Joe Rogan Experience Review podcast - The JRE Review of Episode 1243 with Rafinha Bastos

Episode Date: February 12, 2019

Rafinha is a Brazilian comedian that really started the comedy scene in Brazil back in the early 2000s. He’s been on TV, movies and has his own comedy club in his town. Standup is having a boom in parts of Brazil now due to him and now he’s moved to LA to become a comic in the US. Really great conversation from a very cool guy. Enjoy my review folks! Please email me with any suggestions and questions for future Reviews: [e-mail]

Hello and welcome to another episode of the JRE Review. Today I'm reviewing Joe Rogan's conversation with Rafinha Bastos in podcast 1243. Rafinha, I think that's how he says name, is a Brazilian comedian And what was interesting about him being on the show is during his conversation with Joe, he was really explaining that there was no stand-up comedy in Brazil, kind of like in the early 2000s and before. It just didn't exist. There was nothing like it. And he had an idea to do it after coming to college in the US, and he was here on a basketball

scholarship, and decided to do stand up, take it home, got a group of people, and that's it. It just became a thing after that thanks to this guy's help. So really fascinating that a country even as recently as the 2000s didn't have stand-up comedy and this guy was able to kind of create a scene down there and and because of that it needed to evolve and things needed to happen and there was problems and issues and lawsuits and you name it and he gets into it all. So, anyway, let's start the review. Welcome to the Joe Rogan Experience Review! Where each week I review every single episode of the Joe Rogan Experience.

What more do you want? So, Brazilian stand-up is only about 16 years old, according to Rafinha. And that's not that old. You know, that really hasn't given a lot of comedians a chance to develop themselves. I mean, it takes time. You know, let's say comedy there's only been going six years, then you get into it and it's only been another 10. Maybe that's enough time, somewhat to develop your voice.

So, you could imagine that there's starting to be a bit of a boom in stand-up comedy in Brazil now, because enough time is starting to pass, but overall that's not enough to kind of develop a whole field. When you look at US comedy and what Joe's got to learn from, he's been enough to kind of develop a whole field. Like when you look at US comedy and like what Joe's got to learn from, he's been able to see back the comics from like the 50s and even before that. Let's see how they develop, you know, how things have changed, you know, Karlin, Richard Pryor, you name it, all these different generations of comedy and he gets to jump on that. But in a sense this guy from Brazil doesn't get that.

I mean, I guess he could see other comedians from different countries translate the comedy and then somehow make reference there, but it doesn't really relate culturally, I wouldn't have thought. So he's had to work really hard for this. And quite a pioneer. So because of that though, he's picked up some speed there in Brazil. He now owns a comedy club that holds about 300 people. He says he sells out on the weekends, three shows.

So he's doing well. And I mean, that's very impressive. And he's done TV spots, was able to do a movie and direct something, so his career has really done well. And he's been able to make a lot happen with the stand up there, but it hasn't all been fun and games, he's had to learn a lot on the way. And Brazil doesn't have the same sort of first amendment protection laws that we often take for granted in the US. And I say take for granted because often, you know, at least I don't even think about the fact that they exist and that you have the freedom to say certain things because

you wouldn't even notice unless you're in a country that wouldn't allow it. So he's made a few jokes. He made one joke about a woman, some celebrity who happened to be married to Renalbo's manager, the soccer player, and they got very upset. And he was suspended from a show, he ended up quitting, and deciding not to apologize after they said they wanted an apology. Just because he felt like, look, I need to take a stand. You know, in a sense, he's representing the beginning of comedians and what he does moving forward from each dispute is really going to set the bar for other comedians. So he didn't want

to shy away too much. Thank God he was doing well because this is costum hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits. But he's been in a position where he was able to fight those things and good for him for doing it I think it adds credibility and I would imagine it's paved the way for other comedians in Brazil to to be brave enough to say What they need to I mean You need to have that freedom to kind of be loose and to play with ideas and to say some things. But sadly in Brazil, you know, you make fun of a celebrity or a politician, you can get sued. And it's a real big problem because those are some of the best areas to kind of make fun of in a lot of ways. I mean, there's certain things, you know, make fun of yourself, but then also make fun of your family and maybe politics. Just things that people can really relate to,

everyone knows celebrities and they also know politicians, so they should be open to a little bit of cannon fodder. But in these countries that are not like America, the elites have too much power, I guess, and they can come down after you, which is, you know, it's a real shame. Rafine has moved to the US now full-time to do comedy. I haven't seen him live, but I've seen some of his videos online and he does a very funny bit about being foreign and not understanding what the N word is and he talks about it on Rogan's podcast so listen out for that but it's a very funny bit and I'd seen it before and he presents very well so he's obviously got a lot of experience with stand up and and I think that

