Joe Rogan Experience #2235 - Mike Rowe

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. MRMike Rowe0:00

      (drumming music) 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. (rock music) We got cigars. We got coffee. We got Mike Rowe.

   4. NANarrator0:16

      Cigars.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      We got Carl, Carl's over there snoring. (laughs) So what were you doing on QVC? What were you selling?

   6. MRMike Rowe0:24

      That was the greatest line from Blazing Saddles, by the way, when Gene Hackman-

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:28

      Which line?

   8. MRMike Rowe0:29

      He says, "Cigars?" Remember? Peter Boyle is coming... He had just left and Gene Hackman is there after getting the soup spilled in his lap and he's basically saying, "I had cigars," as the creature stomps off in Frankenstein.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:45

      I don't remember that.

   10. MRMike Rowe0:47

       Hmm. Tiny little moment.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       It's been too long since I've seen that movie.

   12. MRMike Rowe0:52

       Best, uh...

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:53

       He's a little bit of a fucking distraction. Can he, uh, calm down?

   14. NANarrator0:58

       I don't hear him on the audio.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:58

       Trank him.

   16. NANarrator0:59

       I don't hear him at all.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       Oh, we hear him-

   18. MRMike Rowe1:00

       Geez.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       ... because we don't have our headphones on. Maybe we should put our headphones on.

   20. MRMike Rowe1:03

       I thought you were talking about me.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:04

       No, Carl.

   22. MRMike Rowe1:05

       For an awful moment-

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:06

       He's-

   24. MRMike Rowe1:06

       ... I'm like, "God."

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:07

       We wore him out. Jamie was throwing the toy for Carl and now he's like (imitates Carl's snorting) .

   26. MRMike Rowe1:12

       He's such a great dog. He's got, I mean...

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       He's adorable.

   28. MRMike Rowe1:16

       I mean, it's such a personality thing at that... For me, with dogs and pets in general, you know? Like you know right away if this thing has a personality.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       Oh, he's got a lot of... Carl's got a lot of personality.

   30. MRMike Rowe1:27

       Yeah.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Well, your show, l-…

   1. MRMike Rowe15:00

      in your interest.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:01

      Well, your show, l- like, sort of illuminated a lot of really crazy jobs that people probably weren't aware of, that you go, "Oh, yeah, if this guy didn't do this, we'd kind of be fucked."

   3. MRMike Rowe15:13

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:14

      And you don't even think about it.

   5. MRMike Rowe15:15

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:16

      It's just a thing that's going on behind the scenes or, you know, out of your radar.

   7. MRMike Rowe15:20

      Yeah. That was it, man. It was... I-

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:23

      How did you get started in that? Like, what... who came up with the concept?

   9. MRMike Rowe15:27

      Well, I mean, technically I guess I did, but, I mean, I... honestly, there are no new ideas. This... I stole this from George Plimpton, uh, Studs Terkel a little bit, Charles Kuralt some, uh, Paul Harvey a little bit, you know? That, that kind of storytelling was always kind of interesting to me, and, um, I, I freelanced for years, probably 20 years, in the entertainment business, uh, working, uh, pretty much whenever I wanted on shows that I didn't care about at all.

   10. JRJoe Rogan16:03

       Hm.

   11. MRMike Rowe16:03

       And I was, uh, I was taking my retirement in early installments and really happy with the model, you know? I'd been fired a few times from QVC and hired back, and it was 1993 when I finally left, and I had a decent toolbox. I was great in auditions, so I could get cast, but I didn't, I didn't really much care about the nature of the work, and, uh, had a pretty good balanced life, really. And then I was in, uh, San Francisco working for, uh, (laughs) CBS on a show called Evening Magazine. You know the show? It comes on after, like-

   12. JRJoe Rogan16:41

       Sure.

   13. MRMike Rowe16:41

       ... like the local news. And I was a host, and I would go, um, every day. This is a cushy gig. Nobody watched the show, but it was fun to work on. It was, um... you know, go to museums, you go to wineries, and then you throw to these wrapped packages, right? It's all just l- it's... if there's a three-legged dog in Marin overcoming a heart-tugging case of canine kidney failure, you know? That, that was like an Evening Magazine story.

   14. JRJoe Rogan17:09

       Right, right, right, right, right.

   15. MRMike Rowe17:10

       I mean, we did these all the time. Um, and, uh, my mom called me, and I was in my cubicle at CBS, and she says, "Michael, your, your grandfather will be 90 years old tomorrow." And, uh, my granddad, by the way, seventh grade education, uh, electrical contractor by trade, but also a plumber and a steam fitter, pipe f- he could fabricate, fix anything. He had that, that chip, you know? And he... I grew up next to him on this little farmstead north of Baltimore, and I, I knew I was gonna follow in his footsteps. I knew it. But the handy gene is recessive, right? I didn't get that, and it was my pop who got me... he, he basically said, "Dude, just get a different... you, you can be a tradesman. I know you're enamored of being a tradesman. Just get a different toolbox." So that's what got me into entertainment, and 20 years later, I w- I had completely run amok. I had sung in the opera, I had sold stuff on QVC, I-

   16. JRJoe Rogan18:07

       You sang opera?

