EVERY SPOKEN WORD
155 min read · 31,001 words- 0:01 – 2:24
Catching up after years apart & why time speeds up as you age
- ACAdam Carolla
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (instrumental music plays) Good to see you, brother.
- JRJoe Rogan
What's happening?
- ACAdam Carolla
Oh, man. Everything. It's been a while.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's been a few years, man.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
When was the last time I saw you?
- ACAdam Carolla
I think I saw you outside of the Icehouse.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
You were coming in, doing a set. You got a Land Cruiser or something-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
... with a LS swap engine in it or something.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And you showed it to me, and I think, uh... I was thinking about it. I went to your house to do the podcast.
- JRJoe Rogan
Early in the day.
- ACAdam Carolla
Early.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
Like, up Deep Valley, up the hill.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
And then I think, uh, you got your place sort of down, strip mall kinda, kinda place, down in the flatlands of the valley.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Woodland Hills.
- ACAdam Carolla
I went there. Yeah. And I think that... I mean, it's been a million years.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. It's been a while. Time flies, buddy. (laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
I know. It's so sad. You know what, you know what? You know what's sad? It goes so slow when you're young and miserable.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
You know what I mean? Now, I'm old and happy and rich, and it just flies by.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
You know what I mean? Like, all the stuff you wanna do, and it's just, it just goes right by you. And then when I was like 13, I just sat in a class and stared at the clock and just went, "Goddamn, when are we gonna-"
- JRJoe Rogan
You know why that is? It's relative. It's a-
- ACAdam Carolla
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... percentage of your life.
- 2:24 – 4:56
Near-death experiences, self-analysis, and the hard truth about changing habits
- ACAdam Carolla
That moment, you know, that, that thing. I, y- you know, it's like that thing where people have a near-death experience and then they swear they're gonna change their ways.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
And they're gonna appreciate everything and they're gonna do all that. I don't think it works. I think they sc-
- JRJoe Rogan
Works on some people.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I've met people that have had near-death experiences and completely changed who they are.
- ACAdam Carolla
Hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
I wonder if it's worth trying to have a near-death experience.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
The problem is, is it's too close to death.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it's really what kind of a person are you. Are you a reflective person? Are you an introspective person? Do you think about the way you think and the way you live, and do you analyze it and decide whether or not this is a good way to proceed or whether or not you need to make adjustments? Some people don't. They don't look. They don't self-analyze. They don't course correct. They just don't. And so something comes along, "I'm changing everything." But you never changed anything in your whole fucking life. You've never done that. You've never exhibited that kind of will. You've never had that kind of discipline. So like, how are you gonna change now? You're not. You're gonna say you're gonna change, then you're gonna go right back.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah, I think I went to high school with all those guys.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Me too. (laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
It's crazy, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
But most people don't know how to live.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
They don't understand that you're, you're, you are in control of the way you think about things. It's one of the only things you're in control of. And it-
- ACAdam Carolla
Well, change is like one of the greatest gifts we have. Like, it really... If you think about perks of being a human being versus being a hyena or any, any other creature, it's you get to change.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
And then so many people just squander that gift, which is the greatest gift.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And they just go, "I'm not g-" And, and then you're sort of no different than any other animal if you just sort of stay the course, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And the, the ability to grow and change and transform is such a gift that people completely squander.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, it's hard 'cause you have to change the way you think. You have to, you have to decide that you've been doing things wrong. And people don't like to do that. They don't like to admit fault. They don't like to look at themselves in a negative way and analyze what they've done wrong and be critical of themself. They don't like it.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
They don't like that feeling. It's uncomfortable.
- ACAdam Carolla
I know, I know. Everyone is crazy externalizer now.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yep.
