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July 28, 2021 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:50:06
Joe Rogan Experience #1688 - Greg Fitzsimmons
Participants
Main voices
g
greg fitzsimmons
01:02:18
j
joe rogan
01:38:13
Appearances
j
jamie vernon
03:18
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
The Joe Rogan experience.
joe rogan
No headphones?
unidentified
What do you wanna do?
greg fitzsimmons
Wanna get crazy?
joe rogan
I like to listen to both sounds in my ears at the same time.
greg fitzsimmons
I have like, I think I got a lot of wax built up in my ears and I got fucking tinnitus now.
joe rogan
Oh no.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
How'd you get that?
greg fitzsimmons
I think I went to too many concerts in my life.
Went to a lot of loud concerts as a teenager.
joe rogan
Lead singer of ACDC, what's his name again?
Brian Johnson.
He can't hear.
His hearing's fucked.
He can't perform anymore.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, I think Pete Townsend also.
joe rogan
Well, back in, you know, you gotta think, in the 70s, like, no one knew anything.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
They didn't know tinnitus.
Football players didn't know about CTE. Right.
No one knew about anything.
greg fitzsimmons
Right, right.
joe rogan
And those poor guys would just fucking stand right there, bare ears.
greg fitzsimmons
But, yeah, I mean, I think ACDC still has the world record for the loudest concert.
joe rogan
Of course they do.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
You ever know ACDC concert?
I went to one in Madison Square Garden one time.
It was fucking crazy.
joe rogan
I haven't been to a concert concert, like see a band in like an arena in forever.
greg fitzsimmons
What's the last concert you went to?
joe rogan
I'm trying to remember.
I've seen, like, small shows.
Like, I saw Gary Clark Jr. out here.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, really?
joe rogan
Oh, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
I saw him at his club, Anton's.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
It was amazing.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
It was amazing.
Because we were, like, right there, like, second row.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
That was dope.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But, I mean, I don't, you know, it's inspiring to go see musicians, though.
Especially, like, I don't have any.
Do you play an instrument or anything?
unidentified
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
I play guitar and harmonica.
joe rogan
Do you play guitar?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Really?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You good?
greg fitzsimmons
No, I'm just like a chord guy.
I don't jam.
joe rogan
You just like it for fun?
greg fitzsimmons
It was very therapeutic.
When I first moved to LA, I started taking lessons at this place down the street, and I just found it was like one of these zen things that got me out of my head.
You sit there and just play fucking, you know, simple stone songs and, you know, Tom Petty.
Shit was just simple three-chord structures.
joe rogan
Yeah, I would imagine it's like a lot of other difficult things where it requires all of your concentration.
So it becomes like a bit of a meditation, right?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, it really is.
And then my son started playing.
He started taking lessons when he was like 11. And so I play with him and he jams and I just play the chords and he shreds.
He's really good.
joe rogan
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
It's weird because he's a lefty in everything he does except for guitar.
He plays righty.
joe rogan
Huh.
greg fitzsimmons
So his left hand really moves fast.
joe rogan
Huh.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
We haven't gotten high and played together.
That's the next step.
He'll be 21 soon.
joe rogan
I think when he turns 21. Is that when you're going to get high with him?
When he's 21?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, why not?
joe rogan
Does he know you get high?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And you know he gets high?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And you never decided to do it together?
greg fitzsimmons
We took an edible before a movie one night, but then we didn't really hang out.
He gave me too much.
I was just talking to Jamie about this.
My tolerance for edibles is very low.
joe rogan
Everybody's is.
greg fitzsimmons
So he gave me like 10 milligrams and I'm like a 5 milligram guy.
And we watched a movie and then afterwards we both just went, alright, goodnight.
I pictured, like, the first time I get high with my son would be, like, kicking back, talking about, you know, son, let me tell you what it's like to produce something from your loins, and it turns into something as beautiful as you, and, you know, I thought it would be, like, this existential, and it was like, goodnight.
joe rogan
Are you still living in Venice?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'd be really weird if I got high in Venice.
I was thinking about how many people are camped out in front of my house with tents just waiting for me to go to sleep.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
I have a friend who was in Venice and someone broke into his house and called the cops and they said there's nothing we can do about it.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, it's 45 minutes to get a cop to respond to your house in Venice.
It's fucking crazy.
joe rogan
They said, did he steal anything?
He has to steal something worth more than like $950 or something.
There's like a number attached to it.
But if someone just breaks into your house and you come into your house and there's a guy rummaging through your drawers, if he hasn't stolen anything yet, the cops won't even arrest him.
greg fitzsimmons
So you gotta pull out a calculator and find your receipts and just trail them?
joe rogan
If he steals a stereo, and it's like, okay, well that's a $2,000 stereo, now we can bring him in and then immediately release him.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
It's a joke.
You see what's going on in San Francisco where guys are going into stores and just filling garbage bags up with stuff and then just walking right out?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
And cops don't do anything, security guards aren't allowed to do anything.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Can you imagine being a security guard and you're getting paid fucking $12 an hour and you're expected to take on people that...
They're living on the street and what they're stealing is literally what they're living off of.
You're gonna go toe-to-toe with them?
They might have a fucking shank on them or something?
joe rogan
They might have hepatitis.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
They might bite you.
greg fitzsimmons
Right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, last night I was walking over to Kill Tony, and holy shit, 6th Street is fucking nuts.
I come around the corner, I've already seen somebody smoking crack, I saw two guys rolling joints just out in the open, and then I see these three homeless guys throwing garbage at a cop who's facing them off, and I'm just standing there watching, like, alright, this is on its way up.
And so...
The cop looked scared, and he finally pulled out his taser, and he goes, I'm gonna tase you.
And then the guy threw a fucking Coke can at his chest, and he goes, you're not gonna tase all three of us?
And they kept walking at him, and the dude fucking holstered his taser, and he called for backup, and he waited in the car.
joe rogan
The good old days before cell phones, there'd be three bodies right there.
Good old days.
greg fitzsimmons
The Old West, man, the way Texas used to be.
joe rogan
Well, it's probably still that way if you go to, like, Waco or some shit.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Actually, Waco is supposed to be...
Waco has apparently been transformed by this one couple that has, like, a fix-em-up show, one of them home fix-up shows, right?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Is it true?
Because my wife and one of her lady friends was having this discussion.
They were saying, Waco's amazing now because they've got this thing and they build houses and everybody goes there and it's really super cute.
jamie vernon
I mean, they've been doing the show long enough.
They probably fixed every house in the city, but I don't know.
joe rogan
Well, apparently, like, they've had a real impact on that area.
unidentified
That's amazing.
greg fitzsimmons
So that's what every urban sprawl needs is just...
joe rogan
One fix-em-up show.
greg fitzsimmons
Fix-em-up shows.
joe rogan
Those people love those shows.
You see a shitbag house and someone buys it for, like, you know, 80 grand, and they come in and start tearing walls down and putting this up, and in the end, it's done.
Yay!
Yeah, yeah.
They love those shows.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, because those shows are time-lapsed.
You don't see the fucking contractor who doesn't show up because his aunt died for three weeks.
And then the tile you wanted is back-ordered, and so you've got to wait another three weeks.
I mean, I have avoided...
We did one renovation in my house...
And I was like, that's it.
Be happy with what we got, honey, because I'm not going through that shit again.
Life's too short.
joe rogan
Yeah, they're rough.
Renovations are rough.
They take a long time.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But some people love it.
They love doing it.
greg fitzsimmons
People enjoy flipping houses.
They buy a house and they live in chaos for a year and then they sell it and they go do it again.
I'm like, what is your life about?
Are you fucking crazy?
joe rogan
They like it.
It's like that's their little hobby thing.
Yeah.
That's their little thing.
They don't have...
Jamie, is the fan on in here?
greg fitzsimmons
Those are the same people that get divorced every three years.
They're constantly upgrading their life.
joe rogan
Is it not, buddy?
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Those are the people that get Botox and divorce every three years.
joe rogan
There's a thing about dudes with Botox.
I can't...
If I see your forehead frozen, I can't talk to you, bro.
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
You and I just don't...
We're not going to see eye to eye on stuff.
If I see this?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You're smiling and this shit doesn't move at all?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Are you worried about lines?
Are you worried about these things right here?
What are you worried about?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Why are you Botoxing your fucking forehead, man?
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
Especially if you're a comedian.
I mean, I have laughed.
You look at my face.
I've laughed a lot in my fucking life.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
These shit, they're deep around my eyes.
joe rogan
How many male comedians do you know of Botox?
greg fitzsimmons
I met a famous one recently.
I'm not going to say his name, but I was shocked.
You know, I could see if you're an actress, I guess it really is like life or death in terms of your career of getting your eyes touched up.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's your whole face.
Your face can't have lines if you're an actress.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's weird.
Like a guy can have that fucking Josh Brolin, like manly, fucking aged, like a nice...
greg fitzsimmons
Robert Redford.
joe rogan
Leather jacket.
greg fitzsimmons
Yep.
joe rogan
Like it looks better that way.
Yeah, a lot of these guys, they actually look better when they're weathered.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, they look manly.
greg fitzsimmons
You don't have any lines, really.
Oh, you got some forehead lines.
joe rogan
I got forehead lines.
This is my Fear Factor line, because I couldn't wear sunglasses, so I was outside every day for fucking six years, squinting.
It's literally where it came from.
greg fitzsimmons
And also looking at guys going like, why are you doing this?
joe rogan
What the fuck am I doing in my life?
Plus, I was high every show.
So, you know, very puzzled.
And puzzled by my whole life.
greg fitzsimmons
I remember when we were working on The Man Show together.
What year was that?
2003. 2003. That's right, because my daughter was just born.
I remember that.
She got born like a month before I started working on that.
joe rogan
Bro, that was 18 years ago.
greg fitzsimmons
Damn.
Yeah, my daughter just turned 18. Isn't that nuts?
Yeah.
Crazy.
But I remember you coming from Fear Factor tapings.
Fucking high.
And then we would roll fatties.
And then it was midnight before we started quote-unquote writing the jokes for the monologue.
And then Doug Stanhope was living in the fucking studios because he was divorced from his...
Quote-unquote wife that he'd married in some mystical Indian ceremony in the desert.
So they got divorced and he had a clothesline.
He had a clothesline because he used to wash his clothes in the sink and hang them up.
He bought a fucking port-a-potty into, I don't know why, there was a bathroom.
joe rogan
They had a bucket they were pissing in.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, that's right.
joe rogan
Remember?
Doug is such a nasty bastard.
greg fitzsimmons
But he loved it.
He was never happier.
joe rogan
Well, you know, he loves where he's at now in Bisbee.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
He loves living in that little small, weird, hippie artist community.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, just...
greg fitzsimmons
I know Morgan Murphy goes out there all the time.
She loves it.
She loves it, yeah.
joe rogan
Just being around those weirdos.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Kreischer loved it, too.
greg fitzsimmons
Kreischer went out there?
joe rogan
Yeah, so did Shane Gillis.
He went out there, too.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Spent like a month out there.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
Damn.
joe rogan
Beginning of COVID, you know, you're not going to get it there.
unidentified
Right, right.
joe rogan
Fucking no one's going anywhere.
greg fitzsimmons
I just picture there being a great local bar.
There must be some watering holes in a town like that.
joe rogan
There is, but there's also weird shit, too.
He's got some guy who bought a small piece of land right next to him so he could try to sell it to him, and then the guy's just doing loud construction on it all the time and trying to muscle him into buying this piece of land.
Yeah, it's not good.
And then he's going to have this house, if he builds it, that faces right into Doug's living room, staring at him.
unidentified
Doug used to give out his fucking home address on the podcast!
joe rogan
I go, Doug, there's a million people listening.
You're going to have at least 4,000 psychopaths show up at your house.
And he would have crowds of people that would make the trek, they'd make the pilgrimage out to Bisbee to watch football games at his house.
greg fitzsimmons
And he just let them in?
joe rogan
Let them in.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
People just wandering out.
After a while, he realized it was a terrible idea and he stopped doing it.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
So now he doesn't do it anymore.
greg fitzsimmons
And is he still with that girlfriend?
joe rogan
Bingo, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
She's great.
joe rogan
Yeah, she's a lovely, lovely lady.
He's got a good thing going on there.
It's his vibe, you know?
He's got his vibe locked in.
Doug's never been a big city guy.
He likes to think about shit.
He likes to have cocktails and sit around, smoke cigarettes and think about stuff and riff.
And because he doesn't go to open mic nights, his open mic night is kind of like riffing.
Just talking shit.
And now he does a podcast.
He does that podcast on a regular basis.
And that's what he does.
Sits there with a cocktail.
And he just, what the fuck is this?
And he just starts talking about stuff.
And that's where he gets a lot of his material.
Puts together enough ideas.
And then, you know, he writes a lot, too.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he's a writer.
joe rogan
A real writer, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he's probably put out as many comedy specials as anybody.
I mean, he's probably got 20 at this point.
Yeah, they're all well thought out.
I mean, his structure of his rants are really like classic structure.
He gives you the idea, and then he goes in different directions with it, and then he sticks the landing on all of them.
joe rogan
You know what he told me?
Really great piece of advice.
He said he looks at his own material as if he's like a prosecuting attorney, like he's prosecuting his material, like looking for flaws in it.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
I'm like, that's a great idea.
I look at it like a hater, which is kind of a similar thing.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm like, how would a hater look at this bit?
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
If someone really wanted to like...
Because you know how you can get sloppy with a bit?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, we've all had bits before.
We're like, oh, that one wasn't that good.
It's like there's...
It's too...
You know, I've had bits where I was like, I'm too...
Tom calls them dance moves.
Like, I used to call it English.
Too much English on the cue ball.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Spinning around for no reason.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like a lot of like, you're acting up, but it's like, you really should just rewrite it.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Like, got a good premise there, but maybe you had like one initial approach and you stuck with that initial approach.
And you never really revised it.
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Sometimes you just gotta redo a bit, like a tear down of a house.
greg fitzsimmons
I feel like that happened with the pandemic, as I had a sheet full of new jokes that I was doing, and there is something that's sticky about the first idea you have on a premise.
It's like, if you did it the first time, there's something in you that goes, oh, then that's the way it goes.
But with the pandemic, I came back to some of these bits, and I didn't even remember how they went.
And then I started doing them a different way and I was like, oh no, this is a better way than that.
I'm glad I forgot the first version of this bit.
joe rogan
Yeah, that is good.
Sometimes you can have it, if you forget how to do it, you'll do it better.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
It's great to go back.
I have my comedy notebooks going back to when we started.
I mean, I have two giant fucking crates in my office with old comedy notebooks.
And once in a while I go back and I look at some old shit and I go, wow, that was a good fucking premise.
Bad joke, but I got some good premises in here.
joe rogan
Yeah, because in the beginning, like, you're not good enough to handle a good premise.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Did you ever do Owen Smith's show?
Do you know Owen Smith had a notebook show?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, no shit.
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I did it.
It was hilarious.
I pulled out a notebook from, like, 91. It was terrible.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
unidentified
Oh, my God.
joe rogan
I had written in, like, ad libs, like, to the audience.
It was so embarrassing.
greg fitzsimmons
This is my nice shirt, Paige.
joe rogan
No, it's like I had written in, so is that you, buddy?
You know what I'm talking about.
That kind of shit.
It was so awful.
greg fitzsimmons
Or a note.
Look at one person and explain joke.
That was the classic thing.
All the old-time comics used to do that.
They would do a joke and then explain it slowly to one person, and it killed every time.
joe rogan
What was that one guy?
There was a guy, Mike...
greg fitzsimmons
Motto, take my rice, please.
joe rogan
Mike Motto.
greg fitzsimmons
Take my rice, please.
joe rogan
I went and I saw Mike Motto and he did like an ad.
I was sitting in the front row.
This was before I'd even done stand-up because I was like thinking about doing it.
And we went to Play It Against Sam's.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, I was with my girlfriend.
We're sitting in the front row and he said something about me having an erection.
Like he had this like this, you know, this ad lib.
It wasn't really an ad lib, but he would work the crowd with this thing.
And this guy, look at him over here.
He's got an erection.
What are you saying?
And then I realized, oh my god, comics lie.
I'm like, this is crazy.
They just find a person and that becomes the person they lie about.
I was trying to piece it together.
You know one of the first comics I ever saw live?
greg fitzsimmons
Who?
joe rogan
Tom Cotter.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Saw Tom Cotter at, what was the Paradise next to Stitches?
Stitches, yeah, yeah.
I saw him at the Paradise.
It was the contest, the Boston Comedy Riot.
greg fitzsimmons
The Comedy Riot.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was in the Comedy Riot.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I saw him there.
greg fitzsimmons
Tom Cotter was a fucking rock-solid joke writer, performer.
I mean, he was a guy, he was definitely a guy to learn from, you know, early on.
He was a guy that, like, you know, had a rhythm, had a cadence, you know?
joe rogan
And remember he used to do the sack walk?
We would go to parties and Tom would pull his sack out and just have his balls, only his balls, hanging out of his pants and just act completely casual and go walking around and talking to people.
And then you'd be having a conversation with him and you'd just go, what the fuck is going on, man?
Why are your balls out?
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, we used to do it as a contest of who could leave theirs out the longest at these parties.
And then there was also, do you remember a guy, Mike McDonald?
joe rogan
Yeah, sure.
greg fitzsimmons
Mike McDonald was fucking great.
Me, him, and Rich Seisler used to hang out, and we would come up with these crazy bets.
And me and Seisler played pool one time, and we would shoot these long fucking tournaments, and then we would have these bets.
And the bet was, there was going to be a party that night at Rita Choice's house.
And Shannon was...
Remember Shannon?
She passed away.
unidentified
No.
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
She just passed away.
joe rogan
What?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Anyway, so we go to their...
joe rogan
She's not old.
greg fitzsimmons
No, she was, you know, 53 years old or something.
Why am I forgetting her last name?
What happened?
I think she had a brain thing.
It's a freaky, freaky thing.
So the bet was, it was a party at Rita and Shannon's place, and...
Whoever lost was not allowed to talk at the party.
And you could not explain why you were not talking.
You couldn't mime it.
You couldn't write it down.
You had to just stand there and not talk.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
greg fitzsimmons
So I fucking whooped his ass.
unidentified
Oh, no.
greg fitzsimmons
And then we went there.
And then he just kept standing there smiling.
And people were like, hey, what's up, Rich?
And he would just nod.
And they'd go, what's going on?
And he would just nod.
And you had to stay for at least half an hour.
And we're standing there doing that.
Cotter's got his ball sack out.
joe rogan
Mike McDonald was a funny guy.
He's a really funny guy.
Good writer.
He had a good cadence, too.
Real good cadence, you know?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, and he had a local cable access show way before people were doing stand-up comics.
Before Evening at the Improv and all those strip shows that they were doing with stand-up comics.
He had one that, I think it was called Mike's Playhouse or Treehouse or something.
unidentified
Who?
joe rogan
I remember that.
greg fitzsimmons
And he would do a monologue every week.
It was on like WGBH, the local cable access show.
He would do a monologue.
He would have on like Don Gavin or Steve Sweeney.
They would do their five minutes.
And then he would do like a sketch.
It was fucking great.
unidentified
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
He's one of those guys that if he had left Boston, he could have done big things, I think.
joe rogan
There's a lot of those guys.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
A lot of those guys, they just got locked in.
I think Gavin could have been one of the greatest comics of all time.
greg fitzsimmons
Of all time.
joe rogan
Of all time.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
When we saw him, and we were both 21, and we were at Stitches, I remember this many times when I saw him, I'm like, why am I doing comedy?
Why don't I just quit?
I'll never be that good.
That guy's so good.
greg fitzsimmons
And so good that- Throwaway lines.
Throwaway lines, and a guy who you can't not start sounding like if you watch him too much.
Just like David Tell in New York.
Right, right, right.
So many people started sounding like Don Gavin.
You know, Wendy Leibman, Tom Cotter.
A lot of people had that throwaway style.
