Joe Rogan Experience #2214 - Shane Smith

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

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

   4. SSShane Smith0:11

      Joe Fast.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      What's up?

   6. SSShane Smith0:13

      How are you?

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      Good to see you.

   8. SSShane Smith0:14

      Good to see you.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      What you been up to, man? (laughs)

   10. SSShane Smith0:17

       (inhales deeply) That's a loaded question. I'm doing a, I'm doing a podcast now.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:22

       You are doing a podcast?

   12. SSShane Smith0:23

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:23

       When'd you start?

   14. SSShane Smith0:24

       Yeah, yeah. Uh, f- couple months ago, um-

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       What made you wanna do that? Just got tired of being on the outside looking in?

   16. SSShane Smith0:30

       That's a good... So, that's it.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:32

       Yeah?

   18. SSShane Smith0:32

       You know what's... You, actually, I- I'm gonna, I'm gonna paraphrase you, so you gotta tell me the exact quote.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       Okay.

   20. SSShane Smith0:38

       But you said, um, uh, "COVID was a fucked up time, and I went in thinking that vaccines were the- the pinnacle of human technology and came out thinking that the moon landing wasn't real and Michelle Obama's got a dick and da-da-da-da."

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       Yeah. (laughs)

   22. SSShane Smith0:54

       And I was like, "Ah, it was me."

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       Yeah.

   24. SSShane Smith0:57

       Like during COVID, I was like... I became obsessed with social media and- and X and, like, just looking at shit and whatever. And I'm like, you know, "What's true? What's not true?" Like, "What's... What..." Like, because everybody's speaking so forcibly. This is one, one question I wanted to ask you is, you talk to all these dudes all the time. One of the things I miss, like, I would be, I would be talking to people and be like, they'd, "Oh, this is going on with gas now," and I'd be like, "Oh, I was just there. That's not what's happening," or, you know, "This is happening. It was in Iraq. Oh, I was just there." I love talking to people, I love meeting people, and I love sort of knowing stuff.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:30

       Mm-hmm.

   26. SSShane Smith1:30

       Like, you can just say, "Well, I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna figure it out."

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:33

       Right.

   28. SSShane Smith1:33

       So, I saw all this stuff on social media and I was like, "Wow," you know? There's all this stuff, like, but no one's really going after it and saying, like, as an investigative journalist, saying what's real, what's not real, what's true, what's not true.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:46

       Right.

   30. SSShane Smith1:46

       You are. You're getting in there.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. SSShane Smith15:00

      That wa- You know, that was not smart in retrospect (laughs) because you leave, and it starts, like, Game of Thrones shit, and-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      Mm-hmm.

   3. SSShane Smith15:07

      And then, also, quite frankly, if you wanna know the metaphysical fucking reasons why, I can get into it.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:13

      Okay.

   5. SSShane Smith15:14

      All right.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:15

      I love metaphysical reasons.

   7. SSShane Smith15:16

      There you go. Um, o- one, the best time for Vice, the time that you're talking about, the time that I loved was, you know, you would go, before all the big investors and everything, you would go to, like, Italy, right?

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:30

      Mm-hmm.

   9. SSShane Smith15:30

      And you would get a apartment, and, you know, you'd get a girlfriend, and you find an office, and you hire people that look like you or hang out like you or just are cool or whatever, and you would build it. You would buy the fucking computers on your credit card, and you would fucking go to the grandmother's place for fucking lunch in Cinque Terre. You would, like, fucking, you know, figure out all the cool places to hang out with, with your friends and stuff, and then you'd have a big party, and everyone would come, and then Vice would be launched. Then you'd get on a train and go to Sweden and do the same thing. You'd live there for six months. You'd build something. It was tangible. The mag would come out. You'd start shooting stuff, and it would be fucking awesome. And then, when it got to be, like, you fly in and you meet with lawyers and accountants, and it's shit, and then you fly out again the next day, it's terrible, right?

   10. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       Right.

   11. SSShane Smith16:19

       And so when that happened, I was like, "Um, I won't do this anymore, and I'm not good at it." Like, I was good at building. I'm good at building. I'm good at... Like, founders are not necessarily operators, you know?

   12. JRJoe Rogan16:32

       Right, right.

   13. SSShane Smith16:33

       One of the smart things you've done is, like, just keep your own shit your own shit. And I got, you know, my eyes were too big for my stomach in a way 'cause you're just like, "Let's keep going, fucking build, fucking go."