- 4:56 – 7:01
Being coachable: criticism, skill-building, and turning discipline into a life tool
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah, I get it. But I think growing up and, and maybe it's just being coached a lot, you know, like, like you got coached a lot. I got coached a lot. It's just dudes telling you you're doing something wrong.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
All day, every day. And I believe they did it because they cared, because they wanted you to get better, because they wanted you to succeed. They wanted to win, you know? And I just got used to being coached. You know, I just got used to people-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- ACAdam Carolla
... just yelling at you, "Dummy."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
"You're fucking up. Fix it. Do it right." And it never felt like criticism to me.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, even if it is criticism, it doesn't matter.
- ACAdam Carolla
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's like if... Coaching is good. Like, if, if you can be coachable, that's like one of the best indicators that you're gonna do well in life, if you can take direction and instruction from someone who knows what they're talking about.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, if you wanna learn something, like say if you wanna learn jujitsu, you have to listen. You have to really listen. And the people that don't listen, they don't get better.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah, and I shouldn't, I shouldn't have said criticism. It, it was criticism, but that's fine. I, I... It's just how you digest it, you know what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
It, it's criticism. They go constructive criticism or criticism. It's just criticism. You're doing something wrong.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
That's fine. Now, how do you perceive it? How do you ingest that?
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, also, how do you look at yourself? Do you look at yourself as like... Do, do you-... think of yourself as only being valuable if you're good at a thing, right? And if you're not good at that thing, do you take it as a, a slight against you? Or do you just understand that you are a person, this is you, and this thing you're doing is something you don't know how to do as well as this person who's teaching you? And if you can do that, then you can get better. And then getting better at anything that you are trying to do that's difficult, any discipline, that discipline becomes a vehicle for developing your human potential. And if you could figure out how to get good at that by listening to this person and then proceeding and seeing the steps of improvement, you could apply that to everything in life. But if you never learn how to do that, you're gonna get stuck.
- 7:01 – 13:38
Insecurity, missing ‘a trade,’ and how video games can replace real purpose
- ACAdam Carolla
You know what I've been thinking about? I've been thinking about how insecure a lot of people are, and how they really react when you tell them something, criticism, or coach them. But I think it's their insecurity that's reacting. And then I sort of realized, like, you have a skill set. You have multiple skill sets, right? And you take just martial arts, you know? Okay. You know it. You're comfortable with it. You're real secure about it. You, you know your abilities. And, and you know your abilities as a comedian, and you know your abilities as an archer, and stuff like that. So you have a bunch of stuff that you know you own. And for me, like, I'm a builder, so I have a skill. So I have a trade, you know? And so I, I don't feel insecure. I feel like there's stuff I know, and then there's other things I do know. But I don't walk around with that insecurity-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
... that I realize like a lot of people, they don't have a trade. They don't have a skill. They don't have really anything who they could call expertise.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
Like, you would go ... You know, f- what are you an expert at? Well, you would go, "I can teach, uh, UFC, mixed martial arts, jujitsu, I can do that, I can do this, podcasting, standup comedy." Like, like there's fields of expertise. Speaking another language, mastering an instrument-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
... you know, things like that. And I realize so many people just are, "Pff." There's just nothing.
- JRJoe Rogan
They never found the thing they're really interested in. Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
They, they'll find a thing and they're so insecure, and they walk around in this heightened state of insecurity. And then somebody runs into them somewhere, at an airport or a Starbucks or something, and they start ripping off, you know, throwing furniture. And it's like, "Why are you in this state all the time?" And I realize, it's an insecurity.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And how would it feel? Like how would Joe Rogan feel walking around not having a black belt, not being successful at standup? Like, not having any expertise. Like, it'd be a really vulnerable feeling.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And I think that's a lot of it.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's most people.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Most people just get jobs and they never really find a thing where they can throw themselves into it and watch the improvement and understand that, "Oh, I know that I started this out as a beginner, and now I'm really good because I put in so much time and so much effort, so I know that I have that in me."
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
"I know I have that willpower." And it's also, like, some people just don't have good brains. That's just a fact. You know? It's like some people are born with big ears. Some people have small ears. Some people have shitty brains. And that's just true. I've met a lot of people, they're just dull. They're just dull-minded and dull-witted, and even if they threw themselves into something, they don't have the horsepower. They have a nine-volt brain.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It sucks.
