that public somebody you are when you have a n-" Uh, yeah. You can read it, but ...
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay. "You know then that public somebody you are when you have a name is a fiction created with mirrors in that only somebody worth being is the solitary and unseen you that existed from your first breath, and which is the sum of your actions, and so is constantly in a state of becoming under your own violation. And knowing these things, you can even survive-"
- ZBZach Bryan
Uh-uh. Wrong-
- JRJoe Rogan
"... the catastrophe of success."
- ZBZach Bryan
... wrong paragraph. I had one job. It's the one above it. But it talks about-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, okay.
- ZBZach Bryan
... what you were just saying, that people get so content in their lives that they make ... Like the only thing worth, the only thing worth it in this life is conflict.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
Like you have to have that conflict in those stories and those things that make you suffer-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... to be happy and content, which is just crazy to think about.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It says, "This is an oversimplification. One does not escape that easily from the seduction of an effete way of life." Is that how to say that?
- ZBZach Bryan
I don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
Effete? How do you say that, Jamie?... the feat?
- ZBZach Bryan
Killed it.
- JRJoe Rogan
The one of 'em? I got it-
- ZBZach Bryan
Killed it for you the first time, right.
- JRJoe Rogan
... with one of 'em. The first one-
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah. Killed it.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's one of those things I've only read. I've never, like, said out loud. (laughs)
- 20:19 – 24:41
Fitness as mental health, the touring lifestyle, and alcohol’s hidden cost
- JRJoe Rogan
For me, um, that's why exercise is, like, a key component of my mental health regimen.
- ZBZach Bryan
I was gonna-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's more mental health than anything.
- ZBZach Bryan
... personally, 'cause when I was in the Navy, w- I was running, like... I was running marathons, like, on the weekends-
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- ZBZach Bryan
... 'cause I loved it so much. Running, I've always ran, like, a lot.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
And, um, I've lost that along the way of being a musician and I've noticed a decline in l- like how I feel, like, uh, energy wise.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- ZBZach Bryan
You know what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- ZBZach Bryan
And it's freaked me out. So every morning when I wake up to play a show, I'll always go on a run now and it helps a lot.
- JRJoe Rogan
I tr- I always try to tell other comics that, like, 'cause a lot of comics do not like to take care of themselves. It's, like, part of the fun of being a comedian, you're just lazy and crazy and you're doing drugs and sleeping late.
- ZBZach Bryan
As a musician too, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, it's a part of the thing. But I always tell them, "Your body is literally the race car that you're maneuvering around life in."
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And if you can give that race car more horsepower, if you make it more robust, it works better. It works better with everything. It thinks better. It handles emotions better. It- it- it sleeps better. It eats better.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
You'll- you'll be smarter.
- ZBZach Bryan
And people don't wanna believe that 'cause it's easier to not.
- JRJoe Rogan
B- but s-
- ZBZach Bryan
But it's also more fun.
- JRJoe Rogan
People are fucking lazy.
- ZBZach Bryan
It's also fun though, to-
- JRJoe Rogan
But-
- ZBZach Bryan
... to not care, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
To go crazy. Yeah, but-
- ZBZach Bryan
But then you realize it makes it so much worse. That's what happened-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... to me last year 'cause, I mean, I wasn't, like, being crazy. I wasn't, like, shooting up or anything.
- 24:41 – 27:42
Road-life hacks: IV drips, glutathione, trainers, and accountability with the crew
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you ever do, uh, IV vitamin drips after you drink?
- ZBZach Bryan
I tried them once, and it made me feel worse. So now-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, really?
- ZBZach Bryan
... I'm, like, scared of them. Yeah, I did it at a festival one time, 'cause I was just ... I did ACL, and I'm not ... ACL's amazing and everything. It's awesome, but, uh ... Man, I woke up the next morning, and I, I was like, "I can't, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- ZBZach Bryan
"There's no way." It was like 5:30. I had the, like, 5:30 slot, and we had been driving all night. I was like, "Man, I can't do this." And Danny's like, "Here, do this IV. It'll make you feel better." And I did it, and I went on stage. I was like, "Oh, this is terrible."
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- ZBZach Bryan
'Cause I ... I had a great time, and the show was fine. But, uh, it was just-
- JRJoe Rogan
But you felt worse?
- ZBZach Bryan
I did feel worse. I ... It gave me a headache for some reason. I don't know.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's interesting.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
What ... Wait. Oh. Hmm. (smacks lips)
- ZBZach Bryan
Just-
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't want to throw any companies under the bus, but I wonder, like, what they put in it. 'Cause what you wanna get in-
- ZBZach Bryan
'Cause there's always those IV companies at, like, the festivals-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... and things, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
What you wanna get in is glutathione. That's a big one, and it's, uh, it actually helps your liver, um, process alcohol. A lot of people take, uh, glutathione while they drink to actually help-
- ZBZach Bryan
I was literally about to ask-
- JRJoe Rogan
... their liver process al-
- ZBZach Bryan
... can you do it simultaneously?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, you can take-
- ZBZach Bryan
Be needled up and drink-
- JRJoe Rogan
You could.
