Joe Rogan Experience #2407 - Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton 0:00 (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out.

Joe Rogan 0:04 The Joe Rogan Experience. (metal music) Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (metal music) ... go on. I feel like he's gonna say, "I'm gonna keep smoking." Fuck it.

Billy Bob Thornton 0:16 Yeah. You gotta tell your mom-

Joe Rogan 0:16 It's working so far.

Billy Bob Thornton 0:17 Right?

Joe Rogan 0:18 Right?

Billy Bob Thornton 0:19 I told my wife the other day, I said, "If I live to 85, I'm gonna go to Long John Silver's every day for lunch."

Joe Rogan 0:27 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 0:27 I'm just gonna eat shit that, like, everything that I dream of-

Joe Rogan 0:30 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 0:30 ... right now that I can't eat, I'm, I'm gonna eat all of it.

Joe Rogan 0:32 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 0:33 I'm gonna drink whiskey all day long and just eat everything I want. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:36 Yeah. Fuck it. You're at the end of the ride.

Billy Bob Thornton 0:38 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:38 Unless ... That's the problem is, like, on your deathbed, they come up with some new shit that fixes everything.

Billy Bob Thornton 0:44 Oh, I know, right?

Joe Rogan 0:45 You know-

Billy Bob Thornton 0:45 That'll be my luck, you know.

Joe Rogan 0:46 New stem cell stuff-

Billy Bob Thornton 0:47 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:47 ... that regenerates every cell in your body-

Billy Bob Thornton 0:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 0:50 ... to a 25-year-old. Like, oh.

Billy Bob Thornton 0:52 Exactly. I know.

Joe Rogan 0:54 That'd be a real problem, like a 70-year-old brain in a 25-year-old body. Like-

Billy Bob Thornton 0:58 Right?

Joe Rogan 0:58 ... you would have a lot of knowledge.

Billy Bob Thornton 0:59 For sure.

Joe Rogan 1:00 You'd have a, a giant advantage.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01 Oh, yeah. I fantasize about stuff like that.

Joe Rogan 1:04 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05 I, I, I fantasize about being able to ... Like, like I imagine, you know, like my version of heaven, it would be, like, if I could go back to when I'm 12 years old.

Joe Rogan 1:16 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:16 Live through junior high and high school again.

Joe Rogan 1:19 Well, you'd be the king.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:20 And have the knowledge I have now, and just I would know exactly how to navigate everything.

Joe Rogan 1:27 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:28 You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 1:28 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:30 It's ... But that's the fun of growing up, and the-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:33 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:33 ... the not so fun of growing up.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:35 Sure.

Joe Rogan 1:35 'Cause you don't know what the fuck is going on and you're so confused.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:38 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:38 And then you get older and you go, "Man, if I could just go back." (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:41 (laughs) I know.

Joe Rogan 1:42 I'd fucking kill it.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:43 I think about it all the time.

Joe Rogan 1:44 Yeah. Your lovely co-mahost, uh, uh, costar rather, Demi Moore-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:49 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:50 ... uh, that movie that she did, The Substance-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:52 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:52 ... is fucking crazy.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:54 It is crazy.

Joe Rogan 1:54 That's a great piece on this whole, like, fear of-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:58 Oh.

Joe Rogan 1:58 ... aging thing, 'cause-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:59 Right.

Joe Rogan 2:00 That movie is wild.

Billy Bob Thornton 2:02 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:03 It's so crazy. But it's like-

Billy Bob Thornton 2:05 It is.

Joe Rogan 2:05 Do you know how many women would agree to that deal?

Billy Bob Thornton 2:09 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:09 If it was a real ... That's it ... It was realistic enough, where you're watching, going, "I know a lot of ladies who would agree to that."

Billy Bob Thornton 2:16 Right. Right.

Joe Rogan 2:17 "I know a lot of ladies."

Billy Bob Thornton 2:18 Have you seen that South Park episode where they, uh, uh, uh, it was, it was about that, that type of thing, but it was about how they have all these apps that you can make yourself look better in? You know, I mean, it's like it can make you look-

Joe Rogan 2:34 Oh, like filters? Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 2:35 Filters that make you look younger and all this kinda stuff. And they had this episode about that, where, like, all these girls who aren't, like, the hot girls, but their Instagram stuff, they are. And they actually start to think, and so all the guys start going for these girls, even though when they're in front of them-

Joe Rogan 2:55 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 2:55 ... they're not like that. But that's what they look like on there.

Joe Rogan 2:59 Hmm.

Billy Bob Thornton 2:59 And yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Joe Rogan 3:02 It's probably accurate too.

Billy Bob Thornton 3:03 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 3:04 As, as long as a couple people start doing it-

Billy Bob Thornton 3:07 Right.

Joe Rogan 3:07 ... a couple guys start going for those girls, then everybody else will as well.

Billy Bob Thornton 3:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:11 Which is most of our world.

Billy Bob Thornton 3:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:13 Most of our world is-

Billy Bob Thornton 3:14 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:15 ... some fucking idiot decides bell bottoms look good.

Billy Bob Thornton 3:17 Right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:18 (laughs) And we're all like, "Shit."

Billy Bob Thornton 3:20 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 3:20 "I gotta get, I gotta get bell bottoms. I wanna get laid."

Billy Bob Thornton 3:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:23 "I wanna be cool."

Billy Bob Thornton 3:25 I had bell bottoms when I w- you know, 'cause I was playing in bands and stuff, so whatever was trendy, you know, we wore that stuff. I can remember those bell bottoms that were so big you couldn't see your shoes. It just looked like a pair of jeans walking down the street.

Joe Rogan 3:40 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 3:40 (laughs) It was so dumb looking. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:45 It's a crazy thing that lasted for a little while, till ... Like, like regular jeans, somebody invented that shit in, like, the 1800s-

Billy Bob Thornton 3:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:52 ... and everybody's like, "Yeah, you nailed it."

Billy Bob Thornton 3:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:55 And it's like a Jeep. A Jeep still looks-

Billy Bob Thornton 3:57 Right.

Joe Rogan 3:57 ... like a Jeep. They made a Jeep in, in like the 1950s-

Billy Bob Thornton 4:00 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:00 ... or a Jeep in 2026, you, you can see the difference.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:02 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:02 It's like-

Billy Bob Thornton 4:02 Exactly.

Joe Rogan 4:03 ... it's a little bit more advanced, but that's a Jeep.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:05 Jeans, they nailed it. I mean, it's-

Billy Bob Thornton 4:07 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:07 ... bell bottoms are like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, not ... What the fuck were we doing?"

Billy Bob Thornton 4:12 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:12 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 4:13 Oh, I mean, I had shirts with, like, bell sleeves with, like, pictures of sailboats and stuff on it. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:21 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 4:21 It's like, "Are you kidding me?" I mean, you know, (laughs) in like lime green and orange-

Joe Rogan 4:25 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 4:25 ... and shit like that. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:26 Remember the Elvis-style collars?

Billy Bob Thornton 4:27 Oh, for sure.

Joe Rogan 4:28 Giant collars.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:29 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:29 Like, what happened?

Billy Bob Thornton 4:30 I know. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:31 I have a theory. 'Cause all that stuff happened after they passed the sweeping Psychedelic Schedule 1 Act in 1970.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:39 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:39 And I think they cut everybody off from mushrooms and acid and anything-

Billy Bob Thornton 4:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:46 ... that makes you think.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:47 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:47 And then they started giving them coke.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:49 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:49 And no one knew what to do.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:51 And they were all just like ... And it was disco-

Billy Bob Thornton 4:53 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:53 ... and the music kinda sucked, and everybody-

Billy Bob Thornton 4:55 Right.

Joe Rogan 4:55 ... got real weird.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:57 Wow. It's ... That's-

Joe Rogan 4:58 I think that's what happened.

Billy Bob Thornton 4:59 Yeah. I, I, I don't doubt that at all.

Joe Rogan 5:01 So that's when the clothes get really fucked up.

Billy Bob Thornton 5:03 Yeah, it is. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:04 It's the same ... (laughs) It's the exact time. 'Cause before-

Billy Bob Thornton 5:08 Oh.

Joe Rogan 5:08 ... like, there was like a hippie style, you know, like-

Billy Bob Thornton 5:11 Right.

Joe Rogan 5:11 ... Hendrix and, you know, a lot Clapton, a lot of guys.

Billy Bob Thornton 5:15 Right.

Joe Rogan 5:15 It was like a flowy hippie. But it looked good.

Billy Bob Thornton 5:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:17 It was kinda cool.

Billy Bob Thornton 5:18 Sure.

Joe Rogan 5:18 But something happened in the '70s where it just lost all perspective.

Billy Bob Thornton 5:22 Oh, I know. I mean, when you look at some of the '70 ... Like, especially, like, sorta late '70s, you know, the disco era and stuff like that, and you look back at some of these sh- TV shows they had, and you see a lot of these bands and stuff on there, and it's like, "Who thought that looked good?"

Joe Rogan 5:38 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 5:39 I mean, who said, who said, "This is the thing now." It looked like shit. I mean, horrible, horrible stuff.

Joe Rogan 5:46 Weird.

Billy Bob Thornton 5:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:46 Well, I, I talk about this all the time, but it's the cars too, man. I, I love 1960s muscle cars, but I check out around '71, and I only allow-

Billy Bob Thornton 5:57 Absolutely. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:57 ... a '71 Barracuda and a Challenger in that group.... everything else after '71 is useless to me.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:03 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:03 Except Corvette. Corvette still stayed cool-looking.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:05 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:06 They stayed cool-looking deep into the '80s.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:08 Yeah. That's, that's true. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:10 They still have it.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:10 I'm, I'm a muscle car guy. I've got a '67 Chevelle 396.

Joe Rogan 6:13 Oh, nice.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:14 And, uh, uh, muscle cars are my thing. And what I-

Joe Rogan 6:17 I have a '70.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:18 Oh, do you really?

Joe Rogan 6:18 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:19 I would like to get a '64 GTO, the first year they were made.

Joe Rogan 6:24 Ooh.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:24 That's what I'm looking for.

Joe Rogan 6:25 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:25 But to get one that's perfect, it, it, they're pretty pricey, you know?

Joe Rogan 6:28 They're very pricey.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:30 And I grew up poor, so I don't like to buy stuff for myself. I buy my kids stuff all the time. And, uh, I don't mind how much money I spend on my family. But for me, I just, I don't spend money on myself, so...

Joe Rogan 6:42 Old habits die hard.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:43 Yeah, they really do. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:44 When I was a kid, my sister's boyfriend's brother, the older brother, was a cool guy in the neighborhood. He had a '65 GTO convertible.

Billy Bob Thornton 6:54 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:54 And he would... I used to... I worked at a gas station, and he would drive by the gas station. We'd all go like this, like, "Oh."

Billy Bob Thornton 7:00 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:01 "Can't believe he owns that. That's really his car?" It was the...

Billy Bob Thornton 7:04 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:04 He was the coolest guy in the world.

Billy Bob Thornton 7:06 Oh, yeah. The, we had those here.

Joe Rogan 7:08 Cherry red.

