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Feb. 11, 2019 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:06:56
Joe Rogan Experience #1243 - Rafinha Bastos
Participants
Main voices
j
joe rogan
01:01:34
r
rafinha bastos
01:02:45
Appearances
Clips
a
andy stumpf
00:01
j
jamie vernon
00:18
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
I'm going to wait for the green sign before I point.
joe rogan
Okay.
Boom.
Good.
Okay.
We had some technical difficulties.
unidentified
No problem.
joe rogan
So let's try it again.
rafinha bastos
Okay.
joe rogan
So anyway, brother, welcome.
rafinha bastos
Thanks for coming here.
Thanks for having me.
joe rogan
So what we were saying before, we actually said this already, but let's say it again because the people didn't hear it.
You were one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy in Brazil.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I started with like four or five guys.
We started doing it like 16, 17 years ago.
And nobody knew about stand-up.
It was something that I found out when I came here to live and play basketball.
I had a scholarship to play basketball.
And I watched Jim Gaffingen.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
rafinha bastos
And Brian Regan.
joe rogan
Ah, I know those guys.
rafinha bastos
And I thought it was so weird because those guys were like...
I was questioning, is his name Brian Riegel?
Is it actually him?
Because we used to have characters and impersonators.
So it was kind of weird, but at the same time it was interesting because I'm not a guy who does characters and I do observations and I write.
I was a journalist.
I have a degree in journalism.
So it was interesting for me to see those guys doing comedy.
And I thought we could do the same in my country.
joe rogan
It's so crazy that it took that long for it to get to Brazil.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
You would think that because everything else, I mean, you guys have movies and, you know, I mean, City of God, you have action movies, you have so much that's so similar.
The fact that stand-up comedy made it there is so unusual.
rafinha bastos
It took a long time.
It was, I don't know why, but the image of a comedian speaking like with a blazer or like a suit or something.
joe rogan
Like Jerry Seinfeld.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, it was very American, you know?
And those jokes didn't actually connect that much with us.
Like, oh, I have those pockets.
And it was something that we have bigger problems than...
Oh, I just have a pocket.
Where am I going to put my pen?
It was something that we couldn't connect that much.
But when we saw there was a lot of people doing other stuff, and there was this huge role that we could actually explore, that was when it became interesting for us.
joe rogan
So comedy in Brazil, there would basically be like, say if I was a Brazilian comedian, I would come up with a fake name, and I would do a character.
rafinha bastos
A wig, probably.
joe rogan
A wig.
rafinha bastos
A wig.
joe rogan
A certain outfit.
rafinha bastos
Outfit, like very over the top, screaming, and...
And that still exists in Brazil.
This is like a popular for the people.
Stand-up, I'm not saying that it's for everyone.
Now I have my Netflix special.
It's becoming huge because we have some other options right now.
With the internet, everything changed.
The game changed completely.
So we have what is good has its own space right now.
It's not only what the TV wants you to watch.
So the game changed a little for all of us.
joe rogan
So how did you start out?
Did you start out by going to music clubs?
rafinha bastos
It was, I actually started in a BDSM club.
joe rogan
A sadomasochist club?
unidentified
Yes.
Really?
rafinha bastos
I remember that there was like pictures of cocks in the bathroom and like vaginas, like huge vaginas.
And we had that show and it wasn't good, but it was an experience for all of us.
To go on stage and try to show them our opinions and our jokes and some irony and sarcasm, which was something that people wasn't watching.
But then it becomes something huge and we got chances to go to TV and everything else.
But at first it was difficult because people could not understand, is he a character?
Is he playing a part?
So that's why I had, and I still have, I have a lot of problems with the law because, like I did a rape joke, which I'm not proud of.
I'm saying, it's not something, oh, I'm so over the line.
But he was like, does this guy want people to be raped?
What is he thinking?
What is...
Because all those jokes was taken out of context and put it on newspapers and kind of killed my desire to do comedy over that as well.
joe rogan
Really?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, it was difficult, man, because it was like journalists in the audience waiting for me to say some shit to put out of context and then got like fucking like billions of clicks on their websites because of a joke I did.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
That's how the controversy was starting over that.
I don't know if it's the same thing here.
joe rogan
So they knew that this was a new thing.
Yeah.
So they would come to see it.
And then were they criticizing it before this?
rafinha bastos
It was huge.
Everybody loved it at first.
But when we started to have money and TV shows and we kind of...
I ran away out of the underground.
I was doing shows at midnight, like packing a 300C theater at midnight in Brazil.
That was my thing.
Underground, in Sao Paulo, in the middle of nowhere.
But then people, oh, this guy's talented.
Let me give him a chance.
So they put me on TV and out of nowhere.
I was on TV doing the same thing.
joe rogan
Wow.
rafinha bastos
So the country was not that prepared for what I was doing at the time.
joe rogan
What kind of laws do you have in Brazil in terms of like the language you're allowed to use on television?
rafinha bastos
You know, I'm not saying there's like a government censorship about what you can say or what you cannot say, but Sponsors and even TV stations and the media is very sensitive about everything because it's still a poor country.
Brazil is still a third-world country.
So we have a lot of people that don't understand the, oh, this is comedy.
What's comedy?
So it was my duty to explain a little bit what was stand-up and kind of open a road for all of us.
That's how I felt.
joe rogan
So you and you said three other comedians?
rafinha bastos
It was like three or four guys, yeah.
joe rogan
So who are these other guys?
rafinha bastos
They're still doing comedy in Brazil.
unidentified
Yeah?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, they're still doing.
They're still huge.
What are their names?
Marcelo Mansfield, Danilo Gentili, Oscar Filho.
There was a small group of guys that we started doing it.
joe rogan
Brazilian Portuguese is such a beautiful language.
rafinha bastos
Do you think that?
joe rogan
I love it.
I love it.
It's like a song.
Do you really?
Well, I've been doing jiu-jitsu for 23 years, so it's like, to me, that sound is like, it's such a cool sound.
rafinha bastos
What does Brazilians say in jiu-jitsu?
Is that a word or something that they're still repeating that you know?
joe rogan
Well, I mean, you know, porra.
unidentified
Porra.
rafinha bastos
Which is cum?
joe rogan
Yeah, is that fuck or cum?
unidentified
Which one is it?
joe rogan
But sometimes it's fuck, too.
Ah, pohado.
Sometimes you say it like, damn!
rafinha bastos
Yeah, but it's cum.
joe rogan
It's cum.
But so that's funny, because that's like the word shit.
Like, shit could be like, you could look at something and go, shit!
rafinha bastos
Like, that's good.
joe rogan
But shit can also be bad.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, like, well, fuck, too.
Like, fuck could be good or fuck could be bad.
Like, you could stub your toe and go, fuck!
Or you could see a girl with a beautiful body and go, fuck!
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
But poja is the same thing.
unidentified
That's so crazy, but it's cow.
rafinha bastos
Poja, poja, it's good.
It's like that big bird.
unidentified
Poja!
rafinha bastos
But then you'd...
You're getting a choke, porra.
Exactly.
unidentified
I got it.
rafinha bastos
I got it.
It's the same thing.
unidentified
Exactly.
rafinha bastos
It's exactly the same thing.
joe rogan
That's so funny, man.
rafinha bastos
Language is difficult, man.
unidentified
Yes.
rafinha bastos
For me to speak in English, I wasn't a...
unidentified
You know, I was thinking about it.
rafinha bastos
Black people have to stop using the N-word in rap songs because it becomes a trap for me, the karaoke.
I was singing karaoke at the end of the song.
This guy came up to me and was like, don't drop the N word, man.
But it wasn't the song.
So what should I do?
Not sing the word?
unidentified
Right.
rafinha bastos
So the language is something that I'm still learning.
It's difficult, man.
joe rogan
Well, it's very tricky.
I mean, it's obviously in America, there's this sort of acknowledgement that black people were slaves for so long, they are allowed to do more things.
rafinha bastos
Right.
joe rogan
In particular, use that word.
rafinha bastos
Okay.
joe rogan
There's no other word, like, in terms of, like, a bad word about an ethnicity that people use for themselves.
Like, a Puerto Rican person would never call himself a spick.
In, like, a good, like, what's up, spick?
Like, to another Puerto Rican.
They wouldn't.
The N-word is a very unique word.
Like, there's no word, really, that I can think of.
rafinha bastos
So you cannot say in any situation...
joe rogan
I can say it if I'm explaining it like this guy called that guy a nigger.
I can say that.
But even saying that, some people wouldn't do that.
I would never call someone that, but I will use it if I'm quoting someone or if I'm explaining the word itself.
rafinha bastos
Because to run away from the joke is even harder because you're acknowledging that that's a forbidden word.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, Chris Rock had one of the greatest bits of all time that there are black people and there are niggers.
This was his joke.
But even for me to say that that was a joke and to say it that way is dangerous.
And it's one of the greatest comedy routines in the history of stand-up.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah, but a white person could never quote that joke.
You can't do the joke.
Like, if you tried to do the joke to your friend, like, you'd have to go, come here, come here, come here.
Look around.
Chris Rock is so funny, let me tell you the bit.
You'd have to be really careful.
There's no way you could do the whole joke on a podcast.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
It's just you say the N-word too many times.
People get mad at you.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy, man.
joe rogan
You know, racism is crazy.
The fact that there's still racism, that's what's crazy.
The word is just sort of like a, it's emblematic.
It's like there's a thing there that connects it to the feeling of racism, even if you're not using it in a racist context.
rafinha bastos
Yes, so for me, I'm a foreigner, so I was never so aware of races like I am now living in this country.
joe rogan
Yeah, Brazil is...
Racism is very mild, very different.
rafinha bastos
There is racism.
I cannot say that there is not racism.
Of course there is.
But here, it's like...
When there's election, they even say how the white voted and how the black voted.
That's kind of weird because for me that's racism.
You're like dividing people on races and it's clear on TV. And sometimes you don't even stop thinking about it.
It's like it's part of the whole thing.
joe rogan
Well, it's because the black community doesn't feel like they're represented.
And they felt like they were represented finally when Obama became president because finally we had a black president.
But other than that...
There's a real distinction.
With Obama, it was almost universal he was going to get, air quotes, the black vote.
But with Trump, or with anybody else, it's very tricky.
It's a very different thing.
They want to make sure that their community is being represented and that their needs are being represented.
rafinha bastos
I completely understand and I agree that there's some acknowledgement to make about the history.
But at the same time, acknowledging...
It kind of divides you a little bit as well.
joe rogan
Yes, it does.
And it's also used as a weapon by some people that are not being honest.
They're using it as a tool to divide people or to force their agenda through.
You know, again, the real problem is not the words.
The real problem is actual real racism.
That's the real problem.
It still exists.
It exists less than it did 100 years ago and far less than it did 200 years ago.
And 100 years from now, it'll probably be almost non-existent.
But it's a real problem.
People are tribal.
They differentiate by town.
People differentiate by what part of the country you're from.
They certainly differentiate by nation.
And they differentiate by the origin of your ancestors.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
It's really stupid is what it is.
Unless you're just celebrating the differences and how interesting there's different food and different music and different culture and literature.
But the actual real racism, the fact that it still exists in 2019. It is crazy.
rafinha bastos
And there is a racism in Brazil as well.
I'm not saying that there's not racism.
joe rogan
It was more mild when I was there.
Interracial relationships are much more common.
rafinha bastos
If you see a black guy with a white woman, nobody's going to say shit.
joe rogan
It's normal.
rafinha bastos
It's not something that people are going to be pointing or something.
I don't think so.
joe rogan
But there's parts of this country where it's a real problem.
There's parts of this country where there's real racism and a black man with a white woman is in danger.
They have to be careful if they go into the wrong bar.
They have to be careful if they go into the wrong place.
It's fucking crazy.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah, it is crazy.
rafinha bastos
There is some kind of a...
It's not 100% of the time that I feel comfortable here.
There's a lot of situations that I feel that I can say the wrong thing because I don't understand.
joe rogan
Because you don't understand the language.
When did you learn English?
rafinha bastos
I play basketball here.
joe rogan
Oh, so you learned in order to play?
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
How old were you at the time?
rafinha bastos
It was 1999. I was 23 at the time.
I'm 42. So it was 1999. I played basketball here and I learned English.
And that's when I got...
The first time I saw stand-up, I was like, fuck, that's so easy.
Wow.
joe rogan
That was 1999. So when you brought it over to Brazil, when you brought over stand-up, did you guys get together and say, hey, let's try to do this over here, where can we do it?
rafinha bastos
I had three friends that knew about it.
It's kind of a cult, a secret cult of people who knew about stand-up.
And we were like, let's try it.
But the only image that we have was Seinfeld at the end of every episode.
unidentified
Wow.
rafinha bastos
That was the thing for us.
That's the only reference.
I still remember that the first video that we're talking about what we were doing, we were like, oh, so this is stand-up.
Did you ever see every episode of Seinfeld at the end?
He does like a routine.
Oh, this is what they're going to do on the theater right now.
So that's when we wanted to do it.
And it took some time because we started in 2008. 2002, 2003, and YouTube just came in 2005. But when YouTube came, there was like a lot of people posting stand-up and little like 30 Minutes Comedy Central specials, and then we could see.
And it was difficult at first because of everything that I was writing.
I could see people doing on TV, my jokes.
It was hard for me to explain to people, this is my joke.
joe rogan
Like someone stole your joke?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, it was not even like stealing because it's just a joke.
It's just a joke.
How can I explain to people, okay, this is what I wrote.
I'm not going to do jokes that other people wrote.
It's mine.
People thought I was a little crazy.
joe rogan
Oh, that's funny.
rafinha bastos
Wow.
Because, you know, I don't know if you have these anecdotes.
That everybody say, do you still have here in America?
Okay.
We have stand-up where people write their own stuff, and we have anecdotes.
And that's what we have, like little books with anecdotes.
So when I say a joke, people will think that I was doing from those books.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's stand-up comedy, and then there's jokes that people tell.
We call them street jokes.
Yeah, like two Jews walking to a bar, that kind of stuff.
Those jokes are so interesting because I don't know anybody who's ever written one of those jokes.
rafinha bastos
I don't, but if you think about it, that is a good timing.
It's something that every time that I see one of those good street jokes, I was like, fuck, I want me to create that thing.
joe rogan
Yeah, but it's interesting because there's so many of them and no one knows anyone who wrote them.
rafinha bastos
There was one guy in Brazil that was doing those three jokes and he created like 10% of what he did.
joe rogan
Interesting.
rafinha bastos
But for him it was like, this is what I created and the 90% that I didn't create, it's kind of in the same chunk.
