Joe Rogan Experience #2277 - Woody Harrelson

1. 0:00 – 2:36

   Austin as a “balanced” city and the SNL monologue backlash

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. WHWoody Harrelson0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (instrumental music) So what's happening, man? How are you?

   4. WHWoody Harrelson0:14

      Oh, everything's groovy as could be. I'm happy to be in Austin. I love it here, you know.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:20

      It's a fun place.

   6. WHWoody Harrelson0:21

      Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm... I stay here, so... yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:24

      Oh, do you?

   8. WHWoody Harrelson0:25

      Yeah. And, uh... I don't know. It's like... Just... It's a... It's just a special place in this country.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:33

      Yeah, I agree. It's perfect because it's like a blue city in a red state, and it's like even the really kooky liberal people are pretty... reasonable in comparison-

   10. WHWoody Harrelson0:43

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:43

       ... to like the kooky liberal people from California or New York.

   12. WHWoody Harrelson0:48

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       It's balanced.

   14. WHWoody Harrelson0:48

       Kooky liberals, yeah. I've been thinking a lot about that lately.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:52

       Did you get a lot of that after Saturday Night Live? (laughs) A lot of kooky liberals coming your way? That, uh...

   16. WHWoody Harrelson0:57

       Uh... (laughs) Yeah, that's-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       (laughs)

   18. WHWoody Harrelson0:59

       That's a good transition there.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       That, uh-

   20. WHWoody Harrelson1:02

       Uh-

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:02

       ... monologue was great, by the way.

   22. WHWoody Harrelson1:03

       That thing? (laughs) Yeah. Well, I got a... I got a lot of blowback-

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:08

       Yeah.

   24. WHWoody Harrelson1:08

       ... as I knew I would, you know.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:10

       Yeah.

   26. WHWoody Harrelson1:10

       Because, uh...

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:11

       'Cause you tell the truth. (laughs)

   28. WHWoody Harrelson1:13

       Well, yeah. I... You know, it's just that you don't wanna say anything negative about vaccines, which I didn't. What- what I was talking about in that monologue was... was really about profiteering.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:28

       Yeah.

   30. WHWoody Harrelson1:29

       Okay, so World War II, necessary. Everyone could say that was a necessary war. Let's say this war on, uh, microbes was a necessary war, right? Why is anyone profiteering?
2. 2:36 – 6:42

   Profiteering and political sabotage: Vietnam, Iran hostages, and the “October Surprise”

   1. WHWoody Harrelson2:36

      Well, I mean, I- I'm sure you know that, uh, um, you know, Richard Nixon wa-... knew it was imperative that the war continue, you know, the Vietnam War, back before he got elected, you know.

   2. JRJoe Rogan2:50

      Yeah.

   3. WHWoody Harrelson2:50

      He didn't want that to get settled.

   4. JRJoe Rogan2:52

      Yeah.

   5. WHWoody Harrelson2:53

      And, uh, he... There's a great phone call. I don't know if you've listened to any of Johnson's phone calls, uh, Lyndon Johnson, but-

   6. JRJoe Rogan3:01

      What- what phone call?

   7. WHWoody Harrelson3:02

      There was a phone call he had with, uh, with, uh, Nixon, saying, "Hey, man, (laughs) you... you're... you're, uh, going against the peace," 'cause he was trying to get a peace to go before the '68 election, right, which he eventually just bailed out of anyway 'cause he could see he was gonna lose it, Johnson. Uh, any-... I don't... M- you know, maybe you haven't, uh-

   8. JRJoe Rogan3:27

      No, I've never heard-

   9. WHWoody Harrelson3:27

      ... thought about this, but-

   10. JRJoe Rogan3:27

       ... that conversation between Nixon and-

   11. WHWoody Harrelson3:29

       It's an incredible-

   12. JRJoe Rogan3:30

       ... Johnson.

   13. WHWoody Harrelson3:30

       ... conversation. And Nixon's like, "Oh, I... Oh, I wouldn't have... wouldn't do that. I would never," you know. And of course he was doing that.

   14. JRJoe Rogan3:37

       Yeah.

   15. WHWoody Harrelson3:37

       He was subverting the peace process, you know, in the same way that, uh, you know, they wanted to make sure Carter didn't get those, you know, uh, those guys-

   16. JRJoe Rogan3:47

       Iranian hostages, yeah.

   17. WHWoody Harrelson3:47

       ... released, uh, in- in a... in a... in Iran-

   18. JRJoe Rogan3:51

       Yeah, yeah.

   19. WHWoody Harrelson3:51

       ... uh, 40.

   20. JRJoe Rogan3:52

       I always wondered about, uh, the Vietnam War, how much of it was about heroin. Three days before 1968 presidential election, President Johnson contacted Senate Majority Lever... Leader, uh, Everett M. Dirksen to inform him the White House had received hard evidence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Richard M. "Dick" Nixon was interfering with Johnson's effort to start peace talks to end the Vietnam War. In this call, Johnson referred to contacts between Nixon's campaign and South Vietnamese President Nguyen... uh, Van Thie... I don't know how to say his name... urged that they thwart any such negotiations. Yeah.