Billy Bob Thornton 7:09 Yeah. Oh, that was-

Joe Rogan 7:10 Woo.

Billy Bob Thornton 7:11 There was a guy named Mike Page in our town. He was, uh, older than my group. You know, he... When we were seniors, he was probably already 25, 26, something like that. And you never really... 'Cause, you know, cruising was a thing, and you'd cruise through Sonic or whatever-

Joe Rogan 7:26 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 7:27 ... it was, you know, and see who was there and all that crap. And everybody parks on the bank parking lot. And you drink beer, and then the cops would come by, and you hide all your shit, you know? And, um, I mean, it was literally like, uh, uh, you know, the, uh, American Graffiti days, you know? And, uh, so this guy, Mike, he had a '65 candy apple red Vet. And he had a Mustang. Remember Chuck Negron, singer in the Three Dog Night? The one the guy-

Joe Rogan 7:54 Yes.

Billy Bob Thornton 7:54 ... the one with the mustache?

Joe Rogan 7:55 Yes.

Billy Bob Thornton 7:55 He looked like Chuck Negron.

Joe Rogan 7:57 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 7:57 So... (laughs) We would see him pass by, and he was like Harrison Ford was in, uh, American Graffiti. It's like you'd never... He would just... You'd just see him in his car, you know? And, uh, so he was... It was like seeing Elvis Presley go by.

Joe Rogan 8:14 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 8:14 And everybody would go like, "Wow." And, uh, that's actually how the Boxmaster's name came about.

Joe Rogan 8:21 Really?

Billy Bob Thornton 8:22 Yeah. Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:24 How?

Billy Bob Thornton 8:25 Well, in the South, in those days, there was a, uh... There are two stories how the Boxmaster's name came about. Uh, there's a, there's the politically correct one, and there's the one that's not. Uh, and the one that's not is, um, if somebody was a playboy type, you know, he was called a boxmaster.

Joe Rogan 8:48 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 8:49 And, and so... (laughs) And we had a-

Joe Rogan 8:52 (laughs) I would have never guessed that.

Billy Bob Thornton 8:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:54 That's hilarious.

Billy Bob Thornton 8:55 And in the old days, uh, people would say, "Oh, look, there goes the boxmaster," when Mike would pass by, 'cause you just knew. But you only saw him driving his Corvette up and down, cruising. You never saw him, you know, actually doing stuff. He never got out and drank beer with us or anything.

Joe Rogan 9:09 (sighs) He was just making an appearance.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:11 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:11 Just letting everybody know, "Look at this."

Billy Bob Thornton 9:14 Exactly.

Joe Rogan 9:14 Second-generation Corvette.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:16 '65. I have a '65 convertible.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:18 Oh, yeah?

Joe Rogan 9:19 Oh, yeah. I love them.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:21 Awesome cars. I mean, yeah, muscle cars are the thing to me. Do you remember, uh, there, there are two, uh, sort of car, uh, times that confused me. Uh, I mean, first of all, h- how can a Mustang ever not be cool? But remember in the late '70s, early '80s?

Joe Rogan 9:40 Oh, yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:40 There were j- they... It, it may as well have been a Ford Fiesta. I mean, it was-

Joe Rogan 9:44 Yeah, it was garbage.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:45 What was that?

Joe Rogan 9:46 It was the gas guzzler cri- the gas prices crisis.

Billy Bob Thornton 9:49 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 9:49 That's what it was. So, they had to make all these cars gas-efficient, so they got rid of V8s. They started having these, like, very, uh, economical on gas V6s, and, like, really shitty engines. And they made the cars plastic and lighter and-

Billy Bob Thornton 10:05 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:05 ... and cheaper. And, yeah, they fucked everything up. They fucked everything up.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:10 Yeah, it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 10:10 Like, the fact, whoever... Imagine working at Ford 1969. You know, you got the Mach 1, which is like, you just look at that and you go, "Gah, dang."

Billy Bob Thornton 10:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:19 Every time you see... To this day, I see one of those on, you go, "Gah, they just nailed it."

Billy Bob Thornton 10:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:24 Like, you could just stare at that car.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:25 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 10:26 Just walk around it for hours, just looking at it.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:29 And then 10 years later, they got something that you would never want to own.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:32 No. In a million years.

Joe Rogan 10:33 This is a hunk of shit.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:34 This is a fucking box. This is a...

Billy Bob Thornton 10:36 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:36 It's like a... Literally like a, a box that a washing machine comes in.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:40 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:40 It's garbage.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:41 People didn't even want to steal them.

Joe Rogan 10:42 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:43 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:43 Crazy. Who... Imagine being the CEO of that company, going, "What did we do? What the fuck happened?"

Billy Bob Thornton 10:48 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:48 "We had it."

Billy Bob Thornton 10:48 I know.

Joe Rogan 10:48 "We had magic."

Billy Bob Thornton 10:50 Right?

Joe Rogan 10:50 Like legit magic.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:52 Remember the Toronado and the Riviera? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:54 Oh, yeah. Oh my God.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:56 I mean, you're talking about different looking.

Joe Rogan 10:58 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 10:59 And, uh-

Joe Rogan 10:59 But they were cool.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:00 They were, they're very cool.

Joe Rogan 11:01 Very cool, but weird and huge.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:03 And huge.

Joe Rogan 11:04 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:05 And, uh, the opposite end of the spectrum was AMC. What were they thinking?

Joe Rogan 11:11 They were weird. That was a weird car to own too.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:12 Weird, all of those.

Joe Rogan 11:14 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:14 They had one that looked kinda okay, but, but, you know, they had the Pacer and the, uh, what was that... What was that other weird-looking little... The Gremlin.

Joe Rogan 11:25 Yeah. The Gremlin. (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 11:26 You know, all those, all those kind of things. I mean, it was like, "What in the hell is this?"

Joe Rogan 11:30 It was a strange company.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:32 Yeah, it was.

Joe Rogan 11:32 It was almost like a fake company.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:34 Like, it didn't make any sense.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:35 It didn't make any sense at all.

Joe Rogan 11:36 It was like an Australian... Remember like Mad Max, he drove that Australian muscle car?

Billy Bob Thornton 11:40 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:40 I remember watching that and going, "What the fuck is that thing?"

Billy Bob Thornton 11:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:43 It was an Australian muscle car. I don't know what it was.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:45 Still to this day, I don't know what it was.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:47 I don't either.

Joe Rogan 11:47 But that's like what an... What those AMCs were. They were like-

Billy Bob Thornton 11:51 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:51 ... weird looking.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:52 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:52 Just off.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:53 Yeah, strange, strange looking vehicles.

Joe Rogan 11:55 From a different timeline or something.

Billy Bob Thornton 11:57 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:57 Like...

Billy Bob Thornton 11:58 Yeah. There was a movie called, uh, it had, uh, Raquel Welch was in it and Donald Pleasence and all these people called, uh-... uh, Fantastic Voyage, where some politician, uh, or scientist or something, he'd, uh, he'd- I guess it was an assassination attempt, but it was- there was a brain thing. So they shrink all these scientists down on a little, you know, glass thing, whatever those things are called for chemistry or whatever. They shrink the cats down and their little submarine thing (laughs) and-

Joe Rogan 12:34 Oh, I remember this.

Billy Bob Thornton 12:35 ... and they shoot 'em into the guy-

Joe Rogan 12:37 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 12:37 ... and the- yeah, that, that. Well, see, that's a pacer, (laughs) you know?

Joe Rogan 12:43 Right. (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 12:43 I used to watch it. I go, "That's a damn pacer."

Joe Rogan 12:46 That's hilarious.

Billy Bob Thornton 12:47 Yeah. And so they go through the guy, all through his veins and arteries and stuff, and get to the place where they need to fix it and all this kinda stuff, but antibodies kept attacking him and all this kinda stuff. It was weird. I saw it in the theater and, uh, I was pretty impressed actually.

Joe Rogan 13:00 I remember that movie.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:01 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 13:01 That's hilarious. That's hilarious.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:04 Shrinking people down. (sighs) What's wild is how many ideas were burned up in movies by the time, like, the 90s rolled around.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:16 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 13:16 If you just stop and think about the fact that movies really were only- like, w- movies I think are the absolute best mirror into the culture. It's like a time machine.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 13:28 Like, you could read a history book and you could kinda get a rough understanding of how people behaved back then-

Billy Bob Thornton 13:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:33 ... but you still think of them in a current context. You think of them, like, today.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:37 Right. Right.

Joe Rogan 13:37 But you watch a film, you know, watch a- like a James Cagney film-

Billy Bob Thornton 13:40 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 13:40 ... and you're like, "Whoa, man. This is a different world."

Billy Bob Thornton 13:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:44 Nobody knew shit.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:46 Right.

Joe Rogan 13:46 Nobody had any idea what was going on in the world.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:48 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 13:49 You got all your news from the newspaper, so these dudes who own the newspapers essentially controlled the narrative for the entire world.

Billy Bob Thornton 13:55 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 13:57 And it's- and it's- people behaved strange.

Billy Bob Thornton 14:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:01 Open domestic violence. Domestic violence was normal.

Billy Bob Thornton 14:05 Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:05 Like, "Shut up." (slaps hand)

Billy Bob Thornton 14:06 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:07 And she would kiss him and, like, it was crazy.

Billy Bob Thornton 14:09 Oh, right?

Joe Rogan 14:10 Nuts.

Billy Bob Thornton 14:11 Well, my- my wife, who was raised in the Bay Area, you know, around San Francisco and Marin County there, when I t- first told her what my dad did to me, she was like, "Oh my God. That's like..." And honestly, that's what everybody's dad did.

Joe Rogan 14:27 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 14:27 It was like, you know, if he was working graveyard shift and you started making a bunch of damn noise at noon, you got your ass beat with a belt. And she was just- she couldn't believe it. I said, "Oh, no, it was like every day almost." You know? And, you know, not that it was good, (laughs) but it was just part of our life. We didn't know any better. We really didn't.

Joe Rogan 14:50 No, no one knew any better and we're only figuring it out now.

Billy Bob Thornton 14:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:55 It's like, like, canceling people retroactively for stuff they did in the 80s, like, okay. That's a different wor- you weren't even alive then.

Billy Bob Thornton 15:03 (laughs) Right. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:03 That's a different world. When people came- like, you gotta realize, like, your parents- like, think about it this way, people were coming over on a boat from other countries with no knowledge of what was over here.

Billy Bob Thornton 15:16 Right.

Joe Rogan 15:16 They just got told-

Billy Bob Thornton 15:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 15:18 ... "Oh, there's jobs in America." You know, and you got on a boat from fucking Europe. Like, my grandparents came over here in the 1920s. Like, they had no idea. They come over here and there's a bunch of people that also did the same thing in Ev- they're basically just savages. They're basically like-

Billy Bob Thornton 15:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:36 ... one, one or two steps above-

Billy Bob Thornton 15:38 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:38 ... like, absolute savages, you know? They're, they're savages with metal, you know?

Billy Bob Thornton 15:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:42 They've got metal and rubber.

Billy Bob Thornton 15:44 Right.

