Joe Rogan Experience #2033 - Matt Rife

1. 0:00 – 0:06

   Intro

   1. NANarrator0:00

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

   2. The Joe Rogan Experience.

2. 0:06 – 0:50

   Matt Rife’s nonstop touring life and the downside of “making it”

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) All right. Where are we recording this? Let's go, Matt Rife.

   2. MRMatt Rife0:15

      Let's do it.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      What's cracking, baby?

   4. MRMatt Rife0:17

      Let's turn off the show.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      Are you still in LA right now?

   6. MRMatt Rife0:20

      Technically, yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:21

      Technically, but you're on the road, right?

   8. MRMatt Rife0:21

      I mean, I'm- I'm home three days a week or three days a month maybe.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:24

      You're just constantly touring.

   10. MRMatt Rife0:26

       Yeah. It's a dream come true, man.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       Yeah.

   12. MRMatt Rife0:28

       Careful what you wish for. But long time coming, you know?

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:32

       Well, I don't know. It's not careful what you wish for, it's just, you just, you have to learn how to manage this new thing now. It's great, though. It's not careful. It's fucking awesome. It's so much better than it not working out for you. (laughs)

   14. MRMatt Rife0:46

       Oh, absolutely. No, if I could sleep like a normal human being, I think I'd be just fine.

3. 0:50 – 3:48

   Severe insomnia: melatonin tolerance, weed, and the ‘brain won’t switch off’ problem

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:50

      Yeah. You- uh, you were just talking about that, that you have r- serious insomnia.

   2. MRMatt Rife0:54

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:54

      Have you done anything to try to mitigate that? Have you done... Have you taken melatonin?

   4. MRMatt Rife0:58

      Oh, dude, yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:58

      Have you tried any herbal... Have you done all that stuff?

   6. MRMatt Rife1:00

      I've- I've o- OD'd on melatonin, dude.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:02

      Nothing?

   8. MRMatt Rife1:02

      I've taken 30 milligrams in a night and, you know, you build up a tolerance to melatonin-

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:06

      Yeah.

   10. MRMatt Rife1:06

       ... then you have to stop using it for a little while. I mean, I do have to smoke, like, every single night to even have a chance of falling asleep.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:13

       Wow, so you just, like, get some of that Be Real Indica, some of that Cypress Hill shit?

   12. MRMatt Rife1:18

       Oh, yeah, dude, until I just am-

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       (laughs)

   14. MRMatt Rife1:20

       ... just deformed in bed.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:22

       (laughs) And that puts you out?

   16. MRMatt Rife1:25

       K- not really. No.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:26

       Wow.

   18. MRMatt Rife1:26

       Dude, it's insane. I can stay awake on- on Xanax and everything. It's almost like-

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:30

       That's so interesting.

   20. MRMatt Rife1:31

       If you picture a, like a- like a light switch-

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:33

       Mm-hmm.

   22. MRMatt Rife1:33

       ... to turn your brain off, I just can't. It's like-

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:36

       Your switch doesn't work?

   24. MRMatt Rife1:37

       No. And I- I think it's, like... After thinking about it for years, I think it's the same mechanism in my brain that, like, allows me to think quickly on stage-

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:46

       Hmm.

   26. MRMatt Rife1:46

       ... that allows... that keeps my brain up at night. Like, I just think about anything.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:49

       Right.

   28. MRMatt Rife1:49

       It's not even anxiety. It's just anything.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:52

       It's just frantic thoughts just bouncing around in your head?

   30. MRMatt Rife1:55

       Yeah, anything from middle school memories to, like, "Man, it's crazy how leaves are green and then brown sometimes."
4. 3:48 – 5:15

   How much sleep do people really need? Evolution, biology, and modern life mismatch

   1. MRMatt Rife3:48

      Do you- do you agree with having... needing eight hours? 'Cause I've heard so many different theories.

   2. JRJoe Rogan3:52

      No, I don't think, I don't think everybody needs eight hours. I just know I do. In fact, there's no way I could know what's going on in other people's bodies.

   3. MRMatt Rife4:00

      You think it's case by case?

   4. JRJoe Rogan4:01

      Yeah, I think it's like everything with biology. Biology varies so much by genetics and life experiences and, you know, like, what have- what have you done leading up... Have you just been sedentary your whole life?

