Joe Rogan: Comedy, Controversy, Aliens, UFOs, Putin, CIA, and Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #300

1. 0:00 – 1:02

   Introduction

   1. LFLex Fridman0:00

      The following is a conversation with Joe Rogan, his second time on this podcast. He has inspired me for many years with his conversations, to be a better and kinder person, and has now been doing so as a friend. There's no one I would rather talk to on this 300th episode of this podcast, on the 4th of July, both the anniversary of this country's Declaration of Independence and the anniversary of my immigrating here to the United States, a silly kid who couldn't speak English and could never imagine that he would be so damn lucky as to live the life I've lived and to feel the love I've felt from the amazing people along the way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I love you all. This is the Lex Fridman Podcast. To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description. And now, dear friends, here's Joe Rogan.

2. 1:02 – 5:05

   Discipline

   1. LFLex Fridman1:02

      Charles Bukowski said something in a poem called Style about art. He defined art saying, "Style is the answer to everything. A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing. To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it. To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art." What do you think he meant by that? Do you agree with this?

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:26

      A dangerous thing with style is art.

   3. LFLex Fridman1:29

      He said b-bullfighting can be art, boxing can be art, loving can be art. Uh, have you ever made love and it was art? No, okay, I'm not asking. (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:36

      (laughs)

   5. LFLex Fridman1:37

      Opening a...

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:37

      Every time, bro. (laughs)

   7. LFLex Fridman1:39

      (laughs) Opening a can of sardines can be art. Uh...

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:42

      I think there's something to that. Yeah. I think the, I think, uh, I, I call the way people who live life art, like I wrote a foreword to my friend Cameron Hanes' book and, uh, which is right now the number one selling audio book in the world. Uh, I, and I, one of the things that I said was that he practices an art that very few people appreciate and it's the art of the maximized life, in that the discipline that he displays in his life and through his practices and all the things that he does, it, it's so difficult to, to live the way he lives, that for someone like me who understands it and knows what he's doing and appreciates it and appreciates how insanely difficult it is to have a full-time job and run ultra-marathons, get up at four o'clock in the morning, run a full marathon before work. Like, that's the kind of shit th- that he, he does when he, when he's training for these 240-mile runs, all the, the, ma- at the same time being like a father, um, a husband, uh, having this full-time job, also being the best bow hunter on Earth, lifting weights. It's like, how does, how does a person do this? Like...

   9. LFLex Fridman2:58

      So in a, in a way, discipline is art too.

   10. JRJoe Rogan3:00

       Yes. It, discipline is art. Yeah. I think it is 'cause it's beautiful for me to see. When I see someone who's really truly disciplined, who, like a David Goggins, someone who just like truly maximizes the grind, I feel like there's an art to that. And there's an, there's an art to kindness, like there's people that are really kind and really sweet. And when I'm around them, it's beautiful. It's like a, there's a art to them.

   11. LFLex Fridman3:22

       No matter what.

   12. JRJoe Rogan3:22

       Yeah.

   13. LFLex Fridman3:23

       They still, they got... You know, the world can throw a bunch of shit at you, but through all that-

   14. JRJoe Rogan3:27

       And they're like, "Yay." Some people are just great at it.

   15. LFLex Fridman3:29

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan3:30

       And it's a, it's a thing that you learn how to do and it's pleasing for other people to see. And, and that, I think, is where the art is.

   17. LFLex Fridman3:38

       Well, I think Bukowski also said, um... And I'm just a Bukowski quote generator today.

   18. JRJoe Rogan3:44

       I love him.

   19. LFLex Fridman3:45

       (laughs) I love him very much too. Uh, he's a dark and troubled and fascinating and a weird person, like Hunter S. Thompson.

   20. JRJoe Rogan3:51

       Yeah.

   21. LFLex Fridman3:51

       He said, "What matters most is how you walk through the fire," I think. So there's a bit of the Cam Hanes in that too, David Goggins in that too.

   22. JRJoe Rogan4:00

       Mm-hmm.

   23. LFLex Fridman4:00

       What do you think he meant by that?