I don't differentiate.
joe rogan
Now, when Seinfeld airs in Brazil, I assume that it's translated to Portuguese.
rafinha bastos
It's dubbed.
joe rogan
It's dubbed.
And when it's dubbed, is it dubbed well?
Does it make sense?
rafinha bastos
Nah.
joe rogan
No?
unidentified
No, no.
joe rogan
No, it doesn't.
Do the jokes translate?
rafinha bastos
Stand-up-wise, no.
unidentified
No.
rafinha bastos
The series works.
The series.
Now it got much better.
Dubbing, it got much better.
unidentified
Oh, really?
rafinha bastos
But it's crazy.
We have subtitles as well.
Like, my Netflix special has subtitles here in America.
joe rogan
So, subtitles for English?
rafinha bastos
Yes.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
So you do it in Portuguese?
rafinha bastos
Yes.
joe rogan
Do you do much stand-up in English?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I have been doing stand-up here for eight months, like all the clubs and the improv and the factory.
But here I do it in English.
What I do on stage now is something that I wrote living here, like 80% and 20% I translated for my acting in Portuguese.
joe rogan
Wow.
rafinha bastos
And some of those jokes...
Don't work when I translate.
And it's always a surprise.
unidentified
It's always a surprise.
joe rogan
Because the culture is so different, right?
It's like what people think is funny and what they find ironic.
rafinha bastos
But Joe, a joke is a joke, man.
It has a timing.
Now I'm able to do it at the same pace that I do in Portuguese.
I feel comfortable doing it in English.
So I feel the same thing.
And it's easier for me because I actually write jokes.
I have some friends that just like have some crowd work and interact with the audience and there's a lot of physical comedy in it.
So to translate that to English is difficult.
I write jokes.
So if I translate it in a right way, if people understand the context, if people understand what I'm talking about, like the pregnancy of my wife, and marriage, and I don't know, being single and everything, or maybe...
It can work.
joe rogan
Now, what was it like the first time you did stand-up in America?
The first time in English?
rafinha bastos
I actually have a clip on YouTube that The Laugh Factory posted.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
rafinha bastos
It was...
It was very surprising.
It was very surprising because some jokes that I didn't think was that funny worked, and the ones that I was actually pretty sure they would work, didn't work.
And I got so frustrated and completely lost, man.
I was like, this is going to be a huge road for me.
And I have been doing it.
This is why I'm here, to do stand-up in English.
joe rogan
Now, stand-up, since it's been, you said, 16 years or so?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, 16 years.
joe rogan
16 years in Brazil.
Is it accepted now?
Is it a normal part of the culture?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Have they had comedy clubs open up yet?
rafinha bastos
I have my comedy club in Brazil.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Where is it?
rafinha bastos
It's in São Paulo.
unidentified
Oh, wow.
rafinha bastos
It's called Comedians.
It's a 300 seat place, just like the improv.
joe rogan
Wow!
rafinha bastos
It's a great place I have in Brazil.
joe rogan
And there's enough local comedy to fill it up?
That's incredible.
Yes.
rafinha bastos
It does, it does.
Now I have like, like on a Saturday, I have three packed shows.
unidentified
Wow!
rafinha bastos
Eight, ten, and midnight.
Wow!
Packed shows, like...
joe rogan
Well, Sao Paulo is a huge, huge, huge city.
rafinha bastos
There's like 15 million people living in Sao Paulo.
unidentified
Wow, man.
rafinha bastos
That's 15 million people living in Sao Paulo.
joe rogan
That's so cool.
rafinha bastos
But all in Portuguese.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
There's no stand-up in English in Brazil.
unidentified
None.
rafinha bastos
Because, unfortunately, there's not that many people that speak English in Brazil.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know they were trying to organize shows.
Like, Jade was trying to get people to come to Brazil to do stand-up, and I was like, yeah, good luck with that.
That just seems, like, it doesn't seem like there's enough people.
rafinha bastos
Jade opened for me in Portuguese in Brazil.
joe rogan
Wow.
rafinha bastos
And she helped me a little bit at the beginning here, opening some clubs and getting me some gigs.
She's a very good friend.
And for her, it was a little difficult in Portuguese.
joe rogan
Oh, to translate English to Portuguese?
rafinha bastos
It was difficult.
Yeah.
First, because what you guys...
There's a culture, there's a stand-up culture here.
If you're this freaky and a little crazy and hippie, that's something that does not translate to another country.
You have to actually write jokes.
And for her it was a little difficult because she has this way of doing it.
Like interacting and she's like...
And if you mess up a word in Portuguese...
In English, if you mess up a word in English, it's kind of funny.
Oh, he's a foreigner.
They accept you.
There's this likability.
But if you mess up a word in Portuguese, you're a prick.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Oh, so you don't speak Portuguese.
Oh, you just speak English.
It sounds bad, right?
joe rogan
I see.
Yeah, that makes sense because America is such a melting pot.
There's so many different languages over here.
I read something the other day.
If you see someone and they speak broken English, don't make fun of them.
That means they speak two languages.
rafinha bastos
Yes.
joe rogan
And you don't.
rafinha bastos
Of course.
joe rogan
Most of us don't.
rafinha bastos
And Portuguese is similar to Spanish.
People who speak Portuguese speak Spanish, so I kind of speak three languages.
That's a lot.
joe rogan
Well, that helped Fabricio Verdum in Mexico because he's so fluent in Spanish that, you know, when he was over there fighting, you know, they were like, holy shit, this guy speaks perfect Spanish.
rafinha bastos
He's from the same city that I am, which is Porto Alegre city in the south.
So we kind of have some Spanish in the city.
It's close to Argentina.
joe rogan
Oh, I see.
unidentified
Okay.
rafinha bastos
So it's kind of our thing there.
joe rogan
Oh, okay, cool.
So now...
When you were doing stand-up and you started to get in some trouble for bits...
rafinha bastos
A lot of trouble.
joe rogan
A lot of trouble.
How much trouble?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, a lot of money.
I spent a lot of money.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
I lost a lot of lawsuits.
I lost a lot of lawsuits because of jokes.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Lawsuits?
Yeah.
joe rogan
So, like, who was suing you?
rafinha bastos
The people who felt offended.
joe rogan
So, people in the audience?
rafinha bastos
Artists.
When I make fun of a celebrity...
joe rogan
They would sue you?
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
They can sue you.
They can get money out of you.
Really?
Politicians.
joe rogan
Politicians?
So who sued you?
rafinha bastos
You know, I got this lawsuit that really put me in trouble.
It was because of a singer.
She was a singer and kind of almost killed my career.
He actually did.
That's why I'm here.
Yeah, I got on a huge lawsuit.
And it looks dumb when you explain, oh, it's just a singer.
But it became all this talk about freedom of speech and what comedians can say and what they cannot say.
Are you allowed to feel offended?
And now there's like law school talks about the lawsuit that I had.
unidentified
Law school discussions about your case.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, because I made fun.
It was a shitty joke.
That's the problem.
You know, it's not because of law school.
I want to be sued by the good ones.
Because I don't want to be known by a bad joke.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
Of course, yeah.
rafinha bastos
It's just like, I was saying this, it's just like you meeting Eddie Murphy, one of the greatest comedians ever, and you think, oh, there's Dr. Dolittle.
You don't want that.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
rafinha bastos
You know, this is the same thing with me.
That joke was a shitty joke.
And she was like pregnant on TV.
And she was like doing a story on TV.
And I was the host of this huge TV show.
Like the daily show.
Like the daily show meeting The View.
It was something like that.
And in the middle of the thing, she was there.
And my friend asked me, oh, she's pregnant.
And do you think she's still hot?
And I said, she's so hot that I would fuck her and her baby.
It's a shitty joke.
But it was live.
It was like right on time.
Everybody left and there was no problem.
But next week, there was this huge thing because she was like, her husband was very influential and her husband was managing Ronaldo, which was one of the biggest soccer players ever.
So there was this whole thing, the TV show lost sponsors and they want to suspend me from the TV show because of a joke that I did.
They didn't tell me to apologize.
At first, but they suspended me.
So I quit the show.
No, so you just apologized.
And I decided not to apologize.
Because I felt that after like 10 years doing stand-up or 12 years doing stand-up, it was important for me to like put my feet on the ground and say, you know, if we step back right now, what am I going to do in like...
Two years.
This is important for all of us.
It's important for comedy.
So I lost lawsuits.
I lost movies.
joe rogan
So what did they rule in the lawsuit?
What was the ruling?
rafinha bastos
I offended her honor.
Yeah, it was something like that.
People can sue you.
The suing is part of the democracy.
It's okay to sue you, but to lose a lawsuit, that's the problem.
I lost like...
$150,000.
But in Brazil it was $350,000.
So if you're a lawyer and you get $10,000 a month, you get $10,000 a month.
So you don't translate money.
So I lost a lot of money.
But the thing is, it got me a huge headache and it was bad.
It was bad.
joe rogan
Just from that one joke?
rafinha bastos
Just for that one.
joe rogan
But you had other lawsuits?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I had a lawsuit because I did like a rape joke and I got like this women movement like trying to break into my bar and break the door of my comedy club and that was like...
But the discussion was more important than the problem itself.
It was the discussion about freedom of speech and that was huge.
joe rogan
What is freedom of speech like in Brazil?
Is it the same?
I mean, obviously we have the First Amendment.
rafinha bastos
You have the First Amendment.
joe rogan
Do you have something?
rafinha bastos
No, we don't.
unidentified
Wow.
rafinha bastos
We don't have that.
joe rogan
They don't even have that in Canada.
rafinha bastos
We don't have that.
joe rogan
I had Mike Ward on in Canada.
Do you know his story?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I know.
joe rogan
He's the guy who made a joke about a sick boy.
The boy was still alive years later.
rafinha bastos
No, I didn't.
I thought it was.
joe rogan
And, you know, it was just a bad joke about this guy still being alive and can he get his money back because they donated money.
It's a fucked up joke.
But it's supposed to be a fucked up joke.
He's doing it in a nightclub situation where people are drinking.
You say things that are inappropriate, and that's the art form.
He got sued, and he's still in the process of it right now.
There's another case in Vancouver where these women were heckling.
They were yelling things out during the show, and then the comedian went on stage and berated the women, and then the women sued and won.
Because they were lesbians, and he made some lesbian jokes about them at their own expense, and so then they took him to court, and they won.
rafinha bastos
They won what?
joe rogan
They won some judgment, where he had to pay them.
I want to, Jamie, how much was it?
I want to say it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000.
rafinha bastos
$30,000.
joe rogan
Yeah, and for this gentleman, this comedian, I think that was a lot of money.
unidentified
$42,000.
joe rogan
$42,000.
Yeah, that's a lot of fucking money for an opening comedian.
I mean, he wasn't a famous guy, so that might be...
Two years work for him.
Who knows, you know?
Of course, of course.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, lost a lot of money as well.
joe rogan
So Canada is similar.
Canada does not have freedom of speech the same way the United States does.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, that's why I feel when I do comedy here and I feel that people get uncomfortable about a joke or two, that's when I get stressed.
It's like, you have the freedom of saying those things.
joe rogan
Yes.
rafinha bastos
Like, I have this joke that I say, it's about the N-word as well.
Maybe I have to change my...
But I have this joke that I do.
It's like, when I arrived here, someone said to me, you know, don't use the N-word or people are going to kick your ass.
But they never told me what the N-word was.
So for the past six months, I have been avoiding all wars with the leather N. And the other day, a guy came up to me and said, can I fuck your ass?
And I was like, maybe.
And when I say this joke, it's like I have to set up.
It's crazy because when I first did, it was like a fucking thing.
Everybody got uncomfortable.
But now I set up as a misunderstanding because I'm a foreigner.
And now I'm free to do everything else.
So I kind of found a way of doing it.
joe rogan
You found a way in.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, so that's, it's crazy, and I watch you a lot, and I see a lot of people here.
I saw the other guy, this guy did an interview with you, and he did this show in a college, and he did a joke, and people took him out of stage.
joe rogan
Yeah, Nimesh Patel, yeah.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy because you built the freedom to do that.
And now you're discussing if you can or if you cannot.
joe rogan
It's only in colleges though.
Children today, and I want to call them children, they do not understand the danger in suppressing free speech.
And so they think that what they're doing is by suppressing free speech and changing the way people communicate, what they're doing is making the world a better place.
They think they're signaling their virtue and making the world a better place at the same time.
But it's just ignorance.
They just don't understand that you can't necessarily – you can't control people.
And to think that by just getting upset and silencing someone and removing them from the stage that that ends the conversation.
It doesn't.
It reinforces their position.
It says, okay, look, I was right about you fucking snowflakes and you little babies.
Like you can't even understand when things are uncomfortable that it doesn't necessarily mean it's negative.
And that like you're – try to put yourself in someone's position and see what he's saying.
And in Nimesh's case, it's actually kind of funny.
First of all, he's a very open-minded guy, very progressive.
He's not in any way a racist.
And his joke was that people say that being gay is a choice.
And he said, I know it's not a choice because I have a friend who's black and gay, and there's no way he would choose both of those things.
It was just him being funny.
It's a funny joke.
And they were like, cut!
Get the fuck off the stage.
Like, what?
Come on, man.
You don't think that's funny?
unidentified
That's crazy.
joe rogan
And it's also coming from an Indian man who I'm sure has experienced racism.
So the whole thing is, it's very fascinating to see young kids who are growing up in this PC culture bubble.
And, you know, sometimes people say on this podcast that we talk about it too much.
And maybe they're correct.
Maybe sometimes it's annoying if you're listening in your cubicle and you hear me talking too much about this.
But it's because it's an issue that's very dear to my heart, because I understand the dangers of not being able to communicate freely.
And I also understand what happens when, if you suppress free communication, the people that you're suppressing, they're going to get more and more angry and radical, and it just makes their position, they feel more justified.
And perhaps even people who are racist could perhaps be more racist, or people who are angry about gay people will become more angry about it if you suppress their ability to express themselves.
rafinha bastos
That's when born those little movements, neo-Nazi movements, little groups, and little groups on the web, and the deep web, when discussion, it's like when it's forbidden, I think you kind of give them a power that they didn't have.
joe rogan
I think so.
And I think this is something that we're really just getting to understand now.
I've had a few conversations about this recently with the head of Twitter and with an independent journalist, Tim Poole, last week.
And I think what people just started to kind of understand, even though everyone's uncomfortable about this, is we're still trying to figure this out.
Social media is only 10-plus years old.
This is an incredibly new experience for us.
And I don't think everybody knows exactly how to proceed.
And this idea that you can just ban people, and then just ban people for life.
If they say something that makes people uncomfortable, if they say an opinion that you don't agree with, ban them for life.
