Joe Rogan Experience #2337 - Oliver Anthony

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (drumming) 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) And we're up, my friend. How are you?

   4. OAOliver Anthony0:15

      Hey, man.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      Good to see you.

   6. OAOliver Anthony0:16

      Long time no talk.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Yeah, brother. Yeah. How you doing? You good?

   8. OAOliver Anthony0:19

      Good. I, um ... Man, I remember like towards the last, the end of the last time I was here you said, "Oh yeah, we'll probably see you again in a couple of years." And I was just looking around like, "Yeah, I'll never see any of this again." (laughs)

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:31

      (laughs) You're back quicker than you thought.

   10. OAOliver Anthony0:33

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       Bro, that new song is fire.

   12. OAOliver Anthony0:36

       Oh, thanks. Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       Woo! I played that song about 20 times in the green room-

   14. OAOliver Anthony0:41

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       ... and, uh, the first time I played it everybody just sat around and went, "Oh, shit."

   16. OAOliver Anthony0:47

       It was so funny that, um ... Yeah, I didn't expect the song d- ... Well, you know, I didn't ... I wasn't the one ... I guess it was Adam that sent it. D- I don't even know how you got ahold of the song originally.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       Yeah. Adam sent it to me originally.

   18. OAOliver Anthony0:58

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:58

       Yeah.

   20. OAOliver Anthony0:59

       I sent it ... I'd sent it to him like, um ... Yeah, just kinda to ... Just to get his opinion of it or whatever, and he's like, "I got it." He's like, "Do you mind if I share this around?" And I was like, "Yeah, go ahead."

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:08

       Bro, the first time I heard it was in the green room, and the green room has a killer sound system, so we, we put it on the Bluetooth and cranked it and all of us, there was like 10 dudes in that room, going, "Oh, shit. Oh, shit!"

   22. OAOliver Anthony1:21

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:22

       Some of those lines like, "Oh, shit!"

   24. OAOliver Anthony1:25

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       Woo!

   26. OAOliver Anthony1:26

       What, what makes that song different, I guess, than anything I've done or than a lot of music now is that we're, um ... We tried to like do it the way Lynyrd Skynyrd or somebody would back in this ... Where we're all just in the house and there's no like ... Man, there's so much editing that goes into music now on the backend and stuff, and with this, we're just like in there doing it and, you know, try to keep it as real as-

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       Yeah.

   28. OAOliver Anthony1:47

       ... as possible. Like um ... You know, there's no, there's no click tracks. There's no real editing. It's just kinda like we're all just in this house. I mean, it's ... It was cr- ... It was the worst timing to record, but um, that was ... That January 5th, 6th, 7th window was the only time that everybody could meet up. You know, Billy Contreras on the fiddle and everybody and ... 'Cause he, he tours with Ricky Skaggs and he's kinda all over the place. So that was like our time to meet, so. A couple of days before we all went to West Virginia to record at my house up there the, um, this like terrible storm they were calling for. It's like the worst one since the '90s supposedly, or that's what Draven says, but ... So we got all this snow, all this ice. So um, so yeah, we used a, a side-by-side and a Jeep to haul everything up and down. It was like just all we could do to get up and down to the house, and then as ... Right as soon-

   29. JRJoe Rogan2:35

       Wow.

   30. OAOliver Anthony2:35

       ... as we get everything plugged in and ready to go, the power knocks out.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      those people become a business, and then that business contributes to the escalation of laws. They wanna make sure that laws stay in place because that way, their business is always full. They have plenty of customers. Their customers are human beings that they turn into batteries to generate money. That's what it is. It's like-

   2. OAOliver Anthony15:17

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:17

      ... those people, every person they have in there, they get more money, which is wild. It's wild that we allow that. But then it's also, like, keeping a certain amount of crime in certain areas ensures that you're always gonna have debates over law enforcement.

   4. OAOliver Anthony15:33

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:33

      You're always gonna have conversations over, "Disinfran- we need DEI, we need this, we need quotas, we need to hire more people of this or of that," ignoring the fact that these, a lot of these things, especially with universities, are the most racist, especially towards Asians. They're racist as fuck towards Asians. There's lawsuits about it. Harvard, is, is that still going on, the Harvard lawsuit? Where they specifically made their application process, like, the whole acceptance process more difficult for Asians 'cause they were kicking too much ass.

