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Oct. 24, 2019 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:03:39
Joe Rogan Experience #1370 - Brian Grazer
Participants
Main voices
b
brian grazer
01:14:03
j
joe rogan
46:19
Appearances
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j
jamie vernon
00:14
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Ding.
joe rogan
Alright, here we go.
What's up, Brian?
How are you?
brian grazer
Hey, good.
joe rogan
Thanks for being here, man.
Appreciate it.
brian grazer
Yeah, I'm psyched about it.
joe rogan
I'm psyched about having you.
brian grazer
Yeah, I'm now adjusting to the sound.
joe rogan
Oh, in your ears?
brian grazer
Yeah, my ears, and is it muffled?
How's it all sounding?
joe rogan
Perfect.
Sounds perfect.
brian grazer
Alright, cool.
joe rogan
So we were just talking about your books, and I said, let's save it.
Let's save it for the podcast, because I wanted it to sound fresh.
I want you to re-say it.
So tell me about, you wrote two books?
brian grazer
I wrote two books.
And, you know, as you know, I'm a writer and a movie and television producer and stuff.
joe rogan
To say it mildly.
I mean, you made some fucking amazing movies.
brian grazer
Wow, thanks.
Thanks, Joe.
joe rogan
My pleasure.
brian grazer
Yeah.
And all this...
I think, you know, my whole life and whatever those stories are, the movies are and the successes, I kind of think...
Anyone that's really focused can do what I do.
So that was kind of the end product of the first book, which was – it was called A Curious Mind, The Secret to a Bigger Life.
And that book is really about – I mean, how much do you want to know about it?
joe rogan
Everything.
Whatever you want to tell me.
unidentified
Okay.
brian grazer
Basically, I couldn't read at all in elementary school.
And it caused a lot of shame and then a lot of trauma.
joe rogan
Did you have dyslexia?
brian grazer
I had dyslexia.
Quite acute dyslexia.
And I think we're out in Woodland Hills, which was the fancy part of the valley.
I grew up in the flats of Sherman Oaks, actually as a little kid going to Riverside Drive Elementary School and then later to Nobel Junior High and then later Chatsworth High School.
And in elementary school, I couldn't read it all, and they didn't classify it as dyslexia.
It was just your...
Slow.
You're dumb.
Why can't you answer this?
And then you'd say, I can't read.
And then that didn't make sense.
None of those things computed, really, that somebody couldn't actually read a word.
And I really couldn't read a word.
So when you can't read a word, then you find ways to survive, cope, and not have the teacher look you in the eyes and say, okay, Brian, come to the board and answer this question because you're never – it's just going to produce more shame because you're not – you don't know the come to the board and answer this question because you're never It's not possible.
So I found that as that went on for quite a while, around the fourth, fifth, sixth grade, I really looked at people.
I really looked them in the eyes to learn.
And I found that by looking somebody in the eyes, you could engage – I didn't know this then, but you engage their heart if you're really – Doing it with sincerity and interest.
You can engage people and move them and evangelize things.
Get people to play on your team or you play on their team.
They pick you and stuff.
Good things happen, except the reading part.
But it enabled me to learn a lot just by looking at people and talking to people.
And I had this one mentor, this little grandmother.
Her name was Sonia.
And little Sonia, she was like...
Four, ten, I guess, you know.
And she would always say to me, she'd see me once a week, minimally, always once a week.
And she'd say, you're going all the way.
You're going to make it big.
Think big, be big.
And she had all these isms.
Because my mom's side of the family was Jewish.
My dad's side of the family is Catholic.
The Jewish side, the grandmother, was my mentor.
And the person that really...
Was the single person that I could kind of count on in life.
And she'd constantly tell me how things – I'd go great.
You have a gift for gab, she'd say.
And every time she said, you're going to go all the way, I'm thinking there's like absolutely no empirical evidence I'm going all the way anywhere, you know?
Except my parents were always arguing, let's put him back.
The teacher, Ms. Stegg, said, let's put him back.
So I just wasn't going anywhere, I didn't think.
So that gave rise to the fact that I thought, the way I can really learn a lot is have these kind of curiosity conversations.
And once I graduated college, I did this on a weekly basis, and I still do it to this day.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
Once a week.
Sometimes once every two weeks, but never more than once every two weeks.
I never – I'm pretty militant.
I'm extremely militant about it.
joe rogan
Like how do you do it?
Like what do you mean?
brian grazer
Well, what I do is I think about – it's often – And I know you do something possibly similar to this.
But my system would be, I bombard myself with, now I can read, of course.
And I was able to start to read, like, in high school.
joe rogan
Can you tell me how they fixed that?
brian grazer
They couldn't fix it.
joe rogan
It wasn't fixable.
Dyslexia reverses words on you, right?
It reverses the way you view letters and scrambles.
brian grazer
Initially, as a kid, it scrambles the letters.
Then, when it gets better, it reverses the words.
And to this day, I still start on the right and go to the left.
So it takes, like, really thoughtful discipline to make sure I'm always starting on the left.
joe rogan
Do you mean with sentences or with words?
brian grazer
With the sentences.
joe rogan
Really?
So you'll start at the right end of the – you should read Hebrew or something, isn't that – Or Chinese or something.
Yeah, different languages do that, right?
brian grazer
Yeah, I guess they do.
But incidentally, when you have dyslexia, it's very hard to learn other languages.
joe rogan
I would imagine.
brian grazer
Very, very hard.
But I can read and I bombard myself.
joe rogan
So how do you switch it around?
Like when your brain is making you read right to left?
brian grazer
Yes.
I started to learn – just create like an exercise, a discipline, where I could – like as in college, I was able to read – I could force myself to start on the left and go to the right.
joe rogan
Is there a certain mechanism that's causing you to do right to left?
Like do they know what the cause of this is?
brian grazer
Not that I know of.
Not that I know of.
Probably something neurological and certainly genetic.
I mean, I have no genetic trace, but it has to be a letter within your genome, I'm having to guess.
joe rogan
So you learned how to read, you learned how to figure it out, and then you said you have these conversations at least once every two weeks.
Yes.
So how do you do this?
Do you organize them?
They're structured?
brian grazer
They're structured.
There's a randomness to them because often you'd have to – it's not like getting on your show where everybody wants to be on the show – I say that with a compliment, of course, but I'm begging people because even though – To sit down with you.
I'm begging them to sit down with me and I'm groveling and I'm calling assistants directly.
I still – I have three assistants, but I make all of my own phone calls always because – You know why?
Because I have this discipline of getting to know assistants and going, hey, it's Brian, is Richard around?
And I just, like, I do that.
joe rogan
That's so refreshing from a guy who's as successful as you are, because so many times when people get that successful, you insulate yourself with a bunch of other people who do all the calls for you and open all the doors for you, and you just kind of, you stay insulated and more aloof.
brian grazer
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
Thanks.
Well, yeah, people do.
I mean, look, there are producers that are sort of – let's say we're in the same category, same ilk, that just do it differently.
I made a lot of deliberate choices through trial and error.
I went through the 80s where power guys had desks above the other chairs that are on the other side.
The power guys always had black lacquer furniture.
They did all these power things.
And I thought, I want artists to like me, relate to me, and I always did everything to create a democratic environment because not that I was such a cool guy, but more like you just get so much more out of a creative person by not intimidating them.
And I just saw...
My peers and often someone maybe a decade ahead of me – I'm so close to saying names – but just those sort of tough guys.
And I didn't think that was effective.
I just didn't think it was effective.
And I wasn't making these really hardcore action movies.
I was doing movies that were – they're designed to ignite emotion and feeling.
In fact, even when I do public speaking, I say, oh, Brian Graves or whatever they might say, but I go – I always say I'm in the feelings business.
I'm not a movie producer.
I'm just a – I'm in the feelings business because I feel like that's what we want out of a cinematic experience for me, for the movies I'm interested in doing or TV shows.
Because I grew up loving those movies of the 70s and I'm captivated by things that move me emotionally and elevate me emotionally.
joe rogan
So you make these phone calls and you arrange these conversations.
So you arrange basically a podcast that no one's listening to.
brian grazer
That's exactly...
I never thought of it in those words.
That is really funny.
joe rogan
You should probably record them.
brian grazer
So I've done it for, say, 35 years.
joe rogan
Really?
And you didn't record any of them?
brian grazer
The first 15 years, nothing.
I didn't write really notes either.
And then the second 10 years, I'd say 15 was nothing.
I just did it.
Because I felt like that could inhibit somebody or I felt like...
I was trying to do these sort of down low in a way.
Like I didn't want to commodify them.
You know, like industrialize my conversations.
And I had friends go, like, can we be part of it?
And I tried it once with a couple other guys during my thing.
And it fractionalized my attention.
And it...
What I found, the great thing about the conversations, the one-on-one with no one else in the room, which that's all I do.
Again, I tried it different ways.
What you're trying to do, I'm trying to do is create the best date that Isaac Asimov ever had.
I mean, I have so many people, just Margaret Thatcher.
I'm trying to...
Like, I'm trying to have no idea of time and space.
And I want them to have no idea of time and space.
Because that is like your best date.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
And I always think like, what is my best date with a girl?
For me, Brian, because my best date is I'm not even thinking about time.
And it just becomes almost like a biochemical event.
It's just things are evolving.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
brian grazer
And I felt like I could do this with many Nobel laureates, with Sheldon Glasgow, who converted the four forces of nature to three.
And I brought his name up because, well, first of all, I knew that your show, you could do whatever you want.
And with Sheldon Glasgow, it's like I usually do an hour or two hours, but I hung out with this guy, shut up my whole day down for six hours.
joe rogan
Wow.
brian grazer
Just because I was so captivated by him and he talked about multiple subjects.
So basically, I'm always got somebody that I'm really wanting to meet and it takes a year at least.
Or sometimes years.
joe rogan
To organize this.
brian grazer
To get them to say yes or to be in the same city or be willing to say yes and me fly to New York or some other place.
joe rogan
It sounds like you have figured out the benefit that I've experienced from having podcasts and having these kind of conversations, one-on-one conversations, but you did it Just for your own personal edification.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's kind of amazing.
I have gotten more out of talking to people like this, and it made me grow more as a person and made me understand more about communication and how to talk to people than anything I've ever done in my whole life.
Because you don't normally have this completely unfiltered.
It's one of the reasons why I like headsets as well, because it locks you in.
It's like your volume of you talking is the same level in my ears as it is in your ears.
We're all on this one.
It's not like there's distance between us.
We're in each other's ears.
And we're talking...
There's no phones.
There's no nothing.
We're sitting across from each other.
How would I ever organize this?
I thought about that with so many different people that I've had a chance to talk to.
Like, how would I ever get Sean Carroll, the astrophysicist, to sit down and just talk to me for three hours?
unidentified
You had to captivate him.
joe rogan
I would never get him to do that.
brian grazer
No.
joe rogan
I would never get him to, hey, let's put headphones on and you just tell me about stuff.
Explain to me.
No one would ever do that.
But because of this thing called a podcast, because I can share it with all the other people that are listening, I've had this chance to have these kind of conversations.
And it sounds like you've done the same thing, but without an audience.
unidentified
Exactly.
joe rogan
That's really brilliant.
It's a brilliant way that you figured out that this is a great way to expand your own understanding of people by being one-on-one with these brilliant folks.
brian grazer
Yes, exactly.
And maybe you do this too, but I've found...
I mean, I do meet a lot of people.
I reach out to meet people that are, you know, expert at many different things that I don't do, of course.
But sometimes I just, I become really motivated just to meet somebody because they're so uniquely committed to something.
unidentified
They're so obsessed.
brian grazer
And I've even found that I've learned a lot from Uber drivers and baristas and stuff where I But I do reach out to meet people that have really committed to a really intense journey and often have triumphed in it.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's very contagious.
unidentified
Yeah, it is.
joe rogan
The kind of energy that those people exude.
brian grazer
Yeah.
It is.
It's inspirational too, isn't it?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
Because like even, who was it, Josh, you might know this guy, Josh Waitnick.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Okay, the guy that was the subject of searching for Bobby Fischer.
joe rogan
Yeah, the chess master.
brian grazer
The chess master who now is like a martial art.
unidentified
Jiu-jitsu martial.
brian grazer
Exactly.
And he was able to like succeed in both templates or formats.
joe rogan
Yeah, did we say his last name right?
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Waitkins?
Is that it?
brian grazer
I thought it was Wait...
joe rogan
I don't know.
brian grazer
Waitnik?
unidentified
Waitnik?
joe rogan
He's a student under Marcelo Garcia.
brian grazer
Exactly!
joe rogan
Yeah, one of the greatest Jiu-Jitsu masters of all time.
brian grazer
That's right.
He's very proud of that.
joe rogan
He should be.
He's amazing.
Yeah, he's excellent.
And Josh is, yeah, weight skin.
brian grazer
Oh, weight skin.
You have it right.
Thank you very much.
joe rogan
I want to get it right.
But a brilliant, brilliant guy.
He is.
And he's amazing on, have you ever heard him on Tim Ferriss' podcast?
brian grazer
I did.
joe rogan
Excellent.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Excellent episode.
I think he's done more than one episode, in fact.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
So, your experience with him, what were you saying?
brian grazer
No, I just thought like this guy, he's so committed to excellence.
And it made me, like as you were just saying, made me think about that as a premise, like just complete commitment to excellence.
Because I don't really think of it, you know, these sort of creative puzzles that way.
A creative puzzle would be like a movie or a TV show or a documentary.
I could go on.
Jay-Z asked me because I knew Jay-Z because he was very obsessed with wanting to do the soundtrack to a movie called American Gangster, which I produced.
joe rogan
Great movie.
Love that movie.
unidentified
Did you think?
joe rogan
Loved it.
brian grazer
Oh, great.
Thanks.
I like that one a lot, too.
And I said, as impressed as I am with Jay-Z and his level of mastery himself, I said, look, we've already done the entire score.
I mean, you can't do it.
It's been done.
He said, well, look, I feel a kinship to Frank Lucas who was played by Denzel Washington.
