Joe Rogan Experience #1990 - Bert Kreischer
Joe Rogan (host), Narrator, Bert Kreischer (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #1990 - Bert Kreischer explores bert Kreischer, The Machine, and Comedy’s Wild New Golden Age Joe Rogan and Bert Kreischer spend the episode reflecting on their friendship, the evolution of stand‑up comedy, and how surrounding yourself with ‘killers’ elevates everyone’s career.
Bert Kreischer, The Machine, and Comedy’s Wild New Golden Age
Joe Rogan and Bert Kreischer spend the episode reflecting on their friendship, the evolution of stand‑up comedy, and how surrounding yourself with ‘killers’ elevates everyone’s career.
They dig into insecurity, jealousy, and why supporting other comics (on stage, in podcasts, and now in movies) has created a whole ecosystem where many of their friends are now arena acts.
Bert tells extended stories: meeting Dave Chappelle and Israel Adesanya, partying in New Zealand, making and promoting his movie *The Machine*, and how weird it is to watch your own life become a film.
They also wander into movies, cultural shifts, war history, drugs, predators, social media pile‑ons, and why getting people back into theaters for R‑rated comedies matters for the future of the art form.
Key Takeaways
Surround yourself with people who are better than you.
Both Rogan and Kreischer stress that being around ‘killers’—comics who are better, sharper, and more disciplined—forces you to level up and keeps ego in check. ...
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Jealousy wastes energy; turn it into inspiration instead.
Rogan describes consciously reframing jealousy in his early career, deciding to be inspired by others’ success rather than resentful. ...
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Celebrate your wins and ‘earn your Mondays.’
Bert shares his wife Leanne’s idea: work so hard on shows, press, and projects that you truly earn a day where you don’t have to do anything. ...
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Movie theaters are critical if you want more big, risky comedies.
They explain that box‑office success, not just streaming numbers, is what convinces studios to fund more R‑rated, hard‑hitting comedies and green‑light projects from people like Kreischer, Shane Gillis, Tim Dillon, and others.
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Being yourself publicly is hard, but it’s what actually works.
Kreischer admits he overshares to please people and struggles with self‑worth, while Rogan notes that audiences connect most when comics drop the façade and are fully themselves, even if that’s messy, emotional, or unpolished.
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Culture changes fast; what was normal comedy is now radioactive.
They walk through scenes from movies like *Ace Ventura*, *Revenge of the Nerds*, and *Porky’s* to show how jokes about trans people, rape, and drunk sex were once mainstream, and how that rapid shift shapes what you can do today.
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Platforms and community can radically amplify individual careers.
Rogan emphasizes that podcasting plus a strong club culture (like The Comedy Store and now the Mothership) let comics cross‑pollinate audiences. ...
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Notable Quotes
“You gotta surround yourselves with the motherfuckers.”
— Bert Kreischer
“We all rise up together. A rising tide raises all boats.”
— Joe Rogan
“Once you’re yourself, you’re truly yourself, that’s when you’re the most appealing.”
— Joe Rogan
“Without good friends, nobody really succeeds, ’cause you don’t appreciate it if it’s just you.”
— Joe Rogan
“If The Machine does well this weekend, we get a green light on Fat Astronauts Monday.”
— Bert Kreischer
Questions Answered in This Episode
How much of *The Machine*’s success will realistically change what kinds of comedies studios are willing to finance next?
Joe Rogan and Bert Kreischer spend the episode reflecting on their friendship, the evolution of stand‑up comedy, and how surrounding yourself with ‘killers’ elevates everyone’s career.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
In a scene that’s now so collaborative and podcast‑driven, is there still a place for the old cutthroat, competitive comedy culture?
They dig into insecurity, jealousy, and why supporting other comics (on stage, in podcasts, and now in movies) has created a whole ecosystem where many of their friends are now arena acts.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Where should comedians draw their own lines on what’s still fair game in humor, given how fast cultural norms around race, gender, and consent have shifted?
Bert tells extended stories: meeting Dave Chappelle and Israel Adesanya, partying in New Zealand, making and promoting his movie *The Machine*, and how weird it is to watch your own life become a film.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How can performers balance radical honesty and oversharing with protecting their families’ privacy and their own mental health?
They also wander into movies, cultural shifts, war history, drugs, predators, social media pile‑ons, and why getting people back into theaters for R‑rated comedies matters for the future of the art form.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
If podcasts and direct‑to‑fan platforms give comics so much power, will traditional Hollywood gatekeepers eventually lose their leverage entirely?
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Transcript Preview
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music)
My man, Eric Kreischer, I love you to death.
Brother, (glasses clink) I love you way more than you'll ever love me, and you know that. I told you that last night.
(smacks lips) That's a ridiculous thing to say to a person.
You changed my life immeasurably.
You changed mine, too. We changed each other's lives.
(coughs)
We really did.
I don't know...
It's so that I- I just get m- too much credit. It's o- all of us. It's like w- we did it all together. We all did it together. Without good friends, n- nobody i- uh, really succeeds-
Yeah.
... 'cause you don't, you don't appreciate it if it's just you. It's not f- it s- it doesn't seem fair. It seems all fucked up. So-
I s- I, I, I keep saying to people, you gotta surround yourselves with the motherfuckers.
Yes.
Like, you g- you got- are you b- if you're talking about your friends as if you're the top dog, then you're with the wrong dudes.
Right.
Someone said to me, "You're always talking like you're not a great comic, that your friends are so much better." I go, "They are. Look at who my fucking friends are. Are you fucking kidding me?" Like, my friends, I surround, I'm s- I surround myself by people that are way better than me, and then I just listen. I don't a lot, not listen a lot, but...
We all rise up together. It's a old expression that the rising tide raises all boats. It really does. It's just f- it's good for everybody. It's like, you want killers around. Like, we got into this 'cause we- we love comedy-
Yeah.
... and now we're in it. And when you're in it, it's so scary, and it's so weird, and it's so chaotic. And, and people are comparing themselves to other people, and it causes all this totally unnecessary conflict.
Yeah.
And if you just remember why you got in it in the first place, you got in it in the first place 'cause you love to watch it, and then you did it, and then you got selfish, and you started thinking about yourself. You started thinking about, "I wanna kill," and, "I wanna be better," and, "I wanna be the number one person."
Watch them where other people are in their career.
Mm-hmm.
And how come I don't have a 30-minute, half-hour special? Ugh.
And people get upset with people that they really don't have any conflict with in real life, but in their mind, they associate that person with something negative because they feel bad when they think about them 'cause that person's more successful than them.
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