- ZBZach Bryan
... at the same time?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. (laughs) You could. I think that would be cumbersome.
- ZBZach Bryan
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
But, uh, a lot of people take liposomal glu- glutathione. It's, uh, a way it gets in your bloodstream better. You, like, squirt it under your tongue. I've tried that before. Um, but y- ... Generally, you're rehydrating, and you're getting, like, a full panel of vitamins. You're getting zinc. You're getting vitamin D and B, and-
- ZBZach Bryan
I gotta take some vitamins, man.
- 27:42 – 40:07
Pool, golf, and gambling: competitive obsessions and Vegas reality checks
- ZBZach Bryan
Only thing I'm gonna do for the next month is play pool.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah. You gotta get better.
- JRJoe Rogan
(sighs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Gotta at least get a pool, man.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I play a lot though. It's not fair.
- ZBZach Bryan
I thought ... I'm telling you when I say we did too.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
(laughs) A lot, like too much.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
People, like, refer to it when they're talking to me. They're like, "How's, how's pool?" I said, "Been it. It's crazy."
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, there's pool that, that you play in a bar, like on a bar table. And then there's tournament pool that you play on a tight-pocketed table that's like a pool table.
- ZBZach Bryan
When I showed up, and the guy started telling me the rules, I was like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... "I'm sorry. What?"
- JRJoe Rogan
That's for nine-ball.
- ZBZach Bryan
Of course.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, but we play eight-ball.
- ZBZach Bryan
It's the best-
- JRJoe Rogan
You, you-
- ZBZach Bryan
... game in the world besides maybe, like, poker.
- JRJoe Rogan
I love it.
- ZBZach Bryan
Me too.
- JRJoe Rogan
I love it more than anything, 'cause you have to execute. It's one of the rare games where it's not just knowing what to do and figuring out little puzzles.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yep.
- JRJoe Rogan
But you have to execute. Like, you have to control your body, so you have to be able to-
- ZBZach Bryan
You just put words to how I feel about it too.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
I've always thought that. I'm like, "How is this game so damn fun?"
- JRJoe Rogan
I think that's the same thing that people get with golf, you know, 'cause you have to execute.
- 40:07 – 49:48
Concert performance realities: audience singalongs, repetition, and stage fright
- ZBZach Bryan
I love making music and stuff, but, like, even touring, like, playing the same songs-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ZBZach Bryan
... I love doing it 'cause the people are so beautiful and the people who come to the shows are so, like, moved by it. And I'm, but, like, people, like, look at me and they don't realize that I've played the same show X amount of times and I'm so blessed, so lucky. But sometimes, man, I'm, like, halfway through my set and I'm like, "Give it all you got, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
"Give it all you got. No matter, no matter how many times you've sang it," you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, you just-
- ZBZach Bryan
It's cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
... kinda reset, like those people are seeing you in many... Y- you know, uh, what I call the Joe DiMaggio principle, is that Joe DiMaggio was playing once and I think he was, like, 40 years old and he slid into third base and the, uh, the third baseman said, "Why do you play so hard? You're already Joe DiMaggio."
- ZBZach Bryan
True.
- JRJoe Rogan
And he goes, "Because somewhere out there in the audience is someone who hasn't seen Joe DiMaggio play and I don't wanna let him down."
- ZBZach Bryan
My dad says that to me every time I go on stage. And I think about it-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
... too. I think what I do when I go on stage, I look out at the audience and I, I pick out one, like, kid, whether whoever it is, I pick out one kid who's, like, in it and I'm like, "Man, this one's for you." And that's how I do it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, nice.
- ZBZach Bryan
So religious, because it's kind of a paradox, man, 'cause you write the music or you write a skit and you care about it so much and then every time you play it, it feels like you're almost giving a little bit of it-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ZBZach Bryan
... to other people.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
And at, at one point you're singing the song and you for- it's so sad 'cause you, you love the song so much, but you've sang it so many times. So when I look at the kid, whoever's out there, I'm like, "That's it. That's why I'm doing this, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
"Let's go, let's go." 'Cause it means so much.
- JRJoe Rogan
What does it feel like when they sing along? Is that wild when they know-
- ZBZach Bryan
I've-
- JRJoe Rogan
... the lyrics?
- ZBZach Bryan
This year's been weird because, like, last year was such a, like, crazy year for us growth-wise. Uh, people used to love it. Now, and now I'm, like, I'm getting... Know how everything's attached. I'm just getting big enough to where people are like, "Man, I go to his shows, can't even fucking hear him sing." 'Cause-
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause everyone's singing.