   5. MRMatt Rife4:11

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan4:11

      Or have you been very active? Is your body very fit or is your body, like, riddled with problems? Like, there's so many... and it's just genetics, man. They vary so much. Some people are, you know, they have no problem with five hours sleep.

   7. MRMatt Rife4:24

      And it changes over time as well, doesn't it? Like peo- didn't people evolve from sleeping in, like, four-hour increments or something like that?

   8. JRJoe Rogan4:30

      I mean, I'm sure they did. I'm sure they didn't get a chance to just fucking chill.

   9. MRMatt Rife4:34

      Mm-hmm, yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan4:34

       You know, they were getting eaten by cats.

   11. MRMatt Rife4:36

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan4:36

       You know? That's the, you know, the- the rub on people. It's like we still have these genetics that are from 10,000, 15,000 years ago when life was very different.

   13. MRMatt Rife4:46

       Mm-hmm.

   14. JRJoe Rogan4:47

       And those are still the same genetics.

   15. MRMatt Rife4:48

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan4:48

       And that's why we're still looking for, like, tribal leaders and shit.

   17. MRMatt Rife4:51

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan4:51

       We're looking for, like, a president, a prime minister.

   19. MRMatt Rife4:54

       (laughs) Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan4:54

       We're looking for, like, one person still.

   21. MRMatt Rife4:56

       Oh, yeah. Leaders used to fight in wars, dude.

   22. JRJoe Rogan4:58

       Yes, and that was how we sort of figured out what to do. We went to the person who had experienced the most.

   23. MRMatt Rife5:04

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan5:04

       Not the person who's been paid off the most.

   25. MRMatt Rife5:07

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan5:07

       Not the- not the person who's l- got the fucking shadiest insider dealings with the party that has the most influence.

   27. MRMatt Rife5:13

       Oh, I know.

   28. JRJoe Rogan5:13

       God dammit. Like-

5. 5:15 – 6:30

   Politics as pro wrestling: who ‘runs the show’ and why Matt avoids it

   1. MRMatt Rife5:15

      I'm so happy I take zero part in any politics whatsoever.

   2. JRJoe Rogan5:17

      Good for you.

   3. MRMatt Rife5:18

      I'm the least politically informed person you'll probably ever meet.

   4. JRJoe Rogan5:21

      Good for you. Good.

   5. MRMatt Rife5:21

      And I know I'm taking pride in- uh, naivety, but...

   6. JRJoe Rogan5:24

      Well, for your own self-preservation, that's probably a good idea. I've always said though, like, voting and, like, politics in this country is a lot like rooting on pro wrestling.

   7. MRMatt Rife5:34

      Damn.

   8. JRJoe Rogan5:35

      It might make you feel better, but I'm not sure how much it affects the outcome.

   9. MRMatt Rife5:39

      That's a very good point.

   10. JRJoe Rogan5:40

       It seems like at the very end of the day, the same people are getting all the money.

   11. MRMatt Rife5:46

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan5:46

       And don't think about it in terms of whether or not you can vote in your party. You most certainly can.

   13. MRMatt Rife5:51

       Mm-hmm.

   14. JRJoe Rogan5:52

       And- and don't think about... Uh, they most certainly can enact social change and they can do some good things and- and especially in relationship with the Supreme Court and a lot of other things. But at the end of the day...... the real people that are running the show are the people that are getting these massive defense contracts-

   15. MRMatt Rife6:11

       Mm-hmm.

   16. JRJoe Rogan6:11

       ... massive pharmaceutical contracts. Like, the- the billions and trillions of dollars that's being generated by various industries, (whispers) that's what's running the show. That's what's running the show.

   17. MRMatt Rife6:21

       Man, you're speaking Mandarin Chinese right now.

   18. JRJoe Rogan6:23

       Yeah. That's not-

   19. MRMatt Rife6:24

       (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan6:24

       ... that's not that- that fucking old dude that keeps getting tripped by ghosts. He's not your leader.

6. 6:30 – 7:40

   Matt’s ghost-hunting hobby: EVPs, unexplained movement, and chasing a ‘solid answer’

   1. MRMatt Rife6:30

      Are you a big ghost guy?