You couldn't not look at it and go, oh, this is the way you have to do stand-up comedy.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
It was so dominant in that way.
That was one of the more interesting things is like watching guys reclaim the stage because you'd have specific styles that were so effective.
It was hard for the audience to get out of that person's head into another person's head.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, like Sweeney was a great example.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because Sweeney was...
He's like...
Oh, man.
One of the most...
He was one of the most hilarious comedians, but also one of the most local.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It was almost like he had a magic trick that wouldn't work when you went to New Hampshire.
Like, as soon as you went to Connecticut, it would drop off like 50%.
If you went to New York, it was ineffective.
greg fitzsimmons
If you came to LA, it was nothing.
joe rogan
Nothing.
It just didn't work.
Those Boston jokes.
Jokes about being in Boston.
But if he was in Saugus, Jesus Christ, the fucking walls would be rattling.
greg fitzsimmons
Forget it.
joe rogan
Like you'd see the chandelier shaking.
He was a monster.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, that's why when the guy came out, the guy from The Tonight Show, Came out.
He'd heard this when, you know, Johnny was starting to have comics blow up, and he'd heard about all these guys.
It was probably in the early 80s.
joe rogan
The Ding Ho days, right?
greg fitzsimmons
The Ding Ho, exactly.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And the guy who was—God, I'm forgetting the guy's name.
He used to run The Tonight Show.
But he said, all right, I got to go see these guys.
So he flies back to Boston.
He was actually from Boston, so he came home, and he went to the Ding Ho, and these killers show up.
And they're all in the back and they're doing lines and they're fucking drinking Jack and they go up one after the other and they're doing jokes about, yeah, so you go to Revere and the accent's like, and the guy's sitting there going like, oh, Jim McCauley was his name.
And he goes, how the fuck am I going to put these guys on The Tonight Show?
And then up walks Stephen Wright, who was like the redheaded stepchild in the Boston comedy scene because he was not aggressive.
He was not like killing the way these guys would kill.
But he went up and he was doing his deadpan Stephen Wright.
And Jim McCauley lit up and he goes, what are you doing next week?
Flies him out.
He does The Tonight Show.
Annihilates.
Johnny's head is on the desk and he's pounding it with his fist.
And he invited him back the next week to do another spot.
And in that first year, he did like six Tonight Shows and he became legendary.
unidentified
He was the man.
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
You know, got the HBO. And all these guys are back and forth going...
Fucking...
That kid?
I told you...
Fucking...
Sweeney told him to stop doing stand-up.
He goes, pal, you're a friend.
I gotta do you a favor and just tell you.
It's not gonna work out, guy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Wow.
Wow.
That's all documented in that When Stand Up Stood Out film.
Right.
France Alameda's movie?
greg fitzsimmons
France Alameda's movie, yeah.
joe rogan
Which is a great movie.
A great movie for comics, too.
I mean, even from any place to see.
greg fitzsimmons
I think it's on Netflix, yeah.
joe rogan
Is it?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's a great movie for comics to see what happens to a community when it gets sort of co-opted, too.
Because it got co-opted by the idea of success.
Like, they all got kind of weird with each other.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Because when Stephen Wright made it, a lot of guys were like, when's my turn?
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Like, what the fuck?
That's a thing with certain comics.
When another comic blows up, you see the fucking resentment.
You see the weirdness.
greg fitzsimmons
With some, and with others, there's real excitement that the brand of Boston is going big.
I think in our class, the guys that came up I felt nothing but support.
I don't remember there being...
joe rogan
We had a good class.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, we did.
We had Mike McCarthy.
joe rogan
Mike McCarthy, the comedy barbarian.
greg fitzsimmons
He's doing it.
Where's he at?
I just saw his picture.
He's in Boston.
joe rogan
He is?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, I just saw his picture on an ad for one of the Boston clubs.
I think Laugh Boston, maybe.
joe rogan
Wow.
Laugh Boston.
That's a good spot.
greg fitzsimmons
It is a good spot.
joe rogan
What's the scene like now?
What else they got?
greg fitzsimmons
Well, Laugh Boston's the heart of it.
John Tobin's got rooms in Boston.
He's got one in Worcester, Springfield.
I think he does the comedy tent down there in the Cape.
So, it's strong.
There's good, strong local comics.
There's a lot of guys that...
I'm forgetting this one guy.
There's guys that are really fucking killers.
Like the new generation of killers.
unidentified
That's good to hear.
greg fitzsimmons
And you know guys like Robbie Prince that are still there.
They're the big new guys.
Not the new guys.
They're the legends now.
They're the ones that the young guys are looking up to.
joe rogan
Is Robbie in Boston or is he living in New Hampshire?
Wasn't he living in New Hampshire for a while?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, I'm not sure.
Oh, is he?
joe rogan
I think so.
Yeah, that's good to hear, though, that there's a new up-and-coming crop.
Oh, yeah.
Because there was a pause for a while where there wasn't a lot of guys.
There was like Burr and Patrice and a few other guys, and then there was a bit of a lull where people weren't coming out of there.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
I think it really dried up, and then Tobin opened up that club, and it kind of brought things back again.
joe rogan
Hmm.
greg fitzsimmons
And also like, yeah, and then social media.
I think it just allowed, it allowed comics to make a name for themselves in Boston.
You know, Spacen is one guy who I follow who's really funny.
I'm so fucking bad with names now.
joe rogan
It's too many names in your head.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Dunbar's number, you know that, right?
greg fitzsimmons
What's that?
joe rogan
150 people.
Keep 150 people in your head.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, that's the Rolodex?
joe rogan
Yeah, it goes back to like when we lived in tribes.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like you have room in your head for intimate friendships or relationships with 150 people.
greg fitzsimmons
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
It's controversial.
Some people think you can get up to 200. Yeah.
But there's a number where you just blur out.
And you and I are way past those numbers.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Our fucking heads are clogged up.
I mean, we know 200-plus comedians.
Easy.
And then regular people that you know.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, and you have to remember that when you expect people to remember you.
I really go out of my way to never walk up to somebody and go like, hey man, you don't remember me?
I'm always like, hey man, Greg Fitzsimmons, we met, yeah.
And then they go, yeah, yeah, I know, I just want to make sure.
I want to be that guy.
Because that is the worst fucking feeling when you don't remember somebody.
Yeah, they get upset and they have no right to be upset because you don't know.
This world is fucked up because there's people like you that have photographic memories.
I mean, your recall of facts and scientific terms and shit like that is uncanny.
And that's not fair to people like me who have just sieves.
Everything goes right through my fucking head.
And you know what?
I'm smart too, Joe.
joe rogan
I believe it.
greg fitzsimmons
But I don't remember shit.
joe rogan
I remember things that I care about.
I don't remember everything.
But things that are important to me, I remember.
Important facts and information.
But there's a lot of shit that slips through too.
I'm worried that as I get older, I'm going to get dumber.
I'm not sure if that's happening, but I'm always paranoid.
I'm always paranoid that I'm going to get dumber.
I have moments where I feel like, oh, everything's firing great.
And then I have other days.
It's completely dependent upon sleep.
greg fitzsimmons
Sleep is huge.
joe rogan
God damn it.
If I sleep three or four hours and then I go out and I do stuff, I'm 50 IQ points lighter.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
I'm a dingbat.
I can't remember shit.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, they say diet is really important too.
Like there's certain things that are great for your brain.
Like avocados are great for your brain.
joe rogan
Oils.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, oils.
joe rogan
Essential fatty acids.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah, a lot of stuff is brain food.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah, fats.
Your brain works on ketones too.
greg fitzsimmons
Where do you get ketones from?
joe rogan
You can get them, exogenous ketones, but ketones are essentially when your body's burning fat.
That's what a ketogenic diet is.
A lot of people feel like they have a better cognitive response, like their brain works better when they're on a ketogenic diet.
Have you ever done that?
greg fitzsimmons
Keto?
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's annoying.
greg fitzsimmons
I did it for two weeks and I was like, I can't do this.
Well, you can't do it if you go on the road.
joe rogan
You can, but it's annoying.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's just like, you know, I like other stuff.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
That's the problem.
I like food.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like one of the things I enjoy.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, and so now all I'm eating is like fats.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Just here, just fucking, I have a friend who was, he was drinking half and half or like cream, like heavy cream.
Like he sat here on the podcast, my friend Kyle.
Kyle Kingsbury.
Yeah, he had a fucking pint of heavy cream he brought on the podcast.
And I'm like, what are you doing?
You drink that?
And he's like, yeah, it's a good source of fats.
A ketogenic diet.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
He's chugging down heavy fucking cream.
greg fitzsimmons
And then you just fart and shit all day.
joe rogan
I got into drinking ketones for a while.
I was taking exogenous ketones.
Like, I'd have them shipped to me.
And you have to refrigerate them in these little containers.
You open it up, and it tastes like Satan's ball sweat.
Like, you're downing this stuff.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
But it's good for the brain.
greg fitzsimmons
The other thing that's good for the brain is crosswords.
joe rogan
Oh yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Every day I do Sudoku on my computer.
Speed Sudoku.
I do it as fast as I can.
I did one in a minute and 40 seconds one time.
And that's how I get my...
Before I do anything in the morning, I just rip through 15 minutes of those.
joe rogan
It makes sense that your brain is basically like everything else.
If you use it, it gets better.
Or at least you maintain it.
And if you don't, it atrophies.
greg fitzsimmons
And trying new things is really important.
Learning a new language.
During the pandemic, I went back and I started learning French again.
Because I studied it in high school and college.
And, you know, I'm low-functioning.
And so I was like, fuck it, I'm not gonna learn a new language.
Let me go back with like an adult brain and try to tackle French.
Dude, I don't remember shit.
Like, this stuff does not stick with me the way it used to.
It's hard.
But you gotta do it.
joe rogan
Do you ever take any nootropics?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
Nutrients for the brain?
No?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, no, that's not true.
Well, I take...
You recommend it, and I take it every day as these mushrooms.
What are they called?
joe rogan
Lion's mane?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, lion's mane.
joe rogan
Yeah, lion's mane, good for the brand.
greg fitzsimmons
Take it every day.
joe rogan
Yeah, that stuff's good.
It's got some neuro-regenerative properties.
Another one that's good is that gum that we have over there.
That Neuro gum.
I like that stuff.
That's what I was chewing when I got in here.
The good thing about that is like it's real easy.
Just pop a couple of sticks of gum.
It actually tastes good.
Freshens your breath a little bit and it's got theanine in it and a little bit of caffeine and a couple other nootropics in it.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
We have some new shit.
I'll give you a jug of our new AlphaBrain.
We got a new AlphaBrain Black Label.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh yeah?
joe rogan
It's fucking potent.
It's good shit.
I like that a lot.
greg fitzsimmons
Nice.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's something that I take before every UFC. Because UFC's big for memory.
And I have to remember fights from fucking decades ago.
I have to remember positions and moves.
And then when it gets to weird scrambles, I have to be able to explain things like what's in jeopardy while dudes are strangling each other.
The right arm, he's got to get the right arm through there and grab this.
And sometimes I haven't been in that position in a long time.
And I have to go, okay, how does that work?
Which arm does he have to cinch it up with?
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
I actually think about that sometimes when I see you calling a match.
It's like, how the fuck do you stay sharp when you're not doing it every week?
Because you've got guys that call baseball games or even football games once a week.
They're regularly fucking juicing their mind with these facts.
joe rogan
Well, the thing is, I watch it every day.
greg fitzsimmons
Okay.
joe rogan
When I go to the gym, like I'm working out of my house, I either watch John Wick or I watch fights.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, no shit.
Really?
joe rogan
I watch Keanu Reeves kill a bunch of people or I watch fights.
There's something about, even if it's just on in the background.
But watching fights is big.
Because I'll watch different scenarios.
A lot of it is pattern recognition.
You see certain things that people are doing.
You see how the other person's responding to it.
You see things that work and don't work.
greg fitzsimmons
Right, right.
joe rogan
And then martial arts is so weird because like, especially mixed martial arts, because there's so many different styles that are involved.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like one style will work on one person, but it'll be completely ineffective on another person.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's weird.
greg fitzsimmons
But you see it like a chess match.
Like, I see you call a fight before it fucking happens.
He'll be like, he's got the arm, but I don't know the moves, but you can tell when a guy is about to line up a move on somebody else.
joe rogan
Yeah, you see how, but that is a specific thing that I don't think you can do.
I don't think you can call jujitsu unless you do jujitsu.
It's too complex.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like, I don't play chess, and I know how the pieces move, but I don't play it.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
So I can't, like, if I see someone moving, I go, where are they going with that?
Oh!
I didn't see that!
So it's the same thing with Jiu Jitsu.
You have to know the actual sport, I think.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe someone could prove me wrong.
But I've never seen a commentator that can call Jiu Jitsu that doesn't practice Jiu Jitsu.
Striking is a little different.
There's some good boxing commentators that don't box.
But you basically have two weapons.
Two weapons that work in different ways.
But it's a left and a right.
So, you know, you have different variations.
Like, some guys have, like, stutter moves.
And some guys have, like, a pity pad style.
And some guys just throw bombs.
There's all sorts of different ways to use those two weapons.
But you have a left hand and a right hand.
And that's it.
But with jiu-jitsu, you got leg locks and...
Arm bars and shoulder locks and spine locks and twisters and fucking knee bars and footholds.
It's a tangle of limbs when people go to the ground.
And still there's a lot of shit that I don't...
My leg lock game is pretty weak.
So when I see guys on the ground and they're going after the legs, that's one that I have to really think hard about what's in danger and what's not in danger.
greg fitzsimmons
Because you can't put yourself in their position as much.
joe rogan
I kind of can, but not like I can with like upper body techniques.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because the leg lock game kind of came around, really got really strong in like the 2013, 14, 15, like around then, up until 21. When I really stopped rolling every day was around that time.
So that's like right around when the leg lock game became big in competition jiu-jitsu.
greg fitzsimmons
Right, right.
joe rogan
That's super complex.
You see guys attacking and counterattacking, going back and forth and scrambling.
You're like, Jesus!
And trying to call those.
That's where there's next-level commentary.
You watch jujitsu commentators.
They're completely next-level in me when it comes to that.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
That's interesting about not having...
I was trying to think of a commentator that wasn't an athlete, and that guy, Joe Buck...
His father was a big sports commentator growing up and he never played, as far as I know, I don't think he played sports, but he grew up watching them and watching his father call them and he's the best in the business.
joe rogan
What does he commentate on?
greg fitzsimmons
He does everything.
Football.
I'm sure he does baseball.
What else does Joe Buck do?
He's the guy.
He's supposed to have a talk show career, but he got derailed by Artie Lang.
HBO gave him his own talk show, and Artie came on in the first episode and just fucking co-opted the show.
joe rogan
What did he do?
greg fitzsimmons
He just shit on Joe Buck on his own show, and Joe couldn't handle it.
joe rogan
Oh, that's right.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I remember that.
greg fitzsimmons
And the show got canceled like a week later.
joe rogan
That was heroin using Artie Lang.
Artie was wild.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, that was Artie showing up with no shoelaces in his high tops and a jean jacket that was misbuttoned.
joe rogan
And if he didn't have respect for you, he's just gonna fucking steamroll you.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Has anybody heard from him?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, I think he's doing good.
I checked on him a couple weeks ago.
joe rogan
He's not doing any stand-up.
greg fitzsimmons
I don't think he's doing stand-up, no.
If you want to talk to Artie, you've got to call another guy.
joe rogan
Who's the guy?
greg fitzsimmons
I forget the guy's name, but he's trying to weed out people that will be a bad influence.
unidentified
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
And I get through because I'm sober, you know, or I'm not.
I don't drink anyway.
joe rogan
I did a podcast with Artie in New York.
I used the Legion of Skinks podcast studio in New York.
It was fucking amazing.
It was one of the best podcasts I've ever done.
He was completely sober.
His stories were amazing.
greg fitzsimmons
There's nobody better at telling stories.
joe rogan
He's so funny.
greg fitzsimmons
He's incredible.
joe rogan
He's got little hand gestures he does when he's telling the stories.
He's just riveted.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he's got a great...
Gives you a fucking great laugh.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Generous laugher.
joe rogan
Oh, such a good guy.
unidentified
He's the best.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he's...
I did...
I wrote on Crashing for a couple seasons, and he was on it, and he was just like...
He would show up on set, and he would think, all right, this guy's a fucking mess.
His hair is...
He looked like fucking Jim from Taxi.
He'd show his hair all over the place late.
But, man...
He fucking knew his lines.
And then, you know, they would always ask for improv.
That was kind of like the way we shot the show.
It was like, all right, let's get what's in the script.
And then after we get that, then we'll let the actress play with it.
And he would always take it to another level.
He was just like, just fucking, just great comedic mind.
joe rogan
Did you ever do Kirby Enthusiasm?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
I would love to be a fly on the wall of that show.
Because apparently what Larry David does is there's a direct...
This is where we have to get to.
We have to get to, for instance, the air conditioning's broken.
It's hot in here.
We've got to call the guy that fixes the air conditioning.
I don't want to call him.
You call him.
That's the thing.
And then they work it through.
greg fitzsimmons
Yep.
joe rogan
And like, so he's got like a rough framework, but he just, and so it seems so real when he's doing it.
greg fitzsimmons
And it's in the casting.
He brings people in like, you know, Richard Lewis.
Who would have thought Richard Lewis?
But like, he's perfect.
unidentified
Perfect.
joe rogan
Perfect.
greg fitzsimmons
He's just so in, he's so like, has captured his own voice.
And his relationship with Larry is so perfect.
And what's the name of the guy who died?
Dave Osborne?
joe rogan
Oh, Super Dave.
greg fitzsimmons
Super Dave was fucking great.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was great.
unidentified
He was great.
joe rogan
You know what was great that I don't know what happened to him was Crazy Eyes Killer.
greg fitzsimmons
Who's that?
joe rogan
You ever saw that episode?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
It was one of the best episodes ever, like a tear-inducing, can't-breathe episode where there was this rapper.
His name was Crazy Eyes Killer.
Do you remember that episode?
What happened to that guy?
jamie vernon
He was just an actor, I think.
joe rogan
Was he?
God damn, he's good.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
He was so good.
greg fitzsimmons
And J.B. Smoove.
joe rogan
Oh my god, J.B. Smoove.
greg fitzsimmons
I mean, I think that little run he did about...
joe rogan
Yeah, he was...
unidentified
Crazy, I killed her.
joe rogan
He was a rapper, and Larry and him had some unusual relationship.
jamie vernon
Season 3. 2002, maybe?
joe rogan
Was it?
jamie vernon
Yep.
unidentified
God damn.
jamie vernon
They won an award like 1999 for best.
joe rogan
God damn.
unidentified
Are they still doing Corrigan enthusiasm?
jamie vernon
They had just announced that Richard Lewis wasn't going to be available, but he now is, so they're starting to film soon or something.
joe rogan
That's the thing when you have as much money as Larry David is.
You can just do whatever you want to do, like creatively.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Doesn't he still drive a fucking Prius, too?
greg fitzsimmons
Drives a Pirola.
He moved to that little BMW, you know, those tiny BMWs.
joe rogan
Oh, the little electric ones?
unidentified
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
He's driving one of those now.
But I see him sometimes.
I play in these golf tournaments in L.A. Then he comes out.
He fucking loves to play golf.
Drives his car.
He's the kind of guy, if you bump into him at an airport and people talk to him, he's in it, connects, talks to people.
But...
Yeah, and then what I like about the show is he doesn't hide that he's a billionaire.
It's a sitcom.
Usually sitcoms, it's like the whole mandate from the network is you got to be broke, you got to be struggling to follow your dream, you got to be blue-collar, otherwise people aren't going to connect.
How about this?
How about we give you a billionaire who's famous, who doesn't need anything?
joe rogan
There's his little car.
greg fitzsimmons
Who doesn't need any of his needs met, and then you just see what would happen if you're just neurotic for no reason.