   17. MRMike Rowe18:08

       Eight years, man.

   18. JRJoe Rogan18:09

       Did you... were you classically trained?

   19. MRMike Rowe18:11

       Not really.

   20. JRJoe Rogan18:12

       (laughs) How did you get, how'd he get involved in opera singing?

   21. MRMike Rowe18:15

       Well, it's a weird... look, s- sidebar, you go to the Rosedale Public Library, and you ask the librarian for the shortest aria they have, like ever written, which happened to be by Giacomo Puccini.

   22. JRJoe Rogan18:31

       Is an aria a song for some things?

   23. MRMike Rowe18:32

       An aria is a song. It's the... there... in an opera-... m- most of the big moments are arias, right? And, and most of the arias are, you know... I mean, they're, they're sung by the main characters, and they're lots of ones that you would recognize. And they're in German, they're in Italian for the most part. Uh, this one was Italian. It was, uh, from La Bohème, which is just another version of Rent, essentially. But, uh-

   24. JRJoe Rogan19:01

       Ah.

   25. MRMike Rowe19:01

       ... it was called the Coat Aria, and, uh, it was only two minutes long, and it was in Italian. So I walked around Baltimore (laughs) with... You remember the Sony Walkman?

   26. JRJoe Rogan19:12

       Yeah, I remember. I had one of those.

   27. MRMike Rowe19:14

       I had one, too. And I listened to a guy named Samuel Ramey singing the Coat Aria, about 2 minutes and 40 seconds. And the words didn't mean anything to me, but the sounds did. And I can carry a tune, so I just memorized the sounds, and then I crashed an audition for the Baltimore Opera, uh, in 1983.

   28. JRJoe Rogan19:35

       So n- no classic training at all, just a Walkman-

   29. MRMike Rowe19:39

       Uh-

   30. JRJoe Rogan19:39

       ... th- and a cassette?
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   No. …

   1. NANarrator30:01

      fucking around-

   2. MRMike Rowe30:03

      No.

   3. NANarrator30:03

      ... having fun with the toy then selling it?

   4. MRMike Rowe30:06

      Well, that's what I did. I, look, remember ...

   5. NANarrator30:09

      That's what you did? Was that novel that you were doing it that way?

   6. MRMike Rowe30:12

      Yeah. Yeah.

   7. NANarrator30:13

      Yeah.

   8. MRMike Rowe30:13

      In, in relative terms, like, that was actually one of the great, one of the, one of the true great life lessons, you know? You, you don't have to be, um, outrageous to stand out. You just have to be relatively outrageous. So QVC was a steady diet of, of men and women-

   9. NANarrator30:34

      Right.

   10. MRMike Rowe30:34

       ... doing the same exact thing-

   11. NANarrator30:36

       Right.

   12. MRMike Rowe30:36

       ... all the time.

   13. NANarrator30:37

       Right.

   14. MRMike Rowe30:38

       And then at midnight or 3:00 AM, I showed up and put a cat bag over my head or busted open a lava lamp. So-

   15. NANarrator30:45

       So you were like a morning DJ?

   16. MRMike Rowe30:47

       ... kind of, except-

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:48

       Right? Because, like, they're kind of fun, and that was different than the regular radio guy.

   18. MRMike Rowe30:53

       You know, I would... I mean, for me, I thought of it more like, um, like my favorite comedians. And by the way, I, I saw one last night. Thank you. Uh, Ron White was over at the mothership.

   19. JRJoe Rogan31:07

       He's there tonight too.

   20. MRMike Rowe31:08

       I stopped by last night.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:09

       Are you around tonight?

   22. MRMike Rowe31:10

       No, I gotta get back tonight.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:12

       Ah.

   24. MRMike Rowe31:12

       Something about Thanksgiving. But I watched his-

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:14

       (laughs)

   26. MRMike Rowe31:14

       ... set last night.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:14

       He's awesome.

   28. MRMike Rowe31:15

       He was, he was great. And the thing I love-

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:17

       He's never been funnier. He's-

   30. MRMike Rowe31:19

       I-
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah. …

   1. MRMike Rowe45:00

      to, to watch people realize, oh, we're, we're gonna do it this way now, you know?

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      Yeah.

   3. MRMike Rowe45:07

      We're gonna do it this way now. And, and, and that's been... Whether it's comedy or whether it's music, you know, it's... When culture changes, it feels like there's some instigator, some jagged little pill who's pushing it forward, and I guess maybe that's, that's true, but I also think there's this, this larger hive mentality in the audience, and-

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:28

      Right.

