Theo Von on Joe Rogan: Why humming a song kills monetization

YouTube flags a hummed melody and redirects the ad revenue to rights holders; Theo and Rogan argue the same platform logic now shapes AI companions.

Joe RoganhostTheo Vonguest

Apr 2, 20262h 40mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

150 min read · 30,007 words

0:00 – 0:02
Intro
1. JRJoe Rogan
  [upbeat music]
0:02 – 0:33
Cold open banter: intro bits and a jab at "communists"
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.
2. TVTheo Von
  The Joe Rogan Experience.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. [upbeat music] People making that. Thank you. Bunch of fucking communists.
4. TVTheo Von
  Who do you mean by those people?
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Uh, you know.
6. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
7. JRJoe Rogan
  You know.
8. TVTheo Von
  It's changed over the years [laughs] .
9. JRJoe Rogan
  The ones with the horns. I don't know. You know.
10. TVTheo Von
  You mean band members? [laughs] Who are you talking about here?
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Uh, stuff.
12. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Uh, music. Music industry.
14. TVTheo Von
  Dude, yeah, I was gonna-
0:33 – 1:08
YouTube copyright enforcement: humming a song can get you flagged
1. JRJoe Rogan
  We were just talking about, we should tell people what we're talking about. If you hum a song, just like fuck around, and like-
2. TVTheo Von
  Yeah
3. JRJoe Rogan
  ... you know, like the Cocaine song, you know what I mean? If you play Eric Clapton, you know, if you do that, you'll get flagged on YouTube. They, and they take money from you.
4. TVTheo Von
  How desperate is that?
5. JRJoe Rogan
  It's gross. Like, you can't even hum a song? You can't... Like, what are you talking about?
6. TVTheo Von
  You can't even hum. In the future, you're not even gonna be able to fall in love. They're gonna charge you for it.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  How are they gonna do that?
8. TVTheo Von
  They'll find-
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, you won't be falling in love with a person anymore. P- people will be outdated. People come with problems.
1:08 – 3:47
Sex robots arrive: AI companions, social pressure, and a weirdly plausible future
1. TVTheo Von
  I ain't coming on no bot.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  No? Ever? What about in one?
3. TVTheo Von
  No. What will they do with it?
4. JRJoe Rogan
  No? Keep it.
5. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Maybe that's what keeps them alive. Imagine that.
7. TVTheo Von
  Let me think about it for just a second.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  You gotta fuck her every day to keep her alive. If you don't, she starts shriveling up on you.
9. TVTheo Von
  Oh.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Like she's on Ozempic.
11. TVTheo Von
  Oh.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
13. TVTheo Von
  So she's Latino, you're saying. [laughs] Is that what you're saying?
14. JRJoe Rogan
  You gotta keep her plump. You gotta keep her plump.
15. TVTheo Von
  You gotta keep her... You gotta keep, uh, you gotta keep the juices flowing, huh?
16. JRJoe Rogan
  There'd be guys that would sign up for that. "Okay, I could, I think I could do that."
17. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
18. JRJoe Rogan
  But d- day 5,026 in a row, you'd be like, "Oh my God, I can't do this."
19. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  And then she's dying.
21. TVTheo Von
  Why is she dying? She's electric, isn't she?
22. JRJoe Rogan
  She's only p- gets powered by cum.
23. TVTheo Von
  Oh. Oh, that's sad.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  And three days with no cum, she shuts off, and that's it, and you can't bring her back.
25. TVTheo Von
  I'd shut her down quick. [laughs] I'll tell you that, dude.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
27. TVTheo Von
  She would be, I-
28. JRJoe Rogan
  You have to let your buddies fuck her just to, like, keep her alive.
29. TVTheo Von
  Oh, that's gonna be gross, Joe.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  It would be.
3:47 – 9:37
Autism, capitalism, and tech culture: “bug or feature?”
1. TVTheo Von
  But I do think that one day our smiles will be in a museum. That's where we're headed. It's like-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm
3. TVTheo Von
  ... the feelings are starting to disappear, you know?
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Maybe that's what autism is. Like, severe autism.
5. TVTheo Von
  Oh, I've thought about that a lot, that that's why we're getting to some of the... Like, the only way we could get to this place, if we get to this data-driven place where it's like, you know, alien-esque, it's-
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm
7. TVTheo Von
  ... things start to feel alien-esque here is because-
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah
9. TVTheo Von
  ... of, um, autism leading, uh... It's when autism mixes with, um, what's it called? Our society's based on money. Capitalism.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm.
11. TVTheo Von
  When autism and capitalism converge, things get really weird.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. And think about it, right? We don't know exactly what is causing autism. They have a lot of suspicions. A lot of them have to do with vaccines, and different medications, and different chemicals and pollutants-
