Joe Rogan Experience #2468 - Luke Grimes

Luke Grimes is an actor and musician who stars as Kayce Dutton in the “Yellowstone” spin-off series “Marshals,” airing Sundays at 8 PM Pacific / 7 PM Central on CBS and available to stream on Paramount+. His new album, “Red Bird,” will be released on April 3. https://www.cbs.com/shows/marshals https://www.youtube.com/@LukeGrimes https://www.lukegrimesmusic.com

Joe RoganhostLuke Grimesguest

Mar 13, 20262h 40mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

150 min read · 30,026 words

0:00 – 0:02
Intro
1. JRJoe Rogan
  [upbeat music]
0:02 – 1:42
Yellowstone’s unexpected success & Taylor Sheridan’s impossible workload
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.
2. SPSpeaker
  The Joe Rogan Experience.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. [upbeat music]
4. LGLuke Grimes
  This is surreal being here, dude.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Is it?
6. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, I've been listening to the show for years.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] Well, I've been watching your show for years.
8. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah?
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Are we rolling, Jamie? All right, beautiful. I love your fucking show. It's great.
10. LGLuke Grimes
  Ah, thanks, man.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  It's really awesome, man. Espe- well, I haven't watched Marshals yet. Is it out now?
12. LGLuke Grimes
  It is.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  When did it come out?
14. LGLuke Grimes
  Um, M- March 1st.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, okay.
16. LGLuke Grimes
  So they just had the second episode air.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Damn, I like to binge, man.
18. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, yeah.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  I like to wait until-
20. LGLuke Grimes
  Wait a little bit then
21. JRJoe Rogan
  ... stay offline. I like to sit down and binge 'em.
22. LGLuke Grimes
  For sure.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, but Yellowstone's fucking awesome. It's such a great show. Did you have any idea it was gonna be what it is?
24. LGLuke Grimes
  Uh, not, no. I don't think anybody did. I thought it would find an audience, for sure. I mean, Taylor was really, you know, hot at the time. He'd, he'd, he'd been nominated for Oscars and I was kinda, like, surprised he was even writing a television show. He was just, like, so hot in the, the film business.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  How the fuck does that guy even sleep?
26. LGLuke Grimes
  I don't know, man.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Does... Where does he have the time? Every time I look in the news or I t- there's a new show that he's doing, a new thing he's doing. It's like, what, how are you doing all this?
28. LGLuke Grimes
  It's impressive, you know.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  It's insane.
30. LGLuke Grimes
  I feel like, uh, there's a lot of people I've worked with where they do things im- that are impressive, but his is impossible.
1:42 – 3:18
Great Westerns, creative heroes, and what makes Unforgiven special
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Who did direct Unforgiven?
2. LGLuke Grimes
  Clint Eastwood.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  That's the fucking greatest Western movie of all time.
4. LGLuke Grimes
  It is.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  It's the best.
6. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  It's like, y- you know what it, what it was like to me? It was like he was making up for all the silly Westerns, and was like, "Let me show you what it was probably really like."
8. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  What it was really like when a man was about to get shot. What it was really like when a dude was a stone cold killer.
10. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  What, what was it really, like, the hardships of living back then.
12. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, and it's interesting too, because he starts out kind of a loser.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
14. LGLuke Grimes
  Those first, you know, like, the first three quarters of the movie, he's this sort of timid guy who's lost his power, you know? And then he takes that one s- sip of whiskey-
15. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
16. LGLuke Grimes
  ... and it's all over for everybody else. [laughs]
17. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
18. LGLuke Grimes
  It's a crazy premise.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  It's such a good movie.
20. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. [laughs]
21. JRJoe Rogan
  It's such a good fucking movie, man. But yeah, Taylor is a, he's a real freak, and, uh, there's not a lot of humans like him. And it's, his background story is so interesting. You know, like, he was just kinda scrambling around till he was almost, like, 40.
22. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. It's like a real life Rocky-
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah
24. LGLuke Grimes
  ... story or something. Like, rags to riches, the whole, the whole thing.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  I know, man. It's just, I just do- I guess that's why he has so much ambition, 'cause he knows what it's like to be poor.
26. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  You know? He knows what it's like to, like, barely make it.
28. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  And then all of a sudden he's got a kid on the way, and he's like, "Oh, shit, I gotta buckle down-
30. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah
3:18 – 6:00
Golf, addictive personalities, and presidents on the links
1. LGLuke Grimes