Just fucking great.
And you see that, like, I think it was very vindicating that you realize, looking back, that Seinfeld was all him.
joe rogan
It was a lot of him.
greg fitzsimmons
I should say all him.
It was obviously Seinfeld a lot, too.
It was a lot of him.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, yeah, he's just got this absurd sense of humor.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Jesus.
But J.B. Smoove's speech about, you gotta get in that ass, Larry.
You gotta get in that ass.
I mean, that's probably the most famous scene from the history of that show.
unidentified
Oh!
greg fitzsimmons
You ever had him on, JB? No!
joe rogan
Last time I ran into him was at the UPS store.
I have a great JB Smooth story, but unfortunately I told it many times.
We were late going to a gig.
Both of us got lost.
Some weird gig in New Jersey.
And I was supposed to headline.
He was supposed to open, but he was really late.
And I sat in the green room and I watched this horrible documentary about the Malibu fires.
All these people crying.
This kid's calling out for her dog.
It was...
Awful.
unidentified
Awful.
joe rogan
Just cinders of burning buildings and shit.
And then they came in and said, look, JB's not here, so we're just going to open up with you.
And I went on stage and just ate shit.
Ate shit.
So sad.
I went on stage sad.
Watching people calling out for their dog.
Rusty!
unidentified
Where are you, Rusty?
joe rogan
It was so...
It was so awful.
And I recognized that.
I mean, I didn't know any better.
greg fitzsimmons
You should have stopped 10 minutes into your set and gone, it's Rusty!
unidentified
Ah!
joe rogan
Dude, I was so green.
I was like three years in a comedy.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I was terrible.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I couldn't, there was no chance, like if things went bad, they just went bad.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's no pulling out.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
There's no like, we almost hit the mountain.
No, I'm going right into that fucking mountain and I'm going to die a fiery death.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Those days were rough, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, I did a college show when I was not that far in, and it was...
No, I guess I'd been doing it for a while, but it was the day of the Columbine shooting, and I was in a hotel in Ohio doing some fucking small school, and I'm sitting there on the edge of my bed, like, my bag is half unpacked, and I'm sitting on the edge of the bed watching CNN going, this is fucking brutal.
And I'm waiting for a phone call about canceling the show.
Like, there's no way we're doing this fucking show.
This is at a school where, you know...
And they go, no, we're going to do the show.
And so I get there and I'm like, all right, this is fucking crazy.
And they had about, you know, 15 people showed up.
And then the student activities director goes up on stage before me and she goes, before we start the show, I think we all are aware of what happened today.
And I thought we should have a moment of silence for the students that died in Columbine.
And everybody puts their heads down.
People are fucking crying.
And now here's Greg Fitzsimmons.
And you know, those college shows, man, if you don't do your 60 minutes, they don't give you the check.
And I just went up there and I just remember, oh, it was nothing.
There was no doing an act.
I just started talking out my act and just watching that clock tick on that back wall, minute by minute, waiting to get that fucking $1,200.
joe rogan
Was it one of them that you had to send the check in and then they sent you a check back?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Like an agency?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, it goes to the agency first.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And you have to wait.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Hopefully they pay you.
greg fitzsimmons
Yep.
Yep.
And then I had an agent in Chicago, Bass Shuler.
It's now...
Yeah, Bass Shuler is the agency.
And they got a letter sent to them one time.
I did a high school prom show in Iowa.
And it was...
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus.
unidentified
Oh, Jesus.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, I was doing a bunch of colleges and then they called me up and they go, well, there's a high school prom.
You got a night off on Tuesday and there's a high school prom that's on your route.
Do you want to do it?
And I was like, the fuck do I care?
Yeah, I'll do a high school prom.
So I show up and it's like in one of these like corn fed Midwestern small towns where like they all went to church on a bus before the prom started.
And so, and now I just show up, and they, you know, they're all on the dance floor, and they stop it, and they go, all right, now we're going to have a comedian, and I go up, and it was like, what was the movie where they weren't allowed to dance, and then all of a sudden, like, they're dancing?
unidentified
Footloose.
greg fitzsimmons
It was like Footloose with comedy.
I get up there, and they fucking loved it, but I was, they told me to be clean, but, you know, I was relatively clean, I thought.
And so I do the show, and then I get a letter sent to me, sent to my agent, to Scott Bass, and it was from the principal, Dr. Dave Nixon, and he said that I had corrupted the values of the town.
Because I talked about doing cocaine, and I invited them to my motel for a keg after the show.
And I talked about having sex with my grandmother, which were all taken out of context.
joe rogan
Right.
greg fitzsimmons
They were jokes.
joe rogan
So you were probably like 23. Yeah.
And they were like 1920. So they're basically your peers.
greg fitzsimmons
Yes.
Yes.
And so I get the letter and I start reading it on stage.
Yeah.
And I ended up doing a Comedy Central special where I read the letter on stage.
And I sent a videotape of it to the guy at the school.
It was Emmitsburg Senior High School in Emmitsburg, Iowa.
joe rogan
Well, you wrote a book, Letter to Mrs. Fitzsimmons.
unidentified
Yes.
greg fitzsimmons
That was in it.
I put that letter in the book.
joe rogan
Greg wrote a whole book on letters that his mom got from him being an asshole.
greg fitzsimmons
Arrest, you know, arrest, you know, receipts from the police station, letters from principals, bad behavior reports, and then it went through.
And the beauty of it is the letter ends with my asshole kids getting letters sent home.
And so the last chapter of the book is me printing letters I'd gotten about them.
And they, like, mirrored the exact shit that I was doing when I was a kid.
joe rogan
I remember there was a story I'd heard secondhand from a gig that you did in New Hampshire, where it was one of those gigs where they told you, don't drive at night because there's so many moose on the road that you might die.
And you get there, and you fucking, they said, this is a clean show, you can't swear.
Like, the first word out of your mouth is, fuck.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they sent you home immediately.
greg fitzsimmons
Yep.
joe rogan
And you had to drive home on this fucking moose-infected highway.
unidentified
Well, there's like a real chance that you could die.
greg fitzsimmons
And the worst part is, Mike McDonald, that comedian, set me up at the gig.
And it was called the Balsam's Hotel, and it's this famous...
It's like The Shining.
It's one of those old, beautiful hotels.
And I'm a big golfer, and they have a golf course that's world-class.
And like gourmet dinner, big room, the whole thing.
And I got my fucking golf clubs.
I've already unpacked them.
When I got off stage, they said, don't use the F word.
So I walked on and I go, so they said, I can't say fuck.
At that point, they sent somebody in my room, packed my shit and had it waiting for me when I got off stage.
And they're like, you're done.
joe rogan
How many days are you supposed to be there?
greg fitzsimmons
Just overnight, but then I was supposed to play golf the next day.
They set me up with a day.
And Mike McDonald was so fucking pissing me.
He's like, man, I put my neck out for you.
You do this to me.
You ever have to fight for not getting paid on a gig?
joe rogan
Well, there was one time where I didn't get all the money, and it was a mob-run room in New Haven, Connecticut.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, I remember that.
Joker's Wild.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
And he goes, hey, you're lucky you're getting anything.
And I was like, Jesus Christ.
That guy, the guy who ran it, John, I saw him beat a guy with his shoe.
He pulled his shoe off.
And, you know, the wooden heel of his shoe, like a dress shoe, was beating the guy in the face like fucking Joe Pesci from Goodfellas.
Beating him in the face with his shoe.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Blood everywhere.
I mean, a shoe, like the bottom of a shoe, you could fuck somebody up with it.
unidentified
Damn.
joe rogan
And apparently he knew this.
It wasn't like the first time he beat somebody with a shoe, I don't think.
Wow.
So he had his shoe off in his hand, and he's beating this guy in the face with his shoe and blood splattered.
unidentified
He had blood splattered all over his shirt.
joe rogan
He was a dangerous guy.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, but you know who went after him?
He started saying shit about Bill Blumenreich.
You know Bill Blumenreich in Boston?
joe rogan
Of course I know Bill.
Bill's a good friend.
I love Bill.
greg fitzsimmons
And Bill went down there and straightened him out.
joe rogan
Bill's the wrong guy to fuck with.
greg fitzsimmons
He brought a baseball bat down to fucking straighten this guy out because he said shit about Bill's family or something.
joe rogan
Yeah, Bill's not to be fucked with.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
No.
He's a big guy, too.
greg fitzsimmons
He's a big, fucking tough guy.
joe rogan
And he's a really great guy until he's not.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, right.
joe rogan
He's a great guy.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Until you fuck with him.
unidentified
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
And then the switch turns and you see the darkness behind his eyes.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Wasn't he a stockbroker?
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Those guys were all psychos.
Yeah, and then he started the Faneuil Hall Comedy Connection.
joe rogan
And runs the Wilbur Theater.
And he has another theater there, too, apparently.
greg fitzsimmons
He might be the one that does the comedy tent in Cape Cod.
I can't remember if it's him or John Tobin.
joe rogan
I love Bill.
I've been working for Bill for, what, fucking 30 years or some shit?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Whenever I'm back in town.
When I do the garden, I'm doing it with him.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Yeah, I do everything with him.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
If I'm in Boston, I love that guy.
He's awesome.
greg fitzsimmons
Takes good care of you.
joe rogan
He's just fucking great.
He's a great guy.
I remember one time we were in Aspen.
He showed up at the Aspen Comedy Festival with a full length, all the way down to the floor, mink coat.
Like this fucking...
I've never seen a grown man with a mink coat.
He goes, it's wonderful.
Look how I feel it.
Put it on, how warm it is.
I put it on.
I was like, oh, this is so warm.
I've just never seen a grown man with a full-length mink coat, like fucking Morris Day from the Times.
greg fitzsimmons
Does the coat come with four runaways?
joe rogan
Four runaways?
greg fitzsimmons
That you're pimping?
unidentified
Oh, no.
greg fitzsimmons
Just four runaway teenage girls?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
It was like a brown mink coat.
And I remember seeing him.
You know, Bill's a big guy anyway.
He's walking down the street in the snow out and he's got this giant mink coat.
greg fitzsimmons
That's great.
I wonder if Aspen is too politically correct to wear fur anymore.
joe rogan
I would doubt it.
There's so many rich people there.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, they must make an exception.
joe rogan
Maybe.
It's a weird thing, right?
Like, the fur thing.
Because it is kind of a fucked up thing that you just kill animals just for their fur.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But on the other hand, people have been doing that to stay warm forever.
And then it just became a thing.
You know what it was?
I think when people started seeing videos of how animals were treated.
Some people don't even like when you have fake fur.
I've had people give me shit for...
I had a hoodie that had fake fur around the edge.
And this girl came up to me and she goes, I don't like your fur.
I go, it's fake.
She goes, well, I don't like what it represents.
I was like, fake animals?
Like, what the fuck are you talking about?
Feel it.
It's just synthetic.
She didn't like the fur.
She was looking for something to be mad at.
But like the synthetic, like it's a weird thing, like synthetic fur.
greg fitzsimmons
Because it represented that.
joe rogan
Yeah, it represents, it's like if you have like fake shrunken heads in your house.
unidentified
You know?
greg fitzsimmons
My dad, when my dad started making some money, because my parents grew up broke in the Bronx, and then my dad made some money in radio, and then he bought my mom a fur coat.
And it was like a full-length fucking, I can't remember what kind of fur it was.
But she worked at the New York Times.
She was a secretary at the New York Times.
And so she used to walk from Grand, she'd take the train into Grand Central Station, and she would walk into Times Square.
And this is in the fucking 80s.
You know, she would walk with a mink coat through the fucking...
Talk about 6th Street in Austin.
It was like...
joe rogan
Sketchy area.
greg fitzsimmons
Sketchy.
joe rogan
And a mink coat is thousands of dollars.
greg fitzsimmons
I know.
And somehow she never got fucking...
She had attitude.
She walked right through there every fucking day.
joe rogan
What's weird about fur is that leather is everywhere.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Which is fur without the hair.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Like, people are cool with fur as long as it doesn't have the hair.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, because I think it's a byproduct of an animal you're killing for the meat, whereas with the mink, you're not eating the meat.
joe rogan
Right.
I guess.
Are we sure?
greg fitzsimmons
Not at all.
I'm talking out of my ass.
joe rogan
I mean, when we think about leather, I would imagine that if you're working for some...
I mean, if you're making sustainable leather...
You would use it from a cow that they're butchering for food.
But is there specific cows they just take leather off of?
That would be horrible.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, or do they have to be younger?
Is the older animal not good leather?
joe rogan
Well, I know Spanish bull leather.
Spanish bull leather is something that people like for briefcases and shit.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like a thing.
greg fitzsimmons
Ostrich leather?
joe rogan
Ostriches are They're cunts.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Those fucking rotten birds.
greg fitzsimmons
Really?
joe rogan
Oh, they're mean.
Birds are fucking mean, man.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Birds don't have...
If you have a dog, dogs are furry.
People have connections with dogs.
We love dogs.
They love you back.
Everybody loves dogs.
You had a dog skin jacket.
People beat the fuck out of you.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But an ostrich, people are like, yeah, good.
Fuck that punty bird.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, or an alligator.
Fuck yeah, alligator shoes.
joe rogan
Oh my god, I love killing alligators.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I've never killed one, but I love buying alligators.
I have a crocodile belt on right now.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh yeah?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Most belts and stuff, I try to buy my pool cue case.
It's made out of alligator.
unidentified
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
I buy leather that's made out of alligators.
I hate those fucking things.
I think they're disgusting.
greg fitzsimmons
There's too many of them.
It's amazing they're still alive, isn't it?
joe rogan
There's so many of them.
greg fitzsimmons
When you see one, how fucking ancient they look.
joe rogan
Yeah.
They're dinosaurs.
They're legit dinosaurs.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And they're all over the place.
We were talking the other day about Disneyland in Florida that over the last few years they've pulled hundreds of alligators out of Disney World.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, dude, that girl got eaten.
joe rogan
Yeah, a little kid.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Imagine?
You're a two-year-old.
You remember what it was like when your kids were two?
Yeah.
Like, you love them so much.
You're so protective of them.
greg fitzsimmons
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
They're so vulnerable.
unidentified
And the guilt that you would feel.
joe rogan
And to see them getting killed by an alligator.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
That was a fucking lawsuit.
joe rogan
Oh, God.
I'm sure.
But they probably just paid them off.
I mean, Disneyland's just printing money.
Or Disney World.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Disneyland's been shut down for a fucking year.
greg fitzsimmons
Is that the one in California?
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're open again now, but they were trying to sue to try to get open again.
You know, the strictest laws in California when it came to COVID, but it didn't have an impact on, like, the number of cases.
It didn't have an impact on the number of deaths.
Like, in comparison to Florida, where they just went buck wild and wide open.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
It's like, Florida did better.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
With their fucking cunty alligators wandering around.
greg fitzsimmons
Now they got...
The Everglades are filled with fucking anacondas.
joe rogan
Pythons.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, pythons, yeah.
joe rogan
They killed all the mammals.
They did this study on mammals in the Everglades.
They used to have raccoons and marsh hares and all these different deer.
Nothing.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Nothing.
Everything's gone.
It's all pythons.
unidentified
No shit.
joe rogan
It's pythons and alligators.
It's so bad now that pythons are eating alligators.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, I saw a video of that.
It's crazy.
joe rogan
There's a photo, a famous photo.
Look at this.
Florida Python Challenge gets underway with a new $10,000 prize.
Yeah, they're trying to...
What they really should do is, first of all, California, which is so fucking dumb, you can't buy Python goods.
greg fitzsimmons
Why?
joe rogan
Because they're assholes.
They've just decided that's an exotic and we don't want to...
It's just political.
It's completely...
It's all about optics.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Like the idea that you're gonna have these exotics.
Like why is it okay to have like lambskin or sheepskin?
Why is that okay?
Why is it okay to have Uggs with sheepskin inside of them?
That's okay.
It's okay to have a leather jacket.
It's not okay to have a cunty python.
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
That's crazy.
joe rogan
It doesn't make any sense.
There's no logic to it at all.
You can't have pythons.
And meanwhile, what they should do is make it available everywhere and make it so that it's commercially fishable or huntable.
You can go out there and collect these fucking pythons if it's very valuable.
They'll at least be able to put a dent.
The problem is it's all swamps, so they can't even find them.
greg fitzsimmons
They're never going to put a dent.
That ship is sailed.
joe rogan
Look at this.
185 pound Burmese python captured in Naples.
Might be the heaviest in Florida history.
How big?
jamie vernon
I think it might have been 16 feet.
unidentified
Damn.
jamie vernon
This was a female.
They got a male that was 140 with it.
joe rogan
I saw one, there's one somewhere that...
How big do those fucking things get?
Like, what's the biggest python?
I was looking at something on the internet and I was like, is this real?
Because it was said they found a 30-foot python and it was eating dogs.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
They get that big?
greg fitzsimmons
Well, it ate a fucking alligator.
jamie vernon
According to this, longest in Florida, 18.9 feet.
joe rogan
What about longest in like, I think this was in South Pacific, somewhere in Asia.
greg fitzsimmons
It's all pets, too.
unidentified
That's what's crazy.
greg fitzsimmons
185 pounds is big enough to eat a 150-pound man.
unidentified
Oh, yeah?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, this while you're whole.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Another thing they have in Florida that's everywhere is iguanas.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Everywhere.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I went down a YouTube rabbit hole the other day where people hunt and cook iguanas in their backyard.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah, because people who live on canals, they live near canals, they get like a bow fishing setup, and they're out there shooting and killing iguanas, and they turn them into chicken wings.
Yeah, they whack their legs off, and they fry them, they fry them up, and they batter them, and they make these, it looks delicious, like these Asian dishes.
jamie vernon
This might be the one.
joe rogan
That's it, that's the one.
jamie vernon
So 33 feet.
joe rogan
33 feet.
unidentified
Holy shit.
joe rogan
That's exactly the one.
Where was that?
jamie vernon
It says it was, excuse me, in Brazil.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
unidentified
Damn!
greg fitzsimmons
Oh my god!
Look at the size of that thing!
joe rogan
Holy shit!
You can't fake that.
greg fitzsimmons
What is that thing?
Eat!
joe rogan
Dogs.
That's what they were saying.
Giant snake found in Brazil.
10 meters.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Oh my god.
Look how fat that thing is.
That is so crazy that that's a real creature that lives alongside us.
Imagine if you're just fucking hiking and you see a 30-foot snake staring you down.
I mean, that is so big.
greg fitzsimmons
Wait, that's an anaconda.
Is a python and anaconda the same thing?
joe rogan
No, different.
33-foot anaconda.
Well, that was that fucking movie with Jennifer Lopez, remember?
Anaconda?
Where they were even bigger?
Because they think that there used to be giant anacondas in the Amazon that were even bigger than that.
Like what is the biggest, like the myth of the giant anaconda is something that's apparently, it's in dispute whether or not they're real things.
jamie vernon
I was trying to find the biggest python, which I did see it to say a reticulated python can grow up to 30 feet.
joe rogan
But anacondas I believe are bigger.
jamie vernon
I typed in biggest snake and that's how I got that, which was anacondas.
joe rogan
I think they think that at one point in time anacondas would get to 100 feet long.
Like, it's all myth.
It's hard to tell what's horseshit or not, but there's, like, photos of ones that people took from planes where you see this thing that looks like a telephone pole, but a 100-foot-long telephone pole making its way through the water.
Like, that big.
unidentified
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
Shit.
joe rogan
I don't know if it's real, though.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, the alligators get fucking big in Florida, too.
My, uh...
My mom lives down there and she plays golf.
And there's a pond that has fucking alligators in it.
joe rogan
On the golf course.
greg fitzsimmons
On the golf course.
They just wander around.
So she was standing on the edge of the pond one day.
Her ball is near the edge.
And for some reason she decides to play it.
Not kick it out in the fairway.
She plays it from the edge.
She takes the club back and she loses her balance and she fucking falls in the water.
Over her head.