13. TVTheo Von
  Mm-hmm
14. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and all sorts of different things. But one-
15. TVTheo Von
  And cologne too
16. JRJoe Rogan
  ... one thing we could all agree on, and Tylenol they think too, right? But one thing that we can all agree on, it's a big factor is stuff that we've created. It's a big factor. Whatever it is.
17. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Let's, let's not put the blame on any one of these industries, but there's something going on where more people are getting autism now than ever, and it seems almost positive that it's coming from us.
19. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  That we did something. Human society. Well, if you think about where human society's going, wouldn't that be a way to turn us into something new, right? If we're gonna merge with machines, what better way than to, like, eliminate empathy, eliminate emotions, make us, like, able to, like, stay at home and stare at a screen for hours at a time with no concern whatsoever. Just the kind of social detachment along with the integration of all this crazy new technology. And the peop- a lot of the people that are in the tech business at high levels-
21. TVTheo Von
  Tizzing up
22. JRJoe Rogan
  ... are on the spectrum.
23. TVTheo Von
  Oh, dude. Yeah.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Right?
25. TVTheo Von
  They're on the fucking diving board of the spectrum.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  And they're the ones bringing in AI.
27. TVTheo Von
  Yep.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  They're bringing in the next version of life. Kind of w- I mean, almo- like, we're thinking it's like a, a mistake, but it might not be.
29. TVTheo Von
  Hmm.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  It might be, like, a crucial part of the system. When you get further and further integrated with technology, and all the stuff that you need to make it, and all the stuff that's involved in capitalism, including, like, lying about what medic- medications kids needs, and giving them this, and giving them that.
9:37 – 13:16
Concentrated power and narrative control: tech censorship and ideological capture
1. JRJoe Rogan
  It's being controlled by a small amount of people, which is always scary.
2. TVTheo Von
  That's scary.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  It's always scary when a, a small amount of individuals have insane amounts of power and wealth, and that's what's gonna happen with this AI thing, and that's what's, what happened with tech. Like, look what happened with tech. With tech, the vast majority of the people that are involved were all, like, heavily left wing, very progressive. Like, a kind of even far left in a way.
4. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  And look, they pushed the entire country's narrative in that direction through censorship on social media, through banning any accounts that didn't con- c- you know, didn't kinda commit to the narrative.
6. TVTheo Von
  RussiaGate.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, RussiaGate, anything about Hunter Biden's laptop, anything about vaccines being deadly or, you know, maybe it came from a lab. All that stuff would get you kicked off. So it was all moving in this one ideological direction. That's the, like, literally the conversation the entire country's having, and there's no other output. Before, you know, there was a few of them that came around, like Gab and some other ones, some social media sites that were, like, a, a response to that, but they never really took off, right? They-
8. TVTheo Von
  Nothing took off yet.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Not, not really. You know, there's some people that are on Threads, and there's some people on Truth Social, but the reality is if you're not on Twitter, you're, you're not really gonna connect with most people. The, that's the giant majority of people having conversations, and it was all completely controlled by a small group of people with one ideology.
10. TVTheo Von
  But then didn't all those ha- or half of those people move over to the other political party when, uh, Trump got elected? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, Zuckerberg-
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Some
12. TVTheo Von
  ... was on the left side. Bezos seemed like a very left-leaning guy, and then they're all just... So that's what made me start to think, oh, none of these guys are really on a side. There's this other third side that a lot of us can't see that, uh, is just kind of commandeering or fabricating or, like, infiltrating both sides and-
13. JRJoe Rogan
  If I could hum a song right now, I'd hum the Pink Floyd song Money.
14. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  You know what I'm saying?
16. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  'Cause that's what, they were protecting that cheddar.
18. TVTheo Von
  That cash, baby.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Protecting that cash.
20. TVTheo Von
  Ooh.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  I mean, look how many people are fucking moving out of all these states that are trying to impose wealth taxes. They're trying to steal money from the people that are the most successful. I was reading something about Massachusetts and how much m- this lady was reporting about how much Massachusetts is, um, lost from that. Because people leave the state. Their businesses-