   14. JRJoe Rogan16:41

       The big thing too is keep it small.

   15. SSShane Smith16:43

       Keep it small, dude. Keep it small. Keep it small.

   16. JRJoe Rogan16:44

       Keep it small. Like, it's just me and Jamie, and we have a video editor that's not even local. He just gets it on the internet and helps.

   17. SSShane Smith16:50

       And also Jamie has super good vibes, which is (laughs) helps.

   18. JRJoe Rogan16:52

       Yeah, no, he's the best, but it's, it's the most important. I have friends that have big podcasts-

   19. SSShane Smith16:57

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:57

       ... and they have, like, this huge staff-

   21. SSShane Smith16:59

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan17:00

       ... and they have all these people running around. I'm like, "What do all these people do?" And it's like they want this feeling of they're the boss of a bunch of employees-

   23. SSShane Smith17:09

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan17:09

       ... for some reason.

   25. SSShane Smith17:10

       Yeah, yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan17:10

       Like, they want all these production people that are creating content.

   27. SSShane Smith17:14

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan17:14

       But then you have interoffice conflicts, and they're always putting out fires, and people are complaining, and then people leave and make videos talking about what a piece of shit boss you were. And it's like, hey man, you're, you're dealing in this thing where there's currency in that information. There's currency for these, these mediocre people. So you-

   29. SSShane Smith17:33

       Hundred of them.

   30. JRJoe Rogan17:33

       You hire these mediocre people, and these mediocre people attack you 'cause there's currency in attacking you, but you didn't need them in the first place. This whole thing was stupid. Like, you're making a little bit more money, but you have more problems, but you don't notice that money. Like, you have to pay attention to what you notice, right? What, uh, uh, whatever the fuck you have in your bank account, if you're, if you're a fairly wealthy person, and you have $100 more or $100 less or $1,000 more or $1,000 less, you don't notice it. But I'll tell you what you do notice. You notice hassle. You notice problems. Those problems are worth a lot of money to get rid of. Like, if you had a bunch of employees, like, "Fuck, what can I do? There's so many people. It's so annoying. God, I wish we were small again." Getting back to small again is a grind. You gotta fire people. It's a, you gotta downsize. You gotta figure out how to do it.That's a mess, man. You don't want that mess. So that extra money that you got by making things too big, you fucked yourself. You got greedy. You, you looked at it the wrong... Like someone said to me, like, uh, I was in the parking lot at The Comedy Store, and this friend of mine who's not even very successful-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   I have one. …

   1. SSShane Smith30:00

      cousin. And when I was 13, he was 16 or something, and he taught me how to drive. And it was a Nova SS, like it was an old like fucking-

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      I have one.

   3. SSShane Smith30:06

      ... so so good.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:07

      I have a '69.

   5. SSShane Smith30:08

      It's so beautiful.

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:09

      I have a '69-

   7. SSShane Smith30:11

      So good.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      That has been completely redone by this guy Steve Strope.

   9. SSShane Smith30:14

      So nice.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:14

       And it's, uh, it's the craziest Nova-

   11. SSShane Smith30:16

       Nova SS.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:17

       ... ever. This one is-

   13. SSShane Smith30:18

       Love it.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:18

       This one's incredible.

   15. SSShane Smith30:19

       Because it's understated.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:20

       It's a complete restomod.

   17. SSShane Smith30:21

       It's understated. It's not like it's a powerful beast and it's-... but badass looking. But it's not like, not like a Ferrari. Like, you know, Ferraris can be beautiful.

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:29

       It's different.

   19. SSShane Smith30:30

       It's different, yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan30:30

       It's diff- It's a different flex.

   21. SSShane Smith30:32

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan30:32

       You know, the, the Ferrari, you just have money. That's my, that's a Nova.

   23. SSShane Smith30:36

       That's it.

   24. JRJoe Rogan30:37

       That's mine.

   25. SSShane Smith30:37

       Oh, it's fucking-

   26. JRJoe Rogan30:37

       That's my '69 Nova.

   27. SSShane Smith30:38

       I love it.

   28. JRJoe Rogan30:39

       Look at that fucking thing.

   29. SSShane Smith30:40

       That's like exactly... Hers was gold. I still remember that, Nova SS.

