Ryan Bingham on Joe Rogan: Why Ranch Work Builds Stage Nerve

Joe Rogan 0:02 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day. [upbeat rock music] What's happening, man? Good to see you.

Ryan Bingham 0:14 Yeah, good to see you, man.

Joe Rogan 0:15 Hold on up to that microphone, sir.

Ryan Bingham 0:17 All right.

Joe Rogan 0:19 Um, you were fucking great at that McConaughey thing last year. I really enjoyed that. That was my first time seeing you perform live. It was really cool.

Ryan Bingham 0:27 Oh, really? Thank you, man.

Joe Rogan 0:27 It was very cool. You're so relaxed up there, man. So, it was like you brought everybody into a nice, like, comfortable, chill vibe. It was cool.

Ryan Bingham 0:36 [laughs] Oh, I'm glad you guys felt, felt that way. Sometimes it, uh, it takes me a minute to get into the groove, you know?

Joe Rogan 0:42 Yeah, but it felt like that, you know?

Ryan Bingham 0:44 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 0:44 It felt like you were in it, like it brought us, it brought the whole crowd into it, too. That, that event that he does, the two events, the one, the singer-songwriter one, and then the other one with the b- the auction and everything.

Ryan Bingham 0:54 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 0:54 They're so cool. Such good events.

Ryan Bingham 0:56 Yeah, they're good people, too, you know?

Joe Rogan 0:58 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 0:58 That's, uh, I, uh, really grown to just appreciate the community around here in Austin and the Hill Country area and all of that stuff. I definitely, uh, wouldn't have the career, I don't think, if it wouldn't have been for the community around here that just support songwriters and music in the way that they do. It's pretty incredible, you know? When they get behind anything, it's just like, it just feels so good to see that many people come together and, and sup- you know, have that support, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:22 It's a really good place, man. Austin is a really good community. It really is.

Ryan Bingham 1:27 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:27 A very positive place in a lot of ways.

Ryan Bingham 1:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:29 I mean, nothing's perfect. There's no perfect places, but it's, it's really good.

Ryan Bingham 1:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:34 I like it so much better than when I was living in California.

Ryan Bingham 1:37 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:37 Just feels like real people. Just-

Ryan Bingham 1:40 I miss it, man. I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm mov- in the process of moving back to, to Texas as well.

Joe Rogan 1:45 Where are you at right now?

Ryan Bingham 1:46 Uh, outside of Dallas, Texas, out by Tyler.

Joe Rogan 1:49 Okay.

Ryan Bingham 1:49 But I've been, I've been in, uh, Topanga Canyon in LA for years.

Joe Rogan 1:52 Oh, geez.

Ryan Bingham 1:52 You know? So I've been in the middle of it, and, um-

Joe Rogan 1:55 Doing that Hollywood thing

Ryan Bingham 1:57 ... every time I get across the state line, it's just like that weight comes off, and you're just like-

Joe Rogan 2:01 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:01 ... "Ah, man, I'm, I'm home," you know? So, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04 Dude, you had the coolest fucking character on Yellowstone.

Ryan Bingham 2:07 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:08 It was such... It must be so fun to play.

Ryan Bingham 2:11 It was so much fun, man. I had to... I, I laugh. I always talk about it. I ki- I felt like I had, like, one of the easiest jobs there, you know? It's 'cause my, the character was kind of a smaller role, and, you know, most of the time I'd, I'd work, like, one or two days a week, and then the rest of the time I'd just be, like, fly fishing and get lost in the mountains.

Joe Rogan 2:27 Oh, really?

Ryan Bingham 2:27 And just disappear out there. Yeah, it was awesome.

Joe Rogan 2:30 God, Montana's awesome.

Ryan Bingham 2:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:31 That show made so many people move out there, though. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:33 I know. You gotta take your license plate off your car before you go. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:38 Right. You better not have a California plate.

Ryan Bingham 2:40 Better not.

Joe Rogan 2:40 They will fucking write things on your hood.

Ryan Bingham 2:42 Uh, run you off the road.

Joe Rogan 2:44 Yeah, they get upset. It's very interesting.

Ryan Bingham 2:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:46 They're very proud to be from Montana.

Ryan Bingham 2:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:48 And they wanna keep it to themselves. Like, let it go, motherfucker. We're all Americans.

Ryan Bingham 2:52 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:52 All right? If you got a good spot, you should be happy that people from California figure it out.

Ryan Bingham 2:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:57 Don't be a dick.

Ryan Bingham 2:58 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:58 Like, you're American, bitch.

Ryan Bingham 3:00 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:00 You're not... It's not the United States of Montana.

Ryan Bingham 3:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:03 Shut the fuck up.

Ryan Bingham 3:04 I guess it's kinda anywhere, right? You know.

Joe Rogan 3:06 Not that much here.

Ryan Bingham 3:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:08 Here's pretty inviting. I've never had that experience here.

Ryan Bingham 3:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:12 Not really.

Ryan Bingham 3:13 Texas is a pretty fr- friendly place.

Joe Rogan 3:14 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 3:15 You know? You know. And there's so many different walks of life that have, that have been here for so long, you know? I think of-

Joe Rogan 3:20 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 3:21 ... in Montana and stuff, man, if you were tough enough to survive those winters and stake a claim up there, back in the day, you had to fight for it, and they're still fighting for it now, you know?

Joe Rogan 3:29 That does make sense. I mean, and that's also one of the things that's highlighted by the whole series, the, all the different Yellowstone series.

Ryan Bingham 3:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:35 The older ones-

Ryan Bingham 3:36 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 3:36 ... with Harrison Ford and, you know. It, they really do explain, uh, and a lot... I mean, it's kind of a, a cool chunk of history to see, like, how this all got started. How-

Ryan Bingham 3:46 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 3:47 ... the kind of people that had to survive out there when, you know, you, all you had is a fireplace.

Ryan Bingham 3:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:53 That's it. You got a fireplace. You just... [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 3:55 I love all those mountain men stories, you know, Jim Bridger and all that stuff.

Joe Rogan 3:58 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 3:58 It's just like, man. And I, there is something, you get up there in those mountains, they get into you, gets in, mountains get into your bones, it gets into your blood, and it's a, it's a different thing, man. I, it's a spiritual place.

Joe Rogan 4:10 It is. And it's also, it's like the most potent art. Like, it's, it's nature's art, and you don't think of it as art, but God, it, it's so beautiful. It's like stunt... Like, sometimes when you're up there, you just have to stop and look, like, "God, this is gorgeous." And it-

Ryan Bingham 4:28 It's overwhelming if you haven't been up there, yeah

Joe Rogan 4:29 ... it has a fee- it gives you a feeling.

Ryan Bingham 4:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:31 There's like, it's a, almost like a drug that hits you because of the beauty of it all.

Ryan Bingham 4:36 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:36 Like, you take it in with the blue sky, and you see the clouds and the mountain, and maybe there's a lake below you and a canyon, and you're like, "God-"

Ryan Bingham 4:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:43 "... this is gorgeous."

Ryan Bingham 4:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:45 It's, like, you f- you feel it in your, your DNA, man.

Ryan Bingham 4:49 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:49 It's like your n- your body knows, like, this is a fertile, beautiful place that's filled with life.

Ryan Bingham 4:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:55 And this should excite you. So all your natural human reward instincts are all like, "This is a place I should be."

Ryan Bingham 5:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:02 Like, look at the sky. Look at the lake. Look at the mountains. This is fertile. This is, like, life-giving.

Ryan Bingham 5:08 Yeah. Yeah, several years ago, um, I went to a guide school up there, like a hunting guide school.

Joe Rogan 5:14 Hunting guide?

Ryan Bingham 5:15 Mm-hmm. And, uh, it was a whole pack squad, but it, part of it was, I grew up cowboying and ranching, but I've never really been up there in those mountains like that, and I'm, my dad would always fantasize about that. We'd talk, you know, one day we're gonna go on, like, a pack trip up in Montana, and, you know, we'd watch all those movies like Lonesome Dove and-

Joe Rogan 5:31 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 5:32 ... all of that stuff, so it was always just kind of a daydream. And, um, years ago, I was just kind of overwhelmed with music stuff and all that, and didn't what, uh, know what I was gonna do, and I ended up, I just wanted to go up there for a trip, you know, maybe go on a pack trip, and I started looking up places, and I found this, uh, place called Royal Tine, uh, Outfitters, and they're like, "Yeah, you know, we come up and you can take, take you on a pack trip or whatever, but we also have, like, this six-week school, you know, that you can train to be a guide that's all, uh, mule pack and all kinds of stuff," you know? And so I was like, "Man, I'm gonna sign up for that," you know, and it was life-changing. There was only six of us in the class, and, um, you know, spent weeks back in the backcountry packing mules and horses and-

Joe Rogan 6:13 Oh, wow

Ryan Bingham 6:15 W-we just tie a rope between two trees with a tarp for sleeping at night, and always post up a couple of guys to watch over the horses at night and I remember one morning I woke up, and it was in June, you know, but we were way back in there, and, uh, I woke up and the snow was coming down, and I, I just kinda raised my head up and I was looking out at the horses and the snow was just falling down on their backs and there was that moment in me, I was like, "I don't know if I'm ever going back."

Joe Rogan 6:40 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 6:40 You know? [laughs] I was like, "God, this is right where, this is where, where I need to be."

Joe Rogan 6:45 Right.

Ryan Bingham 6:46 You know? It was, it was tough to come back to, uh, civilization after that.

Joe Rogan 6:50 I think we're doing something with ourselves, to ourselves with civilization that we can't really fully appreciate because we're wrapped in it, and it's not until you get to nature where all that weight just gets lifted off of you-

Ryan Bingham 7:03 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 7:04 ... and yous feel more normal, and you're like, "Oh, this is where people are supposed to be."

Ryan Bingham 7:09 Yeah. You know, no phones. There's no nothing, no distractions, and it's just like you ... All your senses heighten, your eyesight, your hearing, your-

Joe Rogan 7:17 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 7:17 ... sense of smell, like, all of that stuff. And, you know, I remember going into it, you know, I, I didn't know what to expect really. I've done some camping and things like that and grew up ranching and all that, but this was a way different deal. And I remember I just had this, like, backpack full of gear, you know? And by the time I got out of there, like, I just felt like all I needed was a pair of scissors and some way to start some fire, you know?

Joe Rogan 7:40 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 7:40 And that was about it. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 7:45 Yeah. I follow this one dude. God, I'm, I'm trying to remember his name. Clay ... Oh, let me, let me pull it up because, uh, I really enjoy his, uh, his videos. But this dude i- he lives, uh, I believe he lives in Alaska, but he does a lot of trips in America, like all over America-

Ryan Bingham 8:03 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 8:03 ... in the lower 48, and he goes and, like, lives by himself in some kinda harsh environment.

Ryan Bingham 8:11 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 8:11 Like, he's done it in the swamps. Clay Hayes, that's it.

Ryan Bingham 8:16 Does he, like, take his kid out there?

Joe Rogan 8:18 Uh, he-

Ryan Bingham 8:18 Or the kids with him

Joe Rogan 8:18 ... I believe he has. He's taken-

Ryan Bingham 8:20 Yeah

Joe Rogan 8:20 ... his dog. But a l- a lot of times he just goes entirely by himself.

Ryan Bingham 8:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 8:26 And, uh, they're very, very interesting. Like, he starts his own fire. He'll-

Ryan Bingham 8:31 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 8:31 ... figure out how to get food. He figures out how to purify water. He's taken saltwater and made his own thing that kinda distills it into fresh water and removes the salt-

Ryan Bingham 8:40 Yeah

Joe Rogan 8:41 ... like, very slowly by using a, a piece of bamboo and fire-

Ryan Bingham 8:46 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 8:46 ... and boiling the water in the bamboo so that, like, the water evaporates and then drips down, and it doesn't have salt in it apparently.

Ryan Bingham 8:52 Yeah. I love that stuff, man.

Joe Rogan 8:54 I love it.

Ryan Bingham 8:54 I mean, just to have those skills, just to know how to do it, like, whether you'll ever need it or not, just to know how to do that, it's just so cool. I remember, um, in that, that guide school, there's a lot of different parts to it, which was so cool, is like we did a whole week of, like, backcountry, um, like, wilderness first aid. You know, you had ... guy had a paramedic-

Joe Rogan 9:14 Mm

Ryan Bingham 9:14 ... come in and teach us all this stuff, and then there was a whole week of just, like, leatherwork. There was a whole week of shoeing horses. There was, uh, fly-fishing and entomology and all these just kind of little skills. But one thing that really stuck with me was, uh, uh, a fire-building, uh, kinda drill when we, we started. It was kinda right when we first got there, and it was pretty wet, and it'd been snowing, and, um, there's only six of us, you know, and we're guys from kinda all over the country. And I grew up in New Mexico and West Texas, where it's pretty dry, you know, and you kinda build a fire. You can kinda just take some little small twigs and get a little fire-

Joe Rogan 9:47 Easy

Ryan Bingham 9:47 ... going, you know? And so he goes, "All right. You got two minutes to build a fire, and you need to have, you know, like, a flame to be three or four feet high." And man, I'm running around grabbing, like, little sticks and twigs, and I'm just ... And we have a lighter too. You know, I'm just struggling. It's just smoke, and I can't get it going. I look over, and there's a kid from Alaska in the class, and he just runs over to this big dead pine tree and just breaks off the biggest branch of dead, you know, pine needles and takes his lighter and just woosh.

Joe Rogan 10:16 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 10:16 And within, like, [laughs] five seconds, has this massive fire going. I was like, "Okay, that's how you do that," you know? And it was so ... Just the littlest things, you know, to, to have that knowledge, you know? And, and part of it was, you know, he was explaining to us, the instructor, he's like, "Yeah, you know, if you're out here with ... You're guiding somebody that's hunting. Maybe he's an elderly guy or somebody gets hurt, and you get caught back in the mountains and it's snowing," he's like, "You better get a fire going and keep them warm real quick," you know?

Joe Rogan 10:41 Mm.

Ryan Bingham 10:41 So there was always a, you know, a reason and a purpose behind it, which was really cool, and, um, I'll, I'll never f- ... Those are some, some of the things I'll, I'll never forget, you know?

Joe Rogan 10:49 Did they teach you how to start fires with, like, a, a piece of metal and, like, a flint? Like, you know-

Ryan Bingham 10:55 Yeah

Joe Rogan 10:55 ... what is that, a striking rod? Like-

Ryan Bingham 10:56 Yeah, we did some-

Joe Rogan 10:57 ... they do that

Ryan Bingham 10:57 ... flint stuff, and with, um, like the pitch wood from some of the old pine trees, you know?

Joe Rogan 11:01 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 11:02 You can find that pitch wood. And, uh, we did some bow and wood drill stuff. Not a whole lot of it, you know-

Joe Rogan 11:07 That fucking shit is hard

Ryan Bingham 11:08 ... but it was-

Joe Rogan 11:09 That's hard

Ryan Bingham 11:09 ... so hard. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:10 I did that in the Boy Scouts-

Ryan Bingham 11:11 Yeah

Joe Rogan 11:11 ... and it took, like, hours-

Ryan Bingham 11:14 Yeah

Joe Rogan 11:14 ... to start a fire.

Ryan Bingham 11:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:15 It, it ... You have to fucking keep sawing.

Ryan Bingham 11:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:18 And if you're doing it with your hand, you're gonna blow your hands up.

Ryan Bingham 11:20 Yeah. You gotta get a-

Joe Rogan 11:21 Like, you better get a bow

Ryan Bingham 11:22 ... get your technique down.

Joe Rogan 11:22 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 11:23 You know, you've gotta practice it.

Joe Rogan 11:24 You gotta have the stick on the top-

Ryan Bingham 11:25 Yeah

Joe Rogan 11:25 ... and the, the s- the stick that goes all the way to the base thing, and you cut a little p- hole in the base thing so that it, like, all the little embers can fall into your kindling, and you gotta saw the shit out of that fucker.

Ryan Bingham 11:36 Yeah. And imagine trying to do that, you know, in the snow or-

Joe Rogan 11:39 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 11:39 ... it's wet, you know?

Joe Rogan 11:40 Right.

Ryan Bingham 11:40 It's like, man, it's, it's ... That's just-

Joe Rogan 11:42 Very-

Ryan Bingham 11:43 ... incredible

Joe Rogan 11:43 ... very unlikely.

Ryan Bingham 11:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:44 You know what's really good for kindling? Fritos.

Ryan Bingham 11:48 Really? Oh-

Joe Rogan 11:48 Those chips

Ryan Bingham 11:49 ... the oil that's in it?

Joe Rogan 11:49 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 11:50 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:51 It's kinda shocking.

Ryan Bingham 11:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:52 We were in Alaska, and it was raining all the time, and there was one day where it stopped. I was with, uh, my friend Steve Rinella took me up there with-

Ryan Bingham 11:58 Okay, yeah

Joe Rogan 11:59 ... my friend Brian Callen-

Ryan Bingham 12:00 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 12:01 ... Ryan Callan, all these guys. So we went up there, and when we got one day, like a 10-hour stretch where it was not raining, we're like, "We gotta start a fucking fire."

Ryan Bingham 12:11 Yeah. [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:11 'Cause it was, it was raining every day-

Ryan Bingham 12:13 Yeah

Joe Rogan 12:13 ... for like five days in a row, and we couldn't find any deer. It was a nightmare. It was tough hunting.

Ryan Bingham 12:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:19 So we ... This one day, and we were trying to figure out things to light on fire, 'cause everything's soaking wet.And so we got some pieces of wood from like underneath the bottom of trees and shit, and dead trees that were covered by other things that were kinda sorta a little bit dry.

Ryan Bingham 12:35 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 12:36 And we used Fritos. And Fritos, when you light 'em, man, it's crazy how much oil is in those things.

Ryan Bingham 12:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:43 They just, whoo, and they stay lit for a long time-

Ryan Bingham 12:45 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 12:45 ... like a candle.

Ryan Bingham 12:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:47 And so we started like piling little thing... And when we got that fire, I was like the happiest I've ever been in my life.

Ryan Bingham 12:52 Oh, I bet.

Joe Rogan 12:53 Soaking wet.

Ryan Bingham 12:54 When your back is stuck, just cannot get... Once you get that kinda cold too, it's just like there's almost, you know, nothing to get you warm.

Joe Rogan 13:00 The cold wasn't that bad cold-wise. It was like in the 50s-

Ryan Bingham 13:03 Just being wet

Joe Rogan 13:03 ... or 60s.

Ryan Bingham 13:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:04 Yeah, it was just the wetness. The wetness was impossible to get away from. I thought once you get into your tent you'd be dry.

Ryan Bingham 13:10 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 13:10 You get in your sleeping bag, you'd be dry, but I had to take a piss in the middle of the night and I had to turn on my headlamp in the tent.

Ryan Bingham 13:15 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 13:16 And when I did, it was all just mist-

Ryan Bingham 13:19 Yeah

Joe Rogan 13:19 ... everywhere.

Ryan Bingham 13:20 It was condensation everywhere.

Joe Rogan 13:20 It was moisture. And I was like, "Oh, my God. I'm never gonna be dry." I had to just accept like there's no drying here.

Ryan Bingham 13:26 How long, how long were you guys back in there?

Joe Rogan 13:28 About six days.

Ryan Bingham 13:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:29 We hadda, we hadda leave... We were supposed to be there for seven, but we had to leave on the sixth day because a storm was coming in. I was like, "I could get stuck." 'Cause you can get stuck up there.

Ryan Bingham 13:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:37 We were on, uh, I guess Prince Edwards. Is that what the island is?

Speaker 13:40 So.

Joe Rogan 13:41 Yeah. Um, you get stuck up there. And I was like, "I gotta get back home. I gotta work."

Ryan Bingham 13:45 Did y'all get to fly in like on a-

Joe Rogan 13:47 On a puddle jumper

Ryan Bingham 13:47 ... little bush plane? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:48 Yeah, we landed in the pond.

Ryan Bingham 13:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:49 And you could drink right out of the pond.

Ryan Bingham 13:50 So they certain windows to get you in and out of there, huh?

Joe Rogan 13:52 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 13:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:52 Exactly. And you could drink right out of the pond. Like the pond was all rainwater, and there was no... It was too high for beavers.

Ryan Bingham 13:58 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 13:59 So you didn't have to worry about giardia or anything in the water. You could just drink right out of the pond. I'm like, "This is crazy."

Ryan Bingham 14:03 Yeah, it's the best.

Joe Rogan 14:04 Oh, man.

Ryan Bingham 14:04 I've never been... I've, I've been to Alaska only like in the, in the winter on a like skiing thing, but I've always wanted to go up there to hunt and fish and-

Joe Rogan 14:11 The people are extraordinary

Ryan Bingham 14:13 ... hike and do back country.

Joe Rogan 14:13 Those are rugged people.

Ryan Bingham 14:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:15 Like when I did a, a gig with my friend Ari in Anchorage, and one of the things... And it was weird, because you get there, it's 11:00 PM, it's bright out.

Ryan Bingham 14:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 14:23 Like this is weird. But one of the things that we talked about after was like, "Those people were fucking cool." Like there's, there's something about living up there, like where you could die going outside like a good six months out of the year.

Ryan Bingham 14:36 [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:36 There's fucking bears everywhere. M- uh, if you f- you, you look sideways at a moose, it'll stomp you to death in the fucking Walmart parking lot.

Ryan Bingham 14:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:44 Like it's, it's this-

Ryan Bingham 14:45 You better have your shit together. Yeah. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 14:46 You better have your shit together. There's bald eagles everywhere.

Ryan Bingham 14:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:50 The, the salmon are as big as your thigh. I mean, the people there are, they work together. They'll, there's like, they're very friendly, but they're very rugged. But they're also like, they realize that you need each other. Like, there's a sense of like-

Ryan Bingham 15:06 Yeah

Joe Rogan 15:06 ... community-

Ryan Bingham 15:07 Talk about community

Joe Rogan 15:07 ... and coolness.

Ryan Bingham 15:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:08 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 15:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:09 You need each other.

Ryan Bingham 15:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:09 If your, your fucking car breaks down on the side of the road, you could die.

Ryan Bingham 15:13 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 15:13 Like, someone's not gonna let you die.

Ryan Bingham 15:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:14 They're gonna pull over. In California, they're like, "Someone will get him." Pfft.

Ryan Bingham 15:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:18 And they just keep driving.

Ryan Bingham 15:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:19 So you just lose this sense of community.

Ryan Bingham 15:21 Yeah, you're not calling... You're, you're not... That's, that's who you're calling for help in times of need is your neighbor, right?

Joe Rogan 15:25 Exactly.

Ryan Bingham 15:26 I mean, even if like the, the bridge washes out, it's like here comes your neighbor with the backhoe and the tractor.

Joe Rogan 15:31 Right.

Ryan Bingham 15:31 And like you just do it yourselves.