- ACAdam Carolla
No, I know.
- JRJoe Rogan
It sucks, but that's just reality.
- ACAdam Carolla
I know, and it's hard not to look at them through your lens, 'cause you go, "Come on, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
"The sun's shining. Let's make some hay. Let's go. There's so much to do." And they're like, "Uh?"
- JRJoe Rogan
They're just ugh.
- ACAdam Carolla
And you're like, "Come on." The saddest thing for me is when I talk to anybody, but especially a young person, I go, "What do you like? What do you do? What's your thing?" And they go, "Uh, I don't know. I like f- I like video games." I go, "No, no, but what's your passion? You know, what do you wanna get into?" And they go, "Uh, been watching, uh, a lot of Netflix." (laughs) I go, "N-"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
I go, "No, man. Like, what is your thing? What do you wanna get your hands on?" And they just go, "I don't know."
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, they've probably never been introduced to something like that. The problem with video games is it'll steal your thing.
- 13:38 – 18:23
School doesn’t reveal options: class clowns, uninspiring teachers, and finding comedy late
- JRJoe Rogan
It's one of the things that's missing in school, is introducing people to the possibility of things they might like. Instead, what do they do? They just teach you stuff, you know?
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. It didn't work for me.
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- ACAdam Carolla
I was not good for that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Didn't work for me either.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. Well, look at you now. You landed-
- JRJoe Rogan
But it's-
- ACAdam Carolla
... on your feet.
- JRJoe Rogan
I know, but it's, it's a weird thing. It's like there's no, there's no consideration of alternatives. There's no like, "Hey, you're kind of a wiseass. Have you ever thought about being a comedian? You know, you could make a lot of money doing comedy."
- ACAdam Carolla
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
No one ever says that to you.
- ACAdam Carolla
No, I never, I never had that. It was, it was a weird thing because it was always a sort of, "Shut up."
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
So it was the opposite of encouragement, which is, "Be quiet, be quiet. You're disruptive."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
So by nature, comedic nature is to sit in the back of the class and pop off and try to entertain an audience, which is sort of built in, which is the classroom. But it is interesting that they then offer an award called Class Clown.
- JRJoe Rogan
Did they offer an award for class clown?
- ACAdam Carolla
At my high school I was class clown, so I got the class clown designation, but all through high school, I was told to shut up by every teacher, which is a weird... It's a backhanded compliment, but it's a weird message to send to the clown, which is, "Shut up, shut up, shut up. Here's your award-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Ugh.
- ACAdam Carolla
... at the end for talking.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Yeah, that is weird.
- ACAdam Carolla
I would al- I would get rid of the award or stop telling everyone to shut up all the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, you know, it's undermotivated teachers that are underpaid.
- ACAdam Carolla
Well, who attracts... You know, I've, I'm thinking about, like, who's attracted to that profession?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
It's sort of people that have... I know we have to call them heroes, but they've kind of opted out of the private sector. They're just like, "I want consistency. I don't care if I'm underpaid as long as I never stop getting paid and I can retire early and I have a place to go." And it's a kind of a version of life where you're not telling people to chase their dreams and explore the possibilities because you d- you're in this place right now where you didn't chase your dreams.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
You're just here, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
I mean, save the 10% who love kids or just wanna work with kids, but most of my teachers were miserable.
- 18:23 – 22:30
Mediocrity can inspire: why seeing ‘average’ performers pushes you to try
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. Yeah, I'm... I agree with you in that sense, like...... I remember, like, I always go, "Oh, this guy's excellence inspires." You know, Michael Jordan, it- it inspires. And I'm like, "No, he's too good."
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
You know what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
He, he... Those... Like, I remember being young and watching, like, Dennis Miller do a special, and I'd go, (scoffs) "I could never do that."