   24. JRJoe Rogan4:03

       Well, how you walk through the fire, I mean, you can walk through the fire complaining along the way or you can walk through the fire and create an example for everyone else so that the, the trials and tribulations of their own life seem trivial because they're comparing themselves to the way you handle things or the way you handle things with grace and dignity and discipline, can show other people that y- they can handle their own life this way. And there's, there's beauty in that. There really is. And there's so, there's so much, so much inspiration to be gathered from other people if you're a charitable person, if you're charitable and, and, and compassionate and you, you, you can look at people, even, even people I, that I don't like, I try to look at the best aspects of how they live their life and, and, and recognize those aspects, admire them, give them credit for it. There's something that we can all get out of watching the way other people live their lives.

3. 5:05 – 25:22

   Controversy

   1. JRJoe Rogan5:05

   2. LFLex Fridman5:05

      So I've gotten a chance to see you walk through the fire a little bit, uh, privately and publicly, uh, this year in January.

   3. JRJoe Rogan5:13

      Oh, all that stuff. (laughs)

   4. LFLex Fridman5:14

      I gotta ask you about that. So there's like generic conversations about sort of cancel culture and all those kinds of things. But as a human being, this to me is fascinating, sort of, there's the, uh, N-word highlight video. There's the criticism of the different guests, whatever the side is on the COVID pandemic. And you... (sighs) I mean, there's a mass amount of attack on you. Outside of being a public persona, outside of being comedian, podcaster, you're, you're, you're also a human being. So how did you survive that? How, how did you sort of, uh, walk through that fire? 'Cause you seem to do it with grace.

   5. JRJoe Rogan5:58

      I used mushrooms.

   6. LFLex Fridman5:59

      (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:01

      That was one way I did it.

   8. LFLex Fridman6:02

      Yeah, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:03

      Really.

   10. LFLex Fridman6:04

       What's your... As Andrew Huberman would say, what was your protocol? (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan6:07

       Uh, I took...... it was probably less than a gram every day.

   12. LFLex Fridman6:12

       Every day?

   13. JRJoe Rogan6:12

       Yeah. And, uh...

   14. LFLex Fridman6:17

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan6:17

       (laughs) I did a lot of, like, really hard working out. But also, I mean, there's a great benefit to going through anything difficult and if you're aware, like, in advance and whi- and during, like, anything that's gonna happen that's very difficult and troubling. The, the great benefit is it gives you an opportunity to grow. It gives you an opportunity to express yourself under pressure, to, to show your character, to show who you truly are, and, uh, it gives you an opportunity to see how you handle a very difficult situation. It also was, uh, fascinating as a person that's involved in media, right? Because what we're doing right now is media even though, you know, it seems... Like podcasts seem like we're just having a conversation, right?

   16. LFLex Fridman7:12

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan7:12

       And they are. I- in a, and in a sense, it's kind of the purest form of media because what you're doing is you're, you're, you're doing it without any fanfare. You're doing it without any... There's no, uh, executives looming over your head or network or big meetings about ratings or any of that stuff. But it is media. But what I got to see is the wiring under the machine of how the rest of media would try to take me out and, you know, they, like when CNN would be, just be playing things over and over and back and forth. It was wild to watch. What was also wild to watch was people's responses, uh, because I gained two million subscribers during that time. Like, the podcast never got bigger. It just kept, kept growing and growing. It, it had never been bigger than it had been like at the end of all of it. It just made it bigger. And, you know, ultimately when... If you've fucked up in the past or made mistakes or done something wrong, that gives you an opportunity to discuss those things and to say, to apologize if you feel the need to apologize and also to just address it. And so people, under that kinda pressure, they get a, it's an opportunity for them to understand how you think about things honestly. How you actually, honestly think about things. And there's no more honesty that you get out of a person than when that person is under extreme duress. You know? So I think in that sense, I mean, it's horrible to say that it's a benefit, that it's a good thing that it happened, but it was a benefit.

   18. LFLex Fridman8:52

       But can you see how it can break a person?

   19. JRJoe Rogan8:54

       Yes.

   20. LFLex Fridman8:55

       'Cause I've got, I've gotten the chance to experience small, small attacks here and there.

   21. JRJoe Rogan9:00

       Yeah.

   22. LFLex Fridman9:00

       O- ones that get to the core of things. Like even just talking to, uh, uh, about Russia and Ukraine, uh, to the Stephen Kotkin or Oliver Stone, it's looking at different perspectives. You gain a rela- for me, feeling like a sizeable number of people who really don't like you.