He ends up being a drug dealer, like the biggest heroin dealer in America at the time and head of like his own mafia that he creates.
So anyway, the bottom line is – He feels this kinship to him.
He wants to do this.
He's very dedicated.
I say, it's already done as much as, you know, superstar you are and how great you are.
And he said, look, I will do a second album.
I don't have to be the primary album that's on the screen.
I'll do a second album.
And I said, but I only have three weeks.
He goes, I will do the whole thing in three weeks.
And he did it.
And I went and saw him.
He did the singing.
He did the writing.
He engineered it.
He did every single thing.
So the guy that's the king of hip-hop, he goes to work.
And I was really blown away because he still has that grit in him.
And And it turned out to be, like, for real hip-hop lovers, they really like this album.
I guess it was...
joe rogan
Everybody loves everything he does, though.
When was the last time Jay-Z put out something that was shit?
brian grazer
He doesn't really, yeah.
He's kind of brilliant, actually.
He's a brilliant marketer.
He says things that are very insightful.
So he wanted to do – after that, we got to know each other and then he said, hey, I'm going to do a festival, a festival with 22 different artists and all different types.
And it's going to be in Love Park and it's called – we're calling it Made in America.
Would you produce it?
And I said, yeah.
And I knew that Ron Howard could get a chance at directing it.
And I thought it'd be really good for Ron to be around Jay-Z. That's a good thing for him.
He's got a good aura and the right one for Ron.
And I thought, well, so we joined him.
I said, what is this about?
What's the premise?
And he said, it's about democratization of music itself.
There's no record stores anymore.
And the walls are down.
There's a crossover between hip-hop and trance music and all that stuff.
And I thought that was kind of cool.
And then I said, have you ever seen this movie called...
Because it didn't have a story, this concert.
Did you ever see Amadeus?
He goes, I've never seen Amadeus.
And I said, well, it's about genius.
And he asked about it and he goes, that's what the premise of this will be.
And he immediately thought, had this idea that it should be every artist, every human being has a little bit of genius in them.
And he made it very relatable.
And that became the thesis Of what this documentary became, and he only had that like a week before we were shooting.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
So it was kind of remarkable.
joe rogan
That's pretty remarkable.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So you've been doing this for 35 years and you haven't recorded any of these conversations you've had with people?
brian grazer
Okay.
In the last 10 years, I've recorded some.
And sometimes I do FaceTimes, and they allow me to, like Admiral William McRaven, who I really wanted to meet, you know, the Navy SEAL that created SEAL Team 6 and just recently sort of – doesn't speak out publicly, but had a point of view about the president and the whole Oval Office and stuff like that.
And he's a really amazing guy.
But I said, can I FaceTime you?
Because that was the only way.
So if somebody can't meet with me, I now say, would you Skype with me or FaceTime?
At the time I started, the tool didn't exist.
joe rogan
Right.
So you would fly to them?
brian grazer
I'd fly to them.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That's so amazing that you've had this commitment to do this.
brian grazer
Yeah, I do.
I feel it's a really...
It's important to my life, and it's like a hobby that you're completely committed to doing.
And for me, I'm a person that gets better.
I can get better all the time.
I'm open every minute of every day for self-improvement.
Like if you said, Brian, did you think...
If you gave me a note about...
This experience or something.
And you said, you know, you'd probably be better if you did it this way.
If I could integrate it or assimilate it, I would then do it.
joe rogan
Good for you.
That's a beautiful attitude.
brian grazer
Well, I know how fallible I am.
joe rogan
We all.
All of us.
If you're human.
brian grazer
If you think, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's part of being us.
brian grazer
Yeah.
So you embrace that yourself, too.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, you have to.
Constantly seeking self-improvement.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The big problem is holding yourself prisoner to the mistakes of the past.
Don't do that.
And just constantly looking to get better at anything you're trying to do.
And I think having these kind of conversations like you're talking about will make you a better, more thoughtful person, too.
brian grazer
Yes.
joe rogan
Because it gives you a level of communication with human beings that it's very rare.
In this world, it's very rare that you get to sit down across from someone.
And sometimes I have these conversations with people where there's no one around.
Like, you know, the back bar at the Comedy Store.
Sitting down with a buddy and we'll just sit there.
No one's around.
He and I will just shoot the shit for an hour and a half, two hours.
No one around.
Just talking.
And those are rare moments where you're not distracted.
Where you could just talk about things, you have ideas, and someone brings something up and you consider it, and then you add your own thing and they consider that, and then you just go back and forth and you get a better understanding of each other.
brian grazer
Yeah, I agree with you.
It's amazing that you're able to do it and get away with it.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
I mean, see, we're both sounds like open-minded to – as long as we're kind of disrupting our comfort zone, I think, and being open-minded to that, you're then being open-minded to, like, the value of human error.
joe rogan
Yes, yes.
Oh, yeah, the value of human error.
That's a great way of putting it.
brian grazer
Because sometimes some of the – it's not exactly human error, but human error for sure, but it's often the thing you failed at or the ugly thing that happened that sticks in your head and makes a difference in your life, makes you better.
joe rogan
Fuel for improvement.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, the feeling that you get when you fail at things is very valuable.
Because even though it sucks and it feels terrible, it does force you to sort of recommit and reconsider.
First of all, reconsider the consequences for failure, the feeling that you get when things don't go well, which is a terrible feeling.
And then it also makes you aware of the commitment that's necessary to not fail, to do well at things.
brian grazer
Yes, exactly.
It's enlightening.
joe rogan
Sure, yeah.
brian grazer
Because sometimes you think that's as far as – even if you feel like you've accrued all the facts, you've been able – sometimes you don't know that there's that – going back to Josh, there's this extra level of excellence that exists there.
There's still more room to go and you realize, oh, I could fill in those inches.
They can be filled in.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, something like what he did, chess and also jiu-jitsu, there's so many levels to it.
It's such a multifaceted discipline.
There's so many different possible moves with both activities, chess and jiu-jitsu.
And jiu-jitsu, there's the physical element as well, which is a big part of it.
physical fitness and then also mental conditioning and your ability to stay on task even though your body is physically exhausted and then the discipline to make sure that your body is conditioned so that it doesn't get physically exhausted as quickly or as easily right yeah I mean but there that's a very intellectual discipline that people don't consider they think of physical things as being like meathead things or grunt things right
But there's actually a lot of mental stress and strength that's involved in discipline that you need to have in order to get your body into a position where it can perform like Josh's can on the mats.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's very, very hard mentally to do that because you have to have all these battles where you want to quit, you want to give up early, you want to take a break, you want to rest, you don't want to go today, but you know you should.
You know, all those things must be overcome in order to achieve the level of excellence that he's achieved.
brian grazer
Yeah, and probably because you've done this yourself, so you know what that feels like when you said you don't want to get exhausted or get tired.
That probably takes a tremendous amount of focus because you get exhausted when you're nervous, right?
Because your heart beats faster, you breathe less air, blah, blah, blah.
That's when...
In surfing or something, that's when you can choke.
joe rogan
Sure, yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
That's when you run out of air because you're so nervous and you're scrambling around.
But it's the guys that are relaxed.
Like outside, you have Laird Hamilton.
He's so trained to be able to be under the water for I don't know how long he can do it.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's very, very accustomed to that kind of environment.
brian grazer
And it doesn't freak him out.
He goes, okay, there's a very good chance.
I'm going to get caught in the impact zone.
I'm going to be taken under.
And he doesn't freak out.
If he freaked out...
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, that's his business.
brian grazer
His life and death, yeah.
joe rogan
His business is riding the biggest waves.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, you've got to be able to keep it together when that water wall comes crashing down at your head.
unidentified
Yeah.
brian grazer
So I have to imagine it's a different thing, but in jujitsu or fighting that you've done, which I think you still do jujitsu, correct?
Mm-hmm.
Those things, those factors, they're just different environments.
joe rogan
You don't necessarily get nervous with jiu-jitsu that much, unless you're in a competition, but what you do get is exhausted.
It's very physically demanding.
brian grazer
Yeah, I bet.
joe rogan
You get very, very tired, and you really should be...
The more conditioned you are physically, like the more strength and conditioning routines you go through, the more your body is in shape, the more you can perform.
It's sort of like...
Racing, right, with a race car, but you can actually add horsepower to the race car through discipline, and you can add better tires, and you can add a more supple suspension through thought and activity.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah, through yoga and different kinds of training.
It's like, you know, like you're involved in this thing that's a physical thing, but it's also a mental thing.
brian grazer
In racing.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
brian grazer
In what?
joe rogan
In jiu-jitsu.
brian grazer
In jiu-jitsu, yes.
joe rogan
Your body is the race car, right?
unidentified
Yes, got it.
brian grazer
Sorry.
joe rogan
But through strength and conditioning, you could actually add tires.
You could actually add a bigger engine.
brian grazer
Yeah, I get it.
joe rogan
It could do more.
brian grazer
Yeah, that makes so much sense.
joe rogan
Yeah, and through repetitive drills, you actually can hone your neuromuscular system to the point where these grooves are cut, so you know exactly how to turn and how to move when you're moving, and you're doing jujitsu, and everything sort of goes and flows automatically, and that requires extreme amounts of discipline.
brian grazer
Yeah, I bet.
I bet, yeah.
I'm just imagining it as you say it.
Because I don't know that much about jiu-jitsu.
I've gone to some fights with a friend of mine, Ari Emanuel.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
brian grazer
Owns the UFC. The UFC guy, yeah.
So he's a really good friend, and my daughter's obsessed with...
She's obsessed with martial arts, jiu-jitsu.
She trains.
It's not what she does for a living, but she trains, and she loves the community of people.
She got injured, pretty seriously injured, and then she didn't want to be indulgent.
But I said, look, just I'll pay for you to start back early, and you can just do one-on-ones, because she didn't want to...
joe rogan
How'd she injure herself?
brian grazer
She got, like, choked off from the back.
I don't know how that...
Her neck?
Yeah, it created a stroke in her...
unidentified
Whoa!
brian grazer
Yeah.
Multiple strokes in her brain, but it didn't affect any part of her intellectual capacity.
But it was really pretty – it was very serious.
joe rogan
So she got caught in a rear naked choke.
brian grazer
Yeah, that's right.
unidentified
Yes.
brian grazer
I will email you exactly what happened to her.
joe rogan
Please do.
brian grazer
But she got through it.
joe rogan
And went back to training again.
brian grazer
She goes back to training.
She is.
On my phone, I'll show it to you later.
joe rogan
You would think multiple strokes.
I'd be like, all right, that's a wrap.
We tried that.
brian grazer
She just loves it.
And she now, you know, people are a little, she does one-on-one, so they don't do that move.
Whatever that move would be.
Again, I'll get all the information.
And just for your own curiosity, I'll send it to you.
But she's back in it.
She loves it.
She's fully recovered?
She's fully recovered.
joe rogan
Did it have any effect on it?
brian grazer
She had a little nerve damage which – honestly, she had a little nerve damage that is now in her foot.
So periodically – Her foot will become completely black and blue.
But she'll get through it because she's really strong mentally.
She wasn't always that way, but my wife and I have sort of helped her with tough love, like, you can do it, you know, that kind of a stuff.
joe rogan
Sure.
brian grazer
um because she's she's uh she's a therapist she's a you know she's a psycho her name is sage grazer on the joe rogan show i mean everyone loves their kids right sure um and so that's so that's what she does she's an actual therapist with with you know like patients well i'm glad to hear that she recovered from that i've never heard of anybody having a stroke from that before that must be terrifying Yeah, it was.
joe rogan
So back to these conversations that you've had over these 35 years, the ones that you've recorded, what have you done with them?
You're holding on to them?
brian grazer
I just keep them.
joe rogan
People get so mad at me because I tell everybody they should do a podcast.
How mad do people get at me?
Because I think so many people can.
But you definitely should.
brian grazer
Well, I should because I like doing this so much.
I just, I really, probably like you, I'm just super interested in people.
joe rogan
Yes.
Well, curious.
brian grazer
I'm really curious.
joe rogan
Part of the title of your book.
brian grazer
Yeah.
So that was, so Curious Mind, I realized that, geez, I've done 35 years of these.
At that time, I might have been 30. And My kids, my four kids don't really know what I'm doing.
You know, like I'm really spending a lot of time hustling to get Edward Teller to meet me.
It took a year and a half, two years.
Or Daryl Gates.
It was the craziest meeting of all time.
Daryl Gates.
joe rogan
The L.A. police chief.
Wow.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Well, how was that the craziest one of all time?
brian grazer
Okay, I'll give it to you very quick.
I'll give it to you.
Okay, so I really thought this guy, he's one of the most well-known and most accomplished police chiefs in America.
I think there were three of them, and he was one of the three in a century.
And then Daryl Gates, I knew, was one of the fundamental curator of SWAT. Which was bringing paramilitary tactics to the LA Police Department.
He started out as a bright-eyed, strong-minded, clean-cut guy working for the police department.
And because he was sharp, he was the driver to the police chief, which was Chief Parker.
And then Chief Parker, L.A., there was a riot called the Watts Riot.
Not the L.A. riots, but the Watts Riot.
And the police went in, and they were not qualified to be in that situation.
And they kind of failed at – they felt they failed at it.
And Daryl Gates was like by the chief's side the entire time.
And he kind of vowed to himself, I'm not going to let that happen again.
And when he had the opportunity, because he became later police chief, not much later, became police chief of Los Angeles Police Department, he instituted SWAT and other, you know, paramilitary tactics and a mind discipline that was pretty, you know, was like creating, you know, like martial law, people would argue.
And then we went – that kind of produced an environment that I think many think and I think myself helped – an environment that caused the LA riots because there was a lot of inequity, I think, human inequity felt.
I know I'm getting this kind of political.
And you should tell me what your point of view, please.
joe rogan
On the LA riots?
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, I moved here after that.
So I wasn't here while that was going down.
brian grazer
Right.
It was pretty intense.
joe rogan
Yeah, and the LA riots were a direct response to the Rodney King trial.
brian grazer
Yes, exactly.
joe rogan
And yeah, that was a crazy time.