- ZBZach Bryan
Everyone's singing along.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
And it scares me a little bit 'cause I fear that, like, what if there's, like, some, like, 50-year-old woman or a 50-year-old man who's, like, sitting in his house and he's going, "I'd really like to go to a Zach Bryan show to hear him sing these songs." Then you go to one of the shows and it's all these fucking, like, reckless kids-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- 49:48 – 53:13
Music industry authenticity: radio decline, backtracks, covers, and song-credit surprises
- ZBZach Bryan
Well, that's what's... There's a huge resurgence in music right now because of, uh, TikTok and shit like that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
Because people are like, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Finding old stuff.
- ZBZach Bryan
... finding old stuff, which is a beautiful thing, also a scary thing. But I don't even know, like I- I don't- I don't know anything. But, um, it's cool 'cause if one person that was big or whatever used that-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ZBZach Bryan
... it might be, it might have a brand new life. Which kinda stinks for the... Johnny Thunder was his name?
- JRJoe Rogan
I think Johnny's dead.
- ZBZach Bryan
Which is, isn't that crazy? Like the Van Gogh thing, where like he knew he was gonna be a famous artist, and he like... I don't know if this is Van Gogh or if, I don't- I don't know if it's another one, but there was an artist back in that era of like people who my producer, Eddie, he used to tell me this. He said that, uh, one of those guys painted his entire life. He would paint in like coffee shops and stuff, and he would tell his buddies or whoever, he would say, "I know one day these are gonna be, these are gonna be worth something." And then he like lived his life, died, and then 200, 300 years later, or 100 years later or whatever, he- he got famous for it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ZBZach Bryan
And so it's like, that's like the whole plant a tree and watch it, like if you plant a tree you'll never see grow.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
Plant a tree and never see it big. Whatever that shit is.
- JRJoe Rogan
I know what you're saying.
- ZBZach Bryan
You know what I'm saying?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
And-
- JRJoe Rogan
This Johnny Thunder, somehow or another it slipped by, how- how old was he when he died?
- NANarrator
Uh, I'm trying to look stuff up about him right now. His real name was Gil Hamilton. Uh, Tom Jones covered it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- NANarrator
I found a Ghost Face Killah song that sampled it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, nice.
- NANarrator
Um, but yeah, I was trying, I'm trying to look at-
- JRJoe Rogan
What year did this guy-
- NANarrator
I think it said... Well the cover was '69. His version, I'm alive, Thunder. '68?
- JRJoe Rogan
So Johnny Thunder's version was first, right?
- NANarrator
Think so.
- JRJoe Rogan
And then the '69 version I've also heard-
- 53:13 – 1:30:17
Hard times, dangerous work, and the lost ethic: Empire State builders to extreme climbers
- JRJoe Rogan
I just found out-
- ZBZach Bryan
It's cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that Mae West was a writer. And Mae West got arrested for writing, I think it was a play.
- NANarrator
She spent eight days in jail. Let's see.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ZBZach Bryan
Mae West?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It was about sex. There was something about sex that she got arrested for. Yeah. Mae West spent eight days in jail for-
- ZBZach Bryan
How about... She looks like a, she looks like a badass.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, she was a badass.
- ZBZach Bryan
What did she do? What-
- JRJoe Rogan
We actually have her couch.
- ZBZach Bryan
I'm just... (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, so the, uh... Yeah. Mitzi owned her couch, and Mitzi's son, um, gave it to me. And so that's in our green room at the-
- ZBZach Bryan
Wow.
- JRJoe Rogan
At the mothership. We have Mae West's couch.
- ZBZach Bryan
I was trying to get, um-
- JRJoe Rogan
We reupholstered it.
- ZBZach Bryan
That's fucking crazy. Where was it at? Was it like in New York?
- JRJoe Rogan
It was at Mitzi's. At Mitzi's place.
- ZBZach Bryan
Where, where's Mitzi? Who's Mitzi?
- JRJoe Rogan
Mi- oh, I'm sorry.
- ZBZach Bryan
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Mitzi Shore was the own- that's that lady. She was the owner of The Comedy Store.
- ZBZach Bryan
Oh, wow. Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, members of the cast of Sex were wh- so the, the show was called Sex. (laughs)
- ZBZach Bryan
Who had thought?
- JRJoe Rogan
She was such a ho.
- ZBZach Bryan
Who woulda thought, man?
- JRJoe Rogan
What a powerful lady. February 9, 1927, Mae West, the original Cardi B, went backstage of a performance of her play Sex and found herself surrounded by audi- officers from the New York City Police Department's municipal vice squad, municipal vice squad, which rounded up the cast and put them into Black police vans.
- ZBZach Bryan
Whoa.
Episode duration: 3:06:15
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