Joe Rogan Experience #2407 - Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton is an Academy Award–winning actor, filmmaker, and musician. He currently stars as Tommy Norris in the Paramount+ series “Landman” and is the lead singer of The Boxmasters. Season two of “Landman” premieres on November 16. “Pepper Tree Hill,” the latest album from The Boxmasters, is available now. https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/landman/ https://www.theboxmasters.com Perplexity: Download the app or ask Perplexity anything at https://pplx.ai/rogan. Get a free welcome kit with your first subscription of AG1 at https://drinkag1.com/joerogan Take 50% off a SimpliSafe system at https://simplisafe.com/ROGAN

Billy Bob ThorntonguestJoe RoganhostGuestguest

Nov 7, 20252h 58mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

150 min read · 30,004 words

0:00 – 1:44
Aging fantasies: indulgence, stem cells, and reliving youth with adult knowledge
1. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  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.
3. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah. You gotta tell your mom-
4. JRJoe Rogan
  It's working so far.
5. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right?
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Right?
7. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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."
8. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
9. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  I'm just gonna eat shit that, like, everything that I dream of-
10. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
11. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... right now that I can't eat, I'm, I'm gonna eat all of it.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
13. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  I'm gonna drink whiskey all day long and just eat everything I want. (laughs)
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Fuck it. You're at the end of the ride.
15. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah. (laughs)
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Unless ... That's the problem is, like, on your deathbed, they come up with some new shit that fixes everything.
17. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, I know, right?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  You know-
19. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  That'll be my luck, you know.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  New stem cell stuff-
21. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs)
22. JRJoe Rogan
  ... that regenerates every cell in your body-
23. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  ... to a 25-year-old. Like, oh.
25. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Exactly. I know.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  That'd be a real problem, like a 70-year-old brain in a 25-year-old body. Like-
27. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right?
28. JRJoe Rogan
  ... you would have a lot of knowledge.
29. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  For sure.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  You'd have a, a giant advantage.
1:44 – 3:15
Fear of aging and the fake-self era: filters, apps, and beauty distortion
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Your lovely co-mahost, uh, uh, costar rather, Demi Moore-
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  ... uh, that movie that she did, The Substance-
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  ... is fucking crazy.
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  It is crazy.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a great piece on this whole, like, fear of-
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  ... aging thing, 'cause-
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  That movie is wild.
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  It's so crazy. But it's like-
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  It is.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Do you know how many women would agree to that deal?
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  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."
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right. Right.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  "I know a lot of ladies."
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, like filters? Yeah.
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-
23. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... they're not like that. But that's what they look like on there.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm.
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  And yeah, it's pretty crazy.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  It's probably accurate too.
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Hmm.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  As, as long as a couple people start doing it-
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
3:15 – 5:46
Fashion, drugs, and the 1970s: bell bottoms, collars, disco, and a cultural “perspective loss”
1. JRJoe Rogan
  ... some fucking idiot decides bell bottoms look good.
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right. (laughs)
3. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs) And we're all like, "Shit."
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (clears throat)
5. JRJoe Rogan
  "I gotta get, I gotta get bell bottoms. I wanna get laid."
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  "I wanna be cool."
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs) It was so dumb looking. Yeah.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  It's a crazy thing that lasted for a little while, till ... Like, like regular jeans, somebody invented that shit in, like, the 1800s-
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and everybody's like, "Yeah, you nailed it."
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  And it's like a Jeep. A Jeep still looks-
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  ... like a Jeep. They made a Jeep in, in like the 1950s-
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  ... or a Jeep in 2026, you, you can see the difference.
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  It's like-
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Exactly.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  ... it's a little bit more advanced, but that's a Jeep.
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Jeans, they nailed it. I mean, it's-
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs)
27. JRJoe Rogan
  ... bell bottoms are like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, not ... What the fuck were we doing?"
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, I mean, I had shirts with, like, bell sleeves with, like, pictures of sailboats and stuff on it. Yeah.
5:46 – 7:11
Cars as cultural mirrors: muscle-car love, gas crises, and the rise of “boxy” design
1. JRJoe Rogan
  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-
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Absolutely. (laughs)
3. JRJoe Rogan
  ... a '71 Barracuda and a Challenger in that group.... everything else after '71 is useless to me.
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Except Corvette. Corvette still stayed cool-looking.
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  They stayed cool-looking deep into the '80s.
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah. That's, that's true. Yeah.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  They still have it.
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  I'm, I'm a muscle car guy. I've got a '67 Chevelle 396.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, nice.
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  And, uh, uh, muscle cars are my thing. And what I-
13. JRJoe Rogan
  I have a '70.
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, do you really?
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  I would like to get a '64 GTO, the first year they were made.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Ooh.