Joe Rogan 15:45 And, you know, and they're raising kids. And of course they're gonna raise kids in a rough way, 'cause the world is rough.

Billy Bob Thornton 15:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:50 It's like everybody got beat up. It was normal.

Billy Bob Thornton 15:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:53 Like, bullying was not- there was no anti-bullying campaigns.

Billy Bob Thornton 15:57 God, no.

Joe Rogan 15:58 You just had to fight for yourself, like, that's just how it is.

Billy Bob Thornton 16:01 Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:01 This is life. This prepares you for life. It sucks, but this is life.

Billy Bob Thornton 16:05 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 16:06 You know?

Billy Bob Thornton 16:06 We have guys in our town that you just stayed away from.

Joe Rogan 16:09 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 16:10 I mean, guys who were, you know, relatively the same age. And I lucked out, 'cause I- you know, I was a skinny, long-haired little hippy and playing in bands and stuff. And, and for some reason, uh, I always liked hanging out with the, you know, the guys who were a few years older than me. They had more fun than we did.

Joe Rogan 16:30 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 16:30 And so, uh, I remember the first time I ever- well, the first time I ever had a drink of beer, uh, my uncle Don, he drank Schlitz, and this was back when you had to have a church key and you opened both sides of it, you know?

Joe Rogan 16:44 Oh, wow.

Billy Bob Thornton 16:45 And he would pour it in a- y- our glasses, you know, like I said, we were pretty poor, we all lived at my grandmother's house, and it was the jelly jars. When you finished the jelly, that became the glasses we drank out of, and he would have a jelly jar glass of beer, and it just looked like apple juice to me. And, uh, I would always ask him, you know, I'm six years old, I'd say, "Hey, can I- can I have some of that?" And he goes, "You don't need this." Well, finally one day he goes, "Yeah, here, have a drink. Tastes like apple juice." And I'm like, "Oh God almighty."

Joe Rogan 17:15 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 17:15 And, uh, but the first time I got drunk in my life was on, uh, uh, Boone's Farm Wine, apple wine, and these two guys, uh, Gary and Eddie (laughs) were their names, and they were just trouble. And Gary had a, a '64 GTO. That's probably where I got that thing from. But, uh, I mean, we rolled it one night, no seat belts. I mean, we never even-

Joe Rogan 17:42 Oh, God.

Billy Bob Thornton 17:42 ... thought about a seat belt. And, uh, so, uh, they took me to the Dairy Queen and, uh, uh, we were gonna, you know, get a hamburger or whatever it was. Well, they ended up, like, hanging me out the window just puking all over the Dairy Queen parking lot, you know, 'cause I drank an entire bottle of this and never been drunk in my life. I was 12, 13. (laughs) And, uh, so these guys, I just- I was fascinated by them. They were all-... James Dean and Elvis Presley to me, right? And, uh, there were a few guys in town that everybody knew not to mess with, at all. It's like they will literally pull your eyeballs out of the sockets. They kind of considered me a mascot.

Joe Rogan 18:28 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 18:29 And they all protected me. So the other guys who were, you know, pricks or whatever, you know, uh, if one of them messed with me, there was a guy named Calvin, a guy named Billy Bob actually, who was probably 10 years older than me, and, uh, a guy named Harry, and, uh, who- whose family came over from somewhere. They were like, you know, from the Czech Republic or somewhere, but they- they'd grew up, they grew up here, you know, so they didn't sound like they were from someplace else. Harry was about 5'6" and stocky, you know. And, um, there was this dude (clears throat) who, who was just mean to everybody. (clears throat) Excuse me. But, um, somewhere in between our age, uh, you know, when we were teenagers, 17, 18, and Harry and Billy Bob and, uh, uh, Calvin and those guys, they were like 30, and there were these other guys who were the mean guys in town who were in between those ages, and they were the real problem because they were just assholes. They weren't... The other guys were cool as long as you didn't mess with them. One night, uh, this guy, uh, two of them were both named S- uh, Steve, who were the real pricks, (laughs) and, uh, one of the Steves, uh, got me by my hair and drug me around, beat me up a little bit, so you know. And I was a fighter, you know, I wasn't bad, you know. I- I've fought a lot of guys. I quit fighting in my early 20s, but back then, you know, it was just a way of life. And, uh, this cat roughed me up, a- a lot bigger than me, and Harry found out about it. Well, we had a bonfire party out at the guy's trailer home (laughs) that night. And so this cat that had beat me up showed up and Harry had heard about it, and Harry's, you know, I'm like Harry's little mascot guy, right? (clears throat) So, the guy gets out of his car and comes over there. Now, we got a big bonfire going on, right? The guy comes over. Harry didn't say a word to him. He walked up to him. This guy's like a foot taller than Harry. Harry got him, reached up, got him by the hair, hit him one time, broke his jaw, and threw him in the bonfire.

Joe Rogan 20:52 Whoa.

Billy Bob Thornton 20:52 And a bunch of people had to put him out.

Joe Rogan 20:54 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 20:54 I mean, this was just like a Friday night in Arkansas. (laughs)

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Billy Bob Thornton 22:31 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:32 Oh my God.

Billy Bob Thornton 22:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:34 (clears throat) That's a rough part of the world, man-

Billy Bob Thornton 22:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:35 ... especially back then.

Billy Bob Thornton 22:36 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:37 You know, um, Malcolm McDowell, he wrote a book about like, uh, where he was talking about why certain populations, like certain parts of the world-

Billy Bob Thornton 22:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:47 ... are rougher.

Billy Bob Thornton 22:48 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:48 And he was talking about certain parts of America (clears throat) where they were settled initially by, um, people that came from, uh, a herding community.

Billy Bob Thornton 22:57 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:58 Like in... So there were like sheep herders in other countries.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:01 Right.

Joe Rogan 23:01 And they- when they came over to America, when you, when you have a- a flock of sheep, someone could steal all your food in the middle of the night.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:08 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:08 They can just take all your sheep. If you're growing corn (clears throat) , you know, it's hard to pick all that fucking corn, do you-

Billy Bob Thornton 23:14 Right.

Joe Rogan 23:14 You gotta throw it in a truck, drag it out.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:16 You could just steal someone's sheep.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:18 So they're accustomed to extreme violence-

Billy Bob Thornton 23:21 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 23:21 ... to protect their sheep. And they're accustomed to acting fast and doing things quickly and violently.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 23:28 And so that's how you got the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:31 That's what that shit's about. People are like, "Why are those people such fucking psychos?"

Billy Bob Thornton 23:34 (laughs) Right.

Joe Rogan 23:34 Well, because they came from a psycho community-

Billy Bob Thornton 23:38 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 23:38 ... in Europe, and then when they made it over to America-

Billy Bob Thornton 23:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:40 ... they just kept that tradition going.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:42 Oh, for sure.

Joe Rogan 23:43 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:44 I mean, you know, people talk about, you know, the Irish and the Scots and all these guys-

Joe Rogan 23:48 Did I say Michael McDowell? Did I say Michael...

Billy Bob Thornton 23:50 Malcolm. Malcolm.

Joe Rogan 23:51 Malcolm Gladwell. That's what I meant.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:52 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 23:52 Malcolm Gladwell. Sorry, Malcolm.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:54 Yeah. (laughs) But, uh-

Joe Rogan 23:57 Malcolm Gladwell. It's early.

Billy Bob Thornton 23:58 Yeah, but that's, uh... Y- you know, we still to this day, we talk about, "Oh yeah, those Irish cats and the Scottish guys, the English guys," if you're in the, you know, like say South London or whatever, some rough guys over there. Where do you think we came from?

Joe Rogan 24:11 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 24:12 I mean, you know, I did one of those tests about my genealogy and all that kind of stuff (laughs) and, uh-... uh, you know, when you hear stuff from your family growing up that ... I grew up thinking I was part Italian and Native American, and all these different things, right? And then I do this thing, and it's like I'm a full-on English Scottish guy. You know, it's Irish English Scottish, almost all of me, except for as my daughter says, she goes, "Daddy, why are we randomly Swiss?" I got a little bit of French Swiss, you know, it's like 11%, something like that. And the rest of us, just that stuff. So all those people come over here and North Carolina, or Tennessee, uh, Arkansas, you know, all these places, there are words that we use, you know, which, we, you know, we call the hillbilly language, which actually wasn't considered a hillbilly language in England, you know. But that language was left over. Like we say, "Reckon you wanna go do something?" Reckon, over there, they still use it.

Joe Rogan 25:17 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 25:18 Uh, airn, we, uh, meaning wine. It's like if you said to me, "Hey, can I have a beer?" And I say, "I ain't got airn." You know, it's A-I-R, I ain't got airn. And all that stuff came from, uh, England and Ireland and Scotland.

Joe Rogan 25:34 Well, that's the idea of the Southern accent, right?

Billy Bob Thornton 25:36 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:37 The Southern accent is an English accent that's just morphed-

Billy Bob Thornton 25:39 Yes.

Joe Rogan 25:40 ... in a new place.

Billy Bob Thornton 25:41 Yeah, exactly.

Joe Rogan 25:42 Yeah. And, and morphed particularly pro- probably because of the climate.

Billy Bob Thornton 25:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:47 Like the climate changed a lot.

Billy Bob Thornton 25:49 Right.

Joe Rogan 25:49 And one of the, you know, one of the weirder things about these stereotypes about the South is the hookworm thing.

Billy Bob Thornton 25:55 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:55 Do you know that thing?

Billy Bob Thornton 25:57 No, tell me about that.

Joe Rogan 25:57 Okay. This is crazy. So for a long time, a giant percentage of people that lived in the South-

Billy Bob Thornton 26:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 26:06 ... had hookworm. And hookworm is a parasite that you get in your feet from walking around barefoot.

Billy Bob Thornton 26:12 Okay.

Joe Rogan 26:13 And hookworm affects your cognitive function in a massive way.

Billy Bob Thornton 26:17 I've, I've heard of it, yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:17 It makes you slow and stupid.

Billy Bob Thornton 26:19 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:19 And so this myth of the, the Southern person-

Billy Bob Thornton 26:23 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:23 ... being slow and lazy-

Billy Bob Thornton 26:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 26:26 ... and stupid, was all because they were infected with hookworm.

Billy Bob Thornton 26:29 Wow.

Joe Rogan 26:30 Like the, like a giant percentage of these people had hookworm. Like, throw that into our sponsor, Perplexity, and tell me how much hookworm was in the South.

Billy Bob Thornton 26:39 Yeah. I'm gonna cancel my-

Joe Rogan 26:39 Here we go, look at this.

Billy Bob Thornton 26:40 ... I'm gonna cancel my therapist.

Joe Rogan 26:41 The phrase "hookworm Southern drawl" refers to a historical connection between hookworm infections in the American South and certain stereotypes about Southerners, including the way they spoke and behaved. In the late 19th and early 20th century, hookworm infestations were rampant, with estimates tr- suggesting that up to 40% of the people in the region were infected. So hookworm causes symptoms like severe fatigue, anemia, and mental fog, which led to slowness in speech and thought. This contributed to the stereotype of Southerners being lazy or slow-witted, often associated with the Southern drawl. How did they fix that? Like what, uh-

Billy Bob Thornton 27:17 Man.

