The Exchanges

Q But, but I think that, um, it was a little bit based on some of the people had these ideas. They're like, well, I've lived this way. I've never had hardship. And I don't know, I'd be curious your take. Part of my My thought there is like, I don't know, instead of being guilty and shameful, why don't you do fucking something with what you got? Like, did you?

A Yeah, I, I, that's how I, that's what you did. I've never, yeah, I mean, no, no, no, listen, what I, what I did is I, what's good about having historical perspective and perspective in general is you go, I'm lucky. I get to make, I get to make a living with my imagination. I get, I get to do something called original self-expression and make money. I mean, what are you talking, and I'm not gonna do that. That's why I work so hard. That's why, like, like, I don't want to die thinking I didn't mine everything I could. This next special is the best fucking thing I've ever done in my life. The best. And, and I can't wait. But it better be. It better be.

AI assessment note: “I'm lucky. I get to make a living with my imagination.”

Q Can you tell that somebody is going to be great when you first see them? No.

A Um, yeah, in a way you can certainly tell somebody's gonna be successful. Success is a mindset that you're probably partially born with. Rogan was gonna be successful no matter what. He was a bulldog. But part of it's also growing up. How did you grow up? Did you grow up without a dad where the world was really dangerous and you had to figure out how to navigate the world? Was your heart broken at a very early age and you realized nobody was coming and it was all up to you? Were you 50 cent? Were you, you had no one to go home to, and then you got shot nine times, and you let all your fear out in the back of that cab? You know, who were you? When did you meet chaos? You know, a great deal of world leaders, um, lost almost, I don't know, some crazy percentage of them lost at least one parent before the years of 12. Usually two. I don't know. And if you're taught how to navigate that, if you're taught how to navigate loss, or you have some, you have the reserves, or maybe the imagination, maybe you were wired to, to deal with that. Maybe you had a, a stronger seawall. Um, you, you, you'll come out, you know, much stronger. I think it was Nietzsche who said, if I have children, if I ever had children, I would wish upon them deprivation and loss and, and, and, you know, uncertainty, because that's the only way you kind of become a fully realized human being. And if it, if it visits…

AI assessment note: “yeah, in a way you can certainly tell somebody's gonna be successful.”

Q Yeah. Do you, do you think you can be really funny and be happy? It seems like a lot of comedians are dark and twisted.

A Yeah, yeah, but I don't know, you know, um, I think Rogan's very happy. I think a lot of people have, you know, it just depends on your personality trait. Maybe, maybe a better way is that when you are a dark person, um, there's very little open to you, but you cope with just trying to be funny about this Brutal thing called life. You were born, you know, a lot of times shorter than other guys, weaker than other guys, not as athletic in any way. You never had any victories. You never had women like you. These, these are traumatic things for men to go through when, when you're an adolescent and stuff, but, but, but, but you're funny, right? You're funny. And, and, and now you get Like, the cool kids think you're great, and that you get addicted to that because you're, you're accepted. So that's where a lot of comedy comes from. For me, I think comedy came from being moved constantly. I was always thrown into a whole different set of kids. I, you know, hey, we're, we're, we're moving to Saudi Arabia, but I have a dog. I, I've been here for two years. I got, yeah, now you'll figure it out. We're moving to Lebanon. I know, but I have another dog here, and I have a snake. What are we gonna do? Ah, we'll, we'll find a home. Yeah, right.

AI assessment note: “I think Rogan's very happy. I think a lot of people have, you know”

Q No, it's gonna be great. I can't wait to see it. Yeah. Um, what about, how, like, kind of technically, and maybe this isn't how it works, but how do you start thinking about being funny? Like, how does one become funny?

A I don't think you have, you think about being funny. I think you have to, you have to, um, do something very different. I think, I believe you start with personal questions. What am I afraid of? Who am I pretending to be? Who do I want to be? Who am I really? How do I want to die? How do I not want to die? What do I want to say before I die? What do I want to think right before I die? What will I regret before I die? You know, what do I honestly revere? You know, what, what am I really afraid of? What am I pretending I'm afraid of? Get into those questions, those personal questions, and, um, I, I think that Anybody who writes anything, whether it's music, or it's, um, a movie, or anything, is, you're trying to answer a primary question. You're wrestling with a question. My, my obsession has been, what is a man? What is courage? What is it? What is masculinity? How do you define it? Um, you know, am I a provider and a protector? What does that really mean? And, and what is courage? And what is toughness? And all these things that I grew up trying to be. What, what is real strength? What is it? And those are the, those are the obsessions I've always had, and, and I try to write about. And, uh, you know, they, for me, they find, they find their way in a funny, through funny channels. Yeah. But, you know, think about, so what's a book? When you, when you read a novel, you know, um,…

AI assessment note: “I don't think you think about being funny... you start with personal questions.”

Q So you don't do the same jokes. Like, how does that, How does that work, like, from, for a total normie? Do you carry, like, a joke book around, and then when you say something funny, you write it down?

A If I, if I end up doing, um, writing for me is, it's a mindset, you're always writing, but if I end up doing a, a show, I'm, like, so I'm going to shoot this special in January, and then, and then the horror sets in, because now I have to, like, write a whole new hour. I throw it all away, And it's, like, so difficult not to repeat yourself. It's so difficult not to be kind of on the same themes. It's so difficult not to, it's, it's just so hard. So I'll go through six months of misery, and maybe a year of writer's block, and feel like a piece of shit, and, and not like myself, and all that. Just, just old standard, standard shit.

AI assessment note: “writing for me is, it's a mindset, you're always writing”

Q But in the beginning, like, do you remember the first time you really bombed?

A Oh my god. Oh my god. It's so terrifying. I don't know if anybody, if this is how you equate it, if you've ever been in a real fight, like, where you don't know who the guy is in front of you, you're gonna be, like, you can't feel your legs. I don't care how much you train, I mean, maybe if you're, like, inoculated stressed, If you're a regular dude like me and you're gonna have to fight, you can't feel your legs. You just know, I'm like, I'll put my weight on my back foot, and I guess, here we go. You know, good luck. It sucks. It's, it's the same thing. I remember feeling that. I remember feeling that. It was like, I feel like I'm, I'm about to have a real fight with somebody I don't know.

AI assessment note: “I remember feeling that. It was like, I feel like I'm, I'm about to have a real fight”