   2. JRJoe Rogan6:31

      Um, I believe it's possible. Are you?

   3. MRMatt Rife6:33

      I'm obsessed.

   4. JRJoe Rogan6:34

      Are you?

   5. MRMatt Rife6:35

      I- I- so, really weird side hobby of mine, I go ghost hunting. I've been, like, around the world.

   6. JRJoe Rogan6:40

      Wow.

   7. MRMatt Rife6:41

      Yeah. It's incredible.

   8. JRJoe Rogan6:42

      What have you experienced? Have you ever had, like, an absolute moment when you're like, "Oh, my God. I'm in the presence of a- a poltergeist"?

   9. MRMatt Rife6:49

      Hmm, not ... (sighs) still not 1,000%. I've definitely witnessed things that I cannot for the life of me explain that have creeped me out. The timing has been impeccable. I've seen things move that there's just no fucking way that they've moved. I've gotten answers back on EVPs.

   10. JRJoe Rogan7:08

       Wow.

   11. MRMatt Rife7:08

       But for me, it is one of those things I do need to see it.

   12. JRJoe Rogan7:10

       Isn't a EVP like a radio though?

   13. MRMatt Rife7:13

       No. EVP is just a recorder.

   14. JRJoe Rogan7:14

       It's a recorder. What is- what's that radio thing? I'm sorry, then.

   15. MRMatt Rife7:17

       Uh-

   16. JRJoe Rogan7:17

       What is the one where they- where they, like, listen-

   17. MRMatt Rife7:19

       There's a bunch of different names.

   18. JRJoe Rogan7:20

       Like, my daughter's- my daughter's heavily into this shit.

   19. MRMatt Rife7:22

       W- what does she watch?

   20. JRJoe Rogan7:23

       Heavily. Sam and Colby.

   21. MRMatt Rife7:24

       You had them on, right?

   22. JRJoe Rogan7:25

       Yes.

   23. MRMatt Rife7:25

       So, uh-

   24. JRJoe Rogan7:26

       Great guys.

   25. MRMatt Rife7:27

       So, I met these other guys. There's another channel called the Overnight Channel, who are equally as popular as Sam and Colby, and they actually used to work together, then they- I believe they split off into- each do their own thing. But that's who I started going with. So, I'm- I'm very familiar with those guys.

7. 7:40 – 12:59

   The Conjuring House visit and theories of what ghosts might be

   1. JRJoe Rogan7:40

      So, these kids, they- uh, the Sam and Colby guys just went into the Conjuring house.

   2. MRMatt Rife7:45

      I was just there-

   3. JRJoe Rogan7:46

      Which is-

   4. MRMatt Rife7:46

      ... maybe a month and a half ago.

   5. JRJoe Rogan7:47

      You went into the Conjuring House too?

   6. MRMatt Rife7:48

      By myself, Joe.

   7. JRJoe Rogan7:50

      Okay. Do you believe that there's something going on in that house? The Conjuring movies are fucking great, by the way.

   8. MRMatt Rife7:55

      They're my- it's my favorite franchise.

   9. JRJoe Rogan7:56

      They are fun.

   10. MRMatt Rife7:57

       I'm obs-

   11. JRJoe Rogan7:57

       And there's so many of them. They-

   12. MRMatt Rife7:58

       Oh, yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan7:59

       ... they really did it right.

   14. MRMatt Rife8:00

       Mm-hmm.

   15. JRJoe Rogan8:00

       Like, if you wanna be smart, they branched off with The Nun, they branched off-

   16. MRMatt Rife8:03

       Oh, yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan8:04

       ... with Annabelle.

   18. MRMatt Rife8:04

       And I love the way they tie in the story-

   19. JRJoe Rogan8:06

       Yeah.

   20. MRMatt Rife8:07

       ... from each one to make it all one chronological story. It's genius.

   21. JRJoe Rogan8:10

       Yeah.

   22. MRMatt Rife8:11

       I- I will say I wasn't- I wasn't as scared as I've been in a lot of places we've been. There is some kind of s- solace to the house, but you get to know the history of it, and it just- it does make sense that there'd be something here. I mean, it's on some ley lines of water underground. It's- there was war spot there. There's apparently bodies buried on- on the property in the walls of- of the, um, the property structures and stuff. There's a lot of history that goes into it that just makes for kind of the perfect storm for some creepy shit.