22. TVTheo Von
  Yeah
23. JRJoe Rogan
  ... leave the state. New York is having the p- same problem. Like Kathy Hochul lady, you know, now she's-
24. TVTheo Von
  Hochul?
25. JRJoe Rogan
  ... asking people... I don't know how to say her name. I don't care.
26. TVTheo Von
  Yeah, get a better name
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Who cares what her name is?
28. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  She's-
30. TVTheo Von
  I don't
13:16 – 17:05
Taxes, waste, and fraud: why businesses and people flee high-tax states
1. TVTheo Von
  Especially, dude, what has happened, like, with the follow-ups to the Somali fraud? Like, all of these fraud buildings where it's, like, blatant, there's no businesses. It's just a sign on the door, and like, the, it, it feels like there's no follow-up to it.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  There's some. There's some. There's some people that are being prosecuted right now. There's a, a bunch of investigations, uh, regarding, um, Minnesota, regarding California. They're getting in there. They have to get in there now because it's been exposed nationally. But the real question is, how did it go on for so long? How did you allow-
3. TVTheo Von
  Right
4. JRJoe Rogan
  ... it to happen for so long?
5. TVTheo Von
  They knew.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Bro, you wanna-
7. TVTheo Von
  They've all known
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... you wanna know, like, what's real bad? What's real bad is, like, the amount of money that California has wasted if their solution is to try to tax people. Have you ever seen, like, what they did with the high-speed rail?
9. TVTheo Von
  Yeah, nothing.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] They spent billions-
11. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
12. JRJoe Rogan
  ... of dollars. There's some guy who broke down how much China, how much high-speed rail China did in the same time that it took California to do their high-speed rail.
13. TVTheo Von
  Mm-hmm.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  It, it, it's actually funny. It's actually-
15. TVTheo Von
  Oh, I've done some, I've done some rail out of China, I'll tell you that. [laughs]
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Have you?
17. TVTheo Von
  Fuck it.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Tell me.
19. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  I don't think it's the same stuff.
21. TVTheo Von
  Yeah, it's different.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  I think we're talking about different things.
23. TVTheo Von
  But, uh, no, China, dude, they're doing... Dude, it's weird when you start thinking, "Hey, China looks like a good place to live," [laughs] you know? It's like-
24. JRJoe Rogan
  They've got their shit together, I'll tell you that. A lot of these places with kings, they really know how to run things. They do a real solid job. [laughs]
25. TVTheo Von
  Yeah. [laughs]
26. JRJoe Rogan
  They fucking do.
27. TVTheo Von
  Poland's got their shit together, dude.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  They do have their shit together, and they were communists not that long ago, you know? Poland-
29. TVTheo Von
  Poland's got their shit... They don't let any of this flue- influence. Spain I feel like is taking their shit back.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  True.
17:05 – 30:57
War, accountability, and Iran: how history, oil, and coups shape today’s conflict
1. TVTheo Von
  ... of this shit, and I'm sick of rich people not putting their fucking kids over in these wars and shit like that. Put your fucking honky ass kids up there. Let them go s- shed some fucking blood.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Especially if you're asking for it.
3. TVTheo Von
  Especially if you're out there fucking bullshitting, dude. Put your fucking honky little fancy ass fucking kid up there, man. That shit makes me mad, bro.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, I think there's also a problem. The people that I've talked to that have served overseas and have been involved and deployed in military operations and seen a lot of shit, they're, a lot of them are of the opinion that you shouldn't be able to make those decisions if you've never been to war. If you don't know what it is, you don't know what you're sending people to do. It doesn't mean you're not still gonna be a tyrant, 'cause there are some people, like clearly Netanyahu's been to war, you know? He's been, he was in the military. He's, was involved in some shit.
5. TVTheo Von
  Was he?
6. JRJoe Rogan
  In, in, yeah. And he, he was like a special forces operator in Israel. And clearly he doesn't mind going to war. But this episode is brought to you by MANSCAPED. Did you know that one man is diagnosed with testicular cancer every hour?
7. SPSpeaker
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8. JRJoe Rogan
  I think most good people-
9. SPSpeaker
  War is a unique term.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  War's a fucking terrifying thing.
11. SPSpeaker
  But I mean, it, uh, he-- I don't think, I wouldn't call what he does war, but I, I mean-
12. JRJoe Rogan
  You mean what they're doing right now-
13. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
14. JRJoe Rogan
  ...with Gaza.
15. SPSpeaker
