Joe Rogan Experience #1844 - Tom Segura
Narrator, Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Tom Segura (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #1844 - Tom Segura explores tom Segura on comedy grind, touring insanity, injuries, and culture wars Joe Rogan and Tom Segura spend a long, loose conversation bouncing between stand-up comedy craft, Segura’s brutal touring schedule, and the experience of writing his first bestselling book. They trade wild road stories (including out-of-control fans and bodily-fluid disasters), compare major injuries and rehab strategies, and talk about substances from kratom to Adderall and GHB. The discussion frequently widens into commentary on podcasting’s rise, fame and self-destruction (especially around Bert Kreischer), gender and trans athletes in sports, Big Pharma and COVID policy, China and TikTok, and how social media may be dumbing Americans down. Underneath the chaos, it’s largely about how comics work, survive, and stay sharp in a strange, politically charged, and highly medicated culture.
Tom Segura on comedy grind, touring insanity, injuries, and culture wars
Joe Rogan and Tom Segura spend a long, loose conversation bouncing between stand-up comedy craft, Segura’s brutal touring schedule, and the experience of writing his first bestselling book. They trade wild road stories (including out-of-control fans and bodily-fluid disasters), compare major injuries and rehab strategies, and talk about substances from kratom to Adderall and GHB. The discussion frequently widens into commentary on podcasting’s rise, fame and self-destruction (especially around Bert Kreischer), gender and trans athletes in sports, Big Pharma and COVID policy, China and TikTok, and how social media may be dumbing Americans down. Underneath the chaos, it’s largely about how comics work, survive, and stay sharp in a strange, politically charged, and highly medicated culture.
Key Takeaways
Book writing is a grinding, deadline-driven process very unlike stand-up.
Segura describes writing his book during the pandemic as like going back to school: relentless deadlines, heavy edits, and being told to add clarity or humor to stories that don’t yet work. ...
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High-level stand-up requires pacing, crowd-reading, and adjusting material in real time.
They talk about comics who can’t tolerate silence versus those who build slow, tension-heavy bits; Segura skips slower material on chaotic late shows and pivots to more rapid-fire jokes. ...
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Comedians’ touring schedules can be extreme and physically dangerous without discipline.
Segura is doing nearly 200 shows in a year, plus international legs, while Rogan highlights how that level of repetition can break people mentally or physically. ...
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Personas can overtake the person, especially when fans demand “the character.”
They compare Bert Kreischer becoming “The Machine” and Andrew Dice Clay becoming Dice to Hunter S. ...
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Substances like kratom and GHB illustrate how easily performance, confidence, and risk blur.
Rogan and Segura describe kratom as a pre-workout that boosts focus and confidence at low doses, and a disorienting high at large ones. ...
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Trans inclusion in sports is colliding with basic ideas of fairness and biology.
They argue that allowing trans women who’ve gone through male puberty to compete in women’s divisions (e. ...
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Mistrust of institutions is fed by pharma’s track record and politicized COVID policy.
Rogan cites massive fines for companies like Pfizer and Merck, Vioxx’s deadly history, and Fauci’s controversial AZT advocacy to argue that profit often outweighs public safety. ...
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China leverages tech like TikTok very differently at home and abroad.
They note that Chinese TikTok limits kids’ use and promotes educational content, while the U. ...
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Podcasting filled a huge, under-served demand for long-form, unfiltered conversation.
Rogan recalls starting his show in a tiny office with no idea it would become the #1 podcast among millions, but he felt compelled to keep doing long, frequent episodes. ...
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Notable Quotes
“It feels like going back to school—the deadlines, the notes, the blood all over the pages.”
— Tom Segura (on writing his book)
“Sometimes your friend has to see it. Bert didn’t want to tell The Machine story on stage—I had to convince him.”
— Joe Rogan
“If you sign up to be a model, it is open season. You’re saying, ‘Look at my looks.’ People get to have opinions.”
— Tom Segura
“We’re gonna look back on this time, if there is history, sorting through rubble going, ‘What were they doing?’”
— Joe Rogan (on current gender/ideology conflicts)
“You’re number one of four million podcasts. That’s really crazy.”
— Tom Segura (to Joe Rogan)
Questions Answered in This Episode
How much do you think comics should tailor their material and personas to what their fan base demands versus what’s healthiest for them as people?
Joe Rogan and Tom Segura spend a long, loose conversation bouncing between stand-up comedy craft, Segura’s brutal touring schedule, and the experience of writing his first bestselling book. ...
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Where should the line be drawn on trans participation in sports to balance inclusion with physical safety and competitive fairness?
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Given what was said about Big Pharma and COVID policy, what standards of transparency and liability would you want to see for future public health responses?
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Is TikTok simply another entertainment app, or do you buy the argument that it’s a deliberate tool for foreign influence and cognitive decline in the U.S.?
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For someone starting now, is podcasting still a viable path, and what would they have to do differently from early adopters like Rogan and Segura to break through the noise?
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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) Tom, you're a fucking author.
I'm an author.
Not only are you an author, but you're a New York Times bestselling author.
Pretty crazy, man. Pretty crazy.
That's pretty crazy.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's pretty crazy.
I know. I really didn't think that would happen, to be honest.
It's wild.
(laughs)
You had a wild following though, pal.
I know. It's just, um... I remember there, you know... That's the whole thing. They... Once you s- once you have, like, everything in, they start talking about the sales, obviously. Like, first is the work of writing the book.
Right.
Which is its own thing, and everybody's like, "Don't do it." At least comics are. They're like, "Don't fucking do it." You know? 'Cause-
Everybody I know that's done it said exactly what you said, "It's a grind."
Yeah, yeah. It is. It, it... What it is, too, is that for somebody that's out of school work for so long, it's the, it's the thing that feels like going back to school the most.
Mm-hmm.
'Cause you, you, you have deadlines. And we, we don't, we don't write dead- you don't have deadlines in standup, you know?
Oof.
It's like... And you send it and you get notes back, and they're like... There's blood all over the pages, right? Like, you got-
(laughs)
You're like... And they're like, "This doesn't even make... How do you connect these two?" And you're like, "I don't, I don't know." And they're like, "Well, that's what you have to do now. You're writing it." And you're like, "Fuck! Okay." So it's just, like, it feels like you're back to work, you know? You're back to doing work again.
How's your typing?
Um, it i- th- it was rough with the arm, with the hand, right?
Oh, that's right.
So, I actually... I started writing this book... I, I got the deal for it in, at, when the pandemic was, like, just had t- when they, when it was clear everything was shut down. So everything started in March, and then it was like April, May. I feel like in that window is when I got the deal to do this, and I was like, "Yeah, I'm not gonna do any touring." Like, they were like... Remember? Touring is, like, done. So I'll write a book. I sent in, like... I don't know. I sent in 10,000 words, um, and then a little while later, I sent in 20,000 more, and I remember (laughs) that I, I gave it to the publisher, and she took her time with it. You know? Like, to do the, to do her notes. I mean, it's, it's, you know... I don't know how many pages that is, but it's like... Let's say it's like 100 pages or something, so it took a while. So I'm just, like, waiting to get notes back, and then when they come back, it's, like, right before I get injured. So I think I... I'm then in the hospital, and I have an arm that doesn't work for a while, and they go, "How's the, uh, how's the notes coming?" I'm like, "I'm not doing them. I, I can't write right now." (laughs) Like, 'cause I was-
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