   21. WHWoody Harrelson4:32

       Yeah. And that did happen. (clears throat) And also, they definitely, uh, uh... Bush, uh, you know, the senior Bush, uh, George Bush Sr., he met and, uh, with the leaders of the Iranian, uh... well, you know, what do you call it, party, whatever in... uh, before the election to Carter but... the... the fight between Carter-

   22. JRJoe Rogan5:00

       Mm-hmm.

   23. WHWoody Harrelson5:00

       ... and Reagan, uh, and insisted they... they needed to not be letting those hostages go.

   24. JRJoe Rogan5:08

       Right.

   25. WHWoody Harrelson5:09

       And so I met, uh, Carter in Aust-... or rather in, uh, Atlanta, I don't know, couple, three years ago, right? It's very exciting for me because I've... I've always been a big, big fan of Carter. I think he's the-

   26. JRJoe Rogan5:23

       Me too.

   27. WHWoody Harrelson5:23

       ... best president in my lifetime. And I talked to Carter, and he was like... and I so... I said... I'm sitting there, I'm thinking to myself, "Is there a better time to ask? When am I gonna have another time?"

   28. JRJoe Rogan5:35

       Right.

   29. WHWoody Harrelson5:36

       And so that was known as the October surprise, right?

   30. JRJoe Rogan5:39

       Right.
3. 6:42 – 8:25

   Pivot to filmmaking: Woody’s suspense movie and the true-story backdrop

   1. JRJoe Rogan6:42

      Yeah. We don't need to. Hey, man, your movie's fucking great. I loved it.

   2. WHWoody Harrelson6:45

      Oh, you saw it?

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:46

      I saw it Wednesday night. Yeah, it was great.

   4. WHWoody Harrelson6:47

      Oh.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:48

      Really-

   6. WHWoody Harrelson6:48

      Thank you.

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:48

      ... really great. Nail-biter. Like-

   8. WHWoody Harrelson6:50

      Yeah, an edge-of-your-seat movie.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:52

      Yeah. There's not a single cut-the-shit moment in that movie. You know, there's movies that there's a m- there's... Where you have to suspend disbelief, and it takes you out of it. There's none of that in that movie.

   10. WHWoody Harrelson7:02

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan7:02

       It's really good. It's really good. Very suspenseful, very fulfilling.

   12. WHWoody Harrelson7:07

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan7:07

       At the end of it, you feel super entertained. It was great.

   14. WHWoody Harrelson7:09

       Yeah. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. It's... I, I, I love it. I... It's so exciting, that film. Uh, I... It's like an action movie. I mean-

   15. JRJoe Rogan7:19

       Yeah.

   16. WHWoody Harrelson7:19

       ... it really is, like, as nail-biter as any action movie I've seen. I love it. And Alex Parkinson, he also... He was the director. He also directed the... 'Cause it was a, uh, documentary.

   17. JRJoe Rogan7:33

       Oh.

   18. WHWoody Harrelson7:33

       Last Breath.

   19. JRJoe Rogan7:34

       Oh, wow.

   20. WHWoody Harrelson7:35

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan7:36

       So he directed both?

   22. WHWoody Harrelson7:36

       So... Oh, 'cause people may not know, he... This was a real incident that happened-

   23. JRJoe Rogan7:40

       Yeah.

   24. WHWoody Harrelson7:40

       ... in the North Sea. Anyway, uh, yeah. Simu Liu and, uh, Finn Cole, you know, love those guys. Loved working with them. That was a great experience.

   25. JRJoe Rogan7:54

       It's a great movie. It's very good. It's very fun. Like, it's exciting. And I hardly ever go to the movies anymore, but, uh, your people made me go see it in the movie theater.

   26. WHWoody Harrelson8:03

       Oh, yeah?

   27. JRJoe Rogan8:04

       Yeah, so I had to actually go to a theater-

   28. WHWoody Harrelson8:06

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan8:06

       ... and see it. It was great, though.

   30. WHWoody Harrelson8:08

       Ah, well, thanks-
4. 8:25 – 11:46

   “Platforming” debates, media narratives, and the Malone interview fallout

   1. WHWoody Harrelson8:25

      I, I really am. I, I'm so... I love the things you've done that just flipped everything on its head, you know, the people you've interviewed that you got, you know, people gen- genuinely up in arms, you know. Like, you, you're, you're not afraid. You're, you're a fearless warrior, and I just... I appreciate what you do. Like allow-

   2. JRJoe Rogan8:48

      Thank you.

   3. WHWoody Harrelson8:48

      ... give allowing voice to people... Other people will be like, "You're wrong just to interview that person."