   23. JRJoe Rogan9:17

       Yeah.

   24. LFLex Fridman9:18

       And say things about you that are, um, that maybe cut deep for a reason I don't understand why. It's just my own psychology.

   25. JRJoe Rogan9:28

       Well, it's also because you can't defend yourself because they're saying it and you're not there. And you, you don't have any opportunity for a rebuttal. And if you do have a rebuttal, you're doing it publicly and you're opening it up to the whole world to chime in. And there's a general tendency that people have towards negativity when they're interacting with strangers online, especially about controversial subjects. And even if it's only 10% of the people, it's one out of 10, that's a lot. That's a lot of negativity when you're dealing with thousands and thousands of tweets.

   26. LFLex Fridman10:02

       Yeah. And I think, maybe I'm just a very self-critical person, but I hear their words and I probably, somewhere deep inside, see the truth in the criticism, in some aspect of the criticism. And that's why it hurts.

   27. JRJoe Rogan10:16

       Well, well, it's, uh, but it's in one aspect of you.

   28. LFLex Fridman10:20

       Right.

   29. JRJoe Rogan10:20

       You know? But when you're reading it, it's so, it, it, it, it's boiled down to this one thing, as if that one thing defines you totally. Like, if you've made a mistake, if you've said something that you shouldn't have said, or if you said something and, you know, maybe you should've considered it more carefully given the gravity of the situation, you know, that, that's just a part of being a person. And it's also part of being a person where you're communicating with things publicly, in real time, thinking out loud, which is what we do. You know, it, it's complex and most people don't do it. And you're gonna have these... You're gonna have genuine hot takes where people just r- see what you said and go, "Why did he say that? Fuck him." You know, "He doesn't know anything about... He doesn't live in Ukraine. He d-" You know, it's like there's, there's people that are gonna have takes on that in that way. And then there's also gonna be these disingenuous people who just use any kind of controversial topic or subject as an opportunity for them to get clicks or views.

   30. LFLex Fridman11:26

       But then that, the number of those people can be quite large.
4. 25:22 – 35:33

   UFOs and aliens

   1. LFLex Fridman25:22

      for certain people that you're really curious about.

   2. JRJoe Rogan25:24

      Yeah.

   3. LFLex Fridman25:24

      Like, you have that kind of time for Bob Lazar.

   4. JRJoe Rogan25:26

      Yes, yes.

   5. LFLex Fridman25:27

      (laughs) But maybe not for Donald Trump.

   6. JRJoe Rogan25:29

      No, that's different.

   7. LFLex Fridman25:30

      (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan25:30

      'Cause Bob Lazar, what, what, you know, what he's talking about, like, I wanted to know, with the Bob Lazar thing, I wanted to know, first of all, I wanted to be around him and see if I could smell bullshit.

   9. LFLex Fridman25:42

      Did you? Like-

   10. JRJoe Rogan25:42

       No.

   11. LFLex Fridman25:43

       ... did, okay.

   12. JRJoe Rogan25:44

       No, I didn't, man. That was what's weird about it. Not only did I not smell bullshit, I went over all of his interviews. I went... he's, he hasn't done a lot, but he's done enough, and he's done them over the course of 30 plus years. And it's alarming how consistent his story is, which is really weird when you think about, you're talking about back engineering alien crafts and working on a, uh, you know, a top secret government test site that's carved into the side of a mountain and to, to camouflage it from satellites. It's a, it's such a wacky story, but the guy really did work at Los Alamos Labs. He really is a propulsions expert. He really is a scientist. Um, did he really work on back engineering UFOs? I don't know. But the way he described their motion is exactly like what's been observed by, uh, some of these pilots that have these videos that they've captured.

   13. LFLex Fridman26:41

       And I just love that, like, NASA, I've been hearing from a bunch of folks who... they're legitimately, like, funding research and there's people really taking this seriously, of, um, UFO sightings, investigating them.

   14. JRJoe Rogan26:54

       Yeah.

   15. LFLex Fridman26:55

       Um, like adding more and more sensors to collect data from just observing-

   16. JRJoe Rogan26:59

       Yeah.