And we're experiencing that right now.
We're trying to figure out what to do and how to fix this and how to mitigate it without endorsing people, harassing people and endorsing people, you know, threatening people and giving out their address and their phone number and things along those lines.
So it's a process that we're all going through right now.
rafinha bastos
It is a learning process for the whole country.
But the thing that annoys me a little bit is that I... I live in another country and I see how things are difficult and how much time I spend explaining to people what I was doing.
And for you guys, it's like I was having the same problems that Lenny Bruce was having a long time ago.
And you guys built that.
To have that discussion, it is important because that's the way the world evolved.
But at the same time, it feels old.
joe rogan
It feels old.
Because you understand the history of it.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
In America, yeah.
rafinha bastos
It feels old because you already had that discussion a long time ago.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Are you going to keep having this conversation?
When you think that you finally feel free to say whatever you want, now there's people trying to hold you back.
It's crazy.
joe rogan
Well, it's not...
Really effective.
See, there's people that are angry about it.
On social media, there's certainly people that are being effective with it.
But in stand-up comedy, there's blowback and pushback, but...
It's not very effective.
For the top guys, for guys like Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr, it actually makes their stand-up better because people are so tired of all this shit.
They're so tired of PC culture.
They're so tired of being told what they should and shouldn't think is funny and what is acceptable and not acceptable.
There's a lot of weird shit going on right now.
rafinha bastos
Did you ever have a problem with that?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah!
rafinha bastos
Did someone ever leave your show because of a joke you did?
joe rogan
Oh, fuck yeah!
rafinha bastos
What was the subject?
joe rogan
Oh my god, I don't even remember how many.
It's happened so many times.
rafinha bastos
People just stood up.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, people just get angry.
They get angry.
And you're allowed to.
I mean, it's fine.
Look, everybody has their own sensibilities, and one of the problems with stand-up comedy is if you go to a club to see music, you know what kind of music you're going to go see.
You want to go see salsa.
They have a salsa club.
You want to go see jazz.
You want to go see rock and roll, or you want to go to a rap show.
You know what you're going to see.
But if you go to see comedy, you could see fucking Barry Manilow followed by Guns N' Roses followed by Run DMC.
I mean, unless you're going to see a specific comedian, like you're going to see Jim Gaffigan, you don't necessarily know what the fuck you're going to see.
You go to the comedy store on Sunset, you're going to see, if you get there at 9 o'clock in state until 2 o'clock in the morning, you're going to see 10, 15 different fucking comedians.
on on sunset you're gonna see if you get there at nine o'clock in state till two o'clock in the morning you're gonna see 10 15 different fucking comedians and they're all different and you know some of them are men and some of them are women and some of them are gay and some of them are black and they all have different points of view and some of them you're gonna think are the best and some of them you think oh when is this guy getting off stage i mean that's just that's just part of it but for us what's really important about
that is that when i work there i i know that it's not my crowd they're everyone's crowd see if i go to do a show if i do a show somewhere in san diego say and i advertise it the people that come they bought a ticket to see me It's your crowd.
Yes, but if I go to the comedy store, they might be there to see Neil Brennan or Chris D'Elia or whoever.
rafinha bastos
But they're still your crowd, Joe.
joe rogan
Some of them are.
rafinha bastos
At the comedy store.
They're still your crowd.
They still went there to watch you.
They know who you are.
If you go to...
Maybe the middle of Utah.
They are not going to know.
joe rogan
Utah's great.
You'd be surprised.
Wise guys comment.
Shout out to Salt Lake City.
rafinha bastos
Oh, yeah?
I lived in Nebraska, so I couldn't imagine someone...
joe rogan
You lived in Nebraska?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, that's what I... They gave me a scholarship to play basketball.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
rafinha bastos
What was that like?
I wasn't that good.
I got an NCAA Division II school.
It was crazy because I had a chance to meet the American people.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
It's not the people who live in LA or New York.
That's different.
I remember.
joe rogan
Farmers.
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
And I was hanging around with black guys because they were my people.
I was a foreigner.
We were minorities and they were playing basketball with me.
So I felt...
It's a completely different experience to live in Nebraska.
It was awesome.
joe rogan
How'd you get out?
Did you walk?
rafinha bastos
I actually...
No.
I got injured.
I got into a fight, man, and I broke my jaw and my cheekbone.
unidentified
No way.
joe rogan
A fight playing basketball?
On the court?
rafinha bastos
I used to fight a lot.
I'm not proud of that age, but I used to fight a lot.
I liked to fight.
But I never knew how to do it.
joe rogan
Which is crazy because you're Brazilian.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And, you know, that's where Vale Tudo started.
It's where Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu started.
rafinha bastos
I always won fights.
But the one that I lost, I broke my cheekbone and my jaw.
And I had to do surgery here.
And the surgery went bad.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
rafinha bastos
Because...
It's crazy.
That's specific.
But they don't have a doctor who does mouth and bones at the same time.
They have a neck and mouth doctor and they have a dentist.
They don't have the one who does both.
This is the doctor at that time or at that place.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
So the surgery went wrong.
I had to go back to Brazil and had to do the surgery again.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
rafinha bastos
And I decided not to come back.
So this is how...
This is why this moment for me is very important.
I never thought that I had...
My dream was to play basketball.
That's what I was dedicating my life for.
And I never thought that I would have a second chance in America.
And this is...
And that's it.
That's my second chance, and I can't mess this up.
joe rogan
So, what made you come from Brazil to America for stand-up comedy?
Was it all the lawsuits?
rafinha bastos
It was a little bit of the lawsuits.
I'm not saying that it was not, but, my friend, it's like...
If you want to play basketball, you want to play at the NBA. If you want to play soccer, you want to go to Barcelona.
Stand-up is here, man.
That's the place that you gotta be.
And we never had a Brazilian stand-up comedian.
In here, just like Jade, the ones who were born here, but not the ones who actually was doing stand-up in Brazil and coming here.
I think it was important for me, for all my colleagues and all the comedians in Brazil as well, to start something here.
It has been a very good experience.
A little hard, but it has been a lot of fun as well.
joe rogan
Now, are you working over here?
Did you save up money and you're living off your money from Brazil?
rafinha bastos
I still have my comedy club there.
I got some money, yeah.
I lost some of the losses.
I kept some, Joe.
Fuck.
joe rogan
But I'm saying you're not working here necessarily.
rafinha bastos
No, I'm just like going and doing stand-up.
I'm focusing on stand-up.
I have my agent and I have manager.
Everything is happening.
Last year I did JFL. I'm headlining some clubs right now because in those places they have like a huge Brazilian community.
joe rogan
Okay.
rafinha bastos
I'm doing in English, but I'm...
joe rogan
Throw a little Portuguese in there with them?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
So that's new, man.
I did everything that I wanted to do in Brazil.
I did a talk show.
I did movies.
I did my own series.
I directed a movie, directed a series, and I thought I was like, I'm 42. It's time for me to try something new.
That's why I came here and I miss my son a lot.
joe rogan
That's the bad part, but that's okay.
Yeah, we were talking about that before.
That's a crazy situation you have.
rafinha bastos
It got me very emotional.
My kid's there, and last time that I was leaving, and he was like, if I'm the most important in your life, why are you searching for something so far away?
And I told him, this is very important for me, but it is selfish.
This is something that I wanted to do.
And for my career, it was important because I didn't...
I lost a lot in my country as well.
With the lawsuits and I lost TV shows, I lost a lot.
I lost money.
I thought it was a little dangerous for me to keep doing it over there.
And I got a death threat that made me a little...
And I didn't actually went public to talk about the death threat.
joe rogan
What was the death threat over there?
rafinha bastos
It was because one of my lawsuits, I cannot be that specific because it wasn't open.
So if I say exactly who it was, I'll be sued again.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
Because, you know, yeah, I'll be sued again.
I'll be offending someone's owner because I, but I knew what happened and I felt, I didn't feel safe there for a little bit.
Hmm.
I'm not saying that I'll run away, but I thought...
joe rogan
It seems smart to come over here.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, and spend some time and build something and maybe be here.
It was hard for me that I could get hurt because of the nature of my job.
joe rogan
Now, when you're over here and you're trying to do stand-up, do you structure your act out?
Do you have, like...
How do you do it?
Do you write it out on paper, on a computer?
Do you put it up on a...
rafinha bastos
This thing over here.
joe rogan
Put it on your phone.
rafinha bastos
I write everything over here.
And then I keep rehearsing and I go on stage and I have to talk and I say it.
That's what I do.
I memorize everything that I'm going to say.
Not everything, but the...
It gets natural.
It's the way you do it.
I just memorize everything that I'm going to write because if I mess up a word or two, I can kill a joke and I want everything to work flawlessly.
So that's why I memorize.
It looks natural, but I memorize everything.
But it's very hard for me to interact with the audience.
Because every time that someone hackles me, all jokes come in Portuguese in my head.
And I have to translate.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
rafinha bastos
Right at the time.
And I lose time.
It's very frustrating.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
rafinha bastos
I can imagine.
And I even say this on stage.
Like, I was doing a show the other day, and this guy just screamed, you suck!
It was like a bad show.
It was a bar show.
And when I am stressed out, I just mess up words, and that always happens.
And he goes, I wanted to say, go fuck yourself.
And I said, gonna fuck myself.
unidentified
Look at me, I'm like...
rafinha bastos
I'm gonna fuck yourself.
It's very hard to interact with yourself.
I lose timing, man.
It's difficult to do it in another language.
It's not my natural thing.
joe rogan
So everything is on your phone?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You don't write on a computer or notebooks?
rafinha bastos
Do you write on a computer?
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Oh, you do?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, I write in a computer because I can write and it's easier to type.
First of all, it's bigger, right?
You're looking at a big 15-inch screen and I can type without looking at my fingers.
And so when I have ideas, I can get them out really quick and I don't have to say them.
I just look at it on the screen and then I'll write many versions of it and then I go over it and I smuck a little weed and then start editing and twisting it around.
rafinha bastos
Do you test the first version?
Do you test the first version?
joe rogan
What I basically do is I get it to a point where I know that I have something to talk about.
I know I have a framework.
And I know where there's some punchlines.
And then I write it out on paper.
So that when I write it out on paper, I can see it better in my head.
I remember it better.
Then I bring it to the stage.
But I don't have a rigid structure.
I'm loose with it because I want to be able to feel it in the moment, whether or not this is good.
So when I go on stage, say if I'm doing a joke about coffee, whatever, I'll go, you know, I drink too much fucking coffee.
I got a real problem.
And here's how I know I have a problem.
And then I'll go into it, and then I'll start talking about all the different areas, and then I'll listen to the recording, and I'll go, oh, that part sucks.
I got to fix this part, and this part's stupid, and this part is sloppy, but that part got to laugh.
Okay, but you know what?
It'd be even funnier if I said it clearer.
Like, maybe I need to say it this way.
rafinha bastos
Okay.
joe rogan
And then it's this constant process of writing, writing it out, going on stage, recording all sets, listening to the recording, and then writing again.
rafinha bastos
When you listen to those sets, do you keep the funny ones?
Or is there some time that you do like a funny joke but you don't like it?
Does that happen sometimes?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
rafinha bastos
It feels cheap.
joe rogan
Cheap, cheap.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
rafinha bastos
But it was funny.
joe rogan
Like, you gotta laugh, but it's not good.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's sure.
Yeah, absolutely.
You gotta be careful of that.
You don't want to be a hack.
A hack is someone who tells obvious stupid jokes that only make dumb people laugh.
Or someone who does tired, beaten down material.
Jokes that you know that other people have done already.
rafinha bastos
How would you know that?
joe rogan
You just would know based on your...
Okay, here's a perfect example.
It's Stephen Fry.
Do you know who Stephen Fry is?
rafinha bastos
Yes.
joe rogan
He's a famous comedian.
He used this recently.
He said something about, I would love to come back to life as a drug-sniffing dog.
Could you imagine being a drug-sniffing dog at the airport, just smelling everything?
Getting high.
He was saying about how that is such an obvious, stupid joke, and so many people have done that.
And that's a joke where...
Man, I bet probably hundreds of comedians have done a joke about that.
It's just like an obvious premise and, you know, like you were saying earlier that sometimes people would say jokes that you've said and you have a hard time explaining, that's my joke.
And to them it's just an anecdote or then it's just something funny that they heard.
Sometimes people go on stage and their act consists of really obvious premises that they have probably already heard someone cover before.
That's a hack.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, that's why it's difficult.
There's a huge challenge for me.
Because I have been doing it for 17 years, but in another country.
So you guys, there's a huge road that you guys already followed.
So if you hear something, wow, that's old.
Maybe for me, it's not.
And I don't want to be that guy.
And what I realize is that people don't point that out to you.
joe rogan
Well, you could ask people.
Yeah, if you're friends with comics, you could ask, and they'll tell you.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, that's why, like, the other day this guy was doing a joke, and I kind of thought about a...
joe rogan
Tagline?
rafinha bastos
A tagline, yeah.
And he got uncomfortable with me, like, telling him, oh, what about this?
And he was like, yeah...
It's difficult, man, to connect with comedians.
It's not that easy, because they all have huge problems.
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
They all have it, man.
I was like in a group of guys.
One was like ex-drug addict and the other one was a drunk and they had like huge problems and I was like, I have friends?
I don't...
It was difficult, man.
You gotta be like, oh, you gotta deep and you gotta fucking go into the bottom to search for something good and I understand this process but at the same time, do I really have to go through all that to come with something great?
joe rogan
No, you don't.
rafinha bastos
Sometimes you just have good ideas.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Chris D'Elia actually has a bit about that.
I don't want to do his bit, but it's basically a bit about how good his childhood was and how close he is with his family and everybody thinks that you have to have a fucked up childhood to be a comedian.
rafinha bastos
To have a comedian, yeah?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's not true.
You just have to be funny.
People are funny for different reasons.
Some people are funny because they always enjoy stand-up.
I mean, if you grow up enjoying stand-up comedy and then become a stand-up comedian, there's nothing wrong with that.
You don't have to be a drug addict.
rafinha bastos
Do you?
Yeah.
And I'm not gonna be because I tried marijuana?
joe rogan
Yeah, marijuana.
Weed.
rafinha bastos
Once, two years ago, and I stayed hide for 14 days.
Swear to God, man.
joe rogan
Did you eat it?
rafinha bastos
14 days.
unidentified
No, no, no.
joe rogan
You smoked it?
rafinha bastos
It was in a vaporizer, is that?
joe rogan
Yeah, vaporizer.
Vaporizer, yeah.
rafinha bastos
And I say hi for 14 days.
joe rogan
That doesn't make any sense.
rafinha bastos
And I thought...