   4. JRJoe Rogan8:56

      Yeah. You get a lot of that, for sure, but that's ridiculous.

   5. WHWoody Harrelson8:59

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan8:59

      That's ridiculous. The, at least... That's ridiculous thinking. I don't even understand that. I really don't. I don't understand how we got to a place where you're wrong to have a conversation with someone, even if you disagree with them. This idea of platforming people. Well, how the fuck do you know what they really think? Based on what? The mainstream media that lies to you constantly, that's supported by all sorts of special interest groups that have no need to tell the American public the truth? They have a very specific narrative that they want pushed, and they want no deviation from that at all. Get the fuck outta here.

   7. WHWoody Harrelson9:31

      (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan9:32

      Get the fuck outta here. It's crazy. And if you have a large audience, I think you have at least a certain amount of responsibility to talk to some people that you think might be telling the truth.

   9. WHWoody Harrelson9:42

      Yeah. I liked your interview with Robert Malone.

   10. JRJoe Rogan9:46

       Yes.

   11. WHWoody Harrelson9:47

       That was a crucial interview at a crucial time.

   12. JRJoe Rogan9:49

       Well, it was the most pushback I'd ever experienced ever in my life, and I was like, "This is crazy." When you... It was really sad to see people like Joni Mitchell and, uh, Neil Young-

   13. WHWoody Harrelson10:01

       Neil Young.

   14. JRJoe Rogan10:01

       ... and, like, what... You got... I wanted to sit down and talk to them and, like, show them some studies and give them Robert Kennedy's book and say like, "You don't really know what you're talking about."

   15. WHWoody Harrelson10:11

       Well, that's the thing that makes me sad is a lot of this information they're receiving is, like, from mainstream media-

   16. JRJoe Rogan10:18

       Yes.

   17. WHWoody Harrelson10:18

       ... which certainly has its own objectives and its own, uh, uh, you know, um, uh, things that it won't discuss.

   18. JRJoe Rogan10:26

       Yes.

   19. WHWoody Harrelson10:26

       You know? (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan10:26

       Yeah. At all.

   21. WHWoody Harrelson10:28

       And, and, uh, um... Yeah. And I, I just felt like, after that happened, you know, I almost... I was gonna try to get in touch with you just to tip my hat to you. But it, it just felt like, why don't people just listen to the interview? Because I feel like everyone who was giving it a hard time hadn't even heard the interview.

   22. JRJoe Rogan10:49

       Of course. Yeah. They had heard the mainstream media saying that it was dangerous misinformation. By the way, everything he said has turned out to be true. Every single thing he said had turned out to be true.

   23. WHWoody Harrelson11:01

       Sure.

   24. JRJoe Rogan11:02

       Everything that everybody said about whether it was a lab leak, whether the vaccine had side effects, whether it was pushed, whether they lied about the s- the studies and, and distorted the information, everything was true. All of it. Including-

   25. WHWoody Harrelson11:15

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan11:15

       ... Yale just released some study about people producing spike proteins 700 plus days after the injections, which was never thought to be the case when they gave them to these people in the first place. A host of different serious problems that people are having because these... That everyone's covering up and people are lying about and everyone's trying to obfuscate. And doctors are trying to sweep things under the rug because they don't wanna be in trouble for mandating these things and telling people to get these things. It's horrible.

5. 11:46 – 19:29

   Mandates, non-sterilizing vaccines, PCR testing, and eroding trust

   1. WHWoody Harrelson11:46

      Well, I mean, I agree with you, and, uh... Yeah. If, if we go back to the, uh, allowing... You know, I just feel like to mandate was wrong.

   2. JRJoe Rogan11:59

      Crazy.

   3. WHWoody Harrelson12:00

      It just... It... That's... That, to me, is fascistic behavior.

   4. JRJoe Rogan12:04

      Yes.

   5. WHWoody Harrelson12:04

      If you mandate that I have to take this thing-... that if you take it, you're protected. Well, if I take it, wouldn't that mine? (laughs) You know-

   6. JRJoe Rogan12:15

      Right. Doesn't even make sense.

   7. WHWoody Harrelson12:15

      ... that should be my prerogative. I either wanna be protected or don't wanna be protected. Or, maybe I am like I am, which is the last two entities on Earth I would trust with my health, would be big pharma and big government. Like, those would be the last two I would look to. (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan12:32

      Yeah.

   9. WHWoody Harrelson12:32

      Uh, you know, how much big pharma's done to just, uh, just push it through that they know is bad for you-

   10. JRJoe Rogan12:39

       Yes.

   11. WHWoody Harrelson12:40

       ... that they know harms you? And in this case, they know what's happened.

   12. JRJoe Rogan12:44

       Yeah.

   13. WHWoody Harrelson12:44

       They know. And, and all we're left with after the... What was it? '86 that they, uh, mandated that you couldn't sue the vaccine companies?