Joe Rogan 15:32 And that makes a-

Ryan Bingham 15:34 Yeah

Joe Rogan 15:34 ... cool friendship when your friend helps you out-

Ryan Bingham 15:36 Yeah

Joe Rogan 15:36 ... or when you help your friend out. It's like-

Ryan Bingham 15:38 That's what I miss about living in Texas too, you know? It's just like, just some of the small things or whatever that you... Like even up at my place in Topanga, you know, you wanna build some fence or whatever. Like I do, I, I feel lucky. I've got a couple of really good friends up there, neighbors that, you know, love to come, you know, work with their hands and, or, you know, get their hands dirty, and we'll build stuff. And but like, man, in Texas, you wanna like weld something or you need something with a tractor, some heavy equipment thing, you know, like you're not getting that done in California.

Joe Rogan 16:06 Right.

Ryan Bingham 16:06 You know, it's gonna cost you a fortune to, you know, get someone with a skid steer up to your house to help you move some dirt around, you know. But here in Texas, it's like, "Oh, man, just call Frank down the road. He's-" [laughs]

Joe Rogan 16:17 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 16:18 "He's got one." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 16:20 There's people that have a long tradition of doing stuff.

Ryan Bingham 16:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 16:23 You know? It's like-

Ryan Bingham 16:25 Yeah

Joe Rogan 16:25 ... it's a real place.

Ryan Bingham 16:26 I grew up like that too, you know, and, um, you know, people cutting hay and stuff like that, especially when you're young. Like, man, we would go stack hay for everybody around, you know. It's like that was the summer job, you know. It's like, let's just go.

Joe Rogan 16:40 That makes a strong person.

Ryan Bingham 16:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:42 People that throw hay around-

Ryan Bingham 16:44 Mm

Joe Rogan 16:44 ... those are strong motherf-

Ryan Bingham 16:46 Yeah

Joe Rogan 16:46 ... like that term like farmer strength, that shit's real.

Ryan Bingham 16:49 Yeah, you better said. I was always a little guy too, so I had to use some, learn how to use leverage real quick.

Joe Rogan 16:53 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 16:53 You gotta roll those bails up on your knee. I, that, I think one of the last times I did that I remember is, uh, I was going to school in Stephenville, Texas, and had a good friend over in Glen Rose. And it was the middle of July, and, and he's an older man, and asked us to come help him stack hay in his barn. And it was... And we're stacking it in the barn, you know, so, and it's just like you're inside the barn. It's just hot. It had to have been 110 degrees in there, you know. And we're talking hundreds of bales of hay, and it was just all we could do. And of course we're hung over, and we're, [laughs] you know, in college. You know, we're trying, we're stacking hay. And I was like, "I think, I think this is my last hay hauling job right now." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 17:27 Yeah, those jobs, those are good for letting you know that this is not the life you want.

Ryan Bingham 17:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:32 Like get a good, rugged manual labor job.

Ryan Bingham 17:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:34 It'll knock some fucking sense into you.

Ryan Bingham 17:36 That's how I got the guitar, man. I, I, I learned pretty quick that the guitar felt a lot better in my hands than that shovel did. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 17:43 [laughs] Yeah. I know that feeling.

Ryan Bingham 17:45 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 17:45 I, I spent one summer doing insulation in an attic. It was all that fiberglass insulation.

Ryan Bingham 17:51 Oh, man. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:51 I had it in all my skin.

Ryan Bingham 17:53 Yeah, in your nose-

Joe Rogan 17:53 'Cause you're sweating

Ryan Bingham 17:54 ... in your eyes. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 17:54 Yeah, you're sweating 'cause it's hot-

Ryan Bingham 17:56 It sticks to you

Joe Rogan 17:56 ... and it's the summer, so it's getting into your pores.

Ryan Bingham 17:59 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 17:59 And you're always itchy. You feel like it's on you all the t- also, like it's gotta be terrible to be breathing that shit in.

Ryan Bingham 18:06 Oh, the worst. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:07 And I don't even think we were using equipment.

Ryan Bingham 18:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:10 I don't think we used any safety equipment.

Ryan Bingham 18:11 Heck no. You didn't have a mask on or anything. Like-

Joe Rogan 18:13 I don't believe so. I think we just installed it.

Ryan Bingham 18:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:16 Just unrolled that shit-

Ryan Bingham 18:18 Mm

Joe Rogan 18:18 ... and stuffed it into the, into the rafters.

Ryan Bingham 18:21 Using paint with lead in it. Like... [laughs]

Joe Rogan 18:23 [laughs] And then like back then the gasoline had lead too.

Ryan Bingham 18:28 So drinking out of the water hose.

Joe Rogan 18:30 Right.

Ryan Bingham 18:30 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 18:31 Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think it makes a resilient person to drink out of water hoses.

Ryan Bingham 18:35 Heck yeah. You get tough or die. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 18:38 [laughs] You get extra minerals-

Ryan Bingham 18:39 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 18:40 ... from the fucking copper on the faucet.Yeah, it's, uh, those jobs are really important, like, for a young person to figure out what they don't wanna do

Ryan Bingham 18:50 Mm.

Joe Rogan 18:51 It teaches you work ethic, teaches you like, hey, like this is, uh, you can get some satisfaction out of a hard day's work and-

Ryan Bingham 18:57 Yeah

Joe Rogan 18:58 ... a hard week. Like, you did it, you put it in, feel good about yourself. You know it was difficult to do, but-

Ryan Bingham 19:03 Mm

Joe Rogan 19:03 ... don't, don't, don't, don't keep doing that.

Ryan Bingham 19:05 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:06 Figure out a way out of this.

Ryan Bingham 19:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:08 You, you, you, you, you gotta understand that, you understand it, you, you got a feel for it-

Ryan Bingham 19:13 Mm

Joe Rogan 19:13 ... you know what hard labor is, but-

Ryan Bingham 19:15 Yeah

Joe Rogan 19:15 ... don't ruin your life.

Ryan Bingham 19:17 Yeah. I, I, I feel real grateful. My, my granddad was always a real hard worker, and even when I was 12 and 13, you know, in the summers, or, I would spend a lot of time living with him, and he always had a job lined up for me. You know, it was like-

Joe Rogan 19:29 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 19:29 ... "Hey, you're gonna go over here and we're gonna mow so and so's lawn this morning," or, "We're gonna go over here and we're gonna send you out to Ken's and you're gonna build some fence this weekend," or... And I always enjoyed it though. I enjoyed those guys I was around and, um, you know, I'd, I'd work all day and then we'd sit around and they'd drink beer in the afternoon and tell me stories and, you know, I'd, I'd... And even now, like I'm my own place, you know, it's like I don't wanna be building somebody else's fence, but I'm glad I know how to build my own.

Joe Rogan 19:57 Right. Right.

Ryan Bingham 19:58 You know? Or things like that, and have those skills. I still love working around the house and doing little projects and things like that. I meet a lot of younger guys and kids that sometimes I, I, uh, I guess I have a, a expectation that they know how to do that kind of stuff, you know?

Joe Rogan 20:13 Right.

Ryan Bingham 20:13 They wanna come over to the house and help with some projects and stuff, and I'm like, "Oh, yeah, cool. We'll just, you know, I already dug those holes and set up a string line, and we'll set these posts." And they're like, "Okay." And then-

Joe Rogan 20:25 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 20:25 ... after about a half hour, I look over at them, they're just kind of looking at the ground. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 20:29 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 20:29 I'm like, "What are we doing here?" You know [laughs] they're like, "I don't have a clue what you want me to do," you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 20:34 Oh, that's hilarious.

Ryan Bingham 20:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:36 That's hilarious.

Ryan Bingham 20:37 [laughs] But, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's wild. It's, it's changed, man. Kids ain't out there mowing lawns no more, that's for sure.

Joe Rogan 20:45 No. Well, there's something about that kind of work, like putting in fences and all the stuff that you see the cowboys doing on Yellowstone, and then hanging out together afterwards, that's so, like, viscerally appealing to people.

Ryan Bingham 21:00 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 21:01 There's something about watching that life, like it's... You would say it's like a simple, difficult life maybe. I don't know what it is, but wh- whatever it is, it's like, it's so appealing.

Ryan Bingham 21:12 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 21:12 Like, so many people wanted to be cowboys after they watched your show.

Ryan Bingham 21:15 Mm-hmm. I think it's, something goes to, like, you were talking about that guy living off the land and stuff like that, it's just, uh, you know, something that's been ingrained in us over thousands of years of survival and, like, we ha- we all have that in us still today and we just-

Joe Rogan 21:31 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 21:31 ... unfortunately losing touch with it 'cause we're not doing it as much. And so when you get the opportunity to even just go plant a garden or something like that, I think that's i- it's in us, you know? And it's a, it wakes up something within that's just been a little bit dormant for a while, you know? And-

Joe Rogan 21:47 I think you're right

Ryan Bingham 21:48 ... you know?

Joe Rogan 21:48 I think that's exactly what it is. I think it is, like, it's in our memory.

Ryan Bingham 21:52 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 21:53 Like, the memory of our genes-

Ryan Bingham 21:54 Yeah

Joe Rogan 21:54 ... that this is like a pleasing life.

Ryan Bingham 21:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:56 This is a satisfying life.

Ryan Bingham 21:58 It's like that mama bear energy. You know, kids come, it's just like, oh, it's like-

Joe Rogan 22:02 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 22:02 ... oh man, you know?

Joe Rogan 22:03 Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 22:04 It's, it's there, you know? And i- it's just like, I realize that having kids, it's just like, oh, man, it wakes something up within you that's always been there.

Joe Rogan 22:14 Right.

Ryan Bingham 22:14 You know? That you were born to have, you know?

Joe Rogan 22:16 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 22:17 That, that survival instinct and all of those things. And I, I, I still, that's what I still love about it. Like, I, even at home, being on the road and being in big cities all the time and you're just surrounded with information and screens, man, as soon as I can get home or get outside or get into nature, it just, it wakes that stuff back up in me and it, I feel like it puts that spark back in my eye, you know?

Joe Rogan 22:40 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 22:40 I, uh, try to stay in tune with that as much as I can.

Joe Rogan 22:44 Well, it's clearly so appealing to people that don't experience it. I mean, how many people that are watching shows like Yellowstone never go into those areas? But they watch-

Ryan Bingham 22:53 Yeah

Joe Rogan 22:53 ... and they're like, "Aw."

Ryan Bingham 22:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:55 "I wanna live like that."

Ryan Bingham 22:56 We see the, like, prices of horses just skyrocketing. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 22:59 Yeah. Oh, I'm sure.

Ryan Bingham 23:00 You could buy an old dancer for like 5 grand and now-

Joe Rogan 23:02 Oh, sure

Ryan Bingham 23:03 ... it's like 50-

Joe Rogan 23:04 Push this thing

Ryan Bingham 23:04 ... 50,000 bucks for a, for a trail horse, you know-

Joe Rogan 23:07 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 23:07 ... which is cool, you know, and I hope people are enjoying that and getting something out, getting something out of it. I, you know, I still, I, I mean, I'm not running a bunch of cows these days, but I keep a few horses around, and especially for the kids, you know. And whether they want anything to do with them or not, like, we enjoy so much in the afternoons to go out and feed them some carrots or brushing their tails and just being around that energy. My, my youngest little boy, he's just got, he's got some kind of mojo with the animals, you know? And, and I've got this old mule and her name's Honey, and she's got these big ears and she's massive, you know. And I remember when he was like three or four, I'd be looking around f- for him in the backyard and I'd look out in the pasture and he'd be out there with that mule, and she'd have her head down and he's just out there petting her ears.

Joe Rogan 23:49 Aw.

Ryan Bingham 23:50 You know? And just, like, his connection with those animals. And then, you know, getting kids up to the house or, you know, that are from the city that aren't around those animals, it's their first time around horses or maybe even dogs and stuff like that, and you can see they're, they're so anxious and, you know, not, maybe so scared, but they's just nervous, you know, these are big animals and stuff. And within, like, 20 minutes of just sitting them on their back or petting them and then you see them relax-

Joe Rogan 24:15 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 24:15 ... and you see that energy kind of slow down and, uh, I just, I, I love that. You know, I think it's so magical to watch and-

Joe Rogan 24:22 Yeah, that's another relationship-

Ryan Bingham 24:23 You know?

Joe Rogan 24:23 ... that's, like, primal, the relationship between people and horses.

Ryan Bingham 24:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 24:27 They do that with addicts.

Ryan Bingham 24:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:29 They do equine therapy-

Ryan Bingham 24:30 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 24:30 ... where they ha- just have, like, people that are, that have, like, heavy anxiety and depression, they have them hang out with horses.

Ryan Bingham 24:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:37 It-

Ryan Bingham 24:37 I think even me

Joe Rogan 24:37 ... really works.

Ryan Bingham 24:38 I, I still do. I mean, I, I, I have, get depressed and stuff like that every now and then, and I love being around them. I can walk out to the barn and just being around them and laying on their backs-

Joe Rogan 24:47 Weird, right?

Ryan Bingham 24:47 ... and it's just like, ah, yeah, all right, here we go. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 24:50 Just touching their head makes you feel better. Like, "Hey-"

Ryan Bingham 24:53 Yeah

Joe Rogan 24:53 ... "how are you, honey?"

Ryan Bingham 24:54 Mm.

Joe Rogan 24:54 "What's happening?"

Ryan Bingham 24:55 And they look at me.

Joe Rogan 24:56 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 24:57 Connect. You know?

Joe Rogan 24:58 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 24:58 I get eye contact with them.

Joe Rogan 24:59 I think it's a-

Ryan Bingham 25:00 It's looking into your soul

Joe Rogan 25:01 ... an ancient thing. I mean, they helped us survive.

Ryan Bingham 25:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:04 We, and, you know, and we took care of them. It's like this ancient relationship, and then when you're around them-That connection, like immediately rebonds-

Ryan Bingham 25:13 Yeah

Joe Rogan 25:14 ... reestablishes. I think it's in our DNA. I mean, just think about like how many generations of humans had to survive on horseback-

Ryan Bingham 25:21 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 25:21 ... before anybody invented anything else.

Ryan Bingham 25:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:23 It's like if you wanted to travel faster than you can run-

Ryan Bingham 25:26 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 25:26 ... it had to be a fucking horse.

Ryan Bingham 25:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:27 So that was probably thousands and thousands and thousands of years just cooked into our DNA.

Ryan Bingham 25:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:33 And when you're around them, it's like, "Oh, my friend. This is my friend."

Ryan Bingham 25:36 It's waking it back up.

Joe Rogan 25:37 Yeah, it's weird.

Ryan Bingham 25:38 Yeah, it's, it's, it's there, yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:39 It's weird-

Ryan Bingham 25:40 Yeah

Joe Rogan 25:40 ... that that stuff is in you.

Ryan Bingham 25:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:42 That nature stuff is in you. I mean, that's why we like watching shows like this Clay guy.

Ryan Bingham 25:46 Mm-hmm. I love that, too. I, I love that, uh, Steve Rinella show, that MeatEater. I like watching that-

Joe Rogan 25:51 Oh, yeah

Ryan Bingham 25:51 ... with my kids. And, uh, uh, aren't you fr- are you friends with Remy Warren?

Joe Rogan 25:55 Oh yeah, real good friends.

Ryan Bingham 25:56 He ended up being my neighbor when I was in Montana working on Yellowstone.

Joe Rogan 25:59 Oh, really?

Ryan Bingham 26:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:00 Oh, that's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 26:00 And, uh, I, you know, I, I, what I really liked up there was where they filmed the show. You know, it was kind of way out there southwestern Montana, and a lot of folks that were working on the show would go back to Missoula or in, in the cities. But I was like, "Man, I wanna go get as far away out there as I can." And so I kinda went down this West Fork area that's on the, the, right on the edge of the, the most massive wilderness areas out there that goes into Idaho. And, uh, the road I was on, you know, was paved dirt, then it dead-ended and then it turned into a dirt road, and then I got this cabin. It was just way back up, and there was no Wi-Fi, no nothing, you know. And I just, um, just a- disappeared out there. And, um, and ended up meeting some folks, and Remy was just right down the road, uh, going towards Sula. And so I got the chance to just go there and hang out with him and go stomp around the mountains with him. Such a cool dude. It's like-

Joe Rogan 26:51 Remy's the best

Ryan Bingham 26:52 ... just, you know, like you're talking about going to Alaska, you know, I love going into those places. But, like, you want somebody like that with you when you go.

Joe Rogan 26:59 For sure.

Ryan Bingham 26:59 You know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 27:01 Yeah. Yeah, he knows how to get around.

Ryan Bingham 27:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:03 And he used to have a great show. Uh, well, first of all, he, he had Solo Hunter where he'd-

Ryan Bingham 27:07 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 27:08 ... go and film everything himself, which is so much more difficult than just hunting.

Ryan Bingham 27:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:13 He'd set up the... He would carry tripods with him and shit, and set it up-

Ryan Bingham 27:16 Mm

Joe Rogan 27:16 ... and make sure the, the camera's on the animal before he would shoot it.

Ryan Bingham 27:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:20 And then film himself, film himself moving up to there.

Ryan Bingham 27:23 Mm.

Joe Rogan 27:23 Set up different cameras that could show him executing the shot. I'm like, "God, that's so complicated."

Ryan Bingham 27:28 And he's a beast, man. Just try- just trying to keep up-

Joe Rogan 27:31 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 27:31 ... with him, you know, just walking around the mountains with that guy. I'm like, "Oh man, wait up. I'll be, I'm coming." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 27:37 Yeah, they get that mountain cardio.

Ryan Bingham 27:39 Yeah, he's like a mountain goat.

Joe Rogan 27:41 Well, he, you know, he hunts probably 200 plus days a year.

Ryan Bingham 27:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 27:45 And on top of that, he does a lot of guiding.

Ryan Bingham 27:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:47 And when he's doing guiding, he's, like, always in the mountains, always hiking. It's like you, you just get conditioned to it.

Ryan Bingham 27:53 Yeah, he's fit. I, I went to Hawaii with him and did a axis hunt over there. Cool. It was one of the coolest things I ever did. And, uh, I, I got this buck, and we're loading him up in the truck and all that, and he was like, "Man, I'm gonna, uh, I'll meet you guys back at camp." You know, and it was dark already. And, like, I know, you know, during the day we were hunting, we're just on these steep mountains up and down. And, uh, I said, "You're just gonna meet us back?" He's like, "Yeah, I'll meet you back." And he just put on his backpack and just took off running. And we, you know, drove down this mountain road to go back, and he beat us there by, like, a half an hour, you know. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 28:25 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 28:25 And that was his workout, though. He's like, "Yeah, it's part of my workout. I'll meet, I'll meet you guys back there." I was like, "Oh, you're, you're an animal." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 28:31 That's funny. Axis deer in, in Hawaii is very interesting 'cause they were given, um, to King Kamehameha in, like, I don't remember what year it was.

Ryan Bingham 28:43 Mm.

Joe Rogan 28:43 Find out what year they got introduced there, but they're everywhere now. Um, I've gone to Lanai a bunch of times-

Ryan Bingham 28:49 That's where we went

Joe Rogan 28:49 ... bow hunting.

Ryan Bingham 28:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:50 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 28:50 It was wild. There are thousands of them everywhere.

Joe Rogan 28:53 Crazy, right?

Ryan Bingham 28:53 And you're trying to sneak up on a group of 10, and then you don't even realize there's, like, 100 right here laying down that you didn't even see, and then they get up and spook the rest and stampede. Well, you know, you've, you've been there, yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:05 Okay, it was in the 1800s.

Ryan Bingham 29:06 Yeah. Wow.

Joe Rogan 29:07 A gift, uh, to King Kamehameha from India. And, uh, there's 30,000 of them in Lanai, and only 3,000 people.

Ryan Bingham 29:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:17 I mean, it's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 29:18 We were laughing-

Joe Rogan 29:18 It's the only place where you can go hunting, bow hunting, and you stay at the Four Seasons.

Ryan Bingham 29:22 Right. [laughs] I think Remy said he got kicked out of there, though, 'cause he, he was hunting so much and, you know, they, all that red clay there, you know, on your boots and stuff.

Joe Rogan 29:32 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 29:32 He said, so the whole hotel was just, like, red clay everywhere. The, the fridge is just full of meat, you know, like, blood dripping out. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 29:39 They kicked him out of there?

Ryan Bingham 29:40 Oh, I don't know if they kicked him out-

Joe Rogan 29:42 Oh, that's hilarious

Ryan Bingham 29:42 ... but, like, he's like, "Well, maybe we ought to go find somewhere else to stay," you know?

Joe Rogan 29:45 "Well, just take off your boots-

Ryan Bingham 29:46 Yeah

Joe Rogan 29:46 ... before you come inside."

Ryan Bingham 29:47 Yeah. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 29:47 That's all it is. But yeah, it's that weird red clay and, and-

Ryan Bingham 29:51 Yeah

Joe Rogan 29:51 ... it all used to be part of the Dole pineapple plantation.

Ryan Bingham 29:55 Mm.

Joe Rogan 29:55 So when you're around there, y- one of the things you notice is, like, there's layers of dirt, but then there's, like, almost looks like plastic bag underneath it, like a g- like a Hefty bag.

Ryan Bingham 30:04 From all the farming?

Joe Rogan 30:05 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 30:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:05 So I guess they had a layer of b- like, that kind of whatever the fuck a Hefty bag is made out of.

Ryan Bingham 30:12 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 30:12 Whatever that plastic is.

Ryan Bingham 30:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:13 And then the dirt was on top of that somehow, and then the pineapples would grow up through it.

Ryan Bingham 30:18 I assume to keep moisture and stuff like that in the ground in the farm, yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:20 Yeah, I would imagine. But it's e- it's, it's disconcerting 'cause it doesn't feel like nature. It feels weird. It's like-

Ryan Bingham 30:26 It does

Joe Rogan 30:26 ... there's just weird, there's plastic everywhere on the ground.

Ryan Bingham 30:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:29 It's also-

Ryan Bingham 30:29 And then you get in the mountains and, like, those old World War II turrets and stuff that are up there-

Joe Rogan 30:33 Oh, yeah

Ryan Bingham 30:33 ... and you come across any of that. So I mean, it's just like-

Joe Rogan 30:35 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 30:35 ... first of all, like, hunting axis deer on, in Lanai, and then, like, you get up on the top and you're surrounded by the ocean. I mean, what a trip, you know?

Joe Rogan 30:43 I know.

Ryan Bingham 30:43 It's crazy just seeing that and then coming across all those old relics and just all the history there. It's just something to take in, too, and, uh, we are laughing 'cause, uh, obviously they're trying to, like, control the population of the axis deer there, and I think somebody, some- somebody mentioned, like, "Man, if you just get a couple of Bengal tigers out here." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 31:02 Exactly.

Ryan Bingham 31:02 "That'll, that'll, that'll thin out the population." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 31:05 It'll thin out the population of people, too, unfortunately.

Ryan Bingham 31:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:08 The thing about them is that they did evolve around tigers. That's why they're so fast.

Ryan Bingham 31:12 Mm.

Joe Rogan 31:12 Like, they'll jump a string faster than any animal I've ever seen in my life.