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
That's too much.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And where'd he... Uh, where are all these words coming from?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
How did he remember them all? How does he even know what they mean? Like, no way am I pulling that off. But later on, when I was driving a truck, you know, on, to the construction site every day, I would listen to morning radio in LA. And I'd listen to these morning teams, and I'd go, "Oh, shit, I can do that."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
(laughs) Like, uh, like, I was inspired by their inability to be consistently funny.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And it is a weird thing where people do that. They always think the best is gonna bring it out in you, but it's intimidating. Sometimes you have to see people that are mediocre (laughs) at their job for you to think, "Oh, hell, I can do that."
- JRJoe Rogan
Certainly at the beginning. You know, like, if you walked right into a gym, and as you... Like, Terence Crawford, the T-shirt I'm wearing, and Terence Crawford's working out. It's the first time you ever worked out. And someone says, "Do you want to spar with Terence Crawford?"
- ACAdam Carolla
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
You're like, "No."
- ACAdam Carolla
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, "What the fuck are you talking about? I'm not-"
- ACAdam Carolla
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
"... I can't spar with him, no."
- ACAdam Carolla
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, because it's, he's too good. But if you see someone who's, like, at your level, and he's hitting mitts the way you're hitting mitts, and like, "Okay, I'll try that."
- ACAdam Carolla
Well, there-
- JRJoe Rogan
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- ACAdam Carolla
The real danger is when they go, "You wanna spar with that guy over there," and then you go, "Who is that guy?" And they go, "I don't know, it's just some gym guy."
- JRJoe Rogan
They're fucking with you, yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And it's Terence Crawford. And then you really, you really get demoralized because you didn't even know who he is.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- 22:30 – 28:23
Fighting, coaching, and ‘gaming the system’: from boxing gyms to steroids and cheating
- ACAdam Carolla
Well, I, I found, at least when I taught boxing, that most of the coaches were boxers. Like, my gym was, uh, Mike Weaver, ex-heavyweight. I think he's-
- JRJoe Rogan
I remember Mike Weaver.
- ACAdam Carolla
He (laughs) was a brick shithouse, that guy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, that guy was a tank.
- ACAdam Carolla
Oh my God.
- JRJoe Rogan
Whoo!
- ACAdam Carolla
He looked like a bodybuilder.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
It was crazy. Even when I worked with him when he was 48 or something, he still looked like that. But... So, Weaver and then his, uh, half triplet brothers, the Fighting Triplets, Troy, Floyd, and Lloyd, by the way, they're all fighters, right? And, and I realized they were good fighters, but they didn't know how to teach fighting.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
'Cause, 'cause they couldn't verbalize it and they couldn't intellectualize it. They just did it, you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And it's not always the guy... So a lot of time, they got ex-fighters. This guy's an ex-champ, he's an ex-this, an ex-that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
That doesn't mean you're good at teaching it.
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- ACAdam Carolla
That just means you did it and were good at it, but you can't always articulate it and describe it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And, like, my thing was I wasn't an ex-champ, but I knew how to articulate it better than these guys, and I could use these, you know, metaphors and examples and stuff like that, and I, I would end up being a good boxing coach not because I had all this ring experience, just because I understood it sort of intellectually.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, like, some of the greatest boxing coaches of all time weren't good fighters or were okay fighters. Like, Freddie Roach, perfect example.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Was a journeyman fighter, but one of the best boxing coaches ever. Emanuel Steward.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Same, same deal. You know? Weren't world champions.