   14. JRJoe Rogan12:53

       Mm-hmm.

   15. WHWoody Harrelson12:54

       Uh, and so since then, we've only been left with VAERS, right? The-

   16. JRJoe Rogan12:57

       Yeah. VAERS, yeah.

   17. WHWoody Harrelson12:59

       ... the, the government... VAERS-

   18. JRJoe Rogan13:00

       Yeah.

   19. WHWoody Harrelson13:00

       ... uh, the government website. And now we have millions of people who fought through the red tape and then the bureaucratic whatever just to, just to s- anonous- anonymously be known-

   20. JRJoe Rogan13:14

       Yeah.

   21. WHWoody Harrelson13:14

       ... that they were injured.

   22. JRJoe Rogan13:16

       Yeah.

   23. WHWoody Harrelson13:17

       So-

   24. JRJoe Rogan13:17

       That's... It was weird watching so many people that I thought were intelligent stand up for the government and for the, the pharmaceutical industry. And take their side.

   25. WHWoody Harrelson13:29

       But it's not weird if you think of how... I mean, it was ubiquitous. It, it never stopped. The, the mainstream press was just harping on it constantly.

   26. JRJoe Rogan13:41

       Yeah. Constantly, yeah. But it's just weird that so many people went along with it without question. I mean-

   27. WHWoody Harrelson13:47

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan13:48

       And especially, the weirdest part was that it was the people on the left. That was so confusing to me 'cause-

   29. WHWoody Harrelson13:52

       (clears throat)

   30. JRJoe Rogan13:52

       ... all my life, people on the left were very, very hesitant to believe anything that big pharma said, and, uh, always distrusting in any major institution that was profiting off of something. And all the... It was all very clear. You could see where the motivation was with everything. You could see the amount of profit that was gonna be generated. And still, everybody was just so scared. It just exposed a lot of cowards, uh, a lot of fools, a lot of cowards, and a l- and a lot of people that are just, at the moment of any form of adversity, are willing to just bow down and, and do what the system tells them to. It's very strange.
6. 19:29 – 24:26

   Censorship mechanics: Trusted News Initiative, “mal-information,” and community notes

   1. WHWoody Harrelson19:29

      Well, also, that, that whole, uh, Trusted News Initiative.

   2. JRJoe Rogan19:33

      Yeah.

   3. WHWoody Harrelson19:34

      You familiar with that?

   4. JRJoe Rogan19:35

      Mm-hmm.

   5. WHWoody Harrelson19:36

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan19:36

      Yeah.

   7. WHWoody Harrelson19:37

      I guess you would be.

   8. JRJoe Rogan19:38

      Yeah.

   9. WHWoody Harrelson19:38

      You, you talk to Bobby and everybody.

   10. JRJoe Rogan19:40

       Yeah.

   11. WHWoody Harrelson19:40

       Uh, but yeah, the Trusted News Initiative is just like, "Okay, we won't pr- we won't..." Uh, you like... when you... I'd send a YouTube video that I just got to someone else, and by the time it gets to them, they're like... it won't let me watch it.

   12. JRJoe Rogan19:55

       Yeah.

   13. WHWoody Harrelson19:55

       Right?

   14. JRJoe Rogan19:56

       Yeah.

   15. WHWoody Harrelson19:56

       Why? Why? You know? It... misinformation. But isn't m- misinformation also information?

   16. JRJoe Rogan20:05

       Yeah.

   17. WHWoody Harrelson20:05

       You know? (laughs) it's like, how can you determine misinformation and what, what, you know... what are your, uh, uh, uh, you know, criteria that allow you to call that misinformation?

   18. JRJoe Rogan20:19

       Yeah. Well, I'm hoping people have learned, but it was a weird time. Uh, an educational time though. It was a good, a good experience for some people till... just to learn that like, hey, like, there's sources that you cannot trust. And I think now, the, the beautiful thing about someone like Elon buying Twitter and turning it into X and having community notes is now, you have a way of fact-checking things, where people use the community notes and they start posting studies in the community notes and saying, "No, this story is not true. Here's why it's not true. Here's why it's provably not true." You know? So, this is the best way to handle misinformation. It's not leave it up to government censors.

   19. WHWoody Harrelson21:00

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan21:01

       You know? And that, that was where everybody was going in, in 2020. It was just fucking crazy to watch.

   21. WHWoody Harrelson21:06

       Well, but those weren't government censors. Those were the- (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan21:09

       Yeah.

   23. WHWoody Harrelson21:09

       ... those were the mainstream media censoring themselves.

   24. JRJoe Rogan21:13

       Well, yeah, yeah, but I mean, they-

   25. WHWoody Harrelson21:15

       At the, at the behest of government-

   26. JRJoe Rogan21:17

       Yeah.

   27. WHWoody Harrelson21:17

       ... but also at the behest of Big Pharma, you know?