It doesn't, right?
It doesn't.
I wasn't hi, right?
I probably wasn't hi for the second day, right?
joe rogan
It doesn't seem like it.
rafinha bastos
But I thought I was, like, disconnected from reality.
joe rogan
Well, sometimes that does happen.
And I know a story about a guy who is a straight-laced guy who took some marijuana edibles so that he could get to sleep.
And he had a real problem.
Like, he got suicidal and freaked out and became just irrationally anxious.
He had crippling anxiety.
rafinha bastos
For some time?
joe rogan
For some time.
For weeks.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
And he's a confident guy.
And a very handsome, big, muscular guy, just like you would never imagine this guy having any anxiety.
I think some people have just, the chemistry of different individuals.
rafinha bastos
I wasn't born for that, and that's what the doctor told me.
Because I went to the psychiatrist.
joe rogan
Wow, you went to the psychiatrist?
rafinha bastos
After 12 days, I went to the psychiatrist.
I swear to God, I'm that weak.
I'm that weak?
I went to the psychiatrist, man, and I told him, no, I smoked that thing like 14 days ago and I still high.
And he looked at me and he gave me some, some psycho, he gave me some pills and I was like, oh, if you stay high until tomorrow, you take these pills.
Because what he told me is something that I didn't know, that it can be a trigger.
If you have some tendencies of schizophrenia, and a psychopath, which was not my case, and he's told, this is very rare, but it can happen, which is not your case, and I was happy because he said it.
And the next day I was okay, and I felt okay.
And I didn't take the pills, and I was crazy, man!
unidentified
Fuck!
joe rogan
That is crazy.
rafinha bastos
And I remember that I decided to record.
I was like, okay, let me record what I'm thinking.
At least, let's get some good experience out of it.
And I remember that I started to record, and I said, now I'm going to record everything that I'm thinking.
And when I looked at the cell phone, it was 45 minutes.
joe rogan
45 minutes of talking.
rafinha bastos
And I didn't even realize.
I just said that.
I'm going to record now.
And there was 45 minutes.
And when I listened like 15 days after that, I was like, I'm so crazy.
I'm so crazy.
I'm so crazy.
I'm going to die.
I'm never going to understand why my son's talking.
What is my son talking to me right now?
Wow!
joe rogan
One hit of a vaporizer.
rafinha bastos
No, it was more than one.
joe rogan
A bunch of hits.
rafinha bastos
It was a bunch.
Oh, you're too tall.
You're big.
You're like 250 pounds, so fucking use it a lot.
joe rogan
Oh, so they were saying keep hitting it because you're tall.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, because I wasn't feeling it.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
rafinha bastos
But when I felt it, I felt for 14 days.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's one of the big problems with people when they first try is they try too much.
rafinha bastos
That's what happened.
joe rogan
Yeah, someone just says, take another hit.
unidentified
That's what happened, man.
joe rogan
I tell people, if you're thinking about trying marijuana, go like that.
A little bit.
That's it.
unidentified
Put it down.
joe rogan
I don't feel anything.
Shut the fuck up.
Leave it alone.
You'll eventually feel something.
rafinha bastos
Feel something, yeah.
joe rogan
Just leave it alone.
rafinha bastos
Wow, that's crazy, man.
There's so many people selling weeds and stuff.
It's not even cool anymore.
joe rogan
Weed's not cool anymore?
unidentified
Yeah, I don't know.
rafinha bastos
I don't know.
Yeah, it's like, people are so, when I do shows, there's a lot of people talking, oh, I smoke this and I smoke that.
It's like, man, it's legal now.
joe rogan
It's just like going to the DMV. It's not dangerous.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I think it's good.
It has to be legal.
joe rogan
Well, it definitely should be.
It doesn't affect me that way.
For me, I've been smoking it a long time.
It's pretty easy.
It chills me out.
It actually makes me nicer.
It makes me a more calm person.
rafinha bastos
It does?
joe rogan
Yeah, it makes me more sensitive to other people's feelings.
rafinha bastos
Did you ever smoke because you felt that you were nervous or stressed out?
No!
I'm not going to perform well in this meeting or something and then you smoke it?
joe rogan
No, it doesn't work like that for me.
If I'm stressed out, I work out if I'm stressed out.
That's my best for alleviating that.
Marijuana is good for me for thinking.
For contemplating and going over things.
It's not good for me for stress.
If I feel tense, tension, I work out.
That's what gets it out of me.
rafinha bastos
I always wanted to ask you one thing.
It's a completely different subject.
Can I ask you anything, whatever you want?
When you're doing interviews at the end of fights, did you ever feel threatened somehow?
joe rogan
No.
rafinha bastos
At least once.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
One thing that I hope the fighters realize is that what I'm trying to do is only get them to express themselves.
I want them to shine.
I really genuinely want them.
They won this big fight.
I want them to express themselves.
I want them to maybe maximize their marketing, their marketability, and just tell the world how they feel.
That's an incredibly unusual experience to win a big fight in the cage on pay-per-view in front of millions of people.
My goal is only to try to get them to communicate the better and to let them know that I'm there to support them.
That's all I'm ever trying to do.
rafinha bastos
Perfect.
joe rogan
You know?
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
Like I was saying before we started talking, I have a lot of friends in MMA. Sweetest guys ever.
unidentified
Nicest people.
joe rogan
Consider what they do for a living.
unidentified
It's crazy.
rafinha bastos
It's so crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Damian, Vanderlei, Ninja, Shogun.
joe rogan
How is Ninja doing these days?
rafinha bastos
Man, last time I talked to him...
He got some, I don't know if it was because of the fighting.
I cannot say that.
But his speech, it's a little slow.
It is already hard to understand.
Even Shogun, they have this, what they call the Juanes, which is the way of speaking.
They come from a state which is very hard to understand what they say.
joe rogan
They're from Korea.
With Curitiba, right?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, with Curitiba.
And people from Curitiba sometimes, when they speak too fast, you don't understand that much.
But a ninja, I think he got some injuries and got some scars in his head.
I think he got some surgeries.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think he had surgery in his head.
rafinha bastos
He was fine at the time people were kicking people in the head.
joe rogan
Oh, soccer kicking.
Soccer kicking, bro.
And he was one of the best.
rafinha bastos
He was good.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was an animal.
rafinha bastos
So good.
joe rogan
And he was really young, too.
rafinha bastos
And at the end, he was getting knocked out with slaps.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's the scariest thing is when you see their chin go.
When their ability to take apart...
What's crazy is Shogun seems to be making a resurgence.
rafinha bastos
It's crazy.
joe rogan
Amazing.
rafinha bastos
I used to be very good friends with one of his coaches.
And after the fight with Henderson, the first one, which was like a war.
Crazy fight.
joe rogan
Chaos.
rafinha bastos
That was a chaos.
And I was talking to him and he was like...
You don't even imagine how talented this guy is.
But he gotta focus.
If he was focused, he would kick his ass in like fucking two minutes.
So he just, that's the way they do it in the shooty box.
They like to fight.
They like to fucking just go at it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Him and Cyborg and Vanderlei and even Anderson, the same thing.
But the way they do it, it's just like, let's go to war.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
And sometimes the game changed.
Yeah.
But Shogun is like learning.
You can see that he's like improving, still improving.
unidentified
I think it was like 36, 36. Well, his last fight, he looked sensational.
joe rogan
I mean, he looked like a fucking killer, too.
rafinha bastos
It's crazy, huh?
joe rogan
He can take a shot again now?
It's weird.
It's like, I mean, he got knocked out by a few different guys, and he's lost some fights, some tough fights, but his last fight, he looked as good as he's looked in years.
rafinha bastos
It's sad for me when I see, like, I don't know why.
It's always with Brazilians, but when I see, like, an old fighter getting his ass thick too quick.
I remember his fight with Sonnen.
That was...
joe rogan
Yeah, well, he got caught in a guillotine.
rafinha bastos
He got caught in a guillotine, but he's fast.
The guy trained for like six months, and that's very frustrating.
Remember when Royce went back to fight with Hughes, that was like, oh my god.
joe rogan
Well, Matt Hughes was in his prime then, you know, and he was so strong, and Hoyce just wasn't, he wasn't physically capable.
rafinha bastos
He couldn't do it, right?
joe rogan
He didn't look the same, you know, he just didn't look like he was physically capable.
The same way.
And, you know, Matt Hughes is fucking talented.
Unbelievably talented.
When he got on top of Hoist and he was smashing him, I was like, oh, it's hard to watch.
rafinha bastos
It's hard to watch.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But that's the life.
I mean, that is the life they chose.
You know, when Chuck Liddell just got knocked out by Tito Ortiz, that was hard to watch because you could tell he just can't take a punch anymore.
rafinha bastos
I was in that fight that went there to watch it.
It was bad.
joe rogan
It wasn't moving right either.
The thing about when fighters take a lot of knockout losses, one of the things that becomes apparent is their balance looks off and their movement doesn't look the same.
Like their neurology, their body doesn't move the same way.
rafinha bastos
It can look the same but doesn't react the same, right?
joe rogan
Right.
I mean, even Anderson, when he lost to Stylebender, I think Stylebender would have been a tough fight for him at any point in his career, because Stylebender is just fantastic, super technical.
But Anderson looked like he was a step behind the Anderson of old.
Like the Anderson that knocked out Vitor.
The Anderson that, you know, you go back to the early days.
The Anderson that knocked out Chael Sonnen.
I mean, that Anderson was a fucking...
He was just...
An assassin.
He was so good.
He just knew what to do and when to do it.
And when the Stylebender fight, he just looked like he was a little off.
rafinha bastos
A little off, yeah.
joe rogan
But he's also 46, I think?
rafinha bastos
I think he's one year older than he is.
43. He's only 43?
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
We did a show together.
We do a show, this show on Atlas, called Ultimate Beastmaster.
joe rogan
Brazilian Netflix?
rafinha bastos
No, it's here as well.
Terry Crews did an American.
We do all hosts from different countries.
And it's like American Ninja Warrior for Netflix.
And we have hosts from different countries.
And we have the Brazilians and the Italians and the French guys.
And I did this show with Anderson.
He's a sweet guy.
joe rogan
He's a great guy.
rafinha bastos
He's a great guy.
joe rogan
I mean, he's one of the all-time greats.
I mean, I had the honor of calling a lot of his fights.
rafinha bastos
And it's crazy because, yeah, and it's crazy when you're talking about the guys getting older.
I remember I talked with Minotauro.
He was like three or four.
It was like two fights after he actually retired, and I asked him, why do you keep doing it?
You don't have to.
You don't have to prove anything to no one.
And what he said to me I think was so fair.
He was like, I fought when this thing wasn't giving me any money.
So just give, let me lose a fight or two.
And get some money at the end of my career because I deserve that.
He wasn't like, of course he was going there to win, but it's like, I want to take the risk.
Because I was fighting in Japan getting, I don't know, $5,000.
And now that the game is like bringing you so much money, I'm going to retire.
Let me just do a couple more.
joe rogan
Well, Minotauro, not only was he a pioneer and one of the great MMA heavyweights of all time, but he's so important for MMA because he showed that heavyweights can fight off their back and that heavyweights can win by triangle.
Like when he triangled Mark Coleman and was tapping guys with arm bars when he beat Bob Sapp.
rafinha bastos
They had that one.
joe rogan
The Bob Sapp one is fucking crazy.
That is one of the greatest MMA fights in the history of the sport.
375 pound Bob Sapp.
Minotaur only probably weighed 230, and he wound up tapping him with an armbar.
It was fucking crazy.
And after he gets spiked on his head, which still apparently fucks with him to this day.
His neck was fucked up permanently.
rafinha bastos
Because of that?
joe rogan
Yes.
rafinha bastos
I didn't know that.
joe rogan
375 pound guy who doesn't even look like a human.
He looked like a comic book hero.
And he smashes him on his head.
And Minotaur recovered.
I mean, he was one of the toughest guys of all time.
rafinha bastos
He was run by a truck when he was a little kid.
joe rogan
That's that scar on the side.
rafinha bastos
He was run by a truck.
joe rogan
Crazy, yeah.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
I mean, he's one of the most important figures in the history of the sport.
And then I think Fabrizio took it to another level.
Because Fabrizio Verdum probably has the best guard in the history of the sport.
It's the history of the heavyweight division.
I mean, when he caught Fedor, when he had him in his triangle and he had him locked up like that, you don't get away with that guy.
You might get out of some people's guard.
Not Fabrizio.
That motherfucker locks people up.
rafinha bastos
And I gotta thank him.
I'm here just because of him.
He helped me with that.
joe rogan
Well, my respect for him.
You know, when he reached out to me, he was like, okay, I'll get your friend on.
100%.
rafinha bastos
Thank you, brother.
And he is a great guy.
And that's why I asked you if...
If you kind of feel threatened because when people get, they're in a fight.
You don't know what's going to happen.
And when you go over there to talk with one, you can say a wrong thing at the wrong, I don't know.
joe rogan
You can make mistakes for sure.
unidentified
You can make mistakes.
joe rogan
But my intention is always to just to make them look good.
That's all I'm trying to do.
All I'm trying to do is just get them to express themselves and also put some emotion to how great their performance was.
unidentified
Perfect, perfect.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But it's a weird job, you know, to also be a comedian.
It's a strange combination of things.
rafinha bastos
Do they go watch you sometimes?
joe rogan
Sometimes, yeah.
unidentified
That's good, man.
rafinha bastos
That's very good.
And for me, now it's like, I'm here to try this comedy thing, man.
joe rogan
And so you're getting up in Los Angeles and are you traveling anywhere?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I have a gig on Rhode Island.
Rhode Island?
joe rogan
Okay, a lot of Portuguese people in Rhode Island.
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
I have a gig there.
I did the Gotham Comedy Club two weeks ago.
I headlined the club.
joe rogan
Do you get a lot of Brazilians that come to see you?
Do they want you to speak Portuguese?
rafinha bastos
They do, and some of them don't speak English.
joe rogan
Really?
rafinha bastos
There's always two or three at the end of the show.
unidentified
I thought it was in Portuguese, but it was so good to see you.
But I didn't understand anything you said.
rafinha bastos
So that happened, but it's hard maybe because I have to build an audience here.
And it's going to take some time.
joe rogan
Do you do a podcast?
rafinha bastos
I don't.
joe rogan
You should?
rafinha bastos
I should.
joe rogan
Yeah, definitely.
rafinha bastos
I know.
joe rogan
I think every comedian, like every comedian, has an Instagram page.
Every comedian also should have a podcast.