Goes under.
And then goes to get out of the water, and she's, like, pulling herself up, but it's a muddy slope, and she can't get out, and she's, like, fucking flailing on the side, and somebody helps her out, and she got out of the water, and, I mean, she was so scared that when she got out, she started laughing, and she was laying on the side of the pond fucking laughing for, like, two minutes.
unidentified
LAUGHTER My mom's like five foot two.
joe rogan
Oh my god.
greg fitzsimmons
She's 78 years old.
joe rogan
Oh my god.
Imagine if that's how she went out.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Golfing near a pond.
greg fitzsimmons
Getting spun around in circles by an alligator in the middle of the water.
What's the worst animal to die at the hands of, if you had to choose?
joe rogan
Probably hyenas.
Wolves, hyenas, because they eat your guts first.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, if you see hyena videos, they're pulling, like gazelles, they pull their guts out.
They're eating them guts first.
Coyotes do that too, they eat your asshole first.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, wow.
The asshole.
joe rogan
Yeah.
A friend of mine who's a wildlife biologist was telling me about...
There was a girl who got killed in Canada a few years back by coyotes.
And the particular area where she was in, she was a really...
A petite girl.
And she apparently was a very talented singer.
She was a talented folk singer.
Yeah, I think that's what it was.
I think she was a folk singer.
And she was just going for a walk.
And she got killed by coyotes, which is super, super rare.
But he was saying that is one of the worst ways to go because they try to kill you asshole first.
Her death is the only known fatal coyote attack on an adult as well as the only known fatal coyote attack on a human ever confirmed in Canada.
Wow.
She was 19 years old in Nova Scotia.
It's fucking crazy.
They're creeps, man.
Coyotes are creeps.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Creepy little fuckers.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
I'm sure they'd grab a fucking baby if they had a chance.
joe rogan
Oh, 100%.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, 100%.
Yeah, you leave a baby in the yard, coyotes would grab them.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
They're fucking assholes, man.
unidentified
Didn't you ever run in when you lived in Colorado with- Mountain Lion ate my dog.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, that's right.
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That's normal.
I mean, that's what they pray.
That's one thing they found in San Francisco.
You know, because California does not allow people...
Oh, that's a guy who got his dog from the mouth of an alligator.
unidentified
Oh, shit.
joe rogan
That guy's a savage.
Look at that.
greg fitzsimmons
And he's got a fucking cigar in his mouth the whole time!
unidentified
Look at him.
joe rogan
He didn't even drop the cigar.
Look, he got his hands in there.
Look at that guy.
greg fitzsimmons
He's old.
joe rogan
What his beautiful mustache, too.
Look, he's opening the jaw.
Now he's got his fingers stuck in there.
I wonder if he killed it with that fucking Kong, when Kong killed the T-Rex.
Aw, look at the little puppy.
Look at the little sweetie.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, and he's got the dog on his hat.
unidentified
Fuck.
greg fitzsimmons
That's great.
joe rogan
He got lucky that was a little alligator.
There's cunts.
They're everywhere.
They're fucking everywhere in Florida now.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, they're everywhere.
joe rogan
They're infested.
But at least those are, like, native.
Those are native creatures.
The thing that freaks me out is the pythons, because they were some dickhead's pets.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
See if you can find any of those videos on people hunting iguanas in their backyard, because it's wild.
Like, these iguanas are five feet long.
They're like fucking this big.
They're huge.
Like this chick was holding this up, this one that she shot.
And I'm like, I had no idea.
Look at the size of that thing.
greg fitzsimmons
Fuck, they are ugly.
joe rogan
I had no idea.
Oh, that's Outdoors Alley.
I met her before.
She used to work with First Light.
She's like a famous outdoor influencer.
And she...
Look at all of them.
God, that's all...
Iguanas that they killed?
Yeah, dude, they're everywhere down there.
They're literally everywhere.
And so they hunt them, and then they cook them.
Look at that one that fucking guy's got.
He's holding up.
The size of that goddamn thing.
jamie vernon
Oh, yeah.
Last time we talked about this, I stumbled across a video of guys eating them.
joe rogan
Yeah, they eat them.
jamie vernon
Yeah.
joe rogan
Apparently they taste delicious.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
This guy had them.
He made sort of an Asian recipe with soy sauce and scallions and had stir-fried and put it in a batter.
I'm like, that looks pretty fucking good.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they were eating it.
They're like, God, this is delicious.
greg fitzsimmons
We went on a safari one time in South Africa.
unidentified
That was primal.
greg fitzsimmons
And they had a restaurant.
It was called Carnivore, and it was right in the Kruger State Park.
And they'd come around with skewers to the table and it would be like, hey, you want some fucking bison?
You want some crocodile?
You want some...
They had zebra.
Because they had to thin out the herd.
You know, they basically, whatever they were thinning out that day, that's what was on the menu.
joe rogan
Did you eat zebra?
greg fitzsimmons
I ate zebra.
joe rogan
What'd that taste like?
greg fitzsimmons
It all tasted the same.
Really?
Well, you know, there were shades of...
There were different shades of stuff, and they cooked it all on the same...
It was like a wood-burning spit that they had it on, and I don't know.
It was more of just the novelty of eating it, but they had...
Was there elephant?
Was it elephant or hippo?
It was one of those...
joe rogan
I have a friend who ate elephant once.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
He said it was delicious.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
I was like, I don't...
That's like...
That's in the dog category for me.
You know what I mean?
Elephants are kind of...
I was in Thailand and I rode an elephant.
greg fitzsimmons
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's like this whole experience.
And they're not like encaged.
They're essentially free-roam, free-ranging elephants in Thailand that they've rescued from circuses and all kinds of different stuff like that.
And they've rehabilitated them.
And they're real kind.
You feed them.
They love sugarcane.
So you're holding up sugarcane for them.
And before you ride them, which I didn't enjoy.
I don't need to ride them again.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But my family wanted to do it, so like, okay, we'll ride them.
But they don't give a fuck.
It's like a kitten on your back.
They don't feel you.
greg fitzsimmons
Did you put your daughters on it?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, one of them fell off, too.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Got right back up.
Yeah.
The elephants will wait for you.
It's weird, man.
They're not trying to shake you off.
They don't mind.
But you have to develop a relationship with them first.
So the first thing you do is you feed them.
So you're feeding them sugarcane.
Then you wash them.
So you're washing them.
And you're petting them.
And when you're doing it, they'll just hang with you, man.
They hang with you.
They're cool.
And when you go to ride them, they put their leg up like that so you can stand on it.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Like, they don't have a problem with you riding them.
Like, they know what to do.
So they go like that, and you step on their leg and pull yourself up.
Yeah.
But you're so tiny in comparison to an elephant.
It's not like...
Like, riding a horse is a little odd, right?
Like, sometimes horses don't want your ride, and I'm like, come on, get the fuck off me.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Elephants don't give a shit like these elephants don't give a shit and they know that you're gonna go down to this there's a trail you go through the jungle down into this like pond or this like lake there's a waterfall and you bathe them there and you hang out with them so you have like a little friendship with them uh-huh And it's cool.
But they're free range.
If they wanted to, they could just go left and wander off into the jungle and you never see them again.
And they've had multiple elephants that they took care of and rehabilitated in this place that now live in the wild.
So while you're riding them, they'll just decide, well, I'm going to stop here and eat for a minute.
And they just fucking pull trees out of the roots and just start fucking eating leaves and shit.
Pull bushes out and they just eat.
Just pause and eat and then go on.
So it's a weird little thing you have going on with them.
But it still feels exploitive to ride.
It feels odd.
I'm not interested in the riding them.
I like the petting them.
I like the feeding them.
I like just being able to touch this thing and have it trust you.
It's a giant animal.
But I know too much about how intelligent they are.
They're really smart.
They can paint.
You ever seen them paint?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
Dude, they can paint.
They can paint an elephant.
I don't know if they taught them how to make the shape.
I don't know what they did, but elephants can paint things.
greg fitzsimmons
That's incredible.
joe rogan
Let me see if you can find some video of that.
It's real weird.
I've seen it and I was like, how does he know what he's painting?
He's painting a trunk and the legs.
It looks like what a five-year-old would make.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Like, it's pretty good.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
It's a pretty good painting.
greg fitzsimmons
Shit.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm like, but is this normal?
Like, can they just do that if they see you do it?
Or do you have to, like, give them enough food?
Like, watch this.
Look at this elephant.
Look at this, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, when you were talking about it, I was like, how does it hold the brush in its foot?
I don't know.
Get the fuck out of here.
joe rogan
Yeah, man.
Isn't that wild?
greg fitzsimmons
No way.
That's not real.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's weird.
It's weird, man.
It's real.
greg fitzsimmons
Holy shit.
joe rogan
It's real.
Yeah.
Yeah, they can paint.
greg fitzsimmons
That's insane.
Get the fuck out of here.
joe rogan
I know.
It seems like it would be fake, but they can make hearts and flowers and shit.
Yeah.
Dude, this is like...
greg fitzsimmons
If I could get that painting, I would put it on my wall just to be able to tell people an elephant did it.
jamie vernon
You can buy them.
greg fitzsimmons
Really?
unidentified
Suda.
joe rogan
That's the elephant's name is Suda.
Is he making his name?
Or her name?
Is that a boy or a girl?
Got no tusks.
Maybe it's a girl.
Look at that.
Dude, she can paint her fucking name.
unidentified
Fuck.
Fuck.
joe rogan
I mean, how wild is that?
So I guess they must reward her if she can recreate the symbol that is her name, you know, the letters.
And I guess, I mean, I don't know if they've taught her how to do specific stuff or she could just paint.
Fuck, that's crazy, man.
She painted a tree?
Is that real?
greg fitzsimmons
Shit!
joe rogan
Is that 100% real?
Painting by Elephant Suda.
You get $490, you get a painting by this elephant.
I mean, that's pretty goddamn good.
jamie vernon
Change how she writes her D's.
The one in the other video is like a lowercase d.
That one's a little different.
joe rogan
Wild, right?
Yeah.
Authentic paintings made by elephants at our elephant park and clinic in Thailand.
Okay.
So same place, same area.
That's crazy.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Look, different perspectives.
Look at that one.
A different perspective.
Someone should tell her that's a P. Hey bitch, you fucked up.
That's Supa.
greg fitzsimmons
You don't get fed tonight.
joe rogan
No sugar cane.
greg fitzsimmons
The elephant's wearing a scarf now.
joe rogan
I'm trying to sell this!
greg fitzsimmons
Drinking cappuccinos.
joe rogan
Free worldwide shipping.
Suda's a 15-year-old girl and has been painting for 10 years.
She's responsible for raising thousands of bot for our elephant hospital.
She's a very gentle lady and she loves to paint and is very precise with all her paintings.
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
I'm getting one of those.
joe rogan
It's pretty cool, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because it's really...
I guess...
I mean, that's the thing.
Does she know that she's painting something?
Does she know that's an elephant?
Or is it like a shape that she's recreating that they've taught her how to make?
greg fitzsimmons
I mean, it makes sense.
I mean, little kids can...
I mean, I still have paintings my kids did when they were in preschool, and I'm shocked at sometimes the symmetry.
Like, they'll have...
Like symmetrical shapes on opposite sides of the page.
And they'll have like colors, the color schemes that are balanced.
Like there's shit that goes on in the brain that's undeveloped that expresses itself.
So if the elephant has vision, it should be able to replicate it.
joe rogan
I guess.
It's weird to see animals create art.
You know what that looks like?
It looks like a cave painting.
That's what it looks like.
It looks like the way cave people painted elephants.
greg fitzsimmons
You ever paint?
joe rogan
Yeah.
I've never been a painter though.
I'm more of an illustrator.
I did a lot of drawing.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, I didn't know that.
joe rogan
Oh, you didn't know?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
Oh, dude, I used to want to be a comic book artist.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit!
joe rogan
That was really good.
greg fitzsimmons
How did I not know that?
joe rogan
See if you can find, I had one recently that I did of Marvin Hagler.
It was on my Instagram when Hagler died.
I found out Hagler died and I pulled out something from like high school, like 1983. Wow.
jamie vernon
I just found Richard Dawkins writing about that elephant.
joe rogan
About the elephants?
Yeah.
Yeah, see if you can find that thing on my Instagram of Marvin Hagler.
But I have one of three little pigs that's really good.
Three little pigs and a big bad werewolf.
It's like a werewolf bursting through the house of straw with these little pigs scrambling.
Yeah, that's Marvin Hagler.
That was from when I was 15. That's amazing.
Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, man.
But I had a cunty fucking high school art teacher who had me convinced that there was no way to make a living as an artist.
He was such an asshole.
I've talked to this guy.
There was a guy in my class.
His name was John DeVore.
And John was the most talented guy in our class.
He was really, really good.
And he had the same fucking problem with his teacher.
And when I quit, I didn't go to art my senior year of high school just because my art teacher was such a piece of shit.
And John told me, and again, if you think that's good, John was twice as good.
He was really good.
And John told me that the guy gave him an F. Oh yeah?
Just a cunt.
He was a bitter old shitty man.
greg fitzsimmons
How do you give somebody an F in art?
joe rogan
I'm telling you, this guy was so good.
He was so good.
He was good enough to be, like, he could have been an illustrator for Marvel Comics.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Top of the food chain.
He was really, really fucking talented.
And, you know, we were both 16. 16, 17 years old.
And the guy was such a piece of shit that he quit doing art, too.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And he never went on to be an artist.
greg fitzsimmons
Fuck.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Dream crusher.
See if you can find the Three Little Pigs one.
That's probably a better one.
But, um...
Yeah, there was a group of us.
There was a kid named Kevin, there was John and me, the three guys in this art class, and we were all pretty fucking good, but all under the thumb of this shitbag art teacher.
I'll never forget this guy.
He had this dumpy posture, he had this scrawny body, he never did anything, and this pouch, this gut.
Everything was like, well, you're not going to be able to draw what you want to draw.
You want to be an artist?
I remember he said I would have to draw diaper commercials.
I'd have to do something for a diaper advertisement.
Oh, that's a different one.
That's Little Red Riding Hood.
That's another one that I did.
greg fitzsimmons
Damn, I like your style.
It's all lines.
joe rogan
What do you call that?
Yeah, I was into technical...
It's called technical pens.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was like a technical ink pen.
It was all fine lines.
That was what I was into.
I was into...
There was a lot of really cool old black and white comic books, like Creepy and Eerie.
There was a whole...
Uncle Creepy.
It was like a series of these...
There were large magazines that had these really cool horror stories that they illustrated.
And it was all that style of illustration, so I really got into that.
greg fitzsimmons
Did you do colors as well?
joe rogan
A little bit, but mostly I was just into drawing with pen and ink.
Sometimes ballpoint pen, sometimes pencil and shit.
But I didn't do much painting.
That's a totally different way of creating art.
Me, I was just into lines and putting the lines together.
With painting, obviously, you've got this fat brush and trying to figure it out.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
The fucking crazy thing that people are doing today now is tattoos.
I saw this fucking tattoo today.
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, I just got my first one.
joe rogan
What'd you get?
At 55. What is it?
greg fitzsimmons
It's an Irish harp.
joe rogan
Did you do it?
Looks like you did it with your left hand.
That is ridiculous.
greg fitzsimmons
I got one.
Everybody in my family got one.
joe rogan
That is ridiculous.
greg fitzsimmons
My daughter wanted one since she was like 12 years old, and we were like, you gotta wait until you're 18. And I said, if you wait until you're 18, the whole family will get a tattoo together.
joe rogan
Oh my god, that's so ridiculous.
greg fitzsimmons
So we all went and got the same tattoo.
joe rogan
I'm gonna send you this, Jamie.
Did you find my Three Little Pigs one?
jamie vernon
Nice.
joe rogan
Okay, that's cool.
Let me send you this, though.
Look how good this guy's work is.
It's an Instagram link.
It's crazy.
I mean, it's like literally, it looks like a photograph.
It's actually John Wick.
And it's Keanu Reeves, but it's from the movie John Wick.
And you're looking at this guy, he's actually doing it in the video.
Look how good that is.
unidentified
Whoa!
joe rogan
That's a tattoo.
greg fitzsimmons
Holy shit!
joe rogan
Incredible.
greg fitzsimmons
Why didn't you give me this guy's name before I got mine done?
joe rogan
The guy's name is Luigi.
It's important tattoo is the Instagram page.
And the guy's name is...
Yeah, Luigi Mansi.
Oh, he's in Italy.
Latina, Italy.
But look how good his shit is, man.
Look at that Viking one, the upper left.
But look, the Keanu Reeves one is fucking insane, dude.
That is insane.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Wow.
Look at the Michael Jackson one.
Holy shit.
joe rogan
Look how good that is.
I mean, that's wild, man.
Wild.
Yeah, there's a lot of these guys now that are doing these photorealistic tattoos that are just incredible.
Look at that Dennis Rodman one.
Fuck.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Incredible.
I mean, that's incredible, man.
Look at the tongue.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like glistening.
Yeah, it's wild.
jamie vernon
I saw this guy I follow.
I thought, I was guessing you were going to show this guy.
He makes some pretty sick tattoos, too.
joe rogan
Steve Butcher?
jamie vernon
No, this guy in here.
joe rogan
Oh, Jesus.
Oh, Arlo Tattoos.
Yeah, I've seen him before.
Yeah, he does a lot of realistic stuff too, but he does all kinds of shit.
Like, look at that one.
Man, that is crazy.
jamie vernon
He's got dumb shit.
joe rogan
Yeah.
What the fu- I think he's in- Is he in Colorado?
greg fitzsimmons
Is there new technology for how to do tattoos that they're that much better?
joe rogan
Well, there's better inks, and there's better techniques, and they're just really good.
Keep going up.
Go back to that.
Scroll down a little bit.
Look how good his shit is, man.
jamie vernon
He mixes in color and black and white really good.
joe rogan
Man, that is wild.
Wild!
Where is that Elysium Studios?
Where is that?
jamie vernon
I think it's Colorado.
It's not Denver though, but I believe he is.
joe rogan
Click on that.
jamie vernon
Yeah, Grand Junction.
joe rogan
Grand Junction, Colorado.
That's where Joey Diaz always said he wanted to move.
I'm going to go to Grand Junction.
It's outside of Denver.
It's not that far.
It's got a good airport.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Grand Junction.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
I'm going to Golden.
I'm doing a show in Golden, Colorado.
joe rogan
Golden, Colorado?
jamie vernon
What are you doing out there?
unidentified
I don't know.
greg fitzsimmons
They got a new comedy.
It's like a little theater.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah?
greg fitzsimmons
Small theater.
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm doing a weird tour soon.
I'm doing one night.
I'm doing Boise, Idaho.
No, no.
I'm doing Iowa.
Des Moines.
Des Moines, Iowa.
And then the next night I'm in Wisconsin.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, no shit.
You gonna drive?
joe rogan
No.
greg fitzsimmons
Just take a nice drive, man.
joe rogan
I'm flying.
I'm not driving.
To those fucking cornfields and get kidnapped by some fucking weirdos.
greg fitzsimmons
I remember when I was doing those colleges, driving through those cornfields, man.
joe rogan
Strange.
greg fitzsimmons
It was fucking strange.
I remember one night I was driving, it was like, I hadn't eaten, and it was one of those gigs where, did you ever do college runs at all?
So you would do like a college one night, and then you'd have a fucking nooner the next day at another college, which was like three hours away, lunch shows.
So I get in the car, and I'm in, I think it was Iowa.
And I get in the car and I'm fucking starving, but I get going because I was like, alright, I'll get something on the road.
I gotta get to this next town so I can wake up and do the show.
And I'm driving and there's nothing.
Everything's closed.
I'm dying.
My fucking stomach's cramping.
I'm so hungry.
And I see a Taco Bell up ahead.
And so I pull over and they're still open and it's crank country or whatever fucking drug they do in Iowa because there was a security guard, an armed security guard inside the place because I guess they get robbed so much.