   28. JRJoe Rogan21:20

       Yeah, yeah. Well, we found out that the, the government was actively contacting social media companies and having them remove things that were true.

   29. WHWoody Harrelson21:30

       Oh, oh.

   30. JRJoe Rogan21:30

       Because there was mal-information. They could... Do you, do you know th- that term?
7. 24:26 – 29:12

   Hollywood’s COVID set rules, masking culture, and “Big Brother” symbolism

   1. JRJoe Rogan24:26

      What was it like in Hollywood having your perspective, your healthy distrust of what was going on, where, uh, e- sort of everybody was sort of in lockstep with whatever the government propaganda was?

   2. WHWoody Harrelson24:39

      Yeah, for sure. Well, you know, I mean, I don't know how many sets you visited, but everybody was, like, you know, in masks-

   3. JRJoe Rogan24:46

      Mm-hmm.

   4. WHWoody Harrelson24:47

      ... and then, you know.

   5. JRJoe Rogan24:47

      Yeah.

   6. WHWoody Harrelson24:47

      And then there'd be different zones.

   7. JRJoe Rogan24:49

      Yeah.

   8. WHWoody Harrelson24:50

      And then, you know, you get... Well, the closer you get to the actual set where the shoot- shooting is, and then they're like, "Red zone, people!"

   9. JRJoe Rogan24:57

      (laughs)

   10. WHWoody Harrelson24:57

       "Put your masks on!" And I was just like, I never bought it.

   11. JRJoe Rogan25:01

       (sighs)

   12. WHWoody Harrelson25:01

       And I, you know... (laughs) I- I never bought it from the beginning. I'm just like, I don't... (laughs) I just, this doesn't feel right, all right? I- I'm supposed to wear a mask, but I haven't been s-... Now, at this point, this, n- n- right now, I haven't been sick in eight years, right? Well, back then was, whatever, six years. But- but it was just like I knew... Well, no, I'm doing the math wrong, but you know what I mean.

   13. JRJoe Rogan25:28

       Yeah.

   14. WHWoody Harrelson25:28

       But it had been a long time since I'd been sick, and I'm like, "I don't feel like I need to wear a mask," so I w- I would just not wear a mask, you know? But everybody else on the set's wearing a mask, which r- which is very discomforting-

   15. JRJoe Rogan25:43

       Yeah.

   16. WHWoody Harrelson25:44

       ... because, you know, you- you can't even relate to people so well without-

   17. JRJoe Rogan25:48

       Yeah.

   18. WHWoody Harrelson25:48

       ... seeing their face, you know?

   19. JRJoe Rogan25:49

       It's very weird.

   20. WHWoody Harrelson25:50

       Uh, anywa-

   21. JRJoe Rogan25:50

       It was very weird.

   22. WHWoody Harrelson25:51

       Very strange times.

   23. JRJoe Rogan25:53

       Yeah, the strangest. And it didn't make any sense. And there was also this narrative that if you weren't vaccinated, the vacce- the- the virus was gonna hunt you down. They keep saying that. "The vac- the virus will find you. If you're not vaccinated, the virus will-"

   24. WHWoody Harrelson26:07

       (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan26:07

       "... hunt you down." And you're like, "What are you t- what the fuck are you talking about?"

   26. WHWoody Harrelson26:12

       It's so funny, I... It's like, like I- I did a video... Oh, I wish I had it with me. But... Oh, well, maybe, uh, Ilia's out there, my assistant, maybe she could pull it up for you.

   27. JRJoe Rogan26:24

       Is it online?

   28. WHWoody Harrelson26:24

       But I- I did... No. But I did a v- it's 11 seconds. Yeah, if she's listening, hopefully she'll look at it. But it's like a, it's (laughs) it's, um, I'd take a, um, I'd take, inhale a- hit a pot, right? And then I put on my mask-

   29. JRJoe Rogan26:40

       And blow it right through the mask?

   30. WHWoody Harrelson26:41

       ... and I exhale, and it... No, it just comes out every-
8. 29:12 – 37:13

   RFK Jr. goals, vaccine liability, and why profit incentives dominate policy

   1. JRJoe Rogan29:12

      a year when using all of the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com/jre today. That's rocketmoney.com/jre. That's rocketmoney.com/jre. Rocketmoney.com/jre. Well, one big one that he wants to accomplish is to remove this liability waiver for vaccines.

   2. WHWoody Harrelson29:45

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan29:45

      And to make them go through real trials.

   4. WHWoody Harrelson29:49

      And how do you think that's gonna get through Congress?

   5. JRJoe Rogan29:52

      We're gonna find out.

   6. WHWoody Harrelson29:53

      (laughs) Come on, dude.

   7. JRJoe Rogan29:53

      We're gonna find out. We're gonna find out. Well-

   8. WHWoody Harrelson29:55

      There's no way that gets through Congress.

   9. JRJoe Rogan29:57

      We'll see, you know? We'll see. We'll see what the resistance is.

