Joe Rogan Experience #1177 - Sober October 2

Joe Rogan Experience #1177 - Sober October 2

The Joe Rogan ExperienceOct 1, 20183h 7m

Joe Rogan (host), Bert Kreischer (guest), Tom Segura (guest), Bert Kreischer (guest), Tom Segura (guest), Tom Segura (guest), Bert Kreischer (guest), Tom Segura (guest), Bert Kreischer (guest), Tom Segura (guest), Bert Kreischer (guest)

Designing and escalating the Sober October 2 fitness challengeMindset, motivation, and physical training strategiesStand-up comedy process: writing, taping specials, and rebuilding hoursComedy culture: collaboration, podcasts, and the arena/theater boomCrowd interaction, offense, and free speech in live comedyFame, social media, and the impact of podcast audiencesNegotiating bets, punishments, and a custom Sober October championship belt

In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Bert Kreischer, Joe Rogan Experience #1177 - Sober October 2 explores rogan and friends plan brutal Sober October, comedy and chaos Joe Rogan, Bert Kreischer, and Tom Segura (with Ari Shaffir phoning in) map out their second "Sober October" challenge, centered on intense daily workouts tracked by MyZone heart-rate monitors instead of just abstaining from substances.

Rogan and friends plan brutal Sober October, comedy and chaos

Joe Rogan, Bert Kreischer, and Tom Segura (with Ari Shaffir phoning in) map out their second "Sober October" challenge, centered on intense daily workouts tracked by MyZone heart-rate monitors instead of just abstaining from substances.

They swap stories about training, mindset, weight loss, and performance, including Rogan’s near-martial obsession with effort, Kreischer’s crash-diet tendencies, and Segura’s structured cardio discipline.

Alongside fitness talk, they dive deep into stand-up craft—how hours are built, why open mics can create false confidence, how tags evolve after taping, and why today’s comedy boom is uniquely collaborative instead of cutthroat.

The episode is also filled with digressions on crowd behavior, free speech and offense in comedy, celebrity culture, private jets, fame via podcasting, and a long, comedic negotiation over the stakes, punishments, and a custom championship belt for the challenge.

Key Takeaways

Structure makes fitness goals real and competitive.

Using MyZone heart-rate monitors and a point system turns daily workouts into a measurable competition, motivating the group to push harder (e. ...

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Finding a personal mental trigger can unlock higher effort.

Rogan visualizes life‑or‑death scenarios—protecting loved ones or stopping attackers—to push through fatigue, while Kreischer and Segura discuss alternative triggers like embracing discomfort or vanity-based motivations.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Crash dieting backfires; performance-focused consistency wins.

Kreischer admits dropping large amounts of weight via extreme calorie cuts, while Rogan warns that this crashes metabolism and advocates instead for heavy training, whole foods, and cutting sugar and refined carbs.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Great stand-up hours are built iteratively, not instantly.

They describe how specials come from hundreds of sets, recordings, video review, and constant re-ordering of bits; the “perfect tag” often appears right after taping, and new hours emerge faster with more experience.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Real crowds are the only true test of material.

Open mics and bringer shows can create false confidence because audiences are forgiving or drunk; working in real clubs and theaters between strong comics exposes weak jokes and forces genuine improvement.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Modern comedy rewards collaboration over rivalry.

Unlike past eras defined by Tonight Show bottlenecks and feuds, the podcast era has top comics promoting each other, sharing audiences, and touring together, which grows the overall market instead of shrinking it.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Heckling and mid-bit outrage destroy the art form.

They argue that audience members who interrupt because they’re offended (“Next subject! ...

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Notable Quotes

“You gotta put yourself in this state of just 100% effort.”

— Joe Rogan

“I got into CrossFit and I was throwing up every day.”

— Bert Kreischer

“It’s a good feeling to get done with something and go, ‘I did the best I could do.’”

— Joe Rogan

“If you’ve been doing comedy seven years and you have twenty minutes… you’re lazy.”

— Joe Rogan

“Being a fan of something is so fun—when you become a fan.”

— Bert Kreischer

Questions Answered in This Episode

How sustainable is Rogan’s ‘life-or-death’ mental framing for exercise, and what are healthier long-term motivation models?

Joe Rogan, Bert Kreischer, and Tom Segura (with Ari Shaffir phoning in) map out their second "Sober October" challenge, centered on intense daily workouts tracked by MyZone heart-rate monitors instead of just abstaining from substances.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

What specific habits or systems could an aspiring comic copy from how Rogan, Kreischer, and Segura build and refine an hour?