  Yeah. And I, I'm j- I'm not jumping on you.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, what they're doing in Iran is war. That's war. Iran's a real enemy. You know, it's a different-
17. SPSpeaker
  Are they a enemy to America?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, what they are is the largest country in, in terms of, like, state-sponsored terrorism. They're the largest sponsor of terrorism. But, but also you gotta think why, you know? And this is not excusing anybody for Isl- Islamist, uh, ideology, 'cause it's scary, 'cause they want a, a global caliphate, right? They're radicals. But you gotta go back to what happened in that country. And if you go back to what happened in that country, they tried to nationalize oil. Iran was like a Westernized country. Girls were wearing miniskirts.
19. SPSpeaker
  Oh, yeah.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Everybody's hot.
21. SPSpeaker
  You seen that video from the '70s of Iran?
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, yeah, bro. Everybody went ape.
23. SPSpeaker
  Tits were poppin'.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  So-
25. SPSpeaker
  Just poppin'
26. JRJoe Rogan
  ... what happened is slowly but surely, um, and quickly at first, because when they tried to nationalize oil-
27. SPSpeaker
  Yeah
28. JRJoe Rogan
  ... um, the CIA s- swooped in, and they fucking got that guy out of office, and they allowed these Islamic, you know, radicalists to start running the country.
29. SPSpeaker
  Well, that's when Hezbollah started, right?
30. JRJoe Rogan
  They, they kind of placed a... I don't know exactly when-
30:57 – 38:58
Government mind-control paranoia turns concrete: Project Artichoke and docility tactics
1. JRJoe Rogan
  ... you, I think you're onto something. There was some file, I didn't read it, but a bunch of people sent it to me. I just went, "Oh, Jesus." It was from the, some freedom of information act or some leak from the 1950s-
2. TVTheo Von
  '50s and '60s. I saw this
3. JRJoe Rogan
  ... with the CIA, and they were trying to think of different ways to make people docile and stupid and unmotivated.
4. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  And they were talking about different medications, putting stuff in food, all these different strategies to keep people stupid.
6. TVTheo Von
  Yeah, and they did it.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, this is our own government.
8. TVTheo Von
  Government.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Us. United States of America.
10. TVTheo Von
  Well, that's another thing.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Is that not treasonous?
12. TVTheo Von
  I agree. So why... And, yeah, it just feels like there's no recourse. And I know, like, you start to think, "Well, this is how s- a lot of people have lived their entire d- centuries in different countries and stuff like that," like they live under this type of oppression and, like, fear all the time.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Could, could-
14. TVTheo Von
  But I sh- it, it feels new here.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  I wanna know what exact... Could you put that into our lovely sponsor, Perplexity, and find out what the fuck was said in that CIA document? What, what were they actually planning? 'Cause it's, the, the idea that there's people in government that would just say, "Fuck millions of people and their potential in life-"
16. TVTheo Von
  Yes
17. JRJoe Rogan
  ..."Let's tank their potential so that we can get our agenda through easier without them being upset. Let's ruin millions of people's lives, or at least dampen their dreams-"
18. TVTheo Von
  I don't-
19. JRJoe Rogan
  "... squash their hopes-"
20. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  "... make them stupid and lazy."
22. TVTheo Von
  Make their kids sick. Make their-
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah
24. TVTheo Von
  ... ma- yeah. Make it, put pornography in, and, and let it be into the home so that, um, it's accessible everywhere, so marriages get ruined, and relationships get ruined, and guys are just spunking out on, on wherever. And so they don't, so there's no energy, there's no, like-
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Right
26. TVTheo Von
  ... there's no fucking desire inside of people to overcome, and it's like, yeah, we have to just try and do better one day at a time.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  For men, like, their ambition in life is often connected to wanting girls to like them.
28. TVTheo Von
  Yeah?
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Or guys to like them, whatever it is.
30. TVTheo Von
  And purpose, creating.
38:58 – 40:06
Theo’s antidepressants: dependency, emotional flattening, and finding a way off
1. TVTheo Von
  Then here's my question, then. H- well, did you know whenever they, uh, whenever they introduced antidepressants, that changed, like, the cognitive, um, therapy side of things, like, in therapist offices. It ch- it totally revolutionized, like, industrialized, uh, therapy and it ruined, it, it ruined a lot of people, I think. Like, um, uh, one of my goals is to get off of antidepressants completely, man. I wanna feel how I'm supposed to feel so I can have thoughts and actions that, uh, that, like, make me feel connected to the world. That shit makes you feel dead, man.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  So why did you take them in the first place?
3. TVTheo Von