   10. WHWoody Harrelson30:00

       But every one of those guys is getting money from Big Pharma.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:04

       A lot of them are. A lot of them are.

   12. WHWoody Harrelson30:05

       Well-

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:05

       But also the-

   14. WHWoody Harrelson30:05

       ... certainly all the Democrats.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:07

       People are paying attention now, and they will get primaried, and I think they're aware of that. So I think there's a vulnerability for their entire career. If the people find out that they weren't willing to do this in the face of overwhelming evidence...... you know? Like, Bobby was just talking about the hepatitis vaccine, that they were saying that the hepatitis B vaccine, they were having a hard time selling it. And so, they, all of a sudden, started saying, "Don't worry about it. We're gonna prescribe it for children." And they put it on the vaccine schedule for children. And they did that just because they were having a hard time. People... 'Cause the only time you get hepatitis B is from dirty needles and risky sex. And people are like, "I don't want that fucking thing."

   16. WHWoody Harrelson30:46

       (laughs)

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:46

       And so, they're like, "Nobody was taking it."

   18. WHWoody Harrelson30:47

       You wanna stand by (laughs) that statement? Those are the only times you get hepatitis B? (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:51

       I think that's it.

   20. WHWoody Harrelson30:52

       There's just two possibilities, (laughs) dirty sex-

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:55

       What are the other ones?

   22. WHWoody Harrelson30:55

       ... and dirty needles.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       Do you know of any other ones?

   24. WHWoody Harrelson30:57

       Well, I mean, I think-

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:58

       I mean, it's a tru- sexually transmitted disease, and it's often-

   26. WHWoody Harrelson31:00

       Oh, it is? Okay, okay.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:02

       ... transmitted... Yeah.

   28. WHWoody Harrelson31:02

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:02

       It's transmitted through intravenous, uh, drug use.

   30. WHWoody Harrelson31:04

       Okay, then. I didn't know. I mean, I-
9. 37:13 – 43:03

   Cannabis legalization, victimless crimes, and the prison-profit pipeline

   1. WHWoody Harrelson37:13

      I brought this for you, man.

   2. JRJoe Rogan37:15

      What is it?

   3. WHWoody Harrelson37:16

      It's, uh, it's a very nice Northern California.

   4. JRJoe Rogan37:20

      Wow.

   5. WHWoody Harrelson37:21

      Y- you know, I have a dispensary in-

   6. JRJoe Rogan37:23

      Oh, do you?

   7. WHWoody Harrelson37:24

      ... uh, in, uh, LA. Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan37:25

      Oh, nice.

   9. WHWoody Harrelson37:25

      Called The Woods. It's phenomenal. It's the most beautiful dispensary-

   10. JRJoe Rogan37:28

       Isn't that crazy?

   11. WHWoody Harrelson37:29

       ... in the world.

   12. JRJoe Rogan37:29

       You can have a s- ... I, I remember when it was completely, totally illegal, and then, uh, you had to have a medical card and-

   13. WHWoody Harrelson37:37

       Right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan37:38

       ... and you just say you had a headache. (laughs) You-

   15. WHWoody Harrelson37:41

       (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan37:41

       That's all you have to say.

   17. WHWoody Harrelson37:42

       Right.

   18. JRJoe Rogan37:42

       You got back pain, you got a headache, you can get a subscription, or prescription rather. And then it became legal, but just in 2016-

   19. WHWoody Harrelson37:49

       But not here.

   20. JRJoe Rogan37:50

       Nope. It's decriminalized-

   21. WHWoody Harrelson37:51

       It needs to be legal in Texas. I-

   22. JRJoe Rogan37:52

       It should be. Well, it should be federally legal.

   23. WHWoody Harrelson37:54

       This, this, they could be, this could be such a ... This state's so great anyway. We-

   24. JRJoe Rogan37:59

       Yeah.

   25. WHWoody Harrelson37:59

       We could, we could change everything if Texas was legal.

   26. JRJoe Rogan38:03

       Well, the whole country should be legal.

   27. WHWoody Harrelson38:05

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan38:05

       Uh, the, the idea that America, the land of the free, uh, criminalizes, uh, the use of a plant that's never killed anybody is fucking crazy.

   29. WHWoody Harrelson38:12

       It's legislating morality, and it's an odd morality anyway 'cause most people believe you should be able to smoke if you want.

   30. JRJoe Rogan38:19

       Not only that, it's a morality that's based off bullshit about profiteering from the 1930s.
10. 43:03 – 45:54

    Psychedelics as a compassion tool—and a detour into ancient civilization resets

    1. JRJoe Rogan43:03

       Do you ever, uh, do you know who Graham Hancock is?

    2. WHWoody Harrelson43:06

       Uh, no, I'm not sure.