And so the guard was like 400 pounds.
And he goes in the bathroom.
I order my food.
He goes in the bathroom.
And then I was waiting for my food and I had to go to the bathroom really bad.
So he gets out and I go in.
This guy had fucking destroyed the men's room.
There was shit splattered all over the side.
And I had to take a shit and I couldn't do it.
And I came out and I started to throw up in my mouth.
And I threw up my mouth and I spit it out.
And then I came out and my food was there.
And I just, I left the food.
unidentified
No!
greg fitzsimmons
And I got in the car and I drove about a mile down the road and I got in and I took a shit on the side of the road.
And I just remember staying in my Motel 6, cleaning shit, in the bathroom, cleaning, because I had nothing to wipe with.
I'm cleaning shit out of my ass.
I'm starving to death.
And I was like, I gotta stop these college dates.
joe rogan
The romantic memories, though, of those struggling days of travel and weird, shitty road gigs.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's something, you know, you didn't realize it at the time.
It was just like a thing you're doing because you had to do it.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You're happy to get a gig.
But now when you look back on it, you know, now you're an Emmy Award winning writer.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, you've written books and had comedy specials on TV. Yeah.
You get to think about those things and go, wow.
greg fitzsimmons
I remember once there was a block...
It was always the motels.
Those were the words.
Because you go to these small colleges, there's no fucking Marriott nearby.
joe rogan
No.
greg fitzsimmons
And so there was like the Motel 6. I remember there was a block of wood, like a 2x4 connected to the room key so that you didn't take the room key or whatever.
And then your door was open to the parking lot and there'd be some asshole who had a truck, a diesel truck, and he'd start it and the exhaust is fucking blowing under the crack of your door.
That's what wakes you up in the morning.
Ugh.
joe rogan
There's so many weird people.
greg fitzsimmons
And you were happy.
Do you remember how happy you were to get those gigs though?
joe rogan
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
That was a big deal.
I'm getting paid.
I can make a living.
I can quit my job.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
You didn't give a shit how bad it was.
joe rogan
No.
No, you're just happy.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Couldn't believe you were making a living doing comedy.
I mean, that was always the thing.
It's like to not have a day job.
If I could just finally make a...
I remember seeing those guys that didn't have a day job, like DJ Hazard.
I remember DJ Hazard lived in this apartment that used to be a school.
They took a school, and they turned it into condos, and it was nice.
It was really nice.
It was a loft, and it had this brick wall.
The inside of it was exposed brick and a big window, and I remember thinking, God, imagine.
This guy lives here, and all he does is tell jokes?
This is crazy.
What kind of life is this?
Just thinking it was this insurmountable, impossible-to-achieve goal of one day, one day, One day I'd just love to be able to make a living telling jokes.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Those old days, man, of travel and struggle, it's so fucking important, man.
greg fitzsimmons
I see young comics now that are doing that, and they're finding their voice at the same time that they're getting the freedom of following their dream.
But also, creatively, it's like every moment of stage time means so much because you know you're getting better.
Every time you hit that stage, you're getting better.
And as you're making a living, and also creatively, you're not peaking, but you're growing.
And there's something so fulfilling about that.
And then all of a sudden it clicks and you see that confidence kick in.
Like I saw it with guys like Mark Norman and Sam Morrell and guys out of New York now that I've seen over the last 10 years come into that stage.
And then all of a sudden they get their confidence and it's like, you can't fucking stop this guy now.
joe rogan
They're powerful.
They get momentum.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Remember those days where you get like four or five nights in a row where you're working?
By the time the fifth night, you've chugga-chugga-chugga-chugga-choo-choo.
You're moving.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
You're moving and shaking.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's happening.
greg fitzsimmons
I remember seeing, I forget about the comic, this female comic.
She'd been on the road a lot.
And it was after the pandemic.
Oh, what's her name?
It was Samorel's girlfriend.
What's her name?
Do you know her?
Oh, I gotta remember her name.
She's a fucking great comic.
And she came in and everybody was rusty.
Everybody's working off pieces of paper.
And she had just come off the road and she'd been working for like two months straight.
And she's also like young, hungry comic.
And she annihilated the room.
And it was not a good room.
And it was like effortless.
And you're like, yeah, that person's been in the gym.
That person's hungry.
They're peaking.
They're making it for the first time.
And there's something that the audience senses about that person.
They're just a fullback.
They're breaking through the line.
joe rogan
Well, I did a gig recently with Dylan, Tim Dylan.
We did Vulcan Gas Company.
And it was the same sort of thing.
I had seen him on stage.
The last time I saw him was pre-pandemic, right?
So it was probably like maybe even two years ago.
And he was good.
It was funny.
But man, he was so good.
It was like a couple weeks ago.
He was so tight.
Everything was flowing and smooth.
Tim has that show that he does with his producer, Ben, and it's just him ranting and his producer laughing about things.
So he's got that sort of rant muscle, where they can just rant about things, and then I guess he probably takes some of those premises and cherry picks them, finds the best ones, and that becomes his comedy.
So he had so much material, and so much of it was relevant.
So much of his new stuff.
It was fucking great.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
He has this great fucking bit about not needing to align politically with the people who own Chick-fil-A. But it was so powerful.
But it was that thing.
And I said, I go, dude, that was so good.
And I told him, I go, you are on such a new level.
I can see it.
It was so powerful.
And he's like, yeah, it's this road work.
Just constantly being on the road and doing gigs.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
I'm wondering whether or not that's going to keep going, you know, because they're trying to shut things down now and people are panicking, you know, because of this recent new spike in COVID. Yeah.
Because COVID is kicking back in again.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But there's way less deaths.
There's a lot of cases, but they know how to treat it now, so there's less deaths.
They have those monoclonal antibodies and ivermectin and Z-packs and all these different things they're doing.
They're helping people survive it.
So people are getting over it much better.
So if you look at case numbers, case numbers are up recently.
But the deaths are way, way low in comparison to what they used to be.
greg fitzsimmons
What's the cost of treating somebody with that kind of stuff?
Is it astronomical?
joe rogan
Ivermectin is pretty cheap, because it's a generic drug, and it's been around for a long time.
I don't know how much Z-Pax cost, and I don't know how much those monoclonal antibodies cost.
But, you know, it's probably, you know, anytime you're in a hospital.
If you actually have to go to a hospital, it's fucking expensive.
greg fitzsimmons
Plus the long-term effects for some people can be expensive.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm just hearing so many people who are vaccinated that get it, and now they're saying that if you're vaccinated, it may only be good for three to four months.
And so there was a guy online that was saying, what is this?
Are you calling it a vaccine or is this a treatment?
He goes, because if it's a treatment, it's a very different approach than a vaccine.
Because most vaccines, other than maybe the flu vaccine, most vaccines give you immunity.
For like a long time.
Like if you get a measles vaccine, you get immunity for a long time.
And I think a lot of people thought like you get vaccinated from COVID and you're not ever going to catch COVID. And now people are catching COVID and dying that are vaccinated.
So it's like, fuck.
greg fitzsimmons
But they tend not to have as severe symptoms if they're vaccinated and then they catch it.
joe rogan
I guess.
But, you know, there was a lot of people that didn't get symptoms before vaccines were out, which is interesting.
So, like, I was reading this thing where this guy was making this argument.
They were saying that the large number of people who are dying from COVID are the unvaccinated.
And he said, yeah, but they're not taking these from recent cases.
He goes, the problem with this thing is when they're saying the large number of people who are vaccinated from COVID or unvaccinated from COVID, the ones who are dying, they're going way back to like March of last year.
And he's like, they're adding those where it was before there was even any vaccines.
He's like, so the bulk of the deaths, yeah, there were unvaccinated people.
But if you look at it now, he's like, people aren't dying nearly as much, even the unvaccinated.
The real problem, and it's always been, is underlying comorbidities.
People that have...
greg fitzsimmons
Weight problems.
joe rogan
Cancer, weight problems.
Obesity is 78% of the people that wind up in the ICU with COVID are obese.
Yeah.
78%.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
And if there's anything this country has, we have an epidemic with people being overweight.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's just too easy to get fatty foods and sugary foods.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's too easy to overeat.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I would have hoped that out of all this, that one thing would come out was the whole country would kind of wake up and say, look, taking care of yourself is very fucking important.
But a lot of people just wanted that shot.
They're just like, give me that shot and everything's going to be fine.
Even I was talking to a good friend of mine who got COVID after he was vaccinated.
He goes, dude, as soon as I got vaccinated, I stopped taking vitamins.
I'm good.
He goes, I was like, before I was scared and then I just let off the gas completely.
And then he wound up getting COVID. And he's pretty fucked up.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
And you got to take zinc, quercetin, vitamin D3, fish oil, vitamin C. You really want to be healthy.
That's what you want.
You really want a balanced, healthy vitamin intake and exercise, particularly cardiovascular exercise.
They think that that is one of the best things to ward off some of the worst cases of COVID is like if you're in good cardiovascular shape.
greg fitzsimmons
A lot of people work out and they only do weights and they don't do the cardio.
You gotta do, even if I only do 20 minutes, every time I work out I do at least 20 minutes of cardio before I lift weights.
joe rogan
The saddest thing is to watch a guy who's buff run out of air.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, right.
joe rogan
Like go on a hike with him.
Like, hey man, you're not in shape.
You're just muscular.
greg fitzsimmons
I work at a Gold's Gym in Venice.
joe rogan
Do you really?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You go to the Mecca of bodybuilding?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, I go to the Mecca of bodybuilding.
And I am, without a doubt, always the smallest guy in the gym.
And you have to see these motherfuckers because they have puffy muscles.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
A lot of these guys.
And when that pandemic happened and they closed down, I saw these guys coming back into the gym and the whole fucking midsection had collapsed and the muscles.
And now they're all in there just fucking...
joe rogan
Trying to get it back.
greg fitzsimmons
Trying to get it back.
joe rogan
Yeah, if you don't have weights...
greg fitzsimmons
It's all outdoors now.
Oh, really?
Yeah, they closed off two of the parking lots at Gold's.
They move all the equipment outside, and it's so fucking great, just working out outside in the sun.
joe rogan
That's smart.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's good, because you get a double whammy, right?
You get the vitamin D from being outside.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
And then you also...
There's very few, if any, cases where they've shown that there's been widespread transmission through outdoor.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
They don't think you really get it outside.
Yeah.
Maybe with a new variant you might be able to, but the old shit.
Regular COVID. How do they know?
Everybody that I know that got tested for COVID, they didn't find out if they have a variant.
They didn't find out shit.
They just found out they were positive.
I mean, how do they know who's got a variant?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know?
unidentified
Right?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Jamie's got antibodies from fucking October.
Strong antibodies.
greg fitzsimmons
He's in shape, too.
Look at the guy.
joe rogan
You running still?
Yeah?
jamie vernon
Those golf swings, too.
joe rogan
Golf swings, too, and running?
jamie vernon
Told you, I burn lots of calories.
joe rogan
Golfing.
greg fitzsimmons
I heard he's trying to get you into golfing.
joe rogan
No, it's not happening.
greg fitzsimmons
You're not a golfer.
You don't seem to be a golfer.
joe rogan
I'm too addicted to games, man.
You see how I am with pool.
I can't be playing golf.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't have that kind of time.
greg fitzsimmons
It's a lot of time.
joe rogan
It's a lot of time.
I remember very distinctly in Boston when we lived there, the guys that got really into golf, they did not pay attention to their career.
They just did the gigs, got the money, and they just wanted to golf in the morning.
Golf became more of the thing they were concentrating on even than pool.
Even in comedy, rather.
greg fitzsimmons
I remember Seinfeld said that.
He goes, you can always see the comics that aren't going to progress.
They go on the road with golf clubs.
He goes, that's death.
Because I can remember, we're first going on the road.
I mean, up until now, I'm not as intense about it as I used to be, but I used to be like, I would do the shows, tape my sets, I'd get up in the morning, get some coffee, And I would sit there with my tape recorder and I would fucking pause it and make notes.
I had notebooks where I would just...
A word change, I wrote it down.
A tangent that I went on, I'd write it down.
And then before I went on stage, I'd go through those notes and I'd fucking tape it again.
And that's when, like, the shit really gets tight.
I mean, that's my process.
Different for everybody.
Some people, they can remember it all, but at least, like...
For me, to make that the first and only priority when you're on the road, you come back on Sunday.
They used to have Largo in L.A. on Monday nights.
And I would go do Largo like almost every Monday night.
And I'd be on the road almost every weekend.
And I'd come back with five new minutes that were fucking pounded out.
And I would go into Largo.
And it's all these other...
And it was like alternative comedy.
So everybody else was like shit they thought of while they were having a latte that afternoon.
And it was kind of fat.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And not really, like, pieced together well.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
And, you know, some of them were brilliant.
Some of them could get away with it.
You know, like Patton Oswalt can just go up there and talk, and it's fucking unbelievable.
But I had to work.
I had to work hard on that shit to make it tight.
Like Tim Dillons.
Like you said, he found his rhythm in his voice, and it just comes out.
But for me, it was like I needed those hours alone in my hotel room pouring over that shit to make it good.
joe rogan
Yeah, having that extra focus and that extra time and having the discipline to sit there and actually do that, that's what makes all the difference in the world.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, right.
joe rogan
Because it really makes you're thinking about it more.
You're concentrating about your act.
You're looking forward to it.
You're going over the stuff.
And then when you go on stage, I think the way I look at it, every time you listen to a set, it's like a half a set.
It's like every set you do is very important for tightening your act and making it strong.
And then you listen to a set afterwards and it's like doing a half a set.
It's like 50% as valuable as doing a whole set.
So if you do two shows and then you listen to both of those shows, it's like you did three shows.
And it's over time.
All that stuff accumulates, and it really does have a big effect.
It's a matter of how much time, how much focus, how much are you concentrating on it, and how much are you really trying to innovate it, really trying to tighten it up.
greg fitzsimmons
And then you're so much more aware.
I mean, it's just like playing a sport.
If you're beating the fundamentals into yourself, then when you're on stage, Your mind isn't fixated on, oh, what's the next joke or whatever.
It's more like, oh no, I'm hitting this word instead of that word because last night in the second show that worked better.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
greg fitzsimmons
And you're so much more able to concentrate on the minutiae.
joe rogan
What were you about to tell me?
I said, don't tell me what happened at Kill Tony last night.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, Jesus Christ.
What a fucking zoo.
I mean, that show was always chaotic and interesting and good.
But here in Austin, it's like I show up and I go in the green room.
And Tony's dressed like the fucking cowboy from Toy Story.
unidentified
He's got on a big fucking belt buckle.
Cowboy hat.
greg fitzsimmons
Cowboy hat.
Snake skin boots.
And there's a guy in the corner who's got a fucking...
He's got a freezer bag filled with mushrooms.
And he's just handing...
Everybody's fucking chewing on stems.
There's a fat joint going.
The band is downstairs.
And then they do the show.
And, I mean, the place is just...
Frenetic.
I mean, they're so good.
And then this Asian guy gets up on stage, who I guess does it every week, who is super funny.
Hans, Hans or Hans.
And he goes up, and then Tony goes, does anybody want to make out with Hans?
Because a woman did the week before.
Somebody made out with Hans.
So now it's a running thing of like, can we get a different girl to make out with?
I guess he's making amends to the Asian people.
And so this girl comes up on stage, and it wasn't just her.
There were like three women that were willing to come on stage.
This girl comes up, and she's about five foot one, and she has one of those sites that you can be a prostitute, be like a stripper for people.
joe rogan
OnlyFans?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, she's got an OnlyFans page.
And so Tony goes, is it okay if you make out with them?
Are you here with anybody?
She's like, yeah, I'm here on a date.
But he's okay with it.
So, and she shows us her tits, and they're pierced, and she, so she starts making out with this guy, but I mean, they are going at it, like shoving tongues down each other's throats, and then he goes, Tony goes, will you have sex with him?
And she goes, yeah, yeah, but I want my date in on it, so we bring the date on stage.
He's like, yeah, I'll do a three-way with this guy.
So, so cut to after the show.
joe rogan
And he's this guy on Mushrooms 2, Hans?
unidentified
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Maybe.
Maybe.
I know the week before apparently he threw up in five different places in the club.
And so it's almost like he's having a rebirth.
He's had this pretty fucking pedestrian life up until Kill Tony.
joe rogan
Oh boy.
greg fitzsimmons
And now he's like a teenager all over again.
So he comes into the green room after the show.
There's like an after party happening.
And he comes in the green room and apparently he already had sex with the girl in the janitor's closet at the club.
Yeah.
And the boyfriend, the date was pissed because he wasn't invited, because she couldn't find him, so she went ahead and did it.
unidentified
It was insanity.
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
unidentified
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
I don't know if that's a good commercial for Kill Tony, but if you hear that and you don't want to go to that show, I don't know what else you're doing on Monday nights.
joe rogan
Tony is so good at that show.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's so good at the ad-libs and just running it and keeping it smooth and rolling.
greg fitzsimmons
No, Producing it.
I mean, he's got this killer band.
He's got the regulars that go up and perform every week.
This one guy goes up, this red-headed guy with a beard.
I can't remember his name, but he goes on every week.
He's from Nashville, I think.
He destroys.
joe rogan
William Montgomery?
greg fitzsimmons
I think that's his name.
joe rogan
Reads off of his notes?
unidentified
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's hilarious.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he's hilarious.
But, you know, it's just the whole thing is so well produced and put together.
I go, did you show this to Comedy Central?
And they're like, yeah, this isn't a Comedy Central show.
I'm like, no, if they had any fucking sense, this is a perfect show for Comedy Central.
joe rogan
But it's better on the internet.
It's better.
Because you don't want anybody getting their greasy little fingers in it.
Well, you know, we can't.
We're going to cut that out.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Cut out all the good stuff.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, fuck that.
Everything should be on the internet now.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Within five, ten years, there's going to be no reason to do any of these shows anywhere else.
greg fitzsimmons
The equipment is so cheap.
He's got about 19 cameras set up.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, Red Band's producing it all.
It's all simple, and it's better this way.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's better.
Because you need these wild motherfuckers eating mushrooms in the green room to go out there and put that show together.
That's what you really want.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's the right kind of...
And what it is, basically, is the cornerstone of the Austin comedy scene.
Because that's where all the young guys and girls and non-binary folks get a chance to go up and do their fucking comedy for the first time.
They get one minute.
And you might get one minute and do it in front of Ron White or Greg Fitzsimmons or whoever the fuck...
Tim Dillon, whoever the fuck is there.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And it's great.
It's wild.
greg fitzsimmons
They dragged this guy up in a wheelchair.
This guy had Lou Gehrig's disease.
And I guess when he caught it, he decided that he was going to follow his dream of doing stand-up comedy.
joe rogan
Oh, Mike.
Mike Lehrer.
How do you spell his last name?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
How do you spell it?
jamie vernon
L-E-H-R-E-R. Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And this guy comes up.
joe rogan
He's funny.
greg fitzsimmons
They had to drag the fucking...
And I'm like, this is going to be a train wreck.
And he gets up, and he was playing a character of Andrew Dice Clay as a handicap guy.
unidentified
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And he had all this material.
He had Andrew Dice Clay material, including nursery rhymes at the end, and he fucking killed.
joe rogan
He's a funny guy, man.
He just got a disease, but he's a very funny comic.
No, it's a beautiful show.
It really is.
And it's wild, and when you're watching it, you know that it's not planned out.
It's just chaotic and fun.
And it's like it's supporting that kind of style of comedy, wild, live, nightclub comedy.
You know, that place, that venue, Vulcan, is amazing for it too.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Are you working tonight?
You doing anything tonight?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, you are.
Want to do a set on my show?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Is it at that same place?
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Fuck yeah, man.
That room is hot.
unidentified
Hot.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Wait till tonight.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Dynamite.
joe rogan
Oh, it's going to be wild.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm there pretty much every Tuesday and Wednesday when I'm in town.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's a great place to work out.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
So if I'm doing arenas on the weekend, I tighten my shit up here.
greg fitzsimmons
Nice.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's great.
greg fitzsimmons
So you're hitting the road now?