   17. LFLex Fridman26:59

       ... at higher and higher definitions. It's, it's cool to finally see that. And he was one of the early people, whether he's full of shit or not, that kinda forced people to start taking this kind of, these, these topics seriously.

   18. JRJoe Rogan27:11

       Or at least force people to have conversations about them and maybe attempt to debunk them because it seems so preposterous, but then get sucked down the rabbit hole and start going, "Hmm, maybe. We'll fucking..." It's, the thing is, like the Fermi paradox, like where are they, right? And when you take into account just the sheer raw numbers, the vast majority of people objectively assume that there is life out there. The vast majority. Well, if, if you really take into account what we understand about the universe itself, what we understand about the concept of in- of infinity, and the way Neil deGrasse Tyson has explained it to me is that not only are there life forms out there, but there's you. You are out there. Infinity is so large that Lex Fridman exists, and doesn't just exist, but exists an infinite number of times. Like, the amount of interactions that cells and molecules, the same exact interactions that have happened here on Earth have happened in the exact same order an infinite number of times in the cosmos.

   19. LFLex Fridman28:22

       Well, first of all, it's not certain that that's true. It's, it's possible.

   20. JRJoe Rogan28:25

       It's possible.

   21. LFLex Fridman28:26

       Uh, like Sean Carroll, you know, uh, especially with quantum mechanics, based on certain interpretation of quantum mechanics, that's, that's very possible. But the question is, can you access those universes?

   22. JRJoe Rogan28:40

       Right.

   23. LFLex Fridman28:40

       And so-

   24. JRJoe Rogan28:41

       How far away are they?

   25. LFLex Fridman28:41

       ... the more, the more sort of specific practical question is, this local pocket of the universe, our galaxy or our neighboring galaxies, are there aliens there? What do they look like?

   26. JRJoe Rogan28:53

       Right.

   27. LFLex Fridman28:53

       Are they... So you can have this panspermia idea where a much larger, like, uh, like daddy civilization (laughs) , uh, like, uh, rolled by and just planted a few aliens at a similar time.

   28. JRJoe Rogan29:08

       Like Prometheus.

   29. LFLex Fridman29:09

       Yes.

   30. JRJoe Rogan29:09

       Yeah.
5. 35:33 – 40:57

   Intelligence agencies

   1. LFLex Fridman35:34

      Now I've recently been reading a lot about the KGB, about the FSB. So I've... Several things sparked my curiosity. So one, I'm traveling to Ukraine and to Moscow and because of that, I started to sort of pr- ask practical questions of myself. Just travel and all those kinds of things. So I started reading a lot about the KGB. Jack Barsky has a book on this. I talked to him. Uh, and you start to realize, you probably looked into some of this, but you just start to realize the scale of surveillance-

   2. JRJoe Rogan36:03

      Mm.

   3. LFLex Fridman36:03

      ... and manipulation. Now a lot of them also talk about the incompetence of those organizations. The usual bureaucracy creeps in. But the point is, it seems like there's no line they're not willing to cross for the purpose of gathering intelligence. For the purpose of controlling people in order to gather intelligence. Now this is MI6, FSB, uh, there's not much information about the FSB or the GRU, but the KGB. So we're always like 20 years behind or more on the actual information. And so I started to, uh, wonder-... so I have not officially been contacted by any intelligence agency. But I start to wonder, "Well, did I, is there somebody I know that's doing that?" Undercover CIA or undercover FSB, undercover anything?

   4. JRJoe Rogan37:00

      You probably do.

   5. LFLex Fridman37:01

      Have you asked yourself this question?

   6. JRJoe Rogan37:03

      Yeah, for sure. Yeah, people that have been on my podcast. Yeah, for sure.

   7. LFLex Fridman37:07

      You think there was actual, a guest that may have been?

   8. JRJoe Rogan37:10

      100%.

   9. LFLex Fridman37:11

      Oh, man.

   10. JRJoe Rogan37:12

       I would imagine.

   11. LFLex Fridman37:13

       Would you know?

   12. JRJoe Rogan37:14

       I have suspicions.

   13. LFLex Fridman37:15

       Do you care? Is this?

   14. JRJoe Rogan37:18

       I mean, (sighs) it depends on what they're attempting to do, right? Like, if I felt like there was some deception involved and they were trying to use the podcast to ma- manipulate, uh, a narrative in a deceptive way to trick people into things. Yeah, I would care.

