The Joe Rogan Experience - #1804 - Bill Maher

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

Bill Maher is a comedian, political commentator, the host of HBO's "Real Time with Maher" and his own podcast, "Club Random." His new special "#Adulting" is available April 15 on HBOMax. http://www.billmaher.com/videos/club-random-videos/

The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. Now I'm in a better place. So what was the decision to jump into the podcasting arena? Not enough podcasts in the world? Well, that was certainly one. It is the law. No, it was a bunch of things. First of all, if you had said to me,

when did you start? 2009? Yeah. And what year did you become the king of podcasting? Five years ago, probably. Five years ago. Okay. So if you said to me 10 years ago, podcasting is going to be huge. It's really going to be where media moves. It's where people are going to be bigger than radio at its height. I'd say, are you crazy? But, you know, partly because of you, it did. And so it's sort of undeniable now. sort of undeniable now. And I also was out to dinner too many times with people who said, you know, you're so interesting to talk to when it's not about politics. You know, you should do a podcast that's not about politics. And I was always saying, well,

first of all, my network would never let me do that. They own my ass. They pay me very well for exclusivity. But I found out that actually, you know what? I can, if I ask nicely, and they were nice about it, and do it in a very different way, which is what we did, I could do a podcast and have it not be about politics. And it's a whole new audience because there's just a lot of people who are turned off to politics and don't want turned off to politics and don't want to talk about politics and don't want to hear about it. And sometimes I'm that guy. Sometimes I don't want to hear about it. And there's too many people who are divorced from, shall we say, knowing things. You know, I had this... That's a great way to put it. Divorced from knowing things

is a great way to put it. I mean, from knowing things is a great way to put it. I mean, I'm not saying they're dumb. Not at all. I had this guy on. We hadn't dropped yet. And I said to him, he asked me sort of the same question. Why are you doing this podcast? And I was going through this very similar explanation.

I said, for example, on Real Time last week, the two topics we talked about were the ACLU and NATO. And he's 30, and he said, yeah, I don't know what either one of those are. I said, exactly. This is the problem. Or the solution is that we can have this nice conversation. You're a bright guy. But I can't, you would not be that interested in Real Time because even though it's a comedy show and there's a lot of funny stuff that anybody could laugh at, yeah, when it comes to the panel discussion, it was mostly about NATO and the ACLU. Whereas this show, the podcast, it's just about anything. It's just much more personal. And I can be dressed like, dressed like this.

I'm not the guy in the suit and the tie and the white shirt with perfect hair. And I can just, you know, and also I can, like we're doing here, be much more free would be the word I would say before we had to dance around the fact that, no, we can get baked. We can drink and we can smoke, which is what we would do normally. And I felt like, you know, there's not a lot of podcasts that have a nighttime feel. And I had a place in my house that was like perfect for that. And we kind of made it into a club. We called it Club Random.

And I said, you know, I get high with people here anyway, like one night a week just having fun. If I just turned the cameras on, we'd have a fucking show. Yeah, that's awesome. It's great that HBO is wise enough to let you do that too because I think it would only enhance your show. It's not going to take away from it. We already have from the commentary,

from when people write in to YouTube and so forth saying, oh, I'm going to take a look at real time now. Yeah. And that was part of my argument was like, if you want to get anyone under 40 who don't follow politics that well, you're going to have to fish somewhere else than where you've been fishing. Yeah. And when you do fish in this new pond, you will get people who will come over to your pond. Well, I think one of the things that opened up a lot of people to your show during the pandemic, especially, was these clips that you guys were putting up. And I think that having those kind of clips, those kind of viral clips of some of your monologues and some

of your rants I think those opened up a lot of younger people to it as well. Yeah I mean, well same kind of thing like using an alternative media. Yes, and of course nowadays we live in a time when people Digest things not necessarily in the form that they were made they get little clips. I mean James Corden does singing in a car with people, the karaoke. A lot of people see that much more than who stay up till 1230 and watch that whole show through their toes like they used to Johnny Carson and sit through commercials. I mean, I honestly don't know how those shows still last in the year 2022. Who would sit there and watch commercials

that take up probably 30% of the show, but I guess it still must work. There's something there still, but it's a trap format. Those kind of trap formats that only appear at a certain time and they're only good for a certain amount of minutes before they have to cut the commercial. It's just so limiting.

There's so, you know. It seems an anachronism to me in this day and age. But, you know, I do a show that it has no commercials. That's the difference. You can watch it all the way through. But I certainly know that people at a time as atomize it rather, they just want to watch the rant I do at the end,

or they just want to watch the monologue or the comedy bit or a certain guest. I mean, I had Mamet on. I know you had Mamet on this week. Boy, he really wants to sell that book. He's an interesting guy. I love him. A fascinating guy.

You know, like, you would never know who he is until you sit down and talk to him just by his work. Well, I mean, I said to him, you're a lot funnier than people know. His reputation is the tough guy, you know, fuck this. And really, he's very funny. Yeah. I saw a play he wrote in New York in 2008 called November. It was a political thing.

But it was just like one laugh after another. It was just, I said to him, it's like a Neil Simon play if Neil Simon had ever been funny. You know, just people really laughing in the theater every 30 seconds. Laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh. That is not how people think of David Mamet. And, you know, his book I read, it's fantastic. I mean, I don't agree with every single thing in it. But there is a certain type of person, and he is one of them, that just has this breadth of knowledge that comics like us, as much as we might try and kind of stay up and read, we're just not in that league. And, you know, it's like I couldn't play basketball with the Lakers either.

You know, there are just people like that. Salman Rushdie, people who are just, they've read everything. They know everything. And so when they write a book like that, they're very often making references to things. I know, oh, I know that name. And then you tell me something. Oh, I didn't know that about it. Oh, I didn't know that.

And it's just, it's almost like's, it's almost like the cliff notes for being a true intellectual. Yeah. There's some stunningly well-read people out there. And when you talk to them on a podcast, you realize like, oh, I would have never known there's people like you if I wasn't talking to you. Exactly. And I'm so glad that they can read everything because I just don't have that. George Will is another one who just has this, I mean, he's 80 and he still writes these amazing columns every week that, again, I don't, do I always agree with every word? No, but every word is a fantastic word. I mean, the way he can put together sentences and he must do it not quite on the fly, but with this, I mean, amazing output of, I would say at least two or three times a week he produces this column.

And then books. I had them on like a year ago for a doorstop. It was like this. It was six inches thick. And it was like a compendium of everything that you'd ever want to know about conservatism in America. It's like, wow, I just, I mean, I can't, I just don't, that's not my brain. And I don't even wish it was because I don't think I'd be as happy. No.

Well, we need you and we need him too. This is why we need a lot of different kinds of people. Right, and you. Yeah, you're not going to be that guy and also be a great stand-up. No. It's like you don't have the time. You can't do everything. Right.

You don't necessarily. But I think one of the things you said that's so important is I don't agree with everything they say. I don't agree with a lot of things a lot of people say, but I still want to hear them talk. Absolutely. That's what's missing today. The polarization in this country, and I think a lot of it accentuated by the relationship that people had with Trump. It turned people into this, like you're one or zero, you know, you're with us or against us. And I think that's bonkers. No, it is. I mean, what, it's funny, for the first time in my life, I'm really getting a mixed audience at standup shows.

Nice. Mixed. I'm talking about politically. Yeah. That really doesn't happen anymore in America. Maybe it happens to you somewhat. I get it for sure. I get blue hairs and cowboy hats. I get all, yeah, I get all kinds of weirdos that come. But you get, I'm talking about liberal Democrats plus conservative Republicans. Yeah, they're weird.

It's a weird mingling sometimes when I meet them out in public. Sometimes it's like old ladies. That one freaks me out. Well, I think that's because we are both seen as people who are sort of like commonsensical. And that is what there is a hunger for, I think, in America more than anything is common sense. Yes. America more than anything is common sense. Yes. The away from the extremes. I mean, when people say to me, you know, you're don't you think you've gotten more conservative? No, I haven't. The left has gotten goofier. Yes. So I see more conservative maybe. But like, it's not me who

changed. Yeah, I feel I'm the same guy. But five years ago, you know, we hadn't spent six trillion dollars to stay home. I mean, I understand we had to do something with the pandemic. I'm not sure that was, you know, I mean, I remember when a trillion dollars was too much to spend on anything. We didn't spend a trillion to bail out the economy in 2008. So we didn't do that. Five years ago, no one was talking about abolishing the police. You know, there was no talk about, you know, pregnant men. You know, I mean, there was just looting was still illegal. Right. You know, isn't that crazy? There was just, there's so like, have I changed? No, because if someone had said 20 years ago, I'm not sure looting is a bad thing. I would have opposed it then. So I haven't changed. But that I think is what there is this hunger for is this sort of

common sense. I, you know, centrism is such a wishy-washy word. But that's sort of what it is. Some people lean a little more to the left, a little more to the right. Sometimes it's issue by issue. But just, you know, I'm always saying to the Democrats, just don't be the party of no common sense. And you will be surprised at how much amazing success you will have as opposed to what's going to happen, which is they're going to get their ass kicked in November. Well, people like you are very important to people like me because you represent what it means to me to be liberal, what it means to me to be left-wing, because you're just a normal person who cares about people's rights and wants a certain

amount of freedom and wants the people to get along and work things out amicably right but the polarization in this country has made it so that people like you are rare it's weird it's like that's what i used to think of when i thought of the left i thought of like professors and you know intellectuals and these these people that would sit down and work through things with the understanding that free speech is one of the most important aspects of communication possible. And communication is everything. Communication is how we work things out. Like this idea of not talking to people you disagree with. Well, guess what?

That just galvanizes them. They just get hardened and they move further and further away and we get more and more associated with this idea of left and right and good and bad and one and zero and this side does not agree with anything that side says. That's crazy. It doesn't make any sense. And if you're out there doing it, it gives people hope.

And it's not just we're saying common sense. You do have common sense. But more importantly, you have courage because courage allows you to speak your mind whether you're right or wrong. Courage allows you to take a chance. And you're seeing the wave of people that are moving in a certain direction. It doesn't necessarily make sense. And you're like, hey, what the fuck is going on?

And everybody's like, finally, someone's saying it on tv because maybe someone said it at a cocktail party maybe someone said it at a barbecue but they're not fucking saying it on hbo until you say it on hbo well thank you i appreciate that i mean it's a lot i always say you know there's levels of courage there's like yeah i mean i will i will take that compliment as long as i can also say, but there's like Marines. Yeah, you're not a Navy SEAL. Absolutely. You're not even a woman about to give birth.

I'm in the D League. In the D League, I have a lot of courage, but I'm not playing in the upper league. What you have is honesty. But thank you. You have honesty and people know that and that's why your show works. And that's also I always feel like what my bond with the audience is. Yes. When I started way back on Politically Incorrect almost 30 years ago, people said, you know, this show will never work because a TV host can never reveal his politics.

I mean, Johnny Carson never did. Leno didn't. David Letterman. They never said, I'm voting for this guy. Whereas, I mean, you obviously know who all the late night hosts are for now. I mean, it's a completely one-sided thing. They have to pander to the liberal audience, which just watches them. It's so reverse of when I started. It's bonkers. When you couldn't be political. And now you couldn't survive,

apparently, in late night television unless you are political, unless the audience knows exactly that you're and I would put Saturday Night Live in this, too. It's I think Elon Musk took them to task. He said it doesn't seem like a show that's about comedy anymore so much as it is about declaring some woke doctrine. Yeah. And, you know, having people, the people who go to those shows and are in, I guess, where they film them and stuff. My audience was too doctrinated for a while. We have a much better audience now because we kind of got rid of the groaners, the people for whom I was always too politically incorrect. And I was like, I've been doing this forever.

The names of the shows, politically incorrect, real time. And you still come to this show and groan when I say something too real? What fucking show did you think you were coming to? Because they do film The Price is Right in the same studio. because they do film The Price is Right in the same studio. Do you think that the way it's going right now with late-night television, where everyone has to be political, is that what the audience wants, or is that what the executives in the studio wants?

Are they one step behind? Like, where is the mandate coming from? Is it the person who's the host who says, you know what I know works in this town. If I want to keep working, I have to be like outwardly left leaning, progressive, political. Look, I think it's coming from both because corporations in America now are. They're leaning in. Or what? They're leaning into woke.

Hardcore. They're petrified of some kind of backlash. I mean, you see with Disney now I mean Disney one of the most gay friendly companies that we've had in a very long time as they should be all companies should be gay friendly

but Disney sort of had gay days at Disney what is it World, Land I don't know I'm not at Disney I think it was the LA one, right? I think it's Land. Disneyland is the original. That's right.

Disney World is in Florida. Right. You'll never find me sitting in a teacup, Joe. I love teacups. I mean, in my category of things that only children used to do that now adults do, I mean, if I had a nickel for every time somebody said, you know, I'm going to Disneyland and I'm like, with your kids? No, we're just going. Okay. But, you know, there is that.

There is corporations, I think, yes, are always going to want to. And look, I'm glad they are progressive thinking. Of course, like with everything on the left these days, they just take it too far. progressive thinking. Of course, like with everything on the left these days, they just take it too far. But I think it's coming from the audience more because the audience who goes to a taping of Saturday Night Live or a show like that, they're youngish and, you know, they believe what they believe. A lot of the things I also believe. But it's sort of an unexamined, like, they don't know too much about politics. They just know that. And again, you mentioned Trump doing this, like he was so awful that it's just very easy to turn off to

the details and go, well, I'm with the Democrats and the left. He was so polarizing that if you supported him, you weren't supporting his policies at all. You were supporting the personality. It was more, right? It's also, I mean, from my point of view, the Republicans, they don't believe in climate change and the emergency of that. Is that a generalization? That's pretty true. Is they all Republicans? Climate change? Well, they certainly don't act like they do. What do they believe if they don't believe in climate change? For years, they put up one bullshit talking point after another that they knew was false. Like they would get a hold of a Newsweek from 1982 that had a cover story that said the Earth is cooling. Oh, look, the Earth is cooling for now.