  'Cause I was in a bad relationship [laughs] 20 years ago and I was having a tough day at s- at school, and they fucking put f- they gave them to me and then I never got off.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
5. TVTheo Von
  Because when you get off, it's a d- I think we talked about this once. It's hard.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. It makes you more depressed and more fucked up, and you're all imbalanced and you're, you, you know, probably you're addicted to them.
7. TVTheo Von
  Yeah. And so I, that's one of my goals is... And I notice, like, um, for me, I've been taking, like, Methyl Blue. I've been doing some things, like, and I'm working with a doctor to help me, but I, I wanna, I, I'm gonna get there, and I'm just gonna start to take the power back of myself more. I just-
40:06 – 43:05
Exercise as medicine (plus trainer horror stories)
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, they say that exercise is, like, many times-
2. TVTheo Von
  Oh, yeah
3. JRJoe Rogan
  ... greater in its effect at, at alleviating depression.
4. TVTheo Von
  Dude, I wake up and I do my yoga, and I do, like, a 35-minute workout. I'll do, like, six exercises, five runs of it in a row. That's 30 exercise. Burn through them bitches, and I'm a, and I'm... If I do that when I get up in the morning, bro, I am good.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
6. TVTheo Von
  I'm fine all day, and I'm also po- I'm more positive 'cause I've already taken care of myself in a way that I feel is sufficient enough for me to keep operating and moving forward. But yeah, I wanna get away from the me- of, of the medicine
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, that's the medicine, man, which is really crazy. That's the medicine. It's just hard for people to take because it requires effort, and it requires discipline. You have to do it when you don't wanna do it, and there's a lot of times when you're not gonna wanna do it, a lot of times when you're feeling kind of fucking tired.
8. TVTheo Von
  When we have to... And I think that's what... Yeah, maybe we just ha- yeah, like, I just need to, I just need to keep going. This is the best I've been doing, I think, in some ways.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Why don't you hire a trainer? You got some cheddar.
10. TVTheo Von
  I can't. [laughs]
11. JRJoe Rogan
  You got some cash, son. You're making that paper. Why don't you hire a trainer?
12. TVTheo Von
  I do, I, I use-
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Hire a dude that's cool, that'll come over to your fucking house every day.
14. TVTheo Von
  I don't want some dude touching my body a little bit.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  He doesn't have to touch your body.
16. TVTheo Von
  Joe, some of them do.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, you gotta get new ones. They're doing something wrong.
18. TVTheo Von
  But some of them-
19. JRJoe Rogan
  You gotta say no.
20. TVTheo Von
  [laughs] I am saying no.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Repeat after me. No.
22. TVTheo Von
  No.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Don't touch my butt when I'm in a deep squat. It doesn't help.
24. TVTheo Von
  I don't like that tone.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  I'm gonna, I'm gonna dig your asshole. It's gonna make you wanna explode to the top. Ready? Go. And he's knuckle deep in your bunghole-
26. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
27. JRJoe Rogan
  ... trying to convince you that it's so you can get more reps. [laughs]
28. TVTheo Von
  Yeah. [laughs] He's fucking... Ugh.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  That's gotta happen. Like, some fucking big jack-
30. TVTheo Von
  Yeah
43:05 – 1:02:02
Nicotine vapes: the ‘first hit’ trap and why social media feels the same
1. TVTheo Von
  You got a vape in here by chance, Joe, or no?
2. JRJoe Rogan
  No.
3. SPSpeaker
  We got this.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  You want a cigar? We got smelling salts. You want a cigar?
5. TVTheo Von
  No, they make me sick.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  They do?
7. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  How so?
9. TVTheo Von
  It makes me feel sad.
10. SPSpeaker
  Hmm.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Sad?
12. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  No, I gave up on those. Nicotine vapes are very addictive.
14. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Boy.
16. TVTheo Von
  I know. I give it-
17. JRJoe Rogan
  They make you gra- they grab-- you grab for them. You wanna take a hit off of them.
18. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  You know, even if you... I d- I d- and I decided at one point in time, "I'm not taking these anymore. I'm stopping with these things."
20. TVTheo Von
  Oh, I remember, dude. Remember you and I were using one time.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Mm-hmm.
22. TVTheo Von
  And we kept using that thing, and yeah. Oh, dude.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  There's something in them. It's not just the nicotine.
24. TVTheo Von
  [laughs] I'll tell you a story.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Because, like, these things, like ALPS, I have no problem not taking these. I t- I went on a trip-
26. TVTheo Von
  Yeah
27. JRJoe Rogan
  ... like a 10-day trip. I didn't bring any nicotine pouches.