It's very simple to do.
rafinha bastos
It's not something that we do that much in Brazil.
joe rogan
Maybe you could be the pioneer of that, too.
rafinha bastos
The pioneer on podcasts.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, you're already the pioneer for stand-up.
rafinha bastos
YouTube is something huge in Brazil.
joe rogan
Well, that's a great way to start.
Because all you need is a webcam and you can start your podcast just on YouTube.
rafinha bastos
Just on YouTube.
Easy to do.
My channel on YouTube got like 2 million subscribers.
Really?
On Twitter, I have 12 million people following me.
unidentified
Damn!
rafinha bastos
It's a lot, man.
joe rogan
That's a lot.
rafinha bastos
12 million people following me.
My Brazilian Instagram, I got like 1.5 million people.
People are very active in social media in Brazil.
joe rogan
That's good.
rafinha bastos
It's something that is from our nature to connect with people.
In Brazil.
So that's why social media got huge.
And it was like an alternative for the traditional media.
joe rogan
What is this?
The most influential person on Twitter.
Look at you, motherfucker.
rafinha bastos
I got a story on the New York Times.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
New York Times Magazine saying you're the most influential person on Twitter.
That's incredible.
Now, why are they saying you're the most influential?
What were you doing that was influencing people?
rafinha bastos
I have no idea.
I was surprised.
One day I woke up and there was a story on the New York Times saying that I was the most influential profile on Twitter and in second place, the Dalai Lama.
joe rogan
What?
rafinha bastos
Take this one, Dalai Lama!
Obama in third!
Who are you, Obama?
I was the first one.
So they did like a huge story about me.
joe rogan
Wow.
rafinha bastos
That's incredible.
It was, man.
Twitter was something huge in Brazil.
joe rogan
What is the difference between the way people use Twitter in Brazil and in America?
Is there a difference?
rafinha bastos
No.
For me, I just use Twitter for jokes.
That's what I did for quite some time.
It was...
Twitter lost a lot of his strength in Brazil because people like to connect in Brazil.
So Facebook is huge and Instagram is huge.
So you have your family over there.
You have everything.
You have your people.
But if you're talking...
Twitter feels like you're screaming and someone is going to listen.
It's not like on Facebook that people follow you and then if he likes you, your post is going to be like in the top of his page.
Twitter is just something that is there.
So it lost a lot of power in Brazil.
But one thing that is happening right now is our new president.
And we have a new president now that is a right-wing guy.
He was just elected and he got stabbed.
It was like...
joe rogan
When did he get stabbed?
rafinha bastos
It was like two months ago.
unidentified
Really?
rafinha bastos
During the process of the election.
joe rogan
Holy shit.
rafinha bastos
He got stabbed in the gut.
Whoa!
Did you see that?
That was crazy.
joe rogan
I didn't hear about that.
rafinha bastos
And he won the election.
And he's trying to do with Twitter what Trump did.
He's doing it here.
Instead of going to press conferences and everything, he just goes on Twitter and says what he wants.
joe rogan
Wow.
Yeah, Twitter is unique in the way people just use it to insult people.
Insult people.
It's so angry.
Like, if you just only...
If you didn't know anything about people, and you just looked on Twitter, and you just, like, saw how...
You're like, well, people must be fighting in the streets.
There must be just a bloodbath out there.
If you really thought that people interacted in the real world the way they do on Twitter, you would think that everywhere is just weapons and clubs...
unidentified
Of course!
joe rogan
...running people over with cars...
Wishing everyone dies.
rafinha bastos
But I think, man, there's a difference, and I think we have to acknowledge that.
There's a difference between your behavior on the web and outside of the web.
joe rogan
For sure.
rafinha bastos
And sometimes you don't realize that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Oh, the world is boring, everybody is sensitive and everything else.
If you go outside, it's not that much.
joe rogan
It's the same.
rafinha bastos
It's the same.
It was always.
joe rogan
It's a distorted lens that you could see humans through.
It's not how people really are.
And it's also, it's not a healthy way to communicate because you don't worry about what the person thinks about what you're saying.
You're saying things that you don't necessarily even really mean because you're trying to be inflammatory.
rafinha bastos
To get some attention.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, that's a lot of it.
A lot of it is just screaming.
Screaming for attention and insulting people.
And then you look at people's pages.
That's the most disturbing thing to me.
When someone says something shitty to me, I'll go to their page and I see they're just saying shitty things all day long.
Like, what kind of life is this, man?
It's a fucking terrible life.
rafinha bastos
What I'm doing right now, I have this series that I do on Instagram where I just, I get like the guy cursing me or saying some shit about me.
And I just show his face.
And it's enough and it's funny.
Because it's funny to see who hates me.
And I call this the people who hate me.
And then I put what he wrote and then only his face.
His thumbnail.
It's enough for you to see.
You don't have to take things too serious because if you take a look of their lives, you can see why they are so mad.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a lot of that.
Most of them have private accounts.
You can't look at their pictures.
They're hiding.
They're hiding who they are.
They just talk shit in the comments.
rafinha bastos
That should end, bro.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's weak shit.
rafinha bastos
Fuck, just end that shit.
joe rogan
It's so weak.
You're giving people a chance to throw blind shots.
rafinha bastos
Of course, man.
That's crazy.
I think that being anonymous on the web is a good thing because it allows you to be free at the same time.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's good for whistleblowers, for people reporting crimes, reporting corruption.
rafinha bastos
Of course.
joe rogan
For that, it's critical.
rafinha bastos
That is a way to do it and don't expose yourself.
But at the same time, it creates that.
But it's the sign of the new era, bro.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's just a new thing that we all have to navigate.
It's just a new thing.
And it's like we were talking about earlier with social media being so recent in human history.
There's never been anything where you could just talk to the whole world and do it from your phone while you're sitting at a red light.
You could say something.
There's a story about this woman.
What was her name?
Justine Sacco?
Was that the woman's name?
rafinha bastos
Who said something racist and went to a plane?
unidentified
Yes!
rafinha bastos
I saw that.
joe rogan
She said, I'm going to Africa.
Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding.
I'm white.
LOL. So she was fucked up on Ambien or Xanax or Ambien.
I forget what it was.
She was on some sort of psych medication and something that affects your brain and drank too.
She had a couple of drinks.
Just thought she was being funny.
And then wakes up 16 hours later in Africa and her life is over.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
Fucking crazy!
And it was just one of those days where there was like a slow news cycle and people just jumped on that tweet.
And the thing about it too is that they don't want you to recover from something like that.
That's you for the rest of your life.
rafinha bastos
That's what I felt.
That's what I felt.
I'm the baby fucker.
I am.
So everything that I say right now is like, wasn't you like fucking babies?
I never fucked a baby.
unidentified
Never.
rafinha bastos
I don't think they're attractive.
I don't feel attracted at all.
joe rogan
Do you foresee a time ever where you will go back to Brazil?
rafinha bastos
No, I do.
I do go back to Brazil.
joe rogan
But I mean, go back to do stand-up and live again.
rafinha bastos
I... I don't see that, man.
The challenges here and the freedom that I think I have here and maybe I don't.
Maybe I will face this whole thing.
The same thing when I get famous or when I get...
joe rogan
No, no, you won't.
It's way easier here.
From what you're explaining to me...
rafinha bastos
But look at Louis or...
joe rogan
Louis is a different case because it's not what he said on stage.
Yes, yes.
You know, I mean, he got caught up in the wave of the Me Too movement, too.
Whereas if this same exact instance happened in the past...
rafinha bastos
Yeah, it's not the same thing.
Yeah, it was a bad comparison.
But I got like, Daniel Tosh did a rape joke, and he was...
joe rogan
But that was over in like that.
And do you know what happened there with the joke?
rafinha bastos
No, he was improvising with the audience or something.
joe rogan
He was improvising with the audience.
Here's the deal.
He was at the Laugh Factory.
andy stumpf
He wasn't supposed to be there.
joe rogan
Dom Herrera, who is his friend, said, hey, why don't you go up and do some stand-up?
He goes, I don't have any material.
Just go up and fuck around.
They'll be happy to see you.
He goes, okay.
So he goes on stage.
He goes, I don't have any material.
So what do you guys want to talk about?
Some guy yells out, rape!
And he goes, what's funny about rape?
He's like, what's funny about rape?
He goes like, what's funny about rape?
The humiliation, the violence, and some woman yells out, actually, there's nothing funny about rape.
So he goes, wouldn't it be funny if five guys just raped her?
So he's just being Daniel Tosh.
So it probably would have been just one of those moments in a live crowd filled with drunk people, but she wrote a blog about it where she was the victim.
She wrote this huge blog about him calling for her to get raped, which is not exactly what he did.
It's in the context of being heckled, you understand what it is.
And he kind of had to have some sort of an apology for it, but then all these other people jumped in, and then it became a moment where people could show that they don't support rape, or they don't support what we call rape culture.
rafinha bastos
They use you as a platform.
joe rogan
Yes, yes.
rafinha bastos
That's what happened.
And that's what happened with me as well.
People don't analyze context anymore.
joe rogan
Exactly.
rafinha bastos
And we are very, we are available.
We as comedians, we are talking, we are ourselves, we are not playing a character.
So if I take your jokes, Joe, out of context from your special Netflix, I can get some clicks if I want.
joe rogan
Oh yeah, for sure.
rafinha bastos
If I want.
But I think people are getting tired of it and now they understand the process.
joe rogan
Yes.
rafinha bastos
But what I felt was the beginning of that.
joe rogan
Especially in your country, where you don't have a long history of stand-up.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
So that's why I lost money, and that's why I lost a lot of money.
joe rogan
You're the motherfucking Lenny Bruce of Brazil.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, man!
unidentified
I don't...
rafinha bastos
You know what?
Someone will give me that credit in the future, but now...
joe rogan
Now you want to be Rafi in America.
rafinha bastos
No, not only that, but that's why what people said to me and what I felt was that I was, a lot of people said I was using this freedom of speech argument To offend people.
joe rogan
Right.
You hear that in America too.
rafinha bastos
Which was not the case, but that is a matter of freedom of speech.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Because we had a law in Brazil a long time ago where people are like trying to regulate comments on the web.
Oh, if I feel offended, I can ask someone to delete that.
So the government was trying to regulate that.
And the law was approved.
So, like, after, it wasn't approved, but the law was, like, changing after the voting, but when it becomes, at the end, the government was, like, when it was getting the time of the voting, the government was like, okay, what about if I take some tweets as well that offend me?
So, the government tried to get into the way of things.
So, it is a matter of freedom of speech.
When this is going to end, it becomes with the joke of, But maybe it can end with the government shutting you up.
joe rogan
Yes.
rafinha bastos
I have a friend in Venezuela, a comedian friend.
His name is Nacho.
He was kicked out of the country because of some jokes he did.
unidentified
Whoa.
rafinha bastos
He can't go back.
He's living in Miami right now.
Because if he goes back to Venezuela right now, the government is going to put him in jail or maybe kill him.
I don't know.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
What was his jokes about?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I don't know what his joke was about, but he was making fun of the government.
But then, like, one year after that, he makes some jokes about people with Down syndrome, and then the government felt that he has to go to jail because of the Down syndrome joke.
They were using that thing to take him out of the streets.
So, it's dangerous out there, man.
It's not that easy to do comedy outside of America.
You build that freedom.
joe rogan
Yeah, you hear about it all the time.
People in other countries that say jokes and they get in trouble.
There was something in Thailand.
Someone made a joke about the king and they locked him in jail.
There's a lot of countries where it's very dangerous.
Very dangerous to speak out against the government.
Yeah, we're really, really fortunate here.
So, like, for you, when you see Americans complaining about freedom of speech over here and not being able to say whatever you want, it's kind of a joke, right?
rafinha bastos
It is, man.
It is.
That's exactly what I feel.
It's just like, if you want to be an asshole, just deal with the consequences.
That's all.
That's all.
That's what I feel.
I'm an asshole.
But when someone stopped me on the street and said, you're a piece of shit, I was like, yeah, you're fucking right, but that's okay.
Let's end there.
I am a piece of shit.
And that's where it has to end, you know?
Don't take it personal.
That's what I feel that is...
It's difficult to do comedy out there.
And here you have this freedom of doing it.
And I think it's beautiful.
It's beautiful.
It's something that you guys built.
joe rogan
Do you think that it's going to change in Brazil?
And then maybe the stand-up comedy could actually...
See, because one of the things that happened in America is that Lenny Bruce...
Because he didn't just tell jokes.
He actually talked about social issues on stage.
It actually expanded people's ideas of what these social issues are and how critical they are.
It changed culture in a lot of ways.
And jokes, one of the things about stand-up comedy that does help to change culture is, say, if you have an opinion and I have an opinion.
If your opinion is different than mine, you say something.
I'm like, well, I don't agree with that.
I think this.
But if you say something and you make me laugh, even if I don't agree with it, it sneaks in my head.
Like, you have a point.
If your point is so good that it makes me laugh, even if I don't agree with it, like, goddammit, he got me.
He got in there.
So you can propagate ideas inside someone's consciousness.
You can sneak them in.
rafinha bastos
We have a few people doing it in Brazil.
I used to have this TV show called CQC, and we used to do comedy in Congress.
We used to go and interview congressmen and make fun of them.
And we got kicked out of the Congress.
And then people brought us back to the Congress.
But it all reaches a point when it's about money.
And if someone is not willing to put money in your product, you don't do it.
And money is connected to politics and politics and brands.
For you to have a TV station in Brazil, you need authorization by the government.
So you're not that completely free to do what you want to do.
But you have some people doing it and comedy is getting big.
Stand-up is getting huge in Brazil.
It's connected to YouTube.
I have a lot of big comedians doing like huge theaters.
I used to do like 5,000 theaters in Brazil.
So it's becoming an option.
joe rogan
Wow, 5,000 seat theaters.
Wow.
rafinha bastos
You do it, man.
You do it here.
It's 5,000 seats.
joe rogan
Yeah, I do it all the time.
rafinha bastos
Wow!
You do like 10,000 seats.
joe rogan
But what I'm saying is it's crazy that you started out doing like a sadomasochist club.
rafinha bastos
Yes.
joe rogan
And then you go to a 5,000 seat theater.
That's pretty amazing.
rafinha bastos
That's what I built with some friends and I feel that I'm proud of that.
To open this discussion and this chance, because I have a lot of people doing it right now, getting money out of it.
My comedy club, we pay well comedians every time they go on stage.
It's not like here they get like 10 bucks sometimes.
But it's okay.
We consider that as a business over there, and that's serious, and this is awesome.
joe rogan
That's fantastic.
It's so cool that you started that.
I mean, that's got to be really a good feeling to know that all these people that are doing it now that are professional comedians, you took the first steps.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I feel proud, man.
There was a lot of people that...