   5. MRMike Rowe45:29

      ... they start to realize, oh, there's a, there's another way to deliver a paper.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:34

      Right.

   7. MRMike Rowe45:34

      There's another way to do a thing. And it feels new, but it's, it's probably what you've been doing for the last 12 years.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:41

      Yeah, it's definitely the same way I've always done it. It's just having conversations with people. I like talking to people. It's fun.

   9. MRMike Rowe45:48

      Yeah, but you make-

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:49

       I enjoy it.

   11. MRMike Rowe45:50

       Good.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:51

       I'm c- I'm a curious person and I like talking to people.

   13. MRMike Rowe45:54

       But-

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       That's... It's real simple.

   15. MRMike Rowe45:55

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:56

       (laughs)

   17. MRMike Rowe45:56

       But y- it, it's... Just 'cause it's simple, right, you make it sound like a parenthetical. "Oh, it's just a conversation."

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       Yeah.

   19. MRMike Rowe46:03

       That's only just the hardest thing there is to do.

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:05

       But it's not, really. It's not if you-

   21. MRMike Rowe46:07

       Then why don't more people do it? Then why-

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:08

       'Cause they don't enjoy it. They don't enjoy it like I enjoy it. Like, some people genuinely don't like talking to people. You know why? 'Cause they're interested in themselves.

   23. MRMike Rowe46:18

       Mm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:18

       You have to be interested in other people. I think we're all connected. I really firmly believe this in a non-hippie way. I think it's, like, a scientific reality. I mean, if... I think if we could figure out a way to study it, we would recognize that we r- we're psychically all connected in some strange way. And I, I am curious as to how someone from... With a, a different biology, uh, different life experiences, d- different geographic location in which they were raised, like, how are they navigating the world and why are they interested in opera? Like, why? (laughs)

   25. MRMike Rowe46:54

       Mm.

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:55

       What is it? Why... What got you to be a beekeeper? Why, why are you so fascinated with painting? Wh- what, what made you start writing music? Like, w- I'm interested.

   27. MRMike Rowe47:05

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:05

       I like talking to people. So for me, it is easy. It really is. It's just-

   29. MRMike Rowe47:10

       Uh-

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:10

       ... talking to people like I would talk to p- Like, you and I could have the same exact conversation if we were having dinner somewhere.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      crazy, ridiculous bad money. Uh, he said, "I'm gonna take your tape and tell all these other production companies that MTV wants to sign a deal with you and it'll start a bidding war." And, and he was brilliant.

   2. MRMike Rowe1:00:11

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:00:11

      And he did it, and that's exactly what happened. And the next thing you know, uh, I couldn't answer my phone 'cause my phone was just calling. Peop- agents and people would just call me.

   4. MRMike Rowe1:00:19

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:00:19

      Like, some guy called me from Universal. I was like, "What?" Like, "What the fuck is going on?"

   6. MRMike Rowe1:00:22

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:00:22

      I was sitting in this shitty apartment on my way out the door to play pool and this guy's telling me he wants me to get on a flight that night. We have a flight at 10:00 PM leaving out of LaGuardia. I was like, "What are you talking about?" And so then I called my manager. I go, "This guy just fucking called me from..." He goes, "Don't answer your phone." Just, like, "Go play pool. Get out of here. I'll, I'll take care of it." Next thing you know, I was in Hollywood. It was, like, that quick. And I was on a show called Hardball. It went six episodes. And the only reason why I stayed in California, I wanted to go back to New York. I hated it. I hated actors. I just couldn't deal with being around these weirdos. They were these weird, phony people. They would say, "Good to see you." Because they couldn't remember if they met you.

   8. MRMike Rowe1:00:59

      Right, right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:59

      So instead of saying, "Nice to meet you," and fucking up, or go, "I'm sorry I met you!"

   10. MRMike Rowe1:01:02

       Right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:01:02

       "I'm sorry I fucked up."

   12. MRMike Rowe1:01:03

       Right.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:01:03

       They didn't wanna be real. They, so they, everyone said, "Good to see you."

   14. MRMike Rowe1:01:06

       "Good to see you."

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:01:06

       Everyone was good. And it was super insincere. I was like, "This is so weird."

   16. MRMike Rowe1:01:10

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:01:10

       It was a super uncomfortable experience. And it was the worst experience on a show because...... the people that ran the show, Jeff Martin and Kevin Curran, super funny talented guys who'd worked on Married With Children and The Simpsons. Brilliant. But the studio didn't think that they were good enough to run a show, so they brought in this hack. And this guy comes in and just butchers all the, the scripts. It was horrible. So that gets canceled. The only reason why I stay is because I had a lease. So I got a nice apartment. I'm like, the first apartment I ever had.