   23. JRJoe Rogan8:42

       Hmm.

   24. MRMatt Rife8:42

       But I didn't witness anything that was that insane. Some items moved. Some- some cars rolled off of the children's dressers a couple of times on cue. And that's one- that's the one thing I do pride ourselves in these videos, is so often we get absolutely nothing, because we don't fake anything. So, you only get to see the highlights. Like, there's so many times we'll go to a place that is so notoriously haunted, and we'll be there for 10 hours and get absolutely nothing. And it sucks, but that makes when something does happen that much more valuable. It's so-

   25. JRJoe Rogan9:10

       What-

   26. MRMatt Rife9:10

       ... much more impressive.

   27. JRJoe Rogan9:11

       What do you think ... So, do you think a ghost is, like, a- a s- the soul of a person that's left behind, or do you think the ghost is almost like space and time-

   28. MRMatt Rife9:23

       Hmm.

   29. JRJoe Rogan9:23

       ... because of a horrible incident, contain a memory? And like, that memory is almost, like, it- it, like, shows up in current time sometimes? There's a guy named Rupert Sheldrake. I forget what his, uh, field of study is.

   30. MRMatt Rife9:40

       Mm-hmm.
8. 12:59 – 17:39

   Fear in confined spaces: the USS Hornet, ships’ underbelly, and why being ‘trapped’ amplifies horror

   1. MRMatt Rife12:59

      You know, you know where that makes the most sense? We did the USS Hornet up in the Bay Area.

   2. JRJoe Rogan13:03

      Yeah.

   3. MRMatt Rife13:04

      And we had the whole ship to ourselves, which I was so excited about, 'cause I love military stuff. I love history. I was so excited to go there and just witness it. And they sent me by myself on a ba- basically a game of hide and seek, where they c- I had to go find them in the ship somewhere after I had to, like-

   4. JRJoe Rogan13:17

      Man.

   5. MRMatt Rife13:17

      ... count to 100 by myself. It was the most terrifying place that I've ever been, because if you've never been in, like, the bowel of a ship, it's so unfamiliar. Like, doorways don't look the same. You know, you have to step over them and everything. There's so many pipes and everything sticking out. It's such an unfamiliar environment, especially in the dark. It's terrifying. You think, "I can't possibly run away from something in here." It's t- there's too many obstacles. You don't-

   6. JRJoe Rogan13:40

      Yeah.

   7. MRMatt Rife13:40

      ... you don't, you don't know if that's a wall or a pipe or something peepi- peeking around to, like, look at you. It's fucking terrifying because of exactly that. You feel so trapped.

   8. JRJoe Rogan13:47

      That totally makes sense, and I would imagine also the feeling of being underwater does an extra freak-out.

   9. MRMatt Rife13:52

      I didn't think about that, but now I have anxiety about it. (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan13:54

       (laughs)

   11. MRMatt Rife13:54

       I mean, you literally-

   12. JRJoe Rogan13:55

       It's a lot.

   13. MRMatt Rife13:55

       If you're deep enough in the ship, you're under the water.

   14. JRJoe Rogan13:58

       That's a very good point.

   15. MRMatt Rife14:00

       And somehow metal floats. What the fuck?

   16. JRJoe Rogan14:03

       I don't understand it whatsoever.

   17. MRMatt Rife14:04

       (laughs) I just, I just-

   18. JRJoe Rogan14:06

       That is so weird. ... don't get it. Because of the shape? What?

   19. MRMatt Rife14:08

       Yeah. Oh, that to me has always been like, "What?"

   20. JRJoe Rogan14:11

       Yeah, like, a rock that size would fucking sink.

   21. MRMatt Rife14:13

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan14:13

       Right?

   23. MRMatt Rife14:14

       Yeah. I don't know what's going on. I'm too stupid to figure out boats. (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan14:16

       Physics are so confusing, dude. (laughs)

   25. MRMatt Rife14:18

       I mean, I get a fiberglass boat, that makes sense.

   26. JRJoe Rogan14:21

       That's impossible.