- ACAdam Carolla
I always liked Emanuel Steward because he, he coached Wladimir Klitschko, but he couldn't say the word Wladimir.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
He'd just go, "Ladimir, Ladimir..." And it's like-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
... his name is Wladimir. It's not, it doesn't start with an L, it starts with a V. If you, you listen to him talking to Wladimir Klitschko, he just called him Ladimir. And I've inter- I...... I interviewed Wladimir Klitschko, and I did... Uh, he said, I said, "He j- he called you Latimer your whole career." And he went, "Yeah, so, it's the way he pronounced it."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- 28:23 – 37:06
Sports misery as calibration: football practice, wrestling torture, and mental toughness
- ACAdam Carolla
Baseball was always kind of a pussy sport for me.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
Like I thought, if you're a real dude, you play football and then maybe box or wrestle, or something like that. But baseball was kind of fun. Like, I played baseball. And baseball... At baseball practice, you got to play baseball, you got to hit, you got to field. You essentially played baseball. You didn't have a game, but you'd be out in the field hitting the cutoff or up at bat, batting practice, where you literally played baseball. In football, I never touched a football. You're just pushing a sled and getting in some tackling drill, running laps, like s- it's... They just torture you. But you don't play football. I played football for 10 years and never touched a football.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
And we didn't... I wasn't... I played linebacker and guard, and there was no football.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
There was just me blocking guys who were touching a football or trying to tackle a guy-
- JRJoe Rogan
That sounds horrible. (laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
... who touched football. Football practice was the worst. Football practice was just torture.
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you wrestle?
- ACAdam Carolla
No, they didn't have wrestling in my high school.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really? (sighs)
- ACAdam Carolla
We didn't have like... I, it was... You know, I don't know, a little more East Coast, I think, like lacrosse and... Certain things are kind of regional. We didn't-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
... really... I grew up in North Hollywood. Like, they didn't have hockey, they didn't have lacrosse, they didn't have wrestling.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's crazy they didn't have wrestling. Oh, God. I think wrestling was one of the most important lessons in hard work that I ever got.
- ACAdam Carolla
Oh, for sure, like running bleachers and-
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, it was horrible.
- ACAdam Carolla
... and cutting weight-
- JRJoe Rogan
Carrying people around.
- ACAdam Carolla
... and all that stuff. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, I had a brutal coach, too. Our, our coach was brutal.
- ACAdam Carolla
He was?
- JRJoe Rogan
It was, it was awesome.
- ACAdam Carolla
Wrestling-
- JRJoe Rogan
Taught me a lot.
- ACAdam Carolla
Wrestling practice and football practice are not dissimilar. It's just torture young people-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
... essentially, and kind of try to break them a little bit.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- 37:06 – 39:29
Friends as chosen family: belonging, tribes, and the thin line between groups and gangs
- ACAdam Carolla
You know one of the things I like about you is, and always stuck with me, years ago when I interviewed you, I said, "Your biological dad, do you ever have a desire to get back in touch with him, or reconnect, or whatever that was?" And I think you went, "No. Screw him. Like, I don't, I never knew him, so I don't need to redo something that never was done."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And I, I like that. I mean, I, I respect it. I, I feel like there's, people do too much, like, "Come on, he's your blood." I'm like, "Eh, if you don't know him, you don't know him."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
Like, I, I, I always, I don't know, it's stuck with me.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm. Well, I think, uh, family's nice if they're nice.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know? If they're great people and you wanna be in touch with them, but I don't think you should spend any time with people that you don't like. If they're-
- ACAdam Carolla
I agree.
- JRJoe Rogan
... your family or not, I don't think it matters.
- ACAdam Carolla
I think my, my life was sort of saved by friends.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ACAdam Carolla
Just having really good friends-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- ACAdam Carolla
... all the time.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- ACAdam Carolla
And I sort of realized my family wasn't gonna provide what my friends would provide, and I just hung out with my friends.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, that's also why people join gangs.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I mean, it's, that becomes their family, 'cause everybody has a desire to be a part of a tribe, and everybody has a desire to have a good team, and good, people that care about you. That's a, a big motivating factor for human beings.
- ACAdam Carolla
Well, thank God North Hollywood didn't have a strong Crip or Blood connection-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
... back in the day, 'cause I probably would've joined up.
- JRJoe Rogan
Sure, it's probably exciting. It's probably exciting, especially if you get away with a few things, you know?