Ryan Bingham 31:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:16 I have a video of me shooting at an axis deer at 80 yards, and it's, uh, we have a slow-mo of the arrow.

Ryan Bingham 31:23 That's a long shot, yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:23 So as the, uh, the arrow's coming, it's a perfect shot within-10 yards of him, he hears it and phew, and he's gone. It's the craziest thing. Like, you, you, you look at it, you're like, "How the fuck did he move that fast?"

Ryan Bingham 31:39 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 31:39 This thing's going at least, well, from the actual, like, leaving the bow, it's going 275 feet per second.

Ryan Bingham 31:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:47 And he can get out of there-

Ryan Bingham 31:49 He could get out of there with gun then

Joe Rogan 31:49 ... within 10 yards. Within 10 yards he's hearing it coming, and he's like, "See ya." Pshew.

Ryan Bingham 31:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:54 And nowhere near him. Like, it, he was a foot in front of ... It was a, the arrow landed a foot behind his ass.

Ryan Bingham 32:00 Geez.

Joe Rogan 32:01 That's how fast they move.

Ryan Bingham 32:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:02 It's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 32:04 How long did you go there for a while or just kinda like a-

Joe Rogan 32:06 I've been there a few times

Ryan Bingham 32:07 ... few time trips?

Joe Rogan 32:07 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 32:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:07 Um, we found that the best time to hunt is actually in the afternoon, because in the afternoon it's really windy. And when it's really windy, it covers your sound a little better.

Ryan Bingham 32:16 Okay.

Joe Rogan 32:17 The morning's rough.

Ryan Bingham 32:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:18 The morning's rough. Like, the morning, uh, I, I got a couple of them in the morning. Couple of times morning hunting I got a deer, but it's a lot of blown stalks.

Ryan Bingham 32:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 32:28 You gotta walk super slow, you gotta be real cautious, and again, there's a lot of high brush and you don't know where the fuck they're hiding.

Ryan Bingham 32:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:36 You gotta kinda find a pinch point and-

Ryan Bingham 32:38 Yeah, you jump one and then the rest of them-

Joe Rogan 32:40 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 32:40 ... sound off. The way they bark and all of that's pretty crazy too, huh? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 32:43 Yeah, it's weird. It's a weird noise. What you gotta kinda do is, like, find where they're going to be and just wait.

Ryan Bingham 32:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:49 'Cause they travel so much, they do so much moving. You think, "I'm just gonna go, you know, still hunt and s- spot and stalk and I'll, I'll find one," and it'll ... You're almost better off just staying put.

Ryan Bingham 32:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:00 Just stay in put and wait for them to, 'cause they're moving all over the place. There's so fucking many of them.

Ryan Bingham 33:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:04 It's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 33:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:05 But it's amazing how unsuccessful people are bow hunting them.

Ryan Bingham 33:10 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:11 Rifle, it's a done deal.

Ryan Bingham 33:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:13 It's, if you want meat, and it's the best meat in the world.

Ryan Bingham 33:16 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:16 So d- it's g- for the people that live there, it's incredible. I mean, they have access to the best meat in the world.

Ryan Bingham 33:22 Mm.

Joe Rogan 33:22 100% they're gonna get a deer.

Ryan Bingham 33:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:24 And so if you have a r- but if you have a bow, y- we went there and then w- so I went with Remy, I went with, uh, John Dudley, Cam Hanes, and Adam Greentree. Like, all seasoned bow hunters.

Ryan Bingham 33:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:36 Everybody-

Ryan Bingham 33:37 Yeah

Joe Rogan 33:37 ... everybody got a deer and we made a podcast about it. We had a good old time. They had 150 people go over the next year, and one was successful with a bow.

Ryan Bingham 33:48 [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:49 That's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 33:49 Gotta take the chances, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:51 That's how hard it is.

Ryan Bingham 33:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:53 Because it's like these fuckers are, they're dialed in, man.

Ryan Bingham 33:57 Mm.

Joe Rogan 33:57 And they move.

Ryan Bingham 33:57 A lot of people chasing them, too.

Joe Rogan 33:59 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 33:59 They, they know the game, right?

Joe Rogan 34:00 365 days a year they get hunted.

Ryan Bingham 34:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:02 There's no season.

Ryan Bingham 34:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 34:03 And then they have snipers that are after them at night because, you know, they use it for meat for the restaurants, and meat for people, and s- and they just have to control the population.

Ryan Bingham 34:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:12 There's so many of them.

Ryan Bingham 34:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:13 And no predators.

Ryan Bingham 34:14 Yeah, and still can't thin them out, right?

Joe Rogan 34:16 I know, it's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 34:17 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 34:18 But I think they got a good head start. They eradicated them from the Big Island.

Ryan Bingham 34:22 Oh, did they? I did not know.

Joe Rogan 34:22 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 34:22 Okay.

Joe Rogan 34:23 Somebody tried to reintroduce them, or introduce I should say, to the Big Island-

Ryan Bingham 34:27 Yeah

Joe Rogan 34:27 ... and they're like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Ryan Bingham 34:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:28 "We know where this is going. He's gonna-

Ryan Bingham 34:29 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 34:30 ... he's gonna destroy people's crops-

Ryan Bingham 34:32 Yeah

Joe Rogan 34:32 ... and destroy people's f- gardens."

Ryan Bingham 34:34 Just take over.

Joe Rogan 34:35 And they already have plenty of wild pigs on the Big Island, so they just-

Ryan Bingham 34:38 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 34:38 ... they whacked them all, unfortunately.

Ryan Bingham 34:40 It's kinda like the pigs here in Texas, right?

Joe Rogan 34:42 Crazy.

Ryan Bingham 34:42 Isn't it gone wild? I don't, I, you know, growing up here when I was younger, I never remember them being like how they are now.

Joe Rogan 34:48 They don't stop.

Ryan Bingham 34:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:50 They, they have three or four litters a year.

Ryan Bingham 34:52 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 34:52 And each litter has, I think, they can have as many as six piglets.

Ryan Bingham 34:57 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 34:57 They just ... And they can get pregnant six months old.

Ryan Bingham 35:00 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 35:00 At six months old they can get pregnant and they're ready to rock.

Ryan Bingham 35:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:03 And they're just spitting out pigs.

Ryan Bingham 35:05 And just tearing, tearing shit up.

Joe Rogan 35:07 Yeah. I, we have a lease out here for, uh, a hunting land, me and, uh, some of my friends, and the amount of pigs is disturbing.

Ryan Bingham 35:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 35:16 It's like you hear them everywhere. [oinks] You hear them in the bushes. They're all over the fucking place.

Ryan Bingham 35:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:20 It's like most of Texas probably that's not like city has wild pigs in it.

Ryan Bingham 35:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 35:28 It's just [laughs] like fuck-

Ryan Bingham 35:30 Taking over, man

Joe Rogan 35:31 ... and it's all came over on boats.

Ryan Bingham 35:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:33 That's how it all got here, is guys from Europe.

Ryan Bingham 35:34 Is that how they all got here?

Joe Rogan 35:35 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 35:36 Yeah. Just importing them in.

Joe Rogan 35:37 Yeah, guys from Europe.

Ryan Bingham 35:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:38 They brought boats and, and in the boats some of them brought pigs, and then they let them loose.

Ryan Bingham 35:43 That's crazy, man. Tearing stuff up. Yeah, I don't ever remember them being as bad as they were like-

Joe Rogan 35:50 No

Ryan Bingham 35:50 ... in the last 15 years or so.

Joe Rogan 35:52 It's actually bad in California too, and California has them from William Randolph Hearst.

Ryan Bingham 35:56 Well, didn't they take, didn't they, uh, like eradicate them off the Channel Islands out there, all that stuff?

Joe Rogan 36:01 I think so. They, I think the islands, and they had mule deer on some of the islands out there too, right?

Ryan Bingham 36:07 Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think so.

Joe Rogan 36:08 I forget which island had mule deer.

Ryan Bingham 36:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:10 But apparently they had like a, a, like you could go hunt on one of these islands.

Ryan Bingham 36:15 Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think you, I think you might still be able to, like on Catalina or a couple, but maybe-

Joe Rogan 36:21 Do they really allow that still?

Ryan Bingham 36:21 ... not Santa Cruz. They did, 'cause I know my, uh, my buddy Matt, he did it like maybe the la- the last year or the year before, but I think they're trying to put a stop to it and-

Joe Rogan 36:30 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 36:30 ... and, and kinda stop it. That was, those Channel Islands are pretty interesting. I remember first moving out there, even just going out there 15 years ago, and, um, seeing the islands out there, you know. And I'd ask people all around, I was like, "Man, what's the deal with these islands out there?" And half the people that I would talk to be like, "What are you talking about, islands?"

Joe Rogan 36:48 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 36:48 And I'm like, "That island r- right out there." [laughs] They're like, "Oh, I thought that was Long Beach." You know? [laughs] I'm like, "Really?" I was like, "Have you looked at a map?" You know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 36:58 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 36:58 I love maps, so I just started, you know, doing some research and figuring out all about it, and, uh, they're really cool. And over the years I've met some really, uh, cool guys who go out there a lot and spearfish and just to go out there to them. And besides Catalina, like Santa Cruz, and San Miguel, and, you know, they're all, like, nature preserves and protected.

Joe Rogan 37:16 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 37:16 So it's like going back in time when you get out there. And, uh, uh, I love it out there. It's such a, such a cool spot.

Joe Rogan 37:23 Did they try to, are they trying to eradicate deer from Catalina? I think I've read something about that. See if that's true.I think they were trying to remove the deer because they said the deer were non-native to the island, which-

Ryan Bingham 37:36 Yeah. Yeah, I think that's what they did with the, with the hogs, and I don't know. There's like an, a specific island fox out there.

Joe Rogan 37:44 Yeah, here it is. "As of early 2026, California officials have approved a controversial plan to fully eradicate the non-native mule deer population on Santa Catalina Island to restore the ecosystem. Around 2,000 deer introduced in the 1930s for hunting will be removed by ground-based hunters to protect native biodiversity." Come on. That sounds crazy. How about just let people hunt them?

Ryan Bingham 38:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:12 Fuck's wrong with you?

Ryan Bingham 38:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:13 Um, so the issue is, "Catalina Island Conservancy considers the mule deer an invasive species that disrupts the ecosystem as they consume native plants and seedlings while spreading fire-prone, invasive grasses." Really? I have a... I just always worry about conservancies and their, their judgments on things like that because there's a lot of... They wanna eradicate all the pigs from Texas, or the, uh, from, uh, California rather. They think of the, them as non-native and they want them out too, but you're not going to. They want to eradicate d- uh, there's like elk in California that are Yellowstone elk that were brought there in like the 1950s.

Ryan Bingham 38:58 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 38:58 That they're, they wanna eradicate them too.

Ryan Bingham 39:00 Like the Tule, like the Tule Elk that are out there?

Joe Rogan 39:02 No, they're actually, they're actually Rocky Mountain elk.

Ryan Bingham 39:04 Oh, okay.

Joe Rogan 39:05 Yeah, but they're, they're a larger breed-

Ryan Bingham 39:08 Oh

Joe Rogan 39:08 ... of Rocky Mountain elk. C- they're called yellow apparently.

Ryan Bingham 39:11 Like in the Sierras or down in, on, along the coast and stuff?

Joe Rogan 39:15 Tachapee or-

Ryan Bingham 39:15 Tachapee, yeah

Joe Rogan 39:16 ... up in that area-

Ryan Bingham 39:17 Oh, okay

Joe Rogan 39:17 ... in those mountains. Um, big fucking elk.

Ryan Bingham 39:20 Mm.

Joe Rogan 39:21 Like 400-inch elk. Like a couple of those elk out there that are-

Ryan Bingham 39:24 Yeah

Joe Rogan 39:24 ... out front, that's what they're from.

Ryan Bingham 39:25 That, there's... That's from there?

Joe Rogan 39:26 That's from there.

Ryan Bingham 39:26 Oh, those are massive.

Joe Rogan 39:27 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 39:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:28 That's from Tejon Ranch.

Ryan Bingham 39:29 Okay.

Joe Rogan 39:30 Yeah. And-

Ryan Bingham 39:31 Oh yeah, it's like going up over the grapevine and shit.

Joe Rogan 39:33 Exactly.

Ryan Bingham 39:33 That's where you got those?

Joe Rogan 39:34 Uh-huh.

Ryan Bingham 39:35 Wow, I had no idea-

Joe Rogan 39:36 Brother, huge

Ryan Bingham 39:36 ... they were that big out there.

Joe Rogan 39:38 It's all-

Ryan Bingham 39:38 Wow

Joe Rogan 39:38 ... it's the biggest private ranch in California.

Ryan Bingham 39:41 Okay.

Joe Rogan 39:41 It's like 270,000 acres.

Ryan Bingham 39:43 Mm. I've heard of the ranch, but I, I didn't know-

Joe Rogan 39:44 Gorgeous

Ryan Bingham 39:44 ... that they had elk like that up there.

Joe Rogan 39:46 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 39:47 Wow.

Joe Rogan 39:47 Yeah, one of the rare places. Gorgeous fucking place.

Ryan Bingham 39:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:50 But uh, they also go up, it's kind of funny, they go up to, um, there's a golfing community, uh, uh, higher up in Tachapee.

Ryan Bingham 39:58 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 39:58 And, um, the elk just hang out on the golf course.

Ryan Bingham 40:01 [laughs] I just turned it up.

Joe Rogan 40:02 So like giant elk-

Ryan Bingham 40:03 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 40:04 ... like 400-inch elk just chilling, hanging out together on the golf course, and dudes are playing golf-

Ryan Bingham 40:10 That's wild

Joe Rogan 40:11 ... while they're lying down-

Ryan Bingham 40:12 Yeah

Joe Rogan 40:12 ... next to them like 20 yards away. It's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 40:14 I've seen a... I saw some one time. I was driving up the coast. I think I was going up to San Francisco to play a gig, and, uh, maybe they're the Tule Elk.

Joe Rogan 40:23 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 40:23 I'm not sure what they were, but I was along the coast there, and I looked over in a field, and there was like 30 head of them just laying down over there. I'm like, "Oh man, I didn't even know there were elk down here." It's just, I love seeing, uh, wildlife that in unexpected places, you know?

Joe Rogan 40:37 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 40:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:38 They recently just found a wolf in Los Angeles.

Ryan Bingham 40:40 They're unexpected for me anyway. Oh, really?

Joe Rogan 40:43 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 40:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:43 See, see if you can find the story about that wolf that they just discovered in Los Angeles.

Ryan Bingham 40:48 There's a mama, a mama bear, black bear with three cubs now running around in Topanga.

Joe Rogan 40:53 Oh yeah.

Ryan Bingham 40:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:54 There's a lot of those.

Ryan Bingham 40:55 And a lot of lions running around.

Joe Rogan 40:57 Um, there's a lot of, uh, a lot of bears.

Ryan Bingham 40:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:00 I, I've seen them in Pasadena in people's pools.

Ryan Bingham 41:02 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:03 Black bears.

Ryan Bingham 41:03 I knew that there's a bunch out in Pasadena and like-

Joe Rogan 41:05 Look at this

Ryan Bingham 41:05 ... Glendale.

Joe Rogan 41:06 Wolf detected-

Ryan Bingham 41:07 Oh, look at that

Joe Rogan 41:07 ... in Los Angeles County for the first time in more than a century. Crazy. Isn't that nuts?

Ryan Bingham 41:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:15 Those guys can fucking travel.

Ryan Bingham 41:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:19 I had a lady on who was a wolf biologist.

Ryan Bingham 41:21 Mm.

Joe Rogan 41:22 And she was talking about like the, you know, they'd collar some of these wolves, and they would track them. They would go 500 miles.

Ryan Bingham 41:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:29 Like it's kind of insane. Like-

Ryan Bingham 41:31 I didn't know that.

Joe Rogan 41:32 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 41:32 That's, that's incredible.

Joe Rogan 41:33 Well, that's how they learned about them. It's really the only way to tell is to like put a collar on them and track them by GPS.

Ryan Bingham 41:39 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:39 And, you know, they mean, they're extraordinary animals. Like-

Ryan Bingham 41:44 Where were, where were they originating from in, in Montana, Wyoming, and how, where were they going, the ones that they were tracking?

Joe Rogan 41:50 I think the ones that they were tracking were the part of the group that was brought in, you know, in the 1990s.

Ryan Bingham 41:56 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:56 You know, so there was that pack and the subsequent packs that came after that that were all the reintroduced wolves.

Ryan Bingham 42:02 Mm.

Joe Rogan 42:02 And so they would, you know, dart and collar some of them, and when they would do that, they would just track their motion. They're like, "Jesus. [laughs] These fuckers are fuck-"

Ryan Bingham 42:10 Yeah, they're covering some ground, huh? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 42:13 They're covering some ground.

Ryan Bingham 42:14 Oh, man.

Joe Rogan 42:14 They're covering some ground.

Ryan Bingham 42:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:14 And it's interesting too that they actually make mountain lions kill more deer.

Ryan Bingham 42:20 Like competing with them?

Joe Rogan 42:21 Yeah, because, uh, the mountain lions kill a deer, and then the wolves will steal it.

Ryan Bingham 42:26 Oh, okay. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:26 So they'll come up on the mountain lion, and they'll surround them, and the mountain lion will go, "Fuck this, I'm out of here."

Ryan Bingham 42:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:30 And he'll just go kill another deer. So he doesn't even get a chance to eat his deer because the wolves keep stealing his deer.

Ryan Bingham 42:36 And keep tracking the lions.

Joe Rogan 42:37 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 42:37 Probably just following them around, huh?

Joe Rogan 42:39 They're smart, man.

Ryan Bingham 42:39 Letting them do the dirty work, yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:40 They do. [laughs] They let them do the dirty work-

Ryan Bingham 42:42 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 42:42 ... and then they steal their food.

Ryan Bingham 42:42 Work smarter, not harder, huh? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 42:45 See it's, what does it say? The wolf that they found? Yeah, that's from when, uh, February when they first spotted it. Mm. So the wolf was born 2023, Plumas County's... Where's Plumas County? It's traveled more than 370 miles. Wow. Including crossing State Route 59 near Tehachapi. There you go.

Ryan Bingham 43:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:04 They had one up in Tehachapi too that, uh, a buddy of mine... It was actually closer to, um, uh, the city that's down there. What's that fucking city?

Ryan Bingham 43:14 Bakersfield?

Joe Rogan 43:14 Bakersfield.

Ryan Bingham 43:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:15 Exactly. Wildlife officials now estimate at least 60 wolves live in the state. Wow. One crossed over in 2011. Wow. It was- From California, from Oregon. So, uh, so they find them in the Tehachapi Mountains. Interesting.Biologist told newspa-

Ryan Bingham 43:33 Sorry.

Joe Rogan 43:34 Oh, the, biologist told newspapers that she could encounter a mate in the nearby regions such as Tatshenshini Mountains, potentially forming a new pack or continue to roam. What was that picture you just had of the elk? Yeah, that's that golf course. Look at that. [both laughing]

Ryan Bingham 43:46 Oh, it's-

Joe Rogan 43:47 Giant fucking elk chilling on the golf course clashing-

Ryan Bingham 43:50 On the flag.

Joe Rogan 43:51 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 43:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:51 Look how beautiful that is.

Ryan Bingham 43:53 Oh.

Joe Rogan 43:53 God, so pretty out there. Massive elk. Oaktree Country Club.

Ryan Bingham 43:57 Perfect sanctuary for them, right?

Joe Rogan 43:59 Oh, yeah, man.

Ryan Bingham 44:00 [laughing]

Joe Rogan 44:00 And it's just, it adds to the coolness of playing golf. I mean, you're playing golf around giant, beautiful animals.

Ryan Bingham 44:07 I bet those greenskeepers love them, though. [both laughing]

Joe Rogan 44:09 Right. They probably fuck up all kinds of things out there.

Ryan Bingham 44:14 [laughs] Oh.

Joe Rogan 44:14 Yeah. It's, uh... The wolf thing is interesting because they, they just brought them back to Aspen, and they did a really stupid thing. They, they brought them into an area where it has a lot of livestock, and they brought them in from a place in Oregon where these wolves had all been captured because they were killing agriculture.

Ryan Bingham 44:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:34 So what did they do? They captured them, and they dropped them off in Colorado where they started-

Ryan Bingham 44:39 [laughs] In the, in the national park

Joe Rogan 44:41 ... killing cows again.

Ryan Bingham 44:41 [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:41 They're just doing... Well, it's on people's r-

Ryan Bingham 44:43 Yeah

Joe Rogan 44:43 ... my friend's ranch. One of them, uh, they dropped three wolves off on my friend's ranch.

Ryan Bingham 44:47 That's tough, man.

Joe Rogan 44:48 He's so mad.

Ryan Bingham 44:48 I bet even with the bears and stuff, you know, you get some problem bears or whatever, and then they go and drop them out where farmers and ranchers are living, you know?

Joe Rogan 44:55 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 44:55 It's like, man, how's, how's that gonna work, you know?

Joe Rogan 44:57 Well, it's the people in charge of these things and making these decisions, they don't understand what they're doing. They're monkeying around with wildlife, nature, biology, and you, you don't know what you're doing.

Ryan Bingham 45:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:09 You don't, you have no idea.

Ryan Bingham 45:10 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 45:10 Also, like how c- how the fuck do you in good conscience take a wolf that's used to killing cows and put them around other people's cows?

Ryan Bingham 45:18 Yeah. It's already pr-

Joe Rogan 45:18 That's a-

Ryan Bingham 45:19 ... it's already programmed, man. The dinner bell's ringing.

Joe Rogan 45:21 It's, it knows exactly how to do it.

Ryan Bingham 45:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:22 It knows it's easy. They're all fenced in. They, they taste delicious. Why would it stop? You know?

Ryan Bingham 45:28 Or why would it... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:29 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 45:29 Why wouldn't it go chase, chase tougher prey, right?

Joe Rogan 45:32 So now these poor ranchers have to have people-

Ryan Bingham 45:35 Yeah

Joe Rogan 45:35 ... monitoring their cows 24/7. They have to have cowboys up all night-

Ryan Bingham 45:40 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 45:40 ... that are wandering around and on horseback and just looking for wolves. I mean, it's a disaster.

Ryan Bingham 45:46 It's tough. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:46 They've killed dozens of cows. It's like-

Ryan Bingham 45:48 And these are folks that, you know, have been, like we said, surviving on this land for generations-

Joe Rogan 45:53 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 45:53 ... and, and dealing with that and, you know, have, have a history with managing that stuff, you know? It'd probably be the folks I'd wanna ask [laughs]

Joe Rogan 46:02 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 46:02 ... is how to handle it, you know?

Joe Rogan 46:03 Well, they would certainly tell you, "Don't let the wolves in."

Ryan Bingham 46:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:06 "And if you do, kill them."

Ryan Bingham 46:08 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:08 You know? But now it's gotten to the point where I think they're gonna have to do something about them because the numbers just keep growing.

Ryan Bingham 46:13 Will they put like a, will they put a hunt- hunt- hunting limit on them, you think?