   6. OAOliver Anthony16:09

      Hmm.

   7. JRJoe Rogan16:09

      They had too many, like, Asian people that were willing to fucking work their ass off, study 12 hours a day, get straight A's. They're like, "Man, there's too many of these folks. We gotta make it tougher."

   8. OAOliver Anthony16:19

      What, what did they do to make it more difficult, specifically?

   9. JRJoe Rogan16:22

      They attached a bunch of things... I believe the argument is they attached a bunch of things, like social stuff, like, "How much do you, uh, engage in, you know, activism? How often are you involved in, you know, social activities on campus?"

   10. OAOliver Anthony16:38

       Hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan16:39

       You know, "What other things are you doing other than just pure academic work?" They're, like, trying to slow them down. They're literally trying to slow them down.

   12. OAOliver Anthony16:48

       Yeah, um...

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:50

       (laughs)

   14. OAOliver Anthony16:50

       That's another great example too, like, uh, like even just to, even just to b- that they can blanket Asian like that as such a-

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:59

       Right.

   16. OAOliver Anthony16:59

       ... like, like-

   17. JRJoe Rogan17:00

       It's Indian, it's Chinese, there's a lot of... But-

   18. OAOliver Anthony17:03

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan17:04

       ... people that come from a hard place are willing to work hard.

   20. OAOliver Anthony17:06

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan17:06

       That's the difference. And the, the problem with meritocracy is that some motherfuckers will go for it. And if you get a whole country of people going for it, that gets scary for the people that just wanna take naps.

   22. OAOliver Anthony17:16

       It's the same psychology that goes in, like, in a lot of the smaller Appalachian towns, like, um, like, where we, where we recorded was really close to Bramwell, West Virginia. But if you look at, like, even if you look at Bramwell, West Virginia and their recent political history, like, the last mayor they had, she, she embezzled money from the town, and there was like-

   23. JRJoe Rogan17:35

       Whoopsies.

   24. OAOliver Anthony17:35

       You know, and this is in a very small town. Like, so, so government corruption e- exists, like-

   25. JRJoe Rogan17:40

       Everywhere.

   26. OAOliver Anthony17:41

       And it almost is like maybe in those big cities... I g- I, I understand definitely that I think things are intentionally neglected, like, to create chaos and to create this, like you said, this need for more resources and more. But it's also just that maybe a lot of those people that are in positions are just very spineless and self-centered, and, like, they don't even care that people are dying in their streets. They're worried about the, the, the money that can be made and the ego and power of it. It goes back to kinda what I said in that ARC speech about lack of leadership. I just see that, like, if we had people in big cities or in small Appalachian towns that had, like, a real backbone to them and, like, and, and had... They were in a real position of, like, leadership where they wanted to fix things, that a lot of that stuff would get addressed and covered, but we just don't have the right people in power maybe even is what it is. Even in, even in local-

   27. JRJoe Rogan18:25

       Right people don't run.

   28. OAOliver Anthony18:25

       ... and state government.

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:26

       The right people don't run.

   30. OAOliver Anthony18:27

       (sighs)
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      and I go, "What?" He goes, "They get so big that their legs break, and that's-"

   2. OAOliver Anthony30:04

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      "... when you kill them." I'm like, "Jesus Christ."

   4. OAOliver Anthony30:06

      (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      "What did we do to these fucking chickens?"

   6. OAOliver Anthony30:08

      It's kinda d- it's kinda sick, yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:10

      It is totally sick-

   8. OAOliver Anthony30:11

      But-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      ... 'cause I'm seeing my chickens that are years old just running around. Bok, bok, bok, bok, bok, bok.

   10. OAOliver Anthony30:15

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:16

       And these fucking chickens get to be two months old and their legs break from the weight of their bodies.