   15. LFLex Fridman37:36

       But this is exactly what, those are the kind of things they do. They do plant narratives.

   16. JRJoe Rogan37:40

       Yeah. I mean, I would imagine if you have the number one podcast in the world, that people would want to infiltrate that.

   17. LFLex Fridman37:49

       Yeah, there's probably meetings in all major intelligence agencies about, "Okay, what are the large platforms? How do we dis- how do we spread the message?"

   18. JRJoe Rogan37:59

       Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the thing that really emerged when we were talking about during my cancellation, that there's c- a clear th- there's no o- objective analysis of this in mainstream media. There's clear narratives that they're trying to push forward to, uh, whether it's to promote certain ideas or to diminish the power and reach of people who are mavericks or people who, uh, who are, you know, who aren't connected to a system that you can't compromise. That's where it gets dangerous, right? Where it gets dangerous is when someone has the largest reach but is also completely detached and clearly, uh, is independent in the, in the sense of, um, independent thinking, has on whoever he wants s-

   19. LFLex Fridman38:51

       But your mind can still be manipulated.

   20. JRJoe Rogan38:53

       I guess it can.

   21. LFLex Fridman38:54

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan38:54

       I mean, I guess everybody can be manipulated a certain way, but I manipulate my own mind, I'm sure, too. But I also spend a lot of time thinking about what I think, you know? I don't just ac- accept things. Like, like the UFO thing, like, I was all in for a while, and now I'm like, "Man, something smells fishy."

   23. LFLex Fridman39:12

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan39:12

       Uh, I'm, and, and then I'm thinking like, "Why?" Here's my problem with the UFO thing. I want it to be real so bad.

   25. LFLex Fridman39:19

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan39:19

       That's my problem with it. I'm such a sucker. I want it to be real so bad, you know? And that's, that's a problem for me 'cause I'm aware of it. And so then I stop and think about like, "What is, what, what is my desire, uh, for, uh, U- UFO truth to be exposed?" Well, it's 'cause it's fun, you know?

   27. LFLex Fridman39:41

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan39:41

       It's, that's what it is. So I have a desire to, for it to be real.

   29. LFLex Fridman39:45

       And I, I mean, I've talked to, uh, I talked to a bunch of folks about this, so those w- with connection with, uh, DoD. And they do draw lines between people that are full of shit and people who are not. There's a lot of people in the public sphere that they say are full of shit.

   30. JRJoe Rogan40:03

       Yeah, for sure.
6. 40:57 – 46:20

   Trust

   1. LFLex Fridman40:57

      figure that out? How do you figure out who to trust in your life? You're Joe Rogan. A lot of people wanna be close to you, CIA agents, FSB agents.

   2. JRJoe Rogan41:04

      (laughs)

   3. LFLex Fridman41:05

      Uh, uh, people that want-

   4. JRJoe Rogan41:06

      I'm friends with a former CIA agent.

   5. LFLex Fridman41:08

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan41:08

      Mike Baker, who's been on my podcast a bunch of times.

   7. LFLex Fridman41:10

      Allegedly former.

   8. JRJoe Rogan41:12

      Former.

   9. LFLex Fridman41:12

      Think about that.

   10. JRJoe Rogan41:13

       He's air quotes former.

   11. LFLex Fridman41:14

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan41:14

       Yeah, I don't believe he's former. I'm sure he has some connection to him. I also believe he's a good guy. But I gain a lot of very intelligent and well-informed insights from him as to how things work. And, you know, I think, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm sure he doesn't tell me everything about everything. But he's told me enough where I, I, I think I can understand things better from talking to him about how, the way, you know, the elves work under the machine.

   13. LFLex Fridman41:46

       What, what about friends? How do you know if you can trust?

   14. JRJoe Rogan41:49

       Well, most of my friends are old friends.

   15. LFLex Fridman41:51

       Time.

   16. JRJoe Rogan41:52

       So I'm at... So a lot of friends.

   17. LFLex Fridman41:52

       So time is the thing.

   18. JRJoe Rogan41:53

       Yeah.