I mean, the reaction, first of all, the reaction to the video, the video was horrible, watching Rodney King getting beaten like that.
Then you also heard that they had been on a high-speed pursuit.
And that there was more to that video.
Like that was the end of their altercation.
Apparently there's much more physical altercation before that video.
And maybe if someone saw the full thing, they would understand, well, okay, you're dealing with a wild person who's on PCP and these cops are doing everything they can to detain him.
But there's a distrust of the police in these communities in the first place because they had seen so much police brutality.
So that reaction, that riot, was not just because of that one situation.
It was an accumulation of different events and different interactions that people had had with abusive police officers.
brian grazer
It was a boiling pot.
Sure.
joe rogan
And then the whole Rampart unit, and there was so much corruption.
There was a lot of shit going down during that time.
So all that just...
All of it exploded.
brian grazer
Exploded.
And so the thing about this story, I got a meeting with Daryl Gates.
It was 10 months on the book.
10 months.
joe rogan
Wow.
brian grazer
Ironically, the day of my meeting with him was the day of the L.A. riots.
So I thought, and it already happened, 2,000 buildings on fire and everything, and my office gets a phone call from Daryl Gates' office confirming my meeting with him.
I'm thinking, oh my god!
Parker Center is under siege.
It's like the whole city is under siege.
He still wanted to keep the meeting, a meeting that was on the books for 10 months.
I thought, that's really crazy.
So I went down.
I had a guy drive me, and I went down, and they zigzagged through like a security...
Clearance thing where no other cars could get through that was really bizarre, you know, like we see this now often.
But they initiated this kind of maze that the car would go through.
I get to the front door.
A couple of police chiefs – police officers – Escort me in.
They put me in a room.
I joke, they didn't give me a cavity search, but just about everything but.
You know, took my clothes off, did everything.
joe rogan
Did they really?
brian grazer
Yeah, I did.
joe rogan
Why did they think that you, a guy who makes movies, that you would go rogue?
brian grazer
No, I know.
Like that, there's no evidence for sure.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
brian grazer
So, and then I got upstairs, and he is sitting so calmly.
He'd already ordered two tuna fish sandwiches.
Very, you know, very utilitarian, the sandwiches.
And we had the potato chips, and he said, you want an iced tea?
I couldn't even swallow.
I couldn't eat my food, because it was...
I was so shocked by the whole thing that he had so much, he was impervious to everything that was going down and the city council was on his TV and on the TV out there and, you know, guys, police officers were running and go, Chief, you're on TV right now!
And they're yelling and he goes, he says to me and to them, ah, this is nothing, they'll never get me out of here.
He had so much hubris.
It was amazing.
And I thought, and he's so calm about it.
And of course, they did get him out.
I think the next day, actually, because the city council was really – had very liberal guys on that board, people on that board, rather.
And it's a long, insane story.
But I had my meeting, my lunch meeting.
joe rogan
How long was the meeting?
unidentified
Yeah.
brian grazer
Normal, like an hour.
It was a full hour.
joe rogan
So you just have lunch and just pick his brain and talk to him?
brian grazer
Yeah, just have lunch and ask questions and try to not be nervous or upset about what's going on in the environment and the TVs flashing archival footage that they'd shot days before or the day of and buildings on fire and the Korean shop, market, somebody getting killed and all that stuff they were showing on television.
And he was just kind of matter of fact.
Like, this is just what's going down.
It'll just pass.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
I know.
It was crazy.
joe rogan
Well, it sounds like someone designed for the job.
brian grazer
So I couldn't record that one.
joe rogan
Yeah, obviously.
brian grazer
So anyway, I did think that my kids should know about all this stuff.
And actually, Charlie Rose, of all people, said, you should write a book.
And so it got on my mind and I mentioned it to a couple people and they said, oh yeah, you should write a book.
And so then I thought, okay, I'll write a book because I'm going to write notes on this anyway, these 35 years for my kids so that when I pass, they'll know this was a very big part of my life, beyond my career, but my life.
And so that's what the first book is about.
It synthesizes many of the important one-on-one conversations I had over the 30 years.
And then it connects the synthesis of those stories to narrative storytelling.
For example, in 1984, I met Sting, you know, the lead singer of The Police.
Because I thought, wow, he'd be fascinating to meet because he was like a school teacher in England, and now he's like a rock star?
I just thought that's kind of an interesting transition, like one of the biggest rock stars.
So I meet him, I get him to say yes.
It wasn't horribly hard.
And then a year after I met with him, He calls up in 1985 and he says, I'm having a barbecue at my house.
I think some interesting people will be here.
And that was right after the Amnesty tour.
And he took a woman named Veronica DeNegre in 1985, along with other superstars.
She wasn't a superstar.
She was held in a Chilean prison and tortured every single day of her life for 18 months.
And she went on the Amnesty tour only for a few days as evidence of somebody that can survive, you know, like she was hopeful, you know, still.
Like most people don't survive torture either from the torture itself or they – sadly, they commit suicide because there's just so much trauma, so much PTSD. So it's just – so she survives.
I meet her and I say, how do you survive?
And she tells me that while she's being, she creates a story that she's living in the entire time.
So there's reality, and then there's an alternate reality.
The alternate reality is the story that she creates, that she can live in, that alleviates some of the pain and the unpredictable pain of torture.
So now, that's pretty fascinating to me, and I really sat with those insights.
Now, many things happened after that that I was able to use that.
Like I became, when I was stuck on A Beautiful Mind because it wasn't cinematic, I thought, well, how can I make it cinematic?
And I thought, Veronica denigrate.
She lived in an alternate reality.
Well, that's exactly, involuntarily, what a schizophrenic has to do.
They live in alternate realities.
So in the movie A Beautiful Mind, to make it really compelling, We started in an alternate reality and made it a thriller and realized, oh my god, there's this epiphany and you realize that was not even reality, right?
And that's what blew people's minds and that's why the movie kind of worked because it drew you in so deeply into this character that it became like this subjective experience that every audience, every audience member could feel like the pain of that and the insanity of what that must feel like.
joe rogan
That was another brilliant movie.
brian grazer
Oh, thank you.
joe rogan
I love that movie.
When you say make it cinematic, what do you mean by that exactly?
brian grazer
Well, Ron and I realized that Ron Howard, who directed it, won an Oscar, and we realized that in order to make it really interesting, you have to see – you have to understand the mind of a schizophrenic.
So, therefore, you have to see somebody's mind.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
brian grazer
How do you see somebody's mind other than just graphically, you know, or, you know, like through graphic design?
And we thought that's not very interesting, you know, like the insertion of graphic design or voiceover narration, that makes it kind of a documentary.
So, but we thought, like, but if you could have an entire story Kind of with the military and paranoia and all that.
That's exactly one of the dimensions or realities of a schizophrenic's mind.
So you get to film it with other actors and other people.
And that's why I mean when I say cinematic.
So basically when you're seeing the 25 minutes of living in this alternate reality with Ed Harris and all that stuff, craziness...
It blows your mind as an audience and then you reflect later like, wow, that wasn't even real and wow, is that guy really going to come back?
You make it seamlessly cinematic with the rest of the narrative of him trying to cope with schizophrenia itself.
It becomes the merging of an alternate reality and actual reality.
And the actual reality is when he's – you watch him in that level of pain and just trying to survive, like cope with meds and the wife.
And then we found the way to make it – You know, kind of worked triumphantly because it was love that was the most powerful force.
It was that one person decided to stay with this other one person.
The wife, Alicia, stayed with John Nash.
joe rogan
That's so interesting that you pulled that from that woman's experience.
unidentified
I did.
joe rogan
Surviving torture.
brian grazer
I credit her for that.
Wow.
Always because she – yeah.
So that's – so I found that all of these insights that we're referring to, the ones that you have when you're just getting off stage and you realize, wow, I could talk to my buddies or this new guy for a minute.
Those random moments that you get to talk to somebody can often produce a story or an insight, an emotional insight that you can transport to something else.
I found that all these conversations that I was having...
We're like, kind of like I see these stars behind you.
They were like stars or a constellation of dots, you know, and that you just have faith that they somehow inform you and make you better and smarter and that they connect someday.
joe rogan
Well, it's so insightful that you look at these conversations that way.
Because, I mean, I really have felt that effect on me personally over the years doing this.
But the fact that you've like sought it out just as an education, just as something that expands you.
Because we really are a combination or an accumulation of all of our experiences.
And the more experiences you can have, even if it doesn't feel tangible in that moment, it broadens your perspective.
It broadens who you are.
brian grazer
Well, I think for you as well, because you still do stand-up.
We were talking about that some of the works in my office saw you the other night, and you remembered who she was.
She goes, he won't remember me.
And you did.
joe rogan
She used to be on Kill Tony.
Kill Tony is a great podcast that my friend Brian Redman and Tony Hinchcliffe do.
And this podcast involves comedians going up and doing one minute of material in front of these professional comics.
And the professional comics either say, hey, that was great, or they shit all over it, or everybody makes fun, there's a band, there's a bunch of chaos, and it's all done in front of a live crowd.
And Vanessa was on it for quite a while.
brian grazer
Wow.
Oh, that's good.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
brian grazer
She tries hard.
I know that.
joe rogan
It's a hard business.
brian grazer
But as I was saying, when I watch you do stand-up, because I made a point to catch up on it, you're really, really good.
I'm watching you tell comedic stories.
You make them comedic.
And I think I can tell, and you tell me if I'm wrong, that sometimes you don't know all the answers to that story.
And I see that you're grabbing things that lived in – that you – experiences or insights that lived in the environment that you have or had.
Because I watched – A couple of scenes very closely, and I know you didn't have it figured out, and you got the bigger laugh from the thing that you pulled from some place, I thought.
Or you're just a really good actor.
joe rogan
There's a little bit of recreating that when you're doing that in stand-up, but...
Oftentimes, it's a combination of all those things.
It's a combination of actually improvising in the moment and figuring it out in the moment and then figuring it out in the moment and recreating it again and recreating it again the same way you did before.
But being in the moment and being able to bring it into someone's attention...
As if you're recreating it or give them the feeling that it's being recreated so that they can experience it.
That's what stand-up is.
There's revelations that you repeat.
And then I'm like, wait!
What the fuck is that about?
But you have to be able to recreate that over and over and over again.
brian grazer
Like a beginner's mind.
Like it's brand new for you.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
You're thinking for the people.
brian grazer
Of course, yes.
joe rogan
Say if you go to see a great comic like Bill Burr, right?
And you're sitting in the audience and Bill's on stage.
You're allowing him to think for you in a way.
Like he's taking you on a journey.
So it has to be...
brian grazer
He's pointing left and right, and now we're going straight.
joe rogan
And you're just going along with it.
Like, this is the ride.
I'm letting him take over the reins of my attention and my mind.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, so there's a craft to that.
brian grazer
Yeah, you're the passenger.
He's the driver in the Formula One car.
joe rogan
Yes, yes.
And so any great comic, whether it's Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle or whoever it is, when they're on stage and they're killing, you are allowing them to think for you.
brian grazer
Oh, that's interesting.
joe rogan
I love it.
So they're trying to take you on an organic journey of understanding whatever the fuck they're talking about and explaining it to you in a way that's going to resonate.
Like, this is how you would notice it.
And I'm like, hold up.
Who the fuck brought the baby?
And then that kind of stuff is like in that moment, it has to feel like you're really realizing that somebody brought a fucking baby to a gun range or whatever it is, whatever you're joking around about.
brian grazer
That's funny.
joe rogan
Right.
brian grazer
That's interesting.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
So it is – these conversations are really kind of valuable on so many levels.
Yeah.
They're not like – like sometimes people will go – People sometimes just want to get to the end.
Like, how do I make the money?
But the journey is really valuable.
joe rogan
Sure.
There's a lot of people that get into podcasts specifically because of that.
They think there's money in podcasts.
Like, how do you make money in podcasts?
I've had that conversation.
I'm like, well, make a good podcast that people like.
Yeah.
It's kind of simple.
And the best way to do that is to actually enjoy doing podcasts.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
That's really the best way.
And then people are like, oh, that sounds like a lot of work.
It does.
You also have to do it over a long enough period of time where people, you know, like one person tells another person.
One thing that I've never done with this podcast, I've never advertised it in the sense that I never did I did anything to make it grow.
I just did it.
I just kept doing it.
I never did anything.
I never took out ads.
I never went on shows to promote it.
I never did anything to promote it.
I just did it.
And I did that on purpose.
Because I wanted to never have any thought at all about growing it.
I only wanted to think about doing the best that I can.
brian grazer
Right.
joe rogan
And then it just became what it is.
brian grazer
Not make it a commercial experience.
joe rogan
It became that.
It became that.
But even while it's become that, I haven't changed.
I've changed how I do it because I got better at it and because I became a different person as I've grown up.
I've gone through my own personal evolution, but I don't change my thought on it, which is just do it.
Just enjoy it and do it and do the best I can and try, whoever I'm talking to, try to connect with them.
And some people like you, I'm connecting with really easily.
unidentified
It's fine.
joe rogan
It's great.
I enjoy this conversation.
It's great.
It's easy.
But then some people, it's like a little bit of pulling teeth.
Some people, it's harder.
You're doing heavy lifting.
brian grazer
Yes, for sure.
joe rogan
But it's still enjoyable, all of it.
It's still like when it's heavy lifting, it's like, oh, okay, how do I solve this problem?
brian grazer
Yeah, I totally know what you're talking about.
I had this female rapper at my house, like really a big – and I'm good at like creating conversation.
It was almost impossible.
unidentified
Yeah.
brian grazer
At least you recorded that one.
I was freaking out.
Oh my god.
joe rogan
I'd like to hear that one.
brian grazer
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
How long did it last?
Oh, finally?
You hit something?
brian grazer
No, finally I hit something.
unidentified
Finally...
joe rogan
Two things.
brian grazer
One thing was she liked to talk about This is going to reveal who it is.
And I ended up liking her so much.
She liked talking about stripping and prostitution.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
I know who that is.
brian grazer
And pimps.