- ACAdam Carolla
I get it. I mean, it's tried and it's true. Like, it works.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's been around for a long time. It's the reason why the gangs in New York, look, goes all the way back then.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. It, it goes, I'm sure, throughout the dawn of humanity-
- JRJoe Rogan
Always.
- ACAdam Carolla
... and history.
- JRJoe Rogan
Always.
- 39:29 – 56:06
Wildfire aftermath & why LA rebuilding stalls: Coastal Commission, permitting, and overregulation
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, that's fun too. Um, I've been paying attention to a lot of your stuff, uh, covering, uh, the Palisades fire and all that stuff, and I think, uh, I'm really glad that there's someone like you out there that gets to shine a light on these things and show people how fucked up this whole thing was. You know, we, and we talked about it on the podcast, that you, uh, immediately, once the fire happened, you were like, "No one's rebuilding. Like, you don't understand the Coastal Commission, you don't understand the permitting process. This is gonna be like this forever."
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you're right. Look at, here we are. It's almost a year later, right?
- ACAdam Carolla
Yup.
- JRJoe Rogan
How many months later is it? 10, 11?
- ACAdam Carolla
10 and change. Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
10? Okay. No one's rebuilt a house.
- ACAdam Carolla
No. There's a little bit of building going on in the Palisades, but there's zero in Malibu.
- JRJoe Rogan
The Coastal. Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah, there's no Coastal anything. And I've been monitoring it 'cause-
- JRJoe Rogan
How much has grown on the Palisades? How many houses have been rebuilt?
- ACAdam Carolla
Uh, I would say, l- l- you know, less than 5%. Like, it, but it-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's crazy.
- ACAdam Carolla
... but it's scattered. Like, I toured one that was being framed for the latest vlog, the fire vlogs-
- JRJoe Rogan
Here's the thing.
- ACAdam Carolla
... I've been doing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Even if you do rebuild, what is surrounding you? Just wreckage.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. Just dirt.
- JRJoe Rogan
Can you imagine you're on a hill and you, just the husks of burnt down houses are your view now?
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Fun.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. Basically, you're living in an ashtray.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
You put a-
- JRJoe Rogan
And-
- ACAdam Carolla
... double-wide in an ashtray.
- JRJoe Rogan
... who knows what the fuck is in that ground?
- ACAdam Carolla
Well ... (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
You know?
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah. No, it's all bad.
- 56:06 – 1:08:11
Process vs. action: ‘safety’ culture, COVID parallels, and climate-change narrative battles
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah, well, we don't... See, LA sorta has process people, but they don't have get-shit-done people.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
They just have people that talk about stuff, and then have a committee, and we gotta talk about the homeless, and everyone needs a seat at the table, and no one's illegal-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
... and all this kinda stuff, and then they go, "All right, let's eat," and they just leave. They don't really do the nuts and the bolts. Like I, I realized, you know, like, Trump is a builder. So, he is a commercial builder, so his world is hurry, hurry, get it done, what's going on, what- what's the holdup, why aren't we building?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And so everything when you're a commercial builder is, well, where's the foundation guy? Foundation's done. Where are the framing guys? Framing's done. Where are the drywall guys? Where's the HVAC guys? Where's the plumbing guys? Like, what's taking so long? You know what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
Hurry.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And LA has a bunch of procedural people. Like, they just sit around and talk about stuff. They don't wanna get stuff done. And like when you had Karen Bass, mayor, and you had Trump at that presser, like, a few days later, Trump was going, "Let's go. Let's go. Like, clean your own lots. We don't..." And Karen Bass was like, "Slow your roll, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
She was like on a diff- you know. She was like-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
... "Slow down. Safely. We'll do it safely," 'cause everything is under the sort of tyranny of safety. They don't really realize how much safety fucks people up. I mean, that's what happened with COVID. Like, safety. They said, "We're just gonna shut the schools." Like, yeah, you're just gonna ruin civilization because you said it was safe.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ACAdam Carolla
And, and no one argues with you when you go, "Safety, safety, safety," but safety can be debilitating.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
I mean, you can stop progress. You can ruin young lives. Like, too much safety stops a society, and they're all safety oriented and they're process people, so they're like, "Slow it down, slow it down," and Trump's like, "Speed it up," and that's what you have in LA. You have just sort of safety, process, mostly women just kind of running the thing going, "If one child gets COVID, that's one child... No, no, no, bitch."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
"We gotta open shit up and we gotta get moving," you know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
And that's basically what happened with COVID. The thing about the fires is, like, you know, Gavin Newsom's like, "Oh, climate change." You know, just blame everything on climate change-
- JRJoe Rogan
That was hilarious.
