Joe Rogan Experience #1584 - Todd White
Todd White (guest), Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Todd White and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #1584 - Todd White explores todd White on Jiu-Jitsu, Art, Obsession, and Escaping Los Angeles Joe Rogan and artist Todd White trace their 20+ year friendship through Brazilian jiu-jitsu, early UFC fandom, and the evolution of White’s career from animator (Tiny Toons, SpongeBob) to globally collected painter. White details how jiu-jitsu and obsessive work ethic shaped his life, helped manage anger and addiction potential, and ultimately led him to financial success and creative freedom.
Todd White on Jiu-Jitsu, Art, Obsession, and Escaping Los Angeles
Joe Rogan and artist Todd White trace their 20+ year friendship through Brazilian jiu-jitsu, early UFC fandom, and the evolution of White’s career from animator (Tiny Toons, SpongeBob) to globally collected painter. White details how jiu-jitsu and obsessive work ethic shaped his life, helped manage anger and addiction potential, and ultimately led him to financial success and creative freedom.
They discuss the darker sides of both the art world and LA culture—fake black belts, art fraud, opportunistic relationships, and a notorious gallery owner caught forging his work. White explains his self-publishing business model, how Instagram and limited editions drive sales, and why COVID-era gallery closures are forcing artists to go direct-to-collector.
The conversation widens into COVID policy, personal health responsibility, conspiracy thinking, and how Rogan’s move to Texas has triggered a migration of comics, tech, and developers. Both men emphasize discipline—through training, hunting, and work—as a way to channel obsession productively and maintain mental balance.
They close on relationships, parenting, and giving back: White’s school-art-supply charity, the importance of a supportive spouse when you’re highly driven, and Rogan’s belief that surrounding yourself with exceptional people and hard challenges keeps your life—and your mind—on track.
Key Takeaways
Use obsession as a tool, not a trap.
White and Rogan both describe being intensely obsessive—over art, jiu-jitsu, hunting, standup—and argue that obsession only becomes addiction when it lacks discipline and direction. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Find a real teacher and stick with them.
White’s whole jiu-jitsu lineage is under Jean-Jacques Machado, which he credits for his technical base and personal growth. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
If you’re an artist, control your reproductions and editions.
White self-publishes his giclées, strictly limits edition sizes, and refuses to re-size or re-release sold-out images. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Instagram is now a primary sales channel for working artists.
With COVID gutting galleries—especially in the UK and California—White increasingly posts new work on Instagram, where collectors worldwide see pieces in real time and either contact him or their preferred gallery. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Train hard to quiet your mind and temper your aggression.
Both men emphasize that jiu-jitsu and brutal workouts bleed off anxiety and aggression better than anything else. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Relationships can be your greatest asset or your biggest drag.
Rogan and White highlight how a supportive, grounded spouse acts as a ‘pit boss’—filtering business nonsense, stabilizing moods, and keeping you from burning down your life. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Give back in the lane you came up through.
Prompted by Jean-Jacques’s advice, White created a 501(c)(3) that supplies underfunded public-school art programs with materials, inspired by his mom’s tiny art budget. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Notable Quotes
“I’ll take drive any day over talent, because the harder you drive something, you can get to that talent level.”
— Todd White
“Obsession and addiction are next-door neighbors. The difference is whether your obsession has discipline behind it.”
— Joe Rogan
“Jiu-jitsu and art saved me. It became jiu-jitsu and art, jiu-jitsu and art—that’s all I did.”
— Todd White
“You got your foot in the door and then you earned the room.”
— Todd White, speaking to Joe Rogan
“Art shouldn’t match your furniture. It should represent your life—something you identify with and talk about.”
— Todd White
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can someone with an obsessive personality practically steer that toward mastery instead of addiction in their own life?
Joe Rogan and artist Todd White trace their 20+ year friendship through Brazilian jiu-jitsu, early UFC fandom, and the evolution of White’s career from animator (Tiny Toons, SpongeBob) to globally collected painter. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
For working artists today, where is the line between protecting collector value with strict editions and making your work accessible enough to sustain a career?
They discuss the darker sides of both the art world and LA culture—fake black belts, art fraud, opportunistic relationships, and a notorious gallery owner caught forging his work. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What safeguards can artists or creatives put in place to avoid being exploited by galleries, publishers, or ‘friends’ who see them primarily as financial opportunities?
The conversation widens into COVID policy, personal health responsibility, conspiracy thinking, and how Rogan’s move to Texas has triggered a migration of comics, tech, and developers. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
In light of COVID, how should societies balance protecting vulnerable populations with keeping healthy people working, and what role should personal health responsibility play?
They close on relationships, parenting, and giving back: White’s school-art-supply charity, the importance of a supportive spouse when you’re highly driven, and Rogan’s belief that surrounding yourself with exceptional people and hard challenges keeps your life—and your mind—on track.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How do you know when a high-conflict relationship is worth fighting for versus when it’s fundamentally limiting your potential and needs to end?
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (instrumental music plays) Hey, buddy.
Hello, Tom Wade. How are you, my friend?
What's up, buddy? Dude, you're one of the reasons why I'm here.
(laughs)
I remember you told me multiple years ago, like when... How many years ago did you move here?
I moved here seven years ago.
And you were telling me how fucking great it is. I remember running into you, you're like, "Dude, it's fucking great. I love it." I'm like, "Man, I don't know."
You said, "My wife would never move there."
(laughs)
That's what you said. We were at, we were at-
Yeah.
... the Commons at Marmalade.
Yeah, Calabasas.
Yeah, in Calabasas.
Yeah, yeah. Well, uh, dude, I've known you for what, fucking 20 years?
Yeah. So-
Um, I probably met you in, like, 2000-ish or something like that. Uh, maybe before.
I, I... The day you walked into Jean Jacques's, I was on the mat and we were rolling and you came walking in. And I had... I was a fan of your first show (laughs) you ever did. And I saw you and I go, "Oh, shit, that's Joe Rogan." And my friend says, uh, "Who's that? Who's that?" I go, "He's on a show. He's on News Radio." And, uh, he goes, "Oh, I don't know who that is." And I go, "Yeah, he's the pl- He's the, uh-"
Handyman.
Handyman. He's a mechanic. He's always running around with his toolbox. And he goes, "I don't know who he is." And I go, "Okay, well..." And then that was the first time I ever saw you and you came in.
That's like '98, dude.
Yeah.
I think it's like '98.
That was about, that was about... Yeah, I was a white belt and...
Yeah. John Jackpot and Tarzana.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I saw... I saw the... Uh, I was working at, uh, Warner Brothers, uh, Tiny Toon Adventures and I was a, I was a... I was a PA, production assistant at that time. It was the first job I ever had in LA and that guy says, uh, "Hey, we're gonna have a party tonight. We're gonna watch these fights. They're like cockfights. Come on over and let's watch them." And I, I went over to his house and I was literally hypnotized watching Royce Gracie do what he did. I couldn't believe it. Everybody else was talking-
So this was, like, '93?
(clears throat) Yeah.
Their early, their first days of UFC?
The very first. The first UFC. It was the first one.
Wow, so you, you watched the first one live?
I s- Yeah. I saw it at, at a party that I was not supposed to be at and nobody else was paying attention to this. It was just on. It was, like, two other guys watching it and, uh, and I'm watching this going, "Oh, I gotta do that." Like-
Install uListen to search the full transcript and get AI-powered insights
Get Full TranscriptGet more from every podcast
AI summaries, searchable transcripts, and fact-checking. Free forever.
Add to Chrome