Joe Rogan 27:17 ... what medication did they use to fix that? Some sort of a dewormer? Health campaigns? Q-

Billy Bob Thornton 27:31 I mean, I've heard of hookworm, but I had no idea that it had any association with this, this stuff.

Joe Rogan 27:35 Yeah, I didn't either. When, when I found that out, I was like, "Oh, that makes sense."

Billy Bob Thornton 27:39 Right.

Joe Rogan 27:40 That makes sense. Uh, Rockefeller Sanitation Commission surveyed infection rates, 40% mobile dispensaries, travel throughout the region, free deworming medications, and educating local doctors. Okay, so they used some sort of an antiparasitic.

Billy Bob Thornton 27:54 Oh.

Joe Rogan 27:54 Uh, all measures including latrines to improve sanitation, educating communities about the risk of soil contamination, and encouraging the routine of wearing shoes. Isn't that nuts that shoes-

Billy Bob Thornton 28:05 Wow.

Joe Rogan 28:05 ... probably fixed it more than anything, people wearing shoes.

Billy Bob Thornton 28:07 Yeah, probably so, yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:08 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 28:09 That's wild.

Joe Rogan 28:09 So that's where it all came from. That's, that's the hookworm thing.

Billy Bob Thornton 28:13 That's wild. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 28:13 Isn't that nuts?

Billy Bob Thornton 28:14 It is nuts.

Joe Rogan 28:15 'Cause when I was a kid, I mean, to, to this day when someone ta- like, if, if someone wants to make a s- stereotype about someone being stupid-

Billy Bob Thornton 28:21 Right.

Joe Rogan 28:22 ... they use a Southern accent.

Billy Bob Thornton 28:24 Y- yeah, it's true.

Joe Rogan 28:25 All the time, yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 28:26 Well, I grew up with that. I mean, there was a prejudice in Hollywood when I first got out there. There, uh, there still kind of is. Uh, I, I can't, I mean, especially coming up now, I mean, you know, once you reach a certain level, you know, you can walk into Universal Studios and say, uh, "I wanna play Bette Davis." And they're, "Oh, hey, that's a great idea." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 28:46 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 28:46 But, you know, they're, and when ... But, but when you're coming up, you know. Uh, I was, uh, the first thing I ever auditioned for in LA was a student film. It was like one of those USC student films. And I go in there and the part was some guy that just got off the turnip truck from Alabama. And I thought, "Well, (laughs) I've probably got this."

Joe Rogan 29:11 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 29:11 And, uh, so, and I was broke and everything, and it wasn't gonna pay anything, but I didn't care. I was like, "Well, maybe I can get my foot in the door," 'cause I didn't go to be an actor anyway. I, I just thought, "Well, I'll try this stuff." And, uh, I go in there and, uh, I think the casting person and the director are both East Coast people, like New York or somewhere. And I did my little audition and they said, uh, "Can, can you do it more Southern?" And I'm like, "Are you shitting me?"

Joe Rogan 29:45 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 29:45 It's like, "You've got to be shitting me."

Joe Rogan 29:48 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 29:49 I said, "Well, what you have to understand is I actually did just get off the (laughs) turnip truck from back there, and this is how you talk." You know? And of course, my accent is not as thick as it was then, but, uh, they just said I wasn't Southern enough and it was like, "Oh, I, I see what they're getting at."

Joe Rogan 30:05 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 30:06 So they wanted the Foghorn Leghorn-

Joe Rogan 30:09 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 30:09 ... you know, "Now over here, what we have is ..."

Joe Rogan 30:12 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 30:12 And I never heard anybody talk ... I grew up down there, I never heard that. And so that's what they would do. There are a lot of performances over the years where people who are not from the South played the part-... that actually use that accent, and they win Academy Awards and stuff, and I'm like, "Wow." So anyway, I didn't get this part, and the guy who got the part literally sounded like he was from the Bronx.

Joe Rogan 30:34 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 30:34 (laughs) But he was doing that thing, you know?

Joe Rogan 30:37 Uh-huh.

Billy Bob Thornton 30:37 I thought, "Wow, this is gonna be tough out here," you know? But Southerners don't often get, uh, picked or even noticed for things like, let's say, you're p- doing a gangster movie in the '30s in New York. You know, if, even if you can do the, uh, the accent, you know, whatever. Uh, but people from New York can get parts playing Southerners. That still goes on.

Joe Rogan 31:07 That's so weird.

Billy Bob Thornton 31:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:08 That's a w- it's a such a weird stereotype. You know what? It exists in music too, doesn't it?

Billy Bob Thornton 31:12 For sure.

Joe Rogan 31:13 Like- No doubt. ... Southern bands, until Skynyrd came along, Southern bands-

Billy Bob Thornton 31:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:16 ... got no respect.

Billy Bob Thornton 31:17 Absolutely. Yeah. I mean-

Joe Rogan 31:18 Skynyrd fucked that up just 'cause they were so good. They were-

Billy Bob Thornton 31:21 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:21 ... so good, everybody was like, "All right, man."

Billy Bob Thornton 31:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 31:23 You gotta let (laughs) Freebird-

Billy Bob Thornton 31:25 Uh, uh, y- right?

Joe Rogan 31:25 ... is Freebird. That guitar solo you're like, "Goddamn!"

Billy Bob Thornton 31:29 Oh, it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. I've known those guys a long time, those guys in Skynyrd. Yeah, it's, uh, uh, you're right. That whole... And also, anybody that was from the South got lumped into the Southern rock-

Joe Rogan 31:42 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 31:43 ... thing.

Joe Rogan 31:44 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 31:44 You know? And they weren't all just people that sounded like Charlie Daniels. I mean, there were very, very different types of bands. The Allman Brothers combined jazz and blues and rock and pop and everything in their music. They were literally masters, the Allman Brothers.

Joe Rogan 32:02 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:02 Allman Brothers lived at Fillmore East. Probably the best live album ever made. But they just say they're all Southern rock bands, and it's like, man, it wasn't really like that, you know? Um...

Joe Rogan 32:13 Very different styles.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:14 Very different styles.

Joe Rogan 32:14 The Allman Brothers were masters.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:16 They were.

Joe Rogan 32:16 You know? Midnight Rider's still one of my all-time favorite songs.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:19 Oh, it's awesome.

Joe Rogan 32:20 But if I used to have to do radio when I lived in LA, I'd have to do morning radio-

Billy Bob Thornton 32:24 Right.

Joe Rogan 32:24 ... I'd smoke a joint before I left the house, you know-

Billy Bob Thornton 32:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 32:26 ... 'cause it's like 5:30 AM, and I'd listen to Midnight Rider-

Billy Bob Thornton 32:29 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:29 ... in the dark-

Billy Bob Thornton 32:30 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:30 ... on the way there, like, "Oh."

Billy Bob Thornton 32:32 Oh, it's a brilliant song.

Joe Rogan 32:32 Oh. It's so good just gets you in the mood.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:36 And the, uh, and country guys, you know, back in those days when country was actual country music, uh, they would hear some of these songs by those kind of guys like the Allman Brothers or Marshall Tucker, whoever it was, and, and cut them, you know, for country albums, like Waylon Jennings did Midnight Rider.

Joe Rogan 32:54 Oh, yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:54 He did a great-

Joe Rogan 32:54 That's right.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:55 ... great-

Joe Rogan 32:55 Great covers.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:56 ... version of that.

Joe Rogan 32:57 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 32:57 You know? But, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's kinda odd, you know, be- uh, being raised in the area of the country that people look at as the armpit, and then you ha- uh, you know, and like I said, once you overcome that, uh, within the business, and it's not like they like you any better, (laughs) you know?

Joe Rogan 33:13 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 33:14 It's just that they can use you to make money with, and once, once, you know, that happens, then, you know, you can go in and play Betty Davis.

Joe Rogan 33:20 Well, that's the stereotype of the, the s- the coastal cities, right? That's the stereotype-

Billy Bob Thornton 33:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 33:26 ... that comes out of New York and LA, where it's like everything-

Billy Bob Thornton 33:28 Right.

Joe Rogan 33:28 ... else is stupid.

Billy Bob Thornton 33:29 Yes.

Joe Rogan 33:29 Like it's you're in New York or you're in LA, and all these retards in the middle, that's the flyover states.

Billy Bob Thornton 33:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 33:35 They literally would call it the flyover states.

Billy Bob Thornton 33:36 Yes. Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:37 And when you're in control of casting all of the great films and all the great television shows and you decide what the great albums are-

Billy Bob Thornton 33:47 Right.

Joe Rogan 33:48 ... you dismiss, like, those-

Billy Bob Thornton 33:50 Sure.

Joe Rogan 33:50 ... people that are... It takes like a Stevie Ray Vaughan-

Billy Bob Thornton 33:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:53 ... who was like an undeniable talent-

Billy Bob Thornton 33:56 Yes.

Joe Rogan 33:56 ... where they go, "Okay, I don't give a fuck where that guy's from."

Billy Bob Thornton 33:58 Right, right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:59 (laughs) Like, "Let, let, let, let that guy fucking play."

Billy Bob Thornton 34:01 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:01 Like that guy's got voodoo in his hands. Like, whatever-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:03 ... he's doing, I don't care where he's from. But other than that, you would, like-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:07 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 34:07 ... they would look at these places like they were less than-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:11 Mm.

Joe Rogan 34:11 ... you know? Or that, that the people were not as bright. And that stereotype still exists today.

Billy Bob Thornton 34:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:18 I remember one, one of the good things about traveling and doing the road a lot, uh, as a standup is you get to perform all over the country and meet all these different people.

Billy Bob Thornton 34:26 Right.

Joe Rogan 34:26 And, you know, when I would talk to people about Texas in particular, I'd be like, "Dude, I fucking love it there." They're the most fun people. It's like-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:33 ... it's so fun, it's... And they're normal. They're normal people.

Billy Bob Thornton 34:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:36 They're not Hollywood people angling to try to get a-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:39 Right.

Joe Rogan 34:39 ... some sort of a social relationship with you so they can-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:42 Right.

Joe Rogan 34:42 ... progress their career. They're just cool people, just regular fucking people.

Billy Bob Thornton 34:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:47 And the, the problem is that these people in these coastal cities are the ones who don't know that, and they're dictating the narrative for-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:55 Mm.

Joe Rogan 34:55 ... the entire country-

Billy Bob Thornton 34:57 Right.

Joe Rogan 34:57 ... based on some, like, v- very weird prejudices.

Billy Bob Thornton 35:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:01 Very weird. This episode is brought to you by SimpliSafe. If you've been on the fence about getting a home security system from SimpliSafe, now's a great time to take that leap, because they have their Black Friday sale going on, and it's an excellent deal. Plus, you'll get peace of mind knowing you, your family, and your home have top-notch protection going into the holidays. There's a reason SimpliSafe continues to be named best home security systems by US News & World Report. It can help stop crime before it happens. Traditional security systems typically only respond after someone breaks in, but SimpliSafe and their agents take action the moment someone is spotted outside your home. They can talk to suspicious people, scare them away, and dispatch police. You also don't have to worry about any long-term contracts or fees. Try it out, and if somehow it turns out to not be for you, you can easily cancel anytime. Get security and peace of mind this holiday season with SimpliSafe. And remember, to take advantage of their biggest deal of the year, my listeners can get early access to SimpliSafe's Black Friday sale, where you can save 60% on any new system. Just go to simplisafe.com/rogan. That's simplisafe.com/rogan. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.