28. TVTheo Von
  Oh, yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  I didn't miss it at all. I was fine.
30. TVTheo Von
  Well, I'll say this-
1:02:02 – 1:08:26
Theo’s indie movie ‘Busboys’: self-financing, casting friends, and getting into theaters
1. JRJoe Rogan
  We'll be right back. [clears throat] Theo Von, David Spade, Busboys, in theaters April 17th. Did you finance this, dude? Did you fucking do this shit with your own money?
2. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  You wild motherfucker, you. Wow.
4. TVTheo Von
  We wrote it and we... Yeah, we did it all. There's no studio attached to it. There's nobody-
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, Tim Dillon's in it.
6. TVTheo Von
  Tim did a good job.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  He's awesome.
8. TVTheo Von
  He is awesome.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  He really is.
10. TVTheo Von
  He's my, uh... He's one of my favorites.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, no doubt.
12. TVTheo Von
  He's one of a kind.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Is that Nate Diaz? [laughs]
14. TVTheo Von
  Bro, he was so... He was-
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Is that Lewis J?
16. TVTheo Von
  Uh-
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Whoa.
18. TVTheo Von
  No. Who's in it? Cam Patterson, Trevor Wallace.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Nice, dude. What's it about?
20. TVTheo Von
  Um, it's about two guys and, uh, they're bus- they're just regular guys, and they're not doing that good. And then, um, they think if they can... One of them l- loses his girlfriend to a waiter, and they think if they can become waiters that they can get his girlfriend back. And, uh, they have to start at Busboys.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs]
22. TVTheo Von
  And they don't get very far. So that's pretty much it. [laughs]
23. JRJoe Rogan
  [laughs] Spoiler alert.
24. TVTheo Von
  It was crazy though, dude. I mean, I think there's just, like, a thing about, like, like, nobody... Like, it's just we made it ourselves. Like, we wrote it. We did it. There's no fucking somebody saying, "I can't put this in it." Like, some of the streamers are like, "Nah, it's too edgy for us," or whatever. Fuck 'em then. You're out. You know what I'm saying? We're doing our own shit. And so-
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Did you sell it to a movie distributor? How did you get it into movie theaters?
26. TVTheo Von
  We just, um-
27. JRJoe Rogan
  I don't know how that, any of that stuff works.
28. TVTheo Von
  I don't know either. D- we have a guy who's doing, handling some of the business side of it.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm.
30. TVTheo Von
  My friend Ezra's handling some of the business side of it. He's great. And so he's been helping us out, uh, and gotten it into the theaters.
1:08:26 – 1:13:59
Why big comedy movies disappeared: gatekeepers, ‘woke’ fear, and awards pay-to-play
1. TVTheo Von
  But what happened? Like, how could you go that-
2. JRJoe Rogan
  People got scared. You got scared of-
3. TVTheo Von
  I don't know if they're scared
4. JRJoe Rogan
  ... offense. 100%.
5. TVTheo Von
  It seems organized to me.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  It's wo- no, it's woke ideology.
7. TVTheo Von
  If we take comedy away from people-
8. JRJoe Rogan
  They don't-
9. TVTheo Von
  ... they're not gonna be laughed.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  They didn't think. They didn't think. It's woke ideology that's looking to yell at people for every-
11. TVTheo Von
  Oh, yeah
12. JRJoe Rogan
  ... transgression, and you can't have that with comedy. You can't have that kind of nonsense with a really funny movie.
13. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Like Something About Mary, or, you know, Kingpin.
15. TVTheo Von
  Kingpin was good.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Classic Farrelly brothers movies. Oh, so good.
17. TVTheo Von
  How, how great was that?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Great fucking movie. Great fucking movie.
19. TVTheo Von
  God.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  That movie's so good, so funny. Even to this day, go back and rewatch it. Bill Murray with his crazy fucking hair, Woody Harrelson with one hand. It, it's a great movie, man.
21. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  When he had to go down on that lady to pay his rent and he threw up in the toilet, remember that scene? [laughs]
23. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
24. SPSpeaker
  Yeah, man, that movie's 30 years old now.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Is it?
26. SPSpeaker
  That's crazy.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  That is crazy.
28. SPSpeaker
  '96.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  It's a banger of a movie, man.
30. TVTheo Von
  All the good shit's gone, dude, but it's, but-
1:13:59 – 1:53:54
Comedy community vs. isolation: Austin momentum, Kill Tony, and staying human
1. TVTheo Von
  It's good. It just feels s- things feel kinda scary out there.
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, it's a little also scary, I keep telling you this, 'cause you're on your own out there. You're out there living in Nashville.
3. TVTheo Von