Joe Rogan 46:18 Honestly, that would probably do something. But really what you should do is hire someone to recapture them and don't drop them off there. Don't drop them off in fucking Aspen, you idiot.

Ryan Bingham 46:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:30 'Cause they're gonna eat people's poodles, too.

Ryan Bingham 46:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:33 They don't give a shit. Well, if they run out of cows, if somehow or another the ranchers scare them away from the cows-

Ryan Bingham 46:38 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 46:38 ... and they make it into the town of Aspen-

Ryan Bingham 46:40 Yeah

Joe Rogan 46:40 ... you don't think they're gonna eat your golden retriever? They're gonna eat all kinds of dogs.

Ryan Bingham 46:43 [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:43 They eat dogs in Alaska all the time.

Ryan Bingham 46:46 Yeah. Yeah, you hear a lot, a lot, like the lions and stuff, man, coming after your kids.

Joe Rogan 46:52 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 46:52 You know?

Joe Rogan 46:52 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 46:52 There's been this, like Malibu Creek Park, you know, I've heard a couple of incidents there, you know, hits. Like man, they're, they're gonna go eat something.

Joe Rogan 47:00 Especially when they're old.

Ryan Bingham 47:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:02 When they get old.

Ryan Bingham 47:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:04 You know, and they can't catch a deer anymore.

Ryan Bingham 47:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:06 And they're hungry, and they haven't eaten in a few days, and then they see a kid-

Ryan Bingham 47:10 Mm

Joe Rogan 47:10 ... hanging around a little too close to the outside of the woods.

Ryan Bingham 47:12 Mm. I got a big one that comes right by my house. I got a little game trail cameras set up, and I got a little fountain right in the front. It doesn't come around when I- I'm there 'cause we got the dogs, you know, a lot. But, uh, whenever I'm out of town for weeks at a time, I'll come back, and that sucker's just laying on my front porch.

Joe Rogan 47:27 Whoa.

Ryan Bingham 47:27 Just massive. And then the, [laughs] the other day, a friend of mine was taking the trash out, and this li- this was like around lunchtime, and it jumped over the fence into the driveway and had a dead rabbits in its, dead rabbit in its mouth, just looking at her, you know? And she's like-

Joe Rogan 47:42 Holy shit

Ryan Bingham 47:43 ... "They're there," you know? So every time I'm even walking around by myself or with the dogs, you're just like, "Man, that sucker could just be in a tree looking at me right now." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 47:50 Yeah, you're just living with monsters.

Ryan Bingham 47:52 You know? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:53 Hoo.

Ryan Bingham 47:54 They're there.

Joe Rogan 47:56 California spent more than $100 million trying to make a bridge over... I forget which freeway it is.

Ryan Bingham 48:04 I think it's the 101, isn't it?

Joe Rogan 48:05 Is it the 101?

Ryan Bingham 48:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:06 I think you're right. So they spent over $100 million, and it's still not done. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 48:11 Oh, my gosh.

Joe Rogan 48:12 For a bridge-

Ryan Bingham 48:13 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 48:13 ... a bridge for the mountain lions. Like you fucking dorks.

Ryan Bingham 48:17 Uh.

Joe Rogan 48:19 Ugh. It's like this idea of like it's gonna be a bridge, but it's gonna have dirt and grass on it, so it'll-

Ryan Bingham 48:24 Mm

Joe Rogan 48:24 ... encourage them to walk across so they don't have to go over the highway and die.

Ryan Bingham 48:27 [laughs] Is it nicer than the roads we're driving on?

Joe Rogan 48:30 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 48:31 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 48:31 Well, $110 million is crazy, and it's still not even done.

Ryan Bingham 48:36 Yeah. Man.

Joe Rogan 48:36 Like it is, like it's, it's so crazy. So that's what it, early 2026 they think they're gonna-

Ryan Bingham 48:43 Oh, yeah. It's like going up to Ventura, right?

Joe Rogan 48:45 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 48:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:46 So they wanna have this, this big dirt mound and this bridge so the animals can get across the highway. But it's just like, it's so goofy. And they never want people to do anything about the population of mountain lions. Regardless of how out of control they are, they don't do anything about it. They have to hire people, the state has to hire people to go and get the bad mountain lions, the ones that are problems.

Ryan Bingham 49:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:09 And when they capture them, one of the things they find out is they're, when... They actually kill them, right? So one of the things they find out when they examine their diet, it's like 50% pets.

Ryan Bingham 49:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:19 50% dogs and cats. That's what your mountain lions are eating.

Ryan Bingham 49:22 That's crazy. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:25 And they spend money, like a lot of money, going after these mountain lions, and instead they could make money by letting people hunt these mountain lions and giving them tags and control the numbers. In, uh, that place, Tejon Ranch, one of my buddies works there, and they have a-A trail camera set up on a pond-

Ryan Bingham 49:44 Mm

Joe Rogan 49:44 ... and they found 16 different cats that were drinking out of that pond.

Ryan Bingham 49:49 Oh my God.

Joe Rogan 49:50 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 49:50 That's insane. I also had, like when I first started going out there too, the coyotes, you know, and even around like in Hollywood and stuff, you know.

Joe Rogan 49:58 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 49:58 I'm like, "Man, I swear I just saw a coyote running down the street with a pair of sunglasses on," [laughs]

Joe Rogan 50:02 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 50:03 "And a gold chain. Eating better than any of us." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 50:08 When I went there-

Ryan Bingham 50:08 Yeah

Joe Rogan 50:08 ... in '94, that was the first time I ever saw a coyote. I couldn't believe it.

Ryan Bingham 50:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:11 I was staying at the, you know how they have those furnished apartments, the Oakwood furnished apartments?

Ryan Bingham 50:16 Oh, no, not really, but okay.

Joe Rogan 50:17 It's like temporary, uh, like for people that are like don't have a house yet and you gotta move to California quick, they have this place called Oakwood.

Ryan Bingham 50:24 Okay.

Joe Rogan 50:24 And you go in there, it's already got a couch, it's already got a TV, it's already got a bed. You're like, "Okay."

Ryan Bingham 50:28 Like an Airbnb type of thing?

Joe Rogan 50:29 Yeah, almost like you just move in.

Ryan Bingham 50:31 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:31 And, uh, I was driving up to the entrance to the place, and I see these little dogs on the street. I was like, "What the fuck's going on? These do-"

Ryan Bingham 50:41 That ain't no dog. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 50:42 ... German shepherd with a... I was like, "Oh my God, they're coyotes. Like, this is weird." And so this is like '94. I had never seen a fucking coyote-

Ryan Bingham 50:51 Yeah

Joe Rogan 50:51 ... and never even heard of a coyote being out just wandering in the street. I just couldn't believe it, that they just wander around on the concrete.

Ryan Bingham 50:59 Ah, man, it's, they're, they're everywhere. I feel like I've seen more there than any- anywhere.

Joe Rogan 51:03 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 51:03 You see them more in town than you do anywhere else. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:06 Yeah. They, well, they have large populations of them in downtown.

Ryan Bingham 51:09 Mm.

Joe Rogan 51:10 Where they know where they den up. They den up in certain warehouse buildings.

Ryan Bingham 51:13 Okay.

Joe Rogan 51:14 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 51:14 Like abandoned buildings-

Joe Rogan 51:15 Yeah, man

Ryan Bingham 51:15 ... and under bridges and-

Joe Rogan 51:16 Weird

Ryan Bingham 51:17 ... freeways and stuff.

Joe Rogan 51:18 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 51:18 Oh.

Joe Rogan 51:18 They like, they live there. They probably keep the rat population-

Ryan Bingham 51:21 Nature will take back over one day, won't it?

Joe Rogan 51:24 Exactly.

Ryan Bingham 51:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:25 Yeah. I think they probably keep the rat population in check, though.

Ryan Bingham 51:28 Yeah?

Joe Rogan 51:29 If you think about it.

Ryan Bingham 51:30 Yeah. Probably keep a lot of other things in check, too. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 51:33 Right. Cats. Well, there was a terrible video from Woodland Hills a few years back where a guy, uh, was unloading his car and his toddler was out there in, in the grass, like right next to him.

Ryan Bingham 51:46 I saw that, yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:46 And the coyote grabbed his toddler-

Ryan Bingham 51:47 Yeah

Joe Rogan 51:47 ... and tried to run away with his kid.

Ryan Bingham 51:49 Yeah, I saw that, man. I, you know, I'm always watching around for stuff and with my, our kiddos or just people around the neighborhood and stuff. You gotta remind, you remind yourself, you know, they're, they're there and they're not scared of you.

Joe Rogan 52:01 Exactly.

Ryan Bingham 52:01 You know? They're not, they're not afraid. I, I remember the, one of the first times, uh, I went up to Ojai, just north of, uh, LA there, you know. And I just wanted to go up there and go hike around and check out the area, and, uh, there was, uh, an archery shop up there. And I had this old guy, kinda looked like Charlie Daniels, just big overalls, big old beard, you know. And I walked in there and just to check out the shop and also just ask him about, you know, some areas to go stomp around. And, and I had a, a, a Australian shepherd dog at the time, and, uh, just asking where, you know, good places to go stomp around. And he said, "Yeah, you know, you can go up there," he goes, "But I wouldn't take your dog with you." I was like, "Really? Why?" And he's like, "Man, those lions are real deal up here." You know? And he's like, "You..." He goes, "You won't see them, you know, until they're on, on you." You know? And I just, you know, I knew there were lions and stuff like that, but hearing it from, from that guy, you know, maybe he's trying to scare me a little bit, but, you know, there's, I, it's, uh, they're, it's the real deal.

Joe Rogan 52:58 It's real.

Ryan Bingham 52:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:59 It's real, and they try to downplay it.

Ryan Bingham 53:01 Mm.

Joe Rogan 53:01 And because the, all the wildlife lovers, all the greenies-

Ryan Bingham 53:06 Mm

Joe Rogan 53:06 ... they don't want you, like, sounding the alarm-

Ryan Bingham 53:09 In fear and what not, yeah

Joe Rogan 53:09 ... and killing them.

Ryan Bingham 53:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:10 What their goal is to have zero hunting. Their goal is to have all the animals just balance each other out.

Ryan Bingham 53:17 Ain't gonna happen.

Joe Rogan 53:19 [laughs] You, you can't... It's not-

Ryan Bingham 53:20 Not with humans in the mix.

Joe Rogan 53:21 No.

Ryan Bingham 53:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:21 The humans have interrupted that whole idea, right?

Ryan Bingham 53:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:24 So if you've got a city and then you've got wild giant predators-

Ryan Bingham 53:28 Mm

Joe Rogan 53:28 ... like 170-pound cats that are killing dogs, and they're like, "You gotta control them."

Ryan Bingham 53:35 Yeah. Can't manage one without managing the other-

Joe Rogan 53:37 No

Ryan Bingham 53:37 ... right?

Joe Rogan 53:38 And so the first we- the first thing they did to stop people from doing it is they banned hunting with dogs. So if you ban hunting with dogs, guess what? You basically, you're killing most of the hunting. 'Cause the reality of mountain lions is you can't find them. They're really hard to find.

Ryan Bingham 53:52 Mm.

Joe Rogan 53:52 Really hard to catch, really hard to find, and the best way to control their population is to tree them, and you get dogs to t- 'cause that way you know if it's a tom or if it's a female. You know if it's mature. You know what size it is. You have a really accurate estimation. You can look up at it, "Oh, that's a mature tom."

Ryan Bingham 54:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:10 "That's what we're looking to kill." And then you can control their population.

Ryan Bingham 54:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:14 That's the only w- same with bears. It's a great way to control bears.

Ryan Bingham 54:16 Yeah, see what, see what it is and, and decide if it needs to go or if it, if, if it needs to stay, right?

Joe Rogan 54:21 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 54:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:22 But they do little things to stop the effective hunting first. So California, you can still hunt for black bears, but you can't use dogs anymore.

Ryan Bingham 54:31 Mm.

Joe Rogan 54:31 And so as soon as they stopped the use of dogs, the amount of black bears they harvested went way down.

Ryan Bingham 54:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:36 So the amount of bears in the population went way up.

Ryan Bingham 54:39 Yeah, I don't think they've... I mean, I, I know they've been around in Pasadena a lot, but I don't think there's been one in Topanga for a while. I mean, I've been up there, shoot, almost 15 years and hadn't heard of one. This is the first time I, like, one's kinda made it over in-

Joe Rogan 54:52 Mm

Ryan Bingham 54:52 ... into that, that area that I know of anyway. Maybe up, you know, around the, uh, Malibu Creek and those state parks. But, uh...

Joe Rogan 54:59 In Topanga, there's probably people feeding them.

Ryan Bingham 55:02 Oh, 100%, yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:03 "I've got berries for you, my friend."

Ryan Bingham 55:05 Yeah. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 55:06 "Come."

Ryan Bingham 55:06 Giving, giving them weed. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 55:10 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 55:10 Some, some berries.

Joe Rogan 55:12 Ah.

Ryan Bingham 55:13 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 55:13 Topanga's great, but it's always sketches me out if a fire catches.

Ryan Bingham 55:17 Oh, man, I, we, we, we got hit hard last year as, you know, the Palisades stuff, and man, I didn't... That, that was kinda it for me, too. I was like, "I'm out." You know?

Joe Rogan 55:27 It's terrifying.

Ryan Bingham 55:27 Yeah. I've evacuated out of there several times over the years, but, um, I've got horses up there now and stuff like that, and luckily I had like a, a... I always keep a big truck and a trailer just in case, and I've got some friends down in Burbank that have some stables, you know, that I'll have, like, as a backup plan. And, um-

Joe Rogan 55:45 Mm.

Ryan Bingham 55:45 But this was just a different deal. I, as a crow flies, I could see the smokeFrom the Palisades, you know, it's like a mile away. And, and we were actually working in, in our arena there, and smoke came up, and I was like, "Shoot, let's just go." Every time I see the smoke, like I don't wait. I'm just like, "We'll be the first ones out," and-

Joe Rogan 56:02 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 56:02 ... you know, beat the, beat the mad rush of everybody that's gonna decide to try to stay, and loaded up the, the trailer, and the truck, and the camper, and the dogs, and all that stuff, and was like, "Let's go." And, uh, my wife and I went down to Burbank, and I remember we were driving through the night, and the wind was just howling like I've never seen before. And power lines are snapping, and it's just like trees are coming down, and it just felt like the end of the world, you know? And, uh, we get to Burbank, and we pull back in these stables, and there's a kind of a big cinder block wall, and I just got as close to that as I could, 'cause it was blocking the wind, you know, from hitting us. And the next morning, I woke up, and I was just... my throat was sore and hurting. I could hardly breathe. And I opened the camper door, and the Altadena Fire had started, and it was right there.

Joe Rogan 56:51 Whoa.

Ryan Bingham 56:51 And so it was just a mountain of black smoke coming over the top of the Sierra. And, uh, so like, "Let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's, like, head north." And I had some friends in Moore Park, you know, up in that area going towards Ventura that had horses, trying to find some place to, to go with some horses. And, uh, they're like, "Yeah, come on up here." So we went up there, stayed there a night, and then they cut all the power off up in that area, 'cause the winds were snapping power lines, and they were worried about fires. And, and you know, after doing that a few nights in a row, I was like, "Let's just head east and go to Texas," you know? So we just... [laughs]

Joe Rogan 57:24 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 57:25 There's only so pl- so many friends you can, like, show up with five horses and a bunch of dogs, you know. Like, "Hey, we're gonna stay for a while," you know? Uh-

Joe Rogan 57:32 Especially in California.

Ryan Bingham 57:34 Yeah. We're like, "Let's just get out of here," uh, and headed back. And you didn't know when we were gonna make it back, and they, you know, closed indefinitely or whatever. I was just like, "Man, I'm, I'm over it."

Joe Rogan 57:44 I got evacuated a bunch of times when I lived there, but the last one was, uh, 2018. And, uh, when the last one, we got out early. I came home from the Comedy Store, and we saw fire coming over the top of this hill, and it was probably like 1:00 in the morning. And me and my wife were sitting there. I go, "What do you think?" And she's like, "Let's get the fuck out of here."

Ryan Bingham 58:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 58:04 I'm like, "Let's get the fuck out of here."

Ryan Bingham 58:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:05 "Let's just grab some shit, and maybe it'll come this way, maybe it won't." So it didn't burn the house down, but my neighbors, the front, front three neighbors all lost their house, and my next-door neighbor, his, his roof caught on fire. But my friend, who refused to s- to leave, he stayed in the neighborhood and protected his house and guided firefighters. He brought the firefighters to that house-

Ryan Bingham 58:27 Yeah

Joe Rogan 58:28 ... and showed them that it just started on this guy's roof, and they hosed it down.

Ryan Bingham 58:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 58:31 They stopped it in its tracks, but it was pretty fucking bad. But-

Ryan Bingham 58:35 It's wild, 'cause you know it's gonna burn. I mean, it's not a matter of, you know-

Joe Rogan 58:38 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 58:38 ... if. It's just when. And I mean, that's, that's... Canyons have been burning like that for thousands of years, and-

Joe Rogan 58:44 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 58:44 ... even the Chumash were setting them on fire on purpose to get ahead of it, right?

Joe Rogan 58:47 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 58:47 And controlling all of that stuff. And now there's just so many houses and communities back up in there, and so it's just a, it's a tough thing. But when they h- when they hit, man, they're, it's... they just... they're rolling. To how fast they come through when those Santa Ana winds are blowing like that and yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:04 It's just very surreal in person.

Ryan Bingham 59:06 Mm.

Joe Rogan 59:06 You can watch it on the news, and you kinda get a feeling of it, but when you're there, and you're driving down the 101, and you look at the side of the highway, and you see, like, these hills in the distance that are just covered in fire.

Ryan Bingham 59:16 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 59:17 Hundreds of yards of fields of fire just-

Ryan Bingham 59:21 Mm

Joe Rogan 59:21 ... making their way over the top of this hill-

Ryan Bingham 59:24 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 59:24 ... and burning houses and-

Ryan Bingham 59:26 We saw it-

Joe Rogan 59:26 Oof

Ryan Bingham 59:26 ... when the, the Palisi- you know, the Palisades thing was start- uh, you know, from our house, there's kind of a little mountain that comes up on the back, and I hiked up there and was watching it, and you could see the smoke. And then you could, like, start seeing little flickers of the flames, and then it was just like somebody dumped gasoline on this thing. And I mean, the flames shot up hundreds of feet into the air. And, uh, my wife was on the balcony, you know, of the house, and I'm kind of up on this little mountain. I'm looking over, looking in her eyes. I'm like, "Start packing up." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 59:58 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 59:58 Let's, uh, let's start... I'll go hook up the horse trailer. I'll be up to say, "Let's load up," and then just... And you know, the wind was blowing, uh, like offshore then, you know, so y- the fire's, like, all on the coast, you know? And just depending on where that, how that wind is blowing, you know, at the beginning, it was blowing offshore, and then within a half an hour, it just shot up the coastline and just ripped up through Malibu and burned all that coast. Like, that's the, uh, the stuff that you always thought was the safest.

Joe Rogan 1:00:27 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:00:28 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:00:28 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:00:29 And then the next day, the wind shifts, coming back onshore, and it blows it back towards Burbank, you know, going back up, like, the 4- up that way. And then the sh- winds are shifting again and then coming back across, you know. So I, I was amazed at the... Uh, I've, I've... Through some of the fires that I've been through, seeing the firefighters up there, those guys are incredible, man. Those helicopter pilots, uh, the airplane pilots, seeing those tankers fly through there, I mean, it's just incredible what those guys can do. I mean, if it hadn't... I mean, they, they saved that whole canyon.

Joe Rogan 1:01:01 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:01:01 You know, up Topanga at least. You know, it's like, man, there's so much brush in there that probably needs to burn that's been accumulating over years, you know. And, um, cutting those fire breaks and seeing them drop the retardant on the ridge lines and stuff, and then watching the wind, it's just like, man, I... Hats off to those guys, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:01:19 Absolutely.

Ryan Bingham 1:01:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:20 I mean, think about the amount of damage that was done in that fire and how much more would've been done if it wasn't for the firefighters. That's how crazy it is.

Ryan Bingham 1:01:28 Yeah. Yeah, it is. Man, I, I met one of the, uh, helicopter pilots. I was on a flight somewhere, and, uh, we just happened to be sitting next to each other, and we were talking about it, and just, you know, learning from him, you know, about, you know, the thermals that come up from underneath and trying to hold those helicopters in, you know, in formation and all of that stuff-

Joe Rogan 1:01:50 Mm

Ryan Bingham 1:01:51 ... and how heavy they are when they're full.

Joe Rogan 1:01:53 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:01:53 And then as soon as you release all that water, whatever's in them, that, you know, all the sudden that... the power that they got, you know, throttle's full throttle, you know, when they're loaded down, and then they drop all that water, and then, you know, trying to get back ahold of it. And, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:02:06 Oh, I never even thought of thatYeah

Ryan Bingham 1:02:08 Then you got, then you got-

Joe Rogan 1:02:08 Must be a enormous difference

Ryan Bingham 1:02:10 ... 90, 90 mile an hour winds blowing and, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:02:12 Phew.

Ryan Bingham 1:02:13 And y- y- I could see them from the house. You know, there'd be like two or three helicopters that would come in, start dropping water, and then they would move out, and then the tank, the planes would come in, and then helicopters back in, and then you had the guys on the ground, you know, trying to contain it as well. Just the, the coordinated effort between them, you know. I can imagine the conversations [laughs] there.

Joe Rogan 1:02:34 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:02:35 "Hey, man." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:02:37 It's so crazy that they didn't have the reservoirs ready.

Ryan Bingham 1:02:39 Oh, dude, it's so sad.

Joe Rogan 1:02:41 Which I had Spencer Pratt on.

Ryan Bingham 1:02:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:43 You know, he's running for mayor now. He was explaining it, like how bad it was.

Ryan Bingham 1:02:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:48 How do you fuck that up that bad?

Ryan Bingham 1:02:51 It's devastating to hear that it's like you know that that stuff's coming.

Joe Rogan 1:02:55 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:02:56 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:02:56 It's just-

Ryan Bingham 1:02:57 To not be prepared for that is-

Joe Rogan 1:02:58 Complete-

Ryan Bingham 1:02:59 ... unacceptable, you know

Joe Rogan 1:02:59 ... incompetence.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:01 Just complete, total incompetence, and yet they still are there. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:03:07 [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:08 Like you, you're definitely not good at the job.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:11 Gosh.

Joe Rogan 1:03:11 And yet you don't take any personal responsibility and you blame everybody else.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:03:17 And the problem, it's just fucking, it's a problem that happens every few years.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:23 Like ev- you're gonna get fires, period. The fact that you don't have a full reservoir is crazy. It's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:30 You should dump all your resources into fixing that fucking reservoir stat.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:34 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:03:34 Get that shit filled up.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:35 I feel like the re- the residents are more prepared than anybody.