   30. JRJoe Rogan30:43

       Mi- mine is like, it's got 1969 Camaro fenders.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   (laughs) …

   1. SSShane Smith45:00

      is the greatest fucking lunch in the greatest city! I fucking love it here, man."

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      (laughs)

   3. SSShane Smith45:04

      <<If I can make it there>>

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:06

      Exactly.

   5. SSShane Smith45:06

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:06

      And I was like, "Fucking New York, man."

   7. SSShane Smith45:08

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:08

      "This is Peter Luger-"

   9. SSShane Smith45:09

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:09

       "... fucking burger. I'm fucking..."

   11. SSShane Smith45:10

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:10

       "There's Manhattan and we're gonna fucking..."

   13. SSShane Smith45:12

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:12

       "I lo-... I just..." But this review was so toxic.

   15. SSShane Smith45:15

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:15

       And Ari and I had just eaten there.

   17. SSShane Smith45:17

       Ari Emanuel?

   18. JRJoe Rogan45:17

       We had just been... No, Ari, uh, Shaffir.

   19. SSShane Smith45:20

       Oh, Ari Shaffir.

   20. JRJoe Rogan45:20

       We had j-... Sorry.

   21. SSShane Smith45:20

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan45:20

       We had just been there, like, a month before.

   23. SSShane Smith45:23

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan45:23

       And we're like, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

   25. SSShane Smith45:26

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan45:26

       It's... We had one of the best meals of our life.

   27. SSShane Smith45:27

       It's also an experience.

   28. JRJoe Rogan45:28

       Yeah. It comes-

   29. SSShane Smith45:29

       Like, the whole thing.

   30. JRJoe Rogan45:29

       ... sizzling and there's butter on it and the smell.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:05:44

   That's right. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      (sighs) I don't have to worry about my bills anymore." It's just finding purpose. That's gonna be the next thing.

   2. SSShane Smith1:00:05

      That's right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      And the people that are really gonna be fucked are the people that didn't find purpose already-

   4. SSShane Smith1:00:08

      Before.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:00:08

      ... and then they're like 40 and then that happens, 'cause they're gonna be sad, and that's, that's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about the people that are already sort of indoctrinated into a certain specific way of living and then all of a sudden their purpose, which was their job, you know, they worked at the factory and they're like, you know, Johnny's employee of the month.

   6. SSShane Smith1:00:25

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:00:26

      "Johnny, doing a fucking great job. We really appreciate you."

   8. SSShane Smith1:00:28

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:28

      And that guy feels purpose. He puts in-

   10. SSShane Smith1:00:30

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:00:30

       ... a hard day's work. When he gets that paycheck, he knows he earned it. That's who he is. He's the number one guy at the plant.

   12. SSShane Smith1:00:36

       Mm-hmm.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:00:36

       He's the foreman. He's the guy the men respect. That's a real thing for human beings. We need a thing that makes us feel like we are, we're progressing.

   14. SSShane Smith1:00:46

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:00:46

       It's, it's a part of our DNA. Our DNA, the reason why we're still alive, the reason why we survived is 'cause we solved problems.

   16. SSShane Smith1:00:53

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:00:53

       We figured out what's going on. We made ourselves useful, and it makes you useful to the tribe-

   18. SSShane Smith1:00:57

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:00:57

       ... it makes you, makes you feel good, you have a sense of purpose. That's the guy that's the best hunter. She knows how to fucking plant vegetables. He knows how to make cloth. Everybody had a job.

   20. SSShane Smith1:01:07

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:01:08

       And th- it gave you a sense of purpose.

   22. SSShane Smith1:01:10

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

       We're gonna have to figure this out quick.

   24. SSShane Smith1:01:13

       100%.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:01:13

       Because I think it's gonna be like the birth of a child. It's gonna be like this screaming ...... painful. (imitates scream)

   26. SSShane Smith1:01:22

       Yeah. (clears throat)

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:01:22

       It's gonna be this thing filled with anxiety, but it is happening whether we like it or not.

   28. SSShane Smith1:01:27

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:01:27

       And, and if we don't start educating children about the benefits of having a fulfilled life, where you're doing something you actually enjoy, and not telling them, "Don't do that, it's too hard. Don't do that, it's risky." K- Thank God I didn't listen to anybody-

   30. SSShane Smith1:01:46

       Mm-hmm.

Episode duration: 2:35:41