It's heating. They don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Or they would take one data point on the timeline. Like there was a, you know, because it doesn't go in a straight line climate if you measure it year by year, but we see the trend. So they would take like 1998, I think was a year when it was exceptionally hot and then it went down again. And so look at the line. And you can draw a graph to make it look like it is, if you don't think it's happening and it's an emergency. Now, what

we do about it is a different story. But for years, they just denied it. They went right from denying it to, okay, well, it's happening, but now it's too late. So look, we are all just going to enjoy it. I've said it many times. America and the world in general has decided we are Thelma and Louise. We're holding hands and we're just driving off the Grand is. And they also don't really believe in democracy anymore. So I do think the Republicans at this moment are worse. I think they've always been worse and completely unsavable unless they switch on that. Whereas the Democrats, I think, are savable, even though they're so fucking goofy. And when people say, you know, you never used to make fun of the left as much because they didn't give me the material and now they're so ridiculous on so many things

that as a comedian of course i'm going to go where the material is isn't it fascinating that the warming of the actual planet itself became so political and so polarizing that like you if you're a person like it's for example like if you're a person on the left you basically I think most people on the left believe in a woman's right to choose Most like most people believe in abortion rights, right? Whereas if you think about the environment like that's one of those ones if you tell me you don't believe that the earth is warming I go Like that's one of those ones if you tell me you don't believe that the earth is warming I go I was right wing guy

I wonder if he's like one of them like hardcore and rind Right wing guys like what kind of right wing guys is he immediately though if you don't believe in climate change I assume you're just on the right, but I've talked to a lot of people that are on the left I don't believe in it either really yeah like not that they don't believe in it, but they believe that there's this long, it's a fascinating conversation because I honestly don't have an opinion other than it's dangerous if the earth warms. I don't have an opinion about the science of it. It's not an opinion and it's not something you believe in.

It's not a religion. Of course, it's science. It's a real scientific fact. What I'm saying is we've had two different people come on that analyze the science from two very different viewpoints. They both had incredibly compelling points. No, you can – I mean there are things that the left should hear about the climate that they wouldn't know. George Will writes about it often that are true things. that are true things.

But they don't, at the end of the day, change the basic theme here, which is that the Earth is warming. That probably isn't good. It's coming from man. I mean, it's not just... There are cycles, of course, in weather and climate in the Earth, but this is something different.

Those cycles happen too. And look, maybe somebody will come along and invent some great machine that – Sucks the carbon out. Absolutely. Or some shit like that. I hope they do because if they don't, we're fucked because no one's really going to do anything about it. We're just not equipped to handle problems that happen slowly.

Right. And we're the proverbial frog frog in the boiling pot and and that's and the thing we are hooked on convenience i mean i did a thing on my show one night about little greta from sweden you know the teenager who's always what's her name uh greta thunberg or thurnberg, yeah. Okay, so. How dare you? That girl. Little Greta, you know, with the scowl on her face. And I showed that she had like 11 million followers on Instagram.

And Kylie Jenner, who's about the same age, a little older, but very close, has like 300 million. And one of them is always in a private jet. And one of them takes a sailboat. She takes a sailboat around? Greta. That's pretty gangster. Greta, yeah. Because she didn't want to use...

Right, of course. You were using the wind power. That's pretty gangster. She came to the UN as a teenager in a sailboat. Wow. But what I'm saying is... I like her more now. Kylie has so many more followers.

Obviously, the kids want to be Kylie. They want to be in the private jet. You know who doesn't take private jets? Only people who can't. Anyone who could does. It's almost impossible to resist. Even environmentalists are always caught taking private jets really you know they are they really are so like just don't don't don't fucking lie to

me don't gaslight me right right you know i mean we are it is a real thing i mean the un the their interclimatory panel puts out a thing every, I don't know, year or so. And I just saw it. It was last week in the paper. And it said, like, if we don't, it's like my dog. I'm going to. I mean, this has been going on the entire century. If we don't do this by 2011, it's too.

And it's like, I agree. I think that's true. And yet they keep saying it. And now this one is like, if we don't like switch this up real fast by 2028 or something, the tipping point and it's over. It's like, you know what? I'm sure that is actually going to happen. We are going to hit that tipping point. But you've said it so many times.

I remember James Hansen of've said it so many times i remember james hansen of nasa said it i think it might have been on my first year of my show in 2003 or maybe i just read it that year but he said definitely like in 10 years which would 2013 if we haven't completely reversed how much carbon we use it's like okay and things are bad i mean, California, one reason it is tempting to move is just the fires. Yeah. That's fucking scary. Scary shit. I remember one week in 2020 when the sun was blocked out from the sky because of the smoke from hundreds of miles away for a week.

I was very depressed that week. Yeah, I was there for that. I got evacuated three times from fires. Is that right? Yeah. One time was really scary. We were filming Fear Factor in Tohon Ranch and we were driving. I think it was Tohon Ranch. We were filming on this ranch area up in north, like hour and a half or so away. And we had to leave because of the fires and the fires had gotten so bad that driving home for 50 minutes, the entire right side of the highway was in flames. Like, you have to understand how much fire you're talking about.

Wow. It was insane. There was a guy who got killed trying to run across the street. So a guy tried to run across the highway in the middle of this and got hit by a car, so we saw him laid out, and it's like ashes falling like snow. 50 fucking minutes of just the hills on fire like a goddamn Hobbit movie.

Really like Lord of the Rings, it was wild. That's scary. It was terrifying because you realize at that point, this is so out of control, you gotta let it burn its path because no amount of people are going to stop this. There's not enough water. Still wouldn't make me go to Texas. I love it here.

Let me say one thing before we move on because I don't want to mischaracterize what these different guys said. We had two different guys back to back on the podcast. Pull up their names. One guy, the first guy was the more conservative guy in terms of his thought about it. He didn't think that it wasn't happening. He was just saying that the data points are being exaggerated, and if you follow a long curve, he was saying if you follow a long curve of history, it's been way worse at multiple times, and it goes in this erratic pattern that you can kind of follow. He said humans are 100% having an influence on that. He wasn't

a climate denier. Are we talking about Bjorn Lundberg? No. I'll tell you who he is. Okay. That you can kind of follow he said humans are 100% having an influence on that it was he wasn't a client We saw my Bjorn Lundberg. No, I'll tell you who he is. Okay, but he's a brilliant guy He's a professor at MIT. Well, there is And to your point earlier about talking to each other When I hear something like this, I don't say to myself, I think what too many people say to themselves, I don't want to hear that. I already know the answer to this question about climate. That's my tribe. I'm like, well, you're going to have a hard time convincing me that fan-made climate change isn't happening and it isn't going to be catastrophic.

But I desperately want to hear this. First of all, from my own psyche. catastrophic, but I desperately want to hear this. First of all, from my own psyche. Maybe I'll hear something that will make me not be so shitting in my pants about the environment. He's not told doom and gloom about it.

Inger Dessler and Stephen Koonin? Yeah, Steve Koonin is the guy who was, what does it say his background is? Because he's the guy who wrote the book that I'm referring to right now, which was referred to me by another friend of mine who's one of the most brilliant people I know. And he had read it and he's like, I went into this book prepared to call bullshit at every

turn. I just wanted to know, like, how is this popular that people have this opinion? And he said he went through all the data and he's very progressive. He went through all the data and he was like, you know what? I think you might be onto something. So theoretical physicist, former director of the Center for Urban Science and Progress at New York University. And he's a professor at the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering at NYU's Tandon School of Engineering. He's a fucking brilliant guy.

Sounds like a real asshole. He's a nice guy. I'm kidding. No, but. But my point is, I just don't want to misrepresent him. And the next gentleman was complete opposite. The next gentleman was, we're fucked. Let me just add one thing to the, I do want to know what this guy says.

Because all I ever want is the facts. Just the facts. I just want to know what's true. I believe that. Right. And I believe it of you. But here's the thing. You just told me this guy's name. I'm that. Right. And I believe it of you. But here's the thing. You just told me this guy's name.

I'm interested. I would bet that I can talk to somebody in six degrees of knowing somebody who is familiar with this guy and will say, oh, yeah. And then tell me something that I'm not hearing now. Yep. That is like, oh, yeah. And you didn't hear he also, you know, believes. Witches. I ask people if they believe in ghosts. That was such a good.

When people tell me dumb things, I ask if they believe in ghosts. Well. Whenever someone has a dumb belief, like they have some belief that is like, wait, hold on, do you believe in ghosts? You know what? I'm the most rational guy I know, but I might. I might believe in ghosts. You know why? I might too.

Because there's too many highly intelligent people who I know who I've grilled when they tell me they had some sort of experience. Like, they're not drunk. They're not religious people. Right. You know, I've grilled them. You're sure you, I was not drinking. You're sure you weren't sleeping.

This was not a drink. They, too many people have some sort of experience. I don't know what it is. And I don't give a fuck because I'm never going to know. And they're not bothering me, the ghosts, apparently. I think I know what it is. What is it it's one of two things uh one it it is uh like one of those things in the dark that you think you see

and so there's like a pattern in our head for looking for things in the dark maybe people always look i think you can hallucinate because i know people that have hallucinated when they got scared when they got scared like my wife was telling me a story about her dad scaring her when she was little and she he would just you know snuck up on her played a trick and she literally saw a monster like that's how she saw she saw it like a monster and then it took her like a second to realize it was just her dad but like people see things right they just see yes that that's part of the problem and then the other thing is that people's brains produce psychedelic chemicals. And you don't know why, right?

People's brains produce dimethyltryptamine. They produce all sorts of weird neurotransmitters. And I have to think that they go in and out just like your testosterone does, just like your adrenaline does. There's probably waves of them. And I think if a lot goes through, which this is not like fiction. Right. Of course. It's potent psychedelics. Correct.

So if your brain just lets a little out, and then you're just like, you're tripping balls, and you think it's a fucking ghost. Why do you think we're doing this today? Why are we smoking these closed cigarettes? It's good for you. No, aren't we doing it to just to purposely excite those forces in your brain you're talking about? Yeah, definitely. Right. That's part of it. When you, I mean, Carl Sagan said that about marijuana, that he believed that there was purposely excite those forces in your brain you're talking about? Yeah, definitely.

Right. That's part of it. When you, I mean, Carl Sagan said that about marijuana, that he believed that there was ideas that come, I'm paraphrasing in a shitty way, but ideas that come through marijuana that aren't available. My whole act. What are you talking about? There are ideas. My act, my podcast, everything I write.

You know, there's like so many things in life. Well, not so many, but the key ones that I just really can't do without marijuana. It definitely makes it better. It really does. You can abuse it, but you can abuse every fucking thing in life. Absolutely. Including food, which you need to stay alive. Right.

That's the main one people abuse. Yeah. I mean, if you can abuse food, you can't make an argument for I shouldn't use something because people can abuse it. Because you can abuse everything. Of course. And by the way, personally, I have never abused a pot. That's awesome. Never been an everyday smoker. That's good.

I don't think this – you couldn't find four weeks in my whole life where I smoked seven days in a row. People think I'm a much bigger pothead than i am well past the lighter you know terence mckenna talked about that and he said that he feels like the way to do marijuana is to take a long stretch off and do as much as you can stand he was like there's what marijuana really can provide. He goes in terms of like a psychedelic experience is underestimated by people because they become casual users and they build up a certain tolerance and they get accustomed to getting a little high. I like to get a little high. I like like two hits, three hits. I'm good. What he was saying is like, if you really want to know the essence of what marijuana is capable of, take a month off and then get obliterated, just get obliterated.

Do as much as you can stand. No, no, no. Go in the hot box. I'm sure he would recommend Silent Darkness. He treated it in, he was a habitual daily user just because he loved it and he would joke around about it, but he was saying that he treated it like, when used correctly, like a potent psychedelic.

We just don't think, we're essentially microdosing. It was kind of like that, I remember when I first did it, when used correctly, like a potent psychedelic. We're essentially microdosing. It was kind of like that, I remember when I first did it, when I was 19 years old. And the first time, you're just like out of your mind. I remember that whole first year, I would be home from college, and my friend who turned me on to it, he was at a different college, and we'd be home on vacation. And he'd come over and, you know, bye, mom, we're going out. And I'd go out to the driveway. He'd pick me up. I'd get in the passenger seat and we'd be in the driveway for an hour because we smoked one hit and we were just screaming, laughing in the car.

My mother looking at the window like, what are they doing? They're just laughing their heads off in the driveway. That doesn't happen anymore. I think it could. Well, see heads off in the driveway. That doesn't happen anymore. I think it could. Well, see, here's the thing. As much as I'm patting myself on the back because I don't smoke every day, the other thing that I've always wanted to do is exactly what you're saying. Take a month off. And I've never been able to accomplish that.

Really? There was never four whole weeks. No. Because I'd have to, like like limit so much of my life. I couldn't like write or fuck or do stand-up. I mean, I just have to be – like I don't smoke when I – I do a fast like a few times a year for five days. Oh, really? Yes.

Wow. That's a long stretch. I think you have to do about five to get the effect you're looking for. What's the effect you get? Well, it reboots your immune system. I mean, I'm not a scientist, Joe, so I can't exactly tell you the exact stuff. But I've read the book on it. And I think, first of all, just to give your digestive system a rest, I think, does enormous good for you.

I think most of the body's energy is spent digesting food. And especially if you eat shitty food, I don't, but lots of people do. And that's, I think, where our big health problems come from. But even regular food, I only eat two meals a day. But still, most of the energy goes to digesting food. You give your body that break, and it can work on so many other things that it's been putting off because I think that's how the body works. That's certainly classic holistic medicine, that the body heals from the most recent insult. And then if it fixes that, it goes back in time.