They swap stories about training, mindset, weight loss, and performance, including Rogan’s near-martial obsession with effort, Kreischer’s crash-diet tendencies, and Segura’s structured cardio discipline.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Where should clubs and comics draw the line between ‘offensive but crafted’ material and genuinely harmful rhetoric?

Alongside fitness talk, they dive deep into stand-up craft—how hours are built, why open mics can create false confidence, how tags evolve after taping, and why today’s comedy boom is uniquely collaborative instead of cutthroat.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Is the current comedy boom—arenas, multiple theater acts, massive podcasts—dependent on this particular cohort, or is it a lasting structural shift?

The episode is also filled with digressions on crowd behavior, free speech and offense in comedy, celebrity culture, private jets, fame via podcasting, and a long, comedic negotiation over the stakes, punishments, and a custom championship belt for the challenge.

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

How might future technologies like Neuralink or new media platforms change the way comedians write, perform, and reach audiences?

Get the full analysis with uListen AI

Transcript Preview

Joe Rogan

Five, four, three, two, one. (heart beating) Dude, it seemed like we just did this.

Bert Kreischer

It does feel like-

Tom Segura

(laughs)

Bert Kreischer

... pretty recent.

Joe Rogan

How was it a year ago?

Bert Kreischer

I don't know.

Tom Segura

I don't know.

Joe Rogan

It's already October. I'm scared. Let's just fucking spark up a joint and bill right now.

Bert Kreischer

What?

Tom Segura

(laughs)

Bert Kreischer

No.

Joe Rogan

With these fat blunts.

Bert Kreischer

One of them Backwoods.

Joe Rogan

Smell one of these Backwoods. These are so good. Just smell it, just smell it.

Tom Segura

Whoa.

Joe Rogan

Yeah.

Tom Segura

You know everyone was commenting on your-

Bert Kreischer

Let me see that.

Tom Segura

... blunt rolling technique after the Elon Musk thing?

Joe Rogan

Oh, I don't roll them.

Tom Segura

I know they were like... And I knew that. And they were like-

Joe Rogan

Yeah.

Tom Segura

... "Oh, what is he... He just, he can barely roll a blunt." And I was like, "It's professionally rolled. It's a pretty r- good blunt."

Joe Rogan

You can't read those comments.

Bert Kreischer

That does smell good, man.

Joe Rogan

That smells so good. They taste good too. Those are, those are phenomenal. The, I l- I'm a blunt man. You know, I know it's probably bad for your lungs, but there's something about the tobacco gets you a little high up and then the marijuana sort of like-

Bert Kreischer

Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan

... spreads you out and it puts you in like a new dimension.

Bert Kreischer

Yeah, that's-

Joe Rogan

I like it.

Bert Kreischer

... that, that's a good one.

Joe Rogan

I'm gonna get blitzkrieged after Halloween, kids.

Bert Kreischer

Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan

Blitzkrieg.

Bert Kreischer

Imagine how high you'll get to after 30 days off.

Joe Rogan

I remember last year. Last year I did, I did comedy. I had no idea what I was talking about. While I was on stage I was like, "Oh my God, there's 400 people in this room and I don't even know what I'm saying."

Tom Segura

(laughs)

Bert Kreischer

(laughs)

Tom Segura

I almost thought of bringing in all my marijuana and booze in here, like a, like wi-

Joe Rogan

Stack it up.

Tom Segura

... like at, like in the Old West when you had to turn in your guns.

Joe Rogan

(laughs)

Bert Kreischer

(laughs)

Tom Segura

And just dumping them on the table. 'Cause I have so much marijuana, it's ridiculous.

Joe Rogan

I know, it's crazy. Look at that spot-

Bert Kreischer

I keep a bunch.

Joe Rogan

We got a stack of whiskey over there.

Bert Kreischer

Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan

And then we got another cabinet full in the back. Yeah, you could get fucked up hard for your, here in this place, this room.

Bert Kreischer

We're gonna get ripped on the-

Joe Rogan

Yeah, yeah.

Bert Kreischer

... first.

Joe Rogan

The day back.

Bert Kreischer

Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan

Well, remember when we did the podcast on the day back.

Bert Kreischer

Yeah.

Joe Rogan

Those were, those were fun. Shit.

Bert Kreischer

Those were fun.

Tom Segura

Yeah.

Joe Rogan

Ari's so much more fun when he's high.

Install uListen to search the full transcript and get AI-powered insights

Get Full Transcript

Get more from every podcast

AI summaries, searchable transcripts, and fact-checking. Free forever.

Add to Chrome