And she's got a master's class on this.
unidentified
Oh, sure.
brian grazer
She's a genius.
Okay.
So that she could do, but it took a long time to get there.
Like really a lot of, very polite to me, but kind of looking around a lot.
joe rogan
Uncomfortable with you.
brian grazer
Well, we weren't relating to each other.
joe rogan
She's very street.
brian grazer
And then when she hit it, yes.
I thought it was really funny in how she diagnosed the street, that thing.
Wow, she's like a scientist in this area.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Well, a lot of hustlers are.
A lot of people that are hustling.
brian grazer
So she was really good.
And then she and her husband decided they're really interested in some art that I had on the wall.
And that produced more interest and more art.
And then they wanted to know, like, why is this worth so much money?
How's pricing work?
I say, well, dealers.
You go, what do you mean by dealers?
I go, what's a dealer?
So I explained what dealers were, like Larry Gagosian, kind of sets the market.
What does that mean?
And then they were fairly interested in that.
joe rogan
Wow.
brian grazer
So then it got to be kind of longer, and then I had to go someplace.
joe rogan
But it worked out.
brian grazer
But it worked out really well.
And so, to your point, it was really, really hard to figure out this puzzle.
And then I accidented upon a way to crack that puzzle, and that was really gratifying.
And it was good enough that I'm talking about it on your show, so it was memorable, for sure.
joe rogan
So it elevated your people skills.
Yeah, it did.
You added another facet to your game.
brian grazer
I did.
Yes, I did.
joe rogan
And you learned about pimps and hoes.
unidentified
I did.
joe rogan
A little bit.
brian grazer
And pricing.
I learned pricing on that field, you know?
joe rogan
In that field.
In that field.
It is a field.
It's just a suppressed field.
brian grazer
She was really mad about the idea of a pimp.
Like, why would anyone give a pimp money?
joe rogan
I understand that.
brian grazer
I don't get it.
joe rogan
I guess protection, right?
brian grazer
I guess she wasn't acknowledging that as protection.
But she's pretty sharp.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So there's that.
And so the other book I wrote, because this kind of ties in.
This is kind of interesting, because you asked, actually.
So what happened is In my house, there was a new person that started working on our – like our staff at home kind of thing.
And like working on the house staff kind of thing.
I don't have like – I'm not like butlers.
joe rogan
I'm not going to – I'm not – What do you mean by house staff?
brian grazer
Just like we have people that are housekeepers that either cook or they clean or they – but it's a team.
I have a team.
joe rogan
Okay.
brian grazer
There's a team.
But I don't want to mislead you and make you think like I'm living in – it's not insane.
joe rogan
This is what I'm picturing.
I'm picturing a dude with a napkin hanging.
brian grazer
No, no, no, no, no, no.
joe rogan
Mr. Grazer.
brian grazer
That's what I don't know.
Please don't.
Yeah, it's not that.
I'm glad that you pointed that out.
joe rogan
And that he gives you your top hat.
unidentified
No, no, yeah, yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
Top hat and gets my tux ready every night.
joe rogan
You get into the Rolls Royce and they throw rose petals at your feet.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
Thirst and howl.
Yeah, no, it's not that.
It's just like an organized place.
joe rogan
I get it.
You're balling.
It's all good.
brian grazer
Something.
And so apparently she'd worked there.
That's funny.
So apparently she worked at our house for like almost three months.
And my wife, she says to my wife, I really like Brian a lot.
And my wife said, well, have you talked to him much?
She said, well, I haven't talked to him very much, but every time he speaks to me, He always looks me directly in my eyes and it makes me feel like a human being.
And I thought of the simplicity of that.
I thought, wow!
Just by looking at somebody directly in the eyes, not looking behind them or just looking at them, it immediately is an equalizer.
It says we're both equal.
We're both species on this planet, the same species on this planet.
And it makes me feel like a human being.
It gives me dignity.
And then I thought, that's pretty powerful.
I mean, this is only like two years ago.
And then I retrofitted back all of those conversations I was alluding to, like 35 years of every week a curiosity conversation.
And I thought, well, the only reason these conversations were good is I must have been really looking at these people in the eyes and we were really dialed in.
Otherwise, they wouldn't share these private things or these insights.
They wouldn't share their heart with me.
If they didn't feel I was present with them.
And so that became kind of the thesis of this book and that's why it's just called Face to Face the Art of Human Connection.
Because then I set all of this I thought to myself, we're living right now in the loneliest time in our generation.
It's like an epidemic of loneliness.
joe rogan
Is it?
brian grazer
It is, actually.
All statistics point, millennials will admit that One quarter of them will admit that they're incredibly lonely, like where they can't almost cope with their loneliness.
joe rogan
Do you think that's digital lives?
brian grazer
I think it's digital lives for sure, because they're not even used to talking now, because everything is a text.
And you know with kids, and I have a 16-year-old kid who just turned 16, they text each other when they're in the same room.
They're sitting there watching Netflix, and they're texting each other like, who are you texting?
Johnny.
Johnny's right there.
He's right on the couch.
Just talk to him.
He's right there.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
That's weird.
It's weird.
And this dating, that's why these kids, they just ghost girls or ghost guys, just vaporize because they don't have feelings.
They don't...
When you don't talk to people because you're really out there.
You're feeling people all the time.
When you feel people, you have empathy.
You feel their feelings, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, for sure.
brian grazer
And when you feel people's feelings, you try not to hurt their feelings.
joe rogan
Yeah, when you're actually in the presence of them instead of digitally.
brian grazer
And when you feel people's feelings and you meet them and demystify whatever you think you heard about them, you tend to like them more for the most part and you tend to love as opposed to have war.
So it really is important in our lives from multiple levels, like just looking at people and going out of your way to connect.
joe rogan
Yeah.
No, I agree.
brian grazer
So that's what this book's about, basically.
joe rogan
And doing that reaffirms it in yourself.
brian grazer
It does.
Exactly.
It reaffirms it in myself.
Because, right, it's like a tool.
You're right.
Exactly.
You get it.
Beyond get it.
But it's like, I learn off of it every day because I'm not perfect, but I make sure that when I get into elevators, I... I practice what I preach.
I put my phone away.
I don't go in the elevator and just look at my phone.
I look at people.
I'm just cool.
I can relax, you know, chill.
Yeah.
Often, you make people feel better if you're actually looking at them.
joe rogan
For sure.
Yeah, for sure.
The last week, I put a one-hour limit on my phone use.
unidentified
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
Yeah, I put a one-hour limit on whether it's apps per day.
brian grazer
Per day, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, apps, whatever I'm using.
That's a good idea.
And I thought about looking at the phone aimlessly.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
And not.
You know, I've got this thing now that I'm doing where I just grab my phone, and I go, no, no, no, and then I put it away.
Because people are really, really addicted to phones.
brian grazer
They're really addicted.
joe rogan
And you don't realize until you look at that screen time, that reading that you get at the end of the day, and you're like, five hours?
brian grazer
I'm sure I'm in that, maybe four hours.
joe rogan
A lot of us are.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But that digital connection, the connection to you're missing, you're missing this connection to other people.
And also, there's a certain amount of anxiety attached to it where people are constantly checking their social media and checking their emails and their mentions and going back and forth with this and that and looking at this and that.
And it's like you're not in the real world.
You're only living on this little tiny device, this little rectangular device.
It's weird.
brian grazer
Yeah, and it contributes to loneliness and disconnection and...
joe rogan
Unhappiness.
brian grazer
Unhappiness.
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
It does.
joe rogan
And I don't know what the solution is other than abstinence.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Other than putting them away.
brian grazer
Well, at some point, I think we're going...
I have this feeling that the privileged people...
I don't want to say it that way.
I think it could be the most scarce and valued commodity is being present with human beings.
joe rogan
Yes.
brian grazer
And it's like, you know, the cool kids, they do...
They're listening to vinyls, right?
joe rogan
Well, I think the people that are...
Good at it are rare.
The people that, like, what you've done, you've practiced this idea of sitting down and talking to people on a regular basis, looking them in the eye and having meaningful conversations.
You've made a choice.
You've made a concerted effort to do that, and that's not common.
And most people don't have good people skills.
I mean, I've learned how to not interrupt people.
I've learned how to not talk so much.
I've learned how to listen.
I've learned how to interact.
And I've also learned when people are not good at it.
You know, some people, you're talking to them and they're not even listening to you.
They're just waiting for their turn to talk.
brian grazer
Yes.
I have a couple of guys I know that do that.
joe rogan
It's frustrating.
brian grazer
It is frustrating.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Well, because you kind of go, what's the point of this?
joe rogan
Yeah, we're not connected.
brian grazer
We're not connected.
joe rogan
Like we both like.
brian grazer
Or I'm sure you've made people that will ask you three questions basically at the same time.
Like, bam, bam, bam.
And you're trying to answer the first question.
Then you realize, now we're sharp enough to know that they don't really want to know the answer.
joe rogan
Yeah, they might be just on Adderall.
Just firing questions at you.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
What about this?
The sky's blue.
How do I know it's blue for you?
unidentified
What is blue?
brian grazer
I just had lunch with one of my funniest close friends.
His name is Jimmy Iovine.
And he's a music producer.
And he and Dre created this Beats.
And we've known each other, like, I guess 30 years.
We were at this restaurant called...
I won't even say it.
It's a Greek restaurant, Beverly Hills.
And our waiter, Jimmy goes, that dude's on Adderall.
Because he was like...
I mean, like, he just...
I said, it's too much Tony Robbins for me.
He said, no, it's Adderall.
But he was just like, you couldn't finish a sentence.
Or we said, okay, we think we know what we want.
We're going to have the Branzino.
He rattled off like 10 dishes.
We go, we realized we couldn't stop him.
We knew what we – we said what we wanted.
He didn't want to hear it.
He wanted to do the other nine.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So – That's a common thing today.
Incredibly common.
There's a lot of people on speed.
A lot.
And the doctors are just prescribing it.
unidentified
Oh, really?
brian grazer
Actually on speed?
joe rogan
That's what Adderall is.
brian grazer
Yeah, so you think people are really...
That's the thing I don't know that much about that.
joe rogan
It's legal speed.
Adderall is legal speed prescribed by a doctor.
If you went to a doctor right now, if you went to the right doctor and said, I just feel listless, I'm having a hard time connecting, I'm having a hard time getting motivated...
Oh, I got the thing for you, Brian.
brian grazer
Wow.
joe rogan
Here you go.
And then you'd be like, I am organized!
And you know what?
It's about me.
It's about me.
Because Brian's out here fucking kicking ass.
There's a lot of other people that are slacking.
They're all losers.
This guy's a loser.
That guy's a loser.
That is really hilarious.
Isn't that the Adderall mindset?
brian grazer
That is the Adderall mindset.
joe rogan
Adderall Mindsets, it's basically a low-level meth mindset.
It's speed.
It's amphetamines.
brian grazer
Super jacked up.
Like not listening, just talking.
It's almost like assaultive, isn't it?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, you can get productive.
You can get a lot done with that.
But it's just, there's a lack of connection.
brian grazer
Yeah, there is.
joe rogan
A severe lack of empathy.
brian grazer
Sorry.
It's not really real.
joe rogan
No.
Yeah, it's a weird sort of vibe.
brian grazer
I'm going to look for it, and I'm going to prospect for it.
joe rogan
Oh, there's a lot out there.
You'll find it.
It's mining for gold.
unidentified
I didn't realize there's gold in the hills.
brian grazer
That's funny.
joe rogan
You go prospecting for people that have Adderall.
You better have a large cargo to put it in a large train box.
brian grazer
I've got to check it out.
unidentified
It's a lot.
brian grazer
Because I thought it was funny when he said it, and I thought...
And he goes, no, no, this is really true.
Like what you would say to me right now?
He goes, no, no, this guy, he's actually on it.
And I go, really?
And he says, yeah.
How does a guy become that guy?
He literally was on the table.
joe rogan
A lot of writers, a lot of journalists, a lot of people that have deadlines and they have to push and they run out of energy.
A lot of them are on Adderall.
Extremely, extremely common.
Extremely common with very productive people, very ambitious people, business people, people that do a lot of meetings, people that work 12 hours a day, 13 hours a day.
It gives you the energy to do that.
And then they take Ambien to crash.
And there's a double whammy going on.
brian grazer
We know that's not good.
unidentified
No, no, no, no, no.
joe rogan
There's millions and millions of people that are on that stuff.
brian grazer
Do they ever...
If you ever ask somebody on the show, like...
Well, I don't know.
Does anyone ever tell you they're on it?
joe rogan
Yes.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
Like at comedy clubs or on the show?
joe rogan
No, I've had people tell me on the show.
They take Adderall.
I've had people in real life tell me they've taken Adderall.
I mean, I've had people justify it.
I've had people talk about it with a little bit of shame that they would like to not be on it, but they're on it because it helps them be productive and they've got to do what they've got to do.
But the real revelation was I have a friend who's a journalist and he was talking to me about how many journalists are on it.
He's not on it.
I go, how many?
He goes, fucking all of them.
And I'm like, are you serious?
He goes, dude, it would blow your mind.
It would blow your mind how many of them.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Because it's so effective.
brian grazer
See, we wouldn't...
I wouldn't really know.
joe rogan
No, I've never messed with it.
brian grazer
But if you do...
joe rogan
Jamie, you've tried it, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
How is it?
jamie vernon
I did not like it.
I had to call off the next day at work because I... Thought I could go to sleep.
I took a little bit just to do some artwork because I knew I was going to have to...
joe rogan
You have an unusual constitution.
Maybe, I guess, yeah.
Jamie, edible marijuana does not affect him.
Literally, he could take a thousand milligrams and play video games.
unidentified
Geez!
Or more.
joe rogan
A thousand milligrams put most people under the couch for life.
They'll be like, no, I'm hiding.
Jamie can handle it.
brian grazer
I cannot do that.
I can't do it.
You know, there was a minute I was single, and a girl said to me, let's have one of these lollipops.
