Joe Rogan Experience #2056 - David Blaine

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. NANarrator0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays)

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      Hello, David. (laughs)

   5. DBDavid Blaine0:15

      How are you, Joe?

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      What's happening? Good to see you.

   7. DBDavid Blaine0:17

      Good to see you.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      How you been? Good to see you're still alive.

   9. DBDavid Blaine0:20

      (laughs)

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:20

       You're not full of visible holes.

   11. DBDavid Blaine0:22

       Dot com forward.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:23

       (laughs)

   13. DBDavid Blaine0:24

       (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:24

       What have you been up to, man?

   15. DBDavid Blaine0:26

       Um, spending a lot of time with my daughter, uh, number one. And then number two, I've been working on this series for National Geographic. So, I've been traveling around the world searching for these people that do incredible feats that they've passed down through generations. And I'm trying to learn, but it's a qu- fast learning curve. So, it is the most dangerous thing that I've ever done in my life, but I have the best of the best helping, so...

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       That says a lot, 'cause you've done-

   17. DBDavid Blaine0:58

       By far the most-

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       Really?

   19. DBDavid Blaine0:59

       Yes. (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       Whoa.

   21. DBDavid Blaine1:01

       Uh-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       Well, you showed me some things off-camera that we can't talk about, but...

   23. DBDavid Blaine1:04

       Well, you can talk about them, I just can't show them, okay?

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:07

       (laughs) Okay. Well, um...

   25. DBDavid Blaine1:08

       So, the scariest thing was, like, three days ago. I, I kissed-

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:10

       A cobra?

   27. DBDavid Blaine1:11

       A king cobra.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:12

       Yeah. I saw it.

   29. DBDavid Blaine1:13

       In the wild.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:14

       Yeah.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah. But I'm always-…

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

   2. DBDavid Blaine15:00

      Yeah. But I'm always-

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:04

      Pushing it.

   4. DBDavid Blaine15:05

      No, no, I'm always concerned about the, the, the, the effects, you know.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:10

      Yeah, I would imagine.

   6. DBDavid Blaine15:12

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:12

      Something to be concerned about.

   8. DBDavid Blaine15:14

      Yeah, 'cause I want... Now that I have a daughter, I wanna live long, you know?

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:17

      Sure, yeah.

   10. DBDavid Blaine15:17

       I wanna live till I'm 100.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:19

       Right. That's possible if you don't get bit by a cobra. (laughs)

   12. DBDavid Blaine15:22

       (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:22

       So, but then now is probably the best time ever to have that goal.

   14. DBDavid Blaine15:27

       To stop over. (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:28

       Well, I mean to have the goal of living to 100 with modern science and medicine.

   16. DBDavid Blaine15:31

       Yeah, I believe it's possible.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:33

       Well, it's ver- Um, um, people have lived to 100.

   18. DBDavid Blaine15:36

       But I think diet is everything.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:38

       It's a lot of it.

   20. DBDavid Blaine15:39

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan15:39

       Are, are you, uh, pretty diligent with your diet?

   22. DBDavid Blaine15:41

       Well, since the injury, it kind of gave me an excuse to not be, but I need to get serious again.

   23. JRJoe Rogan15:46

       The injury gave you an excuse to not be?

   24. DBDavid Blaine15:47

       Yeah. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan15:48

       How come?

   26. DBDavid Blaine15:49

       I don't know. I was like, "Fuck this," you know? (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan15:52

       (laughs) That's funny. Yeah, no, if you... I mean, it seems simple, but it is true that your body is essentially made out of what you consume.

   28. DBDavid Blaine16:03

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:04

       It's the only thing that it has to regenerate.

   30. DBDavid Blaine16:06

       For sure. Yep.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Hmm. …

   1. DBDavid Blaine30:00

      to the trick itself. That, that's exciting for me.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      Hmm.

   3. DBDavid Blaine30:03

      So when I went to Africa to learn how to swallow a gallon of water and then spout it out, I didn't know it would lead to being able to hold frogs in my stomach and then produce them at any time. But it ended up leading to that. So it became a magic trick, but it started as, like, some insane skill that I saw somebody do and I was obsessed with.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:21

      When you swallow a gallon of water, are you stretching your stomach out?

   5. DBDavid Blaine30:25

      Yeah, it's horri-

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:25

      Is that what's happening?

   7. DBDavid Blaine30:26

      It's awful.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:26

      But is it, like, do you-

   9. DBDavid Blaine30:28

      Yes.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:28

       ... gain greater capacity because of that?