  You know what's weird is he does, he does ha- like, have a good time too. It's not like he doesn't hang out with his family or friends or, you know. That's the, the craziest thing to me, is, like, the guy has a really fun life and is able to do all that. I guess, like, the moral of the story is don't play golf, you know? [laughs]
2. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
3. LGLuke Grimes
  Then I'll take up all your time.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  No shit, man.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Tell that to Jamie. [laughs]
7. LGLuke Grimes
  If I can get out once a week, it's great.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, he's-
9. LGLuke Grimes
  It's hard
10. JRJoe Rogan
  ... he's an addict. Jamie's an addict. Well, he's got a simulator back there. He's always whacking golf balls.
11. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, all my friends are trying to get me to play. I'm like, "I'm not doing it, man. That's a six-hour commitment, fucking around."
13. LGLuke Grimes
  No, man. The, the, the amount of time it takes to get good enough that it's not the worst thing ever-
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Right
15. LGLuke Grimes
  ... is too much time.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. And my problem is I'm, I'm an addict. Like, when I start doing things, I just start, like, "Okay, I need to play in the PGA." [laughs]
17. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. [laughs]
18. JRJoe Rogan
  I start, I start going crazy. I'll start getting lessons, and fuck that.
19. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, don't do it. We need your show, man.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
21. LGLuke Grimes
  We need you.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  It's, I've... Well, I'm never doing it.
23. LGLuke Grimes
  We can do both.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
25. LGLuke Grimes
  We can try it. We can try it.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
27. LGLuke Grimes
  Try it out.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  No, I know. All my friends who play fucking love it. Ron White and Tony Hinchcliffe, they go out every day. It's like, it's too much, man. I can't do it.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, it's, y- you can't play golf and do what Taylor's doing. That's for damn sure.
6:00 – 9:50
Luke’s music career: starting at 39, stage fright, and imposter syndrome
1. JRJoe Rogan
  ... you have music and you have acting. Like, you said, that's gotta be kinda hard to manage.
2. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, it's proving pretty difficult, and having an 18-month-old-
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, that too
4. LGLuke Grimes
  ... in the mix. Yeah.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  So no sleep?
6. LGLuke Grimes
  Uh, yeah, we're, we're getting there. I, I... You know, the, the music thing is sort of... It's kinda nice 'cause there's not a lot of pressure on it. You know, for me, I'm, I, I have a day job, you know.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
8. LGLuke Grimes
  I have this thing that supports my family, and the music I can do to, like, my passion level, uh, you know, and I d- a- and I wouldn't do it to the point where I'm, like, away from my family too much, you know. So I can... I like making the music. Touring is kinda hard, and it's, and it's also new for me, so learning how to do that at 40 was, uh, kind of interesting. You know, I feel like in my 20s that would've been the most fun ever.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
10. LGLuke Grimes
  Sleeping on a bus with 12 dudes and just going from city to city and, you know, drinking backstage and playing country music. That would've been a blast, but I'm, you know, I'm too old for... to do that the right way. [laughs]
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. When you tour, do you go out, or do you do, like, a weekend and then come back? Or do you just-
12. LGLuke Grimes
  When you're on a full-blown tour, the, the, the way that it financially works the best is to just stay kind of going. So you're doing, like, three shows, like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 'cause you've got the bus rented, you've got all the equipment rented, you got the guys, you know, on salary. So you just have to keep going. It's actually really hard to- for it to pencil out when you're just doing a show here and there.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. Yeah. That's... Stand-up comedy is so much easier in that regard. I've only done one stand-up comedy tour tour. I did it with Charlie Murphy and Jon Heffron. We, we did this Bud Light Maxim tour back in 2007, and we did, like, 22 dates in a month. And so it was like, I would wake up, and I wouldn't know where I was. I'd look at the ceiling. I'm going, "Where the fuck am I?" I don't... I, I would have to think, "Uh, Columbus." You know?
14. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  I'd have to, like, go through my head and figure out where I am when I woke up.
16. LGLuke Grimes
  Was there ever, like, a period of stage fright when you started doing stand-up?
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, yeah.
18. LGLuke Grimes
  Really?
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, yeah. The first day. I was more f- afraid the first time I got on stage than I was the first time I fought.
20. LGLuke Grimes
  Whoa.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  It was nuts.
22. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  I was like, "Why am I so nervous?" I was like r- I was thinking about chickenin' out. I was thinking about not doing it. [laughs]
24. LGLuke Grimes
  I do that every time I play a music show, dude.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
26. LGLuke Grimes
  I'm like, "Can I just call it off?" [laughs]
27. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] Do you still get stage fright right now?
28. LGLuke Grimes
  Really bad. Well-
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
30. LGLuke Grimes
  Well, that's the thing, man. I've, I've... I'd always played music b- and, and when I was playing in bands and playing out, I was the drummer.
9:50 – 15:13
From acting to record deals: grief, risk-taking, and proving legitimacy
1. JRJoe Rogan
  When did you first get on stage to sing? How old were you?
2. LGLuke Grimes
  Um, the very first show I played, I was 39.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh my God. [laughs]
4. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. Yeah.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh. [laughs]
6. LGLuke Grimes
  Like, I had done karaoke before.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
8. LGLuke Grimes
  Right? But, uh, you know, I... It kinda came about in the weirdest way. I, I literally was on set one day and get a call out of the blue from this manager, this music manager, uh, Matt Graham, who's a great manager and a really good friend of mine. But he called and said, "Hey, I know you don't know who I am, but I know that you're a musician, and, you know, I, I love Yellowstone. I love you in that show. Would... Is that something that you would wanna take seriously?" And I was like, like, "What does that mean?" He's like, "I bet I could get you a record deal." And I was like, "No, man. That's... No, no, I don't wanna do that." And we talked for two years, and over the course of the two years, I really started to trust him. He sort of, like, explained to me what, you know, what would be required, and long story short, my f- my father passed away somewhere in there, and sort of one of the last things he sort of conveyed to me was like, "If there's anything you wanna do while you're here, do it." You know? And, uh, something about that moment, I was like, "I'm just gonna fucking do it. You know, I don't care. I'm... What's, what's the worst thing that can happen? I'm another actor who made a goofy album."
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
10. LGLuke Grimes
  "So what? I got to do it, you know?" Um, so I did, and then immediately it's like, well, now you have to go tour it. Otherwise, you know, they're not gonna put up the money for you to make these things if you don't go sell it, you know? So the tour is sort of to get the music out there and get people buying it. Um, and so yeah, first show, it was in Billings, Montana, for I think it was 1,200 people.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Whoa.
12. LGLuke Grimes
  Um, at this place called, I think it was Pub Station.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  What was that like first time doing it? [laughs]
14. LGLuke Grimes
  Dude, I blacked out, man.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
16. LGLuke Grimes
  Like, not drinking. Like, I just blacked out on nerves, dude.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
18. LGLuke Grimes
  Like, it, you know, it started, my knees were shaking, my hands were shaking. This is before I knew about, like, beta blockers or anything like that.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
20. LGLuke Grimes
  And I... The show was over, and I was like, "How, how was... Was that okay? How, how'd that go?" And everybody's, "It was good. You know, it was good. It was fine." The fourth show I ever played was Stagecoach.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Whoa.
22. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. Um-
23. JRJoe Rogan
  That's nuts.
24. LGLuke Grimes
  It was crazy. I mean, it was earlier in the day. It's not like I had, you know, 100,000 people out there, but still, that's a big stage.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a big stage.
26. LGLuke Grimes
  And, um, yeah. I, so, but, you know, little by little it got somewhat better. I don't black out anymore. I kind of, I know where I'm at, and I'm, I'm there. But, uh, it's still something I deal with.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Oliver Anthony, the first show he ever played live in front of people was like 20,000 people.
28. LGLuke Grimes
  That's insane. [laughs]
29. JRJoe Rogan
  It's so nuts. [laughs]
30. LGLuke Grimes
  That's insane. Yeah.
15:13 – 22:31
Joe’s own career leaps: podcasting, UFC commentary, and rejecting Hollywood norms
1. JRJoe Rogan
  This one, there was other people doing it already, but it wasn't a job for the longest time. It's kind of a fun story that me and my wife always joke around about, 'cause, like, one time she was taking the ki- we were all supposed to go to Disneyland, but I, I had to do this podcast. I'm like... She was like, "You don't have to do it." I go, "But I do. I do it every week." But it wasn't really making any money back then.
2. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  But I was like, "I promised people it would be out." Like, "I gotta do it." Now she's like, "Thank God you didn't listen to me." [laughs]
4. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
5. JRJoe Rogan
  It's just, [clears throat] I di- I mean, I got lucky. I, I came in right at the right time. There was only a few people doing it back then, and I just did it for fun. I just thought, "That would be fun to do."
6. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  And then all of a sudden it became a job.
8. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. And with the UFC stuff, too.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
10. LGLuke Grimes
  That was-
11. JRJoe Rogan
  That, too. That was fun, too.
12. LGLuke Grimes
  Did you think that would become what it became?
13. JRJoe Rogan
  No. No. When I first started doing it was in 1997, [clears throat] and it was, uh, in a high school auditorium in Dothan, Alabama, and we had to take a propeller plane to get there. And, uh, it was banned from cable, so you could only watch it on DirecTV. This was UFC 12, and-