   27. MRMatt Rife14:21

       But they didn't have fiberglass. Like, I get a wood boat, that makes sense.

   28. JRJoe Rogan14:24

       No. But a fucking-

   29. MRMatt Rife14:25

       One of those giant ships?

   30. JRJoe Rogan14:26

       ... one of those battleships? Imagine if they had to make battleships out of wood.
9. 17:39 – 23:49

   Mermaids, giants, and TikTok hoaxes: wanting wonder while staying skeptical

   1. MRMatt Rife17:39

      Oh, yeah. Do you ever seen that, that video going around recently of those, um potential mermaids-

   2. JRJoe Rogan17:45

      So back-

   3. MRMatt Rife17:45

      ... on the side of that ship in the middle of the ocean?

   4. JRJoe Rogan17:46

      Um, no.

   5. MRMatt Rife17:47

      What?

   6. JRJoe Rogan17:47

      What are you talking about?

   7. MRMatt Rife17:48

      Are you serious?

   8. JRJoe Rogan17:48

      Potential mermaids?

   9. MRMatt Rife17:50

      Ja- Jamie, you know what I'm talking about?

   10. NANarrator17:50

       I've seen it. I saw it on Tiktok. It's a Tiktok thing.

   11. JRJoe Rogan17:51

       Is this some CGI non- CGI nonsense?

   12. NANarrator17:53

       There is like a sailor... a guy sailing on the back of the ship, and you can hear s- moans, right? Sort of.

   13. JRJoe Rogan18:00

       Oh, God. (laughs)

   14. MRMatt Rife18:00

       So there's like, it's, it's just a dude on li- on a blurry cellphone video. It, it, it looks like a good cellphone video. And there's these things that are, like, racing on the side of the boat, that are going the same speed as the boat. And it's... uh, there's like, there's like a tail or something trailing behind them, and this keeps up for hours. And then you start to hear whistling.

   15. JRJoe Rogan18:19

       Let me see this nonsense.

   16. NANarrator18:21

       Yeah, I kind of did.

   17. MRMatt Rife18:21

       You hear tunes. Is that... you hear-

   18. JRJoe Rogan18:21

       I need to see this nonsense.

   19. MRMatt Rife18:22

       You hear what sounds like one of them say, "Jump for me."

   20. JRJoe Rogan18:25

       Oh, God.

   21. MRMatt Rife18:25

       Yeah, it's-

   22. JRJoe Rogan18:26

       How do you think this is real? There's no way this is real. Imagine if both of it is.

   23. NANarrator18:29

       That's how dumb I'm being.

   24. JRJoe Rogan18:29

       This is like the beginning of a movie, right? You and I are having this podcast.

   25. MRMatt Rife18:32

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JRJoe Rogan18:32

       We're being super skeptical. And then in the movie, you find out there has been a very small group of mermaids that have existed in the ocean, hiding from humanity, because we on- have only discovered now 10% of the ocean. Before I go, is, is this-

   27. MRMatt Rife18:45

       This is a fun world to live in.

   28. NANarrator18:46

       Is it this one?

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:47

       Yeah (laughs) .

   30. NANarrator18:47

       Which is why-
10. 23:49 – 26:38

    Bigfoot realism vs ‘blob-squatch’ thinking: bears on two legs and bad costumes

    1. JRJoe Rogan23:49

       But there was... Oh, the Bigfoot ones were s- some of the Bigfoot fakes were so bad.

    2. MRMatt Rife23:53

       Mm-hmm.

    3. JRJoe Rogan23:54

       There was one on The Les Stroud Show where the guy was, like, so obviously wearing a mask. It was, like, a closeup on a guy wearing a mask. It's so embarrassing. It's so bad.

    4. MRMatt Rife24:03

       At least try.

    5. JRJoe Rogan24:04

       Yeah.

    6. MRMatt Rife24:05

       Like, make some kinda compelling case.

    7. JRJoe Rogan24:07

       Yeah. Well, Les Stroud is the shit. The, you know, uh, Survivor Man, that guy's awesome.

    8. NANarrator24:11

       Who's this?

    9. JRJoe Rogan24:12

       That guy did legit things. He's the guy that... You ever see that show, Survivor Man?

    10. MRMatt Rife24:16

        I don't think so.