Billy Bob Thornton 36:22 Yeah, it's true. I mean, it, uh, it happens all the time when people ask me... There was a very famous singer movie star person-This was a long time ago. (coughs) It was when I first started getting invited to the parties, you know, and I didn't know anything about this stuff. And I, when- What year was this around? Well, it was around the time of Sling Blade, you know. I mean, I was working and had done some stuff that had been noticed, like One False Move and, you know, done a few things. But, uh, this was around that time and, uh, it wasn't even out yet, I don't think, but screenings had started happening and there was a buzz about it, right? So I get invited to a party, uh, and it was, uh, it was out at David Foster's house, who was always real nice to me. And- a- a- at the time he was married to Linda Thompson, who was, you know, a Memphis girl, and, uh, she always made Southern food. And she kinda took a liking to me and said, "Hey, I wanna invite you 'cause, you know, you're from the South and we always have this Southern food at our parties and stuff." So I go out there and there were a lot of big people there, and I found myself outside having a smoke. And I was standing there in a little group of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson and I think maybe Dan Aykroyd was there, and I remember, uh, Lionel Richie was in there playing piano in the living room. And I'm just like, "Wow-wee, this is crazy." And, um, but I- I felt, it's like that poor kid from the South syndrome, like I don't really belong here, so I was real shy and, you know, that kinda thing. Well, this... I went into the kitchen to get another drink and, uh, this, like I said, I- I won't name her name, but, uh, a very famous singer and actress from, you know, back in the '60s and '70s. And she very seriously said to me, she said, "So this Sling Blade..." (coughs) So sorry. Uh, she goes, "It's fascinating to me." A lot of people who didn't know me before that thought that I was actually that guy. (laughs) It's like this mentally challenged guy made a movie and everything like that. (laughs) And they would, and they would meet and they'd go, "You're the guy in that?" And I went, "Yeah." So anyway... Oh. But she said, "It was fascinating to me." And she goes, "And you came out here from, what is it, Alabama or something like that?" And I said, "Arkansas." And she goes, "Arkansas." And with a straight face said to me, "What do you people do down there?" Ugh. I was like, "Wow." (laughs) Uh, and I said, thinking she'd get the joke, I said, uh, "We mostly lay around on the porch with our hound dog and swat flies." She goes, "Oh, interesting, interesting." (laughs) It's like, "Babe, I was- I was fucking with you there." Uh, and, uh, but that was one of the moments where I realized that I really was a- an outsider out there, you know? Mm-hmm. And people ask me about my longevity in this business, and I always say, "It's 'cause I stay out of it." Mm-hmm. Uh, and I tell people, "Do your acting on the red carpet, not in the movie." They say, "Well, you're so natural in this stuff." It's like, that's from ignorance. I don't know anything about acting. I didn't go to Shakespeare school and stuff. (laughs) I d- you know, I look at the thing, I'm playing Tommy Norris in Land Man or I'm playing the guy in Goliath or Fargo or Sling Blade or Monster's Ball, whatever I was in. I just go out there and do what it says, you know? And, uh, be myself in whatever role it is, and, uh, because, you know, people want to think there's a trick to everything, that you can learn everything. And it's k- it's kinda just not true. I mean, I believe artists, whether they're musicians, novelists, actors, whatever they are, I truly believe that you're born with most of it. I'm not saying that you can't learn and that you can't progress, you can't get better. I mean, just repetition makes you better. I mean, you know, just the more you do something, the more comfortable you get with it. But, uh, you know, if- if- if you say, like if you were to ask me what is my process, hell, I wouldn't know what to tell you. I don't know what my process is. It's like my process is, started when I was born. I just, I use my life experience and I do this stuff. I'm- I lived a very eclectic life, and, uh, I just remember all this stuff. I don't need to go in the hallway before a scene and think about when my dad ran over my cat or something... Oh, right. Right. And, you know, start, you know, gobbling like a turkey and, you know, yelling and screaming and punching the walls, stuff like that, and trying to get all this sense memory. My sense memory is here on the edge of my skin every fucking minute. (laughs) And I mean, if you were raised where I was, it was like, you know, I- I don't forget any of that stuff. And I've lived 50 different lives, so plenty to draw on, and I just believe that people want... It- it sounds like you're smarter if you say, "Well, here's how I learn lines. Uh, I take this and then I have this mathematical formula and I- I- I imagine these letters as numbers and stuff like that," and it's like, 'cause see, the press loves that 'cause it's like, "What a genius." You know? They don't qua- they don't respect the... Hell, I don't know, I just go out there and do it as much, because people want to believe... Right. ... that anyone can do this if you get in the right school, if you get the right, uh, you know, uh, uh, teaching from someone, if you go study Shakespeare or whatever it is. Yeah. And, you know, I just don't believe that's true. I- I believe you ever- either have it or you don't have it. Like in music, uh, you can learn to play guitar, you can learn to play piano, you can learn to play drums. No, I'll take that back. You can get better at playing drums, but if you're not born a drummer-... you're not gonna be able to do it. My brother, God rest his soul, who passed away at 30, Jimmy, he was a brilliant musician, played every instrument in the world, except when he got on my drums, and he looked like he had some muscular disorder.

Joe Rogan 42:49 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 42:50 It was like... (laughs) He was just like... He goes, "How do you do this? You use all... both legs and both arms and that thing."

Joe Rogan 42:57 That's crazy.

Billy Bob Thornton 42:57 I mean, I just-

Joe Rogan 42:58 And he could play everything else.

Billy Bob Thornton 42:59 Everything. And, uh, he just couldn't play drums. Drummers can get better, and they get to, uh, to be experts that, uh... But the thing in music that you can't teach is feel.

Joe Rogan 43:11 Mm.

Billy Bob Thornton 43:12 You can't teach a vibe or a feel to people.

Joe Rogan 43:15 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 43:15 Eric Clapton could play a lick on a guitar, give it to another guy, uh, he plays the same exact lick, it's gonna sound different just because of their feel.

Joe Rogan 43:25 Yeah, it does sound like that-

Billy Bob Thornton 43:26 You know?

Joe Rogan 43:26 ... Miles Davis quote-

Billy Bob Thornton 43:28 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 43:28 ... about hitting notes. He said, "Everybody can hit the same notes, but it's the attitude of the motherfucker-"

Billy Bob Thornton 43:37 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 43:37 "... that's the important thing."

Billy Bob Thornton 43:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:38 The attitude of the person singing the notes is everything.

Billy Bob Thornton 43:41 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 43:41 That's most of it.

Billy Bob Thornton 43:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:43 And you either have that or you do not. And-

Billy Bob Thornton 43:45 No doubt about it.

Joe Rogan 43:47 And some of it's genetic, and some of it's just learned experience in your environment-

Billy Bob Thornton 43:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:51 ... and how you grew up.

Billy Bob Thornton 43:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:52 But, yeah, you don't got it, you don't got it.

Billy Bob Thornton 43:54 I mean, Levon Helm, who was a friend of mine, you know, played drums with a band, uh, he and Richie Hayward, who, uh, was with Little Feat, uh, Frank Beard and ZZ Top, you know, in the... especially on their earlier records and, uh, you know, Charlie Watts and Ringo and those guys, they all had feel. They had a thing. And, uh, then there are these other drummers in these sort of, you know, I call 'em science bands, (laughs) you know-

Joe Rogan 44:24 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 44:24 ... where the drummer has, like, 75 drums, and they can do shit that seems humanly impossible. But what happens after the song is over? It doesn't stick.

Joe Rogan 44:38 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 44:39 Do you know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 44:40 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 44:40 It's like... But Levon, just playing on a little four-piece kit, just had-

Joe Rogan 44:44 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 44:44 ... that feel, and he played the song. So anytime musicians-

Joe Rogan 44:50 The feel.

Billy Bob Thornton 44:50 ... start thinking it's all about their thing... Like, if you're doing movies, the prop people think you need 11 watches on each arm. It's, like, about your department, everything, uh, five briefcases and watches everywhere and shit. And, uh, and it's like, "No, I'll just take an old Timex with a round face, (laughs) I'm good, you know." But it's, uh... Uh, when, when musicians start thinking that they have to make their part cut through and be noticed-

Joe Rogan 45:19 Hmm.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:20 ... the best drummers, you don't really notice them. You hear the song. If you go in there and dig deep and listen to 'em, if you isolate them, you know, and, and just listen to that, you're like, "Oh, okay."

Joe Rogan 45:34 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:34 "Listen to that cat." But in a, in a perfect world, all you hear is the singer singing and telling you what you're trying to say, and the music is so good behind it that it's just part of it.

Joe Rogan 45:47 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:47 You don't really notice it.

Joe Rogan 45:48 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:48 You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 45:49 Yeah. And you can't teach that.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:51 That's... It's the feel thing.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 45:53 Yeah. And you know it when you hear it, when a song just, oh, yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 45:58 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:58 It just gets in there. You're like, "You guys nailed it."

Billy Bob Thornton 46:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:01 "You put it together, you, you, you fucking nailed it." And, uh, uh, the mo- amazing thing, like, about bands and... How long have the Boxmasters been around now? You've been around for-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:11 Oh, 20 years.

Joe Rogan 46:12 20 years.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:13 The most amazing thing is that people get together and they stay friends (laughs) for that long.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:19 Yeah. Right.

Joe Rogan 46:19 And with all the conflicts and all the ego and all the bullshit-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:23 ... and you ma-... you know, you hang out and, like... That to me, when someone makes great music, it's... The most impressive thing is not just that you make great music, but that you make great music with people that all get along together-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:34 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:35 ... with all these different creative minds and egos-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:38 Right.

Joe Rogan 46:38 ... and weirdness. Everybody's weird.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:40 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:40 E- every fucking creative person I've ever met is out of their fucking mind.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:43 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:43 And then you get all together, and then you show up at practice at the same time.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:47 You know, you rehearse together, you actually do-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:49 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:49 ... it, and you show up for gigs, and you perform, you hit your notes on stage, you, you can all stay friends.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:54 Like, that's the most important thing-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:56 ... and the most rare thing, and the most-

Billy Bob Thornton 46:58 It is.

Joe Rogan 46:58 ... impressive thing.

Billy Bob Thornton 46:59 Absolutely. And, and with our band in particular, I mean, before that I'd, you know, played in a million bands and, uh, had a solo band that did four major label solo records, and that's where I met some of the guys that, that... where it rolled over into the Boxmasters. Uh, JD Andrew, uh, uh, uh, specifically who's still... He and I are the longest running members. We started the band together, and he and I still run it. And, uh, you know, uh, we're the opposite of what normally happens. Normally, a band, when they're younger, they hit it for a while, three or four years, uh, maybe have a couple of hits or at least some things that people know about. And then as the years go, go on, y- you start to dwindle a bit, you know. I mean, unless you're the Rolling Stones or The Who. W- we just opened for The Who on our last tour, which was-

Joe Rogan 47:51 Really?