She pulled them out of her refrigerator.
joe rogan
Oh, boy.
brian grazer
So I took a little lick of a lollipop, whatever, and it was interesting.
It wasn't terrible.
The next weekend, I see the girl again.
I'm at my house and she – I hope I'm not going to – let me see if I'm okay here.
But she says, I got more lollipops.
And I thought, well, that was kind of fun.
I take this – I lick on this lollipop.
Oh, my God.
It so freaked me out.
I called my doctor, Dr. Dennis Evangelatos.
That's his name.
I'm saying that's okay.
He's good.
And he, I said, I need you to come over right now and sleep over.
He goes, he slept.
unidentified
He did.
brian grazer
He slept in my bedroom at the foot of my bed.
joe rogan
That's a good doctor.
brian grazer
He was so good.
I said, he's right in Westwood, and I was in Malibu, and I said, I'm serious.
He goes, look, this is what will happen.
I can tell you exactly what happens.
It goes up, and it's going to come down, everything.
I go, I don't think I can survive it.
I am too scared.
So he said he'll sleep over, and he slept over the whole night.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's the problem with those lollipops and candies and stuff like that.
brian grazer
You've never done it, have you?
joe rogan
What?
brian grazer
Oh, I don't know.
joe rogan
All the time, man.
Yeah.
Constantly.
brian grazer
I don't think so.
joe rogan
Yes, honestly.
brian grazer
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah.
I smoke a lot of pot.
I eat a lot of pot.
brian grazer
Swear?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
I got a box of it right here.
brian grazer
But you seem so...
joe rogan
Surrounded by it.
Yeah, you're surrounded by it.
brian grazer
Oh, so you can actually...
joe rogan
This is weed.
brian grazer
That's not weed!
joe rogan
You want to smoke it and see if you go to Pluto?
That's Mike Tyson's weed.
brian grazer
I don't believe you.
joe rogan
That fat one right there, that's weed.
brian grazer
Wait a second.
joe rogan
That's weed right there.
brian grazer
Okay.
You guys tell me the truth.
Let me see that.
jamie vernon
Well, that looks real.
Our big box just got taken away.
It's getting filled right now.
We could open that for you.
brian grazer
Wow, this is...
joe rogan
That's real.
unidentified
Jeez.
joe rogan
Eat one of these.
That'll put you on the moon.
brian grazer
I can't do anything.
I'll need my doctor.
That's really...
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
I like the smell of pot and stuff.
joe rogan
Yeah, it smells good.
brian grazer
But I know it's not good for me.
It's not my thing.
Margarita tonight.
Maybe tonight, actually.
joe rogan
A margarita?
brian grazer
Yeah, I like margarita.
joe rogan
I do, too.
brian grazer
You got all your stuff here.
joe rogan
Be careful with those.
brian grazer
All your snacks.
No, I'm not going to touch it.
joe rogan
Okay, this is a real issue.
brian grazer
Can you do it during the day?
joe rogan
If you want to die.
Yeah, of course.
brian grazer
I mean, can you do it during the day and be functional, highly functional?
joe rogan
Yes, I can.
Wow.
brian grazer
I really admire you.
unidentified
It works with me.
brian grazer
Because you're so high-functioning.
joe rogan
Yeah, but it just makes me more sensitive.
That's what marijuana does to me.
But the paranoia, I kind of just, I embrace it.
You know, the paranoia that comes with being really, really high.
brian grazer
Wow.
joe rogan
I just meditate, calm down, embrace it.
brian grazer
And enjoy it.
joe rogan
Ride the wave.
Yeah.
Yeah, a lot of the freaking out comes from freaking out.
brian grazer
Yes, that's with me.
joe rogan
You're like, you're freaking out, and you're like, oh my god, I'm freaking out.
brian grazer
Yes, I'm watching myself.
I'm going, oh, I'm out of control.
I think I'll freak out.
And then that's what happens.
joe rogan
It sounds crazy, but it makes me a nicer person.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah, it makes me nicer.
I want to be better.
I want to be a better person.
It highlights all the flaws that I find in my own personality, in my own life, whatever things I've done that I'm not proud of or that I think are mistakes.
It highlights them, and it makes me think more diligently.
unidentified
Soften it a little bit.
joe rogan
Yeah, be a better person.
brian grazer
Jeez, that's good.
joe rogan
It enhances my sense of community, makes you more sensitive, makes food taste better.
brian grazer
I'm getting a contact high right now.
joe rogan
Well, this is Sober October for me, so I'm not doing anything.
brian grazer
Can you do that?
I guess you can.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
I don't have an addiction, but me and my buddies...
unidentified
It's choice.
brian grazer
You dig it.
It's fun.
And you and your buddies are cool with it.
joe rogan
Yeah, we do Sober October, so the entire month of October every year.
We do something, like last year we did a fitness challenge.
brian grazer
What's that thing?
It's like Ramadan.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's like Ramadan for us.
The year before that, we did hot yoga.
We had to do 15 hot yoga sessions over the month.
brian grazer
Jeez.
joe rogan
Yeah, this year we have to do 10 classes of any kind, and we have to read 500 pages of any book.
brian grazer
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah, so we do it.
brian grazer
I like to test yourselves.
joe rogan
Yeah, and it's fun.
brian grazer
In a cool way.
joe rogan
And people join along, and this year we're all wearing these Whoop straps.
brian grazer
What is a Whoop strap?
joe rogan
A Whoop strap is a fitness monitor that works with this application that works on your phone that monitors heart rate variability.
So it tells you, first of all, it tells you how much you're sleeping, which is very revealing.
It tells you what kind of sleep you're getting, and it gives you very detailed analytics.
It shows it.
brian grazer
How much do you sleep?
Can we just stay on that one side?
I have sleep apnea, so I know because I go to an app.
unidentified
I have an app.
joe rogan
Okay.
So do you use a CPAP machine?
brian grazer
I do.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
I do.
joe rogan
Two guys in a row use a CPAP. My friend Chris Ryan, who's here right before you, uses CPAP machine.
brian grazer
This is my thing.
Look at this.
joe rogan
Yeah, I have sleep apnea as well.
brian grazer
Look, I got 87 last night.
I had a bad night.
joe rogan
What is 87?
brian grazer
That's the score.
That's the computation.
It's like a coefficient.
How many?
Okay.
unidentified
Okay.
brian grazer
I wear glasses, but you can see it right there.
joe rogan
It says 87, but what does that mean?
How many hours?
brian grazer
Okay, 5 hours and 52. I think 37. Was it 552?
joe rogan
Yes.
Usage hours.
It says 5 hours and 52. It says good.
brian grazer
On the seal.
joe rogan
Good, make a seal.
You had six events per hour.
brian grazer
How many interruptions?
Event.
Six events per hour?
joe rogan
That's what it says.
brian grazer
Wow, that's not good.
Well, it's probably right.
I had a bad...
I didn't sleep all last night.
joe rogan
Well, actually it says 0.6.
Is that the same thing as six?
brian grazer
No.
joe rogan
What does that mean?
Oh, so you didn't have six an hour.
brian grazer
Yeah, six an hour is a lot.
joe rogan
Well, it's weird because it says 0.6 and then it says five in the corner.
What does that mean?
jamie vernon
Five total over the six hours of sleep.
Oh, look.
joe rogan
What are you, you wizard?
brian grazer
Well, he measures pot.
He can do...
He's like a pound of pot, not a problem.
joe rogan
It says mask on and off four.
So you took your mask off four times?
brian grazer
To pee and then...
unidentified
Oh, okay.
brian grazer
To pee twice and then twice because I was obsessing over something.
joe rogan
Oh, thinking.
brian grazer
I had to break the obsession.
joe rogan
Oh, I understand.
Yeah.
Okay.
I wear a mouthpiece.
brian grazer
Ooh, those are hot.
joe rogan
It presses down on my tongue.
brian grazer
Yes.
joe rogan
It keeps my tongue from falling back over the hole in my mouth.
brian grazer
Oh, so it's not about your teeth.
It's about falling back.
joe rogan
Yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
brian grazer
What is that thing?
What's that called?
What happened?
It doesn't matter what it's called, but you have it.
joe rogan
Dr. Kevorkian.
Is that his name?
Kevorkian.
Kevorkian's the murderer guy.
brian grazer
Yeah, he's the murderer.
joe rogan
Kevorkian.
Dr. Kevorkian.
brian grazer
You obviously knew that.
joe rogan
Whoops.
It was a mistake.
But yeah, it just keeps your tongue from falling back.
I have a fat tongue.
That's my problem.
unidentified
Fat.
joe rogan
Fat.
It closes the air hole.
brian grazer
Jeez.
joe rogan
Yeah, so it keeps it from doing that.
brian grazer
A lot to be said about that.
joe rogan
Yeah, I guess.
So what the Whoopstrap does is it monitors your sleep, but it also measures heart rate variability, so it tells you whether you're tired or not.
So if you've had a hard workout and then you're still a little beat down the next day, it'll show you on the application.
Here's your heart rate.
Your heart rate is responding to the fact that you had an extremely stressful, physically stressful day.
So good stresses and bad stresses, exercise and lack of sleep, all those things are monitored and it gives you like pretty detailed analytics.
So we're all wearing these straps and we're doing these 10 different classes like we've done tactical gun classes and yoga classes and boxing classes.
And the whole idea about the month is sort of just helping yourself, like doing things that are good for you.
Self-help.
brian grazer
Great.
Got it.
I see.
Like, yeah.
Self-help.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Like, this is the month of getting smarter, better.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Learning some new shit.
You know, meditating.
Getting an education.
Reading, you know, 500 pages of some books.
brian grazer
Who are the guys?
joe rogan
Tom Segura, who's a stand-up comedian, Bert Kreischer, another comedian, and Ari Shafir, and myself.
And we've done this for the last, well, the first year, Tom and Bert had a weight loss challenge.
And then the second year, we said, "Okay, we'll all jump in, and we'll all be sober this time," because they weren't sober the first time.
They just lost weight.
And we'll all be sober, and we'll all have to fulfill these number of hot yoga classes.
So 15 90 minute hot yoga classes.
And then the next year we had...
brian grazer
15 90 minute?
joe rogan
Yes.
brian grazer
Ooh, wow.
joe rogan
And then the next year we had a crazy fitness challenge.
That got a little out of hand, so we decided not to compete with each other anymore because we were literally going five, six, seven hours a day of working out.
Yeah, seven hours a day of cardio.
It was bananas.
It was nuts.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
We're getting high on exercise.
brian grazer
I'm not in your group.
I know why now.
joe rogan
This year it was just the fitness classes, different classes, 10 classes, and then 500 pages of any book, just reading something.
brian grazer
It's pretty great.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's fun.
It gives me something to do.
We look forward to it.
And then a lot of fans do it along with us.
So a lot of people go sober through the month and join in with us.
brian grazer
Fans from the show say, hey, I want to be part of this.
joe rogan
Yeah, they just jump in.
I mean, you can wear a whoop strap, too.
You can compare the amount of sleep and the amount of exercise that you get to us.
But more importantly, for people, it's nice for people that maybe don't even know that they have a little bit of an issue with substances.
I mean, maybe they're not alcoholics or drug addicts, but maybe they just are indulging a little too much.
And so they'll get this break for October because they're committed for the entire month.
And then what they see is like, you know what, I feel a lot better.
And, you know, I don't have a problem, but I do feel a lot better when I'm not drinking all the time.
Because I'm going to comedy clubs, and I'll have a couple beers.
Hey, you want to do a shot?
All right, let's do a shot.
And then the next day I'm like, oh.
And then I go to the gym, and it's like a little bit more of a struggle.
But this entire month, you know, what is today, 23rd?
Yeah.
There's none of that.
This entire month, it's just, you feel good.
brian grazer
You're on.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And you realize, like, that is an unnecessary tax on your system, alcohol in particular.
You know, pot doesn't make me feel like shit the next day, but it definitely does some wonky things to your memory.
brian grazer
Pot does.
joe rogan
For sure.
brian grazer
Oh, yeah.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
We all have pot memory.
All of us.
unidentified
Pot memory.
joe rogan
Yeah, pot memory is weird.
Yeah, it's just like...
unidentified
That's funny.
joe rogan
It definitely does something to your memory.
I mean, that's pretty much been proven.
brian grazer
Okay.
joe rogan
All right.
So that's what we do all the month.
brian grazer
That's interesting.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
So do these guys...
Oh, and you guys can afford to do that because you can still work.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
Still do stand-up.
Still do podcasts.
Still do everything.
Yeah.
And then we have No Remember November where we get blitzed.
unidentified
Okay.
Yeah.
brian grazer
That is hilarious.
That's what I look forward to, right?
joe rogan
Not really.
I didn't really.
You don't mean blitz.
brian grazer
You just go for it.
joe rogan
Yeah, it went hard a couple of days in November last year.
unidentified
That's super funny.
brian grazer
And your buddies are funny, guys.
Yeah, it's fun.
joe rogan
Well, it's a camaraderie thing, too.
The four of us, it's a lot of bonding and it's very fun.
Like the podcasts we have are very fun.
And the one that we did when Sober October was over last year was ridiculous.
We were barbecued.
It was very fun.
But it is a good thing for people just to have that one month reset of their system.
Just to give them a perspective, like, hey, maybe it'd be better if you didn't drink.
Maybe it'd be better if you took some time off.
Maybe it'd be better if you exercised and really thought about things this way.
I mean, we're only doing it once a month, but we even propose doing it a couple times a year.
brian grazer
And it proves to you, I guess, obviously, it does prove to you you can do it.
joe rogan
Yes.
brian grazer
And that's important.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
It's like having an exit, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
You know, when you're trapped on a boat or you're in some place, you have an exit here.
You know you can do it.
joe rogan
Well, the motivation for a lot of it was our friend Bert, who drinks way too much.
And he's calmed down quite a bit, apparently, because of...
Doing that first podcast where we did go sober for the whole month because we didn't think he could do it.
Because even during the weight loss challenge, Tom, who won the weight loss challenge, Tom didn't drink anything but water the entire month and worked out like crazy and lost a ton of weight.