   19. LFLex Fridman41:53

       Like, uh, just going through shit together. See how much-

   20. JRJoe Rogan41:56

       Yeah, and also people that, you know, first of all, comics, like c-

   21. LFLex Fridman42:01

       You can trust comics?

   22. JRJoe Rogan42:02

       Yeah.

   23. LFLex Fridman42:03

       Is that, is that how that works?

   24. JRJoe Rogan42:03

       Comics are pretty trustworthy. The good ones, the really good ones.

   25. LFLex Fridman42:06

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan42:07

       There's not that many of us. If there's 1,000 professional comics on Earth, I'd be stunned. I'd be stunned. I don't even think there's 1,000, like, real professionals who you get booked all the time, headline weekends at clubs and theaters and arenas.

   27. LFLex Fridman42:25

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan42:25

       And, and then there's levels to that, right? There's like the guys who are middle acts, who kind of like barely scrape by. And then like how many headliners are there? How many like really funny headliners that I would say, you know if, "Lex, you tell me you're gonna be in Cincinnati. Hey, this person's playing at this club, should I go see them?"

   29. LFLex Fridman42:42

       Mm-hmm.

   30. JRJoe Rogan42:42

       I'd be like, "Ehh." You know, like, how many people would I give the, the recommendation to?... and then how many people ha- sell out theaters, how many people sell out arenas, how many p-... There's not that fucking many. So those people, like at the, uh, the levels of comedy where you d- you know, you've been doing standup for 20 years, you, there's a certain amount of honesty and a certain amount of understanding of each other that we all have.
7. 46:20 – 1:04:15

   Greatest comedians

   1. LFLex Fridman46:20

      of us. Let's have the GOAT discussion. You're not gonna pick anybody but who, who are the greats of comedy? Who's, who's the, who's the, who's the greatest comic of all time?

   2. JRJoe Rogan46:29

      Well there, I don't think there is a greatest comic of all time but there-

   3. LFLex Fridman46:32

      Except Norm MacDonald.

   4. JRJoe Rogan46:34

      Norm MacDonald was one of the greats, for sure.

   5. LFLex Fridman46:36

      But by the way, actually on that topic, what, what do you think about his... I think, as a person who is fascinated by the fear of death and death, I think it was a truly genius thing to release a special after you're dead.

   6. JRJoe Rogan46:50

      I don't know how that worked. I haven't seen the special. Have you?

   7. LFLex Fridman46:52

      It's n- yeah. It's g- it's, um, it's called, I think (laughs) , Nothing Special. (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan46:58

      (laughs) Which sounds like something Norm would say.

   9. LFLex Fridman47:00

      And it's basically him in front of... I mean, I, I imagine he wouldn't would've wanted it edited that way because it's made to look nicer than I think he probably would've preferred it. Uh, but it's him in front of the screen, like on a Zoom call, doing jokes without la- cold.

   10. JRJoe Rogan47:21

       Really?

   11. LFLex Fridman47:22

       Yeah. And somehow, given his like dry, dark humor, it works 'cause it's almost making fun of itself, almost making fun of that hole that we were stuck, stuck alone inside and, because he's still acting as if he's in front of the audience and is almost making fun of the fact that this is what we're forced to do. I mean, it's quite genius. It's really well d- and the jokes are really good, but it also makes you realize how important laughter is from the audience, the energy from the audience 'cause, uh, but there's s- also an intimacy because it's just you and him.

   12. JRJoe Rogan47:58

       Mmm.

   13. LFLex Fridman47:58

       Because you're listening to it. You know there's no audience.

   14. JRJoe Rogan48:01

       Yeah.

   15. LFLex Fridman48:01

       So that's... I don't know. It's, I think it's quite genius. And he is of course, there's, there's certain comics that are like not only are they funny but they're truly unique in like their, their, their not in terms of, um, friendship and all that kind of stuff, but in terms of comedy, they're an island.

   16. JRJoe Rogan48:22

       Yeah.

   17. LFLex Fridman48:22

       It's like they, you know, Mitch Hedberg probably is that.

   18. JRJoe Rogan48:25

       Yeah.

   19. LFLex Fridman48:25

       Of course a lo- a lot of people then start to imitate them and, and so on but-

   20. JRJoe Rogan48:28

       Steven Wright.

   21. LFLex Fridman48:29

       Steven Wright.