And so, yeah, about a couple times a year I will not eat for five days. Minimal. Sometimes there's a fasting mimicking diet that's pretty good that I've done. But I cannot smoke during that week because smoking would make me ravenously hungry and wanting to be social. So it has to be five days and it's like you get through it but you know your weight do you lose um you lose like probably in the week i'd 10 pounds um but you know you'll put i mean the last time i went down from like i was 158 and i think i went down to 148 and then stayed at like 150

which was great because that's my perfect weight and I mean I don't know how you get those I mean this I don't understand at all at your upper 50 and you have those big muscles. I work out. I know. I take testosterone replacement too. That helps.

Testosterone replacement? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Isn't that dangerous? You know what's dangerous? Getting old and dying. That's dangerous. The more you can keep from becoming feeble, the better off you are. That's a fact. It's a fact in terms of your immune system.

It's a fact in terms of your overall vitality and your physical energy. You want to keep a robust body if at all possible. And the key to doing that If you're gonna get to do you know anything you got to Maximize your diet and then you have to do some sort of resistance training like all kinds of stuff is great for you Yoga is great running is great. Everything's great But as you get older resistance training is imperative because your body starts to decay if it's right your is imperative because your body starts to decay.

If it's not, your muscles, your bones are going to get less dense. It's just, and the way to ward that off the best is heavy duty resistance training. How do you deal with, how old are you now? 54. 54. Okay. I remember 54. Wasn't that long ago.

But certainly by 54, I remember, you know, mortality is just on your mind in a way that it wasn't on my mind for one second when I was even 40. You just never think of it. And your body is so much more resilient that you don't have to consider it when you're out drinking or whatever you're doing. You just – I had no worries about – and that's why younger people don't want to be forced to buy health insurance. They should, because that's the only way that system will work and it'll help them later on in life if everyone contributes on that level. But they don't want to because I remember being that age and it's like... You're broke. I'm broke and I don't need this. I don't need't need a doctor. Yeah. You know, have you ever been to a Vegas pool party? Yes.

Okay. It's a lot of muscle men like you standing in a pool at noon. They haven't been to sleep yet. They're baking in the sun on steroids. They were drinking all night, had unprotected sex, snorted Coke through a dirty $20 bill, and they're fine. They're fine. So when I see kids like walking with a mask outside alone, I just want to punch them. Because you know what?

You have the good immune system at that age. Well, I think we've raised the overall level of anxiety of people significantly. Oh, terrible. And for kids, there was a chart they did. Sager had it on his Instagram page. It shows feelings of sadness and depression, the elevated rise from COVID from 2019 up. It's like across the board with kids. There it is.

If you – oh, that's – That's probably – my point is it's probably with all of us. My, that's quite a chart. I don't think it's just with kids, and I don't think it's just with young people. I think it's all of us, even people that did well with the pandemic. Young people. I think it's all of us. Even people that did well with the pandemic.

Well, there is a marked difference in generations about anxiety. The person on my podcast that dropped today is Bella Thorne. I had never talked to her. I certainly was aware of who she was. And a lot of what we're talking about, I mean, it's pretty funny, but, you know, I'm high when I'm doing it, is anxiety. I mean, she has a lot of anxiety, very typical of her generation, in a way that my generation just does not. And a lot of what we were talking about is I'm trying in a kind of fatherly way of saying, you don't need to be this sad about shit and have this much anxiety about stuff.

And of course, if a generation has anxiety to begin with to this degree, when something like a pandemic comes along that is legitimately somewhat anxiety producing, you're going to have the people who feast on anxiety OD on it. And that's why, who's the dude? I love him. David Leonhardt was on Real Time Friday, and he's written great articles about this and made the point that younger people who should be way less concerned are actually way more concerned about COVID. People my age should be more worried and they're less worried than people who are 30.

That's not a healthy place for society to be. The only people that seem to have escaped the fear of the disease itself is young kids don't seem to be scared of it, which is good because they get it and it's no big deal. Well, but the, the young kids that I see walking around with masks on voluntarily, that, that disturbs me. I had a,

I was in Chicago, must've been summer of 21, like less than a year ago. And I remember the driver we had and we were talking and, you know, everywhere we go, I always tell people, you don't have to put the mask on for me. First of all, cloth mask. You know, I had I had vaccinated. Then I got covid. You know, I'm good. You know, I wasn't worried about it before I was vaccinated. I wasn't worried about it before I was vaccinated.

Anyway, so the driver tells us the story about, he said, you know, my four-year-old, if she sees me without a mask, she has a panic attack about it. Oh, Jesus. That is something. Yeah. Yeah, that's so scary. That's so scary. Because she knows nothing else. Yeah.

You know, from two to four, she lived with masks always and in school. I mean, in New York City, I believe they still have masks under five years old. So I think when they're over five to 11, they stop with the mask for some reason. But, I mean, these little kids. Yeah, the elevation and the level of anxiety that generations can experience when they get to be of like voting age. That can be really strange. And it will. And it does infect politics. Yeah, absolutely. For sure. I mean, there is a feeling of David Leonhardt also makes the great point about he says too many Democrats have organized their sense of self around how they feel about COVID. And there is this idea.

It sort of got subsumed into the virtue signaling world. Whereas if I'm a person who believes in more safety than you, then I'm a better person. And it's actually not that simple. Yeah, it's an easy way to catch social credibility to say that. Yes. And to sort of discount all the things that we will find out in the years to come that were detrimental because of the steps we took to curb COVID. Yeah. And some things should have been done, of course. And some things, I'm very glad we have a vaccine.

I personally didn't think I needed it. I would have chosen to let my immune system handle it. But, okay, I'm glad because this is a country that is not in good health. And if you're not in good health, you are very vulnerable to this. Very. Especially obesity. Virus. But you shouldn't penalize people who have chosen a different path in life. You know, I would always defend those athletes who didn't want it. The Aaron Rodgers, the Kyrie Irvings, the Djokovics, The Aaron Rodgers, the Kyrie Irvings, the Djokovics, because what they were saying was, look, I'm a finely tuned athlete with a perfect body. My body is my life.

Of course I keep it in as good a shape as I can. Every year I play, I can make another, what do they make, 50 million a year? Of course I want to play as long as I can. So I'm super careful about everything I put into my body. Everything. Yeah. You have to respect that. Well, with Aaron Rodgers, it's even more important because he's actually allergic to one of the, what is that stuff called? Polyglyph? Yes, I know what you- Whatever that chemical is. He has an allergy to it. It's in shampoo, right? It's in everything. Well, he has an allergy to that stuff. Do we know for sure it's in the vaccine?

According to Aaron. He said it's not in the Johnson & Johnson, but it is in the other one. Yeah. I think that's correct. Let's see again. Can you Google that? See if that's correct. And I don't even know if I trust Google.

That's the problem these days. It's like whatever I learn, I'm like, okay, but I don't trust anyone completely. I almost always feel like I'm getting somebody's narrative. I'm not getting a truth. I'm getting a narrative or something that feeds your narrative. And I just want to know, just tell me, even if you tell me that, um, okay. Roger says he's allergic to an ingredient used in the two mRNA vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna and steered away from Johnson. Johnson vaccine after reports of adverse reactions. What? He did not disclose what ingredients.

Oh, well, I think he told me. Polyethylene glycol. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard of that a lot. I think it's. I think they're saying it is. Now-

I can either confirm or deny. Is it for sure in the vaccine? I would not bet $2 on yes or no there. I have no idea. That's a good point. Because- I've done no research. No, I mean, I probably have, but it's like, I don't know.

I would trust that it came from the CDC. If they personally admitted, yes, this is, or the people who make the vaccine. Anybody else, I don't know. But then again, they could be lying. I also don't tell them, don't trust them to tell me the truth about whether they did put it in there. And I don't know what the fucking shit is. there. And I don't know what the fucking shit is. Maybe it's the stuff in Twinkies and maybe it's rocket fuel that you take to look like that at your age. I don't know what the fuck it is, or if it's going to be bad for me. Here's my thing about my overarching theme always about

anything medical is everyone else I feel, or most people, are giving us too much credit for where we are medically. Because we are, of course, further along than we used to be. You know, we're not putting wooden teeth into people. You know, I mean, it wasn't that long ago they were rubbing dirt into wounds. I mean, just some really stupid fucking things that people did who are calling themselves doctors. So obviously, we've come a long way just in the last hundred years. But my point of view is that we are still at the infancy of understanding how the human body works. So don't tell me things like, just do what we say. Don't question it. When have we ever been wrong? A lot. All the time. You've been wrong a lot and you just don't know a lot. You haven't cured cancer. I'm not blaming you for that. I know you're trying, but, and I could name a thousand other things you haven't cured. Parkinson's and

MS and Lyme disease. You just don't know very much. It's not an insult. You just don't. If you can't tell me exactly why people get cancer, and mostly you can't, obviously smokers get lung cancer. Other than that, it's not obvious who gets it or why. I don't know what confluence of things that are put in my, there's so many thousand things that could change it. How much mercury do I have in my system? How much tuna fish did I eat? How often do I hold the phone up to my head? A million things. How many x-rays have I had? What are my genetics?

So just don't tell me, well, we are perfectly certain that this vaccine is safe, or we are perfectly certain that these x-rays are a low dose and they won't. You don't fucking know that. You don't know what all these different things, there's like 50,000 chemicals we have in our body that we didn't have a hundred years ago. You don't know what the interchange of all these elements is doing to me. And me personally, it might be different than you. So just don't have that attitude of just get it in you because we are the people who know. Not just that, but they're making insane amounts of profit from that. We're supposed to pretend that they've been honest about the risks of things in the past. And they've been, you know, like that Vioxx tragedy where they pitched that anti-inflammatory medication and wound up killing at least 50,000 people.

They've taken hundreds of drugs off the market. All the time. They do it every year. Right. Yeah. I mean, some of them are only like 100 were like ordered off. But the rest was like, well, they're going to order it off because it's killing people, so let's withdraw it.

That's in the thousands. They just took Shantix. What's that stuff? That's the stuff that, smoking. Oh, it gets you to stop smoking? Right. So you don't get cancer. What else does it do?

So it turns out it might give you cancer. Oh, Jesus Christ. It gives you cancer? Well, we're not going to say that. We're not going to get sued, Joe. We didn't say that. But I think they took it off the market because they obviously feel it might. Oh, Jesus Christ.

And it was on the market for 15 years. Okay, there's your- Pfizer's voluntarily recalling all lots of Shantix 0.5. Shantix 0.5. Shantix? Shantix. Long-term ingestion of N-nitrosovirinicline may be associated with a theoretical potential increase cancer risk. Theoretical potential increase cancer risk is amazing, but there's no immediate risk

to patients taking this medication. The health benefits of stopping smoking outweigh the theoretical potential cancer risk from the nitrosamine impurity in veroniclein yeah well easy for you to say yeah but the point the point is it was on the market for 15 years and now and i so whenever something like that is in the news, which it is like on a weekly basis, I just want to say to these people, what else don't you know? Just admit you don't know very much. You know, last year they came out with the news that metabolism, which they always thought slowed in age, does not. Okay, so you got that wrong forever. It seems really fundamental. There was an article in the New York Times in 2018. It was called something like, A New Organ in the Human Body? Time to Rewrite the Anatomy Books. It was

talked about this channel of elastin that runs all through the body that they never knew about. So we're rewriting the, you can't even map the shit in there yet. They've discovered two new saliva glands in the last couple of years. They never knew we had the G spot. I don't think we have to go into that. That was new in the eighties. Is that a real thing? What? The G spot. They've narrowed it down to an actual area in the body? It's not just theoretical? Now they believe it's

definitely a real thing. Come on. But now they believe it's actually five areas. Ah, that makes more sense. It's... Just like a button doesn't make a lot of sense. Seems like there's a lot going on. I don't think it was ever a button.

It's way back in there. Believe me, I know it when I hit it. It's like, yeah, I could give you directions. But mapping out the human body is insanely complex. They haven't even done it yet. It's the bottom of the ocean. So don't come at me with the science and the experts. Whose experts? There are other doctors. Yes. And by the way, I don't think it should just be MDs who are able

to weigh in on this because they don't fucking often know more than somebody else, a holistic doctor or just my trainer I just introduced you to. There's more than most doctors I've ever talked to about medicine. Okay. But if we just stick to doctors, let's pretend that only MDs know things about medicine. Even by that standard, there's many dissenting MDs and many more than you know about because they're intimidated to speak out. Because if they do, the repercussions can be extremely deleterious. Yeah. And there was a weird sort of cult-like aspect to it. You were with us or you were against us.

Even if you were a reasonable person that just wanted to talk about different kinds of medications, like monoclonal antibodies in particular. Right. That became a thing. Like, no, that's not available. But it is available. Right. Of course. What are you saying it's not available? If it's not available, why not get it more available?

Because it works really well. Didn't they give it to Trump when he did? Yes, that's all I'm saying. It became very cult-like in that way. Like you could not question the narrative and other things could not be discussed. You weren't supposed to talk about vitamin D. If you did, like fuck you, the vaccine.

I did the first week of the, I remember I had lady on the, right before we shut down in 2020. And I said, sugar, stop eating sugar. Yeah. You know, sleep, stress, the three S's, you know, and vitamin D. And I don't want to be this conspiracy person. I'm not. I think it's important in any discussion, and I think you got in trouble for not doing this once, just to say the vaccine, even though they were wrong about how it stops you from getting it or giving it, it at least does work as far as stop you from dying. A large number of lives. So whenever, so like just to indemnify ourselves, A large number of lives.

So whenever, so like just to indemnify ourselves, let's say, at least I'm going to say, that that is still the big headline. There is a vaccine. Most people in this country, not in good metabolic shape to begin with, get the vaccine because it will stop you from dying. That's not everybody. And that should be another discussion that's valid, too. Exactly. And that's where things are weird. Right. And that should be another discussion that's valid, too.

Exactly. And that's where things are weird. Right. Where things are weird is that you're not allowed to have that discussion, whether or not it should be for, you know, X age or, you know, someone who's this healthy. And that, again, not to be a conspiracy theorist, but it is just suspicious to me that we're not allowed to talk about the things that wouldn't be that profitable, like vitamin D. That's a coincidence, Bill Maher. That's just a coincidence. Or, you know, the thing I'm always talking about, people on the Internet are like, Bill, why do you hate fat? I don't hate fat people.

