Joe Rogan Experience #2412 - Adam Carolla

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. ACAdam Carolla0:01

      (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.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      What's happening?

   3. ACAdam Carolla0:15

      Oh, man. Everything. It's been a while.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      It's been a few years, man.

   5. ACAdam Carolla0:18

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:19

      When was the last time I saw you?

   7. ACAdam Carolla0:21

      I think I saw you outside of the Icehouse.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:25

      Oh, yeah.

   9. ACAdam Carolla0:26

      You were coming in, doing a set. You got a Land Cruiser or something-

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:29

       (laughs)

   11. ACAdam Carolla0:30

       ... with a LS swap engine in it or something.

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:32

       Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

   13. ACAdam Carolla0:33

       And you showed it to me, and I think, uh... I was thinking about it. I went to your house to do the podcast.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:40

       Early in the day.

   15. ACAdam Carolla0:40

       Early.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       Yeah.

   17. ACAdam Carolla0:41

       Like, up Deep Valley, up the hill.

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Mm-hmm.

   19. ACAdam Carolla0:45

       And then I think, uh, you got your place sort of down, strip mall kinda, kinda place, down in the flatlands of the valley.

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       Yeah. Woodland Hills.

   21. ACAdam Carolla0:54

       I went there. Yeah. And I think that... I mean, it's been a million years.

   22. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       Yeah. It's been a while. Time flies, buddy. (laughs)

   23. ACAdam Carolla1:01

       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.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:09

       (laughs)

   25. ACAdam Carolla1:09

       You know what I mean? Now, I'm old and happy and rich, and it just flies by.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:14

       (laughs)

   27. ACAdam Carolla1:14

       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-"

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:24

       You know why that is? It's relative. It's a-

   29. ACAdam Carolla1:26

       Yes.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:26

       ... percentage of your life.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Ugh. …

   1. ACAdam Carolla15:00

      up, shut up, shut up. Here's your award-"

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:02

      Ugh.

   3. ACAdam Carolla15:02

      ... at the end for talking.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      (laughs) Yeah, that is weird.

   5. ACAdam Carolla15:05

      I would al- I would get rid of the award or stop telling everyone to shut up all the time.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:10

      Well, you know, it's undermotivated teachers that are underpaid.

   7. ACAdam Carolla15:13

      Well, who attracts... You know, I've, I'm thinking about, like, who's attracted to that profession?

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:18

      Right.

   9. ACAdam Carolla15:19

      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.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:49

       Right.

   11. ACAdam Carolla15:49

       You're just here, you know?

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       Yeah.

   13. ACAdam Carolla15:50

       I mean, save the 10% who love kids or just wanna work with kids, but most of my teachers were miserable.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:59

       Most. Yeah. Miserable and very uninspiring. And this made you... I, I used to have nightmares wh- after I left high school, that I failed and I had to go back. I used to have nightmares-

   15. ACAdam Carolla16:10

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan16:11

       ... that I didn't get my diploma.

   17. ACAdam Carolla16:12

       Oh. It's funny, I wanted to go back because I wanted to play football.

   18. JRJoe Rogan16:17

       (laughs)

   19. ACAdam Carolla16:17

       Like, that... I didn't wanna go to... I didn't wanna go, go to class, but I would have dreams about going back to play like one more year of football-

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:24

       Oh, that's funny.

   21. ACAdam Carolla16:25

       ... because it's all I wanted to do and it was the only thing I was good at, you know, back, back then. And then once I got out of high school, it was just, pfft, you know, construction sites, garbage, you know.

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:34

       Yeah, me too. I just didn't know what to do. I mean, I was fighting at the time, but I didn't know, like, what I was gonna do with my life.

   23. ACAdam Carolla16:42

       Did anyone tell you... Like, I never had anyone go, "Hey, you should do comedy. Like, that seems to be your thing, or it seems to be what you're interested in or where your proclivities are." I never had that. I didn't have anyone in my family say it, I didn't have any of my friends say it, I never had a teacher say it. I never... I never had a guidance counselor say it. It never, it never came up in my life. Did it-

   24. JRJoe Rogan17:05

       It did. Yeah.

   25. ACAdam Carolla17:06

       ... come up for you?

   26. JRJoe Rogan17:07

       With me, it was guys that I would go to tournaments with.

   27. ACAdam Carolla17:10

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan17:11

       So we would all be scared because e- We'd be on a bus or something traveling out of state to go to some tournament and everybody'd be, like, real nervous because there's a real good chance you might get kicked in the head and knocked unconscious. And I would be the guy that broke the ice. I would be making fun of everything and-

   29. ACAdam Carolla17:26

       Mm-hmm.

   30. JRJoe Rogan17:26

       ... making everybody laugh. And my friend Steve, who's... Steve Graham, who's a good friend of mine still to this day, he was older than me at the time. I think I was like 16 and he was probably 30, 31, something like that. He's an ophthalmologist.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. ACAdam Carolla30:00

      practice are not dissimilar. It's just torture young people-

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      Mm-hmm.