14. LGLuke Grimes
  Wow
15. JRJoe Rogan
  ... there was no one in the audience, and no one was watching it. And I was already on a TV show. I was on news radio. And the people on news radio, like the actors and the producers, they were like, "What are you doing? You're flying to go do cage fighting?" It, it was almost like I was doing porn. [laughs]
16. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
17. JRJoe Rogan
  You know? It's like... Or s- fucking snuff films or something.
18. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  It's like, "Dude, you're gonna ruin your life doing this." I was like, "I don't, I don't know what you guys are talking about. This is what I've always wanted to see. I've always wanted to see all the best martial artists of different styles get together. Nobody ever did it. These guys are doing it. I'm gonna go."
20. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  I'm like, "This is..."
22. LGLuke Grimes
  I remember renting the, like, first few from Blockbuster.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
24. LGLuke Grimes
  Remember that?
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
26. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh, it was the best. It was like Bloodsport back then.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, yeah. Oh, it changed my life. I got UFC 2, was the first one. The first one wasn't available. You had to get 2 was the only one, and it was on VHS tape. And I had a buddy of mine who told me about it. He's like, "Dude, you gotta see this thing, man." He goes, "They got these guys, they're fighting in a cage, and this one dude's just choking everybody, and he's wearing a gi." I was like, "Really? What is it?" And then I watched it, and I was like, "Holy shit."
28. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  I was hooked, like, right away. I was like, "They fucking did it. They actually did it." 'Cause, like, when I was a kid, everybody thought that what they were... If you did karate, you thought karate was the best. If you thought judo, you thought judo was the best. And nobody really knew what was the most effective martial art, 'cause nobody had ever put together anything like the UFC.
30. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
22:31 – 28:39
Acting craft vs. “looking easy”: masters, great TV, and the velvet prison
1. LGLuke Grimes
  Right. Which how could you be when... You know, I made the decision that I wanted to be an actor when I was, like, five years old.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
3. LGLuke Grimes
  I didn't know what a- the craft of acting was. My thing, though, honestly, was I loved movies so much, I think I just, because I, I, I liked them more than my life.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  You know? I wanted to live in the movie.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
7. LGLuke Grimes
  I didn't know what making them would actually be like. I didn't know what that career looked like. I didn't know what acting was. But I would go to the movie theater and wanna be in it.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
9. LGLuke Grimes
  And I'd also see the guy... And I, I don't know, whatever the skill set was, I was like, "Whatever they're doing, I think I can do that. I, I think I have whatever that is." And, you know, thank God I was at least somewhat right or I'd be waiting tables in LA right now.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, it's a interesting thing, right? Because it's a craft that seems like you're just doing normal life, right? Like, you're, you're pretending, but you're, you're acting and behaving in a way that people do act and behave. Like, that's the key to it. It has to be believable.
11. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  So most people watch it go, "I can do that."
13. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, it's, this is normal life. They're ac- just acting like they're in normal life.
15. LGLuke Grimes
  Right. But what you don't realize is that there's, like, a dude with a beard with a microphone in your face-
16. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
17. LGLuke Grimes
  ... and 200 people standing around waiting for you to be done so they-
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah
19. LGLuke Grimes
  ... can do their job again.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Sipping coffee.
21. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. [laughs]
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Shaking their head. [laughs]
23. LGLuke Grimes
  Right at their lot. [laughs]
24. JRJoe Rogan
  And if you fuck up a line, like, "Oh, Jesus."
25. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. [laughs]
26. JRJoe Rogan
  "This fucking guy. Fucking unprofessional."
27. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  Exactly.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. It's a weird gig, man. It's a weird gig, and it's not what most people think it is. And you can tell that by, like, the masters, the real masters. You know, when you see, like, a Daniel Day Lewis do it, and you're like, "Okay, whatever he's doing, I'm not doing that."
28:39 – 44:36
Vegas as ‘the Death Star’: gambling culture, Dana White stories, and slap fighting
1. LGLuke Grimes
  I'll check it out. Do you like Vegas?
2. JRJoe Rogan
  I mean, I'm there a lot-
3. LGLuke Grimes
  Right
4. JRJoe Rogan
  ... for fights. And when I go, we go to a restaurant, I go play pool, I go to the fights. I don't do anything else.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  So it's like, for me, it's like, yeah, there's great restaurants, you know, the fights are awesome. I love doing that. So it's like, but there's something about it where I ever, every time I go there, I'm like, "Could I live here?" Like, I was actually talking to my friend Tony Hinchcliffe about it this past weekend. We were just there for the fights. And, um, I was saying, like, "What if a..." I went, 'cause, you know, Kill Tony's this gigantic show now. It's huge. He sells out arenas all over the country with it. It's on Netflix. And I was saying, like, "What if a, a Vegas casino offered you a fucking pile of money? Would you, do you think you could ever live here?" And we were just sitting there, and he's like, "I don't... No."
7. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
8. JRJoe Rogan
  "I don't wanna do it."
9. LGLuke Grimes
  I don't think I could do it either.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  'Cause I, I think it's like sleeping next to a vampire. Like, even if you know that the vampire's in the other room-
11. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
12. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and he's not gonna bite your neck, it's like, he's right there.
13. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
14. JRJoe Rogan
  You know? It's like-
15. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, for sure
16. JRJoe Rogan
  ... I don't think it's good for you.
17. LGLuke Grimes
  Vegas, to me, is like, you know when you, you have a big night out on a certain type of booze-
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm
19. LGLuke Grimes
  ... and you get sick?
20. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
21. LGLuke Grimes
  And then, then anytime you drink that booze after that, that, that's Vegas to me.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. Well, you-
23. LGLuke Grimes
  Any time I land in Vegas, I'm like, "Ugh."
24. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
25. LGLuke Grimes
  I just feel gross, 'cause I remember the last time I was there-
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Right
27. LGLuke Grimes
  ... or the first time.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. It's, I think the people that live outside of Vegas, like people live in Henderson and places like that, they love it, 'cause it's really nice out there. Like, you go out to the outskirts of Vegas, there's beautiful neighborhoods and nice communities, and, like, great stores and restaurants and stuff. It's nice. But you're still next to the Death Star.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  It's like this big neon fucking vacuum just sucking people's money out of them.
44:36 – 50:28
Comedy, bombing, and resilience: why losses matter in art and life
1. LGLuke Grimes
  Man, talk about stage fright. I think that is, that would be the hardest art form.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  It's scary.
3. LGLuke Grimes
  Just getting up, you have no help. There's nothing to hide behind.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  There's no music.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
7. LGLuke Grimes
  There's, like, you know, it's just silence and you and a microphone.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  You can't just get into your tune and fucking just play-
9. LGLuke Grimes
  No, yeah
10. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and close your eyes. [laughs]
11. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. No, there was a, there was a film actually one time that I was attached to, to play a stand-up comedian, and I, I promised the director that if we got our funding and got the green light to go, that I'd go do it. That I'd actually go out and, like, work up 15 minutes and just, you know, do it until I understood what it was like. And that movie fell through, and I was very, very happy about that [laughs] 'cause I didn't want to do it.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  It's hard.
13. LGLuke Grimes
  I bet, man.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  It's, it's confusing 'cause the people are just talking. You're like, "Why is that hard to do? Everybody talks." You know? Like, everybody could tell a story. Everybody could... And it seems easy to do-
15. LGLuke Grimes
  No
16. JRJoe Rogan
  ... until you do it, and then you're like, "Oh, this is..." But I was hooked right away, 'cause ri- I d- I sucked. The first night I did, I bombed. But I was like, I got a couple of laughs on some things, and I was like, "I think I can figure this out." But I was, like I said, I was more scared than when I was fighting. I was more scared before, like, a big fight. Like, it was weird. I was like, "Why am I ner-" Uh, it didn't make any sense.
17. LGLuke Grimes
  Huh.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  My friend Whitney Cummings explained it to me. She said, "People have this fear of public speaking because in tribal societies back in the day, the only time you spoke in front of a large group of people was when you're being judged because they were gonna kill you."
19. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh, interesting.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
21. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Doesn't that make sense?
23. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. So, like, if you're in front of, uh, in front of other people, they're all like, "Ugh, what did he do?"
25. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
26. JRJoe Rogan
  You know? So you have to like, "Guys, I didn't steal the tomatoes." [laughs] Like...
27. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. Yeah, I never thought about that.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  That is weird.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  That's what it is.
50:28 – 1:03:32
Training, discipline, and the fight game: jiu-jitsu, champions, and street-fight reality
1. LGLuke Grimes
  I wish I would've started jujitsu when I was small, 'cause I tried, like, you know, late 30s, and I was like... It was kinda like the golf thing, where I was like, well, first of all, it's way cooler than golf. But I was like, "The, the amount of time it's gonna take me until this doesn't feel like being smothered-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah
3. LGLuke Grimes
  ... is gonna be a long time, and I don't know if I have... I sh- I don't know if I can start now." You know what I mean?
4. JRJoe Rogan
  It takes forever.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  I'm sure. Yeah, like, it's, how long would it take for, like, a grown person until it, until you actually know what's going on intuitively, and it doesn't feel like chaos? Like how long-
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, there's, there's layers of knowing intuitively. Like, there's guys, like, even as a black belt, there's guys that I could roll with, and I would just get humiliated-
7. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... 'cause they're just so much better than I am. Like my friend Gordon Ryan, that's his belt up there, Abu Dhabi Champion.
9. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh, cool.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  He's the greatest of all time, like, and he's 30.
11. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  The, the greatest grappler that's ever lived.
13. LGLuke Grimes
  The guy looks like He-Man.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  But he's a, he's a freak.
15. LGLuke Grimes
  He's amazing.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  But he trains 365 days a year. He does not take breaks off. Christmas, fuck you. It's your birthday, fuck you. Happy Easter, fuck you.
17. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  He trains every day, and he trains, like, twice a day, three times a day. It's like, that is the only way to be the greatest. And, you know, and he's obviously a lot bigger than me, but it's not the best example. But he does that to heavyweight black belts, just humiliates them. They have n- he writes down on a piece of paper what he's gonna do to them and hands it to the judges before the fight. So he's like, "I'm gonna triangle this guy."
19. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs] That's crazy.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  And he, and he's doing it to world champions.
21. LGLuke Grimes
  That's amazing.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, guys who have been, like, multiple time world champions.
23. LGLuke Grimes
  Wow.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  And he's just predicting what he's gonna do, and then he passes on every submission until he can get them in that. Like, he's having fun. He's like, he's playing with his food. You know, so there's levels to stuff. So to be competent in rolling, you could get there in a couple years, depending on how often you train. Like, Bourdain got really serious at 58.
25. LGLuke Grimes
  Wow.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  At 58.
27. LGLuke Grimes
  That's when he started?
28. JRJoe Rogan
  That's when he started, yeah.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  When I first met him, he wasn't training at all. When I first met him, um, he came to the UFC. His wife was really into the UFC, and she was, she had just started doing jujitsu. And, um, she was getting him into the sport, and he really got interested in it, and then she took him to jujitsu classes, and like, "Fuck, this is actually kind of fascinating."
1:03:32 – 1:10:15
Fighter psychology: Tyson’s aura, Cus D’Amato, and learning through archives
1. LGLuke Grimes
  Imagine doing that stare down with Mike Tyson back in the day.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, God.
3. LGLuke Grimes
  That'd be the most terrifying thing.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, dude, it was. It was. There would be guys who looked like they were gonna faint when the referee was giving them instructions. You know, I remember he fought Bruce Seldon, and Bruce Seldon, who was a beast, man, he's a fucking tank of a man, and he looked like he was gonna faint w- during the stare down.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  I can't imagine.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
7. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah, he was the scariest of all time, I think.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  He was. He was absolutely the scariest of all time. The scariest boxer that I've ever seen in my life. And there was a, a period of time between, like, 1986 and, like, probably, like, around 1990 where he was just fucking running through everybody. It was so... You would buy the pay-per-view knowing that the guy was gonna get knocked out and hoping that you'd get your money's worth. 'Cause you, the pay-per-view was, like, whatever it was, 50 bucks or something. You know, like, if it's, like, 30 seconds, you're like, "Aw, that is bullshit." [laughs] People would get upset that the, the pay-per-view was so quick.
9. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
10. JRJoe Rogan
  But, I mean, that's what you were, that's what you were signing up for. And those kind of guys, I mean, when you got a guy that's got every box checked, discipline, focus, training, genetics, everything all together, mindset. [sighs]
11. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  He would beat guys, like, long before they ever got in there 'cause they knew that they were, they were fighting this demon, this guy that just was so much better than everybody else, and you, there's no way you could catch up to him.
13. LGLuke Grimes
  No. W- was it true about his... Wasn't it, like, his trainer died, and then it kind of, he lost the whole-
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Well, his trainer was Cus D'Amato, and Cus D'Amato was a legendary figure in boxing. He had trained Floyd Patterson, um, um, Jose Torres. He, he, he trained, uh, like, a lot of, like, legit world champions, and he was also a hypnotist. And, uh, he adopted-
15. LGLuke Grimes
  Wait, what?