I probably have all of them watching this right now.
joe rogan
I don't know of anyone who has ever done it in one language and then made it over in America afterwards.
I'm trying to think.
I can't think of any.
I don't think anybody...
rafinha bastos
Not in English.
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
I can't think of anybody that started out in another country and then made it in America.
rafinha bastos
What is the name of the Russian guy?
They're still doing the Comedy Store.
They used to say...
joe rogan
Yakov Smirnov.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, great guy.
rafinha bastos
I think he's Russian.
joe rogan
Yes, he's Russian, but I think he's been over here most of his life.
rafinha bastos
Oh, okay.
joe rogan
I don't think he started in Russia.
I think his whole idea...
In Russia, they say...
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
His whole thing, yeah.
rafinha bastos
Oh, so he was doing like a character?
joe rogan
No, no, no.
He speaks...
I mean, he definitely speaks Russian.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
And he definitely is from Russia.
But he definitely plays it up, too.
And he's been over here forever.
He has his own theater in...
What is that place where those old folks live?
Branson.
Branson, Missouri.
Yeah, it's like one of those weird, super religious places.
unidentified
Oh, yeah?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a strange area.
It's a very strange...
You talk to people about it in Branson, Missouri, and people go...
It's not a place where Dave Chappelle goes to play.
rafinha bastos
Do you go to those places?
joe rogan
No, I do not.
No, I do not.
There's only so many places I go.
I don't have any time to...
I don't want to...
I'm not trying to run uphill.
No.
If you don't get it, that's alright.
I'll go to Chicago.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
I'll go somewhere where people get it.
unidentified
You don't have to, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's just...
I don't have time.
All I concentrate on now, I mean, the ground's already been broken, right?
I'm not breaking any new ground.
All I'm trying to do is write good stuff, write good material, do good work, and I'm just trying to make people happy.
I'm just trying to make them laugh.
That's all I'm trying to do.
I just try to, when they go and they get a babysitter and they come to a comedy club, I want to do my best.
That's all I want to do.
So that's all I think about.
rafinha bastos
Do you still get a lot of movie offers?
joe rogan
Yeah, I get offers for stuff, but I don't act.
I don't do it anymore.
I tried it a little bit.
It's just not my thing.
It just takes time.
It's not necessary.
And all my friends that do it, my friend Brian just called me from a movie set the other day.
He goes, you're so right.
Fuck this.
He goes, I'm sitting in my trailer for 16 hours.
He's like, I fucking hate this shit.
I don't want to do this.
I just got another offer for another movie that's not that good, and I don't want to do that either.
unidentified
Oh, fuck.
joe rogan
You know, you could do a movie and put so much effort and time into it and no one will see it.
Like, maybe it'll be opposite some fucking big Avengers movie and nobody goes to see your movie and it's out of the movie theater in a week.
unidentified
Yeah!
joe rogan
And you're like, shit.
rafinha bastos
Fuck, I spent so much time doing that shit.
joe rogan
And no one cares.
rafinha bastos
No one cares.
joe rogan
The thing about movies, too, that's interesting is there's so many of them.
It's not like you're ever going to see all the movies.
There's so many movies, and every week there's new movies.
If you really stop and think about how fucking insane that is, there must be thousands and thousands and thousands of movies.
You can't possibly see them all.
If you just want to be entertained, you could see movies to the end of time.
You could just sit in front of your fucking Netflix until your eyes fall out of your head watching movies.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
There's almost no need to make more movies.
We're good.
rafinha bastos
And it's crazy.
Yeah.
And it's crazy because movies are getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger because they have to bring you something that takes you out of your house.
People don't go to the movie to watch Adam Sandler anymore.
They want a fucking superhero kicking your face and coming in your neck.
That's what they want.
They want fucking huge stuff.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's that, but then people do need comedies, like Kevin Hart movies, they still sell really well.
People still want to see something funny.
People still need...
It's one of the things about stand-up and one of the things about funny movies, too, is that people need a break from the grind of life.
Life is a horrible grind.
It's fucking hard, man.
It's hard to pay your bills and get up every morning to a job you don't want to get up to and maybe you're not even into being married anymore and you gotta fucking trudge through that because maybe you have children and you decide that it's better to stay for your children and you're fucking living in hell and your neighbor's a cunt and the dog won't stop barking and then you just need something.
Give me something.
Give me something funny.
rafinha bastos
My friend, that's why I'm so optimistic in life.
What a chance I have of pursuing my dream and doing comedy and making people laugh and having fun and don't have to sit in a fucking chair for eight hours a day with a job that I don't like.
Because if you like to be an accountant, that's okay.
Be happy being an accountant.
But it was never for me.
It was never for me.
joe rogan
No, it was never for me either, or any comedian that I know.
Everyone that I know was like doing something and living in hell until they decided to be a comedian.
Or the thought of doing something else.
But, you know, that's the path of life, right?
The path of life is, for some people, what we do would be hell.
For some people that are introverts, or they don't like attention, or they don't like public speaking, and they're not necessarily funny, what we do is hell.
If you weren't a funny person, and you don't know how to make people laugh, and you have to go on stage and make people laugh every night, that's your job, and you have to try hard, or there's some sort of pain involved, fuck.
That'd be hell.
rafinha bastos
See, that was me.
The last few shows that I did in Brazil, I felt heavy.
joe rogan
Heavy.
Like everyone's watching you.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I felt the energy.
I still have a very loyal audience and they love me and I love them.
We still have that connection.
But I felt exposed.
I felt exposed.
And that's when you...
joe rogan
This is after the baby fuck joke?
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
After me becoming a baby fucker.
joe rogan
But at the time, that was funny, right?
When you said it, everybody laughed.
rafinha bastos
They laugh a lot.
But that was not the case, my friend.
If you take this joke out of context and put it in a newspaper, even me, when I read that, I was like, this guy is fucking...
It's messed up.
The rape joke that I did when I read on a newspaper, I was like...
joe rogan
What was the rape joke?
rafinha bastos
Oh, man.
Do you really want me to go there?
joe rogan
Yeah, we referenced it so many times.
rafinha bastos
It was bad.
It was bad.
It was something like...
I was watching on TV, and I'm not proud of that, okay?
But I was watching on TV, this woman, and she was saying that she was raped, and it was bad.
It was a very bad experience.
She was crying, but the camera wasn't showing her face.
It was just showing her mouth.
And she has a huge mustache, like a huge mustache, like a fucking lot of hair.
And I made this joke about this guy.
He was...
And this was kind of a gift because she wouldn't have another opportunity or something.
It wasn't good.
But I did once.
I was just testing the joke.
I was doing at 1 o'clock at night in my comedy club.
It was like 20 people in the audience.
joe rogan
So you were just fucking around.
rafinha bastos
I was just fucking around.
joe rogan
It was what I saw on TV. And so they were waiting for you to do something like that.
rafinha bastos
And it was like this journalist was there.
And he was doing a story for the Rolling Stone.
unidentified
Oof.
rafinha bastos
And I was doing, it was a story about me.
And then the cover, it wasn't in the cover, but the picture on the Rolling Stone was me dressed as Jesus, like bleeding with a crown on my head.
And that was, in the text, was this...
joe rogan
Rape joke.
rafinha bastos
It was a rape joke.
I didn't even write the thing.
I was just like talking with the audience.
unidentified
Right, right.
rafinha bastos
But when that was taken out of context, it was hard for me to explain to them, okay, this was me fucking around with like 20 people.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
The people couldn't see the difference between me doing...
And it wasn't a good joke at all.
It's not something that I'm proud of.
But when you're on stage and you're testing, sometimes just shit comes up.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
And I was testing boundaries as well.
I think it was my duty to test some stuff.
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's things that you say where you're not thinking them out because you're ad-libbing in the moment and they come out and even you disagree with them as you're saying them.
Of course.
But this is part of the process of creating material, especially if there's 20 people in the crowd, it's late at night.
You do things just to see.
You go down doors.
You open doors that you don't know what's in there.
And sometimes you'll say something and then you'll have the fucking perfect line and it comes out of nowhere.
And the only way you find out is if you take a chance.
rafinha bastos
Just doing it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
That's why I think it's unfair.
And I was having a discussion with two Big comedians about the Louis set that he did recently.
And I think he already talked about this, but the guy was testing stuff.
So how can you judge if the work is not done?
joe rogan
It's not even close to done.
Maybe he did that bit once before, if that, you know?
rafinha bastos
And the judgment was like, oh, he has to address what happened with him.
I'm pretty sure he will, but not on that set.
Maybe he didn't dress on that set.
That's not his special.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
When he has his special, that's when he framed the thing.
Okay, that's my work.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
But if he's just testing stuff, you cannot judge by that.
joe rogan
Well, the problem is now everybody wants to judge everything he does.
They want to find him and watch him, and so now he has to institute this cell phone policy at all the comedy clubs he works at where you have to take your phone and put it in a bag so that no one can get a hold of it.
It's just a real problem.
He's got a real problem.
And it's also a real problem for creating comedy.
Because if people don't understand that this is what comedy is about, that comedy is about improvisation and then boiling it down to what's good and then figuring out what's the best way to express an idea...
Because sometimes you have an idea, and you know there's something there, but you don't know how to say it.
So you just take a chance on one way, and then you go, oh, that's offensive.
That's disgusting.
But there's got to be a way to do it.
Let me find a better way to do it.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, of course.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's many bits that I did, like not my last special, but the special before, where when I first started them, they were not doing well at all.
They were not doing well at all.
I had to figure out a way to make them funny.
rafinha bastos
Why did you insist on them?
joe rogan
Because I knew there was something there.
I knew there was something there.
For instance, I had this one bit on women and inventions, and that women don't invent a lot of things.
And it took a long time for me to figure out how to do that.
And the best way to do that was to talk about all the great things about women first.
So I just had to talk about the concept that women are supposed to work, that women are supposed to work as well as raise children, which is fucking crazy, because raising children—I'm not saying that every woman should raise children and that they shouldn't have a career, but if you— If you think that it's easy to raise children, you're out of your fucking mind.
It's one of the most difficult things in the world.
Just to have the patience, you're dealing with these little people, you have to teach them things, you have to give them love and constant attention, and it's very, very time consuming and it's difficult.
And these women are making people in their fucking bodies.
It's the most incredible thing that anyone has ever created.
Humans, you make humans in your body.
I mean, that's insane.
And I would go through this whole thing.
And then I'd say, so, ladies, I love you.
I think you're amazing.
But let's be honest, you don't invent a lot of shit.
And then I got into this whole thing about women inventions.
And then I just talked about all the great inventions that women make.
rafinha bastos
Okay, you set up differently.
joe rogan
But I had to figure out how to do it.
It took a while to figure out how to do it where the women thought it was funny.
Where I gave them enough honest, legitimate credit and said funny things about them that are positive first.
rafinha bastos
So then they feel free to laugh.
joe rogan
Yes, because they knew I'm not a dick.
I just have a point that women don't invent a lot of shit.
rafinha bastos
That's funny.
joe rogan
And then I also had to say, I don't invent anything.
I had to get really clear about that.
Let's be clear.
We're not talking about us.
I go, look, I'm a fucking moron.
I've never invented shit.
And I'm guessing you're probably pretty dumb too, which is why you're here listening to me talk.
I was like, we're not talking about us.
We're talking about inventors.
rafinha bastos
It's funny, bro.
joe rogan
And so I was trying to remove people from the tribal male versus female dynamic just to talk about the fact that in history, there have not been like relatively a lot of women inventors.
rafinha bastos
Got it.
And so then they felt...
joe rogan
And then they laughed.
Then it was funny.
It was like, it worked out great.
It was my closing bit.
rafinha bastos
It's the same thing with the joke that translated from Portuguese to English.
And I didn't have any problem doing this in Portuguese.
Because you don't have that much talking about race and stuff.
It was not that one, the N-word.
But it was a joke that I used to do that I was like, I saw this guy with a t-shirt.
Written 100% black.
I pointed to the palm of his hand and said 99%.
unidentified
He smiled and said 98%.
rafinha bastos
That was the joke that I was doing.
And I did this joke here.
I just translated it.
It's literal.
So this is a case of joke that I translate.
It works.
Because it's well-written, has a good punchline.
It's everything.
But people felt very uncomfortable.
joe rogan
Who?
rafinha bastos
Not the black people.
The people that sit around the black guy.
That was...
unidentified
That was...
rafinha bastos
I thought it was funny.
Because it wasn't him.
He was like laughing.
Also, do you think it's funny?
Because all of those people, they didn't feel that they were entitled to laugh around you.
joe rogan
Oh, right, right, right.
rafinha bastos
So it was like this kind of...
It was uncomfortable.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
But when I sat up as...
You know what?
You talk about race too much, and we don't have that in Brazil, so sometimes there's some misunderstandings with me.
So when I put myself in that position, it's just a mistake.
It's not racist.
I don't speak English.
That's easy.
That's when I get a...
Yeah, that's when I'm free to do the same thing that you did.
You set up in a different way.
joe rogan
Well, that's a really interesting angle, too, that really only someone from another country can pursue.
This angle that America has a different culture than you're used to.
And there's probably so many differences.
rafinha bastos
Oh yeah, he does a lot of differences.
Fucking Kardashians.
I don't know how you guys squash that shit.
We don't either!
It's like four chicks fucking hanging around and we are like...
joe rogan
And they're so silly!
There's nothing to it.
rafinha bastos
The celebrity thing here, fucking, that's amazing, bro.
joe rogan
Do you have Instagram celebrities and YouTube celebrities in Brazil like that?
Same kind of thing?
Yeah, we do have.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, we do have a lot of them.
And people playing video games and kids, my kids, watch people playing video games.
unidentified
Right, yeah.
rafinha bastos
It's the same thing.
joe rogan
It's huge over here.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I know.
joe rogan
People make millions of dollars playing video games.
rafinha bastos
It's crazy.
joe rogan
Like parents tell their kids, don't be a loser, play video games.
Like, wait a minute, what are you talking about?
These kids are making millions of dollars.
What is a loser?
You work all fucking year for 50 grand, and this guy is making $500,000 a week playing YouTube.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Playing fucking videos on YouTube and Twitter.
rafinha bastos
It's fucking crazy.
And YouTube gives you much more money than it does in Brazil.
But we have the same speech of, like I have this YouTube channel called Ilha de Barbados in Brazil, and we are having a lot of problems with, we are getting, not monetizing our videos.
It's the same thing.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
rafinha bastos
We are suffering through the same problems.
joe rogan
Well, they don't know exactly what to do, because advertisers are very wary about certain content, and so they have these deals with these advertisers, and so they're trying to suppress content because they don't want to minimize, they don't want to lose revenue.
rafinha bastos
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
So what they're trying to do is make advertisers happy, but then the content creators feel like they're being censored.