   18. MRMike Rowe1:01:37

       Right.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:01:37

       I was like, "I thought I was gonna be on TV forever," like this is gonna be easy. And now, fuck, I gotta get out of here, 'cause I wanted to go back to New York. I thought about breaking my lease. But then, um, NBC contacted me and they said, "We have this show. Uh, it's called News Radio, and we're recasting one of the, one of the roles. Do you wanna come in?" And so I came in and auditioned for it, and the next thing you know, I'm working with Phil Hartman. It was bizarre.

   20. MRMike Rowe1:01:59

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:01:59

       No aspirations whatsoever to be an actor. Never wanted to be on TV. And then I'm working with Andy Dick and Phil Hartman and Maura Tierney and Khandi Alexander, Vicki Lewis, and Dave Foley. Like, this is crazy.

   22. MRMike Rowe1:02:12

       From The Kids From Second City, jeez.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:02:14

       Yeah, he was brilliant. Dave Foley, by the way, was the secret producer of News Radio, 'cause he would, they would give him full autonomy. So he would completely rewrite scenes, like on the spot, come up with punchlines for everybody. We all did that for everybody. Like, we would all come up like, "Maybe you should say this. Maybe you should say that." It was like super collaborative. So just fortune. Complete, utter good fortune. 'Cause I had friends that were on terrible sitcoms, and they were living in hell.

   24. MRMike Rowe1:02:39

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:02:39

       And we'd hang out at The Comedy Store, and, you know, they were living in hell. And I was like, "Look, I'm on a show that nobody watches, but it's fun as shit, and I can't believe I'm on TV. This is nuts."

   26. MRMike Rowe1:02:49

       Yeah, you're in on the joke.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:02:50

       Yeah, it was fun. It was really fun. But it was just fortunate. I could've easily never, never done any of those things. Easily.

   28. MRMike Rowe1:03:01

       I thought for years that, really, a sitcom had to be the best gig in the world. To, to have, to do a, basically to do a play every week.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:03:13

       If it's a good sitcom.

   30. MRMike Rowe1:03:14

       If it's a good sitcom.
6. 1:15:00 – 1:18:59

   Mm. …

   1. MRMike Rowe1:15:00

      kind of a, a microcosm for the country, and I'm not saying it is, but from a TV standpoint, I was like, "This is new." No... I, I've never seen feedback like this. Cur- I've never seen curiosity among the viewership like this.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:15:17

      Mm.

   3. MRMike Rowe1:15:18

      And so, that's, that's where the idea came from.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:15:21

      Ah.

   5. MRMike Rowe1:15:22

      I was like, "What, what if the viewer programs the show, A, and what if, B, the host of the show is the person that I meet who welcomes me into their shithole, or wherever they-

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:15:38

      Right.

   7. MRMike Rowe1:15:38

      ... work? And what if, what if I'm not a host after all? After 20 years of impersonating a host, what if I'm, uh, a guest or an apprentice-

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:15:49

      Oh.

   9. MRMike Rowe1:15:49

      ... or a, or an avatar, or a cipher, right? Like-

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:15:53

       Right.

   11. MRMike Rowe1:15:53

       ... like, what if I just think of myself differently than this guy who hits the mark and looks at the camera and tells you, "The Cat Sack is 29..." I mean-

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:16:01

       Right, right, right, right.

   13. MRMike Rowe1:16:01

       ... it's like, what if you just let all that go? And, uh, you know, I, I don't know that I would've thought of it like that at, at 20... at 22, certainly not, not even at 32. But at 42, I was entering a more introspective kind of phase.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:16:20

       Mm.

   15. MRMike Rowe1:16:21

       And so, I, I was really just curious to see what would happen if I, if I thought of myself as something different.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:16:27

       Well, if we think about the history of just media, it's, it's very recent, right? You have radio, which is like... When w- when did people start listening to radio? It was the 1800s? Okay, and then you have television, which kicks on in the '50s, and everyone's a presenter. "Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles!"

   17. MRMike Rowe1:16:50

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:16:50

       Right? Everyone's Ed Sullivan. Everyone's Jack Carr, B- Jack Parr. Like, there's these type of people that do this job.

   19. MRMike Rowe1:16:59

       Mm.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:16:59

       It's like, you ever g- go to a... You ever do a morning radio show?

   21. MRMike Rowe1:17:02

       Oh, yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:17:02

       I'm sure you have.

   23. MRMike Rowe1:17:03

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:17:03

       Morning DJ voice, "Hey!"

   25. MRMike Rowe1:17:04

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:17:05

       "Five o'clock on the hour, let's go with Bon Jovi." There's a voice that they have.

   27. MRMike Rowe1:17:10

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:17:10

       A strip club DJ, similar. There's a voice.

   29. MRMike Rowe1:17:12

       Anchorman.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:17:13

       Anchorman.

Episode duration: 3:06:01