   22. JRJoe Rogan48:30

       Yeah.

   23. LFLex Fridman48:30

       I mean, there's like people who are like, you know, Dave Chappelle, who's a, like probably one of the greats.

   24. JRJoe Rogan48:36

       Yep.

   25. LFLex Fridman48:36

       But he's just like raw funny.

   26. JRJoe Rogan48:39

       Yeah.

   27. LFLex Fridman48:39

       I don't know if he's an island. (laughs) He's just raw.

   28. JRJoe Rogan48:42

       Uh, yeah, I know what you're saying, an outlier, unique individual. Yeah, he's just great. Um-

   29. LFLex Fridman48:47

       ... ******* is great.

   30. JRJoe Rogan48:48

       Norm was definitely unique in his greatness. Like y- like there's only one Norm, you know, who's got a very specific style.
8. 1:04:15 – 1:11:45

   Childhood

   1. LFLex Fridman1:04:15

      ask you, speaking of Tim Dillon, a chaotic, fucked up individual.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:04:20

      (laughs)

   3. LFLex Fridman1:04:21

      Can we go to your childhood real quick? A brief stroll. So your mom and dad split up when you were five. From a, from a Jungian perspective, if you look in your subconscious, what impact do you think that had on you? In forming who you are a- as a man, as a human being?

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:04:40

      Well, at the time I thought that my father was like a hero. You know, he was my dad. I think every kid thinks like that about his dad. His dad is like... Your dad's your protector. Your dad is like the coolest guy in the world. That's what you'd like.

   5. LFLex Fridman1:04:55

      So you wanna be like him?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:04:56

      Yeah. Everybody wants to be like their dad, especially if your dad is like an imposing figure. I remember one time me and my cousin got in a fight over nothing. It was like over, uh, who's tougher, King Kong or Godzilla. (laughs)

   7. LFLex Fridman1:05:08

      Yeah. Over nothing. That's an important... But yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:05:12

      (laughs) And, uh, he said-

   9. LFLex Fridman1:05:13

      Actual fight? Actual physical fight?

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:05:14

       Oh, I punched him in the face. And, um, uh...

   11. LFLex Fridman1:05:17

       This is when you were like five?

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:05:19

       Yeah. Yeah.

   13. LFLex Fridman1:05:20

       All right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:05:20

       And so...

   15. LFLex Fridman1:05:20

       Which side were you on? Uh...

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:05:22

       King Kong.

   17. LFLex Fridman1:05:22

       Okay.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:05:23

       I was wrong.

   19. LFLex Fridman1:05:24

       (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:05:24

       Godzilla's like way bigger.

   21. LFLex Fridman1:05:26

       Yeah. (laughs) Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:05:26

       Godzilla's 500 feet tall and he shoots fire out of his mouth.

   23. LFLex Fridman1:05:30

       Yeah. Are you sure? I mean, there's- there's an argument to be made, it's not all about size, right?

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:05:37

       No, there's no argument to be made. 500 feet tall versus 50 feet tall. One's a gigantic dinosaur, one is a- a stupid monkey who gets shot down by a plane.

   25. LFLex Fridman1:05:46

       You don't think a monkey can ride-

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:05:46

       You can't kill Godzilla.

   27. LFLex Fridman1:05:48

       ... Godzilla?

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:05:48

       No.

   29. LFLex Fridman1:05:48

       Like take him back?

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:05:49

       No.
9. 1:11:45 – 1:22:21

   Advice for young people

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:11:45

   2. LFLex Fridman1:11:45

      Uh, uh, is there advice you can give to people, to young, to young kids that are living through a shitty situation of any sort? A tough life?

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:11:54

      Find a thing you like. Try to find a thing that you really enjoy. Try to find a thing that you're passionate about.

   4. LFLex Fridman1:11:59

      Like an activity?