You're out doing stuff?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
I've done some clubs on the road.
I did Wise Guys in Salt Lake, tightened up there.
I did a few arenas in Vegas with Chappelle.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, dude, yeah, Mike Gibbons.
You know my buddy Mike Gibbons I do my podcast Sunday Papers with.
He came out to see you.
joe rogan
Oh, did he?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
And he's like, hey man, can you get me some free tickets?
I go, yeah, let me text Rogan and get fucking free tickets to his arena show.
I go, you're a fucking very successful showrunner.
Buy a goddamn ticket to the show.
But he went and he said it was unbelievable.
He's like, Rogan killed so hard, I felt bad for Chappelle.
And then Chappelle came up and also just annihilated it.
joe rogan
Everybody was so happy.
Like, the audience was so happy.
It was a thing, first of all, it's like, you know, the lockdowns and everything, and people weren't doing arena shows.
Vegas wasn't even open until a couple months ago.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right?
So then, all of a sudden, Vegas is open again, and when we booked this, we weren't sure if it was going to be at full capacity.
We thought, does that save anybody?
When you're all screaming and laughing and there's like six feet apart from each other, does that really have any impact on the spread of a virus?
But it was just buck wild.
14,000 people.
Two nights in a row we did it.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah, we did Thursday and Friday.
greg fitzsimmons
Wild.
joe rogan
It was wild.
Yeah, it was wild.
It was really fun.
Donnell Rawlings, Tom Segura did it with me too.
greg fitzsimmons
Nice.
joe rogan
We had a good fucking time.
greg fitzsimmons
That's amazing.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And that was the weekend of the McGregor fight, right?
joe rogan
Yes.
Yeah, and then the McGregor fight was Saturday night.
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Good weekend.
joe rogan
It was a fun time.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it was like Vegas is back time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like it felt like it.
Like everything was fucking electric.
unidentified
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Like people were excited to be there and the casinos were filled with people.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But you know, now that people are catching COVID again, who knows what's going to happen.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
Because I think a lot of people thought that the vaccine was going to be the cure and that's it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
No worries.
Now people are scared.
I wonder if they're going to be less scared.
They find out that there's way less deaths.
A lot of the deaths happened in the early days, too, when they didn't know how to treat it and they were throwing people on ventilators right away.
Who knows?
greg fitzsimmons
But the crowds really are different, man, since the pandemic.
They are just electric.
They're so excited to be there.
Every show, people are so excited.
Even if it's not full, it's just it feels full.
When it's 50% capacity, it still feels like it's 100%.
joe rogan
I did Wise Guys in Salt Lake.
Goddamn, that's a great club.
That's fun.
And that's a great place, too, because they're a little weirded out by the whole Mormon thing.
There's a percentage of the people that are Mormons in the crowd.
And I was like, if you're Mormon, guess what?
You're not supposed to be here.
unidentified
This is not right.
joe rogan
You're not following your fucking rules.
Whatever wacky rules you got.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's a weird town, right?
Salt Lake, where it's kind of like a Mormon town, but not really anymore.
It's like there's a certain percentage of Mormons, but it's like a regular city, but it still has the influence of the Mormons.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, it's a high percentage.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
unidentified
What do you think?
joe rogan
It's like 30, 40?
greg fitzsimmons
No, I think it's more than that.
unidentified
Really?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Let's guess.
Let's guess and we'll find out.
greg fitzsimmons
I'm going to say 70. Whoa!
I bet it's 70%.
I mean, they're a raised Mormon.
I'm sure they leave the fold once they turn 18 or whatever.
joe rogan
Alright, let's Google it.
What percentage of Salt Lake City residents are Mormon?
jamie vernon
I did Utah.
I figured that was good enough.
joe rogan
Oh, Utah is a pretty high number.
But Salt Lake City?
What did you get out of Utah?
jamie vernon
62%.
greg fitzsimmons
Whoa.
joe rogan
Of the whole state.
jamie vernon
49% of Salt Lake County.
joe rogan
49% of Salt Lake County.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
And so when you come out of that energy, I mean, it's like, where do you get laid more than a fucking Catholic girl school?
I remember that in high school, man.
Holy Child and Our Lady of Victory.
And we used to hit those schools hard.
Marymount College.
It was a fucking Catholic college in my town growing up.
Oh, my God.
joe rogan
If you tell those girls to stay away from boys, the first thing they want to do is find a boy.
greg fitzsimmons
That's right.
joe rogan
Get me a boy.
Get me a boy.
I can't do this anymore.
unidentified
I want to sin!
joe rogan
Shut the fuck up, Mom!
greg fitzsimmons
Leave me alone, Dad.
joe rogan
I'm my own woman.
That was in high school, man, for sure.
greg fitzsimmons
We used to go up to that college when we were like 16 years old.
We'd get a couple bottles of wine.
We'd head up to Marymount and we'd just troll.
We'd just walk around looking for these Hispanic girls from the Bronx whose mothers were trying to cloister them up at Marymount College.
They'll be safe up there.
joe rogan
No, they won't.
The worst place for them.
I dated this one girl in high school who went to all-girls Catholic school and her two sisters didn't.
Her two sisters went to public school and she went to Catholic school and she was so wild.
She was like, if you took a cat and you throw a ball of yarn in front of a cat, it dives on it.
That's how she was with Dick.
greg fitzsimmons
She couldn't...
joe rogan
She couldn't...
She was crazy!
She was just a wild girl, and I think a lot of...
greg fitzsimmons
She wanted the yarn.
joe rogan
She just wanted to fuck.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
All the time, and I think it was because of Catholic school.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Tell me I can't have it.
joe rogan
She's a wild girl, man.
She fucked like five of my friends.
She was crazy.
greg fitzsimmons
You ever see somebody like that when they get older and you just look at them and you're like, mm-hmm?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's sad sometimes.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Been through some rough times.
And the sad thing is if it's the same town and you're like passing by guys you fucked before.
I'm like, oh, hi, Norman.
You know?
He's like, hey, Mary, how you been?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Some guy who still remembers high school.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
She walks by and every guy locks eyes with each other like, remember?
joe rogan
Oh, no.
And if you're her husband now, you're like...
greg fitzsimmons
Well, that was the best.
Remember Best in Show with Kathleen O'Hara?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
She played that character where she had fucked every guy they ran into with her husband.
Eugene Levy was the husband and he was constantly keeping an eye on her.
joe rogan
They're a good team.
They're a great team on that Schitt's Creek show.
That show's very good.
greg fitzsimmons
So original.
joe rogan
Yeah, very original.
greg fitzsimmons
I watched the first episode and I was like, alright, here's a big premise.
I don't know if they can pull it.
Sometimes they go too big with the premise.
joe rogan
Right.
greg fitzsimmons
And you go like, they can't follow this up.
But then it turns into a whole other show.
It just turns into a very intimate show about a family that really loves each other.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
And going through some shit.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's great.
greg fitzsimmons
And Eugene Levy's son is fucking great.
joe rogan
He's really funny.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's really funny.
greg fitzsimmons
I've never seen him off the show.
Is he as gay off the show?
Because he's pretty gay on the show.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I don't know.
I haven't seen him being interviewed.
I've only seen him on that show.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Has he done other shows before?
greg fitzsimmons
I don't know, but he's meticulous, because he's a producer on that show, and that thing is very well put together.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a great show.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's a really good show.
And again, like you said, it's a really good premise.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then Chris, what's his name?
unidentified
Elliot.
joe rogan
Elliot is amazing there, too.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
As the crazy mayor of the town.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And it started out as like a little Canadian show, I think.
unidentified
Really?
greg fitzsimmons
And it got picked up.
Yeah, I think they did all the episodes up in Canada.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I never watched any of it until this year, until the pandemic.
I binged.
greg fitzsimmons
That's a good binge.
joe rogan
I watched a bunch of them.
greg fitzsimmons
That's a good binge because you can watch a bunch of them back to back.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
There's some shows you really got to like, like Breaking Bad, you got to watch one, maybe two, and then you got to go sit alone in a room for a little while and ingest it and let it settle.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
I started getting into Community.
I never watched Community.
greg fitzsimmons
Never saw it.
It's good.
joe rogan
It's good.
It's really good.
Joel McHale's fucking funny, man.
Donald Glover's really funny.
Even Chevy Chase.
It's weird to see Chevy Chase as an old man in a sitcom.
It's very strange.
greg fitzsimmons
But it's good.
I think they bounced him off the show for being an asshole after a while.
joe rogan
Yeah, I kind of heard that too.
I don't know if that's true, but I wouldn't be surprised.
He seems like a grumpy dude.
greg fitzsimmons
I did one of the Comedy Central roasts when he was the roastee, and he wouldn't say hi to us before the show.
We're all backstage, and it's like me and Jeff Ross and Lisa Lampanelli, Kevin Meany, Al Franken.
Stephen Colbert.
And we're all standing around, and he wouldn't shake hands.
He would just look away from you when he walked up, mirrored sunglasses on.
unidentified
What?
greg fitzsimmons
And then he gets on stage, and he sits there with fucking sunglasses on, and he wouldn't look at you while you were performing.
So the whole audience was just like...
Bummed out.
It didn't have the feeling of a roast where it's like, hey, we're all kidding around and we're busting balls.
It was just more like, here's a guy who fucking hates all of you, and you're trying to do jokes, and people were bombing.
I think Marin was on it, Todd Barry was on it, and it was a bomb festival.
It was brutal.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
Yeah, I always wondered if one of the reasons why he was always so shitty was that he's in pain.
You know, because he did so many pratfalls.
He did so many, like, stunts.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Where he'd fall and land hard on his back.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And the reality to that shit is, and this is how I think about things, right?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
I think about damage to your body.
That guy's got to be in agony.
There's no way he's not.
And also, he probably got a lot of brain damage doing that.
Like, no bullshit.
Because he was always like, feet up in the air, boom, slam, fall down on the ground.
Remember that?
Like, a lot of the shit that he did on SNL, a lot of that old school stuff, even like Fletch, like all those old movies, he fell down a lot.
Think about how many takes you have to do with those.
Think about how many times he did that probably doing sketch.
Doing sketch comedy.
Doing improv.
He was a guy who would fall down.
When you do that a lot, man, you get busted up.
How many nights is he performing?
How many times have you fallen?
How many nights have you fallen during a week?
When I heard he was an asshole, Because my history with people getting punched and kicked in the head, my first thing I was thinking, I bet that guy's in pain all the time.
I bet he's all fucked up.
greg fitzsimmons
Have you seen that with fighters?
Do guys turn into assholes as they get older if they get beat up too much?
They get crumpy.
joe rogan
They get real impulsive.
They do wild shit.
They wind up doing a lot of drugs or gambling and shit.
That's the thing about people with brain damage.
They get very impulsive.
Drive drunk.
Get wild.
They have a hard time controlling their impulses, a hard time controlling their tempers, too.
greg fitzsimmons
And there's nothing you can do about that.
That's just permanent damage.
joe rogan
I wonder.
You know, I wonder.
I think there's some people that have had a lot of relief from psilocybin therapy.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah?
joe rogan
Yeah.
John Hopkins is about to do something with USADA, and they're working with—they want to—they haven't begun the studies yet, but they're going to work with UFC fighters, and they're going to—I think they're going to work with some other athletes as well that have sustained some brain damage, and they're going to work on helping them with psilocybin mushrooms.
greg fitzsimmons
Now, I've heard they've treated a lot of vets with that.
That's the hope for the...
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, MAPS is using MDMA. MAPS Multidisciplinary Advanced Psychedelic Studies, whatever the hell it is.
Multidisciplinary...
What is it?
What does MAPS stand for?
Association of Psychedelic Studies.
I had Rick Doblin on, who's the head of MAPS, and he was talking to me about all the progress they've made with MDMA. Ecstasy, you know?
That's really good for people that have traumatic memories and You know, like soldiers in particular.
And that's one of the best treatments for them.
greg fitzsimmons
They do it in conjunction with talk therapy?
joe rogan
I don't know.
It's a good question.
I'm sure they probably...
You're probably going to have to talk through a lot of that stuff for sure.
But for fighters and soldiers and...
You know, people had a lot of damage, just psychological damage as well as physical damage.
But the thing about psilocybin is it has neuro-regenerative properties, so it actually can help heal the brain.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit!
joe rogan
Yeah, it's one of the rare things.
That lion's mane stuff has neuro-regenerative properties as well.
Yeah.
There's certain things that you can take that actually can help fix your brain.
They're also doing magnetic therapy.
They've done that with a lot of fighters.
There's something about using these super powerful magnets.
greg fitzsimmons
I did a whole series with that.
It's called TMS, transcranial magnetic stimulation, I think it's called.
And Neil Brennan turned me on to it.
joe rogan
Neil's done everything.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, because I'm like him.
I think Irish people get a lot of depression, but I've had lifelong battles with depression, and it fucking helped me.
I went in there like four days a week for about six months.
And you'd sit down and they'd put magnets on your head and they'd buzz.
You just keep fucking buzzing your head.
joe rogan
So you feel like a vibration?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh yeah, yeah.
It was uncomfortable.
joe rogan
While it's happening, do you feel it or do you feel it later?
greg fitzsimmons
It's cumulative.
You start to feel it, but you definitely feel a little off as it's happening.
And then after about two weeks, you really start to feel like the lows of the depression go away, and it holds.
I did it probably three years ago, and my wife is like, I see a big difference.
joe rogan
Wow, so it remaps your brain somehow.
greg fitzsimmons
Yes, exactly.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Kat Zingano.
She's a female MMA fighter.
She used to fight for the UFC. Now she fights for Bellator.
She was telling me about that.
She had done some of that.
It helped her a lot.
It helped her regain her coordination.
She had one fight with Amanda Nunes, who is a UFC... She's a two-division champion.
She's the bantamweight champion and the featherweight champion.
She's a monster.
She's the greatest women fighter of all time.
Consensus.
Everybody agrees.
And she beat the shit out of Kat in the first round.
And Kat wound up winning the fight, but she sustained all sorts of damage from that first round that really fucked with her.
She got a bunch of weight gain, her coordination was off, and she fixed it through that magnetic therapy.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, it's not cheap because a lot of insurance doesn't cover it yet.
They keep petitioning because it's like you've got to look at the cost of fixing somebody's depression.
And if you can spend whatever costs $10,000 for a treatment of it over six months and that keeps you from having to take medications for the rest of your life or go to psychotherapy for the rest of your life or whatever, the insurance companies have to start looking at it long ball as a real treatment.
joe rogan
They don't give a fuck.
All they want to do is save money.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
They're like, nope, not covered.
Nope, nope, nope, nope.
I mean, there's so many things they don't cover.
greg fitzsimmons
I think ketamine is covered by a lot of insurance companies now.
joe rogan
That's wild.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That was one of the things that Neil told me about that really helped him.
greg fitzsimmons
It helped Duncan a lot, too.
joe rogan
A lot of people like it.
I have not done it, but a lot of people like it.
But Neil was, we were talking, I remember we were in the hallway of the Comedy Store.
And he's like, he goes, I did it.
He goes, I thought it was going to be one of those things.
You go there, it's like, you know, it's mild.
He goes, no.
He goes, I'm in the doctor's office.
I'm fucking tripping balls.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like really tripping hard.
I was like, really?
He goes, yeah.
Like really tripping.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
He's like, wow.
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's kind of like a weird loophole.
greg fitzsimmons
And he was doing it like two days a week for a while.
Yeah.
joe rogan
How's he now?
I haven't talked to him.
greg fitzsimmons
He's doing good.
joe rogan
I haven't talked to him since the pandemic.
I haven't seen him in a year and a half.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
He's got good new material and weight's good.
He was getting a little thin there for a while because I think he went all vegan.
Ooh.
joe rogan
You stopped that?
greg fitzsimmons
I think so.
Yeah.
Maybe he started lifting weights.
I don't know.
Hmm.
But yeah, he's the guy that I always go to for advice on depression because he's done everything.
joe rogan
He really has done everything.
Magnets, ketamine.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
What else has he done?
Took a bunch of different...
He was the one who told me about 5-HTP. What's that?
5-HTP is like a building block for serotonin.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
I know he does ayahuasca too.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's done it all.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Just to try to fix his fucked up brain.
He's an interesting guy because he's so fucking smart.
But obviously he's battling that thing, that depression thing.
But you're right, it is a lot of Irish guys have depression.
greg fitzsimmons
I don't know if it's the climate, being in the fucking dank, cold Irish climate all the time.
Did that lead to the drinking?
Is it the oppression by the fucking British for 800 years?
Is it the Catholic Church oppressing us?
Or is it just a gene?
joe rogan
You know, it's kind of amazing that no one has come up with a really good new religion.
You know?
greg fitzsimmons
Let's do it right now.
joe rogan
No, but if you think about it, like all these different Lutheran and Catholicism and, you know, Baptists and all the different branches of Christianity, like, yeah, it's been a long time since anybody really busted out with a new one.
greg fitzsimmons
Dianetics.
joe rogan
Right.
Yeah.
Scientology.
greg fitzsimmons
Scientology?
joe rogan
That's Dianetics.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
L. Ron Hubbard.
But that's not a good one.
greg fitzsimmons
Even Mormonism isn't that old, isn't it?
It wasn't like the 1920s?
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think it was 1820. Oh, 1820?
greg fitzsimmons
That old?
Yeah.
joe rogan
I believe so.
I believe it was Joseph Smith.
He was 14 years old when he came up with it.
greg fitzsimmons
He had a vision?
joe rogan
No, just fucking lied to people.
He was a little liar.
unidentified
A little 14-year-old liar.
greg fitzsimmons
And people believed him.
joe rogan
It's such a dumb lie, too.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Did you ever see Book of Mormon?
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
It's amazing.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Amazing musical.
Those guys are hilarious.
greg fitzsimmons
I literally fell out of my chair because I saw it in LA, and LA wasn't ready for it.
New York was like, New York got it, but I saw it in LA, and when they did that song, and it's like 20 minutes in, and the first 20 minutes, they set it up, it's kind of sweet, it's kind of funny, and then they hit you with that song, Fuck Me In The Mouth, Cunt And Ass.
Jesus, fuck me in the cunt mouth and ass.
I literally, nobody was laughing.
It was like me and 12 other degenerates laughing and I fell on the floor.
I was laughing so fucking hard.
joe rogan
Those guys are so important.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Matt Stillen and Trey Parker are so important to comedy because they've always been pushing the envelope as far as it can go.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, think about Team America World Police when they had that orgy scene or the sex scene with the two puppets and they added Like, all this extra shit because they knew that they were going to make them edit it.
So they were shitting on each other and pissing on each other.
And they did that just so that they could edit some of it out.
Like, they knew.
We're just going to take this so far that when we pull it back a little, it'll still be so crazy comparatively.
When they had the South Park movie and Satan and Saddam Hussein had a sexual relationship.
Yeah.
unidentified
Did you see Satan's dick?
joe rogan
It was like a real dick.
It's like, you're like, hey, what's going on here?
It was kind of animated, but it was a photo.
unidentified
It was like a photo of an actual dick.
joe rogan
Those guys are so important.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, week in and week out.
And they got a rule with Comedy Central.
No notes.
That's incredible.
They don't take notes.
joe rogan
That's incredible.
greg fitzsimmons
They don't even show them the script in advance.
I think they just shoot it.
They send it over.
joe rogan
Thank the baby Jesus.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because if you let some young, woke, dumbass executive who just thinks he's going to fucking put his greasy little fingerprints all over that show and fuck it up...
greg fitzsimmons
And it's such a cash cow for them, they have no choice.
They're like, alright.
joe rogan
It's so established.
greg fitzsimmons
Just give it to us.
joe rogan
Yeah, you gotta leave them alone.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
That one that they did about Corona was so fucking funny.
joe rogan
I didn't see that.
greg fitzsimmons
Holy shit.