  I'm getting close to being here.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  There ain't a lot of comics out there, dog. I mean, Bargatze's out there, but he's always doing fucking stadiums on the road and shit.
5. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Like, y- you need to be around-
7. TVTheo Von
  Oh, I'm getting ready
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... the crew.
9. TVTheo Von
  'Cause I have to start to practice again. I'm taping my special in one month.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Last night in the green room it was Shane, Ron White, Tony Hinchcliffe, Brian Simpson, Hasan Minhaj, Derek Poston.
11. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  We were just laughing and laughing. It was, it's so fun. And everyone's going on stage and fucking tearing it up. It was, it was exciting.
13. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  It's like it's in the air, like something's happening here.
15. TVTheo Von
  Yes.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  And you see all these young guys coming in, these young women coming in, and they're all fired up and they're all fucking prepared, and everybody's, like, really trying to fucking kill it.
17. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  It's nice.
19. TVTheo Von
  Yeah, we got Christina Mariani. I'm doing a show tonight.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  She's very funny, man.
21. TVTheo Von
  She's on it. Dillon Sullivan, I think is-
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Dillon Sullivan's very funny, too.
23. TVTheo Von
  Yeah. So I'm excited about that.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. He's, uh, they're, they're both at the club all the time. It's a g- it's a fun time for comedy, man. It really is. A real good time for comedy.
25. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  And, uh-
27. TVTheo Von
  It's a special time
28. JRJoe Rogan
  ... comedy doesn't e- ex- exist in a vacuum. That, you know, that's why I keep telling you, you can't do that-
29. TVTheo Von
  What does that mean?
30. JRJoe Rogan
  ... on your own.
1:53:54 – 2:07:24
Reality, consciousness, and the cosmos: quantum weirdness, aliens, and forgotten awe
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Well, there's a lot of people that think that consciousness creates reality, not that reality is experiencing consciousness, but consciousness is like woven into reality, is responsible for its very existence. I'm gonna do a terrible job of explaining that, but I've watched quite a few videos where these quantum physicists are trying to explain these things, and I have to watch them like three or four times to get into my fucking chimp brain.
2. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
3. JRJoe Rogan
  But [laughs] I do, I do a fairly good job of, of absorbing it, and I see what they're trying to... You know, the, you know those quantum experiments like the slit experiment? There's like these different experiments where they're, they show that observing things has an effect on it. They act differently when they're being observed-
4. TVTheo Von
  Mm
5. JRJoe Rogan
  ... than whether they're not being observed. And it's a very controversial, like, segment of science.
6. TVTheo Von
  That's fascinating, actually.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  'Cause it's confusing. Quantum, quantum science is very confusing. And I was watching this lady that was describing this, this relationship between space and time, and I think... You know how, like, particles can exist in different places and they communicate with different pl- Like, they can exist and communicate, like, simultaneously in different parts of the world. Like, the, they're, they're... It's called quantum entanglement. Like these parts... And the idea is that-If you could get to a certain level of sophistication as far as technology and your understanding of how the universe works-
8. TVTheo Von
  Yeah
9. JRJoe Rogan
  ... that everything is entangled, and that there is no distance between objects, that you can actually instantaneously be anywhere if they could figure out-
10. TVTheo Von
  Mm
11. JRJoe Rogan
  ... how to harness that. That it wouldn't just be particles at a distance instantaneously communicating, and they exist in d- in ... You know, like one of the things about like superposition, like a particle can be both still and moving at the same time. They can exist and then not exist. They go away, and then they come back.
12. TVTheo Von
  Mm.
13. JRJoe Rogan
  They don't have any idea what the fuck is happening. It's weird, you know?
14. TVTheo Von
  I think I would like to learn more about it. I think I just don't understand it.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  It's conf- nobody does. That's the thing. It's super confusing.
16. TVTheo Von
  That-
17. JRJoe Rogan
  'Cause at the begi- the, the, the smallest ... Like, whatever the world and the universe is made out of, the smallest measurable aspect of that is essentially magic.
18. TVTheo Von
  Mm.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  It's essentially like open air and vibration, like atoms. The, they're like empty space. It's all really weird stuff when you get down to like the-
20. TVTheo Von
  And it's fascinating and beautiful.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, it's incredible. It c- look, it makes mountains, it makes valleys-
22. TVTheo Von
  I know
23. JRJoe Rogan
  ... and lakes and oceans and-
24. TVTheo Von