And they are being censored, but they have to understand what's happening here.
All this stuff costs money.
rafinha bastos
Do you get some of your videos?
joe rogan
All the time.
Yeah, all the time.
rafinha bastos
Fuck, man.
unidentified
That's bad.
joe rogan
Yeah, they get demonetized.
They get demonetized if we talk about specific subjects.
rafinha bastos
Oh, subjects as well.
joe rogan
Yep, yep.
rafinha bastos
Not even showing images, just talking about the subject?
joe rogan
Subjects, just subjects.
That's fucking crazy.
And we've talked about them, and we've...
We've complained about it a little, but basically, I mean, Jamie, we kind of take this attitude that there's nothing we can do.
We just kind of keep on trucking.
rafinha bastos
You just keep doing it.
Yeah, because you're building much more than just...
Yeah, that money is not your money.
joe rogan
I mean, it's something.
It's money.
It could be thousands of dollars for each one that they don't...
I don't think about it that way.
I think about it like, well, what's important?
What's important is just say what's on your mind.
I'm not going to change just so that I get more YouTube ad money.
That would ruin whatever I'm doing.
I think they're going to work it out in a better way eventually.
There's also a thing called YouTube Red.
And with YouTube Red, even if things get demonetized, the people that are paying for YouTube, see, you pay for YouTube Red so you never get any advertisements.
And you still, like, if you've got a certain amount of people that are, I think 50% of our revenue comes from YouTube Red.
rafinha bastos
50%?
unidentified
Roughly, yeah.
jamie vernon
It varies from video to video.
joe rogan
It's just a time-watched kind of cumulative thing.
A lot of people are saying, look, I'd rather pay X amount of dollars per month and don't put any ads on.
So I think we're moving towards that model.
rafinha bastos
But I understand the process as well.
There's brands.
And they're paying the bills.
You know what?
Google is not a...
joe rogan
It's not free.
rafinha bastos
It's not free.
joe rogan
All of it is expensive and they're trying to make money too.
So the only reason for them to allow someone like you or I to put a video up is they want to be able to profit from it.
So, I mean, they're not providing a service just because they're good people.
They're trying to make money.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, but the thing which is easier for us is that our revenue comes from shows and we can do a lot of different stuff.
But there's people that actually get their money from YouTube.
joe rogan
Yes.
rafinha bastos
And that's the one that are getting hurt.
joe rogan
Well, in the United States, the real issue is conservative speakers.
Because all these tech companies, whether it's YouTube or Facebook or what have you, they all lean left.
They're all very left-wing.
So right-wing people feel like they get censored off of all these platforms before other ones.
Maybe less on Facebook, right?
Because Facebook, they actually make money off of people paying attention to shit.
So the more people argue about stuff, probably the more eyes they get.
rafinha bastos
The money that they get, the most of their money is people paying you, paying Facebook to promote their content.
unidentified
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
It's not like...
joe rogan
Yeah, and Facebook doesn't, you don't make money off of Facebook, right?
Is there anybody making money off of Facebook blog posts or...
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah?
rafinha bastos
Yeah, there is people, there is monetizing videos right now.
unidentified
Videos now, yeah, for sure.
joe rogan
Videos, videos, right.
rafinha bastos
It's very recent.
joe rogan
But not like writing, like say if you wrote an essay on Facebook.
jamie vernon
Yeah, they wouldn't pay for that specifically.
joe rogan
Right.
But that's where, like, there's a lot of people like to comment on things and argue about things.
And so if you have something controversial on Facebook, there's probably value in that, because you're going to get more eyeballs, right?
There's a lot of value in controversy.
It's just like, what kind of controversy?
So for YouTube, the big thing is, like, if you have, like, well, specifically Twitter, Twitter's been...
They've had big issues with it.
Instagram not so much with conservative people, right?
You don't hear that as much?
unidentified
I don't think so, no.
joe rogan
It's more of a Twitter, YouTube thing.
And it's conservatives feel like they're being pushed up because almost overwhelmingly all the tech companies are liberal.
They're all very left-wing and very pro-gay rights, trans rights.
There's an example of this one woman who was a feminist who said that a woman is not a man, or a man is not a woman.
So, like, a trans woman.
He used to be a man and turn into a woman.
Her take is, a man is never a woman.
And so they told her, you gotta remove this.
She removed it and then apparently took a screenshot of it and posted it up again.
She was like, okay, I'll delete that.
And she took a screenshot and then posted it again.
Like, fuck you.
And so then they banned her for life.
And now she's suing that woman, Megan...
What is her name?
I forget her...
Here, I got it right here.
Because someone just sent me something.
Sam Harris just sent me something about it today.
Her name is Megan Murphy.
So she's a feminist and she's just like, look, you can't just become a woman.
Fuck off.
And so they're like, you're banned for life.
And then everybody's like, well, you're crazy.
You can't ban her.
She's got an opinion.
How come she can't have that opinion?
That's a biological opinion.
I mean, it might be controversial, it might be rude, it might be insensitive.
rafinha bastos
But it's the same process, Joe.
It's the same thing that I lived in Brazil.
It's like, if the sponsor doesn't want you to say that, how can you argue?
joe rogan
I don't think that's a sponsor issue, because this is Twitter.
Because I don't think that's a sponsor issue.
I think this is a left-winging corporation who's decided...
rafinha bastos
Oh, do you think it's just about...
joe rogan
Yeah, they've decided to censor a certain type of speech that they think is offensive.
And she was apparently saying it to the person who was a trans person, like a man is never a woman.
And by saying that to the trans person, they're saying that it was like targeted harassment.
rafinha bastos
But don't you think that at the end of the process, it is about money?
Because do you think Twitter cares that much?
I saw the Twitter guy here.
For me, it didn't look like he cared much about the speech side of things because they're companies.
So they have to pay their bills and they have to bring sponsors.
And even brands are more left-sided here in this country.
joe rogan
Well, because that's where it's sensitive, right?
Because that's where you can get boycotted.
I think there's definitely something to what you're saying there.
If you're the CEO of a major corporation like Twitter or something like that, you're responsible to your stockholders, you're responsible to all the people that work on the board.
If you want to stay CEO, you've got to continue to make more and more money every year.
You've got to bring more people to the platform, make the platform more popular, make more money.
And in their eyes, the way to do that and to maximize that is to limit harassment, limit things.
So these are our social decisions, but they're also business strategies.
They're two different things together at the same time.
Yeah, so it's fucking complex, man.
rafinha bastos
It's tricky.
joe rogan
Yeah, and they don't know what the fuck they're doing.
This is uncharted territory.
rafinha bastos
I know.
joe rogan
There's never been a thing like Twitter before.
There's never been a thing like Facebook before.
We're complete uncharted territory in 2019. Yeah.
rafinha bastos
But it's amazing, man.
It is amazing to see people like you and me creating our own channels, our own NBCs.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
rafinha bastos
So we don't have to depend on that that much.
You feel free.
That's when creativity comes up.
That's when people start to be creative.
That's when new stuff.
So it becomes a threat as well.
joe rogan
Well, when you stop and think about the sheer impact, what was the number that our channel got in terms of minutes watched?
What was that number?
jamie vernon
For last year, it was 16.1 billion minutes watched.
joe rogan
That's more than every human on the planet watching a minute.
Think of that.
rafinha bastos
Isn't it crazy?
joe rogan
It's way more.
That's more than double every human on the planet watching for a minute.
rafinha bastos
Oh, fuck, man.
Yeah, I guess you have some fans.
joe rogan
But it's not even that.
The impact of that is insane.
Negative and positive, pro and con, all of it, the whole thing.
It's like the amount of content that gets put out there and the amount of interactions and the amount of debate that comes from that content.
It doesn't make any sense.
And for me, the only thing I can do is just walk away.
I don't know what the fuck is going on.
I just throw it out there and get the fuck away from it.
rafinha bastos
You don't read anything?
joe rogan
I don't read shit.
You couldn't.
unidentified
You don't!
joe rogan
No, you get caught up in all of it.
You would get caught up in the negative or maybe even worse, caught up in the positive.
People kiss your ass, you start believing it.
So I just try to be humble and if there's an overwhelming negative reaction, I hear about it and then I try to adjust and address it and respect that I'm in this unique position where I do have this weird sort of platform.
rafinha bastos
I saw you talking about that you thought that you weren't that informed to do the Twitter guy.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's why I brought Tim Pool in.
rafinha bastos
Tim is a good friend as well.
I met him in Brazil.
He went there to cover our protests.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
Yeah.
No, he's a legitimate, investigative, independent journalist and a real honorable guy and honest and intelligent and well-informed.
So I knew he was the perfect guy.
And we're going to do some other things, he and I. We've got something that's going to blow people away when that happens.
That's good, man.
rafinha bastos
He sent me a message yesterday.
Oh, sorry that you're going on Rogan's.
I was like, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, I can't talk about it right now, but we've got something cooking that might change the platform.
rafinha bastos
Do you have time to do those things, bro?
joe rogan
I have time to do some things.
rafinha bastos
Focus on your kids, man.
unidentified
I do!
joe rogan
Well, they're in school right now.
See, the thing is, all this happens while they're in school, and then comedy happens while they're asleep.
See, I have it down to a science.
Yeah, so what it is is they go to school, I get up with them, either I take them to school or my wife takes them to school, and then I go either workout, either I do yoga or lift weights or jiu-jitsu or whatever in the morning, then I come here, I'm done in the afternoon, then I hang out with them until it's time to eat, we eat dinner, and then after dinner, they go to bed.
They go to bed at like 8 o'clock.
I don't do a set until 10. So I leave the house after that, and then, you know, I can go there.
My wife is happy to get rid of me.
I go to the comedy store, hang out.
So it works.
I got it down to a science.
rafinha bastos
Nice.
That's the life that I wanted.
Unfortunately, my wife left.
joe rogan
Well, you were talking about that.
If you want to talk about that.
rafinha bastos
I do.
I don't care.
It's okay.
joe rogan
Because it's kind of a crazy story.
rafinha bastos
I actually say this on stages on my Netflix special.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
And my wife left me for a cult.
She joined a cult!
It was crazy!
It was, bro!
It was, man.
joe rogan
But it's like one of those self-help cults, right?
Yes.
rafinha bastos
But it is a cult.
joe rogan
There's a lot of cults.
It's very dangerous when one person starts telling another person how you must live your life.
Yes.
These are the principles.
This is what you have to do.
You have to leave your family.
You have to quit your job.
You have to change the way you dress.
You have to change the way you talk.
You have to do this and do that.
When someone tells you that and they get a mass group of people to do things like that, it becomes very dangerous.
rafinha bastos
Sometimes it's not that direct.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
Sometimes it's just like, okay, what was difficult is that her cult Was teaching her that you gotta love everybody the same, which is awesome if you think about it.
Jesus did that.
I think he was the only one who did that.
Jesus was the only one who was like, I don't care.
I'm not gonna have kids.
I'm gonna date this prostitute over here, and that's okay.
That was his life.
And...
For my...
When you learn that you have to love everybody the same, why are you going to focus on just one man in a marriage and you have to go home and you kind of live your life to yourself?
Or maybe she didn't love me anymore and I'm fucking blaming the cult.
Or maybe that would be that too.
That's what happened.
joe rogan
Some people are very easily influenced.
You know, that is a real issue.
And I worry about that sometimes when I talk to people.
Because some people say, hey, man.
Well, they say, hey, you changed my life.
I'm like, listen, motherfucker, I didn't change shit.
You changed your life.
I go, I don't even know you.
I did not change your life.
Don't listen to me.
All I'm doing is talking to a bunch of people.
All these people have something to offer.
Everyone has something to offer.
But it's not me.
I'm an antenna, okay?
If I'm saying something that resonates with you and it helps you, I'm very happy.
But don't listen to me like I know everything.
unidentified
Don't do that.
rafinha bastos
I think it's awesome that you do that.
Because you know the power that these have and how you could actually be influenced in their lives in a bad way.
joe rogan
But you have to be very careful of people that do tell you that they have the answers and they're the one and they're the smart ones and you need to listen to them because those people are fucking dangerous because they can get you to do things that are irreversible.
They can get you to leave your family.
They can get you to join this fucking commune and Give up all your worldly belongings.
Then you realize years later, they're fucking crazy.
Like that Wild Wild Country documentary that we were talking about.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
These people were Hollywood fucking executives and producers, millionaires.
People that look like on paper, they have their life in order.
And they want to go and wear the red clothes and the beads and be a part of this fucking movement.
rafinha bastos
People need a reason to live.
People need an explanation for things that they cannot explain.
And when there's someone that thinks that they know the answers, they can lie.
Because it's easy.
It's not going to have someone that is going to say if it's true or not.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That's also the danger of a platform.
And that's the danger of something like even this podcast.
The danger of any platform.
Anytime we have one person that's talking in front of a microphone and everyone else is listening, it's a weird position to be in.
And you hear this person through your earphones or through your computer screen and you start thinking that they're making sense and that they're right.
Because there's no one to counter what they're saying in front of them.
There's no one with opposing opinions.
There's no one...
And they can get wrapped up in this position of being a leader as well.
People get intoxicated by being a leader.
I've seen it with people that just teach martial arts.
A lot of martial arts classes turn into very cult-like places.
I noticed that especially before the UFC came around.
Because...
Everyone really legitimately believed that their martial arts instructor could kill everyone on the planet.
Everyone really believed that in the 80s and the 90s.
rafinha bastos
Royce teaches them that it was not true.
joe rogan
Royce teaches them.
unidentified
Royce.
joe rogan
Look, Royce Gracie changed the fucking world.
He really did.
He changed the whole world.
And he changed our perception of what martial arts are and what's effective and what's not.
But before that, I mean, I grew up in a Taekwondo school, which was very disciplined, and everyone was, sir, like you would call everyone Mr. Smith or Mr. O'Malley, everyone Mr. Kim, yes, sir.
If someone said something to me, I would always say, yes, sir, yes, sir.
And it was always bowing.
It was very strict and very disciplined.
And I came from a very good school, but I was around a lot of schools that weren't good.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
I saw a lot of very cult-like behavior.
There was a lot of men who would take advantage sexually of their students, and they would do weird shit to their students, and it was almost like running a little sex cult.
rafinha bastos
There was a lot of that.
You're talking about your school or the jujitsu?
joe rogan
No, not my school.
rafinha bastos
Jujitsu school.
joe rogan
No, karate schools.
rafinha bastos
Oh, the karate schools.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
Kung fu schools.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
We all knew about that, and some of them wound up going to jail.