    11. JRJoe Rogan24:16

        Oh, my God, that show was amazing.

    12. MRMatt Rife24:17

        When was this on?

    13. JRJoe Rogan24:19

        He used to go... Like, it was a while back. And he used to go legitimately by himself with a very limited amount of tools and he would live in wild places.

    14. MRMatt Rife24:28

        I love that.

    15. JRJoe Rogan24:28

        Like really dangerous places, and figure his way out and survive. And, you know, a lot of times, like, you could see on the show, he was losing, like, 15 pounds.

    16. MRMatt Rife24:37

        Oh, yeah.

    17. JRJoe Rogan24:37

        Like, got really sick, got injured.

    18. MRMatt Rife24:39

        You watch that show Alone on Netflix?

    19. JRJoe Rogan24:41

        Yeah. It's, it's similar. But this was, like, one guy with his own cameras doing this everywhere.

    20. MRMatt Rife24:47

        Mm-hmm. So cool.

    21. JRJoe Rogan24:47

        Yeah. That's why I like other shows like... Remember when Bear Grylls had a show?

    22. MRMatt Rife24:51

        Yeah.

    23. JRJoe Rogan24:51

        There, there's, like, multiple camera people-

    24. MRMatt Rife24:53

        Mm-hmm.

    25. JRJoe Rogan24:53

        ... and they're filming him doing wild things.

    26. MRMatt Rife24:54

        Yeah.

    27. JRJoe Rogan24:54

        It's like, that's what they wanted to do with him.

    28. MRMatt Rife24:56

        Uh-huh.

    29. JRJoe Rogan24:56

        And, and Les is like, "Uh-uh."

    30. MRMatt Rife24:58

        "No, I do the real thing."
11. 26:38 – 51:19

    When ‘cute’ animals are deadly: chimp attacks, exotic pets, otters, and domestication science

    1. MRMatt Rife26:38

       Oh, yeah. I think a grizzly bear is the number one thing I'm afraid of, like, in the world.

    2. JRJoe Rogan26:42

       They should, that should be right up there.

    3. MRMatt Rife26:44

       Massive.

    4. JRJoe Rogan26:44

       They're a massive killing machine.

    5. MRMatt Rife26:45

       They are hu-... I remember being a kid and seeing... They had the, at the Columbus Zoo, they have an exhibit there where you can go inside their cave, 'cause that's where they spend most their time there.

    6. JRJoe Rogan26:54

       Yeah.

    7. MRMatt Rife26:54

       And you can see them up against the glass, and laying down. It's, like, four and a half feet, five feet tall.

    8. JRJoe Rogan26:59

       What is this one?

    9. NANarrator27:00

       I don't know.

    10. JRJoe Rogan27:02

        Bigfoot cli-... Oh, they're from 2013. Is this the one? So there's one when... No. There's one where there's, like, a closeup on Bigfoot's face.

    11. NANarrator27:09

        Oh, so that, yeah. But I can't find the one where he's walking. Or I can't even find videos that's on there.

    12. JRJoe Rogan27:12

        That's it, right down there.

    13. NANarrator27:13

        I know, but it's not... It's just a picture of him, so...

    14. JRJoe Rogan27:14

        Okay. But look at that picture. (laughs)

    15. MRMatt Rife27:16

        Oh, my God. No.

    16. JRJoe Rogan27:19

        (laughs)

    17. MRMatt Rife27:20

        No.

    18. JRJoe Rogan27:20

        But when you see it-

    19. MRMatt Rife27:20

        It looks like Teen Wolf.

    20. JRJoe Rogan27:21

        When you see it in the show, like, it's like the guy zooms in on it, he gets a closeup. It's like Bigfoot's just staring back at us.

    21. MRMatt Rife27:30

        (laughs) He's too posed.

    22. JRJoe Rogan27:30

        Like, all these years, Bigfoot's been shy, but Bigfoot's like, "You know what? It's time to let these motherfuckers know."

    23. MRMatt Rife27:34

        Yeah. "You get the shot."

    24. JRJoe Rogan27:35

        "It's time to let these motherfuckers know."

    25. NANarrator27:37

        I was trying to find it. I thought that's what you wanted, but I couldn't find it.