   12. OAOliver Anthony30:21

       Yeah. Yeah, it's kinda depressing, but that's what... At least in their short life, I try to let them have... I let them r- get us some sunshine and run around and read stories to them at night and all that. And that way, it's not been so bad. That way, it doesn't feel like I'm just a, like a horrible dictat- like a chicken dictator or something.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:35

       The imagine... The amount of chickens that get whacked in this country every year is crazy.

   14. OAOliver Anthony30:39

       Yeah, and, and honestly, raising birds in your yard is so much better than-

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       So much healthier.

   16. OAOliver Anthony30:43

       ... buying them from Tyson or something like that.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       Oh, so that's a regular chicken on the left from 1957.

   18. OAOliver Anthony30:49

       (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:49

       And then by the time 1978 rolled around, we got them pretty fat. But-

   20. OAOliver Anthony30:54

       It kinda looks like... It just looks kinda like what happened with all of us. (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:58

       (laughs)

   22. OAOliver Anthony30:58

       From then, from back then til now.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:59

       And, you know, probably no coincidence.We're all eating terrible food too. But I think there's something going on with their genetics too. I think they... Look at that thing, that's crazy. Look at the size of that butterball.

   24. OAOliver Anthony31:11

       Yeah, that thing-

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:11

       That looks like a fucking soccer ball.

   26. Cut it.

   27. OAOliver Anthony31:14

       (laughs)

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:14

       Isn't that nuts? That's nuts. That's a chicken?

   29. OAOliver Anthony31:17

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:17

       That is fucking insane. Look at that one sitting there f- uh, in a ball.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah. …

   1. OAOliver Anthony45:00

      of those girls I worked with at both of those companies who were helping me with social media stuff, they even had AI like trying to write my captions and stuff, and I would always just like s- it was always the most dumb-sounding stuff but it was like... If they w- they would take pictures from after a show or something and they would want to make a post on Instagram the next day that says, "Oh! Had so much fun in this town. It was... I'll never forget it. Can't wait to see you next time." And it was just like this little- they had like a little thing but it- it pre-wrote all these based off of like how I wrote in the past and stuff, and it's weird how, um... I- I- it goes back to what you said about most of what's on the internet isn't real anyway, but I think in music AI is much more prevalent than we realize. I just think it's like kept in the... I don't- people aren't gonna say that they're using it but I think like in the big- these big songwriter circles and things where they have to generate- you have to generate 20 or 30 songs a week and like there's all this pressure. I mean like and that's your job and you're like, "Oh my God, what am I gonna do?" (laughs) Like...

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:52

      Yeah.

   3. OAOliver Anthony45:52

      You know? Like I can't go back and live with my par- I gotta do... I don't know, I just- I don't see how people aren't. It's in almost- people use AI in almost every job now. I know like people who are in sales who use it to like help them manage their customer bases and who they're going to call on and what they're gonna s- I just- I don't know, I think it will become- I think it's already become ingrained in us. We're already so addicted to te- we're so reliant to technology it's- it's pitiful, you know? Just like how hard it is to walk around without a phone, you know? Like...

   4. JRJoe Rogan46:17

      Yeah, we're integrated.

   5. OAOliver Anthony46:18

      Even- even with- when I had periods of time where I knew I had months off and did- I would always at least- I got to the point where I- I weaned myself down to like this- I bought a flip phone from Walmart that still runs on a Ver- Verizon SIM, but that's- that's what I'd carry and two or three people knew my... But even then I always felt like I at least had to have a flip phone on me in case like... What happens if you're out in the woods and break your leg or I don't know weird- like but they are now a part- like those phones are a part of us, we don't go anywhere without them.

   6. JRJoe Rogan46:45

      You can never have no phone.

   7. OAOliver Anthony46:46

      We feel naked. We feel vulnerable without them, so...

   8. JRJoe Rogan46:48

      I know. You really do.

   9. OAOliver Anthony46:49

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan46:49

       Like if you go for a quick walk without a phone, you're like, "Oh my God, I need..."

   11. OAOliver Anthony46:52

       So when the time comes when it's like will there- if there even is a definitive time but it's like when we have to choose between integrating with AI and not, most people are gonna do it.

   12. JRJoe Rogan47:01

       Yeah, it's...