Bert kept drinking the entire month and also worked out like crazy and tried to lose weight.
brian grazer
And what happened?
joe rogan
He lost.
He couldn't compete with Tom.
brian grazer
It doesn't work.
joe rogan
It was a dumb way of doing it.
It wasn't as effective.
unidentified
Right, of course.
brian grazer
Now there's this new, I guess, nutritional exercise or weight loss, I don't want to only call it that, of like, what is it, 16 hours, I don't know, is it 10 hours on, 10 hours off?
joe rogan
Oh, intermittent fasting?
brian grazer
Intermittent fasting, yes.
See, I can't lose weight.
I mean, I'm happy.
I don't need to lose weight, actually.
But I can get stronger and have better disciplines in areas.
But that particular thing is about losing weight, I think, right?
joe rogan
Mostly.
It's about losing weight, but it's also about feeling better and raising your ketone levels, which is one thing that does happen when you go long periods of time and you get your body accustomed to this period of time where you're not eating.
You know, this timed eating or whatever they call it.
What is the term they refer to it as?
It's not just intermittent fasting.
There's...
Time-restricted eating?
Yeah.
Okay.
There's some benefit on your digestive system as well.
So your body's not eating 10 hours a day, 15 hours a day, or even more with some people.
Some people are just eating constantly throughout the day.
Instead of this, you have a four-hour window, or a six-hour window, or an eight-hour window, whatever you decide it is.
And during that time, you can eat.
But after that, it's over.
And then you cannot eat for X amount of hours, whether it's 10 or 12 or 14. Yeah.
You get accustomed to it, though.
brian grazer
Yeah.
See, my goal, because I don't know if I could – I'm sure you could prove me wrong, but I'm not sure I could do any of those really strict disciplines of any type almost.
So I've always thought if I do everything with moderation – I might not have to do one of these things that I might find to be too hard.
joe rogan
The strict is not hard.
It's not?
No.
brian grazer
Seems hard.
joe rogan
It does seem hard.
brian grazer
Seems really hard.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You get used to it, though.
You honestly get used to it.
And then once you do get used to it, then it becomes normal.
brian grazer
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
So once you get like three days, four days or a week or something?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Once you get a few days in, it's no big deal.
brian grazer
Is that a way of saying that if I really committed to it, it's possible I could do it?
joe rogan
Of course you could do it.
Look, you're an accomplished man.
You can do anything you want.
You just have to force yourself to do it.
Just decide.
brian grazer
I need a compelling reason to do it.
joe rogan
Sure.
Well, that's one of the beautiful things.
brian grazer
Like if a doctor said...
joe rogan
Get that doctor that sleeps over your house.
Get him to write a prescription.
But the thing that we talked about, like Sober October, one of the things about it is that we all know that this is coming.
October 1st, boom, it's here.
So you're committed for the month.
It's not like a wishy-washy idea.
brian grazer
Are you nervous about it?
joe rogan
No.
brian grazer
Is there any anticipatory stress?
joe rogan
No, not really, but you think about it.
We've done it a couple years in a row now, three years in a row.
But the thing about it is that it's there.
It's a real thing.
It starts.
And then you can't be wishy-washy.
Part of the thing that people have a problem with diets and with exercise routines is that they're wishy-washy.
They give themselves a way out.
If you know that you have to work out one hour, six days a week, Every day, you have to work out one hour.
You get one day a week off.
brian grazer
You have to.
joe rogan
There's no cheating.
And you write it down on schedule, and you decide, all the month of November, I'm going to work out one hour a day, six days a week, period.
And then I'm going to write it down.
I'm going to mark my calendar with an X every time I accomplish that.
Well, if you just do that, you're going to get it done.
But if you say, I need to work out more.
Well, that's not a very specific goal.
brian grazer
You're a little flexible.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Yeah, it doesn't work.
joe rogan
That's not specific.
brian grazer
Yeah.
You have to go, there's no, this is, this is, This is absolute.
jamie vernon
Yes.
brian grazer
These boundaries are inflexible.
joe rogan
You have to hold yourself accountable.
brian grazer
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah.
You have to make sure that you're accountable.
brian grazer
All right.
When I pick something up like that, I'm going to let you know.
joe rogan
What would you want to do?
Like if you wanted to do something, if you had a thing and you say, hmm.
brian grazer
What would I want to do?
Maybe not drinking for a month.
I haven't done that.
joe rogan
How about no booze November?
brian grazer
That's coming up.
Maybe for next year, you mean?
joe rogan
I need to warm up.
brian grazer
I gotta warm up.
joe rogan
How much time do you need to prepare?
brian grazer
A year sounds good.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
Sober October.
Why don't you do Sober October with us next year?
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
How about that?
That gives you a whole year.
brian grazer
It's in my mind.
I got it.
joe rogan
Not sure.
Sounds a little wishy-washy.
brian grazer
Well, I'm going to try to think about doing it.
joe rogan
Yeah, you don't have to do it.
brian grazer
Yeah, but I can try to warm up and think it's possible.
joe rogan
You certainly could do it.
brian grazer
Yeah, I probably could do it.
I mean, I took a week off, and then it was very...
I could have gone.
unidentified
Was it boring?
brian grazer
No, I could have gone.
Well, yes, a little bit.
It was a little bit.
But I thought after the week, I thought I could keep going.
But then I thought, I don't know.
It's kind of a nice luxury to have a margarita or a glass of wine.
joe rogan
It is a nice luxury.
brian grazer
So I thought, I don't know.
No one's making me not.
I'll just go back to drinking.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's the thing.
brian grazer
I mean, I have no reason.
But if I had reasons, like I didn't want to wear that sleep apnea machine.
And I put it off for, oh God, five, six years.
unidentified
Really?
brian grazer
Yeah.
And then, by the way, the sleep apnea machines got smaller and smaller and smaller and less intrusive.
So now they're very easy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
But it still was somewhat intrusive.
And now I always sleep with it.
I never thought I would do that.
Because I thought, you know, I'm laying with my wife.
I like to feel like I'm a romantic guy or something, or could be.
joe rogan
You sound like Darth Vader.
unidentified
No.
No.
brian grazer
That's what it sounds like, yes.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's Darth Vader.
brian grazer
It does.
I don't know how she perceives it.
joe rogan
Ask her.
brian grazer
I will.
joe rogan
She won't be honest.
brian grazer
She wants me on it.
She calls it the tube of life.
You have the tube of life on?
joe rogan
Oh, that's a good way of putting it.
brian grazer
She wants me to live.
joe rogan
Sure.
brian grazer
Yeah.
So, thank God.
joe rogan
Well, it really does.
brian grazer
I mean, she's sleeping right next to me.
I'm glad she wants me to live.
joe rogan
She probably doesn't want you to snore either.
brian grazer
Yeah, I don't snore.
I never snored.
joe rogan
Really?
brian grazer
Yeah.
The sleep apnea that I had wasn't a snoring.
It was more like...
Like that.
joe rogan
Oh, choking kind of thing.
brian grazer
Yeah, the choking kind of thing where you'd stop breathing.
unidentified
Right, right.
brian grazer
So it's not snoring.
joe rogan
Got it.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's scary stuff.
A lot of people have it.
brian grazer
Well, yeah.
joe rogan
It's terrible for your health.
brian grazer
Yes, it's terrible for your health, and you lose oxygen to your brain.
There's all these different things.
So anyway, to leave that alone, because I do do it.
I don't want to jinx myself out here.
I'm very superstitious.
joe rogan
Really?
brian grazer
Very, very, very.
So if I'm doing something right, I don't want to brag about it, I don't want to do anything, because then I'll think, I just...
joe rogan
You fucked it up?
brian grazer
Yeah, I don't want to fuck with things.
Like, there's...
When an equilibrium has been found, whatever that thing is, I just quiet down on it.
joe rogan
So you find something that works, you find a good vibe, and you stick with it.
brian grazer
Yeah, but I don't brag about it, I don't say a thing, because then I think, oh, maybe something like that, you know.
joe rogan
Right.
brian grazer
So I once was fat, actually.
joe rogan
Really?
brian grazer
Yeah, like, you know, rolls, like the guys that have rolls of fat and the thing.
And I was with a girl who, you know, was a very, very serious young and everything.
And we went to her beach.
Her beach was called Little Doom, you know, Doom Beach, Little Doom.
And she talks to these, she goes, I have to go talk to these guys.
And they were the cool surfer dudes.
And it was like 25 years ago.
30 years ago.
And she talks to these guys and they start laughing.
And I go, what are you guys laughing at?
To her.
Because she's now left these and they're back there and I see a chorus of them kind of laughing.
They go, well, I guess they're laughing because they said, we never thought you'd be with like a fat guy.
And I thought, wow, they look at me and that's what they're seeing and they think it's funny?
I got to fix this.
And that was like the straight up October forever for me.
joe rogan
That is what's called fat shaming.
brian grazer
Fat shaming.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Oh, I didn't even know that!
There's a phrase!
joe rogan
Yeah.
You never heard of fat shaming?
brian grazer
Never heard it!
joe rogan
Well, it's a very controversial thought because some people think that fat shaming is terrible and that you shouldn't do it to people.
It works for me.
And other people say that fat...
It's true, it does work on certain people, but it makes people feel bad, and some people think you should protect people from feeling bad, whereas other people think you should tell them that they're fat so they feel bad, so they act on it.
brian grazer
How do you see it?
joe rogan
I say I'm the latter.
I think you should tell people that they're fat.
If they want to know.
unidentified
I don't think you should go after people and make them feel like shit.
brian grazer
If they want to know, you mean like...
unidentified
If they want to know, I don't think you should protect them from it.
brian grazer
Okay, give me the signal of if you want to know.
Like, you're with some friend.
Let's say you're with someone you only know a little bit.
joe rogan
I wouldn't say anything.
brian grazer
Okay, so now you're with...
So we're talking about like relatives or...
No, you're talking about a husband-wife or boyfriend-girlfriend.
joe rogan
That's tough, because they can resent you forever.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You gotta be real careful, especially with the ladies.
brian grazer
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
And if you're a man and you resent your wife forever because she tells you you're fat, you're probably not really a man.
brian grazer
That's really funny.
joe rogan
You might be a little bitch.
brian grazer
Oh my god!
I can't believe you said that.
joe rogan
Really?
brian grazer
I mean, I like it, because it's...
I don't know what you...
I like it.
You might be a little bitch.
joe rogan
You might be a little bitch.
Yeah, if your wife says you're fat...
Like, if my wife tells me I'm fat, I'm like, I'm not fat.
What are you talking about?
It doesn't work.
It only works if you're fat.
It's one thing if they're saying something about...
brian grazer
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
I get it.
It's one thing if they're saying something about something you can't control.
Like, I wish you were black.
I don't like white guys.
unidentified
Okay, I have a question.
brian grazer
Now you feel terrible.
It sounds like you have no boundaries on your show.
joe rogan
Right.
brian grazer
Okay.
The guys that have really little dicks.
joe rogan
Ooh, that's a rough one.
brian grazer
I got it.
I'm hearing you.
So do you think the girl and the guy are together?
Did the girl ever say?
joe rogan
I'm sure some girls do.
brian grazer
Did they say it?
joe rogan
But here's the thing.
Some girls.
brian grazer
We feel pretty rough guys.
We can talk about it.
joe rogan
I think some girls who are beautiful, beautiful girls, are also lesbians.
brian grazer
Oh yes, that's true.
joe rogan
So some girls who are beautiful girls are bisexual.
So they like girls and guys.
Here's the question.
Would those girls be more likely to settle for a guy with a little dick?
brian grazer
Yes.
A rich guy with a little dick.
joe rogan
Or is it they like girls to be girls and like guys, no matter what, to have a big dick?
brian grazer
All right.
I think they're probably the latter.
joe rogan
Probably, unfortunately.
Evolution's a motherfucker.
It really is.
I think that there's not a damn thing a person can do about that one.
You could suck fat out of your waist and stuff it in your ass.
You could get fake boobs.
There's a lot of shit you can do if you've got a little dick.
That's a wrap, son.
unidentified
It's a wrap.
joe rogan
Not much you can do.
I mean, there's some operations that can help you out a little.
brian grazer
But I think that...
joe rogan
For the most part.
brian grazer
Yes.
joe rogan
Yeah, cutting and dick.
Those two words don't go together well.
brian grazer
Do you think it makes guys crazy when they have...
joe rogan
Oh, for sure.
brian grazer
I think it might, too.
unidentified
Guaranteed.
joe rogan
It must.
It must make them suicidal.
Because it's...
brian grazer
What if we started throwing shit right now?
That would mean, like, we had little dicks.
joe rogan
Maybe.
It'd have to go crazy.
I think there's certain things that, you know...
There's nothing you can do about it.
You just have to handle that roll of the dice, whatever you got.
brian grazer
Yeah, I would guess.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's one of them.
But I mean, if things like CRISPR and genetic manipulation and things they're working on now, that's probably one of the first things they're going to work on.
brian grazer
Wow, I never thought of this.
You just hatched them right on the show today.
joe rogan
I think I've thought about it before.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
I'm going to be honest with you.
But I don't think there's anything more profitable except beauty.
Beauty would be incredibly profitable for people who were not born.
brian grazer
But they're both all in that same department, well, somewhat, same area.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Like whatever it is, cosmetics.
joe rogan
Yes.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Not just cosmetics, but even people that are not happy with their frame.
brian grazer
You're not operational.
joe rogan
No.
No, you're not operational.
I mean, maybe one day they'll be able to do something.
They shoot a little virus into your body and then all of a sudden...
unidentified
Yeah, that'd be something.
joe rogan
It can happen.
I mean, it's not insurmountable scientifically.
There's so many things that they're already doing with genetic manipulation.
That's not outside the realm of possibility.
brian grazer
Yeah, it's not outside the realm.
It seems possible.
Let's start calling our scientists right now.
joe rogan
Call them up and see what they say.
brian grazer
So anyway, learn about fat shaming.
I got that.
joe rogan
I can't believe you didn't know about that.