I'm talking about a medical issue here that was the biggest medical issue before COVID, and I'm sorry, still is. medical issue before COVID, and I'm sorry, still is. And I'm talking about something that, according to the statistics, I've been trying to get people to understand. And again, this is from the CDC. It's like 78% of people who died or were hospitalized were obese. Okay. If any other, if I just said to you, there is a factor, I'm not going to say which one, but it is involved in 78% of this. If you're the media and you're not broadcasting that factor of 78% all the time, if you're the government and you're not trying to get people to be aware of that factor, to get people to be aware of that factor, that's suspicious and criminal. It's also there's, I think there's that, but it's also this thing where people don't want people to feel bad.

That's it. And it's become. That's all of it. Yeah. It's sensitivity. That's a giant chunk of it. The elevation of sensitivity over truth was my original definition of politically incorrect. And it is still a big problem in this country.

Sensitivity is important. It's not the only thing. It's not the only thing because there's certain times where people are so indulgent. And if you don't say something to them, they never really understand how you feel. They can trick themselves. If you don't come along and go, hey, hey man You're smoking four packs of cigarettes a day You fucking idiot You can do that to a friend

Because it doesn't affect their appearance And it wouldn't be called smoke shaming Right exactly that's my point You're not doing much of a different thing If you're just eating Twinkies all day It's not much different It's pretty close If you're getting morbidly obese your your body is firing all wrong

It's right bang bang. Everything's all fucked. It doesn't know why it's so fat It doesn't know why it's getting processed sugar all day, right? All these autoimmune issues start popping up It could be a fucking mess to be really really fat just like it's a mess to smoke three or four packs of cigarettes a day But you're a smart guy If you walk up to your friend and a good guy and you say hey fuckface stop smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. But you're a smart guy if you walk up to your friend and a good guy and you say, hey, fuckface, stop smoking four packs of cigarettes a day. You're going to die, man.

Stop it. Like, then you're a good friend stepping in. But if you're like, hey, Bob, you're 500 pounds and you're five feet tall. This is fucking crazy. Like, you can't do this. No, but, I mean, that is, again, one area where we have just gone through the looking glass. Yeah. Because, you know, body positivity now is a term.

So crazy. It is not positivity. That's positively Orwellian to term it that way. I mean, look, again, we should never belittle people for whatever issues they have. Of course. Of course. belittle people for whatever issues they have, of course. But to normalize this the way we have in society, in culture now, that it's just seen as an alternative lifestyle to be morbidly obese. That's just a way to be. And how dare you even suggest that there's anything negative to that.

But there is something negative to that. Now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That's what you like. Fantastic. But science is not in the eye of the beholder. And science is unforgiving. So when I see like every TV show now, it's like a minority group. Every TV show has to have a very large person. No, I'm serious. Because it's like otherwise you are somehow being – They're not representation. Right. Somehow you are prejudiced against –

Big people. If you don't – I find that bizarre. And, of course, it just gives a message to America, oh, this is normal. This is okay. This is fine. This is just another way to be. And I certainly haven't heard anything about it from the government that it's unhealthy because they would never say that. If it didn't affect your health, that would be one thing.

If it was just that you look sloppy. Right. Yeah. If you just got really big and really heavy and it's just the way look of course that's sloppy right that's what yeah if you just got really big and really heavy and that's it's just the way you look yeah then you're right right then you're right that's a look anybody yeah there's lots of looks i don't like exactly and that could just be another one that's fine and some people would like it and said but it's that was the case that would be amazing not the case not the case at all the case at all. The case is – and the truth is if the country wasn't so unhealthy to begin with, the virus would not have been so catastrophic.

Right. And it wouldn't have cost us $6 trillion. I mean it would have cost us something. But, I mean, there's a direct link to how unhealthy people were to begin with and to how much it cost us. And literally I think this is an issue that could bankrupt the country. I mean, we were talking about health care before COVID as the number one thing that had to be fixed somehow economically, because it had become like an unsustainable percentage of the economy was going toward health care. I mean, this is why

they did Obamacare. People said very this is why they did Obamacare. People said very often they weren't for Obamacare, but nobody said we can keep going the way we're going. When you have to pay for stuff, like if you have to pay for insurance, and everybody just assumes that everybody has to pay for insurance, and someone comes along and says, maybe we shouldn't have to pay for that.

There's this thing we have where this is always how it's been. This is always how it's been. We had to pay for college. be able to pay for that. There's this thing we have where this is always how it's been. This is always how it's been. We had to pay for college. We had to pay for health care. We had to pay. You should fucking pay. We had to pay.

You pay your fucking student loans. You know what I mean? It's a weird thing that people do where it's like, okay, we pay for the fire department, right? We're not saying if you don't pay for the fire department, then a fire comes. They don't put your house out, right? We all agree to that. It's kind of a socialist idea. Why can't we apply those things that we agree are fucking real important,

like having a fire department? You're telling me that applying those to college or applying those to healthcare are bad? Like, what are we spending our money on? Right. This is where people like you and me probably agree with a lot of things, but you see there's people that go further and further away from that and look at that as like, that's a Republican

idea to think that this is a bad thing. Right. Well- The Republican idea to think that you have to pay your way and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. I mean, that's that weird mentality about it, right? And it would be so easy for the Democrats to reclaim that high ground. Yes.

Just to bite back against that. Just be fucking rational. Just be rational and common sense. Yeah. I mean, I say this all the time because the percentage of graft keeps getting higher and higher. Now, we found out recently that something like, oh, I'm going to get the number wrong.

Maybe you can look it up on your magic light box. But like 20%, I think, of the unemployment checks we passed out during COVID were complete fraud. A mere pittance. The PPP. Yeah. Oh, my God. so many people got arrested for having lamborghinis and shit right i mean jk rowling got money no she didn't yeah for her broadway show what because if she didn't she'd be living in her car joe ah she got money for that? That's hilarious. Everybody got money. Tom Brady got- That seems so crazy. And when you look at some of the percent, the number to build a house for the homeless in LA

has risen to $837,000. A mere pittance, Bill Maher. A mere pittance from these greedy billionaires out there. We need to tax them all. If I'm complaining about that, again, to your point about a Republican idea, people would say, oh, you're complaining about government spending money. And my answer is, OK, but is there any number at which point I am not tipped over into the Republican side that I can't complain about money that is just being stolen. I mean, I totally, as a good liberal, I totally accept the notion that, as someone once said, you cannot transfer money except with a leaky bucket. I get it. It can't be perfect. But is it

not? Is there no number for which I cannot remonstrate against this? 20% is a low. I mean, it's even higher than that. That was only the unemployment checks. The PPP stuff was even higher. That's where it's beautiful and brilliant because they attach it to something that's like, look, we need to help these people. We need to help these people. These people are all losing their jobs and their businesses are shut down.

We need to provide them with money. And then the grift. The grift. Some of it gets – it's like let's promote and whoever is doing it. California tried to build a railroad. They wanted to build a rail line between L.A. and San Francisco. It made sense. It's a big, long state and cars and blah,

blah, good for the environment. And it was when they finally pulled the plug, because it just became too ridiculous, it was at $200 million a mile. Now, France built France, a country not unknown to have unions and workers' rights. Very big over there in Europe, right? Workers' rights, unions. I mean they're always on strike. Always on strike in Europe. And they talk with their hands.

Okay. So France, again, a very unionized country, did it for like one-seventh. That's how bad – One-seventh? Yeah, something like that, which again is something like $15 million a mile or whatever it was. Right. But, I mean, $200 million a mile and it was only to – finally was only to connect like Bakersfield to, I don't know, Pacoima or something, and they couldn't even do that. Were you in Boston when they were doing the Big Dig?

I was never in Boston. I mean, I played Boston, loved playing the town, but I never lived there, but I know of it. I remember 60 Minutes doing a story on it, just the Big Dig. And they did finally finish it. They did. It was so late, and they robbed so much money from it.

Oh, exactly. That was the whole thing about it, so much money from it. Oh, exactly. That was the whole thing about the corruption involved in that. Oh, of course. Yeah. And it was really just a short tunnel from the airport, was it? Logan, one of the few airports in the country that's right next to the city. Yep. Only there and Vegas do you fly in.

Right, right. And you're like five minutes from downtown. It's awesome. And I think it was not where it was connecting. Yeah, they were trying to lighten up some of that traffic. Right. And they completed it, but it was like, I mean, they were doing it when I was there in the 80s.

And then they were still doing it when I came back. What year was the big dig completed? I want to say it was like at least 10 years late. 2004. Oh, yeah. 2004 they completed it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. 2004 they completed. Yeah. So they were doing it when I lived there.

I mean, look, when I hear about build back better, okay, look, certainly the country needs to get rebuilt. I mean, the infrastructure is a mess. Yeah. I mean, the infrastructure is a mess. But I'm thinking always, like, when you give me a number, it's like, it just seems like you pulled it out of your ass. You know, it's going to cost $1.5 billion. We know that for a fact. And it came in right at that round number, huh?

Yeah. To rebuild this or something. And are we going over this with a fine tooth? Are we really seeing that it – what if we only spent 1.2 billion or trillion? I'm undercounting it. What if we only spent 1.2 trillion? What would we be sacrificing? Anything? Because so much of that money is going to consultants and just siphoned off by all the pigs at the trough, all snorting

this shit up with their big fucking snouts. Yeah. And there's very few people that are saying that. Right. But that's exactly what's happening. That to me is not a Republican idea. Right. It's just, I mean, it's just.

Common sense. Yes, common sense. Did you ever see that Republican? There was a guy who had the bill in his hand and he was talking about how crazy it is for these people to say that they've read through this. And he shows it. He's holding it up. It's got like, I don't know, how many hundred pages did it have? It's this giant stack. He's like, do you think they really read this before they signed it? pass on this either because they, first of all, are just as responsible for spending money we don't have and not stopping this kind of graft. And they could give a shit anymore about a balanced budget. At least as they do for the new season of RuPaul's Drag Race. They are all about the conspiracy shit, QAnon stuff. That's what animates that party. Stolen election, eating babies, pedophile teachers.

I mean, that's what they do not have the traditional Republican issues. Russia, they used to be the hard on Russia people. That went out the window. Democracy, I don't think they think democracy is essentially an essential part of America. The way I would characterize the two parties, I'm going to do a thing on this on my show next week, I think. Democrats would say America and democracy are inextricably linked. You cannot think of one without the other.

Republicans now, no, I'll think about that. Really? Absolutely. Democracy, in fact, Mike Lee, I think think about that. Really? Absolutely. Democracy. In fact, Mike Lee, I think, is the one who said it. He was like, democracy is not the most important part of this country. It's, I think, in their view, a lot of these kind of people would be Christianity. Oh, before democracy. Absolutely. And also like keeping our culture the same. And, you know, it's democracy, nice, but kind of a luxury and that's a fundamental

difference where we've never been before so i need to see someone saying that sound like because i haven't to even argue with you or disagree with you i'd have to see someone saying that i've never seen anybody say that i think that's such a dangerous thing get a mike lee quote uh that says uh dangerous thing to say. Very dangerous. To offer up alternatives to democracy. But that's where the party is, and they deserve no hats on the back. But is that both parties? Is that both parties? No.

You don't think so? I'm saying that's the difference right now. Democrats still believe in democracy. When Al Gore got gypped out of the election he was like oh okay we're not a democracy well no that's not it I mean that it's Mike Lee's tweets against democracy explain okay so that's just well that no he wrote there's a different one where he said he said we're not a democracy no I mean is it said democracy is not important is that that what he's saying? That's it. Democracy is not as important as some other things.

Democracy is not as important. Something like that. Democracy is the objective. Is that what he said? Of the U.S. system. Democracy isn't the objective of the U.S. system. He made an inflammatory declaration in a morning tweet. Where I would say it is.

That guy looks like a man who needs marijuana, right? If you guessed, how often does he get high? Almost never. Right. Look at him. Well, he's from Utah. Yeah, they get high in Utah. Yes, they do.

Of course, any place where they're very religious, they're also very freaky. Yeah, well, that's a great club to work at. Salt Lake City? Yeah, Wise Guys, you do that? Oh, I don't think I've ever worked Wise Guys. It's fun to practice. Really? Yeah, it's a great place. It's fun. It's a great club to work at. Salt Lake City? Yeah, Wise Guys, you do that? Oh, I don't think I've ever worked Wise Guys. It's fun to practice. Really? Yeah, it's a great place.

It's fun. It's a fun place to perform. They're great people. Yes, I agree. Mormons are very nice. It's not Mormons. It's people that live with Mormons. Right, and people who live.

And people who are rebel Mormons. And it's a very beautiful country. Oh, it's gorgeous, yeah. It's right there, nestled up in the mountains. Well, you have a place there or something? No, no, I just like to go there. Do you have a vacation home or something? No.

I should probably get one. If I get one, I'm going to get one in the mountains, somewhere very weird. Still in Texas? No, no, no. I'd like to get somewhere north, so if this global warming shit really does pan out in a negative way. Montana looks sweet.

I mean, I remember being in Alaska 10 years ago, and I've never seen a place like that as beautiful because it was so clean. I mean, it was like this time of year, spring, and everywhere the snow melting, and there was just little drippings of water coming down everywhere, And it was like the purest, most pristine. Of course, there was also like moose walking down the street. They're resilient people up there. And it was, yes, it's almost, I mean, I remember I played one, I think it was Fairbanks. Fairbanks and Anchorage.

And Fairbanks, it was almost like a Western town. It was like a western show it was under a tent I remember I walked through mud to get to the stage I loved it it was raining

they didn't care they were standing that was so cool I know I'll do it again but it was very cool for once and then I went to Anchorage

and that was like the land that time forgot it was like everything looked like it had been in the 70s. You know, the hotel, the restaurants. I guess they got a lot of oil money, they refurbished and then they just stopped. But that was kind of cool too.