Joe Rogan 1:03:38 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:38 You know? 'Cause I think they just got to where they, you can't depend on it, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:03:42 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:03:43 So I mean, I, I know our neighbors and stuff have a pretty good program in place. You know, we'll all get together and talk about, you know, who's got fire hoses and swimming pools with access to water, and where, you know, evacuation plans or, you know, there's some folks that, uh, will have horses, but they don't even have a horse trailer up there. And, you know, I'm like-

Joe Rogan 1:04:01 That's no good

Ryan Bingham 1:04:01 ... "Okay, I'll come get yours too," or whatever, you know, you know, we, we need to do. And, um, you kinda just have to have that mentality, I think, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:04:09 Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's... You know what's really freaking me out about, like, the Palisades? Is what is in the ground now, you know? Like how much toxic-

Ryan Bingham 1:04:21 Oh. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:04:21 ... shit got melted into the ground.

Ryan Bingham 1:04:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:23 Because think about-

Ryan Bingham 1:04:24 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 ... how many people have electric cars now.

Ryan Bingham 1:04:26 Well, all the hou- those old houses too. You know, I'm talking about the-

Joe Rogan 1:04:28 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:04:29 ... all the, the materials that they're made out of.

Joe Rogan 1:04:31 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:04:31 Asbestos or-

Joe Rogan 1:04:33 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 1:04:33 ... lead, and I mean, the stuff in-

Joe Rogan 1:04:34 Plastic

Ryan Bingham 1:04:34 ... the stuff in the air that was... Even if you, you know, you were several miles away from the actual fires, the, the wind and blowing all the ashes and the smoke-

Joe Rogan 1:04:42 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 1:04:42 ... and all that stuff over. Um, I remember going back up in there, you know, weeks and just trying to get stuff out of the house or whatever, when they'd let us back up, and you could still... It would just make your throat hurt, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:04:53 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:04:54 ... breathing that air and stuff, so.

Joe Rogan 1:04:56 Right. That-

Ryan Bingham 1:04:56 It's bad stuff

Joe Rogan 1:04:57 ... it's not just wood fire.

Ryan Bingham 1:04:58 Yeah. No. Uh-uh.

Joe Rogan 1:04:59 No. Like-

Ryan Bingham 1:05:00 The chemicals. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:00 Yeah. Wood fire's hard enough.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:02 But the chemicals, burnt TVs, and computers, and hard drives, and electronics, and-

Ryan Bingham 1:05:08 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:05:09 ... refrigerators.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:10 Treated lumber and like-

Joe Rogan 1:05:11 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:05:12 ... yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:13 All, all that shit's gonna get in your groundwater.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:05:15 Like it's, it's, it's on the surface. It's gonna rain. It's gonna seep through. Like what happens to the wa-

Ryan Bingham 1:05:21 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:05:21 ... is anybody checking the water out there? You know, you gotta imagine.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:26 [laughs] I, I doubt it.

Joe Rogan 1:05:27 'Cause like, especially like Topanga, I bet a lot of folks have wells. Don't you think?

Ryan Bingham 1:05:31 I think there's some. You know, it's definitely all, like, on septic up there too.

Joe Rogan 1:05:35 Mm.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:35 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:05:35 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:35 I mean, all the, all of the building code stuff's got pretty crazy up there. I don't know.

Joe Rogan 1:05:41 I would just-

Ryan Bingham 1:05:41 It's just a mess

Joe Rogan 1:05:42 ... I would just worry about even breathing the air that has the dust of all that shit in it.

Ryan Bingham 1:05:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:05:47 Like, I probably wouldn't wanna live there anymore. If, if I was-

Ryan Bingham 1:05:51 A lot of people moved out already

Joe Rogan 1:05:51 ... in a place where all the houses burnt to the ground and I knew there was toxic shit in the ground-

Ryan Bingham 1:05:55 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:05:55 ... I'd be like, "Hey, let's get the fuck out of here and sell our house to China." [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:06:00 [laughs] Oh, man. Uh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:03 'Cause that was the other thing Spencer said. They're the ones who are the number one land buyers-

Ryan Bingham 1:06:07 Are they?

Joe Rogan 1:06:07 ... in the Palisades. It's China.

Ryan Bingham 1:06:08 Is it gonna be a, is it gonna be a golf course resort up there before we know it?

Joe Rogan 1:06:13 Who knows?

Ryan Bingham 1:06:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:14 Or affordable housing.

Ryan Bingham 1:06:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:16 One or the other.

Ryan Bingham 1:06:17 I don't know either.

Joe Rogan 1:06:18 Yeah. I don't know, but it's just I, I really wonder what the long-term damage of all those chemicals in the ground is. It has to be pretty high.

Ryan Bingham 1:06:28 Gotta be. You know, I don't know. You know, I was talking to some s- friends of mine out the other day that have grown up there, lived out there their whole lives. And, you know, going over to the Channel Islands, you, you know, they got those oil platforms out there in, in the water, and there's been oil spills obviously throughout there through history and, um... But also, like, when you're surfing and stuff like that, there's oil that's been on top of the ground. It's just, like, so surface level. It's been there for millions of years, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:06:51 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:06:51 And so I don't know. You know? It's like I'm sure all the toxic stuff that happens, like how long does it take for it to dilute, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:07:00 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:07:00 When there's not much rain, or the wind, or like, what... You know? I'm not an expert on it, but I, I feel like Mother Nature takes pretty good care of herself, you know. We're, we're the ones in trouble, right? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:07:11 Right. Mother Nature will sort it out over time, but I just don't know how good it's gonna be for the people that live there.

Ryan Bingham 1:07:17 It can't be, can't be the long-term, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:07:19 I have a buddy that has a house out there, and he lost his house.

Ryan Bingham 1:07:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:22 It burnt down, and I asked him about it, and he said, "I think what they're gonna do is take all the dirt out of their backyard and then replace the dirt." And I'm like, "Hmm. Okay."

Ryan Bingham 1:07:32 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:07:32 I don't know if that's enough.

Ryan Bingham 1:07:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:34 Like, 'cause what about his dirt? What about your neighbor's dirt?

Ryan Bingham 1:07:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:36 What about the, all the toxic shit that's in his dirt that's gonna-

Ryan Bingham 1:07:39 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:07:39 ... get down into your ground-

Ryan Bingham 1:07:41 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:07:41 ... as soon as it rains? And also the air-

Ryan Bingham 1:07:44 Along with all the Roundup and everything else-

Joe Rogan 1:07:45 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:07:46 ... that's coming down.

Joe Rogan 1:07:47 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:07:47 You know? It's, it's just, it's, uh, it's sad, man. You know? It's sad. That's just the, kinda the state of it. It's like it's, it seems like just it's so far of a mess that even the folks that do have answers, that do wanna fix stuff, it just kinda becomes impossible for, for any solution, you know. It's like all the red tape, and all the hoops and things, and all the permits or whatever.

Joe Rogan 1:08:10 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:10 Like, you can't even, you know.The road's blocked. Okay, well, before we could even get somebody out here with a tractor to move the rocks, you gotta call 10 other people to get it approved, and then the process, and then it's that, and it's like, that's the part I'm just like, "Man, I wish I could just call Frank down the street with his [laughs] bulldozer. We'll just go, we'll just go move this right now," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:08:30 No, you need permits.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:30 You know? And it's like-

Joe Rogan 1:08:30 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:08:31 ... you know?

Joe Rogan 1:08:32 Well, government has increased so much in California, and they just want more-

Ryan Bingham 1:08:36 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:08:36 ... regulations so they could justify more government. And so they just regulate themselves to a place where people just wanna leave.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:43 And just go, "Look, I can't fucking do this anymore."

Ryan Bingham 1:08:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:45 "Let me get outta here."

Ryan Bingham 1:08:45 And it's expensive. Man, it's so expensive to live there.

Joe Rogan 1:08:49 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:49 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:08:49 Meanwhile, it's beautiful.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:51 It's such a great place. They fucked it up so hard.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:53 It's paradise.

Joe Rogan 1:08:54 It's paradise.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:55 On the mountains within, like two, three hours, you can-

Joe Rogan 1:08:58 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:08:58 ... be in the Sierras.

Joe Rogan 1:08:59 The beach.

Ryan Bingham 1:08:59 You can be in John Muir Tree National Park.

Joe Rogan 1:09:00 Or the mountains. You could go skiing-

Ryan Bingham 1:09:03 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:09:03 ... and then swim in the ocean on the same day.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:05 Yeah. It's gorgeous.

Joe Rogan 1:09:06 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:07 One of the beautiful places I've ever been. Yosemite, I mean, get out of town.

Joe Rogan 1:09:10 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:10 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:09:11 Incredible weather.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:12 Kern River.

Joe Rogan 1:09:13 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:13 Like, man, it's beautiful.

Joe Rogan 1:09:15 But they got ruined.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:18 They got ruined with progressive politics and bureaucracy that just ramped up all the control they have over people to the point where you can't even buy flavored Zyns. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:09:31 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:09:31 They banned blackjack.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:33 Ugh.

Joe Rogan 1:09:33 You can't have blackjack anymore. They just stopped blackjack in the casinos. They stopped flavored Zyns.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:39 God.

Joe Rogan 1:09:39 They just, they just regulate it into oblivion.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:43 They're all these people that wanna be, they wanna be the mommy of the world and tell you what to do. Like-

Ryan Bingham 1:09:49 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:09:49 ... fuck off.

Ryan Bingham 1:09:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:51 Like, fuck off with all your goddamn rules. You're just making your government bigger-

Ryan Bingham 1:09:56 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:09:56 ... so you can justify y- all these fucking rules, and you need the rules for the government to sustain itself, so you just keep adding more rules and adding more government.

Ryan Bingham 1:10:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:07 We were reading about it the other day, like what was the number that California's government went up by, like 24%, and their population went up by, like one percent? [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:10:16 I know, now you're run, kinda we're running out of places to go. You know?

Joe Rogan 1:10:20 I forget what the actual numbers were that we found, but it's...

Ryan Bingham 1:10:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:24 Well-

Ryan Bingham 1:10:24 I'm always looking for hideouts, you know, to kinda get away from. It's like, man, you f- you find a spot to go to, you kinda don't wanna tell nobody about it. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:10:31 I know, right?

Ryan Bingham 1:10:32 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:10:33 That's what I hear about West Texas.

Ryan Bingham 1:10:34 Yeah. I think that's what's hard about Montana, you know, when I first started going up there years ago, I mean, it was just such a... And it still is, it's a paradise. It's just, you know, and I, I think that's probably what a lot of people are upset about, lived up there. It's like, man, the s- the secret got out a little bit, and I can understand that, but-

Joe Rogan 1:10:51 I get it. I get it from their perspective.

Ryan Bingham 1:10:53 Yeah. Where's the next-

Joe Rogan 1:10:53 You gotta let that go

Ryan Bingham 1:10:54 ... where's the next place, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:10:55 The thing about Montana, though, or like Wyoming, another example, is that winter will thin the herd.

Ryan Bingham 1:11:02 [laughs] It's like West Texas, like-

Joe Rogan 1:11:04 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:11:04 ... that's funny. Same kinda th- like, you know, Marfa and out in that, in that area, you know. I grew up all out there going to junior rodeos and all kinds of stuff, and it was just ranches, you know, and l- you know, local diners and stuff like that. And, um, you know, I hear people going out there and buying houses and, you know, all that stuff, and then they go out there for like a week, and they realize [laughs] that the only thing open at night's the Dairy Queen, [laughs] and they're-

Joe Rogan 1:11:27 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:11:27 ... they're heading back to New York pretty quick. Yeah. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:11:30 Yeah. But the thing-

Ryan Bingham 1:11:31 You're right about Montana. Those winters-

Joe Rogan 1:11:32 The winter

Ryan Bingham 1:11:32 ... they'll thin them out. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:33 The winter gets you.

Ryan Bingham 1:11:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:34 The winter's rough. It's cold.

Ryan Bingham 1:11:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:11:38 We were, uh, the first time I ever went hunting was with Rinella. That's where I got that mule deer that's on the table right there.

Ryan Bingham 1:11:44 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:11:44 And, um, it was nine degrees in October, and we're camping. And so we're sleeping on the ground in nine degrees. I'm like, "Bro, how did these fucking people..." And you also, you go by these old homesteads. So they were giving land out there for people.

Ryan Bingham 1:12:01 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:12:01 You just, you can get a chunk of land, just start farming on it, and the government was encouraging people to move there.

Ryan Bingham 1:12:05 Yeah, prove it up.

Joe Rogan 1:12:06 But-

Ryan Bingham 1:12:07 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:12:07 ... it's all this, like, muddy ground. Like, the ground is, like, mucky. Like, when you hike in it, after r- you know, a while-

Ryan Bingham 1:12:16 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:12:16 ... your boots are so heavy, 'cause they're just-

Ryan Bingham 1:12:18 Just clay, huh?

Joe Rogan 1:12:19 ... thick with this clay.

Ryan Bingham 1:12:20 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:12:20 Yeah, just muck all over your boots. And so it's not fertile. It's not good, like in the Missouri Breaks, like that area.

Ryan Bingham 1:12:27 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:12:27 It's not good for growing things, so you find these abandoned homesteads. It's really eerie.

Ryan Bingham 1:12:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:12:34 Man, you just think, like, this family that came out here in, like, the 1800s, and they tried to set up shop-

Ryan Bingham 1:12:40 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:12:41 ... and maybe got killed by Indians and, you know, maybe-

Ryan Bingham 1:12:43 Oh, all the way.

Joe Rogan 1:12:44 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:12:44 I, I think about my, my family, and I've got stories, you know, my, of them settling in New Mexico and, um, you know, coming out on a, with a, on a covered wagon with maybe a steer and a pig, and they're like, "Yeah, here's you a bunch of acres, and you gotta prove it up," you know? And, um, dig a hole in the ground is what they were living in, a dugout, you know? And dig a hole in the ground, that's where you're living, and you try to build a ranch out of it. And [laughs] I always laugh because I was talking to family or my grandparents. I'd be like, "Why did y'all stop here?" [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:13:14 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:13:14 You just like, you were so beat down that you're like, "Oh, this is the driest, flattest place," you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:13:20 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:13:20 "Where- but we're here, the most roughest." You know, I was like, "It's only maybe another thousand miles out to California, or just keep going." They're like, "Nope. This is it. We're done," you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:13:30 Yeah, I guess people-

Ryan Bingham 1:13:31 It's tough, though, man

Joe Rogan 1:13:31 ... didn't know what they were gonna find if they kept going-

Ryan Bingham 1:13:34 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:13:34 ... either. Like, you wanna keep going for, like, another month?

Ryan Bingham 1:13:37 Oh, yeah, just miles and miles of more desert-

Joe Rogan 1:13:40 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:13:41 ... and-

Joe Rogan 1:13:41 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:13:41 ... no water. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:42 I mean, how long-

Ryan Bingham 1:13:43 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:13:43 ... would that wagon trail take to-

Ryan Bingham 1:13:45 Oh, weeks. You know, even just like-

Joe Rogan 1:13:47 Gosh

Ryan Bingham 1:13:47 ... Missouri to Texas and then out to, through We- even, like, just going through West Texas to get to, you know, Southeast New Mexico and all that, and then you're in, you know... That's just rough country, and the people have always been tough out there.

Joe Rogan 1:14:00 And you're a sitting duck.

Ryan Bingham 1:14:00 To survive out there. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:14:02 You're a sitting duck. You're slow moving with a wagon-

Ryan Bingham 1:14:06 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:14:06 ... pulling the horse, and you got all your shit in the wagon, and they just looking at you-

Ryan Bingham 1:14:09 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:14:09 ... from the hills.

Ryan Bingham 1:14:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:14:11 Ooh.

Ryan Bingham 1:14:12 Wasn't glamorous.

Joe Rogan 1:14:13 No.

Ryan Bingham 1:14:13 Yeah. I know my, you know-My granddad was pretty tough old guy and as real a cowboy as you'd ever wanna know or meet, you know? But he, he wasn't really one to ever brag or, you know, talk or fantasize or romanticize about the cowboy stuff, you know? 'Cause it, it wasn't romantic then, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:14:34 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:14:34 It was survival, and it was rough, and it was work, and you had no running water. And I remember, um, him having a conversation with this guy, and he was like some, like a tech guy, you know? Into been it all, this website shit or whatever, and he was asking my granddad, he said, you know, "What's the most, you know, important invention of your lifetime?" And I think he was expecting my granddad to say like the computer or the internet, and, uh, my granddad said re- "Refrigeration was the most important invention." You know?

Joe Rogan 1:15:02 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:15:03 'Cause when he was growing up, he was like, they had no way to keep their food cold, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:15:07 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:15:07 Other than like a root cellar. You kept it underground, you know? So it was just a perspective, you know? I think everybody was surprised to hear it. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:14 Well, I think people are so accustomed to electricity and so accustomed-

Ryan Bingham 1:15:17 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:15:17 ... to things like refrigeration.

Ryan Bingham 1:15:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:19 Just like-

Ryan Bingham 1:15:20 The running water, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:21 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:15:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:22 I mean, when there was no refrigeration, you had to eat what you had-

Ryan Bingham 1:15:26 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:15:27 ... you know, like that day, and then the next day you had to get something else.

Ryan Bingham 1:15:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:15:31 And unless you knew a place that was an ice house-

Ryan Bingham 1:15:36 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:15:36 ... you know, that would get a, a giant chunk of ice and you could have an ice box and stick it in there and cool things-

Ryan Bingham 1:15:42 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:15:43 ... like you're fucked.

Ryan Bingham 1:15:44 Yeah. You're on your own.

Joe Rogan 1:15:46 Yeah. [laughs] Well, you had to learn how to dry meat. That was a lot of it. Make pemmican, dry meat, make things that, that'll survive and last. And, you know, that's how, also how market hunting almost wiped out all the deer in this country, because people needed fresh meat every day.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:16:05 So they were just shooting everything that existed.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:08 And then finally started looking around and going, "Hey, we lost all the elk. There's no more deer left. Like let's, let's make some fucking regulations on this shit."

Ryan Bingham 1:16:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:16:17 And they stopped market hunting.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:19 I did not know that. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:20 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:20 It's interesting. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:21 Beginning of the 1800s, by, you know, the time, I guess... Uh, when did they start doing regulations in terms of, uh, hunting regulations in this country? 'Cause obviously they wiped out almost entirely the American bison. There was al- they were almost gone-

Ryan Bingham 1:16:40 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:16:40 ... completely. And, you know, a lot of that was just for tongues.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:43 Nah, man. That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 1:16:44 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:45 They, they would send them back east.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:46 They would pickle their tongues.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:47 Didn't Steve Rinella have a-

Joe Rogan 1:16:49 Yes

Ryan Bingham 1:16:49 ... something like a show on them? My buddy was telling me about this.

Joe Rogan 1:16:51 He's got a great book too.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:52 I haven't seen it yet. They said really interesting. He's talking about the history of the bison and, and-

Joe Rogan 1:16:55 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 1:16:55 ... hunting and all of that. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:16:57 Yeah. I think his, uh, book's called American Buffalo.

Ryan Bingham 1:16:59 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:16:59 But it's really good. Um, first hunting regulations appeared in colonial laws in the 1600s, mainly as seasonal closed seasons for certain game like deer. In terms of nationwide US law, the first major federal game protection statute was the Lacey Act of 1900, which targeted commercial and market hunting and interstate trade in illegally taken wildlife. Yeah, there was elk in every state.

Ryan Bingham 1:17:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:17:27 And they, we wiped them out. And there was deer in every state, but now there's more deer than there ever has been before, which is interesting. Congress passed the Lacey Act. When modern regulations start... So the 1900s, most states had game and fish commissions, hunting seasons, bag limits, and license requirements, all reinforced by federal laws like the Lacey Act and later migratory bird protections. Well, it's amazing that they did that. We have an amazing system too. Like the, the fact that the United States has so much public land.

Ryan Bingham 1:18:03 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:18:03 You know, there's so many different places where people can go, and they can hike, they can whitewater raft, they can fish, they can hunt, they can camp. I mean, we're unlike any country when it comes to that.

Ryan Bingham 1:18:15 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:18:15 It's like the amount of land that we have that's available to Americans, that every- it's public for everybody-

Ryan Bingham 1:18:22 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:18:22 ... is fucking incredible.

Ryan Bingham 1:18:23 Yeah. I, I mean, being up in Montana, New Mexico's like that too, and California, but up in Montana where I li- you know, staying in that wilderness area, like that little cabin that I stayed in, you know, probably didn't have much land with the cabin, but man, there's thousands and thousands of acres of wilderness, public land with dirt roads everywhere. Man, I would... You know, on those days off that I had, I would just drive back in there for miles, man, and just see the most beautiful country, you know? And, and I'd haul my horse back in the way to the trailheads and just go explore stuff, you know? And you'd had to go over one ridge into the next, and there's a waterfall, and there's, there's another drainage, and it's just like... You know, and this is the wilderness area too. This isn't even a national park, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:19:09 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:19:09 It's like, man, this is as beautiful country as I- I've ever seen anywhere.

Joe Rogan 1:19:13 Did you run into any grizzlies?

Ryan Bingham 1:19:15 I never did. You know, I was always on my toes about it. And I'd, I'd talked, you know, knowing Remy up there, he knew that area really well, so I'd kind of ask him spots to go check out and about bears and stuff, and he said, "Man, there weren't too many grizzlies back in there, but you never know." You know? Especially coming over from Idaho and stuff like that.

Joe Rogan 1:19:33 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:19:33 So I never did. I've run into some black bears. Um, never ran into any, any wolves and all that, but, um, you know. I don't know, maybe being horseback too. I don't know. A lot of those places-

Joe Rogan 1:19:45 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:19:45 ... I never did, but I definitely had my eyes open. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:19:50 Yeah, that's another animal-

Ryan Bingham 1:19:51 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:19:51 ... they want to list again and make them available for hunting.

Ryan Bingham 1:19:55 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:19:55 Particularly in Montana and Wyoming, they just have a lot of grizzlies.

Ryan Bingham 1:19:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:00 They have a lot, and people don't want you to shoot them.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:03 They think of it as trophy hunting or whatever it is.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:06 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:20:06 Like-

Ryan Bingham 1:20:06 Well, it's tough, man, but man, you live... Like you said, like those folks that live back up in there, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:20:11 Mm.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:11 They, they, all they have is their neighbors and people to depend on, you know? And it's like, man, you get mauled by a bear taking your trash out-

Joe Rogan 1:20:17 Crazy

Ryan Bingham 1:20:17 ... you know, or something like that, that- that's what you-

Joe Rogan 1:20:19 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:20:20 ... your experience is with them and, you know.Everybody wants to keep them as pets until they're in the backyard with you [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:20:27 [laughs] Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:27 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:20:28 They don't play by the rules.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:30 They don't play by the rules, and they're 900 pounds.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:32 Good luck. A 900-pound giant fucking wild animal-

Ryan Bingham 1:20:36 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:20:36 ... that eats everything it can.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:38 And it's-

Ryan Bingham 1:20:38 Nothing like to have the lion hanging around my house. It's like, "Man, I've... Cool. You're, you're fine, but why don't you go on down the road," you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:20:44 Yeah. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:20:47 I don't need you in my backyard.