You know, I haven't seen a lot more of his material here, but his English is very good and he seems to be understanding How to set jokes out here and he's working hard to be a stand up In the right area in the LA area, so I've got a feeling this guy is gonna take off and he's gonna start to be doing really well in the comedy world So you know Keep a lookout for him and he's had to sacrifice a lot like Sure, he's coming here to live and work But you know you don't get paid right away even if you're a big deal down in Brazil So he's got an agent and a manager. He is headlining some places

But I you know, I don't know what money he'd be making, but Luckily has some still from When he was down in Brazil and the work that he's done down there, but again, it's a huge sacrifice like he's he's left This son as well and he he talks about it on the podcast and it's quite heartfelt with Joe And he's talking and saying that he had to explain to his son, you know, that he's leaving to go through comedy. And his son said, well, if I'm the most important thing, why are you leaving me? And he said, this is just something I have to do. And he even acknowledged that it's a very selfish thing in a sense, but he's so driven for

it. But so much have stand up and why it's so difficult is that sacrifice anyway. You have to sacrifice some things to be able to do it. And most people aren't able to or willing to and you just, you can't do it without that. I mean, it's just that difficult to where you need to be all in. Some more things about him too as he was talking. He was actually made, New York Times made him the most influential person on Twitter for a while and he's not even sure why, but he had a big Twitter following down in Brazil. Mostly just makes jokes on there,

but it just kind of goes to show his reach down there, his popularity, which is really pretty impressive. And Joe was also saying that he can't think of another comedian that was brought up in a different country, most of his life, and then much later in life came to the US and made it in comedy. So look out for this guy, he might be the first, so it's pretty exciting. Going back to the part of the conversation where they say comedians get in trouble for the things that they say, Joe even loses a lot of revenue on YouTube.

He was saying due to demonetizing of his videos, and he's not even sure why that is a lot of times. But Joe just says, generally, with his content, he puts it out there and tries to be humble, and then just kind of takes, it walks away from it and lets it go. Doesn't look at the comments, anything like that. If it gets a lot of negative blowback like the Jack Dorsey one where people felt like he didn't ask him a lot of questions, hit kind of a just, but as a whole he walks away from it and kind

of just gets done with it from there. And when he gets confused with it and needs some help, he brings in people that really know, people that have good answers, like the podcast they have with Tim Paul recently. And Joe actually alluded to something in this conversation with Rafina. He was saying that he's gonna be working with Tim Paul on a project, something, and it's going to be working with Tim Paul on a project

something and it's going to blow people away. It could change the platform. I've got a sneaky feeling it's that app that he was talking about where he's going to have a subscription app but maybe it's something else. I'm not sure. Maybe Tim Paul has some other plan for like a fact-checking portion of Joe's podcast or who knows maybe he like sitting on podcasts and help Joe with questions or I don't know I can't imagine what they'd be up to but the way Joe said it's gonna blow you away it means that it's gonna be a big change and it's gonna be interesting to see where Joe's podcast goes right some kind of sad news towards the end of the podcast.

Rafinha has talks about his wife leaving him for a self-help cult and he said that basically the cult taught her to love everyone the same. So if that's the case, why focus your love just on one man? So he left because of that. I don't know how many kind of cults and things they have down in Brazil, but that sounds pretty messed up. Joe says of those things are tricky because you know, Joe says he's very careful even with his reach to let people know that he doesn't have the answers, right? And anyone telling you they do, you should be very aware of those people. You should be very suspicious of them because usually they're just going to try and take your money or something like that. So it's kind of an interesting point and it's a good way really for Joe to stay humble

because he should never think, you know, probably the power that he has through these podcasts, he needs to be careful about the kind of statements he makes about what he knows. And lastly, a cool thing because obviously Refin has is working hard to boost his comedy here in LA. Joe invited him to do some shows with him in the LA area in the upcoming day. So if you're in that area, if you're in California and you haven't seen Joe yet, come down and see when he's got this guy on. And support this guy because I think he's good. Check out the conversation. I really liked it. I think, like I said, this guy is done a lot for comedy in his country and he's

doing it with the right kind of attitude. He seems like a really decent person. But anyway, thanks a lot for listening guys. We'll talk soon, bye. you