    26. JRJoe Rogan27:39

        It's the... That's the, that is the video.

    27. NANarrator27:41

        It's just a section of it.

    28. MRMatt Rife27:41

        It's so... Which one of these was Joey's? Was it this one?

    29. JRJoe Rogan27:44

        Uh, this one right here.

    30. NANarrator27:45

        Yeah.
12. 51:19 – 59:11

    Conspiracy culture, troll farms, and engineered online chaos (plus deepfakes)

    1. MRMatt Rife51:19

       Please unpack Hollow Earth for me, because you said it and now I wanna know everything about it.

    2. JRJoe Rogan51:23

       Well, Hollow Earth compare ... Uh, it, it pales in comparison to Space Is Fake.

    3. MRMatt Rife51:30

       It d-

    4. JRJoe Rogan51:30

       Space Is Fake is the greatest conspiracy thing to dive into online. It's amazing. It's so fun.

    5. MRMatt Rife51:38

       Ho- how do you, how do you even think ab-

    6. JRJoe Rogan51:39

       They think there are lights in the sky.

    7. MRMatt Rife51:41

       Like, like these kind of lights?

    8. JRJoe Rogan51:43

       I don't know. There's a firmament. There's, like, a glass ceiling above it all. Nothing can go out there because there's nothing there.

    9. MRMatt Rife51:52

       Didn't-

    10. JRJoe Rogan51:52

        The Earth is flat.

    11. MRMatt Rife51:53

        Didn't somebody land on the dark side of the moon the other day?

    12. NANarrator51:55

        (inhales) China. Sent a probe, I think.

    13. MRMatt Rife51:58

        China did?

    14. JRJoe Rogan51:58

        I think it was India.

    15. NANarrator51:59

        Oh yeah, correct, correct, correct.

    16. JRJoe Rogan52:00

        Um, yeah. It's, uh-

    17. MRMatt Rife52:03

        I don't think Earth c- ... Uh, uh, the space can't be fake, it c- ... Right?

    18. JRJoe Rogan52:06

        It's amazing how many people are into it. If you just Google #spaceisfake, you'll be taken to these random Instagram accounts. Now ... And here's the thing about it. Uh, I don't know if they're real people-

    19. MRMatt Rife52:19

        Mm-hmm.

    20. JRJoe Rogan52:20

        ... but I don't know if it matters, 'cause it starts off ... It could start off as, like, some Russian troll. Like, they, there's these things called, like ... The Internet Research Agency is one of 'em. There's troll farms, you know ... You know about these?

    21. MRMatt Rife52:33

        No, but it makes sense.

    22. JRJoe Rogan52:35

        Okay. Renee DeResta reported on it, and some people, uh, a lot of people have reported on it. But what it is, is they have these places where there's thousands and thousands of accounts, and they set up ... Like, they ... There's, there's images of it lo- ... Where you see, like, rows of cell phones that are connected to this network.

    23. MRMatt Rife53:00

        Mm-hmm.

    24. JRJoe Rogan53:01

        And they have these people that have these, the access to this, these accounts. And they're posting things that are really stupid. They're posting things that are ridiculous conspiracy theories. They're posting things blaming Democrats for certain things and blaming Republicans for certain things. At one point in time, Facebook, 19 of their top 20 Christian sites were run by Russian troll farms. It's genius, like, social sabotage at a very high level. And-

    25. MRMatt Rife53:35

        Holy shit.

    26. JRJoe Rogan53:36

        So, they're, they're interacting with people constantly online. So if you see people fighting on Twitter, if you see ... Like, a controversial post goes up about anything-

    27. MRMatt Rife53:46

        Mm-hmm.

    28. JRJoe Rogan53:46

        ... with foreign policy, trans rights, b- abortion, Second Amendment, anything.

    29. MRMatt Rife53:52

        Yeah.