   11. DBDavid Blaine30:30

       No.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       No?

   13. DBDavid Blaine30:31

       It's ... No. Every night in my show, I have to put a gallon of water inside and it's horrible.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:36

       What does it feel like?

   15. DBDavid Blaine30:36

       Ugh. Awful.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       Like pregnancy maybe?

   17. DBDavid Blaine30:39

       I don't know. I can't answer. (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:41

       (laughs)

   19. DBDavid Blaine30:41

       Maybe. (laughs) I'm not sure.

   20. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       But something ... So you feel your organs stretching? Do you feel, like, everything getting pushed aside to make room for the water? I mean, a g- a gallon of water is ...

   21. DBDavid Blaine30:51

       Is a lot.

   22. JRJoe Rogan30:51

       It's a lot.

   23. DBDavid Blaine30:52

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan30:52

       What does it weigh?

   25. DBDavid Blaine30:53

       Uh, I think like 8.43 pounds or something like that.

   26. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       Yeah. So just imagine eight pou- pounds of food-

   27. DBDavid Blaine30:59

       It might be 8.34 or 4 ... I'm not sure.

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:01

       Just eight pounds of food in your body is insane.

   29. DBDavid Blaine31:03

       Yeah. No, it's a lot.

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:04

       You know? Sitting down and eating.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah. …

   1. DBDavid Blaine45:00

      it together, and it looks like it's going through. And I was like, "That ... " And I think I was like, "That could probably really be done." So I think it began with that, and then I heard about a kid that can s- take a bicycle spoke and put it through. And then I started thinking, "Well, if you could do that as a trick but have no blood, then it's kind of amazing." And what I didn't realize was bel- basically your blood, it coagulates when you ... So based on time. So if you push this through ... Again, I don't wanna give anybody lessons on how to ... This stuff is not good to do at all. But with time, I think when you pull it out, you just don't bleed unless you go through the wrong side and hit something. But ... (laughs)

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:44

      Yeah.

   3. DBDavid Blaine45:45

      But I like those things that it- just seem impossible, but there's an actual science to it.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:54

      Who was the guy who would s- take thin swords and shove them through his lungs?

   5. DBDavid Blaine45:59

      Yeah, Mirin Dajo. I- I have not done that, and I don't ... I'm never gonna do that one, I be-

   6. JRJoe Rogan46:03

      Don't do that.

   7. DBDavid Blaine46:04

      Yeah, no.

   8. JRJoe Rogan46:04

      He died doing that, didn't he?

   9. DBDavid Blaine46:05

      No. So what happened-

   10. JRJoe Rogan46:07

       No?

   11. DBDavid Blaine46:07

       ... uh, well, normally he would have a rapier push through by a doctor. And, um, he- he start ... And he would go f- ... He would jog with these rapiers through his body, through his lungs, right through the middle. And I think what happened was he became very overconfident and thought he could do anything.

   12. JRJoe Rogan46:23

       (laughs)

   13. DBDavid Blaine46:23

       And he swallowed a needle, like an ice pick-sized needle. He swallowed it and thought he was gonna like push it through. And when he went to sleep, it was still inside of him, and it ruptured his heart, and then he bled out and died.

   14. JRJoe Rogan46:34

       Oh, God.

   15. DBDavid Blaine46:35

       Yeah. Yeah, I think he started to get so cocky with what his body could do. Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:40

       Wow. So this is the guy?

   17. DBDavid Blaine46:42

       Yeah. Yeah. But-

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:44

       Now how does one do that? I mean, if he's got a- a rap-

   19. DBDavid Blaine46:47

       They said he had tuberculosis, and so hi- the- the way his body recovered it ... I- I ... It doesn't ... Nobody really knows, but I know scientists and doctors, they all thought it wasn't real. They thought it was a trick, so it took forever for them to even think it was real.

   20. JRJoe Rogan47:02

       Oh, it goes sideways. Oh, that's right. I forgot this one. So he's going through his fucking intestines.

   21. DBDavid Blaine47:07

       Yeah. He's-

   22. JRJoe Rogan47:07

       Oh my god.

   23. DBDavid Blaine47:07

       He was- He was the human- the human pin cushion. (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan47:11

       And that's a doctor? Boy, that doctor ...

   25. DBDavid Blaine47:14

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan47:14

       What about do no harm, fella?