That's like in the zeitgeist right now.
brian grazer
Is it?
joe rogan
Yeah, people get mad at people for fat shaming.
Yeah.
James Corden got mad at Bill Maher.
Bill Maher was mocking fat shaming.
He was like, maybe we should be shaming people more.
brian grazer
To him directly?
joe rogan
No, no.
brian grazer
Oh, just...
joe rogan
Bill Maher was talking about on his television show that maybe we should be shaming people more.
brian grazer
Oh, I see, I see.
joe rogan
And then James Corden said, I have a problem with...
That, and he's made a bunch of fat jokes, which I found were kind of weird.
You're making fat jokes while you're being upset that someone's calling you fat.
brian grazer
That's interesting.
unidentified
He thought he could get that one by you, but that one didn't get by you.
joe rogan
No, but he also does have a comedy talk show, so it makes sense that he was making jokes.
He's being comedic.
brian grazer
He does have a comedy talk show.
joe rogan
It's not something that you can't fix.
And that's one of the things that people have a problem with being sympathetic about.
And I think that was Bill Maher's statement.
Because Bill is obviously a very slim man.
But it's not something you can't fix.
It's a problem to fix.
It's hard to fix.
It requires discipline.
And also your gut biome is probably all screwed up from eating bad foods.
And you probably are accustomed to certain...
Certain behavior patterns that are unhealthy for you.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The times you're eating, the kind of foods you're eating.
brian grazer
Yeah.
All that.
I fixed mine with...
But I mean, I wasn't fat in the...
That really...
joe rogan
You fixed it with shame.
brian grazer
I fixed it with shame.
She shamed me, and I started jumping rope.
And I started with...
I do all...
Everything with an achievable goal.
I just did a couple minutes...
And I just kept going.
And then pretty soon, you know, I did the rope that had a counter on it with those plastic beads that gives a little weight and a nylon cord.
And you could really get it going.
So I could do 200 beats a minute for 30 minutes.
And you're holding your body very tight.
So it actually, I didn't think of it that way, but it really strengthened my core.
joe rogan
Yeah, jumping rope is amazing.
brian grazer
Yeah, so you obviously do.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's great.
brian grazer
You do it only to warm up?
joe rogan
Mostly, yeah.
I just do it to kind of get going.
Yeah, yeah.
But for boxers, that's why the boxers use it so much.
I mean, it's a staple of boxing workouts.
brian grazer
Yes, it is.
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
You're always on your toes.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So it keeps your calves conditioned and helps your body ability to shift movement.
I mean, strong calves and strong feet are very, very important for boxing and anything that requires movement.
Football players, a lot of football players use jump rope to help their ability to move side to side and help their mobility.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Great workout too.
Just great cardiovascular.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's very trendy right now, too.
brian grazer
Is it?
Another trendy thing.
joe rogan
Yes, another trendy thing.
brian grazer
The antidote to fat shaming, right?
joe rogan
Well, there's a lot of videos online where people are doing these YouTube workouts of jumping rope.
And then they also have weighted ropes, which makes it more intense.
brian grazer
I used to weighted rope, too.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
I used to go everywhere with these ropes.
So if I were in an airport, I'd be doing it.
I remember being on a tarmac in Greece, in Athens, and I was doing it.
I would do it in the rain.
Every day, I did it.
That I did without fail for almost 12 years.
joe rogan
Wow.
Do you have a trainer?
A personal trainer?
brian grazer
I do now.
I didn't then.
But I do now.
Because I think...
Well, it helps me so much.
Sure.
Also, it helps me get into the gym without fail.
Because I don't want to have him wait.
Derek.
Oh, by the way, Derek.
A shout-out to Derek.
Because I said something about I'm doing Joe Rogan.
And he goes, Oh, I listen to him all the time.
I go, Give me some insight.
I really started collecting stuff.
He had...
I could even show you.
He wrote notes.
I didn't read them because I didn't feel like I had to.
But literally, I'm sorry.
But anyway, so Derek...
Ah, okay.
Oh, it's so long.
This is embarrassing.
And I didn't read it, so...
Okay.
So every morning, it's good morning, bro.
Good morning, bro.
Good morning, bro.
That means he's here.
joe rogan
Good morning, bro.
brian grazer
And this is it.
Hey, bro.
You wanted a text about bro.
joe rogan
Is Derek a bro?
He sounds like a bro.
brian grazer
He's a guy from Detroit.
He says bro a lot.
Yes.
I don't...
He's not a...
I don't know how bro-y.
But he does go, hey, bro.
And actually, I've even said to him...
A nice way, don't say, hey, bro, every morning.
Because it just doesn't, he goes, hey, bro, like that.
And I want to say, you got to chop it up a little bit.
joe rogan
Mix it up.
Hey, fella.
brian grazer
Mix it up.
unidentified
Is that bad?
joe rogan
Is fella bad?
unidentified
It'd be funny.
joe rogan
I call people fella all the time.
unidentified
Yeah.
brian grazer
I think it'd be funny you saying, hey fella.
I like that.
Like a strong guy going, hey fella.
joe rogan
What's up, fella?
brian grazer
I'm going to try it.
joe rogan
I like fella.
brian grazer
Yeah, hey fella.
I mean, everyone, all your millions of listeners will know that I'm ripping from you.
Well, you gave it to me.
You said you could say it.
joe rogan
That's not mine.
I like it, hey fella.
I say it all the time, but I don't know where I heard it from.
brian grazer
But do you say it kind of gently, or how do you?
joe rogan
Hey fella.
I say I like that.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like if I saw you, I'd be like, hey, fella.
brian grazer
I like it.
joe rogan
Now I'm thinking about it, though.
Now it sounds weird because I'm being self-conscious.
brian grazer
Yeah, but you'll get...
I'll get over it.
Once I'm off the show, you know, tomorrow you're going to get back to it.
joe rogan
Yeah, it'll go back to normal.
brian grazer
I like it.
I'm going to feel that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's not an issue.
brian grazer
Okay.
joe rogan
So what is Derek...
What kind of advice did he give you?
brian grazer
On the show?
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
It said...
I didn't look at it, but he gave me some advice.
He said...
You know, he told me your background.
First of all, I didn't realize the chronology of your background.
I didn't know...
He knows New Jersey, right?
He just knew all the stuff.
joe rogan
Oh, so he did like Wikipedia.
brian grazer
Well, I think he...
No, he did more than Wikipedia.
No, no, no.
I know.
That sounds...
Yes, that leads you to Wikipedia.
But I popped that on him, so it wasn't like...
That was today, so he didn't like go...
Let me just tell you about it.
He didn't start looking at his smartphone.
He knows your show really well.
He's a guy's guy, you know?
He's a bro.
He's a straight talker guy.
Yeah, he's a bro.
unidentified
He's a bro.
brian grazer
No wonder he says bro.
joe rogan
That expression is weird because it used to be like, first of all, black dudes owned it.
What up, bro?
It was like that.
And then it became white guys.
Like dorky white guys.
brian grazer
I'm going to give it to you.
Because you seem interested in everything.
I like the Rogan podcast because it's casual conversation.
joe rogan
I feel like I shouldn't be here for this.
brian grazer
He always sets the guest at ease and weaves through topics seamlessly.
I leave it alone.
But he says everything is awesome.
Thanks, bro.
You said it just like, I mean, perfect.
joe rogan
What kind of stuff does Derek have in you do?
Oh, physically.
brian grazer
Physically, well, okay, so I get in there and I do an elliptical, you know, for me, I do it as high, as hard as you could possibly do it for 20 minutes.
So it gets everything kind of going and I tore my rotary cuff so it lubes that up a little bit and I have some injuries.
joe rogan
Have you ever done anything about it?
The rotator cuff?
brian grazer
My doctor, you know him, Neil Eletrage.
joe rogan
Okay.
brian grazer
He does teams and stuff like that.
joe rogan
What did he say?
brian grazer
I don't need surgery.
Eventually, I might have to have surgery later.
He says, I'm a surgeon, that's what I do, but I don't want you to have surgery.
You don't need it, you have the same strength you would have, and it just will hurt a little bit.
joe rogan
And this is a rotator cuff tear?
brian grazer
It's a rotator cuff tear.
joe rogan
Have you ever had stem cells?
brian grazer
No?
Is that a good idea?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, tell me how you do it.
unidentified
Definitely.
brian grazer
Wow, I'm getting this from the man right on public.
joe rogan
I'll talk to you after it's over, and I'll give you places that you should go and talk to.
I had a full-length rotator cuff tear, and it's gone from stem cells.
brian grazer
Is there anything bad?
joe rogan
No, nothing negative.
brian grazer
Nothing negative.
joe rogan
Not for me.
I know of no negative repercussions.
brian grazer
That's fantastic.
I love knowing that.
joe rogan
Certainly can help you, for sure.
Matter of fact, the place where I go is, well, the place I go is in Santa Monica, and I've been going there for years.
brian grazer
What's the name of the place?
joe rogan
Lifespan Medicine.
brian grazer
Oh, it's not Mark Forrester.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
brian grazer
Life Spin.
Okay, I don't know.
joe rogan
I'll explain to you everything after the show.
brian grazer
I would love that.
Thank you so much.
joe rogan
Okay.
But there's a lot of different treatments that they can do now for soft tissue tears, things like rotator cuffs and muscle tears and things along those lines.
It's amazing what they can do now.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
Okay, that'd be awesome.
So what does he have me do?
I do...
You know, variety of different types of weights, you know, curls.
He mixes it up, so it's sort of cross-training.
So I'll do different things.
I'll use those little slides that I love.
You put on your feet, and there's four different things you can do.
You open them, and you do the push-ups.
And I like it because it's hard.
Do you like to do it in the morning?
I do it all in the morning.
I do it at – let's start at 6.30.
joe rogan
Wow.
brian grazer
He shows up at 7. This is what my – Monday, Wednesday, Friday goes like this for me.
From 6.30 to 7, I do my own stuff.
joe rogan
Elliptical.
brian grazer
Elliptical.
joe rogan
Just get going.
brian grazer
And a few other things.
I might even do those little slides.
He shows up at 7. Hey, bro.
He's hey, bro-ing me.
And then he – we work out till 10 to 8.00.
And then for five minutes, he puts that bolt on my legs and calves to make my muscles more relaxed.
joe rogan
You're talking about like a neuromuscular stimulator?
brian grazer
Yes, thank you.
All right.
joe rogan
Electrical muscular stimulator.
brian grazer
Electrical muscular stimulator.
Yes, stimulator.
And so we do that.
And then I run next door and I play tennis for an hour.
Usually one-on-one tennis with a pro named Buster.
joe rogan
Shout out to Buster.
So after that, so a half hour elliptical, and then you do the weights.
You do this different kinds of physical workouts.
And then you play tennis for an hour.
brian grazer
Tennis for an hour.
joe rogan
So, wow.
So you're done, like, what, 10 a.m.?
brian grazer
No, I'm done exactly at 9 a.m.
joe rogan
Sometimes I go, I have to leave a few minutes early, but like 5 to 9 or 3 minutes to 9. So you run right from the gym straight over to tennis, so no missing time at all?
brian grazer
Right next door.
No missing time.
joe rogan
Oh, right next door.
brian grazer
Yeah, right next door.
It's Skip Rittenham's house.
joe rogan
Okay, bam.
brian grazer
Bam for him.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
And so then I play tennis, and then I rush back, and I take shower really fast, and then I'm on the road going.
joe rogan
And then you do your work.
brian grazer
Now you go to work.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
But I'm up early actually at 5 o'clock.
unidentified
Really?
brian grazer
And I'm doing work and I'm looking at videos and I'm reading things.
joe rogan
5 a.m., huh?
Every morning that's your thing?
brian grazer
Every morning I just wake up at that time.
joe rogan
Coffee?
brian grazer
Coffee.
Yeah, lots of coffees.
But I get excited about the day.
joe rogan
That's great.
brian grazer
I get really excited about the day.
joe rogan
That means you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.
brian grazer
Oh, good.
joe rogan
You enjoy what you're doing.
brian grazer
You're excited about it.
I'm really excited about it.
I really enjoy what I'm doing, and I enjoy my life.
joe rogan
I love hearing that from people that are successful.
brian grazer
Oh, good.
joe rogan
Because it means you've found the thing that's fulfilling.
brian grazer
Yes.
joe rogan
And it's continually fulfilling.
brian grazer
Yes.
joe rogan
Which is the real problem with a lot of folks.
Sometimes things are fulfilling initially, but then they lose their luster.
But for you, as many movies as you made, as long as you've been in the game, that you're still getting up at 5 in the morning, pumped up, excited for the day.
brian grazer
Not feeling like I have to, I just want to.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
brian grazer
Thanks.
unidentified
Yeah.
brian grazer
No, I mean, it's really true.
I'm really excited.
And my life's good.
My kids are great.
They've gone through some changes.
They all kids do.
And they're really in the right spot.
My youngest kid just turned 16. He plays football in Notre Dame.
He's not a big kid, but he wanted to own it.
He wanted to own a choice.
And he's really disciplined.
Really, really.
And he's just so not a pussy.
He's like, you know what I mean?
He's just a tough guy.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
brian grazer
And I'm really proud of him and happy.
And, you know, I go through the rest of the three as well.
joe rogan
What other kind of things do you like to do with your day?
I mean, you're obviously a guy that's into self-improvement.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
So what are the kind of things?
Do you meditate at all?
brian grazer
I do meditate.
I do TM. I do it once a day, but I know you're supposed to do it twice a day.
joe rogan
Are you supposed to do it twice a day?
brian grazer
You're supposed to do it twice a day.
joe rogan
Morning and night?
Is that how you're supposed to do it?
brian grazer
Something like that, yeah.
But I can't pull that off.
So I don't demand that upon myself.
I don't demand upon myself things that I... That I can't quite do.
I know I should, and I'm trying to.
joe rogan
Sorry, my friend Tom Poppet does TM, and he won't tell me what his mantra is.
Will you tell me what your mantra is?
unidentified
No.
Damn.
joe rogan
Crazy.
brian grazer
I had two of them because, actually, Depec Chopra 20 years gave me one.