   3. ACAdam Carolla30:04

      ... essentially, and kind of try to break them a little bit.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:09

      Mm-hmm.

   5. ACAdam Carolla30:09

      And wrestling is probably more torturous than, than football, but football is hot because it's the San Fernando Valley or wherever, Florida-

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:19

      Mmm.

   7. ACAdam Carolla30:19

      ... and you're outside, and you're in a uniform, and you're just baking-

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:23

      Yeah.

   9. ACAdam Carolla30:23

      ... in the sun, and they didn't want to give you water-

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:26

       (laughs)

   11. ACAdam Carolla30:26

       ... 'cause they thought it was bad for you. But really-

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:30

       (laughs)

   13. ACAdam Carolla30:30

       ... thinking back on it-

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       (laughs) How dumb that is. It's so dumb.

   15. ACAdam Carolla30:32

       Well, I, it wasn't... I think they didn't want to do it 'cause they thought it would make you soft.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:37

       They thought you would get cramped up.

   17. ACAdam Carolla30:38

       Well, they-

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       That's what people used to think.

   19. ACAdam Carolla30:39

       They would say... Yeah, they'd say, "You're gonna cramp up." But, but there's another underlying point, which is you would enjoy it.

   20. JRJoe Rogan30:47

       Mm.

   21. ACAdam Carolla30:47

       And they didn't wanna do anything that you enjoyed. Like, they-

   22. JRJoe Rogan30:51

       Oh, yeah.

   23. ACAdam Carolla30:51

       ... their whole thing was, "We're gonna torture you."

   24. JRJoe Rogan30:53

       Yeah.

   25. ACAdam Carolla30:54

       And if you want water, then you're not getting water.

   26. JRJoe Rogan30:56

       Wanna hear something crazy? When I was a kid, when I was fighting, I didn't like that I wanted sex. I didn't like that, uh, I, I desired pleasure, because I thought it was weak. Because I thought that anything soft and sensual, anything that feels good is gonna make you weak.

   27. ACAdam Carolla31:18

       Right.

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:18

       'Cause all I was thinking about was competing, and I was just thinking about keeping an edge on everybody, and that sex was like, "Damn it." Like, I didn't like that I liked it. I thought it was a weakness.

   29. ACAdam Carolla31:30

       Did you have a-

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:31

       Isn't that crazy?
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. ACAdam Carolla45:00

      or whatever it is-

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      Mm-hmm.

   3. ACAdam Carolla45:01

      ... and then they make you go 2,000 times further than you needed to go, and I was talking to the guy, I said, "How much into this foundation before you can start building?" He said, "$2.5 million-"

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:15

      (laughs)

   5. ACAdam Carolla45:15

      "... into the ground." That's the ground, that's before the first-

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:19

      And is this a new standard?

   7. ACAdam Carolla45:21

      Well, what they do, is they just add new ones every year.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:24

      Right.

   9. ACAdam Carolla45:24

      So, it just keeps getting more and more and more-

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:27

       Right.

   11. ACAdam Carolla45:27

       ... and then eventually that house becomes, it becomes impractical to build there, because it costs too much money, and then you don't have houses. So, that's what we do with-

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:39

       Mm.

   13. ACAdam Carolla45:39

       ... all housing in Los Angeles. And that's why the city council's like, "We need more housing." And it's like, "Well, you're not gonna get more housing, bitch, 'cause you're overregulated."

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:49

       Yeah.

   15. ACAdam Carolla45:49

       And no one can reach that standard, and it's too expensive.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:52

       Well, and it's also, th- then it's not consistent with the houses that are already okay. Like, how about those houses that are like on the side of a hill with like poles? (laughs) Just poles stuck into the ground, like half the house is hanging over the hill.

   17. ACAdam Carolla46:05

       Oh, well, the thing about Malibu is the Malibu Pier is 125 years old, and that's just telephone poles going into the ground.

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:14

       Yeah.

   19. ACAdam Carolla46:15

       I mean, all they did back then is take a pile driver and just mash a telephone pole into the ground, and then they'd build, they'd build... Many of the houses that burnt down were on those, 'cause they were like from the '40s and the '50s.

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:29

       Mm.

   21. ACAdam Carolla46:29

       So, the foundation was fine. It was the fire that got the house.

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:33

       Is anybody developing a legitimate fireproof house?

   23. ACAdam Carolla46:37

       Yes.

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:38

       Yeah? What's that like?

   25. ACAdam Carolla46:39

       Um-

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:40

       Cement outside?