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:12:00

      Yes. For me, early on, it was drawing. It was, uh, illustrations. It was, uh, comic books. I wanted to be a comic book illustrator. And then it went from, uh, comic book drawing and illustrations to, um, martial arts. So, but it was, uh, just another thing that I was very, very passionate about. And that was my vehicle out of my dilemma. That was my vehicle out of my, my own anxiety and trauma and my own issues and insecurities, and... Find something. Find a thing that you genuinely enjoy because getting good at things you genuinely enjoy is extremely beneficial for young people, because it lets you know that... Like, everybody thinks they're a loser. Every young person thinks they're a loser. At l- at least a young person in the situation I was at. Like, I didn't know I wasn't a loser until I started winning, 'til I started doing martial arts. Martial arts taught me that, like, I could get better at stuff, that it wasn't... I wasn't really a loser. I just was someone who was, like, in a fucked up situation. But you could channel all that energy that you have as a young person into something and get better at it and then all of a sudden people admired me. I was like, "This is crazy." So I went from being someone who was incredibly insecure-...and basically a failure to someone who was really successful at this one thing that was very dangerous, that other people were scared of. And that gave me immense confidence and also a real understanding of the direct correlation between hard work and success.

   6. LFLex Fridman1:13:42

      And a kind of understanding that you're not a loser.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:13:44

      Right.

   8. LFLex Fridman1:13:45

      That there is some- a diamond in the rough.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:13:48

      Yeah, and also an understanding that you can't listen to people 'cause even my parents didn't want me to do martial arts, they didn't want me to fight, they didn't want me to do standup. There's like, you have to understand, like, who you are and then in the face of other peoples' either criticism or, you know, lack of faith in your ability to succeed, you push through and there's great benefit in that. And then you realize that you can kinda apply that to other things in life. You can apply that to critics, you can apply that to social media commentators. You can apply that to a lot of things.

   10. LFLex Fridman1:14:25

       Okay, what about, uh, young people in their 50s?

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:14:30

       Ah.

   12. LFLex Fridman1:14:30

       Can you give advice to, like imagine you're sitting, you're sitting back, probably still here in Texas, in your 90s, looking back. What advice would that guy give to you today? Or like, people, you know, people that have done some shit in their 50s. You've gone through a hell of a life. There's potentially some incentive to settle down. You got a great family, to relax. Um, but maybe there's some incentive to still do epic shit, still be David Goggins running in the middle of the desert-

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:15:04

       Yeah.

   14. LFLex Fridman1:15:04

       ...screaming shit into a camera.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:15:05

       If you're David Goggins, you have to be David Goggins. I don't think there's a path for that guy that exists at this stage of his life other than that. I mean...

   16. LFLex Fridman1:15:15

       Do you think he'll be 70 and still screaming?

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:15:17

       Yes.

   18. LFLex Fridman1:15:18

       Okay.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:15:19

       100%.

   20. LFLex Fridman1:15:20

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:15:20

       100%. If, if David and I are alive...

   22. LFLex Fridman1:15:24

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:15:24

       ...we're both, we're both 70, he's gonna call me up and say, "Stay hard, motherfucker!"

   24. LFLex Fridman1:15:29

       (laughs) Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:15:30

       Guaranteed. Guaranteed.

   26. LFLex Fridman1:15:32

       So yeah. So lean into whatever the fuck you are at this point.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:15:35

       Well, if you're enjoying it, but if you're not enjoying it, rethink your life. Try to figure out why you're, why you're not enjoying it.

   28. LFLex Fridman1:15:41

       You still think it's possible to shift things in your 50s?

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:15:44

       Yeah. If you're alive, you can get better.

   30. LFLex Fridman1:15:47

       No matter what.
10. 1:22:21 – 1:26:59

    Relationships

    1. LFLex Fridman1:22:21

       Your wife is incredible. You're in a relationship. What, uh, and you're married, you have a great family. What advice would you give, uh, to me and to others like me who are dumb fucks and have not found a relationship?

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:22:32

       Well, you're a great guy, so this definitely doesn't necessarily apply to you, but be someone who someone would want to be in a relationship with. There's a lot of people out there that want a great partner, they want someone in a relationship, but why would someone want to be in a relationship with you?

    3. LFLex Fridman1:22:49

       Yeah.

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:22:49

       You know, maybe you bicker a lot. Maybe you're jealous. Maybe you, uh, maybe you lie. Maybe you, uh, you know, maybe you're cruel. Maybe you're, you don't have a sense of humor. Maybe you're, you know, you're not kind. Like, what is, what is it about you that people would not enjoy being around or that people avoid? Fix that. Fix that.

Episode duration: 1:41:20