Billy Bob Thornton 47:52 ... awesome. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:53 Wow.

Billy Bob Thornton 47:53 And, um, so this band has started as... you know, it's like... You know, I got this crap about, it's always an actor who wants to be a musician just like this guy and that guy. And it's like, no, no, I, I was a musician who came to LA to play music, accidentally became an actor, and next thing you know, I made $381 on an episode of Matlock with five lines.

Joe Rogan 48:16 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 48:16 And I'm like, "I'm broke. I better do this." And that's how I became an actor.

Joe Rogan 48:20 That's crazy.

Billy Bob Thornton 48:21 And so one way or the other, uh, we started out fighting that stigma for, you know, 10, 12 years. And then all of a sudden it started to go away because we got more and more fans and became a big underground band. And in the last five or six years got really popular. So here we are, old guys-... who are still making it, who are still on their way up-

Joe Rogan 48:44 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 48:44 ... at our age.

Joe Rogan 48:45 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 48:45 And, uh, so it kinda went the other way around with us. And, uh, (clears throat) and you're right. I mean, to stick around that long, especially when it took us a while to get success, to make any money at it, and to get the fan base we have now. Um, and we stuck with it.

Joe Rogan 49:02 Is there a weird thing too about people, like critics or people that are paying attention to the music that don't just listen to the music and see you guys perform? Instead they think, "Oh, that's Billy Bob the movie star who's trying to be a musician."

Billy Bob Thornton 49:17 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 49:17 So there's this, like, stigma to it. So instead of, like, looking at you and going, "Oh, this is a cool band. Oh, I like them."

Billy Bob Thornton 49:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:22 "This is great." They're like, "Oh, that's that fucking Sling Blade guy."

Billy Bob Thornton 49:25 Right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:25 "Yeah, uh, Billy Bob's trying to-"

Billy Bob Thornton 49:27 And, uh-

Joe Rogan 49:27 "... do something different. He wants to be a rock star."

Billy Bob Thornton 49:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:30 "Yeah."

Billy Bob Thornton 49:30 I mean, that's, that's what we put up with for about half of our career with The Boxmasters, uh, not as much anymore. That, that kinda goes away. It goes away with the public, with the audience.

Joe Rogan 49:41 Mm-hmm.

Billy Bob Thornton 49:42 With some of the critics, uh, it's still there, because they want to say that about you.

Joe Rogan 49:48 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 49:49 It's, it, it has nothing to do with your music. It has to do with, "Here's my angle for this article."

Joe Rogan 49:55 Yes.

Billy Bob Thornton 49:55 My angle in this ... I mean, I did a, an article with, you know, a magazine one time that was kind of more of a men's magazine, you know. Talked about music the whole time, and talked about sex for about three minutes of the whole article was about sex.

Joe Rogan 50:08 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 50:08 You know what I mean? So, I mean, that's just-

Joe Rogan 50:11 Of course.

Billy Bob Thornton 50:11 ... that's what they did, 'cause that's their vibe, you know?

Joe Rogan 50:13 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 50:13 And, uh, so anyway, um, when, when they say this stuff, uh, they're saying it because they want to dig at you.

Joe Rogan 50:24 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 50:25 And if musicians, you know, famous musicians are at one of our shows, unless it's, you know, ones who are friends of ours, if they wanna come back and meet us after the show and say hello, they'll come back there and ... And most people wouldn't take this as an insult, but it is. They'll come back and they'll say, "Hey, it looks like you're really having fun up there," which means, "Oh, isn't it cute, he got a little hobby and you're having fun up there."

Joe Rogan 50:52 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 50:52 "And you get to be a rock star." That's what they mean by it. And I just kick them the fuck out of the dressing room.

Joe Rogan 50:57 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 50:58 I mean, I'm, I'm not joking. There was a very famous guy who came back to see us in Dallas one time, and he came back and he goes, "You know, it's really nice you get to do this." I said, "Get to do what?" And he said, "You know, get to go out on the road and stuff and, you know, get this part of you, and get to have fun up there," and stuff like that. I said, "Well, you know, I have some songs about suicide." I said, "You think that's fun?" I says, "It's not fun. I, I'm writing about shit from my soul that I grew up in. I'm also writing things that are hopeful songs. I'm writing a lot of stuff here. Uh, we write original music and perform it and people love this band." I said, "So don't ever fucking come near me again. Don't ever come to one of our shows again if all you wanna do is come back here because you're pissed that, uh, we just had a record on the radio."

Joe Rogan 51:48 Right. Right, right.

Billy Bob Thornton 51:49 You know what I mean? And, and then you were in a band from, you know, 30 years ago, and now you're playing, you know, places that are smaller than where we are. So don't come back here and start that shit with me. And I, I actually ... He said, "Oh, no, no, dude. I'm just saying, it really looked like ..." I, I said, "Get the fuck out of here."

Joe Rogan 52:05 Oh, wow.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:05 "I don't care who you are."

Joe Rogan 52:07 Wow.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:07 And so, I go-

Joe Rogan 52:08 Well, you know when someone's digging at you.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:10 Absolutely, you do.

Joe Rogan 52:11 Yeah. You know when someone's saying, "That was a great show, looks like you guys are having fun." They're, they're smiling and laughing. "That was fucking great. I loved it. I loved it." And then you know, "Oh, looks like you're having fun up there."

Billy Bob Thornton 52:20 Yeah, right.

Joe Rogan 52:21 Like, "Oh."

Billy Bob Thornton 52:21 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:22 "Oh, you're a cunt."

Billy Bob Thornton 52:23 Yeah, right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:23 "Okay. Okay, cunt." Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:26 Some people just love to do that. They just wanna dismiss.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:30 The ... And fans think you're so dumb and you have no memory that some of the people who come to your shows to get stuff signed, which, you know, a lot of them, they're not even, uh ... Well, they're selling them. You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 52:42 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:43 And, uh, and in certain cities, like in Kansas City we're like The Beatles. I mean, there are just certain cities where we sell out the second it goes on sale, and stuff like that. You got good places and-

Joe Rogan 52:53 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 52:54 ... places that aren't as good, you know. And no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. But there, there are people who come up to me that I've seen at shows before and ... I mean, if it's, if it's a guy that's just this average-looking guy, you may not remember them. But if it's a, a guy who's 6'11" and has red hair with, like, this giant nose and two teeth, you remember that guy. "I saw this guy last year," you know? (laughs) And so I've actually had them come up to me and say ... And one of their favorite things to say is, "Oh, it's so funny. Oh, we can't wait to come see your show tonight. We didn't even know you had a band." They love to say that. It's like, "Well, you obviously didn't see every TV show we've done. You didn't see, uh, you know, me talking about it on The Today Show or whatever I'm on, you know? This has been going on a long time. Yeah, you knew that." But they want to say that to you.

Joe Rogan 53:50 Right, right, to dismiss you.

Billy Bob Thornton 53:51 And so I've actually had guys ... On this tour a guy came up to me who's been to three of our shows. I know he was there.

Joe Rogan 53:58 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 53:58 And he's always in the front.

Joe Rogan 54:00 Uh-oh.

Billy Bob Thornton 54:00 On the third time he comes up to me and he goes, "Yeah, man. This is really, really cool and everything. Will you sign these bunch of pictures from Bad Santa? Uh, I didn't even know you had a band." It's like, "Well, the first time you came maybe you didn't. But then the second time you came I, I think you probably remembered. And then last year when you were here, and now you're here today. So I think you probably do by today, that we have a band, you know?"

Joe Rogan 54:25 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 54:25 And ... But people love ... We g- we're in a society now where nobody wants to ... It's a, it's a get-me society.

Joe Rogan 54:36 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 54:36 They're gonna get you.

Joe Rogan 54:37 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 54:38 And however they can get you, they wanna get you.

Joe Rogan 54:41 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 54:41 And, uh, nobody likes to see people succeed. Like when I was playing the-... a, a, a, a car rolling sling blade, every critic in the world loved me. And then all the other ones, A Simple Plan, I'm playing this poor pathetic wretch and all this kind of stuff, you know. The second I got to, you know, have a love scene with somebody-

Joe Rogan 55:04 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 55:04 ... and I was a leading man all of a sudden-

Joe Rogan 55:06 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 55:06 ... it's like, "Wait a minute, you're not one of us."

Joe Rogan 55:09 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 55:09 "Where'd the hump on your back go?" And all that shit, you know. It's like... and it's like, "You actually look better in this movie than you did that... you know, what did you have plastic surgery?" Or whatever it is.

Joe Rogan 55:18 Right, right, right.

Billy Bob Thornton 55:18 And so once you start to succeed, that's when they start to wanna say shit to you, you know?

Joe Rogan 55:24 Yeah. It, people love watching people fail at things.

Billy Bob Thornton 55:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:28 I- because it, it takes away the pressure that they've, they have in their own life with their lack of success.

Billy Bob Thornton 55:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 55:35 If, if they could watch st- a great man fall, i- that's what's a funny thing is like the, the, the, the dismissal of your music. Like, you- they can't dismiss you as an actor or your accomplishments, so they try to dismiss you as, like, "Oh, like, this is, uh, a thing you're kinda doing. You wish you were a rock star."

Billy Bob Thornton 55:56 Right.

Joe Rogan 55:56 "Because the thing... you, you can't possibly be also a musician."

Billy Bob Thornton 55:59 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:00 "You're just, you're just an artist, and you do things that are cool that you enjoy doing."

Billy Bob Thornton 56:03 No.

Joe Rogan 56:03 "No, that's not possible."

Billy Bob Thornton 56:04 "Why is this ugly fuck married to Angelina?"

Joe Rogan 56:08 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 56:08 (laughs) You know, that kind of stuff, you know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 56:10 Woo-hoo!

Billy Bob Thornton 56:11 It's, uh, yeah. I mean, and that... you know, not that I disagree, but, uh-

Joe Rogan 56:16 I- it's normal. I get it.

Billy Bob Thornton 56:18 But it's-

Joe Rogan 56:18 I would be thinking that way too if I was 16, you know?

Billy Bob Thornton 56:21 Right.

Joe Rogan 56:21 If I was a kid-

Billy Bob Thornton 56:21 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:21 ... I'd be like, "Fuck that guy."

Billy Bob Thornton 56:23 Yeah, right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:24 You know? You know what I mean?

Billy Bob Thornton 56:26 Yeah, it's, it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 56:26 I remember when I first saw pictures of you with Angelina Jolie, I didn't think that, though. I was like, "Fuck yeah, dude." Like-

Billy Bob Thornton 56:32 Yeah, we're supposed to root for each other.

Joe Rogan 56:34 Yes!

Billy Bob Thornton 56:35 You know?

Joe Rogan 56:35 You can look at something and be like, "Oh, fuck that guy. What did that guy..." Or, or you could look at the same thing and go, "Fuck yeah. W- way to go, dude."

Billy Bob Thornton 56:46 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 56:46 "That's awesome." And then you feel good, and he feels good-

Billy Bob Thornton 56:49 Sure.