    3. JRJoe Rogan43:07

       He's, um, uh, an expert on, uh, ancient history, um, like a kind of a renegade, uh, historian. He's got a sort of a l- alternative version of, um, t- uh, a- ancient society, ancient civilizations, uh, eh, but the point is-

    4. WHWoody Harrelson43:24

       Which, which, uh, he has a podcast?

    5. JRJoe Rogan43:26

       He's got a, a s- two, uh, seasons of a series called Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix. It's really amazing.

    6. WHWoody Harrelson43:33

       Oh.

    7. JRJoe Rogan43:33

       It's all, uh, his basically his stu- his field of study is the evidence that human beings and human civilization has gone through a reset, and that somewhere around 12,000 years ago, and this is all supported by, uh, this y- this theory called the Younger Dryas Impact Theory, where they found evidence that the Earth was bombarded by comets at, uh, s- more than two different times in history that probably reset civilization. And that this is probably why you see, like, like, ancient structures that people can't explain and that, uh, you know, these stone buildings that have incredibly complex geometry and precision building-

    8. WHWoody Harrelson44:13

       Oh, yeah.

    9. JRJoe Rogan44:14

       ... from thousands and thousands-

    10. WHWoody Harrelson44:15

        Like at the World's Fair-

    11. JRJoe Rogan44:16

        ... and thousands and thousands of years ago.

    12. WHWoody Harrelson44:16

        ... in Chicago, like, they had all those buildings. Is, are you-

    13. JRJoe Rogan44:20

        That's a little different.

    14. WHWoody Harrelson44:21

        ... talking about that?

    15. JRJoe Rogan44:21

        Yeah, no, that's a little different. I'm talking about, like, ancient Egypt.

    16. WHWoody Harrelson44:24

        You're talking about-

    17. JRJoe Rogan44:24

        I'm talking about, like-

    18. WHWoody Harrelson44:25

        ... super ancient.

    19. JRJoe Rogan44:26

        ... yeah, Turkey.

    20. WHWoody Harrelson44:27

        Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    21. JRJoe Rogan44:27

        You know, I'm talking about, like, Gobekli Tepe and these ancient structures that they found that are, uh, absolutely 11,000-plus years old, where people were supposed to be just hunter and gatherers, and that we had thought up until, you know, the last 40 or 50 years that society emerged around 6,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. What he believes is that that is a reemergence of society, and that society had already lea- reached a very high level of sophistication around 12,000 years ago, and that something happened, some sort of gigantic cataclysm, and reset things. But Graham is also an enthusiast of ayahuasca and the power of psychedelic medicine, and he has often said that to run governments, it should be mandatory that you have psychedelic sessions, and-

    22. WHWoody Harrelson45:15

        Right.

    23. JRJoe Rogan45:15

        ... you should probably do it publicly. (laughs)

    24. WHWoody Harrelson45:17

        (laughs) Publicly. (laughs)

    25. JRJoe Rogan45:17

        (laughs) So you really find out... You know? I mean, if, imagine getting Lindsey Graham fucked up on mushrooms and then filming him.

    26. WHWoody Harrelson45:27

        Oh, man, there, we'd love to see that.

    27. JRJoe Rogan45:29

        It'd be amazing. It'd be amazing.

    28. WHWoody Harrelson45:30

        What I would give to see that.

    29. JRJoe Rogan45:32

        Oh, it'd be amazing.

    30. WHWoody Harrelson45:33

        But it, it would be nice if they had a little more ... Be- because it's almost that those drugs that you're talking about are just, like, it's like the universal, uh, uh, y- God's little helper.
11. 45:54 – 1:09:14

    Division economics, social media toxicity, and surviving the news cycle

    1. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       Yes. Yeah. Yeah, they, they, uh, encourage compassion, and they encourage kindness and love. And that's, uh, we need a lot more of that in this world. And that's the problem with being so politically and ideologically divided is, like, we, it's so, we're, it's so easy, 'cause we're, people are so tribal. It's so easy to hate the other tribe, the other people are the enemy, you know? And so we've got this bizarre thing where we're supposed to be a community, but we're a two-sided community, and one side hates the other side. And whoever's in power, those, those, that, those people are the problem. And it's like ...

    2. WHWoody Harrelson46:27

       Yeah, that is such a weird part of the human, uh, you know, um, yeah, nature-

    3. JRJoe Rogan46:33

       Psychic, yeah.

    4. WHWoody Harrelson46:33

       ... or whatever you wanna call it, psychology, is like, and I noticed just the other day, there was some dude, like, I was, I can't remember what the context was, but I remember he kinda came into my zone, and I thought, "Oh, this fucking guy, man, he's got ... Such an asshole, you know?"

    5. JRJoe Rogan46:51

       (laughs)

    6. WHWoody Harrelson46:51

       You could just tell. You could just feel it, you know?

    7. JRJoe Rogan46:53

       Right.

    8. WHWoody Harrelson46:53

       And then, and then I thought, "Wait, why are you ... W- what do you, h- what ... (laughs) You've got nothing that tells you that that's true, you know?"