And you know, everyone has a gun in their glove compartment. Yeah, you could see them. I saw a reindeer on a chain out in the front yard, like a dog. I'm not kidding. Oh my God. That's one thing that's so great about being a comic and traveling, right?

You know, you just see, you're just, you're different places and you just see different things like you wouldn't if you worked in an office. The most resilient people, though, have to be the Alaskans because they're surrounded by monsters. They're in the furthest north place that you could call America. Yeah, punishingly cold. And they have real wildlife, like big wildlife around them all the time.

Yeah, bears. You've seen a moose in real life? Yeah, I saw it walking down the street. It's fucking crazy They're so big it's crazy. They look like a cartoon animal. Yeah, I'm sure they're very sweet. They don't look like no They're dangerous. They're dangerous Really? Yeah, especially the angle is danger. Oh, yeah, the bulls and the cows are both dangerous bullwinkle wasn't he a moose? He was yeah, he was a Mountie, But they're the only deer species that's dangerous.

All the other ones don't attack people. They run away from them, for the most part. You have to really fuck with an elk for it to stab you. Or a deer. There's to be something... You've done something horribly wrong. But if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time with a moose, like a moose with her cubs, and she just decides... Or calves, rather,

to stomp you out. This is a moot point. It's never going to happen. Alaska moose attack. Driver prayed not to be killed during hour-long ordeal as animal trampled his dogs okay so they're just you know my point is they're the one um deer species that will actually go after you aren't we the only one aren't we profiling that one moose no listen there's a lot of them i've i've seen them in real life. They don't run away from you. It's a totally different look. Okay.

When you meet them in the woods, they look at you like this. You sound like these people when they say, you know, they're so fatalistic. Back to our... As he charged me, I emptied my gun into him, and he never stopped. This has been the most horrific past 24 hours of my life. So he emptied his gun into this moose, and the moose still trampled him for an hour I'm still rooting for the moose They're great don't get me wrong. I'm just saying the honest characteristics of this animal is very different than other deer species

You're saying don't have one as a pet. I'm saying you got to mind your p's and q's if you see a fucking moose It's not like a deer. deer okay they'll kick your ass i have a friend of mine who lives up there in in bc and he's a rancher it's really sweet guy very interesting guy he was on his his horse and a cow moose start chasing him he's running for his life on while the horse is the moose is gaining on he was i go what would happen if that moose got you? And he goes, if she had her calves, she might just stomp me to death. Right. Well, but that's mother nature.

Yeah. You know, instinct. And again, this is not an issue that's going to come up in my life. It might. Let me tell you. It might. I don't want you to get cocky.

You seem obsessed with protecting me from death by moose, Joe. And I promise you, if it does happen, my last words will be, fuck, Rogan told me this would happen. And I was cocky that day in Austin, Texas. I should have listened to him. God damn it.

I just think if you find yourself in the woods, you should know this information. Even that's not going to happen. And by the way, I wouldn't find myself in the woods for a zillion dollars because that's where you get Lyme disease. Oh, that's true. And that really is a nightmare. I had a friend on last week, Jim Miller, who battled with it. He didn't even know he had it because apparently 50% of the people test negative even though they have it. And it took him years and years of taking antibiotics just to get it out of his system.

Not to keep beating my horse about they don't know anything, but there's one. They're really clueless. It's a scary one. I mean, it's more prevalent than we know because, again, misdiagnosed. And it's a sneaky little fucker that just, I've known people who've had it, and the suffering is almost indescribable. And it moves around in the body. The symptoms change.

You know, one week you have a burning in your head, and the next week your legs are sore. And they don't really know how to attack it. Of course they're going to throw antibiotics at it like they do everything. I guess sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't. I don't know if you're familiar with the New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. Did he get it? The way he said that. Yes. He got it and wrote a book about it. I think we're going to have him on very shortly to talk about it. And it's very interesting because he's a very conservative columnist, which is fine. I'm friendly with him,

had him on the show a number of times. But his view on medicine, I think, was much more orthodox until he got this. And that's why I wanted to have him on, because I think he's preaching from my choir book now, because he's basically saying saying the stuff that I looked into that was supposedly the quackery stuff, like that actually worked better than the 15 doctors I had to go to. I mean, the whole book is about a multi-year nightmare he had trying to extirpate Lyme disease from his body. And, of course, because the doctors are clueless. Now, again, am I saying this is because doctors are deliberately corrupt? No, I don't think they're making any money on Lyme disease. But they are locked into their rigid way of thinking, which may be part of the reason why they haven't made much progress. And again, part of it is just we don't understand that much about the human body.

Shantix. Yeah. I think as far as treatments of Lyme disease, one of the more critical aspects is to get treatment early. People that I know that have picked it. Of course. That got Lyme disease and took the antibiotics, they kicked it and they were okay. But the guys that i know that didn't

take any medication and let it they didn't know they had it or the doctor didn't know they you know the doctor didn't want to believe them and they waited too long they're the ones who had more problems well i always think of steve jobs who said um you know he got pancreatic cancer, which is the worst kind. And he did a lot of, you know. Juice cleanses and shit. That kind of stuff. Yeah. And I think, I mean, I may be wrong about this,

but I do think I remember him saying toward the end, I wish I hadn't fucked around with it like that. I wish, you know, if you, like, the holistic stuff is great as a preventative, but if you actually get it, sometimes you're going to have to let them, I mean, there's no good choices, but sometimes, you know, you have to go to the, you know, DEFCON 1 and hit it with the nuclear weapon or whatever it is. And I think he regretted that. I mean, that's not.

That fucking sucks. Yeah, I'm not. That's a terrible feeling to have. Yeah. To believe you bought into something that's not legit. Well, and also, again, to the point of we don't know much, usually pancreatic is diabetics, you know, because it's about that part of the body that processes sugar and so forth. Isn't it connected to cigarette smoking as well?

I'm sure it is. Everything bad is. But he was thin, Steve Jobs. And apparently he ate really healthy, right? Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. No, we just don't know.

That's the genetic roll of the dice thing. It's not just genetic. I think genetic is great. Also things like stress. Another big complaint I have with Western medicine is they absolutely don't give any thought to the mind-body connection. And that's a real thing. It's not just, you know, kumbaya bullshit. You know, we can measure it in certain ways.

I mean, the mind and the body do work in conjunction. Stress is definitely a factor. That's something that's coming out of your mind. You know, when people get scared, you know, they say, he went white. Why is that? Because the body, without you even knowing it, moved all the blood to your arms and your legs. So you could run away and fight somebody. That's why your face went white. We don't need blood in our face right now. Is that really what it is? Yeah. Oh, that's hilarious.

So your body allocates blood to the muscles? Yes, the body allocates everything. Yes. Wow. Right. I never thought of it that way. And I'm just saying- Because people see red, though. Don't they see red? They get angry? I think that's just an expression. I don't think they actually are seeing red. But I think red-

Your face gets red, too, though. Yeah. A lot of times when people get mad, their face gets red. Like, if you're thinking you're about to- That's embarrassment, yes. But like- But that's probably because it's embarrassment and the blood wants- Your body's saying, I want the blood where I'm thinking in my head.

Because I'm thinking so poorly that my face is red. Yes, that I'm embarrassed. Ooh, that's an interesting way of looking at it. I'm at the blackboard with an erection. You might be right with that. Yeah. That's interesting. You know.

That's interesting, like that your face is red because you're embarrassed that you're upset. I think there's that, too. I think people are saying, what are you guys smoking today? Good stuff. Good stuff. What are you talking about? Stuff is rolled by the Comanches. What?

Just kidding. Oh. It's a good slogan, though. Yeah, I'm sure they had good weed. Doesn't mean anything, but I'm going to use it. Rolled by the Comanches. Have you ever read anything about the Comanches, the people that used to live here?

It's one of the wildest cultures of all the Native American tribes. They lived here in Texas? Yeah. Oh. Yeah, there's a fucking great book called Empire, what is it called? Empire of the Summer Moon? Empire of the Summer Moon. It's all about Texas and the Comanches in the 1800s.

It's just an incredible group of Native Americans that figured out how to ride horses. They figured out how to raise horses the best. They were the best at horse husbandry, and they had tons of horses. And their empire consisted of horses, and they would just own the plains for hundreds of years. It was an impassable country, because they hadn't figured out anything other than muskets. And with bows and arrows, they were killing everybody. So nobody could settle out here. Didn't every empire use horses?

No. No. Native Americans, until until Europeans returned didn't use horses. But Alexander the Great did. Yeah, but that's, yeah. So the thing, this is what happened. Horses used to be native to America. They used to have natural horses here and they died off somehow. They don't know, but they do know they were reintroduced by Europeans. So Europeans that came over and dealt with people in North America and Mexico and a lot of Native Americans, they had never seen anybody on a horse before until the Europeans arrived. So then the Europeans gave the—there's a guy named Dan Flores who wrote a book about how Native Americans were probably on their way to extirpating the buffalo. Native Americans were probably on their way to extirpating the buffalo.

Even if the Americans didn't come along and do that horrible market hunting shit, the Native Americans with a horse were so fucking effective that they were just wiping out as many buffalo as they wanted. They would have been able to do that too because that was not a normal thing for a person to be on a horse until like whenever it was that the first Europeans arrived with them. That certainly would be news to me. It's a fascinating article. I mean, no, that the Indians were wiping out the buffalo. No, no, no, they weren't.

He was saying they were so effective at it that over time it was possible that they could do that. I'm sure it's possible. But what we've always heard, again, I don't know anything because I know what I've been told and I'm always questioning. Again, I don't know anything because I know what I've been told and I'm always questioning. But what I've always thought I knew about the Indians was that they lived lightly on the land. They didn't kill more than they needed to because they understood that it's in our long-term benefit to keep the buffalo herd alive.

They did for the most part. And then men came along and just shot them for fun from the side of a train. That's definitely true, too. It was like Dick Cheney shooting birds that can't fly. You know, it was that kind of shit. And now, you know, maybe there is some truth to both, but I would be very surprised to learn if the Indians were piggish like that. That's not the point. That was not what I was saying.

No, no, I'm just— No, no, no, you let me finish. Okay. What he was saying was— I don't want to get you in trouble with the Indians. No, no, no. Like, there's more to it. You'll let me finish. Okay. What he was saying was- I don't want to get you in trouble with the Indians. No, no. There's more to it. What he was saying was that these people hadn't had horses until this point in time.

And the reason why there was this amazing population of buffalo, when they first got here and there was millions and millions of buffalo, his theory is that this was because the Europeans gave diseases to the Native Americans during that same time period. So during that same time period, 90% of the Native Americans get wiped out by smallpox and all these crazy diseases. He's saying this is why hundreds of years later you have so many buffalo. Right. And he said if you had Native Americans who were effective hunters on horses, even without

the horrible market hunting that killed them really quickly, he's like, over time, you probably would have killed at least a measurable amount of the buffalo, similar to what we did. But it would just take a lot longer. That was his theory. But it was mostly about how the Native Americans had died off from smallpox and how crazy it was, and that this led to this increase in this massive herd of buffalo. His theory was that that's not normal to have this many.

And I'm definitely fucking this up and paraphrasing it. But it's a really good. What is it like buffalo diplomacy? Buffalo. Dan Flores. Doesn't my T-shirt say buffalo soldier? It does. Bison ecology and bison diplomacy.

That's it. Thank you. See, it's fascinating stuff. So who do you like, Aztecs or Incas? You know, I'd have to meet them. But the Aztecs, at least they built their own shit. Or they had people do it for them. You know, the Aztecs, whatever they were were doing they were making some wild stuff man it's i always ask people that question because you know it's like a

beatles stones oh you know there's no good answer no it's just like it depends no bad answer i should say like the aztecs were very raw whereas the incas you know every note was perfect you know i mean it's just it's just your taste. Some of it was better live and in concert, and some of it was kind of like, yeah, did the Incas use a lot of studio tricks? Yeah, and it sounded fucking great. The Incas did some wild shit.

Yeah, they both did. I mean, Mel Gibson's movie Apocalypto, which is such a great movie. Amazing. That was Aztecs, right? No, that was the Mayans. Oh, my God. Which is such a great movie. Amazing. And that was Aztecs, right? No, that was the Mayans. Oh, Mayans. Yeah. Right. I left them out. Yeah. The Mayans, they also believe, were wiped out by disease because Cabeza de Vaca talked about encountering them. They talked about the historical stories that people would tell about running into these people with these golden helmets. it was all like this this incredible

Civilization that existed and the theory is that when people came back and it was all completely abandoned It was they there was no real theory until they started Concentrating on the viruses and the different bugs that killed the Native Americans. Well, of course, they probably killed the Mayans, too They probably killed people every time they came through. They think they killed everybody in the Amazon. Do you know about that? No. Do you know that Lost City of Z? There's no moose in the Amazon, though, are there?

No, there's jaguars and shit. Did you ever read that book or hear about that movie, The Lost City of Z? It was all about a lost city in the Amazon. Yes, it was a movie that was attempted to be be made forever one of those that was like in turn around forever Isn't that the one not sure about the history of the movie? But the movie itself was about British explorers that make their way through the Amazon because there's supposed to be this lost city of golden Statues and this incredible wealth and sophistication that exists in the Amazon. Well, everybody thought it was nonsense. They all thought it was just crazy myth and bullshit,

but it's all just jungle. You could never have a city there. And then they realized the jungle itself is man-made. A big part of the Amazon jungle itself was from human cultivation of very specific plants. One was like, what is it, the ice cream bean tree and a few other ones? They're like plants that people planted back then, 1,000, 2,000, 10,000 years ago. And they've overwhelmed this area of the world.