Joe Rogan 1:20:48 But the thing is that you can't do anything about it either.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:50 No.

Joe Rogan 1:20:50 In Texas, you could just shoot them.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:53 And-

Ryan Bingham 1:20:53 Yeah, we don't have that problem.

Joe Rogan 1:20:55 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:55 That's how it should be.

Ryan Bingham 1:20:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:20:57 Like, you shouldn't have wild monsters living in your yard.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:00 No. And you should have-

Joe Rogan 1:21:02 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:21:02 ... you should have the, the right to decide that for yourself.

Joe Rogan 1:21:05 100%.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21:05 Not only that, they're gonna be fine. There's still gonna be plenty of them.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21:09 Okay? But it'll probably be a more healthy number if they get whacked whenever they eat someone's dog.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:14 Yeah, and have a healthy respect for coming in your backyard or coming after your animals-

Joe Rogan 1:21:18 Exactly

Ryan Bingham 1:21:18 ... or your kids. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21:19 Yeah. They, they should understand that... But just, like, we're so goofy. We make laws to protect them that don't protect us. Like, help me out. Like, do you love animals more than people? Like, I love animals.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:35 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:21:35 But I'm, I'm on Team People.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21:37 100%.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21:39 Everybody else is cool.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:40 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:21:40 But Team People first.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:21:42 You know? Oh, we got monsters in our neighborhood? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We gotta kill the monsters-

Ryan Bingham 1:21:47 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:21:47 ... so that the kids can play outside. You don't have to worry about them getting eaten.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:51 Yeah. Me too. I mean, growing up ranching or farming or whatever, I mean, that's your job, is to take care of animals, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:21:58 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:21:58 It's animal husbandry. It's, it's... That's your job. I mean, to take care and provide for these animals, to provide food for your family, you know? And, um, and the wildlife that's around it, you know? It's like... And to take care of the land, and the dirt, and, and the, the water, and the grasses, and all of that stuff has to be supporting each other to make it all work, you know? And, uh, at the end of the day, I just feel like we've just lost touch-

Joe Rogan 1:22:24 It's cities

Ryan Bingham 1:22:25 ... with that. You know?

Joe Rogan 1:22:26 It's urban environments.

Ryan Bingham 1:22:27 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:22:27 It's unnatural environments that have given people this delusional idea of-

Ryan Bingham 1:22:32 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:22:32 ... what our relationship is with nature.

Ryan Bingham 1:22:34 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:22:35 And, you know, people just think food comes from a restaurant.

Ryan Bingham 1:22:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:22:39 And, you know, s- the ground is for streets.

Ryan Bingham 1:22:42 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:22:42 And you drive around.

Ryan Bingham 1:22:43 And sidewalks.

Joe Rogan 1:22:44 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:22:44 It's paved off.

Joe Rogan 1:22:45 It's all just this delusional perspective-

Ryan Bingham 1:22:47 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:22:47 ... that comes from that sort of urban existence. And I just think that's why people that live in the country and live in, you know, environments where... like Alaska, where you're confronted by nature-

Ryan Bingham 1:22:59 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:22:59 ... they're, like, more interesting people.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:23:01 They're, they're more robust.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:03 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:23:03 They're cooler. Were you saying out there earlier that you rode bulls?

Ryan Bingham 1:23:08 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:23:10 Dude. How many times?

Ryan Bingham 1:23:13 Shoot, I started when I was a kid, you know, riding steers when I was, like, 10 in the junior rodeos. And then-

Joe Rogan 1:23:18 You were 10 years old-

Ryan Bingham 1:23:20 ... working my way up

Joe Rogan 1:23:20 ... and someone let you ride a fucking steer?

Ryan Bingham 1:23:23 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:23:23 Really? That's so crazy.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:24 It was just like b- it was like Little League baseball, you know, when I grew up. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:23:29 [laughs] So a steer is a bull that doesn't have its nuts.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:23:32 And so how much less do they kick when they don't have their nuts?

Ryan Bingham 1:23:36 Oh, they're a lot... They're pretty docile.

Joe Rogan 1:23:37 Is this you?

Ryan Bingham 1:23:38 Oh. Oh, we did that one.

Joe Rogan 1:23:39 Oh, I found a video.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:23:40 How old are you here?

Ryan Bingham 1:23:42 This is... I was, like, 17. This is in, uh, Monterey, Mexico, actually.

Joe Rogan 1:23:46 Wow. Why in Mexico? Look at you, dog.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:51 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:23:52 Damn. That's crazy. Damn, dude. You're good. And you got off without getting stomped, too.

Ryan Bingham 1:23:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:24:00 Is it just knowing when to release?

Ryan Bingham 1:24:03 Yeah. You gotta know, you gotta know when to get off, that's for sure.

Joe Rogan 1:24:06 And right there.

Ryan Bingham 1:24:07 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 1:24:07 You're like, "That's a wrap."

Ryan Bingham 1:24:09 Yeah. Yeah, he kinda bucked me off there. He, he kinda had me over to the side in the air, you know? But that's a good time to check out. There's, like, that gray zone, you know? Either... E- either that or you hang on and you end up underneath him.

Joe Rogan 1:24:19 You started-

Ryan Bingham 1:24:20 I don't know

Joe Rogan 1:24:20 ... out when you were 10 years old, though.

Ryan Bingham 1:24:21 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:24:22 How wild are your parents? They're like, "Yeah, that's a good age."

Ryan Bingham 1:24:24 Yeah. Well, they... You know, my... They've ranched and grew up out there. And my, my uncle rode bulls professionally. And-

Joe Rogan 1:24:30 Oh, really?

Ryan Bingham 1:24:31 Yeah. And, uh, that's kinda how I got into it, too. I looked up to him a lot, and, uh, see pictures of him riding bulls, and then it was just around. And I was like, "I wanna go try that," you know? And, and man, I just got the bug for it, like, super young. I was, like, just ate up with it. Just-

Joe Rogan 1:24:47 Wow. From 10 years old.

Ryan Bingham 1:24:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:24:49 That's nuts.

Ryan Bingham 1:24:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:24:51 And h- so how do you teach someone how to fall off of a bull without getting stomped when they're 10?

Ryan Bingham 1:24:57 Well, when you're riding those little steers, you know, a lot of time they, they cut bulls and turn them to steers 'cause it makes them a lot more docile.

Joe Rogan 1:25:01 When you say little, what are you ta- how, how much?

Ryan Bingham 1:25:03 Steers are, you know, typically, like, 600 pounds.

Joe Rogan 1:25:07 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:25:07 600, 700 pounds, you know? Compared to 1,500-pound bull that's-

Joe Rogan 1:25:11 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:25:11 ... aggressive, and-

Joe Rogan 1:25:13 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:25:13 ... you know, back that wide, and horns like that.

Joe Rogan 1:25:15 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:25:15 You know? They're... Like, the little steer, you know, I remember m- my dad or uncle would get in the chute with me and hold their horns, you know? And, like, these toms, they just kinda run out there, and jump, and kick, and-

Joe Rogan 1:25:25 It's not that bad, huh?

Ryan Bingham 1:25:26 ... fall off on the side. Yeah, not too bad. Um, and then you kinda graduate up into, like, the junior bulls, and then the bigger bulls, and then, then all... And then the harder they buck, you know? So there's kinda different levels you can progress a- as you, as you go. Uh, but it was a lot different deal back then when I was riding. It was really before the PBR started, you know? There was no helmets, there was no vests, there was, like, none of that stuff. It was just old school rodeo, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:25:53 [sighs]

Ryan Bingham 1:25:53 But at the same time, I, I say that, but, you know, it, it, it's, it, it's an... evolved into such a sport now. Like, the bulls are just so much ranker now than they were back then, you know? It's like now they're breeding them like racehorses, and the genetics where every one of those bulls, you know, bucks, you know? And, like, you gotta go to get on three or four of them in a night. You know, back when I was doing it, we'd go to the... They were still kinda full rodeos with all the other events. And, you know, out of 15 or 20 bulls, there might be one or two in there that were, like, bad to get on, that would hurt you. You know? The, the rest of them were, were pretty rideable, you know, to s- to say so. AndYou know, we're smoking cigarettes and drinking beer back behind the shoots, you know, that kind of a thing. You know, we we weren't training and doing yoga and [laughs] like all these guys are today, you know? But I, I loved it. I, I had so much fun, and I loved the road part of it. You know, get in the truck with your best buds and go down the road on the weekends, and there's always a band playing. And, um, you know, it was just, it was so much fun. I loved the culture of it, and it was just, uh, g- good times, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:27:00 How many times do you think you've rode bulls?

Ryan Bingham 1:27:02 I mean, I rode till I was about 23, so-

Joe Rogan 1:27:05 From 10 to 23?

Ryan Bingham 1:27:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:27:07 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:07 That was all I ever wanted to do. When I was like-

Joe Rogan 1:27:09 Really?

Ryan Bingham 1:27:10 ... I just wanna... Yeah, I wanted to just ride bulls, yeah. And, uh, you know, I rode in high school. I rode junior rodeos, rode bulls in high school, and then I went to Tarleton State in Stephenville and, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:27:21 Wow

Ryan Bingham 1:27:21 ... rode bulls for Tarleton. And then I got my pro card for a couple of years, and that was when like the PBR was like starting up and all of that. And, um...

Joe Rogan 1:27:33 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:34 It got intense.

Speaker 1:27:35 I just saw a picture of you backwards on one.

Joe Rogan 1:27:36 What, Jamie?

Speaker 1:27:37 There's one picture I just lost. He was backwards on it.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:39 Oh, yeah. I was probably getting-

Speaker 1:27:41 There it is

Ryan Bingham 1:27:41 ... I was probably getting dusted. Oh, no, that's not me. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:27:45 Oh, that's not you.

Speaker 1:27:45 Oh, that's not you. Okay.

Joe Rogan 1:27:45 That's not backwards.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:46 That guy is ba- riding backwards, isn't it?

Joe Rogan 1:27:48 Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1:27:48 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:27:48 Oh, yeah, he's backwards.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:49 Yeah. Uh-

Speaker 1:27:50 I wonder if that was on purpose. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:27:52 [laughs] That seems like a ridiculous choice.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:55 He pulled, he pulled it off if he did. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:27:57 Yeah, what a terrible choice.

Ryan Bingham 1:27:58 Uh, [laughs] yeah. It was cool, though. I, I, I loved it, man. I loved it.

Joe Rogan 1:28:05 How do you go from that to anything else? Like, how do you stop riding bulls and eventually become an actor and a singer?

Ryan Bingham 1:28:13 It was all very much a kind of a natural progression. You know, I-

Joe Rogan 1:28:17 Really?

Ryan Bingham 1:28:17 ... since I was a kid at the junior rodeos, there was always a dance afterward and a band playing. You know, and it was a very much a family community deal. You know? Like, you go to these towns, and, you know, it was the junior... The rodeo was going on, and then the dance, the street dance, and, uh, food and music and, you know, growing up listening to bands play, especially in Texas. You know, you got all the guys like Gary P. Nunn. I remember he, he always played the dance halls. And you get Robert Earl Keen and some of the... You know, growing, hearing those bands. And, um, I moved to Laredo, Texas when I was like 16 or 17 when my dad and my mother had bought me a guitar and, uh, didn't know how to play it much and, uh, walked into this place my dad was living at, and he was playing dominoes with these guys. And this guy saw my guitar, and he's like, "Yeah, you know how to play that thing?" I said, "No." And he said, "Well, let me see it." And he picked it up, and he played this killer, like, mariachi song called La Malagueña, and I was just fascinated with it. I was just like, "Wow, I can't believe he made that guitar sound like that."

Joe Rogan 1:29:18 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:29:18 You know? I've been dragging that thing around for a couple years. I didn't even know how to tune it up. And, uh, he's like, "You wanna learn how to play this guitar?" And I said, "Yeah." And he said, "Let me show you this song," and he taught me the Malagueña. It had a couple little parts, you know, a finger-picking part, a strumming part, and, uh, it really kinda gave me the f- that foundation, you know, just kind of those few little tools. And then I went up to Stephenville to, to ride bulls at Tarleton after that. And, uh, a couple other friends that I'd met there that rodeoed could play the guitar a little bit, and they had bands that played every weekend, uh, in the town. There was a little bar there called City Limits where all these bands would come play, like Jason Boland and the Cross Canadian Ragweed guys and Pat Green and, uh, Robert Earl Keen. Like, all the Texas guys would come play, you know? So I was like... I went from li- being on the border to kind of just mostly, like, the Corridos and Tejano bands that I would see, which was really cool. But then when I got up there, I was like, "Oh, man, there's all these, like, cool kind of song... You know, w- guys writing original music and songs and playing in bands." And, um, we'd, we'd go watch them all the time. And, uh, as I was still rodeoing, uh, the only song I knew was that, uh, Malagueña tune, so I was like, "I gotta come up with some new stuff. This is all I know how to play," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:30:30 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:30:30 So I went and got a book of chords to teach myself some new chords on the guitar and would just learn one or two at a time, and I'd start making up songs about our adventures on the weekends, you know? A lot of it was just sitting in the back of the truck and being in places where you didn't have radio signal or, you know, nothing to really listen to. You're tired of listening to the same old stuff. And I'd make up songs, and then whatever town we would get to, my buddies would be like, "Man, play that song you were singing in the backseat." You know? And, and so that's how the whole songwriting thing started. And then, um, I ended up getting a job working for a guy named Mack Altizer. He had a rodeo company called BAG Company Rodeo in Del Rio. And I, I'd ridden bulls at, at some of his rodeos and knew him. My, my uncle had knew him, you know, over the years, and so I was kind of familiar with, with, uh, that whole thing and, uh, started working for him on the ranch and helping with some of the rodeo stuff and still riding bulls. And he found out that I could play the guitar and, and sing a few songs, and he always had a party at the rodeo. He was kind of notorious and famous for having, like, just awesome parties. And he's like, "Man, all right, Bingham, get your guitar. You're gonna play, like, the after party," you know, and pulled a flatbed trailer up there for the hospitality tent for all the contestants after the rodeo. And those were, like, the first... He really encouraged me to, like, start playing for people and doing that. And then it would just spill over into the bars afterwards, after the rodeo, and everybody would end up going to the bar. And they were always like, "Bingham, bring your guitar with you." And, uh, I started getting gigs in the bars. The bars would ask me to, if I wanted to come back and play. And just after, like, I feel like a few years of that, it was just like... You know, I was kind of a weekend warrior riding bulls. I w- I was definitely not gonna, making a living doing it. Always had to have a day job during the week, you know, either working on the ranch or doing something. And, uh, I started getting to where I could go to these bars and make like 100 bucks in tips, you know, within a couple of hours and get free beer and free food. And I was like, "Man, this is almost as much as I made all day digging holes [laughs] with a shovel," you know? So that's... It didn't take me long to figure out that that was pretty cool, and, uh, I was just like-I'm gonna stick with it, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:32:38 What a organic sort of a journey, you know?

Ryan Bingham 1:32:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:32:41 Like a natural progression.

Ryan Bingham 1:32:44 Yeah, and I didn't have high expectations, you know, but I just like... And I, I was talking about kinda community in this Austin area, and in Texas in general, it's just like, man, people were so supportive then of just like, if you had a song to play it, people loved live music. They're like, "Yeah, get up and play," you know? Like Mac with the rodeo company and all the guys that worked there, Dave Jennings, and Casey, and Smir, there's a whole crew, the, the Bad Company crew from those days, and they always had kind of the Bad Company house band too, where everybody would get up and try to play a song, and it just like, "Man, we don't care if it's any good or not, just get up there and play. We're all, we're all in it together." And there were so many like places that were like that, that I, I don't think if I was in that environment, I probably would have never pursued it, you know? Just had so many people, you know, supporting you and encouraging you-

Joe Rogan 1:33:29 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:33:29 ... to try it. And it took me a long time, you know, to, uh, work stuff out and learn, 'cause I didn't have any really formal music, musical background or lessons or training. I'd really just learned it on the road and playing in bars and from other musicians. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:33:45 Really?

Ryan Bingham 1:33:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:33:46 So no lessons at all?

Ryan Bingham 1:33:47 No. Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:33:47 Just kind of figuring it out along the way.

Ryan Bingham 1:33:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:33:50 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:33:50 Well, the guy, you know, the guy taught me the La Malagueña there, but then after that it was just, you know, anybody else who had a guitar and might know a song, you know, I'm like, "Oh, what, cool. How do you play that chord?" You know, like, "Oh, you play it like this," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:34:03 Ah.

Ryan Bingham 1:34:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:34:05 Wow. So how many years were you doing that before you got Yellowstone?

Ryan Bingham 1:34:13 Oh, gosh, for a while. I mean, I think my, uh, you know, I was 22 or something like that in Stephenville, you know, riding bulls, starting to play songs, trying to play gigs. Um, after, you know, ended up moving down here to New Braunfels in the Austin area, playing music for a while, and then ended up going out to Los Angeles and playing, and then hit the road with a band for, I think I had f- four or five albums or so, you know, out, you know, and been touring for five or six years. I think I... How old was I, like, when Yellowstone started? Like 36, 37. So yeah, I'd, I'd been playing, doing the music stuff for a long time.

Joe Rogan 1:34:59 Hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:34:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:34:59 And so how did the Yellos- how'd you go from music to Yellowstone? Like how'd you even... Did you do any act- acting before that?

Ryan Bingham 1:35:06 No, I'd been wanna... I'd, I'd done a film with Jeff Bridges years ago called Crazy Heart and wrote some songs for that movie.

Joe Rogan 1:35:13 Oh, I remember that movie.

Ryan Bingham 1:35:13 And that was really my only thing. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:35:15 That was a good movie.

Ryan Bingham 1:35:17 It was pretty cool. You know, I w- I was just like, uh, he, Jeff Bridges plays a, a musician in the show, and I, I, and we're like the backup band at the bowling alley for one of the scenes, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:35:27 Wow

Ryan Bingham 1:35:27 ... which was really cool. Um, and then, uh, written some songs for some other films and some TV shows since then. And I, uh, met a guy na- named John Linson out in, uh, in Los Angeles. He's a producer, and his, him and, uh, his dad, Art Linson, they did, like, Sons of Anarchy, um, bunch of shows and a bunch of great movies. And, um, he introduced me to Taylor, and Taylor was, uh, I think it was that movie Wind River, his first movie. You know, I'd met Taylor and just kinda talked about music and stuff, and he wanted me to write a song for Wind River. And I'd given it a shot a couple times, never really had anything that fit for what he wanted, but he ended up using a song that I'd already written. And, um, and we just kinda kept in touch, and then when the Yellowstone thing came up, um, he got in touch again about writing some songs for the show. And then he learned that I used to do all the rodeo stuff, I think, and grew up ranching. And he's like, "Well, shoot, you can do a lot of this stuff. I gotta find a way to get you in the show," you know? And it literally went from the conversation, he's like, "Well, I don't, I don't know what I'm gonna do with you, but I'm a f- I'll find something to do with you," you know? And, and he literally said to me, he's like, "You know, if you do good, I'll," or you know, "You guys, if you suck, I'll kill you off. If you do good-" [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:36:38 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:36:38 "... I'll keep you on." [laughs] Something like that, you know? And I'm like, "Yeah, good, good to know."

Joe Rogan 1:36:44 So you had no formal acting, like, training or anything?

Ryan Bingham 1:36:47 No, not at all. Uh-uh.

Joe Rogan 1:36:49 That's what's amazing, dude.

Ryan Bingham 1:36:50 No.

Joe Rogan 1:36:50 You're really good.

Ryan Bingham 1:36:51 Oh, th- I appreciate that. You know, I, I get to kinda play a cowboy and be a little bit of my, of myself.

Joe Rogan 1:36:57 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:36:58 And I appreciate it.

Joe Rogan 1:36:58 But it's, that role's got some complexity to it.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:37:01 It's not just a cowboy. It's like you've got some complicated scenes, you know?

Ryan Bingham 1:37:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:37:06 Some emotional scenes, some deep scenes, and you're really good, man.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:10 Yeah. Thank you.

Joe Rogan 1:37:10 That's impressive.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:12 I appreciate that. It was... I, I enjoyed it, you know? I hadn't done much acting at all. And, um, yeah, I gotta give a lot of credit to the actors that are on the show too, you know, th- those folks that have really studied it and paid their dues learning that craft. You know, they really create the environment, you know, especially for me not knowing much about it, you know, and just kinda being a part of the scene. Like, they're so good that they make you react in a certain way.

Joe Rogan 1:37:37 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:38 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:37:38 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:38 They, they know how to get it out of you.

Joe Rogan 1:37:40 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:40 Whether, you know, Cole and-

Joe Rogan 1:37:42 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:37:42 ... Kelly and Luke and all those folks.

Joe Rogan 1:37:43 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:44 You know, they like, they, they know how to set up the scene, and they know what they're doing, so they already kinda have the whole thing set up. And so when I walk into a scene and they say they're lying to me, it's just like, "Oh, okay, yeah, I gotta answer."

Joe Rogan 1:37:56 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:37:56 I like, I'm just like kinda like naturally, [laughs] you know, answering that, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:38:01 Right. Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:38:02 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:38:02 Yeah. It's like if you work with a really good actor, sometimes you forget they're acting. You're like, "Oh."

Ryan Bingham 1:38:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:38:07 Like, "Oh yeah, we're, we're acting."

Ryan Bingham 1:38:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:38:09 Like, you seem like this is really happening. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:38:11 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For me, like I thought it was moments where I thought it was really happening. Yeah. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:38:16 How long did it take before you got comfortable, like doing that on camera?

Ryan Bingham 1:38:20 Still not.

Joe Rogan 1:38:20 Really?

Ryan Bingham 1:38:21 Yeah, still not, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:38:22 Well, you play it off good.

Ryan Bingham 1:38:24 Well, thanks, you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:38:25 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:38:25 I think some of it comes from the riding bulls, you know? You learn how to channel that anxiety or, or fear-

Joe Rogan 1:38:30 Oh, yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:38:30 ... into just like, "Oh, okay, it's go time. Let's just like-

Joe Rogan 1:38:34 Dude

Ryan Bingham 1:38:34 ... pull it together and, and channel that," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:38:37 If you can ride a bull, I think you could kinda do-

Ryan Bingham 1:38:39 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:38:39 ... basically anything.

Ryan Bingham 1:38:41 Man, I u- I, you know, that's one thing my uncle taught me when I was young, you know? He, he was really quick to be like, "Man, it doesn't matter how strong you are, you know? It's not about, it's all mental. It's all in your mind. And it's all-Uh, it's not I think I can, it's I know I can and I will.

Joe Rogan 1:38:58 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:38:59 You know, and he goes, "If you don't, if you don't believe that every time you go put your rope on one of those, on their backs," he's like, "It ain't gonna happen."

Joe Rogan 1:39:06 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:06 You know, he says, you see, if you don't... It's not being cocky, it's just being confident, you know, and believing in yourself and, and having that, that power of mind over matter, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:39:17 Yeah, if you could do that, acting's easy.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:19 And take that in anything in life.