    9. JRJoe Rogan47:01

       Right.

    10. WHWoody Harrelson47:01

        "Other than maybe you're jealous 'cause he's more handsome than you are, so ..."

    11. JRJoe Rogan47:06

        (laughs)

    12. WHWoody Harrelson47:06

        No, but in any way, and so I go, uh, (smacks lips) "How you doing?" And he smiles, and I'm like, "This guy is incredible." You know?

    13. JRJoe Rogan47:14

        Yeah.

    14. WHWoody Harrelson47:14

        Like, you, just, all you need to do sometimes is just generate a smile on that other-

    15. JRJoe Rogan47:21

        Sure.

    16. WHWoody Harrelson47:21

        ... person who you think's an asshole's face, and suddenly, they're, they're a kid, you know?

    17. JRJoe Rogan47:26

        Yeah.

    18. WHWoody Harrelson47:26

        It's, suddenly, you're in a different ... You're, you're using your kid juice to interact, you know, at that point.

    19. JRJoe Rogan47:32

        Well, that's, like, the important of, the importance of charisma, right? Because a person isn't exactly who they are. They're who they are when they interact with you. And however you interact with them will affect the way they interact with you.

    20. WHWoody Harrelson47:46

        Right.

    21. JRJoe Rogan47:46

        It's not ... It's a two-way street, most-

    22. WHWoody Harrelson47:48

        Yeah.

    23. JRJoe Rogan47:48

        ... sort of interactions.

    24. WHWoody Harrelson47:50

        If they see a frown on your face, then-

    25. JRJoe Rogan47:52

        Right.

    26. WHWoody Harrelson47:52

        ... inevitably, there's a frown on their face.

    27. JRJoe Rogan47:54

        Inevitably, yeah.

    28. WHWoody Harrelson47:56

        Yeah, yeah.

    29. JRJoe Rogan47:56

        That's just-

    30. WHWoody Harrelson47:57

        But, but smiles generate smiles, and if you think-
12. 1:09:14 – 1:20:40

    Religion, psychedelics, and the origins of sacred experiences

    1. WHWoody Harrelson1:09:14

       But do you think that... Do you think, um... I mean, I'm, I'm curious. I, I must know, I must have heard you talk about this, but what is your, your concept of religious? I mean, do you, do you have a specific religion that you adhere to?

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:09:32

       Not necessarily. Um, uh, I'm not in favor of any restrictive religions. I'm not in favor of any religions that punish people that don't follow them, and, um, I'm not in favor of any religions that, eh, that force a very rigid structure on people that has to be adhered to, or you're a sinner, or cast out, or... I, I think-

    3. WHWoody Harrelson1:10:00

       Uh-

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:10:00

       ... that most religious exper- I th- I think most religion is based on human beings' v- very unique experiences that have provided enlightenment, and they're trying to express that enlightenment to other people. And I think the problem with religious stories are that people are full of shit and a lot of those stories suck, you know. A lot of those stories are probably distorted by the hand of man, but I think... Uh, you know, I'm of the school of thought that a lot of the religious experiences that people talk about were probably inspired by psychedelic experiences. And, you know-

    5. WHWoody Harrelson1:10:39

       Mm-hmm.

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:10:39

       ... there's a great book, uh, called The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Marco Allegro. Do you know about that book?

    7. WHWoody Harrelson1:10:45

       Yeah, I've, I've heard of it, but I never read it. Yeah.

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:10:47

       It's a great book.

    9. WHWoody Harrelson1:10:48

       I heard it's a great book.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:10:48

        But it's, it's very hard to follow, because it's very... Uh, e- unless you understand Aramaic, unless you understand the, the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, like, I'm fully-

    11. WHWoody Harrelson1:10:57

        Those people that aren't Aramaic.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:10:59

        Oh.

    13. WHWoody Harrelson1:10:59

        Yeah, yeah.

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:10:59

        Congratulations.

    15. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:00

        Yeah.

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:11:00

        Are you really?

    17. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:01

        Yeah. I got Aramaic. I, I got obviously French. Uh, I had to learn Spanish when I was working at a construction in Houston. And then, uh, yeah, I got, uh-

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:11:12

        Can you hear him?

    19. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:12

        ... some of that microphone.

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:11:13

        I gotta sh-

    21. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:13

        I got-

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:11:13

        ... push that microphone up.

    23. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:14

        I got some of the click languages. (clicking)

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:11:17

        Oh, really?

    25. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:18

        No. I, I only speak-

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:11:19

        (laughs)

    27. WHWoody Harrelson1:11:19

        ... only English kind of. Come on, Joe. You...

    28. NANarrator1:11:22

        (laughs)

    29. JRJoe Rogan1:11:23

        (laughs) Well, the John Marco Allegro book-

    30. NANarrator1:11:26

        (laughs)

Episode duration: 2:31:40