- ACAdam Carolla
... which is insane.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's hilarious.
- ACAdam Carolla
But it's like, look, New Orleans is below sea, below sea level. They're, they're down, and, and so they have seawalls. So, man intervenes, and gets involved with nature, and says, "We'll make it safe." You know, like, plenty of people live in Nevada now. They have air conditioning. Somebody figured out air conditioning, and now there's casinos in Nevada, where it used to be unlivable because of the heat. Earthquake. You know, you take LA, and I used to do earthquake rehab in Los Angeles. You take a 7.3 earthquake in Los Angeles and almost nothing happens. There's no death. There's a couple apartment buildings in Reseda fall off their whatever. It's really, it's almost nothing in LA, like a 7.3. 7.3 in Guatemala, place is leveled, right? So, what, what's the difference? Well, we have a bunch of codes in earthquake, reinforced concrete. We know... We build for earthquakes, and so when an earthquake hits, almost nothing happens. So, you can mitigate any of this stuff. Like, you're talking about climate change. Well, earth- earthquake is sort of the ultimate climate change if you think about it. It's like, it's going to shake the Earth.
- JRJoe Rogan
You're making an argument for those giant pylons.
- ACAdam Carolla
Ah.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- 1:08:11 – 1:15:49
COVID enforcement, media propaganda, and why reputation is the only real asset
- ACAdam Carolla
Yeah, like, nobody in a uniform ever told me to put a mask on.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ACAdam Carolla
It was all middle-aged women. It was... There was nobody of any... who had any authority or a badge-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
... or a gun. It was all the idiots that had been weaponized in the society.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, and it was also a thing where they had the opportunity to yell at you, and you just had to take it.
- ACAdam Carolla
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
They were on the right side. "Put a fucking mask on!" Like, "Whoa. Who are you talking to, bitch?"
- ACAdam Carolla
I-
- JRJoe Rogan
"Why are you talking to me like that?"
- ACAdam Carolla
I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Everybody had to just eat it.
- ACAdam Carolla
I think all roads lead to narcissism.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
Like, they felt like, they go, "I have a son who has asthma."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
"Do you think it's okay?" "Me" Everything was I, me, I.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yep.
- ACAdam Carolla
"I have an elderly parent."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
"I am a caregiver. I, me."
- JRJoe Rogan
"You killed my granny."
- ACAdam Carolla
"Me, a-" Yes, that was-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ACAdam Carolla
... that was all... God, that was all, that's all it was. It-
- JRJoe Rogan
But what also, but no anger towards the people that created the disease.
- ACAdam Carolla
I know.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like it's a cr- lit- once, once the information came out and literally n- Newsweek was, I think, the first place that broke on the front cover, the, the lab leak hypothesis, and they were, they were saying it seems like that a- is actually the case, nobody got angry. Y- they, you, you were, you were angry at people that didn't want to get vaccinated, and you didn't get angry at the person who used science to create a horrible disease that was completely avoidable and that killed who knows how many people. That didn't make you mad?