Joe Rogan 1:39:20 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:21 You know, and I, and I do, 'cause I, I definitely have moments where, you know, I'm like, "Oof. Okay. Take a deep breath."

Joe Rogan 1:39:28 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:28 "It's, it's go time. Let's go," you know? Keep challenging.

Joe Rogan 1:39:30 Well, especially having more than a decade of doing that with bulls.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:35 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:39:36 Like, that, that's so uncontrollable. Like, it i- it's like y- you're at the mercy of fate and how this plays out.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:39:45 And you have this enormous beast, and you've chosen to scare the shit out of yourself.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:51 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:39:51 Get on top of this thing and try to ride it.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:53 Yeah. You've chosen to join, join the dance.

Joe Rogan 1:39:54 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:39:55 Yeah. It is.

Joe Rogan 1:39:55 If you can do that-

Ryan Bingham 1:39:56 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:39:56 ... if you can do that and be successful at that, I kinda think you could do anything.

Ryan Bingham 1:40:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:40:01 I think that, that... I mean, I wouldn't want my kid to do it at 10, but fuck-

Ryan Bingham 1:40:04 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:40:04 ... it's probably v- if they could survive, pretty valuable.

Ryan Bingham 1:40:08 [laughs] I'll have... I, I really picked two of the easiest professions, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:40:11 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:40:12 Like ri- ri- riding bulls and playing music, like [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:40:14 Right. Two, two that have the least amount of success ratio.

Ryan Bingham 1:40:18 Right. Impossible task, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:40:19 Right. Well, did you get in, ever get any serious injuries?

Ryan Bingham 1:40:23 Uh, I've... You know, I was fortunate, like, not serious, serious, but I did... I, there was one, the worst ever. I got knocked all these teeth out, and I got jerked down one night in Weatherford, and, um, took my lip off.

Joe Rogan 1:40:35 [gasps]

Ryan Bingham 1:40:36 My teeth went through down here, and-

Joe Rogan 1:40:37 Oy

Ryan Bingham 1:40:38 ... I, these are all fake up here. And then my lip was just hanging right there. What was wi- it didn't knock me out, which was wild, though. I got on this bull and, uh, I remember [laughs] it, it was in Weatherford, Texas, and, uh, it's got a, a butler arena there. And he had this, um, little Angus bull there. Didn't have horns on him, little muley. And, uh, usually you can go up to the guys that own the bulls, and a lot of the bulls have patterns, you know, that they, that they'll do over and over, you know. So you can kinda talk to the stock contractor or the guys that own them and be like, "Hey, you know, what's this bull d- generally do?" And he's like, "Ah, most the time they'll take two jumps out and they spin to the left," or, "They take two jumps and then they go to the right," or, "Oh, they just, you know, they'll jump kick around and make a circle." And he goes, "Man," he goes, "I don't know." He's like, "The last two times I've bucked," he's never, he hadn't been ridden. "He usually jumps out there and just spins right in the gate." And he said, "Nobody's really ridden him past three or four seconds." So he goes, "I don't know what he's gonna do after that." And sure enough, that's what happened. I got on him and, uh, it jumped out and just got it on right there in the gate, just spinning right there. And I rode him through it, like three or four rounds, and after I rode him, like, I think the b- bully didn't know what to do next. He got a little frustrated and he just stopped, and just stopped dead still and was just blowing and just [exhales] you know, just mad. And, uh, you never really wanna jump off of them when they're still like that, 'cause you just, you'll fall right beside them, you know? So you want them to have a little momentum so when you, you know, you're checking out, they can, you can get away from them.

Joe Rogan 1:42:04 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:42:05 And so I spurred him a little bit to get him to jump, so when he jumped I could jump off. But when I spurred him, it just jumped off, straight up off the ground like a cat, off all fours. And when he came cra- and when he jumped up like that, I, you know, kinda wrought me back on, back like that and my hand's still tied in the rope. And then when he came down, he just brought all that, jerked me down with the force, and I came forward and he threw his head back and I just head-butted him.

Joe Rogan 1:42:30 Oh.

Ryan Bingham 1:42:31 And [laughs] and then when he did and then my hand was still caught in the rope, and then he took off running around, just drug me around and just stomped the crap out of me, you know, for a bit. And I finally got loose.

Joe Rogan 1:42:43 Oh, wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:42:43 And, uh, I remember running over to the fence, and I just, you know, I just kinda had my arms on the fence and I could see all the blood just kind of pouring down all over me. And one of the bullfighters ran up, and he looks at me and he goes, "Oh, buddy." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:42:57 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:42:58 He's like, "Whoo." And, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:43:00 So they had to stitch your lip, lip back on?

Ryan Bingham 1:43:03 Yeah. You know, and the shock was just be- I didn't feel anything.

Joe Rogan 1:43:06 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:43:06 Like, I was just, like, in shock, and I was like, "Oh, man." You know, I remember, like, my girlfriend was there from high school, and my buddy, and, um, we drove to the little... You know, they're like, "You want us to call an ambulance?" I was like, "Nah, I don't have health insurance. We're gonna have to call no ambulance," you know? And, um, got in my buddy's car and we drove over to the emergency room [laughs] in Weatherford. And I go in and the nurse, she's just like, "Oh, man." She's like, "We can't do anything for you here. You're gonna have to go to, like, Dallas to, like, uh, trauma. You know, you're gonna have to get, like, an oral surgeon to put you back together." And, uh, she goes, "You want me to, you know, get you an ambulance here?" And I was like, "Nah, I think we can make it, you know?" And she's like, she gave me some pain pills, and she goes, "Don't take these now." She goes, "Hold onto these and then when you get to Dallas, then take them, 'cause you're probably gonna have to wait, you know, before they can... Because it'll be 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning before they can get somebody in there to see you." So, and, uh, sure enough, uh, we got to Dallas, and I'm just sitting there in the waiting room, and I had a rag and I was just holding my mouth together. And, uh, the shock wore off, man, and then it's, uh, you know, I, I was starting to feel it. Took those pain meds, and then doctor came in and held me back and gave me a big shot in the roof of my mouth to try to numb everything, and just... I think it took him longer to clean it all up, you know, pull all the hair and dirt out of there-

Joe Rogan 1:44:22 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:44:23 ... and sew me up. And the t- oh, it was an ordeal, you know, for sure.

Joe Rogan 1:44:28 So-

Ryan Bingham 1:44:28 For months after that, you know, getting the dental work done and all that crap.

Joe Rogan 1:44:32 So how was l- l- the lip hanging off?

Ryan Bingham 1:44:35 It, uh, it bit it o- all... It, it would've came all the way off. It was just hanging on right here by the side, so it was just hanging down.

Joe Rogan 1:44:41 And so they just had to stitch the lower part-

Ryan Bingham 1:44:43 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:44:43 ... to the upper part and put it all together again?

Ryan Bingham 1:44:45 Yeah, just all acr- right through the middle. And kinda, if I shave, I got a big scar that kinda goes down there.

Joe Rogan 1:44:50 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:44:50 And then they went through down here, um, so I got some stitches down there. And then most of the stitches were all in my-... my gums and all of that too, yeah

Joe Rogan 1:44:58 And so they had to put, like, posts and implants and all that stuff?

Ryan Bingham 1:45:01 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:45:01 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:45:02 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:45:03 That shit takes forever, huh?

Ryan Bingham 1:45:04 Kinda knocked the front four out, and then it just dominoed the rest of 'em there just ...

Joe Rogan 1:45:11 [laughs] Riding bulls with no health insurance-

Ryan Bingham 1:45:14 Oh

Joe Rogan 1:45:14 ... is wild.

Ryan Bingham 1:45:15 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:45:15 That's crazy, man.

Ryan Bingham 1:45:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:45:17 That's crazy.

Ryan Bingham 1:45:21 Yeah, that was just life back then for me, you know? And I think going into the music stuff was like, I don't know, I just wasn't really s- scared about it or even the expectations of making it. Or, I mean, to me at the time, I had a truck and a camper on it, and I was like, "Man," I was like, "I got no bills. I got no responsibilities. I can just, like, go make 100 bucks a night playing music in a bar." I was like, "This is the dream," you know? I'm like, "I made-

Joe Rogan 1:45:46 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:45:46 ... I made it." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:45:49 Yeah. Well, I think when you've done something super, super difficult, everything else seems easier. And if you've done what you did with riding bulls for that long, like, the music business is like, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Ryan Bingham 1:46:02 Yeah. Even the travel part, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:46:05 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:05 Like, you know, in the early days of playing when I really decided I was gonna try to make a run and play, you know, and it was like, oh, what? We gotta get in the van and go drive around and-

Joe Rogan 1:46:14 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:46:15 ... play in bars, you know? And I was like, we've been doing that rodeoing for years. You know, where you sleep in the back of the truck or whatever, and it was fun for us. You know, we loved it.

Joe Rogan 1:46:23 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:23 You know, so the idea of, like, starving on the road, playing in a band, playing music, I was like, "Shit, let's go." You know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:46:31 [laughs] Well-

Ryan Bingham 1:46:32 And, and getting a guaranteed paycheck every night, you know? I-

Joe Rogan 1:46:36 Right, the gratitude you must have for-

Ryan Bingham 1:46:37 The riding bulls, I mean, half the time, you know, you walked away with nothing.

Joe Rogan 1:46:40 Right.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:41 You know? A busted-

Joe Rogan 1:46:42 And you're risking your life

Ryan Bingham 1:46:42 ... a busted lip. Nothing. You know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:46:44 Yeah. And no health insurance.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:46:46 And you're risking your life.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:46:47 And there's not a bunch of people that love you.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:49 No.

Joe Rogan 1:46:50 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:46:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:46:52 Well, that's a great base to start out from, you know? I mean, it sounds like, it's almost like the universe engineered this path for you to go down. Like, if you wanted to-

Ryan Bingham 1:47:03 Oh, man

Joe Rogan 1:47:03 ... pick a path-

Ryan Bingham 1:47:04 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:47:04 ... that would bring you to where you are right now-

Ryan Bingham 1:47:06 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:47:06 ... it is the perfect set of circumstances.

Ryan Bingham 1:47:09 I've, I, I, I look at it all the time, you know, just from an outside perspective, I guess, and just like, wow, how in the world did all this come together? And just s- a lot of luck and perseverance or whatever, and I, I, I wouldn't say I haven't worked hard at it, you know? I feel like I have and all that, but it, there was a lot of luck out there and a lot of good people too, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:47:30 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:47:31 Lot of good people helped me out along the way and gave me gas money and gave me a place to sleep or place to, to eat and, uh, helped us get other gigs and other... I mean, I remember going from one town to the next and not having gas money to get to the next and having no plan other than, like, let's just head west or head east. And, you know, you'd go play at a bar and sure enough, there'd be somebody there that would, they're like, "Oh, man, y'all should come back to my house. We'll have a bonfire and play some songs." And he's like, "Oh, my brother's got a bar in Phoenix," and you know, and he's like, "Call them on your way out." You know, and we'd go there and, and we'd always, like, chop firewood or wash dishes or would mow your lawn or wash your car on the way too to, like, to get gas money and keep on going, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:48:11 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:48:12 So that was just kinda how, and I always, I, I, I felt like I learned early if, if you were willing to help yourself, you know, those people would help you all day long.

Joe Rogan 1:48:20 I think l- luck is a factor, but it's only a factor if you've already had all those other experiences.

Ryan Bingham 1:48:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:48:30 Like, think about it. If you hadn't ridden bulls, you hadn't gone through all the ranching, all the hard labor, all the different things, then, like, you probably wouldn't have capitalized on that luck the same way. Like-

Ryan Bingham 1:48:42 No, not at all, huh?

Joe Rogan 1:48:43 Your character wouldn't be the same.

Ryan Bingham 1:48:45 No.

Joe Rogan 1:48:45 You know?

Ryan Bingham 1:48:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:48:46 It's like part, part of who you are-

Ryan Bingham 1:48:48 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:48:48 ... is the character that you've developed from what you've done. It-

Ryan Bingham 1:48:52 It kinda conditioned me to do it in a way-

Joe Rogan 1:48:54 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:48:54 ... in, in a big way. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:48:55 And it seems like it's, your life, it's almost like it's engineered for this to happen-

Ryan Bingham 1:48:59 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:48:59 ... the way it happened.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:00 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:49:00 Which is kinda crazy.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:01 It's been cool, man. I feel-

Joe Rogan 1:49:04 Very storybook.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:05 Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:49:06 You know?

Ryan Bingham 1:49:06 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:49:07 Very, like, movie.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:49:08 Like a plot in a movie. Guy was a cowboy, bull rider, starts singing songs. People are like, "Hey, you should probably do this for a living."

Ryan Bingham 1:49:16 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:49:16 And then someone's like, "Hey, man, you should be on TV." [laughs] You know?

Ryan Bingham 1:49:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:49:20 And the next thing you know-

Ryan Bingham 1:49:21 You know

Joe Rogan 1:49:21 ... you're on one of the biggest hits in the world.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:23 I feel like that's that song, you know, "One day, they're gonna put me in the movies-"

Joe Rogan 1:49:26 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:49:27 ... with Buck Owens."

Joe Rogan 1:49:27 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:28 It's like, I was like, I was like, how am I living this thing right now, you know? It's like-

Joe Rogan 1:49:31 God

Ryan Bingham 1:49:31 ... I know I meet people all the time, and they're like, oh, they're like, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:49:35 Is this-

Ryan Bingham 1:49:35 ... they just, they can't really believe where I'm from or whatever. They just think it's some, like, made-up story or whatever.

Joe Rogan 1:49:41 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:49:41 And I'm like, "Oh, yeah. We're all right, man," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:49:44 Well, it seems like-

Ryan Bingham 1:49:45 It's wild

Joe Rogan 1:49:45 ... a story that someone would make up if they wanted to pretend to be a cowboy.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:48 Yeah. Well, I think a lot of people have.

Joe Rogan 1:49:50 I bet, right?

Ryan Bingham 1:49:51 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:49:51 I bet.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:49:53 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:53 And a lot of people still do.

Joe Rogan 1:49:54 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:49:55 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:49:55 Isn't that funny?

Ryan Bingham 1:49:56 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 1:49:57 That's funny. That's like stolen-

Ryan Bingham 1:49:59 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:49:59 ... valor almost.

Ryan Bingham 1:50:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:50:00 You know what I mean?

Ryan Bingham 1:50:00 I think, like, in all kinds of stuff, you know, in professions or whatever, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:50:04 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:50:04 ... people pretend to be the-

Joe Rogan 1:50:06 Oh, yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:50:06 ... what it is. Would you-

Joe Rogan 1:50:07 Oh, yeah

Ryan Bingham 1:50:07 ... would you mind if I went to the restroom real quick and take a quick-

Joe Rogan 1:50:09 Oh, no, no, no. Not at all.

Ryan Bingham 1:50:11 Yeah?

Joe Rogan 1:50:11 I totally understand. Go take a-

Ryan Bingham 1:50:12 I wanna keep talking about... I don't wanna stop this, but I-

Joe Rogan 1:50:14 Let's, let's pause, take a leak.

Ryan Bingham 1:50:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:50:15 We'll be right back, folks. And we're back. Yeah, it's, um, it's kinda funny that people would wanna fake the life that you've lived, but that is such a romantic story. Like, it's such a, like, it's such a movie that it makes sense that people would wanna fake it. It's gotta be weird walking around, like, having lived a life that people would wanna fake and pretend that they lived.

Ryan Bingham 1:50:40 It is. It s- it is sometimes, you know? And it's like, uh, you know, I remember when I really started fir- you know, playing music and stuff, I mean, I would wear a cowboy hat all the time and that's, that's what... I rode bulls and, you know, it was my, very much my identity, you know? But no, cowboy stuff wasn't really cool then, you know? I, like, feel like in theUh, early 2000s and all of that, you know? And there wasn't a lot of big-- There wasn't a big mer- Americana scene or, you know, any of that kinda stuff, you know? And, um, definitely going to New York or going to Los Angeles and touring around, like, I would be the only one wearing a cowboy hat, you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:51:17 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:51:18 And I remember the-- I think the first time-- One time I was in LA, we were out on the Santa Monica Pier, and there was a guy that had, like, the one-man band thing, you know, out there, and there's all these tourists on the pier. And I'm just, like, out there checking out the scenery and just minding my own business. And this guy gets on the microphone, and he just points over at me and goes, "Oh, Brokeback Mountain." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:51:40 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:51:41 And everybody on the pier turned around and looked at me, and they're just pointing at me and laughing at me. And I'm just like, "Ah, okay," you know? So it was like that was the association with the cowboy hat at the time, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:51:50 That's hilarious.

Ryan Bingham 1:51:51 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:51:52 Yeah, they changed cowboys for a while. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:51:56 Now it's a whole new ballgame, you know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:51:57 Threw a whole new monkey wrench into that, that legend. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:52:02 Yeah. And but the-- you know, now playing and, man, I'm, I'm so stoked to see all these new bands out there and, like, so many young folks playing actual instruments, you know? It felt like for a long time there was so electronic and DJs and all that-

Joe Rogan 1:52:15 Right

Ryan Bingham 1:52:15 ... new stuff, you know? And-

Joe Rogan 1:52:17 Well, there's a-

Ryan Bingham 1:52:17 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:52:17 ... giant country comeback-

Ryan Bingham 1:52:19 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:52:19 ... that's going on right now, kinda nationwide. I'm sure you love "Open the Gates," the Zach Bryan song.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:52:25 That's such a great bull riding song.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:27 Yeah. Man, they got some great tunes, man.

Joe Rogan 1:52:28 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:52:29 That's a great bull riding song.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:30 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:52:31 Um, but there's, um, there's so many great musicians out there now, and also who've lived, like, different but very-- Like Charley Crockett, what a-

Ryan Bingham 1:52:39 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:52:40 ... fascinating dude that guy is.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:42 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:52:42 Like, just kinda performing on the streets and-

Ryan Bingham 1:52:45 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:52:46 ... you know, just being kind of a vagabond, traveling around.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:49 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:52:49 And then finally catches and, and people are like, "Damn, this music is fucking great, man."

Ryan Bingham 1:52:55 Yeah, like wearing it on their sleeves, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:52:57 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 1:52:57 And like, and having the confidence to-- And I think people have always been-- I think there has been plenty of folks out there, you know, writing from the heart and, so to speak-

Joe Rogan 1:53:06 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 1:53:06 ... and all of that and, you know, having a certain in-integrity to the things that they're saying and, and wanting, you know, the truth in their speaking into their songs and things like that.

Joe Rogan 1:53:15 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:53:16 And now there's just a, there's a lot more of, of a platform to support 'em, you know, and, and like, people are like, "Oh, wow, there's a, there's a bunch of this stuff out there," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:53:24 There's also an appreciation for it-

Ryan Bingham 1:53:25 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:53:25 ... because I think we're all f-fearful that people like you won't exist in the future.

Ryan Bingham 1:53:32 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:53:32 'Cause it seems like a guy like you, you know, bull riding, living on a ranch, like, the, the singing songs in bars, like, that almost is, like, a thing of the past.

Ryan Bingham 1:53:41 Oh, very much so, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:53:42 But it's so romantic to people-

Ryan Bingham 1:53:44 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:53:44 ... that, like, when we meet a guy like you in real life, you're like, "Oh, keep him around."

Ryan Bingham 1:53:49 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 1:53:49 You know? Like, we-- You wanna make sure that people like you still exist.

Ryan Bingham 1:53:54 That's, uh-- Thanks. I appreciate it, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:53:54 It's a, it's a very exciting thing for people to have a person who's lived an authentically interesting life, an authentically out-of-the-box life. It's not a normal life. Like, y-you, you're-- If you m-meet a million people, the odds of you meeting one guy who used to bull ride and then started singing in bars with his friends and was happy living on the road, and now all of a sudden he's on a fucking g-gigantic television show-

Ryan Bingham 1:54:21 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:54:22 ... it's not even one in a million.

Ryan Bingham 1:54:24 It's pretty-- It's strange, though, 'cause sometimes I, you know, I meet people and, like, you know, they're like, "Oh, yeah, I grew up just like you," you know? And then I realize, like, I don't think I did. [laughs] I kinda had to think about it myself. I was like, "No, I'm actually pretty, I was pretty fucked up."

Joe Rogan 1:54:40 No, you definitely didn't. You rode a bull when you were fucking 10, dude, okay?

Ryan Bingham 1:54:43 Yeah, I know. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:54:43 Most people when they're 10, they're playing with G.I. Joes.

Ryan Bingham 1:54:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:54:46 You know?

Ryan Bingham 1:54:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:54:46 They're not riding bulls. That's a very unusual setup for the rest of your life, you know?

Ryan Bingham 1:54:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:54:51 If you can-- I think if you do some things difficult when you're really young, you, you get accustomed to fear. You get accustomed to anxiety and nerves. And the, the thing that-- I mean, that, that is, like, the mark of a man. Like, a man is-- His ability to be in a very high-stress situation and keep his shit together, you know? And to have gone through a lot of that when you're very young, like, riding a bull at 10 is crazy. To gone th-through that when you're very young, it just develops the kinda character that allows you to kinda do anything in life.

Ryan Bingham 1:55:26 Mm.

Joe Rogan 1:55:26 And I think most men see that, and they wish they were like that.

Ryan Bingham 1:55:32 I remember a moment, you know, it was really when I was, you know, riding steers, and then I made that transition to the big bulls, you know? And it wasn't like, oh, here's this, like, this little steer, and then there's a in-between, and then there's the big-- It was like this little steer and then this big bull, you know? I went to-- It was a junior rodeo in Odessa, Texas, and it was my first year to ride junior bulls. And, um, I entered the, the bull ride, and my uncle was there with me. And, uh, they started running the bulls up into the chutes, and they were big. They were f-- like, backs that wide and horns sticking out the side of the chutes, you know? And, uh, they were big, but they didn't, they didn't buck that hard, you know? They just kind of jumped, kicked down. But they were still big, you know? And, like, I remember, like, scared and, like, in tears, you know? Kinda s- I was scared. And, uh, my uncle, you know, was super cool about it. He wasn't like, "You have to do this," or, "You have to." He's like, "Man, whatever you wanna do, you know? You wanna pack it up, we'll, we'll get outta here right now." It's like, "This is either for you or, or it's not for you," you know? And, uh, I remember just him telling me, "You wanna take, like, 20, 30 minutes and just kinda think about it? And whatever you wanna do we'll, we'll make happen," you know? And I did. I kinda walked around there for a bit, and, um, I just had this some kinda like-- I knew that I would regret it if I didn't do it, didn't try it, you know? There was something in me where like I-- Man, 'cause I slept it. I dreamt about it, you know? I just, I loved it. And, uh, I was like, "Nah, I'm gonna do this," you know? And I put my rope on him and had all the support there that I needed in that moment. And they opened the gate, and this big old high-horning bull, you know? He just turned and kinda jumped out there, real docile. And I think I rode him two or three jumps and fell off, and it was just like I'm the king of the world. [laughs] I was like, "I, I'm a bull rider now, you know? I'm not just the steer rider kid," you know?