  It's just crazy we're here on this place, right? You know, one of the fun- one of the first things that I ever heard you say that I, that stood, that has been in my mind was like, there was one time you were talking about this, years ago, you were talking about, "We're on a ball of dirt and water traveling through space at this many mile, and nobody's fucking talking about it."
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
26. TVTheo Von
  You know? And I've always remembered that, like, just like that, what a fascinating thing that we get to be here, and then this is how we beha- like not all, not us, and not all of us. We all do in some ways, and, but like this is how we behave.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  You know, I think one of the problems is that we don't see space anymore.
28. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Because of light pollution. I think that's, that's done something to us that's dulled our understanding of our place in the universe, and that also might be a feature. It might not be a bug. It might be a feature, 'cause that's how we, instead of being in harmony with nature, we just keep our nose to the grindstone and keep chewing on Adderall and trying to rig the stock market.
30. TVTheo Von
  I know. Yeah.
2:07:24 – 2:21:35
High-stakes distrust spiral: Charlie Kirk shooting theories, exploding-mic claims, and political blackmail
1. TVTheo Von
  Did you see that they don't know, uh, that there's conflicts of interest about... Or no, did you see... Sorry, I'm starting this sentence off wrong. Did you see that there is some issues about the bullet that killed that guy? Of Charlie Kirk?
2. JRJoe Rogan
  Yes.
3. TVTheo Von
  I'm sorry. And I, I didn't mean to say that guy.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
5. TVTheo Von
  But I wasn't-
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Let me, um-Clarify that, I think, and we'll find out if this is correct. But I see headlines, and I see the way people are talking about it, and I don't know if it's accurate.
7. TVTheo Von
  Yeah.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Because what I think is accurate is what they're saying is that the f- from the fragments of the bullet, they were unable to determine that it came from that m- Mauser rifle.
9. TVTheo Von
  I see.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  My issue with it, and I'm no expert, but I have shot things. Like I've, I'm a hunter, I've shot things with rifles, I've shot a lot of rifles.
11. TVTheo Von
  Mm-hmm.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  A 30-06 is a big round.
13. TVTheo Von
  Oof.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  That's a big round. Show me an image-
15. TVTheo Von
  Would it hurt if it hit you?
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Uh, experts-
17. TVTheo Von
  It would hurt bad, huh?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  ... debunk Tyler Robinson's ballistic claim. Unable to identify is not the same as ruled out, which is exactly what I'm saying, right? So, um, show me an image of a 30-06 round, 30-06 rifle round. I want you to look at this. Look at the size of that fucker, okay? Look at a 30-06 versus a 308.
19. TVTheo Von
  That's a fucking paperweight.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  A 30-06 is a, it's a big round. Do you see it in that guy's hand?
21. TVTheo Von
  Yeah. Oh my God, are you serious?
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm, that's a 30-06. So this is my-
23. TVTheo Von
  That's a fat little hand though too.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  This is my point.
25. TVTheo Von
  Look at that thing.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  That's like my hand.
27. TVTheo Von
  [laughs]
28. JRJoe Rogan
  This is, this is the point, is that that's a big round. That's not a small round. I mean, I don't know, what is it in compared to... I use a 300 Win Mag.
29. TVTheo Von
  Look at that, on the, right there. You just had it, those cartridges.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  5.56. Yeah. Um, is meant for war, a 30-06 is meant for hunting. No, I don't think that's accurate.

Episode duration: 2:40:57

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Intro

Cold open banter: intro bits and a jab at "communists"

YouTube copyright enforcement: humming a song can get you flagged

Sex robots arrive: AI companions, social pressure, and a weirdly plausible future

Autism, capitalism, and tech culture: “bug or feature?”

Concentrated power and narrative control: tech censorship and ideological capture

Taxes, waste, and fraud: why businesses and people flee high-tax states

War, accountability, and Iran: how history, oil, and coups shape today’s conflict

Government mind-control paranoia turns concrete: Project Artichoke and docility tactics

Theo’s antidepressants: dependency, emotional flattening, and finding a way off

Exercise as medicine (plus trainer horror stories)

Nicotine vapes: the ‘first hit’ trap and why social media feels the same

Theo’s indie movie ‘Busboys’: self-financing, casting friends, and getting into theaters

Why big comedy movies disappeared: gatekeepers, ‘woke’ fear, and awards pay-to-play

Comedy community vs. isolation: Austin momentum, Kill Tony, and staying human

Reality, consciousness, and the cosmos: quantum weirdness, aliens, and forgotten awe

High-stakes distrust spiral: Charlie Kirk shooting theories, exploding-mic claims, and political blackmail

Get more out of YouTube videos.