- ACAdam Carolla
Well, I think what was going on, because y- you and I and... I've talked to a lot of people about this, like, "Where's the anger over finding out that it was made in China at a lab," and, and so on and so forth, and then where's the anger over being forced or being vaxxed or all this misinformation being used and blah, blah, blah? And I realized, they don't want to say anything 'cause, uh, they're ashamed, because they were the ones who bought it and enforced it and got really militant about it and started screaming at anyone who suggested it came from a lab or suggested-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- 1:15:49 – 2:06:00
Sterile modern life, weak ‘calibration,’ and the case for resistance in body and mind
- ACAdam Carolla
toggling in between the blue-collar world and the sort of ideas world of, you know, air conditioning and cubicles and thoughts and ideas and stuff, and then being on a job site. The job site guys are the most even guys I've ever hung out with. Co-... By the way, COVID, neither here nor there, to, to the workers, to the dudes putting on the tool bags and swinging a hammer. Just, I've spent a lot of time with these guys, and I would go from the job site, blue-collar, regular dudes, and then I'd go into the white-collar world, and it's triple mask, and everyone's distancing and dumping Purell on their hand. (laughs) And I was like, "What, what is so different about these two?" Mm-hmm. And w-... The ones... Th- they're up in their head, they intellectualize everything, and the other guys are tactile, and they have a relationship with danger. Everything on that job site could cut your hand off. Th- there's belt sanders and band saws and... Like, routers are really dangerous. Th- they have, you know, carbide bits on them that'll gouge you and fuck you up badly, and you gotta know what you're doing. Like, and, and, and a router's not the same as a high-point saw, and that's not the same as a framing gun. Like, you have to sort of know, and there is no such thing as, "Well, that's dangerous. Don't use... don't use the power saw." Right. "It's too dangerous." Like, "Well, we gotta build a house." "Well, it's too dangerous." Right. "Well, uh, well, we gotta speed it up." Meaning, like, you gotta get up on scaffolding, or you gotta get on a ladder. But you have to do it, and you, you have to weigh it, you know? You have to kind of go, "Well, it's going to take a long time to put scaffolding all the way around this house. How about I just put a ladder?" And you go, "Well, that's not as safe as scaffolding." "Yeah, I know, but we gotta do this thing." And so, it's a constant weighing of danger. Right. Like, pros, cons, what could happen? 'Cause everything could kill you in that situation, but you have to get the job done. And so those guys are calibrated. And so, like, COVID felt like something to them, but they calibrated the danger and realized, "Yes, it's a thing, but I also have to go to work, and schools need to be open, and it doesn't really affect kids. Let's protect the old people." Like, it... They had to make those decisions. And the white-collar college crowd w-... cannot calibrate, and they don't know what to do with danger. Mm... They, they don't know how to deal with it, and they've been off the farm for so long, and in the air conditioning, that it's gone. Right. Like, you grow up on a farm, and that's part of your life, and that used to be part of everyone's life. You were just going to a factory, working a stamp or in a press, you know, whatever it is that could take your hand off. And then you're on a farm, and it's the same thing. Equipment, stuff's above, stuff, stuff can happen. You're constantly sort of calibrated- Mm... ... for danger. And then you move everyone out of the farm and off the factory and out of the construction site, and you put them in an air-conditioned cubicle, and you slather them up with Purell, and they lose all their calibration. Mm... So when something like COVID comes along, they go, "Oh, shit. Close everything, get a distance, put a mask on." Uh, e- even if you're going to swim practice, you gotta wear the mask in the pool. (laughs) Because we gotta... We're... It's, it's 100% safety uber alles, 'cause they weren't- Yeah. No one was calibrated. And it was all of the administrators and the teachers and all the academics and all the people that ran college, they were making all... They were the ones that were doing all the process for this. They were making all the rules. Mm-hmm. It wasn't the blue-collar- Right. ... guys making the rules. It was all the white-collar, college-educated people. Terrified people. Terrified. (laughs) Because they don't... They don't have a relationship with danger. They don't, they don't have that. I think you just laid it out. That was brilliant. It's true. It's absolutely true.
Episode duration: 2:54:07
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Transcript of episode mzSapYmzA_g