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, he was a hypnotist. Yeah.
17. LGLuke Grimes
  Wow.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, he was really into the mental side of fighting. He was more almost, like, as much of a psychologist as he was a boxing trainer, was all about tempering their mind-
19. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh
20. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and getting them ready. Like, he would tell Mike Tyson, "You don't exist. Only the task exists." He would say crazy shit to him, and he-
21. LGLuke Grimes
  Wow
22. JRJoe Rogan
  ... adopted him when he was 13. So Mike was 13, and he came from Bedford-Stuy in Brooklyn, was a horrible neighborhood, so his whole life was, like, crime and violence and no love and just terrible. And then all of a sudden, this man took him under his wing, who was also a legendary figure in boxing. Legendary. Like, he was, like, he was the guru. And, uh, you know, he, he basically, it was like the perfect storm. And then he was also, his manager was this guy Jim Jacobs, and Jim Jacobs was not just a manager, he was a historian of boxing, and he had this incredible library of all the great fighters. So he would watch film, you know, like fucking [rolls tongue] those things.
23. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  He'd, like, have a projection screen, and he would watch film of, like, Jack Johnson and Stanley Ketchel and, you know, Sandy Saddler and all these great fighters from back in the day. Roberto Duran. He would just sit there and absorb all these amazing fights. And when you can wa- like, that's one of the great things about todayLike, especially with MMA, like if you look at the fights from 1993 and the fights from t- 2026, the skill level is like magnitudes greater because all these guys have grown up watching all these fights now. Because from the time that MMA existed, it was on television, you could watch it on YouTube after that, and it was like there was always fights that you could see, so you could see-
25. LGLuke Grimes
  Hmm
26. JRJoe Rogan
  ... what guys were doing, so you had an understanding of the level. So kids would grow up imitating their favorite fighters.
27. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  You know, they'd grow up, you know, imitating Jon Jones and imitating Cain Velasquez and all these guys, and you would y- you, you, you could absorb a lot just by seeing the elite level of these guys. And Mike Tyson was one of the only guys back then that had that ability.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  Interesting.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Because he had this immense library of the greatest fights of all time. And so he would be training with one of the greatest trainers that ever lived, who was probably the greatest psychological trainer that ever lived. Also, the guy was hypnotizing him at 13, programming him to be this destruction machine, and then he was watching fights. So he was watching all these guys, Jack Johnson-
1:10:15 – 1:32:34
Combat sports global pipeline: Loma/Usyk, Dagestanis, Pride Japan, and the Apex era
1. LGLuke Grimes
  The last time I was really into a boxer was Loma.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, man.
3. LGLuke Grimes
  I love watching him, man.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, dude.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  He's got a cool story too. Didn't his dad make him do ballet for a while or?
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Ukrainian dance-
7. LGLuke Grimes
  Is that what it was?
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... for two years.
9. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Pulled him out of boxing for two years.
11. LGLuke Grimes
  That guy moves like it doesn't look real.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
13. LGLuke Grimes
  Like people shouldn't be able to move like that.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  The Matrix, they call him.
15. LGLuke Grimes
  Beautiful.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Yeah, he would do footwork that no one had even considered doing before. The w- the movement, the slipping to the side, and the angles, and the... His ability to change direction was crazy, 'cause he would be here, and then he'd be here, and then you're swinging, and he's here, and he's hitting you.
17. LGLuke Grimes
  Right.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  And he, ba, ba, bang. And he also was way smaller than everybody. He was way smaller than everybody. Like, he was supposed to be 126-pound fighter, and he went all the way up to the 140-pound division.
19. LGLuke Grimes
  Are there, like, a lot of younger guys doing that sort of style now coming up? Or is it, is that, like, a one-off?
20. JRJoe Rogan
  It's kind of a one-off. Usyk does it, but Usyk was trained by Lomachenko's father.
21. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh, okay.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  They were trained by the same guy.
23. LGLuke Grimes
  Okay.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  So Usyk is essentially like a heavyweight Lomachenko.
25. LGLuke Grimes
  Wow.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  That's why he moves so much.
27. LGLuke Grimes
  It's dangerous.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] That guy's a freak. He's a freak. He's a f- uh, he's a pleasure to watch. Watching that guy, I mean, he's beating guys that are so much bigger than him. When, when he beat Tyson Fury, Tyson Fury was, like, 280 pounds.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  Phew.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  And he's, like, a cruiserweight. He was really a 200-pound guy that blew up to s- to compete against heavyweights.
1:32:34 – 1:37:06
Horses, motorcycles, and everyday danger: why some risks aren’t worth it
1. JRJoe Rogan
  They'll probably try to talk you out of doing jujitsu.
2. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  That'd be funny. So-
4. LGLuke Grimes
  I'd probably have to sign something that I won't. You know, I'm, I'm not allowed to, like, ski. There's a lot of things because of-
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, yeah
6. LGLuke Grimes
  ... the insurance.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
8. LGLuke Grimes
  Like, if I get hurt and production has to shut down, it's a lot of money for them, so.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
10. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. So.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  That makes sense, yeah.
12. LGLuke Grimes
  I don't know if that's one of them, though. But, like, yeah, skiing.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Don't ask.
14. LGLuke Grimes
  It's funny 'cause horseback riding usually is, and I have to do that for the show. [laughs]
15. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] That's the most dangerous.
16. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Horseback riding scares the shit out of me.
18. LGLuke Grimes
  Dude, I, me too. It was not, it didn't come natural. That's not, like, a thing that I'm naturally good at or had done before Yellowstone.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  My oldest daughter did it for a little bit in California, and she fell a couple times, and one time she hurt her wrist really bad, and I was like, "Please stop. Don't do this."
20. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  'Cause she was doing those things where you had to, like, jump over stuff. Like, you know, it was like-
22. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh, that's so dangerous
23. JRJoe Rogan
  ... oh.
24. LGLuke Grimes
  'Cause they stop-
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah
26. LGLuke Grimes
  ... just shy of that thing, and you go flying.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
28. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah. No, that hurt.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Her friend, she had a good friend that was really into it, and they started doing it together, and I was like, "Please don't." And she fell a couple times, and she was okay, but one time she really hurt her wrist, and I was like, "Please stop." Because your wrist they can fix. Your neck, you get, like, Christopher Reeves, you know?
30. LGLuke Grimes
  Oof.
1:37:06 – 2:16:31
The rut, elk hunting reality, and tech in the wilderness (Starlink & satellite texting)
1. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Just pop out, especially, like, around the rut.
3. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Where the, the, the bucks are chasing the does.
5. LGLuke Grimes
  They're not thinking straight.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  And they're not chasing straight. They just, they're just out there, likeFucking-
7. LGLuke Grimes
  Yeah
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... pussy hungry, standing in the road staring at you.
9. LGLuke Grimes
  I love explaining to people how the rut works, 'cause it works just like humans. And like the only time they're dumb enough that you're gonna get one is when they're horny.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
11. LGLuke Grimes
  You know? It's like-
12. JRJoe Rogan
  But for them it's once a year, which is way crazier than us.
13. LGLuke Grimes
  Can you imagine [laughs] if it all came once?
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Bro, if humans had a rut, I would go on vacation during that time.
15. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs] Yeah.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  I'm like, "I'm hiding."
17. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
18. JRJoe Rogan
  I'm, I don't wanna be anywhere near ... It'd probably be like murders-
19. LGLuke Grimes
  Oh, I know
20. JRJoe Rogan
  ... car accidents.
21. LGLuke Grimes
  Lock me in jail for that month or whatever. [laughs]
22. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] Exactly. Like, get a bunker.
23. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Get a bunker, lock down with Netflix for a month.
25. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs]
26. JRJoe Rogan
  Fuck that. There is no way, man. That would be crazy. Imagine if the whole world had their rut at the same time.
27. LGLuke Grimes
  [laughs] Oh, man.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh my God.
29. LGLuke Grimes
  That's a good movie idea.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  It is a good movie idea, right?

Episode duration: 2:40:02

Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript

Transcript of episode I3xg_pQj-4M

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

iOS

Android

Claude

Chrome

Intro

Yellowstone’s unexpected success & Taylor Sheridan’s impossible workload

Great Westerns, creative heroes, and what makes Unforgiven special

Golf, addictive personalities, and presidents on the links

Luke’s music career: starting at 39, stage fright, and imposter syndrome

From acting to record deals: grief, risk-taking, and proving legitimacy

Joe’s own career leaps: podcasting, UFC commentary, and rejecting Hollywood norms

Acting craft vs. “looking easy”: masters, great TV, and the velvet prison

Vegas as ‘the Death Star’: gambling culture, Dana White stories, and slap fighting

Comedy, bombing, and resilience: why losses matter in art and life

Training, discipline, and the fight game: jiu-jitsu, champions, and street-fight reality

Fighter psychology: Tyson’s aura, Cus D’Amato, and learning through archives

Combat sports global pipeline: Loma/Usyk, Dagestanis, Pride Japan, and the Apex era

Horses, motorcycles, and everyday danger: why some risks aren’t worth it

The rut, elk hunting reality, and tech in the wilderness (Starlink & satellite texting)

Get more out of YouTube videos.