    30. JRJoe Rogan53:52

        If you go into one of those popular posts, you'll see all these, like, crazed right wing and crazed left wing opinions. Occasionally you click on them, and if you go to, like ... I should say occasionally. Oftentimes you'll click on them, and you go to a, a page that seems oddly unhuman.... it seems fake. There's, it doesn't seem like a, a real personality behind it, and you go into it and you see that they're always engaging on these very specific issues, and they're always being, like, very confrontational. And it, and it kinda discourages people that disagree with them from interacting with them, and then it kinda encourages people that love to fight with people to fight back. So, you get all this interaction and these people do it to steer conversations and get people to lose faith in democracy, lose faith in the police's ability to protect you, lose faith in whether or not we can unite racially or, uh, uh, w- sexually, or, like, w- whether we, we can be a, a, a harmonious country. It's, like, designed to m- to keep conflict going. It literally can accelerate conflict, like gasoline on a fire. And then you can engineer to a s- certain extent, I don't know what percentage, but imagine it's 5%. You can 5% through these trolls, engineer conversations in the public, and you could get people to d- do a lot of really dumb shit. Like, if you wanted to get people to believe that the, the Earth is flat, or if you wanted to get people to believe that the Earth is hollow and there's dinosaurs inside of it and aliens live in there, you could get people to believe that. And then they would start fighting about it online. And then you could get people to believe that, you know, there's been b- a bunch of 'em, there's been a bunch of 'em that are, that are like mainstream propaganda things, like the Russia collusion hoax with Trump. It took us like three years to figure that out. Uh, but now everybody knows as, that didn't really happen the way they were saying it was happening every day on the news. If, if that can take place with, like, mainstream media, how much of, like, what people are fighting about is, like, engineered?
13. 59:11 – 1:16:20

    Comedy in the social-media era: touring routines, writing time, and scaling venues

    1. JRJoe Rogan59:11

       Ah. Yeah, you're, you're traveling a lot, huh?

    2. MRMatt Rife59:15

       Yeah, man. Thanks to the internet.

    3. JRJoe Rogan59:16

       Do you do anything to, um, like, do you do anything, like, right when you land to, like, uh, to just to get rid of jet lag? Have you ever figured anything out like that?

    4. MRMatt Rife59:25

       No, I'm still figuring it out.

    5. JRJoe Rogan59:27

       Yeah?

    6. MRMatt Rife59:28

       Y- go to the, I mean, I, I have to work out every day. That's my thing. Like-

    7. JRJoe Rogan59:31

       Do you go to the gym right when you land?

    8. MRMatt Rife59:33

       No, not necessarily. But depending on what time I land, I think, 'cause I like to do, I like to work out before the show-

    9. JRJoe Rogan59:39

       Right.

    10. MRMatt Rife59:39

        ... just to get my blood pumping a little bit, 'cause I'm-

    11. JRJoe Rogan59:41

        Yeah.

    12. MRMatt Rife59:41

        ... I wake up most days so tired. Then I'm like, "Let me at least get a little energized."

    13. JRJoe Rogan59:44

        Yeah.

    14. MRMatt Rife59:44

        "Get my body moving."

    15. JRJoe Rogan59:45

        Isn't that ironic that when you're tired, the best thing you do is something difficult when you wake up?

    16. MRMatt Rife59:50

        It's so weird.

    17. JRJoe Rogan59:51

        It's so hard to tell your body that though. Today was hard for me to tell my, I mean, I do it every day-

    18. MRMatt Rife59:56

        Mm-hmm.

    19. JRJoe Rogan59:56

        ... but every day I have the same fucking conversation. My body's like, "I'd rather just lay here, bitch." And you're the-

    20. MRMatt Rife1:00:01

        But that's what discipline is.

    21. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

        My body's like, "You're the boss." Nobody (laughs) , nobody can tell you what to do. Shut the fuck up.

    22. MRMatt Rife1:00:06

        Yeah, we don't, we don't have-

    23. JRJoe Rogan1:00:07

        Yeah.

    24. MRMatt Rife1:00:07

        ... to get up and do anything.

    25. JRJoe Rogan1:00:08

        I'm like, "You work for, you literally work for yourself."

    26. MRMatt Rife1:00:10

        (laughs)

    27. JRJoe Rogan1:00:12

        You don't have to be at work until 1:30. What are you doing?

    28. MRMatt Rife1:00:16

        ... just go back to sleep.

    29. JRJoe Rogan1:00:16

        But even then, you gotta have, then you-

    30. MRMatt Rife1:00:17

        Go back to sleep, bitch.

Episode duration: 2:28:10