   27. ACAdam Carolla46:41

       Yeah. I mean, basically what they're doing is they're doing a cement... Yeah. So, it's, it's like the walls are like modular, and it's filled with like foam and like sort of a wire cage. And then the outside, they spray on gunite, which is like lightweight cement, just like trowel it on. So, the inside and the outside is, is essentially cement. But, you know, a stucco house is basically cement too. Like, really what they're doing now is they're saying, "We're gonna frame the houses the way we always frame the houses, with wood." 'Cause I think a lot of people go, "Well, why aren't they using steel or metal studs or concrete?" Or like, "Why are they using... Why aren't they using non-combustible materials?" And what they're doing essentially, 'cause I just walked one of these houses in the Palisades, they're building it in a traditional way using wood, but they're making the outside fireproof.

   28. JRJoe Rogan47:39

       Mm-hmm.

   29. ACAdam Carolla47:39

       They're not gonna have the eaves, the rafter tails hanging out, the wooden-

   30. JRJoe Rogan47:43

       Right, right.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:15:00

   Right. …

   1. ACAdam Carolla1:00:00

      six stories deep. That's the-

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

      Right.

   3. ACAdam Carolla1:00:02

      That's the point.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

      Right.

   5. ACAdam Carolla1:00:02

      There should be some.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      Right.

   7. ACAdam Carolla1:00:05

      Once you keep going, that's where it gets real burdensome and real expensive.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:11

      Mm-hmm.

   9. ACAdam Carolla1:00:11

      Like, you know, your car should have a crumple zone and an airbag, but it doesn't need a full roll cage and a fuel cell, and you don't need to wear a helmet when you're driving. It would be safer, but it would cost so much more to manufacture that car that most people couldn't afford the car.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:32

       Right.

   11. ACAdam Carolla1:00:32

       So, you can make cars with a fire suppression system, and like my race cars have systems for fire suppression, but it would add 15 grand to the price (laughs) of every car, and it's not... So, you have to kinda pick your battles. So, we did not prepare for the fires. We didn't clear the brush. We didn't fill the reservoirs. We didn't do all the stuff.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:54

       All things that could be done.

   13. ACAdam Carolla1:00:55

       And Newsom goes, "Climate change," and my thing is, yeah, climate change, fine. Le- uh, let's make your argument, climate change. Now do something.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:05

       Yeah.

   15. ACAdam Carolla1:01:05

       But is it really... Like, if you really-

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:06

       But it's not climate change.

   17. ACAdam Carolla1:01:07

       It isn't. It isn't.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:08

       It's not 'cause LA's had the same climate forever. There's been fires that happened through LA where LA burns half to the ground. I mean, while I was doing Fear Factor, there was a crazy fire that-... as I was driving home, that was the time where, where a guy died on the highway. I got to see this. I didn't see him get hit, but this guy got hit trying to make it across the highway when everybody was panicking. But it took an hour of driving home, where the entire right side of the highway was on flames like the Lord of the Rings. So, this is always... And this is, like, early 2000s. So, it's-

   19. ACAdam Carolla1:01:38

       Oh, yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:39

       LA's always caught fire. It doesn't rain there. It doesn't rain there, ever. And it's been like that forever. That's why they film movies there. It's not climate change, you fucking asshole.

   21. ACAdam Carolla1:01:50

       No, I agree.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:51

       It's a lack of preparation.

   23. ACAdam Carolla1:01:52

       Well, listen, it- it only rain- the only time it ever rains is three days after the fire-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:58

       (laughs)

   25. ACAdam Carolla1:01:58

       ... so we can have a mudslide.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:59

       Nice, yeah. (laughs)

   27. ACAdam Carolla1:02:00

       And so, you know, we can have a sort of end of days type Sodom and Gomorrah situation. So, that is the only time it, it rains, is just to cause the mudslide after the fire. But to prove your point with climate change, they're always talking about rising sea levels, right? All the houses that burned to the ground are on the ocean, and the ocean didn't get them. It was the fire that got them. The- the- the- the places on PCH, many of those places have been there since the 30s and 40s. The ocean's in the same place. It- it hasn't moved at all.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:39

       Exactly.

   29. ACAdam Carolla1:02:39

       The ocean is only six or eight feet below PCH. It's not even that low. It's never on PCH, it never makes it to PCH. And to show... It's a weird thing, 'cause people in California talk about climate change, but the lots that are on the ocean side of PCH are 10 million bucks more-

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:03:01

       (laughs)
6. 1:15:00 – 1:19:58

   Section 6

   1. ACAdam Carolla1:15:00

      'Cause I'm s- I'm still gonna be this person. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's, it's like you own the building we're sitting in, so you can be wrong. Yeah. It's your building. Right. It's still gonna be your building. Right. Y- You know what I mean? But if it's not your building, and you're just sort of temporary, and you don't own anything, and you don't master anything, and nothing has your name on it, well, then you're f- fighting for that. You know? Well, you're fighting for your very identity. You're fi-... Yeah, that becomes part of your identity. Wow. Whereas, like, COVID, being right or being wrong wasn't really... I wasn't that wrapped up in it. I had other things that was going on. So, I think we're dealing with a deficit of expertise, and these people are fighting hard. Like, for me, a lot of it, 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