Joe Rogan 1:57:23 Wow.

Ryan Bingham 1:57:23 And I kinda made that level. And I remember after that, I just, uh, man, I just craved it. Like, just the higher they jump, the faster they spin, the better I like it.

Joe Rogan 1:57:35 Really?

Ryan Bingham 1:57:35 Oh, just, yeah, just dirty rank, just run them in there, let's go. And when I was, when I was little, I maybe when I was like 14 or 15, you know, the guys were starting to breed the bulls for like the PBR, like they full on started these like breeding programs, you know? Used to you could go to a practice pen and, you know, you'd be an old farmer that had two or three old bulls that you could get on and practice, and they'd just jump around and just, you know... Nothing was really gonna hurt you bad, you know? And then they started breeding these young bulls. Man, you'd go to the, the practice pen, there'd be 10 or 15 of these like yearlings that bucked, and they needed somebody to get on them, you know, like test pilot, and I was the test pilot. There was a guy named Bradley, uh, Raspberry, I believe, uh, kinda out in Brownwood, and I remember going to his house. And, uh, I could ride, I could ride. I was pretty sticky when I was... I, I could ride a lot better when I was younger than I was when I got older, you know? For some reason, man, I just had that no fear, whatever that was. And I'd get on 10 or 15 a day, and just-

Joe Rogan 1:58:34 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:58:35 ... they just kept running them in there, man. They'd be trying to flip over in the chute and just... You know, they're young, green bulls that were half wild and, and they're just trying to figure out which ones bucked and which, which ones didn't, and they would, you know, they'd get rid of the ones that didn't buck and keep-

Joe Rogan 1:58:49 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:58:49 ... the ones that did. And man, I'd just be like, the wilder they got in the chute, like the more aggressive I got. Like, I just like was like, "Oh, okay, that's what we're gonna do? Come on."

Joe Rogan 1:59:00 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 1:59:00 "Let's go. Let's, let's do this," you know? [laughs] I don't know. I was nuts, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:59:06 God, that's so crazy.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:59:08 That's such a crazy way to live your life.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:59:10 You know wild bulls, when you say wild, like the ones that are out there in the wild-

Ryan Bingham 1:59:14 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 1:59:14 ... they're some of the most dangerous animals that you could ever encounter.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:17 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:59:17 When they're act... Like, they call them scrub bulls.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:19 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:59:20 Like my buddy, um, Adam, he lives in Australia or used... He's moving to America. But-

Ryan Bingham 1:59:24 Yeah

Joe Rogan 1:59:25 ... when he lived in, uh, Australia-

Ryan Bingham 1:59:27 Mm

Joe Rogan 1:59:27 ... he, he said that they would encounter these scrub bulls, which is like wild domestic bulls that got out and started breeding, and then they, many generations later, they're now completely wild.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:39 Yeah, they're like deer out there.

Joe Rogan 1:59:40 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:40 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:59:40 And they will run after you.

Ryan Bingham 1:59:43 I knew these three guys from Australia that, that, uh, or a, a several Australian guys that came over, lived in Stephenville. A lot of these cowboys have moved to Stephenville because it was so central and it was kind of cowboy capital there. And, uh, his name was Lance Kelly, had some brothers, and they were from up there in North Queensland somewhere. And one summer he went back to work, and then when he came back, he wanted... He'd tell me about where he was from all the time, you know? And I was young and curious. I was always fascinated. I was like, "Wow, you're from Australia?" You know? I've only seen movies, you know, like, uh, uh, what's the, the... Oh, gosh, I'm gonna-

Joe Rogan 2:00:16 Crocodile Dundee?

Ryan Bingham 2:00:17 No, a man from Down- uh, uh, Man From Snowy River. No, which was... Anyway, um, but I was fascinated with Australia and, and him and his brothers. And so he went home, and he, he had videotaped, uh, a VHS. You know, you didn't have phones back then, but it was like the old camrecor- VHS tape recorder, and he'd videotape- or, uh, duct taped it around his body-

Joe Rogan 2:00:37 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:00:38 ... [laughs] while he was walking around working on the ranch. And he'd have his four-wheeler, and they're chasing these wild cattle and rounding them up, him and his brother, brothers. And he would just like chase them on a four-wheeler as long as, you know, to keep them running till they got so tired they couldn't go anymore. And then he had this piece of pipe on there, he could run up behind them and kinda knock them down, and then he'd jump off and tie their legs together. And they would catch a bunch of them like that, and then-

Joe Rogan 2:01:01 Wow

Ryan Bingham 2:01:01 ... his brother would come by, you know, later with a truck and a winch and winch them up into the trailer, and they would catch all these wild cows like that. And, and to be able to see that footage and stuff and have him tell me how they were doing it and show me, I was like, "Oh, that's the coolest thing in the world. I wanna go... When can I go?" You know? [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:01:19 [laughs] Australia's such a crazy place, man.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:01:21 It is s- I mean, it's bigger than the United States, and it... Or the size of the United States, roughly.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:01:28 And it has less people than Los Angeles.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:30 And everything will kill you over there, right?

Joe Rogan 2:01:32 Everything will kill you.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:33 Every bug, spider.

Joe Rogan 2:01:34 Every snake, crocodiles.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:01:37 They have saltwater crocodiles-

Ryan Bingham 2:01:39 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:01:39 ... and giant fucking great white sharks.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:01:41 And like, ooh.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:43 No.

Joe Rogan 2:01:43 And hardy people, man.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:01:45 Hardy motherfuckers-

Ryan Bingham 2:01:46 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:01:46 ... come from that place.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:47 I feel like, I feel like Texas and a lot of folks from Australia are like a bit kindred spirits.

Joe Rogan 2:01:51 Yes.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:01:52 I think so, too. My buddy James McKahn was on the podcast yesterday. He's a comic out of Australia.

Ryan Bingham 2:01:57 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:01:57 And, uh, he's from there, and he spends time here. He was living here for a while, but he had to move back because he had another kid. And, but now he's coming back and forth and trying to figure... He's really talented.

Ryan Bingham 2:02:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:02:07 He's trying to figure out-

Ryan Bingham 2:02:08 Coming to Austin or what?

Joe Rogan 2:02:09 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:02:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:02:09 He was living in Austin for a couple years, in, living in America for a couple years, living in Austin for about a year. But, you know, his wife's about to have another kid, and they just decided to go back-

Ryan Bingham 2:02:19 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:02:19 ... to Australia where she's got support. But man, he fucking misses it. He was here, he's like, "Mate, I miss it so much."

Ryan Bingham 2:02:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:02:26 "I miss it so much." Like, I don't think there's any place like this place.

Ryan Bingham 2:02:30 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:02:32 It's pretty awesome. But Australia, it's like, it's the same kinda thing. It's like it's a rugged place, and the kinda people that are, that live there, they're fun. They're fun, kind of-

Ryan Bingham 2:02:41 Mm.

Joe Rogan 2:02:42 Got a super fucked up oppressive government, unfortunately.

Ryan Bingham 2:02:45 Yeah. Well, I think it's a lot about what you say, too. You know, when you survive certain things in your life, and, um, you know, it, it, it puts things in perspective of what you're taking seriously-

Joe Rogan 2:02:56 Mm-hmm

Ryan Bingham 2:02:57 ... anymore. What's a, what's an emergency? You know?

Joe Rogan 2:02:59 Right.

Ryan Bingham 2:02:59 What's-

Joe Rogan 2:03:00 Right.

Ryan Bingham 2:03:00 Oh, is this-

Joe Rogan 2:03:01 Right

Ryan Bingham 2:03:01 ... this is, this is life or death, or is it not? Or, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:03:06 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:03:06 And to be able to laugh at stuff, man, I, I love y- comedians. It's just like, man, to be able to just joke and cut stuff about the most serious things or whatever it is, like, God, we need that so much, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:03:17 It's an important service. It doesn't-

Ryan Bingham 2:03:19 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:03:19 ... seem like it is to people, because it seems stupid, and they're like, "Oh, you're just telling jokes." Like, not for... Well, for me, when I go and watch a good comedy show-

Ryan Bingham 2:03:27 Mm

Joe Rogan 2:03:27 ... I feel better. It's medicine. And I think it also puts life into perspective. With a sense of humor, you can kinda look at things through a different lens-

Ryan Bingham 2:03:36 Mm

Joe Rogan 2:03:36 ... and go, "Yeah, we're probably gonna be all right." [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:03:39 I get a feeling like-You know, I think a lot of folks have this idea that songwriters or whatever, you know, play, especially, you know, have a bunch of sad songs or whatever to go to that deep place, and you live through stuff that you write about. But man, I find in comics, man, like, like I feel like there's some of the heaviest stuff in the world that those folks have experienced to be able to cr- you know, come up and tell these kinds of jokes and stories, and the educational part of it with it. You know, it's so much... I don't know, for me it seems like it's so much more than just a joke. And-

Joe Rogan 2:04:10 It is f- with some.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:11 I mean, some people just do jokes. It really depends on your style.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:14 But I mean, if you go back to, like, Richard Pryor, his whole thing was, like, explaining life and telling stories.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:21 But with an amazing sense of humor.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:04:23 And then you would leave that and usually, like, everybody feels, like, more united. They feel better.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:28 Just like you, you, like what-

Ryan Bingham 2:04:29 It's what everybody was thinking.

Joe Rogan 2:04:30 Yeah. Yeah. [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:04:31 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:04:31 It was, everybody's thinking, afraid to say, and also he would look at things-

Ryan Bingham 2:04:35 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:04:35 ... from a very wise perspective-

Ryan Bingham 2:04:38 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:04:38 ... that was also hilarious.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:39 So you walked out of there feeling better.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:41 You felt like you were better.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:43 It felt like there's, it, uh, bringing some hope.

Joe Rogan 2:04:46 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:47 You know?

Joe Rogan 2:04:48 Yeah. There's hope in humor.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:49 For sure, but there's hope in music, too.

Ryan Bingham 2:04:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:04:51 You know, I, I don't have any musical talent at all, but I always think of music as almost like a drug, because music, when, when a good song hits, you're like, "Fuck." Like, you're, if you're in the car and a good tune comes on, like, especially back when I used to listen to the radio.

Ryan Bingham 2:05:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:05:07 You know? And like, you didn't expect what was coming on, and all of a sudden-

Ryan Bingham 2:05:09 You can't rewind it. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:05:10 Yeah. All of a sudden it's Radar Love by Golden Earring.

Ryan Bingham 2:05:13 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:05:13 You're like, "Fuck yeah, let's go."

Ryan Bingham 2:05:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:05:15 Like, you, you feel different. It, like, changes your mood.

Ryan Bingham 2:05:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:05:20 Like, a g- you hear, like, Free Bird, like you're flipping through the channels and the fucking guitar solo for Free Bird comes on. You're like, "Yes."

Ryan Bingham 2:05:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:05:28 You feel better.

Ryan Bingham 2:05:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:05:29 Like, it, it excites all these parts of your senses, your consciousness, your feelings. It's, it's a drug. I mean, it's an amazing thing.

Ryan Bingham 2:05:38 It's always been real therapeutic for me. At the very beginning, like I, like I said, I didn't have high expectations, but I, I knew when I f- kind of wrote some of the first songs that I wrote and I, like, got some of that stuff off my chest, like, it changed me, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:05:53 Yeah?

Ryan Bingham 2:05:54 It, like, it became a tool that all, all of a sudden I had access to this thing that, like, was helping me heal in a way. Like, I could get, I could get stuff off my chest. Like, the things that, uh, I was uncomfortable talking about in conversation with folks, like, I could put them into a song and, like, sing them to the wall.

Joe Rogan 2:06:13 Mm.

Ryan Bingham 2:06:13 And I was just, like, getting that stuff out. Like, there wasn't anybody in the room. And I was just like, you know... But I was getting the stuff out, out of me, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:06:21 And it's also a way-

Ryan Bingham 2:06:21 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:06:21 ... for people to hear it where it's not annoying.

Ryan Bingham 2:06:24 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:06:25 You know what I mean? Like, if you just tell some sad story about your life-

Ryan Bingham 2:06:27 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:06:27 ... people are like, "Oh, geez. Like, get out of here."

Ryan Bingham 2:06:28 Like, "Here we go." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:06:31 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:06:31 "Cry me a river, kid. Everybody's got a story." [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:06:34 But if you have a sad story in a song-

Ryan Bingham 2:06:37 Oh

Joe Rogan 2:06:37 ... it's like fucking-

Ryan Bingham 2:06:38 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:06:38 ... it's kind of, it's beautiful.

Ryan Bingham 2:06:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:06:40 Like, I love a good sad song. You know, a song that has, like, real emotion in it, whether it's a real story or whether... Like, one of my favorite Colter Wall songs is Kate McCannon.

Ryan Bingham 2:06:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:06:53 Jamie turned me onto that song.

Ryan Bingham 2:06:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:06:54 He, he sent it to me.

Ryan Bingham 2:06:55 So, man, Colter's a gem.

Joe Rogan 2:06:57 He was fucking 21 when he made that song, which is crazy.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:07:02 You listen to that song, that sounds like a 58-year-old man who's been-

Ryan Bingham 2:07:05 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 2:07:05 ... smoking cigarettes his whole life.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:07:08 And that dude is interesting, too, 'cause he still works on a ranch.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:07:12 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:13 He's a great guy. He's one of my favorites of the younger guys that have come up and been doing this. He's just, um... I, same way when I first heard those first songs, I was like, "Who the, who the fuck is this?"

Joe Rogan 2:07:23 "Who the fuck is this?" Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:24 Like, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:07:25 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:25 Then I saw, then I saw, like, a picture of him. [laughs] I'm like, "Oh, man. He's a kid," you know?

Joe Rogan 2:07:29 Crazy.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:29 And I just... A f- fabulous-

Joe Rogan 2:07:32 Raven is a wicked bird

Ryan Bingham 2:07:35 ... uh, songwriter, guitar player.

Joe Rogan 2:07:35 You hear that, you're like, "What is this?"

Ryan Bingham 2:07:38 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:07:39 What, who is this guy?

Ryan Bingham 2:07:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:07:41 And when... I couldn't believe he was 21. I'm like, "That makes zero sense."

Ryan Bingham 2:07:45 Yeah. He's got it, though, man. And there, there's a bunch of them out there now that I'm hearing, too, that's just like, I'm like, "Man, how cool?"

Joe Rogan 2:07:53 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:07:53 You know? How cool. I'm so glad that they're getting a shot at it, or just getting the support. I don't, I don't know if it's saying getting a shot at it, but just, like, getting the, the love and support that they deserve for the... It's good music, man.

Joe Rogan 2:08:04 Yeah, it's great-

Ryan Bingham 2:08:05 They're making good songs, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:08:05 ... great music, and there's a thing now with the internet where it's so easy to share something.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:10 Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:10 You know, like, someone's got a good song and it's on YouTube or Spotify-

Ryan Bingham 2:08:14 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 2:08:14 ... and then you just send a link to your buddy.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:16 You go, "Bro, check this out." Like, I, I gotta say, like, half the songs I find out about, my friends just send me.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:08:22 And then all of a sudden I'm like, "Oh, shit."

Ryan Bingham 2:08:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:25 Yeah. And then I'll add it to my playlist, you know?

Ryan Bingham 2:08:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:27 It's like, it's easy to share things now, where you don't have to go to the record store and pick up the record and-

Ryan Bingham 2:08:34 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 2:08:34 ... you know? Now it's just, like, within seconds of you getting it in your phone, you're listening to it.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:39 Yeah, and it's easier to record the stuff, too, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:08:42 Oh, yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:42 It's like you don't need a half a million bucks and a studio and all that stuff. It's like, man, half the stuff you can record on your phone.

Joe Rogan 2:08:49 Well, look at Oliver Anthony.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:50 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:51 One fucking song.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:53 One song, and the first show he ever does is, like, 18,000 people.

Ryan Bingham 2:08:58 [laughs] Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:08:59 That is the first show that dude ever performed at.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:03 Yeah, I feel for him. I, I would never have been able to do that when I started, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:09:07 No. Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:07 Like, I was not prepared for anything like... And I, you know, I don't know, maybe they're not, I, but that's a lot of-

Joe Rogan 2:09:12 He settled in-

Ryan Bingham 2:09:13 ... lot to carry

Joe Rogan 2:09:14 ... man

Ryan Bingham 2:09:14 ... you know what I mean?

Joe Rogan 2:09:14 He settled in pretty easy.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:09:16 He figured it out. He's a smart cat.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:09:18 He's a really smart dude, and he settled in really easy.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:21 I guess they have to, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:09:23 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:23 I mean, I always think, like, you know, gosh, it's changed so much since I started out, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:09:28 Mm-hmm.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:28 I mean, we didn't even have, like, you know, if you wanted to learn how to play a song, you kind of had to go listen to the record and just try to figure it out, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:09:35 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:09:35 And like rewind it. Now they're just like, "Oh, here's a guy that'll just show you every note, and this and that," you know?

Joe Rogan 2:09:39 Yeah, there's a guy on YouTube that'll show you exactly where to place your fingers.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:42 Exactly how to do it.

Joe Rogan 2:09:43 Yeah.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:43 You know? And that took me years to figure out, you know? And, um, but, and, you know, maybe that is, like, today, you know, these guys, it's, uh-They're learning how to do it at such a quicker rate, and like, they know how to handle the crowds and do all the stuff, and it's just like, boom, there you, there you go.

Joe Rogan 2:09:58 Well, that's with everything today.

Ryan Bingham 2:09:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:10:00 You know, I think that's also why, like, um... I mean, in martial arts and like UFC, there's a reason why the guys are so much better today.

Ryan Bingham 2:10:07 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:10:08 And it's because they get to see everything that everybody's ever done, and then they practice it and improve upon it, and they get it at-

Ryan Bingham 2:10:13 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:10:13 ... at a ear- early age.

Ryan Bingham 2:10:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:10:15 You could essentially-

Ryan Bingham 2:10:16 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:10:16 ... just on your phone watch every fight that's ever taken place ever in human history-

Ryan Bingham 2:10:20 Mm-hmm

Joe Rogan 2:10:20 ... that's been recorded.

Ryan Bingham 2:10:21 I did that on the road a few years ago. I, I mean, I've still... I've always been a pretty rudimentary guitar player. You know, I can't solo all over the place and all of that stuff. And, um, I think it was like 2019 last... I'd put out a record and I was going on a tour, and, uh, my friend Charlie Sexton produced the album. He's a wonderful guitar player, and

Joe Rogan 2:10:41 Charlie Sexton, the guy from the, from the '80s, Beat So Lonely?

Ryan Bingham 2:10:45 From Austin, yeah. Played with-

Joe Rogan 2:10:46 That guy?

Ryan Bingham 2:10:46 Played with, uh-

Joe Rogan 2:10:46 I remember that song

Ryan Bingham 2:10:47 ... Dylan, played with Archangel.

Joe Rogan 2:10:48 He was like really young when Beat So Lonely came out, right?

Ryan Bingham 2:10:52 Oh, man, he's... Yeah, legend. And, uh, I remember calling him though. I was like, "Man, I really wanna get better at the guitar," you know? And he's like, "Well, just listen to all the stuff that you really like." You know, he's like, "Don't try to play it all note for note." He's like, "Like, just keep listening to it, and like you'll start eventually finding those places and develop your style." And, but it was... When I got on the road as well, man, I had access on YouTube-

Joe Rogan 2:11:14 Right

Ryan Bingham 2:11:15 ... to all of my favorite musicians and guitar players, and I just kinda made a point of sitting down. And I even found this guy that was just breaking down and giving simple blues guitars lessons for kids, and I was like, "Man, this is great. Never done anything like this." And just like went through... I went back, you know?

Joe Rogan 2:11:30 Right.

Ryan Bingham 2:11:30 Like, I gotta memorize all the notes on the fretboard, and I need... You know, and it was just, it was so... I had so much fun doing it. And, uh, you know, and it also give confidence to get up and jam with other musicians and play and, and kinda know what key you're in, what, what you're doing. And, uh, uh, you know, I went years, you know, without having any kind of lessons or training, and then I just like within three weeks of being on tour and watching YouTube videos of it just stepped it up so much. [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:11:57 [laughs]

Ryan Bingham 2:11:57 They're like, "How'd you learn how to do it?" "Oh, I just... 20, about 20 years later in my career, I decided to learn how to play the guitar on YouTube."

Joe Rogan 2:12:02 [laughs] It is amazing. I mean, that's the positive part of the internet, you know?

Ryan Bingham 2:12:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:12:08 If you can avoid the negative parts, there's a lot of great positive stuff-

Ryan Bingham 2:12:11 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:12:11 ... on the internet, and the access to stuff like that is amazing.

Ryan Bingham 2:12:13 Yeah. Oh, if we all could just avoid-

Joe Rogan 2:12:15 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 2:12:15 ... the negative of everything, right?

Joe Rogan 2:12:16 Right.

Ryan Bingham 2:12:17 [laughs]

Joe Rogan 2:12:18 Well, although unfortunately, there's a lot of people that don't have good lives, and they do have a lot of extra time because they're-

Ryan Bingham 2:12:24 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:12:24 ... not really investing in their own life, so they're just spreading negativity online.

Ryan Bingham 2:12:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:12:28 And it's just human nature. But-

Ryan Bingham 2:12:31 Wild, wild world.

Joe Rogan 2:12:32 It is. It's a wild world, but it's also a wildly positive world, too. Just what you just said about the guitar stuff.

Ryan Bingham 2:12:37 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:12:38 Or with the Oliver Anthony stuff. I mean-

Ryan Bingham 2:12:40 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:12:40 ... this guy s- standing there with a guitar in front of a field with no production value at all, but has a song that he's singing from the heart.

Ryan Bingham 2:12:49 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:12:50 Like, how many, how many views does that shit have on YouTube? It's gotta be like 100 million views or something nuts. I mean, that song was fucking gigantic.

Ryan Bingham 2:13:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:13:01 Rich Men North Of-

Ryan Bingham 2:13:03 Mm-hmm. I remember my wife playing it for me for the first time, and I was just like-

Joe Rogan 2:13:06 Yeah

Ryan Bingham 2:13:06 ... "What the..." I was like, "What is that?" And she's like, "Oh man, check this out," you know? I was like, "That's so fucking rad."

Joe Rogan 2:13:12 Yeah, I got a chance-

Ryan Bingham 2:13:13 Yeah

Joe Rogan 2:13:13 ... to see him perform live, too, with his band. They're fucking fantastic.

Ryan Bingham 2:13:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:13:16 And he's settled, he's completely settled into being famous now. He's, he's full, he's cool with it.

Ryan Bingham 2:13:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:13:21 He's still the same dude.

Ryan Bingham 2:13:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:13:23 I met him real early on, and I actually talked to him on the phone. How many... Was the guy at? 236 million.

Ryan Bingham 2:13:30 What?

Joe Rogan 2:13:30 Holy