It's amazing. And underneath it- In a positive way? Well, this is the point. The only reason why it happened is because European settlers came through and killed everybody. Everybody died from diseases so there's these cities that could have held a fucking million people and they're finding them through lidar so they're flying over this area of the jungle with this light penetrating laser shit and they're seeing these grids and right patterns and city

streets and it's all engulfed in the forest. The jungle just overwhelmed everything. But it was because the Europeans came through and gave everybody fucking smallpox. Right. It's wild. Fucking Europeans. I mean, that's really what, that's the real story of North America

is like deceased people come here and kill off most folks. Also, I mean, Apocalypto, besides being such a great chase movie, one of the greatest chase movies ever, right? It's a great movie. It is a great movie. I mean, Mel Gibson, Apocalypto, besides being such a great chase movie, one of the greatest chase movies ever, right? It's a great movie. It is a great movie. I mean, Mel Gibson, for all his flaws, is an amazing filmmaker.

I mean, he's done it over and over again. He just understands the medium of film. Oh, my God. But I just thought it was interesting because, you know, I'm sure the Indians, you know, certainly did horrible crimes to them. And I'm sure their culture was in many ways superior. But he pointed out in that movie that just because you're, you know, a Native American, it doesn't mean you weren't also like chopping heads off of people for religious ceremonies. I mean, one tribe was brutal to another tribe because

we're humans. Humans are basically the same all over the world. That's a big part of- Of all races. I mean, that is more, what we have in common is being human and humans are still a very primitive species, very brutal, very savage. And that didn't just completely suspend itself with Indian culture a hundred percent that's a big part of the story of the Comanche is how they would torture right weren't they mock they're fucking horrible they would cut while a guy was alive they would cut his arms and legs off and then throw him on a

bonfire so he would wiggle to death while burning alive with arms and his legs just freshly cut off I mean they did wild shit to people. I'd rather be skull fucked by a moose. Oh, yeah, that's that's Leave your fantasy out of this. I am NOT They were also just Fascinating in the simplicity of their culture didn't have a lot of art, you know It was really just about following buffalo herds around. Spartan.

Yeah, very much so. Very much so. Warriors. Just fierce warriors. That's the Spartan. I mean, that's a word in the language. Spartan. It comes from the city in Greece.

They were the rival of Athens at the height of Greek culture in the 5th century B.C. But they were just about war and no art. 05.30 Ray Dubuque Raiding and conquering. 05.30 Peter Robinson Yeah. 05.30 Peter Robinson Well, no, they were just – I don't think they were raiding and conquering. 05.30 Peter Robinson Well, that's the – I'm sorry. That's the Comanche.

05.30 Peter Robinson I think they were – I think they were fucking each other in the ranks if I recall my Greek history. But that was to create a camaraderie in the armed services. I mean, I think they may have used, I mean, you can check me on your Mr. Google box, but I think that they, Spartans, used homosexuality as a camaraderie building tool. I bet a lot of people did back then. It's convenient. I mean, look, we know it happens in prison, right?

It happens in prison. They make that choice. I'm sure a lot of people. Choice is a strong word for what happens in prison, Joe. I don't know. I think some of them must make a choice and some of them it's against their will. Right. I think a lot of it is against.

Yeah, there's a lot. But I mean, if you talk to actual prisoners, it's not as much as you would think it is. Do you remember the HBO series Oz? Yes. Did you watch that? I watched it. Fucking terrifying. And I could not stop watching it.

Yeah, fuck that. J.K. Simmons. That was the first time I ever saw him. He was on that show. He was a Simmons. That was the first time I ever saw him. He was on that show. He was a regular. He was the Nazi. Not the Nazi. A Nazi.

Like the lead Nazi. And what was so chilling was in the first episode, there's one guy in prison who, of course, we all, HBO subscribers, are watching and relating to because he's the regular guy. He's not a hardened criminal. He had a drunk driving thing and he killed a little girl and now he's in prison right and he's in like super you know this is a bad prison and the jk simmons comes up to him the first day and he's like i know it can be rough in here blah blah blah and he totally has some snow thinking he's a nice guy you come on i'll tell the guard i know him i'll bribe him you can be rough in here, blah, blah, blah. And he totally has him snowed thinking he's a nice guy. You come on. I'll tell the guard.

I know him. I'll bribe him. You can be my cellmate. Cut to he's tattooing a swastika into his ass. And that's when I said to myself, I don't want to go to prison. Until then it seemed – If you get that swastika lasered off your ass, so what do you do? Do you get

it lasered off, or do you just not tell anybody? Well, it's on your ass. I get it. I would just never... Who's going to see your ass? Get married, you have to tell one person, and even she probably doesn't see your ass a lot. Even if you got it lasered

off, what if it left like the faintest of scars? Yeah. Why do you have a scar and a swastika on your ass, Bill? I would... Well, I'd say there's a story here. No, I would think what you would do is not get it lasered off. You would add to it to make it,

it's very easy to make a swastika into a square with lines in it or, you know, a tic-tac-toe board. Right. Yeah, or maybe a dream catcher.

Right. You know, but put it, incorporate it into the middle of a larger painting so now you don't look like you're a Nazi,

you look like you're gay with a flowery arrangement on your ass. That's what I would do. That's probably the best way. Look, I don't want kids out there to take my advice. I'm not dispensing medical wisdom, kids. I would say laser it off first and then see what's up. See if you've got a scar.

If you don't have a scar, just accept the lasering off. I don't know if lasering – I think the tattooing itself leaves some kind of scar. Right, they're digging in your ass. Now, look at all your tattoos. Yeah, they're scars. I mean, the scars are ink in them. What do you mean? It's really what it is.

I mean, you could actually see it. Why would you do that to yourself? I like them. Of course you like it. I like them. But I mean, is it worth it? What is the reward to risk ratio there? What's the risk?

The risk that you're injecting ink into your skin? That, to me, just on the surface of it doesn't sound like it. It's not really injecting into your skin. It's leaving holes from the needle, and then the ink fills those holes. It's permanently embedded in your skin. It's art. That still sounds so – It looks beautiful, sounds so I know I know the art part It's still you want to get a sleeve. You know you do that's a mo to Musashi

He's who wrote the book of five rings. It's a famous Japanese samurai Do you know he is he wrote an amazing book on strategy and he was he was like an incredibly balanced guy in that He believed in poetry and calligraphy and creating art. But he was also the greatest samurai that ever lived. And the thing that he said was that you had to be all of those things. You had to be in balance, in full harmony. And by doing that, you had to be in touch with your artistic side, your creative side. And he killed 60 men in one-on-one battle swords.

I can dig all that, but why does he need to be on your arm? That's my question. Because I read a book when I was like 16. I know. And it was by an ancient samurai and I thought it was cool. You're like doing my tattoo bit for me. I am. You can't just remember that?

No, this is why. You asked a question. We're on a podcast. I know. I'm just trying to. I mean, to me, this is more dangerous than the mousse. This is not. It's like, I know, but like, it's not natural.

And also, it is ink under the skin. I mean, you can't tell me. You know what else isn't natural? Cell phones. They're not naturally. And that's why I never hold. This is art. You know how fucking millions of people have skin art?

I understand. That doesn't mean the millions of people do lots of stupid things. I mean, we were just talking about how many people are obese. But you're also talking about there's a certain amount of risk in life. Right. The risk of getting a problem from a tattoo. The only risk is bad art. This is one I can avoid.

It's like I was going to say before, people are so fatalistic. It's something I've heard so many times in my life when I try to talk to people about health and this, that. And they go, yeah, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. I know. And I always think this is something I could 100% avoid. I feel I can just absolutely guarantee myself that I will not get hit by a bus or eaten by a moose or get a tattoo. I just play the odds. I do the things. I mean, this is not how Jesus made me.

With tattoos. I feel like you need a whole Japanese bodysuit. You should go the whole other direction. Get one of them David Lee Roth deals. What if? David Lee Roth has like, he's got like a three-quarter sleeve suit, like a Japanese. David Lee Roth? Yeah, yeah.

David Lee Roth got him a tap-tap style in Japan where they do it like the old school way. He got a lot of his tattoos done, like traditional, super painful way. You know, the one that blew my mind, and I love Ben, Ben Affleck, but he got that giant – He's got a phoenix on his back, right? A phoenix. I love such a funny comment that his ex-wife said when they asked her about it because he had said something like, this is a symbol of renewal, the phoenix rising from the ashes. And Jennifer Garner said, I think in this analogy, I'm the ashes. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Oh, yeah. There it is. Yeah, now, I mean, that's a real... What's the thing below it? That's a commitment. What is that red stuff? What is all that stuff? That's what's confusing. Red stuff.

That stuff. I mean, it's part of the art. What is that? Is that the tail? Oh, I see. I see what's going on. So that's the crazy long... Oh, I see.

It hooks around. It's a head, and there's the wings, and And it's got a big long body and two dinosaur arms. Interesting. You know. Well, I'm a big fan of phoenixes. But I can't say that's my favorite one. Well. I've seen some dope images of phoenixes.

I'm a big fan of Ben. There's David Lee Ross. See? He's got this whole. Oh, wow. That's horrible. It's a vest. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's got a tattoo vest. That's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life. That is that is. Oh, is that what he looks like now? That's what he looks like. Oh, he doesn't look healthy. Well, he's an older fella. I know, but he's had a hard life. Looks like he should eat more. He should eat more. You think so? Yes, he looks too gaunt. Maybe that's like his operable weight. See all that shit that he's got on, that's all tap style. He had all that done in a very traditional way. I don't know. That's like an old school. I don't know what this adds to life.

I really don't. Makes you look hot. I don't. I know a lot of people think that way, I guess. I don't know. People like it or they don't like it. It's like, for me, there's no permanence. Yeah, is it permanently on my body until i die yeah but i'm dying we're all dying why do you care if you look hot you're married it's not that looking i'm talking about him oh

david lee roth looks hot but why did you get the tattoos you must think i just like art man i like skin art and this guy aaron della vadova is a good friend of mine, runs Guru Tattoo in San Diego. Boy. He's awesome. He did another friend of mine, Mark Beecher. He must be. A plug on your show like that

must be worth millions of dollars. You already can't get in on him. He's already got like a- 20 million people will hear that. Gigantic waiting list. He's really good. But the point is that I was just always fascinated

with tattoo art. I like it. I like just always fascinated with tattoo art. I like it. I like the way it looks on people. I like getting it. Good. It's like it's, you know, you have permanent art on you. You have like an interesting.

And getting back to our original starting point. Exactly. Like I'm not offended if someone doesn't like tattoos. I'm not offended at almost anything. And I'm not offended if you make fun of it because it's funny. It's funny. I'm not offended if someone doesn't like tattoos. I'm not offended at almost anything. And I'm not offended if you make fun of it because it's funny. It's funny. I'm not offended. And it's the spice of life. How boring it would be to talk to ourselves.

Exactly. We should all be able to have these kind of conversations where we're not taking it personally if someone disagrees or something. It's so silly. Exactly. Dick. It's the social media thing, man. I think that accentuated it heavily. It does.

Of course. Social media made everything worse and brings out the worst in people. I did a whole editorial one night about, oh, I can't remember. We had a whole list of all the ways it makes you more of a dick. It makes you passive aggressive, for one. It can, yeah. It can. It definitely does. It does for most yeah can it definitely does it does for

most people i mean it's avoidable is what i'm saying it is but people don't i mean they don't they ghost you know it's very easy just to not answer to ghost people as opposed to just saying oh you know uh i met someone new uh we had a great time whatever whatever it is, you know, they just, or, um, what else does it, oh, it makes you a bullying. There's a lot of that. It's easy to make, be more of a bully. Um, certainly makes you stupider because all the time people used to have, like to read a book at the end of the day that went up in smoke because they're just scrolling through

their phone and playing stupid games and looking at pictures and Instagram. I mean, it's just the ultimate time suck. The way it sucks time, all the time you would have to actually learn something. It just, I feel like that was the sea change in this century was when a whole generation was raised on the phone and social media. And I don't know if we're going to be able to reverse that or how we can ever really measure the damage it did. Well, it stopped all social interaction in person that would ordinarily be something that, like, if you're having a conversation with a person it's very rare that you're going to say something really rude to them in person right but

either through text messaging right through direct messages or social media people are a lot they're they're so shitty with each other and it's because you don't feel the repercussions if i if i said something insulting to you and then i saw the look in your face like you right you really hurt your feelings correct it makes me feel bad. Right. It's natural. Right. That's where we are social beings.

And that social aspect of social media is completely eliminated because you're not experiencing the person in front of you. You're just saying something. Oh, and also another one, it makes you fake. Yeah. Fake. You can fake everything. And people faking their lives. Yeah.

People finding it more important to look like they're having a good life and a good time than actually be having one. Yeah. That's a fucked up psychological state. It's weird. To be in. And I've never dated from social media. I never would. never dated from social media. I never would. I mean, the capacity people have to be someone who they're not, even with the pictures.

Oh, sure. You couldn't trust even the picture, let alone what they're saying about themselves. I mean, Tinder, I don't think was something that made people's lives. I'm sure there are Tinder marriages, but basically it's just a hookup thing, is it not? I mean, OK. Well, that can't be good for long-term human relations. It's too easy. Too easy. People could just get on an app and say they want to fuck and someone wants to meet them.

And they can go meet these people. I don't think this is really what most women ever wanted or still want. I don't think it's in their DNA to not be Tinder-like. They want Tinder, not Tinder. And I read an article about it. I'm not going to say I'm an expert. I've never been on Tinder. I wouldn't know what it looked like on an app if I saw it.

But I read this article. I think it was in a Vanity Fair or something. And it described this girl who, you know, does it. The guy's like, hey, what's up? And they meet. They fuck. She said she's getting dressed. And she turns around and he's sitting on the bed on Tinder.

So before he got his clothes back on, he was back on the site, I guess. That's crazy. Well, it's sad. It's sad. Well, it's like a game too, right? And I hope that girl never did it again on Tinder. And I bet you she didn't because, I mean, you know, if you give men the opportunity to be that disposable, they probably will, a lot of them.

You know, I mean, men are, especially young men, are feral creatures. They're a moose in the street. But do you think that those should be, obviously they should be legal, right? You should be able to meet people online. So how do you avoid it becoming something where people – Oh, I'm not saying not illegal. Maybe you only let a guy go on like one date a week. Like you have a limit.