Joe Rogan 56:49 ... and everybody feels good, and maybe you're inspired to do better for yourself. Like-

Billy Bob Thornton 56:54 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:54 ... "You know what? I wish I was a lit- more, a little bit more like that guy. I gotta maybe discipline myself a little more, get my shit together, get something going."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:02 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:02 You know? And instead of, "Fucking that guy sucks. He's fucking overrated."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:06 "That guy fucking sucks. He's a joke."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:08 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:09 Yeah. "Fucking Sling Blade, all you played a retard."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:12 And you're... right. Exactly, I know.

Joe Rogan 57:13 But the beautiful thing about Sling Blade is you did that on your own. Like, you, you did that and you broke out, like, you were like, "Look, nobody's giving me a chance. I'm just gonna do something."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:25 And then everybody's like, "Oh, my God, we love you."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:27 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 57:28 "We love you. You did this on your own."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:31 But even then, you try to do something different-

Billy Bob Thornton 57:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:35 ... and you, you, like, you try to, like, just be a normal human, they're like, "No, no, no, no, no."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:39 Yeah, we're not gonna allow it.

Joe Rogan 57:40 "You gotta be a retard."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:41 Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Joe Rogan 57:41 "We like you as a retard." (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 57:45 (laughs) Absolutely, yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:46 "You're getting a little too big."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:47 "I don't... I liked it when you were underground. I liked it when nobody knew about you."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:51 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:51 I bet the Box Masters get that too, right? Like, "I liked you in the beginning, before you guys made it."

Billy Bob Thornton 57:56 Yeah. We have people who liked the first two or three albums back when, you know, when we first started, which were kind of experimental albums. And, but yeah, it's, it's a... that's a thing. It just is, and-

Joe Rogan 58:07 It's a human thing.

Billy Bob Thornton 58:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:09 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 58:09 And we, we do like more than ever to see people fail, I think. I mean-

Joe Rogan 58:13 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 58:13 ... there was a time when we rooted for people. I think there's also too much exposure now. (clears throat) And I, I think, um, for instance, um, when we were growing up, especially in my era, uh, if we were gonna see Jimmy Stewart, we were only gonna see him in the movie. And it was on film, and it had literally a film over it-

Joe Rogan 58:37 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 58:37 ... that made it look like you were watching something magical. Now you got digital, where you can see every fucking mole on your face and shit, you know? And, uh, and everything is a behind the scenes. "Oh, and, you know, the studio's doing this, and now this group wants to come over and they're gonna do a whole thing, and they wanna see you on the set." And so, but if I see Mel Gibson sitting in a director's chair dressed up like he was in Braveheart talking about the movie, it's like it takes away something from that.

Joe Rogan 59:09 Yeah. Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 59:09 It's like we've had too much of a peak behind the curtain, I believe. And I think there's... we're too exposed. There's too much access to people. When I was growing up in this business, I wouldn't have dared... i- if I'd seen Bob Dylan or Jack Lemmon or whoever it was on the sidewalk, I wouldn't walk up to him, uh, to say Jack Lemmon, punch him in the shoulder and say, "Hey, dude. Let's get a picture." I mean, I... in a million years-

Joe Rogan 59:36 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 59:36 ... I wouldn't have done that. There's a respect. These are my elders. They're my heroes. And (clears throat) probably wouldn't have approached them at all, but if I did, I would be, you know, very apologetic and say, "I, I'm so sorry, but I'm such a huge fan of yours." And you still get that every now and then from decent people. But now, cats will come up to me, literally, and just, you know, just come up and, like, grab me by the arm and say, "Dude, let's get a picture." The worst ones are, and this is usually guys, usually more guys than women, they come up and they'll say, "Hey, man. You're supposed to be famous or some shit. My wife said, you, you know, you're like some famous dude." I, you know, so I don't really give a shit about that stuff, but can we get a picture?" And it's like I, I've put up with it for 30 years. In the last couple of years, I started saying, "How about when you do give a shit, come back and we'll get a picture?"

Joe Rogan 1:00:29 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:00:29 You know? Because (laughs) you know, after a while, you just can't take it.

Joe Rogan 1:00:33 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:00:34 And I'm, I'm kind of a codependent guy, so I'm nice to everybody that I can be, you know. And it's just every now and then, you get a ringer and, uh, uh, and you get drunk people, men and women, who just come over... uh, they'll, they'll come to the bus when we're on tour and just start banging on the door and saying, "Hey, you know, come out here. We got some whiskey. Take a shot with us." And you're just like-Can you imagine doing that to Jimmy Stewart?

Joe Rogan 1:00:58 Right. (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:00:59 You know? First of all, back then, you would've just... They'd just thrown you in jail, (laughs) you know. But, um, there's something about having heroes that you, that are unattainable for you. That way they can stay in that magic spot. So, I think we've lost magic and mystery and all these things, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:01:16 Well, it certainly happens when you hear actors talk about politics.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01:19 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:19 When actors become activists, it's like, "Okay."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:23 Oy, oy.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01:25 I, I donate to a lot of charities, mainly children's stuff, but nobody knows it. I, I don't go to the awards show and talk about it when I'm getting my award. It's like-

Joe Rogan 1:01:34 No.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01:34 It's like Ricky Gervais said in that skit of his, you know, he said, uh, he said, (laughs) "Look, you know, come up here, accept your little award-"

Joe Rogan 1:01:44 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01:44 "... and fuck off."

Joe Rogan 1:01:44 Yeah. (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:01:45 You know? Uh, I, I think first of all, unless you have really studied stuff and really know about a subject fully, uh, who the hell would wanna listen to an actor or a musician talk about politics? You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 1:02:01 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:01 It's like, are, are we supposed to follow this? I mean, uh, if we are, what if they lead you down the wrong road? And, you know, and, and politically, I'm not a... I call myself a radical m- uh, moderate.

Joe Rogan 1:02:14 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:14 I, I'm, like, very strong in my opinions. But my opinions don't belong to any political party, and, uh, you know, I just look at what makes sense, and I think we need a common sense party in this country. That's actually what I think we need-

Joe Rogan 1:02:30 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:30 ... is just, just figure it out. It's pretty easy to (laughs) figure out what this is all about, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:02:36 A non-ideologically captured party.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:38 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:02:39 Yeah, that just is like-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:40 ... "Okay, what do we need to do here?"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:42 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:02:42 Instead of, "It's us versus them," you know? Like, you're seeing this a lot right now because, uh, Mom Donny won in New York City, and people are screaming, "We're winning now! We're winning!" Like, what is this we shit? It's supposed to be, "We are all Americans."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:02:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:59 "You are all New Yorkers."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:01 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:03:01 "You're all we."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:02 "You decided who's gonna run your city."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:04 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:03:04 "Now, we should all root for this guy-"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:07 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:03:07 "... to do a great job."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:08 For sure.

Joe Rogan 1:03:08 And this idea that now, "Fuck all these other people-"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:11 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:03:11 "... that didn't vote for him." Like-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:13 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:03:13 ... it's not a tri- it's not a gang war, okay?

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:15 No.

Joe Rogan 1:03:16 It's an election to see who governs your city.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:19 Absolutely, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:19 And once someone wins, everybody else should be like, "Okay, well, let's-"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:23 "... hope this guy's got some good fucking plans and it works out great for everybody."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:27 And if you don't think like that-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:03:29 ... (laughs) like, you're part of the problem.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:31 Absolutely. I mean, people are pitted against each other so much these days that it's, it's gotten kinda ridiculous.

Joe Rogan 1:03:36 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:36 I mean, and, and you're right, it is almost like gang warfare, you know? And, uh, and, uh, and here's the other thing, it's like we could also say, "Let's all get along." Well, that's never gonna happen, because not everybody's gonna get along with everybody.

Joe Rogan 1:03:51 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:03:51 I mean, even on pers- a personal basis. I mean, you could pick any, you know, 20 people, put them in a room, and let's all hang out together for a week and, uh, all live in the same house, you're not gonna get along with everybody. But at the end of the day, our basic principles as humans, those should all be the same with all those people.

Joe Rogan 1:04:13 Yes.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:13 You know, which that, I mean, to me, that's getting along.

Joe Rogan 1:04:16 That's attainable.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:16 Uh, uh, it is attainable. And I think that we... Like, even somebody that maybe you don't agree with their, their principles, if it's just two of you, uh, sitting at a bus stop talking, it's hard to not, uh... Just on a one-on-one basis with people, it's hard to dislike someone that you're stuck with for a couple hours.

Joe Rogan 1:04:40 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:40 You know what I mean? You start talking, then you find out, "Oh, well, this cat, uh, doesn't believe anything I believe." But then all of a sudden, you say something like, "You know, remember when we used to drink Tang?" (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:04:50 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:51 You know? (laughs) And then the guy goes-

Joe Rogan 1:04:51 'Cause the astronauts drank it.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:53 Yeah, right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:04:54 Yeah. (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:54 And then the guy goes, "Yeah, we used to drink Tang." The next thing you know, you're having a conversation-

Joe Rogan 1:04:58 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:04:58 ... because you grew up as just kids and humans, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:05:01 Right, right, right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:03 Yeah. It's the, I think it's all because of social media is a big part of it.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:07 Yes, I totally agree.

Joe Rogan 1:05:08 It's-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:08 Totally.

Joe Rogan 1:05:08 'Cause the division when I was a kid, you know, I remember, like, the Reagan days. The, like, there was a lot of people who didn't like Reagan, but it was never e- evil. It was never like-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:19 No.

Joe Rogan 1:05:19 ... this vile hatred of someone that you see today-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:22 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:05:22 ... for different political parties and different politicians and, and, and just the way we looked at one side of the country versus the other side of the country. It wasn't divided like that.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:32 No.

Joe Rogan 1:05:32 Like, I always had relatives that were, some of them were conservative, and some of them were liberal-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:37 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:05:37 ... like, real liberal, and everybody was... Like, you disagreed, but they didn't-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:41 ... fucking disavow each other-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:43 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:05:43 ... because you voted for the wrong person.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:45 Like, this is bizarre. And I think that sort of insanity is just accentuated by these weird little echo chambers that people exist in-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:55 Sure.

Joe Rogan 1:05:55 ... that are also infiltrated by bots, so they're not-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:05:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:58 ... even real people, half of them.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:00 Right, right.

Joe Rogan 1:06:00 So this one FBI analyst, he estimated that it might be as high as 80% of the people that are communicating online-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:08 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:06:08 ... are bots-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:09 ... on Twitter.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:10 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:06:10 Which is fucking insane.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:12 Well, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:13 'Cause it's 80% of the people getting all these other people riled up aren't-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:17 ... even people.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:18 It's either AI chatbots that are run by China or Russia or even our own government.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:23 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:06:23 And then there's actual farms of people that are being told to do these things.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:28 Oh, for sure. I mean, now people get jobs in the entertainment business because they're in charge of... I mean, at studios and things, you know, some 22-year-old who's in charge of seeing who has the most followers-

Joe Rogan 1:06:44 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:45 ... and they take someone and make them into a star 'cause they got all these followers, and it's like, but they, uh, uh, they can't do jack shit. It's like-

Joe Rogan 1:06:52 Mm-hmm.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:06:52 ... you know, the talent comes... The talent is created as opposed to someone's talented and given the opportunity, you know? Uh, and you're, I- I think you're right. I mean, social media has really...I mean, it sounds like the old guy chasing kids off their lawn, but it's just the truth. I told my wife when the internet first became a thing, way, way back when it first started, I said, "Watch and see." I said, "This is going to ruin people's view of each other. It's going to ruin our society, I promise you it will."