I knew guys that went to jail.
They went to jail for rape.
Yeah.
And there was people that, like, they were in these positions of power where their students looked at them like a god and they took advantage of it.
And this is the same thing as what we're talking about here.
When one person has too much power and influence in a platform, One of the beautiful things about jiu-jitsu is its informality.
Like my instructor, John-Jacques Machado, he's the friendliest, nicest guy.
He's a world champion.
I mean, he's super respected by all, but when you meet him, he's like, hey, how are you?
It's all hugs and claps, and he doesn't ever pretend to be anything, and he rolls with everybody.
He trains with everyone.
So it's like the informality and the brothership and camaraderie and the family environment that is fostered by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is very unique in martial arts.
And that I think is very important because the respect comes from their ability and from leading by example.
It doesn't come from some fake position of being some master of the death touch and some all-knowing person at the top of the mountain.
We all thought our instructor could kill everyone on the planet.
We really did.
And when the UFC came along, For a lot of people, that was just a bucket of cold water thrown in your face.
rafinha bastos
Like, whoa!
joe rogan
That little skinny guy just choked out all those big giant people.
Like, what the fuck, man?
rafinha bastos
And they were doing that for a long time in Brazil, like in beaches and going to houses and going to gyms and just kicking people's faces.
I don't care.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, look, they changed what martial arts are.
They really did.
They boiled it down to what's most effective.
And they took ground fighting and they turned it into this perfect sort of blend of leverage and technique and knowledge and repetition and training.
And they just revolutionized joint manipulation and strangling people.
They revolutionized it.
They changed it into a – it's a totally different thing.
There was always submissions in judo.
There was always catch wrestling, which is not a lot of great submissions that are still to this day.
But to put it all together like Elio did and Carlos and all the Gracie clan, I mean what Brazil did for martial arts is probably one of the single most significant things that's happened in the thousands of years of people fighting each other.
Pretty amazing, man.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy, huh?
joe rogan
Yeah, pretty amazing.
rafinha bastos
But at the same time, there was those guys on Shoot Your Box just fucking...
joe rogan
Beating the shit out of each other.
rafinha bastos
Beating the shit out of each other.
joe rogan
There was an article that I read recently where Vanderlei was talking about...
You know, he's having difficulty now, because, you know, he's had so many wars, he fought for so many years, and then he went to some sort of conference on concussions and CTE, and he had 13 of the 15 symptoms.
rafinha bastos
Wow!
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah, and he was talking about how he forgets things, he's impulsive, all these different symptoms he had, and then the very next thing he said is, but I want to fight Vitor Belfort.
He's like, fuck it.
rafinha bastos
Vanderlei is crazy.
He went to my talk show, and he's crazy.
He decided not to go like two minutes before he goes, and he changed his mind, and he's sweet, but at the same time, he's right-wing.
Now he was just, he tried to go, he became a politician.
joe rogan
Really?
rafinha bastos
He went to be elected, but nobody voted on him.
People just liked him.
People didn't want him to see on Congress or something.
joe rogan
That's good.
Brazil gets it.
Because in America it's dangerous.
rafinha bastos
No, it happens in Brazil too.
unidentified
Does it?
joe rogan
Of course.
Do you have celebrities that run for office?
Celebrities, of course.
rafinha bastos
One of our most famous congressmen was a big brother.
joe rogan
Oh no!
rafinha bastos
I was a big brother.
joe rogan
That big brother show is so ridiculous.
unidentified
It is.
joe rogan
That's the worst way to become a celebrity.
rafinha bastos
One of the most watched shows in Brazil.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
rafinha bastos
I don't people watch that much here.
Do they?
joe rogan
I don't know anymore.
I think so for sure.
Well the crazy thing was Omarosa.
Omarosa who was one of the big, she was a big staff in the White House.
rafinha bastos
Apprentice.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Before that she was on Fear Factor.
I, when I was the host, I had a fucking altercation with her on Fear Factor.
Not a bad one, but she accused me of being drunk.
She was like, because I was asking her a question.
I was like, that doesn't make sense.
She goes, Joe, you're drunk.
I'm like, I'm not drunk.
You can't just say I'm drunk.
unidentified
She was the Fear Factor before The Apprentice.
joe rogan
No, she was on something else first, before The Apprentice.
unidentified
I think that was it.
joe rogan
Was she on The Apprentice and then Fear Factor?
Come on.
Was Fear Factor before The Apprentice?
Same time.
jamie vernon
I'm pretty sure she got famous for being on The Apprentice.
unidentified
She was on the second season maybe.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, I remember.
joe rogan
Why did I think she was on another show first and then The Apprentice?
rafinha bastos
She went to another reality show after The Apprentice.
I don't know.
I remember that.
joe rogan
Well, the crazy thing is she went from the White House to Big Brother.
jamie vernon
She was actually on the first season of The Apprentice.
joe rogan
Oh, what year was that?
So she was on Celebrity Fear Factor.
2003, 2004. Okay, so she must have been on Fear Factor like 2005. She's nice though.
She told me I was drunk.
I was like, what?
rafinha bastos
She wasn't elected, right?
No, no, no.
joe rogan
She was appointed by Trump.
But Trump gave...
So here's what's fucked up.
Here's what's really...
I was reading an article about the problems with what she did.
When she was in the Situation Room in these secured White House rooms, she had her fucking phone recording.
So she's sitting there recording shit in the middle of these...
Totally secure rooms.
Trump is talking.
She's got her phone there.
Hmm.
Interesting.
unidentified
Hmm.
joe rogan
And she's recording everything on her fucking phone.
So she has like hours and hours of footage of recordings, which you're not supposed to do.
It's like you could literally Russians and Chinese and the Iranians and anybody that wants to tune in could hack into her fucking phone, turn the microphone on, and this is absolute proven technology, and they're using that to listen in the middle of the situation room.
So if there's some sort of top secret shit that's going on, Some foreign entity could be listening in through her phone while she's recording.
rafinha bastos
So ignorant.
I don't think they need all of that.
They just call Trump and ask what happened.
joe rogan
He'll tell you.
rafinha bastos
They're like, what happened?
unidentified
They're like, okay.
joe rogan
Yeah, but I mean, he allowed her this, you know, I don't know if she's unstable, but she seems a little unstable.
That's such a very dangerous thing to do.
You're not even supposed to bring your fucking phone into those rooms.
And for her to be recording, recording everything.
rafinha bastos
That's crazy.
joe rogan
It's so crazy.
rafinha bastos
It is, right?
joe rogan
But it's so selfish, too.
Like, if you are acting the best, if you're in a position, when you're working for the White House, you're working for Donald Trump.
He's the President of the United States, the biggest superpower in the fucking world.
And you're just recording things.
Like, God!
I know that you want to serve yourself.
I know you want to help yourself out, but God!
That seems so crazy.
I mean, if you were Trump and you hired her and you found out she was recording everything in the Situation Room, you must be like...
Oh, like in conferences with like, they're talking about important policy and she's got phone recording and anybody can be listening.
rafinha bastos
But if you think about it, like, it's crazy for him to give her some credibility.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
Because she was an apprentice.
He liked her.
But then you think about it, okay, the president of the United States is a guy that was running Apprentice.
joe rogan
So I don't think that's...
He liked her.
He felt like, well, look, she's very articulate.
She's a good-looking woman.
She knows how to speak well.
She's got a lot of confidence and power.
He probably figured she'd be a great politician.
Perfect.
I'm a great politician.
He's probably like, I'm the fucking president.
I'll make her, she's going to be my left-hand lady or right-hand lady.
rafinha bastos
It is not that difficult, at least in Brazil, it's not that difficult for famous people to get elected when they were running for a congressman.
Because there's so many options that if you're known and you get like 1% of the voting, you're already elected.
But if you go run for like a mayor or like a...
joe rogan
Governor.
rafinha bastos
A governor or something, it becomes a little tricky because there's like five options and now you're running against...
joe rogan
Real politicians.
rafinha bastos
Real politicians.
joe rogan
Who actually have a plan.
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
So if you're running against like 200 people, you can shine a little because you're famous.
joe rogan
Yeah.
We're starting to see a little bit more of that in America.
Like Cynthia Nixon, she was on Sex and the City, and then she ran for, what, she ran for governor in New York, right?
rafinha bastos
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So there's a few that are starting to branch off into politics now.
jamie vernon
I mean, did it happen before Ronald Reagan?
unidentified
Because he was a famous actor.
joe rogan
He's the most famous.
I think he was a movie star.
rafinha bastos
He was a bang-bang writer.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was the first guy.
unidentified
He's like that joke in Back to the Future.
joe rogan
You mean like Ronald Reagan, the movie star?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, that was the first.
He was also the first that introduced the option, or his cabinet was the first.
They got the people, his team got the people from the religious right involved.
Religion was not really a big part of voting before Ronald Reagan, but Ronald Reagan and that sort of...
Kind of Republican.
They got all these evangelical Christians involved.
rafinha bastos
Evangelicals.
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
It's the same thing in Brazil.
joe rogan
Yeah.
What is going on with Brazil now with your president?
rafinha bastos
Yeah.
There's a huge connection between politics and the church right now.
The evangelicals.
joe rogan
And it wasn't that way before?
rafinha bastos
It was a little bit.
It was always something because Brazil is a very evangelical country.
joe rogan
Right.
rafinha bastos
I don't know if you ever watched, like you were watching in the middle of the night and you turn on your TV and there's this guy talking that he was like, Oh, there's a demon that is running over my soul.
And there's like those TV shows called Stop Suffering.
It's more like for the domestic audiences.
This church is everywhere.
joe rogan
Like Joel Osteen in America, right?
rafinha bastos
I don't know what he's doing.
joe rogan
He's a big-time evangelical Christian.
He sells out these giant arenas, like 50,000 people come to see him.
Yes, yes.
rafinha bastos
But it's very...
It's huge in Brazil.
And they have, like, I don't know, 40% of the people is evangelical in Brazil.
I don't have the numbers right now, but the religion is something huge over there.
So, it was something...
That's why we didn't evolve in a lot of different discussions.
Like, talking about...
Abortion is not legal in Brazil.
joe rogan
Not legal at all.
rafinha bastos
Not legal at all.
unidentified
Wow.
rafinha bastos
Just if you're raped...
Just if you're raped or if your kid has like a...
joe rogan
Deformity.
rafinha bastos
Deformity.
Then you can have an abortion.
joe rogan
If the woman's life is threatened by the birth.
unidentified
Yes.
rafinha bastos
That's the only cases.
joe rogan
Wow.
rafinha bastos
And that discussion never happened because everybody's religious.
If you do, like, how do you say when you go public and you ask something to the people?
Like, do you have this here?
It's just like you have a kind of a test.
We have this in Brazil.
I don't know how you say this in English.
joe rogan
A test.
rafinha bastos
Yeah, it's just a test.
Are you against abortion or...
joe rogan
A poll?
rafinha bastos
A poll.
joe rogan
Poll.
Okay, like an opinion poll?
rafinha bastos
Yes.
My second language, so sometimes I miss a word or two.
joe rogan
Yeah, I miss it.
That's my only language.
rafinha bastos
So, if we do a poll in Brazil, people will be against abortion, against the legalization of abortion, and against drugs, like selling drugs and everything else.
joe rogan
What about morning after pill?
rafinha bastos
No, it is.
You can take that.
joe rogan
You can take that.
rafinha bastos
I don't know.
I don't know.
I bought some.
So, I didn't...
In pharmacy, so it's okay.
I think, though.
I don't know.
I don't know.
But you can...
Abortion is not legal in Brazil.
So, we are not having that discussion because now the president is connected to the church.
Our ex-president, called Lula, he's in jail right now.
He's in jail.
He was involved in a huge corruption scandal.
And he was like our hope because he was a poor guy.
So he was a government that actually helped the poor in Brazil.
joe rogan
What happened with him?
rafinha bastos
He was involved.
He had connections with different companies and different industries.
It was giving him money.
And they have this thing called Cacha Dois.
It's when you're doing a campaign, you need to say how much money you're getting from all those different brands and everything else.
So there's this thing called Cacha Dois, which is you get money, you spend the money.
There's never went on any banks or anything like that.
So it's kind of you hide that money.
That happens a lot in Brazil.
I don't know how to say this in English, but it's something that you hide the money that you're getting for a company, but if you get elected, you kind of forgive them favors.
You help them to get involved in a huge construction.
They're going to be in a stadium, then you help them somehow.
That was what happened in Brazil.
joe rogan
So he's in jail now, huh?
rafinha bastos
He's in jail, and then he elected a woman in Brazil, and she was impeached.
unidentified
Oh.
rafinha bastos
And now we have this right-wing guy called Bolsonaro.
He's our new president.
And a very right-wing and connected to the army and connected to the church.
So there's a lot of discussions and abortion and drugs and everything that we are not going to have.
joe rogan
Is he popular?
rafinha bastos
He is.
He's huge.
joe rogan
He's huge.
Is he popular and also, like, hated by a lot of people?
rafinha bastos
He is a lot as well, yeah.
Of course.
The left hate the guy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
rafinha bastos
The things that he said, he was like, he was kind of crazy, but, you know, people loved him.
joe rogan
And how long has he been the president for now?
rafinha bastos
He's going to be for four years.
He was just elected.
He started in January.
unidentified
Oh, okay.
rafinha bastos
He just started.
We don't know what this is going to lead us.
But the thing is, at the same time, he's more liberal.
Because the left in Brazil, all this talk about freedom of speech and everything else, our left was running the country.
Now we got this guy, and he is more liberal.
And even talking about the way he's going to run the country, the economy, and politics, and speech, and everything else.
So there's a little hope in that area as well.
So it's kind of tricky, because it's a danger in one area, and it's kind of a hope in another one.
I wish I was saying this in Portuguese.
It would be so much easier.
You don't even imagine.
joe rogan
I can understand.
rafinha bastos
Because it's like I'm trying, thinking.
joe rogan
Well, listen, brother.
Let's do a show together.
rafinha bastos
My friend, anytime.
joe rogan
Listen, I'm doing a lot of shows at the Improv, the Comedy Store.
I'll have you on one of those.
rafinha bastos
Thank you, my friend.
joe rogan
I want to see you do stand-up, man.
rafinha bastos
I would love to do a show with you, man.
joe rogan
That's cool.
Of course.
I just want to say thank you for everything you've done for stand-up in Brazil.
I think that's amazing.
rafinha bastos
Thanks to you, bro.
joe rogan
Thanks for doing this, my brother.
rafinha bastos
Thank you, man.
Thank you very, very much, brother.
joe rogan
All right.
Thank you.
We'll talk soon.
unidentified
Bye.
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