You know, like give you a limit of gigabytes you can upload. You got a limit of one date a week from it. No, this is not something that can be solved with government regulations. And we're not saying that. But it becomes, I think, if you're using any social media where you're doing something and something is happening back, you say something, someone responds. You argue on Twitter, someone argues back. You're playing a game. It's not just as simple as you're having a conversation about something. You're also trying to win this weird social media game. And I think that can apply to dating.

I think it applied to gambling. I think there's a lot of people that are like heavy duty gambling online now because it's exciting. Right. But another bad thing that social media type stuff and the phone has done is atrophied people's social skills. Right. type stuff and the phone has done is atrophied people's social skills.

I talked to some girl some, I don't know where it was, a long time ago, maybe five, six years ago. I remember she was saying to me, I said, have you ever been on Tinder? She said, you know, I tried it a couple of times, but it's always like I get on and, oh, OK, there's a guy. He looks kind of cute. He doesn't seem like a psycho and then apparently if you match with each other then you can start messaging right so the guy would just she'd say hi how you doing and what's up

uh I'm good uh how are you doing tonight? What are you? What's up? You know, like they could not even make a conversation over texting. It was just like, want to hook up? You know, and women need a little courting and deserve it, you know, and it's fun. That's part of the fun. Do you think people will change because of this? I think they have changed? Do you think I'm telling you, I don't think men know how to do it anymore.

And also people that younger generation, that Gen Z generation finds it almost aggressive, too aggressive to be approached in person. You have to do it over social media. you have to do it over social media. They feel safer that way. Where if some guy comes up to you right across the room, hi, I'm Brad Handsome and I saw you from across the room. Like that's a little too like, ooh, you should give me a trigger warning. You're actually going to approach me in person.

Be a normal person and text me first so I know it's coming. You know, what a generation of, you know, frail people. That's not good for the country or them. Yeah, and trying to be so sensitive, we've created people that need that sensitivity. And I think there's a balancing act that's being missed on people that hate people's descriptions of reality that are uncomfortable to them like that's important it's important to know you know like this this idea that the truth is shameful you're shaming people with the truth like stop it not with me joe no not with you not with me and not with you no but it's uh it's impossible to find on anything that's corporate sponsored.

It's so hard. Like when you watch any kind of television show where they're giving opinions and they're giving it in this environment where there's a giant group of people behind the scenes and executives and producers, it's very hard to just talk shit. Like look what happened to Whoopi. All she did was have an opinion on the holocaust where white people killing white people and maybe she phrased it in a way that wasn't the best or maybe if you gave her a chance to illuminate it better upon further consideration she would add another but you're thinking in real time you think you're thinking and so that one thing that she said where you could say oh i could see where other people could see it wrong or that i or what i was saying was wrong or in insensitive or whatever it

was but people still you like you have to take off work you have to stop working but her whole her whole working is talking shit right i mean those girls are sitting around they're talking about stuff that's their work i defended her me too. Even though I thought her statement was very wrong and is very wrong. Yeah, it's incorrect. And she had just attacked me the week before about COVID. So I had every reason to get back at her, but I didn't. Good for you. Because, well, the principle is most important.

Yes, but good for you still. We need more of that. What I said about it was you can't expect to have treated black people the way white people have treated them in this country for all these centuries and have them have the same opinion on everything. It's a good point. It's a very different opinion. I don't agree with it. I don't even think it's factually accurate. I know it's not. But she has the right to express it and she shouldn't have to be punished for it. I don't even think it's factually accurate. I know it's not. But she has the right

to express it and she shouldn't have to be punished for it. And I totally understand why she might feel that way. Because if I had had that background, I might feel that way. And you have to allow that in society. That should be something that the woke are championing. You would think they would. You'd think they would understand that since they're always making everything about race. And a lot of America is about race. And certainly you're just going to come up with a very different point of view. And there should be a black person of her age, especially in this country. And so, you know, you're right to make someone sit home.'s just it's just gross also there's fucking gross there should be that opportunity to confront that argument or that that what maybe she would have adjusted it in real time if someone confronted her on it would who had more information someone she respected or just say i'm not there yeah just say i'm not there with you on that i don't like tattoos right

so what move on next but you're asking someone to have a conversation in real time like you're with you on that. I don't like tattoos. So what? Move on. Next. But you're asking someone to have a conversation in real time. You're asking them to have opinions on things that maybe they didn't even think they were going to discuss. Maybe she didn't even have, maybe she didn't know that this is what they were going to talk about. I mean, I don't know how they're doing it, but if they're doing

it like a real conversation, I would assume a lot of it is just free flow. Yes, of course it is. Of course, right? You've seen the view. So you've got to let them do it. That's what they're doing. What if I have to pee? You go pee.

Right now? Yeah, we'll pause. Okay. We'll be right back. Bill Maher has to pee. Bill Maher, I was way too high about 20 minutes ago, so disregard everything I said. I'm back now.

Oof. Don't worry, Joe. I forgot how strong that shit is. I was in the middle of some nonsensical explanation of how I felt about The View. I was like, where am I going with this? Actually, you were right on about that. Yeah.

No, I definitely was in that way. It's just I think that's one of the cool things about you being able to do your show. It's clear that you can do your show and you can speak your mind about things in a way that is very uncommon in late night talk shows. Oh. It's very uncommon. Well, I mean, first of all, like we were saying before about the difference between when I started when you couldn't be political or they didn't want you to. And I was like, let's give it a shot. Let's see if even if people disagree with me, they still might watch it

versus now where you better toe the line. Yeah. And so the politics comes first and the comedy comes second, which is really not the way it should be. And, you know, when you see, like, if there's somebody who announces they're gay on TV, which is great. I'm so glad that people can do that. I applaud with you. But like, and then they're like, well, that was very brave. It's brave when people boo at you. When you announce something and everyone erupts in applause. That's how brave, right? I mean, I'm glad it can happen in America. I'm glad there's this level of acceptance. But, I mean, the audience acts like it's like, great, okay, you're gay.

It's fantastic. I'm happy for you. But they act like it's some sort of like achievement, you know. And I guess it's some kind of it can be an achievement to come out. But again, to do something in front of an audience that is adoring you for it, good. I'm glad it's happening, but it's just like the audience feels like I'm such a good person because I'm applauding a person who announced they're gay. That makes me a good person. And there's that feeling in, I feel like in that kind of audience that they're

playing to that makes it hard to do comedy because that's a very politically correct mindset yeah it really is it's it's very difficult to have that kind of a mindset and mock things because everything you're mocking becomes a victim so it's a real real problem with comedy that's because when you're mocking things you're an ableist if you mock a stupid person. You're an ableist because you're okay and this person is fucked up. Right. But that is stupid. That's – yeah.

Itself is stupid. The problem is the enemy of comedy, that kind of thinking. Only a stupid person would think that wasn't stupid. But it's always very weird when people want to control the way people think and speak, and that's a thing that we've always been very nervous about throughout history. You know, in history,

whenever dissent against the king was... You could get killed, right? And everybody was very careful about what they said, right? Because if you said the wrong thing, they'd cut your fucking head off. And that's still the case in some parts of the world. Yes. Not just the king. That's where it always goes. That's where it always goes. It always goes to you. Shut the fuck up or I'll kill you. It always goes there. no person, no problem, which Saddam Hussein thought was great and adopted it in his country. Like if there's a problem with this person and he disappears, Putin loves to push people out windows and poison them. No person, no problem. I mean, it is the easiest way to solve a problem.

It's not the right way. I don't care who knows it. I don't think that's the right way to do it. But yes, I mean, stopping people from talking. Now, of course, in this country now, we have lots of ways to stop people from talking short of killing them and pushing them out of windows and stuff. But, I mean, a lot of people would say I would be one of them that, you know, cancel culture and intimidating people and stamping out thought that isn't, you know, our friend Elon Musk getting into Twitter, I think is about that. It's about somebody saying, you know, it wasn't cool that they didn't allow the lab leak theory to be talked about for months. You couldn't even mention it. to be talked about for months. You couldn't even mention it. And that is certainly something that was open to question. I mean, it was like, to me, the very kind of issue that if Twitter was really doing the job it should, would be a healthy forum for people to go back and forth and say,

well, here's why I think COVID probably came from bats, because A, B, and C. And then, well, but you know, there was this lab in Wuhan that was studying coronaviruses and somebody could have walked out with it on their shoe. Can't we even look into that? For Twitter to take that off. That to me was a huge red flag. It's crazy. It was crazy because it wasn't resolved. It just wasn't resolved. It wasn't resolved amongst virologists. It wasn't resolved amongst. There was there was no way they could know.

Even the Biden administration admits that. Yeah, it's absolutely a possibility. I know Redfield, the former head of the CDC, firmly believes it was in a lab. But again, that becomes the conservative view. For what fucking reason? Why? I can't even follow the logic of why we pick. OK, if you think it came from the wet markets, you're a Democrat. And if you think it came out of the lab, you're a Republican. It's like, what the fuck does it have to do with Republican or Democrat? It's the same as everything.

It's just fucking pure tribalism. The Democrats that do think it came out of a lab tell you like this. They tell you like this. Really? It came out of a lab. Really? Yeah, they're careful. They cover the mic on their phones.

It's that toxic? Oh, 100%. Yeah. See, my- Not as much now. I think it's one of those things that's been accepted because there's been New York Times articles on it. There's been a lot of people. Yeah.

Cover of Newsweek. Remember? Well, I think this probably comes from the fact that somebody thought that it was racist to think that it came from the lab. The lab that the white people funded? The lab. This high-tech lab. It seems it would be much more racist to think it came out of eating that primitive, fucking crazy food that you're eating in the wet market.

You're eating the chicken of the cave, as they called it in Anchorman 2. Bats. So, you know, it's just silly. It's just silly. It's a scientific issue. It should have no political dimension at all. Yeah, I mean, if it was the other way, like if it purely absolutely came, if all the evidence was pointing that it came from an animal. And then someone was just coming up with this idea that it came from a lab.

You'd go, what the fuck are you talking about? You'd want to go look at that. Like, what are you talking about? Tell me what you're saying. Show me this nonsense. But because it's the other way, it's like, what are you talking about? It came from a lab? No, it's everyone saying it came from a lab now.

A lot of people are saying it came from a lab. Maybe it came from a lab no it's everyone's saying it came from a lab now a lot of people are saying it came from a lab maybe it came from a lab i'm not saying they're right but i'm saying that if you don't if you don't talk about it something crazy is going on because either you want to look at things for what they really are or you have this ideological like box that your ideas have to live in and if you say it came from a lab, you're a Trump supporter. You know, you hate democracy. You hate gays. Like, you can, like, stuff it in a box like that. It gets weird with certain subjects.

Yeah, I mean, this one got somehow balled up with anti-Asian racism. Now, Trump, of course, always never finds any issue that he can't make worse. I mean, he saw an opportunity here, as he usually does, to cater, I think, and pander to his base, some of whom definitely are racist and some of whom definitely like it when he does things like that. But I don't have any objection to calling it the Wuhan virus because every virus has been named after the place it came from. I mean, you can't almost not name a virus that is not named after where it came from. Ebola and Nile River and, you know. Spanish flu. Spanish flu.

MERS is Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. I mean, it's not everything is about racism. I mean, that's, again, one of those common sense things that it's not a Republican point of view. It's just that's the world. It's not everything is racial. It's a serious issue, of course, still in America. It's America's the world. It's not everything is racial. Yeah. It's a serious issue, of course, still in America. It's America's biggest sin ever in our history. But it's not everything.

You know what I think is happening? I think everything is getting better, but it gets better like a wave. It gets really fucked up and then it centers out in a better, more reasonable place. really fucked up and then it centers out in a better, more reasonable place. And people get really crazy about sexual determination, your gender, sexual orientation, gay or straight. People get really crazy about it. And then I think it's eventually going to settle down and just be everybody just accepts everything.

Just be who you are. Nobody gives a fuck anymore. All of the discrimination about anything other than who you actually are is ridiculous. You think that's going to happen? It's getting better than it used to be, right? It's like humanity keeps getting more and more accepting. I know. For the most part, there's resistance to it.

But for the most part, people are way more accepting about alternative lifestyles today. Oh, accepting. Like gay people get married. The way we look at it's differently. It's different than people who lived in the 50s. Yes. And it keeps getting better, right? And that's great. But I think all of this, like whether it's racism or homophobia or any real fear of people getting latched into a toxic mindset, the reason why they have it is because they're recognizing that everything does kind of do this. It swings back and forth and it's getting better, but it doesn't get better in a clean like delineation.

It's not like all of a sudden everybody's good. It's like they're bad and they're good and they're better. And over a hundred years, we figure shit out. That seems to be the pattern of humans. We overreact, especially in America. The pendulum always swing, never lands in the middle. It's also hard to tell who's right. Are they right? Are they right? Who's right? Some people are very compelling and they're wrong. They have compelling arguments, but they're wrong.

And you get sucked into that and like, shit. And I don't trust anything. I mean, whatever I'm told, I'm like, I'm thinking this is probably half the story. And if I talk to someone on the other side, they'll have, I mean, so many times I get some information. A lot of people send me information or tell me things. And I'm like, okay, I'm definitely not going to say this until I run it by the research department at my show. And I have some pretty brilliant guys and women who just that's what they do they check shit out do you ever have one that's like on the borderline where you're like how much of this is real and how much this is horseshit yeah and you don't know what to do with it i still don't we just talked about the one with the what's in the vaccine yeah

poly yeah that polyethylene whatever the fuck it is yeah. I don't. I don't know if that's real. No. Do we find out if that's real? Do we ever find out if that stuff is actually in the vaccine? Because Aaron Rodgers said that he was allergic to a thing. We assumed it was that thing. I don't think there's an ingredient list anywhere to find what's in the vaccine. Oh, really?

I think we've looked before. There should be, and I think there is. I mean, I think they put one out. I just don't know if I trust it. Could you just Google, is that stuff in vaccines? Whatever the fuck it's called. Is that stuff. That stuff, that bad stuff.