Joe Rogan 1:07:26 You really thought that way back then?

Billy Bob Thornton 1:07:27 Totally.

Joe Rogan 1:07:28 Why? What made you feel that way?

Billy Bob Thornton 1:07:31 Once you start opening it up to, uh... Well, it's like, it's like, well, now everyone has an opportunity. They look at that as, uh, uh, equality, as, as an opportunity for everyone, that everyone can get on the internet and now everyone can do something. That's great for the people that actually had something to say or do. But then you've got another 80% (laughs) who, you know, have an opportunity and all of a sudden, there's someone because they decided to, you know, like, take pictures of themselves in the bathroom or something-

Joe Rogan 1:08:05 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:08:05 ... you know. And, uh, but I s- I swear to God, I saw it all coming.

Joe Rogan 1:08:11 Wow.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:08:11 And it was, it, it was, uh, uh... I mean, it gets out of control. And then AI, for Christ sakes, yeah, it's fun to watch me in, uh, in, uh, Slingblade talking, uh, uh, like Carl but it's a little baby trying to order french fries, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:08:28 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:08:28 It's funny, but if it's used for that or if there are some medical ways that they can use it, that's awesome. But once you start taking jobs away from people, uh, (coughs) I mean, the workforce is going to be destroyed because of that stuff.

Joe Rogan 1:08:45 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:08:46 And, and that's, to me, not cool. Unless you're gonna find a way to take care of people, because it's, it's gonna ruin the workforce. I mean, pretty soon you won't need it. Shit.

Joe Rogan 1:08:55 Y- for sure. Yeah, and it's gonna be interesting to see how we navigate that.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:08:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:58 But I just, I'm shocked that you picked that out early on.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:01 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 1:09:02 'Cause I looked at it the other way.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:09:03 I said, "This is gonna give people that were outside the system," sort of like you were when you created Slingblade, "This is gonna give people an opportunity to show their talent that maybe would have never gotten an opportunity to be hired by somebody."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:16 No.

Joe Rogan 1:09:16 "That they'll be able to create something-"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:17 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:09:17 "... completely on their own." And I read all these blogs by people that were really interesting. I was like, "Okay." I would've never read this guy's book.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:09:26 If I just saw it in a bookstore-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:27 No.

Joe Rogan 1:09:27 ... I wouldn't buy it and pick it up, but I'm reading this guy's, and he's got very interesting insights.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:09:32 And he's just some guy who's a computer coder, who-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:35 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:09:35 ... lives in Missouri. And somehow or another, he's just smart enough to figure out-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:41 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 1:09:41 ... how to say things in a way that resonates with me, and I would've never seen this guy's words before.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:45 And I was like, "Oh, this is, like, good."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:47 Because it'll make it much more of a meritocracy.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:50 It's like if you have good stuff, if you have good things-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:52 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 1:09:52 ... if you have good ideas, those ideas will get out.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:55 Yeah. I, I agree with that still to this day, that-

Joe Rogan 1:09:59 That too.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:09:59 ... that that's tr- that that's true.

Joe Rogan 1:10:00 So it's that, yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:10:01 I- I'm, uh, and in the beginning, I felt that too. I felt, "This is great." What I was afraid of was it becoming a runaway train.

Joe Rogan 1:10:09 Well, clearly you were right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:10:10 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:10:11 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:10:11 And so i- it was, I did love the opportunity to discover people I wouldn't have otherwise, and I still feel that way. I still discover people on the internet all the time that it's like, "Wow, I would've never known that," so that does exist. But out of those, you know, 20%, like I said, there's another 80% that... Well, for instance, when I was coming up as an actor, we had, like, 30 critics to worry about. You know, it was, you know, uh, uh, Rex Reed and Siskel and Ebert and Jeffrey Lyons and all these people. A- and, but, you know, there was a, not a finite number, but semi-finite number of critics, you know. I mean, you had the local ones, you know, in, uh, uh, all the states, but, and internationally, but, uh, now some guy named Daryl who doesn't like you (laughs) , you know, can just write a bunch of shit about you and people believe it.

Joe Rogan 1:11:10 Right, right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:11:11 You know, I've been on lists before. I mean, you can ask people I work with on a set. Like I said, I'm codependent. I'm probably nicer to the crew even than I am, you know, the director and the producers and stuff. I mean, not that I'm not nice to them too, but I love, like, The Landman crew, best crew I ever worked with, and I go out of my way to make sure that they're okay every day. And they'll tell you that. I mean, I've always been, you know, a decent guy on set to people. Uh, I've blown up maybe two or three times over, and that was always when I was directing. But, uh, uh, somehow you look at something on the internet, you could be looking up how do you make blueberry muffins, and some fucking way I'll eventually get to something that says what an asshole I am (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 1:12:02 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:12:03 You know? And when you see that thing pop up, you know, it's like, "Oh, he eats blueberries every day," and that was related to the blueberry muffin thing, and which I do eat blueberries every day and, uh, and it's been said publicly. But then the blueberries turns into, "Oh, and he's also weird because he's afraid of antiques," and then it's this and that and the other.

Joe Rogan 1:12:21 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:12:21 Next thing you know, I'm on a list of the top 10 actors, and I've seen this a couple of times, who are the most difficult to work with on set. And I'm like, "How the hell did this even happen?" I mean, that's not true, but somehow somebody said something-

Joe Rogan 1:12:39 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:12:40 ... that then became widespread, and then all of a sudden I end up on one of these, one of these lists, and the people I work with would say, "God, that's d- it couldn't be further from the truth," but-

Joe Rogan 1:12:49 Once again, people love to find out that someone's secretly an asshole.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:12:53 Yeah, right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:12:54 Yeah. They want that. They don't want-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:12:56 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:12:56 ... like, "Oh, he's the sweetest guy." They want, "Oh, he's a piece of shit behind the scenes."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:12:59 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:13:00 Like, like the Ellen thing. Like, you know, like, Ellen was all, like laughy and smiley, and then when everybody f- found out she's actually kinda mean-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:07 Right (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 1:13:07 ... they were like, "Oh, good. Yeah, fuck her."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:11 Right, right.

Joe Rogan 1:13:11 You know? It's like they wanted that to be true.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:13 Sure.

Joe Rogan 1:13:13 They were excited that it was true.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:15 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 1:13:16 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:16 People love to see that, and, yeah, I mean, I've-

Joe Rogan 1:13:21 It's also-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:21 I don't have a problem with it.

Joe Rogan 1:13:21 ... rumors can just get ... They just light fire. And c- remember the Richard Gere gerbil rumor?

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:28 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:28 I grew up in Massachusetts and my buddy-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:31 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 1:13:31 ... grew up in LA and I was like, "When did you hear that rumor?"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:34 (coughs)

Joe Rogan 1:13:34 And he was like ... And it was the same time. I'm like-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:36 ... "So this fucking rumor burned across the entire country-"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:39 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:13:40 ... probably no basis-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:41 ... whatsoever in truth."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:42 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:13:42 "That Richard Gere had to go to the hospital and get a gerbil removed from his ass."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:45 And everybody talked about it and poor-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:47 ... Richard Gere's probably at home going, "What the fuck?"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:50 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:13:50 "How did that happen?"

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:51 Yeah. It's like I, I don't, I haven't, I've never even been near a gerbil. I mean, it's like ... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:13:56 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:13:56 Uh, but, uh, man, it was crazy.

Joe Rogan 1:13:57 And every time anybody would see Richard Gere, he would go-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:00 That's what they think.

Joe Rogan 1:14:01 ... "Oh, that's the guy with the gerbil up his ass."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:02 And they're stamped that way forever.

Joe Rogan 1:14:04 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:05 Nobody ever forgets it. And now with the internet, it doesn't go away.

Joe Rogan 1:14:09 No.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:09 And if I want something, um-

Joe Rogan 1:14:12 clears throat ]

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:13 ... taken down off the internet, I have to prove it's me, but the person who put it up there doesn't have to prove who they are.

Joe Rogan 1:14:21 Right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:21 You know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 1:14:21 Right, right, right.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:22 Which seems kinda odd to me. But, uh, yeah, that whole thing with Rich- uh, Richard Gere, uh, they want it to be true so badly that everybody you talk to who's got the news, you know, who said, "Hey, guess what happened with Richard Gere, you know? And he went to so and so hospital." And, you know, whatever it was. Uh, and then you say, "Nah, come on. I mean, seriously? Really and truly?" And they go, "No, no, no. My neighbor's cousin's a nurse." "You know how many fucking nurses-"

Joe Rogan 1:14:53 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:53 "... were working there that night? Thousands. Thousands of nurses were on duty."

Joe Rogan 1:14:59 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:14:59 "And I know somebody who knows one of them all across the country."

Joe Rogan 1:15:04 (gasps)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:04 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:15:04 Well, they want it to be true.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:06 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:06 They want it to be true because he was too handsome.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:08 Yeah, exactly.

Joe Rogan 1:15:09 You know? Too handsome.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:10 Doing too well. Too good of an actor.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:13 You know? Like, "Fuck that guy."

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:14 Right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:15 (laughs)

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:16 Oh, he likes gerbils up his ass. Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:17 Makes sense.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:18 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:19 And then the idea is that, like-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:20 ... you get so much pussy, you just like-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:22 Ye-

Joe Rogan 1:15:22 ... you get bored.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:22 The- Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:23 You start sucking dicks.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:24 Putting things up your ass.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:25 Oh, for sure.

Joe Rogan 1:15:25 Like getting, going to the hospital with G.I. Joe stuffed up there and ...

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:28 Oh, yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:29 So it's like just some kind of a fucking rumor.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:32 Always.

Joe Rogan 1:15:32 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:33 It's, you know, it's unfortunate. It's unfortunate people think like that. They want-

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:38 ... they want failure.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:15:40 And, and the thing with me is I like people. I really do. And people tell me, they, uh, uh, I sign a lot of things and take a lot of pictures with people. And my friends will s- I have friends who won't even look at them, you know, in the entertainment business. They're just like, "Fuck these guys." Just walk right by them. And I'll go through these press lines, I'll sign stuff all day, and people ask me, they say, "Why do you do that?" I say, "A, uh, they put my kids through school, that's why." You know? I owe them, you know, some attention, you know? And, uh, the other thing is, it's like to them it means something, you know? Uh, 50 years from now, somebody's grandkid is gonna have an autograph by somebody that means something to them.

Joe Rogan 1:16:26 Yeah.

Billy Bob Thornton 1:16:26 I mean, that's different than the people selling them. I'm talking about, you know, actual fans who want you to write it out to Uncle Albert or whoever