   13. OAOliver Anthony47:01

       Most people will just immediately submit and be a part of it, and be maybe even excited to be a part of it.

   14. JRJoe Rogan47:06

       It probably won't be a f- a decision that you're allowed to make. It- it's probably something that's gonna be... If you wanna function in society, you have to integrate.

   15. OAOliver Anthony47:14

       Like we talked about in that text about how it feels like we're in an alternate dimension and it seems like there's these like things coming. You know, it's like it does- it does- it also it is just because things happen so fast and chaotic that we can't really keep up with anything. One day the submarine collapses and the next day this other crazy thing happens and then, you know, I don't know, it's just like it's so hard to keep up with what anything of what's really going on. I think the problem is that we have to start having people gather together again and hang out and not just make all of our hangouts digital because the systems, like you said, there's bots and algorithms and marketing approaches and psychology that's just deeply rooted that goes into like just the way we fundamentally communicate now as societies and just globally. Like we all just talk on... I mean, gosh, I- like I've used this example before somewhere talking but it's like I think about back when I was in high school like my high school girlfriend, you know? We would have some trivial argument about something. There was no way that m- me and her were gonna text and figure out how to fix that and now (laughs) you know, like and that was a high school g- relationship like that was over something stupid. It's like real world problems you can't fix just texting and I don't think we can fix all this shit on X and Facebook and all that. I think it's like- it's- I think people just ha- people are... (sighs) We're almost to the point now where we prefer socializing on the internet because it's e- it's almost like our minds have become more adapted to think that way but it's- but it's- we're h- we're in this digital world chasing and emulating all of the things that we're- that are- that we have this void from- from not having in real life. Like I don't know. It's- (clears throat) it makes it very complicated to fix anything when we're... Uh, the only way that we can... We have this amazing intricate English language where all these words can mean all these different things and it's so easy to put everybody together in a digital space with AI and bots and manipulation and- and algorithms and big companies and how do you fix all that in that space? It's just like it's- you'll never- it's like in a house- we're just in a house of mirrors, you know? Um...

   16. JRJoe Rogan49:04

       Yeah. You- you're- you're supposed to not engage. That's what people need to stop doing. But the problem is...... the consequences of the actions of the rest of the world do affect you, if they're big. And so, you worry about the big ones, so you pay attention. So, you gotta pay attention to the bad news of eight billion people, which is just unsustainable. And it's also this ability to interact or not interact as you choose all throughout the day. Like, you don't have to be invested in a conversation. If you and I are gonna have a conversation and you ask me about something and I start to answer and I just wander off, (laughs) you're like, "Well, how fucking rude."

   17. OAOliver Anthony49:39

       (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan49:39

       But on the internet, that's normal.

   19. OAOliver Anthony49:40

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan49:40

       Like, somebody posts something, somebody'll have a response an hour later and nobody cares. It's like, "I guess he was busy."

   21. OAOliver Anthony49:45

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan49:45

       You know, it's normal because you're engaging and not enga-... It's very unhuman.

   23. OAOliver Anthony49:49

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan49:49

       All of it is unhuman. And it's all, like, constant... Even the, if you think you're immune to it, there's this constant input of other people's thoughts into your own that makes you foggy. It gives you, like... I was talking to Sugar Sean O'Malley about it once, and he said, "I get a low-level anxiety just scrolling." I'm like, "Yeah, right?" Like, what is that?

   25. OAOliver Anthony50:08

       I think it's on purpose though. That c- that's captive... That keeps you, it keeps you engaged though, you know?

   26. JRJoe Rogan50:14

       Yeah, but I don't even know if it's on purpose. I mean, I think it's just they figured it out along the way-

   27. OAOliver Anthony50:18

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan50:18

       ... that people get engaged like that. Like, that's why when you open up TikTok, it immediately starts playing you things. Like, you're- you're on the hook right away.

   29. OAOliver Anthony50:26

       Mm-hmm.