Bad for some people. That's the problem too, right? The biological variability of human beings, like things that will really fuck some people up have zero effect on other people. It's weird. We're not the same thing. It's like a one-size-fits-all approach to medicine is just as crazy as clothes. That's right.

I keep saying, like, I'm glad we have the vaccine. Yes. And it is appropriate for lots of people. Agreed. It's very necessary. And it will stop you from dying. But don't point to me or any particular person

and say, well, you know, you have a different approach and you talk to different doctors and you have different point of view. This is the most personal thing in the world is my own health. What the fuck was that all about when we went through the if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor?

Remember that? Yeah. It was the biggest political issue. Obama was not completely honest about that. It turned out to be only about 2% of the people who didn't get to keep their doctor. But the whole point of if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, is I get to take the advice of my doctor. I know doctors who are dissenting of opinion about everything that's going on with COVID. I want to keep my doctor.

Yeah. And there's no point in keeping them unless I can listen to them. I get my information from lots of different people. And by the way, Dr. Google, it's not an insult to doctors that there's Dr. Google. They don't like it that there is someone who they can be checked against. And of course, it's all how good a researcher you are. I mean, I have a researcher who does nothing but medical research for me. I feel like it's pennies on the dollar to pay for somebody to do that at my age.

That's such a baller move. I have a medical researcher. Right. It is. That's a great move. And a smart one. That's a good move. Pennies on the dollar.

Because what could be more valuable than medical information? Getting someone to research stuff and know exactly what you're saying. Medical information. And, of course, doctors themselves disagree. That's why I have her doing it. Because it's like sometimes I need, okay, you got to referee this. Because what do doctors always say when you have anything wrong with you that's more complicated than a fucking broken arm? Get a second opinion.

Yeah. Which tells you, A, it's an opinion. It's not a fact. It's an opinion. We're all just guessing here. And you need a second one. Yeah. And it hardly ever matches the first. So they're all just guessing here, and you need a second one. Yeah. And it hardly ever matches the first.

So they're all guessing. There's definitely an element of guessing. It's the major part of it is guessing, especially with Lyme disease. You think that's just a guess? They don't know how to fix it. They don't know how to fix it, but they know one of the effective treatments for a lot of people is heavy dose of antibiotics right away. And the people that I know that have recovered, that's what they've done. Yeah, I agree. They know that. That's not really helpful if you get it too late or you're one of those people who doesn't work on and maybe it'll come back in 10 years. And you don't know,

usually antibiotics don't usually kill everything that they're supposed to kill. They kill enough to keep your body able to keep it in check. It's like the police don't kill every criminal. They just, you know, it's not the purge. You know, you take antibiotics and whatever is in you that's not good, it'll kill it usually. I mean, it usually does it by competing with food. Like that's why, you know, when you take antibiotics, you kill the good bacteria, the bad bacteria, and the fungus proliferate. Because you have their food supply, you know, you've helped them enormously. But in 2022, it's the only way to deal with some diseases.

Like some ailments, you have to take it. Of course. I'm not against. I'm thrilled. It's like the Steve Jobs thing we were talking about earlier. It's very similar, right? Believe me, one of the things I'm worried about is living in a post-antibiotic world because we are rapidly approaching that. Right. Because the antibiotics, because of overuse, don't work as much as they used to. And the pharmaceutical companies don't put money into researching new ones because there's no money in it. They don't want you on antibiotics because you take them for a week. They want you on the shit that you have to take forever. Do you really think it's a conspiracy to not develop good antibiotics? It's not a conspiracy.

It's just where the bottom line is. That's true, but if it becomes something that like you know anybody who had MRSA Mercy yeah, sure. It's a scary one right absolutely I have friends were really young and healthy and they got mercy and one of them was in the hospital for like a month It was very touch-and-go very dangerous I'd be worried about it if I were you cuz you're probably in locker rooms or like Weightlifters and isn't that where you get it? Taking showers with other men. I think people get it from a bunch of different kinds of infections, but sometimes they get it, unfortunately, in hospitals. Sometimes they get it and they might've actually had it on their skin.

It's like- But I think locker rooms are also- Staff infection is on your skin. I think maybe locker rooms for staph. Yeah. Right. It's probably pretty common. I know it's common in some jujitsu gyms. Yeah. I would never. I've had it. I've had staph. Oh, you have?

I've had it twice. Wow. Yeah. That's why I don't go to locker rooms or woods or moose farms. I get it, man. But, you know, people that like jujitsu, they just accept it as part of the risk of doing it. And what? You took antibiotics to get it? Yeah. I took antibiotics. It was wild, though. as part of the risk of doing it. And what you took antibiotics. Yeah,

took antibiotics. It was wild though. Um, I didn't even know I had it. I had shorts on my friend Tate looked over at my calf and he's like, Hey, what's going on with your calf? And I go, what's, what's going on with my calf? And there's like these little red dots. He goes, dude, get that looked at. He goes, that looks like staff. I go, really? And he goes, yeah. And I went right to the doctor. The doctor goes, yup, that looks like staff took a little, it was, I mean, really? And he goes, yeah. And I went right to the doctor. The doctor goes, yep, that looks like staph. Took a little, I mean, it just looked like zits on my leg. The doctor took a sample of it just in case. And then they would run the sample. But she was 99% sure it was staph.

And so she immediately got me on a high dose of antibiotics. And it killed it. But it was a wild feeling while it was killing. I was like, whoa. Like those antibiotics will wreck you. Or wreck me at least. I took killing. I was like, whoa. Like those antibiotics will wreck you or wreck me at least. I took it and I was like, holy shit. Imagine being on this all the time. Holy fuck.

Oh, they can just really destroy you. I felt so weak and tired. I was just like, I had no energy to do anything while my body is like fighting off this stuff. Well, it's right in the name, antibiotic. Yeah. And it i mean that's right and again not to keep coming back to the point that they don't know a hell of a lot but i assume in the future they will have something better than the general theory of if there's something in you that's bad we kill everything torch the fields you know just well it's interesting those little these things that they're developing these sort of little nanobots have you seen any of that stuff read

about it yeah that's really fascinating because if they could get that to work you could target individual problems they could target things like maybe even target tumors like they could send it down to whatever that cancer tissue is. And I mean, they've been talking about that forever. And I'm sure they're working on it. I'm sure people way smarter than us. I'm sure I have devoted their lives. And I appreciate that. But the bottom line is, we're still not there. No, I mean, the bottom line is, if you get a cancer diagnosis, I mean, it's not an immediate death sentence depending on where and what it is and a lot of other different factors, but it's not good news. And it's not,

I mean, it's not something that they can just say to you, oh, we know exactly why you got it. And we know exactly what to do to take it out completely. That world we don't exist in yet and until we do don't look at me with the just do what we say look i'm just just you're just not there is that where you draw the line tumors that's it let me figure out tumors i draw the line what kind of a world where the do you do do you ever think we're going to live in a world with no diseases and no issues or do you think it's just going to be an ease of fixing those things? Have you thought about that? Like through CRISPR and all these deep gene editing?

Well, I will be, I have 34 years before I'm 100. Whoa, that's wild. It's wild to say it that way. That's wild. And I feel like, you know, people live to 100. It's actually more common than ever. Some people would say it's actually the normal human lifespan because there are those

blue zones in the world where there are sections of the world where people normally, I mean, routinely, the whole community, that's about the average lifespan. We probably live less because we have bad habits. But if you live a healthy life, you probably can live to 100. So my thing is, okay, they got like 34 years to figure out mortality. That's a long time. Ray Kurzweil says the solidarity begins in like six years or no, 2028. He said, when man and machine become fully integrated with each other, I think that's part of the solution. You know, as long as they can keep your brain and your dick alive, I'm good. The rest of it can all be replaced. They can fucking tattoo it if they want. I just, I just want to, those parts that are wearing out and

the internal organs, of course, also. I mean, you know, they must be, you know, have a lot of mileage on them. And, of course, we all wonder if what we did as foolish youths is how much that's affecting us now. I smoked for 20 years. I mean, I'm sorry I did. It was stupid. I quit at 40. But, you know, is that going to come back and haunt me?

I think the good news about cigarette smoking and cancer is the risks are greatly diminished within a certain period of time after quitting. Like it's one of those things where they say the way your body turns it around is actually pretty good as opposed to some different kinds of irritations. If you could just quit in time. Do you think smoking a joint is bad for us? It's not as bad. It's a different thing. Of course it's not as bad, but do you think it's bad at all? I mean, it's smoke in your lungs.

It is smoke in your lungs, but isn't the smoke of one thing very dissimilar to the smoke of another? Like steam. People like steam, right? They like a hot steam room. They like to breathe that in. We don't think there's anything dangerous about that. Cigarettes are very different than marijuana.

It's very different in the chemical profile. It's very different in the way it makes your body react, all the different shit in it. I don't know a lot of people that have like heavy lung problems from smoking joints, but I believe they're probably real. But to compare them for whatever reason doesn't make any sense because the people that smoke cigarettes,

a lot of them have problems. Oh, of course. It's like real common to hear about cancer. There's like 200 different types of carcinogens in a cigarette. It's all poison. You don't hear about that from weed people, like heavy weed smokers.

No, but you never know. I mean, are we getting the butane? Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's lots of stuff that we... It's not the best. No. No, but you never know. I mean, are we getting the butane? Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's lots of stuff that we- It's not the best. No. No, it's not the best thing for you. It's not health food.

I mean, I've had hippies try to tell me it's actually beneficial that, oh, it's, you know, coning your lungs with the turpentines or terrapins or whatever the fuck. I don't know. Yeah, they say it's protective. Todd McCormick would know the answer to that.

Those, you know, those, my eyes glaze over whenever. I've heard it a billion times, all the different things about pot and the scientific. Hippies go so hard for weed. Oh, so hard. And it's like, you know what? I just, drug culture. I'm not into the culture.

I just like the drugs, okay? The culture I could live without. Isn't that the case with almost everything? The culture of the thing. Sometimes people connect themselves to cultures of things. Well, I mean. Whether it's drug culture or whether it's political culture. It's like people looking for, you know.

Drug users. Yeah. Love to play with drugs. I mean, when you're into a certain drug, very often so much of your life revolves around with getting it, preparing it, relighting it, redoing it, something. It's just, it's like, I must say, again, I'm kind of like patting myself on the back for my pot use in life. But I used pot wisely. Like, I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't be talking to Joe Rogan on the Joe

Rogan experience if it wasn't for marijuana. I'd be probably selling shoes in New Jersey or something. You know, I mean, I always I try to get something out of it every time I smoke. I don't just smoke and like zone out and watch a movie, you know. Right. I smoke and like write something or, you know, I mean, it's it's to me, it's a very productive experience. So if it has taken away some of my health, I'm willing to accept that tradeoff. Whereas cigarettes did nothing but make me unhealthy. They did nothing that made me better, smarter, cooler. Like you think you are when you're 20 and you first light a cigarette.

You think, oh, that's cool. And it's not. It's just stupid. You're just. And, of course, it's not easy to start a cigarette habit. You have to really insist. Your body, of course, hates it. It's disgusting.

That's such a good point. And you just have to, like, insist. Same with liquor. It's just. Right. It's disgusting. You have to. You have to make yourself get used to this.

Coffee doesn't really taste good to a child. Right? It's so true. There's so many things that are like that that you have to force yourself into enjoying. Joe, I have to catch a plane. Dude, you've got to catch a plane. Listen, it's been a lot of fun, Bill. So much fun.

I really enjoyed it very much. The only reason I'm bowing out is because I'm going to get back to- Listen, it's an honor. I'm very excited that you're in the podcast realm. Thank you. So tell people how to get yours and where to go. Well, that's right. I'm such a bad plugger of my own shit.

Club Random. And hopefully you'll be in LA sometime and do it. I would love to do it. I'd love to do it. It's an amazing time. Yeah. Just like we did today. I'm sure.

I always enjoy talking to you, man. Wait, wait, wait. What are you doing? Wait, wait. I was waiting.

Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell was that? Let me get my plugs in. This is it. Oh, it's called random. That's what it looks like. Oh,

that's cool. There's my club. Look at you, bro. It's like a fucking regular podcast studio. The red band would design. Yes. Look what the lights moving around.

Yeah. It's a club. That's nice. Wherever you get podcasts, I mean, it's like- Apple, Spotify all the time. Yes, right. I don't know about- Spotify owns your ass, but I don't-

I guess they are- Are you on Spotify if they don't own- Okay, so I guess you get it there. I'm sure they uploaded your stuff to Spotify. I'm sure they do. It went to one on Apple the first week. That's fantastic. When we had Quentin Tarantino on.

Right. We've got, you know. But I also have a stand-up special on HBO that starts Friday. So that's going to be, I'm very excited about that. Beautiful. Adulting. Will that also be on HBO, what is it, Max? Yeah, I'm sure.

Is that what the thing is? I'm sure. It used to be Plus and now it's Max. Is that what it is? I think that's right, yes. Something like that. The HBO app, whatever'm sure. Is that what the thing is? I'm sure. It used to be Plus, and now it's Max. Is that what it is? I think that's right, yes. Something like that. The HBO app, whatever it is. Does he look like Alec Baldwin?

No, not at all. He kind of does. You got way too high. Am I? You got way too high. He kind of does. He looks like a young Alec Baldwin. Jamie, put a camera on yourself real quick.

I don't trust him. What the fuck? What the fuck? I don't think so. That does not look anything like him. I'm the first guy to say that. You're too high. Okay.

We're going to have to end this for your own good. We've already said a bunch of nonsense, ladies and gentlemen. Congratulations on being the king, Joe. Thank you, sir. Everyone's gunning for you. Oh, unfortunately. But we'll never get there. Well, thanks for coming on.

Ah, pleasure. And good luck with your podcast. Thank you. I'm looking forward to being on it. Appreciate it. And bye, everybody. coming on and uh good luck with your podcast thank you looking forward to being on it and um bye everybody