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  That's what I'm looking for.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  But to get one that's perfect, it, it, they're pretty pricey, you know?
21. JRJoe Rogan
  They're very pricey.
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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...
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Old habits die hard.
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah, they really do. Yeah.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  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.
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  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."
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  "Can't believe he owns that. That's really his car?" It was the...
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
7:11 – 13:04
Small-town Arkansas cruising culture—and the origin story of “The Boxmasters” name
1. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
3. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... 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-
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Yes.
5. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... the one with the mustache?
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Yes.
7. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  He looked like Chuck Negron.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
9. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
11. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  And everybody would go like, "Wow." And, uh, that's actually how the Boxmaster's name came about.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
13. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah. Yeah. (laughs)
14. JRJoe Rogan
  How?
15. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
17. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  And, and so... (laughs) And we had a-
18. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs) I would have never guessed that.
19. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  That's hilarious.
21. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  (sighs) He was just making an appearance.
23. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah, yeah.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Just letting everybody know, "Look at this."
25. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Exactly.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Second-generation Corvette.
27. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  '65. I have a '65 convertible.
29. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah?
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, yeah. I love them.
13:04 – 22:37
Vintage movies as a time machine: changing norms, violence, and judging the past
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Shrinking people down. (sighs) What's wild is how many ideas were burned up in movies by the time, like, the 90s rolled around.
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  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.
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, you could read a history book and you could kinda get a rough understanding of how people behaved back then-
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  ... but you still think of them in a current context. You think of them, like, today.
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right. Right.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  But you watch a film, you know, watch a- like a James Cagney film-
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and you're like, "Whoa, man. This is a different world."
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Nobody knew shit.
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Nobody had any idea what was going on in the world.
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs)
17. JRJoe Rogan
  You got all your news from the newspaper, so these dudes who own the newspapers essentially controlled the narrative for the entire world.
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Absolutely.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  And it's- and it's- people behaved strange.
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Open domestic violence. Domestic violence was normal.
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, for sure. Yeah.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, "Shut up." (slaps hand)
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  And she would kiss him and, like, it was crazy.
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, right?
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Nuts.
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
22:37 – 28:26
Why some regions feel “rough”: herding cultures, Southern stereotypes, and the hookworm revelation
1. JRJoe Rogan
  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-
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  ... are rougher.
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  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.
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Like in... So there were like sheep herders in other countries.
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  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.
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm. Yeah.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  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-
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  You gotta throw it in a truck, drag it out.
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  You could just steal someone's sheep.
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  So they're accustomed to extreme violence-
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  ... to protect their sheep. And they're accustomed to acting fast and doing things quickly and violently.
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  And so that's how you got the Hatfields and the McCoys.
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  That's what that shit's about. People are like, "Why are those people such fucking psychos?"
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs) Right.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, because they came from a psycho community-
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah. Mm-hmm.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  ... in Europe, and then when they made it over to America-
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  ... they just kept that tradition going.
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, for sure.
28:26 – 46:01
Hollywood prejudice against Southerners—and how music faced the same coastal gatekeeping
1. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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)
2. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
3. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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."
4. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
5. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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?"
6. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
7. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  It's like, "You've got to be shitting me."
8. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
9. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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."
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
11. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  So they wanted the Foghorn Leghorn-
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
13. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... you know, "Now over here, what we have is ..."
14. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
15. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
17. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs) But he was doing that thing, you know?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Uh-huh.
19. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  That's so weird.
21. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a w- it's a such a weird stereotype. You know what? It exists in music too, doesn't it?
23. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  For sure.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Like- No doubt. ... Southern bands, until Skynyrd came along, Southern bands-
25. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  ... got no respect.
27. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Absolutely. Yeah. I mean-
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Skynyrd fucked that up just 'cause they were so good. They were-
29. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  (laughs)
30. JRJoe Rogan
  ... so good, everybody was like, "All right, man."
46:01 – 58:09
The Boxmasters’ long run: being ‘an actor with a hobby,’ critics’ angles, and on-tour disrespect
1. JRJoe Rogan
  "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-
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, 20 years.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  20 years.
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  The most amazing thing is that people get together and they stay friends (laughs) for that long.
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah. Right.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  And with all the conflicts and all the ego and all the bullshit-
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  ... 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-
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm. Yeah.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  ... with all these different creative minds and egos-
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and weirdness. Everybody's weird.
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  E- every fucking creative person I've ever met is out of their fucking mind.
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  And then you get all together, and then you show up at practice at the same time.
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  You know, you rehearse together, you actually do-
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Oh, yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  ... it, and you show up for gigs, and you perform, you hit your notes on stage, you, you can all stay friends.
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, that's the most important thing-
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and the most rare thing, and the most-
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  It is.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  ... impressive thing.
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... awesome. Yeah.
58:09 – 1:05:03
Too much access: fame without mystery, fan encounters, activism fatigue, and awards cynicism
1. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  And we, we do like more than ever to see people fail, I think. I mean-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
3. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... 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-
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
5. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... 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.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Yeah.
7. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
9. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  ... 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?"
10. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
11. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  You know? Because (laughs) you know, after a while, you just can't take it.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
13. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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?
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. (laughs)
15. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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?
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, it certainly happens when you hear actors talk about politics.
17. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Mm-hmm.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  When actors become activists, it's like, "Okay."
19. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Oy, oy.
21. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-
22. JRJoe Rogan
  No.
23. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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-"
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
25. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  "... and fuck off."
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. (laughs)
27. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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?
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
29. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  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.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
1:05:03 – 1:29:08
Internet dynamics: bots, rumor wildfire, and reputations that never recover
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. It's the, I think it's all because of social media is a big part of it.
2. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yes, I totally agree.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  It's-
4. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Totally.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  '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-
6. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  No.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  ... this vile hatred of someone that you see today-
8. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  ... 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.
10. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  No.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, I always had relatives that were, some of them were conservative, and some of them were liberal-
12. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  ... like, real liberal, and everybody was... Like, you disagreed, but they didn't-
14. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  ... fucking disavow each other-
16. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  ... because you voted for the wrong person.
18. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, this is bizarre. And I think that sort of insanity is just accentuated by these weird little echo chambers that people exist in-
20. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Sure.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  ... that are also infiltrated by bots, so they're not-
22. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  ... even real people, half of them.
24. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right, right.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  So this one FBI analyst, he estimated that it might be as high as 80% of the people that are communicating online-
26. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  ... are bots-
28. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  ... on Twitter.
30. BTBilly Bob Thornton
  Right.

Episode duration: 2:58:28

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Aging fantasies: indulgence, stem cells, and reliving youth with adult knowledge

Fear of aging and the fake-self era: filters, apps, and beauty distortion

Fashion, drugs, and the 1970s: bell bottoms, collars, disco, and a cultural “perspective loss”

Cars as cultural mirrors: muscle-car love, gas crises, and the rise of “boxy” design

Small-town Arkansas cruising culture—and the origin story of “The Boxmasters” name

Vintage movies as a time machine: changing norms, violence, and judging the past

Why some regions feel “rough”: herding cultures, Southern stereotypes, and the hookworm revelation

Hollywood prejudice against Southerners—and how music faced the same coastal gatekeeping

The Boxmasters’ long run: being ‘an actor with a hobby,’ critics’ angles, and on-tour disrespect

Too much access: fame without mystery, fan encounters, activism fatigue, and awards cynicism

Internet dynamics: bots, rumor wildfire, and reputations that never recover

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