   30. JRJoe Rogan50:26

       And Instagram, you gotta choose. Like, sometimes you might get a picture of someone's dog, aw, and then you scroll up and it's a music video. And then you scroll up and it's a guy getting assassinated, and it's... And you- you- you get to choose.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:05:47

   At least you were…

   1. OAOliver Anthony1:00:00

      don't ... (clears throat) Even just making little videos like that, I feel way out of place. Like I don't want ... I don't need ... I don't want people to think like I'm saying, "Hey, look at me." You know? I mean, that's why I try to go through these periods where I just don't post or upload.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:11

      At least you were in a regular airport.

   3. OAOliver Anthony1:00:12

      (laughs) Yeah, Southwest.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:14

      You know, the worst, the worst is when people are doing those things in front of a private jet. I'm like, "Okay, we get it. You're rich." (laughs) You know? If people try to take photos of me in front of a jet, I'm like uh-uh.

   5. OAOliver Anthony1:00:23

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

      I'm not ... I'm so not into this. I'm not. I don't like the attention. I don't want it. I don't need it. It's ... Which is weird 'cause I got a lot of it. And I think it's probably why I have a lot of it.

   7. OAOliver Anthony1:00:35

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

      'Cause I'm not looking for it.

   9. OAOliver Anthony1:00:36

      Yeah, but you're also able to ... You're channeling it out through all these other ... I mean, think about all the things that you've influenced and been a part of and done even just through this podcast and all the conversations had and the information shared. Like it's not like you're just posting a bunch of pictures with your shirt off.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:49

       (laughs)

   11. OAOliver Anthony1:00:49

       Like, "Hey, look at me." Like you're using it.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:52

       (laughs)

   13. OAOliver Anthony1:00:52

       I mean, I, I don't know. I d- ... I almost would say it's a ... I don't know that it's a coincidence that you got put in the spot, for a lot of reasons. I mean, there's a lot ... Uh, you probably don't even look at it that way, but there's a lot of important things that come out of this. And all the other podcasts you've inspired that have d- ... I mean, gosh, dude. It's a ... There's no way to even calculate what you've ... If you, if you had never been born, there's no way to calculate how different things would be now. Like-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:11

       Well-

   15. OAOliver Anthony1:01:12

       That's important to think about, though, you know. Like it's-

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:15

       Sort of, but it's sort of. But from my perspective, I was just one piece in this thing that happened.

   17. OAOliver Anthony1:01:20

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:21

       And, you know, that's why I always have my friend Adam Curry on, who is the original.... he's the podfather. Without him-

   19. OAOliver Anthony1:01:28

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:28

       ... there would be none of this. He figured out a way to do this. And, you know, and then also Anthony Cumia from Opie and Anthony, and Tom Green. Those are, those are my number one influences. And then Adam Carolla already had a podcast when I started. I was like, "Oh, Adam went from radio to the internet. Maybe I could do that." I remember going to his place and go, "Oh, this is pretty cool." It's back when we were doing it on a little laptop. I'm like, "Wow, Adam has like a real studio. He's got employees and shit." And then, you know, we just kept doing it, just kept doing it, you know?

   21. OAOliver Anthony1:01:59

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:59

       And then eventually it was webcams. Okay, now it's not just a laptop camera, it's actual webcams. Okay, now maybe we should get like real cameras.

   23. OAOliver Anthony1:02:06

       (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:06

       Okay, let's get real cameras. And then like, maybe we should get a fucking studio. So we tried it at the Icehouse for a little bit and like, "Maybe I should get another place." Then we got another place. I'm like, "I think I need a warehouse." And then like, "I think I need armed security or some shit."

   25. OAOliver Anthony1:02:19

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:02:19

       (laughs) I think I need fucking special ops guys around me all the time. And then it just kept going, man. I remember the moment, I've talked about this before, but I didn't understand what was happening until one day I was on stage in Chicago, and I, I think this was 2012, so I think, I think it was around then. So the podcast was only three years old, and I didn't realize how many people watched it or listened. A lot of it was listening at the time. Because I wasn't... I don't look at the numbers. I just-

   27. OAOliver Anthony1:02:49

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:49

       ... kind of k- I feel like all that's bad for you.

   29. OAOliver Anthony1:02:52

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:02:52

       You know, reading the comments-

Episode duration: 3:00:38