That was epic.
unidentified
I'm trying to think, wait, what the fuck happened?
joe rogan
Well, the genius of that show, too, is the puppets.
I mean, the cartoons.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because you could have them do anything.
They could die.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
They could say ridiculous shit.
They could get shot, lit on fire.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know when the teacher, the school teacher, had a slut off with Paris Hilton and stuffed her up his ass?
unidentified
Right, right, right.
joe rogan
Or when Randy Macho Man Savage came out as a woman and was winning all these competitions as a woman.
unidentified
Ooh, yeah!
joe rogan
It's like they can do things and make them so preposterous.
They have all this extra power.
It's incredible.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, no.
The pandemic episode, I had all these people accuse me of stealing the pandemic episode joke.
There was a joke That you and I riffed on, on your show.
It was about, like, what if you got COVID and then you fucked your dog because...
I'm not gonna redo it because we did it on the show.
But the premise was...
joe rogan
And that's how you got cured.
greg fitzsimmons
It cures you.
joe rogan
Right.
greg fitzsimmons
So I do that, we riff on it on your show, and then six months later, South Park does their pandemic episode, and it wasn't the same joke at all.
I sent it to you, and you were like, dude, this isn't even the same fucking thing.
joe rogan
Right.
greg fitzsimmons
But it was about, I think, fucking, maybe it was fucking the bat, whatever it was.
Yeah, and I had to put out a video showing the timestamps of the dates of mine and then that one that came out.
The amount of fucking people, because you and Segura and Bert all put it out.
unidentified
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And Ari all put out my stand-up clip.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And then it got attacked for being, you stole this from South Park.
It's like, the thing that happened six months after I did it?
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Fucking crazy.
joe rogan
Well, it's the internet sleuths.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, they're always trying to find thievery, which I guess is good because it keeps people honest.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But not good when trolls try to make you feel bad.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, it's just hard to combat it.
It's hard because then you just make it a bigger issue if you try to fight back.
joe rogan
Yeah, but you silenced it.
It went away.
When people saw the video, they're like, oh, all right.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, Ari saw the bit.
He thought it was hilarious.
And then we were sharing it in a group chat.
And then we were all like, I think it was Ari's idea.
He's like, we should all post this.
So we all posted it.
greg fitzsimmons
That was so awesome, you guys.
joe rogan
That's pretty cool.
greg fitzsimmons
Got so many millions of views.
It was crazy.
joe rogan
That's the amazing thing about social media, you know, especially if there's a group of guys like Tom and Bert and Ari and me that have like, you know, all told together.
Like all those guys have, I don't know what their numbers are, but everyone together, it's like probably 20 million fucking people.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's so many people.
That's so nuts.
unidentified
Yeah, it is.
joe rogan
There's never been a thing like that.
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
Where, like, you could get just a group of guys and they could reach 20 million people like that.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, I fucking share Kyle Dunnigan shit every chance I get.
No one makes me cry harder than his shit.
Laugh so hard.
But it's the same kind of thing because it's cartoonish.
You know, when he does those face swaps?
Have you seen this fucking sitcom he's doing about Biden?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
The Fresh Prez?
You haven't seen it?
greg fitzsimmons
What's it on?
joe rogan
He's doing it on YouTube.
He's basically doing like a whole sitcom of Biden.
And he's the only guy.
He has a Biden impression that is fucking incredible.
And he does Biden with like the face swap.
And he has like Ben Shapiro's on it and all these other people.
Like Bill Maher's on it.
AOC is on it.
Have you seen any of this?
greg fitzsimmons
Damn.
joe rogan
Play some of this.
unidentified
You just have 24 hours where I'll be forced to broadcast your son's homemade pornos.
joe rogan
I'm not hearing it.
It's called the Fresh Pres.
unidentified
Look at AOC. Where's your laptop?
joe rogan
We'll get to the laptop.
Oh, that's Hunter Biden?
First, I have to tell you something really important.
unidentified
I don't have a laptop.
But I think I'm falling in love with you.
For real.
What?
Don't worry.
We'll get through this.
greg fitzsimmons
Together.
unidentified
Let us see.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, we should probably not play it.
Everybody, go watch it.
Watch it from the beginning.
greg fitzsimmons
I used to write on a show for Cedric the Entertainer.
It was on Fox.
It was a long time ago.
And he was like the Jim Carrey of the show.
It was an all-black cast.
Not all-black, but it was mostly black cast.
And he was like the crazy white guy on the show.
And he did so many fucking funny characters.
He's great.
joe rogan
He's a dude that they were trying to do a Comedy Central show with him, but it's exactly what we're talking about.
They fucked it up.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because he had a whole sketch where Caitlyn Jenner had sex with Trump, you know, because he does Trump, and he had Caitlyn Jenner riding Trump and fucking him, and they were like, no way.
greg fitzsimmons
No!
joe rogan
Yeah.
Dude, it was hilarious.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
And they were like, no way.
But unfortunately...
There's one thing, though, about when they were doing it on Comedy Central, I think they were using Dr. Fakenstein.
They were using real face swaps where it was too good.
That stuff's better, the stuff he's doing now, because it's so obviously fake.
It's clunky, the lips are out of whack, the whole face looks weird.
There's something about the obvious fakeness that makes it better.
Have you seen that face swap with Tom Cruise?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
You haven't seen it?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
You gotta see this.
Because this guy did a face swap, like a fake, like a AI, what do you call it?
What do they call it?
jamie vernon
Deepfake.
joe rogan
Deepfake.
They did a deepfake with Tom Cruise and it's fucking incredible.
greg fitzsimmons
It looks like Tom Cruise is talking.
joe rogan
Exactly.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like we are like a year or two away from not having any idea if someone really said something.
Watch this.
jamie vernon
That's the actual guy.
joe rogan
And this is the fake one is on the right.
But play.
Watch this.
jamie vernon
No, that's the breakdown.
joe rogan
Just watch this.
When they play the video.
jamie vernon
Sorry.
I wasn't on a good thing for the video.
joe rogan
It's okay.
Put your headphones on so you can watch it, though.
Because it's really crazy.
See, this guy, Tom Cruise's face.
There it is.
Press that.
Play.
greg fitzsimmons
I'm going to show you some magic.
unidentified
The real thing.
I mean, it's all the real thing.
How good is that?
Fuck!
joe rogan
It's crazy, right?
greg fitzsimmons
That's insane!
joe rogan
I mean, the guy does a great impression with the voice, but now they can take your voice.
Like, they've taken my voice, and there's a company out of Canada that took all the hours and hours of podcasts, and they have me saying all kinds of crazy shit.
Because you can have anything.
You can say anything.
You just have my voice.
You have all the numbers and all the sounds.
Here's another one.
It's a little embarrassing.
unidentified
You know, it reminds me, there was once in Russia, I ran into Gorbachev.
He said, you know, Mr. Movie Star, are you nervous?
I said, no, Mr. Gorbachev, I'm not nervous.
He goes, well, remember how much a polar bear weighs.
greg fitzsimmons
I said, a polar bear?
unidentified
He said, enough to break the ice.
greg fitzsimmons
It's the last time I've ever seen Macau Gorbachev.
joe rogan
What's up, TikTok?
unidentified
You guys cool if I play some sports?
It's wild, right?
joe rogan
I mean, it's hard to believe.
I mean, you could have him do basically anything.
greg fitzsimmons
So, he looks a lot like him, but then they take this...
Yeah.
joe rogan
They take this deepfake technology and they swap Tom Cruise's facial features for this guy's facial features, and it all gets done through artificial intelligence CGI. Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Damn.
joe rogan
But what's crazy is, that's that guy's voice.
He does a good Tom Cruise impression.
But they can use Tom Cruise's voice.
So they, like, where someone like you, like you have hours and hours of podcasts out there, they can take you basically all of your inflections, and they can take hundreds of hours of recordings that are available of you, and then they would be able to have you generate, like, a full dialogue.
So they could do, they did this with Bourdain.
With this new movie, there's a new movie called Roadrunner.
It's a documentary about Bourdain and his life.
And in this documentary, they use deepfake technology, artificial intelligence, to recreate him saying things.
See if you can find some of that.
Is it available?
jamie vernon
No.
joe rogan
They must have like a sample.
It's called Roadrunner and people are really pissed off.
They didn't like it because it's not really Bourdain narrating his documentary.
They took all the hours and hours and hours of footage of Bourdain talking and they put it through this technology and they recreate it.
They wrote a script and then have his voice say the script.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're like, but he's not saying that.
And they're like, well, you know, sounds like him.
greg fitzsimmons
This is going to start world wars.
This is scary.
joe rogan
It's Wag the Dog.
Remember?
Wag the Dog.
They created these fake scenarios, but now they can do it in an insanely realistic way.
They did it with Reagan way, way, way back in the day.
Like, they had, I forget what country did it, they released some sort of a video or an audio recording of Reagan saying a bunch of shit that he never really said, and then they showed it on the news how they pieced it together from various speeches that Reagan had given, and they took the words out of context and smooshed it together and had him say some things that he never really said.
greg fitzsimmons
Shit.
joe rogan
But this Bourdain one, I think, is the first time that they ever had a deceased person narrating a documentary about himself with his voice, but with a script that some other people wrote.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
Which is...
jamie vernon
I think he was...
I don't know if I'm going to be able to find it because it only came out in an interview where the director admitted he did it.
So I don't know that anyone's...
They've played it out because I don't know if the movie's out yet.
joe rogan
Isn't it out?
Roadrunner?
jamie vernon
Well, I'm looking and it's not popping up.
Here's an example of it or anything.
But they had him read a journal entry or something like that.
He had written...
joe rogan
Oh, it's something he wrote?
jamie vernon
I believe.
joe rogan
Oh, so they used his voice.
Well, that's better.
Yeah, it's still a little touchy because you use technology.
I know it's available.
greg fitzsimmons
It's a matter of time until, like, Ryan Seacrest and people like that are just going to start mailing in their jobs.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
unidentified
The goal of the new documentary about...
jamie vernon
So this is an interview with the guy talking about that he did it.
joe rogan
So there's no...
But I think it's out, man.
jamie vernon
It's not out?
I'm not saying it's not.
I'm just saying I'm looking and it's not all over the internet.
Like, here's the piece of controversial...
joe rogan
Oh.
jamie vernon
Just people talking about the controversy.
joe rogan
But is the documentary out?
Just find out when the documentary itself gets released.
But people that I know that have seen it were kind of disturbed by it.
They're like, this is...
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, that crosses a line.
jamie vernon
It is out, I guess, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
What's it on?
Is it just in the theaters?
jamie vernon
Yes, Focus Features released it.
unidentified
I don't know.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, you got these concerts now with Biggie Smalls being a hologram.
joe rogan
Yeah, I've seen the Tupac hologram.
He's jacked.
It was like Tupac did CrossFit.
unidentified
Oh, really?
joe rogan
Yeah, they made him jacked.
It looks like an MMA fighter.
greg fitzsimmons
I mean, nobody's ever going to die.
jamie vernon
It's in theaters and it'll be on HBO Max, but they haven't said when.
joe rogan
Okay.
So it's only in theaters.
So there's no actual recording?
That's the tough part.
jamie vernon
If that ended up being on YouTube, they're probably getting removed instantly.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
jamie vernon
I'll try real hard.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's just a matter of time.
Did you see Alita, that movie Alita?
greg fitzsimmons
No.
joe rogan
It's really good.
It's really interesting.
It's CGI, clearly CGI. Like, the girl is like a robot.
But a lot of the people in the movie are part robot and part human.
And it's this weird blurry line between reality and this clearly fictional scene.
You're watching, you know, people getting sliced in half and their heads still moving and, you know, they're...
They take this robot head and they put it on a robot body, but it looks...
They've gone into that, what they call the uncanny valley, between something being a real depiction, like someone watching you right now is real.
But they can get so close now.
Yeah.
But this girl in Alita, it's like a wild, cool CGI action movie.
It was a really fun movie.
Robert Rodriguez directed it.
And so the girl looks fake, like she's got big giant anime eyes, but it's close to real.
Like her hair looks real, and it's like, whoa, we're getting into some weird, strange gray area now.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, especially if you think, you know, studios are always trying to cut costs, and it's a matter of time until they start putting secondary characters in as animated, or whatever you call this.
joe rogan
Well, I think they should do that with children.
Just to stop child actors.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, that's true.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, because when does a kid ever come out of that okay?
I mean, how many of them come out of it okay?
greg fitzsimmons
Dude, I just re-watched The Shining recently, and that kid in The Shining got fucked up, apparently, from being around that.
I mean, if you watch the movie again, there are moments where you go, like, how could you have done this to a kid?
How could this kid have been exposed to this insanity?
And the guy, he never really acted again.
And he was great.
Do you remember how good he was in that movie?
I think he stuck around Hollywood and he went out for stuff and he auditioned and nothing ever really happened.
I mean, this was like a major movie that he was a star of.
And then I think now he's teaching at a community college in Oklahoma or something.
His life just kind of ended.
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know what's funny?
If you said, I know this guy, he teaches at a community college in Oakland.
You'd be like, oh, okay.
Or Oklahoma, whatever.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, oh, okay, guy's got a good job.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
But if you're like, oh, he used to be a movie star, and now his life's over.
He teaches at a community college somewhere in Oklahoma.
greg fitzsimmons
That's true.
joe rogan
It's like, it's weird.
It's like once someone is, it's almost like we know that this guy did something that no one gets to do.
He was starring in a movie.
So to do a thing that everybody can, or that some people do, you know, a regular job.
Like, oh, my cousin, he's a professor at a community college.
Oh, normal guy.
Normal job.
That's a regular job.
Not a movie star, though.
It's weird.
Like, you would not feel bad if you found out a guy was a professor at a college somewhere.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, normal job.
But a guy who used to be a movie star as a child and is now a professor, you're like, oh, his life's over.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Weird.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Meanwhile, like, was that life, you know, day to day, was that a good life for him?
I mean, that movie shot for like a year.
Kubrick had them shoot for a fucking year, and he was doing like, apparently the take where the woman, what the fuck is her name, who was the star...
She had to swing a baseball bat at Jack Nicholson while he was coming at her.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
And they shot it 158 times.
It's in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most takes of one fucking shot.
And he was trying to beat her down because he wanted the character to look despondent and insane.
And so he very, very, you know, forcefully created that.
joe rogan
Shelley Duvall.
greg fitzsimmons
Shelley Duvall, yeah.
And she had trauma from it.
To this day, she talks about the trauma she had in that movie.
joe rogan
I was reading a story of an interview with her.
She kind of vanished.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then they were interviewing her and she sounded insane.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
I think it pushed her over the edge.
I think that movie fucked people up.
joe rogan
Kubrick was a strange guy.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he was.
joe rogan
You know he would do complex mathematics in his spare time?
greg fitzsimmons
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah, he's like a legitimate genius.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
And he would put all sorts of like weird hidden meaning into all of his movies.
Like a thing was never just a thing.
Like there's a big crazy conspiracy about The Shining that inside of it is all sorts of...
Information that relates to the moon landing.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, the room in the hotel, it was room 127, and the moon is 127,000 miles from the Earth or something.
joe rogan
No, it's like 237. Yeah, whatever it was.
Yeah, the moon is like 200, I think it's room 237, right?
Yeah, 237. That's the documentary on it.
The moon is, well, it depends on what time of the year and where, but it's between 237 and 265,000 miles away.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, and they say that he directed the fake movie about the fake moon landing.
joe rogan
Well, that's the big conspiracy theory.
What is the thing in the circle with the Jack Nicholson picture there?
Oh, there's the coffee.
What does it say?
jamie vernon
It's the coffee.
It might be the coffee.
greg fitzsimmons
Calumet.
joe rogan
Calumet?
What does that mean?
What is Calumet?
And then the other one, you go up, scroll up, you see the circles.
There's rockets on the wall.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
unidentified
Sorta.
Sorta.
jamie vernon
That is, that is, whatever that is.
joe rogan
Yeah.
jamie vernon
Strange.
joe rogan
Yeah, but he was into weird shit.
I mean, he was a legitimate genius.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, Eyes Wide Shut, that's another fucking strange movie.
He did a lot of strange movies, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he did.
Did he do Clockwork Orange?
Was that him?
joe rogan
Yeah, that was Kubrick.
greg fitzsimmons
Jesus, that was...
jamie vernon
Full Metal Jacket documentary, that whole thing they shot in London.
unidentified
Really?
jamie vernon
Because he wouldn't leave his home.
unidentified
Really?
jamie vernon
So they made the second half of the movie supposed to be in Vietnam and some area in part of England.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Wow.
He wouldn't leave London.
Fuck you, I'm staying here.
But the movie's supposed to be in the middle of the jungle.
Yeah, well, it's right here.
Here's the jungle.
Fuck off.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
Damn.
joe rogan
He did some wild ass fucking movies though, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he did.
joe rogan
2001. The conspiracy theory about him directing the moon landing was that he was doing it at the same time he was doing 2001. So because he was faking this space movie, 2001 A Space Odyssey, that they used him to fake the moon landing footage.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
And there's a fake documentary, not a real documentary, but a fake, like a mockumentary, where he's admitting and people are talking about...
Have you seen that one?
greg fitzsimmons
No, but that makes sense.
joe rogan
Yeah, a lot of people are like, dude, you didn't even know there's an actual real interview with him where he admits that he faked the moon landing.
But it's not.
It's fake, but it's...
greg fitzsimmons
Were you ever in the camp of the moon landing was fake?
joe rogan
For years!
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's one of my favorite all-time conspiracies because it's so strange that we never went back.
I abandoned it because I don't know anything about astrophysics or space travel or any of that stuff.
And the people that do think it's real.
So I'm like, okay, well, most likely...
greg fitzsimmons
They think the landing really happened.
Yeah.
joe rogan
But there's so many weird things to it.
There's so many.
There's so many weird things with the photographs.
And there's intersecting shadows that indicate different light sources.
There's all sorts of weird...
greg fitzsimmons
The flag waving.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's weird shit, man.
There's a lot of weird shit.
The fact that this is the only time in human history...
That something is not cheaper, easier, and faster to replicate than it was in 1969. Between 1969 and 1972, there were seven trips, six successful, where they went to the moon and back.
And every spaceflight since then has been like near-Earth orbit.
Everything is just a few miles up.
They don't go like they did then.
I think everything since then is like 300 miles.
Every human travel, space shuttles and stuff like that, they never go that far.
They never go into deep space and come back.
The only time they came back was during the moon landings in the 60s when they were lying about everything.
The thing is, Nixon was president back then.
It's so romantic to think that they faked it.
Also, here's another reason.
If you watch the post-flight press conference, and again, I'm not saying that this is actually what's happening, but it seems completely like they're full of shit.
When they come back, it seems like they're lying and they're nervous, and they ask them about the stars.
And again, I'm not on the camp that they faked it, but there was Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins.
And Michael Collins, they asked him about stars.
And in the press conference, he's like, I don't recall seeing any stars.
Problem with that is Michael Collins never left the lunar module.
He wasn't supposed to be one of the guys that was on the surface of the moon.
He was up in the craft that was circling in orbit around the moon.
And then later, when he wrote a book about it, he talked about how magnificent the stars looked.
So he has inconsistencies.
So the hoax people point to that.
They also point to the inconsistencies of the actual movement of the astronauts on the moon.
Like there's videos that make it look like they were on wires.
There's videos that fall down.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, it's like the back of his suit is being pulled by something.
joe rogan
It's weird.
But again, when was the last time you saw someone in 1-6 Earth's gravity?
Maybe things just look weird.
But there's a video of them where it looks like they're on trampolines, which is very strange.
They're bouncing around on the surface of the moon, and you can't see their feet.
They're hidden behind equipment, and they're just bouncing up in the air.
It's fun.
It's fun to think that Kubrick faked it all.
greg fitzsimmons
It is, I remember, because I quit drinking, God, 30 years ago or something, and I quit smoking pot for 20 years, and then I guess 20 years later, I got high in Nebraska.