15 years, I have to be honest.
15 years.
Because I was really in need of meditation to stop these cycles.
joe rogan
So he gave you a mantra?
brian grazer
He came into my office, taught me how to meditate, and gave me a mantra.
And then I dropped it, and then recently, about five years ago, Veronica, who's my wife, who's a big shout-out to my wife.
joe rogan
Shout-out to Veronica.
brian grazer
Thank you very much.
joe rogan
Third shout out today.
brian grazer
That's good.
And so she and I took a TM from Bob Roth.
Bob Roth is the founder of the David Lynch Meditation Center.
And he's a very good guy.
You'll tell me.
No, we're good.
And so we do that.
And sometimes we get Bob Roth on the phone because he lives in New York and we'll just do it in the backyard and we'll have him on speaker and we'll...
He'll talk through the framework of it, and then he's quiet and we're quiet and we meditate.
joe rogan
Oh, nice.
brian grazer
Do you meditate?
joe rogan
Yes.
I just find it amazing how many TM people won't tell you whatever they're chanting.
brian grazer
I think we're told not to.
joe rogan
Yeah, but that's why it's weird.
brian grazer
How does somebody have that much power over you, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, is it abracadabra?
Is it alakazam?
What are you saying?
Yeah.
The style of meditation I do, I just concentrate on my breath.
I think only about breathing in and only about breathing out.
That's all I think about.
So when I'm concentrating, I'm thinking only about the breath in and only about the breath out.
And it goes off the rails.
I think about other things and I have to get back on track.
It always does.
There's no way around that.
brian grazer
I think we're told it's okay though, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
It's okay.
brian grazer
I cut you, yeah.
joe rogan
I used to think that it wasn't.
I used to think, God, I'm weak.
I can't stay on track.
But now I realize that's not the point.
The point is it's just part of being a person.
Just let it happen.
But keep on track.
Keep on track.
And you get off track, just get back on track again.
Don't freak out about it.
brian grazer
Don't beat yourself up and all that stuff.
joe rogan
But I find it very cleansing.
brian grazer
Me too.
joe rogan
It does something.
It opens you up in a very nice way.
brian grazer
Is yours, who is the person that turned you on to it?
Or is it a type of meditation that has a name to it?
joe rogan
No, not really.
It's stuff I read about.
And I started doing it in an isolation tank.
I started doing it, I have one here.
brian grazer
Really?
So when I leave we can look at the isolation?
joe rogan
Yeah, sensory deprivation tank.
Shout out to the float lab.
You ever been to one?
Ever used one?
brian grazer
No.
joe rogan
Oh, they're amazing.
You should get one.
It's a great way to meditate.
brian grazer
There's portable ones, too, aren't there?
joe rogan
Sort of, yeah.
brian grazer
I have done one.
I have done one, and I liked it.
But I can't wait to see yours, because I bet there's a better way.
I did it so makeshift.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm sure.
Yeah.
The Float Labs, the most advanced ones, and they have a place in Westwood and in Venice.
They have a place where you can go and rent it for an hour.
But the best thing that I found was inside the tank was to just concentrate on breathing.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, and in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And that's all I would concentrate on is breathing in and breathing out, breathing in and breathing out.
And then I would kind of go into this trance when I was inside the tank.
And so then, when I didn't have access to the tank, I started utilizing that outside of the tank.
If something's bothering me, if I've got something that...
Because I'm an obsessive person, so I get a thought in my head about something I'm working on or something I'm trying to fix, and I just start rolling over in my head to the point where I can't get it away.
So then the way I can cleanse that and put my brain back on a good cycle is to just concentrate on breathing.
So I use the same method that I would use inside the tank, and I use it outside the tank.
But I want to try TM. I'm gonna try to do it this month while we're doing these different classes this month.
I'm gonna try to take a class.
brian grazer
Maybe go to this guy, Bob Roth.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
Where's he at?
brian grazer
Well, he's kind of all over the – in New York.
joe rogan
Okay.
brian grazer
But he comes out here because he has many people in Los Angeles and he makes sure to come, I think, once a month or something.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
Well, I'll talk to you.
brian grazer
We'll figure it out.
I think he's, for me, I think the best.
I've met a few of them.
But he made – Without saying take it seriously, he describes it in a way that I understood what it was, and he has some authority in him that made me take it seriously, whereas the other times I didn't take it quite as seriously.
It's kind of important who introduces it to you, I think.
joe rogan
I think so too, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, it's like what you were talking about earlier about people that are really enthusiastic about something and really committed and disciplined about it, that it's very contagious.
brian grazer
It is.
joe rogan
I think the same thing about meditation or about anything.
Yeah.
There's a certain energy you get when you're talking to someone who's really into what they're into.
brian grazer
Yeah, really into it.
joe rogan
If they're really into TM, you'll get a feeling and then you'll be able to recreate at least some of that when you do it on your own, I'd imagine.
brian grazer
Yes, yeah.
And, yeah.
Well, you'll like how it's described.
I don't know if you've...
Basically...
No, I'll let you do it yourself.
unidentified
Okay.
brian grazer
Sorry.
joe rogan
Now, what other stuff do you do in terms of self-improvement?
brian grazer
If you should ask Veronica.
No, I think a little like you as I've researched you that I'm constantly reading things, like all of the time.
Always nonfiction, however.
joe rogan
No fiction at all?
brian grazer
No, I just, no.
joe rogan
That's interesting for someone who produces a lot of fiction.
brian grazer
Well, what I like is, yes, that's right.
What I've found in my life, for me, the foundational creative ingredients to a creative equation, like making a movie or a TV show or painting, is counterpoint.
So I have found that I'm dreamy enough myself, you know, like I – you know, and I've read, of course, all Joseph Campbell stuff, so I kind of understand formats of myths and the herewith a thousand faces and – And I particularly like underdog stories.
There's so many types of underdog stories that it's – so anyway, so I have that basic knowledge.
And then when I learn a subject, let's say I learn the subject of architecture or physics or a little bit of chemistry or whatever the – it's all like from an archaeological perspective because it's all new to me.
So I found, for example, when I produced the movie 8 Mile, which is about hip-hop, right?
It's about battles in Detroit.
First, I thought – I could even go back further.
I'll do this quickly, though.
I thought I should get like the hottest, you know, video director, the coolest guy.
And I won't say those names, but there were the guys that were very visible at being the best at those hot videos.
unidentified
Okay.
brian grazer
And then it occurred to me, I should get somebody that approaches it, again, archaeologically, where everything is a discovery.
So I hired someone that knew nothing about hip-hop, but was passionate about wanting to do the movie.
And he was named Curtis Hanson.
He's deceased right now, but he won, I think, two Oscars for LA Confidential.
So he was kind of a classic American filmmaker.
That looked at everything with sort of a discovery lens.
And that's why you're able to...
See, if I pick the video guy that thinks he knows everything about hip-hop, then all the little nuances that are new to the audience's eyes would have never been shot because he'd think, oh, everybody knows that stuff.
That's the good stuff, you know?
And so sometimes authority on top of authority doesn't work out well.
And I found that And my career, all I did was write and produce comedies for the first 17 years of my movie career, starting with Night Shift and then Splash and Parenthood and Nutty Professor and Liar Liar and a lot of comedies, a lot of 5 Eddie Murphy things, Jim Carrey three times.
And what I found was Jewish writers...
Christian actors.
In the Jewish words, they go, Jew writers, goyim actor.
And goyim is like when Jewish people say, it's the Christian, you know, the Catholic guy.
It's always – I made eight movies, I think, with Tom Hanks, but he's like the Gary Cooper or he's the Christian guy with the Jewish writers.
Always that works.
unidentified
Why?
Why is that?
brian grazer
Jew on Jew, no good.
unidentified
Why?
brian grazer
Christian on Christian, not funny.
joe rogan
Really?
brian grazer
Yeah, it just doesn't play.
joe rogan
What's wrong with Jew on Jew?
brian grazer
Only one Jew on Jew kind of worked in the last Woody Allen.
And they weren't meteoric hits.
He was just like, you know, he was sort of dominated the ethos, you know, of comedy in the 70s and 80s.
But it just didn't work.
You can't really, but I could name, I mean, Judd Apatow, talented Jewish writer, director, usually he's got these guys that are like, they're just not that.
unidentified
They're Catholic Christian guys, you know, like girls.
brian grazer
I mean, who's the chicken train wreck?
Melissa McCarthy.
McCarthy!
joe rogan
She's Catholic!
brian grazer
He's a Jew!
It's like, that's the counterpoint.
Is what works.
joe rogan
Isn't Trainwreck Emmy Schumer?
Is it Melissa McCarthy too?
brian grazer
Oh, you might be right.
Oh, it might be both.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
It's both.
Oh, thank God.
unidentified
Thank God we got tiebreaker here.
joe rogan
So anyway, do you prefer to do comedy or do you prefer just a movie that interests you?
brian grazer
I prefer movies just interesting.
joe rogan
Just whatever it is.
brian grazer
But there was a point like at the end of these 17 years of like, you know, there's a point where I definitely made a lot of, you know, did well financially at making these movies and I enjoy it because when you're around comedy, you're I'm happy.
You're laughing.
I mean, that's the whole vibe of the thing.
But I thought, you cannot get enough respect just doing comedy.
So I thought, I'm going to have to try to just do dramas.
Because I've come close.
I got nominated.
But that's as close as I got.
There was no way on Splash they were going to pick.
And the writers are the funny guys over there!
They picked Robert Benton, you know, like the guy that wrote A Place in the Heart, you know, or Places in the Heart.
And Bonnie and Clyde, like they picked that guy, the classy guys.
So I felt like if I want to join the classy guys, I better start doing dramas.
And then I did Apollo 13 and Ransom and a bunch of dramas.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
So that's what motivated you to switch it up.
brian grazer
Yeah, that was what motivated me.
I just couldn't take the abuse any longer.
joe rogan
The abuse of producing massively successful movies.
unidentified
What abuse.
brian grazer
Yeah, I mean, I felt grateful and stuff, but I just felt like I got it.
joe rogan
I understand.
You didn't feel like you got the respect you deserved.
brian grazer
Yeah, I just feel like comedies are so hard.
You do comedy.
Comedy is the hardest thing because when it doesn't work, you hear it.
unidentified
It's embarrassing.
brian grazer
It's bad.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
Dramas, the great dramas, I can tell you all those dramas that we see in the last five years, They go, it's great, it's brilliant.
I mean, I don't even know what happened on some of these things.
They're so slow, right?
And there's no defining, you know, no one's clapped.
Oh, God, you hear everybody who's really quiet.
They're quiet because they're asleep.
joe rogan
What did you think of the Joker?
brian grazer
Okay.
I have to break the Joker down because I know a lot of people that are moralistically very against it.
joe rogan
Yes.
brian grazer
You know, my generation is really mad at it.
I thought as a movie, that movie was really badass.
That movie was, I thought it was really good.
joe rogan
Masterpiece.
brian grazer
Masterpiece.
Oh my god, those sequences and the going down the stairs and the music choices.
That was a masterpiece.
It was amazing.
I loved it.
Now, this other unit that you, you know, if the movie's broken down into two units, the one is the The masterpiece we're calling of the movie itself.
And then what are the themes that are giving life to this movie?
Or the purpose?
What's the purpose?
I mean, you could go, well, there could be some bad stuff in there.
But I'm not deep enough to identify it exactly.
And...
Having made so many movies, I can't be judgmental of it.
I liked it.
So I just feel like people in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones.
unidentified
That's what I think.
joe rogan
That's a good way of looking at it.
brian grazer
How do you see it?
joe rogan
I thought it was brilliant, but very disturbing.
But it was supposed to be disturbing.
And I think they accomplished their goal with flying colors.
I think it was a very, very unusual movie.
Very difficult to find any parallels with any other previous movie.
brian grazer
Yeah, exactly.
joe rogan
I thought it was fucking amazing.
unidentified
Yeah, I thought it was.
joe rogan
When I left, I didn't feel good.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
I didn't feel like that.
It was like, wow.
brian grazer
I'm going to party.
What a great movie.
joe rogan
I was like, fuck.
I walked out of the theater like, fuck.
brian grazer
Yeah, it just blows you away.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
It was so good.
joe rogan
And me and my wife talked about it for a long time.
brian grazer
How was she on it?
joe rogan
She loved it.
brian grazer
Oh, cool.
joe rogan
But it's not her kind of movie.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it was...
There was something about it.
It was so well executed, and Joaquin Phoenix was amazing.
brian grazer
It was kind of operatic in some scenes.
I mean, where the music and everything was...
joe rogan
I mean, the build-up to it, too.
There was so much going on and so much madness.
And you understood.
You felt empathy for this guy who was ultimately a monster and a murderer.
brian grazer
Yes.
joe rogan
Spoiler alert.
But you felt for him.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know?
I mean, in that sense, they managed to navigate those incredibly treacherous waters brilliantly.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
I thought it was fucking awesome.
brian grazer
Yeah, good.
Me too.
joe rogan
Yeah.
brian grazer
I mean, that director's great.
joe rogan
Yeah.
No, he's great.
Todd Phillips is amazing.
brian grazer
I'm sure you know him.
joe rogan
I don't.
I have friends who know him.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, my friend Brian Callen, he was in The Hangover, and he was in this movie briefly, too.
Yeah.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
But I don't know him.
brian grazer
Yeah.
So, that's that.
joe rogan
That's that.
brian grazer
Yeah.
joe rogan
Brian, I gotta wrap this up.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
I really enjoyed it, man.
Thank you very, very much.
brian grazer
You're so welcome.
joe rogan
I really appreciate it.
I really enjoyed talking to you.
brian grazer
Thanks.
I feel really grateful to be on your show.
joe rogan
I feel really grateful to be able to talk to you.
brian grazer
Thank you.
joe rogan
Thank you very much.
brian grazer
Thanks.
unidentified
Great.
joe rogan
Bye, everybody.
unidentified
Wow.
brian grazer
How long do we talk?
Wow.
unidentified
Wow.
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