   27. NANarrator47:15

       Look at this guy.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:16

       That is so insane. So he's got-

   29. DBDavid Blaine47:19

       I mean, it's insane that he could control-

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:21

       ... bandages over his forearm.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:14:17

   Right on. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      If you wanna compete in combat sports, you must know how to box. But...... a, a really comprehensive skill set that a, a true MMA champion will have. It's far better. And if a boxer, like an elite boxer, fought an MMA fighter, they would have almost no chance. Like, if Tyson Fury fought Francis Ngannou in an MMA fight and beat Francis in an MMA fight, that would be more extraordinary than Francis beating... or rather than, uh, Tyson Fury... Uh, or if Tyson Fury beat Francis in an MMA fight, it would be more extraordinary than Francis beating Tyson Fury in a boxing match, because at least a big part of Francis's skill set is his punching power and his hands. Whereas, Tyson Fury has almost no experience in grappling, kicking, any of those skills. If he beat Francis in an MMA fight, that would be like (slaps desk) the most incredible thing that anyone's ever done, ever. But no boxer, other than... The only boxer that's ever even, like, at an elite level competed in MMA was James Toney fought Randy Couture, and he got... It was at the end of James Toney's career. He would, he had already accomplished incredible feats as a pure boxer, and kinda just took it for a paycheck, and he got taken down and just strangled pretty quickly. Randy Couture just ankle picked him, brought him to the ground-

   2. DBDavid Blaine1:01:20

      Right on.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:01:20

      ... got on top of him, head and arm choked him. (snaps fingers) It was, it was a wr- once he got to the ground, it was like a foregone conclusion for, Randy was gonna destroy him.

   4. DBDavid Blaine1:01:28

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:01:29

      No boxer has ever said, in the middle of their pro- like if, as if Manny Pacquiao, in the middle of his prime, said, "I am going to fight MMA." That would be insane, and he would probably get his face kicked off. I mean, probably get strangled, probably get taken down strangled, and they're, he would be helpless. It's a different skill set. There's so much more to MMA. To me, it's more exciting to watch. It's certainly more complicated. It's, uh, it, it requires more of you. You have to train in multiple disciplines. You're not just training in using your hands. You're training in kicking, elbows, punches, knees-

   6. DBDavid Blaine1:02:01

      Right.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:02:01

      ... takedowns, submissions-

   8. DBDavid Blaine1:02:03

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:02:03

      ... submission defense. It'll, the rounds are longer. They're five-minute rounds as opposed to three-minute rounds. It's like-

   10. DBDavid Blaine1:02:09

       Five minutes is a long time. (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:02:10

       It's a long time. It's a long time.

   12. DBDavid Blaine1:02:12

       (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:02:12

       And in the old days, in the pride day, well, in the old days of the UFC there was no time limit. And then, in the pride days, which was, uh, was one of the glory years of MMA, in Japan, they would have a 10-minute first round. And, you know, that was very, very hard. That really... Dan Henderson, who was in here before, was one of the all-time greats, said that was what separated the men from the boys, that 10-minute round, because, you know, a lot of-

   14. DBDavid Blaine1:02:35

       10 minutes-

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:02:36

       Yeah.

   16. DBDavid Blaine1:02:36

       ... of straight fighting is crazy.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:02:38

       Against a trained killer.

   18. DBDavid Blaine1:02:40

       Is crazy.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:02:41

       Yeah, in front of the whole world.

   20. DBDavid Blaine1:02:42

       (sighs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:02:42

       And they would do this at like the Saitama Super Arena, which is like 90,000 people, the Tokyo Dome, these enormous venues. Yeah.

   22. DBDavid Blaine1:02:50

       But just the endurance training that goes into that-

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:02:52

       Oh, insane.

   24. DBDavid Blaine1:02:53

       ... is like nothing else.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:02:54

       Like nothing else, like th- like not that boxing is not insanely difficult on your endurance as well, especially at a very elite level. It's, I mean, next to wrestling, which is probably one of the most difficult things, it's about as hard a combat sport th- that exists, but MMA is the top. That's the top. If the M- The MMA champion is widely regarded by almost anyone who's an expert as being the baddest man on the planet. That's the, the... Whatever weight class it is, the MMA champion, for the most part, is going to dominate someone who is just a boxer.

   26. DBDavid Blaine1:03:26

       Right.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:03:27

       For the most part, you know, but, you know, you've got some guys like Mike Tyson. If someone taught Mike Tyson-

   28. DBDavid Blaine1:03:33

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:03:33

       ... kicking defense and how to take people down, good fucking luck.

   30. DBDavid Blaine1:03:37

       (laughs)

Episode duration: 2:24:47