My friend Ross Broccoli is his name, and he's a conspiracy theorist, drug head, who's a farmer, and he sat me down in front of a computer, and he got me high and showed me all this moon stuff.
Pretty much everything you just said, he just kept showing me clips after clip.
And I didn't fucking sleep that night.
I was just laying in bed going like, this is crazy.
joe rogan
It's on TikTok now.
There's a resurgence in moon hoax, moon landing hoax talk because of the kids.
Kids are watching TikTok videos because it's real clear, like 30 second bursts where they get to see some wild shit that looks like they didn't really land on the moon.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it would be a fun thing to think that the government pulled the wool over everybody's eyes like that.
Because also, when you look at the first Apollo 11, the first time guys landed on the moon, that was one of the first times that they didn't get a live feed.
They forced the news cameras to film, to point their cameras at a projection screen.
And they got the video from that of these guys bouncing around on the moon.
It's very weird.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It would be hilarious if it was faked.
It really would be so appropriate when you think about how strange our culture is and how strange our relationship with the truth is when it comes to our politicians and so many things.
Also, one of the weirder things about the moon hoax, see if you can find this quote.
It's from Bill Clinton's book.
He's got this book, I think it's called My Life.
And he talks about how when he was young, he was working on a construction site.
And it was at the time where the Apollo 11 flight took place.
And he was saying, isn't it incredible that people landed on the moon?
And he worked with this old carpenter.
And I'm paraphrasing this.
I'm not exactly sure.
Maybe we could find it.
Does it say here?
My life.
Yeah, there it goes.
He goes, just a month before, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had left their colleague Michael Collins aboard spaceship Columbia and walked on the moon.
The old carpenter asked me if I really believed it happened.
I said, sure, I saw it on television.
He disagreed and he said that he didn't believe it for a minute that them television fellers could make things look real that weren't.
Back then, I thought he was a crank.
During my eight years in Washington, I saw some things on TV that made me wonder if he wasn't ahead of his time.
That's a crazy thing for a president to say in a book about his life.
Not, for sure we went to the moon.
He didn't say any of those things.
He said, I saw some things on TV that made me wonder if he wasn't ahead of his time.
So he's literally talking about the moon.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, look at all the information that's coming out now about UFOs.
And didn't Obama say something to the effect of, like, he saw things when he was in office that made him question?
joe rogan
Well, that's a completely different thing, right?
Because then you're talking about suppression of information rather than a whole fake production.
You know, the fake production thing is really compelling.
Because this was also during the time of Operation Northwoods.
And Operation Northwoods was a plan that was hatched out by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed and vetoed by Kennedy, where they were going to hoax all these attacks in the United States to get us to go to war with Cuba.
They were going to blow up a drone jetliner.
They were going to arm Cuban friendlies and attack Guantanamo Bay.
They had this whole production laid out.
And they were going to do this to try to get us to go into war with Cuba.
And then you go back to the Gulf of Tonkin incident where they pretended that we got attacked.
And they had this whole thing that led us into Vietnam.
It was a fake attack.
So they were used to doing fake shit during the same era that they supposedly faked the moon landing.
And again, I'm not saying they faked the moon landing.
Because I did say they faked the moon landing for years.
I argued vehemently.
I was even on Penn Jillette's show and I argued with this astronomer.
And I actually had some fucking pretty decent points, unfortunately.
greg fitzsimmons
That's great!
joe rogan
Because, like, Werner von Braun, the guy who was the head of NASA, was a Nazi.
Like, a real legitimate Nazi.
He was taken from when the United States won World War II. They took a bunch of Nazi scientists, because they were very advanced, and they brought them over and hired them for NASA. It was called Operation Paperclip.
It's all well documented.
And Werner von Braun was one of those Nazis.
He was a legit Nazi, to the point where the Simon Wiesenthal Center said that if he was alive today, they would prosecute him for crimes against humanity.
He would hang the five slowest Jews in front of his rocket factory in Berlin to force people to work faster.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
He was an evil fuck.
And he was our head of NASA. And that was the guy that we brought over to get us to the moon.
And if you pay attention to so much from that era, it makes it so desirable to think that this is what happened.
greg fitzsimmons
It's also the climate at that time with the Cold War, I mean, in terms of what the stakes were in their minds of the Russians coming ahead of us, it's completely believable that they would make that effort.
joe rogan
They did fake some stuff, too.
I'm not saying the United States did, but other people did fake some stuff back then, like the video footage of, was it Yuri Gagarin, the first guy that went into space?
I mean, I'm not saying he didn't go into space, but the footage of him going into space looks so fake.
Because if you look at the actual capsule that he was in, it was so small.
But if you look at the video footage of him in space, it looks like there's lighting in there, and it looks like the cameras, it looks like he's faking it.
It's very weird.
People have questioned, they haven't questioned whether or not he went into space.
They believe he went into space.
But the actual video footage that Russia provided to show as proof of him in that rocket, they think was pure propaganda.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, I guess the biggest stroke against it is the fact that how many hundreds of people would have to have shut up and been complicit in this lie.
joe rogan
Yeah, but back then there was no internet.
Even if you got it out, I mean...
greg fitzsimmons
And people were loyal to their government jobs.
They didn't talk.
joe rogan
Real likely the government murdered Kennedy.
Real likely.
Real likely.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's definitely somebody did, and it wasn't just Lee Harvey Oswald.
I think Lee Harvey Oswald was probably in on it, too.
People want to go one or the other.
They want to go lone gunman or they want to go vast conspiracy.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
I think lone gunman...
I think Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy.
Like, he said that when they got him.
You know, he's like, I'm just a patsy.
I think they were probably trying to pin it on him, but I bet he was probably involved as well.
I think they had it set...
I think he was an idiot, and they had him set up.
He had gone back and forth to Russia multiple times.
greg fitzsimmons
Right.
joe rogan
Had married a Russian woman.
Like, he probably was intelligence.
It was probably a guy that they had...
Just like this fucking Governor Whitmer thing in Michigan.
You know this whole thing?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's a plot to kidnap the governor.
And it was like, oh my god, these white supremacists, these Trump supporters.
Turns out 12 of them were FBI informants.
12 of them.
Six defendants, 12 feds.
So literally, the feds organized it?
They planned it.
They acted it out.
They did all of the plotting and the planning and brought over some fucking idiots.
And then they said, look at this plot we stopped.
Bitch, you started it.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Yes.
greg fitzsimmons
So it was a giant entrapment scheme.
joe rogan
Exactly.
And they've been doing that forever.
They've been doing that forever.
Who's to say they didn't do that with Lee Harvey Oswald?
It's probably what they did.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Tom O'Neill needs to look into it.
joe rogan
Oh my god, he's the best.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm so glad.
Everybody, if you know, Greg is the one who told me about Tom O'Neill, the author of Chaos.
greg fitzsimmons
He was my...
joe rogan
One of my favorite podcasts of all time.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Oh my god.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
It was incredible.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, he's a guy who's, you know, he was my neighbor in Little Italy for years.
He lived next door to me, and I knew him way before he started writing this book.
Not way before, but I knew him for five or six years before he went completely insane and chased down this story.
And the thing that people don't realize about when they think that, oh, he wrote a book for 20 years.
Yeah, I've been working on a novel for 20 years.
No.
I lived next to him in Little Italy, and then I lived next to him in Venice Beach.
I walked my dog every morning, and at 8 a.m., that motherfucker was sitting at his desk, typing.
And if he wasn't there, he was in a car that I gave him.
I gave him a fucking Volvo 240DL that was dead.
I was like, I can junk it or give it to you.
He would drive it into the desert for days and talk to these guys that were like X... LAPD that knew shit that were on their deathbeds that were finally willing to talk about how much cover-up was going on with the Manson case.
unidentified
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
He was on it like a fucking dog on a bone for 20 years.
joe rogan
And the result is incredible.
The CIA had...
This is documented without a doubt.
They had studies that they were doing with LSD. And they were doing them in prisons.
They were doing them in brothels.
It was a thing called Operation Midnight Climax.
They did it in brothels.
It was MKUltra.
They did all these experiments with people, including Jack Ruby, the guy who killed Lee Harvey Oswald.
That guy...
Jolly West?
Is that his name?
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That guy went to visit Jack Ruby in jail, and Jack Ruby became completely insane after that guy visited him.
greg fitzsimmons
And there was no reason why Jolly West would be allowed in that fucking jail cell with him.
There was no protocol that would allow that guy in his position to visit a prisoner of that stature at that time.
joe rogan
And that was the guy in the CIA that was running the LSD program.
And he went to visit him, and then after he met him, after he talked to him, Jack Ruby went completely fucking insane.
So if you're going to have a guy, and you're going to have a guy kill Lee Harvey Oswald for you, and you're saying, listen, man, don't worry about it.
You're going to do this.
We're going to get you off.
Don't worry.
And then right after he does it, you dose the fuck out of that guy with acid and loses his mind.
Loses his mind.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And like completely went insane.
They knew what they were doing, man.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
They ran that whole fucking free clinic in Haight-Ashbury where they were giving LSD to Manson and all the fucking family members.
That place was running for decades until Tom's book come out.
When Tom's book came out, three months later, they closed that place down.
greg fitzsimmons
Yep.
joe rogan
Like, yep.
Our work here is done.
Pull up the fucking stakes.
Let's get this tent out of town.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
My wife's mom went to that clinic.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
Yeah.
She lived in Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
She remembers that clinic.
It was like a real legit clinic.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
And they were dosing people out of that clinic.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they were providing Manson with LSD and then they were getting Manson off every time he got arrested.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
So he got arrested multiple times.
greg fitzsimmons
In multiple states.
It was national.
Yes.
unidentified
Yes.
greg fitzsimmons
It wasn't one local guy.
joe rogan
And all the sheriffs said the same thing.
It's above my pay grade.
I had to let them go.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's wild.
greg fitzsimmons
It's wild.
joe rogan
And you don't realize how wild it is until you get into Tom's book.
It's one of the best books I've ever read and one of the best podcasts I ever did.
And it was all because of you.
You've never suggested anybody for a podcast before.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
And you said, dude, you've got to have this guy.
greg fitzsimmons
Right, right.
And young Jamie had listened to it.
Yeah, I mean, it's the kind of thing where there's a second book in there.
He initially got a deal to put the book out, and he took so long to put it out that they sued him to get the money back.
And it was a lot of fucking money.
And so all of a sudden, Tom was like teaching English as a second language in a community college.
He was Uber driving, but he kept writing it.
Even though the money was gone, he kept writing it.
And then all of a sudden, he got interest, but they said, if we're going to give you a deal again, we're going to give you a co-writer.
And I'm remiss in saying the guy's name, but he paired them up, and in one year, they took thousands of pages, and they collated it into one book.
Oh, Dan Piperbring.
joe rogan
Piperbring.
greg fitzsimmons
Piperbring.
joe rogan
Dan, change your name.
That's a ridiculous name.
greg fitzsimmons
But they had to get rid of so much.
There's another book in there.
And I think there's, I can't announce it, but there is talks right now about television or film happening.
joe rogan
They absolutely should do something.
But it should be a series of movies.
Like a Netflix sort of deal.
greg fitzsimmons
Docu-series.
joe rogan
Yeah, it can't just be one.
It's too complex.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, because it has to not only involve the Manson findings, it has to also involve Tom's journey.
joe rogan
Yes.
greg fitzsimmons
And how many people lied to him and how many people shut him down and he just kept coming at them.
joe rogan
And then the prosecuting attorney who was out of his fucking mind, the prosecutor rather, what was the guy's name?
greg fitzsimmons
Bugliosi?
joe rogan
Yes, who was out of his fucking mind.
Thought his wife was having an affair with the milkman and tortured the guy.
greg fitzsimmons
Tortured the guy.
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's a crazy fucking story.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
It's an amazing story.
And Tom is so good at telling it, too.
Having him on, I was fucking riveted.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And then I had already gone through the book before I had him on.
So having him on and knowing all the shit that was in the book, it's wild, man.
It is so wild.
And that's the same time period, man.
The same time period of full deception.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, the government was involved in so much deception back then.
greg fitzsimmons
Intel Pro, right?
Is that what it was?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Co-Intel Pro.
greg fitzsimmons
Co-Intel Pro?
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, Operation Midnight Climax was a part of this MKUltra program, too, where they would go to brothels, and they'd have two-way mirrors, and these prostitutes would sit down with these guys who thought they were just going to get sex, and, you want a drink?
Have a drink.
And they'd give them a drink, and then...
greg fitzsimmons
Didn't a guy jump out of a window or something?
joe rogan
I'm sure.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't remember, but I'm sure.
I'm sure.
People kill themselves all the time when they get dosed up like that, you know?
That's a crazy thing they were doing back then, man.
Really crazy.
And the fact that he found all the documents that supported this, all the evidence that the CIA had done all this stuff, all the MKUltra shit.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
And it all disappeared.
All the paperwork from all those years of that program just disappeared.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's our government.
greg fitzsimmons
Yep.
joe rogan
Just trying to keep us safe.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
greg fitzsimmons
You're here to keep them honest, though, Joe.
joe rogan
Well, not me.
Tom.
greg fitzsimmons
I know, but you highlight people like him, these voices of people that are challenging stuff.
joe rogan
Well, it's important for people to know that what you see on the news is a show and that what's going on behind the scenes is real complex and has been going on for decades and decades and decades without any oversight, without any supervision.
And there are people like that Jolly West guy, like those people that are running MKUltra, like the people that ran Operation Midnight Climax.
They were doing that shit for years with impunity.
They could do whatever they wanted.
And they were taking a guy like Charles fucking Manson.
They treated him with LSD in prison.
They got him out and supplied him with LSD and taught him how to turn people into killers.
Taught him how to get people to do whatever the fuck you want them to do.
And Manson was pretending he was doing acid with them and they were all tripping out and Manson was like steering them and leading them and molding them.
It's wild shit.
greg fitzsimmons
And there was a murder before the Manson murders that they covered up, that they knew about, and they knew Manson was connected to it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Folks, get it.
Get the book.
It's really good.
Or listen to the audio tape.
The audio tape is fucking amazing, too.
The audio book.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
jamie vernon
Did you hear any of this?
By Whitey Bulger being involved in that too?
unidentified
No!
joe rogan
Was Whitey Bulger's murderous life down to LSD testing by the CIA? No shit.
Wow.
Notorious Boston criminal Whitey Bulger may have been driven to murder by LSD experimentation in the 1950s, according to one of the jurors who convicted him.
unidentified
Wow.
jamie vernon
The article said that in the trial for him that when he was in Atlanta, he had been given it over 50 times.
joe rogan
Whoa.
jamie vernon
During the same time period.
So I don't know if Jolly West was talking to Whitey Bulger too or what.
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
Wow.
Well, that made sense because he was an informant.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Whitey Bulger was an informant while he was murdering people, which is crazy shit.
unidentified
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, Dana White, the president of the UFC, he had to leave Boston because Whitey Bulger's thugs were trying to muscle money out of him.
greg fitzsimmons
No shit.
joe rogan
That's when he went to Vegas.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That guy was running organized crime in Boston.
One of my students was a hitman for Whitey Bulger.
greg fitzsimmons
Really?
joe rogan
When I was teaching Taekwondo.
greg fitzsimmons
So you trained a hitman, basically.
joe rogan
Yes!
Yeah.
I remember he asked me, he goes, if you're going to kill somebody, where would you hit him?
What's the best place to hit someone if you're going to kill him?
I go, the neck?
I go, probably the neck?
He's like, yeah, I think so, the neck.
I was like, oh.
This is a guy that I didn't realize at the time.
He wound up being a fucking hitman.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
greg fitzsimmons
Did you keep in touch with him?
joe rogan
No, but he kept coming to classes.
He would train.
He was fucking serious, too.
He was very intense.
He wasn't a very flexible guy.
He wasn't the best athlete, but you could tell.
He was training with an intensity, like a guy who was probably going to use this.
greg fitzsimmons
What was his background?
joe rogan
I don't know.
I mean, it was some kind of a fucking criminal.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
But he wound up going to jail.
He did.
I remember that.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he got arrested.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I don't know exactly what it was for, but I think it was for murder.
Shit.
But I know he was a hitman.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, he just wanted to learn hand-to-hand combat while he was fucking shooting and stabbing people.
greg fitzsimmons
Wow.
joe rogan
Do you remember...
Warren McDonald's brother?
greg fitzsimmons
George.
joe rogan
The other brother, Kevin.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, right.
joe rogan
Kevin went to jail, too.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, that's right.
joe rogan
He was a part of that whole thing.
greg fitzsimmons
Uh-huh.
joe rogan
There was a lot of organized crime going on.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, my friend Mary, her dad was a bookie for Whitey Bollinger for all those years.
unidentified
Uh-oh.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
We stayed on the right side of him, though.
jamie vernon
It's so wild that it was all connected, that it might have all been connected to LSD and the CIA and the FBI. Looking through a different article in the Boston Globe, there's another attorney that says he would have used that for a defense for Bulger if they'd have known it, but it came out later in letters he was writing to this juror.
So maybe that means it's not necessarily true, but...
joe rogan
Maybe it means it is true.
jamie vernon
I know.
That's what he said.
When he was in his first stint in jail in Atlanta, he was given it.
So maybe it was like the same thing they would do with other prisoners.
joe rogan
I think they probably did that with a lot of prisoners.
They did it with Manson.
Why would we ever believe that they only did it to Manson?
Especially if you get some fucking murderous, organized crime leader, and you got him in jail, and you know he's some piece of shit killer.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
And you're like, let's see what happens.
greg fitzsimmons
Well, didn't it start over in Vietnam?
They were using it to depro...
I think there were prisoners of war that had come back.
Maybe it was from the Korean War, actually.
Yeah, it was the Korean War.
And they had come back, and I think they were deprogramming them from...
They had been brainwashed by the Koreans to give false statements to the press.
Talking about the U.S. Really?
There it is.
joe rogan
Brainwashed.
New book on interrogation during the Korean War sheds light on how the 20th century imagined prisoners of war.
Wow.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, so they used that same methodology, and the FBI said, well, we can create war machines.
We can use LSD and these techniques to create soldiers that'll do exactly what they're told and have no conscience.
joe rogan
Well, Greg, we cracked it.
They faked the moon landing.
greg fitzsimmons
We did it!
joe rogan
They faked the moon landing.
They created Whitey Bulger and Manson.
That's our government.
Cheers.
greg fitzsimmons
Tom O'Neil's going to write a new book about all of it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, I do really hope that they do some sort of a Netflix series.
I think that would be fucking amazing.
Let's bring this home, young Greg Fitzsimmons.
greg fitzsimmons
Can I give you some dates?
joe rogan
Yeah, please do.
greg fitzsimmons
All right, I'm going to be coming to you people August 6th and 7th.
I will be at Bananas in Rutherford, New Jersey.
And then I'm going to be coming to, I mentioned Golden, Colorado.
After that, Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 19th through 21. There it is, it's up on the scene.
Oh, there we go.
joe rogan
That's much easier.
Punchline in Sacramento.
Great fucking club.
September 16th through 18th.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
I fucking love that place.
That Punchline in Sacramento is classic.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
Classic place.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, it's fun.
joe rogan
Go see Greg.
He's fucking hilarious.
greg fitzsimmons
Sunday Papers is the podcast with Mike Gibbons every Sunday.
We rip through the Sunday Papers section by section.
It's blowing up.
It's getting big.
joe rogan
Nice.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's funny.
greg fitzsimmons
Oh, thanks, man.
joe rogan
I watch a bunch of clips.
You and Mike together are great, too, because you're such good friends.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's very funny.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah, it's great.
We have a blast.
And then Fitz Dog Radio and Childish, my other two podcasts.
joe rogan
All right.
greg fitzsimmons
Staying busy.
joe rogan
Staying busy.
greg fitzsimmons
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's it.
Goodbye, everybody.
greg fitzsimmons
God bless.
joe rogan
God bless.
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